A/N: Sorry that this chapter's a little late being uploaded; I was too busy to post it on time yesterday and the day before.
In response to racefangurl's review: I headcanon that Gordon is the type to hold back his tears if he ever feels the need to cry, and for him, seeing his dying siblings in a nightmare was the breaking point.
In response to NASCARluver2448's review: I guess that Michaela is Lady's daughter... You see, in my Thomasverse, Lady is like the guardian angel/mother figure to all engines, and she basically views the engines as "children" of hers. But turning Michaela into a magical engine makes her closer to Lady in a biological(?)/magical sense (I don't know what else to call it), as they are now both related through gold dust, and since Lady gave Michaela gold dust herself, that could make her a relative of Lady's—a daughter, to be specific.
And in response to Eliot Reader's review: Philomena isn't actually a steam engine—she's a hovertrain of some sort. Michaela is quite beautiful, yes, and and I would compare her more to Gina and especially Ashima in terms of beauty, but with a more childlike, innocent touch to her face and build. I believe her cylinders would be on the inside, and her design is kind of a cross between modern and Victorian era, so slightly more modern than the original tender engines of Sodor. I also recently decided that, aside from being rather small, Michaela's tender is also sloped, much like several real-life shunting tender engines. If I ever get to take up digital drawing, I'll try to show you all what she looks like in my mind, and possibly even change the cover image to that picture.
It was a nice, sunny day on the Island of Sodor. Edward and Eithne pulled into Knapford together with a long train of flatbeds loaded with pipes and dropped them off at the shunting yard.
They were about to move on to their next job, when Philip suddenly bustled up to them. "Oh, Edward! Eithne! I'm so happy to see you here."
He paused and gave them a funny look. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask you guys a question. Why are you two always together every time I see you?"
Both engines suddenly blushed and looked embarrassed.
"Oh, um… n-no particular reason, Philip. Nothing that you need to worry about," Edward told him.
Thomas pulled up next to the trio. "You can't hide it forever, Edward. Even though I haven't told a soul, some of the other engines have already begun to suspect it."
"Suspect what?" asked Henry as he and Nia joined the group.
Philip's eyes sparkled as he had a sudden revelation. "Actually, I think I've figured it out! Edward, you and Eithne must be in—"
"Quiet, Philip!" Eithne suddenly interjected in a pleading tone.
"Oh, really? What is it that you don't want us to know?" Gordon, Rebecca, Percy, and Emily all puffed into the shunting yard and gathered around, listening intently.
*Even Toby, who had been passing through with Henrietta, stopped to hear what they had to say.
"Ah… um…" The two older engines exchanged a nervous glance, their faces turning quite red.
"Edward and Eithne are in love!" Philip suddenly burst out.
Thomas erupted into hysterical laughter, and the other engines all gasped and smiled as they drew closer to the mortified couple.
"You know, Edward, you once confessed to me years ago that you wished that you had a partner," Henry remarked. "Looks like your wish came true."
"I… I…" The small blue tender engine was having trouble getting his words out. "P-Philip, why did you tell them? We weren't ready to…"
"Too late. Secret's out," said James.
The other engines all laughed and congratulated the two, but Emily sat quietly nearby, pondering. She glanced over at Thomas and watched his face as he talked with everyone else.
Thomas seemed to be genuinely happy for Edward and Eithne, but nothing in his demeanor told Emily that he was entirely interested in romance himself.
Emily let out a sad sigh and looked down, wondering if she'd ever have the courage to tell Thomas how she really felt.
Percy let out a peep of his whistle as he began to leave the group. "I'll see you later! I have to take this goods train to Elsbridge now. And congrats, you two!"
That last part was directed to Edward and Eithne, who both kept blushing, but were grateful for Percy's support all the same.
At Dryaw School, some of the students were talking together in the schoolyard before it was time for their classes to begin.
"Hey, do you see that girl and her dog over there?" One of the girls pointed at another who was standing a little ways away from them.
"Oh, you mean Ellie?" a boy replied. "What about her?"
"Let's call out to her dog and see if it'll come to us."
Another girl frowned. "I don't think that's such a good idea. I mean, Hana's there to help Ellie around. Distracting her might not be a good idea."
The first girl smirked. "No, it'll be fine! Seriously, watch."
She turned around and started to call out to the Border Collie. "Here, Hana! Come here, girl!"
Hana started and glanced around, and her concentration on doing her job temporarily broke.
Some of the other students began to join in with the girl.
"Come here, Hana!"
"Good doggie!"
Suddenly, a girl with blond hair in a ponytail stepped directly in front of the group and folded her arms. "Excuse me, but it's actually very inconsiderate to distract a service animal from doing its job. If you really want to pet her, though, perhaps Ellie will let you if you ask her first."
The children all stopped, and some of them looked away in shame.
The blonde girl smiled with content and walked over to Ellie, who had heard the whole thing.
"Thanks, Alice," Ellie said as she turned to face her friend.
**Alice put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, well, what are friends for?"
Just then, all the other students rushed to the platform next to the tracks and waved to an approaching engine, who whistled back in reply.
Ellie and Hana both perked up at the sound, and Ellie followed her guide dog to go join the children at the platform.
"I'd know that whistle anywhere…" she told Alice as they walked.
Percy's smile brightened as he saw the children coming over to wave hello, but he suddenly came to a stop next to the platform when he recognized one of the faces waiting to greet him.
"Hello, Ellie!" he called out to her. "It's me, Percy! I haven't seen you in a while."
She giggled, happy to hear that the little green engine had recognized her. "Hello again, Percy. I've never seen you!"
Percy laughed a little as he realized what she meant, then gazed down at her with a faint blush. "You're looking very pretty today."
Ellie smiled shyly and tugged on the hem of her shirt. "That's good to hear. I can never tell whether or not I actually look good…"
Percy was shocked. "But Ellie, you look pretty all the time!" he nearly cried.
"He's right; you look just fine," said a female voice.
The girl turned to face two of her other friends, Nancy Rushen and "Little Thomas", who had joined her and Alice on the platform. Both of them looked rather upset.
"Hey, uh… we have a situation." Thomas turned to face all the other students who were standing next to them. "Everyone, the class pet has escaped from his cage!"
All the children gasped in shock, and Percy puffed forward a little. "Class pet? What's that?"
"It's an animal that we keep here at the school, and the class gets to help take care of it," Nancy explained.
"And it's gone?!"
"Vanished into thin air." Little Thomas waved his hands for dramatic effect.
"What do we do? Poor Mr. Bunny must be lost somewhere!" exclaimed one of the children. "He might've wandered out of the school, and if that's the case, he might get hurt out in the wild!"
"'Mr. Bunny?'" Percy repeated.
"Our class pet is a bunny," said Ellie. "We… haven't really decided on a name for him yet."
"Some of us call him whatever we want to, but most of us just call him Mr. Bunny," added another student.
A boy came running out of the school and shouted, "We haven't been able to find Mr. Bunny anywhere inside the school! He might be somewhere outside!"
Percy looked over at the children's faces. A few of them were sad, while the others looked very worried. An idea flew into his funnel right at that moment.
"I know! What if I look for your bunny while you are all in school?" he asked the children. "If he really has wandered outside of the building, maybe I can find him. But I have to finish delivering these goods first." He gestured to the trucks behind him with his eyes.
Ellie gazed up at Percy's face, and he could've sworn that she was looking him in the eyes. "...You'd really do that for us?"
He blushed. "O-of course. I'll find your bunny and bring it right back by the time you get out of school!"
The children all cheered, and Hana barked happily.
"Mr. Bunny is a white bunny with caramel brown patches on his fur that look like clouds," Nancy told Percy. "He also gets scared easily, and I don't think he'll respond to his name since so many people keep changing it." She glared at some of the other students as she said this.
Percy held back a laugh. "That's okay. I'm sure we'll be able to catch him anyway!"
The schoolbell suddenly rang, and the children that were still outside all scrambled to get inside.
As she was led by Hana towards the building, Ellie turned back and called out to Percy, "Good luck! I believe in you!"
The little saddle tank engine blushed again and chirped his whistle as he pulled away from the platform. "Thank you, Ellie!"
Percy quickly sped off the moment he had been uncoupled from his goods train in Elsbridge Yard. When he drew closer to Dryaw, he slowed down again while he and his crew searched for the bunny.
Although Nancy had told him otherwise, Percy couldn't help calling out for it and hoping that it would show itself. "Mr. Bunny! Here, Mr. Bunny!"
"How far do you think he could've wandered?" Percy's driver asked after several long minutes of vain searching had passed.
"Oh, I hope he hasn't gotten into any trouble… What shall we do if we find him injured?" Percy asked in a worried voice.
But before his driver could answer, he suddenly braked and stared at the tracks in front of him. A white bunny with brown, cloud-shaped patches of fur was sitting right there in the middle!
Percy peeped with joy at having found Mr. Bunny, but the furry creature was startled by his whistle and quickly ran away.
Percy gasped. "Wait! Mr. Bunny, come back!"
But the bunny raced off into the bushes, heading away from the tracks that the green tank engine was sitting on.
He sighed sadly. "Oh, and we were so close, too… Ellie and the other children will be so disappointed."
"Come on, Percy," said his driver. "We can't give up now! Look, the bunny's heading in the direction of the Main Line. If we come around to this spot on the Main Line, we'll be sure to catch him then."
Percy perked up again at his driver's encouraging words, and he pumped his pistons as fast as he could to get to the other side.
When they came back to the same spot on the Main Line, sure enough—there was Mr. Bunny, sitting on the side of the tracks and nibbling on some grass.
"Aw, he looks so cute!"
Percy was about to peep again, when he remembered what had happened earlier and stayed silent.
Suddenly, there was a loud, long whistle, and Gordon came thundering past.
"Express coming through!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.
Percy yelped with surprise and closed his eyes tightly. When he opened them again, Mr. Bunny was nowhere to be seen!
"Oh, no!" Percy gasped. "How will I ever find him now?"
His driver leaned out of his cab. "Let's look again, Percy. We know he's around here somewhere."
Percy felt sad, but he tried to smile and puffed off to look for Mr. Bunny again.
After a few more minutes had gone by, Percy's fireman spotted something white-and-brown moving around in some bushes near the tracks. When Percy came to a stop and waited quietly nearby, Mr. Bunny hopped out from behind them and licked his paws, then proceeded to wash his face.
The green tank engine slowly puffed closer, trying his hardest not to make any noise.
All of a sudden, there was another loud whistle, and James came barreling noisily down the other track.
Percy's eyes widened. "James, be quiet! You'll scare Mr. Bunny!" he called out, but it was too late.
Mr. Bunny's ears shot up, and he was gone in a flash.
As James came past and disappeared behind him, Percy's eyes began to water. He came to a stop, and tears of frustration rolled down his cheeks.
"The children will be s-so disappointed," he cried. "I've let them down by not being able to catch their class pet…"
Percy's driver climbed out of his cab and came around to his face, then began to dry his tears with a rag. "It's not your fault, Percy," soothed his driver. "I'm sure the children will understand, even though they might still be sad."
Percy only began to cry even harder.
"Psst, Ellie…" whispered a student who was sitting nearby. "Is Percy back yet? Did he find Mr. Bunny?"
"How should I know?" she replied with a shrug in the direction of their voice.
Ever since Percy had left to go find their class pet, the children had all been waiting anxiously for him to return. For some reason, though, they were all asking Ellie if she knew whether he had come back already.
"Is Percy back yet?" asked another student sitting behind her.
"Why are you asking me?" she replied, perhaps a little too angrily.
"Because you're the one sitting next to the window."
Ellie turned back to face their teacher with a frown. Then she realized what the girl had said, and she carefully put out a hand and felt the windowsill next to her. Ellie's mouth twitched as she had a mischievous thought that would hopefully stop the other children from asking her about Percy.
"There he is!" Ellie suddenly shouted.
Nearly all the students got up and rushed to the window, expecting to see Percy. But when they looked outside, the little green engine was nowhere to be seen.
"That's what it will sound like when one of you spots him," Ellie added, waving her hand over her eyes to remind them that she was blind.
"Percy? What's wrong?" asked Thomas as he puffed up next to his best friend.
Percy sniffled and opened his eyes. "H-hi, Thomas… I'm trying to catch the b-b-bunny that belongs to the Dryaw School as their class pet—he broke out of his cage, you s-see—but he keeps getting scared off by noisy engines coming p-past, and now I don't think I'll ever be able to find him…" He began to sob even harder.
Thomas frowned. He didn't like seeing his friend so sad.
As he wondered what to say or do to cheer up Percy, Thomas suddenly spotted something fluffy up ahead in a patch of grass.
"Oh, Percy, do you mean that bunny?"
The little green tank engine opened his eyes again and gasped. "...H-he's still here?"
Thomas smiled and moved towards Mr. Bunny a little. "Aww, I love bunnies… He's so cute!"
Percy smiled a little as well, and he started to feel better. "Yeah… He is."
As Thomas and Percy sat still and watched Mr. Bunny, he eventually relaxed and hopped closer to them. Finally, Percy's driver was able to pick up Mr. Bunny, and he climbed back into his cab with the bunny in his arms.
Percy peeped his whistle with joy. "We finally caught him! Thank you so much, Thomas! You didn't come past and scare Mr. Bunny away like the others did—you were patient and quiet, and now Ellie and the other children will be so happy that their class pet has been found!"
Thomas gave his friend a wide smile. "You're welcome, Percy! See you later!"
The tank engines parted ways, and Percy rushed back to the school as quickly as his pistons could pump.
At Dryaw School, it was snacktime for the children. Ellie sat in the schoolyard with two other friends of hers, identical twin sisters named Ruth and Isabell.
"I'm going to strangle Ms. Umbridge if she demands one more time that I look her in the eyes while she's talking," Ruth was telling Ellie. "Making eye contact feels so uncomfortable for me! Why can't she understand that? And I especially don't want to do it with someone that I… don't like."
Suddenly, one of the boys who was sitting on the platform jumped to his feet and shouted, "There he is! Percy's back!"
All the other students ran to greet him, and Ellie got to her feet and followed Hana after them.
Percy whistled happily as he came to a stop. "Good news! We found Mr. Bunny, and he's safe and sound."
His driver climbed out and handed the white-and-brown bunny to Little Thomas, who triumphantly held him up like he was Simba from The Lion King.
The children all cheered, and Ellie shyly stepped closer to Percy while their attention was focused elsewhere.
"I knew you could do it," she told him with a tiny smile.
Even though Ellie couldn't see him, Percy still felt shy whenever she glanced in his direction, and he quickly looked away with a blush.
"I… I just wanted you and your friends to be happy again."
The other students had all been whispering together, but now they came up to Percy.
Little Thomas held up the bunny in his arms. "We've been talking, and it seems that up until now, we haven't been able to decide on a name for our class pet. So, as thanks for rescuing him, we've all agreed that we should name our bunny after you, Percy."
The little green tank engine was surprised, but he smiled and let out a chirp of his whistle. "I would love that! Percy the bunny is so lucky to have you all there to care for him."
"And we were lucky to have you come along and help us find him again," Alice replied.
Although it had been difficult for Percy to catch the bunny, it had all been worth it. The children were smiling at having their class pet again, and Ellie was happy with him for bringing Percy the bunny back.
And that made Percy the Small Engine very happy indeed.
A/N: Ruth and Isabell are actually younger cameo appearances of me and my twin, but with our names changed. Both have Asperger's Syndrome, and they and Ellie have bonded through that among other things.
*I'm sorry it took me so long to introduce poor Toby. He deserves more love, and I haven't been able to work him into any of my fanfics until now.
**Yup, same Alice from Thomas and the Birthday Mail.