CHAPTER 23
Baby Steps

"So then, Bluestreak and I totally nailed Smokescreen with like, eight canisters of paint pellets."

Prowl chuckled a bit as Jeff plopped onto the bed he was occupying. Jeff shook his head a bit, staring up at Prowl calmly. The wide grin on his face brought a lot of joy to the Autobot's spark, in all the time he'd known him, he'd never seen Jeff look so happy. "Your brother's are two of the most awesome goof-offs I have ever met." Jeff admitted "How the heck are they related to you?" He questioned.

"Watch it."

"I mean you're awesome in a mentor, friend to look up to way." Jeff shook his head quickly "But they just, I don't know... They're awesome, just in a different way." He slugged Prowl's leg plate lightly "You're pretty awesome though too, big guy. So don't beat yourself up." He explained.

Prowl chuckled shaking his head slightly in response. Jeff stared up at him, and after a moment, a long hard moment, wrapped his arms around Prowl's index finger. It took the mech a moment to process the fact that Jeff had just made physical contact with him on his own accord, but as he did, he could only bring himself to blink a moment. "Thanks for inviting me to meet them... For a moment I got to be a normal kid again." Jeff let go slowly.

"What brought that on?"

Jeff blew his hair away from his eyes silently, and thought it over. He wasn't entirely sure where the hug had come from himself, it had just happened. "I don't know. Maybe I'm just getting tired of pushing people away all the time." Jeff shrugged, his eyes moving up to look at Prowl's "Sorry, I know it was awkward, let's just forget it happened, alright?" He laid his head down "You gonna let me get to know your work buddies tomorrow?" He questioned.

Prowl nodded his head, that had been the plan, as the boy was, of course his apprentice. "Yes, they are all interested in meeting you, so that is the plan." He paused a moment "As for the hug, don't worry about it. I was only... Surprised." He stood slowly "But we can talk more on this subject later, for now, I believe you need some recharge." He turned around, heading for the doorway to the main hangar "Get a good night's sleep, Jeff." He noted.

As he left the room, and Jeff to sleep, he slowly took in the fact that Jeff had just hugged him in full. Jeff hadn't openly made that kind of contact with anyone, and it was probably the biggest step he had seen the young man take in the now almost two months he had known him. "You got a great kid there, Prowl." Bluestreak commented as Prowl turned, seeing him leaning against the nearby wall "If you weren't thinking of adopting him already, I may have thought about it." He chuckled.

Prowl nodded his head a little bit in agreement. He couldn't deny that, Jeff was a good kid, even if he had his moments where he did see why many Autobots might feel as though he was "trouble". But where they saw trouble, he saw troublED, and in need of consistency and compassion. "I quite like him as well, and am more than happy to see that both you and Smokescreen had a good time with him." Prowl replied, a smile crossing his lips "I believe this was indeed a big step forward for Jeff, last time I tried something similar, he freaked out." He noted.

"So, when are you going to ask Prime?"

Prowl scratched the side of his helm silently, knowing it would be a while. Prowl had never been a parent, and he wanted to know what he was getting himself into before he just jumped in and put himself down as Jeff's legal guardian. It was a big step to take up that responsibility, and Jeff had been hurt more than enough times already. "I'm going to give it a little while longer, see how things are in a month, perhaps." Prowl explained "If it continues this way and no one objects, I could set things in motion before the year is up." He theorized.

Bluestreak nodded his head slowly, turning to look at his older brother with a smile. "You're gonna change that kids life it all goes well, Prowl." Bluestreak commented, clapping him on the back "But you're right about knowing what you're getting yourself into. I mean, you're not exactly experienced in the "parent" region." Prowl nodded in agreement "Don't worry though, bro, he seems like a pretty solid kid." He added.

Prowl nodded, as they slowly made their way back towards Smokescreen waited for them near the end of the hangar. "What about those Decepticons, though?" Bluestreak questioned "It sounds like whatever they want with him, they're not going to stop until they have it." Prowl turned his head towards his brother quietly "Do you have a plan, or anything?" He questioned.

"Yeah, if they come within two feet of him, I blast them out of the sky." Prowl replied, quite deadpan "The day I allow them to lay a hand upon that child is the day that I allow my spark to be torn out." He noted, then sighed "I can only hope it won't come to that, however." He admitted.

Inwardly, he had a feeling that he would not have a say in the matter at the end of the day. But he did know one thing was certain, he would never let any harm come to Jeff. If nothing else, he had sworn to himself that he would do whatever it took to keep the young boy he had become close to safe.

...

The next day, Jeff felt even more nervous than the day before. It would be the first time that Jeff met the other strategists that were under Prowl's command, and to say the least, the intimidation that came with that was great. The mech peered down at the young man with a comforting smile as they made their way towards their destination. "Jeff." The boy looked back up at him "Please, relax. They were all once just like you, even if they were not the same species. None of them are going to judge you." He assured.

"No humans then?" Jeff questioned.

"A few." Prowl replied "But there are more Autobots in this division."

Jeff shifted a bit, as they entered the division, several Autobots greeted the second-in-command warmly. Though a few acknowledged Jeff, he only waved a bit in response, uncertain of how to best respond. "Prowl, good to see you again." A black colored, and friendly faced mech spoke as he looked between him and Jeff "And you must be Prowl's new apprentice." He gave a two fingered salute "Trailbreaker's the name." He then added "Glad to have you aboard."

Jeff took in Trailbreaker a moment, attempting to read between the lines. For once, Jeff found that the person was being what he liked to call "professionally nice", which was something new to him. "Thanks, it's nice to meet you too." Jeff peered over towards what he was working on quietly "So what part of the division do you work for?" He questioned.

"Autobot Tactical Specialist." Trailbreaker replied proudly "What do you wish to go into."

Prowl subconsciously tensed at that, he'd much rather Jeff say "none of them" than anything. If Prowl were going to take this kid in, after all, there was little-to-no chance that he'd let his son join the Autobot army. "I don't know yet." Jeff commented, turning towards Prowl, who remained silent "I was kinda thinking of going into the same division. Tactical stuff seems fun and all." He noted.

Trailbreaker smiled, nodding his head. "Hey Prowl, why not leave him with me then? I can teach him a thing or-"

"No!"

Jeff jumped at Prowl's outburst, though the mech quickly caught himself. "What I mean is, Jeff is not far enough along in his teachings to properly understand it yet." Trailbreaker lifted an optic ridge seemingly as confused as Jeff felt "Perhaps at a later date the two of you can get together. After all, I doubt this will be the last time we visit Diego Garcia together." He noted, as he scooped Jeff up before he could object "Talk to you later, 'Breaker."

As Prowl headed on deeper into the division, Jeff could only feel more and more confused. He'd been training a while, he was pretty sure he could have followed it easily, what had been his real issue? "Prowl?" The mech stared down into his palm "What was that REALLY about man? That was kinda-" He began.

"Nothing, you're simply not ready." Prowl said as he deposited Jeff on his shoulder "You're still only sixteen years old, Jeffrey. You have no need to learn how to help with war effort as you're too young to even enter." His optics glanced over at Jeff slowly "And you'd be better never to get involved as-is. It is a very dangerous war, people die in front of me every day we're sent out." He felt a pain in his receptors "The last thing I want is to bring you back like that." He noted.

Jeff couldn't help but notice the pain in Prowl's voice as he said that, it was unusual for him. What was going through his head anyway? Jeff couldn't help but wonder as the mech went silent. Then again, he appreciated the fact that someone cared enough about him to be so concerned for his well being, something that had never happened before. "Yeah, I'll keep that in mind, I guess." Jeff shrugged "Still would have been cool to learn."

Over my offlined chassis. Prowl thought bitterly.

Though Jeff, for all intents and purposes, wouldn't know the real reason until they figured their relationship out.