Mirrors

"Mia…"

"Go away Duncan."

"Mimi, you need to get some fuel."

"I said go away."

"I'm only saying what's best for you."

"And I'm only saying what's best for you. Go away!"

Duncan sighed, his sister obviously hadn't had a good night sleep, she was even grumpier than usual. "At least let me in."

An audible sigh of frustration. "Chrysler, what is wrong with you guys? There ain't no lock! Let yourself in you lazy cu-"

"Mia, mind your language," he interrupted, opening the door and slowly entering, "I hate to nag, but your not just feeding yourself now, you've got babies to share with, they're gonna be taking some of your supplies, meaning by the end of your expectancy, you'll be having twice your usual…"

"I ain't stupid! I know about the reproduction system!" She yelled in anger.

Duncan exhaled, rolling his eyes and said in a calm and hushed voice, "Mimi, do you have any idea how much trouble you're getting yourself into?"

Her frowned hardened as she began to force her brother out of her room, "leave me alone."

Duncan opened his mouth to say something, but the door slammed shut before a word could be said, "fine then!" He yelled, "I'm the dummy, huh!? Testing out your new found hormones on me!" Then, he simply sunk low to the ground and waited.

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"Susie," Mater began as the Porsche next to him woke, "yer were late las' night. Why?"

Susannah just sighed before answering, "Rusty. I'm sorry, I was talking to Lightning and I suppose I lost tack of time…"

"Don' lie tuh me! Doc said he saw ya go tuh Wheel Well with Thunder! That's supposed to be our place Susie!" He yelled angrily.

She flinched at his raised voice as she temporarily had fear the her husband would turn violent, as she slowly began to cry she managed to whisper, "I'm so sorry. It's just that Thunder's met a girl that he likes, so he asked me for advice."

The tow truck nodded and nuzzled his wife gently, "I'm sorry; I'm jus' not too sure on 'im anymore. I mean, he slept with ya, Suez."

She gave him a small kiss before saying, "I understand, I'd act the same if it were you and Sally."

He smiled, and began to go round her side, "I ain' one tuh be selfish, but I don' wanna share this with no one. Yer all mine Susie," he said playfully before beginning to good-humouredly gnaw at her side.

"Oh, Rusty!" She exclaimed, "Stop it! You know that makes me want to love you! I think I'm fertile!"

"Why'd ya think I'm doin' it?" He asked mischievously with a smirk upon his bumper, but then they were interrupted when they heard Mia's raised voice.

Susannah sighed, "Can you go see her Mater?" He nodded in agreement before leaving the room, a few moments later; Duncan replaced her husband's absence. "Hey baby," she began, "you okay?"

"Yeah mum," he answered, "you?"

She smiled, "I'm as fine as life can let me be," she gave her son a small kiss on the fender, "and to know that I've got you by my side for on more day, makes me perfect. How's the search for a mate going?"

He just sighed, "Not too good, I might as well give up…"

She gasped, "No! Duncan, I wasn't to be a grandmother someday! I think every girl should have a girl like you!"

"But mum, nowadays girls go after the 'bad boy' look. Maybe I should change my paint…"

"Duncan, no! Please don't change your paint; it's been the same since birth… plus, you look cute like that. But, baby, one day, you could be having the same conversation with your offspring."

"Huh," he muttered, staring at the floor, "being a dad sounds awesome."

She smiled. "Maybe you should talk to your dad."

"Yeah, I might do that," he stated, beginning to drive away.

"Oh, and, Duncan?" The teenage Dodge Ram Pickup turned around. "Don't give up, there's someone for everyone. I mean, look at, me; I've got two gorgeous children, a lovely house and… a rusty old bucket of bolts as a husband." He laughed, before just driving away.

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Mater looked to his angered daughter, "Mimi, yer my kid, I've known ya fer as long as ya can remember. Outta me n' yer momma, who're ya mos' close to?"

Mia sighed and rolled her eyes, "you."

"Who did ya always come to with ya troubles n' worries?"

Slight hesitation. "You."

He smiled to himself, "I don' like tuh admit it in fron' of yer brother, bu' I've go' closer tuh you then Duncan. Now, c'mon, tell me what's wrong."

"Dad, nothing's wrong."

"Aw, c'mon! Yer made by a bit of me, n' I know when something's wrong. If ya don' tell me there ain' much I can do tuh help."

She sighed, "dad, there is something, but I don't want you to tell anyone else. Got it?"

A silent nod of agreement in response.

"I'm… well dad, you're…" she sighed once more and bit her lip in frustration, "oh, damn it! I'm pregnant!"

"Mia…?"

"Yes dad, I'm gonna be a mum, you're gonna be a granddad." Mater's immense grin grew as he went round to her side. "Dad, this is teenage pregnancy we're talking about here you're not angry? I mean I am under twenty."

"Y'know, yer mum was only eigh'een when she had ya n' Duncan. Even then it seemed we weren' in love." Then, he placed his lips on her side and blew a raspberry, however, she was no where near amused by his actions and so she quickly turned to face him.

"Dad? What are you doing!?" She yelled, though her voice was soft.

He bit his lip, "sorry. Yer mum liked that when she was expectin', then ya liked it as a baby."

She smiled, though it disappeared as quickly as it appeared when she said, "Dad, I don't think I can do this alone."

He gave his daughter an encouraging nuzzle, "Mia… when Gravity ain' 'ere, I'm pretty sure that Duncan'll act like a dad and – when 'e wan's a break – so will I."

She smiled – but this time, it stayed. "Dad, you work to hard. Besides, how will mum act!?"

"she migh' not be angry with the pregnan' side of things, she'll probably be angry with who ya done it with. I am gonna scold ya though, Mimi: ya should'a used some sort of protection."

"Yeah, dad. I regret that part, but I love Gravity, he loves me. I trusted him not to do anything to hurt me; how could I be so stupid?" She was on the verge of tears as her statement drew to an end, but they almost dried up when she remembered that he had practically begged her to get a pill to make sure that this didn't happen, and that she had promptly declined his requests. Although, she still managed to keep her tears.

He sighed. "Yer mum acted the same as ya are now when she found out tha' I din' have the safe stuff. If I hadn've cried so badly, I wouldn' be where I am now."

She gave a small smile, "mum's way too temperamental, hey dad?"

He nudged her tire, "we know were ya get from then, eh?"

She hit him lightly and playfully, "dad, I don't get angry easily! Besides, if I was like mum then I would have to throw myself of a cliff."

"C'mon, she loves ya, she jus' doesn' know how tuh handle yer mood swings." She nudged her again. "I din' know how tuh handle 'er back in the day."

There was silence between the two, Mia looked her father over, then a question of curiosity came into mind; one that she knew she should have asked earlier. "Dad, what happened to your hood?"

He smiled at his daughter, "that's quite a good story…"

-x-ƒſαsђβα¢ҝ-x-

The light blue tow truck looked around in the darkness as the night cold temperatures began to make him shiver; he frowned at the sight of the green pickup, it was unusual that he was alone. "'Ey, Johnny," he began, "where's ya wife?"

The pickup shrugged, "havin' a baby."

"Should' ya be with 'er?"

"Mater, what the hell do ya know about women!? 'Nyway, she knows what she's doin' it's natural, y'now what I'm sayin'?" There were three murmurs of agreement throughout the group of five; Mater and Johnny excluded.

"Bu' she needs suppor', don' she?" The tow truck continued.

Johnny sighed. "And this is coming from a hopeless case." The three laughed again.

"Oh yeah?" Mater began to return the insult. "How do ya know it's yer kid?"

The pickup frowned. "You're right, she is kinda slutty."

"If I had a girl, I'd treat 'er with respect…"

"I'd be awfully sad for her." More laughter.

"Ya watch, one day I'm gonna be better well-off then ya can ever dream. I'm gonna have a Jaguar, we're gonna live in a big house, n' we're gonna have our own lil' kids! Just ya wait!"

Johnny rolled his eyes. "Mater. Poor, innocent amateur Mater. Your so inexperienced, The Manufacturer didn't place females on this earth to be respected, they were made to take our orders, do jobs and have our offspring. We are the ones who rule, we impregnate them…" More murmurs of agreement.

Mater hit the floor in frustration, "yer wrong! Ya guys are jus' followers! Get outta his shadow! Females are cars, trucks n' SUVs jus' like us!"

"I don't think anyone could be all three," the pickup added with a grin, the three laughed once more at this comment.

By this time, Mater was raging with fury, "ya know what I mean! I be' ya n' yer wife don' even like each other!"

Johnny frowned, "oh yeah? What's my relationship with my wife gotta do with you?"

"'Cause I wanna know that Jane is okay, n' tha' yer lookin' out fer 'er."

The was a momentary silence, in which the pickup rolled closer toward Mater, once he was uncomfortably close he whispered, "here's a secret, if it makes ya feel better; I ain' lookin' after her very well, she's got dents up and down her body… from me."

Then – before anymore words could be uttered – the tow truck crashed into him, "I wan' ya tuh get a divorce now!"

Johnny pushed him away. "I ain't gonna let some rustin' tow truck tell me what to do!" Then he began to attack, the others joined and Mater done all he could to protect himself; he fought back.

Oil spilled onto the ground as the five males wrestled roughly, then he felt a weight being lift off him, it didn't hurt, but it stung slightly, the four pulled away from the fight. It was only then that he realised what had happened; his hood was no longer connected to him. Just to make things worse, Johnny was tapping something under his tire. "That's muh hood!" He exclaimed, anger and shock evident in his voice.

"Yeah, I know, not a pretty sight is it?" He began to roll toward the edge of the cliff, on which they were situated, "better dispose of it." Then, with a flick of a tire, the hood disappeared over the edge.

"What the hell was that fer!?" He yelled, looking to where it had gone.

The four laughed, "Boredom," was all that he got in response, then they drove away. But Mater quickly made his way to Radiator Springs.

-x-эŋđ ƒſαsђβα¢ҝ-x-

"…When I got back tuh Doc's, Jane had 'bout six kids' tuh look after by 'erself, she finally confessed to wha' Johnny was doin'." Mater stopped his story with a sigh. "I never saw 'er again."

Mia was silent for a moment, grasping the impact of which it could have had on Jane, then she had begun to panic. "Oh, dad! What if Gravity does that to me!?"

"Mimi, y'know this towin' stuff? It's real great fer teachin' others a lesson." He looked to his daughter when she rested her frame against his, "if ya come home from Gravity's one day n' yer covered in den's, I'll hur' 'im twice as much as he hur' ya…"

"So will I," Duncan added as he rolled into the room, "I'm glad you told dad, Mia."

She smiled before turning her attention toward her father, "I want you to keep this to yourself, don't tell anyone, okay? Especially mum."

Mater nuzzled her, "I promise I won' tell yer mum."

Mia smiled and returned his nuzzle, "thanks dad."

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Thunder looked around Flo's V8 Café in despair, he knew that the 'marriage' would be a bad idea, what would Mater think when he found out about the fake proposal, the nuzzle and maybe even… the kiss?

He looked over to Chick and Gabrielle, sharing a drink fender-to-fender, both with smiles on their bumpers, although, at the sight of them, he couldn't help but think about Susannah…

He pushed the Porsche up against the wall, this just made the kiss more passionate, he smiled when he felt her tire, rubbing up against his fender, in return, his own tire travelled down her body. However, it wasn't long after this that he was pushed away. "Susannah?" He began to ask in confusion, "what's the matter?"

"I can't do this," she answered, "I'm already married!"

Then he noticed something in the distance, with a smirk he realized it was Mater, fading into the darkness. He rolled closer, "he's gone, in the past. You need to move on… with someone closer to your generation."

She pulled him closer and continued where they had stopped, "Thunder," she muttered, "next step."

He smirked, just what he wanted her to say, "alright babe." He went round to her side and made his way round her body.

"Oh Thunder," she whispered with gratification. Then, he got her tires from off the ground and managed to get his front tires-

Thunder managed to pull himself out of the reverie, now he knew he was getting himself way too deep, imagining such things with a married woman.

"Hey, Thunder," Mater greeted – forcing a happy tone and a smile, he partially resented himself for doing so, however – as he pulled up next to the Buick Regal, "how's the lucky girl?"

The Buick was confused by this, "What're you saying?"

The tow truck frowned, "But Susie gave ya advice…"

He soon realised Susannah's lie, "Oh!" He exclaimed, "Yeah… late night, a bit stupefied right now." A nervous chuckle. "Oh, I just remembered! I was gonna help her at work!"

As Thunder began to drive away, Mater got into his path, "ya were? Well, stay fer a while, when ya tell 'er that ya were with me, then she won' mind ya bein' late."

The thirty-five year old nodded in agreement, he couldn't tell the other male the truth of what had happened the previous night; for the sake of Susannah.

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Susannah sighed as she looked around the shop, for a popular town such as Radiator Springs, business unusually slow. Then her sight rested upon the mirror which used to be behind her and stared into part of her reflection, but after a moment, she rolled in front of it. "Susannah," she muttered as she admired her sleek framework, "where have you been?" She turned her wheels to allow her to view her first wedding anniversary present. A golden rime, in the middle 'Susie' was engraved…

…That's where you've been, stuck with some tow truck…

In a flash she recalled the past years, all the good times, all the bad times, all the different stages of their relationship, but one particular memory stood out…

-x-ƒſαsђβα¢ҝ-x-

Susannah sighed, looking to the Dinoco race car as he returned to his pit crew. Looking back to Mater, even though the atmosphere of anxiety had gon, she had to force those words out from her mouth…

The words that seemed to strike fear into her, and it stuck hard.

She shuffled her aching tires nervously, "Mater, I know the moments gone but…"

She struggled for the right words, nevertheless he moved closer…

"…I have always…"

Closer…

"…No matter what happened…"

Closer…

"…I so badly want to lo-"

She was cut off from the rest of her sentence when his lips brushed over hers, she was fleetingly shocked before making more pressure between their lips. Thoughts joined her (contemplations such as "should I stop this soon?" and "should I take this any further?") but with these, doubts lingered, such as "what if someone comments?" and "maybe a truck and car aren't supposed to be together". Though, she put it down to her hormones from coming out of teenage-hood and entering the early years of adulthood, although, she wasn't resisting these actions. She had wanted to be in this position for a year. It was only then that she realized her closed eyes, she opened them to see if he was enjoying the affection as much as her. She was alarmed to feel his tire against her own, in return, she began to do the same to him. After what had seemed like perpetuity, Mater pulled away.

"Well," she began, "that was, um… unexpected and little awkward, but um… yeah! I was gonna say that too!"

Then, she perceived the small crowd who had gathered when they saw the crowd that had gathered, to see a new love arise, she looked around in embarrassment, but it was swept away with four words from Mater:

"I love ya, Susannah."

In response she could only manage a smile. A loving smile. After a moment, she rushed to him in glee, "I love you too, Mater," was all she could utter as she nuzzled him.

She glanced to the damaged Lightning McQueen, silently nodding her thanks; in return, he gave two nods.

One for recognition of her thanks and the other for congratulations of the new relationship.

-x-эŋđ ƒſαsђβα¢ҝ-x-

She remembered that moment with tears swelling in her eyes, it felt as though she had been the luckiest girl alive, though it seemed – though she couldn't be too sure – that she was getting further away from Mater since that incident with Thunder. She and the tow truck seemed to be drifting apart from each other, and with each day that rolled past, the gap was getting wider at a rapid rate – it felt as though their love was out at sea.

The door slammed open to let a customer enter, she turned to face them and was surprised to see…

"Thunder? What are you doing?"

He made a noise that sounded like a laugh, "What? Can't young Thunder go around without being suspicious?" He laughed for real this time, and Susannah soon followed. But then, an awkward silence fell between the two…

"Tell me something new," the Porsche whispered flirtatiously as she slowly rolled toward the Buick Regal…

Susannah turned around; she changed the sign which hung proudly on the door from 'We're open!' to 'Sorry! We're closed!' She secured the windows so that no natural light could enter, and – more importantly – no one could see in.

"What are you doing?" Thunder asked as she turned around to face him…

The Buick Regal was shocked by this, the Porsche could tell; it showed in his eyes. Though – at her mischievous tone – a grin threatened on his bumper, "like what…?"

Susannah breathed softly against him, "maybe something I don't want to do."

Thunder knew it, she could sense this reluctance in her hushed voice and quivering breathe although there seemed like a mighty desire reflecting in her eyes. "What is it?"

She looked to him, "I need you to do something…" She trailed off into a whisper…

"Tell me your deepest… most darkest secret," the Porsche snarled seductively. The grin on the Buick Regal's fender grew; he rolled closer and whispered to her…

Thunder's eyes widened with surprise, "Susannah, you're married… I can't…"

Susannah placed a tire tenderly on his lips, hushing him instantly, "says who? Nothing's impossible, you can. Don't let a couple've signed papers stop you."

He stayed silent at this; he knew her statements were true; the problem was that he didn't want to admit it…

The same smirk grew across the Porsche's fender. "Yeah, I can make your dream come true. Only if you do something for me." She rolled closer and whispered something in return. The Buick Regal's already immense grin grew from headlight-to-headlight…

Thunder couldn't take it anymore, whatever had stopped him from holding in had suddenly snapped, he locked their bumpers into a kiss and pushed Susannah up against the desk, as he nuzzled her fender she could only mutter, "yeah, Thunder, ya got it." However, she just continued to go down her side…

The Porsche had already let out a slight lament of, "Thunder," as the Buick Regal rolled down her side…

Susannah let out a small squeal of excitement as her tires left the ground, soon after his weight sent shivers down her chassis, a few moments later, they had lost themselves in a little world of their own…

Nine months later, the Porsche lay in a white room a tired expression about her, a small bundle by her side, just moments later, the Buick Regal entered. "Hey, Thunder," she whispered, "come and have a look at our baby."

He smiled and obeyed, nudging the bundle, it moved briefly before resting again. He brushed back the baby blue blanket to reveal a Porsche Cayman S 2007, the majority of its body was red, although there was a blue stripe running up its hood and roof, a silver '56' at both its sides. Yeah, this was there little son.

"Ugh," he began playfully, "I'm surrounded by Porsche's!"

She giggled, "Oh, shut up. We need a name for him."

Slight hesitation. "Dylan?"

She smiled, nuzzling his fender, "Yeah, that's a cute name. Dylan Mackay Tow Hicks."

"It's perfect… Susie."

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Thunder collapsed on the floor next to Susannah, both breathing heavily. "What is this?" She asked. "Is it love, lust… or what?"

There was a moment of silence from him. "It feels like… love," he answered quietly, slowly managing to regain his breathe. They stayed a while like this, though it only took Susannah a moment to realise something. Something that she knew could change her life, and not necessarily for the best and could make someone's life fall apart, and she knew too well that they could only sit and watch it happen:

…I've wasted my life with Mater…

'Cause I don't care if I ever talk to you again, this is not about emotion; I don't need a reason not to care what you say… Mika is awesome (SO IS EVANESCENCE!) :-D Listen to a song… NOW… and don't forget to watch Final Destination 3! Watched it Sunday. GORE! 8D the tanning bed scene, nasty stuff… the rollercoaster's 8D yayyy… and in the gym… ZOMFG, it's so awesome…

Sorry if the last two paragraphs don't meet up to your standards, Saturday I was endured by a long and sleepless night, and thus wrote for six hours straight :-D (midnight till 6… painful). Anywayz, I'm sorta… stuck? Yesh, "STUCK!?" I hear you cry… 'tis true ladies and gentlemen, so if you have any ideas sealing with other characters (I'm concentrating a little too much on my OC's, don't you agree? Hehe, that sort've rhymed…) tell and I may use them :3
Anyway, the flashback about Mater'll intertwine perfectly with the sequel (you'll see why…), the father/daughter fluff, who enjoyed that? Well, not fluff exactly, but y'know what I mean… bonding… the flashback about the kiss was for those who have only just joined us (plus that's how I want to re-write it) AND MORE SUSIE/THUNDER! W00t! the parts in italic during that part were what Thunder wanted to happen :-)… this is getting too fun…
I've realised that I'm WAY off with Susie's age, in this story; she's 36… not 38. Think about it, she was 18 when the twins were born, then there was that time jump of 3 years she'd be 21, then CA took place 5 years later, making her 26 and this takes place 10 years later thus she is 36… I'm not too sure… if you're good at Math and have five minutes on your hands, does anyone wanna do it? PLEASE!

Reviews please! Take a bow, play the part, of a lonely, lonely heart, say goodbye to the world you thought you lived in…