Hey everyone! Here is the second chapter of the story. I hope you liked the first chapter and will enjoy the second part. I'll try and keep the word limit to a thousand or a little more since I want to go into a little detail about Lynda and Strip's relationship and how Lynda learns to accept that she has to go through these hard times. So anyway let's dive right into the story.

Lynda and Strip had finally arrived back home. Lynda had asked the track officials to have a police team escort her and her boyfriend out of the track. The officials kindly agreed. Because Strip was still sore from his injuries, Lynda had asked them to send an ambulance over to them, so this way he could ride the ambulance back to their place and she could follow closely behind them. Once everything was organized and ready to go, the ambulance took off toward Strip's house. Lynda followed closely behind. Now here they were. Back into their peaceful and quiet home. Strip had closed his eyes again as soon as his tires touched the soft covers of the bed. Lynda stayed with him for a while, and then went down to the kitchen to make him some warm soup broth. As she waited for the broth to get warm, she glanced down at the floor.

I should've done something. I should've stopped it in anyway that I could. But then again, what is he thinking of taking part in this sport? Racing? Is he really going to chose racing over his family? No. Snap out of it Lyn. Snap out of it. That's just your mind getting to you. You are blowing this way out of proportion. He loves you too much to abandon you. He'd never do that.

Suddenly, Lynda snapped back to reality. She saw the soup broth overflow on the stove and immediately put the flame on low. She sighed and pulled a bowl from the cabinet and filled it with the warm liquid before taking it back to the bedroom. Strip slightly opened his eyes and saw her carrying the bowl of soup broth.

"Hey. I got you some warm soup broth. I thought you might want it." Lynda said, as she placed the bowl down in front of Strip.

"Thank you. You didn't have to do it." He smiled and took a few sips of the warm broth and then laid down and closed his eyes again. All he wanted was to rest and get better so he could go back out on the track. Lynda smiled before giving him a gentle kiss on his fender and leaving the room to clean up the mess that was left in the kitchen.

It was extremely exhausting. Lynda didn't think a medium size carton of soup broth would create a mess this big. Then again, if she had paid close attention to the timer, none of this would've happened. But because she was distracted by other distractions and the wreck and caring for Strip, she allowed this to happen. She knew it wasn't her fault. She knew that it was just carelessness she had done. And next time, she would focus more on the stove instead of getting distracted.

After an hour of cleaning, the kitchen was back to being spic and span. Lynda sighed with relief and settled at the kitchen table. She began to feel huge regrets about dating a race car and getting involved with such an intense sport. She even wondered if Strip could balance family life and racing. Most racers would struggle to balance both of them because they would always travel a lot on the road and be so exhausted sometimes, that they couldn't spend time with their families at all. Lynda quickly shook herself out of her thoughts and went back to the bedroom. She had to take care of Strip. It was all about him now, not her. And Lynda just kept her thoughts to herself. She didn't need him to hear anything that might upset him. He just needed to focus on getting better.

Later that night, Lynda kept watch over Strip. She gently held his tire and kissed it. While it was his role to do that, Lynda felt it was her turn to do so. Every now and then, Strip would sometimes wake up and clench his teeth in pain. It hurt Lynda, because she knew that she couldn't do anything about it. She could only do so much and hope it would be enough. Strip quickly opened his eyes and clenched his teeth in pain as usual. Lynda quickly stopped him.

"Stop hon. I'm right here. What do you need?" Lynda whispered gently as she held onto his tire.

"I have a slight headache. Must've been from when I slammed into the wall."

"I'll get an ice pack. Lay down." Lynda said, as she gently pointed her tire back at the bed.

"Yes ma'am." Strip replied, even though his voice was hoarse. He hadn't touched much of the soup broth all day since he was tired and mainly slept, which had caused him to feel hoarse a little.

Lynda came back with the ice pack and a cool cloth. She carefully placed the ice pack on Strip's fender and ran the cool cloth against his warm body. He was warm, a shock that came upon her. Lynda glanced up at Strip.

"How long were you going to wait to tell me you weren't feeling well?" She whispered, trying to avoid her tone from sounding agitated.

"Stop Lyn. It just happened all of a sudden. I didn't even feel it until now. I've been sleeping all day. You know that." He whispered back, his voice still hoarse yet not agitated.

Not even tempting to pull a fight, Lynda just stayed quiet and continued to run the cool cloth against her boyfriend. Strip clenched his teeth in pain as he felt his body getting warmer a little.

"Shhh. It's okay. I'm right here." Lynda said, her voice soft and gentle as she continued to cool him down with a cool cloth.

Strip smiled, fighting against the pain he was dealing with. Lynda continued to cool him down with the cloth and then went to get some more soup broth. She heated it up and poured it into a bowl and went back to the bedroom.

"Here. Drink this. It'll help your throat feel better."

"Thank you. You didn't have to do it." Strip said as he quickly took several sips of the warm broth then settled back down. Lynda gave a stern, yet gentle look.

"You need more hon. It'll help soothe your throat more."

"Lyn, I just want to rest. I'll have a lot more tomorrow."

Lynda dropped the conversation, knowing that it wouldn't make anything better. Glancing at her boyfriend, she watched as he began to slowly fall asleep, then very slowly and carefully, she nuzzled him and began to fall asleep, but kept a close watch on him.

Early the next morning, Lynda woke up and boiled up some water in the kettle. She pulled out a bowl and a pack of oatmeal from the pantry while the water continued to boil. Later on during the day, she would make him some more soup broth. When the water was finally done heating up, Lynda turned off the flame and removed it from the stove. She poured the package of oatmeal into the bowl and then poured the water second and began to stir it so that the water would mix throughout the oatmeal.

Strip woke up a little while later. He glanced to his left where Lynda was. She had placed the bowl of oatmeal on the night table and had been waiting for him to get up.

"Hey." Lynda smiled and whispered before giving him a kiss on his fender.

Strip smiled. "Hey Lyn."

"How you feeling?"

"A little better. The wreck wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it was brutal."

"I know. Hopefully you'll be better soon. That wreck terrified me. I thought I would've-"

Strip cut her off before she could continue, knowing full well what she was going to say. "Stop. I'm here now, and nothing bad is going to happen. I wouldn't ever abandon you. Even if it meant ending my career early."

"No. I wouldn't make you do that. I know you love racing, and I don't want you to stop. I was just concerned for you."

"I know. I just don't want you to constantly worry about me whenever I'm out on the track."

"I know. I'm still getting use to it though. It's been a while since we dated, but it's just hard for me to see any of my loved ones getting hurt while they're doing what they love to do."

Strip smiled in understanding. He knew this sport wasn't for light nature or for anyone who didn't like intense crashing or injuries being involved. He knew how hard it was for Lynda to adjust being in an environment that was tense and harmful. In some cases, race cars would be killed because of the intense and severe injuries they would face. He knew it wasn't easy for her, but she was learning to cope with it slowly and she was sacrificing her own fears for him. Through every wreck, win, and loss, she was always there for him, even if it meant having to witness terrible wrecks, and crashes.

Lynda went over to the night table and gave Strip the bowl of oatmeal.

"Here. This will help your throat a little more. I figured I'd give you this now and give you the soup broth later on today if you still want it."

"Thank you. You didn't have to do it. And this will be enough for me. I may not need the soup broth later. My throat is feeling a little better today."

Lynda smiled and watched as he began to eat the oatmeal. She gently held onto his tire and nuzzled him, knowing that more days like this would come, but she would always be by his side no matter the outcome, or condition he would be in.

Hey everyone! Chapter 2 is done. I'll be taking a break from writing this story so this way you can have a chance at reading the first two chapters. I hope you're enjoying it so far and I'll see you for Chapter 3. I'm sorry if I'm not putting enough detail into it that much, but I promise that I'll try my best for the next few chapters of the story.