Author's note: This Danceverse interlude is a companion piece for New Normal.
Pairing is OptimusxMikaela- mentioned.
Enjoy!
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You Don't Need Wings
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"In my daughter's eyes, I am a hero.
I am strong and wise and I know no fear.
But the truth is plain to see,
she was sent to rescue me
I see who I wanna be in my daughter's eyes..."
-Martina McBride, "In My Daughter's Eyes"
.o
Dollar signs flashed through Cade Yeager's mind as he studied the titan leaning against a support beam at the back corner of his barn. The robot- Optimus Prime- appeared to be in some sort of sleep mode. His eyelids were shut and his head bowed chin to chest. He resembled a forgotten metal sculpture amid the dust motes floating in the air.
Today hadn't been much fun for either of them. Cade spent a better part of the morning finding and replacing a leaky coolant tube inside Optimus' head. All the tinkering restored the hearing in that "ear" as well. Double bonus. Then Optimus mentioned his coolant being contaminated with dirt and the only cure was to empty it out and refill. In the meantime, rewiring his weapons systems became a nightmare in itself. Optimus kept blanking out and going quiet. That left Cade dangling precariously underneath his power core while working on the most complex motherboard he'd ever seen in his life. Despite the hang-ups, he got the job done and Optimus had access to his targeting systems again.
Cade's eyes drifted towards the dirty leather booklet sitting on his workbench. It fell out of Optimus during his mini-rampage right after awakening. To the robot, the booklet wasn't any larger than a wallet.
Cade shot one more glance in Optimus' direction before curiosity got the better of him. Crackling noises sounded as the book opened. Cade winced and peeped over his shoulder. No response. He refocused on the photo album flipbook.
The first picture showed a very attractive brunette woman whose piercing blue eyes held pure adoration towards the photo-taker. She stood alone on a cabin balcony, dressed simply in a denim tube top and a flippy white skirt matching the flower in her hair. Large, silver hands rested on the balcony railing in front of her. The left hand prominently displayed a triangular engraving on the ring finger.
Optimus had the same etching. Even though his hands were dirty and scratched, the mark showed through the grit.
Cade lifted the laminated tab to see the photo underneath. A little girl, probably no older than three, grinning proudly while riding a pink Bigwheel. She wore blue overalls with no shirt underneath. Messy honey-colored hair framed her face. She, too, possessed piercing blue eyes, but they were a slightly different shade than the woman's. A birthmark left a red blotch on her forehead, but the angle of the photograph didn't make its shape clear.
Hydraulics hissed as Cade studied the third picture. The woman was giving the girl a piggyback ride. Both were flush-faced from laughing. Behind them, a red, blue and silver Peterbilt 379 gleamed. The red symbol above the grill proved unmistakable.
Whirring noises made Cade look over his shoulder. Optimus' optics were open and peering right at him.
"Uh...this fell out of you when you first woke up," Cade said by way of explanation.
Optimus blinked and slumped where he sat without speaking. Not even resting- or whatever he did- erased his weariness. The shrapnel still inside his body rattled when he shifted positions.
Cade set the open photo album on his workbench and ascended the platform ladder Optimus sat next to.
"How about we clean up the shrapnel inside your chest?"
Optimus silently opened the battered plates guarding everything between his abdomen and neck. Just that act alone released a small torrent of debris. The rest appeared caught among a network of fine, clear wires resembling fiber-optic cables. Behind them, smack in the middle, his spherical power core flickered with blue-white light. It appeared held in place by six orange wires bundled on each side. The glow turned briefly orange-yellow whenever a piece of debris touched the delicate see-through cords.
"Whoa," Cade whispered, "That's a lot of wiring to get through."
"Neural lines," said Optimus. "They relay sensation."
"Gotcha," Cade replied. He lightly touched the end of a severed one hanging loose. "Looks like someone tried to cut a few."
Optimus flinched noticeably, the glow in his chest flashing nearly red.
"Be careful!" he snapped, "That hurts!"
"Oops, sorry!" Beads of sweat formed on Cade's forehead. He wiped them off. "What if I moved them out of the way before I worked? Will that hurt anything?"
Optimus' eyelids- or what passed for them- fell half-shut. "It is common practice for medics to do so before performing field repairs. Leave the broken ones as they are. You do not have the technology to mend them."
"Right. Okay. One sec, then, I think I've got something that'll keep 'em out of the way."
Cade climbed down and rummaged for his box of C-clamps. Grabbing the biggest two he owned, he pushed the ladder closer to Optimus and hopped up the steps. "Let's hook them to these, how's that?"
Optimus wordlessly gathered the glistening neural cables. He held them together until Cade secured the C-clamps to the inner edges of his chest plates. Now he could really see the chunks of metal and bullets caught among the thick cables and armor surrounding Optimus' power core. As for the core itself, it had several scratches and one small dent. Someone must have tried to pry the central slit open.
Cade reached for the first hunk of metal caught in the wires. The power core kept twinkling faster until it nearly gave off a steady, bright glow. He spared a glance at Optimus' face. The robot's optics were at their smallest aperture and staring off into space. Cade could just make out their dim flickering.
"Optimus? You okay there?"
Suddenly, Optimus blinked and jerked backwards. Cade slid down the ladder just before it was kicked over.
"Whoa! Hey! Easy!" Cade raised both hands. "Easy. I'm not trying to hurt you."
For a beat, the only sound was the swinging chain disturbed by Optimus' sudden movement.
"Something must have shifted. I felt a jolt of pain." Optimus replied flatly.
"Sorry...is it the clamps?"
"No." Optimus righted the downed ladder and knelt next to it. "Your bare hands may not be up for the task. Perhaps those...if I may? I would prefer to remove what I can first."
Cade's eyes roved towards the assorted blacksmithing tongs Optimus pointed to. He went for the flat blank bit set, which resembled two-foot-long needle nose pliers.
"Sure."
For Optimus, the tongs might as well have been pliers. Cade watched him go to town on the debris clogging his innards. After building up a sizeable pile, he abruptly doubled over in a fit of coughing. Dust escaped the spaces between his face plates. Usually these fits quit after two or three, but this time it kept going.
"Should I get you something to drink?" Cade asked instinctively. Immediately, he felt like an idiot. He sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "You know...motor oil, or something?"
Optimus shot him a quick 'are you stupid?' scowl. He wheezed, hacked, and with a final, explosive cough his distress stopped. His mouth plates moved like someone swishing mouthwash. Then he leaned over to spit out a jagged metal shard that plunked on the floor near Cade's feet. Something gelatinous and silver coated it.
"Ugh, finally," Optimus wiped his face with the back of his hand. "Don't touch that with your bare hands for at least thirty minutes. It's covered in repair nanites. They destroy organic matter."
Good thing he said something. Cade nearly reached down to pick it up. He used pliers instead and flicked the slimy shard into the pile of shrapnel Optimus picked out of himself.
"Phew, glad you said something."
"I have removed all that I can reach on my own," Optimus went on. He offered the tongs handle-first to Cade.
There wasn't a whole lot left. Cade accepted the tongs and climbed his platform ladder. The power core in Optimus' chest allowed enough light to see what he was doing. It flashed yellow each time he had to tug more than once or twice.
"You're leaking something in here. It's blue, and it's glowing," Cade remarked. The pale fluid resembled liquid starlight.
"Energon," said Optimus. "My lifeblood. Don't let it contact your skin."
"Thanks for the warning." Cade examined the alien-looking spiral of pipes leading to a fuel pump that clunked away like a champion. The leak came from the tail end of the spiral. "I can probably cap that leak. It won't look pretty, but it'll stop the dripping."
Optimus' only response was a tired-sounding grunt. Servos whirred when he turned his head. "Where is your wife?"
A casual question that almost stabbed Cade through the heart. He dropped his gaze. Unbidden, his mind pictured the stark white hospital room. Emily rested supine on the bloodstained gurney. She couldn't move much due to the cervical collar keeping her neck still. Blood matted her hair and bruises left half her face purple and swollen. She showed signs of a severe concussion. All because an idiot drunk driver T-boned her car in the middle of an intersection.
"Cade...I don't think I'm going to make it."
"You're not gonna die, Emily. Don't-"
"Promise me. Promise me you'll get Tessa to her high school graduation. Promise me you'll take care of her. Keep her safe for the rest of her life until the end of time. Promise me, Cade."
"You're gonna see our baby graduate. You hear me? You're gonna be there."
"Promise me..."
"I promise. I promise, Em. Oh God, stay with me. Open your eyes. That's it. I'm right here."
"Cade...I- oh no. I can't see! Cade, I can't see!"
Convulsions wracked Emily's broken body. Cade remembered the heart monitor going crazy as the code team arrived. He stood helplessly by, witnessing the brutal resuscitation attempt. Chest compressions, epinephrine, the thump of the defibrillator, the intubation and plastic packages being ripped open. Emily just laid there like a piece of meat. The nurses recovered a pulse after twenty minutes of crushing her ribs, but they were too late. Hours later, doctors confirmed brain death. The ventilator pumped air into a shell. Her soul was gone.
That night, Cade held the woman he loved and sobbed until the surgical team arrived. Someone on the transplant waiting list would get her heart.
"I love you so much, Emily," Cade had said. He turned to the doctor and spoke through his tears, "Some lucky bastard is about to get the best heart on Earth. Be as gentle with it as I was when you hold it, okay?"
"I will, son," the older man said. His green eyes held only compassion.
Cade kissed Emily's lips one last time and watched her get wheeled away. When he went home, he trashed everything in the barn and sat in the middle of the floor, sobbing. Tessa was only five. Too young to fully grasp what happened. He had to grieve- and raise her- alone.
"...Cade?" Optimus hedged.
Cade glanced up. The memory didn't make his eyes tear up as much, but his throat still ached.
"Emily died when Tessa was little."
"Oh," Optimus' face fell. "My deepest sympathies for your loss. It is never easy to lose the ones you love."
Just the simple response. No asking how or why. Cade inhaled deeply and freed the last metal shard. He dropped it in the sizeable scrap pile.
"That takes care of that. Should I go after the bullets next?"
Optimus tiredly shook his head. "I can handle those."
"Awesome. I better pound out a patch for that pipe. But first..." Cade took the tape measure out of his pocket. Once he obtained a proper measurement for the diameter he needed, he descended to the floor.
"No rush. The leak isn't severe."
Cade nodded and approached his forge. Having it already on saved him the trouble of heating it up. He calculated in his head while he drew a large circle on a strip of 309 2D finish sheet steel. Dull and cold-rolled with no grain pattern. Not pretty, but perfect for the job it had to do. He carried it to the band saw and cut until he had a nice, round disk.
"You're gonna hear banging in a minute," Cade said by way of apology.
"Noise is not an issue," Optimus replied. His joints creaked as he adjusted his position.
And so Cade began the long process of heating the metal and hammering it over a heavy-duty ball stake. While he worked, he heard Optimus' servos whirr again. Suddenly, the photo album wasn't lying on the work bench anymore.
Optimus blinked and everything about his face changed. The inner corners of his eyelids pointed upwards and the tabs above his optics did the same. Just like eyebrows.
Wait, facial expressions?
"Who is that?" Cade asked between hammer pings.
Optimus turned a page. His optics had the soft look Cade often gave to Emily while she was alive.
"Her name is Mikaela," said Optimus. Then his eyelids tilted the other way and the plating below his eyes rose. "And the little girl is Elita." He tucked the photo album into something in his chest like someone sliding a wallet in the breast pocket of a jacket. "They are my family."
"Family as in-"
"Mikaela is the love of my life." Optimus gazed pointedly at Cade. "Elita is my daughter."
"O-kaaaay, this is getting really Twilight Zone."
To his surprise, Optimus chuckled. "I'm aware of how far-fetched it sounds. Most humans have trouble recognizing my kind as living beings with thoughts, dreams and emotions. We laugh, we cry, we love, we hate and we die, same as you. I am capable of every emotion you are capable of. The sole difference between us is the makeup of our bodies."
Serious now, he frowned, "Yet most of this planet treats my people like glorified toys. I don't know whether to call it human ignorance or human arrogance. Perhaps it is both."
Cade's hammer stilled against the dome-shaped metal resting over the ball stake. Beads of sweat ran down the sides of his face. He wiped them off with his forearm.
"You're right. It's both." He reheated the sheet steel and resumed hammering. "Seems like it's human nature to think we're the center of the universe and the top of the food chain. People don't like it when someone shakes up their belief system."
"Hmph!" Optimus flicked a piece of bullet casing straight up in the air and caught it in his fist. Something in his chest arced. He doubled over, groaning.
"Almost got this shaped."
A few bangs later, Cade had the dome he needed.
"Took a helluva hit, you know. Must've just missed your power source." He held the still hot metal in his tongs when he climbed the platform ladder and sat on the middle step.
Optimus glanced down at himself. "We call it a Spark," he said, fixing his optics on Cade. "It contains our life force and our memories."
Now Cade couldn't help but glance at the barely visible flicker hidden inside its spherical container. Everything capable of animating this giant being- what made him think, feel and remember- resided there.
The dollar signs stopped flashing through his mind. Money or no, in good conscience he couldn't turn a living being over to be dismantled for study.
"We call it a soul," he said.
Another pang sent Optimus wincing. Earlier, he said something about his body having to "take" to the foreign parts. Apparently, it wasn't going smoothly.
Cade hoped talking might distract him from his discomfort. "So, what happens to your Spark when you..."
"Die? Same as you. The energy leaves my body for another plane."
"Like Heaven?"
"Something like that. It's called the Allspark, a vast galaxy comprised of those who went before." Optimus' optics gained a faraway stare. Then he gave his head a small shake and resumed pulling bullet casings out of his plating. "Do you believe in Heaven?"
The seriousness of the question almost sent Cade into a laughing fit. Discussing Heaven with an alien robot. Could today get any crazier?
"Yup." Cade stepped down the ladder again to grab his blowtorch, a roll of solder and a container of flux. Then he resumed his place on the platform. "Okay, show time. Scoot this way."
Hydraulics hissed as Optimus brought himself within easier reach. The pulsating glow in his chest- his soul- shone like a beacon. Cade reached in and cleaned the pipe tip the best he could before slathering it with flux. He backed off to don heat resistant gloves and unroll several inches of solder.
"Cade," Optimus extracted the last bullet and flicked it aside. "Why are you willing to help me?"
Cade casually lit his blowtorch. "I guess it's 'cause you trust me to."
Optimus' blue optics twitched towards the blowtorch and back to Cade's face. Almost a nervous gesture.
"Uh..." Cade chewed his lip. "I'm guessing this is gonna hurt." Upon receiving a solemn, silent nod, he asked, "Shouldn't you be, I dunno, knocked out for this?"
"You do not have the technology to induce surgical stasis," Optimus replied stiffly. "So I will have to endure."
"You're not gonna pass out or anything?"
"No."
That made Cade inhale deeply in preparation. He fit the dome over the end of the piping and a few light hammer taps pushed it into position. Only a patch, not meant to replace the original. More flux went on top of that just to be doubly sure it wouldn't oxidize.
"Okay, incoming blowtorch."
He heated the area first to help the solder spread out easier. Optimus' Spark sped up and flashed between red and yellow. Then came the actual solder. He touched a tip of the silvery strand to the pieces he wanted to join and held the flame underneath the pipe. The solder spread out and slicked downward towards the heat source. Through the corner of his eye, he saw Optimus turn his head and bite his knuckle.
"Almost done. Doing okay?"
"Mmhmm," was the strained response.
"Just another second...there. Got it."
Optimus slumped forward, catching himself on his hands and easing into a sitting position. A grimace twisted his face plates.
"Thank you," he grunted under his...well, Cade wasn't sure he had breath.
"Anytime. That's the most I can do until Lucas gets back here with supplies." Cade shut off his blowtorch and removed his gloves so he could wipe the sweat off his forehead. "So...her name's Mikaela?"
Optimus' entire expression changed. Softened, somehow, from pain to warmth. "Mikaela is a woman who overcame many hardships. She has seen aspects of me that I share with no one else." He looked off into the distance, his cheek plating and eyelids both tilting slightly upward. "Heh, merely the thought of her brings a smile to my face. Not many things do, but she always will."
He's crazy about that woman, Cade thought.
"I need you to write something down," Optimus said, then waited while Cade rummaged for a notepad and a pencil. He dictated a phone number and continued, "That is Mikaela's cellular phone number. Once my repairs are complete and I've taken my leave, call her and tell her I'm alive."
"What about-"
"I'm back!" Lucas yelled from outside.
Tessa said something to him, but Cade couldn't make it out.
Lucas' voice came closer to the barn. "My head hurts! I had to go to the doctor, I've got a welt on my head that makes me look like a freakin' Star Trek character."
The door was yanked open, briefly letting afternoon light shine through. Lucas plunked down a fresh roll of solder, flux in a jar, two containers of Prestone pre-mixed antifreeze, and a large drainage pan with a lid.
"I really hope this is enough." Lucas glanced in Optimus' direction without actually acknowledging him. "Had to pay out the ass to get it."
Cade rooted around for his soldering iron. "You didn't say anything to anybody, did you?"
"Nope. Nada." Lucas set the bright green drainage pan aside. Just in time for Optimus to swipe it and take the lid off.
"I'm going to empty my coolant tank," said Optimus. He stood and reached for the panel enclosing his radiator drain plug, which happened to be between his legs. When neither Cade nor Lucas moved, he snapped, "I don't stare when you eliminate. Do you mind?"
"Whoa, you pee?" Lucas asked.
"Lucas! So help me..." Cade dragged his ridiculously immature pal across the barn and smacked him on the back of the head.
"I still don't think keeping him here's a good idea."
"He's got a family. I dunno about you, but I'm gonna make sure he gets back to them."
Lucas ran a hand over his wavy hair. "What about the money?"
"Screw the money!" Cade hissed.
"Cade, y-"
"Shh! He'll hear you!"
"I'm finished," Optimus's voice cut in. He put the lid on the drainage pan and closed the panel he'd opened. "I cycled it all out. My piping does not require flushing, so let us begin the refill process. I will require both bottles."
"Sure thing, Optimus. Lucas, grab the funnel."
Fortunately, Optimus' cylindrical, alien-looking coolant tank was located just underneath the spiraling pipes of his fuel tank. That meant no digging or opening more armor plates than absolutely necessary. He took the funnel before Lucas got to it and handled the refilling himself. Cade used that time to remove the C-clamps holding his neural wiring out of the way.
"So, what's that gear in your side?" Cade gestured to the spindle-shaped object.
Optimus closed his plating and straightened. "My transformation cog. It is what allows me to scan vehicles and transform. And no, I will not demonstrate how it works. It's still sore."
Suddenly, he froze, head up and optics bright with alertness.
"Dad!" Tessa yelled.
Helicopter blades beat against the sky. Lucas blanched and rubbed the sore spot on his forehead.
"Shit!" Cade ran for the door. "Optimus, you need to-" he looked back in time to see the trap door in the floor fall shut without disturbing the contents on top. "-hide."
Lucas shoved the door open. Cade followed him outside, where he saw men dressed in black stepping out of their equally black vehicles. Their lead man introduced himself as James Savoy. He asked about the truck. Cade tried to come up with a cover story.
And all Hell broke loose in flashes.
Guns.
Glimmering sunglasses.
Tiny drones.
Tessa's golden hair shining.
Lucas screaming.
Men invading the property.
Tessa on the ground, begging for her life.
His own heartbeat pounding.
Optimus blasting his way out of the barn with a mighty snarl, "Here I am!"
Gunfire. Explosions. The house going up in flames.
"Cade, they're trying to kill you! Get out of here!"
Shane, the boyfriend Tessa wasn't supposed to have.
Escaping into a cornfield.
Lucas confessing to making the phone call.
A bounty hunting robot.
Optimus leaping off a roof to slap away an oncoming car.
The grenade blast.
Lucas' charred remains.
Chaos.
Cade's memory went blank after that, and didn't come clear again until Optimus hid them in an abandoned gas station. And that was just the beginning.
.o
Finally, a moment to breathe...even if it was aboard the ship freshly detached from Lockdown's main vessel. Cade wandered through the creepy corridors until he happened upon Optimus pacing around the ship's observation deck. Green hills spread out across the pale azure horizon behind the monolithic bot walking back and forth. Cade watched a few hills go by before focusing his attention on Optimus.
The engineer in him took a moment to simply admire the twenty-eight foot tall machine who walked and talked like a man. Not long ago, he was decrepit and about to rust apart. Now, he resembled something out of an Arthurian legend. A shining, brave knight carrying the universe upon his already burdened shoulders.
In his hands, he held a lump of transformium he must have taken from the KSI laboratory. Blue lasers shot from his optics to bathe the metal on his palm. As Cade watched, it separated and formed into a number of objects. The biggest was a silver tackle box. Everything else appeared to flow into its many compartments. Then he put it away behind one of his red and blue breastplates. His pacing resumed, each footstep vibrating the floor.
"You're gonna wear yourself out," Cade said. He sat down by the wall and rubbed his eyes. The past few days hadn't let him get much sleep.
Optimus paused mid-stride and glanced over. He looked as tired as Cade felt.
"It helps me think."
"Heh...me, too." Cade covered a yawn and tried to lighten the heavy mood, "What I want to know is how someone like you can date a woman. You're what? Thirty feet tall? Been wracking my brain about it."
Amusement flickered past Optimus' otherwise troubled expression. He stepped closer and knelt, saving Cade's neck from straining to look up.
"I project a hologram of myself. And no, I will not demonstrate. I have to rebuild it to match this form, and I want her to be the first to see it."
Optimus stared straight ahead. Air hissed from his vents like a sigh.
"Elita is eight years old now...she was four when I left. It was supposed to be a routine procedure, but it was a trap." He shook his head. "I missed four precious years of her life. In only four years, humans have taken a bigger toll on me than this entire war."
His tone conveyed a concerned father anxious to see his kid again. Cade's eyes grew faraway as he thought about Tessa. He couldn't fathom the idea of not watching her grow up.
Optimus continued, "Mikaela and Elita are the reasons I haven't abandoned this planet to its fate. After all I have done...and betrayal is the thanks I get. I never asked for more than a place for my men and myself to stay. Humanity turned its back on me after seeing a few cities fall. Little does your government realize that cities do not compare to an entire world burning. I am sorry that any life was lost at all. That isn't what I wanted. But if that is the fate your people chose, why should I try to stop it? Why help those who will bite the hand that offers them salvation?"
Those words resonated in Cade's ears. He digested them slowly and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "You fought for my family."
"Yes...because I know how much you love your daughter. You love her as much as I love mine." Optimus' vents hissed and steam escaped from somewhere near his nose. "The word Prime on my planet translates to 'Protector.' It is what I do, and it is who I am. Yet there comes a time where even a Prime must, as you say, let the chips fall where they may."
They went quiet for several minutes, just watching the view pass outside.
"You said you were done fighting for humans," Cade began, "You didn't mean that, did you?"
Optimus frowned and closed his optics. Anger vibrated off his body like heat waves.
"How many more of my kind must be sacrificed to atone for your mistakes?" he spat, getting to his feet. The accusing tone was practically a backhanded slap in the face.
Cade almost snapped that it wasn't Optimus' right to condemn humanity like this. Then he thought about it from Optimus' perspective. Humans were the ones dabbling with transformium and building soulless Transformers. Humans were the ones who thanked the Autobots for saving the planet by hunting them down. Humans were the ones whose betrayal hurt him the most.
"What do you think being human means? That's what we do. We make mistakes. Sometimes, out of those mistakes come the most amazing things."
Like Tessa...
Guilt overshadowed the anguish knotting Cade's stomach. If he'd turned Optimus in, he would've taken him away from his family. He figured he should come clean now. Let Optimus hear it from him instead of Attinger or Lockdown.
"When I fixed you, it was for a reward. That was it. That was why. The money. And it was me making a mistake. Without it, you wouldn't be here."
Cade knew his words were sinking in when Optimus' expression changed, and it emboldened him to continue, "So even if you got no faith in us, I'm asking you to do what I do." He gazed upward. "I'm asking you to look at all the junk and see the treasure. You gotta have faith, Prime, in who we can be."
Optimus turned his head to meet Cade's eyes. The sadness in his optics was almost overwhelming.
"Elita and Mikaela are my treasure," he said. "They are everything."
"See?" Cade leaned forward with a half-smile. "When this is all over, you'll go home to them."
"Mikaela has no way of knowing I'm still alive." His optics dimmed. "What if she moved on? Elita was only four- hardly old enough to really remember me. What if I am a stranger to her?"
"You don't know that. What if Mikaela dresses up nice every night because she thinks that's the night you'll come home?" Cade countered, "What if she spends every morning telling your daughter all about you so she'll jump on you when she sees you again?"
A fraction of the sadness left Optimus' face. He turned towards the main observation window.
"I remember the day Tessa was born. Emily had a quick, easy labor." Cade's eyes glossed over from the memory. "The second I saw the doctor lift her up into the light was the best second of my life. The only thing to beat it was getting to hold her."
"Yeah." Optimus dipped his head. The plating of his face shifted into his version of a smile. "Mikaela had a difficult labor, but I was at her side every moment. I delivered Elita myself, and I remember- just before her first breath- I felt her heartbeat. Then her chest expanded and she came to life in my hands. I turned her over to soothe her. She didn't cry. She looked right into my optics, Cade, right into them...and she smiled like she knew how much I loved her. My Spark was never the same." He squared his shoulders without turning around. "I was never the same."
Cade chuckled, remembering how tiny Tessa was. "It's love at first sight, isn't it? There's a brand new person in the room, and the door never moved to let them in. Then you realize you helped make that tiny person."
"I was awestruck," said Optimus. He made a sweeping gesture at everything. "I have achieved much in my long lifetime," and his hands came together, cupping something invisible, "but creating life with the woman I love makes everything else pale in comparison. Creating life is the greatest love in the universe, Cade. It shouldn't be taken for granted."
Simple words, but they hung in the air like parachutes of wisdom.
"So, how did that happen?" By the time Cade spoke the words, he realized how nosy it sounded. He cleared his throat and backpedaled, "Um, hold on. It's probably none of my business."
"It is a valid question," Optimus rumbled. "You must swear no one else hears what I'm about to tell you, or my family will be in grave danger."
Cade raised both hands. "I can keep a secret. Shoot."
"There isn't time to tell you everything, but I will start at the beginning and abbreviate it to the best of my ability." Optimus sat on the ground next to him. He propped his elbow on his bent knee and stretched the other leg straight out. After a moment, he started talking. "Before time began, there was the Cube..."
Optimus' otherworldliness grew obvious through his words. He wasn't just old...he was ancient. His story spun around Primes, wars, genocide and betrayal. He talked openly about love, hope and redemption. And it all wrapped around a young girl's prom night going sour. When he finished, he pushed himself onto his feet.
In that instant, Cade felt infinitesimal next to a titan.
"I have seen the other side of death. The Allspark is real. I have no doubt Heaven is also real. You will see Emily again, but remember this- she never truly left." Optimus' optics met Cade's eyes and eons of knowledge shone through their blue glow, "True immortality is the echo that remains long after we fall silent."
Cade picked dirt off his shoes. Then he refocused on Optimus. He couldn't help smiling. "If you landed here two thousand years ago, people might've called you an angel of God."
"Probably Michael, the warrior," Optimus remarked, only half-joking. He simulated a sigh and turned away again. "I lost my wings a long time ago, Cade, and I will never regain them."
The triple pipes on his shoulders did resemble wings that had been cut off. Cade smiled a little.
"You don't need 'em. You have rockets."
Optimus' glanced over his shoulder. His plates quirked in a sad little smile. Then he walked away to prepare for battle, leaving Cade in awe.
.o
City lights gleamed through the hotel window. China sure knew how to make 'em ritzy.
Cade shoved his head under the shower faucet to rinse out the shampoo. Getting clean felt so good he couldn't bring himself to care about the shampoo's flowery scent. He scrubbed himself like he hadn't bathed in weeks.
Optimus left a little over an hour ago. Cade remembered the lump in his throat when he thought of the family the Autobot leader was leaving behind.
"This seed belongs to our Creators...whoever they are. There remains a price on my head. I endanger you all if I stay. I shall take the Seed where it can never be found."
"Will we ever see you again?"
"Cade Yeager, I do not know. But whenever you look to the stars, think of one of them as my soul..."
Optimus commanded his Autobots to defend their new friends in his absence. Then, without hesitation, he shot into the sky like a futuristic avenging angel guarding planet Earth. Watching him go left tears in Cade's eyes.
He'll be okay. He's got something to fight for.
Water gurgled down the drain after the shower shut off. Cade dried himself and rolled on some cheap deodorant before grabbing the electric razor by the mirror. He'd just finished when he heard his phone emit a new text beep. He wrapped a towel around his waist and rushed to check it.
Went to see my family before I leave. The next message contains my landing coordinates. Please text them to my wife as soon as you receive this. Don't forget the pass-phrase.
"Oh man," Cade smiled because someone's day was about to get so much better. He sent the text and hurriedly dialed the number Optimus gave him back in the barn.
Mikaela is love, Elita is beautiful, he repeated mentally.
"Hello?" A sleepy woman's voice answered after the fourth ring. "There better be a good reason for calling me at four-thirty in the morning."
"Mikaela Banes?" Cade asked.
Something rustled in the background. She didn't bother hiding the annoyance in her voice, "Who is this?"
"My name's Cade Yeager. Sorry, I forgot the time difference- I'm across the world right now." He took a deep breath and looked out the window, where colorful city lights glowed under the night sky. "Listen, I just texted you some GPS coordinates. A friend of mine told me to say something. I dunno what it means, but he said you'll know. 'Mikaela is love, Elita is beautiful.'"
Suddenly, Mikaela was completely alert.
"He said that?"
"Yeah. He said he'll be at the coordinates I texted you any time. He left around, ehhh," he checked the time, "hour and a half ago."
A brief silence had Cade wondering if her phone dropped the call. Then, full of emotion, she responded, "T-Thanks. Cade Yeager, you said?"
"Mmhmm."
"Thanks."
Cade closed his eyes, smiling. "You have a good day, ma'am."
They exchanged closing pleasantries before hanging up. He set his phone on the nightstand and threw on the white T-shirt, gray boxers and jeans sitting at the foot of the bed. Then he sat to tie his shoes. Elation bubbled in the pit of his stomach.
Thirty minutes later, his phone beeped just as he prepared to leave the room for dinner with Shane and Tessa. It originated from an unknown number and contained two pictures.
Heh, so that's the hologram, Cade thought with a grin.
The first photo showed Optimus and Mikaela together in a wooded clearing. Optimus' armor plating gleamed like fire under the early morning sunlight. He was kissing Mikaela's brow while wiping tears off her face with his thumb. She'd wrapped both arms around his neck, erasing all space between them. Cade noticed her leather bolero, her stylish red dress and how incredibly natural they looked together. He chuckled, shaking his head in amazement.
The second photo came out a little grainy. Optimus knelt near the foot of a rumpled bed, embracing eight-year-old Elita while she clung to him like a koala. They were cheek to cheek, both crying their eyes out.
Suddenly, the line where man and machine met looked a lot blurrier. Cade remembered something Optimus said back at the barn.
"I am capable of every emotion you are capable of. The sole difference between us is the makeup of our bodies."
A third text arrived.
Thank you for this gift.
That was it, nothing else. Cade tried sending a 'you're welcome' response, but the message wouldn't go through. Optimus must have used a temporary number just to send the texts.
He still needed to take the Seed away from Earth, which meant he would leave again. Despite that, he got one more day with his family. One more day to love and hold them.
Cade would've given anything to hug and kiss Emily again.
"You're welcome, Optimus," he whispered to no one in particular.
His thumb accidentally brought up another picture. Lucas sat at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant, gleefully stuffing breadsticks up his nose while Tessa laughed on the side.
"Heh, idiot." Cade started to dial his friend's number before remembering he was gone. Burned to a crisp by Lockdown's grenade.
Nothing about his life would be the same after this. Sometimes, he almost convinced himself he'd hallucinated the whole thing. At least until he looked around at the ritzy hotel that wasn't anything like home.
"Dad!" Tessa knocked on the door. "Shane and I are starving. Are you coming?"
"On my way now, sweetie!" Cade replied. He looked at Optimus' photos one more time. Then he highlighted the message deleted it. Just in case.
.o
Two weeks later, as Cade watched Tessa walk across the stage in her cap and gown on her school's football field, he wiped tears off his face and hoped Shane didn't notice.
"She made it, Emily," he said under his breath. "Can you see her? I did it. No, we did it. I love you."
The brand new high school graduates hurled their caps into the air. Technically not allowed, but it always happened anyway. Cheers erupted from the bleachers. Cade's two-fingered whistle drowned out everything around him.
Among the mass of teenagers, Tessa's golden blonde hair shimmered. He still remembered the moment the doctor placed her in his arms. She was so tiny, soft and perfect.
Cade opened his eyes and realized Tessa had become a woman. Yes, a woman to everyone else. She would always be his little girl. A piece of him and a piece of Emily wrapped inside a beautiful package created in love. Looking at her toe the line of adulthood, and knowing he helped her get there, made him feel honored to be her dad.
"Creating life is the greatest love in the universe, Cade."
"Sure is, Optimus," Cade whispered to himself. He gazed at the stars emerging through the red and orange sunset. "It sure is."
.o
.o
.o
"In my daughter's eyes, I can see the future.
A reflection of who I am and what will be.
An' though she'll grow and someday leave,
maybe raise a family,
when I'm gone I hope you see how happy she made me.
For I'll be there in my daughter's eyes."
-Martina McBride, "In My Daughter's Eyes"