A/N: I know I've taken a bit of time to update, but real life likes to corral my muse. I hope you like this one!
Family is Forever – Chapter 15 Part 1 – Crash
Prowl frowned at his creation, sitting in front of him on his desk, swinging her pedes back and forth in an innocent fashion. Her wide blue optics were curious on his.
"Harmony, could you please repeat that again?" the SIC asked, hoping that the slight sparking he heard in his processor wasn't his logic centre on the cusp of a crash. He had to keep control. It was logical. It was so very logical for a creation of his and Jazz's to take after Jazz's illogicality, and so it should be very logical.
"I said that Sides was showing me funny pictures when he showed me one of a human wearing a hat on his foot, shoes on his hands, and although it was a man, he was wearing a dress. Sides thought it was funny. I only thought that the dress on a man was funny," the white sparkling repeated patiently, her curious optics never leaving her Father's.
'Don't crash, don't crash, don't crash!'
The repeated litany had absolutely no effect whatsoever, as the mental image of clothes on a person in places so impractical and illogical that –
Willpower could not stop it as his optics rolled to the back of his helm and everything went black, slumping in his seat.
"Father?" asked Harmony.
Was her Father playing some kind of game? He never played in his office, it was usually always in their quarters or outside in the sunshine sometimes. He was sitting in his chair, looking very still. Harmony frowned. He had never been so still, even in recharge her Father would shift around the tiniest bit, even if it was just to cuddle her Papa or her closer.
Sliding from the desk to her sparker's lap, the little femme patted Prowl's chest and said, "Daddy, wake up. No game now."
The optics stayed shuttered and unlit.
Something didn't feel right. Carefully, she felt through their bond, only to find a wall of nothingness where her Father had been.
Harmony gasped, and banged on Prowl's chestplates again and whined, "Father, not funny."
Nothing again.
Something horrible occurred to her little sparkling processor. Papa had told her that sometimes bot's fall asleep and never get up again. That they went to a Well of sparks. Little tears spilled over from her optics and she yelled, "Father! Daddy, don't go Well! Don't go Well! Me, Papa, we need you!"
With as much strength as she had, she shook her Father's body, but to no avail.
Trembling, Harmony jumped down from Prowl's lap. She needed someone to save him!
Running to the door, she opened it with the sparkling lever and ran as fast as her little legs could carry her to the rec-room. She passed Seaspray and Beachcomber on the way, but didn't stop them to help her. She needed her Unca Sunny. He'd know what to do.
As Ironhide pushed the door open for her, Harmony dashed inside, automatically seeing the splash of golden yellow at her Uncle's favourite table. He was the best while her Papa was busy with Prime.
"Unca Sunny!" she cried out, attracting all of the attention in the room as she sobbed and lurched toward him, strong hands coming to scoop her up and hold her tight as that slightly gruff, but re-assuring voice murmured, "What's the matter Harmony?"
"Father won't wake up! I don't want him to go to the Well of Spark's, Unca, please!"
Sunstreaker gaped at the words. No. Prowl couldn't be dead. "What happened Harmony?" he asked, watching out of the corner of his optic as Sideswipe moved, exiting the rec-room, other mechs tense and waiting to see what the white sparkling said.
"I said somethin' about the funny picture Sides showed me the other day, and Father suddenly fell asleep, but when I shook him, he didn't wake up. I don't want my daddy to go away!" Harmony sobbed, burying her little helm onto her guardian's chestplates, feeling the slight brush of a soothing EM field against her own, just as familiar to hers as her creators. She whimpered. She wanted her Father. She wanted her Papa. She wanted snuggles from them.
"Funny…pictures?" clarified the younger twin, tilting his charge's helm up.
Harmony nodded. "Uh-huh. One of a man with a dress on and a hat on his foot."
A snicker from the room had most mechs relaxing fractionally again. Sunstreaker scowled at them. They were all mature, they knew of Prowl's crashes. It was painfully obvious that Harmony – the poor sparkling – didn't.
Adjusting her in his hold, Sunstreaker looked his 'niece' in the optic and said firmly, "Prowl's not dead. His processor just shut down for a little while. He needs some rest and Uncle Hatchet to fix it, okay? Let's go to the medbay. Sides brought your Father there and Ratchet will show you what happens."
Harmony looked a little doubtful, but laid her helm on broad yellow chestplates in acceptance. She mumbled, "I want my Papa."
"He'll be out of his meeting soon," muttered Sunstreaker in reply.
The white sparkling let out a mournful warble, a few tears still lingering on her faceplate while her Uncle carried her to the medbay.
Once there, Harmony trilled in relief. Unca Sunny was right! Her father was awake again! All he needed was a little rest and he was okay.
Taking a better look, she tilted her helm to the side. He didn't look totally okay. He looked like he did after two days of no recharge or no games with her. Wiggling in Sunstreaker's grip, ignoring the grumbled, "Sit still you little wiggle worm!", Harmony reached out for her Father, cooing.
Prowl turned his helm to look at his creation and gave her a wan smile.
"I am fine, dearspark. Sunstreaker, you have my thanks. You can leave Harmony with me," the doorwinger said, holding out his arms, which Harmony happily scrambled into, cooing and warbling happily as she curled into the embrace, gripping onto his chestplates.
"What happened to you?" the white femmeling asked, optics now worried.
Taking a deep intake, Prowl answered, "It's hard to describe. In simple terms, if I get too overworked, or in this case, my battle computer and logic centre see or hear of something so illogical, then it will shut down, and I will promptly crash. It's best to come and get Ratchet, and he'll put me to rights."
"Yeah…this is, what Prowl, the first time in eight months? Good record for you, really," the medic said grumpily, not liking that Harmony had been there to witness such a terrifying (through a sparkling's optics at least) event.
"So…you ok?"
Smiling and stroking tenderly over Harmony's horned helm, Prowl answered softly, "Yes, darling. I'm ok."
Chapter 15 – part 2 – Out of the mouths of babes
Jazz frowned as he saw his little creation totter back into the rec-room, datapad he had given her still in her hands. His bondmate had noticed too, and as their little femme reached them, Prowl asked, "Harmony, I thought you wanted to give that drawing to Uncle Ratchet. Didn't he like it?"
Harmony crawled onto her carrier's lap, looking distinctly confused.
"Well, I went to medbay like you said. I knocked on the door pol-…pol-"
"Politely," the chevroned mech corrected kindly. "Yes, go on."
"Yeah. But they not answer. So I look in, and Uncle Ratchet was with Uncle Jack, and they were doing weird stuff."
Jazz shared a sudden look of understanding with his bondmate, who hid his look of mortification. "Uh, darlin', what didja reckon Uncle Jack was doin'?"
It was a sudden lull in conversation in the rec-room as Harmony replied, "Well Papa, they looked like they were doing bed-dancing."
Some mechs swivelled their helms to look at the sparkling who looked up into Jazz's visor and went on, "You know Papa…like you and Father did that night. Only with Unca Jack and Unca Ratchet, there was purple looking stuff coming from Unca Ratchet's hips. Was he hurt or something while bed-dancing? And can you still say it's bed dancing even if it's not on a bed?"
Prowl looked ready to crawl into a hole from that statement, although he kept as much as a stoic mask as he could.
If other mech's weren't sniggering at them, and if it wasn't in front of their daughter, Jazz would have teased his mate for being so shy about their more…frivolous activities.
Putting it aside, Jazz took the datapad with the picture on it and reassured, "Don't worry darlin'. We'll go and give it to Ratch later, yeah?"
And when they did, Jazz couldn't wait to see the look on Ratchet's face when he found out that Harmony had seen them….'bed-dancing.'
A/N: Please review! Hoped you liked the two different sections.
-Will update on Monday with turning point.