Stephen was relieved when Sir Robert told the Fat Controller that'd he speak to Glynn and Stephen later in private regarding their race on the Mainline; and allowed the two old engines to return to the castle, whilst he himself stayed behind to help Sir Topham Hatt fix the chaos the two old engines had caused.
Embarrassed at being at fault for the confusion and delay, Stephen had thanked Sir Robert -and Lady- with all the gratitude he could muster. He couldn't get out of Knapford fast enough.
Now he and Glynn were making their way back to the estate, side by side, in silence.
….
Stephen looked over at Glynn, feeling guilty for getting him in hot water too. He didn't mean to cause trouble; he'd just wanted to prove himself in the Earl's eyes and win back his crown; but that only led to him and Glynn disrupting services on the Mainline; and getting into disgrace with the Fat Controller. Now Gordon and James were not going to be forgiving for the delays, Stephen was certain of that.
He hated how loud the silence between himself and his new friend was. He felt the urge to say something, anything to escape the suffocation of silence!
"I'msorryGlynn." He said at last, his words becoming a jumbled tangle off his tongue. He had never felt so foolish in his life, pulling off such a foolish stunt on the Mainline. Oh, whatever would the Earl say when he got back to the castle?
"I beg your pardon, Stephen?" Glynn inquired politely.
"I said," Repeated Stephen, not willing to let his nerves get the better of him before he chickened out. "I'm sorry, Glynn."
"Why, whatever for, Stephen?" Asked Glynn gently, his eyes softening with concern for his older companion. "We both agreed to this race; ergo we both have a degree of accountability for causing the chaos we did."
"Well, the whole shenanigan was more my fault, seeing as how I suggested it in the first place; and I didn't think of any potential consequences." The Rocket admitted sheepishly, looking very contrite. His face suddenly turned serious and downcast, "What I mean, though, Glynn, is that I'm sorry… for everything. If I hadn't been so jealous of you coming here to the estate, I might have thought better than to accidentally hold up Gordon and James on the Mainline."
"I'm sure Sir Topham and the Earl will forgive us for the delays we both caused," replied Glynn soothingly. "We didn't mean to cause any trouble, and besides, no one got hurt or derailed. At least we avoided the worst."
"I guess…" mumbled Stephen, still feeling upset.
"Besides, if there's anything to be taken from all this, it's that we became friends in the end." The coffee pot continued, offering a kindly smile in Stephen's direction. "And I think there's no better way to lighten up the darkness of disgrace than celebrating our new friendship, don't you think so too, Stephen?"
This brought a small smile to the Rocket's face. "I guess you do have a point, Glynn, old chap." He mused. "But I still feel awful for this whole affair," he added sadly, his smile quickly vanishing like mist in the early morning sun. "I tried to find a way to win back the Earl's approval; and instead I just caused trouble for the engines out on the Mainline and got Sir Topham cross at both of us."
This statement confused Glynn. "'Win back the Earl's approval?' Whatever do you mean by that, Stephen?" he asked, wheeshing softly.
"Oh, Glynn, the reason why I was so passive aggressive to your arrival was because the Earl looked so happy to have you come to the estate, that I thought he was more interested in you than me." Stephen admitted. He feared that the younger engine might take offence and revoke his offer of friendship; but now that Stephen had started pouring his heart out, he couldn't stop.
On the plus side, Glynn didn't tell him to stop talking or that he didn't want to be friends with Stephen anymore. In fact, he didn't say anything; which both relieved and unnerved Stephen; but he ploughed on, swallowing his discomfort.
"The truth is, Glynn, I miss being the engine of the Earl's interest. He told me he had a huge interest in history and in railways, and I was pleased to be a pivotal icon of both; but when you came, I thought… that perhaps he found you to be more of interest than me. And in my jealousy, I wanted to reclaim my glory and be favoured by Sir Robert again… but, now I realize you never wanted to upstage me. You were like me…. Just trying to find a new place to call home."
Stephen smiled ruefully. "I never intended for things to go the way they did. And I accept it was all on me. If I hadn't suggested that silly race…." He trailed off, sighing sadly. "I'm sorry, Glynn. Not just for getting you in trouble for the race… but for not being so welcoming to you when you first came."
Glynn looked very surprised to hear such a raw, frank admission from the famous 'Rocket himself. Hearing this also caused guilt to bubble in his smokebox for he never meant to cause Stephen anguish or grief with his arrival on the Estate Railway. Nonetheless, he put on a brave smile and looked at Stephen.
"I can't ever imagine the Earl forgetting you in favour of me, Stephen. You have a unique and important role to history; the history of man, the history of engine, and of course the history of a revolution that brought this country incredible wealth and created new jobs; which helped build Britain to what is today; whereas I'm just an old coffee pot, whose significance is confined to here on Sodor." He sighed sadly. "I think you're very remarkable, Stephen. You achieved so much; and a good deal of which was just when you were first built, too! Few engines are born to glory."
Stephen was surprised to hear this truth from Glynn; he felt as though someone had pulled a tarpaulin from him and he could suddenly see the dazzling truth glittering before his eyes. Glynn was right- the Earl would never abandon the legendary Rocket, no matter what other interesting engines came his way!
But, as relieved as Stephen was to finally hear truth and common sense for the first time since the coffee pot engine arrived at the castle on Christmas Eve, he also felt sorry for his new friend, Glynn.
As proud as Stephen was of his reputation, he hated it when it made others feel inferior or that Stephen was better than them; for he may have been the first steam locomotive built; he was still an engine like everyone else, with friends and work to do every day. He didn't ask for such a glittering reputation, to go down in history as a legend. He certainly never thought any and all engines were inferior to him.
For some strange reason still unknown to him, Stephen suddenly remembered that they still hadn't told each other much of their histories yet, even during their race- they mostly teased Gordon and James, and debated the merits and downsides of railway travel- and he suddenly had an idea on how to cheer his poor coffee pot up.
"Why don't you let me be the judge of that, Glynn?" He asked suddenly, his eyes ablaze with liveliness. "I'd be very interested to hear of your 'long, productive working lives' that the Earl mentioned earlier, me old coffee pot." He said affectionately.
Glynn brightened up on hearing that. "You mean it, Stephen?" He asked, hopefully. It had been a long time since he ever told anyone his story; Marion, Thomas and Percy had been too busy over the Christmas period, Stephen had never expressed an interest in even saying hello until this day, and Sir Robert and Millie had been more focused on getting Glynn settled in that they hadn't had the chance to ask, either.
The fact that someone-Stephen of all engines- was asking about his history made his firebox flutter with hope and excitement.
"Of course. Fire away Glynn!" Stephen replied, flashing a charming, enthusiastic smile. Delighted, Glynn started telling the older engine about how Sir Topham Hatt had built him and his siblings; which surprised the Rocket, for he hadn't known the Fat Controller to be an engineer before working as Controller; and he was surprised too on hearing that Glynn once had siblings.
Stephen was still nervous on what the Earl would say to him when he returned to the castle; but hearing Glynn talk excitedly about his history was enough to ease his nerves for the time being; and he thoroughly enjoyed hearing of how Glynn was once running Thomas's branch line.