At Tidmouth sheds, Emily felt grateful to be part of a group of engines for the first time in years. She'd already met Henry and Bear, and Edward had welcomed her warmly too.
"It's good to finally have you in service," smiled Edward.
"I feel good to finally be back in service," replied Emily. "Two years of waiting in the Steamworks isn't easy."
"I'm not surprised, to be honest," said Bear. "I hardly recognize you with new parts and paint."
"You look fantastic with your new livery," said Henry.
"That's what the passengers were saying," smiled Emily.
"Yes, yes, I was there," snorted James. He was still in a foul mood for Emily "taking his passengers" as well as the mix-up with Thomas' coaches. Although Gordon was not as cross as James was, he too was less than impressed with Emily over the mix-up.
"Fancy taking someone's coaches without asking," Gordon muttered.
"Don't tell me you're still on about that," groaned Edward. "It was a misunderstanding. It could happen to any engine."
"We all know not to take Thomas' coaches without permission," said Toby. "I'd react the same if someone took Henrietta."
"I don't believe what I'm hearing," added Bear. "One of the wisest and most experienced engines is agreeing that Emily should be treated like a criminal all because of a simple mistake. At least she didn't do it intentionally like James did." He was, of course, referring to the time James intentionally stole Gordon's express just to feel important.
"H-how do you even know this?" asked James.
"I told him about it on the way to the Steamworks," said Henry.
"Yes, James taking the express that day led to endless confusion," grunted Gordon. "But so did this incident today with Annie and Clarabel. It's disgraceful!"
"Disgusting!" put in James.
"Despicable!" finished Henry sternly. Gordon and James stared gobsmacked at the big green engine; his tone was directed at them. "That's the word I would use to describe you two right now. The same goes for you too, Toby. I'm ashamed of you for turning your back on an engine just because of one mishap."
"Thomas would have been running around ragged trying to find his coaches!" retorted Toby.
"Well, he didn't!" argued Henry. "He was at least thankful he found any spare coaches to begin with. Granted, he was disgruntled about it, but still. Besides, I brought Annie and Clarabel back to Thomas, and everything was made right. He's happy again, Emily was able to finish her jobs with no more misunderstandings, and no true harm was done. So you three need to just move on, and get over it!"
Neither Gordon nor James had anything to say to that, and they stayed silent but sulking for the rest of the evening. Toby silently puffed back to Ffarquhar sheds, figuring he needed to chat with Thomas directly.
"Don't worry about them, Emily," soothed Edward. "Gordon and James will eventually find someone else to criticize. They always do. Though I'm a little surprised at Toby's outburst."
"What do you mean?" asked Emily.
"Well, like Thomas, he owns a coach of his own," Edward explained. "As of right now, they and Lauren are the only three engines to have coaches they own personally. Duck and Oliver share Old Slow Coach, but that's a bit different. Toby and Thomas owned their coaches almost since day one of meeting them, so I can sort of understand where Toby's coming from."
"Yet another engine who won't forgive me…" murmured Emily.
"Now don't say that," objected Edward. "You don't know for sure that Toby will stay mad. And the same goes for Thomas. You just have to take a chance and try talking to him."
Emily said nothing. She just unhappily went to sleep while Edward went to rejoin BoCo at Wellsworth.
Meanwhile, Toby had reached Ffarquhar sheds and told Thomas and Percy what Henry had said.
"Well, I can't exactly blame you for what you said, Toby," said Thomas. "Having your coaches taken by someone without permission is not a pleasant experience."
"Still, Emily did seem real upset with herself," added Percy. "Maybe we should get over what happened and focus more on being really useful. I don't think Sir Topham Hatt will enjoy having us holding onto petty grudges like the one we had. Remember, Thomas?"
"I… I guess you have a point, Percy," sighed Thomas. "But why hasn't Emily at least apologized for it? We all did after our fight."
"I don't know, Thomas," said Toby. "I mean, we've only known Emily via our visits at the Steamworks for the past couple of years, not through her actions."
"I guess it would be difficult to gauge our views on her this early on," sighed Percy. "Let's get some sleep, you two. We'll talk more about it tomorrow evening."
Toby and Thomas realized they were tired too, and they and Percy slept on the issue.
The next morning, Henry woke up feeling rather groggy.
"I don't feel so good," he moaned. "I think my boiler's grumbling…"
"Maybe it's grumbling at you," teased James.
"It's not funny!" snapped Henry. Inside his cab, the firelighter was struggling to light the green engine's fire.
"Are you alright, Henry?" called Emily.
"No," Henry sighed. "I'm hoping it's just a blocked pipe or something less serious."
"Would you like one of us to fill in on your jobs until you're checked over?" offered Bear.
"Oh, no thanks, Bear," said Henry. "I think I can handle it. I've been long since rebuilt, after all." He puffed out onto the turntable and over to the platform.
"I'm no steam engine, but I don't think that's normal," said Diesel as he purred onto the turntable. "Whoa!" he cried as he slipped; his driver applied the brakes just in time. "I'm okay." he said as he got back in the middle.
"That wasn't your brakes, was it?" asked Emily.
"No, they're fine," insisted Diesel before looking down at the tracks. "Say, why's the track wet? There wasn't any rain last night."
"That can't be right," said Emily thoughtfully. Then she observed Henry puffing further into the distance. "I wonder…"
When Diesel cleared the turntable, Emily went to the platform. By the time she got there, Diesel had arranged the red coaches for Henry and went back to find other coaches for her. Emily saw a long trail of water leading from where Henry was all the way back to the shed.
"This can't be a coincidence," insisted Emily. "Henry, I think you should go to the Steamworks and get yourself checked over."
"I'll be fine, Emily," said Henry. "Besides, with Tasha leaving for her new home yesterday, we don't have any spare motive power."
Before Emily could protest, the guard blew his whistle, and Henry set off. No sooner was he out of sight when Sir Topham Hatt stepped out of his office.
"Ah, good morning, Emily," he greeted the emerald engine; Diesel shunted Martha and Julian behind her and the passengers started to board. "How are you getting on?"
"Better than my first outing yesterday," insisted Emily. "But I'm worried about Henry, sir. He's leaking water and he won't get himself checked over at the Steamworks."
"Oh dear," sighed Sir Topham Hatt. "His tubes must be leaking. Go see if he's okay. If he's unable to move any further, take him to the Steamworks. I'll arrange for Gordon or Bear to be on standby."
"Yes sir," agreed Emily, and she set off.
"What was all that about?" asked Julian. Emily quickly explained the situation to the coaches as she puffed along.
"Oh my!" gasped Martha. "That could cause hazards for not just Henry, but everyone else on the railway too."
"I do hope we can get to him before he gets even worse…" hoped Emily.
All through the day, Henry was going slower with his daily trains, leaking water everywhere he went.
"There…" he panted when he got to Vicarstown with a goods train. "That's done."
"Henry," gasped Gordon when he came in with the express. "Are you alright?"
"Of course I'm fine," Henry stubbornly insisted.
"No, Henry, you're not fine," came a flat sounding voice. It was Emily. "You've been leaking water everywhere you went, and Diesel had slipped earlier because of it. Your tubes must be leaking, and Sir Topham Hatt wants you to go to the Steamworks immediately."
"But, with Tasha gone-"
"We can pick up the rest of your trains, Henry," said Emily. "Now why don't I help you to the Steamworks?"
"I… okay," sighed Henry reluctantly. "I guess I have no choice."
Emily left her empty coaches in a siding. Then she coupled up to Henry, and pulled him to the Steamworks.
When they arrived, Sir Topham Hatt was waiting for them.
"Good job, Emily," said Sir Topham Hatt. "Henry, why didn't you come here earlier? Is it just because Tasha left?"
"Well… not just because of that," sighed the big green engine. "There's two reasons why I didn't. One was because Emily was new here and I wanted to make a good first impression on her."
"Oh," said Emily. "I see. You didn't want me to think you were lazy or something?"
"Exactly," insisted Henry. "And the other one, well… a fair number of engines were against Emily because of her mistake with Annie and Clarabel yesterday. James, Gordon, Thomas and even Toby were upset."
"Why wasn't I informed of it?" asked Sir Topham Hatt in a rather stern tone. "I would have definitely put a stop to that sort of rudeness in the blink of an eye."
"I was already ashamed of my own mistake," Emily sighed. "And I was told how important Annie and Clarabel are to Thomas."
"We all make mistakes," insisted Sir Topham Hatt. "But that doesn't give anyone the right to drag them on. Rest assured, I will ensure that this matter is dealt with."
And indeed it was. That evening, Sir Topham Hatt held a meeting for the engines at Knapford yards.
"Now then," he said in a firm tone, "it has come to my attention that a number of you have been showing our newest recruit disrespect over a mishap that occurred the other day involving a pair of coaches being taken without permission. I'm not naming anyone, but if there's one thing we value on the North Western Railway, it's taking responsibility for your actions, both good and bad."
Toby was deep in thought through the engines' silence, glancing at Thomas.
"Do you think we went too far?" the tram engine whispered.
"I guess it was an accident," Thomas replied quietly. "But still, she saw me take them to the Steamworks that one time. And she could have at least said she was sorry, but she won't say a word to me or even look at me."
Toby glanced over at the Stirling single, who was avoiding eye contact with Thomas at all costs.
"This could have been avoided if Emily had simply asked Thomas about Annie and Clarabel in the first place," Gordon's voice rang out.
"Indeed," agreed James. "I saw Emily leave with them the other day without even bothering to-"
"Silence!" boomed Sir Topham Hatt. "James, Gordon, I will not tolerate such rudeness from the pair of you. While Henry is out of commission, I am assigning you both to take turns pulling his goods trains. If this disrespect continues, then the change will be permanent! Do I make myself clear?"
"Y-yes, sir," stammered the two engines.
"Bear, you're to take Gordon's express for a while, and Edward, you take James' passenger trains," said Sir Topham Hatt. "Can I count on the both of you to do that?"
"Yes, sir!" the two engines replied.
"Excellent," smiled Sir Topham Hatt. He then returned his attention to the other engines. "I know it never feels right for mistakes to happen. But to constantly bring them up and make others feel bad for what they have done does not solve the problem, especially if said problem was a very minor one to begin with. The best thing to do in cases like that is to simply get over it, and move on with your lives."
"That's a good point, sir," said Julie.
"Now, you all can go back to your sheds for the evening," sighed Sir Topham Hatt. "I do not like doing searches for the guilty like this."
Sir Topham Hatt headed back to his car as the engines left the area one by one. However, Oliver, Donald, Douglas and Diesel couldn't help but notice that Duck had been avoiding Emily's gaze the whole time in the meeting.
"Hmm," said Oliver to the others. "You don't suppose…"
"It wouldn't surprise me," added Diesel, knowing exactly what Oliver was thinking…
Author's Comments
Here's chapter three to the Emily special, being a rather loose rewrite of What's the Matter with Henry?, one of the more lackluster episodes out of series seven, mainly for how Thomas and Percy act towards Henry. That, and feeling mandated just so Henry could have a lead role. This chapter is probably one of the shortest entries to the Seventyverse to date, although there wasn't much we could've done with the episode being rewritten, to be honest. Probably the most surprising writing choices we've made, as well as potentially controversial, is how Toby is depicted in taking Thomas' side. I think that works because it shows that even a wise sage like Toby isn't perfect (remember The Truth About Toby, where he acted stubborn?). Mind you, this is not the only instance where someone acts a bit differently than what you'd expect from them.
Next time, we get a better understanding as to why It's Not Easy Being Green!