Look what story isn't dead! My sincerest apologies for leaving it hanging so long. At one point, I was going to end it after chapter 15, "Welcome Back", but just recently I was going through my notes and realized that there was more that I wanted to cover, so there will be a few more chapters to this! I don't know how regular my updates will be, but I will make an effort to keep up with this one.

Chapter 16: Fire In The Sky

Prowl pulled to a stop in the middle of the hangar bay, transformed, and checked the bond in confusion. Riella? She should have been somewhere in the base – after the incident with Motormaster four weeks earlier, Ratchet had been severely restricting her off-base activities, even after she'd regained full transformation ability and been cleared for training two weeks prior.

Prowl? Riella sounded distracted, but pleased to hear from him. Back from patrol already?

Affirmative. Where are you?

Um… Prowl could sense his mate's amusement and slight embarrassment. Don't tell Ratchet?

Prowl smirked internally, stepping carefully over a human on his way to his office. Not unless you're going to pick a fight with another 'Con.

No. I'm undercover, organic mode, at a park in Tranquility. Riella opened the bond further, letting Prowl feel the heat of the sun and the slight breeze through it. I was going stir-crazy stuck at base. I haven't left for three days.

I've noticed. You wore a groove in my office floor pacing. Prowl chuckled internally. All right. Send me your coordinates, I'll meet you there. When she did, he transformed and spun around, retracing his way out of the hangar at a reasonable pace and activating his holoform. ::Prime, sir, I'm taking an extra trip in to Tranquility.::

::Any particular reason?:: Prowl stifled a snicker at Optimus's tone. The Autobot leader knew what was going on. Of course, he'd have to be completely detached from his entire team to have missed Riella's increasing restlessness.

::Yes, sir. Meeting Riella.:: The tactician paused, realized the problem with making that statement without an addendum, and continued, ::If you could avoid mentioning that to Ratchet, both of us would appreciate it.::

Optimus laughed, sound making static crackle in the comlink. ::Ratchet was the one who told me where she is.::

::…I see.:: Prowl raised a hand, via holoform, to the soldier on guard duty as he sped through the gate. ::Should I - ::

::Just make sure she comes back in one piece, and neither of us will say anything,:: Optimus assured him. ::Stay undercover.::

::Yes, sir.:: Prowl closed the comm line and sped down the road, ignoring the speed limit unless a human car was anywhere in sight. It took less than ten minutes to find Riella's location, which was a large park-slash-playground near the center of town.

His sparkmate was settled in the grass next to the larger of the two playgrounds, watching two teenagers climb on the equipment. Her sense across the bond was somewhere between amused and annoyed – probably because one of the teenagers was Sam Witwicky – but she didn't comment on them, instead sending a quick non-verbal greeting.

Babysitting? Keeping the holoform active, Prowl walked over to sit next to her. It still felt very odd to use the holoform instead of robot mode. Being six foot two instead of eighteen foot one took some getting used to, and that was only the tip of the iceberg. The last time he had done that, before coming to Earth at least, had been over two thousand years earlier before bonding with Riella.

I remember that holoform, Riella commented, looking up at him with a smile. Not so different from this one, except for species.

Prowl shrugged sheepishly and flicked at a strand of dark hair that was getting in his optics. Eyes, technically speaking. I believe I preferred the Vulcan.

Riella laughed and let him put one arm around her shoulders, leaning back against his chest. That felt odd too – they weren't normally so close to the same size in organic mode. She rested her head on his shoulder and responded, You know you could always form one with shorter hair. It doesn't have to be long enough to get in your face. Although I have to admit, I don't mind this look on you. She reached up to brush the errant hair out of his face again.

Prowl smiled. So what are we doing?

Riella gestured toward the teenagers, one of whom was now hanging upside-down off the swingset. I'm watching Sam and his friend Miles while Bee takes a driving break. Incognito, of course. They don't know I'm here. You thought Sam lacked common sense? Miles makes him look like a trained tactician in comparison.

Raising an eyebrow, Prowl studied the two boys more closely. Wonderful…

Did you hear that? Riella lifted her head and scanned the sky, blue-green eyes narrowed.

Prowl took a second to listen, but couldn't hear anything. He didn't expect to – Riella's organic audios were much more sensitive than his, especially when he was in holoform and vehicle mode. No…

Riella's eyes locked on to something. Prowl, look. Look! She nearly jumped upright, pulling him with her. Prowl tilted his head back, trying to follow her bond-gestures. He could hear the sound now, the faint, distant screech of damaged metal.

Riella, slow down. What – Then he saw the sphere dropping out of the sky, unmistakably a Cybertronian in space-travel mode. Its trajectory would land it straight in the middle of downtown.

The duo thought in unison. Scrap!

Around them, humans had noticed, and were pointing to the object in the sky. Even at this distance, Prowl could see the flames around it. Whoever it was, they'd taken damage – they were coming in far too fast.

A thud alerted the two Autobots to the activities on the playground. Miles had fallen off the swingset, and was now staring up at the sky, eyes wide. "Dude! Look at that!"

Sam wasn't looking. He was rubbing his forehead in frustration – 'facepalming', humans called it, and glaring at the two of them. "Riella? What are you doing here? And…" He trailed off, staring at Prowl's holoform. "Um, who's the guy?"

Prowl crossed his arms on his chest and simply stared right back at the boy, not blinking, moving, or simulating breathing. Sam got the hint after about twenty seconds.

"Uh…Prowl?"

"Of course." The tactician resisted the urge to add something bitingly sarcastic.

"Dude!" Miles pulled himself upright and punched Sam lightly in the upper arm. "Dude, seriously, look!"

Prowl… Riella's fingers closed around his hand tightly. Prowl followed her gaze upward, afraid of what he would see.

Above them, the falling Cybertronian was still blazing, leaving a trail of fire across the sky above them. It hadn't adjusted and cooled down after reentry, as it should have. Prowl felt his spark thud in worry. Ally or enemy, they were in for a brutally painful – possibly fatal – landing.

"We need to go." Prowl only realized he'd spoken when Riella nodded and started toward the street, where Prowl's vehicle mode was still parked. The tactician matched her steps, glancing back at Sam and Miles. "Stay put. Someone will come find you."

"Wait, what?" Miles shook his head and ran after them, ignoring Sam's yanking on his shoulder. "You're gonna go see it? We're coming!"

"No, you're not," Prowl snapped. "Sam! Stay here!" Without waiting for either teen's response, both Autobots sprinted for the vehicle mode, one thought in their minds.

Don't let us be too late…