Thanks for the reviews!

Here's something a little more lighthearted.

III. Rain

There was a roar as if a stream had suddenly appeared outside.

Scully groaned and blinked first at the dark ceiling, then at her alarm clock. 2:37, the serene orange letters told her. Gah. There hadn't been a stream yesterday… or, wait. Rain. She listened to the pattering on the window, as if someone was pelting handfuls of sands at it. Only the 'bots wouldn't do such a thing. So. It was raining. In the middle of the desert.

She wrestled herself out of the covers and padded over to the window, just in time to see Ratchet and the twins emerge from their shack. As far as she could make out through the silver sheets of droplets, they were just standing there, faces turned skyward, as if they'd never seen rain before.

Well… Ratchet had been here for three months and the twins for one month now. Likely they'd never experienced rain before, so this was probably a Momentous Occasion, and she'd better be there for it.

Yawning, she dug through her suitcase to find some clothes that would survive a torrent of water and then walked out to the runway.

She was soaked when she arrived, hair plastered to her head and sending cool rivulets down her neck, her t-shirt clinging to her in a manner that was probably indecent, but then, it wasn't like big robots would be interested in that sort of thing.

The 'bots acknowledged her with nods, but otherwise didn't bother to address her. So she crossed her arms to keep warm and waited, listening to the rain drumming random patterns on their armor.

Only a minute after she'd arrived, there was the sound of an engine, and the white SUV that was Wheeljack came careening towards them. He didn't transform, but still she thought he was fascinated.

Eventually, everyone was out of their respective beds, or presumed beds, and just stood in the rain in various stages of wakefulness.

Scully felt somewhat as if she'd been transported to Stonehenge, circled by those still, silent giants.

Eventually, the white van drew up next to her and transformed. Wheeljack shook himself like a wet dog, not that it would help, and squatted down. "I find the amount of hydrogen oxide… water you have on your planet quite amazing," he told her.

"We wouldn't be here without it," Scully said. "Don't you have water on Cybertron?"

"Not this much. We'd get clouds occasionally, but never enough for precipitation. Also, I'm afraid our ancestors used quite a bit of it as fuel, until we ran into the same problem you're currently facing with your oil."

That was it. Scully was going to look up the theory of fusion reactors tomorrow. "So you've never seen rain before?"

"We did come across a small number of planets that did have water for rain, so no, this is not the first time I or the rest of the Serenity's crew have seen rain. But it's still a rare experience, and it carries a lot of meaning on organic planets, doesn't it?"

"Water is life, here," Scully rephrased her earlier statement.

"Exactly. It's a difficult concept to wrap our minds about, being metal and silicone based ourselves."

"Hmm." Maybe it was what they were trying to do right now. "Why name a sparkling Raindance, then?"

He blinked and his ear panels flashed blue, his version of a smile, as she'd learned. "She's not named Raindance, that's just a close concept to what her actual name means, and she, Dodge and Blue liked it for being so poetic."

Scully nodded. It made sense, but it was very complicated at the same time. "So, are only your English names group decisions or are your Cybertronian names like that, too?"

He was silent for a time. "Our designations don't work like yours. But you better ask Dodge about this, since she is the one with the degree in linguistics."

"I shall," Scully said.

They stared out into the rainy night some more.

"I've researched this on the internet," Wheeljack eventually said. "You're not showing your culture's typical reaction to rain."

"No. I'm making an exception for you."

"Ah. Why?"

"It hadn't rained since you arrived here."

"So you thought you'd go see a historical occasion and maybe hear a few things that would make a good quote."

"Approximately."

"I'm sorry to disappoint." There was the blink plus blue flash again. "If it's any consolation, rain feels a lot different than the solvents we use for washing. It tickles in places I didn't even know I had."

Scully nodded her agreement. "It's really not all that bad if it's not too cold."

"Same here."

They listened to the rain, and their silence was a cozy little bubble of understanding.

Eventually, the rain petered out, and the clouds allowed some pale half-moon light to pass through.

There were sounds of everyone moving, and Scully turned to see them all come out of their daze. Only Sunstreaker remained still, maybe because he was a painter.

In turn, Ratchet was watching him with an inscrutable face, and yes, the Lamborghini did look good with all the drops glinting like gemstones on his well-waxed armor.

"Some things are erotic no matter the species, no?" Wheeljack asked her very quietly.

Scully had no trouble imagining a wet Mulder, despite her almost hour-long cool shower. "Oh, yes," she said. "Definitely."