Chapter 12. - A New Plan -

Lightning made his way slowly down the dark main road of Radiator Springs: A lone street lamp guiding him to Doc's house. Lightning knocked on the door and waited. Just as Sally had predicted, Doc showed no signs of being woken up.

"Hey, Kid." Doc said "What's going on?"

"Could I have something for pain, the painkillers you gave me aren't working." Lightning asked "Or can I have something that will help me sleep. I can't get comfortable enough to settle down."

"Sure Kiddo, come in." Doc said "Is it because of pain or disappointment?"

"A little of both." Lightning mumbled "But mostly pain."

Doc looked sympathetically at Lightning.

"Okay, Rookie, I think that you do need something to help you settle down for the night." he said "It's going to be an injection; it will work quickly. Follow me."

As Lightning followed Doc to his home office, they passed by the bedroom. Lightning looked in and he could see someone laying in Doc's bed.

"I know what you're gonna ask… yes, that's Sophia." Doc said "We've had a long talk and we've patched everything up. The only thing I haven't told her: is about Julie and the tragic end to our engagement… I'm not ready for that."

"I understand, Doc. But did you? You know…" Lightning said as he shook his tire in an obscene jester "I know how horny you are."

"Just because Sophia is in my bed doesn't mean I fucked her. Our relationship isn't recovered enough for that… so shut the fuck up."

Doc drove to his cabinet where he stored his medication and selected one.

"How long am I going to be in this wheelchair?" Lightning asked miserably "I can't go more than twenty miles per hour."

"That's fast enough." Doc said as he prepared the syringe "You had one really nasty break and another smaller one beside it."

"I know that! All I'm saying… well it sucks." Lightning said miserably "What will I get after this?"

"Once you're well enough, a split… Almost identical to the one you had after your accident on the track." Doc said "You'll be in that until your axle heals."

"Oh, okay." Lightning said "What will my speed limit be?"

"About fifty." Doc said "It'll get torn up quickly if you drive fast with it."

"What is too fast?" Lightning asked, Doc scowled at him "Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything stupid."

"At one fifty, the brace only lasts seventy five miles." Doc said suspiciously "Why are you asking?"

"I'm just curious." Lightning said as a plan started forming in his head "I just can't believe I'm missing another Piston Cup."

"I'm sorry, Kid." Doc said, driving around to Lightning's rear "This is going to sting a little. *He rubbed a cleanser on Lightning's bumper before injecting the medication.* There done. Now, get to your cozy cone before this kicks in."

"Thanks Doc." Lightning said "If you come looking for me, I'll be at Sally, she is letting me stay with her tonight."

"That's a good idea. If you're having this much pain, you don't need to be alone." Doc said "I'll check in on you tomorrow morning."

Lightning carefully maneuvered out of Doc's home and out onto the main street. Lightning drove to Sally's apartment and found Giovanni sitting on her hood, awake and sucking on a bottle. Sally, however, was sound asleep. Giovanni was almost finished with his bottle when Lightning picked him up.

"Well, somebody is enjoying a midnight snack." Lightning said before taking the nipple out of his mouth "Come on Kid, it's bed time."

He rocked Giovanni on his hood until the baby fell asleep, which was only a few minutes. Lightning laid Giovanni back in his crib. Beginning to feel the effects of the medication, Lightning climbed out of the wheelchair, turned the light off, snuggled up to Sally, and fell asleep.

The next morning: Lightning woke up to a familiar throbbing in his right front axle. Not to mention that his rear was sore from getting the injection. Lightning groaned painfully before climbing into his wheelchair. Once he was secured into it, Lightning headed to the living room. He saw Sally watching TV, while Giovanni attempted to crawl on the floor. However, he only managed to scoot around on his undercarriage.

"Wouldn't crawling be easier if he had tires?" Lightning asked rolling up to Sally "Do they even make tires that small?"

"Yes, they do." Sally said "I'm assuming he'll be ready for them in a few weeks."

Lightning picked Giovanni up and he giggled happily. "Hey Giovanni! Do you want to hear a joke? *the baby giggled* I'll take that as a yes. What do you do if you're attacked by clowns? You go for the juggler!" Lightning said making Giovanni squeal with laughter "You're a happy little thing aren't you?"

"He laughing because you're funny looking. He's too young to understand your jokes… and yes, he's a happy baby. When he's hungry or needs his diaper changed that's a different story." Sally said glancing over to Lightning "Light, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I am." Lightning said "Listen, Sally, we need to talk."

"About what?" Sally asked, looking baffled "Is it about the wedding?"

"No. Whatever you decide about that is fine by me." Lightning said "I have a plan about finishing the racing season, but I'm sure you're not going to like it."

"I was wondering when the 'I'm going to race in the Dinoco 400' scheme was going to come." Sally said "Well, let me hear it."

"First of all, I have raced in enough races to qualify for the finals." Lightning said "Doc has a brace that I can race in. However it won't last long. If my math is correct, I can get about seventy laps in before it has to be replaced."

"Are you sure it's going to work?" Sally asked "That's going to be a lot of pit stops."

"I know. " Lightning said "But I just have to finish in the top twenty and the Piston Cup is mine… That's my plan, are you on board?"

"Yes, kinda." Sally said "I don't like you racing when you're injured, but I know how much this means to you."

"Thank you." Lightning said kissing Sally "I knew you would understand."

"You're welcome." Sally said "I'm not taking the heat for this."

"I don't expect you to." Lightning said "I just need to get my Piston Cup."

"I know you do." Sally said "I'm surprised you decided to tell me what you were planning."

"I trust you more than any other person." Lightning said "I didn't want you thinking I was backing out of the wedding by disappearing a few days before it."

"Good thinking." Sally said smiling slightly, but it quickly turned into a frown. "I think you should tell Doc though."

"What would I say?" Lightning asked "Hey, Doc, I just wanted to tell you that I'm going to race in the Dinoco 400, whether you like it or not."

"Oh you are, are you?" Doc said from behind Lightning "Come on! We need to talk." Cringing, Lightning slowly followed Doc out of Sally's apartment.

Doc drove some ways down the road and stopped. Lightning pulled up beside him. For a minute or two Doc was completely silent. Lightning gave him a sideways glance trying to read his expression but it was blank, as usual.

"I heard every word you said to Sally. On paper, it sounds like a good plan." Doc finally said "The Dinoco 400 is six weeks away… Plenty of time to get you ready. However, we're gonna start slow."

"Let me get this straight." Lightning said, looking Doc square in the eye "You're going to let me race?"

"Technically I can't stop you… But, in the meantime, you have to do exactly what I say, no shortcuts." Doc said, Lightning eagerly nodded "The first thing I'm going to do, is design a brace that'll clear the racing board's regulations. The one I was planning to use, won't pass inspection. It might take me a while to design something."

"I appreciate this so much!" Lightning said sincerely "I really do."

"I know you do." Doc said "If you didn't, I wouldn't waste my time on designing a new brace."

And with that, Doc pulled away from Lightning and headed back to his office at the hospital. Lightning was dumbstruck for a few minutes. He slowly grinned; he was going for the Piston Cup. Still not believing what he just heard, Lightning turned around stiffly, wincing as he hit a small bump and drove back to the Cozy Cone.

"I got some good news!" Lightning said faintly when he drove into Sally's apartment "Doc's letting me race in the Dinoco 400!"

"You're kidding!" Sally exclaimed "Light, that's great!"

"Doc's building me a brace!" Lightning said happily "I think he's a little excited about it too. We barely finished the conversation before Doc headed to his office! I won't be surprised if he's working on it right now!"

"You're lucky to have him." Sally said "I'm behind you too."

"Thank you." Lightning said "I don't know what I'd do without you or Doc."

The next morning: Doc called Lightning to his office. "Good morning Rookie." Doc said when Lightning arrived

"How are you feeling?" "Not bad." Lightning said "I'm still sore, but I'm better than yesterday."

Doc looked pleased. A metal contraption was sitting on his desk. Only then did Lightning notice the fatigued look in Doc's eyes. He knew that Doc had been up all night working on it.

"Is that the brace I'm going to be using?" Lightning asked "It looks good."

"Yes, eventually. This is just a prototype, I'll build a real one if this design gets approved by the league." Doc replied "It has one problem though, I can't figure out how to relieve the pressure on your axle. It's going to hurt when you try to race in it."

"I can handle the pain." Lightning said "I just need you to stabilize my axle. *Doc shot him a skeptical look.* I can do this… Let me try it on."

"Not right now, Kiddo." Doc said "You're not ready. We'll try it out in a few weeks. Now that is sorted out, get your butt over to x-ray. I want to see how your healing."

Two weeks later, Willy's Bute: Doc examined Lightning's axle before strapping his newly racing board-approved brace on Lightning.

"Most of the swelling is gone and it looks good. Now, just try to get around the track once at fifty." Doc said looking slightly hesitant "Like I said, it's going to hurt."

Lightning nodded as he eased his weight onto his front right tire. As soon as he did, pain raced through his axle. Lightning winced, but moments later the pain started to go away. Feeling confident, Lightning drove around the track one time.

"That didn't look too bad." Doc said "How did it feel?"

"Not too bad." Lightning replied truthfully "My axle is throbbing, but it's nothing I haven't felt before."

"Good!" Doc said, obviously pleased with the good news "That's enough for today."

"Could I do a few more laps… please?" Lightning asked "I promise, I'll stop if I have any pain."

"Sure you can, besides I need to see how that brace handles higher speeds." Doc said "Try going around at seventy and if that doesn't hurt, then try one hundred."

"Okay." Lightning said "I can let you know how it feels."

He turned carefully and set off around the track at seventy. Going around the first turn, Lightning's axle complained, he groaned in pain but kept going. Lightning power slid in the second turn and deeply regretted it. The maneuver caused intense pain in his axle. Lightning actually saw stars dancing in front of his eyes. The pain was also making him sick to his stomach. Lightning came to a screeching stop in the middle of the track.

"You okay, Kiddo?" Doc asked rushing up to Lightning "What's wrong?"

"Hang on." Lightning said weakly "I think I'm going to barf or pass out… possibly both."

"Lightning?" Doc asked, looking slightly panicked "Talk to me!"

"I'm still here." Lightning said, a bit stronger "The stars are slowly going away."

"That's a relief." Doc said "Are you okay?"

"Of course not!" Lightning said in a distressed tone "I can't even get around Willy's Butte once at seventy without almost passing out!"

"Don't get discouraged, I'm going to review the design of the brace." Doc said "I'm going to see if I can improve the suspension to relieve pressure."

"There's no point." Lightning said glumly "It's pointless."

"Just try to roll forward a little." Doc encouraged "Don't give up yet. *Lightning put his tire down and as soon as he put some weight on it, it started trembling uncontrollably.* Let's go to the hospital. I need to check to make sure you didn't put any new fractures in it."

Lightning nodded and rolled forward slowly. He stumbled as his axle gave out.

"Here, lean up against me." Doc said "Luckily, we're not far from the hospital."

Lightning groaned quietly as he and Doc made their way to the hospital. When they were passing The Cozy Cone, Sally saw Lightning hobbling next to Doc.

"What happened?" Sally asked, speeding up to them "Light, are you okay?"

"The brace didn't work." Lightning said "I didn't make it around once."

"The brace worked fine." Doc countered "I told you there was going to be pain and you fuckin' didn't believe me."

They continued on the way to the hospital, Sally right behind them. Once they reached the hospital, Doc removed the brace and x-rayed Lightning's axle.

Later: "Well, I have some good news." Doc said, reading the x-ray. "No new fractures."

"That's good." Sally said, glancing at Lightning "You can try again."

"Not good!" Lightning said "That means the pain I felt is going to be normal isn't it?" Doc nodded.

"I'm going to line it with some padding and see if that helps." Doc said as he put Lightning's regular brace back on. "We can try again tomorrow."

Lightning shook his hood dully. "It won't help." he said "I'm just going through another season empty-handed."

"NO YOU'RE NOT!" Sally shouted "If Doc and I work on the brace, we can find a way to relieve the pressure."

"Sally, it's no use." Lightning said "I should just retire now and start training other racecars."

"Quit talking like that." Doc said "You're just upset; anyone would be."

"I'm not upset!" Lightning said, receiving skeptical looks from Doc and Sally. "Okay, maybe I am a little."

With that, Lightning rolled out of the room, putting as little pressure as possible on his front right tire. As soon as Lightning drove out of the hospital, Kori Turbowitz caught up to him.

"Lightning!" Kori called "Could I have a minute?"

"I guess so." Lightning said "If it's really a minute."

"Thanks." Kori said "I've heard that you're still racing for the Piston Cup this season. Is that true?"

"No." Lightning said bluntly "I'm not."

"So you'll return next season?" Kori asked, seeming slightly surprised by Lightning's blunt response.

"I haven't decided." Lightning said "Whenever I work hard and get back into shape, I get hurt again, so it seems pointless."

Lightning didn't say another word before hobbling down the road. He entered his cozy cone and shut the door behind him.

COMMENTS:

Guest 2- Yeah Lightning has had a hard time but it's no excuse for him to behave as cold and insensitive as he did. At least he's got guts like a man to approach Sally and apologize.- I agree, Lightning "maned up" and apologized to Sally.

Sally gives Lightning everything that no other woman can but being who she is is why Lightning loves her. Yeah it may burn being addressed by his name but it's in a way of seriousness.- It's kinda like when your mom uses your middle name when she's angry. You just know you're in trouble.

Sally and Lightning forgive coz they know they have dialogue and trust not many couples can match. Big shock from Sally over Chick and Chelsea's engagement. Aww poor Giovanni. Bad dream maybe.- You know how babies are. And on top of that, Sally and Lightning aren't used to having baby around, it's a big learning curve for them.

No more hiding secrets between Lightning and Sally in terms of hard times apart from good surprises.- Yep.

HOLY COW! Brody you horrible, abusive TWAT! Trying to steal Lightning's allowance out of greed for cigarettes and inflicting sexual assault.- I wanted to show that Brody was always like that, he didn't suddenly decide on being bi-sexual.

Go Merida for her ninja skills and plastering Brody with karma and making it drip. I like Riley's nature where he can be rough against Brody.- Despite what Lightning has said, I wanted to show that they were basically good parents.

Ha! Trying to play all innocent like a cold oiled coward over his guilt!? Pretty much something a guilty prick would do. So Brody even sexually assaulted the maid!? Well he should be on the street anyway or somewhere where Riley, Bella, Lightning and Merida won't have to deal with him.- Brody's personality is like Mike Sorrentino... aka "The Situation". I call him Meathead Mike. All he thinks about is himself and how quickly he had talk someone into having sex with him. If Brody keeps up his bullshit, it won't be long until he's on the streets.

You could of had Lightning mention how Brody tried to steal his allowance.- I just did.

No matter how old you get it doesn't mean your parents won't spank you for intolerable behaviour. I'd keep it up if I had kids who behave antisocial.- Even to this day, my mother still threnes to spank me.

Sally's a sweetheart letting Lightning stay to sleep with her. - It shows that, no matter what, she loves him.

As for Chick. He must of been kicked out altogether otherwise he would of been mentioned in racing throughout the films- Now that I think about it, He probably did. Or the league is refusing to acknowledge his racing strategy… you know like, it's their way of punishing him.

Merida should teach Lightning some ninja skills. Give him the benefit of defense- That's in the works. I don't know when you'll see it.

As for Chick and Chelsea. We can see how Chelsea treated Lightning and how hungry she is for sex and money. As gorgeous as many people can be they can also be deceiving so don't fall to easily for who you see- I agree. It's pretty obvious, she just wants his money.

I know you made a flashback about Merida beating the shit out of Brody but are you gonna do one where she breaks his axle like you mentioned in sidelined?- The last flashback started out the same… but when Merida sees what Brody was doing to Lightning she attacks him, breaking his axle in the process. I couldn't get it to come out the way I wanted it. I'm going to do another flashback a little later in the story. That'll give me some time to think about it. If you have any ideas I would like to hear them.

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.