Through Ash and Dust (ROTB)

Chapter 34

Two weeks later...

It was the new year, and Saphira was happy to have celebrated it with the autobots. They all stayed up with her until midnight on New Year's eve, and it was just a wonderful time that they had spent together. Saphira ended up buying a camera the day before New Year's eve as she wanted to capture memories. She knew she would never be able to show the photos that she takes, and she was very protective when she found a store to print the photos without help from the staff, but no one suspected her of anything and she was happy. Optimus wasn't too sure about it, but Saphira kept the photos in one place, and she already promised to throw it in the water, or burn it if someone gets too close. And she picked a place to hide them where no one would think to look as well. Though she didn't know if anyone would actually believe the pictures.

Regardless, she only had photos of their new year celebration, so there wasn't much. Mirage was thrilled, as he knew that capturing moments were important to humans. Plus, Saphira had wanted to get a camera for a while. She did want to try photography, and she now had the time to do it. Even if the camera she had wasn't that good, it was something. And she found herself taking photos of places she thought were photogenic, and she would take photos of them. But as it was still winter with snow on the ground, Saphira picked good times when the weather was nice to do that.

Speaking of nice weather, Saphira had managed to convince Optimus to bring her to an ice skate rink as the weather has been nice, and she was itching to do some ice skating. Optimus had been reluctant, mostly due to not being sure if the weather would be nice. But Saphira begged and begged until Optimus gave in. He was curious to see this sport as well, so the curiosity won out, and he brought her to an ice rink. The other autobots tagged along as they also wanted to watch Saphira skate, and they were intrigued by her level of skill.

Saphira did consider asking him to go out of the city to find a lake, but decided it was best to use the ones in the city. She was holding the box with her skates excitedly as she sat in the passenger seat. She was glad she would get to skate before the end of winter, and she might get to skate some more once Optimus sees it, and realizes it isn't that bad. And there wasn't much to be done when it was lightly snowing. So long as it wasn't super windy or stormy, it was fine to skate. Though Saphira did enjoy skating under the moonlight, but she would try that another time.

Parking close to the ice skate rink, Optimus could see the many other humans already skating on the ice. He could see many were experienced, while others struggled and there were many new skaters. And a lot of those newer skaters were children, and Optimus could see why it would take time to practice the skill. But at least there was not a heap of people here, because he would be more worried if it was extremely crowded.

"Seems like we came at a good time of the day. Not many people, so this is good." Saphira moved towards the door quickly. "I am so glad that I get to skate."

"I hope you will be okay." Saphira looked at the dash in surprise. "I only say that, because I imagine if someone can't stop on that rink, they could hurt someone else. I am sure you will be careful, but I am a little worried. I've never seen it before, and my observations..." Optimus paused as he watched several adults fall because another adult slammed into them after not stopping, which seemed to cause injuries to them. Saphira saw it too, and she smiled. "That just did not help my worry."

"I will be fine, Optimus." She placed her hand on the dash gently in the hopes to soothe his mind. "You have a full view of me. If anything goes wrong, I will come back. But it might be difficult with the skates on, but I will make it back."

Optimus knew that Saphira knew what she was doing. But that didn't mean he wasn't worried. She climbed out of the cab and took the skates from the box she kept them in before making her way over to the rink. Ever since Christmas, Optimus has unintentionally found himself a little more protective of Saphira. He had not noticed initially, but it was Arcee who actually pointed it out after Optimus had protected Saphira when fireworks were set off on New Year's eve, even though they were far from them. Optimus had not realized, and Saphira was annoyed at him for it, but she still enjoyed the celebration despite that.