A/N: Jeez, don't I feel stupid! I messed up the year! It starts in '89 not '59 So if you guys were confused, that's why.. Sorry guys! Anyways, remember to review! Thanks for all the views! Onwards!
Chapter 3: A Plan
1 Year Later: 1990
Harley was speeding down a beaten dirt road. She could hear another car right at her tail. She had no idea how fast she was going; all she knew was that she wanted to get away from him. From him.
"Get back here, young lady!" His thunderous voice boomed around her, she couldn't see him anymore, but what she could see wasn't much better. Everything was dark as she sped straight to a dead-end. She spun around and still could not find him. "You think you can hide? Hide from ME!" suddenly; a huge tire came crashing down in front of her. It rose up and moved closer. Then again, it slammed into the dirt, inches from her face. She watch it lift into the air, aim straight for her hood, come hurdling down and-
"Ahh!" Harley gasped for air and looked around the room. Her eyes were blurred with tear. It was still dark so she searched for a clock and blinked away the tears to read it, 4:56 am. She continued to pant as the tears went down her hood. Just then, Doc came rushing into the room.
"What's wrong!? What happened!?" he frantically asked. He searched for an intruder, but none could be found.
"I-it's okay… just." she sniffed and looked up at Doc with a small smile. "It's was just a nightmare." the pale moonlight shone through the curtains of a single window in the room. She could see the light shine on Doc's tired but relieved face.
"Okay… okay." he said and drove next to her. "But you're okay, right?" Harley nodded and leaned into him with a slight smile.
"Yeah. I'm okay…" she closed her eyes again, but didn't drift off.
"You've been having those more often." Doc said and Harley's smile faded.
"... Yeah…" she almost whispered.
"... Do… you want to talk about it?" Doc carefully asked and she shook her hood.
"No… no, not really." she mumbled, but he still heard her.
"Okay… that's okay." They stood there in silence. Harley leaned into the royal blue side of Doc, and he somewhat leaning back. He now found the clock. 5:05 am. He looked around the room. It was small and simple. Doc knew that if she was going to be staying here, she'd need a temporary space to call her own. He had cleared out an extra office in the clinic and replaced a bulky desk, a filing cabinet, and plenty of scattered papers with a nightstand, a mirror, and a place to sleep. He wasn't sure how to decorate a girl's room, so the walls were left blank, until Harley had asked Ramone to paint it all a bright blue. Without telling Doc. He smiled at the memory and then looked over at Harley. She was again breathing lightly and at a smooth pace. Her eyes were gently closed and she was asleep again. Doc moved away carefully then sighed. 'Hopefully she won't have any more tonight.' He thought to himself and drove back to his own room.
The daily alarm came around 7:50 rather than 7:30 that day. Doc woke with the usual sound of "Reveille" being clashed with a Hendricks's version of "The Star-Spangled Banner." Undoubtedly, it was followed by the daily argument about disrespectful versus respecting. Doc yawned and blinked a few times. His first thought was to go check on Harley. He slowly made his way to her room and knocked twice on the door. No response. For the past year she had always been awake at the sound of Hendricks. The music had already been playing for a while.
"Hm..." Doc opened the door and saw not a trace of Harley in sight. Her frantically looked around then sped around the clinic. "Harley? Harley!" he called out but got no response. He sped out of the clinic and saw Sheriff coming in from the Radiator Springs sign. "Sheriff!" he called and quickly met up with him.
"Whoa, Doc, you okay?" Sheriff asked as he looked him over.
"I'm fine!" he shouted then cleared his throat and lowered his voice. "I'm fine. Sorry. Has anyone driven into or out of town?"
"Not a soul. Why?" He asked as he continued driving down the road.
"It's Harley. She wasn't in her room this morning. And she had another nightmare last night. What if it's that-?"
"Doc. Calm down." Sheriff stopped him and waited a second before continuing. "Have you even looked anywhere else?"
"I-" Doc stopped himself and thought for a minute. "Right…" Sheriff chuckled at his old friends.
"See, Flo will probably know where she is." he suggested and drove up to the V8 Café. The rest of the town was already there. Mater was hanging out with Lizzie and Red, Sarge and Fillmore were arguing, and Ramone was with Guido and Luigi. Doc kept looking then found them. Flo was with Harley, both talking, both smiling. Doc then gave a sigh of relief.
"Thank you, Sheriff." the Sheriff again chuckled and smiled.
"Anytime, Doc." he then drove over to Harley and Flo who both greeted him with big smiles. Doc scoffed at himself, then went over to meet them. "Well, anyway," the Sheriff told Flo, "I need to go talk with Mater. His junkyard is gettin' to be a little too much." he said his farewell and the other two did the same.
"Morning, Doc!" Harley greeted with a big smile. She had grown in the past few years, she wasn't as tiny as before and she wasn't as rounded either; she was beginning to look like a real Cadillac. Doc took a deep breath and smiled at her.
"Morning, Harley." He said and shook his hood. "You nearly gave me an engine attack this morning." Harley's smile quickly faded while Flo laughed.
"And what do you mean by that?" Flo asked.
"I went to check on her and she was missing! I looked everywhere in the clinic." Doc explained.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Doc! I didn't mean to scare you!" Harley apologized and he simply chuckled.
"No, no, don't feel too bad. I was just worried. Why didn't you wake me up?" he asked.
"Well, you were asleep and, and I didn't want to wake you up 'cause I already did earlier and you need your sleep and you looked so, uh, peaceful and I thought Flo might be awake so I went over here. And she was!" The two adults smiled at each other.
"See Doc," Flo said, "She's just fine." Doc nodded.
"Hey, Flo how's about we start the day off right? Some oil please, and an oil tea for this one." he said as he nudged Harley, making her giggle.
"Sounds good to me!" Flo said and began to drive off. Sheriff then came back and nudged Doc.
"Hey, Doc, I need to talk to you for a second." Harley looked at him with sad eyes. "It's will only take a few seconds, I promise." he reassured her and Harley sighed.
"Okay…" they then drove off to the side while Sheriff chuckled.
"That girl is somethin' alright." he said and Doc scoffed in agreement.
"That she is. What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" He asked and Sheriff's laugh faded out quickly.
"You guessed it's probably about Harley, right?"
"I assumed so, yes". The air seemed to get heavier as they both remained silent for a beat.
"Well… in the year that I filed in her report to CPS, no one has claimed her. Not a soul." Doc nodded. He and the Sheriff had been talking about the same issue for the past year: if it was legally okay to keep Harley in Radiator Springs.
"In that case… since no one's claimed her, what does that mean?" He asked with a serious tone.
"Well, it means one of two things. A; we put her into a foster care system, file her as a child in need of care and they handle the rest," Doc grimaced at the option. He didn't like the sound of her staying with random cars, moving from family to family. "Or B; she goes under the custody of the state until a local hearing is made on where she will temporarily be, and ultimately… where she will go permanently." Doc raised his eye rims slightly.
"That's... that's the better option." Doc decided and Sheriff shook his hood.
"Better? I mean, in some aspects, it is, but Doc." he paused and chose his word carefully. "...It's going to be harder for her to understand." Doc shook his hood at him.
"I know, but for her…" he glanced back at Harley. Flo had returned and they were talking as usual. "She will be able to stay here in the mean time and… and she won't feel… abandoned." Sheriff nodded and followed his gaze to Harley.
"Yeah, I thought you'd want to know that…" Sheriff then sighed before speaking again. "I'll get in contact with the state. And see what I can do to schedule a hearing." He paused for a beat then turned back to Doc "You do realize I'll have to try to get in contact with her mother… again." Doc silently nodded. "Are you sure she said her name was Joan Stockrim?"
"Positive." A beat, then two, three.
"Hm… I could try and find a Jeremy Sto-"
"No." Doc said firmly and turned to Sheriff. "He's not setting one tire in this town." more silence.
"...Okay… I'll be in the courthouse if you need me… seeing if I can't find a Joan Stockrim." the Sheriff then began to drive away then stopped and turned back. "Oh and it's the 28th by the way." He then drove away and Doc raised his eye rims.
"Shoot." He thought. "I forgot!" He then turned back to the others. He went over to Flo and Harley with a small half smile.
"You're back!" Harley jumped and Flo laughed.
"Yep. Hey, Har, how's about you go tell Mater about what happened at Luigi's the other day?" Harley jumped up at the idea.
"Okay!" she sped over to Mater.
"What happened at Luigi's?" Flo asked with a chuckle.
"Something about her helping him move some tires, some fell on Guido and they were stacked on him. I don't know. She tells it better than I do." they both chuckled.
"Anyways, it's the 28th." Doc said.
"And?" Flo asked as she raised an eye rim. "What's so special about the 28th?"
"It's her birthday." Doc said and Flo raised up both eye rims high!
"Oh, honey! Don't we have some work to do!" Flo darted off into the café and called her husband to follow. "Ramone! Get yo tail end over here!" Ramone, now glistening with a red paintjob (that was borderline pink) quickly followed.
"Flo! Wait!" Doc sighed and shook his hood. "Ford knows what she's got planned…" he muttered to himself then looked over at Harley and Mater. He met up with them and saw that Lizzie was laughing up a storm.
"That's when he said, 'Well I just thought a drive in movie would be better than driving me crazy!' and oh, Stanley had it coming!" The three of them laughed again and Doc smiled. "Before I could give him his just desserts, he quickly redeemed himself with 'What I meant to say was, I'm just crazy about you, and it's driving me up the wall!' So we went to the movies and that was that!"
"Well dat's real nice, Lizzie." Mater said and Harley agreed.
"Yeah, Stanley sounds like he was a really cool guy!" Harley chimed in. "Wish I could've met him."
"Oh, if I know my Stanley, I know he'd da like to have met you too." She said putting a warm smile on Harley's face.
"Har." Harley then finally noticed Doc's presence and turned to him with bright eyes.
"Hey Doc!" she cheerfully said. "What's up? Why did Sheriff need to talk to you?"
"Uh, well… it was court stuff. Don't worry about it." Before Harley could say anything, Mater piped up.
"Oh! I bet I knowed what it is! Wadn't 'bout dat whole issue with H-"
"Mater!" Doc sharply stopped him than gave a quick glance at Harley then glared back at Mater.
"Oh yeah, sorry 'bout dat, ne'er mind!" Doc gave a frustrated sigh then turned back to Harley with a small smile, his features softening once more.
"Anyway Harley, I'm going to be very busy." Harley interrupted him with a chuckle.
"You're always busy! I already knew that." Doc gave a slightly forced chuckled. "Well, this is different."
"How?" Doc was beginning to get annoyed with her butting in, but kept his patience with her.
"I'm working with some… some classified courtroom files." she furrowed her eye rims and before Doc could continued she asked,
"What's 'classified' mean?" he again sighed, slightly lowering his chassis and closing his eyes for a second.
"Secret." He then opened his eyes. "It means it's a secret and I can't tell anyone or let anyone read them or hear about them, so, how's about you spend the day with Lizzie?" Harley frowned at first, and then looked up at Lizzie. She smiled sweetly and Harley returned the smile and jumped up.
"Okay! You're busy with work stuff! And Lizzie has more stories about Stanley, right Lizzie?" She asked and Lizzie cackled.
"You know I do, little one!" Harley laughed along and Doc smiled in relief.
"Thank you, Lizzie. You be nice now, Harley. No disrespect." Harley nodded with a bright smile.
"Yes, sir!" She said and Doc drove off to the courthouse.
"Now, what to give her…?" He muttered to himself. "I should've known it was her birthday." He went through a mental list of belongings wondering what could possibly be suitable for a six year old car. Tools were an obvious no. Newspaper clipping, a definite no. By the time he said no to everything, he was at the courthouse. Driving to his office, he bumped into Sheriff.
"Oh, hey Doc." he said as he turned around.
"Oh, sorry Sheriff, I was just thinking about what I should give Harley." Sheriff nudged his side and gestured that he follow him.
"Well, I can give you some good news." Doc eyed him for a moment.
"What do you mean?" He asked as he drove up beside him.
"I tried again, and I couldn't find a Joan Stockrim whose daughter was also Harley Stockrim. So I again looked up Harley Stockrim. Dear Ford, you wouldn't believe how many Harley Stockrims were born in 1984!" Doc rolled his eyes at him.
"Get to the point, Sheriff." Doc said and the Sheriff nodded.
"Right. Anyway, I looked for a while before I finally found a Harley Stockrim whose mother is Joan Mileller."
"No," Doc said shaking his hood. "That's the wrong Joan. Her mother is Joan Stockrim."
"Just hear me out, Doc." Sheriff said and slightly slowed his pace. "I found a Joan Mileller who is married to a Jeremy Mileller." Doc stopped in his tracks and stared at the ground with concern. Sheriff drove on for a few seconds then stopped, reversed and faced him. "Doc?"
"It's a coincidence." he quickly said.
"Doc, no. It's not a-"
"Yes it is!"
"Doc, you know it isn't!"
"It's has to be!"
"Paul!" There was heavy silence as the blue eyes of Doc looked up at the sound of his first name. "You know that it's not a coincidence." More silence. The floor continued to hold Doc's attention.
"I thought you good news…" he muttered and Sheriff drove closer to him and sighed.
"It is good news…" Doc didn't respond making the air seem thicker. "Listen, Doc… the faster we contact them -if it even is them- the faster we can get them here, the faster we can have the hearing, the faster we figure out what happens to Harley." Doc was ridged still refusing to make eye contact. A beat passed before Doc spoke again.
"I don't want that Jeremy anywhere near this town." Sheriff furrowed his eye rims and closed his eyes for a second while he thought of what to say then opened them.
"Doc, I know what you actually want." Doc scoffed then looked up at him with a questioning glare.
"And what's that?" he asked strictly. Sheriff held his glare for a moment and let a beat pass before carefully speaking.
"You want her to stay." Doc's questioning look quickly turned defensive.
"I want what's best for her!"
"Okay, I get that. But Doc, you have to believe me when I say that…" Sheriff voice grew more sincere, "...that the State of Arizona will not be as easy to convince as a couple of random cars will be." Doc shook his hood at the idea of Jeremy -whoever he is- even being in the same room as Harley. "I already wrote a letter. It's on your desk... I want you to read it before I send it…" Doc scoffed and Sheriff shook his hood. "I will be sending it." he said then drove off. Doc was still for a moment longer then drove in the opposite direction. Slowly opening the door, he saw that, just as promised, the letting was sitting neatly on his desk waiting to be read. Doc slowly made his way over and looked the letter.
'To Mr. and Mrs. Mileller:
Your missing daughter, Harley Stockrim is currently under the custody of the state of Arizona. A local hearing will be held in Carburetor County in regarding who will have full custody of her and where she will be living. One or both of you need to be present at the time of the hearing to help decide what her best option is. We ask that you take some time to write us back so that we can go into further details of the hearing once we have them. We do know now that it will be held here in Radiator Springs and will be overseen by a judge of the state.
Sighed,
Carburetor County Sheriff, Sheriff Wallis.'
Doc stared at it for a little while longer then sighed. The letter did need to be sent, and he knew it. He looked at his computer then at the letter.
"Hm…" he went back to the computer, turned it on, opened up a blank document and began typing away at it. He rewrote everything but added one sentence;
'…One or both of you need to be present at the time of the hearing to help decide what her best option is. If you are unable to attend, we are entitled to request that you ask another relative to present themselves at the hearing and help make the decision on your behalf.'
Doc read it over, shook his hood and reluctantly hit print. The printer began to make a rhythmic hum as the ink was placed onto the paper. He glanced at the printer then looked around the room. He decided to distract himself with the same question from earlier: What to give Harley for her birthday? He spotted a few boxes, some files and shook his hood. His gaze then drifted to a window sill where a few boxes were, behind them, he could just barley see the corner of a dusty radio. He cracked the smallest of smiles and went over to the lost treasure. He then moved the boxes out of the way and reviled it. He blew away the dust, coughed slightly, then turned it on. Heover some dials and then it came to life.
"Life could be a dream! Sh-boom if I could take you up in paradise up above, sh-boom, if you would tell me I'm the only one that you love! Life could be a dream sweetheart!"
He turned it off then cleaned it up. He saw that it needed to be repainted and repaired. He moved it to his desk and again looked around the room. His eyes landed on a picture that was nicely framed and hung on his wall. It was of the all the townsfolk. He then had an idea that brightened him up. He glanced at the printed just as it was finishing up its job and his brightness slightly dulled again. He slowly drove over and looked at the letter staring at it for a little while before folding it and putting it on his desk, replacing the old one. He thought about tossing the old one into the shredder then, for some reason or another, he felt that he should keep it and instead put it in his desk drawer. He then took the radio from the desk, drove out of his office, closed the door behind him and went to go find Flo and Ramone.
