A couple of bonus scenes for two of the previous chapters.

Warnings: use of profanities, a little fluff and once again Galloway bashing

:/blah\: - Internal Communication

Title: Of Younglings and Saboteurs – Bonus Scene requested by optimusprime007

As Ratchet looked over Jazz, Prowl contemplated going to Optimus and asking to be assigned somewhere, anywhere in the world as he distinctly hated it when the saboteur became ill as although the Solstice knew how to look after himself, he tended to be become rather moody and ill tempered. But as much as he wanted too, the tactician knew he couldn't abandon his mate and decided to keep the Solstice happy and complacent during the next few days of his illness. He just prayed to Primus that Bluestreak would not come down with it again or he was certainly going to have his hands full.

Once Ratchet had examined his bonded then left their quarters, Prowl was given the task of getting Bluestreak into recharge. The little one was more concerned about his carrier then going to sleep but after some cajoling from his father, the youngling clambered up onto his berth and settled down for the night, although not without a couple of stories from his father or his blanket and stuffed toy being retrieved from the living room. Then once the little grey mechlet was tucked up on his berth, the tactician left his son's bedroom and headed toward his shared one. He entered the room and stopped at the sight before him, he shook his head in amusement when he saw his mate sprawled out on their berth, no doubt he had simply collapsed upon it before slipping into recharge which meant Prowl was now tasked with the effort of shifting him to the other side of the berth.

The Dodge Charger crept across the room and gently and carefully as he could he began rearranging Jazz to make extra room on the berth, the saboteur grumbled at him as Prowl rolled the Solstice onto his side but he quickly fell back into recharge. With one bond-mate now moved, the tactician was able to slip onto the berth and lay down beside the silver mech. He had been ready to simply drop off into recharge when he felt a pressure upon his abdominal plates, he on-lined his optics to see Jazz trying to push himself away from his frame. Prowl frowned at the unusual show of behaviour and wondered what he had done to upset his mate within such a small margin of time only for his sensors to detect a subtle change in the saboteur's core temperature and outer plating. The tactician shuffled backwards so the heat from his own frame didn't aggravate his spark-mate's current condition any further before he began powering down his systems, however the Dodge Charger had a niggling feeling he wasn't going to be in recharge for very long.


It was normally rare for Prowl to be startled out of recharge but when the sudden movement from Jazz jolted him out of recharge, he on-lined his optics and un-shuttered them to be met with the dimly lit room. He pushed himself up onto his elbows as he switched his optical sensors to night vision before he glanced in his mates direction and instantly he felt his spark clench inside of its chamber when he saw the saboteur sat on the edge of the berth with his head between his knees and one arm wrapped firmly around his mid-section. Prowl sat up fully and shifted himself to sit beside his mate who was visibly trembling and he could hear the silver mech pulling in deep intakes of air.

"Jazz?" He inquired with concern lacing the tone of his voice, the black and white mech rested a hand upon his mate's back where he began rubbing soothing circles upon the smooth silver plating.

"Grab that bin." Was the Solstice's reply "now least ya want me to paint th' floor pink." Sensing the new found urgency, the tactician pushed himself off from the berth and hastily grabbed the bin on the other side of the room, pulling the lid off the top of it and shoving it beneath Jazz. The silver mech pulled himself up a little straighter before dry heaving once followed by the sickening splatter of liquid hitting the bottom of the bin on the second heave. Prowl sat back down next to the Solstice and resumed rubbing soothing circles upon the silver back plates, he didn't envy his mate in the slightest with contracting Rust spot especially since Ratchet had high lighted the fact it could be much worse than Bluestreak's case, the tactician just hoped that it wasn't going to be the case or he might just have to ask Barricade to take Bluestreak to look after him whilst he attended to his mate during his illness.

The Dodge Charger was brought out of his thoughts when he felt the saboteur shift so he could collapse upon the edge of the berth, his optics were dim and unfocused. Prowl pushed himself up from the berth, stepped round the soiled bin and crouched down in front of his bond-mate. Instantly he felt Jazz's optics settle upon him and a small tired and apologetic smile appeared upon his facial plates, the Dodge Charger gently gripped one of his hands with his own whilst the other rested upon the side of his mate's helm where he smoothed his thumb over the silver mech's visible cheek.

"Sorry ta hav' woken ya." Jazz croaked.

Prowl gave him a small smile in response "It's fine love, don't worry about it."

"Bet ya never expected ta come home ta this?" The Solstice inquired as he rolled over onto his back keeping the arm he had wrapped about his midsection in place.

"No I didn't." Prowl replied as he managed to get Jazz to shuffle over so he could sit down upon the edge of the berth "want me to contact Ratchet to give you something for the nausea?"

"I'll be fine, th' worst of its passed." The saboteur replied.

Prowl wasn't quite convinced "Are you sure?"

"Urgh slag no, call 'im." The silver mech responded as he pushed himself up and over to heave into the bin once again, Prowl frowned as he watched his mate purge the last remnants of his fuel tank before the saboteur slumped over the tactician's lap with a groan, too tired to push himself back over to lie down.

The Dodge Charger opened a comm. link :/Prowl to Ratchet.\:

:/You better have a good reason for calling me at this Primus forsaken hour of the night.\: Came Ratchet's gruff and some what sleepy response.

:/I'm sorry Ratchet, but I was wondering if you could give Jazz something for his nausea?\: Prowl inquired, he glanced toward the door way to the bedroom when he heard a sound only to see baby blue optics peering round the door frame at him.

:/Alright I'll be there as soon as I can.\: The medic replied before turning off the comm. link, although not without grumbling at the tactician first for being inconsiderate.

"Father? Is daddy gonna be alright?" A timid little voice asked.

"I'm cool Blue." Jazz replied although it was some what muffled as his helm was tucked into the crook of one of his elbows. The saboteur then protested when his bond-mate moved off the berth, feeling his source of warmth disappear the Solstice curled in on himself. The Dodge Charger turned from his spark-mate to the youngling and beckoned the little grey mechlet into the room, Bluestreak slipped into the room clutching one of his soft toys in his arms. The youngling trotted over over to his father and glanced up at him, little sensory panels waving back and forth. Prowl offered him a small reassuring smile before picking his son up and settling him on his right hip.

"Let's get you back to bed." The tactician said softly.

"But I wanna stay with you an' daddy." Bluestreak whined as he tried to give his sire the kicked turbo puppy look, no doubt something he had learned from Sideswipe.

"He's fine love, leave 'im here." The Solstice said as he rolled over onto his back. The Dodge Charger was unsure of whether to comply or not, but none the less he set the youngling down upon the large berth and watched as he snuggled into one of Jazz's sides. The black and white mech allowed a small smile to tug at his lip components at the scene before him then moved to get rid of the bin and its unpleasant contents. In fact he was just coming back from the wash rack when a less than pleased Ratchet arrived, Prowl led him to the main bedroom and stepped aside so the medic could enter. The CMO scanned both creator and creation before administering an antiemetic to the saboteur.

"They're both fine, although I'm surprised Jazz's symptoms have manifested so quickly." Ratchet said in a low voice as he moved to stand beside the 2IC.

The tactician frowned at him in concern "Which means?"

"Nothing to worry about, the fragger's symptoms are only showing up sooner because he allowed himself to get run down whilst looking after Bluestreak." The medic replied before turning to leave "I'll check on them in the morning, but right now I want to go back to recharge its been a slaggin' long day." The Dodge Charger simply nodded and watched the CMO leave before returning his gaze to his family, he had a feeling things were going to be hectic for the next few days.


Prowl didn't realise how much those words would come to haunt him whilst his mate was berth ridden. He had been lucky enough the first day as Jazz slept off the usual aches and the fever which had sent his core temperature sky rocketing, not that the saboteur had a choice about resting as Ratchet pumped his systems full of sedatives and antivirals. So the tactician only had Bluestreak to contend with but even then the youngling had surprised him by simply sitting beside him all day drawing and colouring or playing quietly with some of his toys whilst his father worked through any reports handed his way. However once the Solstice's fever passed, the Dodge Charger swore someone had replaced his mate with a juvenile as the normally happy go lucky saboteur had become the unmaker himself.

The black and white mech had only ever seen this behaviour before, but the last time he had seen it was when his bonded had been carrying Bluestreak. Prowl understood that the rashes were irritating, however he knew Jazz wasn't doing himself any favours by scratching them as it only made them more sore and painful. He had told the saboteur numerous times to leave them alone (after all there couldn't be one rule for him and one rule for Bluestreak), only to be snapped at leaving him disgruntled. Even keeping his spark-mate on the berth was becoming a chore as Jazz refused to remain there even after Ratchet had threatened to weld him to it if he didn't stay down. He understood that his mate didn't like to be 'mommy coddled' as the humans called it, but the saboteur wasn't doing himself any favours by wearing himself down, so Prowl eventually allowed him to remain on the couch in their living room on the condition that he didn't get up from it unless he really needed too.

Luckily enough Bluestreak had been spared from his carrier's ire but he could tell there was tension between his parents, and as soon as his own Rust spot cleared (well except for the peach coloured patches that would fade with time), the youngling spent time out of the living quarters with his guardians and caretakers. The tactician was grateful to those who volunteered to help out with either watching over Bluestreak, sitting with Jazz (a chore not many liked doing as the saboteur tended to chew them out if they even so much as twitched near him) or covering the 2IC's and the 3IC's work loads until the Solstice was finally cleared for light duty. However Jazz wasn't always moody and ill tempered whilst he was infected with the Rust spot, and Prowl was glad to see his mate's normal behaviour returning, well up until he had to help bath the saboteur. The tactician had learnt quickly that the rashes actually made his spark-mate's metal skin all that more sensitive, so he had been taken by complete surprise when the saboteur had overloaded in the tub after a few strokes from the soft bristled brush. He had gotten away without receiving an audio full as the silver mech was simply too exhausted to give him one, but he had quickly discovered that he needed to use different pressures when it came to the patches upon his mate's back without sending the Solstice into overload again.

The tactician was drawn out of his musings of the past few days when he felt a subtle brush against one of his forearms as he gently scrubbed Jazz's back plates with the soft bristled brush, he could hear a faint complacent purring sound coming from his bonded's vocaliser. A small smile tugged at the corners of his lip components, at least the saboteur was in a good mood which meant he might be able to get the silver mech to ingest more than half a mug of energon tonight.

"Prowler I wanna apologise." The Solstice grumbled tiredly.

"What for?" Prowl inquired as he rinsed away the soap suds on his mate's back before placing the brush on the side of the tub.

"For bein' such a glitch these past few days." Jazz replied.

"Jazz I didn't expect you to be all 'sunshine and roses' as you would put it throughout this whole ordeal." The tactician told his mate as he stood, he then moved to retrieve a towel from the shelves on the opposite side of the room before returning to his mate's side.

"But still mech …" The saboteur began only to be silenced by one of the Dodge Charger's index fingers pressing against his lip components, silencing him.

"Think nothing of it." The black and white mech replied before he stood upright holding the towel open for his bonded "now are you going to get out or do you plan to sit there and rust?" The silver mech shot his spark-mate a playful glare only to receive a smirk in return, then he pushed himself up and stepped over the side of the tub and into the waiting warmth of the towel and his bonded's arms "let's get you dried." Jazz heard Prowl whisper into his left audio before leading him out of the wash rack and towards their room. The tactician herded him into the room before leaving then returning moments later with a steaming mug of energon, the saboteur took it from him and sipped the glowing pink liquid quietly whilst his mate began gently drying parts of his plating. The Solstice drank half of it and was about to put it down when a stern look from the Dodge Charger told him that his mate wanted to see the whole mug drained.

"You're enjoyin' this far too much." The silver mech said as he stretched his left leg fully so the black and white mech could fully dry underneath the limb.

"Hardly." Prowl replied although the subtle twitching of his door wings said otherwise, Jazz was about to open his mouth plates and make a comment when they heard the doors to their quarters whoosh open followed swiftly by a patter of peds that belonged to only one individual on the base.

"Father! Dad!" They heard the youngling call before an excited bundle of grey parts appeared in their room "ya should have seen it dad, father. Olé Ironhide nearly stepped on Lennox an' Optimus nearly squashed Galloway." Both of Bluestreak's creators looked at one another, confused expressions upon their facial plates until the saboteur's expression turned into one of disgust when the tactician suddenly 'sneezed' next to him "eww father's backfirin' like the others." The youngling gave his sire a wide berth as he moved to his carrier's side.

"Sounds like someone else has it." Came a voice from the door way, the family of three glanced across to see Ratchet just outside of the room.

"And what would 'it' be?" The Dodge Charger asked, he had been feeling fine a few moments ago and now he felt somewhat weary.

"The humans call it the 'common cold' and you fraggers brought it back here to the base." The medic replied sternly whilst ignoring how Bluestreak clamped his hands over his mouth at hearing the CMO cuss "I want the pair of you in the med-bay as no doubt you've probably infected your mate with it." The Solstice drew away from his bonded whilst Prowl simply cocked his head to the side in an imitation of an eye roll "today mechs if you don't mind." The bonded pair got to their peds and began making their way out of their room.

"What about Blue?" Jazz asked.

"Uncle 'Cade said I had to stay with him until you both got better." The little grey mechlet told his carrier "and Ratchet said I don't have it."

"That's good ta hear." The saboteur said, the last thing he wanted was for Bluestreak to get this 'cold' when the youngling had just recovered from having Rust spot.

"Indeed." The tactician replied before hissing and recoiling away from his spark-mate when the Solstice clipped his right forearm.

"If I get this 'cold', you're a dead mech." The silver mech snapped at his bonded only to receive a light glare in return.

"Younglings play nice." The CMO admonished the pair which had Bluestreak giggling. Prowl vented a sigh out of his intakes as the four continued on to the med-bay, he really didn't want to be berth ridden when there was still a base to run.

Silence passed between them as they continued their trek until Jazz decided to break it "So who do you think th' bigger whiner will be? Optimus or Ironhide?"

Yep the tactician was not going to enjoy this hopefully short stay in quarantine in the slightest.


Title: Of Younglings and Door wings – Bonus scene requested by renegadewriter8 on LJ

He was like a dark foreboding presence as he stalked out of the base at Diego Garcia and made his way onto the beach. He headed to the very same spot his younger brother and a certain youngling had been out on a couple of hours before the incident which had sent the young Cybertronian to the med-bay with a dislocated sensory panel. The aches not to mention the pain a single wing appendage could emanate was one of the many reasons why Barricade had his own removed thousands of years ago, not too mention the weakness they provided for the enemy to exploit. The shock trooper didn't envy the little one's recovery in the slightest however he knew he was in very capable hands. But right now the Mustang had one simple objective in mind; make the critter pay for spooking Bluestreak.

Barricade made his way silently to the rock pools the youngling had been exploring earlier and drew his weapon from sub-space. He was glad to have the plasma rifle back in his hands permanently without the Autobots panicking over the issue of who he planned to terminate in their recharge or when their backs were turned. The shock trooper thumbed the safety off when skilled crimson optics fell upon the familiar form of a large crustacean, he understood that there was a law in place that protected the coconut crabs from poachers, but as far as he was concerned it didn't exist for this creature. His more rational side did point out that it might not be the same crustacean, however he felt he needed to get 'revenge' for Bluestreak regardless.

The Mustang powered up the rifle and fired a single shot at the coconut crab half submerged in a rock pool, the creature was instantly vaporised leaving nothing but a scorch mark upon the rock it had been resting upon. However the single burst of weapons fire lit up on the sensor net the Autobots had put in place around the island, which meant Barricade suddenly had a frantic Red Alert demanding to know what was going on. The shock trooper happily informed him that he had simply exterminated a certain critter which immediately brought the wrath of a certain irritating individual down upon him. The Mustang however simply cut off Galloway's rant by turning off the radio link. Barricade knew the human wouldn't be done with him and expected to see the Director the moment he got back to the base, not that he was concerned. After all Galloway was simply one human and there was plenty more coconut crabs infesting the island.

With his task now completed, Barricade headed back to the military installation, he decided he would drop into the Autobot medic's lair to check up on the young Cybertronian just to make sure he was going to be fine. But right now he had to get past a particular irate human who was striding across the tarmac toward him, the shock trooper easily spotted Major Lennox and Sergeant Epps following after the human liaison. No doubt the pair had tried to stop him from confronting the ex-con, although he knew the two men were no doubt curious to see how the Mustang was going to deal with Galloway this time.

"You!" The Director snapped as he approached the black and white mech "you are not authorised to fire a weapon unless you are within the training areas or are under attack from the Decepticons, is that clear?"

"Crystal." The shock trooper responded with a slight smile tugging at the corners of his lip components. He had to admit the human had guts going up against him when he knew fully well the ex-con didn't follow the same rules as the Autobots.

"And as for your breach in the law against the protected wildlife here, do you have any idea what problems you may have caused by carrying out a supposed act of revenge?" Galloway demanded.

"No but I'm sure you're about to tell me regardless." The Mustang muttered, he spotted the familiar alt. mode of his brother's bond-mate leave the C17 that had just landed before converting to root mode.

:/What mischief have ya been causin' now?\: The Autobot's saboteur transmitted to him.

Crimson optics narrowed :/Mischief? I don't dabble in mischief Autobot.\:

:/Alright what have ya done to set off th' slagger Galloway?\: Jazz inquired.

:/I may have killed a member of a protected species, but not without good reason.\: Barricade responded :/anyway don't you have a youngling to get too?\:

:/I'm on my way down there now, just … play nice.\: The Solstice told him before he disappeared into the base.

A smirk overtook the shock trooper's lip components at the silver mech's parting words. Him play nice? Hardly especially when it came to one particularly irritating human who was still ranting at him, however the Director had moved on from his infraction of the protection law and was now complaining about how the Cybertronians had a knack for infringing several of the rules, not too mention laws that had been set in place. Finally deciding that he had, had enough, the Mustang drew his plasma rifle from sub-space and aimed it at the human. The sudden click of a safety being thumbed off had both Lennox and Epps reaching for their weapons, but a subtle shift in Barricade's body language had them stand down.

"W-what do you think your d-doing?" Galloway demanded fearfully as he stared down a glowing purple nozzle of the ex-con's rifle.

"Getting rid of a proverbial pain in the aft fleshling." The shock trooper responded darkly, he watched in satisfaction as the human swallowed nervously before all colour faded from his face and the man fainted. Both the Major and the Master Sergeant glanced at one another before they burst out laughing whilst the Mustang reactivated the safety switch on his weapon and sub-spacing it before he folded his arms across his chest. Well that was two tasks he had managed to complete today, the first getting 'revenge' for his nephew, the second being scaring the daylights out of Galloway and getting him to faint like a femme. And now he needed to disappear under the radar before a certain paranoid security director raised the alarm that he had supposedly tried to kill a human. Not that he would deny it. After all he had not been the first once who had wanted to kill Galloway or at least frighten him senseless anyway.


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