Optimus swears he sees Sam when looking at one of Tessa's friends. He tries to avoid her until Cade insists he introduces himself to (Y/N).
A/N: Tessa is not a senior in HS about to graduate in a few weeks for this one-shot. Also, OP doesn't have to leave Earth.
"We don't have a home anymore, dad," Tessa reminds her father, "it blew up."
Along with Shane and Optimus, the two of them look at Joyce.
"I think I might be able to help you with that," Joyce tells them.
Joyce takes care of the debt Cade is in, though the house is destroyed, and builds a new home on the same land along with a large barn for the Autobots to live and for Cade to continue to try to invent something useful.
Drift tries to stay calm about the situation; the Autobots still must be in hiding, but Crosshairs and Hound are pissed they have to stay in hiding.
Even a year later, the two are pissed about the situation, but they can hide how pissed they are during Tessa's graduation party. The Autobots use their holoforms, much to Crosshairs' displeasure.
"Behave!" Drift reminds him.
"Don't tell me! Tell that bugger over there!" Drift steps on Crosshairs' foot, "ow! What was that for?!"
"Enough! Both if you behave or you can stay here during the party," Optimus warns.
The two mechs drop the attitude as they meet all of Tessa's and Shane's friends. Optimus tries not to focus too much on one friend of Tessa's. He heard her name is (Y/N), and he feels like he's known her for years, but she reminds Optimus of Sam. He knows this can't be Sam's child, as not enough time has passed since he last saw Sam for his child to be eighteen years old.
"Hey, are you ok?" He hears Cade ask.
Optimus realizes tears are forming in his eyes.
"I'm fine," he replies before walking away and wiping the tears.
Cade notices Optimus standing on the deck when he thought Optimus was with the others.
"You can't be ok if you feel you need to leave the party," Cade argues.
"Because that girl, (Y/N), looks like Sam. I know many humans have the same hair and eye combination, but there's something about her compared to other humans that look like Sam that makes me think about him."
Cade insists Optimus gets to know (Y/N), even if he'll feel sad for a while, even if he'll have to explain to (Y/N) why he feels sad around her.
Optimus introduced himself to (Y/N), and the two had a long conversation during the party. (Y/N) decides she wants to come over often though Tessa might not be pleased that it's not to spend more time with her before the two head off to different colleges.