A/N Erica had no class before, as I was unsure what US tank engine to make her until last chapter. I just like her being an 0-6-0 US built side tank engine and Rosie's class just happened. Since I haven't gone deep with her backstory or used Rosie that much, just gave her a cameo as a friend
One day, Erica was going along the track with a freight train until something wrong with the track derailed her train and her. Her crew jumped clear just before the crash.
Thomas had finished a passenger train run recently and was the only engine free to get the breakdown train. Don't worry, little sister, he thought. Your brother's coming to help you.
Thomas arrived where his "little sister" lay derailed, then went to work getting her and the unbroken cars back on the rails.
"Ow!" she said.
"Oh, I shall shunt you to the Steamworks, since you're in such pain, sister", he said. And they set off.
Erica said on arrival at the Steamworks, "I played a trick on the cars and that caused the accident. If I hadn't done that, we might have been able to handle that bad track better. I wouldn't have hurt myself." She shut her dark eyes as she began to cry, sobbing about how cheeky she was. The kind workman she encounted the last time she was there was around and she tearfully asked, "Can you wipe my eyes?". She punctuated her request with a sniffle.
The workman climbed on her running board, took a hanky out of his pocket and gently dapped the tears from her eyes. "There, there, Erica", he said. "It's okay to cry. So, if you feel sad or upset here, just let yourself go. Tears are nothing to be ashamed of, under the conditions that bring you engines here."
Erica sniffled again, loudly as she cried more. I was happy until I had the accident, she thought. Now, I'm very unhappy. I know he'll keep drying my eyes. Crying helps me feel better and I want to feel good inside again. I just wanted to have some fun with those cars. "I was a naughty engine", she sobbed.
He said as he continued to wipe her tears away, "I know you feel bad. But it's going to be okay. We shall fix you up so you can be a Really Useful Engine again."
As Erica finished her cry, he dried her last tears. Her eyes were all red and puffy and her face was red, too. But she smiled, her eyes brighter than anytime since before the accident that day. She was repaired, checked and then left the Steamworks with her crew.
"Can I visit Rosie?" she asked after having a drink. Since her sister had gone to Vicarstown, their time together had been limited. However, the friendship they built when Rosie was a Knapford Yards engine was still intact. After they were sent to Continental Europe during World War II, they hadn't seen each other until Erica came to Sodor. Her mind was filled with thoughts of all the times with Rosie at Knapford Yards, when she was there, too and how they worked alongside each other and talked.
Rosie saw her sister come to her new place of work. She told her, "Remember when I said I used to have a crush on Thomas? Recently, our relationship grew to be more than just friends. We decided we didn't like each other that way once I got over my crush, but we've gotten very close again lately and changed our minds. I know you and him adopted each other as siblings."
Erica said, "It's fine that you decided you love each other. I can still be friends with you both and that's all I need. He told me about it last night, after his evening train to Knapford was done."
Rosie replied, "I just thought as a sister and friend, I should make sure you knew."
Erica said, "He's like a brother to me. You know about our bond, but we actually act like siblings. He doesn't seem to have any real siblings anymore. Sometimes, he talks about his actual siblings and gets sad. He cries his eyes out over reminders of them".
Rosie said, "I worked with his siblings at Southampton before I came here and his older siblings told me all about him."
Erica replied, "I always do what I can to help him feel better when he's unhappy. When he cries, I speak comforting words and if I'm mobile, give him a buffer press."
Rosie said, "When I cry around him, should that happen, he says I shall get his words of comfort, an engine hug and he'll blow me kisses."
They talked a while longer, until Rosie had to get back to work. Erica went back to Knapford Yards, happy to be a Really Useful Engine once more.
A/N I cried when I was naughty as a child.