A/N: Hey, yeah. It's me again! Sorry for all the unfinished stories. I just loose inspiration and motivation, but I promise I'll finish them eventually. I have a new poll up so you guys and gals can go vote on which I finish first! Anyways, thanks for putting up with me!

So, in light of all the new "Cars 3" trailers, my six year old self and her love of the Cars franchise has been rekindled! So, of course, I had to write a story centered on the Hudson Hornet himself; Doc. Really it's not but it is? Idk, you guys are good at bearing with me, so yeah. Anyhow, please R&R! I love, love, LOVE reviews and they keep me going! This fic is really stretching my writing abilities and I'm really trying to make my writing more -for lack of better wording- mature and better organized. So be prepared for longer than my usual chapters are! Anyways, without further ado, I give you a happy/sad, nostalgic, and, most of all, a Doc/Oc story! Enjoy!


Chapter One: The Strangers
1989


She was driving too fast. Too fast and too late. It was dark, the weather was stormy. The young Cadillac CTS-V zoomed down Route 66 with no idea where she was going. Then it happened. She sped towards a dot of a town. She didn't know that she would ever see a real town again. She was running low on oil and gas and soon, she ran smack into a statue! She stopped and gasped for air looking around at the seemingly ghost town. Her engine ached horribly and her tank awful as if it were twisting and turning. She soon began to cry. She stifled her tears to not attract any unwanted attention. But regardless, she got it. She could hear a motor headed straight towards her. She quickly turned around and saw a royal blue and silver car that was much bigger than herself.

"D-don't hurt me!" The battered Cadillac studded. The blue car stopped with a look of concern and confusion on his face.

"I'm not going to hurt you. Just... tell me, kid, what's you name." His voice sounded rough, but at the same time, comforting. The child felt as if she could somewhat trust him, but still kept her distance.

"H-Ha...H-Har Harl..." she coughed and the blue car inched closer.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. Just take a deep breath." His voice had more concern and he looked around as if he was looking for someone. The Cadillac took a shaky breath them tried again.

"H-Har...Harley. M-my name is H-Harley." She stuttered out. The blue car simply nodded. He took one more look around then looked at the girl.

"Okay, Harley, where are your parents?" At the word 'parents,' the gray chassis of the young girl shuddered and she looked down.

"I-I... a st-st-stor... Move... moving... they... they..." she hiccupped and began to cry again, this time a little more uncontrolled. The blue car moved closer with more urgency and concern.

"Hey, hey. It's okay..." he looked around once more. "Come on, follow me and I'll get ya fixed up. Okay?" The gray car hesitated. Her breathing was short and quick. She was in a bad condition and needed all the help she could get. "You can trust me. It's okay. I won't hurt you." The Cadillac inched forward. Then the blue car began to turn around slowly. He didn't completely turn until he knew she would follow. She inched forward and he knew it was safe to begin driving off but kept a close eye on her. The girl kept her distance while her quiet voice spoke up.

"Wh-what's your name, Sir?" She said, her voice still tinted with a touch of uncertainty. The blue car looked at her with his mirrors.

"Hudson. Doctor Paul Hudson. But folks 'round here just call me Doc."

"Doc..." The girl said to herself. "M-Mr. Doc, w-where are we going?" She questioned as she followed

"I'm going to have to take you to me examination room. There I'll be able to figure out what's wrong and more importantly." He stopped by a building and held the door for her. "I'll be able to figure out how to fix you." Harley looked up and mumbled to herself what it read.

"O-Ornament Valley... M-Medical Cli-Clinic... Doctor Hudson." She saw that Doc was waiting for her so she quickly went inside, as quickly as she could manage at least. Doc followed her and the doors closed behind him. Harley looked around with wide eyes. She seemed frightened.

"Now, just park yourself over there and I'll just do a normal check up on you." Doc gestured towards the back center of the room. Harley hesitated at first then went over to where she was directed to. She felt -after reading the writing on the front of the building- that she could trust this car. But she was still wary. Doc did a quick standard check up on her and shook his hood. "Alright, so you're really... well let's just say a Cadillac like yourself shouldn't be in this condition." He looked her over and sighed. He couldn't believe a child could be in such a bad shape. He then glanced at the time. It was 12:39. "Okay, Harley, I'm going to fix you up. You're going to have to work with me, and more importantly, you're going to have to trust me." A beat past. Harley was quiet looking at this stranger she just met. But he seemed alright; he seemed to actually want to help. Harley nodded at him and he nodded back. "Okay then, I'm going to go get what I need. This might take a while."

The night passed and Doc was awake through every hour of it. He cleaned up Harley, fixed everything that was wrong with her, but she was still needed time to recover. Doc looked around the room. Tools were scattered. Pieces he had to replace in her were piled on a small cart. She still needed a quart of oil and half a tank of gas. He gave her all he had with him, but it wasn't enough. Harley was fast asleep while Doc looked like he needed it.

Up bright and early were Sarge and Fillmore. They headed to Flo's café were Ramone was already sipping on some oil. Sheriff was just driving up when Doc was leaving the examination room. He drove up after the Sheriff and went over to Flo.

"Morning, Flo." He yawned, his eye lids half opened.

"Well, I'd say good morning to you too," Flo looked him over then scoffed. "But it seems to me it's been anything but!"

"Yo, Doc, you look like you've been up all night!" Ramone called out. Fillmore and Sarge nodded in agreement and Sheriff drove up to him.

"Yeah he's right. You feeling okay, Doc?" Sheriff had genuine concern in his tone. Doc took a deep breath and looked at the others.

"I'm fine..." He turned back to speak to Flo, his voice tired. "Flo, I'll be needing a gallon of gas and two quarts of oil... make that three." Again, Flo scoffed and raised her eye rims.

"My Fordy, that's a lot for one car!" She said and shook her hood. "Long night?"

"Yeah man, what's all that for?" Ramone asked as he went over to join his wife.

"It's for me and someone else." He said and glanced back towards his examination room. The others followed his gaze and Sheriff spoke up.

"Who, Doc?" Doc paused for a moment, thinking about the Cadillac's condition.

"Someone came into town last night. She-"

"A costumer!?" Flo blurted out. The others brightened up, but Doc raised his voice.

"No! No, not a costumer. It's not like that." Again a beat, a long pause as he closed his eyes then opened them back up to speak.

"A Cadillac CTS-V drove in at around midnight. Battered up real bad... but that's not the worse part. The worst part is… is that she's just a child." He paused as the others gasped.

"She was alone?" Asked Sheriff and Doc nodded.

"By the looks of it, she's four years old, maybe five." He sighed solemnly and looked down at the pavement. "I couldn't believe how bad she looked. I stayed up all night to fix her." Flo began to turn around and speed off.

"I'll have that order out ASAP!" She said as she sprinted off.

"Ey, man, is there anything we can do to help?" Ramone asked and Doc continued to look down.

"I'm not sure. But we need to make her feel welcomed when she get's released from the examination room." Doc said and looked back up to see the others nodding. "Her name's Harley." He said just as Flo came bursting through the café doors.

"Here you go Doc! Do you need help carrying any of it? I mean, I already have the tray, I can carry it for you if-"

"Thank you, Flo." Doc interrupted. "That would be greatly appreciated." Doc left and the others said their farewells. Flo followed close behind and was quiet went she went into the examination room. Doc directed her where to put the oil and gas and she nodded and gently placed it down. She looked over at Harley and frowned.

"Oh, poor baby. She's been through something alright." She said in a hushed voice. Doc nodded and Flo started to leave. "We know you can fix her up good as new." She said and left. Doc sighed as he looked at Harley.

"I hope so... But I fear this is more than just physical fixing..." He muttered. He went over and filled her up with half a gallon of gas. He then got himself his own quart of oil and began sipping away at it as he waited for Harley to wake up. Soon enough, her eyes flickered opened. She yawned and looked around, a touch of confusion in her face. Her eyes then landed on a quiet blue car looking over something on a screen. He glanced over and realized she was awake.

"Morning Harley." He said and got the quart of oil and pushed it towards her. "How you feeling?" She looked at the oil then back at him.

"It wasn't a dream?" She asked astonished. They both were quiet and Harley looked back down at the oil.

"You need to drink every drop. Okay?" She didn't respond to him but hesitantly started to drink it. "I'll get you something to eat later. You need fuel rather than food right now." He said and went back to the screen. "You'll be here in neutral for at least three days. After that, we'll see how you are and go on from there" Again, no response and Doc looked over at her. She was still drinking the oil like she hadn't' had any in months. "Slow down there, kid. You can't take it all at once." She stopped gulping the quart down when it was half empty and took a deep breath. There was more silence.

"Doc?" She asked, more so trying to remember his name than get his attention. The much older car turned towards her, an eye rim raised. "Doc. Okay... Where am I?" She asked, her breathing sounded like she was still scared, so Doc kept his distance.

"Radiator Springs. Corroborator County." Doc said and inched closer. Harley nodded and looked down realizing that that didn't help at all. "Do you remember last night?" He asked in a more investigative tone.

"Uh... I think so. Yeah." She said and Doc nodded.

"You seem to be a tough little car." He said and rolled closer to her. "I used to know a few cars way back when. If they were in the same shape you were, they would've already given up." He said and she looked back up. "You did good last night. Fought through it all and now you're here. In a pretty good shape now. I'm impressed." He said in attempts to make her feel better. She smiled and he smiled back.

"Th-thank you." She said and Doc nodded sincerely.


Throughout the next few days, Doc was in and out of the examination room and his office at the courthouse. He tended to the needs of the townsfolk, but Harley was always at the forefront of his mind. He worried about her constantly, but kept it under control. He knew she was actually recovering very well and very quickly. No one came into the examination room but Doc, so Harley never really talked to anyone else but him. Soon, three days had past and it was time to see if she could "drive without any hiccups," as Doc put it. This would be the day she met everyone in town.

It was midday, and Doc was in his office. He looked at the time and realized that Harley would be waiting for her lunch and for her test drive. He looked over at a small panel, punched in a few numbers, and called Flo.

"Good afternoon, Flo." He said, his tone was light and a smile was on his face.

"Well, hello Doc! What can I do for you, sugar?" Doc chuckled and cleared his throat.

"I want the usual for myself and... Well Harley has seemed to really enjoy the pizza with an oil tea, so we'll just stick with that." He paused and thought about the order then added in, "Some ice cream, too." Flo chuckled and Doc seemed confused. "What?"

"You and that girl. You're gonna spoil her rotten, I can already tell." She said and laughed again.

"Well, it's a big day, I want her to celebrate." Flo again laughed.

"Mhm. I'll have it ready when you pull up." With that, she hung up leaving Doc to question what she meant by that. This could very well be her last day here. How could he spoil her rotten?

After cleaning up some, Doc headed to the examination room where an eager Harley greeted her. She had been listening to the radio and was singing along.

"Through all these cities and all these towns! It's in my blood and it's all around! I love you now like I loved you then! This is the road and-!" Doc chuckled as he listened which caught her attention. "Doc!" She had become much more comfortable with talking to Doc and talked more frequently and confidently with him. He drove over and looked over some paper work and a monitor.

"Afternoon, Harley. How are you?" His tone was happier than usual.

"I'm great!" Her voice was a much higher pitch than his and only made Doc smiled more.

"It's the big day." He said enthusiastically and Harley jumped up. "You ready to get out of neutral?" She nodded excitedly and Doc again chuckled. "Alright, good." He went over to her and began to remove a few wires that were still attached to her. "We're going to drive nice and slow," He explained as he worked. "We're going to drive over to Flo's and see if we can't speed up on the way, okay?"

"Okay!" Harley exclaimed as the last wire was pulled. Doc could hear her switch gears and nodded approvingly.

"Okay, good. See if you can't rev your engine." Doc said and Harley nodded. Her engine sputtered then seconds later, it gave a soft roar. Barley anything, but it was enough to make a huge smile beam from Harley's face and for Doc to give another approving nod. "Okay, now follow close behind me. And if anything, anything, feels off, you tell me. Got that?"

"Got it! Let's go!" Harley shouted and Doc chuckled as he began to leave the examination room.

"Alright, we're just going to Flo's, eating, and then coming back, sound good?" Harley nodded and they were off. Keeping a close eye on her, Doc saw that she seemed to be able to keep up just fine, so he sped up just a little. She tagged along perfectly and he sped up a little more. Now she began to somewhat struggle, so he kept his speed the same for the rest of the time. Harley was okay after a few seconds of struggling and soon, they made it to Flo's where all of the townsfolk are. She hid behind him with wide eyes looking at all the unfamiliar cars.

"Ahem," Doc cleared his throat as they drove up. The others conversations began to fade out into hushed mumbles. "As you all know, we've had a guest stay here for the past few days." Harley peeked behind Doc to see the others glancing from Doc to her and she quickly hid behind him again. "She's a bit shy, so don't all go to her at once. Her name is Harley and, yes. She has been recovering very well." He moved out of the way to reveal the timid car behind him. "Go on, Harley, it's okay." She looked around and could feel all their different gazes on her. She saw a car over by the door of the café and assumed her to be Flo.

"A-are you Mrs. Flo?" She asked and the car laughed.

"Yes, yes I am, but the "Mrs." won't be necessary, sugar." She said with a big smile. Flo could tell the she was scared so she lowered her voice to a whisper. "Hey, you know what I have?"

"N-no." Harley said blinking a few time and looking around.

"I got you some ice cream. Special order from Doc." She said and just as she hoped, it put a small smile on the young car's face.

"Re-really?" She asked and Flo chuckled lightly.

"I'll be right back, mkay?" Flo left without waiting for a response and came back with a tray. She set it down in front of Harley. "There you go, honey." Harley looked down and smiled then looked back up and smiled at Flo.

"Th-Thank you, Flo." She said and took a sip of the oil tea. She glanced around again then looked back at Flo. "H-How long do you think I can stay?" Her small voice asked. Flo again softly chuckled then looked over at Doc. He smiled back and vaguely heard what Harley had asked, giving a small nod to Flo. She sighed as she looked back to Harley

"Well, I'd say you can stay as long as you need to." Flo said and Harley simply looked around and smiled to herself.