Jazz slowed down as they came upon the edge of the river again. He sat down and placed Mazikeen down next to him as he transformed into his alt-mode and turned on his holo-form. Mazikeen watched as his holo-form sat down on his hood and sat down next to him, 

"So, penny for your thought?"

Jazz chuckled softly as he took the small coin from her, 

"Do you always keep money on you?"

Mazikeen shrugged, 

"I just so happen to have it in my pocket,"

Jazz sighed and looked out to the water,

"Lil M?"

"Yeah?"

"I should have been there for you, Lil M...I failed to protect you more than once,"

Mazikeen frowned as she watched him clench his fists and the engine rev from under them. She softly put a hand on his fist,

"Hey, you could have never known what was going to happen, it wasn't your fault,"

Jazz looked down at their hands and shook his head, 

"I'm not enough, Maze...I promised to keep you safe, and I couldn't even do that. I keep failing you. In Egypt, I couldn't save you. At the base, I couldn't save you. I couldn't even save you when you were falling to the Earth! I am the worst guardian, and maybe Barricade would be a better guardian for you than me."

Mazikeen frowned and shook her head. She put her hand on his hood and got off, 

"Transform,"

Jazz frowned in confusion, 

"What? Why?"

Mazikeen narrowed her eyes at him, 

"Right now."

Jazz sighed but did as asked. Mazikeen looked up as he finished transforming, and he sat down in front of her, 

"Well?"

Mazikeen walked over to him and climbed onto his legs, 

"Jazz, we're in this together, you and me. And no matter what happens, I'll always be by your side. I don't want Barricade as my guardian. You are my guardian. You have been since Mission City all those years ago, and I would never trade you for anything in the world."

Jazz sighed and looked away from her, 

"But-"

"No buts. You are the only guardian I will ever want or need,"

Jazz sighed and finally locked eyes/optics with her, 

"Lil M, you have something special with Barricade-"

"And with you,"

Jazz sighed and glanced down, 

"Do I?"

Mazikeen crossed her arms, 

"Fuck yeah, we got something. Cade and I may be best friends, or Amica Endurae, but that will never compare to our bond,"

Jazz sighed, 

"Lil M...I don't know what I would do if I lost you,"

Mazikeen chuckled, 

"Well, you won't ever have to find out, Jazz,"

Jazz grabbed her gently in his servos and put her back down in front of him. Mazikeen watched as he transformed again and turned on his holo-form, and he got out and hugged her. Mazikeen chuckled and hugged him back,

"Jazz, I won't leave you."

Jazz shook his head as he hugged her tighter, 

"I...I saw Ironhide come in...he was holding you in his servos after Sentinel betrayed us all...I have never felt that kind of pain until I saw you lying in his hands, barely breathing and burns all over your arms. I promised myself that I would come back. That I would never leave Tex alone, that when I was able to come back, I would find you...but I just...it hurt to see you like that,"

Mazikeen sighed and smiled at him, 

"I'm sorry, I really am...I couldn't lose him. I can't lose any of you guys...and when Que died...it hurt Jazz. It really hurt I felt our bond snap and I just...I don't think I would be able to handle it if you died either,"

Jazz broke away from her and nudged her, 

"You are Mazikeen Witwicky, you are the bravest person I know, you can handle anything,"

Mazikeen smirked, 

"Oh, thank you for the ego boost. Just wait until I tell the boys,"

Jazz laughed, and Mazikeen grabbed his hand, and they sat back down on his hood,

"Okay, I want you to close your eyes,"

"You going to stab me?"

"Oh, shut up, asshole,"

Jazz laughed, but he closed his eyes. Mazikeen smiled and closed her eyes, and looked at her bonds. She immediately spotted the one that she shared with Jazz and touched it. She heard a gasp from Jazz. She smiled and gently tugged it. She felt a tug back, and her heart pulled at her. Mazikeen immediately opened her eyes in shock and looked at Jazz. His eyes were still closed, but his holo-form cheeks had a blue hue to them. She closed her eyes again and tugged back at the bond. She felt a hand grab hers, and she opened her eyes to see Jazz looking at her, 

"Yes?"

Jazz laughed, 

"I never knew you could do that,"

Mazikeen smirked, 

"Well, of course I can! I can see the bonds, and I can tug at them. I'm trying to work on communicating through them...but I've only been able to do that with Cade,"

Jazz felt a rush of anger flow through him at the mention of the former Decepticon, but he brushed it aside as he felt another tug at his spark at the same time as the bond, 

"T-That's cool, gotta start working on that,"

Mazikeen tilted her head, 

"You feeling okay? You literally have blue cheeks right now, and I can feel you overheating,"

Jazz stood up on his hood and nodded, 

"Yep! Maybe I should get Hatchet to look into that,"

Mazikeen laughed, 

"Well, you can spend time with us! I'll be with Ratch for a month, apparently on house arrest,"

Jazz laughed, 

"Yeah, I heard,"

Mazikeen sighed, 

"Fucking bitches,"

Jazz chuckled and smiled at her, 

"You gave us all a spark-attack, I think house arrest is fit,"

Mazikeen gasped, 

"Oh, you hurt me so,"

Jazz laughed and nudged her, 

"Well, let's go back to them so you get to that house arrest,"

Mazikeen rolled her eyes, 

"Fine fine, anything else you wanted to say?"

Jazz looked at her and felt his spark tug at him harder, 

"Um...no, all good,"

Mazikeen nodded,

"Okay! Let's go!"

𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐓𝐞𝐱

Tex was on top of Eddie's shoulders as he watched with Will, Epps, Sam, Mikaela, Alexandra, Rosalyn, Athena, Elisabeth, Fig, and the holo-forms of all the Autobots. They were watching Mazikeen and Jazz from behind a wall to see who would win the bet. Will groaned, 

"Fucking hell, I am going to kill both of them,"

Tex narrowed his optics at his parents, 

"I do not understand this. Jazz accepted being my Sire, and Maze is my Carrier...does that not mean that they love each other?"

Arcee sighed, 

"Well, it does. But those two idiots are being oblivious,"

Elita-One nodded, 

"Not even Chromia and Ironhide were this bad-"

"HEY!"

"SHHHHHH" 

Chromia and Ironhide blushed but said nothing. Fig crossed his arms, 

"If they don't confess, I say we lock them in a closet,"

Eddie shrugged, 

"When we got locked inside a room by accident, I confessed to her,"

Will, Epps, and Fig shared a look and chuckled. Will patted Eddie's shoulder, 

"Buddy, hate to break it to you. But that was us locking you two in,"

Eddie's eyes widened, 

"What???"

Tex crossed his arms, 

"I will handle this,"

Eddie gasped when Tex jumped off of him. They tried catching him but failed as the small Autobot walked over to his parents. Mazikeen immediately brightened up when she saw Tex walking to them, 

"Tex!"

"Mom!"

He jumped into her arms and hugged her, 

"Hi!"

Mazikeen laughed, 

"Are you okay? Nothing hurts?"

Tex looked at her, 

"You would both know if I was hurt,"

Jazz frowned in confusion, 

"Both?"

Tex rolled his optics, 

"Dad, come on! You are the one that was raised on Cybertron. You are my sire, so we have that bond,"

Jazz blushed and smiled at him, 

"Yeah, I guess so,"

Tex shrugged, 

"So, can we just go to bed?"

Mazikeen laughed and patted his head, 

"Yes, let's get back to base,"

Tex smirked, 

"So, since you are my parents, does that mean that you two are what humans call married?"

Mazikeen immediately dropped Tex out of pure shock while Jazz froze so badly that his holo-form disappeared. Mazikeen blushed and glared at Tex, 

"TEX!"

Tex grumbled, 

"You dropped me!"

Mazikeen blushed, 

"Sorry! I was just taken aback!"

She glanced at where Jazz was and frowned in confusion, 

"Jazz?"

She looked back at his alt-mode and tilted her head, 

"You okay?"

Jazz transformed and slowly nodded, 

"Yeah...caught me off guard,"

Tex crossed his arms as he felt pride surge through him, 

"Well?"

Mazikeen and Jazz refused to look at each other as they blushed. Tex tapped his foot, and Jazz looked down, 

"I...um...well...you see,"

Mazikeen knelt down in front of Tex, 

"Tex, being married is a big commitment, and it's different for Cybertronians and humans. For humans, it could be a companionship based on love and trust. For Cybertronians, it's about love, trust, and being there for each other no matter what. Cybertronians love forever; humans can fall out of love. Obviously, I'm different cuz I'm just that fucking fantastic, so I love hard, but you never know."

Jazz felt his spark tug at him again as it fluttered at her words. Tex tilted his head, 

"So...are you two married then? Without anyone knowing?"

Mazikeen laughed,

"No, Tex. I would have my head chopped off. We are...we are close friends, and I guess you could say co-parents,"

Jazz felt his spark drop at her words, but he offered Tex a small smile, 

"Yep, we both care about you, Tex, never forget that,"

Tex facepalmed and turned around, grumbling to himself as Mazikeen frowned in confusion, 

"What got into him?"

Jazz shrugged, 

"I have no clue,"

He sighed as he watched Mazikeen slowly start walking again. Mazikeen felt her heart break as she processed what she said. She knew that Jazz could never love her. She was just the human that he was in charge of protecting, nothing more.

╧╤╧╤╧╤╧╤╧╤╧╤╧╤╧╤╧╤╧╤╧╤╧╤╧╤╧╤╧╤╧╤╧╤╧╤╧

Okay, Okay, I swear Jazz and Mazikeen will stop being lil bitches soon. I let faith decide, and the faith decided a 2, which meant the suspense continues for just one more chapter :) maybe more 😈 NAH, I'm kidding, pls. VERY VERY SOON I SWEAR.