A/N: Okay Muse, I officially hate you. First, you don't want to work on this, and now you do? Curse you! Anyway, I'm glad you all liked the last chapter, so in this one I've had a bit more fluff.

And I can't believe so many of my reviews think that something bad is going to happen to Ravage…will it? Find out in this chapter 3

Warnings: Implications of interfacing.

Disclaimer: Pfft, if I owned Tranformers, I'd have a Prowl/Jazz comic out and distributed to the rest of the world. I would make it canon.

Turning Point – Chapter 17

Soundwave watched as the Porsche folded down into his alt mode, Ravage hopping in and transforming into cassette form. With a heavy spark he turned away from the scene as Prowl briefed Jazz on emergency procedures and such. He couldn't bear to watch as the saboteur took his eldest creation back into the range of his tormentor, no matter how essential the mission was.

He stayed, looking in the opposite direction, as he heard the rumble of an engine and the beep of a horn as Jazz peeled off and out of Ark territory. He didn't move until Prowl came up next to him, placing a hand on his arm.

"Come on inside, Soundwave. Try not to dwell on what will happen and things will be fine," assured the tactician quietly, but letting just enough concern slip into his tone to let the telepath know that he was trying to do the same.

Soundwave looked over his shoulder at the dirt cloud kicked up by the Porsche's tyres and let out a small sigh. He let his helm hang and he allowed the Praxian to lead him inside. Once in, they went to the rec-room, where Blaster and all the cassettes apart from Ravage were setting up the decorations for the party the next day. The party where Blaster had challenged Soundwave to a DJ battle, like they had done when they were young. Prowl gave him a cautious pat, knowing sometimes the blue mech would sometimes flinch with contact and left him in Blaster's capable hands.

"Hey 'Wave…want to get those streamers in the box and hang 'em over the entrance?" Blaster called from where he was setting up the two DJ booths on the stage, connecting cords to the back of the stations.

Acknowledging his friend with a nod, Soundwave went over to the supplied box and gathered the required streamers and headed to the entrance, sedately hanging them over the doors, his thoughts constantly turning to his eldest creation. For caution's sake, he had toned down the telepathic and creator/creation bond between he and Ravage. He didn't like it one bit. He was worried, dread a dark coil in his tank at the thought of his creation within the range of Megatron's evil clutches.

Soundwave sighed, tacking the streamer end to the wall, securing it.

He felt a touch on his bond from Buzzsaw and he looked over to where the yellow and black condor was hanging lights above the stage with Laserbeak. He canted his helm to the side, allowing Buzzsaw to voice his opinion.

::You are placing us on edge, creator,:: murmured the avian like mech.

::I apologise,:: replied Soundwave, putting another streamer up and trying to soothe all his creations.

::Nah, we know you're worried. We can't help but pick up on it.::

Soundwave couldn't help but feel slightly lifted by Frenzy's words. He gave them another mental pat and went back to his work.

When he was done, he felt someone behind him, and knew instinctively that it was Blaster. He turned, meeting the concerned blue gaze of his friend. "Yes?"

"You're still brooding, even though you don't realise," Blaster murmured to him, reaching a hand out to lay it on a broad blue shoulder.

Soundwave dropped his gaze. It was true. He was having to constantly push his worry to the back of his processor. "What am I to do? I will surely go mad." He said it soft, not wishing to draw the attention of his diligent cassettes – who were happily going about their decorating – and crossing his arms in front of him, feeling vulnerable.

Blaster rubbed his hand over the shoulder slowly. An idea came to him as he remembered his dream a few nights previously, remembering how happy Soundwave had been when they had gone to the waterfall, the way they had played. "Hey, want to get out for a while? We don't have duty at all today, and we can finish setting up the room later. What do you say?"

Bringing his helm back up and a tiny flash of hope appearing over his face, Soundwave asked, "The waterfall?"

"The waterfall," the other split-spark confirmed.

: This is a clever contraption,: Ravage remarked through a private comm. as he perched upon Jazz's back in the middle of a clear, bubble like structure as they went down into the depths of the sea.

: One of Wheeljack's most successful inventions. It also dampens our spark resonances so the Con scanner can't detect us. It's fallible, but not a too many times,: replied Jazz with a smirk. :Ya guys could slip into our base, and we would slip into yars.:

:Touche:

:Not to mention Ah'm surprised ya never figured out where we got in.:

Ravage stayed silent. He watched as Jazz manoeuvred them in the bubble structure underneath one of the side thrusters, and it was then that Ravage saw a piece of the panelling had been torn away and a door had been fitted, a tiny Autobot symbol adorning it. He made an amused sound. :To think that Megatron had an Autobot symbol all of this time. It's a mini-revenge really.:

:It always amuses me,: Jazz said, opening the bubble structure and leaping at the door, the spark lock recognising his spark signature and opening just enough to allow both bots in with the minimal amount of water flooding in. They halted, waiting to see if any being detected their presence. Ravage had to carefully control his emotions. This place in which he had lived in for years, now felt as unfriendly and as cold as a bullet between the optics. He leapt off his new commander, silent, audials straining for any indication that they were given away by their rather ungraceful entrance. He noticed with detached interest as the water drained away from the hallway in gutters he had never perceived before.

There was no noise.

And then the mechanoid panther realised why. This was the 'soundproof' level. You couldn't hear what was happening in the other levels, and the other levels couldn't hear any sounds coming from this level. It made him shudder to think that one of the rooms on this level was where his creator was so abused and threatened.

Sharpening his focus, he said to the black and white who was picking himself up, :You received my plans I trust?:

:You betcha kitty cat,: Jazz replied, grinning as he caught the glare aimed at him.

:I'm going into the vents. The sooner we get those plans, the sooner we leave. I will not keep Soundwave waiting.:

Without waiting for an answer, he slunk around a corner, nosing at a hidden panel in the wall to make a vent open. He crawled through, keeping his footfalls silent as he scrambled up it and into the ceiling of the floor. Once he went up to the next level, he would be in the general area. Only then could he really begin to gather the information he needed. Still….there was a prickly feeling all up and down his back as he moved through the vents. He couldn't tell the cause of it and it made him even more wary.

Not to mention how the glimpses of the Nemesis hallways as he traversed the ceiling made him feel a stranger to these halls. It was almost awkward to realise he considered the Ark home now.

He went up, thanking Primus no one had thought to erase the little footholds in the main vents he and his brothers had made to get up through walls when they needed a place to hide after pranking or in just wanting to avoid the world. It kept from sliding down the levels.

Now voices could be heard, and Ravage smirked in satisfaction. Fantastic. He was right near the command centre. However, his satisfaction disappeared when he heard the voices of both Megatron and Shockwave. He crept closer to the vent, slowly as to limit his noise so they wouldn't hear it, and when he finally glimpsed inside the room, he realised he never should have worried anyway.

All he could see of Shockwave was his legs and arms that were wrapped around Megatron, and that cold, cultured voice moaning the warlords name as the grey mech continued to thrust.

Barely suppressing a snarl of disgust, Ravage moved on to the next vent over the command centre. In this view, he could only hear Shockwave and Megatron, not see them. He flicked his gaze over the computer consoles, absorbing all of the information. It was all fairly standard: Who was on duty where, the energon level in storage….ouch, only 34%. They would have to be going on a raid soon and would be valuable information. He filed it away in his memory bank. Seeing nothing abnormal, Ravage decided to move on. If it wasn't here on obvious screens, it means he would have to tap into the main hard drive of the Nemesis. Everything from every console and hard drive on the ship was stored there.

Leaving the two mechs below him to be caught up in their…interfacing, Ravage mused on something he had thought before.

'If Megatron had asked, had done everything with consent…Soundwave would not have refused. The bastard. He could have had it if he just asked! But no, he had to tear away my creator's walls and pull apart the solidness of his sense of self.'

:Hey Ravage, ya good?:

:Yes. Nothing in the command centre. Your status?:

:Shockwave's quarters are managin' to both sicken me and intrigue me, but Ah'll tell ya more about it later. Get the intel, and let's get the heck out of here.:

:See you soon Jazz,: Ravage promised, popping out of the vent and flicking his tail in lazy satisfaction as he gazed at the slab of metal and circuitry that made up the central hard drive. 'Fools,' he thought derisively. Soundwave had argued that holding all their information in one location, no matter how secure, would be potentially dangerous. Megatron had chosen to ignore that piece of advice. Now he was going to make the most of the warlords moment of arrogant idiocy.

Out of subspace he retrieved a USB like drive, able to hold a large amount of data. With a smirk, he entered in Soundwave's old overrides to the small console that could pull up any files on the hard drive, pleased when he saw the numbers had been accepted. He plugged in the USB, and let his intuition guide him. Without looking at them, Ravage downloaded all files submitted or worked on by Megatron and Shockwave, while also retrieving the folder labelled 'Plans.' He browsed around briefly for other files, picking them at leisure, before unplugging and placing the USB back into subspace.

'And now…for my own retribution, I humbly ask to test my concoction on you,' the mechano panther snickered to himself, red optics gleaming as he connected a panel from his body to the console and released a virus onto it.

As silent as a leaf falling through the air, Ravage slinked back into the vents and back to his position.

He had a creator to get back home to.

His creations were happy. Carefree. Each action an expression of positive emotions.

Yet he could not feel any of those things. All Soundwave could think about was that Jazz would come back from the mission alone, with an apologetic expression as he said 'I'm sorry. Megatron has him.' Those words would rip him apart to the very fibre of his being. He knew that the feelings of being dirty and defiled from his rape would never fully leave him, but he knew the wounds that were slowly healing would be torn and raw if the event he dreaded came to pass.

"Ya know, I'm not a telepath, but even I know you are thinking about if Megatron captures Ravage," a voice said quietly beside him.

"Yes…I am."

"He's gonna be fine, Wave."

"You don't know that," replied the blue mech, his gaze shifting from his creations to Blaster, who was sitting and looking right back at him.

"No. But I've got this feeling that everything's alright for Ravage right now. He's got Jazz, who's the best. He was trained by you. I think that should help with your worrying a little bit. Besides, you could tell he was itching to get out," Blaster said, making sure to keep his voice neutral. Any inflection could make Soundwave come to conclusions by reading in between the lines.

Soundwave shifted his gaze again, staring at the surrounds but not really taking it in.

"I still feel powerless to protect, even now," he finally murmured quietly, so quietly the boom box had to strain his audios to hear it.

With compassion in his optics and spark, Blaster laid a hand on his friends. "You're stronger than what you give yourself credit for, you know. We as a race rely on making decisions to ensure our survival. I believe that when the time comes…you'd be able to strike Megatron down in one blow and end this whole war with one bolt of your telepathy. It's only fear holding you at bay."

"Pardon me while I just schedule with Ratchet to have the emotional centre of my processor replaced so I don't feel it then," Soundwave said caustically.

Blaster winced at the tone and intertwined their fingers together, giving the telepath an anchor. With a bittersweet chuckle he said, "He would if he could. He's real fond of ya. And your guys. I caught him sneaking some energon goodies from his secret stash to Ratbat the other day."

The visored mech couldn't help but picture the scene and he replied with a hint of a smirk, "Ratbat is persistent."

"Something he gets from his creator I'm sure."

Soundwave did smile at that, and realised that Blaster, if only for a moment, had thoroughly distracted him from thinking about his eldest creation. His grip tightened on the hand threaded through his, and he sighed. His best friend was right. If it happened…then was the time to worry about it.

A loud yell pulled him out of his reverie and he looked up, spark pulsing contentedly with amusement as Laserbeak flew up high into the trees, Rumble held securely in his talons, before swooping back down and dropping the purple cassette, who whooped in glee before hitting the water with a splash. Eject and Rewind immediately pounced on him as soon as he came up for water, all three getting into a water fight. Ramhorn was sunbaking, letting his solar converters soak up the sunlight in the patch he had claimed. Steeljaw and Frenzy were swimming laps with Ratbat flying above them. Buzzsaw was at the top of the waterfall, merely watching. He never liked to get his plating wet.

"See? Focus on this, 'Wave. It's moment's like these that we remember to get us through the bad times," Blaster murmured softly.

Taking a shuddering breath to relax himself, Soundwave asked, "Should we join them?"

"Only if you want to," the red mech replied easily, smiling at him. Something funny shot up the telepath's spine at the sight of that glowing smile and he nodded, tugging his friend with him without a word as they slipped into the cool river, much to the delight of his creations and Blaster's, who swam up to them, eager in their play. Blaster immediately began to splash at the smaller mechs playfully, laughing when they splashed him back. Soundwave, however, didn't feel quite so playful and waded up the river, reaching the waterfall. Reaching a hand out, he let the water flow down onto it and through the gaps in his plating. It was quite soothing. Moving his hand out of the spray, the telepath moved his frame underneath instead, looking out at the happy scene.

The fall of water thundering down on him calmed his spirit, it seemed. Such a force of nature unhindered, merely flowing around him. The pressure acted as a tension reliever on his joints and cables, and Soundwave sighed, arching into the spray, even raising his arms above his head and letting the water stream over him.

Blaster, who looked up at that moment, a playful grin on his face, stopped stock still.

Soundwave was…gorgeous. That strong body displayed to its fullest, sun shining down on the blue plating as the mech stretched gracefully, helm tilting back, displaying those rather appetising throat cables to the boom box.

Blaster was pretty sure his jaw dropped.

Rumble nudged Frenzy beside him in the water, both sharing meaningful looks. They knew exactly why the red mech was looking at their creator as if he were Primus himself.

Making a noise of satisfaction, Soundwave swung his arms down again, rolling his shoulders. That felt…surprisingly good. He glanced back up, to find his fellow split-spark gaping at him.

Frowning, he asked, "Blaster? Are you well?"

"Uhh….guh….Oh yeah, I'm really….yeah good. Just…um, thought I saw…a monarch butterfly above the waterfall while you were stretching…yeah," Blaster stammered out, faceplates heating in embarrassment, making sure his mental walls were up just in case the other mech decided to make sure he was well via telepathy. He turned back around, hastily starting the splashing game again before Soundwave could press further.

Soundwave knew something wasn't right in that answer, but he let it drop. He had a feeling Blaster wouldn't appreciate it if he probed further into the matter. He pulled himself out of the water, content to watch as his creations played. He felt like he was home. He leaned back, letting his gaze fall up to the lush green canopy above him, sensing as Buzzsaw flew from the top of the waterfall to lean against his side in comfort. Stroking along the edge of a wing, Soundwave mused that he felt true tranquillity.

Whatever events happened next, he would just have to accept he couldn't control them all.

Playtime was over.

Blaster had gotten a comm. from the Ark that Jazz and Ravage were on their way back to the Ark. It had reportedly been a quick and well executed mission. However, one of the mechs had been injured.

As soon as Soundwave had heard the word 'injured,' he had tensed, as stiff as a rod, and demanded they all leave the waterfall area as soon as possible. Everyone agreed, the cassettes snuggling into their allocated slots in their creators as Soundwave and Blaster ran back towards the Ark, the red mech almost struggling to keep up with the blue's rapid pace.

"Easy 'Wave! He wasn't captured!" Blaster called out to his companion slightly ahead of him.

"He's hurt." The tone was abrupt, absolute. Like the voice of a God.

"We don't even know if it's Ravage. You told me you haven't been able to establish bond contact yet!"

The answering growl made Blaster quiet his opinions. Deep down, he knew that he would be exactly the same if in the telepath's position. As the Ark came into sight, the boom box breathed a sigh of relief. Even in battle he wouldn't run so fast for so long. They dashed into the entrance, paying no heed to any bot in their way as they headed for the medbay. Sure enough, as they approached, the cursing of Ratchet was heard.

It was Soundwave's turn to feel the slightest relief. Even after almost a month on the Ark, he knew that if Ratchet was yelling, the damage wasn't that bad.

Pushing through the doors, the visored mech was fully ready to see his creation, a gash in his side or in some way dismembered…only to stop in shock when he saw that it was Jazz the medic was yelling at.

Ravage was laying on another berth, looking inordinately pleased with himself. Not a scratch was on him as he turned his feline helm to his creator and re-established their bonds again.

'I'm home, creator,' whispered Ravage telepathically.

Waves after waves of relief flooded Soundwave, and a great weight seemed to lit off his shoulders as he lurched forward and enveloped his eldest in his arms, checking the feline over for any damage, glad to have his creation in his arms again, safe. He hugged Ravage to him in an uncharacteristic display of raw emotion, his visor bright as he imprinted the feel of the feline in his hold into his memory banks.

Jazz grinned at the scene, saying out loud, "Rav' was a real hero. Got into some trouble with Vortex as we were tryin' to get out of there, and Ravage came in at the nick of time. Kid's got talent."

"Hush you," growled Ratchet, focussed on welding the mark where Vortex had shot a plasma round. "They'll find out from Ravage later. I need to fix you up before Prowl gets here, and you'll know he's going to blow a gasket at the fact you got attacked because you were whistling of all things."

"Hey! The song was addictive mech!"

A clang echoed throughout the room, prompting a chuckle from Blaster as the medic whacked the saboteur on the back of the helm, quieting the black and white's protests.

"Information: gained?" asked Soundwave carefully.

"Yes," Ravage said aloud, and there was no denying the smugness in his tone. "Fools. They didn't delete our codes. I could have murdered them all and they wouldn't have even known it."

There was a silence in the medbay as they realised they had forgotten how dangerous Ravage could be.

Soundwave knew his creation could do it, and do it readily. But that life was not theirs to live anymore, and he transmitted as much. "You made the more noble decision, Ravage. Their time for penance will come."

"So…Doc, are Soundwave and I allowed to go? Something tells me our little guys are going to dissolve in one big cuddle pile," Blaster asked, attempting to liven the mood, which had plummeted.

"Yeah yeah, whatever," Ratchet muttered, mentioning his hand at the medbay doors, optics never leaving Jazz's wound.

"We must deliver my information to Optimus Prime or Prowl immediately," Ravage said quietly to his creator as they all headed out. Soundwave nodded, and seemed to have an internal debate before he ducked his helm and gave the feline a soft kiss on his forehead. Ravage knew his creator had been worried and allowed him to hold him tight, care flowing through their bonds. Blaster beside them was helpfully quiet, a support if needed.

They dropped off the USB to the Prime's office and headed back into their quarters. Once there, the cassettes were let out, all, even Blaster's, leaping onto Ravage, laughing and regaling him with tales of the river while Ravage relayed his time sneaking around his old base. Soundwave was smiling, glad, when suddenly he felt tears prick at the corner of his optics and his mood plunged once more. He couldn't ruin his creation's joy, and so he grabbed a startled Blaster, striding to his room and pulling them both in before shutting the door, breathing heavily.

Blaster's voice came through as if through a fog. "Wave? What's wrong? I thought it'd be a good thing that Ravage is back, unharmed."

"I….I d-don't know. I just…I feel the sudden urge to weep," Soundwave replied in a whisper, back towards his friend as he tried to focus on something…anything.

A hand rested on his shoulder to turn him around.

Ah, that was his anchor.

Those honest aqua optics were concerned and searching on his. "Maybe…I don't know, you just need the release? Cryin' is a way to do that ya know. And…well, maybe you just want to purge the worry. And the whole 'feeling weak and dirty' bit."

Slumping forward, the dark blue mech muttered, "Perhaps. Only…I just…I…Blaster."

"Yes?"

"Hold me."

"Always."

They sunk to the floor, arms wrapped around each other as tears made their way out of Soundwave's optics behind his visor, and down his face in silent sobs, clinging to his friend who had been so devoted to him, so giving and just there. The arms wrapped around him gave him stability. As his tears finally subsided, he pressed his face into a broad red shoulder to calm himself.

"Better?" Blaster asked softly, stroking over his friends helm and backstrut, letting his speakers hum in a low, soothing frequency.

"Much," confirmed his companion. "You were right. It needed…it needed to get out."

"I'm glad, my main machine," replied the boom box. His tone then turned slightly teasing and he said, "But this won't make me go easy on you in our DJ-off tomorrow night."

Soundwave managed a chuckle and said, "I expect not. Let the best mech win, remember?"

"Of course."

Skywarp flounced happily behind the twins as they snuck down a corridor. "Ooh, I can't wait! If this is hazing, I don't mind getting hazed like this!"

"Well, we thought that we'd give you a challenge. Rumour has it you were just as bad as we are when you were on the Nemesis," Sideswipe said, his grin set in manic glee.

"And then some. Helps when you have a warping generator. But I have a question. Are you both sure that Grimlock won't kill me on sight?" asked the Seeker.

Sunstreaker scoffed. "Remember, you have a warp generator? Besides, he's always too busy roaring at his other Dinobots and at everyone else rather trying to actually find who did it. Last time we painted him pink he roared so much that Ratchet had to throw three wrenches at him just to shut him up and calm him down. So worth it though."

Looking at their bare hands, Skywarp frowned. "But…we don't have any paint."

"We're not using paint. We've got better ammo for this time," chuckled Sideswipe.

"Like?" wheedled the black flier.

"Silly string, whipped cream, bows, fairy lights, a Santa hat and a pair of bunny ears. And that's just for Grimlock's head," cackled Sunstreaker, rubbing his hands together.

Skywarp joined in the laughter. This was going to be sweet!

A/N: Reviews please! I love them all so very much, and I love the detailed ones!

So what did you think of that? I tried to have more fluff and more SW/Blaster in there.

I promise that next chapter is the party and the DJ-off. But I have a question for my reviewers. How do you think Soundwave should find out that Blaster is in love with him? Does Blaster drunkenly tell him or sing him a song at the party that clues him in? Or is it telepathic? Or something/someone else entirely! I'd really like to know so I can see where the fic will go, and how much more angsty-ness to put in.