Driving through Chicago once again, Optimus couldn't shake the feeling off that he and his fellow Autobots were being closely watched. He wouldn't be surprised if they were.

The Autobots drove around for a little over 2 hours, honking, speeding, and sliding around the city, which was actually quite enjoyable to watch. Especially when the two new twins almost ran Bumblebee off the road.

Optimus decided to keep his distance from the group. Bumblebee had opened a com link to him almost 30 minutes ago but the conversation had died when the twins tried their little trick on him. Primus, was Bumblebee pissed. Optimus had found it quite amusing to watch Bumblebee chase down the two of them and crash into them without effort. The twins then started complaining about the dent as Bee rolled off, completely unscratched and clearly making his point.

On the way back to base, Optimus started to slow down. The pain in his body had decided to come back and this time, it was unbearable. No matter how fast or how slow Optimus went, the pain from would not go away.

Oh Ratchet, where are you. Optimus thought. He winced as his wheels skid underneath him and about took him off road.

Bumblebee had clearly noticed and started to slow down. He drove over to Optimus's side and started driving equally to him.

"Are you okay?" Bumblebee worriedly asked the Prime through the com-link.

"I am alright, Bumblebee," Optimus said. "I'm just still experiencing the ending pains from Unicron. No need to worry, young one."

"If you say so," Bumblebee obviously didn't believe his leader but decided to would be best to not push the matter.

After driving for about about another half hour, the NEST base came into view. Most Autobots had already arrived long before Optimus and Bumblebee. Bumblebee was only a few meters ahead of Optimus and was getting ready to pull into the base. Just before Optimus made the last turn, pain shot through his body like a bullet through his spark.

His wheels twisted and turned as the back side of the truck spun around and ended up almost in the front. Optimus tried to break himself but his wheels only left loud squeaks and skid marks behind. The Prime then felt himself starting to lift up in the air and twist. He knew he couldn't stop. The pain increased and his vision started to blur.

The back wheels turned and went left as the front wheels turned and went right, which sent the truck flipping onto its side. Optimus then realized that he had started to roll and flip on the road.

Bumblebee, having heard Optimus's wheels squeak, stopped driving and transformed, whipping around. What he saw, made his energon run cold.

There was his leader, the great Optimus Prime, flipping and rolling painfully on the road with no indication to stop.

"Optimus!" Bumblebee cried he started running towards his caretaker in an attempt to stop the crash.

Other Autobots who had heard the commotion, ran out of the base along with the humans and sprinted towards the crashing truck.

Bumblebee skid in front of the upcoming truck and braced himself. Optimus was rolling fast and hard. He rolled right into Bumblebee as Bee grabbed the truck. Sliding backwards, Bumblebee could feel the truck slow down. After being pushed back several other meters, Bumblebee was able to bring the Prime to a stop, setting him down on his now popped wheels.

"Oh Primus..." Bumblebee gasped as he looked at the truck. Optimus's sides, front, and rear were pushed in and there were several spots where energon was flowing out. The windows were broken and parts of rubble and glass stuck to the sides of the truck.

"Optimus, are you okay?" Bumblebee knew it was a stupid question but any response from his leader would at least make Bumblebee feel a little better.

Instead of getting a spoken response, Optimus, very painfully, transformed. He collapsed when he finished, falling into Bumblebee's arms. Limp and beaten. His breathing was shallow and his whole body shook.

"Oh Optimus," Bumblebee hugged him close as the fellow Autobots finally caught up. "Why do you always say you're fine when you're not." He whispered to the barely conscious Prime.

"Is he going to be okay?" Bumblebee worriedly asked. He watched as Drift looked over the unconscious Prime laying on a berth.

"He's stable," Drift responded. "for now."

"What do you mean "For now"?" Bumblebee crossed his arms and sat next to Optimus.

"Well, clearly he's been in lots of pain ever since he snapped out of Unicron's control. And since no one here is a medic..." Drift drifted off.

Waving his servos in front of his face, Bumblebee said, " I know. I know that. But can you think of anything as in why he would be feeling like this?"

"I believe he still has the lasting affects from being under someone else's command for such a long time. I'm guessing his body isn't use to being in control yet. That's my best guess for now." Drift linked Optimus up to a breathing machine and turned towards Bumblebee.

"I guess I'll live with that." Bumblebee looked down sadly towards his leader. "What if this gets worse? What if Unicron comes back? What if Optimus doesn't get better and dies?! What if..."

"Bumblebee!" Drift snapped. He grabbed the young bot's shoulders and shook them, "he's a Prime. He'll live."

"Drift..." Bumblebee sighed. He was defeated. "I can't lose him again. I lost my creators, Jazz, Ironhide, Ratchet, the twins, Elita...but I can't lose Optimus. He's the only one I have left that had taken me in. You know what happened with Unicron. You know how powerful he is...was."

"I know Bee. But we defeated him. You were able to hold Optimus off long enough for the rest of the Autobots to get to Unicron. Then when you woke up, you used the Forge of Solus Prime and Unicron was destroyed."

Bumblebee sighed. Unicron may have been defeated but he was far from destroyed. Not like he'll share that with Drift though. The Autobots had too much to worry about.

Once Drift made sure Optimus was stable, Bumblebee scooted closer to his leader and laid down on the Prime's chest. He smiled. Just like when I was a sparkling. He thought.

Bumblebee laid there, his helm on Optimus's chest plates, feeling the warmth of his caretaker's spark. And soon, he fell into a deep, but needed recharge.

Smiling wickedly, a dark, gloomy figure chuckled.

"Rest all you want youngling. Gain your strength back. Start preparing all you want."

The figure turned and floated away from the window.

"This time youngling, you can't save him. And he can't save you."

Hey guys! Thank you so much for the reviews, favorites, and follows! So sorry that this chapter took this long but here it is.

Finally, I'm getting somewhere with this story.

Poor Optimus though. He can't heal without getting more hurt. :(

I'll try and get the next chapter done sooner this time. Thanks again! :D