A/N: Once again, thanks for all the comments and favs =D So there's only 2 chapters left after this. I've had a lot of fun writing this, and I hope you've had fun reading this.


Breem – about 8.3 minutes Cycle – 1 hour Joor – 1 day Orn – about 2 week Vorn – about 83 years


Prowl was quite annoyed with himself. He'd wasted too much time and now, today was the last chance he had before he would become permanently offlined and leave this world forever. He growled to himself as he lay on Jazz's berth, watching his friend working on some datapads.

True, he had had a lot of fun for the past orn, and gotten to know a lot of his friends better. But at what cost? Unless he did something today it would have all been for nothing.

The white and black Catbot sighed and rolled over on his back. He hung his head over the edge and look at Jazz upside down. Interesting view. But not helpful. It had only been a few cycles since sunrise, so Prowl had the rest of the day. At least, he thought so.

-

"What's a matter kitty?" asked Jazz as he looked over at the restless Prowl. Prowl glared at the third in command, then went back to brainstorming. He had a feeling if he could just figure out what Jazz did with that picture he could get his friend to open up to him. Unfortunately, he couldn't exactly rummage around with Jazz in the room.

"Are ya bored? Aw, I know watching me work is boring. I'll play with ya in a bit. "

Prowl honestly didn't feel like waiting around. He'd come back later, when Jazz was gone, to search for that picture.

He jumped off the berth and trotted over to the door. He started scratching at it. Luckily, Jazz took the hint.

-

"Alright, I'll let ya out, but behave. And for Primus sake, stay away from the twins!"

Prowl meowed and ran out into the hall. He was wondering if maybe there was someone in the Ark who knew what Jazz had wanted to tell him. The tactician thought back to when he had first realized he was dead and had witnessed Jazz mourning his body. Hmm. Ratchet had seemed to know something.

Prowl mentally shrugged and headed off to medbay.

=^_^==^_^==^_^==^_^=

Prowl quickly headed out of medbay. He really wished he hadn't walked in on that. And he was pretty sure that mental image would never go away. Who knew that Ratchet was so…kinky?

The Catbot shook his head and thought about who else he could go to. He couldn't think of anyone off the top of his head, but he figured it wouldn't hurt to check around. He tried to think of which bots Jazz was close to. He seemed to be friendly with Bumblebee. Prowl decided to try his luck with the yellow bot.

-

It didn't take long to find Bumlebee, and Prowl wasted no time in rubbing up against the mini-bot's legs.

"Hey there little Catbot. What are you doing here?" Bumblebee asked as he gently picked up Prowl. Prowl purred and rubbed his head against Bumblebee's chin. He was sure the mini-bot would let him stay while he worked, and would probably even talk to him as well.

-

Prowl's hypothesis was correct. Sort of. Bumblebee did let him stay while he was working, but the yellow bot didn't mention Jazz. In fact, all he talked about was some movie he and Spike had seen the other day. Although this "Top Gun" did sound interesting, it wasn't what Prowl was hoping to hear.

The tactician almost jumped for joy when Hound walked into the room and decided to kidnap the Catbot to torture Mirage.

-

"But I haven't gotten to the best part of the movie yet," whined Bumblebee.

"You can tell him later, Bee. I've got a job for this 'sweet' and 'innocent' Catbot." Hound was smiling deviously, and Prowl had a feeling something fun was going to go down.

=^_^==^_^==^_^==^_^=

Hound's plan was fairly simple. Mirage hadn't been "putting out" lately, as Hound had put it. Something about Mirage walking in on him and Trailbreaker in the washracks, and taking the situation totally out of context.

"I was just helping him to wash some hard to reach places, that's all. Is it my fault if my jealous lover misinterpreted a friendly gesture?" Prowl shook his head.

"Right, so I figured, maybe if you hung around Raj a bit, he'd get all creeped out and come running to me. I don't know why he gets to nervous around you, but hey, it works out for me."

-

Hound carried the Catbot over to the room that Mirage was working in. "Okay you little fuzzball, just go over and rub against him, or something. I'll be out here to 'rescue' poor, defenseless Mirage."

Prowl quietly slunk into the room, trying to keep a low profile. Mirage was too focused on the monitors to notice his silent visitor. Prowl swiftly snuck up on the former Tower bot and began meowing and rubbing against Mirage's legs.

The blue and white bot looked down. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Jazz?"

-

Prowl was confused. Why wasn't Mirage freaking out? The tactician jumped onto Mirage's lap and started headbutting the other's chest. Mirage just smiled and petted Prowl's head. Prowl began to involuntarily purr. As he was rubbing against's Mirage's side, he spied Hound sticking his head in the door, mouthing 'abort abort!'

Prowl jumped off of Mirage and trotted over to Hound, who quickly scooped him up and made a run for it.

-

"What happened, kitty? Raj wasn't scared at all. He even seemed to be enjoying you."

Prowl mewed. He didn't understand it either.

"Well, we'll just have to try harder next time."

-

Nothing Prowl did seemed to phase Mirage. Hound even threw the Catbot at his lover and didn't get so much as a flinch.

"I just don't understand. Raj was practically terrified of you just half an orn ago."

Prowl mewed and shrugged. Personally, he'd rather be cuddled up with Jazz. Hound had been following Mirage around for the past five cycles and Prowl was aware of just how short his time was.

-

Just as Hound and Prowl were about to try Hound's twenty-seventh plan, a pair of hands snaked themselves around the green bot's midsection.

"Hey Hound," purred an amused Mirage. "Where you by chance throwing Jazz's kitty at me all day?"

"Just once. Wait, no! I –I haven't seen you all day. I've been – on patrol."

"Mmmhmm," replied Mirage as he let a hand trail down Hound's side. Hound almost dropped Prowl at the contact.

-

"What exactly were you hoping to accomplish, sending that poor Catbot in to do your dirty work?"

Hound gently dropped Prowl, turned to face his lover, and put his hands around the blue and white bot's waist.

"I just miss you Raj. I don't think it was fair for you to jump to conclusions about me and Trailbreaker, but honestly, nothing happened. And you didn't even try to talk to me about it. I figured maybe if Jazz's Catbot was bothering you, you'd come running to me and everything would be fine. I mean, you seemed to be afraid of him before."

Mirage chuckled and snuggled his head under Hound's chin. "I'm sorry about that. I was just jealous. I guess I should have talked to you about it instead of ignoring you. I really do love you, Hound."

"I love you too, Raj. But I need to know one thing. Why doesn't the Catbot bother you anymore?"

Mirage smiled. "I had no reason to be bothered. I wasn't in any type of private moment, and I wasn't invisible. You know those are the only two times I can't stand to have anyone watching me."

"Slag, I should have known," replied Hound, gently kissing his lover.

-

Prowl was touched by the little scene, but he figured it was time to go. Hound and Mirage reminded him of what he desperately wanted to have with Jazz, and he needed to find his friend right now in order to get his body back.

=^_^==^_^==^_^==^_^=

It was almost dark by the time the tactician managed to track down Jazz. The third in command was just finishing up his shift when Prowl came loping down the hall. Jazz smiled and caught Prowl as the Catbot flew into his arms.

"Hey there kitty. Where were ya all day?"

Prowl just snuggled close to Jazz. The porsche scratched his Catbot under his chin.

"Come on kitty. It's getting late, 'an I bet you're tired."

-

Back in Jazz's room, the saboteur was lying on his berth, reading some recreational datapads. Prowl was busy digging through the pile of datapads, trying to find the one that had that picture of him. He had been digging for almost 5 breems and had come up with nothing.

After going through all of the work and recreational pads, Prowl turned his attention to Jazz's music collection. He began to paw out the disk cases. After he was about halfway through, Jazz noticed what the Catbot was doing.

"Kitty, what the slag are ya doing? You're messin' up all my stuff."

-

Jazz got up and walked over to his shelves. Prowl quickened his pace and found what he was looking for right before Jazz grabbed him by the scruff of the neck.

"I don't know what's wrong with ya kitty, but ya can't go fraggin up my stuff."

He crossed the room and tossed Prowl onto the berth before walking back over to his shelf to straighten up his things. Just as he was picking up his disk cases, his hand brush against the picture datapad. Silently, he picked it up and walked back over to the berth.

-

Prowl slowly walked over to Jazz and seated himself in his friend's lap. Jazz sighed and scratched Prowl behind the ears, still looking at the picture. Prowl meowed and looked up at his friend.

"I really miss him, kitty," Jazz said as he continued to pet the Catbot. "I mean, he was my best friend. I think I spent more time with him than I did alone. I just- feel so lost without him."

Prowl nuzzled Jazz, trying to encouraging him to continue. The saboteur stroked Prowl as he continued to speak. "I remember Prowl was so uptight and anal the first time I met him," Jazz chuckled. Prowl growled. He wasn't uptight. He was just – particular about how things where done.

-

"But I'm really glad we became friends. At first it was so hard to get him to do anything recreational, but after a few vorns I finally got him to loosen up."

Ahh yes, mused Prowl, the spiked energon incident.

Jazz was silent for a moment, still petting Prowl. The Catbot mewed and pawed at Jazz's arm.

-

"It's just – I never got to tell him how much he meant to me."

Prowl's ears pricked straight up. Was this it? He looked right at Jazz, giving the other bot his full attention.

"Prowl meant so much to me. He was my best friend, and I loved him more than I've ever loved anyone else. I've- never wanted anyone else but him to be my mate."

Huh? This certainly wasn't what Prowl was expecting. Jazz was – confessing his love? Prowl just stared at his friend in disbelief.

-

"I know it must seem silly; to love someone like that when they have no idea how you feel. But Prowl's special. I've never met anyone like him, and I just enjoyed being around him. Ya know kitty, there were a few times where I almost asked him to be my bondmate. I knew it wouldn't go over well, since he's never shown the slightest bit of interest in me."

Prowl gave a squeak of surprise, but luckily Jazz didn't notice. What the slag? Bondmates?! Bonding was the ultimate commitment, something that was not taken lightly. It was one of those forever things.

How could Jazz even think about asking me to be his bondmate if we weren't even together? Prowl really did love Jazz, but he didn't understand how you could know someone was the one without at least dating them for a vorn or two. Prowl always thought that on the chance they did get together, they'd take their time, and once they got to know each other better, then maybe they'd talk about the subject. The tactician could count on one hand the number of bonded couples he knew.

-

Prowl was vaguely aware that Jazz had changed the subject, but he really wasn't paying attention. His mind was still trying to grasp what Jazz had just confessed. He just couldn't believe that Jazz wanted him to be his bondmate. Him! Prowl thought Jazz could do so much better, especially considering how the saboteur was outgoing and friendly, while Prowl was quiet and reclusive.

The Catbot was interrupting from his musings when Jazz gently lifted him off his lap and walked over to the table to put his dadpads back on it.

Wait, is this what Jazz wanted to tell me? Then – shouldn't I be getting my real body back? Why am I still a Catbot?

-

Prowl was beginning to get a little nervous. Why wasn't anything happening? He was still a Catbot.

He tried calling out to his guardian, Mu, but all that came out was meowing sounds.

"I know kitty, you're tired. Time for recharge." Jazz pulled Prowl to his chest and laid down with the Catbot. Prowl struggled a little, uncertain of what was going on. Did he do something wrong? Did he overshoot his time limit?

"Calm down kitty, you're fine." Jazz began to scratch Prowl's chin and the white and black second in command immediately calmed down. Jazz shut off the lights and a few minutes later Prowl heard the sound of his intakes evening out.

-

Prowl was suffering from two internal struggles. He was trying to grasp the idea of Jazz wanting to be bondmates, but he was feeling a stronger pang of worry. Why was he still a Catbot? What if this wasn't what Jazz really wanted to tell him?

Prowl stayed awake for another two cycles, waiting for something to happen. He was getting more and more nervous. He didn't feel any different, and there was nothing but darkness and silence surrounding him.

After another three cycles it was officially the next morning and Prowl's time was up. The Catbot sighed sadly, and looked at his friend sleeping peacefully. Well, at least he got to spend one last night in Jazz's arms. Prowl offlined his optics and let the darkness over take him.


Oooo, I am so evil for leaving you with such a cliff hanger :P