Chapter 12 - "The Nightmare"

Lightning, Sally, and Jane were home in the wheel well.

"Do you have all of the decorations?" Sally asked. She was talking on the phone. She continued to talk but kept pausing to hear the other car on the line, "Okay so we have the decorations, but what about the cake?...Oh! Lemon!...The flowers lining the town? Pink!...The caterer?...Her name is Flo!...Oh no...yeah...yeah I forgot the music...alright you can get her!...Yeah, me and Lightning do have a song but can she play it?...She can play anything we want?...Alright! Then our song is great!"

After about a half an hour on the phone, Sally drove into the living room. She smiled at the sight in front of her. Lightning was in front of the television watching Dora Ford Explorer with Jane.

"Come on vamanos!" said Lightning, in a baby voice. Jane started giggling danced to the music. When Lightning saw, he danced with her.

"Can you say verde?" asked Dora. Jane struggled with her words.

"Ba-Ba-er-er-dee" said Jane.

Lightning laughed and said in his baby voice, "Right! Verde!"

Sally was holding her laughter back.

"Who do we ask for help when we don't know which way to go?" asked Dora. Dora paused to let the child speak.

"GPS," said Lightning.

"Right!" said Dora, "The GPS!"

Sally couldn't hold it in anymore. She busted out laughing.

"Sally! What are you doing?"

"Exposing you for the man you are, Stickers!"

"That's it," Lightning said, "Be right back, Jane," he smirked and turned to Sally, "You can't run from me."

"Oh?" Sally zipped around and immediately rushed around the house and Lightning followed close behind. He purposely didn't catch her. Jane was watching as they chased each other and she started laughing. She revved her little engine and Lightning and Sally paused to look at Jane.

"I can't believe it..," she said, "She's growing up so fast."

Lightning's engine sank when he realized she was right. He looked over at Jane, who was spinning in circles very fast.

"Well, tomorrow is our big day," he smiled.

"That's true..and I have a surprise for you, but I'll be honest. I'm afraid to show you."

"You know you don't have to be afraid to show me anything."

"You'll see," Sally said. She yawned, "Hm...we should get ready for bed. We need rest for tomorrow."

"Alright," he looked at Jane, "Come on, little star."

Jane smiled and followed Lightning as he motioned for her to come over with his tire. She followed him into her room. He lifted Jane onto his hood, then placed her in her crib.

"Goodnight, Jane," Lightning said, softly. Jane put her hood up against the bars and puckered her lips. Lightning could remember Sally doing the same thing to him when he was stuck in the impound. Lightning gently kissed Jane's lips, "You know daddy loves you."

"Let's go to bed, baby," said Sally from the doorway, "Night, Jane!"

As the hours passed into the night, Lightning's dreams began to turn.

Lightning was parked at the end of the street at the statue of Stanley in Radiator Springs. He looked around the town. It was all decorated for Lightning and Sally's wedding.

"Wow! Sally! The town is decorated really good for our wedding!" said Lightning.

"Who are you talking to?" whispered Mater. Lightning looked over to his left. Mater was parked next to him painted in a coat of black. He had a hood too. Doc was parked on Lightning's right but behind him. Doc was wearing black as well but his bumpers were painted white.

"Doc, you look really good too!" he complimented.

"Thanks, Hotshot," Doc replied.

Lightning looked down at his hood which was painted black. He assumed that his whole body was black and he was right. He looked at his tires and he was wearing white walls with golden hubcaps.

All of the rest of men wore plain white wall tires and were painted black. Lightning looked over at his right. Four ladies were parked there. Flo, Mia, Tia, and Nurse GTO. All the ladies wore tires that were all white and rims made of opal. Also, all of the women, including the four with Lightning, were painted white.

"Only the bride should be wearing white..," Lightning muttered. He looked away from the four women and down the street. Big mistake. Everything started to fade away.

His dream was changing.

Suddenly, he was surrounded by a racing stadium setting. Instead of being on the race track, he was parked in the audience.

"...and here comes McQueen rounding turn four!" said Bob Cutlass, one of the announcers for the race.

"MCQUEEN IS GONNA WIN THE PISTON CUP!" yelled Darrell Cartrip, the other announcer.

"McQueen?" said Lightning, "But how? I'm over here!"

He looked up at the screen and a female racer was shown. She was a white Porsche, the number '95' painted on her side in black. She had sponsor stickers all over her body. Suddenly, a name appeared on the screen.

Lightning read it out loud, "Jane...Taylor...McQueen..?"

Jane zoomed past the finish line.

"WOOOOOOO HOOOO!" Jane cheered, "Yeah!"

She drove onto the grass off the side of the track. She turned her tires, slammed on the gas, and started doing donuts. She ripped up the grass, leaving rings of dirt.

"I WON!"

The whole audience of cars screamed her name and cheered. Lightning's eyes widened. He drove out of the audience and on the field.

"Jane!" he called out. Bob and Darrell looked over at Lightning.

"It looks like daddy is coming to give a congrats to Jane!" said Darrell. Lightning smiled wide, but the audience stopped cheering and Jane stopped doing donuts. Jane looked at Lightning and her mouth dropped open, "Dad?"

Lightning started driving over to Jane. While he was driving he yelled, "You're racing? You race in the-"

"Looks like Lightning finally came back into Jane's life," interrupted Bob. Lightning stopped hard and looked around him. He finally noticed the audience not making any more noise.

"Huh?"

The whole audience started to 'boo' Lightning. Oil cans and food were being thrown and hitting Lightning in the face.

"HEY!...UGH!...STOP!...What are you-...OW!"

Jane started to back away from Lightning.

"Well, you know what they say, Bob, racecars never have time for their kids. They just leave them for their mother to take care of them," said Darrell.

Jane sped away from Lightning and into the pit lane.

"Security!" Jane exclaimed. A few big trucks crowded Lightning and pushed him away from her.

"Wh-...Jane! Jane, it's me!" Lightning begged.

"LIGHTNING!" yelled another female voice from behind him. He turned around. It was Sally.

"You left us with NOTHING!", she squealed. Lightning gasped. He could barely speak, "No I...I.."

Lightning couldn't handle it. All of the security around him, his daughter as an adult, Sally yelling at him, and the audience booing him made him crack. He slammed on his gas pedal and sped away.

"LIGHTNING! GET OVER HERE!" yelled Sally, "LIGHTNING! LIGHTNING!"

"Lightning? Lightning!" said Sally, nudging him, "Wake up. We need to go to our wedding."