"Hey. Hollywood, wake up."

When Jesse didn't move from his spot on the couch, Henry left where he stood in the doorway of the kitchen to stand in front of the coffee table.

"Jesse."

He tilted his head as he waited for a reply. When Jesse had called it a night the evening before but had only made it to the couch, he'd been concerned and asked what the problem was. He wasn't sure if Jesse's response of just not wanting to go upstairs had been due to pain and not wanting to manage those steps, or if there was some other aversion to leaving the first floor of the house. It could have just been plain laziness.

He'd repeatedly told Henry he was alright on his own and that he didn't have to stay with him all day and night anymore, but the idea of Jesse alone in the house that had once been so lively just didn't sit well with him. It had made him uneasy since the night of Ruth's passing.

Ruth had been the one who liked to sit quietly for hours, reading, or hand sewing or working on whatever project she had at hand. Jesse was the loud one, who thrived in the chaotic atmosphere of the track, and if it wasn't the track, then it was the rowdy bunch that spent their time on the back porch and traipsed in and out of the house on a whim.

Except lately they hadn't been able to come around as often. With whatever was going on in Piston Cup, they were tied up, with little free time to show up and spend an evening at the homestead.

Henry just didn't like Jesse being alone.

He shook himself free of his musings and looked down to see that Jesse still hadn't moved much. He reached out idly to flick his ear. "Wake up."

"Hmm?" Jesse finally shifted and rubbed at his ear while looking up blearily. "What time 's it?"

"About eight." He replied while clearing off the coffee table. "The car's gunna be here in an hour, though, so you need to get up."

Jesse sat on the edge of the couch, working through the haze of sleep while watching his brother leave the room. He yawned and stretched before folding the blanket he'd used and threw it over the back of the couch. He answered Henry's questions as he went upstairs.

"What's today?"

"Friday."

"What's the date?"

"March twenty-fifth."

"When's the meeting?"

"Was two weeks ago...Monday the fourteenth."

Henry watched until he disappeared around the corner at the top of the steps before going back to the kitchen. They'd started testing his memory a few weeks after Jesse had been released to drive, thinking that maybe little things such as the date and smaller reminders would keep him away from whatever it was that had happened the afternoon he forgot the others had been to the house.

Jesse still didn't remember it, and had explained to Henry that the only way he could put it in to words was that it was like he wasn't there. It's hard to remember something you weren't present for, and it was unsettling for everyone involved, to know that Jesse couldn't piece that day together. The accident made more sense, he'd been injured, and who would want to remember something like that? He'd been part of the conversation that day at the house, though, he was the sole reason they'd even been there, yet he had no recollection of that afternoon.

Henry waited on the back porch. Scuffing his shoe across the wooden planks, he glanced down and noted vaguely that the porch could use a decent sweeping. Not to mention the amount of work that needed done outside already. They'd need to decide if they were even attempting to get the garden planted that spring. He knew Jesse was more focused on getting the car back in shape, and getting the ground ready and seeds started just didn't seem to be a priority at the moment. They'd handed off most of the garden's bounty the previous fall anyway. Henry had grown tired of trying to find different ways to use the massive amount of vegetables and Jesse hadn't had an appetite while recuperating.

He glanced at his watch for the time and then over his shoulder as the screen door slapped shut.

"Thought I might miss him." Jesse muttered, turning the collar of his jacket down as he looked out toward the barn.

Henry only hummed lowly, glancing at his watch again before speaking. "No. You got about ten minutes."

He watched in silence as Jesse rounded the table and sat in his usual corner, kicking his chair back on to two legs with an arm on the railing as they waited. The last of the bruising around his eye had finally faded to nothing and aside from the fact that he still seemed a little pale at times, the everyday onlooker would never know what he'd been through.

No one would ever know what they'd been through. Sure they had close friends who had offered support and well wishes, but no one would ever know the full depths of despair on those nights in Jesse's hospital room. To see the kid looking like he'd never been in an accident was a sight Henry never thought he'd see. He wanted to say something, because they'd never fully discussed everything that had happened, going all the way back to Ruth's death, their parent's deaths, to really have the heartfelt conversation they should have had months ago. Every time he tried, though, the contented calm in Jesse's eyes crushed his voice. The kid had danced with death and come out unscathed, for the most part, and while he still had his bad days, Henry couldn't bring himself to bring him down when he was finally beginning to see some of the old Jesse. The one who'd been excited to get in to Piston Cup, who knew there was work to be done and was willing to put in his time.

He heaved a quiet sigh, having a discussion like that while awaiting company wasn't the best idea, but at least getting the idea out for later...

"Jesse, I-"

"He's here." Jesse was up from the table in an instant, and down the steps as two vehicles pulled up the drive.

Henry only scratched at his brow with his thumb, staring at a spot in the yard a moment before following. "Yeah..."

By the time he caught up with Jesse, a silver 1951 Hornet was parked beside a cab. He assumed it was to take Hudson to an airport once he left the Hornet with them.

Pleasantries were exchanged and they shook hands before John Hudson Jr. explained that he'd do whatever he could to help them get the car back in shape.

"Working the new safety features in might be tricky, they won't be modeled for a '51."

Henry shifted his weight to one side with his arms crossed, all three of them looking at the vehicle as he spoke. "It feels like starting over. We have so many things to relearn after the meeting they had two weeks ago."

"No one wants to see that happen again."

"Shouldn't have happened in the first place." Jesse muttered darkly, though his attention was more on the vehicle in front of him, already eyeing whatever could be swapped out on his car. The windshield, a headlight...front axle...

While Jesse studied the car, John explained to Henry what had led up to the merger Hudson had undergone and the move to Wisconsin.

The Fabulous Hudson Hornet may have been dominating on the track, and while that had caused production to skyrocket in the first three years he'd raced, the Hornet model had already begun to decline in the end of '53. John shook his head, he hadn't been thrilled with the changes in design that had taken place, because what had been changed wasn't their biggest concern.

"Ford, Chevy, you name it, they'd had the upper hand on us when it came to styling. They could change the look of their models on a yearly basis without the alterations a Hornet would need."

They were all aware that Hudson Hornets were known for their step down chassis, where the footwells were recessed between the car's chassis rails, rather than sitting above the frame. It was what gave the Hornet such a low center of gravity and made it handle so smoothly on a track.

It also made it impossible to upgrade the model, no one had wanted to spend the money on redesigning the frame every year.

"We dug our own grave." John shrugged his shoulder, his coat over one arm. Michigan was nothing like Georgia.

"Nash bought you out." Jesse glanced up. They hadn't mentioned anything to Lou yet, but it wasn't like it was a secret either.

"Nash and Kelvinator. The name will still be used, but for all intents and purposes, Hudson Motor Car Company is finished."

Jesse felt a knot form in his stomach as he offered a few words of sympathy, unsure how else to react to news like that. Hearing they'd just slap the name on a vehicle that wasn't actually a Hudson wasn't what he wanted to hear. It was a hollow acknowledgment to a company that had helped him make a name for himself, only to silently disappear. Maybe years down the road it would be mentioned now and then. What ever happened to that car company? You know that one we heard so much about in the beginning of Piston Cup? Hudson?

He shook his head when he realized he was being spoken to. "I- sorry?"

"Could I see the car?"

"Oh, sure-" He turned toward the heavy barn door behind them and reached for the handle.

"If not, I underst-"

Jesse hummed and shook his head, more than a little proud of himself when there was no pull or sharp pain in his shoulders as he heaved the door open and stepped inside. "No, if there's anyone who should see it, it's you."

Henry glanced between the two, and had to agree with the former company vice president when he whistled and looked toward Jesse in surprise.

"Kid, you are lucky to be alive."

"That's what they've been telling me."

They could have spent the afternoon going over the damage and discussing where to start with repairs, but there was a cab waiting and John had a flight back to Michigan.

He stood on the opposite side of the cab with the door open, looking at the silver Hornet that would soon be used for parts. "You know it's fitting..."

"What's that?" Henry shielded his eyes against the late morning sun as Jesse closed up the barn door again.

"Dad really loved that car, and he'd really loved Piston Cup once you two were out there. It's fitting that his car can be part of that now."

If Hudson Motor Car Company was going to be a thing of the past, at least there was still a legacy to keep the name alive.

Neither Henry or Jesse could think of anything worth uttering in reply, and when the other seemed to realize this, he only nodded with a grin and wished them well with their upcoming project.

Jesse bit the inside of his cheek as the cab left, only looking toward Henry once it was headed down the road. "Hudson's done."

"They are..."

"He seemed-"

Henry shoved the key to the silver Hornet in his pocket and turned to inspect their new project.

Neither of them were comfortable enough to admit they'd been given a car by a broken man.

They had work to do, there wasn't time to think about it.


"I'm amazed there are so many new faces, considering..."

"Considering what?" Emily nearly snapped at her brother. She'd had more than enough of his commentary throughout everything that had been taking place since the meeting at the beginning of the month.

"I would just assume green drivers would be concerned after seeing a veteran like Hudson wreck the way he did."

"Wrecks happen to anyone, you've always been the one to say that."

She couldn't put her finger on why, but Emily had been feeling isolated through the process Piston Cup had been going through in the preseason preparations. She'd paid close attention during the meeting two weeks ago but continuously had to return to her own notes to keep everything straight. On top of all the new regulations, questions and concerns still being addressed, she was supposed to be organizing information for upcoming teams that would be joining the sport and racing for the first time in only a few months.

She really needed another person helping her.

"Still." Alex replied, whether she was listening or not. "I just assumed rookies would be jumpy."

"Rookies are young and naive."

"'Says the twenty-year old."

Emily only pursed her lips and continued laying out forms that would go in to packets for the new drivers joining that season. Copies of bylaws, proposed regulations that were still being hashed out, a statement concerning the incident of the previous year and new safety requirements all stared at her in silence.

She wanted to fling them off the desk. If she signed her name one more time that day for incoming or outgoing mail, she was going to scream.

Alex eyed her quietly and raised a brow. "You seem a little tense."

"A little?"

"Just making an observation."

"You could maybe help."

"I have to go."

"Of course you do."

"I wanted to talk to a few sponsors before the season gets started."

Emily rolled her eyes, what would he have to talk to sponsors about? Unless he was just being nosy?

She shouted after him as he left her office, leaving her alone with her stacks of paperwork again.

"And I'm twenty-one, thank you very much."


Jesse had been hesitant to start on their work with the car and had allowed the intact Hornet to sit undisturbed in the driveway for days. It was Henry that had finally said they needed to get to work.

"I just feel like I'm taking something away from them..."

"Jesse, he gave you the car. He knows exactly what you intend to do with it."

Jesse had stared at the pristine front end and chrome grill. It would have been his car's twin before the wreck. If it were red, he might have just kept it and had the decals and lettering slapped on.

Except it was silver, and not his.

He didn't react when Henry gave his shoulder a rough pat. "C'mon. Help me get that windshield."

They worked endlessly. Henry had closed the garage again, because it wasn't a necessity to their finances and it allowed them to work uninterrupted.

The others were able to stop by a little more often, and would give updates to what was happening in the world of Piston Cup while watching them work.

"The meeting was a nightmare." Lou started one afternoon.

"Necessary, though." Junior sat on the stack of dirt track racer tires in the corner. "At least we don't have to do the physicals again."

Jesse glanced up from where he sat on the wooden floor of the barn, helping his brother work on getting the tangled mess of a grill off his car. "They do away with that?"

"No, but they're keeping our records of our previous physicals on file."

Jesse only nodded, distracted by the tool he heard fall through to the floor and smirking at Henry's hissed comment. He reached as far as he could, muttering that he'd get it and handed the wrench back as he answered River's question.

"How'd your last visit go?"

"I'm driving, everything looked good."

"Think you'll be ready for this-" Junior cut himself off at the look Henry gave him over his shoulder. "-next season...?"

The season started in less than two months, there was no way Jesse would be ready.

"Next season." Jesse nodded and sniffed when the dirt they kicked up from the floor became too much. "Start slow, like running your shine."

Junior gaped when the others laughed and sputtered in surprise. "You think I'll let you after a comment like that?"

"Yeah, you'll need the speed."

"He's got you there, Moon."

"Like that hunk of junk can-"

"Just wait." Jesse raised a brow, still working on the grill. "By June I'll be running circles 'round all of you again."