Authors note: I don't own any of the characters, they all belong to HIT Entertainment. Alex however is my own creation. And please excuse my poor english, I'm norwegian and didn't pay too much attention in my english class...


From Sodor with love


Chapter 9:


"Wakey, wakey, Alex! Time to get to work!"

Alex groaned and squinted her eyes while getting used to the sharp morning sun. Arry had opened the shed doors and stood in front of her, jerking her coupling chain, eager to start the day. He was strangely perky and energetic this morning, she frowned.

"Since when did you become such an early-bird?!" she yawned and stretched. Her siderods creaked from the strain. She was usually the one who had to wake HIM up, not the other way round.

"Today! I'm a new and better man!" he said, pulling her chain to make her move.

"Hah! I'll believe that when I see it!" she grunted, following him to the yard. She biffed into the first truck, harder than she used to, working with aggressive moves.

"Now, who's the dark cloud?" he chuckled, referring to her comment about his mood when he was new to her yard.

"You dragged me out of my sleep this early, what do you expect?!" she grumbled, brutally pushing some coal-trucks towards him. It was his turn to go to the coaling plant with them. They bumped into his buffers, causing a cloud of coal-dust to puff up. They were empty, but hadn't been properly cleaned.

Arry was covered in dust, but still laughed and was in a disgustingly good mood as he pulled them out of the shunting yard.

Alex stared after him until he rounded the bend, then she couldn't hold back anymore. She just let the tears flow, making her make-up run. She didn't care if it made her look terrible, nobody cared about her anyway. Except Mr. Scott, but he was a human and didn't count. Oh, how she would have given her left siderod to get a friend, someone to talk to, someone who didn't mock her, but supported her and comforted her when she needed it. Arry had been like that for a while, but he had suddenly turned against her yesterday. He was so disappointed in him, she wanted to scream.

"What's wrong, Alex? Are you in pain?" Mr. Scott's soft voice said as he walked up to her and placed a hand on her cheek.

"No…" she sighed, blinking away her tears. "I… I feel a bit lonely."

"Even with Arry here?" Scott sat down on her buffer-beam, leaning his face against hers to comfort her.

"Especially with him around." She mumbled.

"I thought you to get along now? Did you have a falling out?"

"You can say so…" she sniffled, letting Scott dry her tears and wipe away her runny mascara.

"What was it about, if you don't mind telling me…?" he said softly.

"I'm not even sure… We were talking and having a good time and suddenly we started throwing insults at each other and he started being downright mean to me… and I ran off, and when I came back he was just terrible, laughing at me and mocking me! I hate him!"

"No, you don't" Scott smiled. "I think you like him… a whole lot! Or else he wouldn't be able to make you cry like that over some bickering. You're tougher than that, I know… so…am I right?"

"Maybe… I don't know… I'm confused." She whispered. "I had a crush on Den at Vicarstown dieselworks… and I thought Arry was my friend… but when we talked about it last night, he started acting like a complete jackass!"

"Wait a minute… am I getting you right? You talked to Arry about your crush on Den?" Scott chortled and had to cough to pull himself together. He was starting to get a picture now.

"Yeah… I might have rubbed it in a little too… he was so mean, and I wanted to get back at him." Alex admitted.

Mr. Scott chuckled. "Oh, Alex… my sweet girl… you do understand that you threw gasoline on the fire, right? He's jealous… and jealousy can make a man quite despicable if provoked."

Alex snorted. "He's not jealous, he's just a jerk! He has made it very clear to me that he doesn't like me! He constantly talks shit about my looks and personality!"

Scott smiled and blinked at her. "If you two were humans, you would be the girl every boy has a crush on, and Arry would be the boy from the schoolyard who is constantly pulling your pigtails to get your attention… Even I can smell the pheromones here, Alex!"

"If he wants my attention there are hundreds of better ways to do it! He's an adult and should act like one, not like a damn kid!" she snarled.

Mr. Scott jumped down on the ground again, blinking at her one last time before he walked back to his office.

Alex snorted, going back to work. It was rather quiet day though, not much to do, so she just took and extra round to see if everything was in order, moving some of the trucks now and then, just to do something.

She hissed inside as she heard Arry cheerfully whistling on a melody as he came back from the coaling plant. He smiled big at her, like he had just won a lottery or something. Did he really get that much joy from seeing her miserable?!

"Have you been crying, Alex? Your eyes are sore." He asked friendly.

"No! I have allergies…" she tried to cover up.

"Allergies, huh? What are you allergic to?"

"I'm allergic to YOU!" she barked and trundled off to be alone. She really didn't have any plan on where to go, she just thundered down the line as far away from him as possible.

She threw a glance over to Sodor as she passed the spot where she had taken Arry when he was homesick.

"I really hope you guys will take back your damned, rude shunter soon!" she hissed, continuing down the line.

Arry raised an eyebrow as she sped away, but shrugged and parked himself in the shade. The sun was really scorching today.

He regretted being so mean to Alex the other day, but he just wasn't able to apologize. If he did, she might find out that he was interested in her, more than just her friendship.

The past weeks, he had become intrigued by her personality, her wits and how she always came up with a stinging reply if he teased her.

He was drawn to her like a magnet, no matter how much he fought against it.

She was haunting his mind day and night… especially at night. He had woken up, having left a sticky, oily stain between the rails more than one time. She had a major role in his wet dreams lately.

He grinned, wondering what she would have said if she had known. She would probably be disgusted, she had made it clear that she didn't like ironworkers, hazard-stripes or facial hair…

"Ironically, she has hazard-stripes herself…" he chortled to himself.

He knew he had taken it a bit too far last night, but he had been so butthurt when she started talking about Den, he just hadn't been able to control himself. He wanted to push her into the mud and hold her down until she forgot everything about everyone else.

When she had run off to Vicarstown, his heart had been shattered into tiny pieces, he was so sure everything was over. If Den had returned her affection, he would have been out of the picture for good, and worse yet, he would probably have to witness her loving someone else, kissing another male, bringing another male to her shed, forcing him to stay outside while she and her boyfriend explored each other behind closed doors. The thought made him cringe.

When she had returned, telling that Den had rejected her, he had been so relieved. But still he wasn't able to be a good friend and be nice to her. She had hurt him bad and he wanted her to cook in her own oil after that. His mood had improved a lot though, he had felt uplifted and energetic, waking up early. He couldn't recall the last time he had woken up this early and actually wanted to work.

If Alex didn't like him, he could at least work side by side with her. And as long as she wasn't seeing someone, his jealousy would be kept at bay. He wanted Alex all by himself, protect her, keep her from harm, fight for her, be with her, kiss her… he had never felt like this before. He knew he had to work with that jealousy of his, he didn't want to act like psycho every time she looked at another male. In his previous relationships, he had been rather indifferent if anyone showed his girl any interest. But this time it was different.

He knew he couldn't own her, and he had to work on this. First he had to win her friendship back, then he could at least try to be a supportive friend. And if she dragged a boyfriend home, he was going to suppress his jealousy and be happy on her behalf, no matter how much it would hurt.

Because he knew it would hurt to see her with someone else…


Bert was finally released from the dieselworks, feeling a lot better. Fat Hatt had been there when he woke up and told him about his plans for Arry, it had made his day. He had even been able to smile after that. Dart had even brought him news from the shunter Arry was working with at the mainland, she had come to visit. It was that pink, tattooed and pierced diesel that had come trundling into the shed yesterday when he was having his generator overlooked.

He didn't know why, but when she mentioned his brother's name, he had just blacked out, not wanting to talk to her. He had hidden himself in his shed and stayed there until Dart dragged him out to finish his work on him.

Now he regretted not talking to her and ask her out about Arry. But at least he knew Arry was doing fine and also doing a good job over there… and that he wasn't going to stay there permanently.

Uplifted, he thundered towards the ironworks. Home!

Fat Hatt had told him to take it easy and not overdo things from now on. Still, he was planning on working hard, but this time he would listen to his body.

He wasn't going to push it too far this time.


To be continued…