It was a foggy autumn morning along the coast of Sodor. Meredith was pulling an early train to Arlesburgh Junction. She loved this route in particular as she got to see the miniature engines, Rex, Mike, and Burt. They were great fun and she thought they were the cutest little engines, though she never said so out loud. She didn't want to hurt their feelings. Even though they were small they were still very useful engines whose jobs were just as important as all the full sized engines.

She pulled up to the platform to let the passengers off. They were all chattering away as they eagerly awaited the arrival of the mini engines. Meredith looked around but she couldn't see them. "Hmm," she mumbled. "They're usually here by now."

Just then a streak of red flew up the ramp beside the platform, startling Meredith and her passengers. "Oh!" She looked up to see Mike chuckling as he lined his cars of ballast up to be dropped into the trucks below.

"Good morning, Meredith." Mike said with a smirk. "Didn't mean to frighten ya."

"That's okay, where's Rex and Burt?" Meredith watched Mike reverse back down the ramp with his now empty cars.

"Rex overslept and Burt is having issues with his safety valve."

"I did not oversleep." Rex the green miniature engine pulled up with his open passenger cars, ignoring the cooing from all the people as they boarded. "My boiler just took more time than usual to warm up."

"Sure, sure." Mike grumbled.

Rex rolled his eyes and laughed. "Any new gossip among you standard gauges, Meredith?"

"Hmm," Meredith moved forward onto a siding as she tried to think of any new drama. "Oh! Daisy got into trouble with Sir Topham Hatt because she was making Ryan do all her extra jobs."

"What a pampered coach that diesel is." Mike sneered. "I'm surprised she's even kept on with how little work she does."

"True, but I think she learned her lesson." Meredith said. She opened her mouth to speak but a familiar whistle cut her off.

"Mornin' all," Duck pulled onto the track beside Meredith, he was coupled up to his three faithful slip coaches. "I hope you little engines aren't distracting Meredith from her work."

Meredith blushed, but didn't say anything and Mike snorted. "She's allowed to stop and talk for a minute, Duck. No need to keep a tight reign on her."

"There are two ways of doing things," Duck's expression was stern. "The wrong way and-"

"And the Great Western Way. We know." Mike retorted, earning him a cold glare from the green tank engine.

"Right," Duck said, raising his eyebrow. "And the Great Western way would be for Meredith to carry on with her work. There is no time for socializing."

Meredith sighed as she backed out of the siding. "Bye, guys."

"Bye," Mike and Rex said in unison as they watched her puff away with Duck starting off in the opposite direction.

"Hey! Hey!" The mini blue engine, Burt, slid into the station beside Rex, his face red from trying to get there as quick as he could. "Has Meredith come yet?"

"She's already gone," Rex said as he took off with his passengers.

"Duck sent her away, the bossy boiler." Mike said with a frown.

Burt felt disappointed. Meredith always had new gossip to share and he enjoyed her company. "Awwh." Burt moaned before puffing slowly away to pick up cars for his wool deliveries.

Meredith sulked along her line as she continued her passenger run. She was on her way to Knapford from Harwick. "Stupid, Duck." She growled to herself. "Always bossing me around. Why can't I work and talk to my friends?"

Another moment passed, Meredith's lip was jutted out in a pout, when she heard a whistle on the adjacent track. She whistled back then looked to see Oliver pulling cars of stone with Toad at the back. "My my, Meredith. That's quite a lip you've got going on there. What's the matter?"

Meredith sighed. "Duck is so bossy. He wouldn't let me talk with the miniature engines at the junction."

Oliver chuckled. "That's his job, Mer. He's supposed to be that way. He'll lighten up once you've more experience."

The little white tank engine huffed. "I hope so. Work isn't everything."

"Sure it is," Oliver said with another chuckle. "An engine isn't a proper engine if they've no work to do."

"That's no fun." Meredith murmured to herself as Oliver and Toad chuffed away.

Oliver puffed along his line. He had just finished delivering some stone to Arlesburgh West and was headed into the harbor when he heard Duck's whistle ahead of him. "Duck!" Oliver tooted loudly and the tank engines stopped as they came up to each other. "You got a second?"

"Sure, what's the problem?" Duck said. He was pulling his slip coaches, but he had no passengers so he had a moment to spare.

"I saw Meredith earlier. She seemed pretty cross with you." Oliver couldn't help but chuckle. "I don't think I've seen an engine pout quite like that. She may even have James beat."

"Oh dear," Duck cut his eyes with a sigh. "She was mad about this morning with the miniature engines, I assume."

"Yeah, she felt you were a little bossy with her."

Another sigh from Duck. "I suppose I'll have a talk with her. I didn't mean to upset her so."

"She's a new build. She's just got that fresh curiosity that makes it hard to focus on work I'm sure." Oliver said confidently.

"Miss Meredith just wants to have fun, Mr. Duck." Toad chimed in at the back of Oliver's train. "She's a free spirit."

"Engines are not meant to be 'free spirits'." Oliver said firmly. "We're built for work that the humans just can't do."

"Indeed," Duck said with a slight nod of his boiler. "I'll find her this evening and set things right. Thank you, Oliver."

Oliver gave a cheerful whistle as he started off again. "Not a problem."

Meredith was waiting for her evening passengers at the Vicarstown station. Her curious eyes scanned the people as they strolled by on the different platforms. A young couple stuck out to her. They were holding hands. The woman looked sad, she kept wiping at her eyes. The man lifted her chin, giving her a reassuring smile before pressing his lips to hers. Meredith's eyes grew wide as she watched them intertwine.

A deep chuckle from the adjoining platform caused Meredith to pull her eyes away from the scene, and she cocked her boiler to look at the Flying Scotsman as he slowed to a stop beside her. "Humans have all the fun, don't they?" He said with a sly smile.

"What were they doing?" Meredith asked. She looked back to where the couple were standing, but they had gone.

Scotsman laughed again. "They were kissing, little Meredith. It's something people do to show affection for one another."

"Oh," Meredith paused, then looked back to the big engine. "Do engines kiss?"

"Not typically," Scotsman said. "Our buffers tend to get in the way. Plus most engines just aren't interested in intimacy or their controllers simply forbid it."

"Oh," Meredith said again, but this time she sounded disappointed. "How are engines supposed to show their… affections to each other then?"

"Through words or favors. Perhaps helping an engine with their jobs."

The little white tank engine wasn't happy with this answer. She scowled. "Why is everyone so obsessed with work?"

Scotsman laughed. "It's what engines are supposed to do. It's what we're made for."

"So we're just not allowed to have fun." Meredith huffed.

"Well I didn't say that." Scotsman said. He quite liked the little tank engine's tenacity. It was refreshing. "It just has to be a little more on the down low."

Meredith still wasn't satisfied, but she pushed the subject no longer. She looked over Scotsman. He was a very handsome engine and his two tenders were most impressive. She couldn't help but feel a little bubbly in her boiler whenever she looked at him. She wanted to be closer to him, but being confined to their separate tracks made it impossible.

Scotsman smirked when he noticed Meredith's proding eyes. "Easy there, little Meredith. You don't want to get caught up in something you can't handle."

Meredith quickly looked away, her cheeks bright. She wanted to retort but she didn't want to get herself into trouble. She glanced back over when she heard his whistle toot and pistons pump. "Bye." Was all she could say and she watched him steam away into the crimson horizon.

Meredith was nearly to her shed when she saw another tank engine there, waiting for her. It was Duck and he looked at stern as always. Meredith groaned, but continued on towards the empty siding where she slept. She stopped in front of Duck, but refused to look at him. Ryan and Daisy were both in the shed watching the two tank engines, but they kept to themselves. Only exchanging a concerned glance between each other.

Duck started up. "Get turned around, Meredith. You and I need to have a word."

Meredith sighed, but did as she was told. She turned around and started down the track beside Duck. She kept ahead of him, as she didn't want to look at him.

The two puffed in silence for a moment until they were far enough away from any possible eavesdropping. Then Duck stopped and so did Meredith. "I understand you're still rather cross with me about this morning. I'm sorry for coming off a bit too harshly." The Great Western engine said. "I know everything is still so new and exciting for you, but you have to understand I only have your best interest in mind when I get onto you."

"How is it in my best interest to not let me talk to my friends?" Meredith hissed, she still refused to look at Duck. "You talk to yours all the time."

"Mer, I've been doing this for quite some time. I've established myself. Sir Topham Hatt knows just how useful I can be, but you, he's still figuring you out, Meredith." Duck moved forward, and turned himself around before he headed back to Meredith on her track so he could look her directly in the eye. "You've never worked a railway before, and if he determines you to be too distracted he'll scrap you."

"Scrap me?" Meredith finally looked up at Duck. Their buffers were nearly touching, and she could see just how serious he was. "What do you mean by that?"

"He will kill you." Duck said slowly. He hated using that word, but he needed Meredith to understand. "Engines are only meant for one thing, and that's to work. We're allowed to have friends, yes, but if you're viewed as useless you're not worth keeping on to the railway controllers. They'll send you to the smelter's yard without a moment's hesitation."

Meredith opened her mouth to try and respond, but she was shocked. She didn't realize the situation was that serious. She didn't want to spend her life working, but she also didn't want to die. "But- but… I don't want to be… scrapped. There's so much I want to do." She stared up at the starry night sky. "Why is being an engine so… awful?" She dropped her eyes and started staring at Duck's buffers.

"It's not awful," Duck said, his tone softened when he saw how sad Meredith looked. "It's just… different. You still have so much to learn and in time you'll see it's not as bad as it feels right now."

Meredith looked back to Duck. They had turned their lamps off so both their faces were only lit by the bare moonlight. She let a small smile slip which made Duck smile in return. Meredith did like Duck, she just wished he was a little less old fashioned, but she did believe he was trying to watch out for her. She bumped Duck's buffers playfully. "Can I go to sleep now?"

Duck rolled his eyes but laughed. "Yes, you can go to sleep."

Meredith began reversing down the track, then stopped and looked at Duck again. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Mer." Duck said as he pulled away, lighting his lamp and giving her a bright goodbye whistle.

Hello, all! I hope whoever has been reading has enjoyed this little fic so far. I'm more or less just writing this as a way to keep my sanity as a stay at home mom, but I'm also surprisingly invested in the whole Railway Series/Thomas & Friends world, universe thing. It's way more in depth than I had ever realized and I'm still learning so much about it. Anyway, I've not much to say this go around, but I hope you, lovely reader, have enjoyed thus far. I will say the rating may change just because of language and implied situations. This is not a fluff fic, I do not intend to make it super graphic and gross, but this is a fair warning as I'm not 100% on the direction this is gonna go.

Anywho! Thanks for looking!

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