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June Darby had, in time, become accustomed to a great deal. In the face of all she'd come to accept, her car sputtering its last in the middle of what she would soon be told was technically a military testing zone barely registered. That should probably tell her something, June thought to herself as she clambered out her car and hit the speed dial for Fowler.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Darby," he said, entirely sympathetic after she explained the situation. "I didn't know anyone would be going out so far in the desert. The 'bots wanted to test some tech to shut down the Decepticons if they tried to drive through. Guess it was more effective than they thought."
June had driven out to reach a woman without a doctor within driving distance, looking for a pre-natal checkup in a smaller town in the wide desert. There was only so much a nurse like herself could offer, but she was closer than anyone else and she wasn't about to say no. So even now she didn't regret it. But she was perhaps more tired than usual after driving there and coming back, even only partway home.
"In future, maybe ask before you turn whatever fancy tech you have on," she said, leaning against her overhot car. The sun beat unrelentingly overhead. "Can you disable it?"
"Well," Fowler hedged, "Hm, well. It's probably gonna be easier if we send a Bot out to pick you up and go back for the car. If that's-"
"That's fine," she interrupted, too tired to get into an argument. "Send someone out, I'll lock out up here. It's... fine."
"Of course," Fowler said, "Within the hour, nurse."
"See you soon," June said, settling down in the meagre shade her now-dead car offered, door left wide open in hope of a breeze, June herself curled into the shadow. She settled, and waited.
*
"Nurse Darby," she heard as she roused herself from her doze.
When her eyes cracked open she saw a familar red and blue blur through the windshield of her car. "Optimus," she managed, struggling to sit up, feeling suddenly awkward in her scrubs. "Hello."
The cab drove up beside her, unnaturally precise. She tried not to wince when she saw a door pop open of its own accord. It had been a thing to work on, getting used to that. She was still getting there.
June pushed herself out the still open door. She closed and locked it while he waited, engine humming behind her. "How are you?" she asked, fumbling with both the keys and for something to say.
"I am well," he said, that deep voice coming from somewhere she couldn't see like this. June finished with her car and walked over, swinging herself up into the passenger seat. When the door closed itself behind her, she struggled to be calm; it wasn't that she didn't trust Optimus, more that there was something indescribable about being inside and at the behest of someone who was even now revving up his engine to drive her somewhere. She had never even much liked being in the passenger seat, let alone like this.
"Is this OK?" she blurted as he started off. He didn't respond immediately. The seat below her purred just like any other good quality truck. Belatedly, she reached for her seatbelt. He stayed silent for ten, twenty seconds as she wrestled it into submission, and she wondered if she had said something wrong. What was even the right thing to say in this situation? Surely it was a strange to him as it was to her. It didn't seem likely this was something they did a lot back home.
"...Nurse Darby," he said after that agonizing pause, "I apologise, but I do not know what it is you mean."
"Well," she said, fighting back embarrassment, "-you probably don't cart people around often, right? I know you turn into vehicles, but I guess everyone does on- where you're from, so probably you don't have people, well. Inside you, I suppose," she said, trailing off. She fought the urge to shift in place.
"Ah," he said, and his voice emanated from nowhere in particular, from all around her. "Please do not worry about that. I am perfectly comfortable doing this, Nurse Darby."
She nodded. Then she wondered, where could he see from? Could he see her? So she said aloud, "Just making sure," awkward, as she settled back into her seat. He drove on, and in the silence, she said, "Is Jack back at, uh, back at the base?" She thought he must be- he so often was these days, a sensible guess. But having to guess made her feel even worse. She shouldn't have to guess where her son was so often.
"He is," Optimus said. "He stopped by to see Miko, and I understand he wanted to talk to Arcee."
It took June time to reply. She was so full of conflicting responses, it took her a moment to choose one in good faith. "Right, yes," she said, clearing her throat, "You know, I wanted to ask. If I could- how long have you known her? Arcee, that is?"
A moment passed as Optimus drove over the flat landscape. "Quite some time," he said, "Really a very long time. Since long before our species was at war, in fact. I met her in the Gladiatorial pits." Another pause, another few hundred metres of desert. "When I met her, she was quite newly forged. If it is her honour you are worried about, I can only say that I have respected her every cycle since our first meeting, Nurse Darby."
June gathered her thoughts. "It isn't that I don't trust her, you understand," she said after a moment watching the flat, unchanging desert pass by. "I know she cares, and I know she wouldn't ever want to let anything happen to Jack."
"May I ask," Optimus said, not so much stuttering over the words like a human would as simply pausing, considering. "How did Jack come to be with you?"
The question didn't quite settle with her for a good few moments. Of course, she thought, there were things she took for granted that most likely nobody had bothered to explain to them. Things you didn't normally need to explain. It took her a while more to respond, stumbling over the unexpectedly difficult words. "He's- he's my son," she said, bewildered. "I mean- he's-"
June had never had to say more than that to talk about loving her son before. Optimus' silence made her go on. "He's my son," she repeated, "Do- do you have- of course, you don't, do you? Why would you," she said, huffing a laugh to herself. "Well, when we have our children, they're ours. I'm, that is..." she trailed off, unsure of how to go on. She turned her head to watch the sun setting as they sped by the desert, as flat and featureless as before. "Bumblebee," she said after another moment of polite, confused silence.
"...Yes?" Optimus said, sounding as off-guard as she had yet heard him.
"Is he- he seems younger than the rest of you. Is that right?" she asked.
"He was one of the last forged before we left Cybertron," Optimus said.
"So he only knows all- this," she said, gesturing, not sure he could even see her do it, inside him as she was. "He only knows what it's like to- to fight, with you. Right?"
"Yes," replied Optimus, sounding sad.
"And you care for him," she said. Not a question. June could see it every time they talked. She knew what that kind of worry looked like.
Optimus stayed silent.
"I'm sure it's not the same," she said, "But it's that. When you have someone who wouldn't be here without you, and you know- you know you need to keep them safe. Jack is my son, and I would do anything to keep him safe."
They drove on for some minutes in silence. June wished she knew how to avert her gaze, but she didn't know how Optimus even saw like this, so she looked down at her lap.
"I understand," said Optimus, quieter than before. "You protect him, because you want him to have-" she heard him stutter, like an engine turning over. She had never heard it before. "You want him to have the best he can hope to have."
June looked through the windshield and saw the base approaching. Optimus slowed, waiting for her answer before he drew in.
"Yes," she said, wishing she could look him in the eye as she said it. "Yes, I do."
They drove up in silence. And before Optimus popped his doors again, he said, quiet enough she felt more than heard it, "I understand."