Stories Tell Us

Part III: A Posteriori

.o

.o

Nobody said a word when the Autobot ship came into view. Mikaela kissed the top of Elita's head. Elita kept her face hidden, so she didn't see Crosshairs salute or Hound take his helmet off and hold it against his chest during their journey up the ramp.

Mikaela fumed at seeing them behave as if Optimus died, but she didn't have time to call them out for it.

Drift transformed and utilized an elevator in the floor that Mikaela hadn't noticed before. The platform hissed and descended into a medical bay. He padded through a narrow doorway and opted to lay the stretcher on the floor rather than wrangle Optimus onto the exam table by the wall.

Matte gray finish coated every surface except the ceiling in the 'small' side room. Recessed light strips illuminated the space in a way that warded off shadows without creating glare. The floor plates had non-skid surfaces that looked like metal stucco.

Medical accoutrements were scattered about. Some protruded off the walls. The items stored on the shelves and in cubicles reminded her of larger, more threatening versions of auto repair shop tools.

Bumblebee achieved robot mode after letting Elita, Mikaela and Cade out. Ultra Magnus transformed last. He lingered at the door with Hound and Crosshairs while Drift knelt beside the stretcher.

An oscilloscope on the wall switched online. Mikaela wasn't super keen on reading them, but she knew a high frequency when she saw one.

"I am going to induce a processor reboot. Shutting his processor down will end the flashback cycle. He may awaken in a panic state, so be prepared."

Drift snatched a pair of round, black paddles off the wall next to the oscilloscope. He placed them over Optimus' audio covers. Optimus went limp within seconds. His darkened optics slid shut and his pained expression became peaceful. The oscilloscope screen slowed to a straight line.

Elita sat next to Optimus' head.

"I love you, dad," she murmured, "Please be okay."

Mikaela placed her tiny palm on his huge one. It was still warm from touching his face. "How long will this take?"

"A few moments," said Drift. He returned the paddles to their place on the wall.

The line on the oscilloscope showed a wave growing in frequency and amplitude. Steam billowed from Optimus' vents. Elita jumped back to escape the heat. Mikaela brought her along when she joined Cade at Ultra Magnus' feet.

Optimus grimaced and tried to twist onto his hands and knees. Tremors- more like convulsions- collapsed him on his side with his back towards the door. Mikaela's heart ached for him.

"Mikaela!" His voice was high and thin. "Elita!"

"It's okay," she called back, horrified. "I'm fine!"

"Me, too!" Elita added. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve, sniffing. "We're okay, dad! We're back on the ship!"

Thick steam escaped his vents in short, irregular bursts and condensed on his armor. He struggled on the ground as if he forgot how to coordinate his body. Any attempts at movement triggered more tremors.

"Honey, it's okay." Mikaela spoke past the lump in her throat. She longed to rush over and comfort him, but couldn't because he kept thrashing around.

Cade ruffled the hair on the back of his neck. "C'mon, Optimus, it's us. You're good. We're all here."

"Don't bother," muttered Hound, "I saw this in the old data reels. He can't hear us. His processor is all fragged up."

"This sucks," Crosshairs whispered back.

"Clamp it, you two!" Bumblebee snapped.

"We should grant him his priv-"

"You, too!" Bumblebee cut Ultra Magnus off by jabbing a finger at his surprised face. "And I don't want to hear a single one of you say anything unless it will help the situation. That is our leader, my friend, going through this! He needs our support!"

He spun away in a huff and joined Drift. "How can I assist?"

"He needs to sit up," said Drift. He scowled at the others, "Contrary to what you have heard, Prime is fully aware of what is happening around him."

To Optimus, he murmured, "Sensei, we will aid you in sitting up. You are safe."

Drift and Bumblebee hooked their hands behind Optimus' back and heaved him into a sitting position. Bumblebee cradled him from behind. Attaining a seated position simultaneously allowed steam to escape freely and intensified the writhing.

Optimus pressed a quivering hand over his face when he noticed Elita, Mikaela and the other Autobots witnessing his loss of control.

"Prime." Drift knelt in front of him. "Do not concern yourself with them. Your mind is in chaos, and only you are able to calm it. Focus inward. Envision an ocean. It is storming. The water is chaotic."

Choppy, frothy ocean. Not a nice image for Mikaela, but she kept her mouth shut.

"Chaotic seas," Optimus muffled behind his palm.

Concern softened Drift's expression. He extended his hand palm-up. "I offer you my hand. Anchor yourself. Then face the ocean."

Optimus' right arm moved, reaching. Drift caught his hand.

"You control the ocean, Prime. Calm the water. The water is your mind. Picture it growing as still as a mirror's surface. Calm, Prime. Speak it into existence. Calm... calm..."

"Calm... calm..." Optimus clutched Drift's hand like a drowning man clinging to a rescuer. "Calm..."

The steam thinned, the shaking diminished and the oscilloscope on the wall slowed. He relaxed against Bumblebee, yet his brow ridges tilted in a frown.

Drift clasped Optimus' hand between his own and set it gently in his lap. The tremors ceased as soon as he backed away. Bumblebee also withdrew. Optimus stayed sitting up under his own power. He stared at his own hands, his expression inscrutable.

Mikaela's jaw dropped. Optimus' panic attacks usually lasted up to ten minutes or more, and Drift walked him through it in five!

Crosshairs and Ultra Magnus joined hands. They exchanged nervous smiles.

Hound stuffed his helmet back onto his head. "That's unexpected."

Bumblebee rolled his optics and threw his hands up in the air in dramatic exasperation.

Optimus folded his hands on his lap. Steam rushed through his nose vents. A long, healthy ex-vent. He hung his head before the steam finished dissipating, causing it to curve past his face.

"I killed him."

"He was going to shoot Elita," said Mikaela. She couldn't drum up any sympathy for a man who played the victim and tried to murder her daughter in cold blood.

"Optimus..." Cade cleared his throat and raised a hand to get Optimus' attention. "Not to butt in or anything, but from one dad to another, you did what you had to do to save your kid's life." He dropped his hand at his side, "What about shooting Harold Attinger? You didn't get upset about taking him out."

Optimus briefly closed one optic and rubbed the side of his head. "I was in full control of myself when I shot Attinger to save you. He was behind the deaths of many of my Autobots. I felt justified in what I did."

He moved his hand off his head to gesture vaguely upward. "What happened today was, as you call it, a 'knee-jerk' reaction. I stepped between my family and Max to shield them from the bullets. My weapons systems forced themselves online, and I fired my blaster before I shut them down again. I wasn't looking at Max, nor did I aim for him. His position was circumstantial and lethally unfortunate. I could have easily subdued him without further violence."

Elita scrambled into his lap and climbed towards his chest plates. "That's twice now that he took your choice away, dad."

"Oh, sweet-Spark," Optimus murmured. He clasped her against his chest with both hands like he never wanted to let her go again.

Cold realization shot up Mikaela's spine.

"Max knew we're connected. He knew you're Elita's dad." She hugged herself to rub away the goosebumps forming on her arms. "People assumed to be in cahoots with Cybertronians started disappearing after Chicago. Going into hiding like Cade and Sam was the only way to avoid it. I don't know how high Max's security clearance was, but I betcha he intended to make our lives hell after your little chat."

Dissonance raged in her mind. Part of her wanted to cheer at Optimus for shooting the bastard who tore his life apart. At the same time, she knew having a family meant he sympathized with the loss he incurred for Sherry and Tyson.

Cade scratched his jaw, his fingernails scraping audibly over his stubble. He leaned back and stuck his hands in his pockets. "Didn't people connected to the moon landings disappear, too?"

"That was a Decepticon conspiracy to keep the Pillars a secret. The only humans involved were the ones killed," said Optimus. "It wasn't humans seeking to destroy other humans."

"Tch, humans suck!" Crosshairs snapped contemptuously.

"No contest there," Hound huffed.

"Excuse you!" Elita shot over her shoulder.

"What?" Crosshairs spoke around the metal toothpick in his mouth. "It's the truth. You lot are the exceptions that don't suck."

Cade twisted his mouth to the side. "I'm...kinda inclined to agree on that one."

Everybody fell silent when Optimus raised one hand, such was the power of his leadership. His tired voice filled the room, "This is neither the time nor the place to argue."

He turned his head, his gaze briefly fixing on Ultra Magnus, Crosshairs and Hound by the door. His optics traced over Drift and Bumblebee. He studied each person present in turn and shifted his grip on Elita.

"Down you go, sweet-Spark. Ready?"

She let go of his chest plate and sat back on his palm. "Okay."

Optimus transferred her to the floor with utmost gentleness. He shifted upward to perch on the medical berth.

"If you don't mind...I need to be alone for awhile." His optics fixed briefly on Elita. "There is a lot for me to consider."

"Are you certain of your safety?" asked Drift.

"Your concern is appreciated, but unnecessary. I have no intention to harm myself."

Bumblebee rested a hand on Optimus' shoulder. "We're a com-call away."

Ultra Magnus cocked his head in silent agreement. Hound gave a thumbs up. Crosshairs nodded.

"Thank you." Optimus bowed his head.

Cade offered a salute before following Bumblebee and Ultra Magnus out. Hound and Crosshairs departed with hardly a sound. Drift was the last bot to leave the room. Optimus watched the door until everybody's shadows disappeared from view.

Elita patted the top of his foot. He flexed it in response.

"Elita, I heard everything you said to my Autobots yesterday."

It took Elita a moment to recall it. Realization stiffened her shoulders. "Um...are you mad about that?"

"No. I'm proud of you." A small, but prominent smile squinted his optics. "You 'Primed', kid. You talked. They listened."

Elita turned away from Optimus and hugged herself. "They were being jerks. I had to say something."

He nudged her gently with his foot. "I'm glad you did."

She looked up at him, her face warming like a wilted rose regaining its color. "Thanks, dad."

Then she turned and jogged away in the same direction everybody else went.

Mikaela vaulted onto the stretcher Optimus used as a footrest. His expression had already melted back to tired apathy. As always, he masked his inner turmoil behind a brave face. Unfortunately, everyone got more than a glimpse beneath the curtain.

"Honey, it's going to be okay," said Mikaela. "Things have a way of working out."

"Yes...you told me as much. Please forgive me for my inability to see that right now."

Optimus leaned forward with his forearms resting on his thighs and clasped his hands between his knees. He wore the same agonized expression as her prom night, only now it ran deeper.

Love wasn't going to stitch this wound back together, but she hoped it soothed the pain.

Walking away felt like abandonment. Mikaela made herself approach the door.

"Mikaela?"

"Hm?" Facing him, she raised a brow.

"I love you." He stared at the floor while he said it, yet his voice held a sincerity that tugged her heart. Those three words remained an undying truth regardless of the lies and chaos happening in his mind.

"I love you, too, Optimus Prime." Her quiet response pointed to who he was and how much she believed in him.

Optimus turned his head. They locked eyes, and she knew right away that her words illuminated the way back to himself. His journey traversed a long and winding path. She couldn't walk for him, so she placed herself at the end of it.

He offered a small nod. Message received.

And that's marriage, Mikaela thought to herself.

She joined the others on the elevator platform.

"This sucks," Hound groused around his cy-gar. "Optimus is goin' crazy."

"Hey!" Elita kicked his foot, which had no effect on the heavy-duty Autobot.

"Don't break your toes, kid."

"How about I break your optic?"

Hound laughed and knelt within her reach. "I'd like to see you tr-"

Elita scowled and punched him square in the optic before Mikaela could stop her. The LEDs flickered. He straightened with that optic screwed shut.

"She knocked my optic loose!" Hound nudged her gently with his foot. He opened the optic she punched and winked it a few times. "Heh, heh, I like you, kid."

"It's not funny!" snapped Elita.

Crosshairs' features rose in a smirk. "It's funny when a pint-sized squishy takes a piece outta Hound."

Bumblebee rolled his optics. "And here, I thought I was considered the immature one."

"Ugh." Ultra Magnus stared upward and slapped both palms over his face.

"The arrogance of youth is thinking emotion is in our control and not the other way around," Drift lifted his chin, "Let them fight."

Elita backed away from the growing scuffle, grumbling, "Drift, you're quoting Godzilla."

"God-who?" asked Drift.

Mikaela rubbed her temples. "Drift, you're opening Pandora's Box by asking that question. She's a friggin' super-fan."

He waved her off and cocked his head towards Elita. "By all means, educate me."

The elevator rose towards the level above. One side had arguing Autobots, the other was Elita telling a very fascinated Drift the entire history of the Godzilla franchise. Poor Cade stood in the middle of it all with an expression morphing between fascination and horror.

.o

Repeated clanks woke Mikaela after who knew how long. She sleepily picked her head up and sought the source. Drift bent to peer into the crate being used as a bedroom.

"My apologies for disturbing your recharge. Optimus has called a meeting and requests everyone's presence."

"Sure. Gimme a sec."

Mikaela popped a mint Lifesaver into her mouth and ran a brush through her messy hair to tame it. She slept in her clothes. There was no helping her sleep-wrinkled hoodie.

"Okay, good to go."

Drift scooped her up like a kitten. His hands were several inches narrower than Optimus', so she sat cross-legged on his palm for more stability. Funny, being carried by giant robots didn't feel the least bit weird to her anymore.

He walked smoothly, never jostling her. "I find it interesting that your planet symbolizes the atomic bomb through this Godzilla creature."

"Actually, it's Japan," Mikaela corrected him. Oh, crap, Elita was rubbing off on her.

"Mm, still." Drift gazed ahead, deep in thought, "Many tales cite Unicron as a manifestation of the hatred and despair of those lost to Cybertron's war. Your people tell stories of Godzilla raining destruction on cities like the atomic bomb, and mine spins cautionary tales about Unicron devouring worlds like our war."

"I guess we're more alike than you thought, eh?"

"Yes, very much. Oh..." He ducked his head, his lips quirked in a half-smile.

"What?" She eyed him.

"Optimus speaks fondly of your penchant for fascinating conversations."

Heat rose into Mikaela's cheeks and her heart fluttered. She wiped her hair behind her ears.

"Have I embarrassed you?"

"Huh? Nah. I like knowing he raves about me."

Drift chuckled at that. His laugh was quiet, reserved. Unfortunately, their chitchat had to end there because they emerged into the large main room.

A circle of light illuminated a rectangular table set up in the middle, and its dimmer outer edges faintly lit the Autobots. Optimus was at the head of the table. Bumblebee and Hound sat to his left. Crosshairs and Ultra Magnus were on his right.

Someone piled data pads on the table like a bench occupied by Cade and Elita. Its position placed the humans opposite to where Optimus sat.

Drift let Mikaela slide off his palm between Cade and Elita and quietly seated himself behind them.

Optimus's hands gleamed as he folded them on the tabletop. "The late Stephen Hawking once said, 'the greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.'"

Mikaela saw him squeeze his hands together like he longed to hold onto himself. He closed his optics and leaned back where shadows partly swallowed his facial features.

"Sometimes, a single conversation is all it takes to enact change," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"We view mental illness as something to fear and a source of shame. Shame is an emotion that tells us we don't measure up to societal standards. We veil our shame in shadows and secrecy, and we live in constant fear of it coming to light against our will."

Optimus opened his optics. They were hard, determined. His hands released their hold on each other. He laid them flat on the tabletop and leaned forward into the light.

"But our secrets cannot shame us if there are no secrets to feel ashamed of. So, as difficult as this is, I will end my shame right now by facing it head-on."

His expression showed neither a smile nor sneer. He spread his hands like a gateway into the darkness behind him.

"Understanding breaks through fear. This is an opportunity for you to learn, to understand. You may ask me any questions you have about stasis trauma, and I will answer them to the best of my ability. Nothing is off limits or too personal. I am an open file."

Elita grabbed Mikaela's hand and held it. Hope glowed in her eyes.

Uncomfortable silence followed. The Autobots exchanged sidelong looks.

"Damn, tough crowd," whispered Cade. He tapped his feet against the table. "I'll break the ice. Was I triggering you off when I fixed you in my barn?"

Momentary relief crossed Optimus' features. "Yes, unfortunately. I was not aware of my condition at the time, but I recognize my behavior in hindsight."

"So you went through denial?"

Optimus pouted his lower lip plate out as he nodded. "Admitting the illness to myself took nearly a year. I waited until after Christmas to tell Mikaela. It was not the stasis trauma itself that frightened me...it was what transpired to cause it. I believed I had been unfaithful to her through no choice of my own."

"But you weren't," Mikaela met his optics.

He smiled slightly, there and gone like the sun between clouds.

That exchanged look broke the first layer of tension.

Hound emitted a noise like clearing his throat. "My turn. Do you hallucinate weird stuff?"

"No," said Optimus, "The closest thing I have to a hallucination is a body flashback, where I feel the pain- and other sensations- of what happened to me as if it is happening again. Such episodes tend to occur on the anniversary date of moment zero."

"Forgive me if this is intrusive." Ultra Magnus curled a fist by his mouth as though covering a cough, "Has it altered your ability to experience pleasure during intimacy?"

Optimus focused on Mikaela, and didn't respond until she consented with a nod.

"At times, yes. The sensation itself has not changed at all."

Crosshairs broke the awkward silence next. "How're the nightmares? Is there a pattern to 'em? Do you remember 'em after you wake up?"

"They happen more frequently in times of stress. Sometimes, they crop up for no reason at all. I never recall experiencing them. Mikaela and Elita tell me about my behavior after I awaken." His throat mechanisms worked like a swallow. "Elita took video once at my request. I looked exactly like the locked-up bots in the old data reels hidden under Iacon."

He showed it to them. A short ten-second clip of him pounding on the basement floor and mumbling in Cybertronian while staring at Elita's phone. His unseeing optics flickered at two different speeds. Mikaela got him to lay down, but he reached towards the wall without acknowledging her comforting hands.

Nightmares were undoubtedly the scariest and ugliest stasis trauma symptom.

Lots of uncomfortable shifting happened around the table. Cade gasped and his brow knit. Elita remained silent. Hound pulled his helmet down over his optics and refused to watch. Bumblebee laid a hand on Optimus' forearm. Crosshairs turned his head, yet watched through the corners of his optics. Ultra Magnus grimaced. Drift emitted a quiet sighing noise from his vents. He had been so quiet that Mikaela forgot he was behind her.

Ultra Magnus adjusted the crate he sat on. "Such awful recordings."

"Yes," said Optimus. The video hologram disappeared. "Hound, it's gone."

"Better be." Hound inched his helmet up to peek, then pushed it back atop his head. "No offense."

"None taken." Optimus sat up straighter, causing his crate to squeak. "The old reels terribly misrepresent stasis trauma, as Elita's phone footage shows. They do not distinguish flashbacks from panic episodes or nightmares."

He touched the hand Bumblebee laid on his forearm, a soothing gesture. "The bots in the old reels have not lost their grip on reality, they are acting out data tracks while in recharge."

Bumblebee flashed the briefest smile at being acknowledged and returned to his original posture.

"Can you explain the difference between the three?"

"Nightmares are consciousness trying to intrude on the compression and consolidation phase of recharge. That is why bots can't remember their behavior later. Flashbacks are the opposite...they are data tracks of moment zero intruding on a conscious experience when a trigger is encountered, and a bot experiencing one will remember it later. Panic episodes are my sensory and weapons systems perceiving a threat when no threat is present. I am fully conscious, fully aware, but barely able to control my body."

Hound gripped his seat like he wanted to bail off it. His brow ridges drew together, highlighting his craggy features. "Do you know you're in a flashback when you're having one?"

"Sometimes, yes, sometimes, no. If I am not, I can be made aware of it, and that allows me shake the flashback off."

Optimus glanced around at the gathered Autobots and nervously twiddled his thumbs.

"You're handling this like a boss, Optimus." Cade tapped his fist over his heart. "Respect."

Optimus arched a brow ridge. Ultra Magnus, who fancied himself an internet meme connoisseur, cracked a smile. Elita giggled into her hand. Mikaela found more amusement in its literalness than anything else.

"Must be a human thing," Crosshairs muttered to Ultra Magnus.

"Ugh, don't make me explain memes to you again."

Crosshairs cocked his head and slow blinked at him. "I like it when you get technical."

Ultra Magnus nudged Crosshairs with his shoulder in pretended offense.

The amusing exchanges thinned more of the tension in the room.

Finally, Drift asked a question. His voice arced across the table like a shadow. "What about emotional volatility? Do you often find yourself struggling to maintain a balanced center?"

"Yes. I experience moments of extreme emotion. Then I fall into apathy." Optimus shifted in his seat. "The apathy is by far the worst. I want to feel an emotion, and I can't. I have to make myself act because the internal motivation isn't there."

Hound and Ultra Magnus exchanged looks. Mikaela had learned to recognize communications across private comm-lines when she saw it. Ultra Magnus nodded once, his optics falling half-shut.

Bumblebee leaned his elbows against the tabletop. "What was stasis catatonia like? Was it painful?"

"I have no memory of being brought to the ship. I believed I was shouting for Elita and Mikaela the whole time. There was a period of nothing, and then I was on the medical bay floor. From that point on, I was fully aware of what was said around me."

That answer caused Hound to squeeze his optics shut and rub a hand down the middle of his face. "Sorry about the trash-talk, Prime."

Crosshairs took the toothpick out of his mouth. "Me, too."

"I don't hold it against you," said Optimus.

He stopped holding his shoulders so rigid and looked the other Autobots in the eye more often. His shame was falling away, drop by drop.

Cade raised a hand. "How's it feel when you panic?"

"It is probably similar to the human experience. My logical thoughts tell me I am in no danger, but my instincts assume the opposite. Steam happens because my internal temperature rises in response to my heightened senses. My fight or flight programming kicks online. Motor disruptions occur when I forcefully shut down my weapons and targeting systems, since panic activates them."

"It looked like a freakin' seizure," muttered Hound.

"Yes, I know." Optimus dropped his gaze to the table. Everyone squirmed uncomfortably in their seats. The awkwardness was almost palpable.

Crosshairs twirled his toothpick around his fingertips. "Were you panicking when you shot that squishy's head off?"

"That was rude!" Ultra Magnus hissed, elbowing his side.

"Nothing's off-limits!"

Optimus quieted them by patting his hands downward at the table.

"Yes, Crosshairs, that is exactly what happened. Today was an example of what can occur if I don't take my weapons systems offline fast enough. The shot I fired was one hundred percent involuntary, and the consequences were unconscionable. It could have easily been Mikaela or Elita."

The Autobots mumbled among themselves. Optimus used the momentary break to lean back and vent a long, cool puff of air.

"Does new trauma cause the traumas before and after your moment zero to become more salient in your memory? And do approaching anniversary dates increase your symptoms?"

All optics fixed on Drift. Mikaela swore the room transformed into a photograph until Optimus spoke.

"Unfortunately, yes. Moment zero's anniversary is the most difficult for me. So is the Christmas season, which is when I finally admitted the stasis trauma to Mikaela and Elita. It was a daunting conversation, just like this one, but I'm glad we're talking about this."

"So am I, Prime. Which leads to my next question..." Drift bowed his head respectfully, "The panic attacks- with the fits of trembling, overwhelming processor heat and the terrible fear that it will never end- how do you, personally, cope?"

Optimus' expression softened. He fixed his optics on Mikaela.

"Mikaela asks me to recall a pleasant memory we share, and we talk about it until I regain control of myself. She is incredible."

Mikaela beamed at him. Hope brimmed in her heart. Optimus winked at her, and the other bots looked at each other with surprised faces. He realized he acted in an un-Prime way right in front of them and rubbed the back of his head.

Crosshairs slapped the table and hooted, "Optimus flirtin' with a human chick. Now I really saw it all!"

The tension in the room exploded. Everyone erupted in hilarity. Well...everybody except for Drift, who smiled rather than laugh. He placed a small silver object on the table while everybody else howled and guffawed.

One by one, the Autobots calmed down.

Crosshairs squinted suspiciously at the silver item, which resembled one of Elita's two-by-four Lego bricks.

"I'll be damned, an old fashioned Decepticon immobilizer! Haven't seen one of these babies since Optimus liberated the Autobot prisoners in the labor camp under Kaon."

"Nasty. Didn't Shockwave execute the guards for not stopping the escape?" Hound sneered around his cy-gar.

Ultra Magnus nodded enthusiastically. "One guard survived because the shot missed his Spark by millimeters."

"Ironhide was there," said Bumblebee. "He said Optimus couldn't stand the injustice of it all, so he went back when he realized the last guard was still alive."

Mikaela saw Optimus' gaze briefly pause on Drift.

"Speculation is not important now." Drift waved a dismissive hand. "I reprogrammed the immobilizer to activate only during the compression and consolidation phase of recharge. Prime, it will prevent your body from acting out data tracks during an activation glitch."

Ultra Magnus picked up the immobilizer and turned it over in the light. Mikaela noticed the Decepticon symbol was filed off the top.

Hound's scruffy face plates scrunched up with skepticism. "Hold up! Has this thing been tested for malware?"

Drift eased onto his feet and calmly turned away, his form joining the darkness outside the circle of light.

"Yes." He closed his fists, his voice lowering to a whisper. "I can assure you that it is clean and works."

"Who's your test subject?" asked Crosshairs.

Drift grimaced and melted further into the shadows. "Myself."

Mikaela wished she had her phone out to capture how wide and bright Optimus' optics opened. The classic 'oh shit' face of someone realizing they weren't alone.

She glanced at Elita and Cade. Cade looked as surprised as everyone else. Elita wore a knowing expression.

"Wow," whispered Hound, "Well frag, that explains why you're such a closet hothead."

Bumblebee scowled and elbowed Hound's side.

"It is my deepest secret...my deepest shame," murmured Drift. A familiar tremor wracked his body. He flinched and took another step away.

Bumblebee hurried into the shadows and clapped a hand on Drift's shoulder. "Drift, stay."

"They will mock me."

"No."

Hound gestured at Crosshairs. Crosshairs shrugged. Ultra Magnus placed the immobilizer back on the table and moved to stand. Optimus extended his hands between all three of them in a 'stop' gesture.

"I knew it," Elita said, almost startling a century off Mikaela's life, "I knew Drift had it too."

"How?" Mikaela whispered back.

"Hound messed with him earlier and his eyes flashed like dad's. It was a blink-and-you-miss it thing, but I saw it."

Movement within the shadows drew Mikaela's attention back to the Autobots.

Air hissed through Drift's vents in swift whooshes. Steam billowed from his nose and neck like someone forcing themselves to breathe slowly. He grimaced, tipping his face upward and closing his optics. His shivers happened as bursts of single, yet violent whole-body jerks that swayed him on his feet.

Optimus' slow, sweeping gesture cleared everyone away from the table. He stood, pushing the crate he used for a chair back with his calves.

"You do not have to stay alone in the dark anymore, Drift. Come forward. You are safe."

Drift hesitated for a long time before he reentered the light with Optimus. He spoke in spurts between shudders.

"I- need- a moment. This passes swiftly- if I am- allowed time- to c-calm myself. I- am not a d-danger to you. I c-can calm myself..."

Optimus intoned the twelve most powerful words of the entire conversation. "You don't need to explain. I understand. Do what you need to."

He stepped back to give the other bot space. The Autobots maintained polite silence while Drift sat on the floor in the lotus position, clasped his hands together and bowed his head.

"Calm, calm, calm."

Drift lingered on the m sound like a monk's 'om' chant, and his voice steadied itself through bouts of tremors. His steaming ex-vents thinned into nothingness by the third repetition. Mikaela couldn't believe how quickly he regained his composure.

Hound was the first one there after Drift uncurled to stand.

"You okay, man?"

Drift nodded without looking at him. "Do you understand why I find no amusement in being provoked from behind?"

"Uhhh...sorta. Wanna talk about it later?"

"Of course."

Everyone returned to their places at the table. They patted Drift's back or shoulders rather than make sarcastic comments about his demeanor.

"Autobots, it is time for a paradigm shift, and Drift has proven why it is necessary."

Optimus unhooked the sword mounted on his back and laid it in the middle of the table. His shiniest parts gleamed beneath the light above his head when he straightened. He looked everyone in the eyes, one by one.

"Shame is banished from this ship from this moment onward. Anyone who wishes to disclose an illness or struggle will be heard and cared for, not shunned or excluded. I hope Drift's coming forward encourages others to do so as well, and I...will not hide my struggles from you. We must rise together, my friends, or we will fall apart. Are you with me?"

"Hot Rod is gonna be sorry he missed this," said Crosshairs.

Hound scowled him. "Pipe down, we're having a moment here!"

Bumblebee jumped upright and surrendered his arm blaster. Drift stood, sliding his sword onto the table beside Optimus'. Crosshairs drew his twin guns, tossed them upward to catch them by the barrels and placed them near the blades as he rose. Hound pushed up and set his cy-gar next to Drift's blade. Ultra Magnus transformed a war hammer off his back that Mikaela never knew he had and laid it across everyone's weapons.

Cade got up with tears in his eyes, shifted the Relic into Excalibur and set it down with Drift's and Optimus' blades. Elita looked at herself, took her shoes off and added them to the pile. Mikaela presented her wedding ring.

Everyone stood unified beneath the circle of light in the otherwise dark room, and Optimus never looked more like a leader than he did right then.

.o

A new morning began with Mikaela rolling up her sweatshirt sleeves while standing on the medical bay exam table. Cade waited patiently beside her, toolbox in hand. Drift adjusted an overhead light to focus on the area they planned to work.

"So how does a bot develop stasis trauma?" Cade asked as they set up. "I thought stasis lock shut everything down."

"An easy mistake to make. Stasis lock is a mimicry of death, and only finding a Spark reveals the presence of life. There is no processor activity or awareness. Stasis is closer to sustained sleep. Activity continues in the processor, albeit with little to no awareness of the outside world. A common experience as one slips into stasis is reliving the moments leading up to it. The processor normally releases that file and enters a lengthy defragmentation mode."

Drift lowered the exam table slightly by pressing buttons on the wall above it.

"Stasis trauma occurs when the processor loops the file instead of releasing it. This error causes little to no issue if stasis lasts a short time. When it lasts a long while, it damages the processor and breeds chaos in a bot's programming."

He spread his hands, his face a solemn mask. "Envision yourself reliving the worst, most horrific moment of your life over and over for months, weeks, years. It is your reality, and there is no way to escape. All the emotion of it, all the horror and terror of it, torture you for an indefinite period of time."

Cade raised his eyebrows and grasped at the air. "That sounds cra- no, wrong word- that sounds like hell."

"It is." Drift said simply. He lifted his head, his optics sharp. "Prime is ready."

The platform blocking the door descended. Optimus looked haggard. Mikaela knew he hadn't recharged at all when he closed his optics and pinched the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger.

"You need sleep, honey," Mikaela told him.

"I know." Optimus managed a tired wink. He looked over at Drift as he stepped off the platform. "Will stasis be induced for this procedure?"

Drift bowed respectfully. "No, sensei. Installing the immobilizer is simple. Cade asked to perform the procedure. You need only to expose your laminates and he will handle the rest."

"Very well."

Optimus seated himself on the floor with his back against the exam table, which put him in the perfect position for the procedure. His helm plates shifted apart and he split the top of his head open like a pop-up book. Mikaela glimpsed what lay under his helm after he came down with a computer virus once, but she didn't see much. Now his brain lay exposed under the overhead light.

Crescents of transparent laminate boards jutted upward in six rows like the honeycombs inside beehives. They were as tall as Mikaela's hand was wide and stretched from the front of his helm to the back. Flexible gold pipes terminated at the gaps between them. Like bladeless Dyson fans, they worked with coolant to keep everything from overheating.

The six laminate boards formed a V-shape. Six long neural clusters wrapped together in a translucent sheath emerged above his optics, curled around the sides of his laminates and connected to something gold behind them. Four smaller cables of similar appearance came from near his nose and extended through the central gap between the laminates like cornrow braids. They glowed electric blue, but the overhead light easily overpowered them.

All the laminates attached to something silver. Mikaela couldn't see it clearly through the network of fine neon green coolant tubing, blue-violet energon lines and tiny wires coiled up like steel wool among everything else.

Geez, no wonder his head hurts so much when he panics.

"What a weird way to see inside somebody's head," Mikaela remarked.

"Are you disappointed that it isn't all hot air?" Optimus replied amiably.

"Totally," she kidded right back.

Drift shifted his weight uncertainly. Maybe he wasn't used to hearing people speak to Optimus that way.

"It's cooler if you try these on." Cade handed Mikaela his magnifying goggles and gestured at her to look at the laminate boards, so she did.

Their clear surfaces were chock full of microscopic fiber-optic circuits less than half a human hair in width. Each circuit formed complex patterns reminiscent of neurons, and they flickered bright blue-white at random intervals.

She was watching Optimus think.

Agent Simmons said modern computer technology came from reverse-engineering Megatron's inner workings. Mikaela realized he wasn't full of crap after all.

"There we are." Cade spread his hands to indicate the whole array. "Sensory boards are towards the sides, everything related to emotions, memory and behavior is in the middle. These-" He pointed to the central two boards, "-are like a combination of frontal lobes and temporal lobes on us. Am I right on that, Optimus?"

"Almost. My equivalent of an amygdala is in the bottom center." Optimus' eyelids clicked when he blinked. "Your knowledge of Cybertronian anatomy has improved greatly."

"I had a lot of time to get to know it since you woke up in my barn."

"Wow," Mikaela said under her breath.

"Yeah," Cade said, "You're looking at micro-plasma transistors and nano-photonics. The bursts of light are plasma discharges. A new pathway gets etched in when he learns something new and they reinforce themselves the more he uses them. His repair nanites prune everything down while he's recharging to make it more efficient. Just like our brains when we sleep."

Curious, Mikaela leaned closer to look towards the bottom of the central laminates. A palimpsest of etchings marked the entire lower center edges like someone spun the dials on an old Etch-a-Sketch, shook it and spun the dials again. Many pathways appeared faded, others shone sharply new. The entire area lit up when a plasma discharge went through.

Stasis trauma wasn't just software.

Cade kept talking, unaware of what caught her attention. "We're a bunch of walking meat and chemical reactions that generate electricity. Transformers are walking quantum computers that generate energy states. They turn plasma into electrical signals, turn electrical signals into light, get a bunch of atoms into superposition to get the data...and that data turns into light, the light turns back into electrical signals before it turns back into plasma. He's doing that right now while we're talking- and they all do it faster than lightning without much decoherence. It's tied to the plasma of their Sparks and the energon circulating in their hoses."

He smiled halfway, "And the big guy won't tell me how it all fits together."

Funny, Mikaela never expected a buff man like Cade to be a nerdy engineer who spoke in techno babble. His knowledge of Cybertronian anatomy surpassed hers due to his background, and it was a tiny bit intimidating. Did guys feel that way when they realized she knew more about cars than them?

Optimus chuckled softly. "Your kind has studied mine for a century and you haven't connected the dots? Why should I hand you the answer key?"

"Because we'll do something stupid if you do." Cade made a face. "Most people will put it to good use. The rest want to blow something up."

"Yes," Drift added, his optics looking faraway in thought. He set the immobilizer on the table next to Cade. "Power in the wrong hands leads to its abuse. Abusing power leads to corruption, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, especially in the case of people who do not comprehend what they wield. Power comes with responsibility- it should not be used in full until all other options have failed. Unfortunately, both of our races have lost sight of that truth."

Mikaela glanced at Cade. Both suppressed a shudder.

"Well put," said Optimus. He ex-vented air that smelled like turpentine mixed into vinegar- the scent of energon. "Shall we begin?"

Drift lowered his head and gestured towards the immobilizer chip. "The immobilizer was immersed in a sample of your repair nanites. That should prevent a physical rejection."

Cade wiped his hands on his jeans, wiggled into a pair of blue latex gloves and pulled a dust mask over his mouth. He used his needle nose pliers to point at the panel just left of the central one.

"Here's what we're looking for. The chip has to go on the bottom. Optimus, I'm gonna pop this up. Mikaela, grab the coolant hoses when they start uncurling. We don't want any of them kinking."

"What about static electricity?"

"No problem for these guys."

"Okay."

Cade touched a switch inside Optimus' head. The board he indicated slid upward, swung over and presented itself upside down. Glowing bluish-purple energon circulated through two pipes attached to the circuit board base. Pins between the pipes writhed like tentacles in their housings.

Mikaela gathered handfuls of wires and tubes in each hand as they unraveled. She peeked into the gap and spotted a metal sphere no larger than a marble surrounded by very fine cables. His quantum central processor, the thing that told his brain to think, perceive and imagine. Destroying that killed a bot just as surely as ripping out their Spark.

Optimus' whole body stiffened and relaxed. Drift eyed him warily.

"Are you experiencing any adverse flashbacks from this?"

"No," replied Optimus, "The movement was involuntary. I'm fine. Proceed."

Nodding, Drift broke open the container to expose a tiny glass rectangle with gold wires growing off one side. Cade plucked up the chip using his needle nose pliers.

"Chip incoming." He moved the chip along the underside of the circuit board's housing. Three twitching connectors extended towards it like baby birds vying for food. The connectors appeared to consume the chip wires until the chip lay flat against the panel. No soldering necessary. "Okay, Optimus, the chip is in. You can close up now."

The circuit board returned to its correct position. Mikaela coiled the neural lines and tubes in their proper places. All six boards slid down into their protective slots and everything descended under Optimus' helm.

Drift helped Optimus up onto the table. Cade took off his dust mask and gloves. Mikaela kept a careful eye on Optimus when he rubbed the top of his head like it hurt.

"I believed no one understood how much control I utilize to appear well when I am not," Drift began. He closed the chip casing and kept his head bowed.

"Stasis trauma never resolves entirely- anyone who tells you it went away is deluding themselves. Treatment and time will make your symptoms bearable, but the illness itself never leaves your processor. Future traumas may lead to relapses that force you to start all over again."

The sadness in Drift's optics hardened.

"The Decepticons developed a treatment method that trains the processor to re-process the traumatic memory and work around the damage. It is called Flicker Desensitization and Reprocessing. With time, it shrinks the troublesome micro-plasma transistors and aids in self-soothing when symptoms arise. You can administer it to yourself after being guided through how to apply it. Ratchet used it on Ironhide. Ironhide used it to help himself. I studied Ratchet's videos and utilized his files to treat myself. Unfortunately, treating myself did not achieve the same results as Ironhide, but you may have more success."

He closed his fists, determined. "It is not a cure, as there is no way to entirely close off the transistors. But being startled from behind once filled me with mortal terror. My response was uncontrollably violent. Now? I am able to stop myself before I damage another bot."

Optimus stopped rubbing his head and got to his feet. "I appreciate your honesty, and I am open to any assistance you have to offer. Thank you, Drift."

"No, sensei," Drift met his leader's optics in a look of admiration. "Thank you."

Mikaela felt the immense gratitude contained within Drift's words.

Optimus smiled at that. Drift smiled back, turned away and walked out looking a lot more confident than Mikaela had ever seen him.

Cade's phone rang. Startled, he walked across the table to answer it. "Cade Yeager- oh," He ran a hand over his messy hair. "Vivian! Hi. How'd it go? Yeah? How's Izzy?"

Mikaela yawned as Optimus sat down on the table again. He clasped his hands in his lap and proceeded to look adoringly at her with the same puppy dog eyes Cade got when he saw who called.

"The last few days feel like eons," he said softly.

She patted his elbow. "Yeah, but look what happened. You told your story, and they listened. You found somebody who understands what you're going through."

"Yes...you were right." He cupped his hand behind her. "Mikaela, have I told you that you're amazing?"

"I like it when you do." Mikaela purred, leaning back against his palm. The way he rubbed his thumb up and down her spine was divine.

"Well then," Optimus chuckled and winked at her. "You're amazing."

Cade finished his call and faced them, totally unaware of the flirting.

"Looks like it's time for me to-"

"Yup!" Crosshairs practically stomped on the elevator platform. "C'mon, Maggie, he's still in the med bay!"

"Slow down!" Ultra Magnus walked much quieter.

Both mechs rode the platform down and squeezed themselves through the narrow doorway.

Ultra Magnus spoke as soon as they entered the room. "Optimus, I apologize for this interloper's loud mouth and lack of patience."

"You like it," muttered Crosshairs. "So are you telling him, or am I?"

Ultra Magnus attempted to compose his expression. A radiant smile leaked through. He took Crosshairs' hand and interlocked their fingers.

"We Spark-bonded."

Optimus straightened, his optics brightening. "Congratulations!"

"Cool!" Mikaela chuckled, watching how they beamed and slow-blinked at each other.

"No regrets." Crosshairs clasped Ultra Magnus' hand between both of his own.

Cade nudged Mikaela. He awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "Um...what's going on?"

She pointed to her wedding ring. "Basically, they got married."

"Ohh...that's what that is? Wow. Congrats, guys!"

"You two did it? It's final?" Elita asked from the door. She must have hopped on the platform when they did.

"Yup," Crosshairs beamed at her. "We're done fooling around."

A weird expression crossed her face. Her smile seemed forced. She turned around and hollered into the opening above her, "Hey, guys, Crosshairs and Mags got hitched!"

"Loud kid," Cade snickered. "Is she always that loud?"

"Nope. She gets louder than that," Mikaela replied, ignoring Elita's indignant huff.

Moments later, all the Autobots gathered around the happy couple. Excitement permeated the room. Mikaela welcomed the celebratory atmosphere- they all needed it after the last few days. She turned to beckon Elita further in, but Elita had already disappeared from the doorway.

.o

Cade said his goodbyes and departed somewhere around noon. He left with an Autobot whose name Mikaela didn't catch.

"Cade's gone already?" Elita joined her as the hatch swooshed shut.

"Yup." Mikaela stretched her hands above her head, yawning. "He had things to do."

Elita tucked her phone away and toyed with the Matrix necklace. "Maybe it's better that he doesn't know."

"Huh?"

She concealed the lavaliere under her baggy blue tie dyed T-shirt. "Prima talks to me a lot through this thing. He said souls have energy signatures like Sparks do. They're like a fingerprint. You can cut your fingers off to remove your fingerprints, you can destroy DNA with radiation or mutations, but you can't mess up energy signatures."

Mikaela cocked her head. This was getting spooky.

"And...?"

"Souls with unfinished business like to finish their business." Elita wiped her bangs sideways across her forehead, revealing her port-wine Prime birthmark. "Arthur Pendragon's energy signature is the only one that can transform the Relic into Excalibur."

She grinned impishly. "I betcha Cade feels like he's accomplished something important and can't put his finger on why."

Mikaela sensed the hairs on the back of her neck raising. "There are a lot of stories about Arthur. Which one is right?"

Elita tucked her hands into her jeans pockets and gazed at Mikaela through her eyelashes. "That doesn't matter, mom. The stories got one thing right- King Arthur happened."

She looked up at the ceiling. "Maybe the human race is gonna be a legend to some far off civilization in a gazillion years. I mean, what if they pick up a stray broadcast of something old, like The Wizard of Oz, and think that's who we were and how we lived?"

"That sounds funny." Mikaela ducked her head, giggling at the absurdity of it. "Does that mean we represent the Lollipop Guild?"

Elita's laughter was music. "Yep!"

They threw an arm around each other and sang the Lollipop Guild song at the top of their lungs as they skipped through the corridor.

"I'm too tired to ask," Hound said when they passed him.

"We wish to welcome you to Munchkin Land!" Elita shouted over Mikaela's giggling.

.o

Hound, Bumblebee and Drift crashed in the main cargo bay for some much needed recharge. Drift recharged standing up. Mikaela couldn't figure out how he accomplished that. Optimus went up to the bridge to man the helm. Elita was napping in the crate.

Soft music came from the campsite corridor, so off Mikaela went seeking its source. The song grew recognizable as she got closer. American Authors, Best Day of my Life.

"...I'm never gonna look back, whoa!
Never gonna give it up, no!
Just don't wake me now.
This is gonna be the best day of my life!
My life-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ife..."

She found Ultra Magnus and Crosshairs gamboling up and down the hallway. They danced like she did with Optimus, albeit with more foot kicking, twirling and hip swinging. Their bright optics and smiling faces expressed how much fun they had.

"...But all the possibilities,
no limits just epiphanies!
Wo-oah-oah-oah-oah-oh..."

Crosshairs deftly avoided stepping on Ultra Magnus' feet. They spun one way, laughed, tripped over each other and whirled another direction.

"You're sizzling my circuits," Crosshairs murmured.

"Hm, it sounds like a coolant problem."

"Nah. It's a Maggie problem."

"Really?"

"Yup."

Ultra Magnus slipped his hands under Crosshairs' coat-like armor and grasped his hips. There was no mistaking the way his optics dimmed.

"Well then..." He pulled Crosshairs possessively against his chest and leaned so close their mouth plates almost touched. "How about I become more of a problem?"

Crosshairs planted both hands on Ultra Magnus' backside. He lifted one brow ridge and his voice dropped low. "I like this problem. Make it worse."

Ultra Magnus waggled his brow ridges. His smile was absolutely lecherous.

"...the stars were burning so bright!
The sun was out 'til midnight!
I say we lose control... (control...)"

Mikaela stifled a snicker and headed back to "camp" to grant them their privacy. Bumblebee said they weren't as legendary as Ironhide and Ratchet, but she had a feeling they would be someday.

"...this is gonna be the best day of my life!
My life-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ife..."

.o

Elita and Mikaela sat on Optimus' shoulders while he guided the spaceship forward. Somerset turned into a patchwork quilt in many shades of green and brown. Cybertron's shadow shrouded the Tor. The chunk of Cybertronian land they visited earlier was nowhere in sight. No trace of it remained in the verdant grass.

Goosebumps rippled along Mikaela's skin. She peeked past Optimus' nose at Elita. Elita raised both eyebrows and grinned.

Optimus guided the spaceship over Moneybox field. He reached into his chest plate and opened his hand to reveal Buggy. A smile tilted his optics when he looked over at Elita.

"Everything is magical when you're young. Then you grow up, the world wears that innocence away, and what remains are stories of wizards and fairies." He placed Buggy across Elita's lap. "Perhaps stories are meant to remind us that magic exists for those who continue to believe in it."

Elita stroked Buggy like she would a loyal puppy. She pulled Seth's dog tag out of her pocket.

"Dad, the most powerful story you can tell is yours. So when you're old someday, tell it before you die. Tell somebody who you are, how you felt and what you did. Don't leave everybody with just a name and a sad newspaper clipping. Okay?"

Mikaela felt rather than heard Optimus' curious rumble.

"This concerns you greatly," he replied. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Nah, not right now." Elita tucked the dog tag back inside her pocket.

"Very well. "He looked up, his optics brightening. "Do you remember the question you used to ask me when you were three?"

"Uh-huh. What's behind the sky?"

Optimus offered his hand. When Elita hopped on, he transferred her onto the right side control panel. Mischief glimmered in his optics.

"Stand here," he pointed to the top of the glowing orange slot, "and you will have the answer."

Excitement alit her features. She hugged Buggy securely and jumped towards Optimus' fingertip.

The ship ascended through Earth's atmosphere. Mikaela's heart leapt to her throat as she watched the sky graduate through deeper blues, like sinking into the ocean. Eventually, ultramarine gave way to blackness. Earth became a blurry blue, white and brown line barely visible at the bottom of the platform.

"Whoa! We're in space!"

"Mmhmm. A walk on Cybertron will be impossible for obvious reasons, but..." He gazed ahead with an almost painful hope in his optics, "I wish to show you my world."

Mikaela glimpsed massive scars marring Europe, Asia and Africa as Optimus ascended towards the battered honeycomb sphere of Cybertron. The 'honeycombs' were titanic. He deftly flew the ship through one. Buildings dotted the second level. Some had grand spires, others appeared plain.

Everything was further away than it seemed. Growing up on a planet where people weren't the size of trucks skewed Mikaela's sense of scale.

"This is Iacon, the Autobot capital of Cybertron," Optimus said, his voice gentle against the placid dimness. "There was a time when it gleamed gold against the dark. We called it the Golden Age of Cybertron."

"Now it looks like Hiroshima," Elita whispered, her expression somber.

He blinked slowly. "Cities can be rebuilt. Lost lives cannot."

Elita set Buggy down and faced Optimus. "Can the Matrix finish the job and light it up again?"

A sad smile shifted Optimus' features. "No, sweet-Spark. The Matrix offers bursts of energy. Cybertron needs something more sustainable."

He guided the ship onward to another city situated beside a burnt landmass. Mikaela stared curiously into a silo the size of a baseball stadium.

"This is Tyger Pax," he said, bowing his head. "You're both here because of the decision I made under this very spot."

Even quieter, he muttered, "And Quintessa's exact words to me were, 'Your war doomed Cybertron. You destroyed your world, you fool.'"

Both his eye ridges tilted up at the inner corners. His outer pupils shrank to their smallest aperture. A grimace twisted his face plates.

Static laced his voice when he said, "I did this to my home, and-"

"Honey..." Mikaela scooted over and cupped a hand against the side of his helm.

"-I betrayed myself while trying to bring it back. I am no better than Sentinel!"

"Quintessa brainwashed you," she protested.

"That doesn't matter!" Optimus slapped his hand down on the arm of the chair. "My decision devastated my world. There is no changing that fact."

Anything Mikaela wanted to say faltered in the face of harsh, agonizing truth.

Elita's voice cut over the engine hum. "Do you wish you didn't send the AllSpark into space?"

He flinched as though the question stabbed his Spark. "You are asking me if I'm willing to trade you and Mikaela for my world."

Elita clasped her hands around the Matrix necklace and took a deep breath.

"That's home to you. Losing your home sucks." Her eyes glimmered with tears. "I watched mom go through it, and it's-"

He simulated a sigh. "Elita-"

She clutched her necklace and talked over him. "Dad, it's okay with me if you regret the launch. That doesn't make you a bad person, it makes you alive. You don't have to feel guilty about regretting what you did. Just...regret it and to heck with everything else. The Doctor said it best on TV! 'Sometimes the only decisions you have are bad ones, but you still have to choose.'"

Unselfish love was painful. Elita wielded it masterfully in a manner beyond her twelve years. Mikaela told herself to be brave while she mentally approached it. She watched it launch itself into her chest, and the words she spoke emerged from her mouth like thick, black smoke.

"I'm with El on this one."

Optimus gathered Mikaela and Elita in his hands and held them gently against his chest. Right over his Spark. He gazed down with an honesty that almost hurt to behold.

"I regret the launch." Finally, he had permission to say it out loud. His voice quavered into static when he went on, "I have many regrets, but you will never be among them."

"I know." Elita clung to his armor.

He gazed straight ahead at the stars. "Lennox spoke with me about Max a short time ago. Max had a GoPro camera mounted on his jeep. There is video evidence of his encounter with all of us, including his attempt on Elita's life. Lennox said it was clear that my blaster discharged in error and wishes to rule Max's death as accidental. He destroyed the video footage to protect our family, and he intends to come up with a cover story for Max's death."

Mikaela touched the V-shaped metal flap between his chest plates. "Good."

"See, dad?" Elita patted the side of his face. "It was an accident."

"Accident or not, a family is going to suffer. Grief is a pain I wish on no one."

Typical Optimus- selfless to a fault.

Mikaela stayed silent because he spoke the painful truth. Like her, he had to endure his unresolved regrets without absolution. There was nothing she could do except bear his pain with him.

.o

No rainstorm shielded Nevada's starry skies when the Autobot ship descended onto the salt flat inside Area 51. Ultra Magnus used the ship's engines to deliver an electromagnetic pulse that disrupted all active recording devices within a thirty mile radius. The images people captured would be too grainy to prove anything and protect Area 51's secrets.

The Autobots, Elita and Mikaela stayed aboard the ship overnight. It was easier than making the Area 51 crew scramble to come up with sleeping arrangements in the barracks.

Mikaela looked everywhere for Optimus, but she didn't find him in the human accessible areas. That left the medical bay on the lower level. She had Bumblebee activate the elevator for her.

Drift relaxed in the lotus position against the wall opposite to the narrow door. He acknowledged her with a terse nod, which she returned.

Optimus lay prone across the stretcher on the medical bay floor. As usual, he bent his right leg and tucked his left forearm underneath his cheek like a recumbent feline. His half-open optics flickered at two different speeds, yet his expression remained peaceful and his body motionless.

Gratitude formed a lump in Mikaela's throat. For the first time in years, she was able to stay close to Optimus while he recharged without fear of getting hurt. She stroked the fingertips of his left hand and pressed a light kiss on the bridge of his nose.

"It should be noted," Drift's smooth, low-pitched voice hardly disturbed the quiet, "You cannot rouse him during an activation glitch the way you can during typical compression and consolidation."

Nodding, Mikaela tip-toed towards the door. "What exactly is the immobilizer doing?"

Drift turned his right hand palm-up, "Conscious experience creates plasma activity throughout a bot's laminates."

Next, he flipped his left hand over, "Activity in the laminates disappears during the defragmentation phase of recharge. Under normal circumstances, it stays restricted to low-level pathways related to reading memory files during the compression and consolidation phase."

He touched the heels of his palms against each other. "Activation glitches 'leak' activity into the motor slides of our laminates. The body detects this activity and thinks it is having a conscious experience when the processor is reading a memory file. You can't wake a bot from this state because their body believes it is fully conscious, and it will ignore outside stimuli as irrelevant and unreal. The laminate activity responsible for storing memories is absent, which is why a bot cannot recall their nightmare behavior later."

Finally, he closed his hands together as if in prayer. "The immobilizer senses this uneven activation and blocks impulses from reaching the motor laminates. It deactivates again as soon as the abnormal activity stops, and it will not activate if a glitch is not present. Such as now. Look. If you try to rouse him, he will wake."

Optimus grunted and shifted himself slightly. His optics flickered at the same speed. Air turbulence caused faint rattling noises in his intakes, a sound like somebody plucking an old spring-mounted doorstop.

Mikaela couldn't recall the last time she heard him snore, nor did she realize how much she missed that cute little noise until she heard him do it again.

"I kept telling myself he's not 'there' for the nightmares. The way he acted was so human. Standing back and not doing anything to help felt cruel."

She pushed her fingers through her hair and grasped her scalp.

"Compassion compels you as strongly as it compels Prime." Points of light glided across Drift's sharpest edges. He clasped his hands over his chest. "Sometimes the worst suffering is watching someone else suffer, and sometimes the greatest relief is granting relief to another."

"Well, this is huge." She faced him fully, her eyes brimming with tears. "Drift, I can't thank you enough."

Drift settled his hands on his knees and nodded once.

"Prime came to my rescue when nobody else considered my life worth saving." His golden-hued face plates quirked in a half-smile when he met Mikaela's eyes. "So it is only right that I return the favor."

Nodding, she said, "I hope Cybertron's views on mental illness change. You guys finding out...it kinda became his worst fear."

"Knowing Prime, it will." Drift's half-smile became a full one that softened his serious features. The face of a bot no longer burdened by secrecy. "That kind of fear is a prison. The most courageous thing a person can do is open the door and reveal the state of their cell."

"And realize there's nothing to be ashamed of?"

"Precisely. And speaking of rest..." He eyed her shrewdly, "You seem in desperate need of it."

"It's been a hellish few days." Mikaela eyed Optimus once more. She refocused on Drift and glanced upward. "Mind giving me a ride up?"

He offered his hand. "Gladly, Mikaela."

Elita was dead to the world on Cade's abandoned air mattress. Mikaela snickered at her daughter sleeping in almost exactly the same pose as Optimus. She laid down after Drift departed and went right to sleep without changing out of her clothes.

.o

The alarm on Mikaela's phone beeped at seven o'clock sharp. She woke to find Elita's belongings already packed. Quiet voices murmured just outside the crate-turned-bedroom.

"...as humans tend to ask, why the cold shoulder?" Ultra Magnus asked.

Mikaela sat up and peered through the slats. Elita and Ultra Magnus- rather, Ultra Magnus' human-sized hologram- stood together with their backs to the crate.

"It's really stupid." Elita kept tucking her loose hair behind her ears. "It shouldn't bother me. It's- it's irrational."

Ultra Magnus chuckled softly. He cupped his elbow with one hand while raising the other to his face. Probably holding his chin between thumb and forefinger.

"There is an old Rustian saying- Tru lan tia ingam vong eslu nenen. 'Unexpressed emotions scream the loudest.' That sounds like your situation."

Elita wiped her hair behind her ears again and stuck her hands into the back pockets of her faded jean shorts. She fidgeted when she wasn't being honest about something. Maybe, this case, she avoided being honest with herself. Anybody could see it ate her alive inside. A feeling Mikaela understood all too well.

C'mon, El, spit it out. You don't want to regret not saying it.

Ultra Magnus edged closer to Elita, his voice quiet, "Have I hurt your feelings in some way?"

She flinched, hunching her shoulders. "No. Yeah. Kind of. But not on purpose. See?" Her voice cracked, "It's stupid."

He placed his hand on her shoulder. "Your tears say otherwise."

Elita swiped the tears off her cheeks and shouted, "I like you, Mags!"

Light bulbs alit inside Mikaela's brain. Aha! Suddenly, a lot of Elita's earlier reactions made perfect sense.

But the vernacular sailed over Ultra Magnus' head.

"I like you, too."

"No! I don't mean friends-like!" Elita grabbed the hem of her gray hoodie. "I like you, but you like Crosshairs!"

Ultra Magnus' brow ridges went up, but he didn't look too surprised. Elita's confession uncorked her feelings, so they burst out like champagne foam.

"I wanted to dance with you on my high school prom night instead of some random stupid boy. I wanted you to give me my first kiss. I wanted to grow up and have us be like my parents. But I'm a third wheel, you're going home to Cybertron, and I don't know what to do with my life anymore! I'm not mad at you, Mags, I'm just...I'm- ugh! See? I told you that it's stupid!"

She turned away, crossed her arms and sniffled.

A moment passed in silence while Ultra Magnus absorbed what she said. Servos whirred when he stepped around in front of her and knelt to equalize their heights. Tender compassion shone in his optics.

"Humans call them 'crushes' for a reason, Elita. Your pain isn't stupid. It matters, and your feeling matter. They show you have a heart, and I am truly sorry for causing it pain."

He held her hand and went on, "Many of us in our youth imagine an unattainable somebody sweeping them away..."

"...like Crosshairs did to you?" Elita asked, wiping her face on her sleeve.

"Not quite, but it was mutual when we realized how we felt about each other. Sometimes romance happens fairy tale way, but sometimes isn't always." Ultra Magnus' optics twinkled when he smiled up at her. "Experiences are moments, Elita. A crush is a moment compared to the rest of your life. You have decades to gain experience and find the right person."

She set her hands on his shoulders and playfully goosed his left audio, causing the antenna to retract halfway. "Can we have a moment, then, and I'll figure out the rest of my life later?"

He cocked his head, glanced above the crate and refocused on her.

"Yes, we can, but it must be done properly. We can't afford to quarter-aft this."

That won a giggle through her dejection. "Half-ass, you mean?"

"Rustians say 'quarter-aft'." He arched a brow ridge. "It means the same thing."

Faint piano strains of A Thousand Years by Christina Perri floated through the air, and Mikaela became privy to the sweetest scene.

Ultra Magnus straightened, executed a sweeping bow and offered Elita his hand. "May I have this dance, milady?"

"Heart beats fast, colors and promises.
How to be brave, how can I love when I'm afraid to fall?
But watching you stand alone,
all of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow,
one step closer..."

Elita placed her hand on his palm. Ultra Magnus' fingers closed protectively around hers and guided her closer. Her head was exactly level with the middle of his chest, just like Crosshairs. He perched his other hand between her shoulder blades. She wrapped her free arm around his waist and kept her face hidden from view.

The song's rhythm shifted into the chorus, and they moved with it.

"...I have died every day waiting for you.
Darling, don't be afraid, I have loved you
for a thousand years.
I'll love you for a thousand more..."

"Your whole life is still unfolding in front of you, Elita," said Ultra Magnus. "Love is an extremely complicated emotion, like a fractal. You'll zoom in and see more of its complexities as you get older."

"Everybody says I'll understand when I'm older. When I do I count as 'older', huh?"

He closed his optics and bowed his head. "It's different for everyone."

"Then gimme a head-start." She wrinkled her nose. "How do you tell love apart from a crush?"

Ultra Magnus twirled her around and brought her close again. "Love is two people who still feel like they have a crush on each other after a long time. And that is the simplest explanation I can give for something so exceedingly complex, my dear."

The troubled look on Elita's face transformed into resolve. Her tears slowed although they didn't entirely stop.

Rather than mourn what couldn't be, she accepted what was and gave herself completely to the moment. She stopped hiding her face in Ultra Magnus' stomach and gazed upward at his face instead.

"Thanks, Mags."

He patted her back affectionately. "You're welcome."

They swayed and twirled, lost in their own little world.

"...Time stands still,
beauty in all she is.
I will be brave,
I will not let anything take away.
Standing in front of me.
Every breath,
every hour has come to this..."

Ultra Magnus knelt and gently brushed the tears off her cheeks with his thumbs.

"Here it comes, Elita. Close your eyes."

Elita took a deep breath. She swallowed nervously when she shut her eyes and, humorously, puckered her lips. Ultra Magnus chuckled, leaned in and kissed her. A chaste kiss that looked no different than the smooches she exchanged with Optimus, but this one had a very different and special meaning to her.

Mikaela snapped a picture of the kiss with her phone, captioned it El's first kiss, and sent it to Optimus. The message he texted back said to look to her left. Blue and silver gleamed behind the slats in the metal crate. He saw everything from the doorway.

Ultra Magnus and Elita went right back to their waltz. Elita looked amusingly gob-smacked.

"...One step closer...
One step closer..."

Mikaela tip-toed into the gap between the crate opening and the wall. Optimus' optics softened when she met his gaze. He looked at her that way the first time he asked her to dance. Though she could never again be the eighteen year old girl who danced with him on her prom night, she laid her palm over her heart and welcomed a resurgence of the fluttery feeling she experienced that evening.

A smile slowly unfolded on Optimus' features like stars appearing after sunset. He nodded knowingly and placed a hand against his chest as if containing something too powerful for words.

Like a crush, but better.

"...and all along I believed I would find you.
Time has brought your heart to me;
I have loved you for a thousand years.
I'll love you for a thousand more."

"So..." Ultra Magnus still held Elita's hand. "Friends?"

Elita nodded and beamed up at him, her cheeks still flushed pink. "I'm never gonna forget that."

"Me, either." He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

Crosshairs shuffled past Optimus, sat down and peered at Elita through playful squinty optics. "A little birdie told me you're stealin' Maggie."

Her face went redder than a fresh garden tomato. She snootily turned her head to the side and waved a hand. "As if!"

Mikaela barely covered an unladylike snort. Optimus squeezed his optics shut and bent halfway forward to contain his own mirth.

And Elita busted them both.

"Oh, my God... Dad! Mom! Were you watching the whole time?"

"Watching what?" Mikaela tucked her phone away, "I didn't see anything. Optimus?"

"I recharged standing up. What transpired during my nap?"

"Augh! Seriously?" Elita wiped both hands down her face and sighed. "Lupe was right. Parents are embarrassing when you hit twelve!"

That broke it. Everybody burst out laughing, Elita included.

Mikaela used their mirth to sneak up on Ultra Magnus and tap his shoulder. "Yo, Mags."

"Gah!" He spun towards her, still chuckling. "Hello."

"Hi," she said, and pulled him into a hug. "You went through all kinds of hell getting us here. I'll be the world's biggest jerk if I forget to say thanks."

Ultra Magnus' shoulders relaxed with a soft hiss. He returned her embrace. "Guarding you and Elita has been an honor and a privilege. I should be thanking you."

Mikaela tightened her hold. Cybertronians didn't 'squish' into hugs like humans, so she almost knocked the air out of herself. "We both said thanks. I think we're even."

He chuckled in her ear, and she understood what Elita saw in him. She kissed his cheek before stepping back to look into his optics.

"Take care of yourself, okay? I won't be around to pull tumbleweeds out of your undercarriage when you're on Cybertron."

Ultra Magnus pulled her close, gave her a friendly peck on the cheek and replied, "Not to worry. I'll have Crosshairs stuck there instead, and I consider that the opposite of a problem."

Hearing prim and proper Ultra Magnus unleash a dirty joke stole the lump from Mikaela's throat and replaced it with laughter.

"I waited twelve years to get that out of you," she giggled. "Twelve years!"

Crosshairs looked up at the sound of his name. "I bring out the worst in Maggie." He waggled his brow ridges and parted his mouth plates in a robot grin.

"That you do." Ultra Magnus offered Mikaela a light squeeze and stepped back. "It's almost time for you to depart."

"Yup." Mikaela patted his cheek. Her spirits soared too high for tears. This wasn't a sad farewell. "See you around, Mags."

Elita dodged past Optimus' feet to give Ultra Magnus one more hug, and he was happy to oblige her.

"Thanks, Mags. Love you."

"You're welcome, Elita. Love you, too."

"How do you say it in Rustian?"

He hesitated, smiled softly and cupped the back of her head. "Bah ethsteo nini."

.o

Early morning sunlight ripped into the darkness of the Autobot ship's interior. Mikaela and Elita flanked Optimus, who was currently in vehicle mode. The other Autobots had already rolled out and surrounded the white Area 51 "Bluebird" bus. Its tinted windows offered no hints about what or who awaited inside.

Drift sat behind the rear of the bus. Crosshairs and Ultra Magnus were at its left, while Bumblebee and Hound hung out on its right. The bus, Hound and Ultra Magnus were the only vehicles that appeared to "belong" there.

Elita joined Mikaela at the top of the ship's ramp. She wriggled out of her gray hoodie and tied it around her waist. Underneath, she wore a loose dark green crop top depicting Fox McCloud from the Star Fox franchise standing next to his Arwing.

"You look nerdy today," Mikaela remarked.

"Like you should talk," Elita snorted. "Great choice for a desert, mom."

Mikaela glanced down at Wile E. Coyote on the front of her gray tank top. The back had the Road Runner. They were posed as if Wile E. chased the Road Runner in circles around her body. Weather reports predicted high temperatures, so she threw on her shortest cutoff shorts and ratty white Converse sneakers without socks to keep cool.

She smirked and struck a fake pose. "Looney Tunes are old school, kid."

"Well, you got the old part right."

"Excuse you!" Mikaela playfully tapped Elita's nose with her fingertip.

"Hey!" Elita dodged, giggling, "You made me, remember?"

"Yup. Every year on your birthday."

Their antics paused when faint light shot off the Autobot symbol on Optimus' grill and spread out to become his human-sized hologram. Watching him do that never got boring.

"There's the biggest nerd of all. Nerdimus Prime," Elita whispered in Mikaela's ear.

Mikaela nearly choked on her spit. She walked a few steps away to conceal her laughter behind coughing.

Optimus folded his arms, but his expression was far from serious. "Someone is mouthy today."

"Yeah, it's my job to be annoying." Elita said back. Her emotions executed a backflip. "I wish you could come with us."

Pre-teen mood swings were asshole older siblings to the terrible twos. They brought hormones, growth spurts and mountains of awkwardness. Luckily, Optimus mastered the art of rolling with them and adjusted his demeanor accordingly.

"I understand your frustration, sweet-Spark." He brushed her bangs aside, briefly revealing the Prime symbol port-wine stain at her hairline. "There is a lot of work to do on Cybertron. Territory must be secured. Resources have to be allocated-"

"So it's a big ball of wibbly wobbly Primey wimey stuff?"

The Doctor Who reference didn't get past him. He laughed. "That is exactly what I need to do."

She dropped her bag and threw her arms around his waist, hugging him tight. He returned her embrace, one hand gently cupping the back of her head.

"Why can't you do the space bridge thing with your hologram while you're on Cybertron?" asked Elita.

"I'm not floating in space anymore. I need to focus on, as you said, Primey wimey stuff. But phone calls and video chats won't be outside the realm of possibility."

"At least it won't run up a huge bill." A forlorn sigh escaped her. "Are you coming back for Christmas?"

Disappointment etched itself on his features. "That is very unlikely, but I give you my word that I will be there on your birthday."

Elita held up her little finger. "Pinkie promise?"

"Pinkie promise." Optimus hooked his pinkie around hers and they shook on it.

"Okay. Oh! Almost forgot to give this back." She tugged her necklace out from under her crop top.

He covered her hand with his. "No."

"Dad, it's the Matrix of Leadership. You need it."

Optimus knelt to her level. "Has it spoken to you?"

"Yeah. A couple of times. The first time...whoa!"

Realization flashed across Elita's eyes. She looked over her shoulder at Mikaela.

"Mom! Remember the bathroom at Joe's? I heard everything you and Ultra Magnus said to each other. The Matrix said the Great Deceiver can't lay a hand on me because Prima is my shield. Then it told me the story I wrote all over the walls. I thought it was a glyph attack like at the picnic because it felt the same as one."

Optimus' expression softened. "Prima was my mother."

Elita grabbed Optimus' shoulders and gave him a shake. "He loves you so much, dad. He was trying to warn you about Quintessa to protect you, and he got me instead!"

"Oh, sweet-Spark." He curled his index finger and gently brushed it across her cheek. "I was so blinded by my own anger that I wouldn't have listened. Now I am even more relieved that I entrusted it to you. Perhaps you are more worthy of it than I right now."

A frown creased Elita's brow. "Does that mean I out-Primed you?"

Amusement chased the sadness off Optimus' face. He ducked his head with a quiet chuckle.

"I suppose so."

She crinkled her nose. "It doesn't bug you?"

"No. I'm proud to be, as you say, out-Primed by a squirt like you."

The rambunctious smiles they flashed at each other were eerie mirror images.

"Well, you better ask for it back soon." Elita sighed, "I don't feel ready to carry it."

"Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing, Elita. Sometimes, it forces us to question who we are." He clutched his chest as though speaking that truth pained his Spark. Rather than dwell on it, he placed his hand over her heart. "And sometimes, if we are lucky, it shows us all we can be."

Elita rested her hand on his. "Don't let Quintessa's crap get to you, dad. You're not a bad person. The nasty douchecanoes out there- people like Max and Quintessa- are always gonna make you the villain in their stories so they can be the hero. Let them lie to themselves! They're losers who don't know anything and wouldn't know a hero if one bit their butt."

She caught herself mid-rant and slammed the brakes on her temper. "Who cares what mean people say? You'll always be the hero in my story."

Optimus' face became an emotional phantasmagoria, each expression lasting less than a second, until he settled on the same wonder he wore when she was born.

"And you, Elita..." He turned his hand around and held hers. "You will always be the best part of mine."

She smiled softly, tracing the Prime sigil engraved on his helm. "I love you, dad."

Optimus mirrored her softness and thumbed her chin. "I love you, too, sweet-Spark, more than you know."

They bumped foreheads, nuzzled noses, gave each other a light smooch on the mouth and hugged tightly.

Elita draped her duffle bag strap over her shoulder. Optimus winked at her. She giggled and sprinted down the ramp at a cringe-inducing pace.

Mikaela slid her fingertips along Optimus' wrist until her warm palm pressed into his cool metal one. They closed their hands at the same time, their interlocking fingers trapping an intangible latibule between their palms.

"Look at her," she said. "We made that."

"Mmhmm," Optimus murmured, watching Elita skip towards the bus. The joy in his voice didn't match his melancholy optics. "I blinked the day she was born, and now she is twelve. I don't want my next blink to be her grave."

Fate wielded time as a lasso destined to steal them away from each other. A lump stung in Mikaela's throat. She turned and hugged him tight, silently warning Fate to keep its distance until she was good and ready to meet it. His arms swung up to pull her closer. Warm air hissed through his vents.

"I'll outlive her, even if I have to live to be a hundred to do it." Mikaela swore that oath to herself. In his audio, she whispered. "Even then, we're still lightning to you. Here and gone."

"The beauty of lightning is its brevity." He pressed her closer, careful not to squeeze the air out of her lungs. "It strikes, it leaves a mark, and thunder tells the universe it was there."

She pulled back far enough to see his optics. "You'll be a hell of a thunderclap."

He slipped his hands off her shoulder blades and cupped her face. The dim sorrow in his optics morphed into the soft smile he saved only for her.

"And you will be a hell of a story."

Mikaela's heart flipped inside her chest. "Good."

She inclined her head at the same time his face inched closer to hers. Static snapped between them. Baby lightning. They jumped apart, laughed and leaned in for a proper kiss.

The other Autobots honked their horns, cat-called and flashed their lights.

Optimus raised his left hand in a thumbs up. Mikaela lifted her right one and flipped them off. That instigated more howling and honking.

"Yeah! The Boss is gettin' some!" Crosshairs yelled.

"You have teenage boys for a crew," Mikaela teased.

"It would appear so." He looked breathless, quite a feat for somebody who didn't have lungs.

She smirked. "Let's give 'em a show."

Optimus waggled his brow ridges. "As you wish."

He dipped her dramatically. She threw an arm around his neck for added balance. Their fierce kiss warned Fate to keep its distance because it had no business deciding when their dance ended.

The honking, hooting and howling got louder. Crosshairs revved his engine, cackling.

Mikaela held onto Optimus' upper arms as they straightened. She didn't speak until the Autobots got the goofiness out of their systems and quieted down.

"You know...that chat you had with the Autobots? I think it did more for you than the last couple years put together."

"Don't leave yourself out of the equation." Optimus brushed his lips against her brow. "You have sacrificed your sleep, your well-being and your time to care for me in my time of need. I got this far because of you, Mikaela. I can't thank you enough for that. You brought light to my darkest hours."

Mikaela's heart swelled at the honesty in his gaze. She smiled softly, cocking her head. "For better or for worse, in sickness and in health. I meant those vows."

"You did more than that, wifey." He mirrored her expression. "You kept them."

The concerns screaming in Mikaela's mind laid down to sleep. Oh, they would wake up again- they always did- but right now she had them quiet.

Then Optimus gestured vaguely towards the bus.

"The driver will transport you to Alamo, where I have a very early Christmas present waiting for you." He winked at her. "I spoke to Agent Simmons. He helped me arrange it."

Mikaela blinked. "What did you do?"

A wicked squint narrowed his optics. "You'll see."

"You're horrible."

"You taught me well."

They hugged each other, chuckling. He quieted first. Warm air escaped the vents in his neck. She tucked her face against his shoulder and breathed his familiar metallic scent.

"What's next after you get Cybertron up and running?"

"We rebuild, just like you will." He gave her a gentle squeeze. "Unfortunately, our relationship may become long distance for many years."

A selfish corner of Mikaela's mind screeched in protest. Fortunately, her more rational half yelled louder. Optimus' time in space accustomed her to this possibility. But thinking about it and living it were night and day. The internal conflict stung her eyes.

She straightened and met his optics. "Then I guess we have to make the times we hang out count, don't we?"

"Yes, and there will be many phone calls."

"Yup. Just like when I was in school."

He smiled affectionately and brushed an errant tear off her cheek.

She kissed his thumb. "Don't forget to be awesome when you get back to Cybertron, okay?"

"I'm Primed and ready to handle it."

"Optimus, that is the worst dad joke ever."

"Worse than the Prime ribs joke?"

"Totally."

They touched foreheads and burst into snickers. Mikaela realized they were stalling when they spent ages looking into each others' eyes. Neither wanted to make the first move to leave.

But Optimus finally did. He hugged her close again, surrounding her in the porcelain warmth of his armor.

"Mmh, Mikaela." His alluring baritone voice sent delightful shivers racing up her spine. "I love you."

"I love you, too." She leaned up towards his audio cover and cooed. "Stay awesome, boss bot."

He chuckled at that. "I will, for you."

They exchanged a long, slow kiss. This time, nobody hooted or honked.

Optimus passed Mikaela her bags. His hologram disappeared as soon as she took them off his hands. She walked down the ramp and climbed aboard the white bus while he pulled ahead of it.

The bus driver was a statuesque Asian lady wearing desert camouflage fatigues. She wore her parted hair in a tight bun and surgically precise eyeliner highlighted her coal colored eyes.

"Mind the step and take a seat in the back row," said the driver. She had a smooth voice and a British accent.

Mikaela joined Elita at the rear of the bus. Brakes hissed and the vehicle lurched into motion. All the Autobots escorted the bus across the white salt flat. One by one, they slowed and fell away. Optimus veered off first, followed by Bumblebee, Drift, Hound and Crosshairs.

Ultra Magnus pulled onto the road. Twelve years ago, Optimus asked him to watch over and protect Elita. Ultra Magnus placed his duty above all else, and his last act as her guardian was following her to Area 51's back gate.

Elita lowered a window in the back row, stood on the seat and poked her head out to wave. Mikaela opened the window on the opposite side and waved, too. Ultra Magnus flashed his lights at them.

"Close the windows," said the bus driver.

They did it without question. Open tinted windows didn't allow for much secrecy.

Mikaela and Elita looked at each other afterward. They laughed at their messy hair.

"Excuse me, miss? Is it okay to use my phone?" Mikaela politely regarded the bus driver. "I won't take any pictures."

"Termination is the least of my concerns," came the terse reply, "Do as you please."

Geez, who pissed in her cornflakes this morning?

Mikaela grabbed her phone, swiped through her photos and texted Elita the shot of her first kiss. Watching her daughter's face turn redder than beets chased away farewell's sadness.

Elita flicked her thumbs across her screen. Mikaela received several texts in a row. She checked them. A dozen photos showing her and Optimus kissing at the top of the ramp popped up.

She glanced at Elita, who pointed at her as if to say yeah, I totally did that.

"Okay, you got me." Mikaela jokingly accepted defeat.

The amusement on Elita's face melted. She covered her mouth and shut off her phone. "Oh crap, I broke the rules...I wasn't supposed to take those pictures."

"El, you can't tell where we are. The giant fricken UFO blocks the view."

"Whatever." A sigh caused Elita's shoulders to rise and fall. "My social life is going to be a mess when we get home. How am I going to explain we stayed away from a stalker for practically a month?"

Dust billowed past the bus windows.

"That's easy," said Mikaela. She rubbed the back of her neck, yawning. "The stalker boyfriend kept harassing us, so we ran to Tranquility and got mixed up in the earthquake and tsunami."

Mentioning her ruined hometown stung like ketchup on a canker sore. She risked seeing if the internet worked on her phone. It did, so she thumbed through several news sites.

Disasters struck all over the world, just like Ultra Magnus predicted. Some hit home. California was a mess thanks to Cascadia and San Andreas. The central and eastern regions didn't suffer quite as much as the coasts and southern portions of the state. Most damage was structural, with collapsing old buildings, broken gas mains, limited access to water, loss of electricity, roads ripped apart and landslides blocking streets. Disneyland and California Adventure were closed during the day for the first time in forever.

Yellowstone's supervolcano didn't make a peep. The New Madrid fault hadn't slipped.

Other areas weren't so lucky. Dozens of vents opened across the Hawaiian islands. They were taking a bath in lava. Atmospheric disturbances triggered severe supercell thunderstorms across central USA's infamous tornado alley. El Reno's record-breaking twister paled in comparison to the massive mile-and-a-half wide F5 currently tearing through Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Italy had a bad day. Mount Vesuvius blew out its biggest eruption in known history. Naples and the areas near it suffered the same fate as Pompeii in 79 AD. The sole difference was people evacuated in time to survive.

India, Sumatra and Indonesia shook from an 8.4 magnitude earthquake and tsunami. A huge 9.3 quake-tsunami combo nailed Chile. And Japan, still hurting from the 2011 catastrophe, faced the same 9.1 scenario again. Mikaela's heart ached.

Egypt's pyramids were scraped off the map by a chunk of Cybertron. Jordan, England, Britain, Russia, China, India, Siberia and both Koreas lost entire cities. A piece of Cybertron narrowly avoided the Dome of the Rock and the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. The Eurasian continent had the worst physical damage and highest death toll.

We survived a freaking apocalypse. Mikaela shut her phone off. The pictures were too depressing and her brain couldn't wrap itself around the scale of it. She felt like a jerk for hoping the cabin survived it all when people across the globe lost everything.

"The world's a mess," Elita remarked.

"Yeah."

"But we're alive. Dad always says where there's life, there's hope." She fiddled with her phone. "This is what hope looks like."

Somebody on Youtube compiled news stories featuring Ultra Magnus rescuing people from the tsunami in Tranquility.

Most of the newscasters' responses could be summed up in one message: "It's a Transformer...and it's helping!"

"'It?'" Mikaela rolled her eyes.

"Watch, mom."

The compilation cut to an NBC news clip of the guy with the electric wheelchair.

Kevin Yazzie was a young Native American man with wide-set brown eyes and a sharp smile. He had athetoid cerebral palsy, which caused his body to make involuntary writhing movements. Soft blue straps on his wheelchair kept his arms and legs from flailing upward each time he moved. His brow furrowed as he used eye gaze technology to access the iPad mounted on his wheelchair. Moments later, a strong tenor voice spoke.

"The van stopped moving and this giant robot was outside my window. I was afraid of him because of the engravings all over his body, but he made no move to hurt me or my sisters. My sisters had to take me out of my wheelchair to get me into his hand because the water didn't let us open the van's doors. I stopped feeling scared when I felt how careful he was to help me not fall into the water. My sisters told the robot not to forget my wheels. I looked up at the robot after my sisters put me in my chair, and I asked him, 'You aren't leaving me behind?'"

An off-screen reporter asked, "Really? Did he talk back to you?"

Kevin glanced at the iPad, then at the reporter. "Yeah! He said, 'Not today, brother.' But that isn't what makes it special."

"What made it special?"

A bright grin lit Kevin's handsome face. "He said it in Navajo."

The clip ended there. Elita raised her eyebrows at Mikaela and put her phone away. "Everybody Mags rescued that day is gonna have a story to tell for the rest of their lives. People on the internet are already calling him the Tsunami Robot."

Mikaela snorted at that. "You should tell 'em his real name."

"Nah." Elita shook her head. "He doesn't want that. He told me not to tell dad what he did, either. It's a Rustian thing. Crosshairs said Mags is really traditional about that. Something like people who commit heroic acts are cool with recognition when somebody official witnesses it, but heroic acts that don't get recognized stand on their own as stories told by whoever was saved."

"Wow."

Mikaela glanced out the back window at Ultra Magnus trailing behind the bus. Guilt nipped at her mind. She mentioned it when she told Optimus what he missed while away from Earth, and she was slightly irked that he never publicly acknowledged it.

Heat waves turned the distant Area 51 guard shacks into wavering specks. Noise from the bus engine drowned the world out as the vehicle accelerated.

Ultra Magnus slowed down after the bus sped up. He blew his horn twice. The sound carried as he shrank with distance until he became nothing more than a pale glimmer beneath the mountains.

Elita rubbed her eyes. An unexpected lump welled in Mikaela's throat. She swallowed past it and faced forward where the future awaited.

Area 51's back gates opened to allow the bus through and lowered again after it passed. Light brown dust blew by the rear windows. Pebbles crackled against hubcaps and wheel wells. Air conditioning kept the day's heat away, yet the dry dusty desert smell still permeated the vehicle's interior.

Weird thumps sounded under the floor. Equipment stashed in the cargo compartment? A body? An alien? Mikaela covered a yawn and shook her head. Spotty sleep was warping her mind.

The ride got smoother once the driver turned onto the famed Extraterrestrial Highway. Sunlight illuminated Elita's face. Her blonde highlights needed touching up, but that seemed unimportant in the scheme of things.

Mikaela glanced out the window on her side. Nothing but tan desert, charcoal black highway, craggy grayish-brown mountains, golden sun and clear azure skies.

"Dad said he's thinking about sending Autobots out to help with the worst damage," Elita sighed. "I'm kinda scared about that."

"Why? TRF is sunk."

"So, what? There are people who want somebody to hate and blame for all this."

"Then start a 'not all Transformers' hashtag on Twitter."

"Somebody already did," Elita giggled, "Some guy named RoboWarrior7."

Simmons. Mikaela still thought that guy was a perverted jackass.

Growling engine noises offered a dull background drone to accompany the vast loneliness outside. Time ticked by at a snail's pace.

The bus decelerated as it approached Crystal Springs and slowed to a halt. Trees lined the highway, their greenery a nice break from the endless rocky landscape. Highway 375 intersected with highway 318, forming a Y shape separated via dirt in the middle. Mikaela spotted a few vehicles parked near the trees beyond the Y intersection. One sat angled in such a way that the sun bounced painfully off its windshield, making it impossible to identify its color or shape.

Elita jiggled her right leg while she gazed straight ahead, her hands tightly gripping the seat she sat on.

"El?" Mikaela hedged.

"What?" Elita blinked at her.

"You zoned out."

She tapped her necklace. "Nah. I was listening."

"What did it s-"

"We have arrived at the designated coordinates," said the bus driver, who pulled the lever that flopped the bus doors open.

This didn't look like Alamo. Not even close.

Sweat prickled around Mikaela's hairline and under her arms. Her heartbeat thudded in her ears. She inhaled deeply, fingers clenching around her duffle bag handle.

"Mom," Elita whispered. Her eyebrows settled in a determined line.

Mikaela glanced at the driver. "Something's not right."

"I know." The look in Elita's eyes was frightening. "Take my bag. Get off the bus." She said it in the same snotty tone she used while being defiant.

"Excuse you?" Mikaela hissed back in her quietest and most threatening 'I am your mom' voice. "Don't order me around, kid."

"I'm not. The Matrix is." Elita winced and curled her hands by her ears as if to shut out a loud voice. "It wants you to get off the bus first. It's important, mom. Please."

"Are you going to disembark?" asked the driver.

"Yeah," said Mikaela. "Just a sec."

Elita hopped off her seat. Mikaela shouldered her daughter's duffle bag and draped her own on her left forearm. Thumps vibrated the floor beneath her feet while she shuffled forward. She passed the driver, veered right and paused to look back for Elita.

The bus driver grabbed Elita's wrist. "Give it to me."

Blue-white electricity zapped her hand. She shrieked in surprise and recoiled.

"You can't touch it," Elita said. She faced the woman and her calm voice rose to an irate snarl, "And if you ever touch my dad again, I'll kill you!"

The driver unpinned her bun and her hair flew up around her face. Her pupils flashed purple. Blue light suffused her translucent irises. She levitated three inches above the bus floor. Liquescent silver plating replaced her perfect human skin and billowy black hair. Writhing metal tentacles burst off her lower body like a skirt of nightmares spilling into the bus aisle.

Elita drew this figure many times throughout her childhood. Her scribbling went through several iterations until she scrawled the deceptively exquisite figure Mikaela stared at in horrified awe.

"So, one legend meets another." Quintessa bent forward until her face hovered inches from Elita's. She smiled. Even her scintillating silver teeth looked unsettlingly humanlike. "Your eyes are exactly the same color as his optics. Interesting."

"Your point?"

Tension clenched Elita's shoulders, but she bravely held her ground. Her defiance morphed Quintessa's smile into a disdainful sneer.

"Oh, nothing. I never imagined Optimus stooping so low as to interface with a short-lived parasite." She straightened and peered down her nose at Mikaela. "You are a perfect example of why species mixing with species is detrimental to the balance of the universe."

Mikaela dropped the duffle bags on the steps and narrowed her eyes. That creature- that floating silver monster- was responsible for the loss of her hometown and the disasters still affecting the entire Earth. She manipulated Optimus and reinforced what Maxwell Pagonis started. Now she threatened Elita.

Big mistake.

Motherly instincts kicked in. Rage ignited under Mikaela's skin, a rage so hot it disintegrated her fear and clenched her teeth. A primal scream rose in her throat. She launched herself up the bus steps and threw her weight into Quintessa's midsection. Like tackling a tank, but she didn't care.

They both crashed against the driver's seat. Quintessa's optics opened wide. Mikaela wrapped her hands around the robotic woman's throat and slammed her head backwards against the side window. One blow wasn't enough, she did it several more times. The third blow shattered the glass. A fourth had Quintessa shrieking in rage.

"BITCH!" Mikaela yelled between slams. "You- worthless- piece- of- shit! You- AAAHHH!"

Pain turned everything blurry. Mikaela was suddenly against the back wall of the bus. Quintessa followed her back at a leisure pace. Her longest tentacles brushed the cushioned seats. White stuffing spewed out where their sharp edges left incisions in the cloth.

"Pitiful thing. You can't harm me!" Quintessa glowered. Blue-white energy gathered around her hands, which she drew back above her head.

Movement across the seats. Elita dove in front of Mikaela as Quintessa's hands came down.

"EL!" Mikaela screamed.

The blast bounced off Elita and struck its owner. They both went flying. Elita slammed backwards into Mikaela. Quintessa crashed through the left windshield panel. Sparks flew when she skidded facedown on the sweltering asphalt and came to a stop several yards away.

"El, are you okay?" Mikaela gasped.

"I'm fine!" Elita coughed. "You?"

"I think- ow- I think so. I- oh, shit. Hang on!"

Mikaela pushed herself to stand. Pain blossomed in her back, hips and left elbow, but she ignored it. The bus engine was still running. A glance at the controls revealed an automatic transmission. She clambered to the driver's seat, switched gears to drive and stomped the gas pedal.

Acceleration shoved her against the driver's seat and nearly sent Elita tumbling. She bared her teeth. Fiery malice limned her eyes.

Quintessa sat up in time to watch nine tons of bus bash her face. She disappeared under the front bumper like a bird sucked into a jet engine. Metal screeched against the highway blacktop.

Mikaela floored it until the grinding stopped and the back tires bounced over something solid. She slammed on the brakes, lurching the vehicle to a halt on the dusty highway shoulder.

Elita scrambled for the back window. Mikaela joined her. They watched Quintessa pick herself up off the ground. She drifted towards the bus like a squid and stopped by a rear side window. Skid marks and road rash marred one side of her body, but her face took the worst of it. Murderous fury radiated off her optics.

How's that for 'can't hurt me', bitch? Mikaela sneered.

"You fools!" Quintessa bellowed, her voice partly muffled by the glass. "You have no idea what rests beneath your feet!"

"Yeah, I do. It's Unicron." Elita replied snottily.

Quintessa placed her hands against the window and leaned close enough to see inside. The scratches on her face were slowly disappearing, though the tire marks stayed.

Mikaela slid behind Elita. She scowled and defiantly raised her middle finger. Quintessa side-eyed the gesture before focusing on Elita.

"Hmph...then you know you have what I need to kill him. Give me the Matrix of Leadership, human." She sweetened her voice to make it sound like a munificent offer. "You will commit an act of noble sacrifice for the greater good."

"As if!" Elita jumped onto the seat and unlocked the window. "The answer is, and always will be, NO!"

She punched Quintessa between the eyes. The blow knocked her head back. Flickering electrical bolts suffused her armor plating. She writhed and shrieked in pain before vanishing in a thunderous burst of wind.

The bus tipped precariously and righted itself with a loud, bouncing crunch. Hot dust blasted through the open window. Elita shielded her eyes with her forearm and Mikaela turned away.

Everything became quiet. No sound beyond a light breeze and engine humming. Mikaela's breath flared her nostrils. She gazed at her daughter in a mix of pride and concern.

"El...are you okay?"

"Yeah." Elita panted, looking down at her hands. She rubbed the right one. "She teleported away."

The aftereffects of adrenaline left Mikaela's head pounding. Her muscles were trembling jelly beneath her skin. All the bruises she acquired announced their presences. Her mouth was dry.

Nausea replaced apprehension. She took three deep, slow breaths to calm her jangled nerves and the sour sensation in her stomach abated.

"Now you know what the Matrix told me," Elita sighed. Sweat glistened on her face. "Quintessa can't touch it as long as a real Prime has it. She can't send somebody else to take it off me and she can't kill me to take it because she can't use its power unless a Prime willingly gives it to her. That's why she's the Great Deceiver. She's a lying, manipulative piece of crap who makes you think you're doing the right thing by helping her."

She wiped her hands backwards over her head to smooth her rumpled bangs. "Dad was right to leave me the Matrix. Quintessa...she would've tricked him into giving it to her for sure."

Ice pulsed through Mikaela's veins. "El, if that bitch tries to use me, Optimus or anybody you know to get the Matrix off you..."

Elita looked away. "I know."

Mikaela pulled her close in a tight, protective hug.

Loud clanging pounded under the floor. Three short bangs, three bangs with pauses in between and three more short bangs.

Elita's eyes widened. "That's SOS! That's a person!"

"Oh, my God. El, turn the AC on high!"

Mikaela's whole body protested her racing into the brutal desert dryness. The asphalt and bus reflected heat like ovens. She ignored it and yanked open the cargo door. Out tumbled a wiggling burlap sack tied shut with twine. The person trapped inside flailed wildly.

"It's okay! I'm on your side!" Mikaela stepped back, "I'm going to get you out of there, okay?"

The frantic movements ceased, replaced by heavy breathing. Mikaela squatted and tugged on the twine. The knot proved too tight to crack with her fingernails.

A shard of windshield glass caught her eye. Cutting the sack wasn't an option as it risked injuring the person inside. She held the shard with the cloth top of the burlap sack while she sawed at the twine below the knot. Not a fast process, but the gradual breaking and fraying spurred her onward.

"Almost got it..." Mikaela bit her lip. Sunlight beat against her back and sweat dripped down the sides of her face. It had to be worse for the person trapped in the sack.

"Do you need help?" Elita poked her head out a window.

Mikaela finally broke through the twine. "No, I got it."

She threw aside the rope and yanked the bag down off the person's head. He was a small-ish old man with cornflower blue eyes, an outdoorsy suntan and bits of gray peppering his otherwise dark hair. Sweat absolutely soaked him from head to toe. Duct tape bound his wrists and ankles. Another strip kept a handkerchief in his mouth to muffle his yelling.

Mikaela pulled the tape off the man's face first, and instantly regretted it when she saw he had a mustache. Ouch. He didn't appear to care, he looked glad to finally spit out the soggy handkerchief.

"Oh, thank God! I thought my goose was cooked! Thank you! That lady jumped me when I came on shift. Never seen anything like that."

The man's face was so familiar, but Mikaela couldn't place it. His desert camouflage uniform had a name patch that read P. Cullen. She noted it while she cut the duct tape off his legs. He stood up, lifted his bound hands above his head and swung them down hard towards his ribs. The sudden separation of his wrists ripped through the duct tape on his forearms. He wobbled on his feet as he peeled the it off and dropped the pieces in the dirt.

"C'mon, Mr. Cullen, the air's on full blast inside." Mikaela shut the cargo door on the side of the bus. "El, close that window!"

Elita closed the window and ran towards the front of the bus.

"Oh, please, call me Peter," said the man- Peter- when he staggered into the cold bus interior and plopped down in the driver's seat.

He unfastened his jacket and took it off. Underneath, he wore a tan sweat-stained T-shirt. His skin appeared sunburned because he flushed so red in the heat.

Elita handed him an Arrowhead water bottle and aimed the air vents at him. He dumped half of it over his head before guzzling the rest. Then he coughed because he drank it too fast.

Mikaela didn't want to think about how long he suffered in the cargo hold.

"El, where did you get the water?"

"There." Elita pointed to a red and gray cooler tucked behind the driver's seat. It had enough drinks for a busload of people.

"That's mine. I like to make sure everybody stays hydrated," said Peter. He pulled out a small blue Gatorade bottle, shook it and broke the seal to take a sip. His voice sounded stronger when he spoke again. "Now I'm glad I packed it. Help yourself."

Mikaela chose water. Elita went for a red Gatorade.

"I take it you know about the bots," said Elita.

"Yep. I worked around them in Chicago a couple months before everything there went sour. People say I do a pretty good impression of their big boss Prime. Heh, funny story there. Lennox got me up on one of the catwalks when Prime was at the base. And he- the little brat- he called the big guy over and introduced me to him, and then he told me to do the impression right to his face!"

Elita giggled. "Did you do it?"

"Yeah! I looked him right smack in the eyes and said-" Peter dropped his voice low, "Peace is the right of all intelligent beings."

Mikaela almost spit out her water. The phrasing was off, but he had the tone and timbre spot on. He sounded exactly like Optimus!

"Whoa!" Elita's jaw dropped.

"Wow." Mikaela lowered her water bottle. "How'd he take it?"

Peter's kind blue eyes crinkled in a smile. "He leaned in really close and stared me down like this..." He squinted at them with his eyebrows drawn together and relaxed it into a smile, "...then he cracked a smile and said, 'Your delivery is perfect, but the proper phrase is freedom is the right of all sentient beings.'"

Heat rushed into Mikaela's face. She laughed to cover it up and capped her water bottle. "Sounds like you made a good impression on him. Pun intended."

Amusement flashed across Peter's face. "He said I should take up voice acting. That was the day I realized those robots aren't all that different from us. Then things broke up and life went on, and I got stationed here. Fast forward a couple years, and, well, here we are."

He rubbed his fingers across his mustache and suddenly snapped his fingers. "Now I know why you look familiar. Staters! You were with Prime at the time, and I didn't have a clue! And you-" He winked at Elita, "-must be the baby bump."

That clicked Mikaela's memory.

Sometimes her trips into town became more interesting than the drive. On a day that Optimus took her, she emerged from the market to see a short, blue-eyed man with a mustache admiring the Peterbilt idling in the parking lot. He looked around sixty or so years old, and smiled kindly at Mikaela when she slipped by to load her groceries into the passenger side.

"Nice rig." He said. "Show truck?"

"Thanks, and ah- no. It's my boyfriend's. He just lets me drive now and then."

The man's kind eyes flicked to her stomach. He smiled. "Mind if I take a photo of that beauty? I have a friend down south who'd enjoy the sight."

Mikaela felt electricity jump through her pulse and glanced up at the idling truck. Optimus had secret signals for yes and no- dropping his engine RPM's meant no, and speeding them up was yes.

They sped up for a heartbeat.

"Sure, go ahead." Mikaela climbed into Optimus' cab while the man took a quick shot with his camera phone and waved in thanks. She waved back. Then, smiling, the man walked off while dialing his phone.

"Hey, Frank! It's Peter. Take a gander at what I saw parked at Stater's!"

Mikaela shot Elita a smile. "Wow, now I remember. Small world, eh?"

Peter chuckled and grasped the steering wheel. "Yup. Sure is. So how did you end up getting a ride from Prime?"

Hydraulics hissed as the bus lurched into motion. Hot, dry air wafted through the broken windshield panel. Mikaela moved over to the driver's side of the bus. Elita followed and ensconced herself in a Tetris game on her phone.

"That's a really wild story." Mikaela wiped a hand through her hair. Dry sweat turned it grungy under her fingertips. "Where are we headed?"

"Alamo, where you're supposed to be. It takes about twelve minutes from here if I go full speed, but I'm leery about speeding with a broken windshield. Let's say thirty instead." Peter glanced up at them via the mirror, "Mind telling me your wild story? It'll make the miles go quicker."

"Warning, this goes into The Shape of Water territory," Elita remarked.

Peter laughed at that. Mikaela lightly elbowed her mouthy daughter.

"I'll give you the abbreviated version."

A very abbreviated version. She purposely left out their marriage and Optimus' paternal relationship with Elita. Those details were too dangerous to share.

"Wow," Peter said after she finished. "That should be a movie."

"Directed by Michael Bay," Elita mumbled, still nose deep in Tetris.

Mikaela snickered and covered a yawn. "Nah. This is fan fiction. Dudebros won't watch a robot kiss a girl. They like fights and epic explosions."

"Why not both?" Peter arched an eyebrow.

"If only," Mikaela capped her water bottle.

Peter's skin had returned to a more normal peachy-tan complexion. He didn't show any ill effects from his exposure to the heat other than looking exhausted. She hoped he had somewhere cool to lay down and sleep it off.

Signs of civilization appeared in the distance. Peter eased his foot off the gas pedal. The bus turned right behind a Chevron gas station, went straight for three blocks and hung a left into the parking lot of a white courthouse building.

Elita stashed her phone in her pocket after racking up a ridiculously high score. "Looks deserted."

"It's the time of day," Peter switched off the engine, stood up and stretched. "I have to report the broken windows, but I wanted to get you here, first. Prime sounded really concerned about your safety. Oh! Just a minute. Where did I..."

He patted all his pockets until he reached the breast pocket of his discarded jacket and passed Mikaela a key. The key ring had a crimson heart-shaped fob. He nodded vaguely towards the building.

"There's something waiting for you around back, and there's a bathroom in the building if you need it."

Gratitude welled in Mikaela's chest. She clasped both her hands around his to accept the key. "Thank you so much."

"Oh, honey, I should be thanking you," Peter mirrored her grateful expression. "I thought I was a goner."

"We both said thanks." Mikaela smiled softly. "Let's call it even."

She grabbed her duffle bag and hopped down the bus steps.

Elita shoved her duffle bag forward with her foot. "You had a bad day. Can I give you a hug?"

"Of course, sweetheart. Thank you."

Peter and Elita gave each other a tight hug. He patted her back and they both let go at the same time.

"Take care. Mind your mom."

"I will." She shouldered her duffle bag and saluted. "Peace out, dude."

He returned a more proper military salute and reached for his cell phone.

"Bathroom, now," Mikaela whispered to her.

"Yeah." Elita said back.

They scrambled inside the air-conditioned building and used the restroom. Mikaela wiped herself down with a wet paper towel to get the greasy sweat residue off her skin. She twisted around in front of the mirror to see the bruises on her lower back and elbow. They weren't as dark or angry looking as she expected.

Quintessa was still out there, totally aware of Optimus' familial relation to Elita.

How did she discover the Area 51 bus? Did she have another plan in case the Staff and the Matrix of Leadership didn't pan out? Would she go after Optimus again?

Endless questions crashed through Mikaela's mind. She barely noticed Elita emerging from a stall to wash up in the neighboring sink.

"You okay, mom?"

"Yeah." Mikaela sighed. "This is one hell of a trip."

"Yup. We planned for Tranquility and ended up across the world while the world kinda blew up."

Oh, the outlook of a healthy, stable youth. Mikaela took pride in the fact that Elita didn't spend her formative years living in uncertainty. No eating pizza crusts out of dumpsters, no Christmases without presents, no watching her dad steal cars for a living, no waking up to the cops banging on the front door and no going to juvenile hall for obstructing justice.

Then she saw Elita stare solemnly at the Matrix of Leadership pendant and realized worrying about the police paled in comparison to the secret under their feet.

"Dad used to say Orion kept him in the dark about the war as long as possible." Elita sighed, stashing the pendant under her shirt again. "I get why, now. This mess...I can't take it in. I can't get my brain around it. How many babies born in the last three days are gonna grow up in a world their parents don't know how live in?"

Mikaela smoothed a wild hair behind Elita's ear. "I dunno, El. But they're being born, they're alive, and they're the generation that's going to rebuild it better."

"'Til all are one," Elita murmured under her breath. She nodded resolutely, dried off with a paper towel and tossed it in the trash. "C'mon, let's go see the present."

They crossed through carpeted hallways to reach the exit. Sweltering dry air blasted them as they stepped outside. Elita dashed towards the shaded side of the building and rounded the corner.

"Holy crap, mom! Get over here!"

Mikaela power-walked because she wasn't running in hundred degree heat. She entered the building's shadow and froze.

There sat a brand new cherry red GMC Topkick c6500 with a silver sunshade propped up inside the windshield.

"Damn him," she whispered. Warmth rushed to her face and tears stung her eyes as she grinned. "Damn that sneaky bastard."

"Your dream truck!" Elita exclaimed.

Speechless, Mikaela pushed the key into the driver's side lock and twisted to unlock it. Hot air strengthened the 'new car' smell that poured out around her. Gray cloth seat covers erased any concerns she had about burning her butt or legs.

The steering wheel had a big read bow stuck to its center.

She climbed in and screamed internally when she noticed the manual transmission. The driver's seat was already adjusted to her preferred driving position. Even the mirrors were angled exactly where she liked them.

"Hey! Unlock my side!" Elita knocked on the window.

Mikaela giggled and did so. Elita took a deep sniff as she scooted in.

"I checked the whole thing. No Autobot symbols or glyphs. It's a regular truck."

"You sound disappointed."

"Maybe a tiny bit."

"Tch. Silly kid." Mikaela snapped a photo of the steering wheel bow with her phone and texted it to Optimus.

You sneaky asshole! You're ridiculous and I love you.

Optimus responded ten seconds later.

Merry Christmas! I know, and I love you, too.

He punctuated it with a winking emoji.

Mikaela snorted at that. She set her phone down and stuck the key into the ignition. The engine purred to life. Part of Chicago's Will You Still Love Me? blasted through the radio speakers.

"...Take me as I am,
put your heart in mine,
stay with me forever.
'Cause I am just a man
who never understood
,
I never had a thing to prove.
'Til there was you,
you and me,
then it all came clear so suddenly
how close to you that I wanna be..."

Optimus did that on purpose. Warmth flooded Mikaela's cheeks. She leaned back, relishing the truck's sound system while the powerful song shot through her bones.

"...Just say you'll love me for the rest of your life.
I got a lotta love and I don't want to let go!
Will you still love me for the rest of my life?
'Cause I can't go on...
No, I can't go on...
I can't go on
if I'm on my own..."

Elita giggled. "Mom, you're blushing!"

Mikaela playfully elbowed her. "I know. Now buckle up, I'm itching to drive this baby!"

She decided to wait on telling Optimus about their encounter with Quintessa. There was nothing he could do about it, and they already got rid of her. Why make him worry?

"Ready, El?" Mikaela shoved the incident behind her and smiled.

"Yeah!" Elita pulled the sunshade off the windshield and folded it up. "Let's go!"

Chicago continued blasting through the speakers while Mikaela backed out of the parking space.

.o

Returning home took twelve hours due to frequent rest stops, traffic and road closures. The cabin suffered no damage beyond unsecured things falling off shelves, a cracked bathroom window, a few wonky doors and a lack of electricity. All the perishables in the fridge were spoiling or already spoiled and had to get cleaned out. Mail, mostly junk ads, piled up on the floor inside the front entrance.

No electricity meant no air conditioning. The cabin was stuffy-warm, but opening all the windows and doors to let in the cooler evening air ameliorated that issue.

Mikaela took two antique brass kerosene lamps out of the pantry. They were full. No batteries required. She and Elita ate a late pizza dinner in the soft glow of their flames. Both tacitly refused to complain about the situation because they still had a home to live in, food to eat and clean water to drink and bathe in.

Power was restored to the area the next morning. Mikaela switched on the downstairs TV just in time to catch a breaking Eyewitness news report on channel seven.

"...just in. Millionaire Maxwell "Max" Pagonis has died. Captain William Lennox released a statement saying Maxwell was killed when an explosive charge malfunctioned during an overseas military operation. Maxwell Pagonis was forty-eight years old. He is survived by his wife and one son."

The brunette news anchor nodded to the camera. "I'm Colleen Sullivan, and we will be back with the weather report after the break."

A public report meant Sherry and Tyson knew Max was gone. Mikaela switched off the TV and sighed.

Restarting a disrupted social life proved far easier than anticipated. Mikaela found herself out of a job, just like she expected. Joe sympathized with her situation after she told her stalker cover story. She hated lying through her teeth to an employer she respected, but he bought it. He invited her to reapply.

Elita's friends got the 'mom had a stalker' cover story as well. Her first twenty-four hours home were spent answering worried calls and texts. Mikaela helped her keep the story straight to avoid unwanted questions.

Days began to slip by. Life furled towards a new normal.

Mikaela took Elita on a mall crawl for school clothes and supplies late in August. They just walked out of their last stop, Macy's, when Elita received a call from Lupe.

"Hey, mom? Lupe's downstairs and wants to know if I can hang out with her. Her mom is okay with bringing me home later."

The timing sucked, but they both spent weeks in hiding. Elita needed normalcy again.

"Sure." Mikaela ruffled Elita's hair, which shone with fresh blonde highlights. "I'll take your stuff home and leave it on your bed. Tell Monica no later than eight."

Elita's grateful smile said more than words.

Mikaela strolled out of the mall to stash the two Sears bags, the Macy's bag and the JC Penney bag on the passenger's side floor of the Topkick. She threw a ratty blue beach towel over them to deter thieves.

Clouds briefly covered the sun. It wasn't oppressively hot out that day.

Mikaela shut the driver's side door, belted up and started the truck. The backup camera came on automatically. Habit still made her twist to watch behind her while she reversed. Something purple caught her eye, so she glanced ahead and saw a familiar plum Rolls Royce parked next to the Burger King across from the mall.

Sherry sat in the driver's seat, her lips clamped tight around a freshly-lit cigarette. She had her sunglasses perched atop her head like a headband while she thumbed her phone. All of a sudden she took the cigarette from her mouth, forcefully threw her phone down and clamped one hand over her eyes.

Annoying jerk or not, Sherry was still a grieving widow. Mikaela's conscience didn't like the idea of leaving without checking on her.

An SUV vacated a spot behind Sherry's car. Mikaela swooped in like a vulture. Pitiful sobbing greeted her when she hopped out of her vehicle.

"Sherry?" Mikaela approached the other car.

Sherry immediately swallowed her weeping, sniffed hard and swiped a tissue across her face. There was no masking her puffy eyes or the dark splotches where her mascara ran.

"What do you want?" she snapped.

The mercurial response was something Mikaela expected, so she didn't let it deter her.

"I heard about Max on the news. I'm sorry."

"'I'm sorry.' Everyone keeps saying that." Sherry puffed the cigarette stained pink by her lipstick. "The only sorry I want to hear is from the idiot who dropped the faulty grenade on Max's head!"

"That's- oops, hold on. Sorry."

Mikaela's phone vibrated, so she checked it. She gave Sherry a 'one second' gesture and walked several steps away to take the call. Rude? Definitely, but Sherry would do the same thing.

"Hey."

"Hello, wifey," Optimus' smoky baritone voice was warm and clear despite the distance between them. "I'm calling to say I love you."

Of course. The random I love you phone calls. Mikaela didn't realize how much she missed them until they started up again two days ago.

"I love you, too." She looked up at the sky, the sugary sweetness welling in her chest disrupted by the situation at hand. "Hey, um...the news reported that Max is gone."

"Yes, I know. Has the cover story changed since then?"

"No, but his wife's a mess." Mikaela dropped her voice to a whisper, "She said somebody dropped a faulty grenade on his head. She wants to hear an apology from the guy who did it."

No hesitation. Optimus said, "Is she present now?"

"Mmhmm, but out of earshot."

"Take the phone to her. Put me on speaker."

Mikaela inhaled a deep breath, switched her phone to speaker and walked back to Sherry's car. Sherry looked up at her, sniffling.

"What now?"

"Sherry, this is Owen. Can you hear me?"

Her eyes darted to Mikaela's phone. "I hear you."

"I am sincerely sorry, Sherry." Optimus spoke the words slowly and gently. "It was an accident no one foresaw."

Sherry's grimacing visage went beet red. She snuffed her cigarette, slammed both hands against the top of her steering wheel and squeezed it until her knuckles paled. Mikaela braced herself for screaming, swearing or enraged shouting.

"Thank you." Sherry said it in a calm whisper. "Did you watch him die?"

"Yes. It was instant. He did not suffer."

Sherry nodded solemnly. Her shaking hands relaxed off the steering wheel. Then she burst into tears. The overpowering whole body ugly cry of a person in heartbreaking agony.

"Good. I want to tell Tyson exactly what happened, and I don't want to lie to him if he asks if it hurt." She dabbed at her eyes and sobbed. "At least it wasn't one of those damn robots. I can live with an accident."

Mikaela swore she heard Optimus cringe on the other end.

"I truly am sorry, Sherry," he said, his voice rife with genuine sympathy.

"Stop! Once is enough! It won't bring him back!"

Sherry flung her sunglasses at the windshield. They bounced off and landed in her lap. She stared forlornly down at them like they were the source of all her anguish.

Mikaela turned off speaker mode. She walked out of earshot to let Sherry collect herself.

"Sorry for dumping that on you. Are you okay?"

"With this? No." Optimus gave a mechanical sigh. "I doubt I ever will be, but dwelling on it doesn't benefit anyone. We have no choice except to learn from it and move forward."

She bristled. "That bitch is never going to know her husband tried to murder our daughter. I can't forgive that!"

"Mikaela, put your dislike of her aside for one moment and imagine yourself in her place." Optimus' voice was sharp, but not angry. "How painful would it be if someone coldly told you that I ceased to be the person you loved during my final moments?"

Mikaela froze at those words. She honestly hadn't considered it that way. Her loathing of Max clouded her judgment towards his family, and Optimus' percipient question swept the clouds away in one fell swoop.

"I don't know," she said, "I don't want to know."

His voice regained its gentleness when he said, "I understand how you feel. You don't have to forgive Max or his family, but there is nothing to gain from adding to Sherry's misery."

Sherry's lighter clicked. The wind changed direction. Mikaela ignored the biting cigarette smoke smell. She stuck her fingers into her hair and grasped at her scalp.

Optimus suffered the most because of Max, and all he longed for was making Max aware of the harm he caused. Mikaela wanted to enact revenge on him and see him wiped off the map.

They both got what they wanted, and neither felt better for it. From that perspective, desiring more vengeance seemed pointless.

Sherry acted like she spent her lifetime being told what to think, so she parroted whatever she heard from other people. Maybe she didn't know how to think for herself. None of that excused the awful things she said, but it explained them.

Mikaela adjusted the spaghetti straps of her blue and white floral print maxi dress. "Okay, I see your point, but she's never going to stop annoying me by existing. I guess I have to live with that."

Optimus chuckled softly, his gentle laugh like rolling thunder. "I know the feeling. On that note, I should let you go. I have meetings to attend to and you seem to have your hands full as well."

"Mmhmm. Talk later tonight?"

His response had a smile behind it. "As you wish."

A smile formed on her face, too. "I love you."

"I love you, too. Buh-bye."

"Bye."

Mikaela pocketed her phone and turned to face Sherry, who just lit her third cigarette.

"I have a question," Sherry began.

"Yeah?" Mikaela waited for it.

Sherry flicked ash out her car window. "How the hell did you get close enough to a Transformer to learn its name?"

Half of Mikaela's mouth quirked in a smirk. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

A frown creased Sherry's brow. She threw her cigarette package at Mikaela. "Try me."

Mikaela caught the package. They were Marlboros. There was one left.

"Thanks, but I don't smoke." She tossed it back. "I met Optimus in an alley up in Tranquility. This is when I was still in high school. I was with a guy friend, and we ended up in the alley together. This huge truck drove up to us and transformed into a red and blue robot. He identified himself as Optimus Prime, and said he needed my friend's help."

"Tch. Was he asking that guy to help him kill everybody on Earth?"

"Nope." Mikaela's smirk morphed into a smile. "He asked that guy to help him save it. My guy friend had something that helped them do that. I'm not supposed to say more. Government gag order stuff, ya know?"

Sherry nodded and scrutinized her own fingernails. They were acrylic and decorated with a coral pink tortoiseshell pattern. A scintilla of thought shone on her face. Probably the first one not fed to her by somebody else.

"Did it- he- do those robots feel anything? Are they alive?"

Mikaela braved the nasty cigarette smoke stench to lean over and look straight into the other woman's eyes.

"Sherry, the only difference between us and them is what our bodies are made of." She turned her head to cough. "Optimus' planet destroyed itself with a war that's gone on longer than we'll ever be alive. He fights to keep it from happening to Earth because he doesn't wish that pain on anybody."

Fresh tears turned Sherry's eyes shiny. "Max wanted to stop those robots from tearing apart more families. He had a big one. Two sets of grandparents, both parents, four brothers, two sisters, a lot of nieces, nephews and cousins. They died in Chicago during a family reunion. Max is alive because he was caught in traffic when the takeover started. The building they were in got crushed, and the big red and blue one- Optimist? Whatever- Max saw him drive by as a truck when the building fell."

She snuffed her cigarette. "Oh, my God...what am I going to do?"

Mikaela ducked her head so Sherry didn't see her roll her eyes. There was no clearing up the picture for her. She straightened and squared her shoulders.

"Keep going forward. Life isn't going to stop because you lost the man you love. Start by making your own decisions. How old are you?"

Sherry blotted at her nose with a crumpled tissue.

"I'm thirty-five. I was sixteen when I met Max, like in that Benny Mardones song about flying into the night. We dated secretly. He opened my eyes. He took me places and showed me I wasn't filth to God. Max...he was an extrovert, but he was tender and kind to me in ways my father never was. I ran away with him as soon as I was eighteen. I waited to keep the law off his back. We got married when I turned twenty-one.

"My parents were- they're extremely religious. Fanatical Christian fundamentalists. I haven't seen or spoken to them in almost twenty years. They believed women were inferior and dirty. A woman let sin into the world, so a woman has to work twice as hard and defer to men- especially her father and husband- to receive atonement and God's grace. I tried to be that with the freedom Max gave me. Now he's gone, and I don't know what to do!"

Her tears began anew, but quieter than before. The makeup she wore had to be top notch because it stood up against her crying. Only the mascara ran, and even that was minimal.

Rowdy teenagers burst out of the Burger King door. The tallest one turned his black baseball cap backwards and belched thunderously like someone expelling a demon. His buddies laughed at Mikaela's raised brow. Skateboards scrape-clacked on the ground and the guffawing faded around the corner.

An idea flashed in Mikaela's mind. She smirked.

"Yeah, a woman let sin in and pissed God off. Then God went and picked a woman to bring the solution because He loves us. He gave Mary a choice, and Mary said yes. Jesus did the rest. That's why Christmas and Easter exist. Free will, Sherry. You have it. God gave it to you. Use it."

"Hmph. You don't strike me as a church-going Christian."

"I'm not a churchy person." Mikaela shrugged. "I mean, I was raised Catholic, but I'm not active. I haven't been to a Mass in a long time. I believe in God and I think that's all that matters. Maybe He's using me as your still small voice to tell you to start living your own life."

"Fair point." Sherry heaved a long sigh and wiped tears off her face for what had to be the millionth time. "Where should I start?"

How ironic, she couldn't even make that decision without somebody's help. It was sad and painful to see.

Mikaela pointed to the mall behind her. "Go into the mall and pick out an outfit. Pick shoes to go with it. Do the same thing with your hair and nails. Make yourself look how you always wanted to look, and don't base it on what you think others want. You don't have to defer to men anymore. You're more than a dress-up doll, Sherry. Stop letting life happen to you. Take charge of it. Make mistakes and learn from them. Be the mom you never got. The rest will figure itself out."

Sherry stared like a deer in headlights. The face of a child being told to break all the rules instilled on them.

"You aren't the fool I thought you were," she said.

Shrugging, Mikaela stepped back from the car. "There's more to me than meets the eye."

Resolve hardened Sherry's expression as she started the Rolls Royce. She slid her pink gradient-coated sunglasses on, peeled out of the parking space and sped towards the mall.

Optimus rubbed off on me, Mikaela thought to herself.

She twirled her keys around her finger, allowed herself a pleased smile and climbed into her Topkick.

.o

Optimus initiated a video chat that evening. Mikaela propped her phone up with bent paperclips and they made small-talk while she finished mopping the kitchen floor.

Elita was still at Lupe's, so he promised to call again in the morning to talk to her.

"Now we're set." Mikaela dumped the dirty water and put the mop away. She carried her phone into the living room where she curled up on the red sofa. "Where are you?"

"A living unit. Er...like a studio condominium."

Optimus panned the room. The small space looked similar to the recharge room in his 'childhood' home, except it had a narrower window, the low ceiling wasn't transparent and the walls weren't as shiny. A golden-hued desk occupied the corner beside the window. His recharge table folded out of the other corner like a Murphy bed.

He touched a tile by the door, which was opposite to the window. Two triangular chairs transformed out of the wall beside the recharge table and rotated to the middle of the room. He arched a brow ridge. "Bots colloquially call these 'aft pokers' because of their shape. The irony is the seats are very comfortable."

"Hm, well, they kinda look like faceted butt plugs." Mikaela giggled when he snickered. She wiped her hair back and relaxed against the cushy sofa backing. "So, what's your view like?"

"I'll show you." He took the recording device to the window.

Seeing the sun shining in a black sky like any other star was spooky. Its brilliance kissed the otherworldly city sprawling across Mikaela's phone screen. Titanic pillars stretched between the ground and the level above. Honeycomb patterns of all sizes dominated the city layout. Her tiny phone screen could not convey the enormity of the structures being shown to her.

"You're looking at Iacon," Optimus explained. "It currently faces away from the Earth. Power is only available to a small area. It is much more impressive when all the buildings are lit. Imagine the lights of any major metropolitan city on Earth and scale it up to the ground area of Nevada."

The camera he used wobbled when he flipped it towards himself and let go.

"Wow." Mikaela's heart swelled at seeing him look wistfully towards the horizon outside the window.

"I have faith that it will shine again." He refocused on her. "Has Quintessa appeared to you at all?"

Mikaela didn't blame him for asking every time they video chatted. She texted the whole mess to him the night she got Elita home to the cabin. He kept it out of his I love you calls in case she picked up while out in public, but private chats were different.

Being back in a full-time leadership position kicked his anxiety into high gear, so Mikaela focused on offering reassurance.

"Nope." She scratched the back of her head. "Not since Nevada. I think she got the hint the first time."

Mikaela worried about Quintessa appearing to her or Elita more often than she cared to admit. She always kicked the thought aside. Living in constant fear didn't help anyone, so she refused to. Besides, Quintessa couldn't touch the Matrix of Leadership without excruciating pain.

She yanked her mind off the subject by addressing another one.

"When's your FDR session?"

"Drift is arriving now. We're using the strobe. I...heh," Optimus shifted his weight and self-consciously rubbed the back of his neck. "This will be my second time experiencing it. I wanted to share it with you."

Warmth flowed into Mikaela's cheeks. "I'll be right here, boss bot."

He smiled softly at her and straightened.

"Prime, Mikaela, hello." Drift said from off-screen.

"Hey, Drift."

They sat down on the goofy looking triangle chairs. Drift spent a few moments setting things up.

Flicker Desensitization and Reprocessing worked exactly like Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing treatment for humans. FDR utilized a strobe light, paddles with alternating temperatures or small speakers that emitted a sequence of beeps.

Optimus preferred the strobe. The device resembled black binocular eyepieces attached to the end of a gold gooseneck mount held steady by silver tripod legs. He adjusted the gooseneck until he only needed to lean forward for the eyecups to cover his optics completely.

Drift talked Optimus through focusing on the physical sensations he experienced. Then he started the strobe, ran it for no less than fifteen seconds and stopped it again. Small purple LEDs on the sides glowed when the device was active.

"Sensei, what are you noticing?"

Optimus leaned back and closed his optics. His lip plates quivered. He covered his chest with both palms.

"Pain. Pain in my Spark chamber."

Drift spoke quietly, "What is the source?"

"The crowbar."

"Let us work with that."

Optimus opened his optics, leaned forward and looked into the strobe eyepieces.

Mikaela saw him freeze up during a particularly difficult recollection. Thin steam curled through his nose vents. He moved his hand, hesitated for a long moment and swiped his index finger across his throat like a movie director cutting a scene.

Drift stopped immediately, no questions asked. He kept his expression neutral. Compassion bled into his smooth voice.

"You are safe, Prime. Return to your ocean. Calm the storm until the water is a mirror. Calm, calm."

"Calm...calm..."

They waited a minute. The steam gradually dissipated. Mikaela didn't dare speak for fear of interrupting their flow.

"Do you wish to continue?" asked Drift.

"My mind says yes, my body says no."

"Any 'no' is a sign to stop. There is no shame in that, Prime."

"I feel more tired and unsettled than last time."

Drift moved the strobe aside and laid a reassuring hand on Optimus' shoulder. "Your processor is still re-processing the memory in the background. We are constructing new pathways in your laminates to be reinforced by future sessions. Your body is hard at work rerouting your mind. Fatigue and anxiousness are normal as long as they do not interfere with your day to day activities."

Optimus hunched forward and covered his face. He looked fresh out of a brutal physical fight, except he didn't have any marks to show for it.

"This is much more difficult than I anticipated. I had no idea the issue was so..." He groped for a suitable word, "...layered."

Sunlight caught Drift's red armor as he knelt to look up at Optimus.

"Sensei, the transformation between who we are and who we are becoming is a difficult, invisible battle rarely seen by those around us. Sometimes, this battle makes itself visible. By choice or circumstance, it doesn't matter. People react fearfully when they see someone else's struggle manifest outwardly because it is a reminder to them that they, too, are in flux."

"There is nothing lonelier than an inner struggle you can't reveal." Optimus lowered one hand to Drift's shoulder. "And there is nothing braver than revealing it anyway."

"You honor me, sensei." Drift's features warmed into a smile. He stood up when Optimus did, faced the recording device and acknowledged Mikaela with a nod. She flashed him a hopeful smile.

Optimus wasn't expending all his energy on treading water in his mind anymore. Drift showed him how to resurface and fight back. It didn't matter if stasis trauma waves tossed him around or sucked him down to rock bottom.

He was swimming.

.o

August plunged forward into September.

The cracked bathroom window got fixed. Elita started school as an eighth grader. Mikaela's application was accepted at Joe's. Having a job again meant medical insurance and no more worrying about paying the bills. Joe pulled a few strings to give her back the salary she had before her disappearance.

By mid-September, stores began donating portions of their proceeds to a new charity calling itself World United. A heart-shaped planet Earth made up its logo.

Mikaela Googled it on her phone while waiting in line at the grocery store. Most of the proceeds for WU funded operations related to feeding and clothing people living in areas affected by the recent global catastrophe. The rest went to providing them with shelters, medical care, dental care, mental health care, education and hope.

The charity's slogan said, "One conversation is all it takes to change a life."

Curious, Mikaela scrolled down to locate its founder.

It was Sherry Pagonis. The long, oft pinned-up blonde hair she used to wear became a spiky mahogany hued pixie cut. Gone were her filmy blouses and expensive slacks. Now she clad herself with flannel shirts, flared jeans and stilettos. Even her makeup looked hip and fresh; one could hardly tell she wore any at all.

That day, Mikaela bought a WU bumper sticker to stick on the Topkick and a heart-shaped Earth pin for Elita. Elita put the pin on her school backpack. The irony of a "heart-shaped Unicron" wasn't lost on either of them.

October brought crisp air and orange leaves.

Mikaela spotted Tyson leaning against a locker when she dropped Elita off at school. Polo shirts and khakis appeared to be his fashion mainstay. His curly dark brown mop almost fell to his shoulders. In a few years he would have the beard scruff to complete the look.

Elita and Tyson waved at each other, but did not interact beyond that.

The door beside Tyson swung open, and out popped a chubby towheaded boy with Downs syndrome. He excitedly showed Tyson a worksheet. Tyson grinned at the paper. They high fived and fist bumped.

November brought rain, and ice crystallized December.

A local Catholic church hosted a choir Christmas concert to raise funds for World United. It was a blustery, cold Saturday evening. Mikaela went to the concert for the heck of it and brought Elita along.

Everybody in the choir wore black attire with red ties or jewelry as accent pieces. The blue-eyed waif of a soprano in the front row had auburn hair down to her knees. During each song, she alternated between bouncing on the balls of her feet, swaying her whole body and flapping her hands like Julia. She was practically dancing in place during the final song, a rousing, bouncy piece that went on for nearly ten minutes. Where did she get so much energy?

Elita had Optimus tap into her phone, which let him watch the concert with them. He noticed the excited soprano, too, and mentioned she reminded him of Julia.

After the show, Elita put Optimus on speaker and approached the girl. Mikaela hung back, observing. The girl and Elita were almost the same height.

"Hey, awesome singing up there. Um, what was that last song you did?"

"Hi!" The soprano turned to face Elita. "That was Gloria in Excelsis Deo by Kevin Memley. Super hard to learn, but a blast to sing when you figure it out."

"I can tell." Elita giggled. "Okay, this is random and I hope it's not offensive...are you autistic?"

The girl- actually a very petite woman- clasped her hands together and lit up like the question highlighted her night.

"Yup! I guess you saw me stimming all night."

"Cool! Yeah, I did!" Elita relaxed a little and cradled her phone. "One of my friends is autistic. She just turned nine. I'm twelve."

"Oh. I'm more than thirty years ahead of you both, but I don't look my age," said the soprano with a laugh. "Everybody thinks I'm a teenager or barely twenty."

"People think I'm eight." Elita made a face. "It's because we're short."

The woman struck a fake model pose. "Short ain't bad. Own it. Shorties unite!"

Elita giggled at that. "Totally!"

Mikaela heard Optimus say something, but it was halfway lost in the chatter happening all around. The soprano raised her eyebrows.

"Is that your dad on the phone?" She leaned closer, "I like your voice. Come sing with us, we're desperate for baritones!"

Optimus burst out laughing on the other end. "Thank you, but my current employment keeps me traveling."

The soprano bounced on her toes, eyeing Elita. "The choir loft is always open. So...whoops, there's my mom. I gotta run. Thanks for coming-" she pointed at the phone, "-and for streaming."

"The music was magnificent," Optimus said to her, and she happily waved her hands. People stared at her movements. She ignored them.

"Thanks, stranger-dad," she said.

"Good luck with choir." Elita added, taking a step back.

"Good luck at life." The soprano awkwardly stuck her hand out. Elita politely shook hands with her and they parted ways.

The soprano hopped along the church aisle like a bunny, shouting, "It's gonna be Christmas and I'm Mary Poppins, y'all!"

"C'mon, El." Mikaela herded Elita towards the open double doors at the back.

Church hadn't' changed. People still milled at the entrances instead of stepping two more feet aside.

"Oh, dang it," Elita snapped her fingers, "I forgot to ask her what her name was. Oh, well."

Elita raised the phone to her ear again and switched off speaker mode. She smiled.

"Sorry. Still here. She was really excited. Heh! Yeah. We're heading out now. It's freezing. Huh? I will. I love you, too, dad. Bye."

"That was fun," Mikaela glanced back at the gold tabernacle behind the church altar. She blew it a kiss. "Peace out, Jesus."

Christmas arrived softly with snow. New Years brought boisterous fireworks.

Life went on, the seasons changed, and time swept everything inexorably forward.

.o

April 2nd

Sundays always triggered deeper, more restful sleep, but something about Elita's birthday woke Mikaela up around five in the morning every year. Maybe her body remembered that being the hour she awoke in labor thirteen years ago.

Wind rustled the trees outside. A mockingbird sang through its litany of stolen birdcalls.

Weight slowly depressed the mattress near her hip, causing the springs to creak. A warm metal hand cupped her shoulder. Elation tickled her breastbone at the familiar touch. She rolled onto her back and opened her eyes to Optimus sitting on the edge of the bed.

Transparent gold shimmer paint highlighted his metal eyelids. He'd polished himself to a high shine- or at least he made his human-sized hologram appear that way. All his silver parts had a mirror finish, including his face. He scintillated like new in the predawn dimness.

Mikaela wiped a hand through her sleep-tousled hair. All she wore for pajamas was an oversized black T-shirt. She grinned as she moved the sheets, draped her bare legs across his lap and folded her arms in a fake pout.

"You're early."

Optimus leaned over and rumbled in her ear. "I drove all night."

She peered at him through her eyelashes as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Oh? Any specific reason?"

"To give you this." He kissed the tip of her nose and his servos whirred when he returned her embrace. "And to tell you that I love you."

Butterfly tingles danced through Mikaela's chest. She cupped the back of his head and nuzzled her cheek against his. His warm armor was smoother than usual because of the polish.

"I love you, too." She rubbed her fingernails in circles behind his right ear finial. "How long can you stay?"

"One week."

"Awesome." Mikaela rapped her nails against his helm, causing it to clank. "You dressed up for me. I like it. You look great."

Optimus' optics softened while he played with a strand of her hair.

"You wore dressy attire on more than one occasion to greet me. It's time I returned the favor." He smiled mischievously. "Now, may I have your assistance in playing a small birthday prank on Elita?"

"Oh, this should be good. Lay it on me."

Mikaela listened eagerly to Optimus' plan. Yup, it was going to be funny.

She got out of bed to make herself decent. The weatherman predicted mild temperatures, so she decided to throw on a skintight white tank top and Capri pants. A filmy red ankle-length chiffon vest and strappy red sandals completed her look. She pinned her hair back in a loose ponytail, added her red hoop earrings and, as a last minute decision, dusted on a little bit of gold shimmer eye shadow.

The sun rose, bringing more warmth to the room. Optimus looked like a knight in shining armor while he straightened the bed and smoothed the dark blue comforter.

"Ah...there it is."

"Hm?" Mikaela turned off the bathroom light.

"It's the moment you told me you were in labor." His expression softened when he fixed his optics on her. He nodded towards the triangular Jacuzzi tub in the corner. "I had no idea how much she would change my life for the better."

Mikaela joined him by the bed. Funny, she always remembered how painful her labor was, yet the pain paled in comparison to the joy of seeing Elita's face and hearing her cry for the first time.

"It's wild, isn't it? You end up holding this tiny person...a tiny person that doesn't know hate exists or how big the world really is. All they know is you."

Optimus cocked a brow ridge. "Then you blink and she turns into a mouthy, headstrong teenager. Which reminds me- did she go on her annual anti-Autism Speaks tear at school and Stater's?"

"Yup. She gave out flyers in every class on Friday and stuck flyers on every car in the parking lot yesterday. We were babysitting Julia, and she helped her put them out at Stater's. We sent pics to Erin. She loved 'em."

His optics slipped briefly into the faraway proud dad stare.

Mikaela grinned impishly. "So, are you ready to nail the birthday girl?"

"Mmhmm. I'm dialing now."

Her cell phone buzzed. She answered it, put it on speaker and tip-toed to Elita's bedroom.

As expected, Elita slept sprawled on her stomach with her hair falling over her face. She'd made a mess of her black and purple striped comforter and purple sheets.

"El..." Mikaela shut the bedroom door behind her and gently shook her sleeping daughter. "Sweetie, wake up. Your dad is on the phone."

"Hm?" The mass of blankets stirred. "What time is it?"

"It's butthole o'clock in the morning," Mikaela replied.

"Urgh...dad?"

"Happy birthday, sweet-Spark."

Elita sat up and made her hair messier by wiping it backwards off her face. She opened her eyes to look blearily at the phone.

"Thanks. Are you on your way here?"

Mikaela bit the insides of her cheeks to hide a smile.

"Ah, no, actually..." Optimus laid the grimness on thick.

Disappointment creased Elita's brow. She picked the sleep goop off the corners of her eyes and sighed dramatically.

"Why not?"

"I encountered a problem."

She crossed her arms, still frowning. "What kind of problem?"

Optimus hung up and threw the bedroom door open. "I can't be on my way if I am already here."

Elita's dejected expression brightened like sunlight after an eclipse.

Mikaela snickered. "Gotcha."

"Oh, my God!" Elita tried and failed to smooth her rumpled hair. "You're both- did you just- Dad!"

She launched herself at him. He caught her in his arms, spun her around and set her down, the wild-eyed excitement on his face mirroring hers. "Surprise!"

"You sneak!" She wiped tears off her eyes. "And you're really shiny!"

"And you're taller!" Optimus rubbed the top of her head, which was centered with hourglass-shaped juncture where his chest and abdominal armor met.

"Yeah, I'm-"Blinking, she touched the back of her gray pajama shorts. Her cheeks flushed red. "Oh, my God, ew. Hold on a sec."

To Mikaela, she whispered, "Please check my sheets."

Mikaela watched Elita grab clothes and underwear. She scurried into the bathroom at the top of the stairs. A fist-sized red splotch stained the seat of her shorts. Her sheets escaped unscathed.

Optimus noticed the stain. He blinked and brought a hand up to cover his mouth, the face of a dad realizing his little girl was getting closer to womanhood.

"When did that begin?"

"Last year in July." She nudged him. "Don't bring it up. She gets embarrassed if guys know she's on it."

"Duly noted. I hope it doesn't cause her the discomfort you used to experience."

"It doesn't. She lucked out."

Footsteps hurried downstairs. The washing machine door banged. Elita reappeared dressed in her short red turtleneck sweater-dress, sparkly black leggings and red kitten heel sling-backs. Her loose, neatly combed hair spilled around her shoulders.

Mikaela paused when she glimpsed the woman Elita was growing into. Her heart took a picture. No camera necessary.

"Wow," Optimus raised his brow ridges. "Elita, you look beautiful!"

"Thanks." Elita beamed up at him. She rubbed the back of her neck and shot him a sheepish look. "Sorry that I ran off. Can we make pancakes for breakfast?"

"Absolutely." His face alighted with a smile. "Feel free to get started. I'll come downstairs momentarily."

"Okay." Elita spun on her heels. She struck a silly pose in the doorway, snickering. Then she was gone. Her shoes clack-clacked down the stairs and marked her path across the living room.

Mikaela noticed Optimus gazing at her in awe. She bit her bottom lip, flattered by his admiration. "What?"

He blinked slowly, closed his mouth and cocked his head. "Do you remember the old photo of yourself on your thirteenth birthday?"

Now Mikaela knew where his mind wandered. "With the flowery red sundress? Yeah. She looks like my twin, doesn't she?"

He nodded, offering his hand. "Shall we?"

She took it. "We shall."

.o

The rest of Elita's birthday went off without much of a hitch. Mikaela decorated the kitchen and living room with red and gold birthday streamers. Optimus draped a red tablecloth over the kitchen table and hung the sparkly red HAPPY BIRTHDAY banner off the gaming loft banister.

He shifted to his human hologram at noon when Talia and Lupe arrived. Their appearance caused an impromptu fashion show where they squealed about their clothes.

Elita did the first twirl because she was the birthday girl. She threw in a few silly dance moves and pointed to Talia.

"Work it, Tal!"

Talia's fingernails and toenails were painted fire engine red. She took a spin in her long sleeveless top, which had alternating pastel pink and yellow ruffles. Simple pink leggings and yellow rhinestone flip flops finished it off.

She took a bow and gestured to Lupe. "Show us how it's done, Lupe!"

Lupe had on a burgundy floral print off the shoulder bell sleeve top, a short jean skirt and gold gladiator sandals. Red ribbons were braided into her waist-length black hair.

Optimus observed their antics before turning to Mikaela. "Have I stumbled onto the set of America's Next Top Model?"

She snickered, nudging him. "Maybe."

Erin appeared at one o'clock with Julia tip-toeing at her heels. Her windblown red hair brushed against her pale green button down top, which had tiny red flowers embroidered on the collar.

"Julia's here!" Lupe called Talia over. She spun around and smiled. "Julia, you look cute! Can you do a spin like this and show off your outfit?"

"Show off your outfit?" Julia's gamine bob fluttered as she twirled happily. She wore red ballet flats, loose purple shorts with sparkly pink butterflies printed on the sides and the front of her faded red T-shirt had a crossed-out blue puzzle piece above bold white text stating, Autism Speaks does not speak for me! Purple ear defenders protected her sensitive hearing. She carried her iPad on a black strap draped across her body like a bandolier. A pouch on the strap held Fluffster.

"Dave has the flu today and can't make it," Erin said ruefully. "He signed the card."

"Oh, thank you. Please send Dave my wish for a speedy recovery." Optimus accepted the orange gift bag she passed to him and set it by the fireplace where the other presents were stashed.

Julia touched her iPad screen and clapped her hands when the device spoke with a cute girl's voice, "Dave, fever, cough."

"Yikes," Mikaela said back to her. "I hope he feels better. The flu sucks."

Talia galloped across the living room and banged on the downstairs bathroom door. "Hey, El! Julia just got here! Did you die or something?"

"I'm resurrecting in here! Do you mind?" Elita snapped back playfully.

Lupe joined in on the banging. Laughter ensued when Elita finally reappeared. All three girls rushed to surround Julia and bring her into the party.

Mikaela noticed Elita wearing purple eye shadow like Elsa in Frozen. Talia's doing, obviously- that girl was on the way to becoming an awesome makeup artist. Lupe had a similar smokey eye design, albeit in brown, yellow and bronze. Talia did her own eyes with shades of peach, gold and hints of green.

She beamed at Julia, "Do you want eye makeup, too?"

Julia hung her head and tapped her iPad. "Yes!"

"Erin, is it okay with you?" Talia asked.

"It's fine if she'll tolerate it." Erin sat down on the sofa. She didn't wear the fracture boot anymore, but her foot still bothered her. To Mikaela, she said, "I love this. Other kids treat Julia like she's an alien."

Optimus chuckled and stuck his hands into his jeans pockets. He 'had on' a white T-shirt with World's Most Embarrassing Dad written across the front in huge red letters.

"I'm an alien. This is just a human disguise."

Erin laughed and eyed him up and down. "Oh, what? Are you a Transformer?"

Ice pulsed through Mikaela's veins.

"Drat, she knows!" Optimus stage-whispered through the corner of his mouth.

"I guess we better hide her in the basement with the others before she finds out you're the truck in my garage!" Mikaela teased back. "Hurry, I'll get the chloroform."

Erin chuckled, covering her mouth. "Ha! You two are like Curt and I when we dated." She sobered to a soft smile. "Julia really wants to meet a Transformer robot ever since she saw the Tsunami Robot on the news. She thinks they all need hearts like the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz."

"The Tsunami Robot helped me and mom during the Cascadia earthquake." Elita walked past them to grab Talia's makeup bag. She hopped back into the giggling girl huddle by the windows. "Besides, he kissed me!"

"What?" Talia jumped up.

Lupe guffawed and slapped herself on the knees. "Are you playing us?"

"Nope," Elita fluffed her hair and smirked.

Julia touched her iPad screen. "Tell, tell, tell!"

She did, leaving out Ultra Magnus' name, the details about Area 51 and the conversation leading up to the memorable smooch.

"...so my first kiss was an alien, and I liked it." Elita finished the tale.

Talia squealed with laughter. "You're totally cray-cray, Elz! So they can talk? Like...they talk like us?"

"Mmhmm. Ult- the Tsunami Robot kinda sounds like Richard Marx. Hold on, I have a video where he talks."

Elita scrolled through her phone and showed them the video she took from the hill overlooking Tranquility. Ultra Magnus' voice was loud and clear at the end. "Let's go."

"Ooh, he sounds like a nice guy," said Talia.

"My mom was afraid of them until Tsunami Robot happened," Lupe said. She played with a ribbon in her hair and grinned.

"Tin Man!" Julia clapped her hands.

"Yeah," Elita put her phone away. "They kinda look like him, don't they?"

They dropped the subject and dug through Talia's makeup bag. Optimus and Mikaela exchanged surreptitious smirks. She scooted into the kitchen to hide her snickering while he entertained Erin with light conversation.

"Okay, Julia, let's get started." Talia squeezed liquid foundation on her fingertips. "I'm only using a little bit. Your freckles are too cute and I don't want to cover them up."

Elita and Lupe coached Julia through sitting still with her eyes closed. Talia giggled while she worked the girl's face like an artist's canvas. Upon finishing, Julia sported shimmering pink, red and gold smokey eyes. The only thing she couldn't handle was the eyeliner pencil on her waterline, so Talia skipped that.

"Wow!" Talia held up her phone, which had an old Gameboy casing. "Girls, let's strike a pose!"

They huddled around Julia while Talia snapped a selfie of them all together.

One o'clock crossed towards mid-afternoon. Techno music blasted through the cabin. Lupe, Talia and Elita took turns making up dance moves to go with it. They encouraged Julia to participate, which she did by jumping in circles while flapping her hands.

"She's doing the baby Groot!" Elita squealed.

Her, Lupe and Talia copied Julia's moves and their laughter almost drowned out the music.

"Hey, Erin! Julia has moves!" Talia yelled over the noise.

"Julia has moves!" Julia spun again while Erin happily took a photo with her phone.

Optimus ordered pizza to spare Mikaela the cooking.

"Pizza in forty-five," he said in her ear.

"Cool."

Elita emerged from the party fray. "Mom? I'm gonna take Julia for a sensory break in the woods. We'll be right back, okay?"

Mikaela ruffled Elita's hair. "Okay, but watch the time. Dinner is in forty five minutes. Don't go any further than the clearing."

Nodding, Elita checked her watch. "Gotcha."

She held Julia's hand and approached Erin to let her know. Then she took Julia out through the front door.

Talia and Lupe laughed and made faces at each other as they continued their dance-off.

Mikaela unwrapped a package of plain white paper plates, set out drinks and put down a pile of red party napkins for the incoming pizza blitz.

Ten minutes went by. Optimus excused himself upstairs. Mikaela's phone hummed. She checked it to find a text from Elita.

Julia met her Tin Man.

Next came a photo taken on the hill in the forest clearing. Afternoon sun shone on Optimus as he knelt with Julia sitting in his cupped hands. They were smiling at each other. Julia had her arms up like someone cheering.

A final text came through.

She asked dad if he can love without a heart. He said he can, and that he loves with his Spark. She's happy now because she knows he isn't sad.

Optimus came downstairs after Mikaela shut off her phone. She stared dreamily at him. Did he realize he just gave her yet another excuse to love him even more?

Erin looked up worriedly. "Owen! Are you okay, hon?"

"My apologies, Erin," He rubbed the back of his neck. "I forgot to take my anti-anxiety medication, but I have remedied the issue." To Mikaela, he said, "Elita texted me. She and Julia are on their way back."

He mirrored her dreamy look when she didn't answer right away. She felt her cheeks get warm and gave a thumbs up to acknowledge what he said.

"Where did she go?" asked Lupe.

Optimus leaned over next to Mikaela and rested his elbows on the kitchen table. "Julia was overstimulated, so Elita ran interference to help her relax."

Lupe looked up at Optimus. Her face softened and her dark brown eyes were faraway in thought. "She beat up a bunch of boys who made fun of me after my uncle Jorje died. Then she got in trouble with Mrs. Lombardi because she stayed with me instead of going into her classroom when the recess bell rang. She's so nice when other people are mean."

"Yeah!" Talia slid in next to Lupe and rubbed the top of her own head. "She chased a girl who laughed at me because I'm bald and asked her if she'll still think it's funny when it's her mom or sister going through chemo. That girl shut right up and apologized."

"Well..." Amusement twinkled in Optimus' eyes. "She is a Prime, and we have a strong sense of justice."

"I'm glad." Lupe flashed a little smile.

"We don't care if she's weird." Talia crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out. "We're weirder!"

"I may have to claim the crown of King Weird." Optimus crossed his eyes right back and moved his glasses askew, which caused both girls to erupt in mirth.

"I told you she gets it from her dad!" Talia playfully shoved Lupe.

"Oh, he's definitely weird." Mikaela added in.

"As if," Optimus fake-sneered.

She poked his nose and pressed a kiss against his cheek.

Elita and Julia returned five minutes before the pizza arrived. Talia opened the door.

"Yo, the pizza guy is here!" She shouted across the living room.

"On it." Optimus borrowed cash from a plain white cookie jar on the counter to pay the gangly, bespectacled delivery boy.

"Tin Man!" Julia shouted excitedly. She jumped up and down, clapping her hands and repeating the words in a singsong voice. "Tin Man! Tin Man!"

"Shhh," Optimus winked at her while he carried two Dominos pizza boxes to the dining room table. "Mikaela, prepare for the feeding frenzy."

"Fifteen seconds." Mikaela smirked.

"I'm going to guess ten."

He opened both pizza boxes. One had a plain cheese topping, the other came with everything on it. Elita, Lupe and Talia descended on it like vultures, though Elita made sure Julia got a plain cheese slice before grabbing one for herself. Talia politely took one of each topping for Erin.

"Sixteen-point-five," Optimus smirked at Mikaela. He oh-so-casually manifested a holographic slice of pizza on his plate while nobody was looking. "I was the closest."

"Hmph." Mikaela pretended to pout. She accepted the plain cheese pizza slice he handed her.

The party carried on with hardly a pause. Optimus handled the dirty dish cleanup, stashed leftover saran-wrapped pizza slices in the fridge and tossed the empty pizza boxes in the recycle bin outside. He settled on the sofa beside Erin. Mikaela curled up in his lap.

"Hey girls," she called, "Time to open presents!"

Optimus kissed her behind the ear. His voice trembled like it did when Elita grabbed his finger for the first time. "This is it, Mikaela. The moment she was born."

Mikaela's heart swelled with the same warmth. She interlocked their fingers and squeezed his hand. "Now she's a teenager."

Elita opened the cards first, giggled at them and went for the presents next.

Lupe's gift came in a flat box wrapped in silver paper. It was a beautiful Mexican poncho with bold pink, white, red and purple stripes. Elita held it up to admire it in detail.

"I was in Mexico for Christmas and I know you love those colors," said Lupe. "My grandma makes ponchos for the WU charity."

"Wow!" Elita beamed in delight. "Thanks, Lupe! This is so gorgeous. Oh, my God, I'm totally wearing this to school tomorrow. Hey, Talia, you could do a whole bunch of makeup looks based off this."

"Yup!" Talia laughed. She passed along a wide square box decked out in rainbow paper. "It's funny you said that. Here ya go, birthday girl!"

"Now I'm scared." Elita teased as she admired the wrapping paper before tearing into it.

She popped the lid off the plastic MAC box inside and it unfolded into an elaborate makeup set. Each color palette had labels for day or night. The very bottom had a small bag of brushes and nail polish to match the lip colors.

"Oh, whoa!" Elita rubbed her hands together and grinned from ear to ear. "It's the same one you got for Christmas, too! This rocks! Thanks so much, Tal!"

"Nailed it." Talia gave a double thumbs up.

Julia shifted uneasily and tapped on her iPad. "Gift. Different. Sorry."

"Aw, why? I know you got me something cool." Elita reached for the orange bag.

Erin set her empty Pepsi can down and crossed her legs. "She picked it out. I didn't help. It was all her."

Julia watched Elita through the corner of her eye. Elita pulled the yellow tissue paper out until she found the item hidden underneath. She lifted up the Nightwatch astronomy book, which featured the silhouette of a person looking through a telescope superimposed over a starry photograph of the purple Veil nebula.

"Awesome!" Elita beamed over at Julia. "Julia, I love astronomy! This is great. Thanks a lot! Really, thanks!"

"Really, thanks!" Julia said. She rocked back and forth, her worried pout fading into a bright smile.

"Not to worry, Julia. You aren't the only one with a nerdy gift." Optimus pointed to the sofa. "Elita? There is something strange concealed here."

Elita raised her eyebrows and poked under the sofa. Out came a long, flat package wrapped in glittery pink and red HAPPY BIRTHDAY paper.

"I think I know what this is. Let's see if I'm right."

Lupe, Talia and Julia huddled closer. Elita chortled when she saw them all bearing down on her and tore off the paper. She opened the box, unrolled the poster inside and cackled, turning it for the others to see.

It was a copy of the original 1954 Gojira poster. The other girls laughed with her.

"I guessed right!" Elita grinned excitedly. "Thanks, dad!"

Mikaela playfully pinched Optimus' cheek. "You geek."

"You love it." He rumbled seductively in her ear. Oh, the things his voice did to her pulse rate...but this wasn't the time nor the place, so she kept herself in check.

"Mmhmm. Now it's my turn." Mikaela slid off the sofa and sat next to Elita.

"Mommy," Elita hugged her.

Mikaela kissed the top of her head. "Gee, El, I forgot to buy something." She said it as she draped her arm over Elita's shoulder. In her hand, she held a small box enwrapped in the same glittery HAPPY BIRTHDAY paper.

Technically true- Mikaela didn't buy this present, but it meant something special.

"Aw!" Elita carefully tore off the paper. She ran her fingers over the velour red box before popping up the lid. Inside, a pair of pearl stud earrings. She gasped, covering her mouth. "Oh, mom!"

"The pearls are real. My mom gave those to me when I turned thirteen. I wanted to pass them on to you." Mikaela squeezed Elita's shoulder. She didn't anticipate a lump welling in her throat. Her little girl was growing towards womanhood at an alarming, yet inexorable pace.

"They're gorgeous." Elita put the earrings on and immediately threw her arms around Mikaela's neck in a tight hug. "Thanks, mom. I love you."

Mikaela returned the embrace and rubbed her daughter's back. "I love you, too, kiddo. They look great on you."

Elita twisted her body to the side and turned her head, mirroring the famous Girl With a Pearl Earring painting. "What'cha think, dad?"

Optimus snapped a photo on his "phone" and gazed at her in undisguised admiration. "They suit you perfectly."

Mikaela got up at exactly the same moment Talia lobbed a bow. The sparkly knot bounced off Elita's head.

"Ack!"

Elita wadded up tissue paper and tossed that at Talia. It hit Talia and Lupe. Julia grabbed the whole pile and flung it up in the air so it rained down on all four of them.

"Uh oh," Mikaela said teasingly to Optimus.

"Take cover," he replied.

The room erupted in a wrapping paper war. Everybody got involved. Mikaela used the distraction to duck into the kitchen and stick the sparkly gold number candles in the cake.

Elita liked her birthday cakes simple. She had a round chocolate cake with white frosting this year. Tiny red and pink butterflies surrounded the top edge and spilled off onto the sides. Shiny pink frosting spelled out Happy birthday, Elita! in beautiful cursive letters.

Optimus waited until Mikaela had the candles lit to herd the rambunctious girls towards the kitchen table. Elita beamed when she saw her cake. She stood at the table while everybody gathered around and sang happy birthday. Julia hummed instead of singing the words.

As soon as the song ended, she tapped on her iPad. "Wish. Wish. Wish."

Elita hugged Optimus' waist. Her eyes welled up.

"It already came true."

Optimus ruffled her hair and gently squeezed her shoulder. She returned to the table to blow out her birthday candles. Then she took the candles off and carefully cut the cake.

"Ooh! There's strawberries in it!" Talia held one up on her fork.

Elita painstakingly dug the strawberries out of a slice and placed them separate next to it. She gave that piece to Julia. "Here you go. I know you hate chunky stuff in cake. Sorry."

"Sorry." Julia hopped in place and accepted the plate. She touched the cake with her fingers before happily devouring it. The strawberries got eaten last.

"Owen, aren't you having a piece?" Erin indicated with her fork.

"I will in thirty minutes." Optimus tapped on his wrist. "My insulin shot hasn't sufficiently kicked in yet."

"Oh! Right. Sorry."

Mikaela sneakily put the last slice away in the fridge. Elita could have it tomorrow.

The party wound down after everybody finished their cake. Lupe's mom arrived, followed shortly by Talia's. Elita graciously walked them out.

Julia managed to pull Optimus aside while Erin used the downstairs bathroom. Mikaela, who stooped to gather up the wrapping paper mess, heard their exchange.

"Sparks, how long," Julia tapped her iPad.

Optimus arched an eyebrow. "How long has it lasted, or how long will it last?"

"Yes."

"Heh, heh..." He knelt to regard Julia on her level. "I have been alive longer than every star in the sky, and I will be alive after most of them have gone out."

She twisted her fingers together and touched her iPad screen again. "Forever. Will you?"

"No, I won't live forever, but I'm going to tell someone my life story when I get old and rusty. And guess what?" Optimus grinned and gently tapped the end of her nose. "You're a part of that story, Julia, just as I am a part of yours." He glanced at Mikaela. "An extremely intelligent woman said stories tell us that none of us are alone in how we feel."

Julia's expression lit up. She stared right into Optimus' eyes for a moment. Then she looked down at her iPad to type on it. "You. Tin Man. Not different. Like me. Feelings."

"You're right. I feel everything you can."

She suddenly hugged him and kissed his cheek. "I feel everything you can."

He embraced her, too. Elita took a photo of the moment on her phone.

Erin came out of the bathroom just in time to witness it. Julia scampered towards her and gave her a hug and kiss, too. They were both practically glowing when they left.

All became quiet after Erin's SUV pulled away. Mikaela closed the front door and took all the trash to the bins out back.

Sunset gave the western sky a glorious crepuscular glow. Everything above took on a deeper blue hue. The stars weren't visible yet.

"Hey, mom!" Elita called from the door. "I got a present from Mags! I'm gonna open it!"

"Really? Hang on, I'm coming."

Optimus had shifted out of his human hologram. He sat on the floor next to Elita with one knee hugged to his chest. Elita squatted beside a broad, rectangular metal box. Gold Cybertronian glyphs had been painted across the silver lid.

Mikaela sat cross-legged on the floor next to Optimus. He shot her a sidelong glance and winked. That flirty gesture would never cease to be cute.

"Best wishes for your thirteenth cycle. I hope this offers you a pleasing reminder of our kiss." Elita's face flushed bright red as she giggled and covered her mouth. "He wrote 'merry birthday' at the end."

She tried to lift the lid. It didn't budge.

"Uh..."

"Cybertronian gifts are a little different from Earth's. Here." Optimus pointed to a nearly invisible button on the side. "Push that."

"Do you know what's in there?" she asked.

"No. He handed it to me and said it was a birthday gift for you."

"Now I'm curious." Mikaela brought her knees to her chest and rested her chin on them.

Elita touched the button on the side of the box. The lid 'sprouted' apart and retracted, revealing something resembling a silver two foot-long garden bell with a narrower gold rod suspended inside. Rustian dots covered the outer tube's entire polished silver surface. A shimmering chain with a hook dangled off one end.

She lifted the mysterious object up by its hook. "Wow! Um, what is it?"

"That..." Optimus leaned over to examine it, "...is a Rustian hope chime. Every Rustian abode has one. Ringing it brings good luck and positive energy to the home it occupies."

He held the chime by its chain when he got to his feet. The chime rang a deep tone, like an old, quiet church bell.

Mikaela touched the chime's cool, smooth surface. "Can you read the writing?"

Optimus' soft smile grew. "It's the lyrics to Christina Perri's A Thousand Years. Ultra Magnus was quite creative in his translation."

"Oh, my God." Elita blushed again, covered her face and giggled. She tapped the chime with her fingernails.

"Mom, I think this is perfect for the empty hook in the gaming loft ceiling."

"Yup. I was getting tired of looking at it."

"I'll be happy to hang it up tomorrow," Optimus said.

"Awesome." She gathered all her birthday paraphernalia. "I'm gonna call Mags and thank him. It's not a stupid hour for that on Cybertron, is it?"

Optimus replied, "It's early morning on the Sea of Rust, so no. Go ahead."

"Thanks. Really, you guys, thanks. Best birthday ever."

Elita smiled and took her armfuls of stuff up to her room. Second later, an insect-like figure skittered into the brightly-lit loft and crawled laps around the pool table.

"Ack! Buggy!" She reappeared and issued a come command in Cybertronian.

Buggy's scraping footsteps trailed towards her room. Optimus and Mikaela stifled their laughter until the noise quieted.

.o

Night dropped its veil overhead and cast everything in shadows. The amaranthine sky expanded outward into forever, its starry vastness untouched by Earth's recent catastrophes.

Calamity befell planet Earth before, and that never woke Unicron up. He stayed intact through an asteroid killing the dinosaurs, and he didn't rouse like Sleeping Beauty after a 'kiss' from Cybertron. If those events didn't awaken him, what would?

Hopefully, nothing.

Mikaela breathed deep. Her breath fogged the window and faded, a reminder of her brevity against the universe.

Thumping scrapes broke through her ruminations. She turned away from the picture window to look at the closed garage entrance. Last year's earthquake warped the door frame by just enough millimeters to be an occasional nuisance.

"Ugh, come on. I'm older than you and I still work!" Optimus grumbled.

Mikaela snickered at his complaining. She called out, "Honey! Push down on the doorknob!"

"No need, I have a solution."

Something slid aside and the door popped open. There stood Optimus with the crowbar in his hand like it wasn't a source of abject terror. He set it on the shelf he took it from, bent to grab a Cybertronian box and pulled the door shut behind him on his way inside.

"Calm, calm," he mumbled it to himself like a mantra. His demeanor smoothed a moment later. "Mikaela, may I turn off the lights?"

She blinked out of her reverie. "Why?"

"Darkness is necessary." Optimus set the box on the sofa. At her nod, he flipped the light switch adjacent to the kitchen door. The end table lamps by the couch shut off. He turned off the kitchen lights, too, leaving the living room pitch black.

"Close your eyes," Optimus rumbled.

"It's too dark for me to see you."

"Pedant," he murmured in her ear, his deep voice doing delicious things to unmentionable parts of her body. "I'm trying to surprise you, and it requires a set up."

Mikaela dramatically hid her face behind her hands. "Okay, boss bot. My eyes are closed and covered. Shock me."

He chuckled and the whirr of his servos moved away. The box lid squeaked. Music emanated through the stereo speakers, the uplifting piano chords of something new. She recognized Josh Groban's beautiful baritone voice the instant he began to sing. The song's title, Granted, came to her when the chorus rang around the room.

"...If you have a dream go chase it,
if you feel hope don't waste it,
if you find love embrace it,
and never take a single breath for granted..."

"All right." Optimus' voice came from near the stairs. "You may look."

Mikaela lowered her hands and blinked in awe. Thousands of twinkling white LEDs floated throughout the room, their sizes ranging from sand grains to large marbles.

"...The story's yours, go write it!
Tomorrow's undecided!
Our days are counted on this planet.
Never take a single breath,
take a single breath for granted..."

Optimus waited amid the luminescence, a celestial knight in shining armor. His polished mirror finish held her spellbound. He came forward, the LEDs shifting around him and returning to their original positions like bubbles in gel. Above him, Elita leaned on the banister with her camera phone aimed at them. She grinned impishly and gave a thumbs up.

"I know I'm a month ahead of our anniversary, but I couldn't wait." Optimus extended his metallic hand, his optics tender in the dimness. "May I have this dance, Mikaela?"

"...Maybe it's time you bet on yourself.
Listen to your heart,
just listen to your heart
and nobody else..."

Heat suffused Mikaela's cheeks. Her heart flip-flopped and delightful goosebumps prickled her skin. Everything leading to today started at that question.

"...So go find out who you are.
Only you know who you are,
who are you...?"

Time shrouded the future in darkness. Darkness turned everything into murky shadows, but it wasn't absolute. Shadows and darkness needed light to exist.

Mikaela looked up into Optimus' optics, and for a heartbeat she stood again before the mysterious bot who asked her to dance fifteen years ago. The girl robbed of her prom gazed back at him, unaware of the amazing life about to unfold.

"...'Cause all you have to lose
is your best life yet,
so go ahead..."

"Okay." She took his outstretched hand and opened herself to all that was to come. Whatever happened, for better or for worse, they would face it united in love. "I'll dive in."

The past kissed the present when their hands interlocked. Optimus swung Mikaela close with a cheeky wink. They exchanged a tender kiss and spun into the starlit music.

.o

.o

"...sometimes the greatest moments
we'll ever know
are when we're letting go,
so let go.
And maybe our brightest days
still wait for us in the unknown.

If you have a dream go chase it,
if you feel hope don't waste it,
if you find love embrace it,
and never take a single breath for granted.
If you have a light, go find it!
The story's yours, go write it!
Our days are counted on this planet,
so I won't take a single breath,
take a single breath for granted!"

-Josh Groban, "Granted"