AN: Sorry for the delay. My mother fell and injured her leg. I've been helping her out, on top of everything else. For the next couple of weeks, chapters will be posted once or week or not at all.
Chapter 13. - Final Surgery -
Very early the next morning a few of the nurses woke Lightning. Doc arrived a little later.
"How are you feeling this morning?" He asked "Are you ready to do this?"
"Yes I am. The sooner I get a new engine, the sooner I can get back to racing." Lightning said "I'm very nervous."
"I would be a little worried if you wasn't. We have everything ready and waiting, so there's no reason for you to be nervous." Doc said "The nurses are going to finish getting you ready. I need to get ready too, so I'll see you in a little while."
As the nurses got Lightning ready, Sally headed to the cafeteria to get some breakfast. After paying for her food, Sally found a quiet corner to eat. As much as she wanted to, Sally could not bring herself to eat her breakfast.
"I know you're nervous about Lightning's surgery." Bella said driving up to her "But you need to keep your strength up. Can I sit with you?"
"Sure." Sally said noticing the tray of food on Bella's hood "We can worry about Lightning together."
Bella giggled and parked herself beside Sally. Although both women were hungry, they just picked at their breakfast.
"Before I forget, I've warned Chelsea." Bella said as she nibbled on a piece of bacon "I told her if she was going to come with me to the hospital, she better behave… When I left the cone a little while ago, she wasn't up yet. She should be here in a few hours."
"I figured Chelsea would be here slobbering over Lightning the moment we woke up." Sally said "I don't think she cares for him as much as she said she does. I think the only thing she wants from him is sex."
"I'm beginning to think that too. Chelsea would've been here if you wasn't around." Bella said "Although this food is good, I'm too nervous to eat it."
"Me too." Sally said "The nurses should have Lightning about ready. Hopefully we can see him one last time, before they take him to the operating room."
Sally and Bella threw away what was left of their breakfast and headed towards Lightning's room.
Lightning's room: The nurses were done with the preparations and they were wheeling Lightning out of the room when Sally and Bella arrived.
"I can give you a few minutes." Jackie said "Lightning has been given some sedatives already, so don't be surprised if he is a little groggy."
The nurses drove a short distance away to give the family a few moments.
"How are you feeling?" Sally asked as she caressed his side "Look, your mom's here."
"Hi Mom." Lightning said groggily "Where's Dad?"
"Sweetheart… he couldn't come with me." Bella said lovingly "He's busy with a movie."
"Oh, okay." Lightning said "Are you going to be here when I'm done?"
"Of course." Bella said as the nurses approached her "There's no other place I want to be… You be good, do what the doctors tell you to do. I'll see you in a little while."
Lightning and Bella hugged. Then, Lightning hugged and kissed Sally. After saying their goodbyes, the women watched as the nurses pushed Lightning into the operating room. There, Lightning was transferred to the operating table.
"It's okay." Michael said as he put a respirator mask over Lightning's mouth "I want you to take a few deep breaths."
Lightning smelled a sweet-smelling gas as he got groggier and groggier. Zoe hooked Lightning up to a machine so she could monitor his vitals during surgery.
"It's okay, you're supposed to get very sleepy." Michael said "Just close your eyes and relax."
Lightning watched everything going on around him and that made him more and more nervous, hindering Michael's attempt to put him to sleep.
"Light, relax." Zoe said as she saw him fighting the anesthesia "I have a relaxation technique I want you to try… I want you to count backwards from 100."
"100...99...98..." Lightning said counting backwards.
He got to 88 before he fell into a deep slumber. Lightning completely relaxed and the doctors got to work.
Many hours later: Lightning felt like he was driving through a long dark tunnel.
"Lightning… open your eyes." Sally said gently "Wake up… It's okay… I'm here."
Lightning's eyes slowly flickered open. He saw the fuzzy outline of Sally.
"Sal-ly…what happened?" He asked groggily "Where am I?"
"You're back in your hospital room." Sally said softly "Do you remember? You had your engine replacement surgery. *Lightning nodded weekly.* How are you feeling?"
"Not too bad." Lightning said "I'm a little light-hooded, but okay. How long have I been out?"
"Just under a day." Sally said "It's three o'clock in the morning. I got the night watch."
"Oh, okay." Lightning said groggily "Aren't you lucky?"
"I volunteered." Sally said "Besides I promised I'd be here when you woke up."
"Yeah." Lightning said "But you didn't have to stay up until three in the morning for me."
"Of course I did." Sally said "A promise, is a promise."
"But aren't you tired?" Lightning asked "I know I am."
"I'm a little." Sally said "But I've been napping."
"Come here Sweetheart." Lightning said "This bed is big enough for the both of us… You can stretch out next to me."
Sally crawled in beside Lightning, carefully avoiding all the monitoring equipment that was attached to him and settled down. Lightning allowed Sally to lean against him, and he covered her with his quilt.
"Does this hurt?" Sally asked sleepily "I don't want to cause you pain."
"Not at all." Lightning said "Your snuggling feels good."
Lightning's entire front half ached, but it wasn't bad. Within minutes, both cars were fast asleep.
"Hey Kids! This is a hospital… no snuggling!" Doc said loudly making Lightning and Sally jump awake. Sally yawned a few times and then slowly crawled out of bed. "How do you feel?"
"My hood is sore." Lightning said "I'm still incredibly tired, but I feel okay."
"Good." Doc said "I need to examine you."
Before Lightning could react, Doc pulled the quilt off. Remembering that he was naked, Lightning yelped, grabbed the quilt, and attempted to cover himself. His frantic movements made him almost fall out of bed.
"Would you relax!" Doc growled "It's just me and Sally. I know that she has seen you naked plenty of times."
"Yes I have." Sally said "Stop being such a baby. You don't have problems wondering around my apartment with your boy bits flapping all over the place."
"Well, that's different." Lightning countered "Besides, my manhood isn't flappy… it's normally hard."
"That's when you're awake." Sally teased "When you're asleep, it's as floppy as a wet noodle... I should know, I've played with it plenty of times."
Lightning opened his mouth to say something, but Doc cut him off.
"All right! Cut it out! Sally, racecars have two emotions." Doc said, chuckling "Hungry and horny."
"Tell me about it." Lightning said "We racecars have too much sex on the brain, and too little of it elsewhere."
The cars laughed.
"Lightning, your surgery went extremely well, but when I took your engine out, your brain was deprived of oil for two minutes." Doc said "It may have affected your memory. I have some questions for you."
"Okay." Lightning said "Go ahead, ask me."
"I want full and truthful answers." Doc said "What's your full name?"
"Lightning Owen Fergus McQueen" Lightning said "Come on Doc, who forgets their own name."
"Don't argue, just answer the questions." Doc barked "How old are you?"
"Twenty-three." Lightning said "Actually twenty-three and a half."
"I don't care about the half, twenty-three was good enough." Doc said "Who won the Piston Cup last year?"
"Chick Hicks." Lightning said "I was going to win it until I helped The King finish his last race."
"I think you're okay." Doc said "But I still have to ask two more questions. When is your birthday?"
"June fourth." Lightning said "Same as my grandfather's."
"Good, this is my final question." Doc said "Who are your three favorite cars?"
"Sally, Mater, and you." Lightning said "I forgot your name, what is it again?"
"Ha, ha." Doc said dryly "Now, you can't get out of bed for a week."
"What!" Lightning asked, horrified "What do you mean, I can't get out of bed for a week?"
"Relax, Kid." Doc said "You'll be fine."
"Are you kidding me?" Lightning asked "How am I supposed to get back in shape? Look at me, I'm all soft and squishy."
"Light, Sweetie, relax. You still have six months before your first race! Besides round is a shape and there's more of you to love." Sally said poking his little 'beer belly', then lovingly kissed him. "Once you recover, Doc will work your rear bumper off. Enjoy this down time, you'll be begging for it later."
Doc just smiled evilly at Lightning. He knew how brutal Doc could be when it came to training.
"I guess you're right." Lightning said "Is my mom still here?"
"Yeah." Sally said "We talked about you while you were in surgery."
"Really?" Lightning asked "Chelsea must be thrilled."
"I'm sure that she hates me. When we were in the waiting room. Chelsea didn't say a word, she just sat in the corner and glared at me the entire time… I have some good news." Sally said "Chelsea has left town."
"Really… she's gone?" Lightning asked, his spirits raising slightly "Do you mean I don't have to deal with her sexually assaulting me every time she sees me?"
"Yeah." Doc said "I heard that she was hitting on every male in town. Including Luigi and Guido."
"I'm not surprised." Lightning said "She must be desperate to get laid. Trying to seduce two small cars… and I don't mean their body size."
"You're forgetting Luigi and Guido are Italian, they might have small bodies." Doc said "But they are large in other areas."
"Oh, come on Doc!" Lightning complained "They can't be that big."
"Oh, you be surprised." Doc said "Not to mention that Chelsea was getting on my fucking nerves, so I said something to Mater that the pretty girl in pink liked him."
Both Lightning and Sally laughed.
"You should have seen all the goofy things he did." Sally said "Chelsea freaked out and said she's never coming back here."
"That's a relief, I'm glad that she's gone." Lightning said "Was Mater upset when she left?"
"No, he was with Duncan at the time. I told him that something came up and she had to leave. You know that Mater doesn't have that great of a memory, he'll soon forget her." Doc said "Now, speaking of Mater, he's been begging to see you. I don't think he can wait any longer. Can he come in?"
"Sure." Lightning said "He is my best friend after all."
The doors to the room burst open and Mater was in the room faster than anyone could say Piston Cup.
"Hey, Bud!" Mater exclaimed "I didn't think you'd never wake up! Yur being sleeping bunches."
"Well, I'm awake now." Lightning said "We can have some fun."
"Let's go tractor tippin'!" Mater exclaimed "We'n not do that in a… a… forever!"
"Sorry Mater, I can't." Lightning said "I need to stay in the hospital for a while."
"That's okay Bud." Mater said, looking thoroughly disappointed "When you get yurself better, we'll go."
"You bet we will." Lightning said "I'm already looking forward to it."
"Well, it's a plan Stan!" Mater said happily "Now I gotta go and practice my towin'! I'll see ya later… if the ghost light don't get cha!"
"Bye Mater!" Lightning said as Mater left the room "He's my best friend, so what are you gonna do?"
"You've gone tractor tipping with Mater?" Doc asked, giving him a sideways glance "I've heard rumors, but I never expected for you to admit it."
"It's a long story." Lightning said "When I first arrived here, Sheriff assigned Mater to 'watch me' one night…"
"I don't need the details." Doc said "Just don't let me catch you tractor tipping."
Lightning laughed, but it sent a spasm of pain through his hood.
"Ouch." he mumbled "I shouldn't have done that."
"Are you okay?" Sally asked "Where do you hurt?"
"I think I'm fine." Lightning said smiling weekly "I'm just a little tired and sore."
"I'll order some painkillers, just strong enough for you to be comfortable." Doc said "Your engine has to work extremely hard to get used to your system. After that, you'll be back to normal, or as close as normal as you get."
"Did you get my black box?" Lightning asked as he remembered the hearing "If you didn't, is there something else we can try?"
"I got your box." Doc said "It was right where it was supposed to be. I gave it to Duncan as soon as it was out. I have a copy of what was on it."
"Great!" Lightning said "Did you listen to it?"
Doc smiled and rolled over to a table. He put the black box in an appliance and turned it on. Doc fast forwarded through most of the race. The recording: "Kid, don't do it!" Doc exclaimed "It's too small, you won't make it!" "I don't listen to your advice anymore!" Lightning said coldly "In fact, this is your last race as my crew chief!" The sound of an accelerating engine was heard. Moments later:"No you don't McQueen!" Chick exclaimed "This fucking race belongs to me!" Then there was a sound of metal grinding against a concrete wall. Doc stopped the recording and smiled.
"We got him Rookie." Doc said "I don't think Chick can talk his way out of this."
"Wonderful!" Lightning said "When is the hearing?"
"In two and a half weeks." Doc said "We had to schedule it when you are strong enough to testify."
"That's understandable." Lightning said "When is my interview with Kori?"
"In two days." Doc said "She wanted it as soon as possible, but I didn't know how well your surgery would go."
"That sounds good." Lightning said "I'm looking forward to it."
"I have to go give Sheriff a tune-up." Doc said "Just rest and relax, I'll be back later to check on you."
After Doc left, Sally snuggled with Lightning, giggling.
"What's so funny?" Lightning asked "Are you laughing at my floppy dick?"
"No… your dick is perfect. It's just the way I like it." Sally said "Is your middle name really Fergus?"
"Yes… you know I'm half Irish and half Scottish." Lightning said slightly offended "So, laugh all you want."
"I'm sorry Stickers, it's such an unusual name." Sally said "What does Fergus mean?"
Lightning told Sally the legend of Scotland's great bear king and he considered it to be an honor to be named after him.
"I know you miss racing." Sally said "This was your last surgery, once you recover, you can start training... for real!"
"That's what I'm hoping." Lightning said "You know what I miss more than racing?"
"No, what?" Sally asked "I can't think of anything."
"Making love to you." Lightning said "I don't remember going this long without having sex."
"I know it's hard, but you're healing. It's been hard on me as well." Sally said "But when you get back into training, it'll make you that much more of a great racecar and lover. Please Stud Muffin, take your time, it'll pay off in the end."
"I hope so." Lightning said as he kissed Sally on the fender then yawned "I guess I need a nap."
"I know you." Sally said "You're the most stubborn, pig hooded, individual I have ever met, and when you set your mind on something, there is no stopping you."
"Thanks… I think." Lightning said "I love you."
"Sorry, I meant it to be a compliment, but it came out wrong." Sally said "And I love you too."
Just then, there was a knock at the door. Sally drove over and opened it.
"Hi Mom." Lightning said "I'm awake!"
"Hi Sweetie." Bella said "I've been worrying about you. How are you feeling?"
Her voice had a certain note in it that Lightning did not recognize. It showed so much concern, Lightning thought she was going to cry.
"Great, but I'm kinda sore right now." Lightning said "The surgery went well and I can start training again in a week."
"That's great news!" Bella said "I was so worried."
"Mom I'm fine." Lightning said "Really... *A tear slid down Bella's hood.* "Mom, please don't start crying. I'm getting better, not worse."
Bella nodded weekly.
"Well, I can see that you're being well taken care of." she said, pointing to Sally "I'm helping Luigi and Guido redecorate their shop. I'll come back later, now get some rest."
She drove over and gave him a kiss on the fender.
"I will." Lightning said sleepily "In fact I can hardly keep my eyes open."
"I have some work to do at the hotel." Sally said "I'll come back later too."
"Okay, don't work to hard." Lightning said "I'm going to miss you."
He kissed Sally and watched her leave. Once he was alone, Lightning realized how tired he was. Before long, he had drifted into a very deep sleep.
COMMENTS:
Guest 2
Well. Lightning's day of drama with his mother and his fun time with Sally really knocked him out. Chelsea's attitude is awful about Mater but at least Lightning does good standing by his loyalty. Time for Lightning's new engine at last.- Yep. I hope you enjoyed it.
Lightning's funny with how he described Chelsea but it's what she deserves.- I found a bunch of insults online and I knew it was perfect for Lightning to describe Chelsea... and it was pretty funny too.
Zoe and Michael are gonna have a part Ferrari, part Lamborghini zooming around. Hahahaaaa! Baby McQueen invading Doc. That was funny- Originally that was written when Tara was only an idea in my head.
Nice that Bella's warming up to Sally. Please add in more tight hugging. That was cute- Check… more hugging coming up!
I can understand Bella's concern about racing and even though she has the racing pedigree it doesn't mean she has to become a racer but then it doesn't mean interfering with someone else's decisions makes any other difference.- Mothers have the habit of "projecting" their fears. My mother does it all the time. While I know she loves me. It's irritating sometimes when she gets in my way of doing something.
Haha! Funny with Lightning being body shy but it's natural for some- I'm the same way.
Shame that most of the viewers aren't here.- I'm surprised too. If there're not reading the story, I won't worry about using their ideas.
They'd be amazed by a big difference you've made- I think they would too. I'm very happy on how the story is turning out. I've started rewriting Distractions, but unfortualanlly that's going have to wait now.
I do not own Cars or any of its characters. PIXAR AND DISNEY CLAIM THAT RIGHT. READING ENJOYMENT ONLY
Please read and review! I need criticism and encouragements! Rated M for language and sex.