This chapter is basically the same, but still revamped slightly for grammatical errors and such.

Enjoy!! :D

After a good recharge cycle for everyone, Ratchet and Artemis went right back to work fixing up Jazz's body. Ironhide was still pacing outside the medbay, but not as often as he did earlier. But everyone could tell he was in a better mood. He even put up with entertaining Bumblebee for a few hours. Now that was something to see.

Back in the medbay, spirits were high as well.

"Ah, I wonder how mad he's gonna be when he finds out he's about three inches shorter than he was," Ratchet mused aloud, chuckling at the thought.

"Is he really that sensitive about his height?"

"You have no idea, Artemis. You have no idea."

Welding his two halves together took overlapping of his armor and main body structure, which of course made him shorter. Lucky for them, he was still offline for the time being.

"Artemis, can you see if you can smooth out the other side of that weld?" Ratchet asked, handing her the tool.

"Sure thing 'Ratch," she replied, leaning over to get a better view of what she was doing.

"After we're finished with this, and rewire a few of his vitals into their permanent positions instead of all the temporary ones we set up, we should be able to bring him back online with little to no pain."

"I'm sure Ironhide is gonna be very happy to hear that," Artemis smiled.

A few hours and a few new connections later, the Autobots surrounded the examination table Jazz was lying on.

"Alright, here we go," Ratchet said as he brought him back online.

Jazz's visor flickered as his optics became operational.

"Ugh…" he thought. "I feel like I've been ripped in two…oh, wait. I was. That explains a lot. AH! That's right! Megatron!...was I captured or something?" He looked around, trying to focus on the faces peering down at him.

"Jazz? Jazz. Can you hear me?"

He winced. That voice was too loud for his still-sensitive audio receiver, but at least he recognized it as somewhat friendly. Just couldn't put a name to it. Relieved he was not a Decepticon prisoner, he tried to tell whoever it was to tone it down, but his vocal processors wouldn't work. Ratchet forgot to switch them on.

"Jazz." The voice got louder. "Jazz, for Primus's sake, can you hear me?"

"Yes, I can hear you," he thought, irritated. "But someone forgot to switch my vocal processors back on and I'm not exactly up for databursting yet."

"Give him a minute," Artemis said. "He's probably still rebooting his entire system. Oh, and make sure his vocals are back on. I think you had them switched off earlier when you were fixing them."

"Yeah, listen to…whoever that is. Why don't I recognize that voice? Did I lose part of my memory!?!? What did Ratchet DO to me?" Jazz thought frantically. "Oh, wait. That first voice. Its Ratchet! Okay, I remember him, the impatient slagger…forgetting to turn my vocals back on…he would. Anyway, I better be able to remember Ironhide…oh, okay. I do. Cool. And Optimus and Bumblebee. I remember myself, obviously. Cybertronian history…well…I don't really care about that. Decepticons…bad. Okay. I think I'm cool."

Ratchet enabled his vocal processors again and said, "Jazz. Can you hear anything at all? Try to speak to us if you can," Ratchet said even louder.

"Shut it, 'Ratch," Jazz struggled to say. "Just my luck, hearing your blaring voice first thing coming back into consciousness," he croaked. He was pretty rusty at this whole speaking thing.

"Haha! he's back all right, the stubborn fragger," Ironhide said, relieved his best friend was okay enough to talk. He gently slapped him on his chestplate.

Now Jazz was starting to clearly see everyone. There was Ironhide. And Bumblebee, Optimus, and Ratchet. Good, they all survived.

Ignoring Jazz's request, Ratchet continued, "Can you move at all? Try to the best you can."

"I don't wanna. I'm tired."

"Jazz, you have to start moving or your joints will be so stiff I'll have to hammer them into movement!"

"Fine with me."

"Jazz!"

"I said, No!"

Exasperated, Ratchet asked, "What do I have to do to get you to actually do something I ask?"

"You could always let him know he's shorter now," Artemis replied, smirking.

"WHAT??" Jazz yelled, bolting upright. "Ratchet! Did you make me shorter? DID YOU?" he grabbed Ratchet's shoulders and pulled him so they were face to face. "I swear, 'Ratch, if I'm so much as an inch shorter…"

Ratchet released himself from Jazz's grip and stepped back before replying. "We had no choice, Jazz. Being ripped in two isn't the easiest thing to fix in the world." he paused for a moment, then continued under Jazz's death glare, "We had to overlap about three inches of your armor and main structure to make sure the weld would hold indefinitely."

Jazz stared blankly at Ratchet. "What?"

Ratchet sighed. "You're three inches shorter, Jazz."

The entire area within a twenty mile radius heard the resulting cry of anguish.

"NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

Ironhide reached out and pulled Jazz back before he could attack Ratchet, holding him in a secure grip while Jazz made a futile effort to release himself. "I never could break your grip," he grumbled. Ironhide just laughed. "I'll let ya go when you calm down some."

"You should be glad you're alive in the first place! If it wasn't for Artemis here, you would've died!" Ratchet said indignantly.

"Wait…who?" Jazz asked, looking around. "Hey, what's up with the little human chick?"

"This is Artemis," Optimus replied, slightly amused at his second-in-command's reaction to his new height. "She's been working non-stop with Ratchet to bring you back."

"No kiddin? You must be pretty sharp for a human to be able to do that."

Artemis smiled at this compliment. "Thanks, Jazz. I'm just glad to see Ironhide in a better mood! You should've seen him. He moped around all day. That is, when he wasn't shooting stuff."

Jazz looked up at his captor. "Aww, 'Hide, you were that upset about losing me? I'm touched," he said, with a slight tone of mockery.

"Yeah, yeah," Ironhide said, knocking Jazz on the head. "The next time you go into a suicide battle I'll just shrug and walk away." He teased.

Jazz laughed, along with the others in the room. "But seriously, Ironhide. I didn't mean to hurt you like that. But I had to buy us some time, and I couldn't let you face Megatron…I'm sorry."

Ironhide released him and replied, "Its okay, Jazz. None of that matters anymore. What does is that you're back, and you're still the aft-headed bot I call my brother."

Jazz smiled and leaned in to hug him. Ironhide hugged him back. Tough guy act be damned; he had his brother back. That's all that mattered.

"Aww, where's a camera when you need one?" Artemis asked, smiling at the two mechs.

"You know, Jazz, it feels weird hugging you now that you're three inches shorter."

"Shut it, Hide."

"Aw, you know I love you."

"And you know I'm very sensitive about my height."

"You'll get over it."

Jazz sighed. "Its like I was never gone…"

Jazz remained in the medbay for a few more days while Ratchet and Artemis finished up the last of his repairs. Ironhide often tried to make his way in to talk with him. Even though it was only a few months, Jazz still missed out on a lot of action. Ironhide informed him of everything that happened since that last battle.

"So, Megatron's dead, right?" Jazz asked. "The Allspark fried him, right?"

"No," came the reply. "We thought it did, but somehow he's back. We spotted him about a month after the battle and he contacted us later to confirm that he is, indeed, alive."

"What?!? But, how can that happen? We killed him! He can't come back!"

"We don't know how it happened. Optimus thinks a part of the Allspark survived and a Decepticon used it to bring him back. But it doesn't matter how he's back anymore. We haven't heard or seen the 'Cons for a long time. They're planning something."

A minute of silence passed before Jazz changed the subject.

"This girl, Artemis," he said, looking around to make sure she wasn't in the medbay. "You remember who she is, right?"

Ironhide shuttered his optics. "Yeah, Jazz, I do."

"And the promise?"

Ironhide looked at him and said, "You know I never back out on my promises. If and when the time comes, I'll hold to it."

"Does she know?"

Ironhide shook his head.

Jazz stared at him intently. "You should tell her. Soon. It could help you with all this…to get over it. Mistakes happen, 'Hide."

Ironhide didn't say anything. He thought that after killing Blackout he'd be able to move on from it…to get a sense of closure. But he was wrong.

"I don't know, Jazz. I have no idea how she would take the news. And even if I wanted to tell her I wouldn't know when to do it." He sighed. "I don't think I could ever bear to tell her."

Jazz pushed him slightly. "Our very own Weapons Specialist, who would face Megatron alone with no cannons in a Sparkbeat to save me, doesn't have the courage to tell a girl the truth? Wow, 'Hide. You surprise me more every day."

Before Ironhide could reply to that, Ratchet shoved him out of the medbay.

"He has repairs to be finished. You can finish talking later!"

Things were running smoothly, the mood of the entire base was at an all-time high, and laughter rang throughout the area. Even Optimus was less stressed out. He could be seen whistling to himself while looking over data pads. But most shocking of all was Ratchet. His tolerance for idiocy had skyrocketed and he was actually recharging in regular intervals without complaint. Though he was still very particular with his medbay. Typical.

"Maybe he's sick," Bumblebee databurst Ironhide. He laughed and replied, "Maybe you should go find out, Bee."

As Ratchet was returning to the medbay with some supplies, Bumblebee ran into him and knocked him over. "Ratchet, are you okay? You've been acting strange lately," he databurst, climbing ontop of the fallen CMO and peering intently into his optics. Ratchet, who would've normally taken offense to such a comment especially after the scatter of his formerly sterilized instruments, said, "No, Bee, I'm just in a really, really good mood." Smiling, he added, "Oh, that reminds me. I can fix your vocal processor now. I finally fixed up that last part."

Bumblebee literally bounced off the walls. "I'll be able to talk again! Yipee!" he databurst everyone. Groans could be heard from both Optimus and Ironhide.

Ratchet slid open the doors and peered into the medbay. "Hey, Artemis. You okay with those touch ups on Jazz? I'm gonna go repair Bee's voice across the hall. I'll be back in time to help you with his weapons though."

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine in here 'Ratch. I'll call if I need you," she replied, watching the doors close.

"Even though he's in a better mood, I'd still rather have you finish these repairs, Artemis," Jazz said. "Ratchet's temper is still shorter than everyone else's. Even 'Hide's."

Two indignant yells came from across the hall. "I heard that!"

"You were meant to!"