Author's Note: You can thank InsaneGrizzlies for this fic, even if it's a bit belated. The "apt quote" below is from R.E. Shay.

Arcee - alive! Even with both Optimus and Sam being restored to life, it had seemed too much to hope for that she could be reignited, too. I couldn't begrudge the other mechs who crowded into the medbay with us; they wanted to see for themselves that she was alive again, too.

She powered up her rifle, though, and growled, "I'll see you when I want to," dismissing us from the medbay.

While Sam and Optimus spoke with Iron Will, the rest of us shuffled out the door. It was harder than I expected to walk out the door and leave her behind. When the last 'bot except Ratchet left, Arcee commed me. /Hey, Bumblebee. Got a minute to talk?/

I grinned, relieved that she wouldn't kick me out, too, and hurried back to the medbay. A bright spot in my spark flickered at the sight of her and a thrill ran over my circuits at this additional proof that she was alive. Ratchet wouldn't let her sit up yet, but she held her hand out when I walked in, and I let mine brush over hers as I came to stand beside her.

"So," she said with false cheer. "What happened while I was dead?"

While she was dead. It would be a long time before I could think those words without the grief making my spark ache, even with her sitting right here in front of me. In answer to her question, I transmitted to her the report I'd prepared for Optimus. As she reviewed it, I half-smiled at how Earth had changed all of us so much. On this muddy little organic world, the Autobots were much more like a clan than a military unit.

"Slag," Arcee eventually muttered. "You can't let the boy out of your sight for an astrosecond, can you."

"Not really, no," I quoted. I knew she was seeing my memories of those devastating moments – frantic medics, Mikaela's heartbreak, Iron Will's despair – while Sam was dead. It was just a sliver of time, but losing him was harder than losing Optimus or Arcee in many ways.

A minute later, she asked, "How are you holding up, 'Bee? You edited out a lot of your own impressions, but you had to have taken his death personally."

"You know me too well," I replied in a stranger's voice, giving her a fond smile and avoiding the question.

/I know your spark,/ she reminded me, making me shyly duck my helm a little. "And you didn't answer me."

I chuckled wryly and let my fingertips caress hers. "Much better now, thank you."

She shifted her torso a little, settling more comfortably on the berth. In a low voice, she said, "That's still not an answer, 'Bee. This is me you're talking to, not Ratchet. Come on – I want the truth."

My doorwings drooped a little. Busted. She could always read me better than any mech could, and that was before our little nudge in the night at Tyger Pax. /It's hard. Even knowing he's still on the same ship as me, it's hard to lend him to all the human higher-ups. He spends more time with Optimus than he does with me, and that's how it should be, I guess, with them being brothers. But I want to put him in my cab and not let him out for a week./

She softly laughed. "I wish Ultra Magnus were here so he could put Optimus in a headlock and keep him safe for a week." She gave me a sad, knowing smile and wrapped her small hand around mine. "It was the same with my younger sisters. Even Trailbreaker's forcefield isn't enough to keep them safe. Sometimes you have to let them take a few risks, but it tears you up inside like a broken cog."

I nodded, painfully remembering how she'd taken her own grief and guilt out on me after Moonracer died. I wouldn't push her away like she did to me back then. That wound to our friendship wasn't easy to heal, and I wasn't about to reopen it. "It was one loss...too many," I admitted, looking down. "I didn't know about...you, but…"

"But he's your youngling," she said with kind optics. "You're not responsible for Optimus' safety, but Sam is yours to protect."

"He used to be." The words were hard to say. Arcee's analogy was a good one – it was like there was a broken cog in my spark, tearing me up. "He's Optimus'... youngling now...his younger brother."

Arcee broke out in sudden laughter. She was so loud that Ratchet looked up from his work and glared at me. "If you make her rupture something, you'll be banned from my medbay for a week, even if you are leaking energon."

"I didn't do it!" I protested.

"Lay off him, Ratchet," she said, chortling. "Optimus is the joker this time, not 'Bee."

He menacingly crossed his arms. "I'd love to hear the punchline, then."

"Our stubborn, self-sacrificing aft of a Prime thinks he can be a better guardian for Samuel than Bumblebee."

Ratchet threw his hands up in disgust. "He can't even keep himself alive!"

"I know!" Arcee chortled Looking at me, she ordered, "Talk to him, 'Bee. Make him see reason. You are Samuel's guardian – don't let him think that their brother bond changes that."

I stared at her blankly. "I can't just...swagger up to...him and demand to...keep my position as...Sam's guardian."

She pretended to consider that. "No, you're right. You probably can't. I'll swagger up to him for you, then shove you in front of me and block the door so neither of you can escape until it's settled."

Ratchet shrugged. "Let me know if you'll need backup, femme. In the meantime, I've got two more components to repair. And no more laughing."

"You do realize who you're talking to, right?" she cheekily answered.

He ignored her, going back to his work.

/Arcee…/

She narrowed her optics at me. "You're not getting out of this. I mean it, and you saw Ratchet agrees with me. So brainstorm with me. What are you going to say to Optimus?"

I shrugged. "I dunno."

She gave me a 'Really?' look and I said, "Fine. I'd...tell him he's too big...Unless Sam plans on...joining NEST...Optimus can't go...everywhere Sam will want to."

"That's a good start, but you can do better than that."

"Ya think?" I challenged.

"Well, for one, you've never almost dropped him on his head."

I'd almost forgotten about the time back when we were trying to evade Sector Seven and I had to catch Sam and Mikaela after they fell off Optimus' shoulder. "And he almost died when...Optimus did."

"See," Arcee encouraged me. "Samuel's safer with you."

"I can't top...Optimus' swords," I pointed out.

"You don't need to," she teased. "You're a lucky rabbit's foot."

I Googled the reference and then snorted at a very apt quote. "Depend on the...rabbit's foot...if you will, but remember it...didn't work...for the rabbit."

She rewarded me with a giggle and a roll of her optics. "You did live to talk about it, 'Bee, even if it was only in sound bites. That means you're one-upping Optimus now."

I nodded in agreement – she had a point. Another idea occurred to me. "They also make...too tempting of a...target together. If Sam...had gone with me instead of...Optimus...that day, he probably wouldn't have died."

"The boy is safest when he's with you," Arcee declared.

That rang true. "It's like…fate. It doesn't make sense, but...he's always been okay...as long as he's with me."

Arcee smirked. "So if Optimus were to try to make you stay behind?"

I puffed up my chassis plates. "He'd have to literally...hold me back."

She nodded her head decisively. "Good."

"How is it you always make things better?" I quoted her.

She grinned. "You're stealing my lines. Now go. You need to start preparing your little speech for the boss 'bot."

Feeling more confident about the whole thing, I said, "All right, fine. But only if...you rest like the doctor told you to."

"I like the swaggering idea better."

"You would. Now rest...and I mean it, or I'll help him...weld...you to the berth."

She smirked. /Is that an offer or a threat?/

I rolled my optics. /Definitely a threat./

I turned to leave and stopped dead in my tracks. Optimus was looming in the doorway.

/How long has he been there,/ I demanded of Arcee.

/Since I laughed so hard Ratchet yelled at me,/ she smugly answered.

/I'm going to kill you later,/ I reflexively threatened. As the words left my transmitter, though, the horror of what I said hit.

/Been there, done that,/ she flippantly replied, not letting me dwell on it. /Now speak up. For Samuel's sake./

I squared my shoulders as I looked up into the impassive face of my Prime. I could do this – for Sam. "You overheard us?"

"Yes," he answered, still unreadable.

Scrap it all. I went for formal because I was too chicken (as Sam would say) to talk to him about this as a friend. "Do you agree with my analysis?"

"Your conclusion that I probably would have survived if not for Sam's presence…is something Prowl would agree with," he admitted almost grudgingly.

My spark swelled with confidence at that. "What about the rest?"

He studied me for a moment. "Fate has placed you both on the same path, but it is one he cannot journey forever. The Matrix quickens in his hand, but he is only human, old friend."

Meaning that, sooner or later, I would fail to keep him safe or old age would eventually catch up with him. Kindness shone in my Prime's optics, and I realized this was his quiet way of making sure I fully knew what I was getting into. Failure was guaranteed, soon or later, and that was a very painful thought, but it wasn't just Sam I was trying to protect.

"He's as mortal as...you are," I agreed. "Which is why, for both your safety and his..I'm the only one allowed to be...his guardian now."

He didn't answer, so I added. "Please? Sir?"

Optimus bowed his head ever so slightly in approval and acceptance. "Permission granted." He glanced over at Arcee and she chuckled, probably at something he commed to her. Then Optimus Prime turned and strode away.

I looked back at the femme. "You're so..."

"Dead?" she said when I again faltered at that threat we'd tossed back and forth for millennia.

"Not in my medbay, she isn't, again," Ratchet growled. "Now out."

Judging by Arcee's mischievous grin, she wasn't going to go to bat for me this time, and I collapsed into my alt-form before driving off in a huff.