"Just...shut it down, Prowl..."

"Jazz, I cannot just shut down my battle computer," Prowl looked up from his seat on the berth. Jazz stood over him, the heat of his body making it difficult for Prowl to concentrate on anything else. Why was he here? This was a bad idea. It had all been a bad idea...

"Hey," Jazz pushed back at Prowl's shoulders gently until the SIC had lowered to lean back on his elbows. Jazz clambored onto his lap, straddling him, and pressed his lips against Prowl's faceplates. "I know it's holdin' ya back. I know, Prowl. I wanna see ya...how ya really are...because I know somewhere in there, ya really want this..."

Did he? Prowl didn't know. He did know that he didn't feel comfortable, and that he did have an early call to rise to, and that he was reacting to Jazz's advances, but did he really want to interface?

"Just shut it down," Jazz whispered. "I promise...I'll take care of ya..."

Prowl hesitated, then executed the commands to shut down his battle computer.

Jazz used that moment to snap his cable into a jack under Prowl's bumper.

"Primus..."

.................

Prowl knew he had a mess he needed to clean up. Despite his best efforts, things had gotten out of hand, and despite his wish to resolve things...the information on his desk told him that once again, his personal problems had to take a back seat. Now, more than ever, he wished to disappear into his work, but he was presented with a new problem that before his re-coding, he had not had.

The pressure of his battle computer had eased. He felt fully integrated with it, as if it were truly a part of him. Which meant he no longer had the ability to hide behind it - for that's what he had been doing - when it came to his own emotions. There was still control...but the tables had turned. Now he was in control of that control...and it was going to take some time to get used to.

He accessed a private comm link, but hesitated. How was he going to do this? How did he do this before?

.................

The berth was cold when Jazz came online. His hand instinctively reached out to the empty space beside him, but it was empty. He allowed himself to boot up completely and realized that he was alone.

Prowl was gone.

Jazz frowned. Maybe Prowl had just had an early call, and didn't want to wake him? Jazz didn't feel reassured.

The interfacing had been one of the best sessions he had ever had. Prowl had been unbridled and impassioned, perhaps even fierce with his data. The integration had been forceful and intense and frantic, and for once, Jazz felt like he was just along for the ride. But now, while accessing his memory circuits, he realized that his connection hadn't gone through. Prowl had dominated him so much so that Jazz was left feeling a bit disturbed, and as he looked down on himself and saw the scrapes and finger shaped dents in his armor, he grew more disturbed.

It's not how he had imagined it would be to be with Prowl. They were equals in skill and processing power. Friends. They spent so much time working together...surely Prowl would be keen to him, just like anyone else had been...

He got up and headed towards his post. He was sure there'd be time to talk about it with Prowl later. He told himself that Prowl would want to talk about it.

He had to.

..........

Prowl cycled air and sent his request through. For the first time in vorns, he felt true apprehension. In light of the changes he and Prime were going to inact, he knew this was just 'salt on the wound', as the humans put it, although he couldn't understand what sodium chloride and an energon leak or plating repair had to do with it...

The door to his office opened and Sunstreaker stepped through. The yellow twin regarded him with a scowl, but soon turned his optics away and refused to meet Prowl's glare. His words were ground out, and his hands clenched into fists. "...sir."

Prowl waited until the door shut. "Please, Sunstreaker. At ease."

Sunstreaker did not relax. His body seemed to tense further.

"Sunstreaker, please sit..."

"I don't want to sit," Sunstreaker spat. "If you haven't got anything important to say, I'm outta here..."

"It is important..."

"I really have nothing to say to you, Prowl, so unless you have an order to give me, let me get back to my duties," Sunstreaker ground out, his optics meeting Prowl's. "Sir."

Prowl frowned. He was glad he had nothing in his hands, for his fingers flinched on the desktop. Angry. Yes, he was angry at this, at Sunstreaker, at his attitude, at how he couldn't make Sunstreaker react the way he wanted to... As angry as he had been before he had seen Ratchet, but this time he knew there was no danger of throwing things. Yes, he could control this...on his own. "Very well," he turned to his datapad. "Then I must remind you, Sunstreaker, once again, that infighting will not be tolerated."

"You called me in to throw me in the brig?" Sunstreaker scoffed.

"No. I called you in to apologize, but I see that it will have no effect on you."

"Slagging straight."

"Watch your tone, soldier," Prowl ordered. He stood. Sunstreaker actually flinched, despite the SIC being a head shorter than he was. "I am not punishing you because you have new orders. A team is deploying to the moon bases. A unit from there will be transferring here. I am integrating that unit into existing units here. You, Jazz, Warpath, and Hound will be the first group..."

"You're splitting me from Sides?" Sunstreaker's angry tone was gone, replaced by shock.

"You dispatch via shuttle tomorrow at five AM," Prowl finished. He met Sunstreaker's optics. "You are dismissed."

"You can't do this to me!"

"You are dismissed," Prowl repeated.

"Is this your way of getting back at me?" Sunstreaker pressed on. "By splitting up me and Sides?"

"No, Sunstreaker, this is my way of trying to win a war, by sending one of my best warriors to refresh the front on Cybertron. Ultra Magnus and the Autobots on Cybertron have been fighting since the Ark's departure, and our absence has cost the Autobots dearly. The moon outposts are our last foothold in the fight for our home," Prowl scowled. "Or did you really think it was all about you?"

Sunstreaker balked.

"Now...you are dismissed. Clean out your personal belongings and report to the shuttle area at 5 AM. Do you understand me, soldier?"

The yellow warrior turned from his gaze once more. "Yes...sir."

Prowl crossed his arms and waited. Sunstreaker hesitated, as if he was going to speak again, but then he slowly turned and left. Prowl clenched his fists, then sagged in on himself. That had not gone the way he wanted. Not at all.

.......................................

"Prowl!"

"Yes, Jazz?" Prowl didn't look up from his datapad as he walked along, inspecting the building of the ship Prime had commissioned. "What can I do for you?"

"Well," Jazz fell into step beside him. "I was wonderin' if you were busy later this orn..."

"Undoubtedly so. Did you want me to go over some reports?"

"What? No, I wanted...I wanted to talk."

"Talk?" Prowl stopped walking and turned to Jazz. "About what?"

"About last cycle," Jazz frowned. He lowered his voice. "About us."

Prowl's lip components tightened. "Perhaps later, Jazz."

"Later? When later? Next cycle later...?"

"Just...later."

"Oh," Jazz shrugged. "Well...alright then. I suppose ya can find me when you wanna..."

"Thanks, Jazz," Prowl began walking away, his optics glued to the datapad once more.

"Sure," Jazz said softly to himself as he watched Prowl walk away. "No problem..."