Chapter 14: Guardian
For the second time in as many minutes, Optimus found himself spewing Energon all over his keyboard.
"You're what?"
"You heard me." Phoenix's face fell a bit. "I thought you'd be happy."
"I am! This is great! But how-
"Well you know, when a mommy and daddy love each other very much…"
"PHOENIX! I know how a baby is made! It's just crazy that we can do it." Optimus said.
"This is good though, right? You're excited?" Phoenix looked at him eagerly for assurance.
"Of course I am." Optimus said tenderly. "This changes everything though. I shouldn't leave you now."
"Don't be silly! The baby won't come for a long time and you need to find Ironhide. You go tomorrow. I promise I won't do anything exciting without you."
"Now it's more important than ever to stop Starscream!" Optimus said fiercely.
Phoenix had been thinking about that. It wasn't really the best time to be pregnant, seeing as there was a deranged Decepticon after her, but she wanted it to be a happy time.
"Don't worry." She said. "We'll get him, before he gets us."
The next day, everyone assembled outside early. Optimus had decided to take Bumblebee with him.
"Why me?" Bumblebee asked. "I'm nowhere near as useful as Ratchet."
"I'm bringing you because Ratchet needs to stay here for Phoenix." Optimus replied. "Besides, if anything ever happens to me, you're the next leader."
"WHAT? I can't be the leader! I'm not good enough!"
"Bumblebee, Ratchet, Ironhide and I all decided that a long time ago. Ratchet's the medic, Ironhide's the weapons specialist and you're-
"I'm the Bumblebee!"
Optimus sighed. He had known that the discussion wouldn't go over well with the small bot, and he hadn't expected it to come up so soon, but things were changing.
"You don't have to worry about it now, just keep it in mind." Optimus said, dismissing the conversation.
He looked down at Phoenix.
"Be safe ok?" She said, a little tearfully.
Optimus smiled. "I'll try to come home in one piece."
They said there good byes and Optimus and Bumblebee drove into the distance.
"What if they don't come back? Ironhide hasn't." Sam voiced all of their fears.
"Don't say that!" Phoenix shrieked. "They have to come back! I want my baby to know its father!" She turned on her heal and ran inside.
Sam looked at Ratchet who shrugged.
"Don't mess with the hormone balances of a pregnant woman." Was all he said before following Phoenix.
Ratchet, Phoenix, Sam and Michaela waited for the return of the other Autobots with bated breath. After a month went by they began to worry. Four months and they lost hope completely. Phoenix's pregnancy began to show and there was still no return of Optimus or the others. Phoenix took to dividing her time between crying, throwing things, and every once in a while a maternal attitude that would send her into dusting and cleaning in preparation for the baby for days. Sam was mourning Bumblebee and Michaela spent her time comforting him and Phoenix, while trying not to show her own emotions. Ratchet had begun to spend more and more time on his own, avoiding the humans.
One day when Phoenix could no longer take the stifled silence of the base, she went to find Ratchet.
"What can we do to stop Starscream?" She cried. "If he's got Optimus, Bumblebee and Ironhide, than what can we do when he comes here? I won't let him hurt my baby!"
Ratchet could perfectly understand her distress, but he had long since run out of ideas.
"I don't know what to do anymore, Phoenix."
Phoenix wanted to kick him. She wanted to cry and scream and curse Optimus for leaving her, but she couldn't. She realized that she needed to be the leader around here.
The very next day she assembled there small group.
"All right." She said. "We've moped around for far too long, and we have things to do! I have a baby coming, and I want it to be happy so everybody has work to do!"
She told them her plans for a nursery off of Optimus's room, as well as a place for her since she could no longer stand being alone in the vast chamber. Everybody agreed and contributed ideas. In the next few days they forgot their sorrows as they prepared for a new arrival. The work kept everyone busy, and they soon started over coming their sorrows and enjoyed each other's company. When the building was done they admired their work. Ratchet took the three humans into town and they spent a day getting supplies for the new baby and joking about what a part robot part human child would look like.
Phoenix was glad that she'd gotten everyone almost back to normal, but she still wasn't completely satisfied. She spent long nights, still researching the Earth's core and she pestered ratchet with questions about the Allspark and her powers. Nothing seemed to help.
One day when Ratchet was finding her flood of questions particularly hard to bear he accidentally blurted out, "Phoenix you should ask Optimus! He's the one who could destroy the Allspark!"
He instantly regretted the remark when he saw Phoenix's face.
"Phoenix, I'm sorry. I know it's been hard for you since Optimus…"
Phoenix just shook her head, thinking. After a moment she said quietly, "I think I know how to stop Starscream. But we'd need-
Suddenly a sound came from the entrance of the base.
"Something's gotten inside!" Ratchet yelled.
He picked up Phoenix and ran down the hall, skidding to a stop.
Standing before them were a tired, but smiling threesome. Optimus and Bumblebee supported a beat up Ironhide between them.
"I'm home honey." Optimus said weakly before crashing to the floor.
Bumblebee, unable to support Ironhide's weight on his own, quickly followed suit.
Phoenix shrieked happily, running over to Optimus and showering the barely conscious robot with kisses.
"I can't believe you're alive! We all thought you were dead! How did you get back? What happened?"
Optimus hushed her. "We'll tell everyone what happened, but first Bumblebee and Ironhide need to be attended to."
Ratchet snorted, "You're not looking too great yourself, sir."
Optimus smiled. "I can hold. Ironhide and Bumblebee go first."
Ratchet nodded and began pulling the injured transformers into the medical bay. Sam and Michaela had come running and were helping him as best he could.
Optimus got shakily to his feet and reached down for Phoenix.
"The baby?" He asked, worriedly.
"Still fine!" Phoenix replied. "But it's due any time now. Just wait until I can shrink you, I'll let you feel it kicking! And you have to see the nursery we made! It's great!"
Optimus looked a little disappointed.
"I've missed everything!" He groaned.
"Not everything." Phoenix said softly. "Heck, I didn't think our kid would ever know its father! You're home now though, and that's all that matters."
Optimus looked at her lovingly. "I thought I'd never see you again."
Phoenix smiled, "Oh you'll see a lot of me from now on, because I'm never letting you leave me again!"
When Ironhide, Bumblebee and Optimus had been fixed up and well rested, everyone gathered to hear what had happened.
"I tailed him." Ironhide began, "And I found his base pretty far from here."
"Actually, it's quite near the place where Phoenix and I met." Optimus added.
"Right," Ironhide continued, "So I found the place, and had turned around to come back when I found the hole."
"What's the hole?" Michaela asked.
"It's where he's been getting his samples of the earth's core." Optimus explained. "It goes right down to the core."
"That's impossible!" Michaela scoffed.
Everyone fixed her with a steely glare.
"Not for Transformers." Said Ironhide. "Anyways, I didn't know what it was at the time, so I was investigating. Starscream got me by surprise, and I woke up in a cell." He admitted, somewhat embarrassed that he had been captured.
"Bumblebee and I managed to gather more information. We'd found out exactly what Starscream is doing, but I was taken by surprise too. It was Bumblebee who finally managed to save us."
"What did you do, Bee?" Sam asked in awe.
Bumblebee shrugged. "I played to my best advantage, size. It's easier to creep around when you're small."
Optimus patted Bumblebee on the shoulder. "It was quick thinking and skill that you used, my friend. Both are qualities of a leader."
Bumblebee looked like he might burst with pride. "Thank-you sir."
"Bumblebee also managed to find out when Starscream is putting his plan into effect." Optimus said.
"When?" Asked Phoenix, panting.
Optimus gave her a strange look, but decided she was just excited.
"Five months from today. During a lunar eclipse."
"Five months!?" Ratchet said. "We still don't know how to stop it! Did you find that out?"
"Actually I think-
"It doesn't matter right now!" Phoenix groaned. "I think I'm having the baby!"
Phoenix leaned over to coo at her brand new baby girl.
"She's so beautiful!" She whispered.
The sleeping infant was small, and mostly human. She had golden hair, but it had two thick, natural streaks of blue and red at the front. She had a tiny delicate face, and the only thing besides her hair that distinguished her as the daughter of a transformer were her blue eyes. They were so bright that they glowed unnaturally when she was happy or upset, until they took on the hue of Optimus's optics. For now though, they were shut tightly as she slept.
Optimus was somewhere behind Phoenix reading off a list of names from a naming book.
"Abby?"
"No."
Anna?"
"No."
"Alice?"
"No, no, and no! Our child has to have a special name! Skip to the C's."
"What about the B's?"
"I don't like B names and besides-
They were interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat near the door. Phoenix tore her eyes away from her child to see Bumblebee.
"Oh sorry!" She said, "I like your name, Bumblebee, I just…"
"It's all right." Bumblebee said, amused. "I was just wondering… could I see her?"
Phoenix looked at Optimus who nodded. Bumblebee was the first one who got to see her besides them, and of course Ratchet.
"You can come." Phoenix wrapped a blanket around the baby and picked her up gently.
Bumblebee shuffled into the room and gazed down at the infant.
"Shall I shrink you?" Phoenix asked.
"Yes please."
Phoenix did that and Bumblebee came for a closer look.
"Oh! She's just a princess!" He squealed like a happy child. His round optics were glowing. "I love her!"
Phoenix gently placed the baby in his out stretched arms. Bumblebee took her hesitantly, but his face lit up when she reached out a tiny hand and cooed at him softly.
"Wow," Said Phoenix, a bit jealous. "That's the happiest I've seen her yet."
The baby was actually smiling and cooing at Bumblebee, as if trying to make polite conversation.
"I love her!" He said again.
"Have you got any name ideas?" Phoenix asked, as Optimus came over to join them. "We were on C's."
"How about…" Bumblebee looked at the baby as if asking for her opinion. "Cicada?"
"See- kay-da." Phoenix tried the sound. "I actually really like that!" She grinned at Optimus.
Optimus agreed. "Is that a special enough name for you?"
"Ya! Thanks, Bumblebee!" Phoenix said.
She looked at Optimus and the two of them seemed to share a quick conversation in their heads. This time, it was Phoenix who nodded.
"Actually, Bumblebee, we were hoping you'd be her guardian?" Optimus asked.
"Me? Really? I'd love to, but what about Sam?"
"Sam's is getting older." Optimus said, "And soon, he'll start a family of his own, and he might not need you as much. We thought that you'd make a really wonderful guardian for our little girl, if something should ever happen to us."
"Besides," Phoenix smiled, "Look how much she likes you!"
Bumblebee smiled down at the baby snuggled in his arms.
"All right." He said. "I'd love to."
After he had finished playing with the baby and left, Optimus and Phoenix looked at each other and sighed with relief. They had really needed Bumblebee to accept that invitation. Phoenix knew she would sleep better now that she knew Bumblebee would take care of Cicada.
"I can't believe it's only five months." Phoenix whispered, as she buried her head into Optimus's chest.
Optimus sighed, feeling her pain. When the commotion of him returning, and the baby coming had died down, he and Phoenix had talked to each other privately. They both knew what they had to do to stop Starscream's plan. Now all they could do was wait for the right time, and enjoy the time they had left…