Written for the Weekly Challenge Response at the LJ tf_rare_pairing Community.

Prompt: Ratchet/Jazz - I can't believe you did that... wait, no... I can

All Ratchet remembered was Lockdown's claws tearing into him. He remembered the feeling of a dirty, cruel servo uncaringly close around his spark. His very soul, and pull. Then... he felt nothing. And for a moment, all was peaceful.

"Ratch."

He was floating, or so it seemed. It was hard to tell, being slightly disembodied and all. But he felt safe, and loved, and like everything was alright.

"Hey Ratch!"

Of course, with his luck, the peace he found was not meant to be. There was something... someone pulling at him. A presence he knew, gravitating around him. Teasingly poking at him.

"Go away!" He grumbled. It had been... Primus it had been millennia since he had last felt this content.

"Ah'm hurt Ratch! And here Ah had to squeeze mahself through Primus' servos ta come greet ya!"

That voice... it couldn't be!

Ratchet found he had optics to online, and what he saw left him flabbergasted. He didn't take in his surroundings, nor did he look down to realize he had a frame. A frame that was once again whole and untarnished. No... his optics were on the mech standing in front of him. He would recognize that stupid visor, that cocky grin and teasing stance anywhere.

"J- Jazz?"

The silver mech was like a stranger. Ratchet had patched up the saboteur so many times that the mech's frame had shown the scars. This frame was as smooth as Jazz himself. The horrendous scar that had been left behind after Ratchet had managed to weld his frame back together was nonexistent. His paint job, once dull and with different tones in some places was now a beautiful and gleaming silver.

He was stunning.

"Oh Primus, Jazz. You're... you're alive!"

The saboteur tilted his helm at him.

"Ahhh, not quite Ratch. Kind of the other way around." He looked at the medic apologetically.

Ratchet blinked in confusion, his processor too shocked to even make the connection. Jazz smiled softly at him, taking the few steps that separated them closer to the medic. He lifted a servo to the mech's cheek plate, letting his claws caress the soft plating.

"Oh Ratch. We're both in the Well." He breathed sadly. "Ah wanted ta meet ya again... but not like this. Not so soon." He lowered his head, pained and...angry.

"Lockdown." He growled. "If Ah had mah way, Ah'd go back to the plain of the living and rip his spark out with mah own servos. Just like he did you."

Only then did it hit him. The chase, the humans firing at him. The pain. The betrayal he felt, and the fear.

Ratchet whimpered softly at the memory, offlining his optics as his last moments, and the fact that he was dead washed over him.

"Oh sweatspark." Jazz's voice brought him back from the horrible scenes. "Ah wished Ah had been there. Frag, Ah wish someone had been there." He sighed. "Ah died surrounded by friends. Ya held mah servos in mah last moments. Ironhide was there too. But ya died alone, frightened, and at the hands of a psychopath."

He fell silent. "Ah'm sorry."

Ratchet sighed. "Not your fault you glitch. Megatron had ripped you in half by then." The medic offlined his optics again, leaning forward so his forehead met Jazz's. Both mechs stayed like that in silence, surrounded by warmth and endless possibilities.

"Wait a moment." Something the saboteur had said suddenly seemed to click, and he withdrew to stare down at the silver mech with a suspicious look. "What did you mean when you said you slipped past Primus? Primus?"

Jazz smirked. "Weeell... Ah'm not supposed ta meet ya just yet. Supposed ta wait till the end of times before everyone can meet with their loved ones." He traced Ratchet's cheek again. "Wasn't gonna wait that long."

"So you... slipped past Primus!?" Ratchet stared in disbelief and exasperation.

"Hey, Ah never listened when Prowl gave me an order, not when Prime gave me an order, why was Ah gonna stop at Primus?"

"Oh Jazz you did not disobey Primus! I can't believe you did that...wait, no... I can." He said blankly, really thinking about it. "I'm surprised he hasn't- I don't know... punished you?" Ratchet was at a loss. What did Primus do to disobedient sparks? Or maybe Jazz was his first case of severe anti-orders disorder. It wouldn't be that surprising.

Jazz danced around Ratchet, his pedes touching nothing. He moved swiftly and quickly. Before his optics the silver mech seemed to evaporate into mist and reappear somewhere else.

"He doesn't punish bots, just gives them a slight reprimand and a I-am-disappointed-in-you look that apparently has many sparks wailing in guilt and begging forgiveness." He laughed. "Kind of like Optimus actually."

"Well, Optimus as Prime is the closest we've got to Primus." Ratchet said absentmindedly, entranced by Jazz's dance. It was mesmerizing.

"True, but Optimus has managed to catch me redhanded and sent me either to Prowl or directly to the brig. Ah got experience in that area, and Primus still hasn't caught up to meh!" The mech laughed loudly, the sound echoing in the vast expanse that surrounded them.

Ratchet let his face fall into his servos, unbelieving and slightly despaired.

"You are incorrigible Jazz. Now there is absolute proof that you truly are. Not even dying put a curb in your attitude. In fact, I think it might have only made it worse."

"Hey, Ah come and go, meet the sparks of our friends." He turned sad. "Met Hide', Sideswipe and with him Sunny, Mirage, Wheeljack, Jolt, Arcee and the other femmes... all our friends."

"Sides and Sunny?" Ratchet had been there when Sideswipe had died, he imagined the golden twin must have been in agony when it happened.

"Yeah, Ah got them together again. The Well makes the sparks content to be where they are, but Ah wasn't about ta let those two be apart anymore than they needed to. The same with the younger twins. Primus can throw me into the pit for all Ah care." Murmured Jazz, appearing above Ratchet to touch his face upside down.

"So is this what you do now? Mister morale officer. Get loved ones together behind Primus' back?"

"Yup! Got Chromia and Hide' together too. Hound's not here yet so Mirage can wait happily where he is. But there are a few bots just itching to be together around here. Ah'm gonna be busy." The saboteur grinned.

Ratchet laughed, not too concerned by anything. If Jazz hadn't arrived he would have been, like Jazz said, content. But now, having the silver mech close, he felt elated. He wished he could see his friends again, but they could wait. His place was with Jazz.

"That it is Ratch." The silver mech whispered lovingly, materializing fully in front of the medic again.

"What? Don't tell me you can read minds now too. The Well is not ready for you Jazz." Ratchet grumbled, but he couldn't hold a frown for more than a few seconds, too happy and unconcerned to be anything but jubilant.

Jazz smiled. "Like Ah ever needed ta read yer mind ta know what yer thinking." He teased, lovingly wrapping his arms around the medic's neck. Their lips met for the first time in what seemed like ages, and everything was well again.