Inspired by Prime Father Material by NitroStation. I didn't read a lot, but I'll go back and read if I get stuck. I do think Airachnid and I think Optimus could get through to her. x3 He won't give up on anyone.

Optimus thought all life was beautiful. That was what made Cybertron like Earth: It was beautiful. The deer, the fawns, the moose, the bats, the cats, the wolves that howled in this forest, the butterflies that were attracted to the red and blue Prime...even the spiders that wove their delicate webs in the trees. He stopped to watch one spider in particular while it spun its web. When a fly flew into the sticky strands, the spider ran to it and wound more of the delicate white threads around it before the fly slowly stopped moving.

"Shame," he whispered. Not being a spider, he didn't quite understand the reason to hurt another living thing. He drank Energon, after all. Energon wasn't alive.

His extended patrols while the other Autobots partied always wound up like this: long walks through a forest like this one.

Only, they didn't include a spider-con stalking him through the forest.

Optimus didn't hear her coming. One moment she wasn't there, and then he was breathing in grass.

"What is a pretty mech like you doing out here all alone? Huh?"

"Airachnid..." He groaned and he squirmed, trying to push her off, but she had his servos tied by his wrists. She flipped him over and webbed them to the ground above his helm. "Release me..."

"No," she smiled. She settled over him, looking down at his chest at his windshields. They were scratched up and cloudy with bugs and Megatron, the gifts he left behind with his claws and pedes. Then she looked at his face.

He looked into her optics and saw sadness. He laid back, knowing she wasn't going to hurt him. She wasn't like that, not at this moment. "If you are not going to release me, you might as well tell me why you have me here."

She lowered her optics again, scratching at the paint. "Believe it or not, I'm still Cybertronian and I do crave socialization from time to time."

"And you feed that urge by webbing your victims to the ground?"

She blinked at him, and she did something Optimus never thought he'd see. Her face crumpled and tears welled up in her optics. She cut him free and was about to run away, but Optimus caught her by the wrist.

"Let go of me!"

"No. Stay here," he whispered. While she struggled, he pulled her to her knees and he settled in front of her. "Stay...I will not hurt you."

She wiped her cheeks with the backs of her servos, looking at him with dim optics. Optimus wondered who she was before she became...Airachnid, killer of all and stone-cold. Was she tender and gentle before? But what changed her and why?

Optimus touched her chin, pulling it up gently with a digit tip. "Shhhh..."

She blinked sadly up at him, then pulled her face out of his grip. "Let me go," she whispered.

"Tell me why you are out of character?"

She pulled away to climb up a tree and she laid down on a branch, out of sight. Optimus sat under the tree as she spoke, telling him about how she was once a beautiful femme before Shockwave offered her a place to stay. He experimented on her, forced her to become what she was. She was put in freakshows, forced to spread her legs for any mech who paid enough credits. When the war started, she saw many of the mechs that used her on the Autobot side, so she went to the Decepticons.

Optimus climbed up the tree and pulled her into a hug. He rubbed her helm, stroked her back. She smiled and rubbed against him, curling up into his arms. He nuzzled her and set her down on the ground.

"You will be okay. You are a strong femmes. Strong femmes survive." He kissed between her optics.

Airachnid grabbed his servo before he could walk away. "Are you coming back?"

"If you would like it, I will return to this spot tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that..."

She smiled, watching him as he backed up, saying the day after that repeatedly until he tripped and fell into a pond. She rushed to his aid, giggling and pulling a lilypad off his helm. Her optics lowered and she smiled. "You are a dork."

"Only when I am helm over heels in love." He smiled and pulled her into his arms, guiding her helm towards his so he could kiss her lips. "Come here tomorrow..." He kissed her again, sitting her on his hips.

"I will," she whispered, holding onto his sides for balance as she purred. She giggled and let him sit up and cradle her to his chest. "I love you," she whispered.

He smiled and kissed her audio. "I love you too."