Transformers Prime: Never Let You Go Ch. 2

Back in the base, Optimus was walking back from working on something in the other room, he walked into the med-bay to see Ratchet working. the children were gone with the others, but his main concern was...Arcee. "Ratchet, where are the others?" he asked his old friend, "Bulkhead and Bumblebee took the children home," he answered, not taking eyes off his work. But Optimus still didn't see Arcee, nor Smokescreen; "Where is Arcee?" he asked with concerns, Ratchet then looked up confused as to, why Optimus would ask that question like that.

"She and Smokescreen are on patrol right now," Ratchet answered returning to his work, "Why do you want to know?" he asked. "Something has been troubling her," Optimus said; he was starting to believe that Arcee was having a serious problem, which she's not telling.

"What do you mean by that?" asked his old friend, he suddenly got interested in this situation. Ratchet knew that if Optimus had a problem, he would be willing to help old friend, especially in this situation. Because, Ratchet had this problem before.

"It's just, ever since she returned to the base; she did not seem to be acting like she always is. She was acting...strangely, as if there was something that she was hiding, that she would not tell me what it was, I could see it in her."

That was all Optimus had on his mind, the thought of Arcee's well being, he had always cared about her, the same way he cares for all of his teammates. "Are you sure it's everyone she's hiding her problems from, or is it just you...she's hiding from?" Ratchet asked, interrupting Optimus' thoughts. "I...do not know, but she did seem to be...nervous around me." Ratchet didn't know anything else to say but, "Well then, I suggest that you ask her, when she gets back," that was last thing the medic had to say to his leader. Optimus knew that he was right, if he was going to find out what was wrong with Arcee, he was gonna have to confront her.

"You are correct, old friend," he said, and then out of nowhere a car horn went off; he hoped that it was Arcee and Smokescreen returning from patrol, but it turned out to be Bulkhead and Bumblebee returning from dropping off the humans. "Well, that was fun!" Bumblebee beeped, "Hen yeah! We should do that again," Bulkhead replied in a playful tone. "Where have you two been?" the medic asked, "You were gone longer than you, said you would be," Ratchet said in his grouchy tone, to the others, it never gets old. "We road through this amazing hill, that we saw while dropping off the kids," Bulkhead answered.

The hours moved on and it was now evening at the Autobot base, Arcee and Smokescreen returned from their patrol, not saying anything...well Arcee at least. Arcee was quiet when she returned to the base, not saying a word; and of course Ratchet got on to them, but Smokescreen did all the explaining while Arcee just walked away from everyone.

Optimus waited for for everyone to settle down, so that he could finally ask Arcee, why she was acting nervous around him, and find out what was bothering her. Arcee was standing in the med-bay still trying to think of a way to tell Optimus, about how much he means to her, and how much she cares about him. "Arcee," Optimus called out while walking towards her, she jumped of him calling her name, but soon calmed down. "What is it, Optimus?" she asked, "Something has been troubling you," he said with concerns. Arcee thought to herself: Scrap!...He knows, and decided that it was now or never, she took a deep breath getting ready to tell him. "Optimus," she finally spoke a little soft, causing him to lean down a little. "There's something...I need to tell you, something important."

"What is it?" Optimus asked with concerns as he bent down on his knees and placed his left hand on her left shoulder, waiting for her to answer.

"Optimus I..." Arcee said, trying to tell him that she loves him, but was cut off by the system alarm. Everyone in the base turned their attention toward the monitor, "Our scanners have detected exposed Energon," Ratchet informed everyone; Optimus took his hand off of Arcee, stood up and walked towards the others four bots. "With our reserves growing at an all time low, we cannot afford not to investigate," he said, this was the perfect opportunity to gather more Energon.

"Ratchet set the ground-bridge, Autobots prepare to roll out!" Optimus ordered Ratchet punched in the coordinates and activated the ground-bridge; all of the other Autobots drove into the vortex.