Title: Discoveries lead to revelations

By Fianna9

Sequel "Your friends can discover"

Verse: G1

Rating: PG13

Prompt: Secrets

Warnings: minor Cybertronian cursing, mention of slash and interface, mpreg (in nongendered mechanical beings)

Disclaimer: Transformers belongs to companies with a lot more money than I have.

Summary: Reactions and changes brought about by the previous battle's revelations.

A/N: for the prowlxjazz challenge 2014 prompt: secrets

Special thanks to MyNameIsJag for long ago letting me bounce ideas off of you. Sorry this took so long. My life went a crazy for a while and none of the cast wanted to cooperate. There is no beta, so I apologize for any errors.

grounded = seeker slang for Praxian doorwing mechs (flightless descendents of seekers)

wing-spawn = derogatory Praxian slang for seekers

A short time after the revelatory battle ended in a withdrawal by both sides, two messages almost simultaneously headed off to Cybertron. One message was triple-coded, triple-checked and blipped through on a special, secret frequency; the other message was hastily downloaded on a datapad and haphazardly dumped into an energon-filled transport shuttle being sent towards the spacebridge. Neither of these communiqués received an immediate verbal or written response.

Overall, the Autobots handled the new information about their SiC fairly well. A few individuals had more…interesting or noteworthy responses than others.

Ratchet became completely sick of playing hide-and-seek in Redwoods National Park and started randomly throwing wrenches in hopes of smacking the saboteur. Failing to locate Jazz, he did manage to frighten a number of squirrels. The attacks were thwarted by a pleasant ambush by his mate involving high grade and a large tarp turned blanket.

Wheeljack caused a mild panic when Perceptor failed to locate him after the battle. His disappearance was explained by the cheerful inventor and sated medic driving in slowly together six hours after Jazz made it back to the Ark. Wheeljack just grinned at Ratchet growled response to Jazz's cheerful call "hope you two had fun out there" as they passed him on the way to the medbay.

Optimus seemed relieved that Prowl's behavior had an explanation as well as extremely pleased about the new spark. No one but Roller saw Prime chuckling late one night after a long talk with Skyfire. The next day Prime ordered Grapple, Huffer and Hoist to turn the small storage room next to the pair's quarters into a sparkling berthroom/play area. The trio put a special lock the doorway to the hall and created a connecting door between the two rooms.

Now that he knew what was going on Jazz seemed to take his bondmate's new habits in stride and appeared delighted with all the changes. To most of the Autobots, Jazz seemed perfectly at ease and was eager to help Dead End adjust to his new environment; only Red Alert knew that the TiC had calmly promised to rip Dead End's spark out if he hurt any of his new siblings or his new caregiver. After his dominance had been established and acknowledged, Jazz went around the Ark cheerfully referred to Bluestreak and Dead End as "our young 'ons" and was often found in the Rec Room or Prowl's office fussing over his mate and the new sparkling.

Prowl didn't seem to care that his brooder protocols were now common knowledge to both sides. He continued to attempt to work long hours in his office, but he did agree to refuel and recharge on a more consistent basis. Optimus agreed to add "teaching the youngsters to become productive citizens of Cybertron" to Prowl's list of duties in exchange for some of Prowl's paperwork and lesser responsibilities being divided among the other officers so that "he could focus more of his attention upon helping Dead End feel safe and welcome in the Ark." After Ratchet suggested that sunlight would be good for his systems Prowl moved story time outside to a small outcrop near the front of the Ark.

Skyfire quickly fell into the habit of bringing extra energon to Prowl during Jazz's shifts. The large shuttle seemed eager to be of assistance to the pair and often checked on the tactician's status. He also quietly kept a watchful optic on the skies surrounding the Ark on the occasions Prowl ventured outside.

Surprising most of the Autobots, Red Alert showed that he had some past experience with brooders by not attempting to brig Dead End once he was inside the Ark. Instead, he suggested to an irritated Prowl that the confused Stunticon remain confined primarily to the Dinobots' quarters and be closely monitored when he was out for his own protection and safety.

Even though he seemed to accept his new status and never really attempted to escape his confinement in the Dinobot's lair, Dead End often flinched away from the larger mechs especially when they got into arguments. After yet another minor brawl between Slag and Snarl caused Dead End to cower in a corner, Grimlock had had enough. "Why you Dead End afraid of us Dinobots?"

Dead End's shoulders slumped as he glanced up at the most dangerous Dinobot. "You going to show me my place now?"

"You Dead End in your place. Daddy 'Jack say you stay with us Dinobots." Grimlock stared down at the smaller mech.

"No, when are you going to stop pretending to be pleasant and beat me up?" The other Dinobots stared over at the curiously resigned mech as he continued. "You're all tougher than me, and I know I'm not capable of stopping you."

Snarl scowled. "Us Dinobots don't hit small Autobots. Only wimpy bots beat up smaller bots."

"Motormaster beats us all the time." Dead End admitted, relaxing slightly as he looked around at the genuinely disgusted Dinobots.

"Him Motormaster a coward. Us Dinobots beat him for being a bully." Sludge said dismissingly, patting the floor. "Cousin Dead End come play game."

"Cousin?" Dead End looked up inquiringly as he picked up the controller.

"All Uncle Prowl's sparklings Dinobots' cousins: cousin Bluestreak, cousin Dead End, cousin not-named new spark." Swoop chuckled, forcing the humor to help ease the tension. Discretely, he sent a message to Smokescreen and Ratchet filling them in on the younger mech's previous situation.

Later that week, Swoop made Slag apologize for tossing their cousin aside as he charged Snarl. Since his force field had prevented any serious injury, Dead End seemed to take the that argument in stride.

Smokescreen had the dubious pleasure of spending many an afternoon explaining Praxian brooder programming to some very confused Autobots, a number of which had issues coping with particular points in the explanation. Even his weekly card games were interrupted with continued questions and speculation.

"So," Gears glared over at Smokescreen. "Prowl's adopting random Decepticons, bringing them to our base, letting them roam freely, and we're supposed to just accept this? He's glitched; have Ratchet fix him."

"This isn't a glitch." Smokescreen sighed as he dealt the cards to the seated mechs. "Prowl's brooding protocols have completely activated. The blatant attempt at abuse caused him to immediately take Dead End in as his adopted offspring. If we're lucky, this is the only active 'Con he'll adopt, but I won't be surprised if we see Breakdown here soon as well. That mech is a mess."

"Prowl's probably going to try to fix that menace Motormaster next." Gears grumbled as he stomped towards the door, passing Ironhide as he approached the energon dispenser. "He'll bring that behemoth in here and I know he's going to rip my poor aching arms off, and I just know Prowl will throw me in the brig for upsetting that monster."

"Doubtful." Bluestreak piped up from his chair, calling after the departing minibot. "If it was just the Dinobots maybe, I mean they can take care of themselves, but Motormaster is too aggressive and dangerous to allow near Fireflight or First Aid or Bumblebee for that matter. Let alone a new spark. That and he attacked Dead End in front of Prowl. Prowl considers him a menace and won't give him the chance to abuse anyone else. That's probably why Smokey thinks he'll adopt Breakdown. I mean, Wildrider and Dragstrip are honestly as much a problem as Motormaster, just in different ways."

"You seem to be taking this a lot better now." Groove chuckled, looking at his cards as he picked them up from the table. "Two cards, please."

"Now that I know what's going on it all makes sense and it seems silly I didn't realize it sooner. All Praxians learn about brooders, but I don't remember knowing one with active protocols until now." Bluestreak sighed. "Prowl could have just told me all this was going on. He had to know it was activating. I mean I'm happy and honored to be a big brother to his new sparkling."

"What about Dead End?" Groove laughed slightly at the faraway smile on Bluestreak's face. "You've got him to deal with as well now."

"He's really not any trouble right now, even Red Alert admits it. In fact, he spends most of his time watching tv with the Dinobots. According to Mirage the six of them are watching a Nature marathon on PBS with Hound and Trailbreaker today. Something about birds I think. One card, Smokey."

Tracks shook his head to erase the image crossing his processor. "I think I'll take three cards. We will just have to adjust to these new circumstances as they materialize. I for one believe that it will be a pleasant change not to have to worry about Menasor on the battlefield."

"What caused it all, man?" Groove cocked his head curiously towards Smokescreen. "Sparklings are cool and all, but something has to have started this running. Prowl's programming didn't just go haywire all of a sudden."

"It probably started when he adopted me after Praxus fell." Bluestreak sighed.

"That would probably have been it," Smokescreen nodded. "Fortunately you weren't a sparkling, so it would have normally only activated the protective part of the programming. Bumblebee's presence would have normally pushed it further, but Ironhide and Chromia were adamant about adopting him and they're level of protectiveness would have kept it dormant. At some point after that Jazz and Prowl apparently got heavily involved giving him a mate for the programming to latch onto. Ratchet and Wheeljack probably started the caregiver functions going when they created the Dinobots, but I bet everything went in high gear when we added ten more youngsters. Primus, I'm not surprised he triggered and got himself jumped by Jazz."

"All that aside, I don't get why Prowl was so vehemently opposed to the idea of a Seeker for a partner." Air Raid piped up from a table on the other side of the room. Skydive tried to shush him.

Bluestreak growled, optics flashing with anger. "Wing-spawn can on rare occasion be frag buddies but they don't make good mates; every Praxian knows that."

"Why not?" Air Raid snarled as he rose from his seat, looking offended. "What's wrong with Flyers?"

"Seekers only want a good time. They either abandon you when you're sparked up or dump their random sparklings on brooders and expect them to raise it." Smokescreen grumbled. Nodding apologetically towards the offended Aerialbots, he continued, "It's different with Flyers. They at least stick around to help take care of new sparks."

"So we're not wing-spawn?" Skydive asked, looking confused as he tugged Air Raid back into his seat.

"We'd never call you that." Smokescreen tipped his helm apologetically to the two Flyers. "Only Seekers deserve to be called that."

"So, are you two going crazy on us too?" Groove looked at Bluestreak and Smokescreen speculatively. "Are you going to be jumping and getting jumped by mechs and making more sparks."

Smokescreen shook his helm. "Thank Primus, neither of us have brooder protocols; that was the first thing First Aid checked when we got back. We only have to worry about Prowl acting like this."

"So why did you get ticked at Cliffy for cursing? It's not like the scrapper hasn't done it before." Air Raid looked over at Smokescreen, curious.

"Because Prowl would have washed Jumper's mouth out with cleanser, right?" Groove laughed lightly.

"And mine for not stopping him." Smokescreen admitted somewhat reluctantly, glancing at the three cards he'd drawn from the pile.

Powerglide looked amused as he finally finished sorting his cards. "So, we only have to deal with one crazy Praxian, and we can once again blame Ratchet and Wheeljack for this mess."

"Hey!" Skydive protested. "Why is it their fault?"

"They're the ones that sparked up both times and created the Dinobots." Powerglide continued, waving a servo at Groove and the Aerialbots. "Then they gave us you lot. With that many new mechs no wonder Prowl's programming went crazy. Oh, give me a card."

"Maybe, but there may be more to the situation. You seem to know something we don't, Ironhide." Tracks looked over at the grinning mech leaning against the wall, apparently enjoying the conversation.

Ironhide just laughed and shook his helm. "I know it's not all their fault. Who do ya think was Bee's primary sitter as a sparkling back in Iacon? Chromia and I knew Prowl's office was the safest place for the little tyke, and he turned out to be the most competent sparksitter we could find." With a grin Ironhide continued. "Frag mechs, this has been primed to happen since Cybertron."

The Deceptions had their own varied reactions to Prowl's newly discovered status.

Megatron seemed torn between amusement over the Autobot's tactician having new distractions and severe anger over losing access to one of his gestalts. His rantings filled the Nemesis, and he shot several new holes in walls aiming at Starscream. Megatron also spent a great deal of time watching all of the Seekers intently.

Motormaster yelled for ages at the remaining Stunticons and during one outburst put Wildrider halfway into a wall. Later, he had a long discussion with Astrotrain and Blitzwing trying to get them to help drag "that traitorous backstabber" back to the Nemesis and "teach him a lesson in pain he'll never forget". His mood was not improved when Onslaught took the opportunity to mock him for losing his gestalt mate in such a pathetic way.

Having proved his superior knowledge of his Autobot counterpart to the lowly masses, Starscream agreed to share his newly won high grade with his trinemates. The three mocked the Autobots' shock over the two officers' relationship and idly speculated on the chaos soon to overwhelm the Ark. Later Starscream neglected to mention Skywarp's extracurricular activities to Megatron and hinted a suggestion to Thundercracker about a private wager to place with Swindle.

Dirge, Thrust and Ramjet spent several hours locked in their quarters. So did Vortex, Blast Off and Brawl. No one really wanted to find out what they were up to.

Ever the entrepreneur, Swindle started taking bets on Prowl's due date and whether or not it would happen in the middle of a battle. After Blackout reminded him that the Dinobots had been a trio and a duo respectively courtesy of Wheeljack and Ratchet, the number of sparklings and respective genders were added into the betting pool.

There was one unanticipated outcome of the battle that was enjoyed by every Decepticon when it was discovered.

Scavenger stomped into the unusually quiet rec room. Glancing around, he spotted Soundwave sitting in a corner reading a datapad while Ravage laying contently at his pedes. "Soundwave, where are Ratbat and your twin pit-spawns hiding?"

Soundwave didn't even look up from his datapad. "Autobot Prowl sparksitting."

Dead End sighed as he trailed after Slag and Snarl down the path towards the outdoor story area. Stepping around his larger cousins (who was he to argue with them?), his optics flickered as he took in the sight of Ratbat clinging to Groove's shoulderplates while Rumble and Frenzy sat reluctantly on the ground in front of Grimlock waiting for the continuation of the tale of Turnover and the Six Windrunners. "Soundwave always could have used more help with those three."

"Calm down, Red. At least now we know where the little menaces are during story time."