Disclaimer: I own nothing; absolutely nothing that has to do with Transformers at all. The kids won't even let me play with their toys . . .

A/N: This is not my first fanfiction, though it is my first Transformers. I hope this passes muster. Also, if you flame me, I will shrug, file it and incidentally you, under the rock where most slugs go and then proceed to forget all about you.

Complete and Total Fantasy

Transformers

Copies to Break the Silence

By RoseOSharon

Optimus Prime sat in what had been re-dedicated as his 'office', and watched as people and Autobots soberly and he would even say 'disheartened', mingled and went about whatever business they had at the time.

It had been barely three months since the destruction of Chicago and what he hoped had been the final defeat of the Decepticons, and the toll and strain it had taken on his troops – and yes, he did include the humans in that word – was more than clear.

Sam's parents had joined them back at the base as soon as they could (fortunately, they had never made it to Chicago, ironically enough their destination had they not broken down in Virginia) and neither had felt any inclination to leave, nor had anyone tried to eject them . . . not even when their big RV seemed to take up permanent residence in the Autobots housing bay. However, even though they were with their son, Optimus knew, simply by observing them, that something had changed. Some kind of dynamic that had been essential to their family, was damaged, and Optimus knew what it was.

The last battle had not been easy on Sam, even though they'd won, as evidenced by the slump of his shoulders and downcast eyes. He barely ever smiled, not even when Carly was by his side.

When they had returned to base after Chicago, a surprise, in the form of Mikeala Banes, the second civilian Human ever to have stood up to a Decepticon in battle, but who had decided to take care of her father and let Sam go for reasons only she knew, had gone to the base as soon as she'd heard about Chicago, and was waiting for them all to arrive.

It was truly an awkward moment, with Sam's holding onto Carly's hand, and for a moment, it was silent as three pairs of Human eyes searched the other. Sam could have railed at Mikeala for her desertion, as he had before he met Carly, to anyone who would listen. However, Sam was exhausted, exhausted and so very, very sad, that he did nothing more than gaze at the still beautiful woman who had been his first Spark. There had been no words exchanged by any of them and for a moment no one moved or breathed. Suddenly, Mikeala smiled gently, curled one arm around Sam and the other around Carly. To everyone's surprise, a three-way hug born of sorrow, fear and a mutual understanding of trauma and devastation was shared, and that, essentially was that.

Without checking with any kind of government official, Mikaela was given a place to stay, and resumed her Autobot repair tutoring under Ratchet as if she had never left.

Optimus' eyes moved over to the next knot of Humans, and if he had been inclined, would have sighed. Will Lennox had once more been promoted, but there was no excitement or happiness in his bearing or even his acceptance of his new position, and Optimus' spark constricted in his chest cavity.

He knew why Will had been so devastated, and looked down at his desk. The loss of Ironhide, his second and one of his longest companions; a warrior through and through, had died at the hands of Sentinel Prime; a man he himself had learned under and had respected and admired. Ironhide had chosen Will to be his companion, and had been his guardian no less than Bumblebee was Sam's, and though everyone knew that soldiers died in battle, accepted it even, that didn't make the passing any less painful.

Optimus continued to watch as Robert Epps, who had been reinstated and at first unofficially, then officially, as Optimus had doggedly pushed the paperwork through, into NEST, walked up to Will and silently patted the man on the shoulders. Silently, Lennox nodded to him and continued with his work and silently Epps walked on to carry out his assignment.

Silent.

Optimus was beginning to hate that word and all variations of it. One thing the Humans weren't had been silent. No matter what had happened; no matter how bad things had gotten, it was understood that Humans just were not silent. They yelled when they were angry, they laughed when they were happy, they screamed in the face of death, they spoke when content, they whispered when plotting and being mischievous, and they did all of the above when they were in love.

Now, where once had been camaraderie and all that accompanied it, including pranks and fights, there was silence and had been ever since they had gotten back. No matter how much time passed or who came to visit, the damnable – as the Humans would say – silence continued.

Optimus leaned back and looked down at his desk where any number of vehicles; copies of Autobots and even some Decepticons – those who lived and those who died, sat on his desk . . . they were large copies, and he frowned as he thought about the last visitor he had wanted to, quite literally, throw out, and preferably through the glass that could be darkened or lightened depending on whether he actually wanted any privacy, surrounded his office. Briefly his optics gazed at the glass, currently clear so he would be able to keep an eyes on his 'charges' and to be available if any of them needed him, then dropped back to the desk and the hated copies.

With the knowledge about the Cybertronians presence on Earth out, it had been inevitable that people would want to meet them, and he agreed to see whoever sought an audience with him in the name of 'PR' as Lennox had sniped. Which was how he found himself with a desk full of over-sized but lifeless Cybertronian representations.

The man who had left them on his desk had been a representative of some company or other who made 'toys'. Toys were what the sparklings of Earth played with and it apparently brought them joy. The man had brought a whole set of these 'toys' whose designs were based on the Cybertronians, and it really lubricated Optimus off. This man wanted him to okay the designs and manufacture of playthings that he had said would make everyone 'a huge 'effing fortune'. The representative had assured Optimus, that even though the copies he held were large, he had assured the larger Mech that much smaller ones would be mass produced for Human-sized hands. The bigger ones were for Optimus' inspection and approval.

Clearly, the greedy Human held no respect for the devastation Optimus' fellow Autobots had been through, or even the sufferings that his own fellow Humans had endured. and Optimus was quite sure that no one on Earth, especially not after the truth about Mission City, Shanghai, Egypt, and now Chicago, as well as some that hadn't even 'made the papers' so to speak had come out, would want their Sparklings to derive any kind of joy from the Cybertronian copies.

Optimus shook his head at the sheer numbers of dead and frowned at the numbers that continued to be updated to his processor, sometimes by the minute. So many Humans had died in each encounter that there was no way to even begin to accurately count the dead . . . the dead who even as Chicago was still in the process of being cleaned up, were still being found . . . or more accurately, parts of them . . . the ones who hadn't been disintegrated on the spot at least.

He looked down, almost hatefully at the 'toy' that represented him, which from a small part of his spark he was forced to admit did look like him in his alt form. Gingerly, he touched the gleaming metal and plastic and to his surprise, the large truck rolled quite easily. Experimentally, he pushed it back and forth.

The man had said that the trailer would come off, and Optimus frowned, or as much as his face could frown, and tried to pry the front of the semi off. He had no luck and he finally turned it over, only to discover that he had to push one way and pull. As he pulled, the back doors fell open, and any number of weapons fell out . . . some he knew, but some he didn't recognize at all, and wondered what the frag he was supposed to do with them.

What he didn't notice was that Sam, who had seen Carly from across the room and started to go over to her, suddenly stopped and stared at what Optimus was doing. The still young man rubbed a hand over his exhausted face and rubbed his eyes, sure he wasn't seeing what he thought he was seeing. However, when the vision didn't change, he frantically waved for his girlfriend to go to him. Confused, Carly did as he had indicated, and as she reached out for his hand, Sam pointed toward Optimus. She looked, and her eyes went round. A minute later, Carly had her phone out, took a photo, and sent out a text.

One by one, disbelief on all their faces, Mikaela, Judy and Ron, Will and Epps joined Sam and Carly, and they stared at Optimus who, completely unaware of his audience, continued to frown and pull at the toy.

And for a brief moment, Sam's lips twitched.