"CHICK?"

Lightning suddenly felt a very heavy, uneasy feeling in the room.

"Yeah, Yeah...- Listen, I know that I would be the last person you would expect to come visit, but could I talk to McQueen? I have, uh.. Something for him.." He showed Sally the bag and she simply eyed it like it was a bomb.

"Just... Just make it quick.." She sighed in defeat, letting him in. She had hoped she hadn't just made the biggest mistake in her life.

"H-Hey, McQueen.." Chick stuttered in a slightly nervous voice, eyeing the wrecked car before him with an unreadable look in his unusual brown eyes.

"I-Is that... you, Chick..?" Lightning muttered, feeling himself a little frightened, until he felt Sally's familiar figure softly nudge up against him in reassurance.

"What do you want?" Sally asked for Lightning, who was frozen still and listening very carefully since he couldn't see a thing.

"Well, I.. I just.. I.. You see..-" Chick sighed and grunted in complication, slightly tapping his tire down on the ground in defeat. "Lightning, listen, I'm sorry. It... It was my fault...- I get a little too competitive when I get on the track, ya know, and I didn't mean to make you crash so badly. I.. also see that you're a little blind there.." Chick gestured his tire at Lightning, who just sighed. "But when you can see again, I brought you something... Hey, "Sally", make sure that when he's able to see again, give that bag to him.. Alright? I gotta go now.. Get better.. McQueen.." Chick said as he slowly strode out of the room, shaking his hood as he left the hospital.

Sally deeply wondered what was in the bag and was about to look inside of it, but was startled away from it as Lightning spoke.

"...Sally?"

She turned to look at Lightning with a wondering look in her beautiful turquoise blue eyes.

"Yes, what is it?"

"..I.. can't even believe.. he said It.. He said he was sorry..." Lightning was frozen in shock. The person that seemed to hate him the most, felt sorry for him!

Sally put the rather heavy present from Chick under a small table and went back to Lightning's side, lightly brushing her tire against his.

"I really think he's trying to be nicer to you, Stickers.. You should be happy."

"That's kind of creepy to me though.. Seeing him being nice is just a little...eugh..." Lightning shuttered a little.

"It just doesn't fit him..." He finished.

Sally just warmly chuckled and looked at Lightning from the corner of her eye.

"You're looking a lot better, you know.. You're even talking a lot more now!" She cheerfully notified him, cautiously touching the side of his windshield with a gentle smile across her lips.

He emitted a small exhale, suddenly thinking about trying to stretch himself out a little... It was really becoming more and more painful from being so stiff.

"Hey Sally, could you help me with something really quick?"

"Sure thing, Stickers. What?" She gladly responded.

Lightning very slowly shifted his right tire out just a bit and winced in slight pain.

"When I tell you to, tug a little bit on my right tire, first.." He said, moving it a little.

"Are you sure? I-I don't wanna hurt you..." She said as she gently took a hold of his right tire like he just instructed.

"Don't worry, you won't... I'll tell you... when to stop, ok? Now... p-pull..."

On cue, Sally gently pulled his tire out as much as possible and stopped when he let out an unexpected hitch in his breathing, clearly a little bit in pain.

"Ahhh...- Okay-Okay; That's good..." He faintly smiled and lowly chuckled, telling Sally to do his other tires for him.

When she was on his back left tire, she was gently pulling when suddenly Lightning winced and groaned loudly in pain, clearly giving her the signal to stop.

She immediately let go of his back tire and lied it back down in it's original place very gently.

"Agh... Ouch, Ouch..." He attempted to relax his back tires a little more to get them to stop throbbing.

"Look's like your back tires aren't that flexible just yet.."

"ngh, yeah.. Thanks, Sally..."

"No problem." She lightly kissed his side lightly and suddenly flicked a light on in the room, since nighttime was finally coming.

"It's getting a little late... You should try getting some rest before your surgery. I think they're supposed to come and get you in about a half an hour.."

Lightning immediately began getting a little bit scared at the mention of his operation.

"I don't... wanna get surgery... What if I...- I won't even be able to see again? What if they.. fail..?" He panicked and suddenly started thinking of all the bad things that could happen.

"Don't say that, Stickers... I can't do anything about that, but don't worry, I'll be right there with you, there's nothing to be afraid of.." She calmly reassured him, nudging against him lightly.

"Thank you.. Sal...- I think I'll just.. rest for a bit, then..." Lightning sighed and tried to relax himself as much as possible.

"Alright..." She said in a soft voice, lightly kissing his bandaged windshield.

Nearly more than a half an hour passed but no nurse or doctor had come yet. Sally sat there wide awake, anxiously but quietly watching her boyfriend soundly sleeping. It was reaching late 8:00 pm, but it was exactly 7:46 pm. She was sitting there, frozen, thinking about Lightning's last crash he was in. It wasn't that bad, but it was the first and most hardest time of her life.

The doctors had rushed lightning as fast as they could into the emergency, immediately trying to get him to wake up.

They connected cables to Lightning and yelled, "CLEAR!" They shocked him once, unfortunately, It didn't work so, they tried it again.

"CLEAR!" Suddenly, he jolted and came back.

"Get him on some fluids, stat!" A nurse yelled, getting special IV's.

Sally could only watch the scene in horror through a small window. Watching death nearly take the last thing that she loved and cared about, right away from her. She harshly broke down in tears and felt like she was about to loose herself completely.

She cried uncontrollably, a nurse came up beside her and tried comforting her.

"Please, Please stay alive..! PLEASE DON'T DIE!" Sally screamed, petrified.

The memory came back clearly to her and she sniffled a bit, blinking her sudden stray tears away.

She went over in front of Lightning and kissed him gently, pressing herself against him not too hard.

"..I really love you..." She whispered, "You'll get better, I promise..."

She suddenly lifted herself from lightning and looked towards the door. She heard what sounded like cars talking outside the door and she slowly backed away from Lightning as the door slightly creaked opened, and she saw two nurses roll in a low gurney with a white blanket over it.

"We're here to take lightning for his scheduled operation now, miss..-" One of the nurses explained as she calmly drove over to Lightning, unhooking him from a few machines and unlocking a break lever connected to him. Lightning exhaustedly woke up in confusion and felt someone he didn't recognize, touching him.

"H-Hey, what's going on..?" He said nervously, his voice sounding a bit drowsy.

"They're taking you to the operating room now. Don't worry, I'm right here, Stickers.." Sally immediately reassured him in a soft tone, trying to get him to calm himself down.

"o-oh.." He bit his bottom lip when they cautiously lifted him up, and placed him on the gurney that was right beside him.

Sally closely kept her place right behind the nurses as they rolled him down the hall, into a very large room that had a lot of machines and surgery lights over the operating section in the middle of the room.

"S-Sal...?"

"Shh, I'm still here, It's okay.." She softly cooed, to let him know thar she was really still there with him.

Sally anxiously watched as they put lightning in the middle of the room and two more doctors came in the room, getting prepared for the operation.

"Okay, we're just going to put this mask over you and it's going to make you sleepy.." A nurse began as she reached over to place it over his mouth; But he immediately turned himself away and resisted.

"N..No..!" He refused in a slight stutter, his anxiety finally grabbing ahold of him.

The nurses struggled to get the mask on him, and that was when Sally sternly spoke towards him.

"Lightning McQueen...!" Sally spoke louder than usual, everyone in the room side glancing a bit at her.

For her, It honestly felt a little strange for her to call 'Stickers' by his full name. She couldn't even remember the last time she called him by that. Or if she ever did...

Lightning immediately stopped and she quietly drove up beside him and whispered to him.

"Stickers, What's your problem? You never give them a hard time!" She loudly whispered to him as the nurses patiently waited until he would finally cooperate.

"I-I'm just... Scared..." He weakly admitted.

"Stickers, you don't have to be.. I'll be right here by your side until you fall asleep, I promise.. It'll be all over with by the time you know it. Can we get this done, now..?" She gently kissed his slightly dented side and lightly held his tire until she felt him relax under her touch, and watched the nurses slowly placed the mask over his mouth.

"Shh, It's alright.." Sally began softly humming a slow, lullaby-like song to Lightning until he was completely under. She quietly stopped and soon drove away from him and made her way to the swinging doors, already knowing that she had to leave. Just before she left, she took one more glance back at Lightning before a nurse went in front of him, making it impossible to see him. She left and whispered to herself, her words lingering in the silent, thin air.

"You can do It..."