Fic: Optimus' Ponderings
Though up a bit later that when I had originally thought, here is the third and final installment of my 'Ponderings' series. This one has a bit of explanation at the end, so if you want you can read that as well. I toyed around with maybe doing one from Judy Witwicky's POV, but decided against it. Instead, I'll most likely do a little ficlet starring her thoughts on Sam telling her he's dating his car. I'm not making any promises, but I am planning on doing a short smutty piece that takes place shortly after this chapter, but it'll most likely be a ficlet and of course have no plot. I also added links to the two previous chapters as well.
There is now going to be at least three more chapters to this series in this order: another Sam's POV (with holo!sex and spark!sex), Ratchet POV, and Judy Witwicky POV. I blame slvrbld747.livejournal.com/ for the wonderful comment that made the plot bunny come back from the dead.
Title: Optimus' Ponderings
Pairing: Sam/Bee and Mikaela/OC
Rating: PG-13 for adult themes
Warnings: Character death and angst
Summary: Post RotF. Takes place 18 months after Bee's Ponderings. Optimus' thoughts on the roller coaster relationship of Bumblebee and Sam.
shamrockivy.livejournal.com/826.html#cutid1 (Chapter 1)
shamrockivy.livejournal.com/1356.html#cutid1 (Chapter 2)
Humans were both such a complex and contradictory species.
In many ways they were frail and easily susceptible to harm. Intense heat, cold, pressure, impact, loss of blood, or failure to take in oxygen were only a few of the ways that humans could perish. It could even be said that the number of ways that humans could succumb to death may even outnumber the amount of stars within this galaxy.
However, for all the fragility of the human race that Cybertronians would never be able to relate to, many humans also contained within them a strength of character and courage that will hold itself together even with the percentage of failure fully against them, a strength that the Autobots understood and respected.
A mother would fight to the death to try and keep her offspring safe, older siblings would suffer pain and torment in place of the younger in an attempt to spare them, comrades would rush headlong into danger to protect friends from enemy fire, and those in need of aid would be saved by complete strangers such as firefighters, police, and search and rescue.
It was this type of strength, mixed with despair forcefully held back, that Optimus had seen reflected in the eyes of the humans he come to know in the short time of residing on Earth.
It was two years since the great battle in Egypt and there had been no Decepticon activity since, neither from Megatron, Starscream, or even Barricade. Both Sam and Mikaela had found sparkmates, with Mikaela and her sparkmate even planning to participate in a joining ceremony common to humans called marriage.
Just two months after having Bumblebee come to him and announce his news of having taken Sam as a sparkmate, and eight months after returning from Egypt, a routine scan from one of Sam’s medical officers brought the pleasant life of the two young ones to a crashing halt.
In a matter of hours, the shared joy between the Autobots and humans who knew them over the wary peace that had been hard won was destroyed with the discovery of one simple fact.
Samuel James Witwicky was dying.
The head medical officer took it upon himself to explain. It was apparently called chronic leukemia and could develop in humans at nearly any age, though it tended to arise most commonly in mature humans. It develops slowly and that is why it was not discovered when Samuel was first tested directly after his sparking.
Though much of human medical knowledge was inapplicable to the Cybertronian structure, the medical officer explained it in such a way the Autobots were able to process, though they were appalled upon fully dissecting the data.
The translated situation was that Sam’s body was killing itself, and doing so in a painfully slow manner.
There was also no known cure.
Sam’s Creators, as well as Mikaela were devastated with the news. Judy Witwicky was in a constant state of leaking lubricant for a week after the medical officer had given her the diagnosis. Ronald Witwicky hadn’t tended to his lawn in weeks, spending all his time calling different medical facilities and researching treatment options.
Mikaela had wanted to call off the wedding until further notice, but Sam intervened and that plan was discarded.
Bumblebee, their best scout and one of their youngest, was inconsolable. The decades he had been anticipating spending with his sparkmate had been reduced to years, and more probably months. The shock of realizing how short the time had he left with his sparkmate sent him into involuntary stasis for a few hours.
Optimus had seen many thousands of years, and yet seeing Sam’s courage made him feel honored to know such a human, one whose bravery was of a different sort, but no less respectable.
Sam did not pity himself, nor did he cast blame on any of the medical staff that had tried their best to prepare him and the others for the changes that were going to occur within the oncoming months. Instead, he spent a few days in nothing but silent contemplation and then began to make decisions on what he wished to do with the rest of the time left to him.
One of his first actions was to withdraw from the upper level schooling he had been attending, stating he wanted to spend as much time with his family as he could. He returned to living within his Creators’ residency, and made contact with those that he had not done so with for an extensive period, such as Miles, a friend from his lower level schooling days.
For the most part, Sam spent his free time with his Creators, Mikaela, or Bumblebee and the other Autobots. Sam quickly became a nearly daily visitor to their base, doing various jobs, entertaining the twins, or merely talking with whoever was available.
He had come to Optimus with some painful questions to ask, seeking assurance that the Autobots would make sure to look after Bumblebee once Sam was no longer alive. After having that issue resolved, Sam spent many hours with Ratchet, helping with repairs by offering the talents of his small and dexterous hands which could go places that no Autobot’s could without employing the use of their holoform.
Understandably, Sam was usually found in the presence of Bumblebee, the two doing as many new activities together as they could such as bowling, fishing, camping, visiting museums, getting pictures taken, and also something to do with ‘tipping’ cows which Optimus still isn’t sure he quite understands.
For some time it appeared that while not a perfect situation, the danger was not terribly high. Neither the leukemia nor the medicine was prevailing in the fight, but Sam’s body was not showing any signs of deteriorating further. He was closely monitored not only by his human medical personnel, but also by Ratchet and Bumblebee. Any symptoms, usual or not were reported and checked by at least three different individuals. There was a great attempt to strike out all possibility of errors in any of Sam’s medical readings.
However, as with many things on Earth, decay and disorder cannot be stopped forever, and thus Bumblebee’s vigil commenced.
After having kept pace with the disease for a year, Sam’s body began to rapidly decline. As the leukemia began to take over, Sam became tired far more easily and steadily was forced to cease many of the activities he had previously been doing.
Due to having far less energy than normal, instead of visiting them, the Autobots came to visit him, often having Bumblebee drive him somewhere secluded to meet. And though Sam’s bodily condition worsened more nearly every day, he refused to give up his rides with Bumblebee, claiming that he was not going to allow this disease to take away the thing he enjoyed most in his life.
Though his voice quavered with undertones of fear and uncertainty, Optimus did not think him to be weak, only strong and determined to fight until the end, the true mark of a warrior.
Very soon though, even Sam and Bumblebee’s excursions together had to be stopped, once Sam deteriorated enough to be placed in a medical facility for constant care.
Sam swore that as best man he would be able to attend Mikaela’s wedding, but fearing for his health, Mikaela with the acceptance and urging of her sparkmate, accomplished a great feat as Optimus understood it, and moved the wedding forward two months, so that Sam could attend in the most comfort available to him.
Mikaela was adamant however that Sam be allowed to have Bumblebee escort him to and from the wedding, instead of riding with the rest of the bridal unit. No one risked their data ports by denying her, although Ironhide did muter that Bumblebee would have the unfair advantage of arriving first.
During the last two months of his fight with leukemia, Sam spent nearly all of his time everyday in recharge. Any duration where he was alert was spent talking to Bumblebee or to others through a cell phone.
It was Bumblebee who stayed constantly with Sam, attending to his every need. If Sam was thirsty, Bumblebee fetched him water. If Sam was tired, Bumblebee chased everyone out, even some of the medical staff and held Sam’s hand until he fell asleep, sometimes for even longer. If Sam was in pain, Bumblebee would hunt down the medical officer in charge of Sam’s health and forcefully drag them back to administer medication. If Sam was in need of assistance in relieving his bodily wastes, Bumblebee helped carry him and hold him up.
Bumblebee kept up a constant stream of music; several of the selections were those that used to make Sam laugh robustly, but now only drew out a tired smile or at best a rare chuckle. Sam’s spark was fading, the light dimming in his eyes as the weeks passed, and as it dimmed, so did Bumblebee’s.
It was not just Bumblebee who felt the pain of losing Sam approaching. Both of Sam’s Creators took a leave of absence from their respective workplaces to spend all their time and attention on their only offspring. Mikaela and her sparkmate Caleb visited every alternate day, sneaking in food from restaurants that was not particularly nourishing, but was more desired by Sam than what was served to him at the medical facility.
Optimus even saw the tension with his comrades. The twins had not stirred up anything in weeks, Ratchet was even more temperamental and prone to throwing wrenches, Ironhide was far past overly eager for the opportunity to annihilate any sentient life form, Jolt hadn’t made any jokes recently, and Optimus couldn’t remember the last time Sideswipe had made an egotistical comment.
Finally, after having fought for sixteen months, Samuel James Witwicky’s strength ran out and he died surrounded by his loved ones, and hand clinging tightly to Bumblebee’s.
Optimus had seen dozens of his comrades and brothers fall in the war, but nothing he had seen was worse than the overwhelming sorrow that was displayed within the optics of Bumblebee.
For a few minutes after Sam’s heart monitor stopped, there was complete silence. Then the weeping began, both Judy Witwicky and Mikaela’s cries echoing off the walls of the small room. Ron Witwicky and Bumblebee’s grief was more silent, but lubrication-tears-ran down both their faces in a seemingly endless flow.
The rest of the Autobots bowed their heads in respect of a hero’s passing, and thus, missed the first start of the change.
It was the sudden stopping of the weeping that alerted them to the fact that something was happening. By the time their holoforms’ heads were raised back up, they were forced to shield their eyes from the intense, sky blue light radiating off of Sam, though none of them missed the pulsing of Allspark energy that filled the room.
The machines meant to monitor Sam’s vitals proceeded to go haywire with the Allspark energy coming from Sam, but none turned into Cybertronians. Instead, the light slowly began to dim, and once it disappeared, Sam was revealed once again, sitting up and looking very much alive.
Amidst the screams of joy and squeals of delight, along with an ardent kiss from Bumblebee, Sam raised his hand for silence which was granted, and locked his eyes with Optimus’.
“The Primes…they brought me back, said the Allspark energy stored in my body had to let me die before it could heal me, but they said it would…change me as well,” Sam whispered, though with the silence and small vicinity of the room, everyone was still able to hear what had been spoken.
As Sideswipe moved to secure the door, Ratchet with Sam’s permission did a basic scan and relayed the shocking feedback that Sam’s body had become an odd union of organic flesh and Cybertronian metal and also that he now possessed a spark which had molded with his heart.
Everyone then left the room in respect of Sam’s verbal wish to be left alone, even Bumblebee, though he did stay very close to the door, so as to hear should Sam call him for anything.
After a worrisome three days of such similar behavior, filled with baffled medical staff, anxious Creators, and a desperate sparkmate, Sam at last emerged from his period of reflection and struggle as to what he was now going to do with his new life.
For a few days after Sam’s release from the medical facility, the newly turned hybrid avoided physical contact, afraid that he would harm those he cared for accidentally with his new found strength. It was not until he was tackled to the ground in an embrace by Mikaela and thoroughly scolded that he amended this view.
Optimus was adamant about Sam being given as much time as he needed to adjust and learn about his new hybrid body, without pressure from the other Autobots. Surprisingly, it was Ratchet who adhered most to this ruling, although he had a tendency to run more scans on Sam than were probably needed. Sadly, the rest of Optimus’ comrades, save for Bumblebee, did their best to circumvent the order.
Ironhide continually pushed for Sam to commence weapons training, while Sideswipe kept attempting to trick him into scanning a vehicle for his alt mode and the twins were endlessly pestering the hybrid about what his new designation was going to be. Understandably, it was the twins’ blathering that upset Sam the most and it wasn’t long before Bumblebee was taking clear advantage of any opportunity to punish the twins.
Due to an incident involving a certain medical officer’s preferred wrench, the twins wishing to experiment, Sam being in the wrong place at the wrong time for a perfect kidnapping, Bumblebee being overprotective, and a gaping hole being added to the med bay with an uninjured Sam, it had been discovered that Sam’s hybrid status allowed for his body to switch from human to Cybertronian protoform.
As bets were going around between Ironhide, Sideswipe, and Jolt as to exactly how much Bumblebee was going to slag the twins and if there would be anything left for Ratchet to disassemble, Optimus easily turned a blind eye to the happenings. After all, what his comrades did during their own free time was truly none of his business as long as no allies were harmed.
Two weeks after Sam’s shocking transformation, Bumblebee and Sam informed the Autobots that they had fully sparkbonded, now that Sam was capable of participating. The celebration the announcement caused was certainly one to be saved to core databases, especially the memorable declaration by Ironhide that he happily took part in assisting Annabelle Lennox with her games of dress up by being the good fairy that saved the beautiful princess from the mean robots.
Of course, after that, the word fairy could no longer be spoken by anyone on base without dire consequences, which usually involved Ironhide’s cannons.
A few days later, Optimus was relieved to learn that not only had Sam chosen an alt mode, a Yamaha FZ6 motorcycle, but had also chosen a name, Solarspark, which Bumblebee had coined in honor of Sam’s valiantly efforts to save his planet’s sun from destruction, and the spark that had been gifted to him. Upon learning that he much preferred Sam to his new designation, the Autobots aspired to only use the latter for formal occasions.
Except of course for the twins, but then again, that was to be expected. Many of Sam’s first excursions in his alt mode turned into hide speed chases with Sam avoiding the twins, while also baiting them into encountering Bumblebee who was more than willing to help his bonded thrash care of his pursuers.
On the questioning the fact of whether he was aware of a betting pool between the Autobots of how many times Sam could best the twins, Optimus would have to reply he had no comment.
Despite the fact that things were beginning to run smoother, there was still adjusting to be done. Sam’s Creators were having to acclimate themselves to an offspring who was now half Cybertronian and sparkbonded, though it appeared they were not having much difficulty with the later. Judy Witwicky in particular seemed pleased with Bumblebee and Sam’s relationship. She mentioned often how ‘adorable a couple’ the two were and inquired as to when they would ‘settle down and start a family’.
Sam was also continuing to cope with his body’s changes, and the daily struggle to discover exactly what her was; a human by birth, but not entirely human anymore and not a Cybertronian from first spark, but with all it entails. He was also understandably uneasy while in his protoform, though he had taken the incentive to spend more time in it as the weeks passed.
Often, Sam could be seen riding as he always had before with Bumblebee. Other times, Bumblebee would activate his holoform and have Sam take him for a ride while very rarely, both would be in protoform and simply walk around the base, enjoying the company of each other’s sparks.
But no matter what forms they reside in, or what problems arise as the days pass, they are together and happy, truly sparkbonded.
Optimus frequently felt the burden of his leadership pressing upon him, the countless decisions that had to be made, the sacrifices and loss that were ever present and sometimes necessary during war.
But looking at the ties that bound individuals such as Bumblebee and Sam, he felt that there were enough reminders that those sacrifices and losses were not in vain, but instead were an exchange for a better and brighter tomorrow.
For though the Allspark had been destroyed and their planet thus sentenced to death, it had also brought Sam back to life, and in doing so saved one of its own as well; a yellow camaro with black racing stripes.
A/N: So here is my first true stab at angst, and yes I ended it with humor and clichés galore. I also had a few ramblings/explanations too for you all.
About the timeline: It might seem a bit odd since Optimus is reviewing all the events that had occurred, but I thought I’d give a simpler listing of major events.
1 month after Egypt- Sam and Bumblebee get together
6 months after Egypt- Bumblebee takes Sam’s virginity
8 months after Egypt- Sam develops chronic leukemia
20 months after Egypt- Sam’s leukemia worsens
22 months after Egypt- Mikaela’s wedding
24 months after Egypt- Sam dies
About Sam’s semi-quick recovery: I didn’t want Sam to immediately bounce back from dying or from having his body changed. At the same time though, I didn’t want to drag it out either. Since I based this on the movie verse, I tried to portray Sam’s behavior similarly. In the movies, though he does have his ‘freak out’ sessions, generally when it comes down to the nitty gritty choices, Sam simply accepts and gets down to business (ex: running with the cube from Megatron & running with the Matrix to Optimus).
About the ‘incident’ with the twins: The paragraph’s definitely confusing, but I did slightly want it that way. In case you’d like to know the whole story of how it happened, this is it: twins were goofing off in Ratchet’s med bay while he was out, find the wrench and get the awesome idea to torment Sam with it (honestly not planning on harming the poor guy, just freaking him out), find Sam miraculously without Bumblebee nearby, kidnap Sam and start threatening him with the wrench, Sam freaks out and his protoform activates (for protection) due to sensing his extreme fear, Bumblebee finds them and shoots at the twins, the twins duck and thus a smoking hole is now featured in the med bay.
There is now going to be at least three more chapters to this series in this order: another Sam's POV (with holo!sex and spark!sex), Ratchet POV, and Judy Witwicky POV. I blame slvrbld747.livejournal.com/ for the wonderful comment that made the plot bunny come back from the dead.
Title: Optimus' Ponderings
Pairing: Sam/Bee and Mikaela/OC
Rating: PG-13 for adult themes
Warnings: Character death and angst
Summary: Post RotF. Takes place 18 months after Bee's Ponderings. Optimus' thoughts on the roller coaster relationship of Bumblebee and Sam.
shamrockivy.livejournal.com/826.html#cutid1 (Chapter 1)
shamrockivy.livejournal.com/1356.html#cutid1 (Chapter 2)
Humans were both such a complex and contradictory species.
In many ways they were frail and easily susceptible to harm. Intense heat, cold, pressure, impact, loss of blood, or failure to take in oxygen were only a few of the ways that humans could perish. It could even be said that the number of ways that humans could succumb to death may even outnumber the amount of stars within this galaxy.
However, for all the fragility of the human race that Cybertronians would never be able to relate to, many humans also contained within them a strength of character and courage that will hold itself together even with the percentage of failure fully against them, a strength that the Autobots understood and respected.
A mother would fight to the death to try and keep her offspring safe, older siblings would suffer pain and torment in place of the younger in an attempt to spare them, comrades would rush headlong into danger to protect friends from enemy fire, and those in need of aid would be saved by complete strangers such as firefighters, police, and search and rescue.
It was this type of strength, mixed with despair forcefully held back, that Optimus had seen reflected in the eyes of the humans he come to know in the short time of residing on Earth.
It was two years since the great battle in Egypt and there had been no Decepticon activity since, neither from Megatron, Starscream, or even Barricade. Both Sam and Mikaela had found sparkmates, with Mikaela and her sparkmate even planning to participate in a joining ceremony common to humans called marriage.
Just two months after having Bumblebee come to him and announce his news of having taken Sam as a sparkmate, and eight months after returning from Egypt, a routine scan from one of Sam’s medical officers brought the pleasant life of the two young ones to a crashing halt.
In a matter of hours, the shared joy between the Autobots and humans who knew them over the wary peace that had been hard won was destroyed with the discovery of one simple fact.
Samuel James Witwicky was dying.
The head medical officer took it upon himself to explain. It was apparently called chronic leukemia and could develop in humans at nearly any age, though it tended to arise most commonly in mature humans. It develops slowly and that is why it was not discovered when Samuel was first tested directly after his sparking.
Though much of human medical knowledge was inapplicable to the Cybertronian structure, the medical officer explained it in such a way the Autobots were able to process, though they were appalled upon fully dissecting the data.
The translated situation was that Sam’s body was killing itself, and doing so in a painfully slow manner.
There was also no known cure.
Sam’s Creators, as well as Mikaela were devastated with the news. Judy Witwicky was in a constant state of leaking lubricant for a week after the medical officer had given her the diagnosis. Ronald Witwicky hadn’t tended to his lawn in weeks, spending all his time calling different medical facilities and researching treatment options.
Mikaela had wanted to call off the wedding until further notice, but Sam intervened and that plan was discarded.
Bumblebee, their best scout and one of their youngest, was inconsolable. The decades he had been anticipating spending with his sparkmate had been reduced to years, and more probably months. The shock of realizing how short the time had he left with his sparkmate sent him into involuntary stasis for a few hours.
Optimus had seen many thousands of years, and yet seeing Sam’s courage made him feel honored to know such a human, one whose bravery was of a different sort, but no less respectable.
Sam did not pity himself, nor did he cast blame on any of the medical staff that had tried their best to prepare him and the others for the changes that were going to occur within the oncoming months. Instead, he spent a few days in nothing but silent contemplation and then began to make decisions on what he wished to do with the rest of the time left to him.
One of his first actions was to withdraw from the upper level schooling he had been attending, stating he wanted to spend as much time with his family as he could. He returned to living within his Creators’ residency, and made contact with those that he had not done so with for an extensive period, such as Miles, a friend from his lower level schooling days.
For the most part, Sam spent his free time with his Creators, Mikaela, or Bumblebee and the other Autobots. Sam quickly became a nearly daily visitor to their base, doing various jobs, entertaining the twins, or merely talking with whoever was available.
He had come to Optimus with some painful questions to ask, seeking assurance that the Autobots would make sure to look after Bumblebee once Sam was no longer alive. After having that issue resolved, Sam spent many hours with Ratchet, helping with repairs by offering the talents of his small and dexterous hands which could go places that no Autobot’s could without employing the use of their holoform.
Understandably, Sam was usually found in the presence of Bumblebee, the two doing as many new activities together as they could such as bowling, fishing, camping, visiting museums, getting pictures taken, and also something to do with ‘tipping’ cows which Optimus still isn’t sure he quite understands.
For some time it appeared that while not a perfect situation, the danger was not terribly high. Neither the leukemia nor the medicine was prevailing in the fight, but Sam’s body was not showing any signs of deteriorating further. He was closely monitored not only by his human medical personnel, but also by Ratchet and Bumblebee. Any symptoms, usual or not were reported and checked by at least three different individuals. There was a great attempt to strike out all possibility of errors in any of Sam’s medical readings.
However, as with many things on Earth, decay and disorder cannot be stopped forever, and thus Bumblebee’s vigil commenced.
After having kept pace with the disease for a year, Sam’s body began to rapidly decline. As the leukemia began to take over, Sam became tired far more easily and steadily was forced to cease many of the activities he had previously been doing.
Due to having far less energy than normal, instead of visiting them, the Autobots came to visit him, often having Bumblebee drive him somewhere secluded to meet. And though Sam’s bodily condition worsened more nearly every day, he refused to give up his rides with Bumblebee, claiming that he was not going to allow this disease to take away the thing he enjoyed most in his life.
Though his voice quavered with undertones of fear and uncertainty, Optimus did not think him to be weak, only strong and determined to fight until the end, the true mark of a warrior.
Very soon though, even Sam and Bumblebee’s excursions together had to be stopped, once Sam deteriorated enough to be placed in a medical facility for constant care.
Sam swore that as best man he would be able to attend Mikaela’s wedding, but fearing for his health, Mikaela with the acceptance and urging of her sparkmate, accomplished a great feat as Optimus understood it, and moved the wedding forward two months, so that Sam could attend in the most comfort available to him.
Mikaela was adamant however that Sam be allowed to have Bumblebee escort him to and from the wedding, instead of riding with the rest of the bridal unit. No one risked their data ports by denying her, although Ironhide did muter that Bumblebee would have the unfair advantage of arriving first.
During the last two months of his fight with leukemia, Sam spent nearly all of his time everyday in recharge. Any duration where he was alert was spent talking to Bumblebee or to others through a cell phone.
It was Bumblebee who stayed constantly with Sam, attending to his every need. If Sam was thirsty, Bumblebee fetched him water. If Sam was tired, Bumblebee chased everyone out, even some of the medical staff and held Sam’s hand until he fell asleep, sometimes for even longer. If Sam was in pain, Bumblebee would hunt down the medical officer in charge of Sam’s health and forcefully drag them back to administer medication. If Sam was in need of assistance in relieving his bodily wastes, Bumblebee helped carry him and hold him up.
Bumblebee kept up a constant stream of music; several of the selections were those that used to make Sam laugh robustly, but now only drew out a tired smile or at best a rare chuckle. Sam’s spark was fading, the light dimming in his eyes as the weeks passed, and as it dimmed, so did Bumblebee’s.
It was not just Bumblebee who felt the pain of losing Sam approaching. Both of Sam’s Creators took a leave of absence from their respective workplaces to spend all their time and attention on their only offspring. Mikaela and her sparkmate Caleb visited every alternate day, sneaking in food from restaurants that was not particularly nourishing, but was more desired by Sam than what was served to him at the medical facility.
Optimus even saw the tension with his comrades. The twins had not stirred up anything in weeks, Ratchet was even more temperamental and prone to throwing wrenches, Ironhide was far past overly eager for the opportunity to annihilate any sentient life form, Jolt hadn’t made any jokes recently, and Optimus couldn’t remember the last time Sideswipe had made an egotistical comment.
Finally, after having fought for sixteen months, Samuel James Witwicky’s strength ran out and he died surrounded by his loved ones, and hand clinging tightly to Bumblebee’s.
Optimus had seen dozens of his comrades and brothers fall in the war, but nothing he had seen was worse than the overwhelming sorrow that was displayed within the optics of Bumblebee.
For a few minutes after Sam’s heart monitor stopped, there was complete silence. Then the weeping began, both Judy Witwicky and Mikaela’s cries echoing off the walls of the small room. Ron Witwicky and Bumblebee’s grief was more silent, but lubrication-tears-ran down both their faces in a seemingly endless flow.
The rest of the Autobots bowed their heads in respect of a hero’s passing, and thus, missed the first start of the change.
It was the sudden stopping of the weeping that alerted them to the fact that something was happening. By the time their holoforms’ heads were raised back up, they were forced to shield their eyes from the intense, sky blue light radiating off of Sam, though none of them missed the pulsing of Allspark energy that filled the room.
The machines meant to monitor Sam’s vitals proceeded to go haywire with the Allspark energy coming from Sam, but none turned into Cybertronians. Instead, the light slowly began to dim, and once it disappeared, Sam was revealed once again, sitting up and looking very much alive.
Amidst the screams of joy and squeals of delight, along with an ardent kiss from Bumblebee, Sam raised his hand for silence which was granted, and locked his eyes with Optimus’.
“The Primes…they brought me back, said the Allspark energy stored in my body had to let me die before it could heal me, but they said it would…change me as well,” Sam whispered, though with the silence and small vicinity of the room, everyone was still able to hear what had been spoken.
As Sideswipe moved to secure the door, Ratchet with Sam’s permission did a basic scan and relayed the shocking feedback that Sam’s body had become an odd union of organic flesh and Cybertronian metal and also that he now possessed a spark which had molded with his heart.
Everyone then left the room in respect of Sam’s verbal wish to be left alone, even Bumblebee, though he did stay very close to the door, so as to hear should Sam call him for anything.
After a worrisome three days of such similar behavior, filled with baffled medical staff, anxious Creators, and a desperate sparkmate, Sam at last emerged from his period of reflection and struggle as to what he was now going to do with his new life.
For a few days after Sam’s release from the medical facility, the newly turned hybrid avoided physical contact, afraid that he would harm those he cared for accidentally with his new found strength. It was not until he was tackled to the ground in an embrace by Mikaela and thoroughly scolded that he amended this view.
Optimus was adamant about Sam being given as much time as he needed to adjust and learn about his new hybrid body, without pressure from the other Autobots. Surprisingly, it was Ratchet who adhered most to this ruling, although he had a tendency to run more scans on Sam than were probably needed. Sadly, the rest of Optimus’ comrades, save for Bumblebee, did their best to circumvent the order.
Ironhide continually pushed for Sam to commence weapons training, while Sideswipe kept attempting to trick him into scanning a vehicle for his alt mode and the twins were endlessly pestering the hybrid about what his new designation was going to be. Understandably, it was the twins’ blathering that upset Sam the most and it wasn’t long before Bumblebee was taking clear advantage of any opportunity to punish the twins.
Due to an incident involving a certain medical officer’s preferred wrench, the twins wishing to experiment, Sam being in the wrong place at the wrong time for a perfect kidnapping, Bumblebee being overprotective, and a gaping hole being added to the med bay with an uninjured Sam, it had been discovered that Sam’s hybrid status allowed for his body to switch from human to Cybertronian protoform.
As bets were going around between Ironhide, Sideswipe, and Jolt as to exactly how much Bumblebee was going to slag the twins and if there would be anything left for Ratchet to disassemble, Optimus easily turned a blind eye to the happenings. After all, what his comrades did during their own free time was truly none of his business as long as no allies were harmed.
Two weeks after Sam’s shocking transformation, Bumblebee and Sam informed the Autobots that they had fully sparkbonded, now that Sam was capable of participating. The celebration the announcement caused was certainly one to be saved to core databases, especially the memorable declaration by Ironhide that he happily took part in assisting Annabelle Lennox with her games of dress up by being the good fairy that saved the beautiful princess from the mean robots.
Of course, after that, the word fairy could no longer be spoken by anyone on base without dire consequences, which usually involved Ironhide’s cannons.
A few days later, Optimus was relieved to learn that not only had Sam chosen an alt mode, a Yamaha FZ6 motorcycle, but had also chosen a name, Solarspark, which Bumblebee had coined in honor of Sam’s valiantly efforts to save his planet’s sun from destruction, and the spark that had been gifted to him. Upon learning that he much preferred Sam to his new designation, the Autobots aspired to only use the latter for formal occasions.
Except of course for the twins, but then again, that was to be expected. Many of Sam’s first excursions in his alt mode turned into hide speed chases with Sam avoiding the twins, while also baiting them into encountering Bumblebee who was more than willing to help his bonded thrash care of his pursuers.
On the questioning the fact of whether he was aware of a betting pool between the Autobots of how many times Sam could best the twins, Optimus would have to reply he had no comment.
Despite the fact that things were beginning to run smoother, there was still adjusting to be done. Sam’s Creators were having to acclimate themselves to an offspring who was now half Cybertronian and sparkbonded, though it appeared they were not having much difficulty with the later. Judy Witwicky in particular seemed pleased with Bumblebee and Sam’s relationship. She mentioned often how ‘adorable a couple’ the two were and inquired as to when they would ‘settle down and start a family’.
Sam was also continuing to cope with his body’s changes, and the daily struggle to discover exactly what her was; a human by birth, but not entirely human anymore and not a Cybertronian from first spark, but with all it entails. He was also understandably uneasy while in his protoform, though he had taken the incentive to spend more time in it as the weeks passed.
Often, Sam could be seen riding as he always had before with Bumblebee. Other times, Bumblebee would activate his holoform and have Sam take him for a ride while very rarely, both would be in protoform and simply walk around the base, enjoying the company of each other’s sparks.
But no matter what forms they reside in, or what problems arise as the days pass, they are together and happy, truly sparkbonded.
Optimus frequently felt the burden of his leadership pressing upon him, the countless decisions that had to be made, the sacrifices and loss that were ever present and sometimes necessary during war.
But looking at the ties that bound individuals such as Bumblebee and Sam, he felt that there were enough reminders that those sacrifices and losses were not in vain, but instead were an exchange for a better and brighter tomorrow.
For though the Allspark had been destroyed and their planet thus sentenced to death, it had also brought Sam back to life, and in doing so saved one of its own as well; a yellow camaro with black racing stripes.
A/N: So here is my first true stab at angst, and yes I ended it with humor and clichés galore. I also had a few ramblings/explanations too for you all.
About the timeline: It might seem a bit odd since Optimus is reviewing all the events that had occurred, but I thought I’d give a simpler listing of major events.
1 month after Egypt- Sam and Bumblebee get together
6 months after Egypt- Bumblebee takes Sam’s virginity
8 months after Egypt- Sam develops chronic leukemia
20 months after Egypt- Sam’s leukemia worsens
22 months after Egypt- Mikaela’s wedding
24 months after Egypt- Sam dies
About Sam’s semi-quick recovery: I didn’t want Sam to immediately bounce back from dying or from having his body changed. At the same time though, I didn’t want to drag it out either. Since I based this on the movie verse, I tried to portray Sam’s behavior similarly. In the movies, though he does have his ‘freak out’ sessions, generally when it comes down to the nitty gritty choices, Sam simply accepts and gets down to business (ex: running with the cube from Megatron & running with the Matrix to Optimus).
About the ‘incident’ with the twins: The paragraph’s definitely confusing, but I did slightly want it that way. In case you’d like to know the whole story of how it happened, this is it: twins were goofing off in Ratchet’s med bay while he was out, find the wrench and get the awesome idea to torment Sam with it (honestly not planning on harming the poor guy, just freaking him out), find Sam miraculously without Bumblebee nearby, kidnap Sam and start threatening him with the wrench, Sam freaks out and his protoform activates (for protection) due to sensing his extreme fear, Bumblebee finds them and shoots at the twins, the twins duck and thus a smoking hole is now featured in the med bay.