~Chapter 14~

"A Small Town Miracle"

Bubba was hanging Lightning over the edge of the canyon. It was as if time was repeating itself. He hung Lightning there the same way he did Sally. As Lightning accidentally looked down at the fading distance underneath him, he realized he was staring death right in the face.

"Bubba..please..I...what did I do?"

Bubba thought the whole situation was hilarious. He let out his famous evil laugh.

"Nothing!" Bubba teased. "That's what makes me a murderer."

"Bubba, please. I just got married! Please."

"You need to give me a better reason than that."

Lightning's mind was racing.

How do you get inside the mind of a murderer? Lightning thought. "What do I say to him?"

"I'm waiting."

"I..have a baby.."

"That? Hah..that?"

"Y-Yes..? Bubba...please..I..need her. She needs me..."

"You don't know that she needs you-"

"YES I DO."

"How, McQueen?"

"Because YOU took my father away from me."

Lightning's voice rolled through the canyons, but Bubba didn't move.

"Fine. You want your daddy back-"

"No don't! Don't-"

Bubba swung his hook around and Lightning watch as the world sway from side to side.

"NO BUBBA-"

"You'll see your daddy."

Bubba let Lightning go.

Lightning screamed at the top of his voice. The warm desert air flew in his face. The ground grew closer and closer, then nothing. Just the sound of crushed metal and the smell of leaking gasoline mixed with motor oil.

Bubba admired his work with a small smile cracked on his bumper. He gathered spit at the back of his throat and spat it out over the edge. He watched it travel down and hit Lightning's body.

"Make sure you tell daddy I said 'Hi'."

Three hours later, all the guests went home from the wedding. They grew tired of waiting for Lightning to come back. After all, he was three hours late to cut the wedding cake with Sally. Midge, Sally, and Flo were parked at Flo's. Sally was trying to calm down.

"What if he left me?", Sally asked. "Why doesn't he love me!?" she broke down in tears.

"Where could that boy be?" Flo sighed. Jane whimpered softly to herself. She was able to feel the tension from the adult around her. Midge was rubbing Sally's fender softly with her tire.

"Darling, I know Lightning. He never once left a woman like this," explained Midge. Sally wouldn't believe it.

That's such a lie, Sally thought. Maybe not to her, but it's a lie. If a man sees a woman, he will drive circles around her until she gives in, or until she hits him. He's very famous. He's had many girlfriends. Many girlfriends. This scares me...but me? Me? She's right. Lightning would never do this to me. He wanted to marry me, after all. And he's my husband now.

Jane whimpered some more, enough to get Sally to finally look at her.

"It's okay, Jane," Sally assured. "Daddy is on his way home."

Jane's innocence made her believe her mother, but just then, Doc came speeding from Tailfin Pass.

"HEY!", he yelled. All the women turned their hoods.

"What happened, Doc?", asked Flo.

Doc was out of breath, "It's...Lightning...he...he's...we...come on!"

Doc turned back around and sped with the women who were now close behind him. Jane recognized 'Lightning' was her father's name so she sped too. No, she didn't speed. She raced. Jane went faster than Flo and her mother, faster than the Hudson Hornet. Jane was flying. Flashing police lights filled the foggy mist.

"Hey Sheriff!", called Doc. "How is-"

Sheriff just shook his hood, and Doc was silent.

"Lightning?" Sally called. She saw his body. He was on the ground with all of his tires spread out in a pool of his gasoline and oil. Sally stared in horror.

"Lightning? Stickers! Wake up!" Sally drove to him and started nudging him with her wheel, but it was no use. He didn't move. Lightning was covered in dents and dirt was jammed in all parts of his body. His eyes were closed and his mouth hung open. Shaking her hood, Sally pulled away. Tears formed in her eyes.

"Lightning.." she said, choked up. "C-Come on, Stickers, stop it...stop playing.."

Sheriff drove to Sally and leaned on her to comfort her, which instantly made her start to cry. Lightning just stayed on the ground, not moving once. Doc put his tire under Lightning's undercarriage.

"Hold on..he's unconscious..," said Doc. Sally let out a sigh of relief. At least it he wasn't dead.

"We need to get him to the emergency room," said Flo. "Now."

After a few minutes an ambulette came and helped Doc take Lightning away to his clinic back in Radiator Springs. Lightning was then taken out of the ambulette and put into a room. Sally told Flo and Midge to go home, but Midge insisted to stay. Flo, however, agreed and thought it would be best if she didn't stay. Jane, of course, stayed with Sally.

"We got him to open his eyes on the way over here," said Doc.

"That's great!" Sally called out. Lightning's mother lowered on her suspension. Doc turned to Lightning.

"Hey..," he said softly. "Wake up, son."

Lightning opened his eyes to just slits. He couldn't open them anymore than that, as his eyes were too swollen.

"Stickers, Sally whispered. Lightning's eyes rolled to Sally. He forced himself to smile, just like he did when he found out he forgot his lines, only this time it hurt more physically than mentally.

"Sa..Sal...S-Sally…," Lightning struggled. She drove closer to hear him better, "Yes?"

"I..I loved..loved...l-loved you so much..", replied Lightning.

Loved?

His voice stayed very low and hoarse, "I..I won't make it out of this room tonight. I just can't-"

"Don't you say that..," Sally said, gritting her teeth, "Don't say that.."

Lightning just stared at Sally for a few moments, taking in how different she looked now, than when he saw her a few hours ago. Her glow was no longer there. She looked like she had everything taken out of her, "Sally...Sally...it's okay-"

"No! It's not.."

"Sweetheart..."

"Lightning..," Sally started to cry. She nuzzled her face against his.

"S-..Sal..," Lightning took in a deep breath and tried to push himself up. His voice sung softly, the song that played when he ignited Sally's spark for the first time, "L-Life...could be a...dr-dream..if I co-could...take you up in..paradise..up above...if-..if you would tell me...I'm the only one that...you love…," he changed the lyric a little, "My life..became a dream, sweetheart.."

Sally crying was silenced and her pupils widened at Lightning, "I love you..I never said it enough, but..I do.."

"I l-love...you too..," Lightning started. He leaned over to Sally, barely able to move anymore and whispered, "For infinity..and beyond..."

Sally could feel him struggling, and rather than watching him do that, she decided to take away his pain, and backed away. This made Jane catch Lightning's eye. She was parked behind Sally, shocked to see her father all broken.

"Jane…," Lightning said. Sally nudged Jane forward, letting her know that it was okay to drive over.

She looked into his eyes. She listened.

"Jane..I..need you to know something...I need you to know it...now...before time goes on anymore..daddy had no daddy growing up..and...I..," Lightning tried his best to hold back his tears, "I..don't think daddy is...going...to be here much longer for you..."

Little Jane rolled closer to Lightning.

"Jane..", Lightning continued. "I...I never heard my daddy tell me he loved me...so...I want..you to promise me..that you know I loved you, my little star..that's what we named you after, you know...daddy loves you so much..."

The pressure from tears behind Lightning's eyes was unbearable and started to seep out. After a few moments he tried to control himself better.

No. McQueen, stop, he thought. You can't cry now. Don't show Jane you cry.

He continued to talk to Jane, "Jane...I want you to know...that I tried...I tried so hard...but everyone was right. Racecars don't have the greatest parents..and they're not the greatest parents themselves..but...I would have been an..an amazing one. I want you to know that. I was so prepared..to be a father...to raise you...I would have been there for you..when that guy never called you back...when your friends said something mean to you...your first day of high school...your graduation...I would have seen you be a success..I would have heard your first words...I would have done it all...but-"

Midge rolled over to him, "Lightning, don't leave me again.."

"Mom...if I could-"

"D-Da-Da?", asked a little sobbing voice. Lightning opened his eyes a little wider, though it still hurt. He looked at Jane. She blinked a few times and tears ran down her hood.

She opened her mouth to talk again, "Da-Da.."

Sally's breath was taken away and she drove to Jane with a smile on her face once again.

Lightning was in awe, "I waited so long to finally hear...to finally hear your voice."

"Da-Da!" Jane yelled.

Lightning looked at Jane with sorry eyes. I'm Lightning McQueen. I can handle anything. I'm not letting Bubba take me away. I'm not.

Lightning shook his hood, "No, Jane..", he said. "Daddy won't go."

Jane started to bounce and jump in happiness. Lightning looked at Sally who was watching him back. She was smiling.

Thank you, Sally mouthed. Lightning nodded, looking back to Jane.

"As long as the stars are glued to the sky, as long as I'm alive, as long as the Earth keeps spinning, I will watch you grow," he said, "Jane Taylor...I will watch you glisten and show the world how bright you are."

Jane leaned up to Lightning with a smile on her face. She was about to pucker her lips and give her father a kiss when Sheriff drove in.

"Has anyone seen Mater? Oh, Hotrodder!" said Sheriff. "How ya feelin'?"

"Mater?"

"That's good," said Sheriff. He smiled. "But anyway, has anyone seen Mater?"

"He's lost?" asked Doc, whose attention was quickly brought back to the situation from analyzing McQueen's vitals. Sheriff nodded his hood to Doc, "I was talking to him. Tellin' him about Lightning," said Sheriff, "Then he just sped off to ornament valley."

Lightning could feel a bulge in his throat. His mind was taken from his daughter.

Mater, he thought, no..