He wagged his tail, and carried her over to the cone when she yawned. "I'm not sleepy, honest." Mariana's feeble arguments drifted back to Lightning and Sheriff, who chuckled and departed, Flo already having went inside her café lobby. Lightning went back over to his cone, where he found Thunder and Mariana passed out on the couch. He chuckled and laid a blanket over the two of them before he left to go check on Mater's remaining children. The rest were all asleep soundly, except for Jack, who was awake.

"You all right?" Lightning asked quietly, looking down at her worriedly.

"My axle is aching a little, but other than that, I'm fine."

"How much is 'a little'?" Lightning asked suspiciously. Jack sighed.

"All right, you got me. It hurts worse than you can imagine."

"That's what I figured. I'll go get Sally. Maybe she'll know what to do."

"Sally always knows what to do." Jack teased, grinning wryly.

Lightning laughed and left to go get Sally, who arrived shortly, yawning. "...And I just don't know what to do, Sal, so I thought you could help, because you always know what to do." Lightning's voice drifted into the room from the hallway, and Jack barely repressed a snort of laughter. Buttering Sally up is bound to get you anything, Lightning. She thought, giggling. Sally and Lightning came in, and Sally looked at Jack's axle, which was still bent. She tried moving it gently, then backed off as Jack hobbled around.

"What's the prognosis, Dr. Carrera?" Lightning snickered, and Sally tried her best not to laugh.

"I think all you should do is try popping it."

Jack tried to pop her axle back into place, and with a ringing sound of metal being hammered on, it popped back into position. "Thanks, Sally!" Jack exclaimed quietly, hopping onto Sally's hood and hugging her.

Sally smiled down at her and replied, "Glad I could help." Jack slid down her hood and onto the floor, where she fell promptly asleep. Sally smiled and drove out of the room, Lightning following her. He kissed her, then told her he'd see her in a few hours. She grinned, then yawned, said goodbye to Lightning, and left to get a few more hours of sleep. Lightning did the same, and soon all was quiet in the cone.

Lightning awoke to something poking him sharply in the tire. He yawned and stretched, then looked down. There was Sara, gnawing on his tire with her little fangs as though she were trying to tear a chunk off. She bit into his tire particularly hard, making him yelp and back off. "I'm not a chew toy!" He exclaimed, and she growled before attacking his tire again. "Come on, let's go get you something you can actually bite into without hurting me." He looked around when he promptly had an idea. "Let's go see if there's any extra cones lying around." Lightning said, and drove over to Sally's where she was just coming out of her lobby, yawning. He caught her mid-yawn with a kiss, surprising her.

She returned the kiss, then opened her eyes and smiled. "You're the only one I know that can kiss like that."

Lightning blushed, but asked Sally if she had any traffic cones lying around, all the while trying to fend off Sara, who was continually biting him harder and harder. "Looks like somebody's discovered their new chew toy." Sally laughed, then replied that she did. She drove back into her cone, then brought out a cone a little bit bigger then Sara. She waved it teasingly in front of Sara, who let go of Lightning's tire and scampered over to the cone, sinking her teeth into it.

"Problem solved."

"Thanks, Sal, you think of everything." Lightning said gratefully. "Now, as for you-" He scooped Sara onto his hood, laughing as she giggled. "That wasn't very nice, missy. I think you deserve a great, big tickling!" He began tickling her, laughing as she giggled and squealed and screamed, squirming around on his hood wildly. Her cone flew off his hood and she whimpered, reaching out a tire for it. Lightning set it back up onto his hood and she pounced it, then began chewing on it, growling like a little puppy. Lightning and Sally laughed, then drove over to Flo's.

"Looks like someone's found herself a chew toy." Sheriff snickered, looking at Sara as Lightning set her down on the ground.

"Yeah, her first one was me!" He complained, which got a laugh. At a whimper from Sara, Lightning looked down at her. Somehow, she had managed to get the cone wedged around her hood, front fenders, and undercarriage at the top of the cone, and now was lying on the ground, puzzled at what to do. She squeaked and the cone amplified it, making it about two times louder.

"Awww, Lightning, get her out." Sally begged, even though she was laughing quietly.

Sara shook her hood as hard as she could, trying to get the cone off, and ended up whacking Lightning in the bumper with the other end.

Everyone at Flo's burst into laughter except for Lightning, who looked down at her and exclaimed, "Hey! Why am I the only one you beat up?" Sally laughed even louder, watching Sara turn around and growl at him through the cone.

She drove over to Fillmore, whimpering, giving him the puppy eyes. He pulled the cone off with some difficulty, then handed it to her again. She growled, then pounced it, tumbling hood over wheels. She bit into it ferociously, growling and snarling like a pint-sized bear. "She's feisty!" Sheriff exclaimed, laughing.

"Yeah, you can say that again." Lightning muttered miserably, watching her. She heard his voice and growled at him again before going back to attacking her toy. "See? She doesn't like me!" Lightning told Sally, who was laughing. "And I haven't done anything to her, either!" Doc was chuckling softly to himself as he watched Sara growl slightly louder at Lightning. "Her brothers like me, I don't know why she doesn't!" He complained. Sara looked at him and opened her mouth to growl, when Doc stopped her, laughing.

"All right, Sara, that's enough." She looked to him eagerly, then began attacking the cone again, sinking her fangs into it deeply.

"You told her to what?!" Lightning asked in shock.

"I told her to growl everytime you said something, or picked her up, or did anything." Doc replied, laughing. Sara came over to Lightning, and as he braced for another attack, she opened her mouth widely. She squealed loudly, pointing at Lightning's hood. Lightning picked her up, and she snuggled against his windshield, purring softly. She laid down on his hood and yawned, but then Lightning set her down.

"Oh, no. You go sleep with Fillmore. I don't want you waking up and biting me again." He said, nudging her in Fillmore's direction. She sighed sleepily, then drove over to Fillmore's side, snuggling against his tire. She was asleep in seconds. Thunder woke up abruptly, and looked around. Someone had laid a blanket over him and Mariana, and the sunlight was streaming through the windows.

He stretched, yawning widely, and noticed that the fur on his front legs was all matted with mud. He looked down at Mariana and saw that she too was covered with dried-on mud. He nudged Mariana, trying to wake her up. She didn't wake up, so he tried again. He got a mumbled, groaning reply, and Mariana rolled over on the couch, pulling the blanket over herself more. Thunder yipped urgently, nipping her tire gently. Mariana sighed, mumbled something that sounded like, "Thunder, I'm sleeping, go away.", then fell asleep again.

Thunder whined and carried her outside. He caught Red's attention, and he washed the mud off both of them with a high powered-stream of ice cold water. Mariana woke up with a gasp, spluttering and gasping as the water hit her. Thunder motioned to Red to turn the hose off, and he wagged his tail when Red did. Mariana was standing there, glaring up at him, her eyes bloodshot, shaking from the temperature of the water. "Thunder, I was sleeping." She whined, and he had to look closer to see that she wasn't glaring at him, her eyes just made it look like she was. She snuggled against his side, still soaking wet, and fell asleep again. Seeing her eyes made Thunder realize what had happened the night before, and he nuzzled her gently. He was doing a horrible job of being the father-figure-slash-friend she wanted.

He fell asleep also, curled up around her, his muzzle on her hood. Lightning petted Thunder gently with a wheel, and watched as he curled tighter around Mariana. Sara had managed to fall asleep with the cone still in her mouth, and was chewing on it occasionally in her sleep. Lightning looked over as the rest of the group emerged from his cone, yawning sleepily. "And there's the rest of our entertainment." He snickered, as Paul tumbled down the ramp first, hood over wheels. He stopped a few feet into the road going around Sally's motel, looked around curiously, then got up.

Harry came tumbling out the same way Paul had, only he stopped at the edge of the ramp and began whimpering. Sally drove over to him, and picked him up. "Don't cry, it's all right." Sally comforted him, and set him back down when he giggled. He drove over to Flo's with her and Jack, giggling as Sally tried to tickle him.

He darted over to Flo, scrambled onto her hood by himself, then said, "Bah?"

"You little dickens!" Flo said, laughing and hugging him. He squealed with laughter and hugged her hood, before falling asleep again.

"Is it naptime already?" Lightning snickered, looking around at Mariana, Thunder, Sara, and Harry. Paul had driven over to Doc, and was now giggling as he played hide-and seek with him. Everytime he would hide, Doc would wait for a few seconds, then nudge him gently with a tire, sending Paul into fits of giggles.

"I think he wants ya to go with him, Doc." Sheriff spoke up, for now Paul was pulling on Doc's tire and babbling.

"All right, let's go." Doc sighed, scooping Paul onto his hood. He pulled out of Flo's, then paused. "Where to, little guy?" Paul promptly pointed back towards the Butte, and Doc sighed. Of course. He drove off towards the Butte, and soon Sara was awake. She nudged Fillmore's tire, then pointed with her front tire towards the road.

"C'mon, man, I'll take ya to my place." He picked her up with a tire and drove off towards his dome. Harry woke up, blinking and yawning sleepily.

"Naptime's over for you, right sweetie?" Flo smiled down at him. He giggled and hugged her hood again. "Goodness, you like hugs." She smiled, hugging him back with a tire before he slid down off her hood. "Now, go play, okay sweetie?" She nudged him gently towards Thunder with a wheel, and he went over to Thunder as fast as he could. In one sudden move, his wheels slid out from underneath him and he landed with a painful-sounding clang on the pavement. He started wailing loudly, and raced to Thunder's side, still crying. Thunder whined and nuzzled him gently, his tail thumping the ground behind Harry.

Hi, everyone! :D Here I am! Guess what?! It's almost summer vacation for me! :D Read and review, please? ~Liz