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Ch. 26

After nearly a week Jazz was finally allowed to return home, or at least his and Ironhide's. When the two made it safely home, Jazz was pleasantly surprised to see Ricochet leaning against the house. Ironhide was tense by seeing the mech just standing there, but he was Jazz's son, so he had to trust him. The blue visored mech hugged his son with a nuzzle. "What are you doing here Co?"

"I was finally able to pull away from politics. Skids would have come, but he's busy with… personal issues. I should head back to Kaon before gramps here decides that I'm a threat like my Sire." Ricochet pushed himself off the building and walked past the pair. He transformed and took off before his Carrier could stop him.

Jazz held a servo up before dropping it and looked down with a heavy sigh. Ironhide put a servo on his friend's shoulder in hopes of comforting him. "Give him some time kid. We all did thought he was going to kill you."

"I know, I know. Can we get inside so I can sit down?" Jazz hinted at before Ironhide hurriedly opened the door for the Polyhexian. He was helped into the living where he collapsed onto the couch with a groan of relief. "Primus did Ratchet give me your legs?"

Ironhide laughed hard before putting a servo on his arm. "Well I'm going to get us some energon and let you rest before giving you the grand retour."

The Polyhexian nodded with a chuckle before being left alone to his own thoughts. He looked around and saw how very simple the decoration was, but he knew his cleaning routine when he saw it. Jazz tried to force himself up to explore the living room, but his legs weren't having it after what seemed like a long drive and that very brief walk out of the hospital and into the house. He groaned as he held onto his ankle strut when just the tiniest of pressure had been put on it. Ironhide had heard the sound from the other room and quickly returned to make sure Jazz didn't hurt himself again. "Here. And can you just relax for like five kliks? You just got out of Ratchet's hold and I would like to avoid his wrench."

"We wouldn't want that. Okay let me see if I have this whole thing straight; I spent twenty plus Earth years in a prison where Decepticons are held at, the council let me go free if I went on parole and community service, my sons started harassing you all in order to make sure my memory was restored, I'm in this weird relationship with Prowl, I'm working for Optimus, and now you're trying to figure out whether or not to let Ricochet attempt at convincing the council at letting someone represent his people. And then on top of that, Soundwave is dying? Did I get all of the important points?" Jazz clarified before sipping his energon.

"All right." Ironhide nodded with a firm press of his lips.

There was a long pause before Jazz broke out into a smile and he rested his helm in his servos. "I can't believe this. I'm free. He can't get me anymore." He jumped Ironhide and hugged him tightly as he broke into tears of joy. "Thank you for everything Ironhide. Thank you so much."

Ironhide returned the hug and let the mushiness happen for a bit. He finally had enough of it and pushed the Polyhexian off of him. "Alright, alright enough with the gushing. You just focus on regaining yourself."

Jazz nodded with a tired sigh when he collapsed back on the sofa. "Hide. Did you think I would ever break from Soundwave?"

"At first, I was worried you would crack, don't get me wrong you did have a few moments, but you always got over it. When you and Prowl started talking to each other again, I saw the real you appearing. But Jazz, I want you to know that if you ever need Prowl's face smashed in, let me know." Ironhide cracked a playful grin, getting a laugh before Jazz sat his half empty cube down on the table in front of them. "Come on, need help to your room?"

The Polyhexian nodded with a long yawn. Jazz grabbed the cane and used it to brace himself as Ironhide helped make sure he didn't fall. They carefully walked to Jazz's room where he just flopped onto the berth without even a glance around his surroundings. He pulled the covers over his face and the red mech took that as his hint to leave him. I'm all yours now Prowler. Over the next several days, Jazz was found mostly in the workout room, in his berth, or at his appointments with Bluestreak. Prowl had stopped by Ironhide's and waited for Jazz in his room, unbeknownst by Ironhide as he went to work out. The Polyhexian stepped out of his washroom with a towel over his helm.

When the towel came off, Jazz wasn't wearing his visors, but he finally heard the slight ex-venting and air moving around moving wings. He put a servo on his hips with a playful smile. "Wings aren't moving a million miles an hour, so definitely not Skids, you aren't talking a million miles, so not Smokescreen, and you forgot how to quiet your intakes, so you can't possibly be Bluestreak." He grabbed his new visors that sat on his nightstand as he climbed on the Praxian's lap. The cyan glass flickered on until he saw the white and black Praxian staring at him. "Hiya. Now, I'm no expert on relationships, but I believe it's considered rude to not even comm someone you consider… your seventy percent. Prowler."

"Jazz, ahem… you look… great. I apologize for not getting into contact, I've been busy with work as well as helping Smokescreen pick a venue for his upcoming mating ceremony." Prowl said before Jazz leaned in close to him. "Jazz, I certainly hope you are not doing this because of the symbiont coding."

"Coding free baby. From this moment on, I. Am. All. Yours." Jazz walked a couple digits up Prowl's chest before tapping them on his lips. He smiled before hugging his lover, "Prowler, the spark transfer deleted everything Soundwave did to me. All of the interface mods, the Host and symbiont mods, and everything in between he did to me is gone. I read the letters you sent me, listened to our comm chats I recorded, just so I can be with you. I don't want to be your seventy percent anymore. I want to be so much more to you, if you'll have me."

The Praxian rolled them around and pinned his lover's servos above his helm. His wings flared upwards with a single digit going to the visored mech's lips. "Jazz, will you stop this jabbering for two kliks so I can get a sentence or two in? Your ridiculous notion on whether I will have you or not, is just that, ridiculous. Of course, I will continue to court you. And you are correct, my calculations needed some adjustments. Jazz, citizen of Iacon, will you accept being my ninety percent and allow me to court you?"

"Yes, yes I will." Jazz hugged Prowl tightly before pulling away long enough to kiss Prowl on the lips. They pulled away after they realized what happened. He looked away heating up with embarrassment before Prowl gently guided him to look back at him. "Nice and slow?"

Prowl nodded with a gentle smile. "Nice and slow, just like how you like it." They didn't kiss anymore that mid-cycle. No words were exchanged as they held onto each other. The Praxian admired the new frame that was filling out, even though there was still a bit of plating that hung loosely from his frame. He was nuzzled by the Polyhexian before he settled his helm on his shoulder. The pair had remained in the comfortable silence before Jazz sat up with his field excited. Prowl sat up to see what got him so excited, "what's wrong?"

"Well I wanted to go for a walk. I can't transform yet; Ratchet wants me to get a bit more back to my size before transforming again. Unless you want to stay here, then we could watch movies and make energon." Jazz stood up with a smile and pulled the Praxian onto his peds. He bit the back of a digit with a nervous hum. "Prime's been coming over and we've been doing work. It's been weird to think that I've been sitting at a desk for eight groons but can't be helped."

The Praxian put his servos on top of the black servos to get him to calm down. "Jazz, you do not have to force yourself to do anything that will make you uneasy." The visored mech took a calming intake before nodding in agreement. There was a sudden banging sound on the front door which got Jazz to jump a few feet into the air and hid behind the Praxian. "Hey, it's okay stay here."

Prowl left Jazz alone, but he was quick to be tailed by the Polyhexian and opened the door to see Bluestreak in a panic. "Ja- oh Prowl! No, don't have time. Jazz, you need to see this! It's the twins." The other Praxian rushed to the living room and turned on the holoscreen to a news channel that was from Kaon. On the screen was Ricochet standing in front of a podium with Skids standing behind his brother. Jazz sat down with a servo going to his gaping mouth as he plopped down on the couch. Prowl slowly sat beside him with Bluestreak sitting on the corner of the table.

"You can't be serious! You would risk your enter city, your treaty with Vos, all because of your lust for revenge!? None of our cities are capable of denting their defenses! King Cog, if you send anything that closely resembles an army, we will all die! The Prime has given me council, if I can convince him to form a union with our people, we can have what we wanted without fighting. It's a new era, let us do what we believe, know, is right for the good of our people."

Skids stepped forward which shocked everyone in the room. He was silent for a bit; he gave the council an intense stare. "He wants to kill off the youth, the slaves, the Kaonites because he doesn't want any of us to know that his only creation is just like us. He sparked his slave as punishment for speaking out of line. And when the sparkling was ripped from his arms, he slaughtered him to teach him a lesson. Almost 85 percent of the gladiators in the pits are Kaonites. You want to have equal rights with our people, then you need to treat us as equals! You are losing confidence in your lords."

King Cog rose to his peds with his fists slamming onto the surface in front of him. "Lord Ricochet silent your slave this instant."

"I will do with Skids how I want. You are holding our people back by having the same mindset as the tyrant Megatron. You only want him silent because you don't want the world to know who you really are!" Ricochet rose his servos in the air before several huge holograms appeared behind them. There were recordings of what the leader of Kaon was being accused of, and then images of plans to get rid of the youth center. King Cog's tough stature faltered when there was a collection of whispers. "You will give me three solar cycles to convince the Prime and his council that we are more than energon thirsty maniacs."

"Or what? You have never fought in the Great Wars. You will learn your place Ricochet Mei-" King Cog pointed his arm at the Polyhexian in front of him with his arm transforming to show off a large canon.

Ricochet stood confidently just as nearly a thousand mechs and femmes stood from the crowd with lasers pointed at the gear covered mech. There was a rule that the only ones that could carry weapons in the council room were guards, but those not a part of Ricochet and Skids's group looked to be genuinely scared to see so many bots with weapons. "I may not have fought in the wars alongside my creators, but I prepared our city for a peaceful time without needless deaths. Like I said King Cog, times are changing. There is no room for royalty. You wanted to see proof of loyalists, well is this enough proof!?"

Skids reached down for his thigh and held up his sign of Ricochet's 'ownership'. He smashed it on the podium with his engines roaring. "Slave free Kaon!" There was a roar of mechs and femmes that joined the Praxian. When the camera switched to Ricochet's face the screen went black saying there were some technical difficulties.

Jazz looked at Bluestreak and Prowl with worry in his field, and neither of them had enough time to calm him down before he rushed into his room. Prowl waited a bit before going after the Polyhexian. He cracked open the door slightly and saw him pacing his room.

::And you two are okay? They aren't going to send the enforcers for you?:: He asked a few more questions as he gnawed at his digits.

::We're really fine Carrier. The manor and Twisted Spark are secured, but if it gets too heated here, I'll go to one of the safe houses in Praxus or something. Benefits of not being considered a citizen in Kaon; enforcers have no jurisdiction to travel districts just to drag me back to Kaon. Rico is rushing the moves of the others; he's sending families all to Iacon since he bought one of the larger properties. I know we said we'd like to show you everything, but it's way too dangerous for a visit.:: It was a holovid of Skids on Jazz's datapad.

Jazz gave out a stressed whine before sitting down on the floor in front of his berth. ::You promise you'll comm me the second either of you are in trouble? I wish I had a way to get you both here without causing so much hassle.::

::I promise. I should sign off, T needs help with escorting Polyhexian younglings to Polyhex and Helix. Thankfully they all have families waiting for them. Love you, I'll try to pop over for a visit.:: Skids bid his farewell before the screen went black. Prowl waited a few more kliks before slowly making his presence known.

The visored mech sat up straighter when his lover joined him on the floor. "Sorry for bolting, I just wanted to… check on someone." Jazz didn't know if he should mention or even talk about his sons or not.

"I hope they are prepared for retaliation from those that do not side with them. If you'd like, I can have an escort put on Skids for his protection. Praxus has a law about unmated Carriers that Skids may not know about." Prowl kept his tone coolly to avoid glitching. He had gotten chewed out by his brothers before his future sister-in-law chewed him out for how he handled finding out. He understood logically why Jazz didn't tell anyone, but it hurt him emotionally to have missed Skids's entire sparklinghood. He also took blame for not reading the datapad like he was supposed to, if he had then Skids would have known his Sire and Ricochet would have gotten help with his telepathy.

Jazz tapped Prowl's shoulder to get his attention. "Prowl did you hear what I said?" The blank stare was all the visored mech needed to know that he had indeed not heard him. "I said 'you would do that?'"

"Of course, he is… important to you." Prowl avoided the c-words and the s-words as much as possible because so much as mentioning the words his glitch would start up. Jazz nodded and the Praxian could feel him pull back slightly. He could see the hurt in his face when he would acknowledge his son. The Praxian stood up and pulled the other onto his peds as well. "There's a festival going on at the end cycle. I don't have to work, and Smokescreen's future mate would like to re-meet you."

The Polyhexian smiled softly and nodded at the silent offer. "I would like to meet her again and go on a date with you." He hugged Prowl to secretly hide the fact that his legs still weren't strong enough to hold his weight. Prowl's arms wrapped around his waist and they just stood there with their faces hidden in their necks.

After several more days of recovering, Jazz was finally given the okay to return to work. He enjoyed re-meeting Vera and a few of the others in the building. Jazz had been taken to where he had been working, across the room from Optimus, and found it hilarious unlike how he figured he did the first time. Optimus was a bit confused by the burst of laughter, but Jazz just said it was an inside joke between him and Prowl. The Prime enjoyed seeing his friend happy until he started shifting around uncomfortably.

"What's wrong Jazz?"

"Stupid wings keep popping out by themselves and they are hella sensitive." Jazz stood up and his small wings stood at attention, twitching non-stop. Optimus was taken aback by the small appendages that were protruding from his friend's back. The Polyhexian tried to reach for the shaking monochrome wings, but they were just out of reach. "Hey Prime, could ya um… help coax these suckers down?"

The large mech went over to his friend and awkwardly massaged the quivering wings back into their place. Jazz released the gasp that he had been holding and collapsed into his chair. "Have you thought about just letting them out? Maybe it would help their sensitivity." Optimus suggested, but Jazz's firm stare gave him, the Prime knew that his friend wasn't playing around. He returned the gaze with one of his own. "You will have to get used to them at some point."

"I will blame you if I crash from a sensory overload." Jazz pointed a digit at him with a playful flicker of his field as he let his wings open up. He shivered violently and hit his helm against his desk whenever someone entered and left the office. "Frag. Me."

Optimus gave a sympathetic smile at his friend's pain. "Why don't you head home for the day Jazz?"

The Polyhexian sat up with his winglets flicking, "what? No, I'm fine Prime." His wings started twitching more as he focused back on his terminal with his chin resting in his servo. Optimus decided that he would just let his friend work until he decided that he truly needed it. Jazz was focused on a document that he was reading about a building contract on an academy to train Autobots until he felt something cause his wings to twitch. He looked up and jumped onto his peds with his wings flared and field exploding in surprise. "Ricochet! What are you doing here?"

The Carrier hugged his son with a happy purr of his engines. Ricochet returned the hug with one arm before revealing the small sculpted crystal that he had hiding behind his back. The younger Polyhexian looked highly uncomfortable as his Carrier took the gift with suspicion. "It's a dark ingot, you said you really liked them. And… Vos said he wanted you to have it as a gift from the both of us." He rubbed the back of his helm with his field rippling how uncomfortable he was with this.

Jazz looked at it and then up at his son with a smile on his face. "Thank you, Rico. You were so young when I mentioned that, I'm surprised you even remembered. Usually you wait till I'm back home to visit me."

"I remember slag I shouldn't. As for coming here, I had a meeting with Optimus and figured I should bring the ingot with me. I would have brought Vos with, but he… doesn't like crowds." The lord knew they knew the real reason for him not being with him, but he also didn't want to be reminded of it.

Optimus stood from his sit and joined their sides, putting a servo on Jazz's shoulder to get his attention. "I hate to interrupt, but this meeting is rather important. I'll try to keep it short though."

Jazz nodded as he sat the deep purple ingot on his desk with a smile. "Alright. Thank you for the surprise visit Co, I really appreciate it." He hugged his oldest creation one more time before watching them head for the door. "Oh, and Rico?"

"Yes?" He turned to look at his Carrier with almost glimmer of hope in his posture.

"I approve of you both." Jazz smiled genuinely with his wings fluttering behind him. Ricochet perked up with almost what could be labeled as a smile appeared on his lips.

When Jazz returned home he was greeted by Ironhide waiting for him at the door. He had a weird feeling in his field, and he stopped in his tracks, "Hide? What's with the creepiness? Can I go inside, or do we have a password into the clubhouse?"

"So, when were you going to tell me that you were back? I was chatting with Teletraan and saw you appear in the system." Ironhide had an amused grin and crossed his arms with a teasing vibe in his posture. Jazz's wings flared and he heated up with embarrassment. He rubbed his wrists while he started stumbling over his words until the red mech grabbed his servos. "Kid, I'm just pulling your leg. I'm glad to see you back in the ranks."

"Well, Blaster wanted to have a party at his place, and I didn't want to flash the badge around." Jazz looked to his right with a servo rubbing the back of his helm. "So, the Council's talking to Ricochet? Who knew that my mental state was all it took for the two government powerhouses to cooperate enough to talk?"

After getting an answer Ironhide had dragged him inside. They went into the kitchen to get some energon while continuing the conversation. "Yeah, got to hand it to you, kid knows how to string words together. He also is stubbornly determined like his Carrier. Even slipped up and called Blaster 'uncle' before clamming up again."

Jazz grabbed the glasses for Ironhide to fill them up at the dispensary. He folded his arms on the counter with a lost smile. "Rico was always my thoughtful talker, he loved reading about politics. I guess something he got from… him, but he loved it. I know he may look and act tough, probably could be mistaken as a Decepticon in the sense of his actions, but he is so sweet. Rico is just putting up his front because he's scared of his telepathy."

"I can tell he cares about the people; he makes it obvious whenever we do see him public speak. Why doesn't Skids do it?" Ironhide handed one of the glasses and drank his energon. "He seems to be just as dedicated to freedom fighting."

Jazz sipped his before answering, "Skids is well… he has his spark set on music, but I'm afraid of what his glitch will be a common occurrence if he joined politics. As for him and Prowl, it's… complicated. Whenever Prowl came to visit me in the hospital, Skids had come to visit a couple times, and when they locked optics he was quick to apologize and leave. It hurts to see it, but… I can't help it. Prowl is at least acknowledging their existence now."

"Well Prowl'll grow up eventually. You plan on telling him about the rejoining before the grand reveal?" The red mech joked and Jazz laughed with him.

"I think I've given Prowler enough surprises to last him a lifetime." Jazz snickered as he finished his energon. "Hey, you knows I've been a decent enough mood to throw a Jazz-style party." He flashed his visors in a wink. Ironhide shook his helm with a laugh.


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