By the evening Inferno and Red Alert had finally managed to contain the blaze.
Due to their expertise, the pair were able to determine that the fire had started at Ratchet's workstation where he and Wheeljack had been working on their so far unsuccessful attempts at creating synthetic energon. The pair had been in the middle of conducting an experiment when Wheeljack had suddenly remembered that he had left another experiment running in his bedroom. Less than half an hour later, the fire started. For privacy reasons there was no camera's in the med-bay (something Red Alert was now pushing to change) but so far all evidence suggested that one if Wheeljack's inventions had blown up again. Only this time, he hadn't been there for it to literally blow up in his face.
Optimus agreed to Prowl's demands that the scientist should be made to hand over all of his experiments and to spend the night in the brig.
Wheeljack accepted his sentence without protest, the usually eccentric inventor for once completely silent. But Prowl almost wished he hadn't.
Whleejack obviously hadn't intended to start to fire. So as much as Prowl wanted to blame Bluestreak's injuries on him, the math did not lie. There was no one to blame but himself.
Prowl had been able to keep himself busy for the rest of the day by organising a temporary med-bay in what was once the old navigation room whilst the original was unavailable.
Ratchet had fallen into a coma and the only person who could have revived him was the CMO himself, so they had been left with no choice but to wait to hope that he recovered on his own.
Since first aid had been part of their firefighter training, Red Alert and Inferno had been put in charge of treating the injured in the mean time, even if it meant that there was nobody currently working on what had obviously been a secretly disaster as Red Alert was quick to remind people.
But now the fire was finally out and the rota for the temporary med-bay was organised and Prowl was in his room supposedly settling down his mind to sleep.
But he could not.
Instead Prowl sat at his desk, re-reading Inferno's medical report on Bluestreak's condition. She was still unconscious but despite the horrific appearance, her damage had mostly been superficial. Her proto-form would need to be kept clean to reduce risk of infection and her back armour would need to be replaced. Against all the odds, she did not suffer anything life changing.
That did not stop his mind from calculating and analysing and theorising on all the different outcomes of that morning. Most of which resulted in Bluestreak's death.
However, as much as Prowl wished he could, he couldn't keep his battle computer on indefinitely without frying his brain module. But that would mean being trapped in his head with his own thoughts and if he allowed his emotions to seep into his brain now then he knew that he would shatter.
KNOCK KNOCK.
Automatically assuming the worst, Prowl raced to open the door. There was a short list of reasons why someone would be coming to tell him something in person.
Jazz stood outside the door, an easy smile of his face. He'd cleaned himself up since this morning, having replaced his visor and buffed his burnt edges. In face, he did not appear as though he had been in a fire at all.
"Is Bluestreak-"
"She's alright." Jazz was quick to reassure him. "Nothing's changed since Inferno's report."
"Then why are you here?" Prowl was not in the mood to fake any pleasantries
"I thought I'd check to see how you were holding up."
"Red Alert treated my injuries and concluded that I was fit to return to duty."
"You know that ain't what I meant." Jazz sighed, closing the door behind him so that they were both stood in the darkness of Prowl's room. "I know I wouldn't be handling it well if I had to save my sibling from a flaming inferno."
"BUT I DIDN'T SAVE HER!" Prowl exploded.
His mind burnt. The constant calculations fired through his head. He couldn't stop. He didn't know if he wanted it to stop, to leave him with no choice but to face the guilt. And not knowing was driving him insane.
In his state, he accidently banged his arm against his desk. For a moment, the pain pierced through his stream of thoughts, leaving his mind a void of nothing but pain.
He banged his arm against the table, this time on purpose. The same results, a momentary distraction as his mind was filled with the silence of pain.
He raised his arm again.
"What in the pits do ya think ya doing?" Jazz yelled. He grabbed Prowl's arms before they could hit the desk again. Prowl tried to yank his hands free, the dull thud not providing the same sensation of satisfaction. He aimed a kick at Jazz's leg but the spy was too quick for him. He dodged the attack, before slamming Prowl against the wall. Pinning his arms above his head so he couldn't do himself anymore damage.
"Hurting yourself isn't going to help Bluestreak." Jazz told him, his voice slightly ragged at the sudden excursion. "Use that big brain of yours and think mech!"
"I don't want to think!" Prowl confessed.
There was a pause before Jazz spoke ever so quietly that of it wasn't for their proximity, Prowl wasn't sure if he would have heard what he said.
"I can help with that."
It wasn't until that moment that Prowl realised how close the pair of them were. Jazz's chest was pressed against his own, lips parted and cheeks flushed as the mech caught his breathe.
Before Prowl could rationalise himself out of it, he crashed into Jazz's lips. It didn't take long for Jazz to reciprocate, hungrily swirling his tongue across Prowl's teeth as they pulled each other against the wall.
Prowl's last rational thought was how soft Jazz's lips were.
He didn't do much more thinking after that.
A/N: I felt so bad leaving you guys on a cliff-hanger and with the new season of Earthspark having just come out I felt inspired so I decided to post the next chapter early! I am so sorry that it has taken these two this long to get to this point! Xxxxxx
