Since it's been a while for most of you (-_-; …) I thought I'd include a reminder note about chapter 1: Remember how some of the Autobots were making fun of Prowl's reaction to Sideswipe's prank, referring to it as "breakdown" of some sort (at least for him)? If you do, then you're good for this chapter. If not, well you can fake that you recall it since I just summarized the main point, or go back and read/skim it.

Also, less important, there's a room Prowl used in the second chapter from Beachcomber's report. It's the room that no one used because it was on the lower deck, which was nearly destroyed.

"Hey Bee, you think you can cover my shift?" Jazz casually asked.

"Sorry Jazz. I'd love to help out but a few of us are taking Bluestreak out. We're hoping getting out will help get him out of his funk," Bumblebee apologized.

'Yeah, well if you took my shift then I could nip the problem in the aft and fix both our troubles.' Jazz couldn't really fault Bumblebee and his overly-caring spark, even though he wanted to at the moment. It'd been almost a decaorn since Prowl had returned to duty and the troops had started noticing the unwelcome changes in Prowl after it had began to affect their daily activities. Some of the troops were having difficulty grasping the idea Prowl could change. They believed that Prowl was a stagnate mech who was about as emotionless, rigid, and detached as any Autobot could be. The unsettling changes in Prowl weren't anything they could readily pin down, but in some ways that only fueled the whispers quickly spreading around. The most common of these wild speculations focused on how he seemed colder and more aloof. The idea that Prowl could actually be colder and more aloof than before confused most mechs, especially Bluestreak. It wasn't that Prowl was ignoring or being unkind to Bluestreak, but the fretful mech idolized Prowl. At least Bluestreak hadn't heard the comparisons others were starting to make between Prowl and certain Decepticons.

At the moment, Jazz was just as lost as the rest of the troops for describing Prowl's newest changes. He tried to stop the speculations, especially the Decepticon ones, but Jazz couldn't provide a better answer so they ignored him. Jazz tried talking to Prowl, but one of Prowl's first tasks upon resuming his duties was rearranging the duty roster. This new roster was technically more efficient for the Autobot cause, playing to their strengths and numbers, but it was also causing morale to start dropping as friends found their once-synced schedules now divided. Op mechs were given more field work since they were the best equipped to observe Megatron's troops and improvise as needed. Jazz was finding himself out on the field more than he'd been since first landing on Earth. He wanted to catch Prowl before things got worse, but he had no valid complaints about his shifts and no one was interested in switching with him. It seemed his shifts were never synced up with anyone else's so there was never an incentive for someone to take his shift. Jazz found that to be suspicious.

"I don't suppose you know someone who would, huh?" Jazz asked, already expecting the usual response.

"Well no, but I did overhear Ironhide chewing out the twins. I wonder if they'll be punished and if he's already dealt it out yet," Bumblebee smiled slyly.

"Awesome. Thanks Bee," Jazz grinned. Bumblebee may have been a young Autobot with an almost sickeningly sweet spark, but he was Special Ops. He knew how to work system.

Jazz started hunting for Ironhide as he hailed him at the same time. His shift was starting too soon for him to sit around until Ironhide felt like responding.

::What the Pit do you want right now?:: came Ironhide's snappy reply.

::Heard you got some punishing to do.:: Jazz answered, ignoring Ironhide's rude response to his hail.

: :Yeah, so?::

::I want in, so to speak::

::Like how?:: Ironhide's skepticism could be heard over the line.

::I want someone to cover my shift.::

::That's your problem. If you got anything else, then feel free to speak but you'll have to ask Ratchet to share.:: Ironhide responded, the snippy tone still clear.

::I heard you had two perpetrators:: Jazz said, surprised.

::Yeah, but only one can be pinned for it. You want Sideswipe, you're gonna have to come up with a better reason and fight Ratchet for him::

::Damn.:: Jazz didn't keep the sourness out of his voice. Just as he resigned himself to his shift and began to close the line, however, Ironhide chimed up.

::Why is getting rid of this shift so important to you?::

::I want someone to cover my shift so I can talk to Prowl.::

::You wanna talk to him about the schedules?::

"Yeah," Jazz responded. 'That will probably come up,' Jazz mentally added.

::Well then you can have him and Ratchet will have to fight me. My new schedule has me working during my favorite show!:: Ironhide replied, almost too ecstatically. The snippiness was gone from his voice, replaced by irritation as he said the last part. He had missed one too many of his favorite hockey team's game and he would be damned if he was going to miss their upcoming shot in the playoffs.

::Great! Tell him to meet Hound in 2 breems outside the Ark doors.::

::Affirmative.::

'Yes!' Jazz mentally cheered. 'One obstacle down, now one more to go: finding the elusive Prowl.'

/-/

Prowl put the stack of datapads down on the table, mildly enjoying how this partly-destroyed office Beachcomber found allowed him to avoid others almost effortlessly. Prowl was working his usually excess amount, but with the sheer quantity of complaining that came to his office, he sought out areas that would let him work uninterrupted. Prowl simply did not want any mech interaction. The general Autobot soldier seemed overwhelmed while they were around him. Not too long ago this would have bothered the tactician, but his secret program worked flawlessly. It quickly suppressed and erased any feedback from his emotional circuitry. However, he was quickly learning that the program was not without flaws. Whenever it was actively suppressing and eliminating this feedback he could feel a burning sensation in his CPU. It was easy enough to overcome though, by simply burying himself in his work and pushing his logic center harder to prevent himself from being effected by it. Soon, Prowl felt almost addicted to this odd "freedom," of sorts. He could keep working while not being burdened by emotions as he overheard the quiet rumors spreading about himself.

There was one thing that made it nearly impossible to ignore the burning sensation: when the few troops who seemed to care would come by and ask him what was wrong. One such face was Bluestreak's. It wasn't that Prowl didn't care for his brother, but Prowl couldn't provide the connection Bluestreak so desperately wanted without compromising his program. Prowl had never run the program this long and could only theorize what kind of ramifications that could happen if he stopped it. He was not willing to put himself on unsteady ground.

Prowl suddenly realized that he had finished working on the first batch of datapads in the stack. It was strange how fast work seemed to go when he couldn't be bothered, both internally and externally, he mused. However he did not linger long on the thought as he began working on the next batch. Ratchet's name floated up to him immediately as he looked at the medical requests and Prowl could actually feel the angry response at the sight of the medic's name before the program suppressed it. However, the program did not suppress the memory of Ratchet's bold and out of place words during his last post-op checkup.

"Jazz is planning to come to his checkup appointment, right?" Ratchet almost absently asked as he fetched his scanner.

Prowl nearly flinched at the mention of Jazz. "I don't know."

"How the Pit can you not know? You're the one who always forces him to stick to his appointments! Primus! What the Pit has gotten into you?"

"Excuse me? Is it a problem I no longer sparkling-sit an officer?" Prowl replied in rather bland tone.

"Don't even try it, Prowl," Ratchet growled. "Both Ironhide and Optimus begged – well, begged and ordered - me not to bring this up, but I'm done with the slag. You haven't been your usual self and I'm starting to wonder if it's related to a medical issue I've missed. Why are you avoiding Jazz?"

The pointed question faintly raised Prowl's ire. "I don't see how that question is medically relevant, so you shouldn't so easily defy Prime's orders."

"Oh don't you try hiding behind rules and regulations, Prowl!" Ratchet snapped, waving the fetched scanner in his hand.

"'Excuse me?"

"You know exactly what I mean! I've been CMO for a long time now and if I need to pull a medical concern out of my aft to defend my question, so help me, I Primus-damn will! And I'll make sure it's some medical concern that requires you to be held under observation, so you'll have to put up with my smiley, happy-go-lucky face for a lot longer!" the irate Ratchet threatened before pausing to continue on. "Now answer the question, Prowl! Why are you behaving so different, especially towards Jazz?"

"I don't think you can think of something medical for that particular question."

"With all the crap I get from this army of 'colorful' mechs? Try me." Ratchet stared intently back at Prowl.

Prowl sat on the bench quietly before he relented. "Why does it bother you so much?" he asked quietly. "I've been in a lot of battles with you and you were never so involved in anyone's life until Earth."

Ratchet paused, the anger held in his face before evaporating as the medic let out a weary sigh. Ratchet rubbed his optics and Prowl could suddenly see wear on Ratchet's face. Instead of ranting or giving Prowl his usual sarcastic response, Ratchet sat down beside the black and white mech. "It has been a lot of battles, hasn't it? Back on Cybertron it was a lot of battles with a lot of faces coming in or passing through. We had so many troops come and go through medbay that I rarely learned a name. If I did then it usually was when I wrote the report on their deactivation. Here though, the mechs don't come in once or twice, they come in repetitive cycles. I see Sideswipe in here almost every 8 orns and Hound every tenth orn from his first scheduled shift because he drove over some Earth naturey crap that doesn't play well with axels. It's hard not to be a part of their lives no matter how much I kick and scream. And trust me, I do kick and scream about it," Ratchet added with a weary grin.

"The other things I see with the same small crew is what they're normally like and what they're like post-op," Ratchet carried on. "Here, I'll have a drink with Mirage one orn and the next he'll get some body part blown off in battle. Then I see him moping around and I know it's because some prized piece of armor from his home was destroyed. Just like I know Hound always has the right words to comfort that distant mech."

Ratchet turned and looked squarely in Prowl's optics. "One of the things I learned early on that most war medics don't look for is to watch. Before the war really escalated I watched everyone in my local unit because I knew that the real tale-tell signs of a mech's recovery weren't just the results my scanners give me, but also the changes in their daily routines. Then the war escalated and suddenly the friends whose wellbeing I took very personal were very much offline. Now I'm back in a similar situation and I can't help but want to avoid those memories of mechs and femmes disappearing before my optics.

"Too many lives vanished before I had a chance to make a damn bit of difference, and not always by deactivation. Prowl, I know how this sounds but I don't care right now. I can see you disappearing. I've known you for a long time, and before Earth I never realized how much there was to know about you, nor how little anyone could ever know you. The only mech to get through all of that was Jazz. Now you're not talking to Jazz and with every passing orn I can see you becoming a little emptier inside. I don't want to watch you disappear from the inside out. It's a slow and painful death. One I have seen many go through and I know there's a point of no return for every mech."

Prowl stared quietly, unsure how to take Ratchet's unusually open answer. "I won't disappear."

"Trust me; it's not a single event that makes a mech disappear. It's the accumulation of them. You'll never realize how far you're gone until you've reached your breaking point."

Prowl looked at Ratchet, growing more uncomfortable as time moved on by Ratchet's honest and almost ominous words. "You think not being around Jazz will cause a breaking point?"

"I think having no one in your life that did for you what Jazz did will bring you there, yes."

Prowl looked away as he mulled over Ratchet's words. After a bream of silence Ratchet rose and began his checkup. The enter checkup was eerily quiet, with only the bare minimum of questions and answers to be heard. After that, Prowl left with a small 'thank you.'

Now Prowl was alone with Ratchet's words repeating themselves over and over in his head. 'He's being over sensitive. He's probably been in medbay too long. Prime should consider giving him leave.' Prowl quickly signed the medical requests and moved on, eager to stop thinking about Ratchet.

Apparently the universe didn't like that, as he was hailed by none other than Ratchet. ::Ratchet to Prowl.::

::Yes?:: Prowl replied politely, ignoring the heated tone in Ratchet's voice.

::I need you to review the newest reprimand report from Ironhide. I was supposed to have Sideswipe do some of that mind-numbing medical inventory stuff, but at the last moment Ironhide re-assigned Sideswipe's punishment to someone else.::

::And…?::

::And I don't want to do it myself!:: Ratchet snapped.

::In other words, you want me to pull rank over Ironhide so you can have time to yourself?:: Prowl politely inquired.

::No, I don't need Ironhide even more bitchy than he already is. Just… Just see if Sideswipe's punishment deserves more than whatever he's doing now.:: Ratchet practically purred, most likely delighted at the idea of seeing Sideswipe's face after learning he's still counting all of Ratchet's tools.

::I'll review the document.:: Prowl promised as he closed the line. Unfortunately, the report in question wasn't with him, so Prowl would have to return to his office to fetch it. While Prowl didn't feel like going to his office, he knew that Ratchet would come hunt him down personally if the medic didn't have a response within the next joor.

Prowl was faintly annoyed by the time he neared the common area. As he walked to his office he suddenly felt light headed, a sign that his CPU was operating on low energon. He nearly fell, grabbing the wall just in time to hold himself up.

"You alright, Prowl?"

Prowl looked over towards the voice and found Bumblebee staring at him with alarm etched in his face. "I'm fine. Please continue with what you were doing."

"But Prowl…"

"I said continue on. If I have to say it a third time, I will write it up as insubordination." Prowl straightened his posture and pressed forward despite the ill feeling present in his system.

Bumblebee frowned but left Prowl's side as he resumed moving the opposite direction of Prowl. 'I should tell Jazz before I leave. He'll know what to do.'

Prowl entered his abnormally empty office and reached for the stacked pile in his Inbox. No one seemed to know how much work it took to run an army and if anyone realized that occurred only after he left two joors ago, well, they probably would be mortified and beg to never be promoted.

'Especially Jazz.' The amused thought crossed his mind before he quickly pushed it away. For all he knew, Jazz's opinion could have changed. It was unlikely, given that Jazz's attitude towards diplomatic or administrative tasks hadn't changed over the vorns, but the saboteur also liked to "shake things up." Prowl had learned that meant being randomly illogical. Regardless of Jazz's actions, Prowl had gone out of his way to avoid Jazz so the charismatic and stubborn saboteur would not break down the walls and defense he'd put up. Unfortunately, Prowl had not anticipated the loneliness this had caused. The loneliness was more apparent when Prowl felt stress but didn't have Jazz's usual companionship to help him relax. Even now, Prowl could feel the stress build even higher as he thought about some of Jazz's mad methods to force Prowl into taking a break.

"You gonna keep staring at that Pit-spawned pile all orn?"

Prowl's head popped up, surprised at the unexpected second voice – a voice belonging to none other than Jazz. Prowl recovered from his surprise and grabbed Ironhide's datapad as he turned to face his unexpected guest. "I didn't let you in."

"Nope."

"Please explain how you managed to sneak into an officer's office without even letting the door make a sound."

"Hmm, no." Jazz replied cheekily.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me," Jazz said as he grinned. "The way I see, you've got three options now: escort me to Prime or the brig, call Ironhide and wait with me, or do nothing. Since you've been avoiding me, I bet the first two seem pretty unappealing."

Prowl stifled a groan at Jazz's annoying perceptiveness and moved to stand behind his desk, searching for a few items in his top drawer. He didn't actually need them, but it gave him an excuse to be less inviting to Jazz. "What can I do for you? Please be quick. I have other things to attend."

"Yeah, like what? From what I hear, you haven't been attending whatever doesn't specifically require you to be there. I'd say you're an imposture because the real Prowl never slacks off, but somehow you've been finishing your work faster than normal."

"I did not say I had a meeting or a demonstration to attend. I have a lot of work waiting for me."

Jazz looked around, noting that only Prowl's Inbox held any work. For Prowl, the pile sitting in that Inbox wasn't large. "Where?"

"Excuse me? Where what?" Prowl looked up after Jazz's question.

"Where's the work?"

"I took it with me."

"Really?" Jazz raised his optic ridge. "See, I came here earlier and when I didn't find you, I went to your quarters. I know you weren't there. I only came back here to double-check. So where's your new office?"

A muffled yelp was suddenly heard from outside Prowl's door after a loud "bang" from someone walking into Prowl's mysteriously still-closed door, saving Prowl from answering the question, at least for the moment. Jazz muttered a curse before pulling Prowl's door back to reveal a stunned Sideswipe on the floor.

"You used the Special Ops device for deactivating and unlocking doors," the tactician said as the realization dawned on him.

"I'll fix it when I'm done talking to you," Jazz grumbled as he pulled Sideswipe up. Jazz resisted the urge to scowl at Sideswipe. Every time Jazz tried to talk to Prowl privately something would always interrupt them.

"What happened?" Sideswipe asked, still a little stunned. 'Is my nose crooked?' he wondered, staring at the tip of his nose that seemed to point a little more left. If he was anything like his twin he probably would've ignored Jazz's response in favor of figuring what was exactly wrong with his nose. Luckily, he was nothing like his brother in that regard, which suited him just fine. He had a reason for being here.

"Maintenance issue," Jazz stated. "What's up? You're supposed to be covering my shift," the TIC pointed out. Prowl raised an optic ridge. It seemed that he found out what happened with Sideswipe's punishment without even needing to investigate Ironhide's report.

"Yeah, and I think that's a crap punishment. Why am I covering your shift? Covering someone else's stupid shift isn't part of the reprimand standards," Sideswipe returned.

"Oh, like you know the standard," Jazz said sarcastically.

"Actually he does," Prowl interjected, wanting this 'meeting' to end. "He's been the source of so many problems that he can recite the Reprimand Policies and Standards."

"Yeah, well one of your punishments a while back was to study the datapad to 'see if anything could stick in a delinquent CPU like mine'," Sideswipe groused.

"Do you know what the original punishment was to be?" Jazz was dumbfounded by the sudden twist.

"Yeah."

"Then I'll find something else suitable for you," Prowl informed Sideswipe.

"But Ratchet…" Sideswipe began to protest.

"… Will want nothing to do with you once I inform him you asked to be given your original punishment," Prowl finished. "I'm sure Ratchet will understand. I don't know what underhanded motivation you have, but I won't assist you in achieving it."

"No, no, nothing underhanded," Sideswipe immediately tried to sooth Prowl's suspicions. "But I know that Ratchet's inventory can't be done until all the equipment is pulled up. Since I don't know where all the equipment is stored, Ratchet or one of his backups has to do it. Normally he has me wait with him so I don't, uh, become preoccupied by something else, but he's currently busy with Wheeljack. That means I wouldn't have to report to him for at least another 3 joors."

"You waited until Ratchet became distracted to complain so you could get a break." Prowl realized Sideswipe had put more thought into whatever he was planning.

"Hey, I'm not the one who technically broke policy. Why should I suffer?" Sideswipe asked innocently.

"Now hang on," Jazz cut in. "If it was against policy, then why did Ironhide – " Jazz cut himself short, realizing that the frustrated Ironhide probably violated policy when Jazz dangled that tantalizing offer in front of him. Jazz could see a gleam in Sideswipe's optic and Jazz realized he'd also inadvertently hung Ironhide out the window. "Maybe so, but I don't think you should be rewarded either for whatever the Pit you did."

"Hey, two wrongs don't make a right!" Sideswipe indignantly protested.

"Don't misquote me," Prowl chimed in. Jazz looked at Prowl, confused since Sideswipe's statement was a common expression. Then again, it was an Earth expression so who knew if Prowl was aware of that.

Seeing Jazz's confused look, Prowl elaborated. "When I said that to him, I was referring to him and his twin trying to tell me their version of the truth."

"Come on, Prowl. If you re-assign me back to my original punishment, I'll work a free shift," Sideswipe promised.

Sideswipe's angelic tone combined with his offer made Prowl worry. His battle simulator immediately began analyzing the possibilities of why Sideswipe would willingly offer to subject himself to even more punishment. "No. You will report to Wheeljack and Perceptor and see if they need any assistance." As a precaution, Prowl prepared to issue an alert to Wheeljack, Perceptor, Ratchet, and Ironhide about Sideswipe's unusual antics. Before he could send it, however, the frustration of being thwarted apparently got the better of Sideswipe.

"Damn it, Prowl! I know your job is to make everyone just as miserable as you because you sold your spark to get your hands on the logical answers to the universe, but some of us are trying to make the best of what we've got! Geez, go have another mini-breakdown like the last time we talked and maybe you'll reset right for once. At least we'll all have another good laugh one way or another." Sideswipe snarled.

Sideswipe's blatant jab at the painful orn before Prowl's attack, cut Prowl deep. Deeper than he could have ever prepare himself for because it reminded him of his betrayed feelings caused by the troops. It was also the same orn he discovered his over sight that allowed everything that transpired to fall in place. Before Prowl could figure out a response, however, Jazz was already giving his.

"Hey! What do you think you are doing, talking to a superior officer like that? You should be ashamed of yourself – what's next, you going to tell Bluestreak to stop being such a sparkling and stuff him into a hole by himself? Tell him that if he whines one more time about how he's upset about Prowl that you'll remove his vocal unit because less than half of us can stand how he gets his fears off his chest? Maybe we should reformat your alt mode into a pooper scooper because you would be at least marginally useful by cleaning up your own shit." Jazz roared as he grabbed Sideswipe. "I wanted to finish my conversation with Prowl, but now I'm so pissed that I can't see straight. I don't know if I should call Ironhide to take you the brig so I can finish with Prowl or throw you in the brig to get the satisfaction of seeing your face hit the ground."

Whatever Sideswipe's response's to Jazz's outcry was lost on Prowl as the tactician's mind froze at Jazz's comment about his youngest sibling's pain. Prowl had tried his best to protect himself while not harming Bluestreak, but apparently he failed. Not only that, but he hadn't even noticed. How could he overlook such a simple task with such a transparent mech?

Prowl's over-stressed and strained battle simulator began to seize on him as he tried to continually analyze the events unfolding before him. Before Prowl could stop it he suddenly felt a huge drop in energy and his optics momentarily cut out. The next thing Prowl knew he was bent over trying to hold himself up on the desk as his CPU began to burn white hot. His sight returned but the images in front of him were clouded over by static. A clicking sound began to echo in his audios but Prowl couldn't tell if it was from outside, his CPU, or if his audios were also beginning to fritz. His CPU hurt so much, breaking his focus on terminating the analysis program.

Jazz was cut short in mid-tirade as he heard Prowl gasp. Both he and Sideswipe stopped their yelling as they turned to see Prowl bent over, clutching his desk. "Prowl – " Jazz's words were cut short as Prowl's legs bucked and Prowl fell side-first into the floor, an audible 'crunch' filling the air from Prowl landing on his doorwing.

"Prowl!" Jazz cried out as he ran to his fallen friend's side. He immediately sent a Code 1 medical alert to Ratchet. He turned to Sideswipe and locked his optics into the horrified mech's. "Go meet Ratchet and explain the situation to him!" Jazz snapped, before returning his attention back to Prowl and paying no more heed to Sideswipe. "Prowl, can you hear me?"

Prowl barely heard Jazz's question as his audios kept shortening out and the loud clicks. He suspected that the clicking was coming from his CPU since the clicks occurred even when his audios were shortening out. Prowl somehow managed to keep enough sense to re-route what was left of his fading energy to his optics so they wouldn't short out again, but he was unable to remove the static clouding nearly every pixel of his vision. A part of him was trying to hide his crash even though he knew that wasn't logically sound, considering that he was lying on the floor. But as the moment stretched on, it seemed more and more logical. Clearly the fall had damaged Prowl's CPU and logic center. Or was the lack of energy? Or perhaps it was the burning sensation eating at his logic center? Prowl's mind was begging to become foggy and confused. Several messages belatedly appeared in the corner of his optic but Prowl couldn't focus on them. The pain in his CPU seemed to be growing as if it was devouring the components and connectors inside his helm.

"Damn it, Prowl! I said talk to me!" Jazz had to resist the urge to shake Prowl after seeing the damage to Prowl's doorwing. The damage wasn't too terrible, save for the still-flowing energon leak, but shaking Prowl could drive the further doorwing into the floor. Unable to get a response from Prowl, Jazz reached over Prowl's torso and used his polish rag to block the energon leak. 'Why hasn't Prowl shut that off?' Jazz fretted. From what he'd gather, energon leaks from doorwings could be easily stopped by shutting off the line. Jazz put his hand on Prowl's shoulder and firmly grasped it as he continued to block the leak, praying that the contact would get through to Prowl. "Come on, Prowl. Shut off the energon leak in your doorwing," Jazz pleaded. It wasn't a large energon leak by any means, but Jazz didn't know what was wrong with Prowl. His comrade seemed otherwise fine, apart from being almost too still, so why wasn't he being responsive? Jazz bent over and tried looking into Prowl's optics only to find them grainy and unfocused. Jazz had only seen the grainy look a few times on dying field mechs.

Somewhere in Prowl's clouded mind, Jazz's presence was able to cut through the fog. 'Jazz?' Prowl wanted to reach out for comfort from his estranged-friend, afraid of what was wrong. His head burned so much.

Abruptly Jazz could feel a surprisingly-warm hand around his hand on Prowl's shoulder. Jazz looked down and saw Prowl's hand on top of his, quickly quelling his near panic attack after seeing Prowl's grainy optics. "Prowl," Jazz whispered. The pressure on his hand tightened as Prowl closed his hand around Jazz's fingers. Unable to do much else, Jazz squeezed back.

"What's his status?" the sharp voice of Ratchet cut in. Jazz looked up and saw Ratchet and Sideswipe coming into the office.

"I don't know! Lying prone on his side with an energon leak!" Jazz cried out, frustrated at his inability to help. Ratchet was immediately at Prowl's injured doorwing, using some compound Jazz didn't recognize to cover the leak.

Ratchet was kneeling by Prowl's head, running a scanner over Prowl as he barked out orders. "Prowl's CPU isn't function to even half capacity. He's not going to move on his own. We need to grab him and move him to medbay now!"

Jazz held Prowl's shoulder and side, unwilling to break his contact with Prowl. The other two in the room repositioned themselves to move Prowl while supporting his weight. The group began to move Prowl while Ratchet kept scanning Prowl.

"Wheeljack, Perceptor," Ratchet barked at the scientists over his communicator as he continued to scan the stricken mech. "You need to add an energon feed to Prowl immediately once we get him in medbay. He has less than 30% energon."

"What?" Jazz yelped. "The leak wasn't that bad!"

"No, but I'm reading high amounts of strain and damage to his CPU. Usually when this kind of strain and damage occurs, the system alert to refuel can be suppressed. Whatever caused this must have started a while ago to bring his energon levels down this far."

Before Jazz could ask any more questions they had reached medbay. They placed Prowl down as Ratchet began grabbing his tools. Ratchet and the two waiting medically-trained mechs immediately went into action, almost completely ignoring the non-medical mechs standing off to the side.

They were quickly remembered when Ratchet saw them out of the corner of his optic. "Get out!" he snapped. Jazz turned to leave but Sideswipe didn't follow. Jazz looked back and saw Sideswipe staring at Prowl, fear in his face. Jazz grabbed Sideswipe and pulled him out the door.

Once the doors closed the two of them were alone. Both stared back at the doors for a few moments without saying a word.

"Do you, uh…" Sideswipe spoke, almost too distracted to finish his sentence. "Do you think I did that?"

Although he was mad at Sideswipe for his callous words earlier, Jazz's empathic side still reached out to the distressed mech. "No. Ratchet said it was something that'd been happening for a while."

"But he hasn't been out of medbay that long." Sideswipe looked at Jazz, worry still clear on his face. "Do you think it's something from the attack? Like maybe that Decepticon gave Prowl a virus that wasn't picked up on Ratchet's scanners?"

"Ratchet's scanners are the best the Autobots have. There's no virus out there that can't be detected," Jazz said softly. The idea that a secret surprise could've been left behind from that awful mech's attack was more than upsetting.

"Yeah, but I saw the damage when Prowl came in from that attack. What kind of mech can do that? And what if Ratchet didn't think to scan for any software damage?"

"Don't let Ratchet hear you doubt his check ups." Jazz tried to calm the fretful mech. "You know Ratchet. You'll go in for sleep deprivation and you'll end up stuck in medbay for like 3 joors as he checks you in and out before he gives you anything to help you stay offline just incase. Whatever is wrong with Prowl, it wasn't from the battle. Ratchet would've caught it – virus and all."

"Yeah. I mean – it's just, well…" the red mech was still upset and Jazz's words were unable to calm him down. Seeing the lack of impact his reassuring words had, Jazz tried a different tactic as he reached out and gave Sideswipe a reassuring pat on the arm.

"Although this doesn't change anything and your aft should still be in the brig, why don't you stay in the Rec Room? It might help ease your mind. I promise I'll come deal with your punishment once Prowl's okay."

Sideswipe fidgeted before nodding. He began to walk away, but he was stopped only a few paces away before turning back to Jazz. "He'll be okay though, right? I said all those mean things right before he crashed and Ratchet said it had to do with strain in his CPU. What if I did cause some of that? What if I was, uh what does Spike say… what if I was the straw that broke the camel's back?"

Jazz stared at the mech, torn between trying to help him and telling him that he deserved the guilt. Instead, Jazz chose a different path. "Why'd you do it? Why'd you say all those things?"

Sideswipe looked down at his peds. "It's just that it's been so stressful, you know? I mean, we spent decaorns stuck inside the base before the fight. I felt like I was going insane."

"Yeah, I remember your little insane stunt. Pretty much scarred everyone here, especially since it was an unexpected lesson to those unfamiliar with biological creatures."

"Yeah." Sideswipe sighed before leaning up against the wall. "I just wanted something to break the monotony of it all. And then before I knew it, I was in the muddiest battle of my life. It seemed like a great way to get rid of all my pent up energy and frustration, ya know? I mean, there's no cure to stress like taking it out on a Decepticon's face. Plus seeing Sunstreaker's reaction to mud was priceless. But then after all that fun I find out that our SIC is MIA so I joined the search party. Not only did we fail to get to him in time, but I saw Prowl right before he disappeared into medbay. Next thing I know he comes back out and he's so different. He changed all the schedules around to 'improve efficiency,' but I don't seem to share a single shift with a friend. Almost none of my friends are free when I'm off either. I think it just got to me, not being able to do anything useful or have any fun. I just lashed out at Prowl."

"Well, you were successful in getting half the base to make fun of the situation you put him in right before the battle," Jazz said quietly.

"I know. I shouldn't have egged on the Aerialbots or the others to do a better job in the 'Make Prowl snap' game."

"When did you do that?" Jazz asked.

"Uh, like before, during, and after my prank?"

"Who else did you get in on the game?"

"Hey," Sideswipe said as he looked at Jazz with a faint gleam of his usual attitude in his optics, "I'm not feeling so down as to tell on my friends."

"Worth a shot."

"Yeah, that's what I thought too. Now look what happened." Sideswipe gestured towards the medbay doors.

"Then maybe you should go back to the Rec Room and try to undo all of that. Maybe instead of trying to poke and prod at Prowl like there's something wrong with him, maybe you should all learn to accept him as he is and adjust to his ways. He's never going to come around if you gang up and mock him."

Sideswipe nodded and pulled himself back up. "I guess that's fair. You gonna do your usual business? With Prowl out of commission, someone is gonna need to tackle that Inbox I saw in his office."

"Nah, I don't' feel like working right now. I'll be in a little bit." Jazz said as he turned back to medbay, his back facing Sideswipe. After a moment Jazz heard Sideswipe walk away. After Jazz could no longer hear the faint echo of the red mech's steps, he sat down, breaking rule to continue his duties for the first time.

Yay, one more chapter and then this fic is done! As much as I love the fic, I despise how drawn out this has become thanks to my total failure to figure out how to balance my life. Stupid adulthood ;p

I do have some parting ideas, however, that I'll add on to the end note of the final chapter. Which, BTW, the rough draft version is already half written! Yay! Usually I don't start before I post the previous chapter but I finally broke my writer's block with some really fun ideas. Evil Ratchet, be prepared :) Although not right now, cuz I'm gonna go hobble off and get me some crutches. Yay… crutches… -.-