A/N: Thank you to everyone who has favorited, alerted, and reviewed so far! This fic finally has a title of its own. It will now be known as "You Can't Fight Fate". I wanted to keep the "Fate" in there, but also wanted to have a "new" title so as to not scare new readers away. So I have finally given it this title.

Hopefully you all like that! Would have originally been posted as that but honestly, I couldn't think of a good title for the remake.

CHAPTER 2
Introductions

"Good morning, Jeff. Was your sleep adequate?"

Jeff groaned slightly as Prowl met him in the "bunk room" early the next morning. A part of him had wondered if the mech would change his mind overnight. After all, he already had a good feeling that this mech was a serious guy to Jeff's less-than-serious nature. But nope, here he was, that same black and white colored mech with the "police" marked doorwings that was supposed to be his "mentor".

Mentor, what a load of crap, Jeff figured. He gave the mech about two weeks with him before he gave up.

He turned around to face him fully, and only then did he notice some fabric between his digits. Were those clothes? He narrowed his eyes and looked at him quietly. "What are those?" he asked finally.

"I took notice of your clothes yesterday, and now today. It would seem you do not have clothes that fit you," Prowl crouched down, an act which nearly made Jeff jump back. "I scanned you yesterday in order to take your measurements. I hope you do not feel offended by me taking it upon myself to buy you fitting clothes. I thought it would be the closest thing to a peace offering I could give at this time."

Jeff looked at Prowl, then at the clothes he set in his hand. Several pairs of clothes to be exact... Several pairs of NEW clothes as Jeff looked closer. What in the world was this mech doing? Had he actually gone out of his way to do something... Kind? The boy hadn't experienced a lot of kindness since he'd entered the system, and thus a part of him was skeptical of this...

The other part of him was touched.

After a moment, he found his voice long enough to speak up. "Um, thank you... I uh... When I got out of juvie my clothes were from when I was ten. So they had to give me the closest things to my size that they had on hand," he explained, his voice shaky. "You really didn't have to do this, you know. I could have gotten by on my own."

Prowl knew that was a lie. He'd also scanned his bags when Jeff hadn't been looking - and what he'd come to the program with was pathetic at best. Three t-shirts, a couple of jeans, and the jean jacket he was still wearing. Primus, were in Illinois, in the middle of winter. Surely the boy at least needed a winter coat, which Jeff would no doubt notice that Prowl had included.

The praxian shrugged his shoulders, a gentle smile on his face. "Think nothing of it. I honestly just felt social services should be ashamed for what they sent you here with," Jeff was silent at that, but something told Prowl he agreed. "Why don't you get changed into clothes that actually fit, and try on your jacket. We're getting started as soon as you're ready. You've eaten right?"

Jeff nodded, walking off without another word. Of course, the former enforcer knew why, given the look of bewilderment, he could only assume that Jeff wasn't accustomed to being treated like this. The mech waited patiently for his charge to come back, and was relieved when he saw him come back. He looked far more comfortable in the black t-shirt, blue jeans, and long, soft winter coat he'd bought him than he had upon arriving there.

It was more than obvious Jeff was trying to hide his greatfulness - his eyes tracing every inch of it. Only then did it hit Prowl that this was probably the first time Jeff had gotten new clothes in a long time. "So, where do I have to start?" he asked, his deadpan nature coming back to the surface already. "Cleaning graffiti or something? Cleaning up litter on the highway?"

Prowl snorted a little, the boy having seen too many movies. "They really did not tell you much about this, did they?" Jeff was silent for a long moment, unsure of what to make of what he was saying. "Your community service here is helping me. Essentially, you work with the Autobot you are assigned to for set hours, and we sign off on those hours until you're done."

Jeff raised his eyebrows. That's what he'd be doing? Working with the Autobots? He supposed it made sense really. He had wondered how the Autobots could even take time out of their day and busy schedules to go across the city doing odd jobs. And Prowl himself was the Autobot second-in-command, he definitely wouldn't have the time.

He couldn't help but laugh a little at this. "So what, I'm your glorified intern for six months? What's the point of that?"

Prowl looked at Jeff with a bit of a stern gaze. Surely, the boy had to have some idea why this was a thing. The SIC sighed, and then managed to put it in a way that sounded nice. "The point is to teach you work ethic. All the younglings in this program are teenagers coming out of juvenile hall. You've lost a lot of your childhood there, and thus we hope to help you in transitioning," he explained as they walked from the bunk room and down the hallway of Autobot HQ. "You'll learn a fair amount of skills to help you with this. And since you'll be living with me come two days from now, you'll also hopefully be able to learn the social skills you need to, perhaps, find a family."

Jeff wanted to laugh harder when he mentioned that last part. Finding a family? He'd given up on that long ago. Sure, he'd dreamed of it when he first got into the foster care system. Finding a family where his father wasn't gone, and his mother wasn't more absent than around. The first few foster families had been so nice, and so had a few others along the way, but it always ended up the same...

Temporary. No one wanted him, no one had ever wanted him for more than a short amount of time. When he was a little kid, he was probably too needy. Too scared of being without his parents for the first time and feeling alone in the world. Then later, he became angry, and sarcastic. Angry his mom had abandoned him, angry that he had to be pushed from home to home, angry that the world made him feel so useless.

He knew what people had called that, under their breath of course: "Baggage". And apparently, Jeff came with a lot of that, and it was something no one wanted. He quietly sighed, and tried not to look too annoyed at the notion being there again. No need to give himself false hope, after all, but this mech was being nice. "I don't think I'm ever going to find one of those. Don't waste your time on that," Jeff told him without missing a beat. "I'm just a lost cause with baggage."

As he walked further ahead of Prowl, the mech frowned. Wondering where a teenager would have already gotten such a low opinion of himself.

"Prowl, sir! I've brought the human desk into your office as requested. Is there anything else I can do?"

Prowl was barely paying attention to his secretary, Dataclerk, as he entered the large entrance to his office. Well, rather, this was the reception area, but the massive two-room area he called his "office" was something he considered just that. It was spacious, and roomy, with some assorted data pads for those waiting, and many chairs and tables to wait at. And while it wasn't much to look at, it was neat and tidy, just as Prowl liked it.

After a moment of reflection, Prowl looked up at Dataclerk, shaking his head. "No, DC, that will be all for the moment, thank you. Jeffrey," he now turned his attention to the child that was at his side. "This is my secretary, Dataclerk. When I am not here to help you, or see to your needs, he will be. So you'd do well to learn his name, as well as get to know him when you have the time."

Jeff side-eyed the mech behind the massive desk. He was not nearly as tall or intimidating as Prowl. His grey finish coming off as relatively dull in comaprison, and his sharp blue optics having more livelihood to them. But he did seem to have a friendlier smile that made Jeff relax, if only briefly. "Oh yes, the boy's finally here! Hello, Jeffrey. I'm Dataclerk... But wait, you knew that heh heh," he chuckled slightly, and then looked at him with an attempt at getting his barrings. "I uh, don't know a lot about humans. But I've done lots of research to prepare for this. I promise to make your time here fun, and..."

"Whoa, does he come with a mute button?" Jeff held up his hands, surprising both of them. "Chill, dude."

Dataclerk seemed a little disappointed by the reply. But as he eyed Prowl, he remembered just where the boy was coming from. Prowl had given him a brief rundown on Jeff's history, and even he understood that the boy would probably take time to warm up to others, if he ever did. "I apologize, I tend to become a bit excited," the mech replied. "Anyway, if you need anything, I'm right here, like Prowl said."

Jeff put his hands into his coat, and nodded a little. "Is it just the three of us then?" He asked as he curiously examined the empty room.

Prowl nodded his head, crossing his arms slowly. "For the most part. You'll see a lot of 'Bots come and go though. A lot of tactical mechs, as well as high ranking officers in the army, and Optimus Prime himself," Jeff grew a bit wide-eyed upon the mention of that final person. "If anything, I do ask you show HIM respect. As your actions are a reflection on me, and Optimus Prime is..."

"The leader of the Autobots, yeah, I know that," Jeff breathed a bit. "He may actually come through here? Like sometimes?"

Prowl shook his head, and replied. "A lot of the time, actually. I'm his second-in-command, and as such we work very closely with him. If you do well with the work, you may get to work closely with him as well," he noticed the faint twinkle in the boy's eyes at that. "I take it you, like most children, look up to him..."

Jeff tried to shake himself out of his already startstruck state and shook his head. No, he wasn't going to let his guard down just like that. Even if he had really looked up to, and seen Optimus as a hero since the Autobots had gone public after Egypt. "I mean, he's cool and all. I guess... It'd be pretty cool to meet him," he managed, trying to retain his cool. "Bragging rights and all."

He had a feeling that Prowl could see right through to his fanboy nature. But Jeff didn't care, he also knew how to keep his excitement down over the years. At least, for the most part, after all his ADHD could get the better of him sometimes. "Well, again, I ask for your best behavior when he does come in. He's now your boss as well as mine," Jeff could tell that Prowl was dead serious about that. "Do we understand each other?"

"Yes, sir." Jeff attempted.

Well, that was better than what he had been getting, Prowl figured. So maybe it meant that Jeff was starting to get the idea that Prowl wasn't all that bad. "Dataclerk, screen my calls to what is most important today. I will be getting Jeff settled into his workspace," Prowl noted as he carefully opened the door to his actual "office", letting Jeff in before closing the door behind them. "So, I assume that you have a good reading comprehension?"

Jeff nodded his head as he examined the office. Much like the waiting room, it was neat and tidy. With a large, Autobot-sized desk at the center. The Autobot logo was everywhere, as were several pictures in the form of holograms. To Jeff, it was rather boring but it did teach him something about Prowl: he was clearly all about organization.

"I know enough, I mean, I'm literate," Jeff replied. "And I took classes in juvie. So I'm not stupid or anything."

Prowl nodded his head slowly as he motioned toward one side of the room. There, Jeff found what he assumed was to be his own desk to work at. It was big by human standards, and to his surprise, really nice, along the same lines as Prowl's own. Complete with his own computer, and a comfortable looking chair. "Well, this is where you'll be working from on most days. It's going to be a lot of clerical work. Filing, sending data, probably running some errands when you're used to the headquarters," Prowl explained. "You will get paid your allowance for working here, as well as my signing off on your hours."

Jeff perked up, surprised at the thought. "I get an allowance?"

Prowl chuckled evenly. "Of course you do. You'll only work a few hours a day... Or eight on weekends, since you'll be attending classes with other children in the program," Jeff looked a bit surprised at that. "When you're not working you can do with your time as you wish. So long as you don't shirk your studies."

The teen fell silent, really not knowing what to say. New clothes? An allowance? Actually being treated like a person rather than a nuisance? Sure, going to school wasn't exactly something he really liked the sound of, and yet... This didn't sound as bad as it had when he'd been told of the idea yesterday. And to be frank, Prowl didn't seem to be the bad guy he had half-expected either.

Yet, the fifteen year old "delinquent" refused to let his guard down. For all he knew this was all a front, and before long things would turn around for the worse. He had no guarantees that he could really trust Prowl... But a part of him, as deep down in his heart as it was, really wanted to believe this mech really had his best interests at spark.

Chewing his lip, he carefully eyed Prowl and took a deep breath. "So, where do I start I guess?"

The mech gave a faint smile, glad to not have gotten a snarky answer in response. He carefully nodded his head, and then moved to his desk. "You can start by looking over some of these files in a data pad I give you. I need you to organize these old memos and file them," he explained. "And pay close attention to how this data pad works as well. You'll be using it more often than the computer."

With a quiet sigh, Jeff approached Prowl as he neared his desk. He supposed in the end, no matter how this ended up, he couldn't fight it. Only hope that Prowl was the kind sparked, and friendly mech he had presented himself to be so far.

A/N: Woo. So yeah, I knew that this program had to be something the 'Bots could do that wouldn't take away from their job. So I hope that this is a believable program for you all. :)