Stranded

Twenty Two

Watching her leave, Prowl had an alien idea to go and follow her, but the idea was dismissed to the low growl of a certain cyber dog.

" I really don't see the logic in your dislikement of me. We're all stuck here, and yet after almost two months, you still act as if you want to disassemble me alive." The mech announced, receiving a glare from the four legged bot that matched his recent statement. The battle strategist vents hummed as he shook his helm.

" Honestly, your actions do not surprise me, I have never been a welcomed visitor among my fellow Autobots, probably due to my strict actions and cold, emotionless demeanor."  The cop added, clasping his servos behind his spinal strut knowingly. Steelclamp tilted his large helm to the left, as if he was actually listening to the bot.

" But my actions have logic behind them." He continued " Showing emotions means showing weakness. If a Decepticon figured out what said weakness was, then they could hold it against you. I have already observed your weakness Steelclamp, you probably don't even understand what I'm saying, but your overwhelming loyalty to Airstrike is your obvious weakness. You see everything in black and white. Airstrike is master, and no-one else is important, you would rather see somebot offlined then have her around another, and that will ultimately be your undoing." He finished, watching the cyber dog eye him suspiciously as he left the rec room, although it seemed to be more of a bar. Sighing, Prowl pinched bridge of his nose and closed his optic and exited through the doorway, which immediately led him to a dark, musty blind corner, not paying attention to his surroundings, the third in command ran into a rather large something, to be more precise, someone.

Quickly Onlining his optic, the mech stumbled forward from the impact, and gravity took care of the rest. Although his servos absorbed most of the fall, he still fell hard enough to throw his balance off. After several nano clicks, his equilibrium sensors returned to their normal function, and after that his lone optic adjusted to the dim surroundings. To his embarrassment, pinned underneath him, it seemed the orange and white airel bots was still recovering from her helm taking the impact, he could tell from the obvious dazed look in her teal blue optics. For what seemed like hours, the two just stared at one another, until Prowl realized he had her forearms pinned tightly to the floor and was sitting on the femme commander in a rather....awkward and uncomfortable position. Releasing her arms, the battle strategist shot to his peds, thankful that the darkness his his flushed face plate.

" My apologize." He blurted quickly, offering his servo, a gleam of embarrassment still lingering in his glowing optic.

" I-its fine." The autobot replied, placing her servo in his. Hoisting his bond mate to his peds, the mech placed a servo on the small of her back as her own equilibrium sensors rebooted.

Letting go of his white servo, Airstrike rubbed her still pounding helm and shot the t.i.c a humorous glare.

" If you wanted to talk to me sir, you could of let me know though our bond. You didn't need to tackle me." She said with a soft chuckle. Prowl frowned slightly and rolled his optic at her statement.

" I didn't realize you were standing there." He imformed with a barely audible huff.

" I had my optics-I mean optic offlined." He added the shot her a question.

" May I ask what you were doing there?"

The flyer only shrugged.

" You started to Steelclamp, which is weird."

" You also talk to him."

" Yea, but I own him,  so he's like the sparkling I never had." The femme said with a smug grin. The cop bot scoffed at her statement and crossed his arms.

" If you were a carrier, no doubt you would spoil our offspring."

Before he could correct what he said, Airstrike gave him a shocked looked. Even in the dark he was sure he could see her blush, and though their spark bond he noticed the rate of her spark increase.

" What do you mean by our offspring?" The airel bot gasped, her features frozen in astonishment. The illogical thought that she looked cute at that moment filled his processors, but he shooed it away and kept his usual emotionless expression.

" That didn't come out right, but you understand what I was trying to say...."

" That I would be a bad carrier?" Airstike answered, her shock fading and her smug smirk returning. Prowl frowned again at her statement.

" That's not what I ment...." he replied, his frown disappearing and turning into annoyment.

" I understand sir, I was only  pulling you're ped sir." The femme replied, exchanging her smirk for a half smile, which quickly turned more serious.

" Sir....I overheard your....view of emotions...and although I do agree to some extent on what you said, I also must disagree. Yes, emotion can show weakness, but it can also show strength." She whispered. The mech's reaction became its usual stern expression and his vocal box hummed as he cleared it.

" Emotions are like a wall Airstrike. Build them up and no-one can use them against you. The smallest crack and the whole thing will fall." He replied locking his optic with hers.

" Perhaps, but if you become so focused on your wall, it will be easy to forget what's on the inside and even what your trying to hide."

Prowl was going to deny what she said, but froze when she placed a slender and warm servo on his checkplating. He so badly wanted to lean into her warm touch, but remembered his paraxian courting program, and stopped himself.

" Just think about that. I'm not saying that you should change the way you act or think, I rather like it....but just...give what I said a thought...." she whispered. Removing her servo the orange and white autobot gave him another half smile and took off again, leaving the mech alone to his thoughts, which were all centered on her, even he couldn't logic her away in his thoughts, as if she was permanently implanted into his thoughts and memory chips. The only thing that distracted his thoughts momentarily was the light trotting of a still angry still clamp, who shot him a murderous look as he passed the white and black mech.

Watching as his mate's pet vanished around another bend, a thought came to his processors, one that took him by enough surprise that his door wings shot up.

For the first time, he was going to activate his paraxian courting programming, and for once, he wished he had Jazz around to input his useless relationship advice....