Happy New Year! 2016 is here! :D

I really have to make sure I have these chapters planned out before I write them otherwise I could get really stressed out plus the chapter might be confusing for some of you because I'm writing it on the top of my head...And to be honest...I don't see this story being any longer than maybe 15 or so Chapters? I'm still in the not sure zone on that but I don't think it'll be too long. I know what to end it with; it's just the case of how long it's going to take me to get there.

Actually, as I was writing the previous Chapter it got me into a serious Cars mood because of that particular slightly mature scene if some of you know where I'm getting at. I will get into more detail about that in later Chapters.

Now, all this talking has given me ideas. So sit back and read on Chapter 10 of What Happens Next! ^^

Cars (C) Disney Pixar

Chapter 10 – A Sudden Rush

Two Weeks Later

"Should I get a white coat or a silver one?" Sally asked to Flo.

The two were in Flo's house discussing how Sally would look for her wedding, even though she knew she was busy, she spared her lunch break with her gal pal to get some planning done, even if it had only been two weeks since he proposed.

"It's up to you honey, but to be honest I couldn't get a paint job for mine since Ramone was the only one I knew who could change my coat." She explained with a wink, indicating that Sally should know the rest of the story.

Sally chuckled, she was glad that things had changed since then, but also felt a little disappointed and rushed with how quickly things were changing around her life these days, some days it would make her head spin. She didn't even think the Wheel Well Motel would be restored; now it has a plasma screen TV in it for everyone to see.

"Okay, I guess I'll just decide on my own what looks best on me." She replied, looking out the window towards Ramone's paint and body art shop.

They continued to discuss other wedding plans but didn't set anything in stone, they chuckled in the fact of whether some of their humorous plans should be used just to see Lightning's reaction to it, however it did make Sally feel a little sorry for him. Flo assured her that things would work out all right in the end.

"I just don't know what's going to happen next..." She sighed, changing her mood as she thought about what Lightning had been talking to her on and off about.

Flo parked herself next to Sally with a smile of assurance. "Don't you be having any doubts about your relationship. I've seen how you two act around each other and it's just as strong as my marriage to Ramone, and you're not even married yet so I assure you that everything will turn out just fine."

Sally pouted and looked down at the ground in thought; she was worried how she was going to balance everything. "I don't know how everything is going to be okay if I'm so busy running two motels while he works all summer away from home..." She ended with a sigh.

"Well, you're doing a fine job now; I don't see you struggling much in the future. Now, I have to get back to work but I must assure you that you don't have to rush things."

After they both left Flo and Ramone's home, Flo went back to work at the cafe while Sally drove back up to Wheel Well while in thought what Flo just told her.

With what she had told Lightning just a couple of days before he proposed to her, she felt like Lightning was rushing their relationship too much. Sally began to think more in depth with how to go about this sudden proposal after assurance that things wouldn't be rushed.

Her expression changed to frustration and annoyance when she thought it was Lightning trying to make it all up in one full swing while he was off season. That wasn't what she wanted, on top of her two motels she had to run; it was too much of a rush to take in all at once.

She decided to have a long discussion with him later that day, but for the time being she thought of positive thing such as how her two motels were booming with customers and how quickly profits were going up to keep the two motels running.

It made her pleased as she arrived at the motel and had a check in with her hired staff before going to the front desk to manage things.

Meanwhile Lightning was helping out Mater with rounding up the tractors as he had accidentally let them escape again after tractor tipping them from the night before. The tractors had run wild overnight and had startled Sheriff in his sleep, which made Mater do some community service, Lightning offered to help since he was doing some tractor tipping with him, so Sheriff made the two of them round them up for the afternoon and then see him to give evidence that the job was done.

"Boy I love tractor tipping these fellas!" Mater exclaimed, chuckling as he used her tow cable as a whip for the tractors.

"I just find doing this a little less amusing, but whenever I'm around my buddy everything is amusing!" Lightning replied with exhilaration, loving that whenever he was around Mater he couldn't stop smiling and laughing at everything he would do.

There was a brief moment of nothing but tractor whipping and the sound of a race car engine trying to steer them in the right direction, until Mater decided to bring up relationships.

"So you know I haven't seen Holley in a while but we do talk every now and then through calling."

Lightning knew he would bring this up; it was one of Mater's favourite topics to talk about. He knew that Holley would always call him but he wondered why Mater wouldn't call to her for a change, he hadn't asked the question yet but now seemed like a good time.

"Why don't you call her? It seems to me that she's putting more effort into this relationship more than you...not that you're not putting a lot of effort in but it doesn't appear balanced...if you know what I mean." He tried to explain while trying to not offend Mater and make him feel bad.

The tow truck sighed as he blasted another whip at the tractors and Lightning managed to steer them all back into the field where they belonged, it was then that Mater answered.

"I understand what you mean...I just don't want to interrupt her because of all they spying work she does...I don't want to call her when she's in the middle of being undercover or something..."

Lightning nodded in reply, now understanding why he couldn't call her. "That's alright, she has an important job to do...and so does Sally." Then, Lightning chuckled in thought of the similarities in his and Mater's relationship with their girls. "You know...actually it's kind of weird that both our ladies have important jobs to do while the two of us slack off half the time."

Mater chuckled in joke to Lightning's realisation. "That's true, but you're just off season until summer time, right?" He asked, before wanting to talk more about his work in towing and salvaging.

"Mhm, but I do have to prep for the races about half a season earlier so I'm generally busy from mid April to around the end of September."

"Oh okay, and with what I do, I don't just slack off you know." He reminded, bumping Lightning's fender with his tire. "I tow cars and salvage for any car parts I find lying around." He explained proudly, raising his front tires to make him stand taller.

A chuckled in reply was Lightning's response. "I know, I just mean what we were doing just then with the tractors, that's all..."

The two drove back into town constantly bragging about how important each other's careers were plus if they were going to do tractor tipping again that night.

Lightning wanted to do tractor tipping again with Mater because of how fun and amusing it was, but he didn't really want to round them up the next day because of a cranky police car and because of an annoyed Frank almost turning them into haystacks.

"Thanks buddy but I think I'll pass; besides I think we want Sheriff to remain cool for a day or two."

Mater sighed, knowing that his buddy had a point. Although Mater enjoyed almost more than anything else to do tractor tipping, the least favourite part for him was getting told off by Sheriff and then getting punished for it. "You're right; I think we'll wait a day or two before we tip some more tractors over." Then, with a snicker in thought, Mater smirked at Lightning with overconfidence. "I bet I can beat your record of tipping many tractors at once." He said with a wink.

Lightning remembered when he tipped all of them at once and compared the sound of his engine to the sound of Mater's horn, he laughed at the thought of his horn being louder than his race car engine. "I don't think any horn can beat the sound of my engine!" He humoured his best friend, challenging him.

"We'll see about that buddy." Mater ended with a wink.

Later that night, Lightning was glad that he and Mater didn't go tractor tipping like Mater originally wanted to, because when dinner came around Sally asked to talk to him about their relationship afterwards and the serious expression on her face meant that it may be a long night.

So, when it was time to close up shop, Lightning drove home and waited for Sally as she went to Wheel Well Motel and the Cozy Cone Motel to shut them up for the night and ensure that all her customers had all they needed until she would be back the next day.

At 10pm, Lightning was beginning to feel sleepy. His eyes grew heavier and his yawns became more frequent, but he knew he had to stay up for Sally because from the sound of when she asked to discuss things later, it didn't sound like it was something that was only going to take a few sentences from one another and thing the conversation would be over.

Lucky for Lightning, as he yawned yet again, he heard Sally come through the door and call out to him. This made his body automatically not tired and wide awake to listen to everything that Sally had to say.

"Hey Sally, so what's bothering you?" He asked in a caring tone, giving the puppy dog eyes at her almost, which made her smile a little before her serious face returned.

"I think we're rushing ourselves with our relationship."

This took Lightning off guard for a moment, he had to process before he could respond, and as he thought about her words she looked at him with slight suspicion and concern. In some way she was right, but in ways she was wrong. He sighed as he realised why Sally had brought this up.

"You think we're rushing things because you're too busy and can't keep up?" He asked, thinking that's why Sally brought this up.

"Exactly, you don't give me warnings about sudden changes in our relationship. There are just these huge speed bumps you speed over. You know our relationship is nothing like your races." She explained, narrowing her eyelids at him.

Lightning felt shocked and appalled that Sally would think all of his life revolved around racing; it was only up until he ran into this town that all of his life revolved around racing, now his life was seriously complex. "Wait, I never said that. Our relationship and my racing career are separate. I never think of them as the same thing. And Sally, we've been dating for four years, what's the harm in getting engaged?"

Sally sighed in frustration as she paced around the room. "I just don't have the time to organise these sorts of things on top of my two jobs...plus I don't want you working on all of it to distract yourself from your racing, this whole engagement and wedding planning could throw you off your racing game when the next season comes around." She explained, taking Lightning's career into consideration as well.

"Yeah but...Sally, that's not for another five months. I'm sure we'll have some things worked out by then." He assured her, approaching to rub his fender against hers before she backed away suddenly.

"I know, but to me that's so little time to plan everything...I don't even know when you want to get married. I know you'll have time off season to but I'm always working..." She exclaimed, giving a sad sigh.

To Lightning it sounded like she had so little time on her tires that she didn't have time to do much else in her life. It made him wonder when was the last time she took a vacation from working at her two motels and let others run it, or close it for the day just to have some time to herself.

"Tell you what, how about you take some time off in between now and the next five months so we can do some planning together. And remember, it's not just me that wants to get married...right?" Lightning asked, suddenly feeling worried that he was the only one wanting to be married sometime in the near future.

Sally looked up at her fiancé, seeing the sudden worry and anxiety printed all over his expression. He was thinking that she didn't acknowledge and accept this whole marriage concept and was having doubts. "No, I didn't mean I don't want to get married...I really do. I just...don't know when would be a good time to get married. Having a wedding in less than five months to me feels a bit too rushed."

In his mind, he sighed in relief that she wasn't doubting their relationship, and it was only time that was getting in the way of what they both wanted.

"Don't worry; I didn't think you would be open to being married before my next season starts. We can always wait until afterwards, or the year after. I'm willing to wait, just don't keep me waiting too long." He ended with a wink and a small chuckle.

This made Sally giggle in response to Lightning's words. "Don't worry, I'll try and find time for us."

Lightning was about to drive up to the bedroom before he raised an eyelid in suggestion, which made Sally know exactly what Lightning was thinking about.

It wasn't long later; around an hour later that they were both tired enough to fall asleep by each other's side and sleep peacefully for the night.

The next day spoke too soon for the two of them. It was Tuesday so that meant it was very busy for Sally. She was surprised when she realised how late she slept in. It was after 8am when she saw the time and almost dashed away before even thinking to wake Lightning.

But with Sally's dashing around to prepare herself for the day was enough to make Lightning stretch out his tires and wake up to see what his fiancé was doing, before realising what the time was.

"I guess we shouldn't have had anything planned at the last minute last night." He joked, getting ready for the day himself.

"Sorry but I don't usually sleep in this late! I hope my other staff are doing okay without me." She said before checking her calendar, remembering that she had to do something important today.

Lightning chuckled, adoring Sally when she was in a rushed mood, but didn't want to interrupt her as she had things to do and so did he. He was going to help his friends around town and give a personal tour to some fans that haven't been to Radiator Springs more often than they should.

"Oh, I have to have my oil checked today. Hopefully that won't take too long..." She hoped, looking down before rushing over to Lightning. "Okay I'll see you at lunch time, don't get up to any mischief while I'm at work." She warned, remembering that he and Mater got up to no good the night before.

"I won't." Lightning replied in a higher pitched voice, making Sally giggle a little as she drove out the door.

So Sally went off to her oil check up while Lightning went over to Fillmore's for a change to see what kind of fuel he had brewing. He was going over to Flo's Cafe, but feeling still a little on the tired side he decided to go somewhere quieter, even if there were a few cars already at Fillmore's organic fuel place.

"Hey Fillmore, what's brewing today?" Lightning asked, approaching Fillmore and his brewery.

"Hey man, I haven't been brewing any new stuff lately because these customers just love the speed boost one. They say it's because of you." He replied in his hippy-like tone.

Lightning felt modest, but let out a small chuckle to his friend. "So I am hungry this morning. Could I just have the speed boost can?"

"Sure thing."

Around an hour later, Sally came out from her oil check with some very shocking news that she wasn't expecting at all. It was only meant to be a routine check up, but now it seemed like she didn't want to go back in there again.

So...what is it? I wasn't going to have this semi-reveal until the next Chapter but I see no harm in moving things along quicker, just so I don't drag this story out too long ;) It was kind of a filler chapter since I hadn't really planned this chapter until the last minute but I guess it'll do.

I'll see you next week for Chapter 11! ^^