Disclaimer: Nope, not mine. I just play with them.

Author's Note: This is, perhaps, the first 'smutless' part of the 'Falling' series since part one...figures it would end as it started, though. Smut just...didn't fit in here.

And to clarify, Jazz and Prowl didn't actually bond in part 6. They inadvertently made the beginning of a connection...and then they finished the job the next night, in part 7. So only now are they getting the full after-affects of it. XD

- Interference -

"Slaggit, we're going to have to blow it." Sideswipe cursed as he tried his last trick to get past Jazz's door lock.

"And alert everyone in the Ark as to what we're doing?" Sunstreaker said irritably. "I told you this wouldn't work. Give it up and let's go find something else to do."

"No, I refuse. I have put enough into this that I am going to see it through to the end!" Sideswipe declared hotly.

"You've spent fifteen minutes trying to open his slagging door." Sunstreaker snarled in reply. "It takes you more time to plan most of your pranks than that, let alone carry them out. Compared to most of your plans, fifteen minutes is nothing. So just let it go and let's go find something else to do!" Sideswipe scowled at his brother.

"I may have only been trying to open the door for fifteen minutes, but do you know how slagging hard it was to re-route the alarms? The cameras? How long that took? And how many favours I had to pull in to make sure that almost every officer was occupied for the majority of the day, with only three days notice? Prowl was the only one I couldn't manage, and his shift is only four hours today, so I'm not about to just give up." Sideswipe said defiantly.

"I told you from the beginning that you wouldn't be able to get past Jazz's lock. If you'd believed me then, accepted than you're not the god of lock-picking, you wouldn't have had to put so much time into getting this far, only to find out you can't do what I told you you wouldn't be able to." Sunstreaker replied heatedly.

"But I have put this much time into it, and now I am not going to slagging give up! I'll just go get a minor explosive from Wheeljack's' lab. You wait here." Sideswipe said, stepping away from the wall, and Sunstreaker snorted.

"There is no such thing as a minor explosive in Wheeljack's lab, and I am not staying here!" Sunstreaker said, following his brother as he headed off.

"On the contrary, both of you will be staying right here and explaining precisely what you think you're doing." a deep voice rumbled from behind them, and Sideswipe and Sunstreaker froze. Slowly, they looked behind - and then up.

"Oh, uh, heh, hi Prime. Sir." Sideswipe said nervously as Optimus Prime scowled down at the twins.

:I am going to slagging kill you.: Sunstreaker snarled vehemently over their bond.

--

The shift had been the longest of Prowl's long life, despite being only a half shift. Though he and Jazz had informed Ratchet of their unintentional, but definitely not unpleasant, accident the night before, they had decided to keep it quiet for now, and so gone about their usual duties. Ratchet had advised against it, but both of them had agreed that it would be better if the news of their bonding wasn't spread around. The Decepticons could take advantage of it, for one, and for another, the news would inevitably work its way to the humans, and Spike and Sparkplug were still trying to get over the latest gossip of Jazz and Prowl being 'an item', as they put it. The concept of Cybertronian 'marriage' would probably be too much for them to handle, especially considering their organic view of gender and relationships.

Both reasons, however, were wearing rather thin for Prowl. He understood now - four hours, ten minutes, and three seconds after saying goodbye to Jazz for the day - why Ratchet had told them with amusement they wouldn't be able to do it. They were good, he had said, but not that good. They were still normal mechs. Their bond needed time to settle, so that they wouldn't feel the constant need to be close to each other. Until it did, they would be uncomfortable anytime they were apart. Jazz had made some sort of flippant response, Prowl had simply replied that this was necessary, and therefore they would do it. Then they had left to get ready for their shifts, and from the moment they had parted, everything had gone downhill.

It wasn't like he was in physical or emotional pain, but Prowl found that the longer he sat at his desk, going through reports, the more irritable he became. The more distracted. He kept glancing around, expecting, wanting, Jazz to be there, and every time the saboteur wasn't there, he was disappointed. He could have reached out through the newly-formed bond, but Jazz was attending an elementary school concert put on in honour of the Autobots, and with him at the center of attention of a large number of pre-teen humans and their parents and teachers, distracting him would probably be a bad idea. So instead Prowl tried to deal with it, but found it more and more difficult. By the end of his shift, he'd given up entirely on doing work, and for the last ten minutes, had simply sat in his chair, arms folded on the desk in front of him and head cocked slightly to the side as he watched his internal chronometer count down. He swore that it slowed down as he watched it, even though one hundred and sixty-two self-diagnostics on it said otherwise.

When it was finally time for the end of his shift, Prowl rose from his desk and walked out of his office without a backwards glance, and didn't stop until he'd reached his quarters, not even to say hello to the mechs he passed. All he wanted was to curl up on the berth and wait for Jazz to get back so he could convince his lover - no, bond-mate - that they'd be wrong and he didn't slagging care who knew, as long as he could have Jazz all to himself for the next month, which was how long Ratchet had said he would have recommended before returning them to any sort of active duty.

Distracted as Prowl was by these pleasant thoughts, it took him until he was standing by his berth to realize that something was very, very wrong with his quarters. The most obvious thing, since it was right in front of him, was that the berth was bigger. Much bigger. In fact, he'd dare say it had doubled in size. Slowly, he turned around to look over the rest of his quarters, and while it wasn't expected, he was somehow not surprised to see the other new additions, all of which were almost as familiar to him as his own things. Eyeing it all consideringly, he decided to contact Jazz to see what the saboteur had to say for himself.

"Prowl to Jazz." Prowl called over a private comm line, not trusting himself to reach out over their bond when he knew Jazz was still at the concert.

"Jazz here. What's up, Prowler?" Jazz asked, his happiness at hearing from his bondmate clear in his voice.

"Were you aware that all your things have been moved out of your quarters?" Prowl asked. Silence.

"To where?" Jazz asked, sounding wary.

"My quarters." Prowl replied.

"Huh. Someone saved me calling in a favour, I guess." Jazz sounded amused.

"Oh?" Prowl inquired, and Jazz chuckled over the line, and pleasant signals shot through Prowl at the wonderful sound.

"Yeah, I was gonna get the twins to haul your stuff into mine, since you had less, but apparently someone decided to take the initiative." Jazz said.

"Were you going to ask me before you had them do that?" Prowl inquired.

"Probably, maybe, not." Jazz replied casually. "We're always in each other's quarters anyways now. Figured you wouldn't mind. Do you?"

"It appears I have little choice in the matter." Prowl said dryly, though he let a teasing edge enter his voice so Jazz knew he didn't mind. "There is one thing puzzling about this, however."

"What's that?" Jazz asked.

"You lock your quarters every morning when you leave, do you not?" Prowl asked, and there was a long pause before muffled cursing came from Jazz's end. "I'll pay a visit to Red Alert, see if I can find out who did it."

"And when you find out who it was, let me know. I want to know how they got past my lock." Jazz said grimly. Prowl answered an affirmative, then cut the line. He didn't pause, didn't stop to think, as he headed out of his quarters. With something tangible to focus on, something related to Jazz, he found it easier to push aside that empty feeling of not having Jazz around. He stopped by Jazz's quarters first, inspecting the lock before stepping inside. The place was barren, devoid of everything - only Jazz's secret compartments, where he held the special gear that was technically illegal for him to own, even as head of special ops, remained untouched. Whoever had emptied Jazz's quarters, then, had either not known of them, or chosen not to move them. Frowning in both confusion and frustration at the lack of evidence, Prowl left the room and continued on to the security office. Red Alert was waiting for him, spinning around to face the door and speaking as soon as Prowl stepped inside.

"Is something wrong, Prowl?" the security officer asked.

"Yes. I would like to see the video from the security cameras outside the officer's quarters for the last four hours." Prowl said evenly. Red Alert frowned at the request, but turned and punched a few numbers into his console, and the main screen in the office brought up an image of the hall outside the officer's quarters, quite plainly showing Jazz's door, and just barely showing Prowl's - more than enough to see anyone hauling things between them, however. After several minutes with no action, Red Alert sped up the recording without prompting, first to twice normal, then three, four, five, going all the way up to ten times normal speed, but nothing moved, not even a shadow. Bumblebee passed through the corridor for no discernible reason, not lingering even slightly, and Wheeljack fetched something from his quarters, but other than that, there was no movement. Frowning, Prowl stepped forward and accessed the file information, and found that it was, indeed, today's recording.

"You're sure this hasn't been tampered with?" Prowl asked.

"As sure as I can be with mechs like Jazz and Mirage running around. Really, how you and Prime expect me to keep security up around here with bots wandering around that hack into my security mainframe every other day is beyond me. If you would just enforce the punishments for such infractions instead of turning a blank optic, it would go a long way towards curtailing their activities and allowing me to actually keep the Ark secure." Red Alert grumbled.

"Jazz is on a mission outside the Ark today, and Mirage is spying on the Decepticons." Prowl replied evenly. "Is there anyone else that could have altered the video?"

"Anyone on the special ops teams. Sideswipe. Wheeljack. Perceptor. Prime. You and me." Red Alert rattled off, and Prowl arched an optic ridge at him.

"Prime?" he inquired.

"His command overrides would allow him access to the system without leaving any sort of a trace if he wanted to." Red Alert replied reasonably, then gave Prowl a suspicious look. "Why are you so convinced that the video has been altered? Have you discovered a security breach that you haven't informed me of? It is your duty to inform me of any potential security breaches, you know."

"It's nothing major, simply a few things rearranged in my quarters. I'm quite sure the usual pranksters are to blame." Prowl said reassuringly, trying to stave off the security officer's paranoia.

"Breaking into an officer's quarters is a security breach of the highest level - " Red Alert protested, but Prowl raised a hand, the and the security officer quieted sullenly.

"I agree, especially in this case. Once I have evidence as to who was involved, I will allow you to deal with them as you see fit." Prowl replied easily, and Red Alert looked honestly surprised at that. "Whoever it was managed to get past Jazz's door, as well." Red Alert frowned.

"That's almost impossible. There's only four mechs on the Ark that could do that, as well as alter the security tapes." he said.

"Oh?" Prowl asked curiously.

"Jazz, you, me, and Prime." Red Alert replied succinctly. "At least without leaving any damage."

"Really." Prowl said, arching an optic ridge, and Red Alert nodded.

"And as Jazz has, as you said, been out on a mission for the four hours in question, you are the one inquiring about the breach, and I have been on duty, that leaves only Prime." Red Alert said, then paused a moment before adding, "Unless Jazz gave someone else the code to access his quarters." Prowl immediately shook his head, knowing Jazz hadn't. Jazz hadn't left his door unlocked when he wasn't inside, and had kept his door code close, ever since he'd started keeping things in those special compartments. It was for that reason that Optimus and Prowl ignored the existence of those compartments, and their contents and their occasional uses. They knew and trusted Jazz to keep the items secure, and only use them when absolutely necessary.

"Then the culprit has to be Prime." Red Alert declared, and seemed to realize what he'd just said only moments later, giving Prowl an odd look. "Why would Prime rearrange some things in both your and Jazz's quarters?"

"Good question." Prowl said, glancing at the screens. "I'll let you know when I find out." With that, Prowl turned and left the office, leaving a muttering Red Alert to get back to his cameras, though in all likelihood, the security officer would be digging through the system to try and find out more about this newest 'security breach'. Outside the office, Prowl hesitated on where to go - he couldn't exactly march up to Optimus and ask him if he'd done it, and as big and strong as the Autobot leader was, he couldn't have moved all of Jazz's things into Prowl's quarters in only four hours by himself. Then again, if Optimus had been involved, then there was really no reason to worry, since he would have had the code to Jazz's quarters and wouldn't have had to break past the lock.

"Jazz." Prowl called again over the comm line.

"Figure out who it was?" Jazz replied, easily knowing who it was.

"Optimus." Prowl replied dryly, and there was silence on the other end.

"Huh. Wow. Shoulda figured, after he set us up on that bogus mission in the first place." Jazz mused.

"...he did what?" Prowl asked incredulously.

"Didn't I tell you about that?" Jazz said in surprise.

"No, I don't believe you did." Prowl said evenly.

"Heh. Yeah, that mission where -" Jazz's transmission abruptly cut off, and Prowl straightened in alarm. It was only a few moments before the tentative touch came over the bond. :Transmission's being blocked. Better get some mechs out here.: So much more could be conveyed over the bond than the comm line - Prowl could feel that Jazz was as jittery as him at being separated, and now worried and tense at the prospect of an oncoming battle. Ratchet had been adamant that while they could maybe handle light duty, he would personally put them on medical leave if they so much as thought of going into battle, since they'd be a danger to themselves and others with a newly-forged, unsettled bond.

:I'll let them know.: Prowl said, sending encouragement and his own longing back over the bond. Jazz replied with a burst of warmth, of his love, and then the bond subsided. Prowl didn't pause, breaking into a run as he headed for the control room, calling a battle alert as he went.

"Prowl, I haven't gotten any alert." Blaster said with a frown, though he was frantically scanning through channels as Prowl rushed into the control room.

"Try contacting Jazz." Prowl said succinctly, and Blaster did so.

"Dead air. Slag. Soundwave's there." Blaster cursed. "What could he possibly want with an elementary school? That's a residential neighbourhood, there's nothing of value there."

"Except Jazz." Prowl said, his processor automatically presenting the reason. It took a moment for what he's said to catch up to him, and he froze for a moment before continuing on as usual. Inside, however, he was almost in a panic. Without even thinking, he added himself to the battle group heading out. Since he and Jazz hadn't gotten around to telling Optimus - and apparently neither had Ratchet, and the medic was on bed rest again today - there was no one to object as he joined them. Optimus did make a comment about him supposed to not be on battle duty by his own recommendation, but didn't say anything else, since he knew Prowl's reason. If Jazz was in danger, Prowl was going after him, end of story.

It seemed to take forever for Skyfire to get them to the elementary school, and by the time they got there, it was obvious that Jazz had acted immediately. The school was fine, but Jazz was gone, leaving confused and saddened children. Optimus had a quick conversation with the principal, explaining the situation, and the woman nodded before headed off to give her students some excuse for Jazz's sudden departure. Most of them were already mollified simply because they got to see Optimus Prime, if even for a short bit.

"He's not here. The principal said he ran off unexpectedly, heading northwards. Knowing Jazz, he could be anywhere by now, and with Soundwave in the area jamming transmissions..." Optimus said, shaking his head.

"He's that way." Prowl said, pointing, instinctively knowing where his bondmate was. When everyone else stared at him incredulously, Prowl growled in annoyance and stomped off, wishing he could transform as he headed in Jazz's direction. Optimus and the others followed after a short time, and though Optimus repeatedly asked Prowl over the comm line how he knew Jazz was in this direction, Prowl didn't respond, especially when the first feeling of pain came over the bond. Breaking into a run, it didn't take him long after that to find the large park where Soundwave and his cassettes had finally caught up with Jazz.

Though he was by no means a melee mech - he had the skills for close combat, but he did better at ranged, and had less armour than a melee mech should have - Prowl didn't even hesitate to launch himself at Soundwave. His momentum actually caused the larger mech to lose his balance, sending them both crashing to the ground. Almost hysterical amusement filtered over the bond, Jazz apparently having seen the leap and thought it was entertaining. Prowl pushed that aside as he crouched over Soundwave, glaring down at the larger blue mech.

"This was a very, very bad idea." he hissed at the Decepticon. Soundwave made no reply, instead tossing the tactician off without much trouble, but Prowl was able to roll with his landing and spring up again. By this time, the other Autobots had caught up to Prowl and transformed, but apparently Soundwave hadn't come without back-up just in case. The screaming of jet engines overhead alerted the Autobots to the arrival of the Seekers, and Optimus quickly ordered Bluestreak and Cliffjumper to try and shoot them down. He may have, perhaps, ordered Prowl to break away from Soundwave and join them, but honestly, Prowl wasn't paying attention, his attention focused on Soundwave. The blue mech seemed surprised that Prowl was willing to face off against him, and motioned for one of his cassettes to take care of the tactician.

"Oh frag no." Rumble declared indignantly, and Soundwave and Prowl both looked at the cassetticon in surprise. "No way am I fighting a slagged off bond-mate. You can have the pleasure." with that, the cassette trotted off to join his brothers trying to pin down Jazz. The saboteur wasn't giving them an easy time of it, and for now, they seemed evenly matched. Slowly, Prowl turned back to face Soundwave. The Decepticon stared back impassively.

"Opinion: about time." the blue mech stated, then attacked, and Prowl had no time to contemplate the strange comment as he attempted to ward off the larger mech's attacks. Somewhere at the back of his mind, Prowl heard Optimus telling him to disengage and let him handle Soundwave, but he didn't listen. Prowl was, after all, holding his own - for now. He was far more agile, and Soundwave was used to having his cassettes to back him up. But while they seemed content to attack Jazz, none of them seemed to want to go near Prowl.

It wasn't long, anyways, before the inevitable happened. Either Megatron watching from afar, or Starscream flying overhead, decided that the battle wasn't worth it anymore, and sounded the retreat. The Decepticons neatly disengaged themselves - they were getting rather good at that, Prowl mused unkindly - and took to the air. Prowl made sure to get a few more shots in after they took to the air, then went to make sure Jazz was alright.

"I'm fine." Jazz said dismissively as Prowl walked up, grinning widely. "But Prowler, was that ever a sight to see, you takin' on Soundwave."

"He attacked you." Prowl replied logically. "Therefore, I attacked him." Jazz snickered, and then an irritated noise to Prowl's right suddenly made him aware of the fact that they were not alone. Looking over, he and Jazz found Optimus standing a few yards away, frowning down at them.

"I believe you two have some explaining to do." he said sternly when he realized he had their attention.

"No more than you do. Sir." Prowl replied flatly, and there was an unnatural stillness as the other Autobots realized that Prowl had just back-talked Optimus. Optimus himself stared at his second-in-command in surprise. "Or would you be denying setting us up on a false mission and later over-riding Jazz's door lock and altering the Ark security video?" Optimus gave Prowl a calculating look.

"I had nothing to do with altering the security video." the Autobot leader said after a moment, and Jazz snickered next to Prowl. The Autobot leader then turned away and went to check on the other mechs, calling for Skyfire as he went.

--

It was all over the Ark by evening. Everywhere Prowl and Jazz went, mechs grinned knowingly at them, and it was slowly driving the tactician insane. Jazz loved every minute of the attention, and would have gone to the rec room to bask in more of it had Prowl not seen where he was heading after First Aid fixed his dents from the battle. Much to the amusement of the other mechs in the hall, Prowl grabbed Jazz by one of his horns, causing the saboteur to yelp, and hauled him off to his - their - quarters. Not that Jazz struggled much once they got back there. There were, as he put it, so many more possibilities now that the berth was bigger, and they spent the night exploring many of those possibilities.

And, while they were otherwise occupied, the other residents of the Ark...plotted.

"Ratchet. It's good to see you up and about. What can I do for you?" Prowl asked the next morning when Ratchet entered his office not five minutes after Prowl himself had.

"Get your aft down to med bay for starters." Ratchet said sternly, and Prowl gave the medic a curious look.

"All my injuries from yesterday were taken care of." he said.

"And yet you're still missing something." Ratchet said, pointing behind the tactician, and to the medic's eternal astonishment, Prowl brightened visibly, grinning slightly.

"My door wings are repaired." he said, his voice amazingly even considering how happy he looked.

"And I'll put them back on if you stop smiling like that. You're creeping me out." Ratchet said, glaring at the tactician. Prowl actually laughed, which led to Jazz sending inquiring thoughts over the bond. And if Ratchet thought he had it bad, well, Jazz hadn't thought that Prowl even knew what giddy was, let alone could pull it off. Regardless, Prowl calmed himself as requested as he followed Ratchet to the med bay. To make things easier, Ratchet put Prowl into stasis while he and First Aid re-attached the door wings and re-activated Prowl's transformation sequence.

And while they were doing that, Skyfire sent an innocent page to Jazz, saying he wanted to talk to him about something, and could he please come outside? Jazz went, blissfully unaware of any foul play...right up until Ratchet stomped up Skyfire's ramp carrying his unconscious bondmate, dropped said bondmate in the nearest chair, wished them a nice vacation, and left.

"Don't even try, Jazz." Skyfire said with amusement as the saboteur tried to get out of the seat he'd so innocently settled in. Seatbelts now held him firmly in place, and knowing that they were a part of Skyfire, Jazz wasn't about to cut through them. Jazz glared at the console for a moment, then finally chuckled.

"So whose idea was this?" he asked.

"Ironhide's." Skyfire replied. "Well, actually, I think technically you have Sentinel Prime to blame for this, since Ironhide got the idea from having the same thing done to himself and Chromia by Sentinel."

"What is it with Prime's suddenly being sneaky? Or at least me finally finding out about it?" Jazz mused.

"Perhaps you just hadn't annoyed a Prime enough for them to show you their sneaky side until recently." the shuttle responded.

"Guess so. Where we going, anyways?" Jazz asked curiously.

"Someplace called the 'Bahamas'." Skyfire answered, and Jazz grinned, leaning back and relaxing in the seat.

"Well, you shoulda said so from the start!" he said.

"If we'd told you, Prowl would have found out." Skyfire said reasonably.

"He was unconscious by the time you paged me." Jazz commented. "I see your point, however." Jazz glanced over at the still unconscious Prowl. "How long before he wakes up, anyways?"

"Hopefully he'll wake up after I land." Skyfire said. "I asked Ratchet to keep him under for the trip if possible."

"Oh, so you're going to leave me with an upset Prowl?" Jazz asked.

"I think you can handle him." Skyfire said with a chuckle, and Jazz snickered an agreement.

--

Prowl onlined to contentment. He could feel Jazz's presence not far away, as well as hearing the saboteur humming to himself pleasantly. In the background there was the soothing sound of ocean waves, the sun was shining down on him, warming him gently, and...wait. Prowl's optics flipped on and he rolled and sat up in one smooth motion before staring around himself with incredulity.

"Jazz?" he asked after a few moments.

"Yeah Prowler?" the saboteur replied cheerily, and the tactician looked over to see his bondmate attempting to build a sand castle.

"Why are we on a beach?" Prowl asked.

"Sentinel Prime." Jazz replied. Prowl stared blankly at him mate for several minutes before sighing and covering his face with his hands, knowing it would fry his logic circuits to try and understand. "Hey, come help me with this sand castle, willya?"

- HA! Finally! THE END! -