Jazz could feel the rage flooding his circuits as soot and smoke spiraled around him. The con was holding the little human too tight in his grip, his hot metal hand disfiguring the flesh beneath it. Tanya's painfully panicked cries reached out desperately for him. He searched frantically for a way to save her, but found none.

His chest was burning, and he knew it wasn't the fire. His spark was searing a hole through his armor. Everything in him wanted to run to the little girl, and save her from her suffering instantly, but he knew that kind of move would only prove to be the end of his helpless friend. He had broken his promise, because of him her life was now in danger. Now all he could do was offer some slight reassurance, and hope for an opening.

"It's going to be ok Tanya, I am going to get you back!"

He tried to say it confidently, but even he could hear the desperation that frayed the edges of his voice with uncertainty. He directed a twisted gaze at the smug decepticon, and couldn't hold back the growl that issued from his mouth.

"Coward! So scared of dying that you'll use a helpless little girl as a shield?"

A malicious smirk spread across the bot's face.

"It's my exploitation of YOUR weakness that keeps me alive, autobot. If you perceive that as cowardice, then so be it. You place such value on these insects, it's laughable. What purpose do they serve? They are as numerous as a virus, and as pointless as firing a shot into the sun. Yet it seems you would give up all the data I've collected just to save this one insignificant pest."

The bot paused inspecting the unconscious child with a manically, inquisitive look. It made Jazz long to rip the spark from his chest. The wretched con had something terrible in store for Tanya, and it made Jazz's fuel tank churn.

"Though i must say, this one wasn't entirely useless. Had she not been around...YOU probably would've deciphered my signal much sooner. The virus I had implanted in it would never have had time to gather the battle strategies i now have."

The con paused his musing, and flashed a mocking grin at Jazz.

"Instead you left it in the hands of that out of date, old fool that can't tell his spark from his aft. I probably never even needed to plant the distraction, the girl worked so much better than that harmless machine."

The bot chuckled darkly as Jazz felt the words strike home in his mind. He knew it was his responsibility to handle the difficult coding involved in their undercover work, but Tanya was dying right under the noses of her own people.

There was no way he was going to just sit by as the defenseless suffered in-front of him. Whats done is done, and he'd rather spare a life from suffering than win a battle. He glanced in Tanya's direction, she was unconscious, he took a step forward out of concern. Maybe he could negotiate.

"Ah ah ah, you might want to keep your distance, she's so fragile, it wouldn't be hard for me to make an awful mess."

Jazz stopped abruptly, the mech said the word with such sickening pleasure, he knew it wasn't a bluff. He would kill the little human, HIS little human.

"Now, you have two choices. You can either, let me go. I'll report my information to my commander, and the little human goes free. OR you can try to kill me and watch as I rip her into a million bloody pieces. Choose wisely, either way you loose."

A slight movement from the darkness caught Jazz's eye, and a confident smirk spread across his face. Kup walked through the flames holding his left shoulder. It was leaking energon and sparking intermittently, but the old bot wasn't down for the count.

"I'll show you exactly which end is the aft, ya worthless piece of junk!"

The decepticons eyes went wide with surprise as Kup kicked him from behind, and right into Jazz's waiting grip. Jazz lashed out quickly, and grabbed both of the bots wrists with one hand, clenching them tightly so he couldn't move or hurt Tanya. He pulled the stunned bot close to his face, smiling with concrete pleasure as he spoke to the decepticon.

"Maybe you missed the memo, but loosing just isn't my style."

With his other hand he took the stolen blade, and thrust it deeply into the bot's spark yanking sharply upward, splitting the con open from his chest through his head. Energon sputtered from the dying bot, and Jazz dropped the blade, moving quickly to catch Tanya as she slipped from the bots grip.

He let the dead bot sink to the ground as he examined the girl laying in his hand, her lower right leg was covered in skin that was a sickly redish-purple in color, and the blood from her forehead had matted in her messy hair. He frowned as he looked over to Kup.

The old bot was right, a little girl had no place with the autobots. She was a target, the cons would never leave her alone if she stayed. She needed to see a doctor, a human doctor. He needed to take her to a hospital, and leave her with her own kind. Kup looked back with understanding, and a somber look.

"I know, its hard kid, but she's better off with them, not us."

The searing in his spark changed to tearing, as Tanya's eyes opened weakly, took him in for just a moment, and closed drearily. He knew the decision he was supposed to make.

Blurry images of flames and her monstrous captor filled her head, as she drifted wearily in and out of consciousness. At one point she remembered waking briefly. Jazz's frowning face filled her vision, he was spattered in purple fluid. He had never looked so sad before, like he had just lost something irreplaceable.

If she hadn't felt so weak she would have talked to him. She would have tried to comfort him, like he had for her. She wanted to ask him what was wrong, but the pain was too much. Her eyes grew heavy, and she slipped back into darkness. After that, it was just brief sights and sounds. A familiar engine, stars through a window, cold air, and a white building with windows all over. She was moving, but she had no idea where. Lucidity still alluded her.

She shot up from where she slept, images swirling hazily in her head. The movement caused pain to roar up at her from her right leg, and she couldn't help but let out a loud gasp. A white sheet had been draped over her where she slept. Under the sheet, a soft mattress, also covered in white, cushioned the spot beneath her.

She flung the sheets off, flinching as her wounded leg was struck by the cool air in the room. Cautiously examining it with her fingers, she noticed her leg had been covered carefully with medical cloth. She touched each bandage lightly, roving over spots that had a maroon tint around the edges.

Those were the most painful spots, screaming in protest with the slightest of disturbances. They seemed to run in lines around her leg. It was where she had been gripped by the evil bot.

As the pain slowly subsided she noticed an unfamiliar tightness constricting her head. Reaching up she touched the smooth tape that wound around her head. It held a large spongy gauze in place just over the gash she had received from mama. She must be at the doctors, quickly she glanced around the room.

The walls were a pale gray, and next to her bed sat a large, beautiful pine tree adorned with colorful lights. Her mouth dropped in wonder, she had never seen such a large Christmas tree, and at the very top sat an angel with long curly blond hair.

She held a candle in her hands as her wings flapped back, and forth. Jazz had to see this! She whipped her head around searching for her only friend, but tears slowly rolled to the surface as she realized she was all alone.

The room suddenly seem very large to her, almost like the emptiness itself would swallow her. She pulled the sheet back up to her chest, and clenched it in her fists. Liquid flooded her vision and poured down her cheeks. Uncontrolled sniffles slipped out in manic bursts from her nose as she began to sob.

Why didn't anybody ever want to stay with her? A whooshing noise issued from the opposite side of the room just as a Tanya dropped her head into the sheet huffing and sputtering in sorrow.

"Tanya? Hey, little one whats wrong?"

She knew the voice, but she was too lost in her tears to focus on anything other than feeling abandoned. She spoke through her tears, knowing her voice was muffled by the sheets. She didn't want to see the big lonely room anymore.

"I-I-I I'm all aloneee..."

A soft laugh issued from the voice next to her.

"Drop the sheet Tanya."

She shook her head, but stopped as soon as she saw the massive black hand that started to gently pull the sheet from her grip. Immediately she threw the cover down, and latched on to his huge pointer finger in a vice grip like hug, shouting with glee.

"Jazz!"

He reached over with his other hand, and lightly brushed the tears from her cheeks with his thumb. A warm smile spread across his face as he looked at her.

"You should know i could never leave you kid."

She realized she was high up as she watched Jazz reach down for something he placed on the ground. Concern filled her expression as her gaze focused behind Jazz. Another bot stood in the doorway, larger then Jazz, and glaring menacingly in their direction. Her eyes got big as she pointed in the strange bots direction.

"Who is that?"

Jazz stood upright, looking in the direction she was pointing. His face lit up as he saw what had frightened her.

"HA! Ratchet you might want to leave your scaring your own patient."

The large red and white bot left grumbling to himself as the doors closed behind him. She focused back on Jazz with a curious expression.

"You have nothing to worry about, Ratchet wouldn't hurt a soul. He's an old friend. None of the bots here would ever hurt you. It took some convincing, but you get to stay here with us if you want to."

She couldn't help, but smile wide and nod excitedly. Despite the frightening encounter she had been through, she knew there was no where else she'd rather be. Jazz laughed in response.

"Good, that's what i like to hear."

He brought his hand from around his back, and set something on her bed.

"Teddy!"

She hugged the old stuffed animal tight in her arms.

"We cleaned him up a bit for ya, also i thought he'd look better if he was wearin a bow."

"I love it!"

She could barely contain her joy, she should've never doubted what her father told her. Her prayers had finally been answered, she didn't have to be alone anymore.

Jazz smirked at the gleeful little girl, he knew he would have hell to pay in the long run, but it was all worth it to make that kid happy. He couldn't bare to see her suffer, and it was evident that the little girl would if he ever left.

If he was honest with himself, there was a huge part of him that wouldn't be able to bare leaving her as well. That became clear when he pulled up outside that human hospital.

He had sat in silence for a while, listening to her rhythmic breathing as he fought with himself internally. Her little breaths were music to his ears, and the idea that he would never hear that sound again broke his spark.

Having her here with him was dangerous, but the thought of his life without her just felt empty. She had filled a void that he never even knew was there. His smirk spread into a smile, as he turned quickly and headed for the base.

He Embraced the verbal lashing he received from both Kup and Ratchet when he arrived. However, it came as a shock when Prowl consented to his request that his little human remain with them. The fact that the girl had no one else made a huge difference. No other humans would come looking for her.

As he looked at her now he remembered the day they first met. She had called him an angel, but maybe she had it backwards, cause he swore he could see a feint glow in that girl's smile. He reached out, ruffling the girl's messy hair with his finger.

"Merry Christmas little one."

ENDA/N: sorry this story has gone through so many additions and revisions. I just kept having more ideas as time went on. So please let me know what you think. I have another story that i am working on called Liberation. It is set in the same universe and focuses on Sideswipe and a human he stumbles upon towards the end of AHM. So keep a look out for that one as well.