A/N: Making a change to the summary. Feel that I needed to make it better. Mostly due to the fact that I'm giving an Autobot in this chapter a bigger role than I expected.

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CHAPTER 11
An Offer From Prowl

Jeff felt as though changing his tune even slightly was already becoming quite hard. Roughly three days had passed since he'd been visited by his Father's spirit or ghost, take your pick, and while things seemed better, Jeff still felt the calmness on base with him was still fairly tentative. Jeff knew it would take time to get used to his trying to turn his attitude around, yet he still could feel that it would take more of that. No answer to this problem was going to fall out of the sky and hit him on the head. No, the answer hit him in the head, but it didn't fall from the sky.

The teen didn't exactly remember how he ran into the head Autobot Second-in-Command, but somehow he'd ended up on his butt with the tall Autobot staring down at him. Even with his reputation with Sideswipe, Prowl was an intimidatingly powerful looking mech. His door wings twitched the slightest bit, but otherwise, he had no real reaction to the collision until what felt like hours had passed. "Apologies." Prowl spoke, his voice devoid of much emotion "Have you sustained any injury to your body?" He questioned.

"No, but I have a feeling I'm going to have a nasty headache later." Jeff grunted, he pulled himself to his feet slowly, staring up at the golden opticed mech "So you're Prowl." Jeff commented, noting the appearance and how it matched Sideswipe's description of him to a tee "Honestly, I kinda expected you to flip out a bit more when you came into contact with me." He added.

Prowl simply tilted his head to one side, shrugging slightly. "You're not quite my problem, Jeffrey Devlin." He commented evenly, his voice laden with gentle, yet complete honesty "You're not quite what I expected either, however. Quite the opposite, actually." Prowl chuckled to himself "The way Ratchet described you I expected a little more." He noted.

Jeff scoffed, looking away from Prowl silently, his eyes scrutinizing the mech. "Yeah, well you're exactly what I expected. A bad humored, cocky, piece of scrap metal." Jeff rolled his eyes a bit "Now if you don't mind, I have stuff to do. And so do you, or are you purposefully slacking off." He nodded towards the data pads "I thought you were supposed to be the workaholic on base." He added.

Prowl frowned slightly, cocking an optic ridge slightly as his door wings flickered again. "You read through me quite fast. No, I was not "slacking off", though I was on my break." Prowl replied, his optics scanned him over "Though if I'm not mistaken, you don't particularly have a say in what I do and do not do." He commented, bluntly.

"If you're taking a break why are you taking the long way to the rec room?"

Prowl grimaced, already inwardly wanting to wave the boy off. But it was not Prowl's style to be cruel, rule-abiding, and stoic at times maybe, but cruelty was simply not a part of his personality. "Astute observation." Prowl replied, his optics flickering with a quiet interest "I'm coming back from patrol, actually. Afterwards is when I get my break." He noted "How do you know the perimeters of the base so well already. You haven't even been here a month." He noted.

Jeff shrugged slightly, keeping his eyes from making contact with the mech. "I... I notice this stuff, it's nothing." Jeff replied, shrugging his shoulders "Just something I've been able to do since I was a kid I guess. Read people, figure things out quickly..." He commented "Trust me, it uh, kinda sucks to watch mystery movies with me because I pick up on everything. Let's just put it that way." He noted.

A smile played upon Prowl's lips, even further intrigued by the young human. Even with humans, it was hard to find someone as vocal and open as the boy, and his skill only served to intrigue him further. "That is quite the attribute to acquire from a young age." Prowl cleared his "throat" so-to-speak with "I've found in my time on Earth that very few humans have that ability. Your memory spans are quite... Small." He crouched down a bit "It tends to make them seem a little too honest for their own good." He added.

"How would you know?" Jeff questioned.

Prowl cocked an optic ridge, standing to his feet again. "Certainly, you were not under the belief you were the only being in the universe with such gifts." Prowl shook his head "Quite the opposite, actually. I discovered such gifts by the time I was in my third frame." He explained "Tell me, Jeffrey, would you care to join me in the rec room?" He questioned "I'm quite interested in-" He began.

"I'm not some sort of experiment, okay?" Jeff grunted.

Prowl put his hands on his hips, and went over a logical new approach in his processor slowly. "I'm aware, I simply am curious how much your brain works like my processor." He pointed towards his helm slowly "Again, I've never met a human with a similar gift, it intrigues me more than it makes me want to "experiment" as you put it." He explained "But if you'd rather not, it is understandable. But I will be in the rec room should you chose to change your mind." He noted.

By the time Prowl moved on, Jeff wasn't sure if the mech had been mad, or somehow genuinely curious. But Jeff had to admit, he was definitely the latter, moreso because of Prowl's calm demeanor, something he hadn't expected. "Something tells me that I'm going to regret this." Jeff muttered to himself.

...

Jeff and Prowl stared at each other in the rec room for a long time before either one of them knew what to say. Jeff mostly just shook his can of coke slightly, looking thoughtful, before staring up at Prowl. "You know, it's kinda weird... When Sides told me about you, I expected you to be a lost crustier, more of a... Jerk." Jeff finally spoke up "You seem like a normal mech to me, really." He admitted.

Prowl shook his head a bit, rolling his optics a bit. "Yes, well, Sideswipe and I never have gotten along much." Prowl shook his head "If you're anything like me, as you grow into your personality, and grow up. You'll come to notice for every friend you make, you make another twelve enemies from it." Jeff stared at him "But I'm sure you're learning that already." He noted.

"I don't have a lot of friends." Jeff admitted "Everyone either thinks I'm a jerk, or just avoids me entirely." He shook his head silently "But I don't see me being anything like you, no offense man. But you're just a little too stoic for my style." He explained "I mean, I get it, the war makes you hard and all. But the most you've shown is a smile since I've met you." He added.

Prowl grimaced a little at that, though he couldn't deny it was the truth. The war had made him hard, and it was obvious by the fact that he remembered a day when he was as youthfully ignorant as the young man in front of him. "That is not a result of my nature, Jeffrey, it is the result of losing many of my friends, family, and as many deaths I've caused." Prowl sipped from his cube of energon silently "You know doubt know how that feels as well." Jeff's eyes crossed at that "I meant nothing by the sentiment." He added.

"Jeez, you are like me." Jeff replied, his eyes giving a small twitch "Am I really that blunt?"

"From what I've heard? Even moreso." Prowl answered "I was often intrigued by what I'd heard of you. But after meeting you, you most certainly intrigue me more." He then added, evenly "I have a proposition for you that I've been mulling over the last few days. If you are willing to listen to it."

Jeff looked thoughtfully at the mech silently. "I'm listening."

Prowl looked at Jeff silently, and then pointed at him. "I believe with your ability to read, you are a born strategist." Prowl spoke honestly "Back there it was a test, I intentionally made it appear I was slacking off. In an attempt to see if what I've heard is true." He then explained "To see if you could read through me, a task that, to be honest, is not easily completed." He added.

Jeff leaned back, shifting a bit, he could already feel himself becoming uncomfortable. "What are you asking me, Prowl?"

Prowl placed his hands on his lap slowly, leaning forward to look at him. His golden optics bore down on him in a way that almost scared Jeff. "I want to help you." Prowl finally spoke "I'm asking if you would like to train under me. I've taught many Cybertronian's with your skills to hone there skills in the strategic field." He explained "I'd be very interested to attempt to train a human being, and I'd like to take you on." He commented.

"So, I'd what? Be your apprentice?"

Prowl nodded his head slowly, looking at him with a serious look in his optics. "I can help you, Jeffrey. I can teach you to use these skills of yours to do more than you can probably imagine at the present." Jeff was silent as Prowl spoke "You need someone to teach you how to control these abilities you have, and put them to proper use." He explained "Allow me to take you on, and I promise, you will not regret it." He explained.

Jeff chewed his lip, eyeing Prowl, and questioning what game he was playing. Yet, he saw the generosity in his optics as well, knowing there was some truth to his comments. "I'll have to think about it." Jeff replied, quietly "I just can't make a split-second decision about something like that." He stood up slowly "And besides, Sides and Arcee are going to wonder where I am by now." He admitted.

"Very well, think on it." Prowl nodded "My office is on the first floor and always open."

As Jeff made his way away from Prowl, he slowly looked over his shoulder. Deep inside, he had the smallest feeling that this would most definitely not be the last he saw of the Autobot second-in-command.

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A/N: And there's Prowl! Hope I did a good job portraying him. 3