Jasmine woke up in her bed, the one that sat inside her normal house. Her abdomen was beyond swollen at this point. It was massive. She was only a day or two away from giving birth. She was tired of waiting, honestly. She wanted to hold her babies. She wanted to have their family and get going with everything. The world was a wonderful place, and she wanted her two little ones to be part of it. Just one problem . . .

Optimus was gone.

She reached over to his side of the bed. It was void of a body. It was empty. Cold.

Optimus wasn’t here. And that was a terrible thing.

The bond was numb. It didn’t give her anything. She couldn’t tell where he was. She couldn’t feel anything. He wasn’t conscious. He couldn’t be conscious if she felt this void where he should be. “Optimus?” She called as she sat up in the bed, her spark already pounding as she scanned the room. It was just as empty as his half of the bed.

“Optimus?” She called a little louder, struggling to get out of bed, trying desperately to find him. To somehow pinpoint him. He had to be in the house somewhere. Didn’t he? He couldn’t have just . . . vanished. “Optimus you mother slagging Prime, I’m going to kill you for giving me a heart attack! Where are you?”

She grunted as a kick came from one of the twins. She couldn’t know for sure, but she was fairly certain it was Blaze. “Ashton Blaze, so help me Primus, keep yourself under control right now. Mommy’s trying to find Daddy.”

‘Daddy’s gone, Mommy. Wait for him.’

“Scarlett Jade, don’t you take that tone with me. How would you know, anyway? Your father is here somewhere. And I’m going to find his sorry aft if it’s the last thing I do.”

‘Just wait for him, Mommy.’

“I do not have time to wait. You two are due any day now.” She gripped the railing as she staggered down the stairs. “Optimus? You better have passed out in the kitchen.”

‘He’s not there, Mommy.’

The unborn femme was correct. As Jasmine slipped into the kitchen, she saw nothing but the usual emptiness that was part of the clean kitchen. Her nostrils flared in the stress that was hitting her body. Hard.

“Jazz? Jazz, what’s wrong?” A tired, groggy, disheveled Angel stepped down the stairs, rubbing her eyes, a wide-eyed Sunny close behind.

“He’s-.” Jasmine paused at the sight of Sunny. She didn’t want to startle the young girl. Jasmine grunted, resting a hand on her enlarged abdomen, taking a few deep breaths. “He’s just. I can’t.” She glanced at Sunny, and Angel gave a small nod.

“Sunny, Dear, go back to your room so the adults can talk. Okay?” Sunny quickly shook her head, not finding the words to speak. Jasmine figured she’d already figured out something was wrong. It wouldn’t be hard with the way Jasmine had been shouting earlier, but she certainly hadn’t meant for the innocent young girl to hear her. Jasmine frowned, glancing at Angel. Optimus was gone. She didn’t want to worry Sunny, though. Everything would be okay, wouldn’t it?

“Optimus . . . Has gone somewhere . . . Probably for supplies . . . I wish he would’ve just told me . . .” Her stomach churned, and not because of the two small bodies that rested inside her. It was because she knew that wasn’t true. Optimus wasn’t gone by his own will. The ache his spark left, where she should feel his every emotion and thought, was gone. ‘He’s just unconscious. If he was gone like that, it would hurt. Wouldn’t it?’ She bit her lip, but quickly stopped herself. She didn’t want to worry Sunny. But it was hard when she was already so worried about him without the added pressure of putting on a brave face for her adopted daughter.

“Jazz . . .” Angel’s tone was cautious, a bit of a warning in a way. Jasmine squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. “What . . . ? Are you sure . . . ?”

Jasmine shuddered, biting on the tips of her fingers. “He’s gone,” she whispered. “I can’t feel him. He’s just gone. Like a cloud of smoke. I don’t know . . . I don’t know what happened . . .”

“He isn’t in the treehouse?” Jasmine’s eyes shot open.

“I . . . He might be . . . But I don’t know why he’d be there.” She shifted her weight, ready to head outside, across the lawn that separated the main house from the extraneous one that served so well as a nice little getaway.

“Wait here,” Angel insisted, putting up a hand. “You don’t need to be stressing yourself. You’ll be giving birth any day now. So just take it easy. I’ll be back soon, okay?”

Jasmine frowned, breathing slowly, nodding. “Okay . . . Hurry back . . .” Angel nodded and walked out the door at a brisk pace. With a sigh, Jasmine went to the living room and sat down, closing her eyes, a hand over her abdomen.

‘He’s not out there, either.’

‘He really isn’t, Mom.’

‘If you two don’t stop with this coy game, I’m going to lose my mind. If you’re so certain about where he isn’t, then why don’t you tell me where he is so we can get this over with? I’m worried sick and it hasn’t even been five minutes.’

‘That’s just it, Mom,’ Jade started.

‘We know he isn’t here, but we don’t know where he is,’ Blaze finished.

‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ Jasmine groaned. Her stress was building, even though she knew she should try to keep it under control, she just couldn’t. Optimus was gone without a trace. It wasn’t natural. He needed to be here right now. She was going to give birth any day now. If not today. If not immediately. He had to be here with her. He couldn’t just be gone. This was an important milestone.

“Mom . . . ?”

Jasmine opened her eyes to see Sunny looking straight at her with a curious gaze. She couldn’t stand the confusion, the questions, that were lurking in that gaze. Because as a mother, she was supposed to have answers for her children. But she had none. And that scared her to Cybertron and back. To think that she just didn’t know where Optimus was . . . And Sunny was looking at her like she should.

“Where’s Dad . . . ?”

Jasmine squeezed her eyes shut again, the question actually painful to hear. She didn’t know. She wanted to scream that to the heavens, but she couldn’t possibly explain it. She couldn’t make this logical to a girl who was mentally only eight years old. It didn’t even make sense to Jasmine. The universe had a crack in it’s timeline, and somehow, Optimus had fallen right through. That was the only logic Jasmine could fathom.

The door opened again to the backyard. Angel stepped in, her eyes down. Jasmine immediately looked over to where she was. Angel shook her head gently and Jasmine groaned, squeezing her eyes shut so tightly they hurt. This couldn’t possibly be happening. It wasn’t possible. People didn’t just vanish, much less Primes. He was somewhere. She just didn’t know where. She had to figure this one out.

‘It’s a test,’ she told herself. ‘A giant puzzle. All you have to do is figure it out. All you have to do is put the pieces together. This is the universe testing you, isn’t it? This is the universe making sure you’re worthy of being with a Prime. All you have to do is shove this stupid test back at it and make it feel stupid for every doubting you. You’re going to find him. And you’re going to bring him home if it’s the last fraggin thing you do because it’s just that important. He is the father of your children. Now go find him.’ She faintly recalled the conversation they’d had before, early on in the pregnancy about this kind of thing.

How Optimus would never willingly leave them. About how if he ever did leave at all . . .

“Don’t you ever even think about leaving us. I don’t know what I’d do without you around, Mr. Perfect . . .”

He snickered, nuzzling her, not caring that several pairs of gentle eyes were watching them from their stalls. “I know what you’d do.”

She laughed, shaking her head at his assumption, secretly loving every moment with him. Well, not so secretly, perhaps. She always loved being around him no matter what, and she didn’t exactly try to hide the fact.

“Is that so?” She prodded, crossing her arms, not even trying to fight the way he held her. She trusted him, she realized. She was still a bit uneasy, but she figured that was fairly normal. Otherwise, she was completely fine with hovering off the ground, his arms the only thing keeping her from a rough impact with the cement stable floor, or tile floor, or compacted dirt, whatever happened to be what they were standing on during the various moments when he insisted on carrying her.

“I do. Want to know what it is?”

She snickered, nodding. “Please enlighten me, oh wise one!”

He grinned, shifting her in his arms to kiss just behind her ear before whispering against her skin. “You’d hunt down the bastard who kidnapped me and bring me home to our lovely family.”

‘Oh. I’ll bring you home all right, Optimus,’ she thought, a fire beginning to burn inside her spark, spreading to her stomach and head. She wasn’t about to let him go without a fight. And she was going to punish whoever thought they could take him from her without some serious consequences.

Of course. It was going to have to wait a little bit. But she could wait a short time if it meant she was going to kick someone’s ass all that more efficiently later on. She couldn’t do it too well with two babies inside her. And she definitely wasn’t going to put them at risk. They were far too precious for that sort of thing. ‘Optimus would agree. Optimus would understand. He’ll wait if it means their safety.’

She took a deep breath, sliding her hand over her abdomen, murmuring, “Daddy’s waiting, Babes . . .”

That was when the contractions started and Jasmine let out a startled gasp, the pain immediate and nearly overflowing.

‘Bring him home, Mommy.’

She let out a scream, knowing the pain was just beginning. The world was about to get a whole lot more complicated. And whoever had the nerve to take her bond mate was going to suffer through their own personal hell.