Looking damn good there Kitten. Jazz stated approvingly as Catherine looked at herself in the mirror.

She rolled her eyes as she studied the pantsuit that had finally arrived. She had ordered 3 of them for when she had to meet with the council and Director Galloway on behalf of the Autobots. Thankfully, she didn't have a meeting until the following week. Unless an emergency meeting was called.

'It's just a pantsuit.' She sighed back at him. 'It's not like I'm trying to dress to impress.'

Well, you've got me impressed. Jazz laughed. Something about a female in a suit is just appealing.

Catherine stared at her eye as Jazz spoke. She was still having trouble accepting what Ratchet had told them almost 2 weeks before. It had taken them almost a full day to get to the point where she wasn't panicking every time, she thought about it. Ratchet had brought her out of sedation slowly, and she had told him to shove the anxiety medicine prescription idea up his aft. Much to Jazz's amusement at her using the Cybertronian term.

'I don't look that good Jazz.' She shook her head, but the smile was in place.

You don't give yourself enough credit, Kitten. Jazz was grinning at her; she could hear it in his voice.

He had been doing that since their conversation while she was sedated. Randomly complimenting her and making flirty comments. Every single one made her heart do flips, and she had only been able to respond to about half of them because of it.

'Or I give myself just the right amount of credit.' She shot back playfully. 'You might be a bit biased, being stuck in my head and all.'

Those thoughts are all my own Kitten. Jazz laughed, and she could feel the truth of his words as she changed back into jeans and a t-shirt. Making sure to neatly hang the suit up and place the inch pumps back in the closet just below it.

Catherine shook her head again as she made her way into the kitchen, almost feeling disappointed that the twins weren't fighting over the games anymore. They had been put back on duty after a week. They would stop in every couple of days just to chill, Sunstreaker was still cold as all get out towards her. But she just shrugged it off, she was positive he just didn't like humans. So, she took his attitude towards her in stride, as long as he kept his comments to himself, she could put up with his attitude.

I'm glad you get along with the twins. Jazz chuckled; he'd been paying closer attention to her thoughts ever since he had distracted her by flirting. Most think they're too much to deal with.

'They're basically kids that were thrown into a horrible situation.' Catherine shrugged as she grabbed the carton of strawberries out of the fridge. 'If they feel comfortable enough to let those childish urges out while they're here I'm all for it.'

Jazz was quiet, but she could feel the warmth of his approval over her statement. The fact made her smile widely, because she had been serious. She was completely okay with having to put up with their slightly immature actions as long as it didn't get too out of hand. If it did, she would let them know herself. As she took a bite of strawberry her phone started ringing and she sighed.

"I'm apparently pretty damn popular." She stated as she answered the phone, grinning because she knew it was Sam.

"Yeah, Mikela and I are on base…"

"I have a couch and an extra room with a bed." Catherine laughed as she took another bite of strawberry. "As well as a stocked kitchen, and a two-car garage. As long as 'Bee doesn't mind sharing with Sides or Sunny every now and then I have plenty of room."

"Sides and Sunny?" Sam wasn't confused at who she was talking about, just about the fact that they were there often enough for her to mention it.

"Yeah, I guess my house has become the hangout spot for the younger mechs. Skids and Mudflap mentioned something about coming to hang out eventually too." Catherine shrugged; this was one of the rare times that there wasn't an Autobot in her garage. "Prowl spends most of his recharge cycles in the garage, as my guardian and all that."

"That makes sense." Sam laughed now. "We'll be there here in a few minutes if that's okay?"

"Of course. My door is always open." Catherine was grinning, she hated being alone. "Don't even bother knocking, just come right in and make yourselves at home."

"Alright, see you in a few." Sam hung up and Catherine placed her phone back on the kitchen counter.

Ever the social butterfly. Jazz chuckled.

'I wouldn't say I'm a social butterfly. More like that mom friend that everyone has.' Catherine grabbed another strawberry before placing the carton back in the fridge. 'I like my alone time, but I hate being alone for too long. If that makes sense.'

You don't seem to mind me too much. He pointed out.

'That's because you respect when I need to be alone with my own thoughts.' Catherine shot back. 'Otherwise your company is very much appreciated.'

I'm glad, I like being appreciated.

'I'm sure you do Jazz.' Catherine felt a grin caused by him form. 'It almost borderlines on attention seeking.'

Only if it's your attention I'm getting. Jazz was smirking, Catherine just knew it. The comment was enough to make her stomach start flip flopping, but she managed to push it away just as the front door opened to let Sam, Mikela, and Bumblebee's holoform enter.

"I'm assuming Mikela gets the bedroom." Catherine grinned at them and motioned toward it. "The couch has a stowaway bed in it, queen size. I'm sure that'll be comfortable enough for you, Sam."

Sam nodded and dropped his bags on the floor beside the couch as Bumblebee took Mikela's bags into the bedroom that Catherine had indicated. The younger woman seemed to be completely ignoring Sam, causing Catherine to raise her eyebrow in question.

Sam won't say I love you to Mikela first and Mikela doesn't want to say it to him first. Bumblebee signed as he came out of the guest bedroom and stood beside Catherine, also watching the two teens. They've been arguing all the way here about it.

Catherine blinked at the scout before shaking her head and rolling her eyes. It sounded like teenage drama to her.

They really need to iron that out before they go to college. Catherine signed back, deciding to not discuss this in front of them where they could hear it.

Mikela isn't going to college. She's staying home because her dad just got out of prison and needs her help getting back on the straight and narrow. 'Bee sighed. Sam was accepted into Princeton, and he'll be headed out in a month or so.

With his guardian in tow, I hope. Catherine smiled at him.

"What are you guys talking about?" Sam asked suddenly, and Catherine shook her head at him.

"Nothing too important Sam, just catching up." She was smiling at him widely, no need for him to know that he and Mikela were the focus of the talk. "I hear you got accepted into Princeton."

"Yeah, first Witwicky to get into college." Sam grinned back. "It's pretty awesome, not sure who pulled what strings to do it either."

"I see, and how is that going to work? The long-distance thing?" Catherine asked and tilted her head towards the now closed guest bedroom door.

"I have a plan that will absolutely work." Sam looked excited before pulling out his phone and showing Catherine his online order shopping cart. "Webcam, mic… the works. We'll be able to talk every chance we get."

"I see…" Catherine shook her head again. "And I'm assuming everything is going smoothly between the two of you?"

"Well…" Sam hedged, causing Catherine to roll her eyes.

"Word of advice, don't be stubborn." She laughed. "Whatever it is, it doesn't matter to the point of costing you the relationship."

"I'll keep that in mind." Sam rolled his eyes and turned to the couch. "I have a serious case of jet lag…"

"I was about to take a nap myself." Catherine sighed. "Just yell if you need anything. The garage door isn't locked, 'bee, if you wanted to take a rest too."

I gotta go report in first. The scout signed with a smile. And then I'll be back here.

Catherine nodded and went to her room. Once the door was closed, she shook her head again and flopped down on the bed.

That was some good advice you gave to Sam. Jazz spoke up. The whole not being stubborn thing.

'Yeah, I come up with some good advice sometimes.' Catherine chuckled. 'If you give me a few minutes we can talk face to face. I wasn't kidding about that nap.'

~.~ ~.~

Catherine cried out as Jazz won yet another hand of Rummy. She mock glared at him before grabbing the cards to shuffle.

"You have got to be cheating or something!" She waved her hand dismissively at him. "You didn't look up how to stack the deck did you?"

"You wound me, Kitten!" Jazz laughed before standing as a song came on that Catherine hadn't heard in a while. "How about a break from cards though?"

"Oh?" Catherine raised her eyebrow with a grin. "And what do you suggest?"

"How about a dance?" Jazz held his hand out to her.

Catherine paused in her movements of shuffling the cards and stared at his offered hand. She gave him a cautious look before setting the cards down and taking the offered hand. An 'eep' escaped her when he pulled her to her feet and spun her around before placing a hand on her hip and brining the other up in the classic waltz pose. Her right hand rested on his shoulder automatically while her left was held gently out.

"Do you know how to waltz?" He asked with a smile.

"I do, but I'm not one for stuffy ballroom dances." Catherine laughed nervously, only for it to be cut off when his arm snaked around her waist and pulled her against his chest. His other hand also came down around her waist and both of her hands were now on his shoulders.

"I think I can agree with that." His smile widened as he began leading her in a slow circle. "How about this then?"

"It's… uhm… it's better." Catherine felt a blush creep up her cheeks, and her stomach felt like it was full of butterflies.

"Good." He closed his eyes as they swayed to the beat of the song.

Catherine took that moment to really study his face, he looked serene and happy. As if this wasn't out of the ordinary. Sure, he'd been flirting with her for a couple of weeks now. But to slow dance with her? She took a deep breath before she let those thoughts go and rested her head on his shoulder, wrapping her arms around his neck and closing her eyes.

She felt Jazz smile against her hair and couldn't help but feel as if she was home once again. Something about him just made her feel so safe and comfortable. As the song came to a close, she felt him lean back, and she did the same. Her eyes opened and met his, only to be caught by surprise at the intensity with which he was studying her face. She opened her mouth to ask if everything was okay just as something jerked her awake. She blinked up at Sideswipe's concerned holoform and groaned before sitting up slowly.

"What's wrong?" She asked, yawning.

"Ratchet said he couldn't get ahold of you or Jazz… Sam and Mikela couldn't get you to wake up so 'Bee called me." Sideswipe explained quickly. "I had to shake you awake, you've been asleep for almost 6 hours."

Catherine stared at him before she felt a blush creep up her cheeks.

" I took the cuff off to wash my wrist before I laid down." She smiled apologetically and grabbed the cuff in question. "I couldn't put it back on while my wrist was still damp. So, I fell asleep with it off and it's a little difficult to wake me up when Jazz and I are… talking in the space he occupies in my mind."

Catherine slid the cuff on her wrist and felt it fit to her snugly before the scar underneath it began tangling. She could only imagine the barrage of curses and voices Jazz was receiving at that moment.

"I'm sorry for worrying you guys." She rubbed the back of her head. "But I promise I'm okay."

"Good." She hoped Sideswipe assumed the red in her cheeks was embarrassment caused by the situation, and not by the way Jazz had been staring at her just a few moments earlier. "I gotta get back to patrol, do me a favor and call Ratchet so that you can explain that all to him."

"I can do that, thank you Sideswipe." Catherine looked at her hands. "Can you tell them I'll be out in a minute. Just need to finish waking up."

Sideswipe nodded before leaving the room and closing the door softly. Catherine took a deep breath and her hand raised to her face. She reached towards Jazz with her mind. He was distracted by whoever was chewing him out at that moment, and Catherine felt her heart skip a beat as she thought about the intense look, he had been giving her. With a shake of her head, she reached for her phone before unlocking it and scrolling down to Ratchet's number. She pressed the call button and held it up to her ear.

"Don't fragging do that again." Ratchet didn't even bother with pleasantries when he answered.

"Okay, okay." Catherine sighed through the phone. "I didn't mean to fall asleep before putting the cuff back on my wrist. It just happened. I'm fine, by the way."

"I know, Jazz already told me that when you finally put the cuff back on and he answered me." Ratchet huffed. "For the love of Primus don't take it off and fall asleep again."

With that the medic hung up and her wrist resumed tingling. She could only assume that Ratchet was still ranting at Jazz, as she was catching threads of irritation coming from his corner of her mind.

'Just hang up on him.' Catherine said playfully. 'Fragger deserves it for hanging up on me.'

A thread of amusement was pushed towards her, but she knew he wasn't about to hang up on the Autobot CMO. She wanted to just go back to sleep now that they knew she wasn't dead, but she also knew that she had company and had slept for 6 hours already.

'I really don't want to go out there after giving them a scare like that.' She sighed as she stood up and made her way to the door. 'Seriously, just tell whoever you're talking to that I need your help with the oncoming tide of questions. They should understand.'

After a second Catherine's wrist stopped tingling and she smiled.

We really need to not forget that wrist cuff. Jazz chuckled lightly. Ratchet was apparently 10 seconds from tearing the roof off the house to make sure nothing had happened to you.

'Oh please, he's a hair overprotective.' Catherine rolled her eyes. 'It's not like they don't know that I'm not easy to wake up. And they did say that I could take the cuff off if I wanted to.'

I don't think they realized that there would be times when you would fall asleep without it on. Jazz laughed at her as she left the room.

'Well, they should have.' Catherine laughed back and shook her head at the entire situation. 'You can bet I won't be forgetting it any time soon though.'

"Are you okay?" Mikela was the first one to notice Catherine standing in the kitchen and jumped up to talk to her.

"I'm fine, just a really deep sleeper." The older woman smiled at her warmly. "If you guys ever have trouble waking me up again try shaking me before calling the calvary."

"We can do that." Sam nodded quickly before turning to look at 'Bee.

"Ratchet already told us about everything." Mikela crossed her arms over her chest. "The Allspark radiation and energon in your system, what that's causing…"

"I'm fine Mikela." Catherine's smile grew tight at the mention of her condition. "They're doing their best to figure it all out."

Mikela was staring at her closely, as if trying to read her thoughts.

"Are you sure…"

"I'm. Fine." Catherine stated firmly, before she turned to the cupboard and began pulling out items to make a quick dinner for the three of them. "I'll make dinner and then we should all probably try and get some sleep. We all need to get on a more normal schedule."

Bumblebee appeared at her elbow and took the pan she had been filling with water from her hand. He motioned for her to go sit down before giving both Sam and Mikela a pointed look.

Let us make dinner, to apologize for what happened earlier. He signed to her. Prowl will be here in just a few minutes and said that he would like to try his hand at 'Rummy'. Apparently, Jazz told him about it.

'You did?' Catherine raised her eyebrow as she turned to her attention to Jazz.

I mentioned it in passing when he asked what we did while you were asleep. Jazz replied smoothly. Apparently, he looked it up and decided to give it a try. Though he might like chess more.

'Well, I actually don't have a deck of cards. It got lost in the move and I haven't ordered a new one. But I do have my old chess board!' Catherine sat down slowly as she talked with Jazz. 'Could you explain that to him?'

Will can do Kitten. Jazz laughed, and she felt her wrist begin tingling.

"Well, I don't have any cards." Catherine sighed deeply.

"That's okay, we can play on the game console instead." Sam elbowed Mikela. "You have a couple of couch co-op games, so I think we can keep ourselves entertained for a bit."

"Just be careful with the white controller, it got thrown last time and the right thumbpad is a bit finnicky now." Catherine rolled her eyes, but she had a fond smile on her face. "I have a replacement coming but it'll be a week or so at the least."

"Thanks for the heads up." Mikela smiled at her. "Sam can use that controller."

"Hey!"

"I swear if you guys fight over it, I'll take it away." Catherine cut Sam's indignant cry off. "Just like I told Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, I will not allow that anymore."

"I can see you doing that." Sam laughed. "So, what's it like having Jazz in your head?"

Catherine paused as she thought over his words, once again being taken back to the intense look that Jazz had given her in the 'mind room'. She was still confused by it; the dancing, the look, the way he had held her so close.

"I mean, it's not much different from having someone there with you 24/7 that you trust." Catherine shrugged. "We talk all the time, help each other cope with stuff…"

Mikela was giving her a look that made her slightly uncomfortable. It was almost as if she knew about the feelings that churned inside of Catherine. The older woman raised an eyebrow at her and Mikela only offered a knowing smile in return.

"I mean, it's nice." Catherine shrugged, trying to ignore the heat rising on her face. "I hate being alone, so having him there constantly helps with everything."

"I'm sure he treats you right too." Mikela was grinning at her. "Makes sure you have your privacy when you need it and all that?"

"Oh yeah, he has a 'room' in the back of my mind that he goes to when I need space." Catherine was decidedly not looking at Mikela.

"Ratchet mentioned something about you being able to go to that room when you sleep." Sam was looking thoughtful now. "Is that why you're hard to wake up?"

Catherine felt Mikela's look intensify and she smiled tightly.

"Sometimes." Catherine shrugged. "I'm mostly hard to wake up because my body demands more sleep due to the Allspark Radiation and Energon in it. Which just so happens to also be why Jazz's spark was able to enter my body in the first place."

"That…. And compatible… spirits of the earth and heaven." Bee piped up.

Catherine rolled her eyes at the radio clips before sighing deeply.

"Compatible spirits?" Mikela was giving Bumblebee questioning look.

"It means…."

"It means that his spark and my soul are apparently compatible." Catherine shook her head at the scouts holoform. "You, sir, aren't supposed to be using that Voice Modulator, remember?"

Bumblebee shrunk under the look that she was giving him, but he was also smiling widely at her.

"What does that mean exactly?" Sam was very interested in this conversation.

"A human soul is a smaller, less condensed type of spark." Prowl's voice suddenly brought their attention to the door leading to the garage. "Her soul, or rather, spark, is compatible with Jazz's. If she were a femme, they would be considered spark mates. Or, as you humans put it, soul mates. It is a rare occurrence, but it does happen."

Catherine felt Mikela's grin get wider, and she finally looked over at the younger woman.

"So, they're soul mates? And that's why Jazz ended up trapped inside her?" Sam was now also looking at Catherine.

'Help.'

I don't know what to tell you Kitten. Jazz sounded exasperated as Catherine's wrist began tingling and she saw Prowl tilt his head to the side.

"I see, you were not aware of the extent of the compatibility of your soul to his spark?" Prowl was looking at her with interest. "Then I also assume…"

Catherine's wrist was tingling very strongly, and she could feel Jazz's mortification at whatever Prowl was about to say. The SIC blinked a few times before shaking his head and muttering something under his breath.

"It doesn't matter anyway, because he was already bonded to someone else and she passed." Catherine was giving them all firm looks. "From what Ratchet said it's impossible to have more than one 'spark mate' so…"

"Not impossible, just extremely rare. Almost as rare as same sparked twins." Prowl interrupted her smoothly as he took a seat at the table. "Which, as you are well aware, Jazz just so happens to be the mech creator to the ones here on base."

Catherine was staring at Prowl now, and she could feel Jazz's absolute irritation at the stoic mech. She wasn't entirely certain what he was implying, but she had a feeling that the way Jazz had looked at her before she woke up had something to do with it.

"Well… I'm not sure that could happen." She felt the blush creep back up on her face. "I mean… I'm human."

"I don't see how that could stop mutual attraction from happening." Mikela playfully smacked Catherine's shoulder. "And I don't see how it couldn't work, holoforms can be tweaked…"

"Stop." Catherine knew that her face was beet red now. "Just… We need to just change the subject please."

Bumblebee smacked Sam's arm and gave him a pointed look, which Sam transferred to Mikela, who only rolled her eyes with a grin.

"You're burning the chicken!" Catherine stood quickly and moved to the stove, which Sam had left running with chicken in the pan. "Slaggit, there goes dinner. I guess I can call and see if Lennox will bring us some fragging pizzas to toss in the oven."

"What did you say?" Prowl was giving her an incredulous look, and her wrist began tingling. While Bumblebee doubled over, shaking with laughter.

"What?"

"Please tell me those were some of their curse words." Sam's eyes were shining. "And please tell me you can teach me more."

Catherine had her phone to her ear and shot Sam an unamused glance as Lennox answered. Only for him to laugh at the situation she described and say that he would run and grab her a few pizzas. Catherine thanked him profusely before hanging up and turning on the younger adults in the house to explain why yelling about Cybertronian curses while she was on the phone was not a good idea.

~.~ ~.~ ~.~

Awwww, Catherine was getting teased! And what was with the look Jazz was giving her, or his insistence to make Prowl shut up about the subject?

More flirting, more fluff, possibly more feelings coming to the surface.

Sorry about the time it took to get this out. My daughter is home from school and my husband was sick. Let's just say we were all quarantined for 2 weeks. Hubby tested positive for Covid-19, le sigh.

Everyone is perfectly fine and healthy. He had extremely mild symptoms and we're assuming the rest of us were asymptomatic, if we had it at all. So yeah, it's been a slightly stressful 2 weeks with not being able to leave the house and getting family members to pick up our groceries and drop them off at the door for us and all that wonderful stuff. We figure he picked it up at work even though we all wear masks everywhere and use germ-x like it's going out of style. Which I already had a stock of it before it flew off the shelves thanks to my paranoia about the flu and colds…

Anywho, I hope you guys all enjoyed this chapter! I'll do my best to update my other stories soon too. It's just harder when the 4 year old is home between her preschool summer program and when school starts again (which her preschool is small and is taking all the precautions that make me waaaaaay more comfortable sending her back when it starts up), the 1 ½ year old is getting into EVERYTHING, and hubby is home for 2 weeks straight.

Please review! I love hearing from my readers, it literally inspires me to write more!

Until all are one,

Chistarpax