"He said WHAT?!" Ironhide's voice bellowed through the garage after hearing Optimus and Saphira tell the autobots what happened regarding Barricade. "You can't seriously believe that punk! He's a decepticon! He has attacked Saphira before, and he cornered her, now he wants to be all nice! I don't buy it!"
"Calm yourself Ironhide!" Optimus ordered through the speakers of his alt form as Saphira sat against the grill of the truck. "There is no need to get so angry. I do not trust Barricade either. However, he is allowed to be given a chance to prove his word through actions rather than being fought against. You know Drift was given the same opportunity."
Ironhide huffed, grumbling a little and his holoform looked down at the ground. "Yes, yes, I know."
"Who is Drift?" Saphira asked curiously, glancing around at the autobots.
"Drift is a close friend of ours. He used to be a decepticon, but he changed sides many years ago," Ratchet explained to her calmly. "We are not really sure what made him change. All he said was he felt completely unbalanced and wanted something to fight for. A true cause. He felt Cybertron was lost long ago. He actually saved Optimus's life from Megatron, it was the first time he and Optimus met. But from there, Drift has stuck by Optimus and proven himself worthy against the decepticons. It took a long time to trust him, but I guess saving Optimus was a big step."
"I highly doubt there will be situation where Barricade has to save Optimus anytime soon." Saphira was more concerned about Barricade's affection towards her though. She didn't know if she should be worried about that or not. "But…" She shuddered a little and folded her arms. "Is it even possible that he likes me? I mean, I am just human."
"It wouldn't be impossible Saphira," Ratchet responded kindly, he glanced at Optimus's cab briefly. "It is possible for any of us to like a human. Whether or not we pursue it, is another thing. I don't think it would be bad."
Saphira didn't think it was bad, but she had not really considered it considering as far as she knew, she was just friends with them. But…she has felt a few strange feelings towards Optimus recently. Mostly when they are at the emerald field alone. She didn't really pay much attention to them though, but how Optimus was treating her with making her feel special…it was nice. But she wasn't really good expressing a lot of feelings, so she kept that bottled up for now.
"Eh…personally Barricade is not my type anyway." Saphira stood with a shrug and walked over to Bee. "Anyway, I made a promise to play some Chess with you Bee. I think we should get started hmm?"
Bumblebee smiled at her and nodded, gesturing for her to come in. "I got the board and pieces all set up for us." He points to the table where the Chess had been set up. "I think I will beat you tonight."
She giggled at him as she walked over to the stool and thought for a moment. "Hmm, we shall see…I might be able to finish off what I took to the field with me though." She placed the basket on the table to grab out some fruit to eat and sat down.
"And we all just had a cube, so I am sorry if it will feel too awkward for you," Bee said as he took a seat opposite her.
She smiled at him and shakes her head. "Nah, I am all good. Anyway, we should figure out who should go first."
"Meh, doesn't matter given the game can go any direction," Bee said with a shrug. "But, ladies' first is the tradition here right?"
She hummed a bit and moved one of the pawns forward. "Very well, I started the game now so we can just begin."
The autobot chuckled softly, rubbing his hands together. "So impatient…okay. I better not delay this any longer. Are you planning on going to school tomorrow?"
She sighed deeply and nodded. "Unfortunately…Optimus isn't going to let me call up sick to spend the day with you all, which sucks because that means we only get a couple hours left in the afternoon." She felt sad thinking about it. "Honestly, it's never a good feeling when you see friends off when they leave for a military mission."
"Understandable Saphira, but we are not going to die off that quickly," Ratchet said reassuringly, walking over to her and placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "We have fought a long war, this is actually quite nice for us to be able to stop and actually spend time properly with each other. It was a rare thing back on Cybertron."
"That is good that you found some peace. I guess…from my perspective, it still feels…feels sad for me." She took a deep breath, swallowing a little and moving another pawn on the Chess board as she tried not to think about it. "At least I know you will come back…whenever that will be…and with new friends."
"Of course, we would not want to disappoint you at all Saphira. Don't you worry." Ratchet hummed a little as he watched the Chess game quietly. "Honestly though, it would be nice to spend the entire day with you tomorrow. If you had no school, it would not be a problem."
She knew that, she still knew that if she tried calling up sick, she would need her parents' approval, which she had no contact with anymore. So going to school wasn't really an option. Still, she did wish to skip it for the sake of spending time with the autobots. For now, she simply focused on the game against Bee, she didn't waste a huge amount of energy though playing against Bee. She did enjoy spending time with him. But, she did beat him in the end even when Bee thought he had a chance to beat her.
"Aw, sorry Bee, you still haven't worked out a good strategy yet," Saphira said to him softly as Bee grumbled when he realized he had lost. "Don't worry though, Chess isn't the easiest game in the world. So it is fine. It's far better than Monopoly, that game can take days to finish."
"I thought I had it…oh well…" Bee shrugged with a smile. "I think I did way better than last time, that is a win to me." He stood up and cleared the table to put the Chess away while Saphira picked up the basket to take into the room. "We wasted a couple hours at least."
They definitely did. It was late in the evening now. Saphira thought about the race meets, but she didn't want to look for one at the moment. She would go back to them when Optimus, Ratchet and Ironhide leave for their missions with the military. She was glad she didn't go to them during the week, otherwise she might have missed out on a lot of time with them.
Saphira yawned a little and she realized she was actually feeling tired. "Well, I feel a bit worn out. I guess I should go to bed." She shrugged a little, walking towards the door. "But…what else can we do?"
"Hmm, no idea. Maybe you could work on one of the cars and talk to us while you do that," Ironhide suggests while gesturing at the four vehicles parked in the garage. "Otherwise, I have no idea punk. You feeling tired means you should go to bed though. I wouldn't mind going for recharge. Using the holoform seems to be a little draining."
"Can you recharge in your holoform?" Saphira asked curiously, she had not realized that they were using up energy while using their holoform.
"We can, it just takes longer to recharge if we do. But it is okay. We all return to our alt forms when you go to bed so we can recharge properly. Usually we don't need to recharge as often as humans need to anyway." Ratchet smiled as she opened the door to step into the room. "Anyway, I can't think of anything else we could do…"
"Yeah I know. I considered doing some studying, but…I really don't have much to study for right now." She shrugged a little and looked over to Optimus. "If I had some camping gear, we probably could go back out to the field to spend the night."
"That really does sound nice. But we are not going to hold you back Saphira." Ratchet waves at her to get into the room. "It's going to get chillier, you should get yourself warm as well."
She nodded to Ratchet and closed the door to put what she didn't eat away to eat later. She smiled to herself, she was happy about today, it had gone mostly well despite the whole Barricade thing. She went into the bathroom to shower to warm up and to wash off the dirt of the day. She thought back to everything, she couldn't believe how much she had gone through in a short time. The battle in Mission City still was fresh on her mind. She still had her ruined clothes from the fight, she didn't know why, but it felt like memorabilia to her, just like the flower clip she had purchased. She still intended on getting something together to give to Optimus to remind himself of her, though she paused on that wondering why it mattered to her. But as he did seem special to her deep down, that was a reason why she wanted to do that.
She stepped out of the shower and got dressed into her pyjamas before walking over to the computer to scroll through the internet. She checked her email and she blinked in surprise, she had been sending applications through for some rentals recently in her spare time, even before going in for an inspection and she saw she had received a reply for one of the properties that caught her eye. She smiled as she saw it had been approved.
"Yes, yes, yes!" She squealed excitedly, jumping up from the desk and dancing around with a giggle. She opened the door with a big smile, the autobots were looking at her with confused expressions. "An application's been approved for one of the houses I was looking at to rent."
"Really? Already?" Ratchet said in surprise as he smiled, the excitement coming from her filled him with joy. "That is wonderful news!"
"I was going to inspect it this weekend, I probably still will check it out before moving in, but I am so happy!" Saphira twirled around excitedly and stopped at a table to lean on, looking around the garage with a smile. "That just means when I move in, I'll have to let this place go."
"Hey, it has done it's job for you. You deserve a nicer place than this." Ratchet walked over to her and gave her a gentle hug. "I am very happy for you. It is a shame we are not here to help you move and see the new house of yours. You might actually start calling it home when we get back."
"Maybe, but I think when I turned eighteen, I'll probably say that." Saphira looked at Optimus's alt form and approached the Peterbilt with a smile. "You will be able to get shelter at the new house too. There's a garage bigger than this one, big enough for tractors and such because it's on an acreage."
"That is wonderful, if there's room to transform, I think that will mean I can join in a bit easier," Optimus said in a cheerful tone. She rolled her eyes at him and he chuckled lightly at her. "I already told you that you don't need to see my holoform unless necessary."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, so you keep saying." She shrugged and turned away from him. "You're the one missing out by doing that." She looked at her cars as she knew she would need to transport them too. "At least I won't need to ask other people to help me move the cars, I'll just have to move between the two properties a few times to get them all to the new place."
"Yep, I'll be your chauffeur of course," Bee said in a sarcastic tone before chuckling loudly. "Oh well, anything for my little sister of course. At least on a bigger property, we can have a bigger party without drawing attention from neighbours when you have your birthday."
"As long as we don't make a mess, of course we can. But I am happy with quiet birthdays more than big, flashy parties. Although, I expect flashy parties from you Bee." She chuckled again and yawned rather suddenly. "Oh my god…alright, I guess I better to bed. The excitement has worn off already."
The autobots chuckle at her and she walked back into the room. "Have a good sleep, Saphira," Ratchet said to her kindly. "We will try to make tomorrow as nice as possible. We will be gone by this time tomorrow."
She didn't need to hear that, but she wasn't going to argue. She closed the door behind her and walked back to the computer. She was super thrilled about the application being approved, now she had to write up a list of what she needed for the new property as it was not furnished, it didn't even have a washing machine. She was glad Bee would be there to help when she does move. But, for the moment she was not thinking about that.
Morning comes around and Saphira wakes up early. The chill of the early morning was still fresh and she smiled as she stretched her body under the covers of her bed. She hummed a little and got up to get changed into jeans and a light skivvy, she brushed her hair and pulled her hair back into twin braids, she smiled at herself in the mirror and stretched her limbs with a sigh. She walked to the door and opened it, peering out to see it was all still and quiet. The garage door was down and she smiled. She walked to the front door and opened it, looking out at the GMC and Peterbilt. The sky was still dark with a hint of orange, but she liked the freshness of the air. She ducked back inside and gathered her school things, a few pieces of fruit and a croissant before heading back out to walk over to the Peterbilt. She didn't know if Optimus was still in recharge or not as she opened the door and climbed inside.
"You're up early." Saphira jumped when she heard Optimus's voice through the speakers. "I had expected you to be up in another hour."
"Yeah, well, I don't want to waste the day," Saphira said as she got comfortable. "I kind of wanna go to the field to watch the sunrise together. Is that okay with you? I brought my breakfast and my school stuff, so we don't need to worry about that."
He hums softly through the speakers as he thought on what she was saying. "Sure, I guess we can do that. The others might be a bit upset you left without them. But, they will be fine. Ratchet and Ironhide seem to think it is a good thing I am spending time with you."
She chuckled softly. "Maybe because we are becoming good friends…maybe that is the reason."
"Perhaps." Optimus started the engine and reversed from the driveway onto the road to head to the emerald field. "But I do not need encouragement, I like spending time with you Saphira. Ever since meeting you, it has been a joy."
"Even when you had to catch me when Megatron threw me from the building?" Saphira asked with a slight smirk.
He chuckled lightly at her. "Okay, maybe not that. But you should know what I mean. We don't have to worry about Megatron right now, if the decepticons find a way to revive him, then we can worry."
She chuckled softly and peered out the window to watch the world go by. "Wouldn't something like the Cube be able to revive him? Even though it is destroyed?"
"Yes it can. There is still a small shard left of it that has been locked away at your government's request." This was the first time she's heard of that, so she widened her eyes in surprise. "I was told not to tell you, but you have been involved with this since we arrived. I am not going to hide that from you. I just won't tell you where it is hidden."
"Thanks for telling me though. At least I won't be shocked if you happen to tell me about it later," Saphira said softly, wondering where this shard of the Cube was. "Though, if the decepticons find it…I guess it wouldn't be a surprise. They did manage to find the Cube without the glasses somehow. Though I am not sure how they did."
"I do not know that one either Saphira. But they might have had a small spy hiding with you as they knew you were close with Bumblebee at the time." The little bot that Barricade had with him when he and Bee tussled came to her mind. But she wasn't sure on that, she tore its head from its body. "That is the only explanation I can think of. It could happen again of course, though I think the decepticons will be trying to locate the shard without drawing attention to themselves first anyway."
"That gives time I suppose," Saphira said with a shrug. "Anyway, I'm going to be busy when you leave anyway Optimus. Aside from moving into a new house, I need to buy a lot of things because it will be an empty house."
"Oh? I guess I expected houses to have everything you need…I guess I was wrong." She chuckled softly as Optimus, the way the transformers view their world was highly amusing. "Bee is going to have a lot of fun helping you decorate the house."
"I bet he will. At least he'll have me giving him a guide of where to put things and how to set up a bed and such. I think it will be very interesting to see how he goes with all that. It will be very fun I think." She glanced ahead as Optimus was getting closer to the field and she thought about just staying there the whole day with him. She glanced at herself in the mirror. "Hmm…I should have gotten something to put into my braids."
"I think they're fine the way they are."
"Oh, you do?" Saphira smiled at the compliment from him and nodded. "Why, thank you."
Optimus exhaled loudly and she chuckles again. He genuinely liked her braids, when she walked out that morning he was intrigued by them. He didn't know that human hair could be styled in so many ways, and Saphira's hair was very long. Still, the fact she wanted to put something in her hair simply because she wanted something to bring with her as a reminder of the field was really nice. It was simple, but nice. Optimus just wanted to spend all day with her. He was reluctant to leave her tonight, especially with Barricade around in the city.
"We are nearly there Saphira," Optimus announces, turning off the road to drive onto the dirt road to the field.
Saphira smiled, the sun still wasn't even peaking yet, so it was perfect. Upon reaching the field, he came to a stop on top of the hill and she climbed out of the cab, jumping to the ground with a smile, breathing in the cool, crisp, morning air. She felt the dew gently soaking into her shoes and she glanced down, smiling as she realized her jeans would get wet if she sat down.
"Looks like the dew hasn't dried up yet on the grass," Saphira said softly. She looked at the Peterbilt with a smile. "If it is okay, could I sit on your leg or in your hand? My pants will get wet if I sit on the grass."
Optimus responded by transforming, she watched him quietly as he sat on the ground with an exhale and lowered his hand to her. She climbed into his palm and he moved her up to his shoulder instead. She was surprised, but she accepted it.
"Very well, this is nice," Saphira said as she settled on his shoulder comfortably, grabbing out a banana to eat and look out across the field as it glittered lightly with the emerald stones among the grass and the dew droplets on the grass and flowers. "I have to say, it is even more magical at this time of day."
"It is indeed." He looked over the field, his optics soften as he gazed over the field. "This world has a lot of beauty. I imagine this is just one of many places in the world that has untouched beauty."
"You are right about that. But…there are places in the world I would love to go to simply because of the untouched beauty of the place." Optimus turned his head to look at her curiously. She smiled at him. "I have liked beaches and tropical islands. I would love to visit the Maldives or Tahiti…those places are so beautiful. And the people are just as kind too. I also love forests…cold forests where the snow falls gently down. I enjoy simple places like that."
"I find it interesting you like to go to either the cold or the warm, is there an in between?" Optimus asked curiously, she looked at his eyes and she could tell he was genuinely curious.
"Yes, of course, but…I can't really think of anywhere but something like this field right now honestly." She looked over the field and bit into the banana to eat more of the fruit. "So I suppose that could be anywhere. But…nothing will be as special."
He hummed in agreement and his eyes linger on her hair for a moment. He lifts his hand and she was a little startled, but she felt his finger lift one of the braids and gently rub it with the tip of his finger. She was surprised by the gesture, it actually made her blush at little because it was the first time someone took interest in her hair.
Optimus took notice of her cheeks turning pink. "Oh, are you okay?"
She nodded at him and finished off the banana. "Yep, I sure am."
"Your cheeks…they're a different colour."
"Don't worry, I…don't worry about it." She put the peels into a bag and grabbed out an apple to eat.
Optimus had not remove his finger, but he did after a few minutes as he thought something was wrong. But she didn't seem ill or upset, and he watched the pinkness fade after a few minutes. He didn't really realize it that it was him who caused her reaction. But it was something he would learn in the near future. He turned his head away when several butterflies flutter by his face and he blinked in surprise. Saphira giggled as she watched the butterflies flutter towards the flowers.
"The world is waking up," Saphira said as the sun began to peak over the hills, she grabbed out her sunglasses to put on. "It is so beautiful. I'm glad I woke up early."
Optimus had no comment. Sitting here with here under the golden light of the sun, watching the colours in the clouds change, it was amazing. Even to him. He processed his thoughts about her, he wanted her to be safe and happy. He considered maybe asking NEST about moving Saphira to the base in case she is attacked by Barricade. He wasn't sure if it would be approved, but he was concerned she would be attacked while they were away.
"Hey Optimus! Do you have the girl?" Ironhide spoke gruffly through the radio, Saphira heard him and looked at Optimus in surprise which made her chuckle. "Oh, heard her. Hey! You know it's not cool to take off without telling punk!"
"Sorry Ironhide, it was my idea," Saphira said cheerfully. "And a good morning to you too."
"And I went along with it," Optimus said, adding into the conversation. "Do not worry Ironhide, we're at the field. I'll drop Saphira off at school, she has everything with her and she will be fine."
"Hmmph…okay, fine. We'll see you after school, punk!" Ironhide said before he cuts off communication.
Saphira and Optimus chuckle lightly together, it was funny that Ironhide had come out of recharge to find that she and Optimus had left without telling anyone. She understood he was likely concerned something had happened, but nothing did happen and that was okay. Saphira bit into the apple, chewing on another piece happily.
"Lennox will be coming this afternoon to come with us to the base," Optimus said to Saphira as they both gaze at the sunrise quietly. "He might be with me when I pick you up after school."
"That will be nice. I haven't seen him since Mission City. I like him." Saphira finished off the apple and placed the core into the plastic back before she simply relaxed. She shifted her body slightly and laid her cheek against Optimus's, surprising the commander by the small gesture. "I wish he was my father, he looked out for me like a real father should."
"I am afraid it is something you just can't change. At least you have us." Optimus gazed at the sunrise as the sun continued to rise into the sky. "We should probably head into the city soon. Time is getting away."
"We should just stay. Skipping school once is fine."
"You might get in trouble."
"Yeah, I will. But I am not worried." She smiled, keeping her cheek laying against his cheek. "I'll pass my exams and I will be all good."
Optimus chuckled softly, he wanted to spend the whole day with her too. But, she had her life to continue. He was not about to stop her. "Sorry Saphira, I insist we do not stop you from your education."
Saphira said nothing, but that did not stop Optimus from reaching up to grab her gently and transform into his alt mode. She was so surprised that she rolled her eyes and chuckled, at least she didn't need to move to do that. But she still wished she could stay with him the whole day. She didn't want to go to school. It was probably the first time ever she didn't want to go, she had a reason not to go to school. Optimus drives away from the field and Saphira looked at the side mirrors to watch the field disappear, if only she could take control of the steering wheel and turn them around.
