...Therefore I Am - Chapter 3
Title: ...Therefore I Am - Chapter 3
Author: AotA
Rating: K
Characters: Jazz, Prowl
Summary: Prowl is human, Jazz is... not. And Prowl thinks that it should probably be the other way around.
Notes: Last part of TIA. I will admit that you can keep an eye out for the prequel oneshot though. Beyond that, I have no more plans for such obviously GitS!verse TFs. *pause* Frag. Never mind. Sudden bunny attack. Shoo! Stupid bunnies.
Chapter 2
Jazz stepped out into the sun as it beat down from above, he waved the cabbie off when the man made to ask if he was sure he wanted to be dropped off that this particular place.
"I'm sure, now shoo," Jazz waved him off and swaggered into the building. He swiped his wallet at the check-in sensor. "Aeson Chandrashekara," he said, "I'm here to see a friend. He won't have be expecting me."
"Name?" she asked, eyebrows creeping higher as she eyed the credentials that popped up on her screen from the tag embedded in the badge with suspicion.
"Qasim Chandra," he leaned against the counter.
She frowned, "He's not allowed visitors at this point in time."
Jazz tapped his fingers on the counter, "Check the addendum. I'm on the exceptions list."
She blinked and did so, "Oh, my apologies, sir. He's on level 6. Room 6621."
"The usual then," Jazz said with a nod, even though he had already known that, "Thank you, miss."
"Your welcome, sir," she smiled as Jazz trotted off.
He loitered around the elevator until it appeared. He stepped inside and mashed the button for the right level.
Several long moments later and people getting on and off the elevator, Jazz arrived at his floor and took the exit at a brisk walk. The Lennox Park Hospital specialized in cyberization, from fitting prosthetics to performing complete transfers, they could handle even Prowl's issues when it came to dealing with cyberbrain problems.
Jazz counted the doors, 13... 15... rounding a corner, 17... 19... 21. He stopped.
He let out a breath in a rush, wondering if that really worked on humans, before he placed his hand against the against the lock. After a moment, the scan completed without a hitch and the door unlocked and opened.
Stepping inside, he saw a familiar nurse checking in on Prowl, "Good afternoon."
The nurse, who Jazz knew to be names Christina, jumped and whirled around with a squeak and wide eyes.
Jazz raised both his hands, "Sorry for startling you, ma'am. Didn't mean to."
She clutched her pad to her chest, "Who are you? How did you get in here?" She edged herself between Jazz and Prowl protectively.
"Aeson Chandrashekara," he introduced himself, slowly lowering his hands, warmed by the display, "I've been on his," a nod to the prone Prowl, "visitation list for the past month. I heard he was in again and didn't want him to have to spend it alone. Again." Not that Prowl had ever really been alone because Jazz had been with him, but most people didn't count an AI as company, even these days.
Christina stared him up and down with narrow eyes. She flicked her fingers over the pad, bringing up Prowl's file. "ID?"
Jazz pulled out his wallet again and flipped it open, displaying the badge for the first time the exact same way he had felt Prowl do the same, ID with his picture and "official" name showing next to the bar code.
"How about that?" Christina said with a soft note of surprise, stiffness easing out of her shoulders, "It's a match." She switched off the display of her pad and stood straighter, "It's about time that boy had someone here for him." She smiled, "Thank you, Mr. Chandrashekara."
"Jazz," he said with a friendly smile, "I prefer Jazz."
"Jazz, then," Christina said, "I'm all done here, so if you want to sit with him until he wakes up you are free to do so."
"Thank you," Jazz said, and pulled out the lone chair that, in all the times Prowl had been in and out of this place, Jazz didn't think anyone had ever sat in while Prowl had been a patient.
He perched on it, staring down at Prowl, hand reaching out hesitantly, hovering just the tiniest bit away from touching Prowl's face.
Slowly, he lowered his hand, threading it through the soft white hair, tracing around the curve of his skull and to the connection ports at the back of his neck. He paused in the space of another breath, before he opened the port on the side of his wrist and maneuvered the cable that extended from it to the ports with a single deft motion of his hand.
He leaned over Prowl, placing his other hand against the cyborg's cheek.
"Time to wake up, Prowl," he called after reconnecting himself to Prowl's mind and initialized the protocols that would let him remain connected to Prowl the way he was supposed to be. He disconnected the now unnecessary cable soon afterward and started combing his fingers though light hair as he waited.
He could feel Prowl waking up slowly, the way he always did after these appointments. He smiled when he saw Prowl's eyes flutter open and a faint frown curved his lips.
"...Why are you choosing now to project that image now?" Prowl asked, and Jazz had to grin.
"Not a projection," Jazz said out loud, his grin widened as Prowl blinked at him, mind whirring away as he tried to make sense of that statement.
Jazz waited patiently, with fond amusement seeping across the connections he had reforged between them so that it was as if he hadn't left for even the little while that he had.
"You said that out loud," Prowl said, blinking again, "And you're... touching me?"
Prowl's hand landed on top of Jazz's, testing, as he always did. His hand stopped. "What on Earth?" He paused and then his eyes narrowed and Jazz couldn't help but be fascinated watching the subtle emotions cross Prowl's face under the overriding chill, "What did you do?"
Jazz chuckled. "Why are you so accusing, 'Mr. Chandra'?" He ran his thumb over Prowl's cheek, sending innocent, snuggly feelings. "Prowl," he murmured, mind to mind.
Prowl caught Jazz's hand and slowly sat up, watching Jazz, as if waiting for him to disappear. "This isn't a projection and you aren't hijacking my sense of touch. You had to have done something," Prowl reached out and touched the tips of his fingers against Jazz's cheek with a featherlight weight.
"Still here," Jazz said.
"How is this even possible?" Prowl asked faintly, "Jazz?"
At his name, finally spoken aloud, Jazz couldn't stop himself from pulling Prowl into a hug, wrapping his arms around the stiff cyborg and squeezing him in a way that was long overdue. He buried his face against Prowl's neck, not even feeling the faintest tinge of claustrophobia when he felt Prowl quiver in his mental hold and under his hands.
"You can cry if you want," Jazz said, as arms slowly wrapped around him, "I've got you."
Prowl shuddered and rested his head against Jazz's shoulder, hot droplets wetting his shirt, silent as he almost always was, letting out soundless gasping breaths.
"Jazz..." he whispered voice catching.
"I've got you, and I'm here and I'm not going anywhere," Jazz murmured fiercely, the embrace more than just physical, the promise more than just words.
"You're here," Prowl breathed, "You're still here."
"Yes," Jazz replied, "Always."
"You did this for me, didn't you?" Prowl asked, questions bubbling up from his mind.
"Anything for you," Jazz said.
"Why?"
"I wanted to."
Because Jazz wanted to be a solid presence for Prowl to lean on as much as he was there as a mental one. Because he wanted to be there and share the beauty he could see in life with Prowl. Because he wanted to show that Prowl was more than others though when they looked at him.
Because against all probability, against all logic, that feeling that he, an AI, felt for Prowl could only be love.
Prowl gasped when Jazz let that feeling seep through as his true answer, pulling back, tears still dampening his cheeks, but his eyes were bright. "...Jazz?"
"Smile for me?" Jazz loosened his grip, but didn't let go.
Prowl smiled wobbily, so obviously unused to the motion, despite everything Jazz had wanted for him.
Jazz smiled gently back, and Prowl's smile caught fire, coming to life, like the perfect sunrise turning everything it touched a shining molten gold.
He thought he just might understand the meaning of "breathtaking" now.
An extra from the awesome aughoti who saw my characters truly, and wrote a perfect little scene where Jazz tries to persuade Prowl to play hooky with him.
Call in sick."
"They know I'm a cyborg, Jazz. That would make no sense."
"Emergency maintenance?"
How someone with a visor rather than eyes could pull off the "forlorn puppy" look, Prowl wasn't sure. He shook his head.
"Mental health day, so you don't snap and kill them all on their coffee break?"
Jazz was rewarded with an unwilling huff of laughter from Prowl. "That sounds a lot more like you than me."
A slash of white that might be a smile. "That's why you need me!"
Prequel