Author's Note: oh my gosh hi y'all! I swear I'm not abandoning this story even though it seems like it a lot of the times. I've just, as always, been very busy. And usually when I get really busy, my mental health kind of goes out the window. I try really hard for that not to happen, and I fail a lot of the time, so I did just kind of stopped writing because I wanted to take care of myself. A lot of the time I couldn't think straight and I just couldn't get a story written down, I couldn't write what I meant to write and put the thought that I wanted to put into this story. So with that being said, here is the next chapter and I do hope you enjoy it. I feel like it's a little on the short side and I apologize for that. Like I said it's just been super crazy and super busy. A lot of y'all comment on my stories, and you don't understand how much that helps me. It just brightens my day no matter what, and I get so excited whenever I see an email in my inbox that says someone review a chapter. So for that I want to say thank you to all my readers, y'all mean so much to me and each and every review means so much to me thank you all so much. All right, enough of my ramble, onto the good stuff! Enjoy!
Chapter 37: Hit the Road
December 18, 2000
Through the night, snow had settled down across the small and desolate town of Russet, Colorado. It shone bright in the morning light, though not bright enough to wake the restful Harley. This would prove to be no issue at all for the old Ryan Lee. In his time, he's seen it all- dealt with all more like. He drove into the room she had chose to settle in. Ryan looked around and lucky, lucky for him, there was a door leading to outside where the snow had kept coming down along with the wind that was still howling and bringing in a cold chill with it. He swung open the door and Harley awoke as the freezing weather came pounding on her.
"Ah! What is this!" She shouted as she drove away from the door completely confused about her surroundings.
"It's snow." Ryan said as he closed the door. "Way down in Arizona, it's not surprising you haven't seen any before." After gathering her composure, Harley finally realized where she was and who she was taking to. The events of the night before then came back to her.
"Oh.." She muttered to herself. "And no. I have seen snow before. It snows in Arizona." She said and looked out the window "Just… not this much.." Ryan scoffed with zero interest in her home town and began to drive out of the room.
"Well are you coming or are you just gonna stay parked there?" He asked from the hallway.
"Oh, right." Harley quickly drove out after the purple mustang. He had lead her back to the kitchen where he already had breakfast ready. It was a hearty breakfast, one that made Harley drool. She hadn't eaten this good in days. She immediately started to chow down, meanwhile, Ryan sipped on some black coffee as he ate a much lighter breakfast on the far and opposite side of the kitchen.
"Since it looks like you have been famished for a couple days. Racing is not going to be on your to-do list for awhile." He said as she ate. "And laps? That's a no too." Harley nearly choked.
"What!" She shouted, spitting some food with her words. "That's so not fair!"
"Is it fair that you ran off from god knows where to find me and ended up tired and hungry?" He asked with raised eye rims. Harley opened her mouth to say something but had no idea what to say. So she shrank back down and continued eating. "S'what I thought." He said and continued sipping.
"So.. then what are we doing?" Harley asked as she took a sip of juice.
"Talking." Ryan said as he looked her up and down. "Talking's all. After all, I don't train strangers." He said and inched closer to her. She then got slightly nervous. "So since we're just talking, I'll start with some questions. Where you from?" Harley swallowed her food and thought about what to say.
"Ra- er." She faked a cough and he again raised an eye rim in suspicion. "I'm from, uh, Auburn." She finally settled on. "I'm from Auburn." Ryan sipped his coffee thoughtfully.
"Thought you said you drove from Arizona.." He noted.
"Y-yes. I did." Harley then insisted. "What's the problem?"
"Well," Ryan started as he pushed his coffee to the side, "It's just I've heard of Auburn, California. But never in my years have I hear of a Auburn, Arizona.." He narrowed his eyes at her. "So which is it, you a cali girl or a desert girl?" Harley slightly panicked but tried to keep her cool.
"A-Arizona." She stuttered out. "I'm from Arizona. You see, there's a town. It's on Route 66, so a lot of cars don't know it's a real thing.." She prayed he bought it. There was a long silence, as he sat there unreadable.
"Route 66…. I've never been down that road in any of my years… So I'll take your word for it." Harley exhaled in relief. "And a name. You got one?"
"Harley Davis-" she cut herself off and remembered the rule the other cars she had met had warned her about. She also thought about how it was odd the amount of cars that remembered her dad. Even she didn't hear much of David or of what happened to him. And it seemed that Doc didn't either. Then again.. He chose not to.
"Harley Davis… what?" Ryan asked again.
"Harley Davis. It's just Harley Davis." Ryan thought it over.
"Hm… okay." he said as he began to drive over towards the door. "Harley Davis from Auburn, Arizona. Alright kid. We're off on a good tire." he gestured for her to follow him. "As you probably know, I'm Ryan Lee Muffler from Hallowsworth- nowadays, they call it HayDay- Utah. I've been a racer, a coach, a sponsor, and hell, if it exist in the racing world, chances are I've done it." Harley listened closely as she followed behind. They had gone back to the dirt track that had been bordered with the freshly fallen snow. "It's like the snow knew this was a track." she said as she drove up to it. "It's like the snow knew to keep away from salt…" Ryan muttered. "Oh wait, snow doesn't think.. no more jokes kid." He harped and drove to the side. "I came and swept it up a bit so there wasn't a chance of slipping." Harley listened as she drove up to the starting line.
"Cool, so what's on the agenda?" Ryan drove to the infield and looked down the track.
"Some ins-n-outs… drive the straights at, say, 20 miles an hour… curves? 10." Harley sighed. "You go any faster and we're done, got that?" Harley bit her tongue and nodded.
"Fine… I can do that…" she sighed and glanced at ryan who still wore a tired scowl. "Do you ever smile?"
"Do you ever stop asking questions?" He snarked back. "Rule number one, don't question me. Rule number two? Shut up and drive the damn track."
"Oh-kay." Harley muttered. "This will be great.."
"Sarcasm ain't gonna help you!" Ryan called out as Harley reluctantly ran the more than boring workout. But she was willing to do whatever it takes, even if that means listening to this brute.
While Harley hit the track, Radiator Springs was falling apart without Doc. There was a sense of sadness and grief that never left the town. Sheriff hadn't seen Doc leave his courthouse office in days. If he ever did leave, he made no eye contact, he didn't even so much as glance at anyone. He only went back and forth from the clinic to the courthouse. No one knew if he slept. Flo would leave food for him every chance she got, but no one knew if he ever actually ate it or threw it out.
It was past noon, the town was at its mow usual quiet and glum mood, but there would soon be a drastic shift from all that.
"Doc!" Sheriff yelled as he banged in the door. "Doc, I know you're in there!" Doc was parked at his desk flipping through radio stations to see if he could find and news on a lost girl. He had ordered several newspapers from several different places and had them scattered everywhere.
"Doc!" Sheriff called out again. "Get out here! I think you might want to come see-" Doc flung open the door and held a dark grimace of his features.
"Unless my Harley is outside, I don't want to see it." He said. Sheriff looked like tractor in headlights. He hasn't heard his old friends voice in what felt like years. "Well!" Sheriff snapped out of his shock when doc raised his voice.
"No. No it's not her. Bu-" Doc was going to slam the door back shut, but sheriff stopped it with his tire. "Doc!"
"You're wasting my time!" the judge insisted. "the only thing that's important right now is finding her!"
"I know, but keeping to yourself is not going to help!"
"I don't have-!"
"Paul! Just listen to me for Chrysler sake!" Doc stopped know that his real name only came out when Sheriff was being really serious. "Someone wants to see you. They say can help." Doc looked down and took a deep breath.
"Fine.." He muttered as he finally gave in. Sheriff took a deep breath as the tension seemed to slowly lift away.
Doc followed Sheriff out of the building and over to the cafe. Some cars were gathered in a small group, but Doc could still see a red paint job through the small crowd along with a blue, pearl finish one.
"Doc!" Ramone called out. "Long time no see.." he tried to make a small joke, but Doc's frown never left his face. "Right… well, aye man, you remember these guys?" He moved out of the way to reveal two other 60s impalas.
"Aye man." Pancho said in a low voice.
"How've you been?" Francisco asled. Doc looked from one to the other. He only vaguely remembered them from Harley's Quinceañera. He then looked to Ramone.
"Why are they here?" He demanded. Ramone inched towards him cautiously as he explained.
"They're my friend from East L.A." the other two Impalas started to read Doc's body language.
"Ramone, we can speak for ourselves." Francisco insisted. "You know Pancho and I are two brothers from East L.A, but what you don't know is where we work." he paused and took his tenseness into consideration. "We're both apart of the L.A.P D." Doc's demeanor didn't change in the slightest, but a fire was undoubtedly burning inside.
"The L.A.P.D?" He said in a low tone. "The L.A.P.D. It's been a month and you're only now getting here! Ramone! You only now called them!" Everyone was quiet. No one dared to correct him. Let him believe it was a month even though in reality, it had been 15 days that had passed since the day she ran away.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Hudson," Pancho spoke up to break the heavy silence, "but things take time. We just got done filing a lost child report before we came here." he added.
"You what? No!" Doc shouted to everyone's surprise. Why would he say no to this?
"No?" Sheriff asked from behind him.
"No." Doc repeated as he turned to face him. "It's only a matter of time before the press gets involved.. the media. I don't- we don't need any more attention.." again silence.
"Then what do you suggest we do?" Francisco asked and drove up beside him.
"Your job. Look for her!" With that he drove off leaving everyone speechless.
"And how long has he been like this?" Pancho rhetorically sighed and shook her head.
"I do hope he doesn't stay like that forever." she said with an exasperated sigh. Pancho and Francisco shared a look and began to drive off.
"Ey, where are you going?" Ramone asked.
"He said look for her." Pancho called back. "You said she went off past Wheel Well."
"And we're both detectives." Francisco added. "We'll stay in touch." With that they left without another word.
January 1, 2000
Two weeks into her training with Ryan Lee and she was starting to get used to her new life in upstate Colorado. Ryan had been waking her up be slamming his tire against her wooden door. It had become routine. So, going with routine, Harley groggily got up and made her way to the kitchen where her usual protein, carbohydrate, and fuel packed breakfast was waiting for her. A small radio was also on the table. It had been turned on to the news as always, but Ryan wasn't in the room. Harley was just about to change the channel but then decided to listen in for a few seconds.
"Good morning Colorado! I am Erin Knightley with your early morning news. This morning I bring you some breaking news from Arizona. The niece of none other than Strip 'The King' Weathers, which many have been referring to as 'The Duchess' has been found missing from her castle. Harley Stockrim had been found in a very bad situation when she was very young, and there was a rather long and painful court case on her situation. At the end, it was decided that she would stay in a small Arizona town known as Radiator Springs, and her caretaker would be the town judge and doctor Doc Hudson." Harley froze. She hadn't heard or even thought of that name in a little over a month. Since Ryan wasn't in the room she decided she'd keep listening.
" The Duchess has been missing for a little over a month now but only recently has it been filed in a police report coming from, oddly enough, East LA from the LAPD. When asked about it, Hudson said, quote, 'I have no comment for the situation.' And if that wasn't odd enough, the county sheriff, Sheriff Wallis, had this to say, quote, 'This has been a hard ordeal for the entire town but mostly on [Hudson], as she was like a daughter to him. We have no idea how she went missing, but we were too worried about [Hudson] to get around a police report. And I take full responsibility of that. I do have to police detectives from the LAPD looking for her, and hopefully we can get some other search party out there.' many have been trying to get weathers opinion on the matter, though his agent states he is, quote, 'rather busy.' They say her age is 16 years old and she is-" Harley quickly switched it to a music radio station. They were getting into a description of her and she could not risk Ryan finding out who she really was. She didn't want to think about what would happen if you found out she's been lying.
"You know," Ryan said from the other room, as if he knew she had been thinking about him, "I was listening to that. You know I always listen to the news." he then drove into the kitchen and sat across from her.
"Yeah but the news just gets so sad and boring sometimes." Harley said with a humorous scoff. "Maybe that's why you're the why you're like this." Ryan's never changing scowl stared back at her. "Right, sorry, no jokes. I forgot." Another pause of silence as Ryan sipped his usual coffee.
"Or sarcasm." he said at last. "So, that kid, funny that y'all share the same name." Harley kept her cool.
'Don't blow this, Har.' she thought to herself.
"Can you remind me what your last name is?" He asked starting right into her eyes with his strange golden ones.
" Davis. It's Davis." she said confidently and without stuttering.
"Hm." Ryan scoffed quietly to himself.
"Look, I don't know who Harley Stockrim is. I've never heard of her. I've never heard of a Stockrim, period." She was so confident and clear, not like her usual nervous and intimidated stutter, that Ryan seemed to buy it.
"Why do you think the name Stockrim is important." she had been wrong. He was onto her.
"Well, considering she's the niece of The King, it's gotta mean something." Harley replied without so much of a doubt in her reasoning."
"Well, you're right." He said and began to drive off. "It does count for something. Someone."
"Really? Who!" Harley asked and she quickly followed after him.
"That's a story for another day." Ryan barked as he stopped, "Now back and finish your breakfast, looks like you haven't even touched it. I'm going to go clean up the track, meet me there in 30 minutes." he demanded. He did buy it!
"Sir, yes sir." Harley said in a perky voice, "Oops, another joke." She said as she drove back to the kitchenn. once there and she was certain he couldn't hear her, she finally let out a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile back in Radiator Springs, Doc had been 100% right. The media did come. It was slow at first, but as things go there are more. And more. And soon the flow had to run both the Cozy cone and her Cafe again. But that only lasted less than a week. I got bored eventually and moved on to the next story. Doc saw it all as a relief. He really thought no one else would come to Radiator Springs. They are back to being just another town on Route 66. As far as that goes he was wrong. 100% wrong.
A couple days had passed and there was no hustle and bustle in town. Not even a hint of it. But that would soon change as an old looking semi with nothing on the outside of the trailer came rolling into town.
"Doc!" sheriff called out from outside the clinic. "You might want to-"
"See this." Doc cut him off. "If I had a dollar for every time you told me I might want to see something.." he muttered as he drove by him without a second glance. Sheriff followed behind him until they got to the cafe. The semi had just parked itself, and the trailer was opening. Inside was a rather upset looking light blue race car. And he had a spoiler that matched his reputation.
