Okay. I know it's been a long time, but like I've said, I promised my friend I'd wait to update this because I was using her OC in this chapter. However, I couldn't wait much longer, so I decided to split this up into two chapters. Although, it does mean that the next chapter will be really short.
While I've been absent from uploading this story, I have finished writing it (I finished my Cars 3 story last night too!) and here are some things I can tell you:
1. It had 34 chapters, but now it's gonna be 35 since this chapter was split in two.
2. This is my first story to be over a hundred thousand words long! I know it's about quality and not quantity, but even so, I think that's pretty exciting!
3. I had to go back on a promise. I said I didn't have any intentions of killing anybody off, but I'm afraid I have to go back on that promise. Someone does die in this story. I was hesitant about doing it, but I felt like I had to for plot progression purposes (you'll see what I mean when we get to that part) All I'm gonna confirm about that is that it's not Fudge and it's not any of the characters who are in Cars 3 in canon (despite including OCs, I like to keep the events of the movies as accurate as possible). So, it's either going to be a canon character who doesn't appear in Cars 3 or an OC.
4. There are a lot of sad times ahead, but there is a lot of fluff too!
I guess that's all. Enjoy.
Chapter 7- Waiting
Lightning McQueen was going insane. It had been quarter to ten when he called Sally's number and five past ten when he got off the phone with her. What time was it now? Ten past one in the morning. Shouldn't they be here by now? he wondered. If the others had left right away (and why wouldn't they?), then they most definitely would be here by now, he decided. What was taking them so long?
You know what else should've happened by now? The doctors should've come out and told him what was going on! Once he got off the phone with Sally, he'd begged the receptionist to be able to see Fudge or at least know what was going on. However, he couldn't see her because she was still in surgery and the doctors wouldn't talk to anybody but family. He argued that she was his sister until he was crying too hard to speak and had to slip away from the reception desk. How long did surgery take? As a racer, he'd become familiar with lots of medical procedures on both himself and other racers. Yet none of them had ever taken this long!
Then again, none of them had ever been this serious.
Even so, there wasn't an awful lot for him to do- or rather, an awful lot he wanted to do- except pace back and forth impatiently, which did nothing to calm his nerves.
A young, kind nurse approached him at one point. "Mr. McQueen?"
"Ye- Yeah?" God! It was so hard to talk. He glanced up expectantly. A nurse! She must have news about Fudge!
Only the words that came out of her mouth had nothing to do with Fudge. They were, "Can I get you anything? Water? Coffee? Oil?"
Lightning shook his hood, trying to hide his disappointment as he managed to choke out the words, "No thanks." He felt much too sick to have a drink. Besides, he couldn't think about having a drink. Or anything else. How could he?! His mind was racing. Where were his friends? He needed them here! How was Fudge? Was she going to be okay? What if she wasn't? This was all his fault.
To make matters worse, at one point, a set of doors burst open and one of the doctors appeared. She was facing the opposite direction to Lightning, but he still recognised her. The old woman. The one who had been working with Fudge. She shouted something out and, although she was panicking a bit and had a strong Scottish accent, he could still decipher the words out of her mouth. Only he wished that he couldn't.
"We are losing this patient in here!" she announced to a bunch of other doctors hysterically. "For the love of Chrysler! We need help!"
That prompted several doctors to rush into the room and for Lightning's tears to start up again. Cars and humans still fixed their eyes on him. Sometimes, he felt like screaming at them, "STOP STARING AT ME!" However, most of the time, he didn't care at all. He had bigger things to worry about. This was it. She was gone. Fudge was dead. It was all his fault.
It was then that Doc's words when Lightning had wanted to take Fudge out racing for the first time came to him.
"If somethin' happened to her- and it will; if you were to keep takin' her, it would only be a matter of time- I would never be able to forgive myself and neither would you."
He was right about every single part of that statement. Of course, in the past, there had been several bumps and bruises along the way, but this was the first serious incident that had occurred. Now, it seemed like Fudge was dead and whether she really was or not, Lightning knew he'd never be able to forgive himself for this!
He was still crying his eyes out when he caught sight of his friends bursting through the hospital doors. Oh, God! This was it. His heart rate shot up. At first, he'd been kind of relieved that Sally had told them the bad news and not him, but now, he didn't know what to expect, as far as he was concerned. What were they gonna say? What were they gonna do? Would they be mad at him? Probably.
Luigi and Guido, it seemed, couldn't even wait for Sheriff to open the door. They practically shoved him out of the way and flung it open themselves with such tremendous force. Then the two of them raced up to the reception, ignoring both Sheriff and hospital staff reminding them of the speed limit. Neither of them even seemed to hear in their state.
"WHERE IS SHE?!" Luigi demanded hysterically, tears stinging his eyes. "WHERE'S MY DAUGHTER?!" He tried to keep talking, but got all choked up and cried harder than any of his friends, even Guido, had ever seen him cry before. Next to him, Guido did the same.
Sheriff came forward and gave them a sympathetic glance before informing the startled receptionist, "We're family for Brittney Rossi-Topolino."
The receptionist- a red-haired woman in her fifties with huge glasses and a name tag that read SANDY- nodded. "All right. What's your relation?"
"These are her fathers", Sheriff explained.
"All right", the receptionist repeated. "Well, she's still in surgery at the moment, so why don't you have a seat and a doctor will come and see you as soon as possible."
Sheriff nodded. "Okay. Thanks." It was very difficult, but he managed to lead the two Italians away and when Luigi saw Lightning, he felt his oil boil.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" he exploded, trying to lunge for him, only to be held back.
Lightning was just sobbing as he repeated over and over again, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I am so sorry!" It was no secret that he felt terrible.
Luigi's eyes widened even more if that was even possible and he looked furious when he glanced down. "Is that blood on your tyres?!" he shrieked hysterically.
Again, Lightning didn't answer more than more tears and a lot of, "I'm sorrys."
While Luigi, Guido and Sheriff had been over at the reception, Sally and Mater had made a beeline towards the stock car to comfort him. Both were hugging him and whispering kind words, but it was no use. He was absolutely devastated. At the same time, Sheriff was doing the same thing with Luigi and Guido and they couldn't be consoled either.
Everyone else was watching in shock.
"Whoa! I've never seen Luigi and Guido so upset, man", Fillmore commented to the others, merely to break the silence. His normally-relaxed eyes were now wide and watery.
"Well, Fudge is their daughter", Sarge pointed out. He sounded pretty choked up himself.
Nobody said anything for a long time.
"She's gonna be okay, right?" Ramone asked quietly after a while to end the silence.
Nobody answered for a couple of moments.
"I don't know", Sarge replied with a sigh.
"She's been in surgery for a while", Flo commented nervously.
"It probably ain't good, then", Ramone sighed sadly.
"Well, we don't know anything at the moment", Sarge reminded them, trying to stay calm. "We're just gonna have to wait and see."
"How you feelin'?" Sheriff quizzed Luigi at one point when his sobs had subsided a little bit.
The Fiat stared at him as if he'd just lost his mind. "How do you think I am feeling?!"
"It's gonna be okay", the squad car assured him.
"How?!" Luigi demanded. "How is it going to be okay?! My daughter is in the hospital... It does not sound good... It is all his fault! And I.. I just want to be with her."
"I know."
"Are you okay, Stickers?" Sally asked her boyfriend at a different point.
"NO, I'M NOT OKAY, SALLY!" he exploded. The others, who were all nearby, and several random people in the lounge jumped at his outburst. "This is all my fault!"
"No it's not!" Sally insisted. "It was an accident! Accidents happen."
"Yeah, but look at what it's done to poor Fudge!" Lightning shouted. "I am so sorry! This is all my fault! I'm sorry!"
"Stickers-" Sally started.
"He is right", Luigi cut in coldly.
Sally turned to stare at the Italian car. "What?"
"I trusted McQueen with my daughter and look what happened!" The Fiat's voice was rising.
"Luigi-" Sally began gently.
"How could you?!" Luigi demanded, ignoring Sally. He rolled closer to Lightning. Everyone watched fearfully. He was really getting angry. "How could you?! You hurt my daughter! You put her in the hospital!"
"Luigi, you know I love Fudge!" McQueen insisted. "I would never intentionally hurt her!"
"What about that time you pushed her into a wall?!" Luigi retorted.
The stock car's face flushed. That was on his very first day in Radiator Springs. Fudge had been annoying him while he was trying to fix the road. So, he pushed her, only for her to stumble backwards and smash her head up against a brick wall. Lightning remembered that vividly and it was most definitely not one of his proudest moments. Fudge, who was only five years old at the time, had screamed and cried. There was a lot of blood. Doc had to give her stitches, which prompted even more screaming and crying. And, for the rest of the day, Fudge would give Lightning a death stare every time she caught him looking at her.
"Yeah, well, I was an idiot back then!" Lightning countered through his tears of shame. Tonight, he'd been an idiot again! "I've changed since then! You know I have!"
"I thought you had!" Luigi snapped.
"What? You think I wanted to hurt Fudge?!"
"None of this would have happened if you were looking after her like you said you would! You are a liar!" Luigi lunged forward yet again, swearing in Italian.
Up until this point, everyone else had been anxious spectators. However, it was time for action if they didn't want the situation to escalate. They all knew how much Fudge meant to Luigi. Who knows what he would do if they didn't stop him?
"Luigi!" Guido exclaimed, trying to grab hold of his best friend.
"Luigi!" Sheriff also grabbed hold of him and pulled him back. "I know you're upset right now and you got every right to be, but you gotta calm down! You're overreactin'!" He sighed sympathetically and added softly after a pause, "This ain't gonna help Fudge."
The Fiat's eyes swam with tears as he took a shaky, deep breath. He knew that Sheriff was right. "Fine!" he huffed. He gave Lightning the coldest look he could possibly muster, but left him alone after that. Although, they all knew that Luigi's anger was far from over.
"Luigi, I'm sorry!" Lightning insisted, tears streaming down his hood, but Luigi didn't answer.
Lightning sighed. The others looked back and forth between him and Luigi with sympathy. Then, it was back to what they'd been doing before. Waiting. Crying. Comforting each other. Pacing. Listening to "Fix You" by Coldplay on the radio. The only new activity was taking in the shock from Luigi's anger.
So, there you go. I don't know when my next update will be, but given how long it's been, I felt like I had to give you something.
Just a quick heads-up. There seem to be a lot of conveniently placed radios in the story. It was the only way I could think to incorporate songs I felt fitted the scenes.
Don't get too excited for the next update, though because it won't be very long. However, in the next chapter, we do find out how Fudge is.
Till then, Fudge! :)
