It was time for Team Sodor to depart from Vicarstown for The Great Railway Show in London, but they were a little behind schedule. James, Edward, Rebecca, Thomas, and Gordon were all waiting around for Meredith. She had overslept and was puffing at full steam down the mainline to try and make up for the lost time.

Sir Topham Hatt kept checking his watch as he waited in Gordon's cab. "Oh, that little engine. She's going to make us late."

"I'm sure she's coming as fast as she can, sir." Gordon reassured. He didn't like seeing the fat controller cross, but he disliked it even more when he was cross at Meredith. Then a whistle called out from behind. All the engines ceased their mumbling and the crowd waiting to bid the group goodbye had gone silent.

Gordon turned his attention to the empty track beside him and his breath caught in his throat when he saw Meredith. Her iridescent white livery glittered even more brilliantly in the fresh morning sun. Intricate black and gold lacework patterns branched off the stripes on her boiler and her eyes were lined with gold. She smiled at Gordon and he could see her face had been brushed in a fine platinum glitter. She was absolutely stunning.

All the other engines were in awe over Meredith's paintwork. Even James who was also done up in gold and black. Brian had just puffed up and gave his sister a proud grin. "You look amazing, Mer."

"Thank you." Meredith said shyly. She glanced at Gordon. The big engine's smile brightened and he quietly mouthed 'I love you'. Meredith gave Gordon a nudge to his footplate. She wished she could be more outward with him, but with Sir Topham Hatt watching from Gordon's cab she had to remain cautious.

"Good, good! Let's head out everybody!" Sir Topham Hatt bellowed from Gordon. The crowd on the platform cheered as all the engines gave departing whistles and started off towards the Vicarstown Bridge. Brian remained at his platform for a brief moment but decided to follow the convoy of engines as they quickly left the island of Sodor behind them.

Back at Knapford, Duck was tasked with helping to maintain Knapford goods yard with Thomas, Philip, and Diesel. The Great Western engine was doing his best to keep up with all the shunting that had to be done, but he kept getting distracted by the shenanigans of the other three engines. At that moment Diesel was chasing Philip across the yard with a car full of smelly, squishy garbage.

"Boys!" Duck called. "Boys, will you knock it off?"

Thomas had just pulled in after taking cars to the quarry and before he could react, Diesel shunted the car of garbage right into him. The tank engine was splattered with stinky, greasy trash. Diesel squawked in laughter as Thomas tried and failed to shake the sludge off his body.

Duck sighed. He started to miss dealing with Donald and Douglas.

"Thomas; go get cleaned up. Diesel; would you please stop being so… devious."

"No." Diesel rolled away in a cackling cloud of exhaust.

"Oh bother that engine…" Duck grumbled. He watched Thomas puff back towards the wash down then proceed to nearly collide into Philip and his line of empty flatbeds. "How does anything get done around here?"

On the Mainland, Flying Scotsman was at The Great Railway Show mingling with several other Mainland engines, including Spencer.

"I heard Sodor was competing again this year." Spencer said with a smug grin. "Those silly engines have no place in a competition such as this. They'll just end up embarrassing themselves as they did last time."

Flying Scotsman chuckled. "They are a persistent bunch, aren't they?" Scotsman only knew that Gordon was returning to compete in The Great Race, but he didn't know of the other engines that were being brought along. "Do you know who all is coming?"

"Hmm." The private engine twisted his face in thought. "There's your brother, of course. I believe James is coming back for the Parade of Decorated Engines. Edward I heard is competing in the shunting race, and there are two new engines that I'm not familiar with that are competing as well. In what competitions, I cannot say."

Scotsman wondered if perhaps Meredith was competing, but he didn't have to wonder for long. Gordon's whistle echoed across the show yard from the entrance and all the engines turned to look as Team Sodor as they all proudly poured into the yard. Rebecca shoved through to the front, her mouth agape in excitement. "Oh! How amazing is this? Look at all these engines!"

Gordon rolled his eyes as he stopped to allow Sir Topham Hatt to climb down to the registrar. He noticed his brother leering at him along with Spencer and a few other large engines he didn't recognize. Gordon scowled which only made Scotsman's smirk grow. Then Meredith popped out from behind Gordon and drew their attention away from him.

"Oh my god!" Meredith exclaimed as she puffed to be beside Gordon. "This place is huge! I don't think I've seen so many different engines in one yard." She was oblivious to the distant stares directed at her. She looked at Gordon who was trying hard not to put himself between her and Scotsman's posse. "Are you nervous?"

"Me? Nervous? Never." Gordon forced himself to look away from his brother. "Only weak engines feel nervous."

"Mhm." Meredith raised her brow. She didn't believe him. That was when she noticed Flying Scotsman watching her.

"Who is that?" Spencer whispered to Scotsman. He had been to Sodor many, many times since Meredith was built, but he somehow managed to never cross paths with her.

"Her name is Meredith." Scotsman said quietly. He knew Gordon would be watching him like a hawk, but he could care less. All he could focus on was Meredith.

"She's breath-taking." Spencer said.

Scotsman leaned close to Spencer. He dropped his voice to a dark whisper. "Even more so when you get her alone in a berth."

The silver streamlined engine returned Scotsman's smirk. "Oh really?"

"Assuming you can get her away from Gordon." Scotsman continued. "My brother doesn't like to share. You know how he is."

"Gordon? I didn't think that stuffy engine was capable of pulling such a beautiful specimen."

"He must have some tricks we don't know about. Meredith is rather bound to him." Scotsman said with a frown.

Spencer huffed. "I never imagined Gordon the type to pursue a female."

"Me either." Scotsman watched Meredith as she crossed the yard with James. She glanced over to him for a moment while he wasn't looking. She wondered what he thought of her new paintwork. Not that she cared.

Gordon watched Meredith go with James to be checked into the parade and decided to talk with his brother. He rolled over to Flying Scotsman and Spencer and put on his best grin. "Hello, baby brother."

Scotsman glowered. "Hello, Gordon. Ready to lose the race again, are we?"

Gordon was confident and seeing his brother squirm over Meredith made the Sodor express engine feel extremely vindictive. "Well you're certainly not going to win if you can't pry your eyes from my partner long enough to see the track."

"I can look and drive, little brother." Scotsman said with a wink. Scotsman had pretty much forgotten Meredith's rejection of him. He wanted her and he was going to have her one way or another.

Gordon drew closer to his brother, their buffers inches away. "Did you forget what happened the last time you meddled with Meredith?"

Scotsman pretended to ponder for a moment while Spencer watched with blatant curiosity. He wasn't entirely up to speed of the brothers' competition. The private engine felt like he was back at the Duke and Duchess' estate peeking into their living room while they were watching their soap operas on the television. But this time the soap was playing out right in front of him.

Scotsman finally returned his gaze to Gordon with an evil grin. "Well… I don't remember anything happening the last time."

Gordon's smile dropped. "What do you mean?"

There was another pause. The sounds of rail fans cheering and admiring the engines flooded the hot summer air. Sweet and savory scents floated from the many food vendors just meters away from the confronting engines. A young boy stared with wide-eyed delight at Spencer, Gordon, and Flying Scotsman as he was tugged along by his tired mother. He was completely innocent of the engines' quarrels.

Scotsman took notice of the small boy and waited until he was out of earshot before buffering up to Gordon with a sneering grin. "I think you know exactly what I mean, little brother."

Gordon pushed against his brother and kept his voice low. "Say it. I want to hear you say it."

Spencer suddenly became aware of the precarious situation and began to back away slowly along with the other engines in close proximity to the blistering brothers.

Meredith was getting into line with James when she noticed Gordon and Flying Scotsman buffered up to each other. Her boiler felt as if it would fall right off. "Oh no."

Duck was still struggling at Knapford. He managed to reel Diesel's tricks in some, but the diesel was persistent in his nonsense and at that moment had Philip trapped in a shed. The yard was a total mess and Duck was beyond frazzled. He had no idea how Edward managed this yard and his own branch line without completely losing his steam. Especially with these silly engines. Percy had also joined -along with Charlie- and between Percy and Thomas' ping-ponging cars back-and-forth across the yard and Charlie's incessant jokes, Duck was ready to throw in the towel.

Duck chuffed over to where Diesel was holding Philip hostage and grabbed the diesel with his coupling chain and yanked him backwards to free the little box cab. "Can you please -for five seconds- stop being such a pain in my buffers, Diesel?"

"In your dreams, steamie!" Diesel gave a puff on his exhaust, shrouding Duck in a musty, black cloud before he scuttled away.

The Great Western engine sputtered and coughed. Then Thomas steamed up beside him. "Are you okay, Duck?"

"Ugh," Duck scoffed as he spit soot. "I've been better. I just don't want this yard to be in disarray when Sir Topham Hatt gets back, but no one is listening to me."

"Oh," Thomas said quietly. He felt bad. He didn't mean to hurt Duck's feelings. It's not often that the fat controller isn't around and the little engines were just wanting to have fun. "I'm sorry, Duck. Percy and I will clean everything up."

This made Duck smile. "Thank you, Thomas."

"You're welcome!" Thomas beamed as he started towards a line of goods cars for Henry.

"I'm not sure what I have to say is appropriate for young audiences." Scotsman said with a chuckle.

Gordon gave his younger brother a shove. "Say it you bastard."

At this time, Meredith had hurried over to try and intervene before the situation turned violent. "Hey! Hey! What's going on now?"

Flying Scotsman glanced at Meredith and buffered back up to Gordon with a loud bang. He looked his brother right in the eye and smiled darkly. "I fucked Meredith."

"You miserable son of a-" Gordon steamed up and pushed Scotsman backwards down the track. "How could you?!" Hot tears began to flow down Gordon's cheeks. He wanted nothing more than to turn his brother into scrap, but he backed away. His buffers were bent from how hard he shunted Scotsman. Gordon tried to blink away his tears, but they wouldn't stop. His heart was shattered. He looked at Meredith who was holding back tears of her own. "Why?"

"It was so long ago. You were still at the Steamworks. I didn't know you were going to make it." Meredith began to panic. She hadn't spoken to Flying Scotsman in months. She cut him off. She chose Gordon. "He found me and I just couldn't say no. It was a vulnerable moment and it was wrong." Meredith drove up to Gordon who was now refusing to look at her. The confrontation had drawn a crowd. Engine and human alike. Sir Topham Hatt was still distracted with registering his engines to notice the commotion behind him."I only want you, Gordon. I love you." Meredith pleaded desperately.

Brian had come up to be at his sister's side. He was shocked to see Gordon's tear-soaked face. Brian peeked at Flying Scotsman and he looked angry, but also sad. "What's happened?"

"Nothing." Gordon said finally. He started to reverse down the track. "We need to prepare for the competition. Meredith, get back to your parade."

Meredith did as Gordon said without a word of protest and she started back to where the parade was set to begin. Brian lingered with Flying Scotsman as the crowd dissolved around them. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Scotsman said. His gaze focused on the tracks in front of him. "I guess."

Brian started to back down the tracks then stopped. He looked at Flying Scotsman one more time. "I know a lonely engine when I see one, Scotsman. If you really need someone to talk to, you know where to find me."

Scotsman finally lifted his eyes as Brain disappeared to find Meredith. It was the first time he had been forced to acknowledge what's plagued the big engine for so long. Flying Scotsman had the love and admiration of the world, but he never felt more alone.

Another chapter down! I hope y'all are enjoying! I'm having so much fun writing and I feel like I'm just getting started. I'm thinking of possibly ending this fic after a few more chapters and beginning a sequel just so I don't have a 100 chapter fic. Plus I'm thinking of a pretty massive time-jump and I feel a sequel would make the most sense for that chain of events. But I'll give warning when I decide so those following can keep an eye out for the sequel.

The boys are getting bolder in their affairs around Sir Topham Hatt. I'm sure that'll end well. *side eye*

Anyhow, I don't have too much to say on this one. It's pretty self-explanatory. I'm thinking next chapter may be lighter -or not- because I want to have more James/Edward focus during the competition.

Thank you for reading and reviewing!

Much love;

Bumble

P.S. Scotsman's explicit line about Meredith to Gordon was a nod to my favorite line ever in Breaking Bad when Skylar tells Walt about her newfound physical affairs. 'I fucked Ted' lives rent free in my head and I just had to give it a tribute considering my husband and I are rewatching the show and we just recently saw that episode.

P.P.S. Also where the chapter title came from. "I. F. M." Which is a play on the BB episode title "I. F. T." I don't think I need to explain the acronyms. Lmao.