And now, for the sequel to "When In Doubt". The outline for this story has fought me tooth and nail, but I've finally managed to get this underway.

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers. I only own my OCs and medical procedures. Any and all people in this work of fiction are figments of my over-active imagination. Any resemblance to any real person, living or dead, is unintentional and unfortunate.

Now, in the order that I borrowed: Dancers and their trade belong to Okami-Chan, while the idea of femme-in-hiding was borrowed from P.A.W.07. Litahatchee owns the concept of carrying. And finally, LittleMewLugia is the owner of the sub-adult stage of development.

Here's a giant thank-you to my friends over on DeviantArt for encouraging me to write this. :)

Personal Journal: Optimus Prime

Stardate: 13764.45

Purpose: Update

It has only been twenty five orns since I have last put my thoughts into words, but it feels as though it has been a dozen vorns. Things have changed faster now than when I became Prime those eons ago, so I must start at the very beginning in order for things to make sense.

After the trial, it felt like things around had settled down to a degree, but I should have known better than to think that things were going to run smoothly. How wrong I was! Nightshade and Light Streak both fell ill about an orn after the trial, and for a few hours, we thought we were going to lose little Streak once more. Moonracer had the brilliant idea to set up a semi-permanent link between Nightshade and Streak – they had to wait for a few more orns before they could remove the sparkling from her hold again, but the constant flow of energon and minerals between mother and child saved his life. He is now relatively healthy and entirely happy. Nightshade calls him her "Little Leech Monster" because of his constant need for energon and minerals. He seems to have inherited his father's voracious appetite. I must admit I am very curious now – what else has Streak inherited from his father? Perhaps his charm. Though Streak is very uncomfortable around strange mechs, the little one will not hesitate to charm his way into a femme's arms if his mother is unavailable.

Nightshade has recovered almost fully. I think there may be trouble in paradise, however. She and Ratchet are fighting, even though they try to hide it from us. Elita and I still discovering things about one another, even though we have been bonded for millennia. They are sure to have a difficult time adjusting to sharing one spark between them. I have attempted to speak to Ratchet on the mechanics of a bond – imagine that! Me, Optimus Prime, lecturing the fabled Ratchet in the ways of love! – and he seems to understand the difficulties of having a bondmate. Nightshade needs more time. All I can say is that I hope that Ratchet has the patience to guide Nightshade through this – after all, she was still adjusting to life as his mate when she conceived little Streak. It will be difficult for her to learn to be both a mate and mother at the same time.

Ironhide and Chromia still haven't announced their news to the base. They always were the best at procrastinating. I believe they are planning to do it soon. Chromia will reach the 35 orn in six orns, and then it will be safe for Ratchet to deliver the sparkling. We are all very excited at the birth of a second sparkling, even if the little one is - as Chromia said - using the inside of her carrying tank as a 'demolition field'. As for presenting the news to the rest of the base, Chromia had the idea to have the sparkling and show it off when it was born, but Ironhide disapproved. He claimed that everyone else would 'keel over from spark-attack' if they did. I am not certain what Ironhide meant by 'spark-attack', though I assume it may be a play on the human term 'heart attack'. Ironhide is even more excited about the sparkling than Chromia is. I would have never guessed that Ironhide would want to be a father, especially with what happened to his creators. All I will say is that any sparkling under his care will be well cared for and protected. Ratchet has often expressed his amusement at how well Ironhide and Light Streak get along.

We also learned some very good news of Ember and Evergreen – their sparks are maturing much faster than that of a sparkling created by a pair of Cybertronians. They will be ready for their subadult frames within the decade. Primus, they are maturing so quickly. That also brings up the issue of finding the girls a permanent home, where they can be raised by a mother and a father, but I won't think of that quite yet. The girls love all of their caretakers, so I am not certain which set of mates will step forward to adopt them.

Speaking of adoption, Elita and I are thinking of adopting. Elita has given up so much of her past life in order to remain my bondmate, including her desire to create life. Now that we are ushering in a new peaceful era, she wants to give me what the Council demanded from her those eons ago. I know she is disappointed that we will not be able to create a sparkling, but she knows that our duties come before our desires. I feel shame in my spark for asking her to start a family with me and then taking that option from her, but we do not have the time to carry and rear a sparkling from birth. So, we have asked Nightshade and Epsilon to help us with the adoption process. Both femmes are ecstatic to know that Elita is finally going to have her chance to be a mother. Nightshade has administered a compatibility test to figure out which youngling will best be able to acclimate to life as our child. I must keep a stopper on my hopes, however. Not all of the younglings are mature enough to begin training as diplomat, warrior, and leader immediately upon their upgrade into sub-adults.

All of the little younglings are progressing so quickly. It feels like we were teaching them their letters and numbers only hours ago. Ratchet has three apprentices-in-training in the nursery. Rose, Dahlia, and Roadliner all wish to become medics. Rose already knows that she wants to specialize in sparkling-care, while Dahlia and Roadliner want to be surgeons. It is spark warming to walk into the medical bay and see Ratchet teaching once more. It has been far too long since he has taken in apprentices. Wheeljack has two younglings to look after in the lab, so I hope that their presences will cut down on the number of accidental explosions.

Wait a breem. I will recant my statement – I hope their presences will cut down on ALL explosions, both accidental AND intentional.

Red Alert and Barricade are training one little femme to help with security. Chromia, Ironhide, Firestar, and Bumblebee are training ten of the remaining younglings to be warriors first in their programming. My spark still clenches when I think of our vulnerable younglings learning to fight, but we are all warriors on this base. We must all learn to fight, and those little ones will be the ones to protect our newest additions. Jazz, Prowl, and Blaster each have a youngling learning their trade. I wish the little mech following Prowl the best of luck. Prowl's lectures and reports always were the most detailed, for lack of better (and polite) terminology.

The last three wish to work as administrators, so there are a number of mechs and femmes training them. We are all still waiting for Ember and Evergreen to select a profession, though I suspect that they wish to become dancers like Nightshade. Even if she did agree to take them on, she wouldn't have time to train them properly. She would have to stop working in the nursery or in the medical bay, and I know Nightshade well enough to say that she would never willingly quit either job. Ratchet had enough trouble accepting that Nightshade wanted to work full time after they bonded, so he (as Jazz so eloquently stated) "had kittens" when Nightshade put herself back on the work roster after recovering from Streak's birth. I wonder how he will react when he finds out that Nightshade is going to help tutor the girls on Saturday mornings.

I still must give my blessings to Wheeljack and Firestar for finally consummating their bond, though I would have preferred them to actually court before leaping into a bond. They will have a rough time ahead of them. Most normal Cybertronians court for vorns before bonding, even if they are spark-mates. Though, I should not be surprised. I have known them both long enough to know that neither Wheeljack nor Firestar ever did do anything by halves. They simply are the best at surprising us all.

I am slightly fearful, however. Any sparkling created by that pair would have an inclination for causing mayhem and explosions.

Mirage and Moonracer, for some strange reason, cannot consummate their bond. We have checked and rechecked their spark measurements. They are exact matches to one another, but their bonding protocols will not start. I have Ratchet and Wheeljack working on their little dilemma in their spare time. I would love nothing more for Moonracer and Mirage to bond. She seems to be the only one capable of keeping his arrogance and temper in check.

Reelections for the Presidential candidacy are in two mere stellar cycles. Our presence still has not been reported to the people of the world, but there have been reports of 'giant alien robots shooting statues' in nearby recreation areas. I might have to raise my concerns with Ironhide and Chromia. Rule Number 773 states that 'all Cybertronians must keep amorous activities to the confinement of the base'. I still am finding it difficult to block all memory files from the gathering in July. I only hope that William Lennox has been able to purge his memory of that event.

We are scheduled to meet in Brussels sometime within the next year in order to reveal ourselves to the NATO Permanent Representatives. After that, we will finish in Rome to meet with the Russian and English Prime ministers. We will be discussing our state of sovereignty within the United States. I do not know how the current President will take our intents, but I do not wish to break ties over a misunderstanding. I will have to tread very carefully in order to keep the President on our side until reelections.

I am considering a move to Mars where we will be able to populate the entire planet without repercussions, but I fear backlash from the various other governments. For now, I will remain silent. Perhaps in a vorn or two, I will be able to broach the subject with the future leader. I may decide to mask my efforts as a scientific exploration. The humans have wanted to visit Mars to collect samples, so we might be able to send a scouting team along with them.

I loathe the idea of subterfuge, but I must keep my people safe.

I must go. The younglings are here on their daily visit to alleviate my 'boredom' in dealing with 'icky paperwork and boring talks', as Starlight calls it.

Optimus Prime out.

All information regarding NATO can be found on the actualy NATO website and Wikipedia.

This is also crossposted to my DeviantArt page. :)