{Music: Tessa - Age of Extinction OST}

Soooo I had a sudden burst of inspiration for this book today so surprise update!

And as a reward for anyone still interested in this story it's a lengthy one XD

(Optimus/Orion's holoform is now Stephen Amell, as suggested by DarkNight2202)

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3 Days Later...

The Yeager Household had been majorly secretive concerning their temporary house guest. Cade had been very strict on Optimus remaining a secret, for he and Tessa's safety more than Optimus'. They were basically harbouring a fugitive, and Lucas was more than displeased about it.

For the last few days Lucas had been trying to talk Cade into giving Optimus up, frequently bringing up the $25,000 reward that he knew Cade could so desperately use. But Cade wasn't going to be pressured into it.

He had to admit at first, as he'd seen Optimus lash out upon first awakening. He'd been so violent. Cade had to consider that he might be too dangerous. But the last few days he'd observed how Optimus had been with Tessa. So gentle and kind and helpful, and as much as the father hated to admit it, the Prime had been there for his daughter more than he those last few days. While Cade had been cooped up in the barn for most hours trying to both figure out a way to safely remove the missile from Optimus' chest and find a solution for their money worries.

Cade was sat in there now, slouched on a old crate as he pondered all of this. It was only 8 in the morning but the man had already been in there a good few hours working on Optimus' truck form. The missile remained precariously lodged and Cade had been hesitant to try to remove it in case it went off.

If that were to happen it would not only be Optimus that perished,but he too. So for now, he worked to try to disarm it and prevent it from being detonated until he could safely remove it. He had implanted a few magnetic devices around the missile to keep it in check. And Cade was reminded of Iron Man as he saw the parallels between Tony Stark and Optimus. Both had a device in their chest that prevented something deadly destroying their heart. He considered telling Optimus about that little inside joke, but he doubted Optimus even knew who Iron Man was.

While he was thinking about him anyway, Cade got up and headed back to the house, deciding to check up on their guest. He strolled through the front door and headed into the living room to find his daughter and his houseguest sitting on the couch, watching The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Optimus actually looked to be enjoying it. Cade shook his head amused. The Prime was this big powerful robot, yet his teenage daughter had him sitting watching TV and chatting like an ordinary human. He looked a lot better than he had done. The colour had returned to his face, and he didn't look as pained as he shifted to speak with her more.

Optimus, being always observant had heard Cade coming and smiled in a friendly manner, turning to face him. "Hello, Cade. I trust you are well this morning?"

Cade nodded to answer Optimus' question, but he caught sight of the clock and noticed Tessa should have been at school by now.

"I'm good." He briefly answered before looking to his daughter with an expectant look. "Why aren't you at school?"

"I'm studying from home today." Tessa shrugged simply, turning her attention back to the TV with no intention of study.

"No you are not." Cade scoffed and walked around, blocking her view of the screen, to her annoyance.

"Dad!--"

"Tess' these classes are important. You've got exams coming up and you've gotta pass those to get into college." Cade told her sternly but gently. He hadn't had the chance to go to college, but he wanted his daughter to have the opportunity he didn't.

"Dad this guy is like a walking talking textbook. He can tell me anything I need to know!" Tessa insisted, recalling how the other day Optimus had verbally summarised the entire Second World War from looking it up through his robotic mode, to help Tessa with her history homework.

But then she looked a little sad and looked away. "And it's not like we can afford for me to go to college anyway..."

Optimus looked a little surprised as he was volunteered as basically a talking version of Wikipedia, and frowned slightly at Tessa's last comment, but he saw that Cade might need a little help.

"Tessa." Optimus began softly, and had her give him her attention.

"I may be able to look up the facts, but I can only help you so much. But your teachers are there to assist you. To guide you." He tried to persuade her gently, Cade also listening. "And I am sure your friends would greatly miss you if you did not attend."

Tessa sighed at his words, and knew with both men on her back about bunking there was no way out of it.

"Fineeee." The girl sighed in defeat, and rose from the couch grabbing her bag. She hugged her dad goodbye and waved to Optimus before departing. "Bye dad, bye Optimus!"

--

After finally convincing Tessa to go to school with Optimus' help (which he was very grateful for), Cade took the opportunity to shower after working since the early hours. Afterwards, he returned to the living room to find Optimus hadn't moved and was watching some generic teens show on Netflix Tessa had likely gotten him to watch.

Cade raised a eyebrow as he saw, and coughed to get his attention. "You know you don't have to watch that now Tess' isn't here, right?"

Optimus reluctantly looked up from his show to acknowledge Cade out of politeness. "I know, but after watching the first few episodes I would be left curious if I did not watch to the end." The Prime explained.

Cade hummed with a light nod at that, leaning against the doorframe. His expression was that of gratitude. "By the way thanks for before. With Tessa, I mean. She really seemed to listen to you."

Optimus nodded softly, with that almost smile he had on occasion. "You are welcome, Cade."

Cade lightly smirked in return and was about to get a beer, and offer Optimus one too, when he froze at hearing a car engine growing louder and closer. Someone was coming.

"Decepticons?!" Optimus was quick to suspect, worried they had somehow found them as Cade peeked out the window through the curtains.

Cade paled slightly and shook his head. It wasn't Decepticons. Or the government.

"Worse... It's the estate agent."

Optimus had a confused expression, not understanding what a estate agent was or why it was a bad thing that they were there. But before he could ask Cade ordered him to stay inside and rushed out to confront they who he deemed intruders.

And he did so wielding a baseball bat.

"Mr Yeager." The estate agent greeted coldly, stepping out of her car holding a paper document in her hands.

"You need to leave now, this is private property." Cade glared, storming over to her and stopping a few feet from her.

But the women merely shook her head with a glare. "I don't think so, Mr Yeager. You're 6 months behind on payments. And so I'm evicting you. Today." She spoke simply, shoving the papers into his hands.

Cade's eyes widened slightly at her words, quickly taking the papers and reading them with a look of disbelief. "You can't do this! I have a daughter! What are we supposed to do!?"

"That isn't my concern." The woman spoke just as unemotionally as before. "Now you have a hour to leave."

A low, angry growl escaped Cade's lips and his grip tightened on the baseball bat. His eyes flickered to the woman's car.

"I'm not going anywhere. Now you have 10 seconds to get off my land before--"

"I'll handle this, Cade." A calm and collected voice said, and the woman and Cade both turned to see Optimus' Holoform stood behind them, still evidently tired but he was managing to stay standing. He eyed the estate agent calmly but sternly.

Optimus stepped forward, standing in a strong official manner. "As Cade said. He shan't be going anywhere. And you cannot force him too. State law requires that tenants receive at least a 3 weeks notice of eviction before said eviction can take place. So you cannot force anybody to leave today."

The woman looked rather shell-shocked at Optimus' words, not expecting anyone to have challenged her with legal facts. She suddenly felt like she'd lost her voice as she stood there, mouth opening and closing wordlessly like a goldfish.

Optimus had a very slight victorious smirk, kept hidden under his official look. "Now, please leave before we are forced to resort to less civil methods of persuasion."

The estate agent had a rather annoyed look, and glared before she stormed off back to her car.

Cade grinned widely, giving her a sarcastic wave. "Don't come back! You won't be missed!"

At that, the woman turned back and glared at the 2 men, her narrowed eyes landing on the Prime. "Who are you, anyway?"

Optimus stood tall beside Cade, pausing before speaking.

"I am Cade Yeager's friend and houseguest. You can call me Orion."