Alright return of the length-consistency! YAY CONSISTENCY!
Thank you so much for the reviews! They all make my day owo
Gothic Guest: Yes actually I am! I've had a sequel to Experience in the idea stages for a while, now! Now I just… Actually have to write it out. Oops.
Finn found Stacy at the café chatting with Holley and Mater.
Finn smiled. He hadn't seen his old spy partner in a while.
"Finn!" Holley grinned. She stood to hug her old friend. "How are you?" She smiled.
Finn smiled back. "Could be better, but it's great to see you again."
"Aw, what's wrong?" She asked.
"Right, Siddeley hasn't told you?" Finn asked, looking over at Stacy, who stretched out her mouth and made a face that looked like it would go along with a shrug.
Holley and Finn sat back down. "Told us what?" She asked, taking Mater's hand.
"Uh..." Stacy began. She was intently twiddling her thumbs.
"He said he doesn't wanna worry anyone yet..." Finn cut in.
"Worry anyone? With what?" Holley asked.
"Uh... Uh... His..." Stacy stuttered.
"Hey, Mummy!"
"GAH!" Stacy spun around to see Clementine. "Clem, sweetheart, don't do that!"
Clementine giggled. "Sorry...!"
Stacy sighed. "What's up?"
Maggie, Holley and Mater's second oldest, popped up next to Clementine. "Can Clem hang out in the treehouse later?" She grinned at Holley.
"Yeah, can I?" Clementine bounced up and down in excitement.
The adults chuckled. "I'm fine with it." Stacy smiled over at her friends. "Holley?"
"Of course." Holley's lips curled into a smile.
The kids went back to what they had been previously doing.
"Finn?" Mater looked at his old friend. "What's goin' on?"
Finn quietly sighed. "Later. We'll tell you later. Siddeley will fill you in eventually."
"Okay..." Holley hesitantly agreed.
"Hey, look!" Gus, Mater and Holley's oldest, exclaimed as he pointed out the window.
"There's nothing out there, Gus." Holley frowned.
"No, the clouds!" He pointed slightly higher. "Is it gonna rain, Dad?"
"I dunno, Gus." Mater shrugged. "It might. Them clouds is pretty dark."
"I hope so." Stacy grinned. "I really hope so."
"Stacy, what happened to being a good role model for the children?" Finn murmured as Stacy began jumping up and down in her seat.
"Meh," she sneered as she stopped. She playfully hit her head against Finn's shoulder, and he laughed.
"Oh, hey," Stacy sat up straight. "Holley, you never did tell us why you let Gus be named "Gus." I've been wondering about that for a really long time, now."
Holley looked surprised. "Oh," she replied. "Well, "August" was Mater's father's name."
"Oh, that's nice." Stacy smiled sincerely. "Figured it must've been something like that."
Holley and Mater laughed. "Why wait so long t' ask?" Mater asked.
Stacy shrugged. "Never got around to it. Oh," she suddenly smiled, taking out her phone.
"What are you doing?" Finn asked, leaning over.
"Radar." Stacy grinned, loading her weather radar app. "Hey, Gus," Stacy turned around. The children all looked at her. "Take a look. You see all that green and yellow and red coming towards the little pin in the map?"
"Yeah?" Mater and Holley's youngest, Nathan, nodded.
"That's the rain coming towards Radiator Springs."
Clementine looked closer. "Oh-h, cool!"
Stacy beamed at her daughter as more thunder rolled in the distance.
...
Finn's POV
Thunderstorms never seemed to bother Stacy.
This always surprised me, considering all the irrational fears she had gained over the years. I was never fond of storms, myself, yet Stacy was always interested in them. Of course, her love of lightning was only second to her fascination with space and the night sky.
"Nature's fireworks," she'd say lightning was. "Better than any Fourth of July show I've ever seen." She'd say, eyes twinkling as she gazed out the window as lightning shattered the sky. "Even the ones at Radiator Springs?" I'd ask. "Yup," she'd smile. "Their lightning is way better."
I'd always ask which one—the storms or the race car driver? She'd playfully hit my arm and tell me "you know what I meant."
Lightning was alright, I supposed. Just electricity. Easy to get away from, to be safe from. But thunder was loud. Loud and ominous, it brought back memories of people lost and broken trust.
Stacy always told me not to be so dramatic.
The lights flickered, grabbing both my attention and Stacy's. She stared at the dimming lights uneasily for a moment, then slowly turned back towards the window. I smiled sympathetically in her direction. Now that was one of her biggest fears. The dark.
The lights dimmed again and the TV quieted down for a moment along with the fading light. "Dad?" Leland worriedly called over to me.
"It's alright, Le." I called back, not taking my eyes off of Stacy.
Clementine walked over to me, most likely spooked that the storm was trying to knock the power out. She wrapped her hands about my arm and I looked over at her.
"Is that the storm messing with the power?" She asked.
I nodded. "Towns like Radiator Springs don't get much rain. Exciting things happen when you aren't very prepared for something." I explained, picking her up and setting her down on my knee, like I'd seen my father do to my young sister countless times when I was a boy.
"It's not exciting." She frowned. "It's scary."
"Well, that just depends on how you look at it." I smiled down at her.
The power went out with a pop. Everyone was silent for a moment.
The thunder and lightning seemed more eerie than before. I almost jumped when I realized Leland had made his way over to me. So had River, I noticed. She mostly looked annoyed that the show they were watching had been interrupted.
We all turned to look over at Stacy, who has produced a torch. Of course she carried a torch around with her, I'd realized years before.
"How is this exciting, again?" River asked me. She sounded uncomfortable, but not exactly scared.
"Let's see," Stacy announced, looking through her bag. "For emergencies," she smiled, and pulled out a few candles.
"You really brought those with you?" I asked her.
"'Course I did!" She answered. "Reminds me of a certain video game." She grinned.
I rolled my eyes. "Well, I don't see a night vision camera, so that's good, I suppose."
"I do have it, but that's just for me when I'm alone in the dark." She shrugged. I almost groaned at how she could say something like that so seriously, but I settled for a sigh. "For groups, though, that's what the flashlight and candles are for."
Leland went over to her as she lit the candles.
"Kinda lame, I know." She told him. "But I think it's kinda cool. Once when I was about River's age, there was a power outage and we had all been given candles or flashlights for that exact reason. I sat drawing by candlelight for hours. I felt like I had time traveled, or something."
"Can we do that, then?" Leland asked. "Draw and write and stuff by the candles?"
"Sure, sweetheart." Stacy ruffled his hair. She smiled at me, then sat back down by the window. I forget that sometimes she can actually be a responsible parent. Then again, she did just give her kids fire to play with... Wait...
"What are you drawing?" Clementine asked her brother in a hushed voice.
"Dad and Aunt Holley," Leland replied.
"I'm gonna write a letter," Clementine smiled. "Like it's a hundred years ago."
River decided to go over and watch her siblings.
I stood and walked over to Stacy by the window. I hesitated before putting my hand on her shoulder, remembering the dream I had the other night. I did, and she placed her hand on top of mine. The action comforted me. I almost forgot about the nightmare.
"Wait, what's that?" I heard River ask.
"A bad guy!" Leland said as if it was obvious.
I turned my head to look at them.
"...he doesn't even look like a guy." River picked up the paper to get a closer look. "What's he inside?"
"A car." Leland pouted.
"What the heck kinda car is that?" River squinted at the paper.
"It's, uh..." Leland trailed off. "I don't remember."
Clementine glanced over. "It's a grapefruit!"
"What? No, that's not it. They're, like... Uh..."
"Grapefruits." Clementine nodded encouragingly.
"Yeah, maybe." Leland shrugged. River sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Please don't correct them." Stacy whispered to me. "That's adorable." She grinned.
"I'll have to tell Siddeley," I agreed with a smile.
Stacy and I turned our heads back towards the children when the candles suddenly went out.
"Hey!" Clementine exclaimed. "Leland...!" She whined.
"It wasn't me!" Leland argued. "River?!" he accused.
Stacy's hand tightened around mine and I heard her take in a sharp breath.
"Why would I blow out the candles?!" River shot back at him.
"Oh..." I breathed. I took Stacy's hand in both my own.
"Mum...?" Clementine asked, worry in her voice.
"Don't worry, sweetheart." I could tell Stacy was struggling to keep her voice steady. "Probably just..."
"What?" Leland asked.
Stacy flipped on her torch on and shone it near the children. My heart nearly stopped, while Stacy's breath hitched and stopped as we both stared.
The children were staring at us with puzzled looks. Behind them, there stood a dark figure.
"Kids..." I calmly began. "Would you please come over here?"
"Uh... Okay...?" River responded. The three obeyed nonetheless.
"Dad, what's going on?" Leland looked up at me.
"Nothing." I told him.
"Mum...?" Clementine asked. "Mummy, why're you shaking? What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Stacy's voice cracked. She cleared her throat.
The light from the torch flickered and turned off. Lightning flashed, then the figure was gone.
Stacy took a deep breath. "Everything's fine." She reassured.
Oh fudgebuckets stuff's going down :D
Aw yiss chapter 4, ft. some angst-y monologuing from Finn. :3 That was fun to write lol.
Finn: "Lightning was alright, I supposed."
Lightning: "HEY COME SAY THAT TO MY FACE, MCMISSILE D:"
Alright so hang on my favorite part of this chapter is:
""Sure, sweetheart." Stacy ruffled his hair. She smiled at me, then sat back down by the window. I forget that sometimes she can actually be a responsible parent. Then again, she did just give her kids fire to play with... Wait..."
Lol how responsible of a parent can you really be when you give your children fire to play with lmao
Reviews make me smile~