The week had passed and the base was now rid of Christmas decorations, now preparing for the end of the year… At least, as much as the Autobots and twenty-five other individuals can prepare. After the party, 90% of the population on base had already begun packing for their trips to their families. Will and Epps included along with Sam's two friends leaving for their own families. This meant that for two days, soldiers and officials have been running around, trying to sort the last of the month's paperwork. Since barely any one of them got the chance to visit during Thanksgiving, an entire two weeks of Christmas and New Years were given to them.

And so, with all the Autobots stuck on base, as well as Sam and roughly two dozens of soldiers, the place was quiet and barren. Sam's friends dwindling down to a small few of humans and a larger amount of Cybertronians. But he couldn't blame them. Besides, he could easily say that he had felt more at ease around the race other than his own. Another human feeling. So when it was the actual night of Christmas Eve, he and the Autobots came together for one more movie night, deciding upon some family humour in Home Alone. But Samuel knew that movie nights weren't going to cut it for the entire time. So he got to work on a 'side project'.

Optimus, back to having his usual relationship status with Sam, returned to his desk, his head still mulling a few things over. He busied himself while doing so, speeding his way through every file or paper handed to him. First off, he was thinking back to that conversation with the scout. 'Why didn't I answer his question?' He thought. 'It was a fairly simple yes or no. I know I hold feelings for Elita… But, do I know?' The thought kept replaying in his head till he moved back to the second memory his mind kept returning to.

After the talk with Bee, he and Sam had ventured off into the night to one place in particular. Graceland Cemetery. It was only an hour drive to the place before Sam and Optimus' holoform stepped out of the vehicle, a small bouquet in the hands of the human. Optimus didn't understand why'd Sam would want to return to the place of his Creators' burial at a time like this, but then he remembered that Christmas was a family holiday. Which meant that the boy would've been celebrating the holiday with them up until this year. His first year without his Creators beside him. Optimus remembered his own experience.

The two hadn't stayed long. Only for half an hour while Sam spoke to them in a sad tone. And albeit it was sad, his smile didn't fade. Optimus could only watch from a few feet away while Sam was on his knees. The young Witwicky talked about everything that had been happening, not caring that some of the things were sensitive to himself. Though he recounted a few of the things, he didn't go into detail on what he himself had thought about the events. Then before long, he gave them each a small 'Merry Christmas', ending it there when he stood back up without the flowers. The two then left quietly, not a word shared between each other since the beginning of the trip.

Sooner or later, he'd have to talk about it with Sam. For now, his thoughts left him in silence. It came to the point where he hadn't even noticed that Ratchet had entered the room. The doctor waited for a greeting, which was a usual for anybody meeting with the Prime… which also wasn't given. Making his presence be known, he coughed and cleared his holoform's trachea. It was then that the leader threw his head up with surprise washing over him.

"R-Ratchet! You scared the pit out of me!" He muttered.

"I knocked." Ratched stated, bringing a small feeling of embarrassment to the leader.

"A-Anyways, was there something you needed?"

"No. But it seems you do. To not even hear me enter, you'd have to have something weighing on your processor." The medic stated, drawing a few steps closer to the desk. "About what though?"

The Prime lips were straight. "Just irrelevant information."

The two came to a small stare down as Ratchet held eyes of suspicion. "… Is it about Samuel?"

Twitch. "No. What makes you say that?"

"I wonder."

Optimus grew somewhat annoyed when Ratchet had rolled his eyes. "… If that is all you wanted to say, then-"

"It isn't." He interjected, leaning his arms onto the table. "Tell me, are you really being honest with yourself?" The leader looked rattled by the question, but answered calmly.

"What do you mean?"

"Come on, Prime. I see the way you look at Sam and the way he does so to you. And I'm pretty sure the rest of the base has as well. Otherwise they would be just lying if I asked."

Optimus flushed and gave the other mech and incredulous stare. "Y-You're imagining things."

"Am I? Well," The doctor turned away with a small smirk. "I guess I must've imagined that you were holding his hand during that movie a few nights ago." His grin stretching when the holoform flickered into particles for a second before switching back. "Did I strike a chord?"

"Ratchet…" Optimus called, his voice taking on a dark tone.

"Don't worry, my lips are sealed." The Prime thought to take a sigh of relief, but found that relief disappearing in a moment. "At least, under the conditions that you will tell Sam."

His annoyance growing, the raven-haired holoform spoke carefully. Tried, at least. "Do you not see you're asking me to betray Elita? I could- no- I will never do such a thing. And even if I do, I wouldn't because I know that I'd lose my connection with him the moment I do."

"Firstly, is it really betrayal? She'd understand that you had to move on after her disappearance. And you know better than I do that one shouldn't betray their own spark. And secondly, you don't know a single thing about what would happen when you tell him."

It had pained Optimus to admit so, but the other mech was right. Long ago, there were times when he believed that he wasn't right for Elita-1. And so, he had tried distancing himself from her. When he did, it had eventually caved in on his spark, bring both physical and emotional pain. And as much as he hated to say it, he doesn't know how the human would react. That frightened him more than anything.

"… Even if she did accept them, I don't know if I could do it. And what's the likely chance of Sam returning such feelings?" He questioned, lowering his gaze. Ratchet was prepared for said question, answering it not a moment after.

"He held on." Optimus looked up and met the medic's eyes. "That night, he didn't let go of your hand. Didn't move it away, nor did he say anything." 'Though his hormones were spiking.' Ratchet thought silently to himself, deciding best to keep it a secret for now.

The sudden realisation hitting the Prime, he questioned how he could've missed that. When he reached his hand out to the human's that night, he was acting solely on impulse. If Samuel neither questioned it nor rejected it during or after the movie, did that mean he accepted it? No… It was far too soon to say that he had 'accepted' it. More so to say that he had 'put up' with it.

The mech returned to reality when Ratchet continued. "He pulled you back from the Well of Allsparks for Primus sakes! Don't you think you owe him that much?"

Optimus didn't need to be reminded about that. Especially when it links to cost and danger the Witwicky had placed himself in during that time. "It's because that I owe him 'that much' that I can't risk this friendship we've built, all for the selfish need of a dead mech walking." He argued.

"Samuel is many things, but heartless is not one of them, Prime. You should know better than to think otherwise." After finishing the sentence, Ratchet made way to the door. "This conversation is useless. If you tend to be that stubborn about this, then I'd rather give my help to Bumblebee."

As the medic reached the door, Optimus stopped him with a question. "What do you mean?"

Though looking from the corner of his eye, Ratchet stared directly into the Prime's eyes, hoping it wasn't ignorance in his eyes. "You didn't notice, but during 'that' night, Sam was also holding onto Bumblebee as well." Leaving with just that, Optimus was left in confusion.

Bumblebee, his brother-like comrade, was doing the same as he was? Did he want to be with Samuel as well? But… 'Save him the pain of not knowing.' He remembered. Does that mean the yellow Camaro liked him but was keeping quiet? From what Ratchet had just said, he confirmed it. The leader knew he should be happy for the Seeker on finding someone that he can connect to. But knowing that Sam was the one he had optics for, it had hurt. And if Bee did hold feelings for him, why was he so insistent on the Prime being with Sam?

Unless he already confessed. And if he did, along with the fact that they aren't courting as of yet, then that meant Sam had refused him. But what for? The seeker seemed the closest to the human than anyone of them. He seemed like the most suitable choice of a partner for the young adult.

… Unless he was just overthinking all of this and that they aren't dating. Optimus swore that he processor would begin to steam if he continued to think of it. It had provided a rather annoying whir of a sound in his holoform, toppling the best of and Cybertronians. Looking down to his hands, he found that he had been digging his nails the entire time. So when he released it, he wasn't surprised to find that pain was left behind. Ignoring the pain, he sighed and looked to the door.

'... I won't get anywhere this way. As much as I don't want to, I'm going to have to seek out my own answers.' He thought. Pushing away from his seat, he made a bee-line towards the door.


"Sam!" Ironhide called from down the hall, approaching slowly from his light jog. It had done the job of catching the Witwicky's attention, who was busying himself with yet another talk with a soldier. Sam looked for a moment, before turning back to the soldier and ending his conversation.

"Okay, so have everything ready by then." The soldier nodded before running off, leaving Sam to turn back to the holoform.

"What was that about?"

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing. Just a project I'm working on." Sam waved it off, gesturing with his hands to say 'don't worry'. "Anyways, what's up? Did you need anything?"

"No. I've just been wondering what you've been doing. You seem to be running around the entire base, talking to a few people, then running off once more. Some of the others had noticed are suspicious. Are you planning something?" The burly holoform asked, cocking his head to the side like a puppy with his arms crossed.

"Like I said, it's a 'project' I'm working on. You guys don't need to worry about it. I mean, you guys get to see the final product soon enough anyways." He stated, drawing the Cybertronian's curiosity.

"Oh? Can I at least get an idea of what you're doing?" Sam chuckled to this.

"Nope. But you can help me." Ironhide cocked his head once more. "In the past five years, have you ever been with Will on New Year's Eve?"

"Yes, only once before when Annabelle had asked so. Why?"

"Great! Then you probably have seen it before as well!"


Now two days since Christmas, Sam still had a few things to do. It seemed like the past weeks he's been getting back into the shape of doing something every day, having almost every hour of the day planned out. Eating with Lennox, training with Epps and the others, then the rest of the day was free unless he had to check up with Ratchet. Using the free time, like how he had been planning the party, he used it once more for one last gift to the Autobots. It was going to take a day for everything to be complete, but he hoped that the Cybertronians can enjoy his gift.

So there he was, taking use of a small library Optimus had directed him to and enjoying in a little light reading to past the time, till someone had called him. But when you can read novels in only two hours, Sam grew tired of the books quickly and moved on. One of the cons of touching the Allsparks shard… No pun intended? And as he opened the door, he was faced with an unlikely face.

Elita-1. Bright orange hair, piercing green eyes, flawless skin. It wasn't that hard to tell. Especially when they've seen each other in passing so many times. Usually following the order of glaring before averting eye contact. Sam only following the latter.

It was sort of awkward to meet like so, after everything that had spewed out during that argument with Optimus. Sam was pretty sure that the Prime would've at least mentioned it to her. And from the daggers that the femme was still throwing in her eyes, the Witwicky was sure of it.

"Human." Ouch. It stung to continue hearing the Autobot call his species by their name after how long she had been on base. And now that the thought was beginning to form, had the femme interacted with anyone other than her own kind while she was here? 'Okay, no. Don't think like that, she is still with Optimus. Say one wrong thing, Optimus will know.'

"Elita. Sorry, I was just leaving." 'Great idea! Avoid, avoid, avoid. That'll solve any issues!' His mind sarcastically thought, now replaying the scenes in his life when he had used the same tactic. Choosing any of those moments, he could clearly say the problem would come back and bite him in his rear. But this was a special case at least, so leaving would be the ideal response.

Sam quickly walked past the holoform and into the corridor, hoping to get away as quick as he could. He was stopped when a hand caught onto his shoulder with a terrifying grip. Sam would've gave a small shout of pain if it weren't for the utter fear running through him right now. With every force of will within him, he kept his line of sight straight and was silent.

"Human. I don't know how you have tied Orion to your weak species, and I don't care what affiliations you've had with the Autobots, but remember your place."

The grip tightened for a moment, making Sam squint in pain. Before long, it had released his shoulder, though not relieve the pain that remained. After a quick silence, he continued walking.

'Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Don't think about it.' He chanted continuously in his head.


Bumblebee hadn't much to do but watch Sam work on something he refuses to tell the others. Even the scout himself didn't know what the young adult was planning. In a sense, he was worried. Albeit, not for the reasons one would likely think. People would usually see the Witwicky as a much too hard-working man. What was it called again? Oh right, a workaholic. And yes, Bee is still worried about that as well, but not as much as he is worrying right now.

What made the Seeker anxious was that Sam seemed to be in a rush. Not the good kind, if there is a 'good'. Like the human was trying to hide something, or rather had something weighing heavily on his shoulders. Bee could tell from the many years of living with the boy that he was acting strangely out of the ordinary. Rapid speech, irregular body movements, and to top it all off, he seemed to be avoiding everyone who knew him again.

Bee usually would've pointed it out by now, but because Sam was going about too quickly, it was nearly impossible for them to get a moment of privacy. And when they did have a moment, coincidentally the blonde had been called away by another mech for another patrol or training schedule. That had been continuing on for the past few days or so.

Then there is the other problem he's been noticing. It'd be plain stupid to miss the glares thrown at said human by the Prime's mate. Anyone else, he'd have been holding them down at cannon-point and questioning their motives. Bumblebee understood the looks Prowl and Sunstreaker had given to the humans when they had first arrived, thinking themselves as a much higher race. But not like Elita-1. Might as well have been shooting shots at the human if she had been looking any harsher.

Sam had noticed, and yet he doesn't do anything but look the other way. This only tempted the scout to do the job for him and confront the femme, but the results seemed to be an uncontrolled variable in the equation. Having to be stripped off of his weapons is a possible aftermath, as well as losing the respects of every other Autobot. Usually, it wouldn't have mattered to the Seeker if he lost everything for Sam, but to lose the boy was another thing.

So he kept his head down and kept his optics on both Sam and Elita whenever he could.

And was it just him, or is Sam avoiding the use his left arm?


Taking long strides, Optimus combed through the buildings for the Witwicky. If he wanted to start somewhere, he had to go to the source of most of his problems. He had to figure a few things out. If everything his comrades had said were true, or it was all just a big misunderstanding. Whatever the case, he needed to hear a few things before saying what he himself was feeling.

Ah, speaking of Unicron. He thought, having finally caught sight of the young human, turning a corner in a rush. The two stopped with an awkward silence between them, their stares differing. Optimus had a small look of happiness, while Sam had a glint of tension in his eyes. They stayed silent for the longest time before Sam turned his back once more to an Autobot, speeding off and leaving the Prime in confusion.

Optimus wasted only a second before speeding off after the boy, calling his name in the process. "Sam, wait!"

Sam didn't respond and quickened his pace. This only made the holoform call out again, speeding himself up as well. "Sam!"

Again, no response, still keeping his head down. It was only a minute before the leader had caught up with the human and caught his hand over the young adult's left shoulder. "Sam!" Optimus called one last time, his hand flying off of the limb when the human flinched and gave a small pained yelp. Finally, the two had stopped and were staring at each other once again.

Optimus noted the way Samuel had held his left shoulder, as if hiding it while a small look of fear crossed him once more. Optimus' hand stayed afloat for the longest moment before reaching out to hold the Witwicky once again. This time, the Prime had stopped when Sam jumped back with an uncertain look. A bad vibe ran through the holoform as he sounded his words out slowly. "Sam. Is there something wrong?"

Sam shook quickly, having noticed the serious tone in his voice. "I-It's… It's nothing, O-Orion…"

Optimus didn't look impressed. "Sam, it is clearly not nothing."

His hand reached out once more, this time swatted away by Sam's own limb. This had confirmed the mech's suspicion while Sam paled at the face he met. It was the same face the doctor-bot had given him many times, as well as a few others he knew. Once again, Optimus drew his words out slowly. "Sam. Show me your arm."

"W-Why? I-it's fine-"

"I apologise, but that wasn't a request." Before it could've been processed, the Prime latched a palm onto Sam's wrist, his other hand working by pulling the long sleeve of the light blue, button-up up the limb. And as the fabric was folded over itself, Sam could feel the colour in his body fade and left a pained look when it was quickly revealed.

Optimus had his eyes widen as the colour of purple was made apparent on his shoulder, the shape of a handprint left behind. He hadn't seen much about the anatomy of a human, but he could tell that it would've been the equivalent to that of a large dent on a Cybertronian. He was careful to inspect the wound as his hand glossed over it like a thin piece of tissue. But when he watched the human's face contort in pain whenever there was too much of any contact. And as much as it did, Optimus felt the same pain wash over him.

The leader, still being careful, held the arm up just by the slightest before he began questioning. "… How did this happen?" His voice taking on a much darker tone.

"It's nothing. I… I fell out of the bed-"

"Enough to leave an exact handprint!" The Prime roared, the other adult squinting. One, because it was quite loud in the silent corridor, and two, because his arm jerked as a nervous reaction. The mech didn't wait before continuing. "Who did it?"

Sam looked away, a sign as to refusal to answer. For the next few minutes, Optimus pressed many times for an answer, Samuel doing his best to deny it and refusing to answer. After a frustrating moment, the Prime had finally stopped, but in turn, dragged the Witwicky towards the hospital ward, despite the many protests that Sam gave along the way.

"Orion, stop! I'm telling you, nothing happened!"

"It is not nothing when someone chooses to inflict pain on another!"

"It was an accident!"

Optimus whipped around. "So you don't deny that someone did it!"

The young adult clamped his mouth shut, realising the mistake he just made. Now the Prime was never going to let it go. And if he did, it won't be forgotten any time soon. Which meant that Sam couldn't let the mech who exactly was the one that did the damage. Most likely, it'd only damage Optimus himself even more. Then moving on to destroying their friendship when the leader wouldn't believe it was them.

"Sam, tell me who did it. I won't get mad at you if you do." Lies. Samuel had the typical mother who would question every unknown accident that happened within his household. He himself had heard that line way too many times to even believe it anymore.

"And what about them?" The Witwicky questioned, the dark look of Optimus Prime returning.

"That… I'll have to have a word with them." A sad expression adorned the young adult's expression.

"Please, Orion. It's better that you didn't know. Orion Just this once, trust me with everything. Don't ask about it." Said mech opened his mouth to deny a few of the statements, stopping when his eyes met Sam's and the human spoke again. "Please."

"…"


Optimus didn't like it. Not one bit at all. But neither did Ratchet when he heard about it. Mostly, it was because Optimus gave in to the request because of the eyes Samuel displayed. 'Puppy-dog eyes', he learnt from looking it up. To fall for one's charm was not high for a Prime. Demoralising, even. The only thing that the leader could settle for was an immediate check-up with Ratchet. He had to say, he had more of a problem holding back Ratchet from whacking both of them with a wrench than he had fighting a Decepticon.

After those few minutes, Sam was bandaged up and allowed out of the med bay, now with the Peterbilt's holoform escorting him for the rest of the day. Fortunately for Sam, the bandage had been covered up by his shirt, meaning that no one had even suspected that he was in pain whenever in passing. Everyone excluding Optimus and Elita of course. Then came the times when the young human had accidentally nudged his arm with something, either wall or person. Each time, Optimus pulled on his 'mother-hen spirit' and urged for Sam to go back to the med bay.

The only other luck he had that day was that Optimus hadn't even paid a single attention to the plan Sam was cooking up. Hopefully, Optimus didn't follow into the week.

Soon enough, two days rolled by and it was finally the last day of the year. Just as everything was set for Sam's project as well. Just one last request he needed to make with any Autobot. So he turned to the closest Cybertronian around; Optimus. Yep, Optimus had gone with Sam's suspicion and had kept track of him during the three days, almost breathing over his neck might he add.

"Hey, Orion, do me a favour?" The young adult requested, drawing the Prime's attention when they had finally made contact during the last few hours.

"What is it?"

"Can you tell everyone to meet up on the roof, about say… ten minutes before midnight?"

Optimus lifted a brow. "Midnight? I know you had been planning something the past week, but isn't ten minutes before midnight a bit much?"

"Hmm? Nope. Just about the right time when everything is set and ready."

"… Alright. If you're sure." He nervously followed through on the request, quickly sending a mass-comm to the Cybertronians on base. Most of them replied back quickly with a few questions, but the rest had heard what Sam was doing during the week and were eagerly awaiting it.

Optimus was caught off guard when a different kind of comm had popped up. One asking for him to come and talk. A rather serious one if it came from his beloved.

Returning back to reality, he turned to the human. "There is somewhere I need to be, do you mind?"

Now it was Sam's turn to raise his brow. "Says the one who's been stalking me the past few days."

"That's a bit much for an exaggeration." Optimus said. "You'll at least be sure to keep safe of that arm."

"Yeah, yeah. Just go already." The Prime turned once again, giving a small wave as he left.


Walking around the building for a few minutes, he headed for his office, where Elita had asked to meet. This left him with some time to his thoughts. Why was Sam keeping the one that had injured him a secret? Well, from what the young adult had described, it'd have caused much more harm to the Prime himself than any other. But is the identity of that person really that bad?

The past few days, he managed to deduce that it'd have to be someone close to him. Someone that he'd expect the least. This had only managed to narrow down the results to a few possible people on base. But he knew full well of all of each of them, knowing that they'd be the last to ever lay a harmful finger on the Witwicky. So who could it be?

His thoughts cut short when he spotted the door to his office. He filed away the thought for a later time and approached the door. When he entered, he was expecting something like that of a greeting pulse once again. And like before, he was shot down with cold, hard silence when nothing raced through the connection the two had. Instead, he received a 'cold, hard' glare from the femme as her arms were crossed and she sat with her back to Optimus' desk. It could've just been him, but he felt a sharp sting of pain, betrayal and anger in her eyes.

"Orion." The ginger holoform said.

"Ariel. I'm sorry that if I was late and seemed distant from you the past few cycles, but there is something on my mind as of late-"

"That doesn't matter." Elita harshly stated, continuing shortly after. "We need to have a talk, now." The pressure in her voice bring tension to the atmosphere, if there wasn't any already. Optimus didn't say anything and just responded with a simple nod, willing to listen.

"What do you think you've been doing these solar-cycles (Earth-days)? Celebrating with the humans? Celebrate what, exactly? We haven't even attempted to hunt down the 'Cons yet. On that matter, why haven't we started?"

"Rest assured, we are doing everything we can. To do anymore, we'd have to alert the planet of the possible danger they still live in. Their world would need time and cooperation to accept the matter. And if do anything drastic, we may very well lose our place on this world."

"If it is to eliminate the Decepticons, then it should not matter what they order us to do."

"… As I told you many times before, we will not endanger the lives of humanity over our battle." Optimus stated, his irritation becoming evident in his voice while the conversation takes an even darker turn.

"They have destroyed planets! Orion. A few lives for the sake of a thousand more." Elita argued. "You've grown attached to them, Orion. Have you forgotten where you belong?!"

"Of course not! But I know that we've already lost enough and that no amount of lives is worth more than one!"

The femme scoffed. "You've changed. It's that human that's having you fight for them. I'm grateful that he had returned he had returned you from the dead, but I feel as if a part of you was left behind when he did."

Now the mech's anger truly flared. It wasn't usual for the leader to break his calm and collected mind, but the way Elita had talked was clearly insulting and belittling his friend. "Do not talk about Sam as if nothing after all he's done for us! We owe him or lives after everything he has sacrificed for us! Like you said, if it wasn't for him, I would not be standing strong to this second! And I would not waste a nanosecond if he ever calls one of us!" His fist curled deeper while he spoke earnestly. "If you cannot accept the fact that he is of a strong and willed race, then I ask of you to relieve yourself of the planet!"

Elita faltered, eyes of hurt now held. Looking deep into her once-lover's eyes, she found that he was fully intent on what he said. There was cruel tension between the two before she pulled an arm to her chest.

"… If that is what you wish. After we restock, I'll be leaving with my team." Elita announced, shocking the Prime. With much haste, she pushed off of the table and passed Optimus before he could even react. And while the door closed behind her, he stood frozen, realising and regretting what he had said entirely.

Why did he say that? Better yet, why did he feel relief when he did?