In the med bay, Blaster stood near the door, watching as the Autobot's CMO repaired several of the mechs that had already made it to earth. The chartreuse mech was grumbling as he worked and would wave a wrench threateningly in a mech's direction if they started to get too loud or if they tried to sneak away from the grumpy medic. After a while, the medic kicked everyone but him out of the med bay. Ratchet crossed his arms over his chest and studied Blaster with narrowed optics.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Sit down," snapped Ratchet as he pointed to the berth in front of him. Blaster scrambled over and sat down before Ratchet could throw that wrench at him. "I'm gonna tell you this right now, this is my med bay and here I make the rules. Not Prime, not Prowl, me, got it?" Blaster nodded quickly and Ratchet began the exam to make sure the new mech was uninjured and clear of any Decepticon, or other, technology. As Ratchet worked, Blaster watched him, wanting to ask the mech something, but wasn't sure if that would be received well. Ratchet suddenly looked up at him with a glare. "You're fidgeting. What do you want?"

"Nothing," said Blaster quickly and Ratchet gave him a disbelieving look. "Well, it's about Prowl." Ratchet immediately started grumbling with an annoyed look. "What? Do you not like him or something?" Ratchet continued his examination of the mech.

"Oh I like him, he's a good mech and he's done a lot for all of us, but he's absolutely terrible at taking care of himself," said Ratchet. "He's constantly in his office doing reports and sometimes he gets so busy that he forgets to refuel and recharge. If it weren't for Jazz or his brothers he'd be in stasis lock by now. Other times, when he's planning a mission, he'll work himself so hard he falls into recharge in his chair. He'll never approve a mission unless it has more than an 80% chance of success and he's always trying something to increase the percentage. Then there are his upgrades."

"Upgrades?" asked Blaster.

"There's a reason Prowl's the best tactician Cybertron has ever seen and that's because of his advanced logic processors and battle computer. Both of those combined make things difficult for him…and for me when I have to repair him from a lock-up. And when it comes time for regular maintenance, I have to practically hunt him down with the entire Ops team's help and drag him in by his door-wings. In any case, I'm sure we wouldn't have survived this long without him," said Ratchet and Blaster snorted. The medic raised an optic ridge. "You don't like him, I get it, but the last time you knew him was over ten million years ago. A mech can change in that time."

"Mechs can't change so easily," said Blaster.

"Trust me, it wasn't easy for Prowl," said Ratchet. Blaster gave him a curious look. "Most of us don't know a lot about Prowl, he's a private mech. None of us knew he used to be a thief until he just told us. Very few of us knew he had siblings until they let it slip one orn after a particularly bad battle when Prowl had been badly hurt. For the longest time, he was just the strict and proper SIC of the Autobots who was known as cold, sparkless, and emotionless. But when Bluestreak and Smokescreen joined the Autobots after what happened to Praxus, we saw a softer side to Prowl. It was rare, but it was there. And then Jazz arrived to be our TIC and we all saw a difference in Prowl's behavior. He was…warmer, more open, and he even told jokes, though you had to be paying close attention or you'd miss it."

"But Prowl wasn't sparkless or emotionless back and Praxus," said Blaster, confused.

"He became that way before he became SIC, but I heard it had something to do with Jazz. I believe he thought Jazz was dead at one point and he closed himself off and devoted himself to his duties," said Ratchet.

"I still don't believe he's changed," said Blaster and Ratchet growled.

"Now you listen here," snarled Ratchet, "Prowl is a good mech and we all respect him and consider him a friend. If you're rude to him or do anything to antagonize him, you'll make a lot of enemies here, especially the twins. And not to mention, if Prowl gets annoyed with you, he'll let you know and you'll wish he hadn't. Just because you're too blind and stubborn to believe that Prowl has changed, doesn't mean the rest of us are. He may have been a thief before the war, be he's our SIC and nothing will change that."

"Okay, okay, jeez," muttered Blaster. It was obvious he wasn't going to win any argument with the stubborn medic.

"Well, you're good," said Ratchet as he set down his tools. "Just get some energon from the rec room and then get some rest."

"Thanks," mumbled Blaster as he hopped to his feet and left the med bay. He didn't see anyone in the hall, so he just started walking deeper into the base until he heard the sound of voices all in one room. Following his audios, he stepped into the rec room and was greeted by several of the mechs in the room. He smiled and waved before getting himself some energon. He sat down at a mostly empty table and pulled out a blank data pad so he could write up that report. Blaster managed to get half of the report done before a pair of mechs walked over and sat down on either side of him. Looking up, he saw Sunstreaker and Sideswipe studying him carefully. "Something I can do for you mechs?"

"Maybe," said Sunstreaker, though he didn't look too happy talking to Blaster. He didn't like how the orange mech was so antagonistic towards Prowl, the only mech who was never biased against them.

"You know, ever since we met Prowl, we've been trying to understand him," said Sideswipe thoughtfully. "He's always been so closed off, but around certain mechs, he's a completely different. He's also slagging good at avoiding our pranks. We were wondering if you could enlighten us on a few things." A small group of humans who had been sitting on the tabletop nearby walked over.

"Sideswipe, do you really think you should be asking him about Prowl's past?" asked Graham.

"Yeah, especially since he doesn't seem to want anyone to know about it," said Chris.

"And there's the fact that this guy doesn't like Prowl. What if what he tells you is slightly biased," said Matt.

"You know if Prowl finds out about this, you two are probably going to end up in the brig or on monitor duty," added Wayne. The twins merely shrugged.

"Who are you four?" asked Blaster, a little irritated that even the humans were on Prowl's side.

"We're on Prowl's team," said Graham and he introduced himself and his three companions. "We spend a lot of time working with Prowl and we all consider him a good friend."

"So, what did you want to ask?" Blaster asked the twins.

"What kind of things did Prowl steal?" asked Sideswipe and Blaster shuttered his optics. That wasn't exactly the question he was expecting.

"Lots of things really," said Blaster as he thought back to the files he had on Prowl. "A lot of the things he stole were priceless historical artifacts or priceless works of art. Though once he broke into Enforcer's Headquarters and stole a small crystal statue from our Chief." The twins stared at him incredulously for a moment before they both burst out laughing. "It's not funny! He humiliated us!"

"We're pranksters, so of course we think it's funny," said Sideswipe as his laughter died down.

"What kind of places did he steal from?" asked Sunstreaker.

"Museums, the homes of some of the wealthiest bots in Praxus, he even went to surrounding cities. I think he went to Iacon once, but we didn't have any proof," said Blaster.

"You could probably just ask him now and he might tell you," said Graham and Blaster gave him an incredulous look. "Look, if you ask Prowl a straightforward question, he'll more than likely answer you truthfully…unless he really doesn't want to talk about it. The only subject he would avoid was his past, but since everyone knows what he used to do…" Graham shrugged.

"Whatever," muttered Blaster. "The one thing I managed to figure out was that he always stole from places with advanced security systems. He even managed to get past a security system that was guaranteed to catch anyone that wasn't supposed to be there." The twins whistled in surprise. "Anyway, he was the only thief that we ever had such a hard time catching and the only reason we caught him was because of Jazz."

"Hey, you remember that story Jazz told us about his last job as an Enforcer," Sideswipe muttered to his twin and the golden mech nodded.

"The thief he was talking about was Prowl," said Sunstreaker and the red mech made a sound of agreement.

"Well, we should get going, things to do, mechs to see, pranks to plot," said Sideswipe as he got to his feet.

"You'd better finish that report soon. Prowl gets annoyed when reports aren't in on time, but maybe he won't notice this time," said Sunstreaker with a faint smirk.

"But Prowl always notices things," said Chris. Sunstreaker's smirk widened.

"Jazz went into Prowl's office a while ago and hasn't left yet," said Sunstreaker with a leer and the four men winced.

"Oh man, I did not need that thought in my head," said Wayne and the twins laughed. Next to the four men, Blaster looked faintly disturbed.

"You don't mean…" started Blaster.

"Oh don't worry, Prowl usually makes them got back to their quarters for that, but if the door is locked, I would suggest leaving them alone," said Sideswipe with a mischievous grin.

"Sideswipe!" cried Matt while covering his ears making the red twin laugh loudly as the yellow twin chuckled. The pair waved and left the group.

"What's with your reactions?" asked Blaster cautiously wondering why the humans had seemed so appalled by the idea.

"We don't need to know what you mechs do behind closed doors. We get that you guys have relationships like we humans do, and we're happy for Prowl and Jazz, really. They're happy together, but we just don't need to know the details," said Graham.

"Yeah, what goes behind closed doors should stay there. That goes for humans too," said Chris. Blaster merely nodded, he could understand that. There were some things that were better left unsaid otherwise it would be too much information. Blaster turned back to his report and quickly finished it.

"Well, I need to turn this in and then I'm ready for a nice long recharge," said Blaster as he downed the last bit of his energon.

"Alright then, see you later Blaster, and don't forget to knock on Prowl's door before entering," said Wayne. Blaster groaned at the thought and got to his feet to leave the rec room. It didn't take him long to find Prowl's office and he hesitantly knocked on the door. He heard hasty movements inside and then was called inside. Blaster opened the door and stepped inside to see Prowl sitting behind his desk as Jazz leaned against the side of it. Prowl had a faint smile on his lips and Jazz was grinning widely. Deciding not to dwell on what he had interrupted, he held out his report.

"Here's the report you wanted…sir," said Blaster.

"Thank you Blaster," said Prowl as he took it. The black and white mech read through it quickly and nodded, satisfied. "How were things on Cybertron when you left?" Blaster sighed.

"Not good. Our numbers are dwindling fast and there's not much we can do against the 'Cons," said Blaster and Prowl nodded sadly as Jazz scowled.

"If only we still had the Allspark," muttered Jazz. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at a corner of the room, away from Prowl and Blaster. "Maybe if I hadn't let Megatron rip me in two in Mission City, we could have done somethin' more."

"Jazz," said Prowl sternly as he grabbed Jazz's arm and gripped it tightly. "You did everything you could. Everyone did. You sacrificed your life, you couldn't have done anything more. I'm just glad Optimus and the others were able to bring you back." The words 'to me' hung silently between them. Blaster looked back and forth between them, confused. No one had told him what had happened since they had left Cybertron, but he was thinking a lot of important things happened.

"I know, but…I was dead for years Prowler," protested Jazz. "There musta been somthin' I coulda done in that time."

"We'll never know Jazz, so we shouldn't ponder 'what if's and 'could have's. It's of no use to us now. We must concentrate on the future and what we can do now," said Prowl. Jazz stared into his optics for a moment before nodded.

"You're right…as usual," said Jazz with a faint smile.

"Of course I am, I'm a tactician," said Prowl teasingly, returning the smile. "Now, it's getting late and we've all had a trying day. I say it's time we all got some recharge. Blaster, if you follow us, we'll take you to your quarters." Blaster had watched the exchange with something akin to fascination. He had never actually seen Prowl and Jazz interact that way, he had only ever heard them, but seeing them, the way they moved, their expressions, the slight touches, were all things he had never expected to see. It made him feel like he had missed a lot of what went on between the two back in Praxus.

Prowl got to his feet and his door-wings fluttered, loosening the joints after sitting back against his chair for a while. Jazz stood up straight and waited until Prowl stepped up next to him before he started walking towards the door. Blaster let the two leave before him and then stepped out of Prowl's office. The black and white mech locked the door before leading the way down the hall. Blaster watched as the pair walked close together, their fingers brushing as they moved.

"So, what're ya plannin' on doin' ta completely shock the twins?" asked Jazz with a faint grin as he looked up at Prowl. Prowl smirked faintly and Blaster was reminded of the mech he had known as a thief before the war.

"Well, I can't do anything on this base," said Prowl thoughtfully, "Since I'm SIC and I know all the override codes for doors and alarms. They would consider that cheating." Jazz chuckled.

"But the only other place ya could sneak inta would be a Decepticon base and their main one is on another planet," said Jazz. Prowl smirked.

"But it's not their only base. They have to have on here on the planet so they can move out quickly. We'd just have to find it."

"That's true."

"Wait, are you saying you're going to sneak into a Decepticon base just to prove to a pair of mechs that you used to be a thief?" asked Blaster incredulously.

"No, I'm saying I'm going to sneak into a Decepticon base, steal information and maybe something embarrassing and incriminating while I'm at it, and then blow it up, just to prove to the twins that I used to be a thief," corrected Prowl and Jazz laughed. "Though I don't see why they find it so hard to believe. I did break into that one base back on Cybertron and rescued you, Jazz, from being tortured before blowing up the base after all."

"And remember the looks on their faces?" Jazz laughed louder and Prowl chuckled.

"Priceless." That comment made Jazz laugh hard enough that he had to stop walking and cling to Prowl so he wouldn't fall over. "Though you should have seen the looks on your mechs' faces when I raided their Ops weapons' storage and told them I was going to fetch you."

"Oh mech, I wish I coulda seen that," said Jazz.

"Hang on, did Optimus know you used to be a thief?" asked Blaster with narrowed optics. Prowl nodded simply.

"When Optimus first became Prime, he was uneasy in my presence because of my emotionless state. I believed I owed him an explanation, so I told him about my past. I even stole his facemask off his face without him realizing until I showed it to him in order to prove myself. He didn't seem to have a problem with what I used to be," said Prowl with a shrug and Blaster winced slightly at the comment. He was sure Prowl said it intentionally to figuratively press his buttons. Blaster decided to ignore it for something else at the moment.

"Emotionless state?" asked the orange mech. Jazz seemed down at the question and Prowl brushed his hand along the silver mech's arm before fluttering his door-wings reassuringly.

"After Sentinel recruited me, he sent me to an out-of-the-way base where I would be trained. While there, he sent a message to me informing me that Jazz had not returned from a dangerous mission which meant he was more than likely dead. Because of my glitch, I crashed from the grief. When I woke, I rerouted my emotions through my battle computer which would consider my emotions unnecessary and dump them, thus I was considered emotionless. I was later informed that Jazz was alive, but didn't remove the blocks on my emotions. I didn't remove them until Praxus fell," said Prowl. Blaster could see the subtle trembling of the SIC's door-wings at the mention of his home town. Jazz gripped Prowl's hand and the black and white gave Jazz a grateful smile.

"But wouldn't losing Praxus make you crash too?" asked Blaster, confused.

"Bluestreak needed me," said Prowl softly.

"Blue was in the city when it fell. He'd been trapped in the rubble of their old home. Prowl used their siblin' bond ta find him, but Bluestreak had recoiled when Prowl didn't have his emotions, so Prowl had ta remove the blocks for Bluestreak ta recognize him. Smokescreen showed up shortly after that," explained Jazz. He knew it was still hard for Prowl to talk about Praxus, so he would do it for him. Prowl suddenly stopped in front of a door and turned to Blaster.

"These will be your quarters. This is the officer's hall, while the general quarters are around the corner," said Prowl.

"Officer's hall, but I'm not an officer," said Blaster.

"You will be when you get your duties tomorrow," said Prowl simply. "You're our new Communications Officer." Blaster stared at Prowl with wide, surprised optics. "Rest well Blaster, you'll have much to do tomorrow."

"Night Blaster," called Jazz as the pair continued down the hall a few doors and slipped into a room together. Blaster opened the door and locked it behind him. He'd think of a code for the lock later. Right now, all he wanted to do was recharge.

In Prowl and Jazz's quarters, the pair curled up together on their berth. Jazz was humming quietly as he gently rubbed Prowl's back in soothing circles. Prowl listened with his optics offline, his own arms around Jazz's waist holding him close to his spark. They were content and happy to just enjoy each others' presence after a long day of fighting Decepticons and paperwork.

"Ya actually had a civil conversation with Blaster, shockin'," murmured Jazz and Prowl chuckled softly.

"Indeed. I was sure he was going to show some kind of animosity towards me, but he seemed curious," said Prowl.

"You're a mystery."

"I try." Jazz laughed.

"You're no mystery ta me," said Jazz softly.

"Is that so?" asked Prowl in an equally soft tone.

"Yep, you're Prowl." It was Prowl's turn to laugh.

"Such a simple answer."

"Simple answers are usually the best." Prowl made a sound of agreement and hugged Jazz tighter. "You're Prowl and you're mine. That's all the answer I need." Prowl smiled and kissed Jazz chastely on the lips. Jazz pressed forward and kissed Prowl more firmly before pulling away with a smile.

"And you, Jazz, are mine, that's all the answer I need," whispered Prowl.