A/N Michaela and her crew belong to FurryFoxFires. Warning: Lady Hatt's mother has died in this chapter.
Erica had to shunt some cars to Killdane for a long freight train. All she knew was another engine, a Little Western one, was taking the rest. Maybe it's one of my friends. Hope it's not Michaela. She hates death, as I saw when my oldest brother died. She sighed, remembering Michaela crying with her when that happened and her driver caressed her side. The purple tank engine was prepared and then was coupled to the cars.
Erica got to Killdane. Uh-oh, she thought on the way to the destination. It's poor Michaela. Maybe we were the only shunters available. I know she doesn't handle death well, so she'll cry here. At least if she sees the Smelter's Yard. She had seen her friend upon arrival at Killdane. Erica then saw a bully diesel present, taking a train to the scrapyard.
Michaela saw the Smelter's Yard after she dropped off her cars to shunt and her large, dark eyes grew moist with huge tears as she began to cry, letting a wail out of her mouth.
Kennet knew his engine was upset, so he climbed out of the cab to comfort her. "What's the matter, Michaela?" he asked, as he softly dapped her tears away with a rag. "There, there. Go ahead and cry. I'm here for you."
"T-the th-thing", Michaela wailed and gestured with her eyes to the scrapyard.
The diesel Erica had seen heard Michaela. "Look at you being a cry-engine, over that scrapyard.", the bully said to her.
Michaela wailed even more in response, as hard as she could. Only her wailing sobs and sniffles were heard as her ability to speak was drowned in streams of tears falling from her eyes like a waterfall.
Erica, who had dropped off her own cars to shunt as well, gave her friend a buffer press, the engine equivalent of holding her.
Kennet said to Michaela, as he continued to wipe her tears away, "You don't like the scrapyard, so let the pain out and I'll wipe it away for you.", referring to wiping away her tears. He dried her tear covered cheeks and eyes as best he could.
Michaela's tears flowed without stopping until she had no more left to cry. Erica then shunted her friend to the nearest water column and the tender engine had a drink. Erica headed back to Knapford then. Michaela headed back to the Little Western after she finished her drink, to shunt in the yard.
After finishing a job in Knapford, Erica went to Wellsworth, to see Edward. When the female tank engine got there, she saw the Hatts at the station. Lady Hatt was sobbing into her handkerchief and Sir Topham Hatt was trying to reassure her, doing his best to lift her spirits.
Erica asked Edward, "What's wrong with Lady Hatt?"
Edward said, with a sad face, "Her mother recently passed on. I'm about to pull the funeral train."
Lady Hatt turned to her husband and asked, "C-can I-I b-borrow y-your h-hanky? M-mine's t-too w-wet t-to u-use a-anymore.". Every word was another sob.
Her husband replied, "You can depend on me" and pulled out a clean hanky, which she took.
Lady Hatt then lifted the cloth hanky to her eyes to catch her tears and then wiped her nose. I've got a second handkerchief of my own, she thought after she finished her cry. But that's for the actual funeral. Her eyes were red and swollen from her tears.
Edward said to his friend, "It's time for me to pull the train. Cheerio."
Erica puffed back to Knapford and found her "brother" on a siding there. She whistled at him and smiled.
"I just pulled a train here. My crew went on break, so I'm just having a rest on this siding," he told his "sister" after returning her greeting.
Erica told her "big brother", "I comforted our friend Michaela in her unhappiness over by Killdane. We were shunting some cars there and she saw the Smelter's Yard and had a meltdown. She got called a cry-engine for it by this mean bully diesel there. I gave her a buffer press as she wailed her heart out and her driver comforted her, too. He just talked to her and kept drying the tears from her eyes. I was steamed at that bully, making our friend wail so hard I had to shunt her to the water column. It reminds me of what happened to me back in the country where my class was built." She sighed and her driver caressed her cab.
"I know all you've been through's sad, but remember you've had happy times, too," he said. "Then and now.", referring to the good times she had with her oldest brother when they were both alive in their country of origin and the ones she had on Sodor.
Erica smiled once again, cheered up by her driver. Her smile faded once more, though, as she said, "Lady Hatt's mother funeral was today. I visited Edward as he was about to pull her funeral train.". She then turned her mind to happier thoughts again, making her smile return. Her large, dark eyes twinkled as she went back to the yard.
Thomas told his "little sister" as she left, "I've got to take the passengers back to Ffarquhar. My crew returned from break. Cheerio.".
They went on with the rest of their day.
A/N My FanFiction buddy once said something about humans comforting humans, which I haven't done since my Autumn prequel fic. I think Autumn might be the only human comforted in my Thomasverse before. All my other comfort scenes have been engines, until now.
