Author's Notes: 14 months. I can't believe I waited 14 months to update this fic! Sad part is, this isn't the only story I've neglected for this long. I guess I just get nervous when I write romantic fiction. It's hard to balance the physical and emotional parts of my characters' relationships. Hopefully this chapter succeeded though, and hopefully I'll be able to update this story more frequently from now on. Thank you to those who are taking the time to read this story, and I hope you like this chapter :)

Chapter 4

No Smoking

Prowl and Mirage sat across at a table in their interrogation room staring across the expanse at Swagger, who shifted nervously at their knowing glares.

"Do you know why you were brought here, Swagger?" Prowl asked point blank.

"No, sir," Swagger rasped in a small voice as he looked down at the floor.

"Play the footage, Mirage," Prowl ordered; never taking his ice blue optics off the former Decepticon.

Swagger forced himself to look up to see what had Prowl so upset. Prowl had said it had something to do with his time aboard the Poacher, but that could be literally anything. Autobots hated everything Decepticons did, so Swagger wasn't sure what had set the ship's captain off.

The footage was grainy and the sound was tinny, but it was still easy to tell which 'Con was which due to their differing alt modes and color schemes. The footage was recorded right after the research vessel had been destroyed and all profitable femmes had been brought aboard as cargo. The femmes were lined up in a row, some were glaring defiantly at their captors while others wept. One even tried to escape on camera, but was knocked unconscious by a mech Swagger recognized as Rubberneck.

"Well done, mechs," Lockdown said on the tape, "We have quite a few glitches for our coffers here. As always I offer first choice to the lot of you before we start selling them off. Swagger! Start measuring their frames and cataloging them!"

"Yes, sir! Right away, sir!" Swagger replied as he hurried to carry out his task.

Prowl and Mirage watched Swagger watch the tape. The Decepticon had a very expressive faceplate, and at the moment he looked ashamed at seeing himself act like a toady for his former master. That however wasn't what had upset Prowl. That part came a few breems later.

"Captain Lockdown sir?" The Swagger on the monitor addressed his captain with deference; clearly wanting to request something, "I've finished writing down all the stats of our cargo. Three virgins were detected. The femme Flame War has the largest chassis. All of them are capable of reproduction. Tip Toe is the youngest. Shard is the oldest."

"Sounds good," Lockdown replied disinterestedly, "Take them to their cell."

"Um, sir? I, um, I wanna buy one," Swagger was nervous as he made this declaration and ducked down when Lockdown turned to look at him.

"Really? You've never so much as broken a femme in, and now you want one for yourself?" Lockdown asked in mild surprise, "I was starting to wonder about you, to be honest. I was afraid you were a soft spark, which as we know is only good for Autobots and target practice."

"Of course, sir," Swagger nodded his head quickly, wringing his servos in an almost eager way, "Anyway, I want to purchase the femme named Crystalline. She's a rather plain femme with a boring white paint job and a nearly flat chassis, so I figure I can afford her."

"Really? Last I checked she was a stunning creature with golden accents and delicate servos," Lockdown replied with a wicked smirk, "I know what you're doing, you little cheapskate. You want a deal on the femme, don't you? Well, I see no reason to not indulge you this once. After all, you're my loyal little lapdog. I can trust no one else on this rust bucket the way I trust you. However, my stock is not free. I expect 120 shanix by the end of the orn."

"You'll have it sir!" Swagger replied quicker than normal, "I must admit that's cheaper than I expected."

"Well I know how stressful it can be to work on this ship," Lockdown shrugged, "And you of all mechs are in need of some serious stress relief. I mean, you twitch more than a glitch mouse, and you're forced to be surrounded by femmes you never touch. I'm willing to be generous just this once."

The tape was abruptly shut off by Prowl, unwilling to listen to anymore small talk from those evil mechs. He turned back to Swagger, and if looks could melt plating Swagger would be a puddle of slag on the floor. Swagger gulped nervously and took an enerjolt out of subspace. As he was about to strike it on his armor to light it up Prowl took the offending blue stick out of Swagger's servo and snapped it in two; electrified blue liquid popping and fizzing down his digits.

"So, you tried to buy Crystalline?" Prowl asked in a calm voice, but the hatred written on his face belied the banality of his tone.

Swagger just looked at the broken enerjolt still staining Prowl's digit. The green and yellow 'Con's faceplate bespoke of a mixture of anger and horror, with horror winning the day.

"Prowl asked you a question!" Mirage snapped at the small train-former.

"Tried nothing, I did buy her!" Swagger suddenly shouted, trying to force his rage to overcome his fear, "I gave Lockdown the 120 shanix before you freaks showed up, and you know what? She was worth at least 500 to him! I would've spent that much and more! I would've given my wheels to save her!"

"Save her?" Prowl repeated, unconvinced.

"Yes, save her," Swagger continued undeterred, "Another crew member was going to buy her, and he would've raped her for real. I figured if I could just save one femme, that maybe I'd be able to sleep that night. I figured maybe for once I could stop feeling like a dirty worthless bag of scrap. Fat lot of good that did..."

Prowl didn't entirely believe Swagger's story. He could tell the informant was leaving something out. This wasn't just some random femme to Swagger. He followed her around even now, and he asked for Crystalline by name. Clearly he wanted her, and the most likely explanation was that he was infatuated with her. Prowl narrowed his optics at the 'Con, and Swagger leaned further back in his seat in a futile effort to distance himself from Prowl.

"I'm sending you to the brig for the duration of our journey back to Cybertron," Prowl announced to Swagger, "If you so much as touch Crystalline, or even vent air on her frame, I will force you into stasis lock and ship your spark to the nearest criminal holding facility. Do I make myself clear?"

Swagger looked like he was about ready to concede, but then he said something that caught Prowl off guard.

"I know what you're doing to her," Swagger whispered in his raspy enerjolt-clogged voice, "I know what you make her do, and if you're trying to silence me there's no point. I have no power here. I can't stop you, and I can't hurt you. All I can do is ask you to please not hurt her. She's a scientist. She can still be useful to your cause. Please don't break her, sir."

Swagger's faceplate was so full of hurt as he laid bare his concerns. Prowl knew that such pain could not be faked, unless Swagger was the best actor on Cybertron. He began to understand what Swagger was implying, and he couldn't help but take offense at the implication.

"You think I'm raping Crystalline myself?" Prowl asked; his voice a low growl.

"Why else would you spend so much time around her?" Swagger asked accusingly, "Why else would you call her to your quarters so often? I know you want her, and you know you have her trapped here under your power. That's what captains do. They take whatever they want. I only hope you aren't as rough on your favorites as Lockdown was on his."

Swagger then pulled another enerjolt out of his subspace, and Prowl snatched that one as well.

"Hey! Stop that!" Swagger barked in annoyance, "If I'm going to be locked away and sent to the pit the least you can allow me is one last smoke!"

"I have never touched Crystalline in an inappropriate way," Prowl stated vehemently, "Crystalline has come to me for help several times, and virtually every time it was regarding you."

"Oh," Was all Swagger said in reply.

"Now, do you consider Crystalline your property?" Prowl asked intently.

"No, sir," Swagger replied.

"Do you intend to further stalk Crystalline?" Prowl asked.

"No, sir," Swagger replied solemnly.

"Do you swear this on the continued integrity of your spark?" Prowl asked pointedly.

Swagger gulped, but replied with "Y-Yes sir, I do."

"Alright then," Prowl nodded slowly, "I should throw you out the airlock and let you drift around in space until you starve, but I'm going to give you one more chance. If you go near Crystalline anymore, your spark will be permanently removed from your body and placed in indefinite storage."

"Yes, sir," Swagger bowed his helm as he spoke.

"One more condition of your parole is that you give up smoking enerjolts," Prowl added.

"What!?" Swagger shouted crossly, "You can't do that! I need these! How am I supposed to get through the orn without enerjolts? I mean, Autobots smoke sometimes, right?"

"Medicinally, yes," Prowl conceded, "However, the enerjolts you are consuming are clearly made for recreational use. They are an explosion hazard around the engine room of the ship, and are also damaging your body."

"Oh, and the guns we carry around don't blast things and damage our bodies?" Swagger asked in a snarky tone of voice.

"You will stop smoking or go to the brig," Prowl replied in no uncertain terms, "Do we have an understanding?"

Swagger glared hotly at Prowl, but when his gaze didn't weaver Swagger finally sighed and ground out the words, "Yes...sir."

The next cycle Crystalline was in the lab examining a large chunk of metal. She dropped a clear chemical on it to see what would happen, and noticed that spot became more pliable. This was good. It meant her new formula was working and she would be able to build more organic looking pieces for her new shield generator. Everything was working out and with Prowl looking out for her she didn't have to worry about that steam engine stalker.

As she worked the door opened, and she turned to see Sideswipe standing in the doorway with that charming grin he always wore. Normally such a distraction from her work would be unwelcome, but Crystalline found she enjoyed spending time with the carefree mech.

"Do you need something, Sideswipe?" Crystalline asked with a coy smile.

"Just wondering why a beautiful femme like you is cooped up in a stuffy place like this all the time," Sideswipe replied flirtatiously, "Actually, we're getting ready to pass a solar system that has this exploding star thing. I thought you might like to see it."

"It's called a supernova," Crystalline giggled, "It's what happens when a star's core collapses. Also, yes, I would love to see it."

"I know the best place on the whole ship to look out the windows," Sideswipe said excitedly, "Come on, I'll show you!"

Sideswipe then took Crystalline by the hand and led her through the halls, with her barely able to keep up with his frenetic pace. She thought she should object and get back to work, but if she were being honest with herself she knew she would rather play hooky with Sideswipe. She was so glad she met him. He was fun to be around and made her feel alive again. She knew he liked her, and she thought she could find her way toward liking him too...maybe.

When they got in the elevator Sideswipe pressed the button for the lower decks, and Crystalline wondered what he was planning. She had heard from other Autobots that he was a prankster. If this was an elaborate joke she would not be happy about that. Once the elevator stopped they were in a hallway that was so dark it was difficult to see the servo in front of your face.

"Why are we down here? What is this?" Crystalline asked nervously, still gun shy after what happened with the Decepticons.

"This is a storage deck. No one really comes down here for anything," Sideswipe explained, "At the end of the hall is the hangar where new cargo is brought on board. There's this huge window there where we'll be able to see everything!"

Sideswipe's enthusiasm was infectious, and Crystalline picked up her pace to see what was so special about an unused cargo hangar. When they got inside it was slightly brighter due to the star cluster out in space lighting up the room slightly. The room was big enough to house a couple combiners and a guardian robot too, and it was completely empty except for the pair of Autobots. Sideswipe led her to the edge of the room where the window was, and there was a ledge just big enough for them to sit down.

The star cluster was mostly comprised of white dwarves, but the main star off to the right side from them was a supernova that popped and flickered; very far away yet very much where the optic was drawn. It was like a sprinkling of diamonds and fireworks against a black canvas.

"Sideswipe," Crystalline gasped, "This is amazing."

"Beautiful, huh?" Sideswipe agreed, "I knew you'd wanna see it. Besides, it's more fun looking at this with you than with Sunstreaker. He doesn't get into this sort of thing."

"It reminds me of my first trip through the Gilmeck System when I was in the science academy," Crystalline said softly, "Of course then the stars in that galaxy were mostly main sequence stars. This cluster is full of fragments from a dying system."

"You always gotta think of things in technical terms?" Sideswipe asked playfully.

"I didn't used to," Crystalline lamented, "Turns out though science can be a refuge. When parts of the universe don't make sense, it's comforting to think about the parts that do."

"You know what makes sense to me right now?" Sideswipe asked as he leaned closer to Crystalline.

Crystalline wasn't sure how to react at first when Sideswipe pressed his glossa against hers and started kissing her. After a moment though she started pressing against him in return. Did this make sense to her? Not really. Did it matter? At the moment, no.

Crystalline wrapped her arms around Sideswipe as he pressed her against the cold glass window. She felt herself shiver, but it wasn't just from the cold. It had been a long time since she had done anything so spontaneous, and Sideswipe was such a handsome and likable mech. Did she love him? Too soon for that. Did it matter? At the moment, not really.

Sideswipe stopped kissing her and started burying his faceplate into her neck cables. He felt the tires on her back, and he could feel her exploring the side of his chassis. He wondered how far he should take this. Would she hate him if they went too far too soon? She had dealt with a lot over the past few orns. Then again, she was just as into this as he was at the moment. He wasn't sure whether or not to open his spark chamber or not.

Just as this internal conflict was going on and the two of them were making out like it would be their last time, the door suddenly opened. The couple disengaged and looked to see who it was, and saw a small figure backing into the room turned away from them. When the figure turned around they saw it was Swagger, and Swagger let out an undignified scream at seeing them.

"Ahhh!" Swagger shrieked, "Oh, uh...I can explain."

"What are you doing here?" Crystalline asked angrily, "Prowl said-"

"Hey, hey! I'm not following you this time!" Swagger assured her as he held up his servos placatingly, "I'm just...uh...Well, I'm trying to sneak an enerjolt. Just to get me through the orn. Prowl won't let me smoke, and it's driving me crazy!"

"You came all the way down here just to smoke?" Sideswipe asked; unconvinced, "Yeah, right. I know you've been bothering Crystalline. Well if you're looking for a beatdown, then go ahead. Stay. Try it again. I dare you."

"Uh...*sigh*, I guess it's not worth it," Swagger said defeatedly, "Stupid Prowl. Stupid enerjolts. Stupid life."

"I can help you with that last part," Sideswipe quipped in a challenging tone.

"Alright, I'm going! I'm going!" Swagger shouted as he scampered out of the room.

With Swagger gone Sideswipe turned to see if Crystalline was alright, and he saw she was shaking. She wouldn't even look up at him.

"Does that little twerp really scare you that bad?" Sideswipe asked, "Because you know Sunny and I can make it look like a suicide."

"Why won't he leave me alone?" Crystalline asked in frustration, "I don't understand. Why me? Why does he want me, and why won't Prowl just arrest him already? He's a pest and a monster! He doesn't deserve to be here, and he doesn't deserve our pity. Why does he get to live his life at the cost of me not fully being able to live mine? It just doesn't make any sense..."

"You know what does make sense?" Sideswipe asked.

"I'm not in the mood anymore," Crystalline replied dryly.

"No, silly. The stars," Sideswipe clarified as he turned her attention back to the window, "You said when the universe doesn't make sense you like to think about things that do. So, tell me what you know about star clusters like this one."

Crystalline smiled gratefully at Sideswipe as he sat down next to her. She wanted to hug him in that moment, to kiss him, to wrap herself around him and let him fill her spark with the calm she couldn't produce within herself. Instead, she began to explain various attributes of the stars they were gazing upon, and she was so happy that he was willing to listen.