I recently discovered that the original version of this story got lost during my Great Editing Process. So, I rewrote it. I admit, this version is a little rushed and I apologise for that, but I wanted to leave you with something.

Fear of the Future

Fudge had not taken long at all to fit into life in the small remote desert town. Some things, though, did take longer for her.

For example, Fudge learned to crawl on Christmas Day. That was a very happy day for the RS gang, especially since they had all felt like losers that day. Fudge's first Christmas had not turned out as well as they had hoped. So, at least their newest and youngest member had accomplished something. (Even if it meant that from then on, changing her diaper became all the more difficult. Fudge had always hated it, but now she was able to crawl, she tried to get away.)

The very next day, her dads had to make a dash to the hardware store in Ashgrove to baby proof their home/store.

"Why do they even need to baby proof?" Sarge wondered while they were gone. "Parents nowadays are so overprotective!" It was clear from the start that he had disapproved of the way the two Italians raised their daughter. He had been that way ever since Luigi had declared that the Ferber method was cruel. The Jeep disagreed, but he couldn't convince the Fiat otherwise.

"Is that such a bad thing, man?" Fillmore countered. "It means they care about her."

Everyone turned to look at the six-month-old, who was crawling around the café. They wanted to keep her safe, of course, but she needed the freedom to explore.

"Howdy, y'all!" Mater shouted as he came tearing up to Flo's.

"Careful, Mater!" Doc warned.

Too late. The clumsy tow truck bumped into the little girl, albeit not very hard. She tumbled to the ground and immediately started bawling.

"Oh, honey!" Flo cooed, scooping her up. "It's okay, it's okay! You're okay!"

For a moment, all of the patrons at the café were in shock. That could've been much worse. They knew that that was the biggest danger in cars raising a human.

Doc checked her over.

"Seems to be okay", he reported, "but you must be more careful next time, Mater. Humans are much more vulnerable than us cars."

"What's vulnerable mean?" Mater wondered.

"Never mind. Just be careful next time. Don't forget. She's just a baby too."

Time went by. Babyproofing was no problem for the multi-talented Guido and between that and everyone's being much more mindful of the infant, there were very few incidents as Fudge became more mobile. "A few" of Luigi's relatives came over from Italy to meet Fudge when she was eight months old, but that turned out to be practically half of Italy. They were all enthralled by the little girl as well and were over the moon for Luigi and Guido.

Fudge's next big milestone, however, came when she was eleven months old.

It was just a typical morning at Flo's. Everyone was just sipping their oil, feeling content. They never used to, but now that Fudge was around, they were.

Luigi checked Fudge at one point during breakfast and announced, "Does Fudgie need a diaper change?" He picked her up and she burst into tears, squirming like crazy. Nobody knew how she always knew that she was being changed, but she did.

"Sorry, Fudgie", Luigi tried to sooth her. "Papà needs to change your diaper. Be a good girl for Papà."

"Papà", Fudge repeated.

Gasps were heard all around.

"What did you just say?!" Luigi asked, amazed. "Did you just say Papà?"

"Papà!" Fudge shouted again.

"Oh, Fudgie!" the Fiat exclaimed excitedly. "Your first word! And it was Papà!"

"Papà!" the eleven-month-old repeated.

Eventually, she grew bored with saying Papà, but the rest of her family were buzzing with excitement for the rest of the day. Fudge's first word! She was growing up so fast!

Sure enough, one month later, the entire town got together to celebrate Fudge's first birthday.

"Can you believe she is one year old already?!" Luigi cried in disbelief.

"Time flies", Flo remarked.

"She has already grown up so fast!" the Fiat went on. "And she has so much more growing to do! Oh, I just wish she could stay my beautiful baby girl forever!"

"I know, honey", Flo sympathised. She knew exactly how they felt. Her daughters seemed to grow up way too fast as well. "But you've still got time with her. Make the most of it."

"You are right", Luigi realised.

The rest of the day was just as emotional, but not quite as sad. Luigi and Guido managed to get everyone's birthday wishes on film, so they could give it to her on her eighteenth birthday. Of course, there were presents, mostly toys and clothes. However, there was one present that they all chipped in on: a book about how Fudge became theirs. Even though she was too young to understand now, they felt that it would be useful because they wanted her to never ever feel ashamed of the fact that she was adopted. Plus, they all wanted to be as open about her adoption as possible. (They weren't looking forward to telling her that she was dumped in the trash by her mother, which they planned to do when she was twelve or thirteen, but they believed that she had the right to know.)

Then there was cake. A very special cake was ordered from an excellent bakery in Ashgrove. It was a white cake in the shape of the number 1 with zoo animals all over it in icing. Flo lit one candle and placed it in front of the little birthday girl, who was dressed in a pale pink dress that made her look like a princess, as everyone sang "Happy Birthday."

"Okay, blow out the candles, Fudgie!" Luigi instructed.

Fudge had no idea what she meant, so it was up to her dads to help her out. The three of them blew out the candle together and everyone cheered. Fudge clapped her little hands. What a perfect day!

A week later, however, Luigi had a question for Doc.

"When is she going to learn how to walk?"

"Soon, I expect", Doc replied. "Soon."

But Doc was wrong. Fudge did not start walking soon. In fact, several months went by and she still hadn't learned to walk. Her fathers were getting very worried.

"I wouldn't worry too much, if I were you", Doc kept reassuring them. "She might be a little slow right now, but I'm sure she'll catch up."

However, by the time she was eighteen months and still hadn't taken her first steps, even Doc became concerned.

"I have to admit, I thought she would've started walking by now", Doc conceded.

It was a rainy afternoon and they were all gathered inside of Flo's, watching the one-year-old, hoping that she would take her first steps.

"It is because we are all cars, no?" Luigi guessed, sounding nervous. "She cannot figure out how to walk because she has never seen anyone do it."

The Hudson Hornet took a deep breath. "The thought crossed my mind", he admitted.

Luigi asked his next question, sounding very much like he didn't want to ask it. "Do- Do you think she is getting the best life in Radiator Springs? With no other humans around? I know we all love her to bits, but is that enough?" Fillmore always said that all Fudge needed was love. For the first time, Luigi had his doubts about that.

Nobody was quite sure how to answer that.

"What do we do?" the worried Fiat wondered.

Doc sighed. "If she still hasn't done it in a couple of weeks, I'll see if we can take her to a human doctor in Ashgrove. Maybe Dr. Simon is still around." Dr. Simon was a human doctor the old humans who used to live in Radiator Springs saw from time to time and they all liked her very much. "In the meantime, let's not worry too much. There's still a chance that-"

"She's doin' it!" Mater shouted abruptly.

"Yes, Mater, but don't interrupt", Doc scolded.

"No!" the tow truck corrected him. "She's doin' it!"

"What?!" everyone gasped and turned to face the human girl.

Sure enough, she was taking a couple of wobbly steps towards Luigi.

"Yes!" the Fiat cried happily. Tears of joy shone in his eyes as Guido whipped out his video camera and turned it on (since Fudge was born, he never kept it too far away from him). "Well done, Fudgie! Come here! Come to Papà!"

Fudge tried. She took one more step towards her father before tumbling over, landing hard on the linoleum floor. In an instant, she was crying, but that was nothing that a cookie couldn't fix. As she gnawed at her treat, she became just as happy as the rest of her family. Fudge had just taken her first steps. That was one crisis averted. For now.

Similar concerns arose when it came to Fudge's potty training. She just wasn't getting it as quickly as other humans would. (Plus, Mater telling her about the potty monster slowed things down.) Once again, they all kept asking each other if it was right to keep Fudge in Radiator Springs, away from other humans. However, they didn't do anything about it. Even though it felt unfair to her, the RS gang were far too attached to little Fudge to give her up now.

Worried as Doc was, he was confident that she would get there. Finally, she was fully potty trained when she was four, but closer to five.

Around about the same time, yet another concern came up. It all started when Fudge was sat on the floor outside Flo's, waiting for her dinner to appear. As she waited, the little girl kept herself occupied by drawing a picture of her family.

"F-U-D-G-E spells Fudge!" she announced as she wrote everyone's names above them. "P-A-P-A spells Papà! B-A-B-B-O spells Babbo! R-E-D spells Red... How do you spell Fillmore?"

Fillmore smiled and told her.

"That is a good point", Luigi remarked.

Everyone looked at him, puzzled.

"What is?" Fillmore asked blankly.

"Spelling", Luigi explained. He paused for a moment, but when he saw that his friends were still confused, he continued. "Fudge is going to be five in June. She should be starting kindergarten in September. What are we going to do about school?"

That was something nobody had given much thought. The nearest school was in Ashgrove, about two and a half hours away. There had once been a school in Radiator Springs years ago, back in the town's heyday. It had been run by a couple of the human women, whom all the kids adored and called Miss Katherine and Miss Audrey (even though both of them were married). However, both of them were gone now. Audrey was sadly shot and killed in a protest against the Vietnam War and Katherine lived in Chicago now and was in her eighties. Besides, it wouldn't feel much like a school with only one student.

Luigi and Guido had thought about all this stuff a little when it came to first officially adopting Fudge. Although, they just decided to cross that bridge when they got to it. They just hadn't been prepared for how fast children grow up. They were totally unprepared to cross that bridge.

Everyone thought for a moment.

"Well, we can't send her to Ashgrove Elementary", Flo pointed out. "The round trip would be almost as long as the actual school day. Five days a week." She shook her hood. "I think it would just be too much for the poor girl."

Sarge nodded in agreement. "It just doesn't make sense."

"Besides, what if the town makes it back onto the map?" newcomer Sally, who was both logical and optimistic, put in. "It would be very hard to fit into our schedule."

"Well, what are we going to do then? Homeschool her?"

The Fiat didn't get the answer that he was expecting. He thought everyone would go, "No, you're right. That's ridiculous. Maybe it can't hurt to look into Ashgrove Elementary." Instead, they just looked thoughtful.

Luigi gasped. "I was not serious! We can't homeschool Fudge!"

"Why not?" Ramone wondered.

"Because we are not teachers!" Luigi countered.

Flo shrugged. "If we all pitch in, how hard can it be?"

"That's right!" Sally agreed. "We'll start our very own Radiator Springs Elementary School!"

"And I think it'll be good to get involved in her education", Red voiced his opinion, quietly and shyly (the same way he always spoke, if he ever did)."It'll be a good way to spend some time with her."

The rest of them agreed with Red.

"She's such a smart kid already", Fillmore reasoned. "She's already bilingual." That was true. The girl was learning both English and Italian very well.

"But what about high school? That will be much harder and I want her to have a good chance! And what about friends? There is no one here her own age. Is she going to get the best life here in Radiator Springs? So- so far away from everything?"

Everyone paused. This was nothing new, but it never got easier to talk about. What if her life in Radiator Springs wasn't enough? What if she would be better off in the city? Or, at least, a larger town?

Doc sighed. "I'm sure we'll have other options for her when she gets older. Boarding school, youth groups, whatever... But for now, let's start her with some homeschooling and figure out the rest later."

Luigi turned to his best friend. "Guido?"

Guido sighed. "(What other choice do we have?)"

Luigi sighed too. He knew that his best friend and co-father was right. There really was no other choice.

"Okay", he agreed, albeit reluctantly.

Even though the two Italians were concerned about how they would go homeschooling their daughter, everyone else was excited.

"This is gonna be great, you'll see", Sally promised.

Luigi and Guido were sceptical at first, but things did turn out great. The RS gang didn't want to shut her up indoors all day and give her lectures and worksheets. Instead, they showed her that learning took place in the world. For example, math classes often entailed helping her family with their stores. She would use addition and subtraction to compare prices and even baked a cake with Flo to learn about measurements. She loved learning that way and, as they suspected, they all loved being involved in her education.

Still, they couldn't help worrying about her lack of friends. And the lack of humans.

Late one night, when Fudge was five years old, came a moment Luigi and Guido feared would happen ever since they adopted Fudge.

Knock, knock!

Luigi opened the door with Guido right behind him. Stood before them were a pale pink 1959 Cadillac El Dorado and a white forklift.

"Luigi Topolino and Guido Rossi?" the Cadillac questioned.

"Yes?" Luigi responded nervously.

"I'm Mary Wilcox and this is Kevin Fairchild from the American Adoption and Foster Care Association... Could we come in?"

This was it. They were going to confirm all of their worries about a human child being raised entirely by vehicles.

Luigi took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Yes, of course."

If you've read Life Could Be a Dream, you'll know what happens next.

Again, I apologise for how rushed it is, but I wanted to have something here.