A/N: ...And here's the ending of this particular interlude.

Present, Pt. 2

He stiffened. Then the strength of his limbs drained into a pit of sorrow. "Should I leave, then, sweetheart?" he asked tonelessly. "I mean, if I hurt you..."

Elita, fast as the trained warrior she had become, locked her arm around his elbow, trapping it against her side. Her shell of independence cracked. "Don't ever say you'll leave me, Optimus. You mustn't leave me. I need you, Orion! Please don't go!"

He tucked his face into her neck, and drew himself up tight against her body. "I'm not going anywhere, dearest, unless you drive me off." He thought for a nanoklik. "Or, you know, unless you ask me to..."

Elita laughed a little. But after that, they did not speak again for a long while. Although their forms were intertwined, the mech and femme wandered alone in separate, dark thoughts. The way ahead was murky, and neither one knew the best way to go. It had been ages since they'd felt so disconnected, so unsure of one another.

"Does my-" he grimaced "Our energy hurt you?" asked Prime at last, determined to have the worst out and face it head-on.

Elita thought about it. "It doesn't hurt, exactly," she replied slowly. "It was mostly just the shock. I mean, I don't know what I thought exactly, but-" She shuddered. "It wasn't very nice..." Her voice faded into an uncomfortable silence.

Optimus did not know what he should say. So he said nothing.

Elita drew a long breath through her vents, pulling herself together. "I don't believe he'd try to hurt or trap me," she declared. "But he's still Megatron. It will be a long time yet before I trust him automatically in that first groggy moment of reboot!"

"I know what you mean," said Prime. He huffed a little laugh. "I banned him from entering my quarters for the first few kliks after reboot. He scared the slag out of me a few orns ago." He shrugged against the bunk. "You saw."

"I understand that he is changed. I understand he doesn't mean us harm. But my CPU is lagging on that front. And he still reeks of a thousand murders in the past, no matter what he swears he wants to become now."

"I know, sweetheart," said Prime.

"You... You have the memories, and bear the burden of them too. You bear the stench," she said resignedly. "I don't envy you that."

"But can you bear it?" Prime asked anxiously. "Because-" he hunkered close against her. "Because I'm still me, Ari. I still love you. I still need you. Even though I'm drenched in Darkest Essence of the Evil Megatron."

She laughed at that. "It's not always that bad," she said, still chuckling in her throat. "There's more to him than death and chaos. I do know that much." She sighed in resignation. "This has to grow easier with time, doesn't it? I mean, as new and better memories dilute the old horrific ones...?" She shrugged, scraping her shoulder against his chin. "I have to believe it's possible, Orion."

"I hope it is," said Prime with feeling.

"Hope is a powerful force," she said. "Which is a good thing, since it's all we have."

The two Autobots sank into a companionable silence. In the quiet dark, they focused on the feel of one another's arms, the familiarity bred of long intimacy. Elita slowed the labored churning of her engine, and let her fans get caught up in the cooling of her servos. Then she turned to face her bondmate. "Since we've gotten all that out of the way," she said at last, "What would you say to making a few new happy memories right now?"

Optimus smiled in relief, and pulled her close. "Is this a trick question?" he asked.

*Fade to Black*