Chapter 12

"Hypothetically…" Sunstreaker says and then pauses.

"Hypothetically what?" I ask, like he knows I will because I always have so many questions, too many questions sometimes.

"Nah, Prax," he says slowly. "Never mind."

I kind of wonder if he's in a bad mood. It's hard to tell with Sunstreaker some of the time.

"I want to know what you were thinking about, Sunstreaker. Please?" I coax. Even if I don't find out what he is thinking, I'll probably figure out his mood. He's been extra quiet, even extra quiet for himself. "Is it about your face?" I always try to be cooperative to Sunstreaker's wishes, but I'm so very curious, especially since he usually tells me things that happen.

He looks at me. I expect him to give me an annoyed look, but he doesn't. It's sort a thoughtful look, and that itself is even more puzzling than him not telling me who punched his face. I'm used to moody Sunstreaker, annoyed Sunstreaker, skeptical Sunstreaker, amused Sunstreaker. Thoughtful Sunstreaker usually only looks at paintings, not at bots who are asking pester questions.

"Let's… let's go outside," he says, sliding off his stool and motioning for me to follow him out the backdoor.

I feel my wings twitch. Very puzzled wings. Sometimes distrust comes up from down in my spark, and it comes up now because Sunny, honestly, is acting a bit strange. I'm curious, though, and I know that Sunstreaker wouldn't do anything bad to me, not now that we're friends.

I push the little frowny thoughts away and go after Sunny, out into the sunlight and gusting breeze with the sounds of traffic and life on the other side of the building.

"Okay," I say. I look around at the scraps and sculptures and spare parts of earth vehicles. Someday, I will make a sculpture, but no sculptures have asked me to make them yet; so far, only paintings and drawings want to be made. Sometimes I think about drawing these scraps, just for practice, for all the shades and shapes they have. It would be so much practice.

"It was Starlight," Sunstreaker says.

I look at him, feeling confused. I look at the scrap I picked up and then I put it down. "What was Starlight?"

He sighs. "The bot who bruised my face was Starlight."

What?! I stare at the bruise. When- how was he close enough to Starlight for her to do that? How did she do that?

He moves a hand. "I went in to the pub to get energon and stuff," he explains slowly. "I didn't know she was going to be there. Anyway, she yelled at me."

"Of course she yelled at you!" I'm feeling upset now, distressed at the thought of Starlight being alone and scared by Sunny in the room with her.

He grimaces slightly. "Well, I thought she was being cranky and…"

"You scare her! She thinks you're the meanest bot there is, more evil than Megatron! Of course she yelled!"

Sunstreaker puts his hand softly on my helm like Prowl to calm me. "She's a brave and sturdy little femme, Praxus," he explains gently. "Very brave. And when someone is very brave, you can't always tell that they're scared. I didn't realize that she was scared. I just thought she was being cranky for no reason. I mean, you weren't there, and she always yells at me on your behalf, so I thought she was being unreasonable. I didn't know that she thought I would hurt her like I did you. I'm sorry, Praxus."

"So you scared her, and she yelled, and you didn't leave." My spark hurts and my hands are burning because Starlight had been scared and upset and I hadn't been there to help her calm down. She had felt threatened, in danger, and I hadn't been there to make her feel safe. My fangs sting in my mouth. "You didn't leave?"

"I reminded her about the rule, trying to get her to calm down, but-"

"You can't make someone calm down if you're going to do hurts on them!" I almost scream.

Sunny steps away from me and makes a peaceful motion with his hands. "I wasn't going to hurt her, Prax. You know I would never hurt her or any sparkling."

"She not knowing that!" Wings are angry, too, flicking, tense.

"I didn't realize that she didn't know. –I didn't realize it until she smashed the cube in my face."

"Why even going so close to her?" Hands hurting, crunching up tight in fists.

"I just went up to take a cube so I could leave. I wasn't thinking."

Taking cube?! Like when he was taking cubes and throwing energon in my face and saying mean, mean, meanest things – He not thinking about that?

"No thinking! Evil, no thinking! BAD! Bad, scaring my Starlight! " Yelling things, more things, yelling at Sunny for so many things. Wanting to hit Sunny, but no- too scared to hit Sunny, yell-yelling more, making word-hits instead of fist-hits.

"Praxus"

"NOT GOOD!" screaming

"Shhh… mechling. It's okay. You can hit me. I won't hit you back. I promise."

Promise? Promise?

Sunny nodding, promise nodding.

Now my palm-heels slamming onto golden chest-plating, and Sunny stumbling backward, but no hitting me back. Fist in Sunny's face, belly, and shoulder, and knocking on helm. Pedes coming in, wanting to hurt, too, doing hurts for all they could not do in different times. Hurts for Starlight, hurts for me, for energon in my face, for mean, mean, meanest words. More fists, and elbows, too, and wing-slices. No hitting back, just my-hitting. Hard, hard, hurt-hurting.

Then Prowl's voice, "Praxus, Praxus, mechling-"

Prowl's hand pulling at my wings softly, pulling at my arm, putting a blanket against my cheek, soft-soft blanket.

"Shhh, shhh."

Hissing and shushing back at Prowl.

"I know," he saying softly. "I know." Wiping tears off my cheeks, wiping all the tears. "Let's sit down, okay?"

Nodding, sitting with Prowl, hiding face on Prowl's armor, good-smell of polish. Prowl rubbing helm softly, soft helm-rubs.

"Are you badly damaged, Sunstreaker?"

"Nothing feels critical. Hurts like slag, but… well, I had it coming."

Prowl quiet.

Sniffling, me sniffling. Calming. Wings having little aches, helm aching, too. Fans gusty-gusting. Prowl still helm-rubbing softly.

Prowl saying, "I take it you told him…?"

Sunny saying, "Yeah."

Prowl quiet.

Sunny quiet.

Me snuffly.

More quiet. Softly quiet outside, many thoughts in helms. Thinking, thinking. I hit Sunny, I hurt him, for Starlight and for me. Hurt my friend, who hurt my sister, not on purpose, but still…

My helm hurts. And I feel shaky. Shouldn't have hurt Sunny.

Prowl doesn't stop rubbing my helm, and he doesn't let go of me. He holds, gentle, secure, letting me hide, letting me think, letting me calm down.

"I didn't realize that Starlight was actually afraid of me," Sunny murmurs after a little while, telling Prowl since he already told me. "I thought she just hated me for what I did… but she's actually scared."

"You terrify her," I say quietly. "Since it wasn't clear."

"She's a spunky little scrap," Sunny says. I hear admiration for her in his tone, something like he's proud of her.

"Yes." Prowl doesn't sound pleased. He shifts. His voice is gentler when he speaks to me. "Do you think you're calm enough to walk to med-bay?" he asks.

I nod. Med-bay sounds good. I can go wrap up in some blankets on Ratchet's berth.

Prowl gets up and draws me up after him.

"Come along, Sunstreaker," he says, his voice just as gentle.

I glance toward Sunny and know he doesn't want to come with us, but I guess he has to because he has been battered. He walks with us, beside me, as we go to med-bay, and he leaves little splashes of energon on the road from his oozing wounds. I realize that I beat him up, but it's hard to believe it. I shouldn't have done it. I don't know how I did it. Prowl is walking more slowly than he usually does, and I realize that it's because of Sunny.

Sunny's cooling fans make a ragged gusty sound, and Prowl stops.

"It's not that bad," Sunny says, but his face is unusually warm. I'm not used to seeing Sunny's face actually hot.

Prowl moves to face Sunny. "Where is it the worst?" he asks.

Sunny doesn't want to say, but he touches his side with reluctant fingers.

Prowl kneels there in the street and takes that part of Sunny's armor off him, and lots more energon comes oozing out, but Prowl puts a patch over it quickly, pressing it in place with his hand. I made that wound, and it scares me and hurts me.

"Anywhere else?" Prowl asks.

"The rest will hold, I think," Sunny murmurs.

Prowl glances up to see if he's lying, but he isn't, so Prowl shifts to get up. His leg doesn't like it that he kneeled; it hurts him when he tries to move. I move quickly, move to help him up. And Sunny helps Prowl up, too.

Then we walk the rest of the way to med-bay.

Ratchet's optics-ridges go up when he sees us come in, but he doesn't say anything as he makes Sunny lie down on a berth.

I feel like crying. No, I am crying.

"Sun- Sunstreaker-" I scramble, must hug Sunny. His grimaces at being hugged, but he isn't scared of me, and I am careful of his wounds. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I cry, holding onto him.

"I don't blame you, mechling," he says gently, rubbing my helm. "After everything I did to you…"

"Long ago!" I protest. "I forgave you- I thought I forgave you – I didn't want to hurt you–"

"Shush… you forgave me beautifully, Praxus," he says. "Sometimes things just happen that trigger a reaction, and that's I what I did to you."

I still feel confused about me, and my spark still hurts.

Sunny pats my helm. "You wanna stop crying over it and let Ratchet patch me now?" he asks, sounding a little bit like he's trying to be funny.

I snuffle and nod, letting go of him. That was probably way too long a hug for him.

"I'll help," I say, small soft voice. I felt entirely broken in my spark.

"I think going and resting would be better for you," Ratchet says, rubbing my helm. "You need some time to process what happened and what you did."

I look at Sunny, and he smiles at me. "You can help with changes the patches later, I bet," he says.

"Go on," Ratchet says gently. So I go. I go to his room and wrap up in his blankets. I cry for what I did. And for what Sunny did. And what I was created to do. I cry until recharge catches me and shuts down all the pain I know.

OoO

Prowl watches Ratchet run the scanner over Sunny without a word.

"Do I want to know?" Ratchet asks once he has the results.

Prowl hesitates. Ratchet has a right to know, being Praxus's unofficial guardian as well as his doctor.

"He wouldn't have hit me if I hadn't said he could," Sunny answers quietly, flinching slightly as Ratchet's gentle fingers start prying away dented armor. "I saw he wanted to but wasn't going to… so I gave him permission. And… it wasn't anything I did to him that set him off," Sunny confesses slowly. "I… I upset Starlight… beyond the usual. So…" He trails off.

"Hm," is all Ratchet has to say as he starts his repairs. He has to think it over, think about Praxus's past and his tendencies, Prowl knows. There's a lot to consider. Praxus doesn't have violent tendencies; peaceful and caring as he is, the most aggression anyone has seen from him is the mock aggressive front he puts up when he plays or practices his self-defense training. But he had been programmed and taught and made to ravage and kill.

Prowl studies the bruises and armor cuts on Sunny's frame, assessing them for his own considerations. Every mark is from a punch or a kick; there are no signs of the type of damage that Praxus would have inflicted if he'd succumbed to the MY virus that still lurked in his processor. MY-influenced Praxus would have ripped pieces of Sunstreaker's armor off and slashed and torn at the mech's body.

"He didn't go MY," Sunstreaker says quietly, suspecting what is on both Prowl's and Ratchet's processors. "His… his speech regressed... not surprisingly. Uh, he did use some plural pronouns like MY, but it wasn't… the same. Like, I think he meant 'our Starlight' as in yours and his Starlight, not his and MY's Starlight. I'm not sure, really, but that's the sense I got."

"That's good at least," Ratchet decides grimly. "The only good thing. Sunstreaker, slaggit, if-" He cuts off his words and decides not to say anything else. Sunny needs to be repaired at the moment, not lectured.

Prowl stays with Sunstreaker the entire time while Ratchet does his repairs. He can sense a hint of uneasiness in the golden mech, and he's not sure if it's fear of Ratchet continuing the halted lecture, or if it's fear of retribution from Prowl, or simply discomfort, or some other thing. Sunny doesn't look at him directly, or at Ratchet either, which leads Prowl to suspect it's one or both of his first guesses. And neither would be very unreasonable, he reflects, given past experiences.

Ratchet finishes the repairs after a while, runs another scan over Sunny to double check, and then he puts the scanner away.

"All done," he says, looking at Sunny. "I want you to rest here for about an hour or so, but then I'll probably let you go after you check with me. Okay?"

"Yes, sir," Sunny answers quietly. "Thank you."

Ratchet nods and then moves away to write his report in his office, leaving Sunny to Prowl.

Sunny watches the old medic until the office door is shut, and then he shifts his optics reticently toward Prowl. Ratchet had been unreadable, and Sunny finds Prowl the same.

"So… how much trouble am I in, Prowl?" he says after a few moments of looking at the winger. "I seriously provoked the tiny femme of vengeance when I knew better..."

Prowl looks toward him with a slight lift of his wings. "I actually hadn't considered."

Sunny almost laughs at that, but only a slight lopsided smile touches his lips as his optics look baffled. "Usually you know right off, mech." Should he be concerned?

"I was thinking about Praxus and what could have happened," Prowl answers, a slightly furrow of concern crossing his expression. "You shouldn't have told him while you two were alone."

Sunstreaker shifts a shoulder slightly –and gingerly. "That crossed my mind, but I… I knew you'd be there pretty soon and could stop him if things got out of hand." He lowers his optics. "But you're right. I should have waited." He winces slightly. "This is not a great day for me, apparently."

Prowl, surprisingly, nudges a finger against Sunny's shoulder armor. "You came back unharmed from your off-base patrol," he points out. "I wouldn't discount that."

Sunny blinks at him. It's exactly the sort of thing he'd expect from Auri, but not from Prowl. Actually, Prowl from very, very long ago would have said it, he realizes.

"Thanks," he says quietly, almost smiling, his optics softening a little.

Prowl nods. Then he shifts and gets up from the berth he'd been sitting on. "I know you did not mean to scare Starlight, even though you could have handled the situation more thoughtfully."

Sunstreaker looks at Prowl with a hint of curiosity at the understanding tone in the winger's voice. Maybe Mirage had misread Prowl's mood, or maybe taking a thrashing from Praxus had atoned for his evils, but he hadn't been expecting Prowl to seem like he was going to be lenient. Praxians were hyper-protective of their young.

"And now that you know that Starlight is scared of you…" Prowl said slowly. "… and not just hateful of you for torturing her brother previously, I imagine you will not cause another such incident."

"Yeah," Sunny says a bit grimly. "Frag."

"Be careful with Praxus," Prowl says next, quietly.

"I will, Prowl. I promise. And I really shouldn't have told him alone, in hindsight. I… I'll talk to Ratchet about what happened, and then see if he'll sit with Prax and me, and we can go over what happened." It is hard to commit to that, but it is the right thing to do, Sunstreaker knows. He sees in Prowl's expression that he's surprised the mech somewhat, but also pleased him.

"A good course of action," Prowl says with a small nod, and that is higher praise to Sunstreaker than anything. Prowl dips his helm. "I'll let you rest now," he says, turning to leave. "Good day."

"Good day, Prowl."

Once Prowl is gone, Sunny shuts his optics lightly and pretends to doze while a variety of thoughts run through his processor. He slowly narrows the thoughts down to just art, and as he focuses on art, his system relaxes to the point that he no longer has to pretend to doze. Sleep takes him gently.

OoO

Auri would have rather scooped Starlight up and left the pub with Prowl, but she knows that it is important for them to honor the commitment that their little femme made as long as she's okay. If Starlight were still upset, they would have taken her away instantly, of course, but she is perfectly happy and content, her little spark free from concern, all concern.

"Ya don't really hafta stay," Starlight says from her perch on the counter with a giggle. "Only two bots come at a time, or three, an that's not too many."

"But I want to stay," Auri answers, smiling back at the little femme, settling herself on a stool behind the counter. "I'll be your backup just in case, and it'll be a nice change from the office. Maybe I don't always want to have my nose stuck on a data-pad," she adds, teasing and giving Starlight's nose a tiny boop. "And you do need someone taller to wipe down the tables."

Starlight's wings wriggle as she giggles in response. "Okay," she says. "But maybe only I gonna mix the energons…?" she adds with some concern, knowing Auri's inability to mix up a good drink.

Auri chuckles fondly at the little flutter of wings as Starlight tries her youngling best to be tactful. "It's a deal," she says. "You'll do the foods, and I'll do the tables."

"Like team!" Starlight chirps eagerly.

Auri wonders a bit how things are going with Prowl, but soon she's too busy to even think about intercomming him. Word has spread that Auri and Starlight are tending the pub, and bot after bot comes to visit for a cube or some snacks to show their support as well as to enjoy the novel staff.

"So many hungry bots!" Starlight giggles when they eventually get a lull. A generous and gregarious little spark, she's been delighted to be giving out so much energon to so many bots.

"Everyone on base today is pretty much starving," Auri quips playfully, making the youngling giggle even more. She's enjoying herself as well. Not as much as she would in Prowl's company (of course), but she is enjoying the social environment and the friendly support of her fellow bots.

"They not had any energon for two whole weeeeks," Starlight teases back.

"Or a month!" Auri adds, getting silly.

"Whaaat?!" Starlight gurgles. "Tooooo long!"

"Three weeks!"

Starlight giggles. "Prowl not had any for three weeks," she say, pointing toward the door.

"Prowl!" Auri says with delight, her optics glowing brighter at the sight of her mech.

"Hello," he says, smiling at both femmes as he comes up to the counter.

"Ev-body starving," Starlight tells him.

"I expect so," Prowl says, giving her a fond smile and a rub on the helm. Then his optics and his attention shift toward Auri, and some mischievous thoughts cross his processer, putting just a trace of a smirk into his expression. Auri doesn't miss that, and it makes her smile. She doesn't know precisely what he's thinking, but she suspects it isn't entirely proper for the setting they're in.

"What- uh- what can we get for you? today?" she asks, her cheeks warming a little.

"I've come to pick up," Prowl answers, smiling at both femmes.

"Pick up what?" Starlight asks, surveying her inventory.

"A youngling femme and an adult femme," Prowl answers.

Starlight giggles. "Naw –haha-!" she gurgles as Prowl scoops her up and snuggles her. "Ya can't eat me!"

"Rarrr," Prowl says, making a biting motion, following the contrary rules of sparklings (if they say you can't while giggling, you must pretend to try).

"Naw!" Starlight chortles. "I too small to make a good meal! Try Auri instead-!"

Prowl pauses. "Hm-!"

"Run, Auri!" Starlight chirps, but Prowl moves to cut off Auri's escape from behind the counter. "Yeeek!" Starlight pretends terror, but Prowl just gives Auri a tiny kiss when he corners her against the energon dispenser and the wall. From her angle, Starlight isn't able to see just close Prowl puts his frame up to Auri's, how his armor brushes against hers for a moment, or how a couple of his fingers slip under her side armor. She just sees Auri's smile when he lets her get away.

"What are your plans for us?" Auri asks playfully, flirting her wings as she moves to a "safer" area.

"Since you've both worked so hard this afternoon serving energon to everybody, I thought I'd take you both home and let you rest while I mix up some energons for your dinner," Prowl says, dipping his wings to ask permission to approach.

"I like that idea!" Starlight says. "Yeah, Auri?"

Auri gives an answering shift of her wings, and he comes over.

"That sounds delightful," Auri agrees.

"Yay!" Starlight cheers eagerly. "We go now?" she asks.

"Are you ready to go?" Prowl asks, tilting his helm slightly.

"I gotta tell Maj thanks an bye first-" Starlight says seriously. Auri helps her down from the counter, and she scampers off to the back room.

"How did it go?" Prowl asks Auri.

"Smoothly and well," she answers, smiling as he moves into her personal space just a bit. "We had fun, and ever so many bots came to see us. Starlight thinks it would be fun to do again next week, but I told her we'd be busy with her party."

"Good." Prowl nodded. "I am not leaving her here attended by only Mirage again."

"No," Auri agreed.

"I missed you being in the office," he adds, leaning in a bit, "But I expect-"

"Okay!" Starlight chirps, scampering back out. "Now I ready to go wi ya."

"Did you interrupt?" Prowl asks with a little firm tone in his voice.

Starlight's wings dip meekly as she looks perplexed. "I don't know… I was thinking bout going home." She peeps at up the grown bots. "Did I?"

"You did," Prowl answers. "I was speaking."

"Aw, I sorry, Prowl," she says readily, giving his leg a hug. "I'll try member to check first nex time."

"That's a good plan," Prowl says in a forgiving tone, giving her helm a little rub. "We can now."

"Yeah-!" Starlight scampers for the door.

Prowl gives Auri a quick kiss, and then he leaves the pub with his femmes. Starlight asks permission to transform and drive, and Prowl gives it, reminding her to alert and careful as she rolls.

"Yes, sir," she says seriously, nodding. She puts her hands up and focuses, and then she transforms down into her little car mode, waggling her doors for a moment before shutting them and zipping carefully forward.

Once the little femme is up ahead a bit, Auri glances around to make sure there aren't any other bots in sight. It's clear.

"How'd it go with Sunstreaker?" she asks Prowl in a low voice. Starlight isn't out of hearing range, but she's focused enough on driving that she won't note their conversation.

Prowl cycles a sigh and then tells her about Sunny telling Praxus and the beating that followed and the trip to med-bay.

"Sunstreaker's going to be very sore for a while," he adds. "Our mechling can punch, even though he's always chosen not to."

"I'd like to give Sunny a punch myself," Auri says, her wings giving a little twitch.

"Now, Auri," he admonishes, and she bursts into giggles, surprising him. "What…?"

She presses her hand to her mouth and settles the giggles, but her optics keep twinkling. "You sounded too much like Ironhide when you said that 'Now, Auri,'" she explains.

Prowl halfway smiles. "Oh, well, that's not romantic," he says drily.

"I'm sure you could say the same words in a different tone, and I'd find it very romantic, though," she muses, smiling up at him.

He purrs. "Indeed." He'd love to get quite distracted, but they have a sparkling on the road to watch out for, and he glances toward Starlight again to make sure she's not too far ahead.

"You can try it later," Auri says, slipping her hand into his.

"I shall. However, I do hope you aren't harboring thoughts of punching Sunstreaker."

"No active thoughts," she says, making him smile slightly. "Though I could shake him. You realize how horrible it would have been if Praxus had flipped and tried to rip him up?"

"All too clearly," Prowl says with a slight tremor in his tone. The golden mech would have had to thrash Praxus back in self-defense. They would have both ended up in med-bay long term. The psychological effects on Praxus…

"Anyway, it's not likely that any similar situation will come up any time soon," Auri says, turning to the future and more optimistic things as was her way.

Prowl nods in agreement. "And now that he understands that she's genuinely scared by him, not just hateful toward him, he'll be more careful around her."

"Indeed… if Sunny knows someone doesn't like him, he'll be a little difficult, and I've seen him do that with Starlight. But I know he wouldn't want to scare her."

"Our next issue to handle will be instructing Starlight the correct thing to do when a big bot scares her."

"Not everyone will be as receptive to an energon cube in the face," Auri says drily.

Prowl smiles slightly at that, but he is otherwise serious. "Tiny as she is, fighting is not an option. Had Sunny truly meant harm to her, smashing a cube in his face would have been the worst thing to do. We'll have to teach her to scream and/or flee."

"I know those two tactics very, very well," Auri sighs.

"I guess when she gets bigger we will have to teach her how to fight to defend herself," Prowl murmurs grimly, knowing that they might not always have the safety of their base. "I hate that."

Auri caresses his hand as she senses his anger and frustration. "We won't be at war forever," she encourages, but it doesn't soothe him.

"There is no end in sight, Auri," he says with a tremble of his wings. "You read enough of the reports to know. All we're able to do is tamp down little hotspots of Con activity that pop up now and then. It's nothing more than pouring cold water on a small lava flow while the magma beneath remains. We keep them at bay, but we can't tip the balance –no matter what we do, it's not enough!" He cycles air through his system. "I want her to be safe. I want our sparklings to be safe. I want you to be safe. I-"

Auri feel tears start to well up in her optics as her spark picks up the intense pain that overflows from his over their growing bond.

"Oh, my Auri," he murmurs, suppressing what he'd allowed to slip over their bond. "I'm sorry." He stops and cradles her face tenderly, brushing away her tears. "I didn't want you to feel that."

"Prowl… we're going to… I mean, intimacy isn't just what we do with our frames. We'll sharing more than that."

"I know." Prowl nods. "I know. But there is some pain that… I don't want you to have that much pain." His voice catches as his frame shudders. He struggles and can't speak as tears fill his optics. He puts his helm against Auri's.

"It's… is it losing a spark-mate?" she whispers as she starts to get an inkling, and then she feels a wall of pain slam into her spark as Prowl losses his hold. It's the worst pain she's ever felt in her life, even worse than the pain she felt when Megatron had taken Prowl and she'd thought Prowl would be killed. Worse, worse, worse, so bad she can't stand.

Prowl holds her against his chest to keeping her from falling, and he battles against the pain, pulling it away from her, dragging it back to its place in his spark.

"I'm so sorry," he murmurs once she is able to stand and he is able speak. "I didn't want you to feel that…"

She rests against him, holding him softly. "I understand better now…" she whispers. She puts one hand on his chest armor while keeping her other arm around him. "My spark."

"I wish I could spare you all pain," he murmurs.

She looks up at him and takes out a cloth to dry his face, rubbing the soft material over his cheeks. "It's not possible, I'm afraid," she says softly. "But you give me great happiness, that's for sure."

He sighs and halfway smiles. That is one certain thing.

Auri puts the cloth away and smiles up at him. She still shaky from the pain, but she bears it bravely, and he gives her a tender kiss to help make up for things. That helps her grow steadier as well as helps him feel better, so he kisses her a little more, and little more until she halfway giggles.

"Prowl…"

"Yes, my spark?"

"Starlight is watching us with her rearview mirrors from where she's parked at that traffic light."

"Oh-" Prowl's wings flutter. He halfway blushes as he realizes that they're in the middle of the street. "We should go."

Auri nods. "She's been very patient, and I am getting a little hungry for dinner."

"My kisses aren't enough?" he teases softly as they start back up the road, fingers entwining.

"Oh, Prowl." She smiles, and her optics twinkle. "Your kisses whet my appetite more than satisfy it."