13 Days of Christmas 2020 ✅

Day 12: Talk to Me | Optimus Prime

Optimus Prime POV
I want to know what Jamie has been dealing with. I talked to Crosshairs and Drift about trying to get her to talk. Crosshairs and Drift both tell me they also wanted to talk to her, but they know she may end up crying, and they'd rather not make her cry. The two mechs didn't tell me not to talk to her.

Jamie lets me take her out for breakfast. Thankfully, her social anxiety isn't bad to the point she doesn't like a crowded place. It's talking to people beyond the usual that's considered good manners. It's been some time since I've been out in public with Jamie without it being a battle with the Decepticons. I have been informed about her anxiety, giving her a hard time during a weekend away. I have thought, what if I did things differently to help Jamie? I should have thought of ways to help her without blowing our cover.

I'm glad she wants to eat instead of waiting until dinner. Crosshairs and Drift have informed me Jamie doesn't eat until dinner.I snuck a picture of Jamie's breakfast before she started eating. I feel odd taking a picture of a plate of food and sending it to fellow Autobots, but I know they'll be happy seeing a picture of a plate loaded with pancakes drowned in syrup and bacon. I'll wait until we're back in my alt mode to talk to her. I wasn't expecting Jamie to finish her breakfast, but she did, which makes me wonder if she's hungry all day but refuses to eat?

I paid for breakfast, and we got into my alt mode. I still don't know how to start this conversation.
"H-how are things in your dimension?" I nervously ask.
"Fine," Jamie replies.
"No, I know things aren't fine," I tell here.
Jamie looks out the window. I can tell she's trying not to cry. I text Drift to standby at the entrance to the hanger. I suspect this conversation will cause Jamie to cry, but we need to find out what's been troubling her. I parked in the hanger and asked Jamie what is troubling her while trying to be careful.

Jamie POV
There's nothing the Autobots can do if I tell them the shit that's been going on, so why tell them? "No..." I tell him while tearing up. I didn't expect Optimus to carry me out of his alt mode, sit on the step, and hug me.

Optimus Prime POV
Jamie is trying not to cry but fails.
"You're safe here; tell me what's been going on."
Jamie basically tells us she feels like her family thinks she's a failure, who turned out all wrong, and no one loves her. I know she doesn't mean romantically, though she hates she doesn't have a romantic relationship either. Exactly what I was trying to avoid happens, but I can tell she's been needing a good cry for a while. We hate when Jamie cries, but this is good for anyone. "Take her," I tell Drift.
Drift takes Jamie and walks out of the hanger.
She needs to stay with us. I don't understand why she doesn't choose to live here. She's an adult and legally able to.

I waited a few hours before checking on Jamie.
"I never want to watch her cry this long again, but I fear it's inevitable," Drift tells me in a sad tone.
"I swear she cried for two hours, going by the time Drift brought her in until she fell asleep from crying," Crosshairs tells me.
So she hasn't been asleep for long.

We go back and forth on whether what I did was way overdue. We fear there's going to more periods of Jamie crying, but hopefully not for two hours. I leave the room hating I didn't do more when the problems contributing to how Jamie is now started. I fear it's too late to help her, and humans not seeing the issue and what she needs is a problem.