Emily was alone in Tidmouth Sheds. She was feeling sad. Earlier she was delivering sand to Brendam Docks and over heard Duncan and Rheneas at Crovan's Gate talking about some of their exciting deliveries, Duncan had delivered a elephant statue and Rheneas had delivered a dinosaur skeleton. Emily felt a bit sad that she wasn't doing something exciting like that. Then she met Gordon at Maron station where he told her that he had delivered an opera singer, some actors and even the Queen herself. That made Emily even more upset.

When she finally got to the Docks, she met her beloved Thomas or 'Tommy' as she affectionately called him and asked him the same question. He said he had taken multiple exciting deliveries, like once he had taken a jet engine and was rocketed across the Island at supersonic speed. That was the last straw. She told him she had never delivered anything exciting. Thomas was sure she had and she remembered the time she took Sodor United's football kit to be washed. But then Bill and Ben made fun of her.

"Stinky laundry isn't exciting, Emily."

"Not like a jet engine."

Those words kept ringing in her smokebox. Bill and Ben were always teasing other engines, never once considering how it might hurt another engines feelings. Emily wished she could have something exciting to deliver like Thomas and the others.

"It's not fair," she moaned. "Why have I never been given an exciting delivery?"

She then heard a familar whistle she knew too well. It was Thomas. He rolled onto the turntable and saw how sad his beautiful emerald was.

"Hey beautiful. You're not still upset about not having an exciting delivery, are you?"

She sighed. "Yes..." she said sadly.

Thomas hated seeing her like this, it was nothing compared to when she had been left out the sheds two nights in a row, or anywhere close to how she was she told him her dark secret, but still, he hated when she was sad.

"Why are you so upset about this anyway? You never worried about this before, so why now?" he asked, wanting to help her.

"Because I heard Duncan and Rheneas talking about their deliveries, and then Gordon told me about all the exciting things he delivered and you've done loads of exciting things. And I just get boring old sand, not an elephant statue, or a dinosaur skeleton, or the Queen, or a jet engine, just sand. Why can't I do something like that?" she moaned.

Thomas had never seen her get so worked up over something like this. He knew she was stressed by this and he needed to help her calm down. And he knew how.

He rolled slowly towards her and stopped inchs from her buffers.

"Come on, Em, don't be so upset about this."

Emily smiled slightly. 'Em' was his new little pet name for her, he had called her it on one occasion when he was covering Paxton's work in the Blue Mountain Quarry a few years back, but only recently has he started using it on a regular basis. She liked it when he called her that, like when she called him Tommy. Hearing him call her something so affectionate always made her happy and feel at peace with herself.

Thomas saw her smile and his hopes soared high. "All good things come to those who wait. You'll get your chance. Just be patient and you'll get what you want."

Emily looked at him still unsure. "You think so?"

"I know so. This reminds me of when I got to pull my first train." he said, nostalgically, "I was the station pilot at Knapford and I was fed up with just shunting coaches and trucks for the other engines, I wanted to get out from the yard and see the world. But one day I finally got my chance and I was so excited I left the train behind," he finished.

Emily wasn't expecting to hear that, she knew Thomas had always had a desire to see the world, he had told her a number of his infamous adventures, and he had glossed over his earliest adventures, but he never told her the full stories of his first passenger and goods trains. Imagine her expression when he said he had forgotten to pull the coaches and left all his passengers stranded at the platform. It was so unexpected and hilarious, her lips started to quiver violently and she burst out laughing.

"You left the train behind?!" she said in a load fit of laughter at his funny past mistake.

"In my defense," Thomas said, "I was young and impatient. Now though, I very rarely ever make mistakes."

This only caused Emily to laugh even harder. "Yeah right!" cried Emily and kept laughing.

"Oh so that's how it is," Thomas grinned, as he charged forward and pushed her into the back of the shed and started licking all over her face.

"Thomas! Stop, that tickles!" she shouted, laughing even harder.

"Not until you say sorry, my love." and he kept licking her mercilessly.

"OK, OK I'm sorry!" she cried and he stopped licking her. She was quite out of breath after all that laughing.

Thomas reversed slightly, letting her get her breath back. Once she got her breath back he carried on.

"So basically, the moral of my story was if you're too excited you're going to make mistakes, like I did back then."

"But you still make plenty of mistakes on a very daily basis," she answered, looking smug.

"That's besides the point," he said, "the point is just be patient and you will get your own exciting delivery someday but don't get too excited or you will suffer the consequences," he said.

Emily listened carefully but she still felt sad. She wanted an exciting delivery now, but she knew Thomas had a point, she had to be patient. Normally she was very patient, but at times, like him and a lot of the other engines, she didn't like waiting for a long period of time. Thomas could tell she didn't want to patient.

"Just trust me, you will get your chance. I promise." and he gently he touched her buffers with his own and slowly moved forwards. Emily blushed and did the same thing, until their lips met and intertwined them in a gentle kiss. Emily let all her stress fly out of her funnel as she relaxed and kissed Thomas softly and passionately, knowing he would always be there for her and love her with all his heart.

Eventually, after roughly five minutes, they pulled away from their nice long kiss. Emily could see him smiling and it made her smile too.

"I love you, Tommy."

"I love you too, Em. Just don't worry about not having an exciting delivery. You'll get you chance. I promise," he said, before giving her one more kiss on the lips.

Emily watched as he backed onto the turntable and reversed into his berth beside her.

"Good night, Emily. I love you."

"Good night, Thomas. I love you too."

She watched him peacefully fall asleep. She was still upset about not having something exciting to deliver, but she knew Thomas was right. She would get her chance someday, she just wished she knew when. She slowly closed her eyes and drifted into a deep sleep, unaware her wish would true much sooner than she or Thomas expected.