A week later, Optimus was still stuck on Earth. He would have been miserable because of his injuries, but Alexandra never gave him the time to dwell on them. She was always popping by to check on him and get him anything he needed. She couldn't provide much, but her cheerful and caring spirit always made Optimus feel better. She was presently stopping by to let Optimus know that she was starting school the next day, also letting him know that she wouldn't be around as often. What worried her the most about this situation was the loneliness Optimus would feel.

"Do not be troubled, Alexandra, we will find ways to 'hang out'," 

Optimus tried using Earth slang to lighten up the mood,

"For example, you require a ride to school; let me provide your transportation. We get to spend time together, and I get a change of scenery."

Thinking about what he said, Alexandra liked the idea. She would no longer have to deal with a bunch of unstable teenagers in a smelly bus, plus, she had the opportunity to ride in an alien. She smiled brightly,

"That sounds awesome! Yeah, let's do that. Besides....it looks like you've gained a few pounds from just sitting around and doing nothing all week." 

She mumbled "fatty" under her breath. Optimus laughed, 

"I heard that!"

Alexandra rolled her eyes and crossed her arms

"You didn't hear anything!" 

"That's a double negative..."

"Whatever, smarty pants!"

"I'm not wearing pants."

"Change the subject!"

Their friendship grew through their small moments of laughter and understanding of one another. The next day, Alexandra woke up early to get ready for the first day of school. During her morning routine, she thought how easy it was to have Optimus be her ride. Her parents always left for work before she woke up, so she didn't have to explain anything to them, and Sam always got a ride from his friends. For some reason, he and his buddies always liked being at school really early, so he always left before her. As for Mazikeen, she was not home that often but if she was home she would occasionally drive Alexandra to school.

Before going downstairs, she looked at herself one last time since she liked looking good on the first day of school but didn't care for the rest of the year. She wore her 'I am Unstoppable' dinosaur shirt with some jean shorts and red Vans. She decided to wear her wavy brown hair down for the day; it reached the middle of her back. Satisfied, she went downstairs. While she was eating breakfast, her brother left, 

"Later, Alexa! Have fun on your first day back, and try not to break any boy's heart,"

Alexandra Laughed

"No promises! Bye, Sam," 

Once he was gone, she called for Optimus from the front yard. She knew he had really good hearing and could hear her all the way from his base, 

"Optimus! It's all clear!"  

She waited for a few seconds, and then she saw the Autobot's form approaching. When he was a few yards away, she waved at him, 

"Good morning! You can go ahead and wait out here; I'm almost done. Just gotta finish my breakfast and get Leo off the charger. I'm not grounded anymore, but feel free to look around since you haven't got a good look yet." 

She winked and went back into the house, but on her way in, she tripped. She acted like nothing happened, and she didn't see the smile she caused to form on Optimus' face. Once she was inside, Optimus decided to look around. The forest surrounded the house on all sides except for the front. There was enough room between the house and the forest for a bot his size to walk around it. The house itself was a two-story with porches in both the front and back. On the second story, there was a balcony that was supported by pillars decorated with vines. In the backyard, there was a grill, a picnic table, a boxing dummy, and a tire swing. It looked like a good place to grow up. It was way different than his childhood environment. Once he was done scanning the outside, Optimus cautiously got down on his hands and knees, making sure not to hurt himself, and peered inside the house through the windows, he caught himself thinking,

"Cozy, a lot better than my place..." 

Then Optimus saw Alexandra in the house. She hadn't seen him yet because her back was turned. She was grabbing her backpack and heading his way. She jumped when she saw a big glowing gold optic looking at her through her living room window, 

"Wow, you scared me, man. I'm officially awake.""

She noticed Optimus smiling and glared at him, 

"That was so not cool. I should tell on you to my sister,"

Optimus smirked, 

"I'm sorry, I didn't know you were so jumpy,"

She didn't notice his limp. She pointed her finger at him,

"I'm not jumpy. I just wasn't expecting to see a big ol' honking eye looking at me." 

She stopped at the sidewalk,

"Now are you gonna go car mode, or am I walking?" 

She was smiling as she was talking to him, so she wasn't really upset. Optimus answered by transforming into his fire truck form.

Cʏʙᴇʀᴛʀᴏɴ - Aᴜᴛᴏʙᴏᴛ Mᴇᴅɪᴄᴀʟ Bᴀʏ

Growling...

"Stop growling Ironhide."

The new Autobot leader didn't stop growling, he just didn't do it as loud. 

"Whatever, Ratchet." 

He was frustrated as he was getting repairs from a recent decepticon ambush. The cons were abnormally cocky now that Optimus Prime was out of the way. The Autobots hadn't realized how much they counted on Optimus to always be there. It was a rude awakening. 

"Just hurry up so I can get back there and tear apart the few cons that got away."

"Come now, Ironhide, that doesn't sound like the Autobot thing to do. Actually, that sounds like our old life." 

Ratchet had a few flashbacks of him and Ironhide causing trouble in their younger days before they met Alpha Trion. He lightly smiled for a second, then shrugged it off. 

"Anyways, you're our leader now, so you can't be as reckless as you used to be." 

Ratchet unexpectedly popped Ironhide's shoulder back into place.  Ironhide growled,

"Ow! Frag, Ratchet give me some warning!" Ironhide growled.

"It's easier if you don't know its coming." 

The medic grinned, but then forced himself to turn serious again, 

"You also need to change your attitude towards being the leader of the Autobot army. Everyone feels lost without Optimus Prime in one way or another. Most I know feel lost without having a Prime to guide us...but others just miss him."

"Ratch?" 

The black mech sensed that something was bothering his friend, and was about to put his newly fixed arm around the other's shoulder when Ratchet whacked it away as his lip quivered,

"No, I'm fine. What I am trying to say is that you have a lot more responsibilities and you need to be prepared on how to handle them. You can't turn into a lifeless machine bred for war...not like Optimus...not like our brother." 

Ratchet paused to try and get a grip on his feelings since he hadn't meant to have this little breakdown in front of Ironhide. However, now that he started, he couldn't stop, 

"We watched this kid grow up with an undying spirit, but then this damn war happened and he became a Prime." 

He didn't fight Ironhide anymore as the bigger mech brought him into a side hug,

"He shut everyone out, even us...The only time we see him let any emotion show is during battle. His sass comes out when he fights Decepticons," 

Ratchet kind of laughed a little at that realization, 

"And the few times when he accidentally slipped and made a joke with one of us, well, everything seemed right." 

Leaning more onto Ironhide, he continued, 

"I guess the reason why I'm acting like this is because I don't want you to turn into a lifeless machine of war too. I hate telling you not to be reckless because that's just who you are and-"

"Ratch, I'm not gonna be like that. And Optimus has to be the way he is because of the ancient laws of the Primes. As for me, I don't have the Matrix so don't worry about that, alright? I think you're just really missing that little brat we adopted as our little brother." 

An object on the other side of the room caught Ironhide's attention. It was the small, rusted knife Optimus had the night they found him, 

"Who knew that little youngling that Alpha Trion had us save would grow on us the way he did." 

The two lifelong friends smiled at the memories that surfaced when they thought of the days before the war. Ironhide patted his friend's back one last time,

"Alright, it's good we had this talk. You needed to get this off your chest, but now we gotta go back to being the hardcore soldiers the autobot army knows us as."  

The two veterans had yet to realize just how bad things were going to get.

Eᴀʀᴛʜ - Pʜᴏᴇɴɪx, Aʀɪᴢᴏɴᴀ

Alexandra was having a fun time exploring the interior of Optimus Prime's firetruck mode. It had the normal fire truck elements, but there were a lot of custom features as well. She was so distracted that she didn't realize they had arrived at their destination,

"We're here already? That was fast. Did you go the speed limit?"

"Of course, I make sure to follow your planet's laws so I don't get pulled over. Now, where do you wish to be dropped off?"

Alexandra hadn't thought about that but didn't dwell on it and pointed a few blocks away from her school. She knew it would look weird if she was dropped off in what looked like a custom-made fire truck instead of her father's police car. Actually, either one would look weird...as if her father has ever driven her...the only normal thing would be her sister's Nissan Pickup tuck...

Optimus parked, and Alexandra jumped out, 

"I'll see you after school, and I wouldn't go anywhere too far. We wouldn't want to see you on the news in case you got yourself into trouble. Bye!" 

Alexandra patted his side door and then she was off to school. Since he was going to be sitting around all day in vehicle form, Optimus decided to find a shady spot somewhere nearby. To keep himself occupied, he took this opportunity to watch the humans in their natural habitat. During his observation, he realized that humans and Cybertronians had a lot more in common than just their body structure. Both species were capable of great compassion and great violence. Both had family units, worked for some sort of income, had festivities such as parties, and both had weapons of mass destruction. The only difference now was that his species had practically killed their planet and was in a planet-wide civil war, while the humans were living during a perfect time of peace and enjoying life. An emotion Optimus hadn't felt since he was a youngling suddenly crept up: jealousy. It was small but still there. He knew he shouldn't feel that way since his kind brought the war upon themselves, but he couldn't help it. He wasn't going to dwell on it. Instead, he decided to use it as a motivation to fight harder so that his people would one day return to a time of peace.

Hours later, school was over. Optimus heard all about Alexandra's first day on the way back to her house. When they arrived, they saw that no one was home. Being how there was no rush to return to his little camp, Optimus stayed in the backyard while Alexandra went into the kitchen to grab a snack. She came back out with a bowl of ice cream and sat on the lawn chair that was on her back porch. Optimus saw an opportunity to get back at her from her earlier comment, 

"Who's the fatty now?"

"Oh, be quiet, I'm hungry." 

She was going to stick her tongue out at him, but then it struck her that he didn't have any food, and he had been here for a little over a week! 

"I'm sorry, you're probably hungry too. Um, is there anything I can get you?"

"No." 

He knew she wanted to help since she was obviously bummed out about it. He thought it wise to change the subject. He looked at the tire that was hanging from the tree, 

"So what is the point of this contraption?"

"It's a tire swing. It's really fun; watch." 

Alexandra put down her empty bowl, walked over to the swing, and got into the tire. She couldn't reach the floor, so she was having a hard time getting a swing going,

"Now I just gotta get swinging, hold on." 

Optimus understood what she was trying to do and gently pushed the tire swing that he was sitting next to.

"Thanks! I should have swung it a little before getting in," 

She laughed at herself. Smiling at her happiness, Optimus continued to gently push the swing. After a while, his sitting position got uncomfortable, and he decided to lie down. He was lying on his front, propped up on his elbows, his bottom half concealed in the forest.

"Anyways, I feel like I've been doing all the talking for the last hour. Your turn."

"What do you want to talk about? I've already told you all the interesting things about my kind. The war, my Autobots..." 

Optimus never felt the need to say anything more since that was what all his life was about. Alexandra rolled her eyes, 

"Don't get me wrong, that stuff is interesting, but it's not about you. I want you to talk about yourself."

"There isn't anything to tell. Everything I do, I do for my Autobots. I need to lead my people to victory so they can see the end of the war and return to a time of peace. If that time comes, then I will do everything in my power to make them comfortable and happy in the new age without war."

"Aw, you're so cute, Optimus. I think it's awesome how dedicated you are to helping your people. But I gotta ask, what about you? You make it sound like your sole purpose in life is to serve others, like do you have a life? Why do you keep avoiding the question?"

The truth was that he had never fully opened up to anyone. His father figure, Alpha Trion, or his adoptive brothers, Ironhide and Ratchet, never even knew the full truth. His personal life he always kept secret. He shook his head, 

"I am not comfortable talking about myself. Besides, as a Prime, our sole purpose is to serve Cybertron's inhabitants."

Before anything more could be said, they both heard the sounds of an approaching vehicle. Not wanting to be seen by another human, Optimus rose to his hands and knees, and then onto the process of standing up. He wasn't even to his full height when one of his legs gave out,

"Slag!" 

He landed hard back on his hands and knees. He heard Alexandra cry out something, but he was too dizzy to comprehend what she was saying. All he knew was that he was dangerously low on energon. He hadn't known how bad it was because he usually wasn't so active at his camp, but today he had done a lot of driving and walking. Alexandra had been long out of the swing and was at his side. She was still saying something, but he was more concerned with the other human seeing him. In the end, the car just drove by the house. The driver would not have been able to see anything in the backyard. It was a close call, and it was something Optimus wasn't going to let happen again.

After a few moments, he wasn't as dizzy anymore. He turned and sat down with his knees up and his arms behind him, holding him up. Optimus looked for Alexandra. She was next to his waist, and now, he could understand her.

"Optimus, Optimus! Are you okay?! Oh jeez, please tell me that you're alright! Optimus, you gotta be okay! Can you even hear me? Please be okay! Optimus?!"

Alexandra was freaking out! She was literally running around in circles and lightly knocking on him to get him to respond. She was five seconds away from calling her older sister. Until she heard him groan, 

"I'm...decent." 

She started breathing again; she hadn't noticed that she even stopped. She finally started to calm down.

"You had me scared there, but I mean, are you really okay? What happened?"

"I'm just a little lightheaded. My body has been working double time to repair itself and is requiring energy that I do not have. I need to get back to base." 

He started trying to get up, but that didn't end too well. Alexandra frowned,

"Well, shouldn't you wait a little bit?" 

She almost took out her phone again but realized her older sister might have to report Optimus back to the government and changed her mind,

"Never mind, big guy, you gotta push through this and get yourself home." 

She then started trying to help him up by pulling on his leg. After several tries, Optimus finally stood up. He started limping to his camp, accompanied by Alexandra, who definitely noticed his limp now. Arriving, Optimus went straight for his shelter, crawled inside, and lay down on his front. Alexandra followed him into the shelter. Inside, there was a box of random things that she had brought him in the past. From the box, Alexandra pulled out a large blanket that had lions on it. Going back to Optimus, she unfolded it and placed it over his head. Afterwards, she sat down cross-legged next to his face. His optics were still glowing, so she knew he was still awake. She scooted over to lean against his shoulder,

"Tired?"

He angled his head so that he was looking at her and then nodded. Alexandra patted his shoulder, 

"Then you should get some rest. I'll get a ride for school tomorrow, so sleep in and get some rest. When I come home, we will find a way to get you some of your strength back." 

He just blinked at her. She relaxed and smiled at him, 

"I'll take that as a 'sure'." 

She then pulled out Leo. She went to one of her more chill playlists and clicked shuffle. A cover of "Safe and Sound" by Julia Sheer came on. Not long after the song started, Optimus' optics started fading. Alexandra smiled,

'He's asleep, or in recharge as he put it,'

 She let a few more songs play before she crawled out and started heading back to her house. On her way back, she couldn't help but think that maybe trying to take care of an alien by herself was too big a task. Heck, Elliot in the movie E.T. made it look easy. But then again, he did end up having some help. She sighed,

'I guess I'll just have to take it one day at a time.'