Spiritimus Prime: I am so sorry I have not been able to update this story in a long time. It's been a stressful week and I'm not in one of those good moods of mine. I'm in Port Lincoln for the time being, but I'll be going back home next week. I'm doing my best to update my stories, but life just isn't making things any simpler than it is supposed to be. Anyway, just be glad I found the time to FINALLY finish this damn thing. Enjoy it, your patience deserves it and you earned it.

Chapter 4:

Patience is the Key to Success

If Optimus Prime had been in his robot mode, he would've picked his jaw clean off the ground. Instead, he leaned forward a bit, his front bumper touching the ground a bit, and then jerked upward. Much to his surprise, neither Jason nor Jasmine noticed his sudden movement mostly because they were busy talking about something. Optimus tried not to butt into their conversation, but since this was about his damaged charged he had little choice but to turn up his audio receptors to listen in. He just hoped that he wasn't going to regret it.

"...I don't understand, Jazzy," started Jason as he placed his hands upon his twin sister's shoulders and giving them a light squeeze, "I thought you would've wanted a new truck. I know how much Silverflame meant to you, but I didn't think you would act like this."

Discussing about the truck? Optimus thought. That's a bit convenient. Even as he listened, the Autobot leader remembered a few tricks about the human species. They were tricks that often led to false information, false information that could lead to the truth within the human body.

While he waited for Jasmine to say something, Optimus took off his brakes and moved a few feet before coming to a complete stop. Still Jason and Jasmine did not turn around to notice that the truck was not in its original place. He searched the Internet for a bit as he beamed an invisible scan on Jasmine, ignoring Jason's own body, but he decided to add him in just to compare it. If his guess was as good as correct, then there was a possibility that Jasmine was hiding something from both him and her brother.

"Look," Jasmine huffed, "that truck dad gave me was all that we had left of him. Silverflame was much more than just your average truck. He was special in his own unique way. Now that he's gone, what's the point in going off to buy a new one that looks exactly like him but has different colours?"

Optimus frowned. Was becoming Jasmine's guardian a big mistake? He didn't want to think about it. There just had to be an explanation for all of this, especially why Starscream would just go and attack an innocent bystander, who was completely unaware of the aliens that were now residing on the locals' home planet. Although Optimus felt he had the answer, he just wasn't sure if it was true or not. But first thing was first, get a scan of Jasmine's body to look for the truth beneath the eyes.

While a human can pull off many different facial expressions that matched the mood accordingly as well as the body, there were times when the face can actually lie about something. Optimus could read expressions like he was born to do it, or so said Sam and his Autobot warriors. Like the human saying went: 'The eyes were windows to a human soul'. But there was another saying: 'Looks can be deceiving'.

When Optimus had finished scanning Jasmine's body, he checked her bodily readings within. To his surprise, he saw that she was shivering a little, her body temperature had gone up a few degrees higher than its normal state, and her adrenal glands were off the scale. They were pumping adrenaline at an alarming speed!

This only meant one thing. According to the human physiology, when a human, or other organic creature, was afraid of something, their bodies would go into a wild stage of actions. The brain would release a hormone chemical into the body to prepare it for anything should something threaten it. The hormone would cause a variety of triggers, such as increase in heart rate, digestion slowing down to conserve energy, constriction of blood vessels, relaxation of the bladder, dilation of the pupil, and dilation of blood vessels for the muscles. This also included an increase in the sensors such as vision and smell, but it's was only temporarily. The humans called this the fight-or-flight response in a desperate attempt to protect itself from anything dangerous.

Now this made perfect sense to the Autobot commander. Jasmine wasn't hostile towards him, she was actually afraid of him. Did it all have something to do with the truck accident? Was she afraid to get a sense of déjà vu? Whatever it was that was bothering her, Optimus knew that he had to do something.

A gentle tap on his grill from Jason snapped Optimus from his thoughts. When he realised that the boy was not looking at him he became puzzled as to what was going on until he heard him speak directly to Jasmine. "Alright, Jazzy," he said, "we'll catch a taxi instead if it makes you feel better. I'll send a friend to come by and pick up the truck; he'll drive it home for you."

Optimus watched as Jasmine shrugged her shoulders and limped away on her walking stick back towards the hospital until she was standing beside a telephone booth. To the Autobot leader, she looked like one of the elderly already with that strange stick supporting her injured state. He wondered if she would ever be able to walk again, but he highly doubted it with the way she was hobbling. He suddenly became aware that Jason was looking at him.

"I'm sorry, Optimus," the twin brother whispered to the truck, his blue eyes filled with distress, "I didn't think about her reaction towards you. I don't know what's gotten into her. She's been mostly quiet at the hospital and never says a word to me about anything. The nurses say she's been drawing robotic figures ever since she had woken up."

"Perhaps," said Optimus gently, his tone low and soft, "she is trying to get a clearer image in her head about who her saviour was. You and I both know that I was the one who pulled her out of the badly damaged truck after Starscream had attacked her, mostly mistaking it for me."

"That's got to be one of the reasons I suppose," Jason replied. "I saw one of the drawings that the nurse showed me and it was almost a complete replica of you. There's no mistaking the battle mask, the blue eyes and the red and blue flames. She seemed desperate to find out who it was that pulled her out of the debris."

A deep sigh was heard from the grill of the truck. "Jason, my secret of who I really am stays between us and only us. It is not that I do not trust you. I can tell that you are a good human and would do anything for your sister. You proved that to me by showing how much you cared about her by letting me be her vehicle."

Jason chuckled and removed his hand from the grill. "That's because you saved her life and requested to be her guardian. How could I refuse someone who just so happens to be a giant robot when I know that he's a good guy and could protect her from another encounter with Starscream?"

"You made a good point," Optimus replied. "Even though I never ask for nothing in return, I only wanted to see the ones I save happy. My friends are that example."

The young man smiled and frowned a bit, as if he was thinking about something. "Speaking of guardians," he said. "I know that you can drive yourself and all, but how are you going to get yourself back to us without a driver? It's... very strange to see a driverless vehicle."

"That is where this comes in," was the simple reply. Before Jason even knew what was happening, a man was standing right beside him. The man stood at a height of 6'0 and appeared to be in his mid-thirties. He wore a trucker red jacket with a deep blue shirt underneath and blue jeans. He even had, strangely, cobalt blue eyes with short brown hair that reached the back of his neck, which had tints of blue and red on the edges. Jason guessed that they acted as the flames that coated the Peterbilt's frame.

"What do you think?" the man asked as he looked down at Jason with his kind blue eyes.

Jason blinked. What the hell? "Who are you?" he asked curiously.

"Jason," said the man, the voice oddly familiar, "it's me, Optimus Prime."

The young man jumped back in surprise as he looked the older man up and down in confusion. He had never seen anything like this before. He then turned to look back at the Peterbilt, but, much to his surprise, the vehicle was still there and sitting very quietly in front of him. Optimus hadn't said a word since the man had appeared. Was he trying to appear to be like a normal truck or was it all a trick just to play possum? Whichever it was, it was all too confusing for the young man.

He turned back to the man, his gaze hard and cold. "If you're Optimus Prime, then tell me what this is that is standing right before me."

"This is just a hologram," replied the same voice that resembled Optimus' deep baritone voice. "I created it thanks to Ratchet's remodifications. In order to blend in with other species, such as human society, we Transformers used holograms to avoid being noticed. However, it takes a lot of energy to keep it up. The further we go, the more energy we use. If we overdo it, then we will slip into recharge cycle, or sleep as you humans prefer to say it. You can touch it to see my point."

Jason found it a little bit offensive that the man demand him to touch him just to prove a point. However, since the voice sounded just like Optimus', Jason decided that it would probably be best if he tried. If this was a joke and the man was real, then Jason would kick the truck just to show his anger. As soon as he touched the man's arm the man flickered for just a split second and Jason stumbled forward, only to be caught by him as he fell towards the ground.

"Watch your step," said the man, "the first step is always, as you humans say, a doozy."

As soon as the man helped him back onto his feet, Jason blinked in surprise and looked at the Peterbilt. The truck still hadn't moved or spoken a word. This was a little confusing but it was starting to make sense right now. He turned his gaze back onto the man and scratched his head. "I don't how you managed to pull it off, but that was pretty excellent. Oh, and thanks for the save, Optimus."

"Your concern was highly expected but your acknowledgement of appreciation is notified." Optimus turned his blue gaze to Jasmine, who was sitting by the telephone booth with the phone in her hand. He knew that she was calling for a taxi to come and pick her and her brother up but he still wondered why she was afraid of him. The only answer he could think of was a possible repeat of last time. He looked back at Jason. "I will go on ahead and meet you back at your home. I'm sure you would want to discuss some things with your sister to make her feel less uncomfortable and more secure. I'll have Ratchet come by to see her every now and then to give her some checkups to see how she is healing, both physically and mentally."

"Thank you, Optimus," Jason nodded. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind. Oh, you might want to think of a human name while you're like that. It will make things less noticeable of your true self."

Optimus nodded. It did feel strange to let his consciousness form this hologram but it was the only way for him to remain normal to both of his charges. While Jason was under his protection, Jasmine was his true concern. He had to figure out why she was so defensive about not accepting him as a new gift. Yes, he guessed it all had something to do with history repeating itself, but he reckoned it ran much deeper than any physical wound could ever run. Perhaps Ratchet may be able to tell him what was going on when he came by to see how he was doing with his charges.

"Are you going to go or are you going to just stand there?"

Optimus shook his head and blinked his eyes in confusion. When he realised that Jason had interrupted his thoughts, he couldn't help but chuckle in amusement at the boy's hint of both sarcasm and concern in his tone. "I think I'll go while I still can," he replied, a hint of playfulness and sarcasm in his own tone.

Jason watched as the hologram tore away his gaze from Jasmine and walked towards the Peterbilt. He opened the door and climbed inside the truck's driver's seat, closing it behind him and then starting up the engine, or at least it looked like the hologram did. Slowly, the truck went into reverse, backing out of its park until it straightened itself up and drove down the hill and out of the parking lot, dust and dirt picking up as it disappeared around the corner and out of sight.

Sighing, Jason turned back to his sister to see her putting the phone back into its resting place and painfully crossing her legs over each other. Her bandaged arm was tucked tightly against her chest and her gaze was focused elsewhere. It was that one place that he had trouble with trying to talk to her. When her eyes became blank and her facial features as white as the clouds above them, Jason knew that it was always wise to leave her to her thoughts. He also knew what she was thinking about. It was always the one question that had haunted her the moment she had been pulled out from under the wreckage. Who was her saviour and where was he?

It was in the afternoon when Optimus Prime pulled into the driveway of the house that now belonged to the Clarks. He parked himself onto the driveway and turned his hologram off. It would be a while before Jason and Jasmine would back home in a taxi from the hospital but it also gave the Autobot leader time to think on what he should do while he waited for their return.

As half an hour ticked by, Optimus himself zoning in and out into another world. He wasn't confused about this whole issue it was just puzzling as to why Jasmine was so afraid of him. Some of it made sense while the rest didn't at all. It made his head spin at nearly a hundred miles an hour and he could've sworn it was about to fall off and roll onto the ground in the same manner he had slain Bonecrusher.

If Optimus was in his robot mode, he would've taken the time to look down at his hands. Those hands, which possessed power and strength like no other Transformer on the planet, had taken lives just to protect the ones he cared about the most. Not only were they hands of killers, but they were also hands of kindness that were as gentle as a mother crocodile handling her newborn hatchlings. Now, more than ever, he was determined to get to the bottom of this mystery and help out his new charge without her noticing of his true form. Unfortunately, that was a lot easier said than done...

Sighing, the Autobot leader turned his communicator on to Ratchet. "Optimus Prime to Ratchet," he called.

He was met with a stone cold silence for a moment until there was a snort and someone answering. "Ratchet to Optimus Prime, reading you loud and clear. What can I do for you?" It sounded like he had been busy with something and Optimus guessed that it all had something to do with Ironhide hurting himself all over again and getting himself checked out for any damage.

"Nothing out of the ordinary, my friend," Optimus assured. "Listen, I was wondering if you could do me a favour. It's a favour that has something to do with checkups for my new charge, Jasmine Clark."

Ratchet seemed to be quiet for a moment and then there was a sudden bang. Optimus had to wince because he knew that the green mech had hit Ironhide on the head for being stubborn about getting his armour dented with his familiar wrench. "Ironhide if you don't behave, I will turn off your fragging weapon systems for the rest of your long and miserable life!" Silence again and then Ratchet spoke again. "Sorry about that, Optimus. So you want me to come by tomorrow and give Ms. Jasmine Clark a health check out of human doctor's orders?"

"That is the whole point, Ratchet," Optimus answered. "I don't want her to leave my optic sensors because of how... much damage she's taken. There's something wrong with her and I'm determined to find out what it is."

"Don't rush her, Optimus," said Ratchet gently, but his tone held strictness in it. "You and I both know that rushing a human who has been through a traumatic experience will only make things worse. Give her time to open up to you. Gain her trust like you've always done with Samuel and Mikaela. Like some humans say, sir: 'Patience is the key to success'."

Optimus remembered very well that he would never rush someone to talk and open up. Time was something that needed to be given to Jasmine in order her to physically recover from her ordeal in the hospital and her. He had infinite patience and he was determined to win her trust and help her realise that not all vehicles were 'evil'. It would just take a while for her to finally settle down and he really didn't want to overdo his work.

"Optimus, are you still there?" Ratchet asked. "You're not listening to me, obviously."

The Autobot leader shuddered and jerked forward in surprise to Ratchet's call, almost slamming into the garage. He was just mere human inches from hitting it, but his reflexes had kicked in just in time for him. He shuddered again and snorted exhaust fumes from the two identical pipes on the sides of his chassis before calming down after his near-frightening experience.

"Yes, Ratchet, I'm still here," Optimus replied quietly. "I apologise for my sudden silence. I have to go now. The taxi just pulled in and I wish to continue to remain undercover for as long as possible. Thank you for your advice, Ratchet, my friend. I will see you tomorrow."

"Good luck on your first night with your new charge, sir," said Ratchet. "Ratchet out."

When the communicator had died down into dead silence, Optimus sat as still as a rotten log as the taxi cab pulled into the driveway alongside him. He watched as Jason paid the driver the money, helped his sister out and went to go get her luggage from her stay at the hospital from out of the back.

Optimus could only watch as Jasmine limped up the driveway with her walking stick. He felt sadness and guilt washing over his Spark. Why did Starscream have to do such a horrible thing to an innocent creature who knew nothing about the war that was secretly raging on? Optimus didn't have much of an answer, but he knew that he would do everything he could do watch over the two. It was a promise that he was more than willing to keep.

He hadn't noticed the taxi drive away until Jason gently petted his bonnet. "You ok, Optimus?" he asked quietly so that Jasmine could not hear them, who was waiting at the front door for her brother to open it up since he had the keys.

"I am well, Jason," Optimus replied. "I was just discussing with Ratchet about the checkups I promised you. He will be here tomorrow to see how Jasmine is doing."

"Thanks, Optimus," Jason thanked once again. "I really appreciate what you're doing for us. If Jasmine knew that you existed she would be very grateful for your kindness."

The Peterbilt truck revered his engine as Optimus chuckled. "I am just doing what I think is best for both you and her," he replied, his tone gentle. "Now go with your sister and settle her in. I'm sure she's eager to get into her warm bed and sleep the night away."

"I will," said Jason. He then turned and walked up the porch towards his sister with her luggage still in his hands. Using the keys, he unlocked the door to the front of the house and he watched quietly as his sister stepped inside the cold darkness of the house. Jason couldn't help but wonder if Optimus knew exactly what he was doing.

Even as he walked inside he could see how Jasmine carried herself up the stairs. No longer was there any playful prances in her steps nor was there any excited giggles from her mouth. Had the accident really changed her character completely?

He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Jazzy, you don't want anything to eat or drink?" he asked as she was halfway up the stairs to her room. "Hospital food must've been pretty horrible for you."

Jasmine stopped in her limp and glanced down at her brother, her facial expression unreadable. "No thank you," she said quietly and continued her trek up towards her room, leaving a distressed Jason all on his own at the foot of the stairs. The only sound he heard from her was the slam of the door and the gentle thud of something heavy sitting on something soft that indicated she was on her bed.

Jason couldn't help but feel utterly helpless. Without his sister's cheerfulness he felt like a huge load of crap. He really wished that she would talk to him, but the only thing he could do was wait until she was ready to tell him what was wrong.

The main question was – how long?

Spiritimus Prime: A very good question, eh? Don't worry, guys, Jasmine's gonna interact with Optimus soon, but not soon enough. Got to increase the suspence by doing the whole 'earning the trust' business and have Ratchet do his usual checkups on Jasmine. I really got to get used to writing in something that I'm still not familiar with... Meh... whatever. See you guys again! Gonna go write up the next chapter to Rise from the Ashes. Been wanting to for quite a while now. Until then, stay tuned!