Chapter 5 - "Labor Day"
"This place is so beautiful," said Sally. She and Lightning were parked in front of the view in front of the Wheel Well Motel. They've been engaged for two months now.
Sally's eyes got heavy and they shut slowly.
Lightning smiled at her expression, "Come on, sleepyhood."
"Mm..I don't feel like driving all the way back into town..the baby is getting heavy."
After all, she was really big now. Her doors bulged out and her undercarriage almost touched the floor.
"Good, because I brought you up here for a surprise!" Lightning said. They drove to the entrance of the motel.
"You need to close your eyes," Lighting continued.
With a soft giggle, Sally shut her eyes, "Alright, I will."
There was a sound of a lock falling open and a door squeaking open.
"Okay! Open them!"
After opening her eyes, Sally's happiness only grew. She drove inside with Lightning and the place was outstanding.
"Now there will be room for all of us," Lightning said, "You, me, and the baby."
They continued driving as Lightning spoke, "Since we know we're having a son, the baby's room is all decked out for him!"
"He'll love it," Sally smiled.
"Want to know the best part?" Lightning's voice lowered seductively, "Mater will need to call before he comes all the way here!"
Sally laughed really hard, "Lightning! That's not-oh..oh..ow..."
"What? Is it the baby?" Lightning worried. Sally moved her tire to her undercarriage and held it there.
"I can get Doc right now if you-"
"No..f-false alarm," said Sally.
"Are you sure?" Lightning asked. He looked her up and down.
"I'm sure," she assured him, "I'll go take a look at the baby's room though."
"In that case, I can't wait for you to see it," he smiled, "You'll like it."
When Sally reached the baby's room, she went to push the door open, but before she even touched it, the door flew opened.
"RAWRRRRRRR!" yelled Mater, who was hiding in the motel the whole time. Sally jumped and let out a high pitch scream.
"I knew you'd like it!" called out Lightning from the other room.
"Hey, Mrs. Sally!" Mater yelled.
Lightning heard him as well, "Oh no.."
He drove around to the baby's room, when he got there, Sally was clenching her undercarriage with both of her front tires and her eyes shut tight. Her teeth couldn't clench any harder than they were.
"I didn't do it!" Mater exclaimed.
"What didn't you do, Mater?" Lightning said as he pulled up to Sally, "Baby, I'm gonna call-"
"T-Take me to Doc's right now!" she moaned.
"I gotcha, Mrs. Sally!" Mater declared. He immediately hooked Sally onto his tow hook. She began to pant. Lightning pulled right in front of her, "I'm right here, okay?"
She nodded with her eyelids shut halfway. The thunderous pain was already beginning to get worse.
They all drove as fast as they could to Doc's.
"The baby's comin'!" Mater called out through the waiting room. He pushed the examination room doors open, "Doc! The baby is comin'!"
Doc flinched, "Get her on the lift, Mater."
"We got her here as fast as we could," Lightning said.
"Good job, boys," Doc said, "You did just fine. Don't you worry."
Mater smiled proudly and backed Sally on the lift. Once she was secure, Doc went to raise the lift.
"Wait, Doc," said Lightning. He rolled alongside Sally and put his tire on her fender Sally, "You're gonna be okay."
Through her panting, Sally squeezed out a small smile, "I-Is it because my last name will be McQueen that I could handle anything now?"
Lightning smirked, "Maybe.."
"Alright, boys," Doc said, "The room is small, so I'm gonna need you both to give us some space so that Sally can deliver safely, alright?"
"C'mon, buddy," Mater said. He patted Lightning on the fender, "Let's go read some magazines in the waitin' room."
"It'll be over before you know it, baby," Lightning said.
"I-I know," Sally said. Another contraction began and she clenched her teeth. In that moment, Mater and Lightning drove out of the room and parked themselves in vacant seats.
Lightning knew it was safe to talk here.
"Mater, do you think Sally and I would make great parents?"
"Are you kiddin'?" Mater's flashed his buck teeth, "You'd be an awesome dad! And Sally? She's be the most loving mom the word has ever seen."
Lightning turned around so his rear bumper faced Mater. Mater stared at his friend. He felt really sorry for him, "Buddy, she's probably almost done anyway."
"You're probably right," Lightning replied.
"Nurse!" Doc called out from the room. Nurse GTO quickly pulled away from her desk and she sped to the room.
"What do you think happened?" asked Lightning.
"I don't know," said Mater, "I hear these things are intense.."
After about ten minutes, the doors opened again. Lightning and Mater's eyes quickly jumped to it.
"I'm gonna go get everybody!" Mater said happily. Mater drove backwards out of the clinic and out to tell the rest of the town. However, Lightning continued staring at the door until someone came out.
Nurse GTO rolled out and let the doors shut behind her. She rustled some papers hanging on the wall outside of the room on an old clipboard, then drove back into the room.
Outside of the clinic, the sound of engines got louder. Soon, everyone in town was now inside Doc's waiting room.
"I brought everybody!" said Mater. He saw that the doors were shut, "Huh. I thought you would have been inside by now."
"What happened?" asked Flo.
"Yeah," said Mater. Ramone's paint job was half done.
"I stopped my painting for this, man? I thought you said the baby was here, Mater!", said Ramone, who only had half of his body painted a sparkling baby blue for the occasion.
"They opened the doors, Nurse GTO came out, and went back in," Lightning said.
Everyone groaned.
"We're not leaving!" Luigi stated, "We wanted to see a baby and we-a gonna see a baby!"
The doors opened once again and out rolled Nurse GTO with a grin, "McQueen?" she motioned for the race car to come over with her wheel, "It's time for you to meet someone."