Author's Note:
Hello again. I know it's been a while, but once again college got in the way of my writing. When I'm not in school, I'm at work, and unfortunately that means I have no time to write. The good news is that the semester is over and I got all my finals done, so that means I'll have plenty of time to edit and add the rest of the already written chapters, and then I'll finally be able to type up all of the new chapters. The writing style won't be as bad since they'll be fresh, never posted, newly written chapters instead of chapters I literally wrote years ago when I was in high school. So hopefully that gives you guys something to look forward to!
In the meantime, here's one of the few more already written chapters. Again, I'm shocked that people still read this fic! I'm just as humbled as well. I said it before, and I'll say it again now, I cannot thank you guys enough. I'm thankful for anyone that even reads a word of my writing, no matter who it is. No matter if I get a review, no matter if it's liked or disliked, I write because it makes me feel good. Even if the fandom can't agree on some things, contributing makes me feel good. I've liked the movie since I was a little, as many of us have, so it makes me feel little again when I write for the movies. It relieves a lot of stress. To know that there are some who do like my writing makes me feel so happy and I'm only sorry that I can't express it enough through a computer screen. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Five more recycled chapters to go before the new ones start coming in (after chapter 23).
~Chapter 18~
"Hide and Seek Needs Two"
Nightfall has arrived quickly. Sally was gathering her papers together by shuffling them around with her tires. She then reviewed all of the cars that were staying at her motel one more time before she left.
I just can't get cone number four to sell, she thought, Oh well.
She drove to the exit of her motel's lobby and shut off the lights. She pulled out of the parking lot and crossed the street to Doc's clinic. When she drove through the doors, she wiped her tires on the mat.
"Hello there, Mrs. McQueen!" said Nurse GTO from across the room. Sally looked over.
"How are you?" asked Sally.
"I'm doing well, but I don't think Lightning is."
Sally felt engine sink from those words. She tried to think of all of the possible things that could have happened to Lightning while she was gone, but nothing seemed to fit.
"Why do you say that?" asked Sally.
"Well, just a few minutes ago, he was out here asking me where Mater was with your daughter. She was out all day with him. Those two must be getting along so well! I'm telling you, I've never seen such a bright smile on your daughter's face! When she saw that snow for the first time, oh it was so cute! I wish I had my camera!"
Sally was stuck on the words 'asking me where Mater was with your daughter'. Sally told Lightning to stay with her and take care of her. She told him to keep an eye on her.
"With…Mater?" Sally asked.
"Yes, Jane was with Mater all day long! You know, I'm surprised you would trust her with him. You know, because he's…well...he's special! They were gone since dawn!"
Sally's oil boiled inside of her with pure vexation.
"I'm sure everything's okay though, Sal. Once they come back, Lightning will have nothing to worry about! It's funny, you know? I thought you'd be more worried because you have more sense than Lightning, but you seem to be the calm one!"
Sally's pupils shrank and she clenched her teeth together.
"Is Lightning still here?" she asked through her teeth.
"Yes." said Nurse GTO.
Sally ignored Nurse GTO after that and sped right to his room. Nurse GTO just stared at Sally's taillights as she drove away.
"Well...goodnight…" said Nurse GTO, to herself.
Lightning was parked in front of a window, staring at the road Mater left with Jane on. His lips were curled in so he didn't create that much steam on the window with his breath. Every now and then though, he needed to breathe. So when he did, he wiped the window with his tire so that it would clear up.
"Come on, Mater..before Sally gets here..," Lightning whispered.
Sally was just about to slam herself inside when she came to a sudden stop. Lightning always got himself into trouble. Sally knew that the best part about knowing he did something wrong, was torturing him about it. However, there was nothing Lightning ever did that was on such a huge scale like this one. This wasn't going to stop her for playing with his mind a bit.
Sally took in a deep breath. She fought with gravity as she lifted her lips into a fake smile. Her tires vibrated while fighting back the urge to hit any object around her. She pressed her right front tire on the switch that opened the garage door to Lightning's room. The door made a humming noise and it rattled up. Lightning heard this, gasped, and jumped. He could feel his throat closing up and the saliva in his mouth starting to dry up. He brought his tires in close to his body and he sunk down. His lips started to quiver. The deep blue color in his eyes started to fade a little while his pupils grew.
Sally drove inside of the room and the garage door closed behind her. She forced words out of her mouth.
"Hello there, sweet-" she cleared her throat, "-heart."
By the looks of Lightning, Sally was able to tell that he knew he did something very wrong. Lightning lifted himself off of his tires.
"Hey," he said.
Lightning looked at Sally's eyes and saw how small her pupils were. They weren't normal.
"Where's Jane? She usually speeds over to me when I come home from work. It's a bit odd that she isn't," said Sally, "Is she feeling okay?"
"Ye-Yeah…," said Lightning, "Well…I don't know…"
Sally's smile faded.
"She was playing in the snow..," he said, "All she wanted to do was play in the snow…"
Sally drove closer to Lightning and parked in his face. He was able to feel Sally's breath as she spoke to him.
"Lightning," she said firmly.
Lightning began to back away a little because of how close she was, but Sally grabbed under his chin with her tire and pulled him back into her face.
"Where's my baby, Stickers?"
"I…she wanted to play in the-"
"Where's my baby, Stickers?"
"With…Mater has her…"
"Where is my baby?"
"Mater has her!"
"Why don't you have her?" Sally let go of Lightning's chin.
"I already answered you.."
"Dammit, I want to know where Jane is right now!" Sally exclaimed. Lightning flinched at her words. He started to see two of Sally. After that, he started to see two of everything. The whole room felt like some screwed up amusement park ride. Lightning felt sick to his gas tank.
"You know what? Forget this..really..marriage? Married to a man who can't even watch his own child? No wonder Flo and Ramone never had one. I'm leaving you, Lightning."
Lightning struggled to move forward, to get to Sally.
"No, Sally..please.."
"I can't do this with you."
The floor wobbled like ocean waves under Lightning and he was the boat. He swam over the tiles and grabbed one of Sally's tires. He held it with one of his.
"Sally, I love you. Just don't leave me."
Sally shook her hood, "No."
"Sally, don't do this. If…if you pull your tire away from mine, then that means you're really leaving me."
Sally looked over at her tire. Lighting looked over at his tire. For that one moment, the tires touching each other were the only thing Lightning could see clearly. Lightning's world was holding his tire. All of their memories would mean nothing. They would just be lost in the ocean of tiles that Lightning was floating on. Those sleepless nights Sally had, when Lightning was away for his races, would be wasted hours. Those tears she shed when he almost left, they'd be wasted. She loosened her grip. Lightning spread his lips apart in a bit of shock. He looked away from the tires and instead, into her eyes. A sorrowful look. She noticed him staring in the corning of her windshield and she looked back at him with a blank expression on her face. A perk of being an attorney in the past. Lightning drove forward a bit and got his lips close to Sally's.
"Can I…?" he asked. Sally didn't say a word. Lightning just went on with it. He leaned in to kiss Sally, but right before his lips touched hers, Sally let go of his tire and threw herself in reverse. Lightning didn't move. He didn't cry. He didn't even make a sound. He just idled there in that one spot and stared at her.
"I'm sorry, but…but you promised you would be a good fath-..you weren't."
Lightning didn't blink. He just kept staring.
Just try again, Lighting. Go over to her and tell her you love her again, thought Lightning.
Lightning stumbled over to the garage entrance to get inside of his room. He blocked it off from her.
"Sally, I love you, and I won't let you leave."
Sally drove over to the door, even though Lightning was there, and said, "Sorry, but that isn't your choice."
"I don't want you to leave me, Sally."
"Well, I want to know that my daughter is safe. I want to know that my daughter is looking for us. I want to know that my daughter hasn't been eaten by a combine. I want to know that Mater didn't go ice fishing and accidentally left her on the hook to be used as bait. I want to know that my daughter is still out there. I want to know that my daughter is still alive."
"You kept saying 'my daughter'. She's my daughter too, you know."
"You sure don't act like she's your daughter."
"He's my best friend."
Sally backed away, rolling her eyes.
"You know, another thing, for someone so calm, Mater takes a lot of ridicule. You know why he's able to take it? He's able to take it because he doesn't know any better. He doesn't know any better because he grew up blind to the outside world. His mother didn't let him go outside that much, like normal mothers do. Why do you think he never wears his hood in public? It's because he never had to wear it in private. He was never taught manners, because he never had to use them. He used to bother me, but after I took a second to think about his situation, I learned that it isn't even his fault."
Sally looked down at her hood, "Lightning, I-"
"And..as for me being a bad father? Racing is my life, Sally. Do you know how hard it was to actually quit racing for a season? I did that for her, Sally. I quit racing just to be with Jane. I love Jane with all of my heart. I love her with every single bolt in my body. Every single thing that I'm put together with has love for Jane in it. Do I make mistakes? Yes, I do. I'm only an automobile. I'm not perfect at all. Those manuals that come with a new car don't tell you how to raise it. It only tells you the basic rules to taking care of it. I think I'm doing pretty well as a father for the first time. For the first time ever in my life, I'm a father. For the first time ever, in your life, you're a mother. How in this world can you call me a bad father when you don't even have something to compare it to?
"The only cars in this town who have something to compare bad parenting to are Mater and I. We're the only ones, Sally. I don't know Mater's story completely, but I know a lot of it, and maybe he'll share it to you one day. Maybe. He trusts me not to tell anyone, so I won't. As for me, when I was a kid, by the time my dad actually got time to spend with me, he was killed. Racing is an addiction, but you wouldn't know that because you were built a Porsche. It's in my nature to race, Sally, which is more of a reason why it's amazing that I'm doing as well as I am.
"We're not always built into the job we want to have for the rest of our lives. My father, he let his nature get the best of him. That's why he wasn't in my life like I'm in Jane's life. I'm fighting my nature pretty hard. The last thing I need is for you to tell me that I'm a bad father. Because, I know, for a fact, that I'm a great father. Now, I'm not letting you leave me. I grew up with only one parent. I grew up with just my mother. I know how horrible that feels. I'm not letting Jane grow up without her father. We're staying together. Don't you remember, Sally? To infinity and beyond. That's more than forever."
Sally couldn't believe all of the things she heard. Her tears slowly rolled down her hood from her windshield. Although it meant Lightning got his point across, he still couldn't stand to see her have tears in her eyes. He rolled over to her and pressed his lips against hers. In a low, chocked up voice he asked, "To infinity and beyond?"
Sally sniffled and nodded, "To infinity and beyond.."
He took Sally's tire again and held it tight, "Let's just..find our baby, Sally."