A/N I'd advise reading the other fics first although they aren't necessary to understand this fic. Xxxxxxxxx

Hera had always loved cars.

She couldn't remember a time when she didn't want to become a mechanic. Even as a toddler her favourite tv show was Brum and growing up her favourite film was Pixar's Cars which was amazing regardless of what anyoyone said.

Her parents had encouraged her love but even they assumed that at some point she'd move on to something else. She never did.

Every few months there would be an event for antique cars in the town next to them. Hera could and would watch the beautiful vehicals drive past her house on their way to the show for hours. Eventually she managed to convince her parents to take her to the show and it was everything she could have ever dreamed about and more. The beating roar of the engines as they ran around the race track and the warm smell of well loved oil made her heart soar in time with the reves of the engines. One of the drivers recognised the awe on her face that mirrored his own at her age and showed her how his vehical worked. He was like a doctor, making sure that everything in the car was perfect so that it could run and breathe and live. Although Hera couldn't pin point when she'd first wanted to become a mechanic, this knew that this was the moment that solidified her dream.

She had a good childhood. With two loving parents that supported her, she was well on her way to achieving her dream.

But of course everything had to go wrong.

Hera was at home with her father. He'd been trying to plan new legislation to increase funding to the local libraries whilst she had been doing her homework on the living room floor when the police showed up. The expression on her father's face the moment the police told him what happened would be engraved in her mind forever. Apparently her mother had been walking him when she'd been dragged into an alleyway and held at gun point for her purse. She refused at first, it had always been clear where Hera got her stubbornness. It was only then that the mugger realised that she was the mayor's wife and he knew that if she told him what had happened he'd be in prison for the rest of his life. So he shot her in the head so that she wouldn't be able to tell anyone what she saw. Luckily a woman had seen the whole thing as she was putting out her rubbish and was able to identify the man straight away. It didn't feel particularly lucky to Hera. It didn't change the fact that her mother was gone.

Her father withdrawaled into himself after that, focusing all his energy into his work. Hera could easily understand why but it didn't change the fact that sometimes she missed him even though he was standing right beside her. She lost more than one parent that day. He tried to convince her to become Mayer after he retired but she wasn't interested. Of course she wanted to make the world a better place but she didn't feel like becoming Mayer of a small Canadian vilaige that was going to change anything, besides she'd spent her whole life preparing to become a mechanic and wasn't about to give up on her dreams now. Cham called her selfish which started the first of their legendary rows. Their screaming matches copied go on for hours and could be heard from the other side of the town.

One morning Hera was at the local scrap yard looking for parts for her first car that she fondly called the Ghost. She noticed a gang of boys hanging around on the other side of the scrap yard. She didn't think much of it at first. Although she was often alone out here for there to be tigers handing around especially bored gangs of teenagers wasn't uncommon. That was until she heard the unnatural cry of a terrified cat.

In an instant she ran over to the boy's and saw that they were beating up a small cat. She threw her wrench at one of the boys and watched as it bounced off the side of his head knocking him onto the floor. His two friends fled and as soon as he picked himself up he followed quickly after them. As much as Hera wanted to follow them and give them what they deserved for beating up a helpless animal she knew that she had to check on the cat. He was a lot smaller than she'd first thought. He was more like the size of a kitten then a cat. His white and ginger fur was mottled with broken bruises and scared scared that looked painful just to look at. He looked up at Hera with wide green eyes that looked confused as to why anyone would help him.

"It's ok." Hera whispered gently. "I'm not going to hurt you."

As though understanding what she had said the cat slowly crept out from under the car. He tensed when she first picked him up but relaxed under her gentle strokes and soothing voice. By the time Hera had carried him to her house they both knew that they would never leave the other. Cham however was not impressed with this development.

"What is that?" He cried, disgusted when she walked into the house.

"My cat." Hera replied. Holding him closer to her protectively.

Cham scoffed. "Don't think I'm paying to look after it."

"Don't worry." She told him fiercely. "I'll look after him myself."

She was true to her word. Every penny paid for the cats food and veterinary bills came from her very own pocket. She'd inherited a lot from her mother and had been meaning to get a job anyway so it suited her fine. She decided to name the cat Chopper since he tried to chomp down on anyone's fingers that weren't hers.

Hera started doing odd jobs around the neighbourhood, mostly involving cars but sometimes fixing appliances or shelves. It felt good to help the people around her and she'd managed to make quite a bit of money too.

And finally on the day after her graduation she took out all her money, packed her bags, put Chopper in a carrier (he was not impressed) and did the oldest cliche in the book and moved to America to try and achieve her dreams.

As soon as she set foot on American soil she headed to a quant bar called Old Joe's in an unfamiliar town to meet up with her old childhood friend.

"Numa!" Hera cried as soon as she saw the died blue braids of her old friend. Numa had moved to the states after being adopted by a kind ex-marine called Waxer after her parents died. The two friends had kept in touch but it was the first time they'd seen each other face to face in years.

Numa told her all about the paint balling range she'd set up with her father and his twin. It had been doing really well and they had plans to buy another patch of land to make another one and start a proper brand. When Hera mentioned her about her plans to become a mechanic she told her about a friend of one of her many uncles (seriously Hera had lost count at about twenty) had recently opened a garage and was looking for people to hire. Hera couldn't think of a reason to say no.

The next morning she set off for the address Numa gave her and she found herself outside a small garage.

The door was than she'd thought and slammed open with a bang. A men fell off the sofa. The man beneath her looked a bit like a hobo with his messy long hair and sick coloured outfit. And as he looked up at her his eyes glazed over making her belive he was drunk.

"As you alright?" She asked since even though she was unimpressed with his aperance she still wanted to make sure he was ok.

"I..." the man said in a daze before suddenly shaking his head and jumping up "What- yes! I am. Totally ok! I just errrrr..."

She raised an eyebrow at his ramblings.

"You must be Hera!" She looked behind him to see a dark skinned woman headed towards her. "Let's talk in the back."

The woman said wrapping a motherly arm around her and Hera had greatly missed the feeling.

If someone had told her there and then that she would raise a family with this man she would have probably punched them in the face.