EmeraldMoonGreen, who owns Jay, asked for this one. Here you go, Amiga! Enjoy! :)

Transformers Prime belongs to Hasbro. I own nothing.

Reassurances From Family

Jay ran through the base to get to Prowl's office. He had heard a neat joke and wanted to share it with his uncle. He stopped outside Prowl's office and found the door open. "Uncle Prowl?" He called in.

Said Autobot looked up from his paperwork, seeing the boy. "Hello, Jay," he said. "I was just thinking to myself that I needed a small break from this paperwork."

The boy grinned. "Great, cause I learned a really cool joke and I wanted to share it with you," he said.

Prowl blinked a little. "You did?" He asked, a little surprised.

"Yeah!" Jay said eagerly, coming around the side of the desk. "I think you'll like it."

The Autobot nodded. "Alright," he said.

Jay grinned. "A dime rolled off the bridge and fell into the water, but the quarter stayed on the bridge. Why?" He said.

Cocking an optic ridge, Prowl grew curious. "Because it had more weight to it?" He guessed.

The boy giggled. "Close. The quarter had more cents."

As Prowl tried to process the joke, his logic circuits rapidly became overwhelmed as he tried to process how money had sense and he glitched, falling out of his chair with a crash.

The crash scared Jay mid-laugh and his eyes widened as he saw Prowl had landed on the floor as if something had knocked him out. "Uncle Prowl?" He asked worriedly, now a bit scared.

His fear became panic though when he heard someone rapidly approaching and he moved to hide under the desk, seeing Ratchet come in. "Prowl!" The medic said worriedly, going over to the unconscious Autobot. "Oh, I'm going to make the Twins clean all my medical tools for a week for this! This is the second time in a week that they've pulled this on you!"

Ratchet's ranting scared Jay and just as he was about to try and leave, Ratchet spoke again. "Better yet, some brig time out to do it," he said.

Now more scared, Jay moved quietly until he got to the door and then ran, not daring to stop for a moment.

Ratchet sighed and commed Optimus. "Ratchet to Optimus. I'm in Prowl's office and he had a processor crash," he said.

"Again?" Came Optimus' voice over the comm. "What did the Twins do this time to him?"

"I'm not sure," said Ratchet. "I don't see any tampering to anything or evidence of paint bombs or confetti poppers."

Prowl then groaned, alerting Ratchet and Optimus, who had just come up to the bot's office. "Prowl, what happened?" Optimus asked.

Prowl rubbed his helm a little and opened his optics, glancing around and using his infrared, but didn't see Jay. "What happened to Jay?" He asked.

Optimus glanced around. "Jay was here?" He asked.

Prowl nodded. "He wanted to share a joke with me and…," Prowl paused and then groaned. "Oh, no."

"He doesn't know about your glitch," Ratchet realized in worry. "What was the joke he told you?"

"Something about the quarter staying on the bridge because it had more sense," said the bot. "But how can money have sense?"

Optimus saw the problem. "Actually, it's referring to how the quarter has more value than a dime," he said. "A dime with worth ten cents and a quarter is worth twenty-five cents."

Now the logics added up and Prowl nodded, understanding the joke, and stood up. "We should go find Jay," he said.

The three instantly began searching for the young boy, using their infrared scanners, but were unable to find him until Optimus had a sudden thought. "Ratchet, when sparklings are frightened, where would they normally hide?" He asked.

"Someplace where they feel safest," the medic said. "Their bedroom for one."

Ratchet then paused, catching Optimus' train of thought. "Or their parents' room," he said.

Nodding, the three immediately headed for Optimus' quarters and went inside, instantly spotting Jay on Optimus' berth and shaking fearfully. "Jay?" Optimus said gently.

Spotting them, the poor boy panicked and tried to scramble away. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I-I wasn't trying to cause trouble! I'm sorry!" He apologized profusely, looking ready to cry.

Ratchet stepped forward and reached carefully for Jay, but the boy flinched and whimpered, worrying them as the medic brought one hand around the boy, but didn't pick him up yet. "Jay, take it easy," he said soothingly. "Prowl explained what happened. We're not upset."

Jay was still shivering as Ratchet carefully picked him up and gently handed him to Optimus, who held his son comfortingly and Jay clung to him. "Son, what happened?" He asked gently.

The boy looked up at him. "I…I just wanted to share a joke with Prowl, but when I told him the punch line, he fell over and then R-Ratchet came in and…and…,"

Ratchet sighed at the boy's explanation. "I thought the Twins had pranked Prowl and Jay must have heard my ranting about punishing them," he said in realization. "Jay, we would never physically punish you."

"Of course not," Prowl said instantly. "And by the way, your father explained the joke, so I got it. And that is a very clever joke."

Jay sniffled. "I'm really sorry, Uncle Prowl," he said.

The Autobot smiled. "Jay, you're not in trouble," he said. "You didn't know about my glitch, that's all."

The boy blinked. "Glitch?" He asked.

"Prowl's logic processors are very sensitive," Ratchet explained. "When he's confronted with something that is illogical, he crashes."

"Like…too much information all at once?" Jay asked.

"Yes," Prowl said. "That's one way to put it."

Optimus saw his son was calming down, but then brought him closer to his face, letting the boy nuzzle into his neck and cuddling him very gently back. "Prowl, Ratchet. I believe my son could use some tickles," he said. "Don't you agree?"

They nodded and Optimus set Jay back on the berth before the three Autobots turned on their holoforms and Optimus gently caught the boy before he took off, playfully nuzzling his face into Jay's neck, making him giggle.

"Dad!" He laughed in protest, but he then felt Ratchet gently poking his sides and shoulder blades, making him giggle more, but Prowl was the one who surprised Jay the most by blowing raspberries into his stomach.

Jay's laughter made them all chuckle before they let him up. "Still, I am sorry, Uncle Prowl," he said. "I'll make sure to explain the joke next time so you don't crash."

Prowl gently ruffled the boy's hair. "Sounds good to me," he said as Jay hugged him, Ratchet, and Optimus again, reassured once more.

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GoldGuardian2418