As requested by Moonwallker!

Restless

Jazz couldn't sleep.

He'd force himself to relax, often resorting to human relaxation techniques and yoga, offline his optics and lie deathly still and fall into a light recharge before suddenly jolting back awake again.

It was frustrating. He could hear the quiet cycling of air through every other mech asleep on base – his audial horns were still on their highest sensitivity and he was still too jumpy to turn them back down again – and he envied them. While they could recharge effortlessly and endlessly, he had to go to great lengths to relax enough for half a joor of recharge at most before bad memory fluxes tore him back to consciousness.

This always happened. He'd go in and infiltrate a decepticon base, run into some trouble that sent him on high alert, and when he was back at base where it was safe he'd still think that if he got some shut-eye something would come up behind him and brutally dismember him in his sleep.

The only thing that set this last time apart from the others was that that had very nearly happened. It was only a loose bolt being accidentally kicked towards him that woke him up just in time to react to a very large and vicious looking energon blade being aimed directly at his face.

He was halfway to just shooting something and begging Ratchet to knock him out when he heard Prowl enter their quarters. He shot up, throwing his arms out towards Prowl and pulling the most pathetic expression he could.

"Ah can't sleep." He weakly admitted. Prowl had expected this, and simply gave Jazz the hug he was begging for. Jazz held on fast, not wanting to let go. He was always terrified after every mission that this was just a dream cycle and that he was still in the heart of enemy territory. He thought that if he let go, he'd wake up and the nightmare would continue.

Prowl gently lead him back to the berth, letting him get on first, relaxing his hold slightly so Jazz could wriggle himself backwards so he was pressed against the wall. After a mission, for at least a decacycle after, Jazz would insist on sleeping with his back pressed firmly against the wall with Prowl in front of him. Any other way and he wouldn't sleep. At all.

With the sound of Prowls systems cycling down for recharge and the feel of his intakes blowing across his helm, Jazz finally fell asleep.

Sorry it's so short!

~Llama