It was the start of another day's work on the Island of Sodor…but it wasn't as good as it usually could be. Thomas was once again in a cheeky mood at Knapford Station. He had some mischievous plans to make innocently annoying remarks to other engines whenever he could. Sometimes he couldn't help it. Even he wasn't perfect all the time.
He quietly snuck up on Gordon's coaches, then suddenly bumped into them without warning. Then he hastily arranged them on Gordon's platform and waited for him to arrive. He looked at the clock constantly, waiting for any sign of Gordon. Then his eyes fell upon another set of coaches in another siding meant for Henry.
"Nope. Henry should fetch his own coaches. Tender engines DO shunt after all," he said to himself.
Ten minutes later, Gordon arrived and lined up with his coaches…but Thomas was now feeling very overconfident and let the words out.
"What took you so long, Gordon?" he smirked cheekily. "They still call you the fastest engine on Sodor, don't they? Well, you seem too fat! You need exercise! Come on, lazybones! Do some hard work for a change! You can't catch me!" And he scampered away to find Annie and Clarabel. At that moment, Henry arrived beside Gordon, only to find his coaches weren't ready.
"My coaches are way over there! What's going on?" huffed Henry.
"Ohh! It's that silly tank engine being cheeky again!" huffed Gordon. "If he keeps at this, I know exactly who to approach…" And Gordon set off with the express in the hopes of meeting one particular engine who would deal with this matter later, while Henry reluctantly gathered his coaches himself.
Thomas meanwhile was out on his branch line with Annie and Clarabel, and he was still being cheeky, going rather fast.
"Not so fast, Thomas," called Annie.
"Oh, sorry, your ladyships," smirked Thomas. He slowed down of course…to the point that he was barely moving.
"Thomas! Now you're going too slow!" complained Clarabel.
"You did tell me to slow down, did you not?" Thomas replied. Both coaches sighed with annoyance and Thomas continued to huff faster and slower whenever he pleased. Eventually, he saw Percy up ahead and got another cheeky idea. He came up quietly…then when he was right beside Percy, he blew his whistle loudly, making Percy yell in shock.
"Don't be spooked, Percy. It was me," said Thomas.
"Thomas!" exclaimed Percy. "You needn't do that! That was very cheeky!"
"Well, you're still that green caterpillar on wheels I teased before you became that woolly bear with all that hay!" Thomas laughed. And he huffed on past Percy. Percy was very annoyed with Thomas. But then, he suddenly got an idea.
"I think I know who can help me," he said.
Later that day, Percy saw Emily and Gordon up ahead at the water tower. He could hear their voices rather faintly until he came a little closer.
"Alright, Gordon. I'll handle it," said Emily. Then Gordon went on his way down the line. Percy watched him disappear and kept huffing on towards Emily. She did not look very happy, but she put on a little smile for her son figure.
"Hello, Percy, my cute little son," she said.
Percy blushed a little. "Hi, Emily…mother," he said. "I've been hoping to see you…it's about Thomas."
"Oh really?" said Emily, looking serious again. "What happened?"
"I was just huffing along the line, feeling peaceful and confident…then suddenly, Thomas raced up beside me and whistled loudly at me!" complained Percy. "Then he called me a green caterpillar on wheels, talking about my accident with treacle and hay…when I looked like a woolly bear!"
When Emily heard that, she was very annoyed now. "That little beast!" she snapped. "Not again! Gordon told me he was cheeky to him and Henry too! You're not the only one, Percy."
"So, Emily…would you please sort Thomas out? He's being very overconfident and proud of himself right now," said Percy.
"Yes. I certainly will, Percy. Don't listen to what he said. You're still my cute son, but he'll be very sorry!" said Emily. She blew Percy a kiss then hastily left to find Thomas.
Thomas had finished his branch line run at the last station and was still being cheeky. "Silly engines," he blurted. "They all forget I'm No. 1! The best engine on the island, and really useful!"
"Thomas!" snapped a familiar voice. "Now why do you behave in such a cheeky fashion?" Thomas looked and saw it was Emily who had spoken.
"Oh, Emily," he said, trying to avoid anything. "What's wrong today?"
"I think you know…just like before," she replied. "Once again, you've been proving yourself overly cheeky, Thomas. Teasing Gordon and refusing to fetch Henry's coaches! Then going too fast and too slow with Annie and Clarabel, and calling Percy a green caterpillar on wheels! It seems you didn't learn your lesson!"
"What lesson?" asked Thomas.
"Don't you remember the warning I issued you, but you still ignored? About me not kissing you for a month?" said Emily.
Thomas felt a jolt of fear tingle through him, remembering when she tearfully punished him with that prospect several years ago…but then he remembered that even when she did punish him for it, she went back on it after he helped her heal her old wounds.
"I do remember that, Emily," he said, more seriously and understanding.
"So stop all your cheekiness!" ordered Emily. "No respect means no kisses! I mean it!"
"Y-yes, Emily," said Thomas.
"I hope so," she mumbled to herself as Thomas went on his way.
But to stop being cheeky just for fun was easier said than done for Thomas. He still wanted to have some fun before finally settling down.
"It's who I am sometimes. Nobody's perfect," he said to himself. Then, Thomas saw Maithwaite station up ahead…and he also saw Toby with Henrietta. This gave him another cheeky idea to play on both of them. But what he didn't notice was that Emily had been following him a good distance from behind, seeing if he really would stop being cheeky.
Thomas creeped up behind Toby and Henrietta without a word. Henrietta noticed Thomas, but just before she could speak, Thomas suddenly shouted out.
"GOTCHA!" he shouted. Toby's bell rang with alarm, then he hissed crossly at Thomas.
"Thomas! Don't frighten Henrietta like that!" he complained.
"Hey, what's wrong, Toby? Too scared to have fun?" teased Thomas. "No need to behave so…electric, like most trams are.
"Whoosh!" hissed Toby. "I am a Steam Tram, thank you very much!"
Thomas lost his smile a little. "Well, you've no sense of humour…not like Emily has when she and I share evenings together. She's very playful…passionate…and very sweet when we enjoy our time together. That makes her a…a…a playfully airheaded cupcake!" he chuckled. From where she was watching all this, Emily gasped, then really scowled as Thomas scampered away, laughing. Emily really did not like that name one bit.
"That's enough! I'm punishing him once and for all," she hissed, and she went on her way to wait until he'd come back.
Sometime later, Thomas was still chuckling to himself at what he did, feeling quite proud of himself. But then as he came back to the yards, he saw Emily again, waiting for him.
"Thomas!" Emily called rather sternly.
"Oh, Emily. What happened now?" asked Thomas.
"I heard you Thomas. Every word!" snapped Emily.
"Every word of what?" asked Thomas, pretending not to know anything about it.
"Don't play coy! I saw what you did to Toby at Maithwaite!"
"You're mistaken, Emily. I did not play any tricks on Toby," said Thomas.
"And I suppose you didn't gossip about me to Toby. Calling me a 'playfully airheaded cupcake'! How rude!" hissed Emily. "You promised me you'd stop your rebellious behaviour, and yet you still let those words escape your mouth! I thought you had great respect for me! But even I don't get all your respect it seems. And for that very silly name, I FORBID either of us to kiss each other for the next month!"
Thomas' mouth gaped and went still for several seconds. Emily had punished him yet again with no kisses for a month.
"And unlike last time, when you were able to heal my old wounds, I'm afraid there's no way you can make me change my mind on this now! No kisses for a month!" Emily concluded and she steamed away in a huff.
Thomas now felt absolutely terrible. He only meant a sense of humor in what he said about Emily. Not to insult her. Now it seemed he had to apologize properly to her. After a few minutes of considering what his cheekiness caused, he figured he should stop being cheeky for the day and try to make things right with Emily.
He went on his way to Tidmouth Sheds and found Emily in her berth, still looking displeased. He carefully crossed the turntable towards her, but when she looked up, she tried looking away.
"Emily…I didn't mean-"
"Don't even try, Thomas," huffed Emily. "Your apology would be accepted, but it would not change the fact that you're still paying the price I placed on you! Our lips are to be absent for the next month as I said!"
"Please, Emily. I was just having a little fun, that's all," said Thomas.
"Yes…fun for yourself…and making fun of other engines!" Emily replied.
"You know I didn't mean offense. I would never do that…Please, I implore you, Emily…is there ANYTHING I can do to gain back our kisses? Anything at all?" asked Thomas, feeling a little nervous.
Emily looked at Thomas, then sighed. "The one and only thing that would give you any possibility of that chance is if you made a solemn promise to STOP being so overly cheeky, annoying other engines, and, quite plainly, behaving like a rebellious, pouty scoundrel!"
Something hit Thomas in a good way hearing those last few words.
"Scoundrel? …Scoundrel!" he said. He suddenly put on a seductive expression himself. One that even Emily secretly liked.
"I like the sound of that," Thomas smirked. Then he began to approach Emily, slowly coming closer until his buffers just began to touch hers. Then he began to softly push her into her berth.
"Stop that," whispered Emily.
"Stop what?"
"Don't corner me," she whispered.
"I'm not," smirked Thomas. "I'm protecting you, my precious queen from harm. I'm keeping you warm with me." Emily was pushed further and further inside the shed, out from the open air into the warmth of her berth…until her back buffers touched the back of her berth. Once again, Thomas was the dominant one with Emily.
"You like me being a scoundrel," he whispered, slowly closing the distance between their faces. "I can be a gentleman, but you like me because I'm not perfect…"
"I much prefer when you are gentlemanlike," retorted Emily. Thomas licked his lips seductively, making Emily start to blush.
"Don't bother denying," he said smoothly. "I know that you love me being a scoundrel."
"I happen to like gentlemen," insisted Emily.
"I AM a gentleman at the right times," whispered Thomas.
"No you're not. You're-"
But Emily didn't finish her sentence. Thomas had already claimed her lips, and began kissing them deeply and passionately. Emily forgot all about what she said for a moment. After almost a minute, Thomas let go of her lips. Emily looked as if she didn't know what to think. She was still focused on keeping away from his lips until he improved his behavior. Thomas took advantage of his chance and puckered his lips, kissing Emily's cheek over and over, taking his time so that it would last. Emily had nowhere to go as she felt his tender lips touch her cheek, then very slowly smooch on her cheek, tickling it until he finished each kiss and started another one, just as slowly and teasingly.
Emily kept trying to stick to the punishment she gave Thomas, but it was all in vain. She couldn't hold in her liking of such pleasure. "Thomas, I really don't…ohh…oh, that feels good…I don't approve of your rebellious side when it gets out of hand. I stand by holding back our kisses for the month. Please stop that."
"No you don't," whispered Thomas. "You're a terrible liar, Emily. Forgive and forget…admit it, you love what's happening right now."
"Cheekiness is not necessary, Thomas," insisted Emily. "It isn't right, and you should…ooh! Ah…aaahhh…" she moaned.
Thomas slowly turned his attention to her other cheek and began to softly suck on it, delicately touching his tongue to her cheek and dotting it with his kisses. Emily tried to hold her intention to not kiss back as much as she possibly could, but Thomas' charming treatment was too much for her to pass up. Then Thomas paused for a moment. Then he slowly opened his mouth and very gently licked Emily on her closed lips, making her shudder and blush even deeper at the warm feeling it gave her.
That did it. Emily could not hide the truth anymore. Her defenses were finally chipped away and she gave into what she really thought.
"Oh, Thomas…" she giggled. "Why must you always persist? I actually DO like it when you're a rascal sometimes."
"I knew you liked me being a rebel!" Thomas smirked. Then finally, he put on a gentleman-like expression. "But even as a scoundrel…I'll still be a gentleman specifically for you, and you alone."
With those words spoken, Emily kissed Thomas right back on his lips, deepening it more by each second and making Thomas forget everything around him except Emily. Emily decided that maybe being a scoundrel every now and then could be enjoyable for her and Thomas, just as long as it didn't get out of hand. She then began kissing his cheeks softly, much to his delight.
"So…you're going back on your punishment again?" smirked Thomas, blushing lightly.
"Oh, be quiet," said Emily, stifling a giggle. She continued to kiss his cheeks slowly and teasingly, just like he did for several minutes. She eventually stopped when she began to feel tired.
"I love you, Emily. My beautiful emerald angel," whispered Thomas.
"I love you too, Thomas. My handsome cobalt star…my little scoundrel," giggled Emily. She kissed Thomas' lips once more before they both fell asleep, wearing content smiles and feeling romantically peaceful again.
Yes it's another blatantly obvious Star Wars reference, mainly Episode V with Han and Leia's first kiss, the infamous 'Scoundrel' scene. I thought that perfectly fit Thomas' character, and yes, Emily does like having a bit of a rebel in her life. But, the more important thing to note, is that this is what the original plan for *Healing an Old Wound*, before changing into the version you've all seen. I felt this idea had been held back in storage for too long now, and so here it is. Next time we meet, it'll be more of these two, so leave your reviews and I'll see you soon with *Piston It Away*.
