I think this will be the final chapter, mainly because a lot of the last chapter seemed like things were starting to come to a close, and with the ending I have in mind, the ending isn't really far away at all. In that regard, I will try to make this chapter long for the sake of it being the last chapter, making sure I tie up all loose ends so I do not end up leaving you people with too many unanswered questions.

It was a fun ride making this story, my only regret is not updating and completing it sooner, and I do deeply apologise for that. I hope that this final chapter will make everyone happy. :)

Enjoy the final Chapter of Twist of Fate. ^^

Cars © Disney Pixar

Chapter 10 – A Final Decision

The sun rising took too long for Lightning to wait any longer to tell Sally his thoughts from that dream, he shook his hood and immediately headed over to Flo's for his morning drink, only to find that it was still too early and nothing was open yet. Then, he heard feint peaceful music down the road towards the highway, he knew who it was immediately and drove carefully down the smooth road he had paved many years ago towards Fillmore's tent.

As he drove there, his eyes looked to the road he was driving on, and a wave of emotions hit him in that moment. He realised just how truly blessed he was to have wrecked their road and then fix it, but not just fixing the road, but fixing the hearts and hopes of the townsfolk, falling in love, finding a true best friend and most of all, finding a mentor that would guide him to a great future.

He smiled at the thought; before he knew it, he was at Fillmore's.

A few hours later, everyone was situated at Flo's. Sally was still in the Cozy Cone office taking in a few new reservations while a few other customers had just checked out that morning, she had already been working very hard and it was only nine in the morning. She did not take much wonder as to where Lightning was; she knew that with everything going on he would not speed away from home. When she saw him driving towards Flo's, she smiled lovingly at him while she cleaned out some of the cone rooms, but also saw there was a look on him that she could not describe. It seemed like he had something on his mind but was remaining quiet and patient about speaking up about it.

She was sure it was to do with last night, has he come to a final decision? She hoped he did, it was worrying to think that he was considering retiring now. He was in fine condition to race as soon as he had enough time to rest and recover, and perhaps being out the next season would allow him more time to fully recover before coming back to a fresh start the following season. However, she somehow understood why he was considering it. Many of his old friends were beginning to retire, and eventually Lightning would break down too much and his parts would become rarer to find, and perhaps having a whole racing season off would change his racing generation too, causing others to retire and the whole racing sport being new generation racers.

There were many factors supporting him retiring, but she knew Lightning was a fighter, and that is why in this situation she had to be the one to fight back, because Lightning was slowly giving up on racing ever again. As much as seeing him around here more often, it was honestly a little sickening to see him home all the time, he still has so much to live for, he's not that old, even if the racing sport is slowly changing to open up new generation racers into the sport. He still has a lot left in him; she does not want that to go to waste.

She does not want him sitting in Doc's old shed watching his races all day everyday and eventually regretting his decision to retire. He needed to decide properly when he was done, not when the press or the sport thought he was done. From her point of view, it seemed like he was beginning to be pressured into hanging up his Lightyears. Did he not realise that she loved watching him race, watching him being in his element? Mater, Sarge, Fillmore, Guido and Luigi loved being with Lightning on the track too, helping him out every time he came to a pit stop, supporting him as much as they could, and being happy with whatever number he finished the race in.

Sally hoped he had made the right decision with his racing career, and unfortunately she felt like if his final decision was to really retire, and he was serious about it, she felt like she would not have much of a choice but to accept what he had decided to do. That hurt her, she did not want him to stop racing, but she couldn't stop him from making that decision, she knew it was his life, but was he aware that his life decision would affect her and everyone else too?

After completing the new reservations, checking out the early birds for the day and then cleaning out the empty rooms, she headed over to Flo's, where almost everyone else was. It was nearly ten in the morning and a lot of them were not at work yet, they were all hanging around McQueen talking in laughter. Sally raised an eyelid in slightly confusion, her lips parted slightly as she approached, but before she could say anything, Lightning turned and greeted her lovingly.

"Morning Sally, nice to see you this morning."

She cleared herself before responding. "And good morning to you too." She replied to him, before raising her voice. "And good morning everyone." Sally greeted in a nice and loud enough tone so everyone else could hear her.

They all greeted her good morning as well, Flo greeted her personally, serving her Sally's favourite can of drink, and she winked at her before driving off to serve other customers. Meanwhile Sally drove up to Lightning's side, happy yet confused to see him so happy and full of life after his situation last night. She wanted to ask, but he was in a happy conversation with Ramone.

"Thanks for the tip Ramone."

"No problem man, it's a great idea to get planning sooner than later." Ramone replied casually with a wink.

Without a warning, Lightning nuzzled Sally's side, she gasped at his touch, and the confusion began to become more prominent in her expression. "Okay, what's going on?" She asked in suspicion.

Lightning moved back slightly with a confused smile. "Nothing, I'm just very glad to see you. I was hoping we'd get to talk when I woke up, but I guess I was the early bird this morning." He explained with a chuckle.

"Talk, about what happened last night? Have you made a decision? What are-" She was shushed immediately by a peck on the lips from him, after that brief tender moment they both shared, Sally continued to speak but was interrupted by Lightning.

"Slow down." He insisted with a smile. "I was just talking to everyone about more wedding plans." He stated.

Sally paused herself, wedding plans? She thought to herself why would he be talking about planning their wedding after what was going on the previous day? The only thing he seemed to talk about was retirement, had he already made the decision to retire, hence he was making more wedding plans? She did not want to jump to conclusions or ask why unless things started getting too confusing for her. Therefore, she simply nodded with a smile and joined in on the planning.

It was almost two hours later that everyone had to go to work by this point; luckily, the customers understood that after Lightning being out of hospital from the blinding light incident, it was fine for them to check on him after the fact.

Lightning and Sally were lucky the reporters weren't in town that day, however they were surprised that there weren't any of them around, especially after Lightning being out in public again after his incident. Lightning thought that maybe they were respecting his wishes and gave them both some privacy for a while, that's what he thought until he and Sally drove past Lizzie's house and they heard the radio speak his name.

"Due to Lightning's recent injuries involving the flashing cameras of the fellow press, we can safely assume that Lightning McQueen will not be returning to the Piston Cup racing season no more. We have heard rumours of his retirement yet these facts are yet to be confirmed my McQueen himself. His lawyer and fiancé Sally Carerra insists that the press leave him be due to his recent crash injuries and allow him to recover until further notice."

His instant reaction was a scoff, he never confirmed to anyone that he was going to retire, and he was right about a lot of the press being against him not retiring, as well as the racing community. "Hey, they can't say that about me."

"We have one of the other near retired racers with us; care to tell us what you think. Is Lightning McQueen finally retiring from racing?"

"You know, I always found him to be quite the fighter out on the track, but not the kind of fighter that shoves others aside to get what he wants, much like another racer who is currently retired with one Piston Cup trophy on him. In my opinion, I cannot see him retiring so soon. I know he has been in the sport about five years longer than I have, it's only because of today's more modern technology that's forcing us slightly older racers to retire to make way for these quote un quote 'new generation' cars."

"We have had reports of several sponsors forcing their racers to retire; some have reported the lack of wins since some of the new generation cars have been out on the track. This could just be a matter of time until Lightning McQueen confirms his retirement, do you agree?"

There was a sigh from the fellow racer. "Look, I'm not sure. After his crash and hearing updates on how he's been going I think he'll be okay in time to race again, but right now he can't do much. I just hope the best for my friend and hope that you get a safe recovery Lightning."

With a sigh and a smile, Lightning thanked his fellow racecar friend on the radio, before cruising off towards the end of the main road with Sally, and at this time, Sally wanted to ask many questions.

"Stickers, what's going on? I wasn't going to say anything but today hasn't been going the way I was kind of expecting it to go." She admitted honestly.

He paused, stopping in his tracks while his smile remained on his lips; he turned to look at her. "Well, what were you expecting then?" He asked gently.

Sally thought for a moment, in a way she was expecting him to still feel down in the dumps, she was surprised to see him so happy and full of motivation, especially about planning their wedding. She felt like something must have happened to him overnight that caused him to seem so happy after what happened the previous day. It might have been a dream, or he was simply right from last night, it seemed just sleeping on it made him have a clear mind about things. Yet he still had not given a clear answer whether he was retiring or not.

"Well, I guess I didn't expect to see you so happy today, especially after what we discussed yesterday." She explained, still having that confused expression.

Lightning almost forgot that yesterday he was in an opposite mood as compared to how he was currently feeling; he understood why she was a little confused as to why he seemed so positive all of a sudden. However, when he was with Mater moments ago at Flo's he did not breathe a word of confusion, he began to think that Mater was just being supportive, or did not notice the change in him. He decided not to think about how Mater thought too much, as Sally's confused and worried expression were all he could see within his eyesight.

He breathed a sigh with a smile as he looked at her lovingly. "I'm sorry; I guess I forgot how I was feeling yesterday." He admitted. "But I feel like I should tell you why I'm acting like this now in contrast to how I was feeling the day before."

Sally did not breathe a word, her curiosity began to boil at this point, and she had to know what was going on. Her eyes widened as she waited in anticipation for the answer to roll off his tongue.

"You see, last night I had this horrible dream, well I say dream when I could say nightmare instead…but anyway, this…nightmare I had…it reflected on my thoughts lately about retiring now. It began to scare me how much it would pain me to see you in pain because I put myself in danger when I race. In that dream…I witnessed the worst part of a crash…seeing your face and hearing the painful cries in your voice…" He stopped briefly, his eyes filling with tears as he imagined that very scene playing out in front of him.

She felt a tear shed in her eyes too, she could not bear to see him in pain too. "I'm sorry, but I do think what you're describing so far might be over exaggerated…this may seem terrible to ask but….how severe was the…crash?" She asked, hesitating a lot, feeling like she would be playing with his feelings asking too many questions after he just explained part of that terrible dream.

There was a brief moment of silence, she knew what she asked of him only made his thoughts go deeper and further penetrating his already saddened feelings towards what happened in that dream.

"It was…life threatening…" He sniffled quietly, painfully imagining his crippled body lying in front of Sally.

Sally gasped in pain, deeply saddened by his response. "Oh…I couldn't bear to see you like that…"

Lightning nodded slowly before shaking his hood to get the negative thoughts off his mind. "What I realised from that dream…was that anything could happen to me at any time on the racing track, and it wouldn't even be my fault. I also realised that retiring now…I still have so much to live for, I do not think it is best to cash in now. I decide when I'm done racing, not the press, not the sponsors, or other racers, only I decide when it's time to hang up my tyres and spend the rest of my later years here…with my soon to be wife." He ended on a loving note, nuzzling Sally's side with a pleasant moan in happiness.

She could not help but smile widely as she nuzzled him back, overwhelmed with joy that he decided that he was going to continue racing the moment he was fully recovered. "I was hoping you'd say that." She replied in a softened tone.

They shared a brief intimate moment with each other before they slightly broke apart from each other, but keeping their tyres almost linked together, Sally wondered why Lightning was going this way towards the end of the main road. Was he going to the court, or could he possibly be thinking of going out to Wheel Well? She thought with how careful Lightning wanted to be that he would not even consider it in his current condition.

"So, why were we going this way?" She asked, a little worried about the answer she might get.

Lightning chuckled as he closed his eyes slowly before breathing in and out deeply. "We are going up to Wheel Well to look at where we're going to have the wedding." He answered, with the smile and the look in his eyes seemed so pure and full of love.

Sally paused and almost gasped in awe, he was planning to have the wedding up there? She thought to herself. It was so thoughtful of him to start planning their wedding up there, but a thought occurred to her that caused some serious worry.

"We are going to drive up there slowly, yes? I don't want you to-" Before she could continue, Lightning interrupted her.

"Risk myself getting hurt I know, I think it's best for us to…as Ramone would say, go low and slow." He said in a flirtatious tone, smirking at her with one of his tyres reaching out for hers.

Sally smirked too. "If you say so Stickers, let's take this ride low and slow, just for you." She replied, pecking him on the lips.

With that, they both slowly drove up to Wheel Well, neither was tempted to drive up there in a hurry, and besides what would be the hurry for? Neither of them had plans to do, and until Lightning was fully recovered he didn't have much to do around town either. All he wanted to do was spend as much time as possible with his friends but most importantly….his soon to be wife.

From that day on, Lightning understood that he cannot control fate, it may have its twists and turns but one will recover and get through them, all it takes is a little time and rest as well as a clear mind. He understands now that if he does crash, it was not because of him, it was only a twist of fate.

THE END

What a perfect way to end it, exactly what I had in mind for it. ^^

So, what did you guys think? I know some of you may be saddened that I ended the story with only 10 chapters, the initial plan was to do the wedding and the family stuff, but I say if you want to read about that, be sure to check out my other Cars story "What Happens Next" for how I wrote their wedding and their future family. ;)

I'm very happy with how this story ended, and will I write more Cars stories in the future? Well, it's quite possible I will, but for now, I'm going to start working on my other unfinished story on here. It was a lovely journey writing this story for you all, I just wished I finished writing it sooner. Oh well, I guess it was just a Twist of Fate that I finished it now instead of last year! :p

See you all again someday soon for another Cars story! ^^