It was ridiculously easy to keep Jazz hidden from the other Autobots. All the saboteur had to do was wear a signal dampener and hide. It was enough for Prowl to seriously consider upping security measures in case another Decepticon broke in.

Over a short space of time, Prowl had grown accustomed to having Jazz in his office while he did his reports. The saboteur was selfish, narcissistic and had sadistic tendencies, but no one was perfect. Plus, he was actually good company.

"What're ya doin' now?" Jazz asked from the beams in the ceiling as Prowl picked up another datapad.

"Reading through Inferno's report on proper fire safety in case of an emergency." The tactician answered as he turned the datapad on.

"No." Jazz swung himself down from his perch, landing lightly on his feet. "Nuh uh. You're kiddin'."

"No, I am not." Prowl didn't even glance up.

Jazz plucked the datapad out of the tacticians hands. "No. You've been workin' all day."

Prowl shot him an irritated look and made a grab at the report. "That is the point of a job."

The datapad was whipped out of reach. "You're overdoin' it. It's time to get out o' your office."

Resigning himself to the loss of his datapad, Prowl scowled and sat back. "And where would you suggest we go, exactly?"

"Ah wasn't suggestin' me to go anywhere with ya, but if you're invitin' me, Ah'll come." Jazz shrugged, grinning.

"You are a Decepticon in an Autobot base." Prowl reminded him, staring pointedly at Jazz's dark red visor and purple badges.

"Labels!" The dramatic sigh was punctuated by a wave of Jazz's clawed hands.

Prowl watched in silent curiosity as the red in Jazz's visor bled out and lightened to blue. "Interesting." He said quietly as the purple Decepticon insignias adorning Jazz disappeared entirely.

"Ah know, Ah'm that good." Jazz shrugged, stretching his arms over his head. "C'mon, let's go!"

With a sigh of defeat Prowl stood up, allowing himself to be dragged out of his office. "Where are we going?"

"Rec. room." Jazz replied easily.

Prowl glanced at him with a frown. "How do you know where the rec. room is?"

"Ah went explorin' during the night."

"Which night?"

"Does it matter?" Jazz rolled his optics behind his visor as he pulled the tactician down the hall.

"Yes! I should have noticed you leaving." Prowl pointed out. Jazz had insisted on sleeping in the same berth every night. It was rather awkward; Prowl struggled to stay on the very far side of the berth away from Jazz, but the Decepticon had a habit of rolling over and snuggling into him during the night.

Jazz shrugged. "Ya were rechargin'."

"Still." Prowl muttered as they reached the door of the rec. room. "I should have noticed."

"Don't beat yourself up about it." Jazz said cheerfully as they walked in. "Ah've done lots'a things ya should'a noticed but didn't."

Prowl didn't dare to ask what kind of things. "I don't think this is a good idea." He said uneasily, glancing around the crowded room. "What if someone recognises you?"

"Who's gonna recognise meh?" was the careless reply.

"You said you knew the twins."

Jazz hesitated. "Oh. Well, Ah doubt they'd remember me." He shrugged calmly. Before Prowl could argue again, Jazz clapped him on the shoulder and said, "Ah'm gonna get some energon."

Prowl sighed as Jazz turned and disappeared into the crowd. Barely moments after the Decepticon-in-disguise had left, strong arms circled his shoulders and dragged him off to the corner of the room. "What are-" Prowl broke off and glared when he recognised Sideswipe, one of the Twin recruits from Kaon. "Unhand me."

The red frontliner obediently let go, grinning widely. "Sorry. Hey, Blue told me you didn't leave your office much."

"And?"

"Well, it's weird to see you now. Y'know, I was planning a party later-"

"No." Prowl said shortly.

"It's cool, I already got permission from Prime." Sideswipe said cheerfully. "He thinks it'd be good for the morale."

Prowl resisted the urge to scowl. "You had a party barely three weeks ago."

"It was almost a month ago. That is a LONG time. It'll be fun! You can bring your berth buddy that Blue's been telling us about."

"I have no idea who you are talking about."

Of course, Jazz chose exactly that moment to materialise next to them with two cubes of energon. "Hey, cutie pie. Ah got ya your energon." He said cheerfully.

There was a long pause before Prowl sighed in defeat, reluctantly taking the cube he was handed. "Thank you." He said grudgingly.

Jazz grinned and nodded, before focusing his visored gaze on Sideswipe. "Hi there. You are?"

Prowl had tensed, watching as Sideswipe eyed Jazz up. "Sideswipe. I'm guessing you're Rumble?"

A roguish grin crossed Jazz's face. "That's me."

Prowl allowed himself a moment to marvel at how easily Jazz lied. His temporarily blue visor held nothing but sincerity and friendliness. The tactician tilted his head slightly, noticing something different about Jazz, but unable to pinpoint what. After a second, he realised that Jazz had an Autobot energy signature. He paused, wondering how the Decepticon had managed that.

Sideswipe had tilted his head too. "You... look really familiar.."

"Ah get that all the time." Jazz grinned and shrugged easily.

Sideswipe nodded uncertainly. "Right.. Well anyway, I was just telling Prowl about the party tonight."

"Party?" Jazz perked up.

"Yeah! Maybe you can convince him to come."

Jazz turned his grin on Prowl. "It sounds fun!"

"No, it does not." Prowl groused.

"We'll come." chirped Jazz, smiling in delight.

Prowl shot the saboteur an incredulous look as Sideswipe nodded. "Awesome. See you later then."

The minute the red warrior was out of earshot Prowl rounded on Jazz. "Are you insane?"

"Yep."

"You will not be able to trick people into thinking you are an Autobot! People will become suspicious - no one has ever seen you before. Prime himself will be there!"

Jazz didn't look bothered by any of this as he took a careful sip of his energon. "Calm down, Prowlie. It'll be fine."

Prowl clenched his fists. "You cannot continue this charade!"

After a moment, Jazz tilted his head and lowered his energon from his face. "Well, Ah thought it'd be fun 'cause this is mah last night here."

Prowl paused, blinking. "What?"

Jazz shifted, looking vaguely uncomfortable. "Megatron called meh back."

Prowl blinked again, his logic processor stalling. "I don't.. What?"

"It's what ya wanted, right? Ah'm sure Ah'll be back to annoy ya soon, but for now Ah have to go."

"You are.. leaving."

"Yeah."

Prowl stared blankly, before finally seeming to get a hold of himself. "What happened to you being a free mech who was not controlled by anyone?"

Jazz rolled his shoulders and looked around the room, carefully avoiding optic contact with the Praxian in front of him. "Ah am a free mech. But ignorin' Megatron when he calls ya back personally is suicide."

"I see." Prowl had grown so accustomed to Jazz's simple presence that the absence of it seemed implausible, however illogical that was.

"You're gonna miss meh."

"Hardly."

Jazz shot him a grin. "Ah know you. You're gonna miss meh."

"No, I am not."

"Who's gonna sit with ya when you're doin' your reports?"

"No one. I prefer to work alone." Usually that statement would be true, but he found that he actually worked faster when Jazz was there, urging him to hurry up and finish because he was bored.

"Who's gonna snuggle ya at night?"

Prowl glared at him. "That is one thing I will most certainly not miss."

"Ya say that, but you'll miss it." Jazz giggled.

Prowl shook his head. "This is ridiculous. I am going back to my quarters."

"What about the party?"

"You may go, if you wish. I have no desire to be in a room full of loud music and raucous, overcharged mechs."

Jazz shook his head. "Only you. Fine, Ah'll come too."

With a nod, Prowl turned on his heel and headed for the door, trusting Jazz to follow him. He could feel the unfamiliar, yet still familiar, Autobot spark signature trailing after him as he led the way down the corridor.

A couple of mechs stared at them as they passed, and Prowl had no doubt that rumours would be spreading all over the base now. Naturally, it didn't seem to bother Jazz as the saboteur waved cheerily at them. A few mechs waved back uncertainly, but a majority just looked away awkwardly.

"Hi there!" Jazz called out, waving to Mirage as they passed him.

The white spy looked Jazz up and down disdainfully, before glancing to Prowl. "Who is this?"

"No one." was the hurried reply as Prowl dragged Jazz away. Mirage watched suspiciously as the tactician dragged the new mech down the hall. The minute they were out of Mirage's line of sight, Prowl glared. "What are you doing? You are meant to be discreet!"

"They ain't gonna notice meh, Prowler."

As they reached Prowl's quarters, the Praxian keyed in the code and glared at Jazz simultaneously. "Mirage was the one who obtained the information on you from the Decepticon base in Kaon."

The door had barely opened fully before Jazz was bouncing in and jumping onto Prowl's berth. "Ah deleted that file the day after Ah firs' came here."

"Of course you did." Prowl followed Jazz inside his quarters and sat on the edge of his berth.

Pointedly ignoring the distance that Prowl was obviously trying to keep between them, Jazz scooted closer and laid his head in Prowl's lap. "Admit you're gonna miss meh."

"No."

"Don't be stubborn."

This statement was so absurd considering the mech it had come from that Prowl let out an undignified snort. "Don't be a hypocrite."

"You're gonna miss meh." Jazz decided, removing his head from Prowl's lap and rolling so he was lying on his back. "Ah'm gonna miss you. And this berth. Pit, this is a comfortable berth."

Another snort left Prowl, but it was much more quiet and dignified. "Decepticon berths aren't as comfortable?"

"Nope."

"All the more reason to defect."

"Ha!" An explosive burst of laughter left Jazz's vocaliser. "Defect 'cause of a comfy berth?"

"It seems like the kind of thing you would do."

A comfortable, amused silence fell over them both as Prowl lay back on the berth next to Jazz. For once, Jazz didn't try to close any distance between them; there was a big enough gap between them that they were very close, yet not touching. "It does, doesn't it." Jazz said suddenly, sounding thoughtful.

"I'm sorry?"

"Seems like somethin' Ah'd do." Jazz's red visor glinted, giving him a slightly insane look.

Slightly confused, Prowl decided to change the subject. "Why does Megatron want you back?"

"Decepticon secrets, Ah'm afraid." Thankfully, Jazz seemed to snap out of whatever reverie he had fallen into as his tone turned playful. "Maybe if ya defect, Ah'll tell ya."

"I am loyal to the Autobots." Turning his head to the side, Prowl met Jazz's visored stare dead-on.

"Ah'm loyal ta the Decepticons." Jazz returned, grinning insanely.

"The fact that you have stayed several weeks with me here in the Autobot base suggest otherwise."

Even with the visor, it was clear to see that Jazz was conflicted. "Ah don't wanna talk 'bout it."

"Okay."

Jazz glanced up at Prowl, but glanced away quickly when he realised the tactician was already watching him. Prowl couldn't stop the small smile that curved his lips up when he realised that this was the first time he had seen Jazz as anything other than cocky and casual. He seemed shy.

"Ah wanna sleep."

The demand was met with another simple "Okay."

Shuffling closer to Prowl, Jazz laid his head on the tacticians chest. Instead of trying to move away as he usually did, Prowl stayed still.

"It will be strange without you."

Jazz glanced up. "Hm?"

"You asked me earlier if I would miss you. I am not sure if missing you would be entirely correct, but it will definitely be strange having you no longer here. I seem to have grown accustomed to your presence."

A grin split Jazz's face. "Aw cutie pie, Ah knew you'd miss meh!" With a shake of his head, Prowl closed his optics. Naturally, Jazz wouldn't leave him alone. "Hey, you rechargin'?"

"Attempting to."

With a giggle, Jazz started poking Prowl's faceplates. "You're gon' miss meh."

"Jazz." Prowl growled and grabbed at the Decepticon's hand. The saboteur giggled again and pulled the hand that Prowl was holding up to his face. Prowl's optics widened in surprise as Jazz kissed his hand. "Jazz!"

"Calm down, Prowler. Ah'm only teasin'." Jazz laughed.

With a little huff, Prowl offlined his optics again. Within moments, he was recharging.

...

Jazz left the next morning, before Prowl came online. It was once again stupidly easy to get passed the security perimeter of the Autobot base, and he was gone before anyone so much as noticed a blip on the scanners.

And now he was standing before Megatron, his visor back to a deep ruby colour, giving a brief (and completely false) account of his time at the Autobot base.

When he was finished, Megatron reclined his large, throne-line chair and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Interesting... So you broke into the Iaconian base and spent several weeks there, yet you were never detected. Not even once."

Jazz bobbed his head easily. "Yep. Ah hacked into the database, but they ain't plannin' any attacks anytime soon. They're just scoutin' around Praxus an' Tyger Pax."

"Looking for recruits, no doubt." The huge tyrant rumbled, glaring. "You have done well, Jazz. You've earned your rest for working so hard. See that, Starscream? That is a reliable, hardworking Decepticon. Take notes."

Unable to stop himself from grinning cheerfully and giving the scowling Seeker a little wave, Jazz bowed his head. "Thank you, my Lord." If anyone had known Jazz better, they would have been able to detect the mocking undertone in his voice. As it was, everyone presumed he was a loyal little Decepticon like any other. Even the saboteur himself wasn't sure what he had to gain from lying to Megatron, other than eventually gaining Prowl's trust (among other things).

Exceptionally pleased with himself, Jazz practically bounced out the door. The report he had delivered to Megatron had been made up on the spot, and (in Jazz's opinion) was completely ridiculous. Obviously, it wasn't too far-fetched, as Megatron had swallowed it without a flicker of a doubt. But really, who in their right mind would believe that Jazz - one of the most active mechs around - spent several weeks hiding in the ventilation system in Iacon, remaining completely stationary except for the rare chance he got to steal information from the Autobot database? The boredom would have been horrendous.

Whistling softly as he headed down the corridors to his quarters, Jazz found his mind wandering back to Prowl. His thoughts had been on the Autobot tactician since the moment he had left the Autobot base. With every step he took, his mood darkened like a storm cloud until he was practically snarling when he reached his quarters.

The room was filled with souvenirs he had collected from missions (various body parts and the like), stuff he had stolen from fellow Decepticons' rooms, and lots and lots of weapons. But it still felt painfully empty.

Jazz swore angrily and stalked into the room as the door slammed closed behind him. The empty berth only served to infuriate him further, and he punched a hole straight through the wall.

The sound of his hand crunching was almost drowned out by the sound of the wall being ripped through. The pain of his crushed hand seemed to clear his head, however, and Jazz let out a deep ex-vent. After another moment of staring blankly at the new hole in the wall, he turned on his heel and left the room. The Decepticons he passed in the halls wisely avoided him, easily recognising that he was in one of his infamous moods.

Flexing his injured hand with a pained growl, Jazz stalked into the medbay. Hook glanced up from where he had been welding an open wound on a battered looking Starscream. "Jazz. What happened?"

As a way of explanation, Jazz simply held up his hand. He didn't even bother wondering how in the name of Primus had Starscream managed to get beaten up by Megatron and sent to the medbay so quickly.

Far too familiar with the injuries Jazz acquired when he was in his moods, Hook simply gestured to a spare berth and told him to wait.

Starscream sneered as the saboteur sat down two berths over. "What happened to slag you off this time? A Vehicon looked at you the wrong way?" The answering growl the Seeker recieved was enough to make him recoil slightly. The Decepticons were familiar enough with Jazz's bipolar tendencies that they weren't at all surprised when Jazz went from manically cheerful to murderously furious. They were also familiar enough to know exactly when to stop talking to avoid actually getting murdered.

Hook pushed Starscream lightly. "You're finished. How about you stop fragging insulting Lord Megatron? That way he won't feel the need to beat you. Jazz, sit here."

A small squeal escaped Starscream as Jazz brushed passed him so roughly that the winged mech was knocked over. The saboteur sat down and held out his hand to the medic, before fixing his scowl at the opposite wall.

Hook sighed as Starscream picked himself up, ranting under his breath as he stormed out of the medbay. "Tell me what happened."

As a rule, Jazz tried to be civil to medics, even in one of his anger swings. They were the ones who fixed you up when you got injured, after all. "Ah punched a wall."

Hook just nodded, and didn't question him any further. They were both silent as the medic worked on the shattered hand structure.

It took almost two hours before Jazz's ruined hand was repaired to working order. Finally, Hook sat back and frowned. "There. It will hurt for a while, but you're a big mech, I'm sure you can bear it. Do not injure it again. If you come to me again with self-inflicted injuries, I will deactivate you. I mean it. I have been lenient with you so far, but anger is not a good enough reason to expect me to fix a damaged frame."

"Got it." Jazz stood sharply and made to leave. He was halfway out the door before he thought to turn and call out a "thanks" over his shoulder.

His newly repaired hand throbbed slightly, but Jazz made the pain go away for a short while by causing the first grunt soldier to walk passed him such immense pain and agony that it drowned out any emotion Jazz may have been feeling. He got bored of the screaming quite quickly, however, and silenced the mech permanently with a sharp pull.

He returned to his quarters with a severed head, and quickly placed it amongst his other collected body parts from his past victims. Finally satisfied, he lay back on his berth. His thoughts turned to Prowl once again, but this time he didn't get angry.

Instead, he began to plan seeing him again.

After what seemed like hours of scheming, Jazz's mood brightened. Eventually, he hopped up off his berth and bounced out of the room, making a beeline straight for the rec. room.

Jazz would readily admit that the Autobot recreation room was much nicer than the small, shabby little room in the Decepticon base. But still, it was the one place Decepticons could relax in, so the poor condition of the room was ignored.

"Hey, mechs." Jazz called out a cheerful greeting as he stepped into the room.

Practically every conversation in the room stopped the moment Jazz's upbeat tone was recognised. "You're back." Rumble's voice broke the silence. The cassette was sitting next to Soundwave, who was reading through a datapad on the couch.

"Sure am." Jazz sang, bouncing over to them. "So, Sounders. Do ya have any plans? Ya know, t' invade any cities or anything? Anythin' comin' up soon?"

The tape deck paused and regarded Jazz warily. But even Soundwave was unwilling to anger the unstable Decepticon before him. "Affirmative. Planned invasion: Polyhex, in three days."

"Hm.. D'ya have the plan on a datapad?"

"Affirmative." Soundwave confirmed with a cautious nod.

Jazz shot him a charming grin. "Ah'm gonna need a copy."