I do not own these characters. The premise for this story came from a guest reviewer on my story titled Someday.

Optimus Prime woke up with a massive headache. He noted that he was in his quarters, but without his armor, which was strange. He thought through the events of the previous evening. There had been a party, and his friends...his family... had convinced him to stay. Ratchet had encouraged him to relax and drink some high grade. After that, everything was fuzzy. He examined his surroundings as much as he could without moving his aching head, and discovered that the suspicious weight in his arms was...Arcee! She was also without her armor, sleeping peacefully with an arm wrapped around his waist. What have I done?

Arcee awoke from a pleasant dream to a splitting headache. She realized she was armorless, not in her quarters, and snuggled up to a mech. She looked up, directly into Optimus' optics. "Nope, still dreaming" she said as she laid her head back down and closed her optics.

"Just how often do you dream of waking up armorless in my bed, Arcee?" He certainly thought of it often enough, but he had no idea that she felt the same. Somehow, he managed to keep the panic he was feeling out of his voice.

She was still half asleep, and the headache was affecting her thought processes as she said "More often than I'll ever tell the real you."

Optimus closed his optics. This….was not a situation he was equipped to handle. Should he wake her up? Let her sleep? Trying to move her was out of the question - he wasn't certain he could even stand. And about what she had just revealed, well, he couldn't even think about that right now. He fell into a light sleep as he tried to recall more of the events from the previous evening.

As the morning grew late and no one else woke up, Ratchet realized that everyone else on the base was experiencing what the humans called a "hangover." He walked down the hallway, using his medical override code to enter each set of quarters and leave painkillers on the nightstands. While he thought they deserved the consequences of overindulging, he needed them to be alert.

As he entered Optimus' quarters, he noticed that the room was a mess, which was unusual for the Prime. He approached the nightstand and stopped, staring in shock at Arcee, curled up around Optimus, both sleeping. As he stared, Optimus opened his optics. "What...how...why...Optimus, what did you do?"

"I….do not know. I had hoped you could help me determine that." He took the offered painkillers gratefully.

"You disappeared soon after the party started. I thought you had faked drinking the high-grade I gave you and then left for your quarters to work. I was happy you had at least put in an appearance at the party and pretended to enjoy it. It meant a lot to our human friends."

"Do you recall anything of what Arcee did last night?"

"She had some high-grade too - Smokescreen pressed her into it. She also left early. Jack couldn't find her when it was time to leave, and the others were in no shape to drive, so I groundbridged the kids home."

"You didn't think it strange that she couldn't be found?"

"I figured she was hiding, and probably also not in any shape to drive."

Arcee groaned, snuggled deeper against his side, and mumbled "I like this dream. Just wish I didn't hurt so much."

Ratchet activated his scanners. "She just has a headache. The painkillers will help when she wakes up," he paused, then looked up in alarm. "By the Allspark! Optimus, she's sparked!"

The two old friends stared at each other in shock for several moments. Optimus looked down at the femme in his arms, then back into the optics of his oldest friend on Earth. Ratchet couldn't recall him ever showing so much fear to anyone. He turned his scanners on the Prime. "You're bonded to her."

A long moment passed between the two friends. "Ratchet, you should….."

"I should go. Bring her straight to me once she wakes up, or call me and I will come back here. See that she takes these." He handed him some painkillers, then left quietly, locking the door behind him.

Optimus looked at Arcee, still sleeping peacefully. She was everything he had ever wanted, and bonding with her in the future was something he had hoped for. Now was not an ideal time for it though, and the sparkling was going to complicate things a lot. As he watched her sleep, he wondered about how she would react when she finally woke up. If her earlier mumblings were any indication, maybe she would be happy too. Too? Yes, he realized, he was happy with this outcome, although he did wish it had happened differently, and he hoped he hadn't forced himself on her.

Arcee stirred again. "Ugh, why does such a good dream have to be so painful?"

This time, he wasn't going to let her go back to sleep. "Arcee, you are not dreaming."

"Yes I am. I'm armorless and in your arms. I have to be dreaming." She resettled herself against his side.

"While I find it intriguing that you dream about this situation, it remains true that you are not currently dreaming. Here, take these." He tried to hand her the medicine.

As she sat up, he saw the realization dawn on her face. "I'm…not...dreaming. Scrap!" she started frantically trying to get up, but he held her still.

"Arcee, please, take these. It will help with the pain, and then we need to talk."

"Talk? Talk? About what? I don't even know how I got here. Do you know what happened last night?" She finally took the painkillers from him, but her voice was laced with panic.

"Only what Ratchet was able to tell me this morning, and what I've been able to observe. I don't remember much of anything after taking a drink of high-grade from him, and then coming here."

"That's...pretty much what I remember too. I was going to my quarters, but for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to stop and see you first." She calmed somewhat, looked around the room, and then back at him, noticing for the first time that he was armorless too. "Apparently, we had some fun after I got here." It appeared that some of her dreams had come true last night, and she was sad that she wouldn't be able to remember it. "I'm sorry, Optimus. I shouldn't have come here after drinking high-grade." She tried again to get up, but he still held her next to him.

"Arcee, you are not at fault. I was drinking high-grade as well." He paused, then looked into her optics. "There is more that you need to know. Ratchet scanned us when he brought the medicine by this morning." Another pause. "We are bonded, and you are sparked."

He watched as many different emotions flashed across her face. Her hand involuntarily clutched her chest, over her carrying chamber where their sparkling was growing. Her face finally settled into a mix of fear and panic, and she attempted to get up again. He caught her again, before she could run away. He pulled her into a hug, and she sobbed into his chest. "I'm so sorry, Optimus. I never meant to ruin your life."

"My life is far from ruined, Arcee. While this is not the method I would have chosen, if it weren't for the war, it would be pretty close to perfect."

She pulled away, looking into his optics and noticing the happiness for the first time. She struggled to understand what he meant, but came up empty. "What?"

"I've loved you for a long time, Arcee. I've wondered if you felt the same, but I didn't want to risk our friendship by trying to find out. I've often thought though, that once the war is over, I could find out. And maybe you would love me too." He smiled at her. "And based on what you've said while sleeping this morning, I think that maybe, you could."

She closed her optics briefly, thinking, then smiled at him. "I do love you. This isn't how I imagined telling you though."

"This isn't what I imagined either. But I believe we can make it work."

"Yes. Yes, we can." Then she surprised him by kissing him, running her hands lightly on his chest and trying to push him backwards onto the bed.

He stopped her hands with his. "Arcee, Ratchet wants to see you-"

"Later." she interrupted. "First I want to find out what I don't remember from last night."

He smiled as she kissed him again.

Um.
Yeah.
Not a premise I ever thought I'd write.
A guest left an idea in a review of one of my other stories. I already knew what was happening in that story, and this wasn't it. But it demanded to be written. I think it came out ok, but I still like Someday better.