Chapter Eight

Two months later Raincloud was walking down the corridor when she was suddenly pulled into a room.

"Okay Rain, time to spill it." A voice said, she recognised it to be Freespirit's.

"What are you going on about, Spirit?" she asked turning to the jet. She was surprised to see Rapid Run was there also. "Would someone like to tell me what's going on?"

"You've been...'disappearing' at the same time every day for the last two months." Freespirit began.

"Not to mention that you always seem... happier when you come back." Rapid Run added.

"Care to tell us where you are during these times?"

"What I do in my own time is none of your business." She answered.

"Does it have anything to do with Ultra Magnus?" Rapid Run asked. He suspected that there was something going on between them after seeing the blue and white mechs reaction at Raincloud's 'imprisonment' with Midnight Express, though he hoped he was wrong, for Midnight's sake.

Raincloud looked shocked for a quick moment before saying "Why would I want anything to do with that slaghead?"

Freespirit smiled, "Because you..."

"Spirit, don't you dare finish that sentence." A slight hint of annoyance creeping into her voice.

The jets smile only grew bigger. "Love him." She finished.

Rapid Run's optics widen in surprise.

"You love Ultra Magnus?" he said half questioning. Raincloud facepalmed and silently vowed that she would get Spirit back. "Rain, the dude doesn't care about anyone but himself."

"That's not..." Raincloud began rising to defend Ultra Magnus but stopped when she saw the look on Freespirit's face. "You knew the whole time, didn't you."

Freespirit shrugged "Hey I'm a jet." She began "I get to see many things from the air that you can't see from the ground, especially a mech as tall and big as Ultra Magnus." When she first saw them together she was annoyed that Rain didn't tell her but then realised that it probably wasn't the sports car's fault. From that moment on she stopped giving Mirage his 'advantage' against Midnight because neither of them would ever succeed.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Raincloud asked.

"Because it wasn't any of my business who you..." she gave a quick glance over at the light grey train before looking back at Raincloud. "Acquaint yourself with." Hoping the femme would understand the hidden meaning "That is... until I remembered about Mirage and Midnight's feelings for you, and if the Spychangers weren't out on assignment Crosswise would also be here." It was true, she had forgot all about it, just putting it down to Rain being happy and with the one she loved, and occasionally covering for the two even though neither knew about it. She only remembered when Crosswise 'reminded' her of Mirage's feelings and if there was anything she could do to help.

Rapid Run was confused, he had no idea what the two femmes were talking about. Then it all clicked, "Are you saying that Rain's going out with Magnus?" he asked in half shock. He was also feeling disappointment and annoyance that Spirit never told him, and that Midnight would never be able to get the femme he liked.

"He's a friend, Rapid Run, that's all." She stated calmly.

"A friend doesn't get as mad as Magnus did when Scourge caused that cave-in."

"He's got a point there you know." Freespirit said a smug smile on her face.

Raincloud gave a combination growl and groan knowing she'd been caught, that's when what Spirit said earlier hit her. "Wait, did you say that Mirage and Midnight have feelings for me?"

Freespirit gave a nod "I did."

"That would explain Midnight's behaviour." Raincloud said thinking "But…how do you know?"

Freespirit looked over at Rapid Run.

"You remember when Rail Spike and I dragged Midnight away from the rec room." Raincloud nodded, it wasn't something she was likely to forget. "That's when we found out."

"He told me about it a few days after I… came round, wondering if I could help in… what was it you said, Rapid?" a slightly evil smile on her face.

"I think I get it, Spirit." Raincloud said saving Rapid Run's embarrassment, much to fighter jet's disappointment. "And Mirage?"

Freespirit shrugged looking back at the MG. "Same thing… except Crosswise told me, who found out from a curious Ironhide who wanted to know what was the best way to ask me about things concerning you." Leaving out the fact that she had overheard their conversation and knew before he even told her.

Raincloud facepalmed, how could she not have seen it. The way Midnight Express was virtually always nervous around her or how Mirage would appear 'overly happy' when he spoke to her or always showed her the latest cliff view he found. Was she so caught up in her feelings for Ultra Magnus that she was blinded to their feelings?

"Who else knows about this?" she finally asked.

"What?" Freespirit asked a wicked grin appearing on her face "About you and Magnus or about the others feelings for you?"

Raincloud gave the jet a look that said 'say that one more time and I'll kill you.' to which Freespirit couldn't help but chuckle.

"I don't know about the Spychangers, but as for Midnight's feelings only Rail Spike and I know." Rapid Run said.

"Spirit?" a slight warning tone in her voice.

"No I haven't told Prowl… I think."

"You think." Raincloud said suddenly worried. If Prowl knew then X-Brawn knew and if X-Brawn knew… the more the she thought about it the more she began to realise that Sideburn hadn't been treating her any different, no teasing or anything when the other two mechs were around.

"If I did…" Freespirit said interrupting Raincloud's thoughts "I'm sure he wouldn't tell anyone."

Raincloud checked her internal clock and gasped before she knew it, she was fifteen minutes late in her meeting with Magnus.

"Rain?" Freespirit asked curious.

"I gotta go." She replied hurriedly and headed for the door.

"Sorry Rain, not today." Freespirit said with a shake of her head.

Raincloud looked at the fighter jet in confusion and suddenly walked into Rapid Run, who was now standing in front of the door.

"Rapid Run, could you please move out of the way."

Rapid Run looked over at Freespirit then back at Raincloud. "If Magnus wants to see you he's going to have to come here."

This surprised the MG, there was no way that Ultra Magnus would come to the base.

"Your not leaving until we get the problem solved."

"Spirit." Raincloud said looking over at the jet and having a pleading tone to her normally calm voice.

"Sorry Rain, but if we don't get this sorted soon then it's just going to get worse."

Raincloud now gave a small growl at Spirit's 'statement', "Am I to believe that the two of you are going to keep me here until I 'fix' things, that's not even my fault."

Freespirit shrugged "Then stop being so irresistible." She joked.

----

Ultra Magnus stood and waited for Raincloud to arrive, five minutes past then ten then fifteen after half an hour he growled. Where is that femme he thought. After another ten minutes he contacted her, "Raincloud, where are you!?" his voice clearing stating his annoyance.

"Um… would you believe that Freespirit and Rapid Run are basically holding me captive at the base?" came a reply.

"No." he answered plainly.

"Well they are. Spirit saw us together and…"

"Now she won't let you go until you tell her, right?" he said interrupting and trying to keep the despair out of his voice as this meant that the bullet train now also knew.

"Something like that, yeah." She replied.

Magnus sighed and began muttering obscenities about the fighter jet. So much for his plans today.

"She said that if you want to see me, you have to come to the base."

"I am not going there." He said defiantly.

"No. Didn't think you would." She replied a sad tone slipping into her calm voice.

"Is there any way you get her to let you go?" he asked still very much annoyed.

"Not that I… wait, there might be a way."

"Then do it, and tell me when you're on your way." He said, his voice having a commanding tone to it as he closed the communication. He growled, the next time he saw that jet he was going to have serious words with her.

----

Midnight Express was running the two o'clock route when he surprisingly got a communication from the very femme he was thinking about.

"Midnight Express." Her voice sounded distressed not at all like the calm tone she normally used.

"Rain? I-Is everything okay?" suddenly very worried about the sliver sports car.

"No, everything is not okay. I'm being held against my will by a certain train named Rapid Run."

"Rapid Run?" Midnight asked in surprised. He suddenly got a sinking feeling. "Why is Rapid keeping you there?"

"Something about you having feelings for me and wanting to 'sort things out' with you."

If Midnight Express wasn't on the human's train route he would be heading back to base to hit Rapid Run over the head, then as the rest of the conversation sank in and he became extremely nervous.

"So uh…"

"Think you could talk him into letting me go?" she asked interrupting him.

Oh he was going to do more than that, especially when he got back to base. "Sure."

"Thanks Midnight, you're the best. Oh, and we're going to have a talk later." She added closing the channel.

Midnight Express was both annoyed and embarrassed. He was annoyed at Rapid Run for doing what he did and embarrassed that Raincloud knew about his feelings for her.

"Rapid Run." Opening up communication to his team-mate.

"Yo Midnight, what's up?" Midnight didn't reply for a moment wondering how to put what he was thinking into words. "Midnight?"

"I've just been talking to Rain, Rapid. Please let her go." Trying not to virtually yell at his friend.

"Midnight, listen. It's not…" but he didn't get to finish.

"How could you do something like this, Rapid? Do you know how embarrassing it was when Rain said she knew and that you were keeping her there." He was getting more annoyed as he spoke. "Now she wants to speak to me about it later."

"Okay Midnight, calm down. I was just trying to help." Rapid started to explain.

"You think this is helping?" he said rhetorically. "Rapid Run, let her go." Closing communication before the light grey train had time to reply. When he got back to base he was so going to have it out with that bullet train.

-----

"Rain, what have you done?" Freespirit asked in a curiously suspicious tone as she saw the smile that appeared on the MG's face. It was then that Rapid Run moved out of the way of the door, she looked at him slightly confused "Rapid?"

Raincloud's smile got bigger and she looked over at the fighter jet. "See you later, Spirit. Oh, and tell Prowl I said hi." She said with a cheeky chuckle and walked out.

Confused as to what just happened Freespirit stared at the door the other femme had just walked out of for a few moments before looking back at Rapid Run.

"What…"

"She called Midnight and told him what we were doing." He explained, sounding sadder than he actually should.

Suddenly it all dawned on Freespirit, "And he told you that it wasn't helping and to let her go."

Rapid gave a nod, "But what did she mean by 'say hi to Prowl'?"

At that moment Prowl walked in.

"Oh she's good." Freespirit muttered her optics narrowing as she thought of a way to 'solve the problem'.

----

Ultra Magnus stood and waited trying to 'get rid of' any annoyance he had left over the 'incident' of Raincloud being held at base by that fighter jet and bullet train as he watched her drive up toward him.

"You took your time."

"I'm not even going to answer that." Raincloud said as she transformed.

"Hm. I hope you told them to keep their mouths shut." He said.

Raincloud crossed her arms, "Funny thing that, I was too busy trying to get away from them to even think about saying 'oh and by the way, would you mind keeping quiet about this because Magnus doesn't want anyone to know'. Be lucky I managed to get Midnight to get Rapid to move! Otherwise I'd still be there." Her voice starting to have an annoyed tone.

"Why didn't you just call…" he began.

"Sure," she began dragging out the word, "If you wanted him to know about our relationship, which, I doubt you do. If you don't want Spirit and Rapid to know then I really doubt you'd want Optimus to know. In fact, you know what, how about I just leave right now since you're obviously in no mood to be with me." She went to turn to leave when she was spun back round and kissed passionately, it took her a few moments to process what was going on before she smiled and started to kiss back.

"I never said I wasn't in the mood to be with you." Magnus said as he broke the kiss. "I always want to be with you."

Raincloud gave a small chuckle, "You have a strange way of showing sometimes." Putting her hands around his neck. They looked lovingly at each other for a while before Rain looked away a sad and almost worried look in her optics.

"Rain? What's wrong?" he asked, gently moving her face back to look at him.

She sighed and rested her head on his chest.

"I…I have a slight problem."

"What is it?" he asked hoping it wasn't what he thought it was.

"Um… promise you won't get mad and try and hurt anyone, especially Midnight Express or Mirage?"

"Rain." His voice having a curious but stern tone.

She looked back up at him, having a pleading look in her blue optics.

"Please Magnus, just promise me." She said.

He sighed, "Fine, I promise I won't get mad."

"And…"

"And that I won't hurt anyone."

Raincloud smiled, "Thank you."

"What did they do?" he asked.

The sliver sports car looked confused for a moment, as the question was so unexpected. She removed her arms from his neck and turned so that her side was to him, she looked down at the ground.

"They've fallen for me." She all but whispered.

Magnus placed a hand on her shoulder, "Raincloud…"

"They have feelings for me, Mirage and Midnight Express." She said a little louder.

"Do they now."

Raincloud looked up at her lover. "Magnus…"

"They have good taste." He joked giving her a small smile.

She turned to him, her hands on her hips. "You and Spirit should team up. A while ago she told me to 'stop being irresistible'."

"For once we agree on something." Magnus said, seeing the confused look of the MG's face he added. "You are irresistible."

"Uh huh, yeah. So irresistible that you declined to be with me when I first told you I loved you."

----

When Midnight Express returned he went straight to Rapid Run's room and knocked on the door.

"Midnight." The light grey train said in surprise. "Is something wrong?" seeing the annoyed look on the white and dark blue train's face.

"Can I come in?" Rapid moved aside and Midnight walked in.

"How could you do that to me, Rapid?" Midnight said as soon as he was inside.

"I didn't tell her, Midnight." Rapid said. Midnight gave him a disbelieving look "I told Spirit to…"

"You told Freespirit." Midnight said in disbelief and surprise.

"I was tryin' to help." He explained, "Spirit and Rain are almost like sisters. I thought she might be able to help get the two of you together."

"Did not you also think that with those two being so close that she would tell Rain." Midnight said his annoyance rising.

"He was only doing what he thought would help you, Midnight." A voice said from the doorway.

Both bullet trains looked over and saw Rail Spike.

"Did you know anything about this, Spike?" Midnight asked the older bullet train curiously annoyed.

"Not until now." He replied walking in.

"Has she spoken to you yet?" Rapid asked curious.

"I haven't seen her since I came back."

"I'm sure it'll be nothing to worry about, Midnight." Rail Spike said.

"Besides, you had to tell her sometime." Rapid added slightly cheerful trying to 'brighten the mood'.

Midnight looked at the light grey train crossing his arms across his chest. "Precisely. I was to tell her, not you, Rapid Run."

"And when were you planning on doing that, when she already had someone else?" Rail Spike was also starting to get annoyed. Annoyed at Midnight Express for not being able to see that Rapid Run was only thinking of him.

Midnight looked between Rail Spike and Rapid Run and walked out just as annoyed, maybe even more so, as the moment he walked in.

Rapid Run looked at the door sadly, he knew that poor Midnight didn't stand a chance, especially with what he found out earlier that day.

"He'll understand that you did it for him." Rail Spike said seeing the sad look in the other train's optics.

"Will he? I'm not so sure he will. Just blame me for losing his chance at getting Rain." He sighed, "Funny thing is… neither him nor Mirage… or anybody will get her."

"Care to explain that, Rapid Run."