1Year Later…

A lot has happened in the year since Optimus left with Lennox to go on their missions across the globe to take out rogue decepticons. Saphira moved into her new rental a couple days after they had left. It was a nice, two-story house on a ten acre property with a large garage, and a large equipment shed that would normally house farming equipment such as tractors. It wasn't the newest house, but it had a renovated kitchen and bathroom so it suited Saphira just fine. She was happier to have a bigger house, and she began to call it home after a few months, mostly because she had found herself enjoying another activity. Permaculture.

Saphira was now growing her own vegetables, herbs, spices and some fruit. She found she really enjoyed it, plus Bumblebee was able to see how some of the food humans eat grow from a tiny seed to something spectacular. It helped a lot with her food bill at the end of the month, and being able to eat something that was fresher and tasted better than what is sold at the supermarkets just was satisfying. Especially as she learned how to preserve her produce, which took a little while for her to learn.

Of course, Saphira still went to race meets, that did not stop. Bumblebee has protested multiple times about that, but he quickly learned she would not listen to him as much as it disappointed him. Nonetheless, Saphira brought home more than enough money to support herself and she wouldn't need to apply for scholarships or financial aid for college. There were not many seventeen-year-olds who could say that. She had already applied for a college and she had been accepted at Princeton University in New Jersey, which was on the other side of the country. She knew going into college right after school wasn't always something people did, but she had no intention of taking a gap year. Plus, she knew one of the properties her grandfather owned before he died was there, so she planned to live in that after the first year of college. That way she won't have to pay for a room.

It is a few days before the graduation ceremony, all the big exams and assignments are all done and dusted forever now. Saphira had prepared her speech, as she had predicted, she would be the valedictorian this year and she was really happy about it. She sent Lennox a text a few months ago about the date for the graduation, he responded letting her know they would be there. She sent him a text a week ago to confirm if he and Optimus would be there, along with the new autobots who have arrived. There was no response. It filled Saphira with dread because she worried they won't make it in time.

Today, she was in the garden harvesting carrots, lettuce, beetroot, peas, radishes and sweet potatoes with Bee. She felt a little bad she would need to abandon the garden once she went to college, but she would get back into this lifestyle easily. Plus, she had won three other cars from pink slips, she did not sell the four cars she already had. A rusty, orange, 1969 Dodge Daytona, a black 1978 Pontiac Firebird and 2005 Mazda MX-5, which is the newest car she owns now. These three cars have already been through a repaint, their engines being fixed or tinkered with and given custom spoilers, hoods and vinyls, Saphira knew she would have to sell them or take them with her to New Jersey when goes to college.

"This is a nice harvest," Bee comments, pulling out several daikon radishes from the soil and eyeing them off with a smile on his face. He placed them in a basket with the purple carrots Saphira had pulled out earlier. "Too bad you only got to this house last year, we could have had many harvests if you applied here earlier."

"Yeah, but nothing is settled Bee," Saphira responded, she was holding a bowl picking peas off the vine and filling it. "Besides, I'll be pulling these garden beds out in a month or two so the place looks nice when I leave."

"Is it really necessary to go to college right after school?" Bee asked curiously as he pulled out more radishes, shaking off the dirt gently and placing them into the basket.

"No, but I want to go. I don't know what will happen once I receive my inheritance, but there is nothing wrong learning something else." Saphira looked under different leaves to find more pea pods. "Anyway, it will give you the chance to go with Optimus on his missions."

Bee sighed, Saphira had spoken to him about that several times, but he felt he should remain her guardian. Barricade hasn't bothered Saphira at all this past year, so they really don't know where his loyalty really lies at the moment. "I don't need to go with Optimus, Saphira. I am here to be your guardian."

"Yeah…but…" Saphira could tell Bee was bored here. He needed to be doing something other than watching her everyday, especially when there has not been a single shred of danger. "If you didn't seem so bored all the time…"

"I am not bored," Bee interrupts, looking at her as he pulled the last radish out with a smile. "I have learned so much. Watching food grow like this has been very rewarding. Plus, helping you with your new cars, taking you to school and just helping you in general around the house has been nice."

"But you're a warrior, Bee," Saphira responded, looking at him and lowering the bowl slightly. "You're not a gardener, mechanic or chef. Plus, I know we have become very good friends, and as your friend I can see you're boxed in. Maybe when…no, if Optimus and Lennox show up for my graduation, you should ask them to go with them."

"Optimus will tell me to remain. You know that."

That might not happen, but Saphira knew once she graduated, she only had a couple months before moving to Princeton anyway. There really wasn't a lot of time now before that happened, Saphira knew that. Bumblebee may not know that, she didn't want to disappoint him since the university won't allow her to have cars there as a freshman anyway.

"Plus, you think they are not coming, don't you?" Bumblebee asked curiously, her face changes to sad as soon as he spoke of it. Bee knew they were coming, but it was a surprise. "Hey, I will be there."

"I know…it is just…Lennox should not have said they would be here if they were not going to be here," Saphira said sadly as she finished harvesting the peas. "Alright, time for the beetroot and sweet potato."

Bee really wanted to tell her they were coming, but they won't be here just yet, but he couldn't. He promised not to spoil the surprise. Especially since the ceremony was outside facing the parking lot where she will see them arriving as she stands on the podium. Seeing her sad about it hurt though, but there was nothing he could do. He did not want to spoil the surprise.

"When Optimus arrives, I think he is going to be rather impressed with your garden," Bee said as he followed Saphira with the full basket and an empty basket to fill with more produce. "Especially since he hasn't seen how food grows before."

"I am sure he will enjoy it, but he has to get here first," Saphira responded in a calm voice, pulling out the first of many beetroots from the garden bed. Bee grimaced at his choice of words before speaking. "I might even be at college by than."

"I doubt it, but let us not think of that. Oh, you haven't told me the speech you finally mastered. Would you like to tell me?" Bee looked at her curiously with a smile as he pulled out some beetroots.

Saphira smiled slightly, she didn't want to tell anyone her speech until the day of the graduation. "Sorry, no, no one gets to hear until that day. We only have two days until graduation. I am glad all my studies are done, I don't have to go to school at all."

"Yeah, you are lucky. I am surprised you're the only one, I thought the other students in your class would be finished by now." Saphira shrugged, she didn't care about them. Many of them tried begging her to do their assignments for them, but she refused. "Oh well, if they don't finish, that is their own fault right?"

"That is correct." Saphira smiled at him. "Anyway, I am not going to think on that, I just want to get the harvest out of the way, preserve most of the beetroot and make a stir fry from some of the radish, sweet potato and carrots in it."

Bee nodded and helped her harvest the rest of the beetroot and sweet potatoes. They already harvested the lettuce before and she had used some of it to make a quick and easy salad for lunch. Saphira was feeling very sad today, mostly because she had been missing Optimus terribly for the past week. She had gone back to the emerald field more than once in the last year. It was so nice to be there, she went alone most of the time. Bee has gone with her a couple times, but she preferred to be there alone.

Mostly because she has been gathering the scattered emeralds and she had learned how to polish them up. She found bigger stones in the lake, she even found one that was the size of a dinner plate and shaped like a heart. It wasn't perfect, but after a polish, it really sparkled. With the smaller pieces, she used silver to outline the large stone and added the smaller stones to it. The small stones were not as deep in colour as the bigger stone, so it was easy to tell between the big, heart, shaped stone and the smaller emeralds. Any spares she kept in a small box to use for later. She didn't sell any of it, she kept it because she saw them as part of the memory of that beautiful field, and that was priceless to her.

She considered going back there today, but she didn't want to. If Optimus wasn't going to be there at her graduation with Lennox, then it wasn't worth going back. So over the next day and a half, Saphira waited impatiently for them to arrive. But there was no sign, and she nearly had cried herself to sleep the night before graduation. A year ago, shedding tears was not something she was used to. But, she has changed in personality since than, she wasn't as stubborn of a teenager like she was. Mostly because she has learned to put her extreme stubbornness behind her because it opened up to more things. Plus, spending time with Bee had melted the walls she had built around herself which was another reason why she had grown in maturity since than.

On the day of the graduation, it would only be half the day for the graduates as their studies were done, and Saphira was nervous. She had her speech memorized, but everyone had their parents with them. She did not. Bee was in the parking lot, she could see the Camaro, and his holoform sat among the crowd as well. But, she did not see Lennox.

"Hey, Saphira…" Saphira groaned when she heard Sophia begin her and turned, looking at the blonde who hasn't changed a bit in the last year. "Looks like we won't be seeing each other after today."

"Good riddance," Saphira responded with a huff, adjusting her graduation cap and robe slightly. "I won't have to see you anymore."

The girl scoffed at her. "Oh, whatever! I'm heading to Paris for my graduation ceremony…"

"Good for you." Saphira was not interested in listening to that girl. "Hope you found a college that would accept you."

"Meh…I don't want to go to college. Mummy and daddy give me all the money I want." Of course they do, Saphira rolled her eyes at that. "But, they got me to enrol anyway. So, I might be off to Yale, Harvard or Columbia."

Saphira looked at the blonde girl with a surprised expression. "Those are hard schools to get into, Sophia. You need to be good academically to get in there."

"Pfft, it doesn't matter when you have money!" The girl sneered with an ugly grin.

Shrugging, Saphira did not care. "Well…I got into Princeton…"

"Huh? Princeton?! That's like one of the best!" Sophia frowned in shock at her before rolling her eyes. "Oh, never mind, you are smart. So of course, you probably got some scholarship. You don't have your parents helping you like I do."

"No, but…" Saphira suddenly had a smug expression and looked at Sophia. "I'll be richer than you next year. With a little help from my late grandfather."

The girl widened her eyes and was about to say something as a teacher walked along. "Alright, the ceremony is about to begin. I expect you all to behave, I know you are all excited, but be calm."

Saphira nodded and moved away to get in line. She wanted to peak to see if she saw anyone she knew, but decided this was it. Bumblebee was here at least, so she should be happy with that. She tuned out the announcement speech by the principal as she waited patiently until students were being call out to receive their certificate. Saphira stood in line patiently until she was called out, feeling very down about all of this. However, as she stepped out onto the stage, her eyes were immediately drawn towards a custom Peterbilt, H2 Hummer ambulance, GMC, Corvette Stingray, a red VW Beetle, green Chevrolet Trax and three motorbikes of different colours were parked in the lot. Saphira's eyes light up as she spotted Lennox and Robert next to Bee with Ironhide and Ratchet's holoforms, along with six others she did not recognize.

Saphira grinned and walked up to the principal with a skip in her step, accepting the certificate and moving to take a seat instead of walking off the stage as she had to wait to be given the chance to make her speech. She was very happy now that she saw them. She nearly wanted to cry with happiness now that she has seen them. She wondered if Bee knew, but it was definitely a big surprise that was for sure. She also wanted to run over and give them all big hugs, thanking them for being there for her, even if it was a surprise.

Saphira sat there, tapping her foot excitedly as more students walked onto the stage to accept their certificates until they were all seated. "I am very pleased to announce all our students here have graduated and will be moving onto the next stage of their life," The principal announced and the crowd breaks in applause. "Now, before we finish off the ceremony, our top student of this class has a few words to say about our current students. Please give a big round of applause to Saphira Dawn, who recently was accepted into an Ivy League university and will be pushing on with her studies next year."

Saphira stood up with a big smile as people applaud as she walked towards the podium. She rests the rolled up certificate onto the podium and placed her speech in front of her. She cleared her throat and began to speak. "When we all started kindergarten, little did we know we would become the people we are today. We did not foresee the challenges we would face, we did not know what we would learn and, most importantly, we were not told how much life is an adventure. An adventure where not one person in the same room has the same path." Her eyes glance up to Optimus's alt form and her smile widened. "The world is so much bigger than the journey of a single person. And no one's journey is a straight line. We still have so much to learn, see, and do, so now is not the time to make hard and fast decisions. Now is the time to make mistakes! Find what you love simply by trying, even if takes twenty years to get there. Don't let others tell you what you can and can't do, only you have the power to your own life. So, to all my fellow graduates who are graduating with me this year, congratulations. Look ahead at the next stage of your journey because it is only just beginning."

She smiled and grabbed her graduation cap, pulling it off her head and tossing it into the crowd as the crowd cheers and the other students throw their caps up into the air too. Giggling, Saphira walked off the stage and around the crowd to get to Lennox and Robert. The two men had big smiles on their faces as she approached them.

"That was an amazing speech!" Lennox exclaimed as Saphira ran up to him and hugged him. "Sorry if you were feeling upset, we wanted to surprise you at the ceremony."

She chuckled softly and pulled back from the hug with a smile. "Thanks Will, and yeah…I was probably going to cry if you didn't show up." She turned to Robert. "Now there is a face I haven't seen for a long time. How have you been Robert?" She hugged him as well and he hugged her back happily.

"Oh, well, you know…" Robert responded with a chuckle. "Been busy on our little missions around the world. We've managed to knock off a few. But it is great to get away from it, even just for a little while."

"Little while?" Saphira stepped back with a frown. "Don't tell me you only have a short time before you go back?"

"We will tell you about that later, but I think we have people to introduce to you," Ratchet said as he approached Saphira with a smile. "It is so good to see you again Saphira, I have missed you. It hasn't been the same without you."

"Likewise." She turned her head a little to see a young, mid twenties man with short cut, silver hair, ripped denim shorts and a white singlet which showed off his abs through the lining. His bright blue eyes sparkled as he smiled at her. "Hello, I am Saphira."

He chuckled gently at her. "I know who you are, it is a pleasure to finally meet you. My name is Sideswipe."

"Nice to meet you," Saphira smiled at him and was surprised when he took her hand and kissed the back of it. "Oh…it is really nice to meet you."

She pulled her hand free with a chuckle and Sideswipe grinned at her. She looked at two young boys who looked about her age, they looked nearly identical with broad shoulders, but one of them had dusty brown hair and the other had dark brown hair. "I am Mudflap, dis is my brother Skids." The dusty, brown-haired man placed a hand on the other's shoulder. "It is nice to finally meet ya."

"Yea, we can finally put a dent in Optimus for talkin' 'bout ya all the time." Saphira looked at Skids in surprise and glanced towards Optimus curiously. "Yep…he certainly…OW!"

She looked at the boys in surprise when Ironhide smack the back of their heads suddenly. "Enough, idiot!" He snapped at them before softening his voice and smiling at Saphira. "It is nice to see you too, punk. It seems you've grown a little taller since we last saw you."

"I guess I have," Saphira responded with a smile and turned her head towards the three young women.

They all looked to be in their mid twenties, the first woman had dark, blue hair and wore a nice blue and pink blouse with a pair of jeans. "Hello, my name is Arcee." She approached Saphira with a gentle smile. Saphira noticed she had quite the curves on her body, at least that is what Saphira thought. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you."

"Nice to meet you too. I think we needed some ladies to join and keep the boys under control," Saphira said with a sarcastic smirk as she gestured with her thumb at the autobots.

The women chuckled, and the woman with platinum, blonde hair and a light, aqua dress spoke to Saphira. "It seems that way. The boys were off the rails when we arrived. My name is Moonracer."

Saphira glanced to the road and looked at the bikes. "Hmm, you know, this might be my chance to ride a motorbike. I've never tried, but now I might try."

"I suppose we could allow that," The final woman with black hair and deep, sea blue streaks through the strands and a blue blouse with a black jacket and jeans said with a shrug. "That will depend if Optimus does not mind if we have girl time. I am Chromia, we have been here for at least three months."

"Did you get here at the same time as Sideswipe and the twins?" Saphira asked curiously, glancing at Sideswipe and the twins.

"No, we came after them. They had been here for two months before we ladies arrived," Arcee responded before placing her hands on her hips and sighing. "We should have arrived first, but it just didn't happen. Nice speech by the way, we are still learning about humans, but it was nice to watch young humans move onto the next stage in life."

"And your next stage is an Ivy League university huh?" Lennox asked with a proud smile. "That is incredibly impressive. Which one is it? Yale? Harvard?"

"Princeton, I've wanted to go there anyway." Saphira smiled at him as he widened his eyes, impressed that she got in there. "I was accepted like a couple months ago anyway. So, that is my next step in life."

"Well done, Saphira," Ratchet said with a big thumb's up. "I guess that means you won't get much time to see us?"

She huffed at him. "Oh yeah? You don't get time anyway, Ratchet. Besides, the university is on the other side of the country too, and I'll be staying on the campus until I get a proper house. So…it will be hard to see you, even if I had the time to. But, anyway…" Saphira glanced at the dispersing crowd as people were saying their farewells to each other. "We should go. The ceremony is done, and I just want to go and spend time with you all at home."

"I can't wait to see it," Ratchet said as they walk towards the parking lot. "Bee has said we will like it."

Saphira nearly forgot they didn't know what her new house looked like. But she was thrilled about it. She approached Optimus, looking up at him. "May I go with you? Bee can lead the way to my home."

"Of course," Optimus responded, opening the cab door for her to climb into. "I have missed you."

"So I've heard…" Saphira smirked as she climbed into the cab comfortably and closed the door. "We have so much to catch up on."

"Indeed we do." The Peterbilt engine roared in her ears and Saphira peered out the window as the autobots meld with their alt forms.

Saphira noticed that the femmes were actually able to create holoforms of women wearing helmets and a nice suit, so they don't look weird rolling around without a human on them. That was a good choice. She looked forward getting to know each of the new autobots. However, she had a feeling they won't be here for as long as she would like. And that was probably going to upset her, especially since it has been a whole year since she has seen them.