TITLE: Debts
Based on events in Broken
Related to Mindprints and Ripples in a Pond
SERIES: Imperfection Deviation
AUTHOR: Macx
RATING: PG13/maybe very mild R
DISCLAIMER: None of the characters belong to me, sadly. They are owned by people with a lot more money :)
Author’s Voice of Warning (aka Author’s Note):
The spell-checker said everything's okay, but you know how trustworthy those thingies are....
FEEDBACK: Loved
BETA: okami_myrrhibis




Jazz had died. He had died and come back and it had been the most painful experience aside from dying itself. Then again, getting torn apart by Megatron had been a brief and violent death; coming back had been a long, harsh experience. He was missing memories. He was missing whole events. He sometimes felt like he was navigating a pot-holed road. Still he had persevered. He had gone on with his new life, his second chance, and he had found that the sacrifice had also yielded a reward.

His spark-bonded was closer to him than ever before.

Barricade’s change of alliance had surprised Jazz less than the others. He had never questioned Barricade’s loyalties after that initial meeting and he never would. There was unconditional trust and always had been.

And then Barricade had nearly died.

The shock still sat deep within his spark and while his bonded didn’t display any averse effects, Jazz knew it was gnawing at the former Decepticon. He had been saved by Sam and the human’s abilities were now no longer to be underestimated. Prime had remarked on it, too. Sam was powerful. His mind was a weapon.

Jazz had never feared Sam. He respected him, thought of him as a friend and very valuable ally, but he had never been afraid that the human would spy on him or the others. Barricade had trained him and the mech wasn’t someone who easily trusted on his best days. That he would allow Sam to enter his mind showed Jazz that whatever Sam was, he wasn’t the enemy. Barricade called him a weapon, a tool, but Jazz knew better than to truly believe in these words.

And after his near-miss and subsequent recovery, Barricade’s connections to Sam had grown even deeper.

Jazz smiled a little to himself as he drove down the quiet streets of Tranquility. On a Sunday morning this part of town was completely deserted. No one worked at this hour and the first signs of life would come around ten when the restaurants opened and people flocked for lunch.

It was six a.m.

Normally Sam should be in bed, sleeping, maybe just turning around and considering an early breakfast, if at all. As it was, he was here, waiting for Jazz, looking like he hadn’t slept at all. Bumblebee couldn’t be seen, but Jazz knew his comrade and friend was around.

“Yo, Sam,” the lieutenant greeted him as he transformed. “Has anyone ever explained the meaning of recharge to you?”

Sam grimaced. “You sound like my Mom, though she doesn’t actually say it. She just gives me those looks. And I can sleep when I’m done.”

Of course he could, but working himself into the ground wasn’t healthy either. Sam had retreated to his hometown to get some peace and quiet to finish his work on one of his many engineering projects and Jazz had been loath to really interrupt. But he needed to talk to Sam, brief as it was.

“So, what’s up?” the young human asked.

What was up that they were meeting here instead of the Witwicky home? The mechs didn’t have to be in their bipedal form to talk to their friends, but Jazz preferred it. While it stressed the size differences, it was also more on an equal footing than a human talking to a car.

“I know I could have done this via comm line, but…” Jazz knelt down, meeting the dark eyes. “I wanted to thank you, Sam Witwicky.”

“What for?”

“Barricade’s life.”

Sam frowned. “I didn’t do anything special.”

“You did. You kept him sane. You kept him alive. You risked your own life for his.”

Sam shook his head. “No. I never risked my own life. I could have let go if it got too dangerous.”

Not what Bumblebee had told Jazz.

“And it was natural to help. I wouldn’t let any of you guys die if I can help it.”

Jazz smiled a little more. “I know. But this case is very special to me.”

Sam’s expression changed into one of understanding. “I know. And I’m glad it worked.”

It had been touch and go. And without Sam, Barricade would now be dead. There would have been no way to bring him back since the Allspark was gone, too. Jazz felt a shudder race through his systems.

“Did…uh… Barricade mention the… well…” Sam shifted uncomfortably. “Something was left behind.”

“He mentioned it.” Jazz grinned. “As much as he’s bitchin’ about it, don’t worry about anything. He can live with it.”

“And you?”

The specialist blinked. “Me?”

“You’re his bonded. It concerns you, too. I mean, if this lasts… if I can’t shield, and I can’t, not really, not all the time… and with Bumblebee…” Sam blushed hotly.

Jazz chuckled. “Don’t you worry, Sam. Cade and I can manage a little backlash. Who knows? Maybe we can give you two a good time, too?”

The blush turned fiery red and Sam shot daggers at him. Jazz laughed, amused. The concept of Sharing might be nothing new to Sam any more, but he still treated it like a human would public sex, or mention of intercourse to outsiders. It was intimacy, but it wasn’t on display. Sharing was private, but not a taboo topic among Cybertronians.

“Sam, relax, will ya? I’m not suggesting a foursome. I just want to say that this memory imprint… it’s nothing compared to what could have been. I owe you. I owe you big time. We all do.”

Sam shrugged, uncomfortable with being thanked so deeply.

“Sam, he’s my bonded. My spark-bonded,” Jazz said, voice serious. “Losing him would be terrible. We can live without the other, but ever since Barricade allied himself with our cause, ever since we got so close, it’s been… things changed, y’know? We’ve never been this easy, this close, this relaxed.”

“I understand,” was the quiet reply.

And Sam did. He really did.

“Ratchet mentioned something along the lines of me being your mobile relay station,” the human added, sounding a bit disturbed. “My abilities keep developing, and if I can plug into you and Barricade and Bumblebee this easily… it’ll change with the others, too. Probably. Well, maybe. Depending on how easy it is for them to connect with my mind. And I noticed that Bee and I can work over a longer distance now, too. We’re training it, testing the limits.”

Jazz nodded. “If you want, I’m volunteering.”

“You are?”

“Hey, Cade’s already in on it, whether he knows it or not. He started the ball rollin’.” Jazz touched a finger ever-so gently against Sam’s head. “He worked with these powers. I said I owe you. If you want to train with someone else, ask me.”

“You’re not obligated to do anything,” Sam protested.

“This is voluntary.”

Jazz felt a brush of the powers in question and grinned again. Sam shrugged, apparently satisfied.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

oooo oooo oooo oooo oooo oooo oooo

Bumblebee didn’t interrupt Sam’s thoughtful mood on the way back. Sam’s hands were caressing the steering wheel now and then and finally Sam drew himself out of his thoughts.

“Can you feel any of the shadows?” Sam asked.

Bumblebee was silent, trying to understand. “Shadows?” he finally echoed.

“Something I left behind in Barricade. He has memories from me. Some rather… private ones.” He smiled, a little embarrassed.

“I think Barricade can take it,” was the dry reply.

Sam chuckled. “You aren’t feeling any of this?”

“I don’t feel either of them like I do you, Sam.”

Sam felt a stirring go through him at the tone of voice.

“I know there is a link between you and Barricade,” Bumblebee went on. “It formed throughout your training, but it’s not a bond. I wouldn’t be able to touch Barricade’s spark through it.”

“But I could touch Jazz’s.”

“Because you’re a technopath.” The Camaro pulled to a stop in an alley. “Sam, there is nothing about this that endangers what we have, or what they have.”

“I endanger them. I’m a technopath.”

“I doubt Barricade would let you,” Bumblebee pointed out. “And I doubt you would.”

His presence was growing, as if he was creating a field of spark energy inside the cab. Sam’s fingers still played over the steering wheel and while it wasn’t a sexual act per se, he knew it was a caress that might be seen as foreplay.

“You don’t mind then?”

“No. I’m not ashamed of the memory shadows either. What I feel, what we share, is no secret, Sam.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“Your abilities are still growing and what you can do is important. Maybe one day, it will be all-important that you can so easily connect between us.”

“Like a relay station?”

“Maybe.”

“Huh. Something no one can jam with conventional machines.”

“Exactly.”

Sam shifted a little, feeling slightly bothered. ::Bee, stop it::

He heard a chuckle.

::At least not in an alley where we could get caught!::

The windows darkened, plunging the inside of the car into a small world all on its own. ::Better?:: Bumblebee asked innocently.

Sam chuckled. ::Whoever said mechs aren’t obsessed with sex… or sharing.. was wrong. So wrong::

::I like how you feel, Sam::

That had him shift again, feeling a blush rise. Whenever the Autobot said it, Sam felt self-conscious. He wasn’t special. Sure, he was a technopath, but that alone didn’t make him attractive for a mech like Bumblebee. And there had been something between them, a bond of intense friendship, before the whole technopathy mess.

::I like how you feel, too::

And they should take this somewhere else, but they didn’t. Sam let himself fall into the contact, let his body go with the flow, and Bumblebee’s touch was almost physical.

Part of him reminded Sam he should start keeping a change of clothes around. Another part told that little voice to shut the hell up and just enjoy it.

And enjoy it he did.