BBPRIMEFAN101, who owns Lily, asked for this one. Here you go, Amiga! Enjoy! :)

Transformers belongs to Hasbro. I own nothing.

A/N: This story takes place in the Bayverse and before "Age Of Extinction".

Finding Comfort In Daddy's Arms

Lily loved a good dream, especially where it felt so real that she didn't want to wake up right away and there were occasions she'd ask her father if those instances happened, to which he'd usually say no, but that he was happy she had had a good dream.

She always hoped to have good dreams, but unfortunately, nightmares weren't too far away either and would snatch at the chance to invade someone's good dreams, as was the case now with Lily.

She found herself in the base and was looking around, noticing how the base seemed darker and glanced up to see most of the lights were either burned out or had broken. Now, she knew her uncle Ratchet wouldn't let the base's lightning burn out like that and when she came up to where Bumblebee's room was, she was shocked to find it completely empty, as if no one had ever been in there.

She checked the other rooms, but Bulkhead, Wheeljack, Smokescreen, and Arcee were gone and their quarters empty save for one, but it looked like a storage room with a lot of dust.

The small femme was wondering why the base looked like this and she continued walking to head to the other parts of the base. The Energon storage was almost empty and Lily now began to wonder something. "Did an attack occur?" She asked herself, seeing some containers of spilled Energon. After a search turned up only more spilled Energon and no answers for her, the youngling moved out of the room. "I better check the computers. The base cameras will give me an idea as to what happened and maybe where everyone is."

The base seemed even darker now as she headed down the hall, finally making it to the command center, but stopped short when she saw the mess it was in. Ratchet's med bay was practically torn apart with his equipment smashed. She then saw one of his wrenches and picked it up, finding rust on it, rust that had eaten away most of the wrench head. Knowing the medic would never let his tools rust nor leave them behind if he had to move his medbay, Lily began to think that this was the aftermath of an enemy attack and it seemed that everyone had been captured, but her father and the others could have easily taken down their enemies together.

Unless the enemy had taken the Autobots completely by surprise.

She now went over to the computers, which had taken a lot of damage too and were pretty much useless, save for a small monitor which was filled with static, but then began to clear a bit and the picture that came up showed that the base was empty, but still intact. Lily watched the picture carefully and then saw a very familiar hand appear on the screen and the picture faded out before going back to more static.

The youngling pondered the hand she had seen. "Why would Dad destroy the camera?" She asked herself.

Just then, a familiar hand slammed down on the screen she had been watching and she jumped as the hand smashed the monitor. "Daddy?" She asked.

She heard his heavy footsteps and saw him come out, but his usually bright red and blue colors were muted and dull and he had his giant sword in his hands. And his optics weren't the blue color Lily knew.

They were a dark purple, a purple that Ratchet had once told her was Dark Energon and she saw her father storm towards her. "Daddy, why do you have Dark Energon in you?" She asked.

He raised his sword in answer and Lily immediately took off, running as he chased after her. She then felt two hands on her shoulders as she collided with something and screamed, her optics closing as she fought the two hands that were now pinning her arms down and pulling her closer to someone.

"Lily, wake up," she heard as a familiar feeling washed over her. It took her only a moment to recognize that it was parental love and the voice was one she instantly knew.

"Daddy?" She asked.

More of her father's love flowed into her through the father-daughter bond. "Wake up, sweetspark," he said.

The young femme clung to her father's words and love as the nightmare began to lose its hold on her and she gasped as she snapped awake, finding herself in front of her father, who was kneeling down and holding her arms to her sides, but his hold now shifted to lift her up in his arms. "Lily?" Optimus asked.

She looked at him, seeing his eyes were blue and she stared harder before seeing him look very concerned. "Lily, who was chasing you?" He asked.

Lily swallowed and leaned her head on his shoulder, seeming hesitant, something that confused Optimus, who began rubbing her back and she sighed, fully relaxing and wrapping her arms around his neck. "You were chasing me, Daddy," she said softly. "But, you looked scary and your eyes were purple. The base was demolished and I couldn't find the others. You were…evil."

The last word made her shudder and tears filled her optics. Optimus, who had been quiet the whole time, picked up his daughter and held her comfortingly. "Daddy, would that…ever happen?" She asked.

"No, sweetspark," he said reassuringly. "That would never happen."

Lily felt gentle fingers tilt her chin up to look at him. "I'd never turn evil and I certainly wouldn't be chasing you with my sword drawn," he said.

She sniffled. "Um, did I run out here by chance?" She asked.

He nodded. "You ran out of your room screaming and put up quite a fight when I caught you," he said, seeing her now rest her head on his shoulder again and looking sadder. His fatherly instinct taking over to make her smile again, Optimus gently grabbed her legs with one arm and playfully turned her upside down, keeping a firm, gentle grip on her legs.

A squeal left the youngling as she hung upside down, but a smile did make its way to her faceplate. "Daddy," she groaned out half-seriously and went to pull herself up, which would have worked if her father hadn't decided to tickle her stomach.

Optimus chuckled as he heard his daughter giggle when he poked her stomach, his fingers skittering over to her sides to tickle them and Lily couldn't grab his hand because she was still upside down. "DADDY! HEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEE!" She giggled out.

Optimus then shifted her so that she was upright in his arms again, but then he playfully tossed her up into the air and caught her. Lily gasped, but then giggled when her father gently tossed her straight up again and caught her, one hand now tickling her neck, making her squeak cutely, more giggles coming out before he stopped and she grinned. "That was fun, Daddy," she said.

He chuckled. "I can tell, because you're smiling," he said. "Now, it's a bit early in the morning."

Lily yawned a little. "How early?" She asked.

"Five o'clock in the morning," Optimus answered. "I was headed to get started on paperwork."

Even though she was still sleepy, Lily gave him a pleading look. "Can I help you with it?" She asked.

Although he had a feeling she'd fall asleep again, he nodded and carried her to his office, but as he had known, she fell asleep, clinging to him. Ratchet came in about half-an-hour later and was about to speak, but then paused when he saw Lily was sound asleep while Optimus was working. "Sir, Major Lennox is here, but I can tell him you're occupied at the moment," he said, keeping his voice down.

"Please do, Ratchet," said Optimus. "I hope he'll understand."

Ratchet smiled. "The Major has a daughter too. I'm sure he'll more than understand," he said, politely excusing himself as he carefully shut the door behind him. Lily, however, woke up and yawned.

"Was that Uncle Ratchet?" She asked.

Optimus chuckled. "Yes," he said. "You can go back to sleep."

The youngling snuggled into her father's arms. "Daddy? Promise?" She asked.

He instantly knew what she meant. "I promise, sweetspark," he said.

Lily fell asleep again, finding comfort in both her father's promise and his arms.

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GoldGuardian2418