Optimus Prime stared up at the dark starry sky with a look of dissatisfaction. Normally he would look upon the sky with a sense of wonder, the stars, the planets all looked so small but he knew the vastness and the size of space and its contents- It was one of the few things that made Optimus feel small. But now he looked up at the dark blue space with wariness and frustration. They had been able to enter Earth's atmosphere without a problem, it was the same with the Decepticons, both sets of Transformers could come and go as they pleased and no one would know about it. Optimus knew it was time to put a stop to it, with another glare at the sky he headed back into the base where the rest of the Autobots rested comfortably in their rooms. They'd had a large dinner of Chinese food. Ratchet had grumbled about them killing their humans but when he tasted the lemon chicken his thoughts had been different. But now everyone was either asleep or in stasis- all but Optimus. He had been unable to slip into stasis, he had been unable to find a comfortable position and in an effort to tire himself he decided to take a walk. Which then resulted in his plan to monitor the space around Earth.

Optimus walked into the monitor room and sat himself down in front of the large screen. With a few taps of the buttons on the control panel the computer was up and running and displaying a diagram of the earth. Optimus gave the keys another few taps and a red box appeared beside the earth. It blinked for a few moments and then disappeared and red Cybertronian words flashed across the screen. Optimus pressed the keys again and the red box appeared in another part of the screen.

He was scanning the space around earth, hoping to find something, after a few more minutes of failure Optimus sat back and stared at the screen with burning blue optics. He thought about the past events trying to piece it together- All the events which had happened didn't make sense to him. He thought about Ratchet's inspection of the Decepticon Shockwave. Ratchet had been unable to find anything of importance, only faulty directions to Earth and the need to destroy the town of Grande Cache. Other than that Ratchet had come up with nothing- the Decpeticon had wiped his memory just before his demise.

Optimus frowned, he didn't understand why the Decepticons had chosen Grande Cache, nor did he understand why Shockwave had come with out the aid of the other Decpeticons. Even though the threat was eliminated Optimus kept getting the nagging feeling that more were coming. So in an effort to sooth his nerves Optimus opened another screen and taped a few more keys. Suddenly a diagram was shown and Optimus began to observe it and make changes.

He worked well into the night designing a scanner which would have to set up in a high altitude location, this scanner would not only spot flying objects heading into Earth's atmosphere it would also pick up one's leaving. He finished the design at around four in the morning, after looking through the plans once more he deemed it ready. Optimus sat back stretching his back letting lose a few mechanical pops, he was proud of what he had done. He wasn't much of an inventor but this he thought was a very nice accomplishment- and not to mention it would put his mind at ease for a while.

He saved and stood up and walked out of the monitor room, once out in the hallway he spotted Alana's small form heading into the lounge. Optimus tilted his head and followed after her curious. When he poked his head around the corner he saw Alana grabbing the remote and turning on the T.V, she fixed the volume to a quite sound and sat down. Optimus watched her for a moment and then stepped into the room, "what do you think your doing watching T.V so late into the night?" Optimus asked as he stepped from the doorframe. Alana jumped and let out a small squeak of surprise, her head whipped to look at him and after her moment of surprise she bit her bottom lip and looked up at him the guilt evident on her face.

"S-sorry" she mumbled, she looked at him but made no move to turn off the T.V. Optimus and Alana stared at each other for a moment and then Optimus walked forward and settled himself on the couch, he leaned forward and scooped her up and placed her on his knee.

"You couldn't sleep either huh?" Optimus said as Alana fixed her night gown before she sat down.

"No…" Alana said as she turned in her sitting position to look at the T.V.

"What are we watching?" Optimus asked as he too looked at the screen.

"N… Nar… Nar… to…" She frowned not sure how to sound it out.

Optimus pressed the info button on the remote and read the show's name "Naruto" he told her.

"Naruto" Alana repeated, "Sam said that was about ninja's or something" She said; her eyes glued to the T.V.

"Sure looks like it" Optimus said as a boy with blond hair punched another boy with raven hair. They watched in silence for a few moments as the blond boy which Optimus identified as Naruto began a speech on not giving up. He looked down at Alana who tilted her head as Naruto shouted 'Believe it!' "Alana…" He said gently, when she looked at him he said "After this you should go to bed, get some sleep- it'll be good for you"

Alana frowned "What about you?" she asked, "Are you going to go to bed too?"

"Maybe…" Optimus allowed.

Alana shook her head "I only go to be if you go to bed too!" she told him.

"Alright fine" Optimus sighed knowing it would be good for him if he got some rest.

After the show was finished Optimus tucked Alana into bed and walked out of her room and went to his where he did as he promised and got some rest.

The next morning Optimus rose later than usual, most of the base was up and running by the time he finally walked out of his room. Sam was rushing past with Bumblebee shouted that he was going to be late for work. Bumblebee gave Optimus a nod of acknowledgement and rushed past him too. Optimus watched after them and smiled softly when Sam began to scold Bumblebee on not being able to transform fast enough. As he watched them Alana hurried by, she had a rose flush on her cheeks from the shower she had just taken- she looked awake and ready to face the day.

"Hi Optimus!" she glanced up at him and walked past him to catch up with Sam. "Sam!" she called.

Sam poked his head out of Bumblebee's window "What?" He shouted rushed. Bumblebee revved his engine impatiently as Alana walked over.

"Forgot your lunch and coffee" she handed him over the items and Sam gave her a look of gratitude.

"Thanks Alana, you're a life saver" he leaned forward and placed a noisy kiss on her cheek.

" EEwww Sam!" Alana shouted sounding disgusted though the smile on her face said differently.

"See you later!" Sam shouted as Bumblebee drove away. Alana wiped her cheek and turned on her heel. She walked past Optimus and walked back into her room where a few minutes later the sounds of a LEGO battle began.

Optimus smiled softly and walked out of his doorframe and walked into the med-lab where he knew Ratchet was busy doing something or other. Optimus found his busy updating the medical files on the Autobots.

"Hello" Ratchet didn't need to look up from his work to know that Optimus had entered.

"Ratchet, if you don't mind I need to talk with you and Ironhide" Optimus said.

Ratchet looked up from his work and gave Optimus a curious look "Sure" he said. Optimus nodded and opened a com link with Ironhide telling him to come to med-lab. Ironhide came in a few moments later; he crossed his arms and tilted his head.

"You wanted to see me, sir?" he said with the same curious expression that Ratchet had.

"Yes, I have a mission for the both of you" Optimus told them.

Ratchet's metallic brow lifted "really?" he grinned.

"Yes" Optimus said again. He filled them in on his wish to monitor the space around the Earth was a scanner.

Ratchet frowned "But we already have a scanner that works" he said "It's in the monitor room" he pointed in the direction of the monitor room.

"I know" Said Optimus "But I think we would do better with one that scans all the time and it would also scan further than the one we have now. We can connect it with our main base and receive signals of oncoming or leaving objects." He explained.

Ironhide nodded "Makes sense" he said.

"And you need us to set this scanner up in a suitable place" Ratchet said.

"Yes" said Optimus nodding. "I have already come up with a suitable location" he relayed the co-ordinates and Ironhide and Ratchet stored the information for later.

Ironhide frowned, "Sir? If I may ask something"

"Yes Ironhide?" Optimus already knew the question.

"What about Alana? She has to got back to school tomorrow and we need to make sure that she is gonna be alright. Especially with the Mabel girl and her mother hanging around"

"I assure you I will take care of her, as will Bumblebee" Optimus felt it better to not include Fireflight.

Ratchet though also reluctant nodded "I'm trusting you Optimus" he said knowing full well that Optimus could take care of Alana.

Ironhide though unhappy about the thought of Alana being with out him for a while also nodded, "we'll just grab what we need and say good bye" he said. As they were walking out Ironhide paused and turned to Optimus "Make sure she stays out of the cookies, put her to bed at a reasonable time-" he was about to continue when Optimus let out a laugh.

"Ironhide, I'll take good care of her I promise"

Ironhide paused "I know" he said finally.

It didn't take long for Ironhide and Ratchet to collect all of the supplies they needed to collect the scanner. These supplied would be piled into Ironhide's back when they were driving, they placed the supplies near the front and then made their way towards Alana's room where she was making even more war noises. They walked in and saw a mess of LEGO all over the floor and Alana was sitting in the middle of it holding a spaceship in her hands.

"Hi!" she smiled up at them and put down her spaceship and stood up, "Wanna play?" she asked.

Ratchet shook his head "no thank you Alana."

"Oh…" she looked disappointed.

"Ratchet and I want to talk with you" Ironhide knelt down and Alana's eye's widened.

"I didn't take any more cookies I swear!" she paused "Well maybe some…" she winced and looked up at them with big green eyes. "I shared…" she said hopefully.

"I thought I told you, you already had enough cookies for today" Ironhide scolded her.

"But they're chocolate chip!" Alana protested.

Ironhide was about to scold her when he shook his head "That's not what we came to talk to you about" he said.

"Ohh…" Alana paused and frowned, after a moment her eyes widened again "Then what?" she paused and waited for Ironhide and Ratchet to answer.

"Alana… Ironhide and I will be leaving for a few days" Ratchet said as he too knelt down.

"Oooh… Why?" Alana tilted her head as it was explained to her. "Oooh…" she said again, "So you gotta leave"

"That's right" said Ironhide.

"How long?" Alana asked.

Ratchet did some quick calculations "About three days" he said.

"Oooh" Said Alana sadly.

"Optimus and Bumblebee are going to take care of you and we will be back as soon as we can" Ironhide told her, he gave her a friendly nudge with his finger and she giggled.

"Ok!" Alana nodded.

Ironhide frowned noticing her all too cheerful attitude "That still means no cookies" he said "you've had enough to last you a life time" he stood up and Alana pouted.

"Ok…" she said sadly.

"We'll miss you Alana" Ratchet told her as he too stood up.

"I'll miss you too" Alana told him still pouting. She turned to Ironhide who was looking at her hopefully "Maybe I'll miss you too"

"Hey…" Ironhide growled Alana laughed and smiled up at him and Ironhide knew every thing would be fine. He gave her an affectionate pat on the head and they began to walk towards the front.

There Ironhide transformed and Ratchet began to load all of the supplies in the back. Once done he gave Alana one last smile and transformed as well. As they drove away both looked back to see Alana and Optimus waving their good byes.

Once they were gone Alana dropped her waving hand and turned to go back into the base. There was something suspicious about her walk and Optimus followed her gaze to the kitchen door.

"No cookies" he told her remembering Ironhide's words.

Alana growled "fine" and she waddled back to her room.

Optimus let out a small sigh and leaned against the door jam of the front door and looked out into the snowy area. It was apparent spring was coming soon, snow was dropping off the pine trees like rain and the snow around the base looked more like mush instead of actual white fluffy snow. He could already see little pokes of green grass coming out of the ground where the snow had melted to reveal ground. As he observed the scenery he heard Alana making war noises again. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Alana through the door of her room running across the floor with an airplane in her hands. With a small smile he turned and walked towards her room.

When Alana spotted him she gave stuck out her tongue and continued playing. Optimus laughed and left her to it, he walked on over to the monitor room where the daily chores waited.

The day passed by slowly for Alana, never had she been so bored before. With Ironhide and Ratchet gone she had no one to bug. Fireflight was gone on an exploration mission as he had put it and Sam and Bumblebee were still away at work. Basically it was Bor-ing. Alana sighed and walked past the door to the monitor room where Optimus was tapping away on the keys oblivious to the outside world. She paused and tilted backwards on her heel to get a better look at him, she considered annoying Optimus but then it just seemed wrong to annoy a hard working bot like Optimus. She was about to walk away when she heard Optimus move slightly and then sigh. Alana frowned and watched as Optimus shifted in his seat and frowned at the screen. She glanced towards the screen and saw that he was working the scanner. Intrigued she walked into the room.

Optimus noticed Alana as soon as she stepped in the room, the frustrated glint in his optics disappeared and he leaned down and set the back of his hand against the floor so that Alana could climb on. Once she was standing on his hand he lifted her up and dropped her gently on the control board. Alana's small feet were able to avoid the buttons and so she nimbly stepped around them and looked up at Optimus.

"Hello" she said.

"Hullo" Optimus sighed as he leaned his head upon his hand.

Alana observed him for a moment before speaking "You look sad" she said.

Optimus frowned "I do?" he asked.

"Yup" Alana nodded "Can I have cookies?" she asked.

"No cookies" Optimus said and Alana pouted, "I don't feel sad" he said switching the topic back.

"But you look sad… Why can't I have cookies?" Alana shifted her feet and clasped her hands behind her back.

"Well I'm not sad" said Optimus, "Ironhide told me you already had a lot of cookies today and told me you don't need any more" he grinned down at her.

"You don't look sad any more" Alana told him "but the cookies are sooooo gooood!" she protested.

"But they are sooo baaaaaad for you" Optimus mimicked her tone of voice with another silly grin.

Alana crossed her arms "Fine" she muttered.

Optimus grinned at her "You look sad" he said.

"No cookies" Alana said pitifully.

Optimus thought for a moment "True you can't have cookies" he said "But…" Alana's head snapped up to look at him "Ironhide never said anything about popcorn at the movie theater" Alana stared at him struck dumb for a moment and then she broke out into a smile and cheered.

"Oh Yeah!" she shouted. She wiggled her butt "We're going to the movies!"

Half an hour later Optimus and Alana were seated in the movie theater munching happily on popcorn. The movie theater wasn't too full as Optimus and Alana had chosen a movie that had been out a while. They talked quietly waiting for the movie to start and when it did start they set their eyes on the screen commenting occasionally or asking a question. The movie was filled with action but not even the cool weapons and awesome fighting maneuvers could keep Alana awake. She felt tired, really tired and so near the end of the movie her head fell forward and she was asleep.

Optimus glanced down at her and chuckled; he set the popcorn bag in his lap aside and gathered her up in his arms. He lifted her over the seat and settled her in his lap. He rested her head against his shoulder and brushed his hologram lips against the crown of her head. He didn't leave the theater while she slept knowing she would ask how the movie ended he felt obligated to stay. So when the movie was finished he lifted her up and cradled her as he walked out of the theater. As he was doing so he walked past a group of women who all sighed when they saw they way he cared for the child in his arms.

"Now that's what I want" said one woman

"Likes kids and is gorgeous" another said.

"Perfect…" they sighed together.

Optimus drove home with the radio playing softly he was careful to avoid bumps or anything that would wake the resting child. Once at the base he switched his Holoform on and lifted her out of the cab and set her on the ground. He then transformed and picked her up and walked to her bed room. There he stripped her of her day clothes and put on her nightgown. After tucking her into bed he switched off the light and walked out to get some rest himself.

Monday came all too soon for Alana, she enjoyed the lack of school but knew it was time to buckle down and get back to it. Besides, she mused, school was almost over she still had three more months to go. Optimus had driven her and after wishing her luck he drove off back to the base while Alana rushed inside and sat at her desk.

The day passed by quickly, Alana had no more bullying incidents and had a wonderful time hanging out with Bret, Harry and David. But it came time for school to end and Alana to her dismay had English homework. In a sullen mood she trooped outside and saw Optimus waiting. When she came near him the door opened and Alana climbed in with out a moments hesitation. She let the seatbelt snake around her torso and sat back in her seat as Optimus began the drive back home.

"You look sad" Optimus suddenly said his voice coming from the speakers of the cab.

Alana shrugged "I'm not"

"Yes you are" Optimus said.

"Am not" Alana pouted.

"Are too" Optimus told her "Want a cookie?"

"No…" Alana said stubbornly refusing to be pleased.

"That bad huh?" Optimus thought for a moment and spoke again "Ice cream?"

Alana hesitated and then shook her head "No" she said again.

"What's got you so sad?" Optimus asked.

"No…"

"Why not?"

"Not sad…"

"Yes you are"

"Are not!"

"Alana…" Optimus sighed "I'm not going through this again" he told her.

"Hmmph" Alana grunted and crossed her arms.

They drove in silence and when they got to the base Alana got out and walked over to the lounge where she sat down on the floor and sadly took out her homework. Upon seeing the homework Optimus understood immediately. If there was one thing Alana hated in the world it was homework, the Autobots were in full agreement with Alana. They didn't understand why the kids needed homework but since rules were rules they followed them even though they didn't like the idea of homework.

Feeling sympathetic Optimus walked into the lounge and seated himself next to her.

"Hello" Optimus said pleasantly, Alana had her pencil in her mouth and answered with a grunt. "Homework?" Another grunt for an answer. "DO you want any help?" Optimus asked.

Alana looked up at him with wide eyes "Yes" she said hoarsely.

Optimus chuckled and shifted closer so that he could see over he shoulder "What do you have to do?" he asked.

Alana frowned "I have to write my favorite memory" she told him.

"Ah…" Optimus said. "So what's your favorite memory?" he asked.

"Ratchet beating up Bumblebee" Alana answered instantly.

Optimus looked at her and then laughed "That can't be your favorite memory" he said with a smile.

"Okay…" Alana paused, thinking "How about when Sam makes stuff explode in the kitchen?"

"Nah" Optimus said "you can think of something better than that"

"Spending time together" Alana said.

"Okay" Optimus said with a nod "What time?"

"When we drove here together" Alana said "That was fun! And I got stitches too!"

Optimus nodded "I remember" he said "Lets write about that" he said.

"Okay!"

And so the wrote a somewhat edited version of their trip up to Grande Cache, it took a good two hours for Optimus to get Alana to co-operate but when it was done they had a good two pages and Optimus was pleased. Alana thanked him for his help and then rushed over to her room where her LEGO was waiting.

Once seated she picked up a plane but then put it back down again almost immediately. She missed Ironhide and Ratchet, she realized. Her homework had made her think of them and now she missed them. With a small sigh she stared at her plane and then with a frown she took off a wing and examined it. With an idea forming she broke of the other wing and looked at it. With a smile she took apart the rest of her plane and a few other LEGO sets with Ironhide and Ratchet on her mind.