A/N: Post DOTM: Elena gets a look at Optimus' hologram for the first time and sees trouble brewing. Again, this is not a slash fic, nor is it intended to be as I do not right slash. HOWEVER, if you do so enjoy slash, I do not judge, after all "freedom is the right of all sentient beings." So, please feel free to view this through your slash goggles, or however else you, dear reader, would prefer :)

Please, oh pretty please, R & R

Disclamer: Hasbro= Everything Transformers, Epsilon & Bumbee= nada...oh, except for our OC Elena (muahahahaha! Because she's better than Director Mearing! Because she's not...well...evil...Take that Hasbro!)

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"I am not sure if I entirely understand what it is that you want me to do."

Elena looked up into the great countenance and couldn't help but grin like a schoolgirl at the confusion in his inhumanly deep voice.

"Well, you see, all of this is really Elena's fault."

That wiped the smile and all amusement from her face as Elena rounded on Epps, who held up his hands plaintively, "C'mon! It's true!"

Stuart's grin nearly took in his ears, "Oh, man! You're going to get it for throwing her under the bus—er—semi-truck?"

Lennox glared at Stuart and pointed towards the platform's stairs, "Stuart, KP duty!"

"But that was so mild—"

"Now, Stuart!"

As Stuart shuffled away, Elena turned to face Optimus; his impossibly blue optical lenses tracked her movements as she came to stand by the high railing. He didn't need to ask what had happened or why Epps had accused her; all he had to do was look at her, his gaze weighing heavily upon her. After a long moment, Elena couldn't resist fidgeting.

"Elena, just tell him." Lennox tried to encourage her, all the while secretly glad that he wasn't the one that was being glared at.

"It started a few months ago," Elena at last began.

"Longer than that." Epps chimed in.

"Fine. Almost a year ago." Elena paused long enough to glare daggers at her husband, pointing threateningly at him, "Keep it up smart mouth, we'll see who'll be sleeping on the couch tonight."

"Elena," Optimus reminded her gently.

"Right, about a year ago, NEST was having trouble getting any of our supply requests granted. Not just that, but NEST's funding was in danger of being cut."

Optimus merely waited.

"Lennox and I—" Here Lennox hung his head, so he wasn't going to get out of this unscathed after all—"were getting desperate. It wasn't just supplies for the base or the unit, it was supplies for the Autobots as well. Nothing big of course, but just little things, odds and ends that Ratchet or Wheeljack wanted for their experiments. Or things that…"Elena's voice cracked slightly, "things that Ironhide wanted for weapons testing..."

"So, we came up with a solution." Lennox stepped in, giving her a moment to recover; even after all this time, it wasn't easy mentioning Ironhide, not when just the sound of his name brought all of the same heart ache and pain of his loss right back up to the surface.

"A solution." Lennox winced at Optimus' tone.

"What we needed was someone else on our side. We needed someone whose authority couldn't be questioned or challenged." Lennox continued, trying to meet Optimus' gaze and suddenly finding it hard to. Instead, Lennox tried focusing on the Autobot logo on Optimus' chest, or the Cybertronian glyphs that had been etched into his cheek, anywhere, in short, besides looking him straight in optic. "Just someone's name that we could drop when needed, or who could sign request forms and not have them be denied."

"You needed a name?"

"A high ranking officer's name really."

"And General Morshower could not help you with such things?"

Elena shook her head, "No, Galloway and then Mearing after him, did wonders to compromise his reputation, at least when it came to matters with NEST."

"So, Elena and I kind of invented someone that could do that."

Elena glanced over to Lennox, "Well not really invented, technically at least…"

"So that's where General Pax came in…"

"General…" Now it was Optimus who trailed off, shifting to glare at Elena.

"I didn't think you would mind I swear!"

"You used my name?"

"Naw, she came up with a random name." Epps stepped in, not quite understanding why Optimus seemed suddenly so upset, "She and Lennox came up with this General Orion Pax to sign the forms and…what?"

"I am Orion Pax." Optimus' glare never waivered, "Before I became the leader of the Autobots, when Sentinel was Prime, that was what I was known as. Elena, I told you that in confidence and certainly with no intention of giving you such information to use in this way."

"I'm so sorry, Optimus." Elena had never felt so awful, "I didn't think you would mind..."

"What's done is done." Optimus shifted, letting out a gusty sigh, "All you had to do was ask, Elena."

An awful silence descended over them.

"What did you need from me?"

Both Elena and Lennox perked up considerably at his gentler tone, "Really? That's it? You're not upset?" Of course Elena knew how forgiving and patient Optimus could be, but even this was extraordinarily quick for him.

"I understand why you acted in such a manner, why, in short you did what you did. Had either of you done so out of selfish desires, yes I would still be upset. But you acted in the best interest of the unit."

"So we can still use our General Pax?" Lennox hardly dared to hope.

"Your?" Optimus narrowed his optical lenses at Lennox, though not in any real show of annoyance or temper.

"Oh, what I meant—"

"Yes, Lennox you may continue to utilize the persona of General Pax providing that you at least inform me every time you intend to sign anything under that name."

"Deal!" Elena didn't hesitate and now it was Lennox's turn to grin.

"Now, I ask again, what is it that you needed? I assume it has to do with,"—just the slightest amused pause—"General Pax?"

Ah, now they were to it, Elena crossed her arms and steeled herself for the worst, "Well, Mearing is suspicious."

"Suspicious of General Pax, to be exact." Lennox winced as he added, "She…wants to meet him, um, Pax."

With a soft click, Optimus blinked slowly, "While I have not gone by such a name for a very long time, I don't see a problem with—"

"They want you to do your hologram thing, Optimus." A younger voice called over to them as Sam carefully ascended the platform's stairs. Tucking his hands into his pockets he casually leaned against the railing, and looked from Prime, to Elena, to Lennox and back again.

Elena tilted her head slightly as she regarded Optimus, she hadn't been entirely sure that he could create a hologram, but, thanks to Sam, it seemed as though he did have such an ability, "So you have a hologram?" Then at Sam, "You've seen it?"

Sam shrugged, "Yeah. They all have them, even Bee and Wheeljack do."

"Oh I wanna see this." Epps grinned, "If Witwicky has seen your hologram, you gotta show us now too, Big Man."

"Is this truly important to you?" But the voice, somehow diminished, softer and quieter now, came not from Optimus' dominating form, but rather echoed from behind Epps, who nearly jumped out of his skin as he spun around in surprise. There a handful of steps away stood the intimidating figure of a clean cut General. Attired in a crisp military dress uniform, countless metals pinned across his heart—among them an unmistakable Autobot symbol—the individual had strong, broad shoulders and one of the most piercing blue-eyed gazes Epps had ever seen, at least in a human.

Taking in what she knew to be the hologram's exceptionally chiseled features, Elena shook her head and looked back over to Optimus—over to his true form that is. "No."

He tilted his great countenance ever so slightly as he looked back at her, "No?"

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Sam was at a loss, the first time he had seen the hologram he had been completely convinced he had been dealing with a high ranking general, "He's intimidating and looks like someone that even Mearing wouldn't dare to cross. It's perfect."

Elena chewed her lip as she regarded the hologram; she was going to have to be delicate and yet somehow make Prime understand a nuance that was completely foreign to him. "That's the problem," she said at last, "Its too perfect." Optimus probably had no idea but the hologram's figure was clearly trim and athletic for a human, leaving one with little doubt that this was no atrophied pencil-pushing officer, but rather one who could hold the front lines in any battlefield just as well as any soldier decades younger. Elena rubbed two fingers against her temple, preparing for an inevitable headache: the face that looked back at her, lined with the cares and weight from having endured too many sorrows, too many long years of bearing a mantle of leadership, was still irrefutably handsome. Coupled with the aura of authority, there was no doubt in Elena's mind that Mearing was would fall for him hook, line and sinker. Heaven help them all.

"Well, lets just try it, and if Mearing doesn't buy into the hologram, then we'll figure something else out," Lennox shrugged; he too was completely oblivious to the source of Elena's concerns.

"No, she'll believe it…that's what has me worried." When all she received was continued blank looks, she threw her hands up in the air, incredulous, "You've got to be kidding me! No one else sees a potential problem here?" She gestured to Optimus' holographic form, "With him? With how he looks?"

The silence was deafening.

"Is there something perhaps offensive? Or have I made some error in my calculations and projection of the human form?"

Elena's responding, "No," sounded more than a little grumpy; it was incredible, a being who had survived nearly everything the universe could throw at him—and who had done so for eons—had absolutely no idea of the response his hologram would incite—particularly from females.

"Then what's wrong with Optimus' hologram?" Sam dared to break the quiet, "Like I said, he looks intimidating, that'll be perfect because Mearing won't dare to pick a fight with him."

"That's not what concerns me," Elena sighed, "Its just that…that…well, he's…" She looked helplessly around at her companions, suddenly unwilling to say it.

"He's what? C'mon, spit it out."

"It never occurred to any of you that the hologram just might be a little too…too…"She trailed off, deliberately turning her back to Optimus, there was no way in hell she was going to look him in the face and say this, "He looks….good…handsome…"

Lennox couldn't help but laugh, "What did you honestly expect? Optimus to have an ugly hologram? C'mon, they've got to have some pride. Besides, all of the other bot's holograms look good."

"Fine." She growled, "Go ahead, and try the hologram out." She pointed an accusing figure at Optimus—the real one—as the hologram dissipated, "But don't you dare come to me and say that I didn't warn you—"

"—Did not warn me of what—?"

"—Because I'm calling it now!" Elena rounded on Lennox, Epps and Sam as well, "And I told you all so!"

Lennox crossed his arms over his chest as he watched Elena storm off, "I love you're wife man, I do…but she's a little crazy."

"She's just over reacting," Epps shrugged, "She'll get over it."

"Well, at least we can be sure of one thing." Sam grinned conspiratorially over at both soldiers.

Epps hooked his thumbs into his belt "Yeah? What's that?"

"Tomorrow morning, when Mearing arrives, is gonna be awesome interesting."

A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Because there is more on the way with Mearing's reaction!