Author's Note: This is very random and quite honestly you can skip it, but I was thinking about the last line of the last chapter and how it says "a spoiler to match his reputation" and I was like a big one, a big reputation. Then I started thinking about Doc and the King driving towards each other with Taylor Swift's 'End Game' playing in the background. Just imagine it, "big reputation, big reputation, oh you and me, we got big reputations, aaahhh!" I'm sorry, I just thought that was really funny. Okay on with the story!


Chapter 38: Deal With It


In all his years, Doc had never been afraid of much. He never worried about anything, that is unless it had something to do with Harley. And this definitely had a lot to do with her. The infamous baby blue race car drove out of his inconspicuous trailer with a face of definite anger. He couldn't believe the news once he got it. When he finally got it, and of course finding out over two weeks after the fact is what made him mad the most.

Strip drove right by everyone in the town ignoring every salutation they gave, if they even dared to, and headed straight for Doc. He was not having it.

"I can't believe this.." He said in his signature smooth voice only now it was tinted with betrayal and frustration.

"Let me just explain what happened." Doc tried to reason but Strip drove right past him.

"No no no, I don't want to hear your explanation!" he barked, "I'm well aware of what has happened!" Now, Strip hardly ever shouted. It's never been part of his persona. But now he was beyond upset. And he wasn't afraid to show it.

"Strip, wait!" Doc shouted as he followed after him. "Where you going?"

"You tell me where she went and I'll tell you where I'm going." Strip snapped back without turning around.

"Strip.. I don't know." Doc muttered in a sad tone.

"Well I guess you won't know where I'm going then." Without so much as a glance back at Doc, Strip headed towards the clinic. He swung open the doors and started to look around trying to find anything that could possibly help.

"What are you doing?" Doc asked.

"There's got to be something in here that can give us at least a hint of where she might have gone." Strip continued to rummage through papers and books. He didn't care if he left a mess.

"Don't you think I've already tried that?" Doc scowled as he attempted to fix everything Strip kept messing up.

"I don't care." He scowled back and continued to shuffle through it all.

"Strip, there's nothing. There's nothing here!" Doc said and raised his voice, "I've looked everywhere, she never said where she would have gone!"

"Her room, where is her room!" Strip shouted back, catching Doc slightly off guard.

"It's in the back.." Doc said and watched as Strip, without so much as a hesitation, sprinted towards his niece's room

"There's gotta be something here. A scrapbook, a journal, something.." He said as he looked in shelves for anything. At that point, Doc was getting very frustrated.

"I've tried! There is nothing! Absolutely nothing!" Strip slammed his tire onto the floor, slightly startling Doc.

"Stop saying that! There has to be something!" He now started to sound slightly panicked.

"I'm sorry.." Doc lowered his voice, "but-"

"You sure as hell better be sorry." Strip cut him off and there was a heavy silence as the two looked at each other. Strip scoffed and went back to his search. Doc was very quiet as he thought about what he could possibly say. Just as he was about to speak up, the racecar before him found something. It wasn't anything that could help, but it was still so meaningful. Strip froze as he gazed open a terribly drawing of himself in the middle of a race. Behind that there were more drawings. Childish renditions of himself, Doc, and all the other towns folk were saved in a box. Doc drove up behind him to see what he found and couldn't help but smile warmly at the sight of the old and forgotten colourful sketches.

"I forgot we had those here.." he muttered mostly to himself. Strip closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He felt so much regret everything that had happened. From her father's death all the way to now. Everything.

"What did you do?" he finally asked and drove away from Doc.

"Why do you assume I did something?" Doc went from nostalgic to defensive. He did not want to believe he was the one to blame.

"Because she wouldn't have just run. She doesn't run." Strip argued.

"And how would you know?" Now Strip started to look offended. "You were never there. I never saw you visit. The last time you were here was the first time you were here!"

"You're really going to turn this on me?" Strip glared back at him.

"I just don't understand why you have such a big say when you never had a say in her life." Doc glared right back.

"I never forgot to call her. I called her as often as I could-" Strip inched closer, but then Doc cut him off, stopping him in his tracks.

"But you could never stop by and visit?" Doc went on.

"I'm sorry, but I am a racecar!" Strip yelled in his defense.

"Yeah, well so was I!" The room got quiet. They were at least three feet away from each other at this point. And ever inch if space was filled with the truth that had finally came out. Strip eyed him. "I always made time for those I cared about." Doc said with a calmer tone.

"Oh really," Strip asked with no surprise at all. "When's the last time you left this town? Why is it that you just disappeared?"

"It's complicated." Doc gave a frustrated sigh and looked slightly away.

"Everything's complicated." Strip's eyes never left him. "I'm busy. I shouldn't even be here. I have race to be at in two weeks, but here I am! Everything is complicated right now, Everything is always complicated! That is no excuse!" Doc continued to look away as Strip went on with his attack.

"I am not going to go into that story when there are other things that hold a higher concern right now." Doc tried not to raise his voice, but it was obvious he wanted to yell.

"Yeah. You're right." Doc looked back to Strip. "Like why Harley left." he continued, "What happened? What did you do?" There was another silence and Doc looked away again. "All those years ago... I trusted you to take care of her, to never hurt her, she's been hurt enough!"

"I never meant to hurt her." Doc admitted

"But you did, didn't you." It was so quiet that the only sound came from the soft buzz of the clinic's lights.

"It was never my intention." Strip scoffed at his sorry response.

"Do I look like I care about what your intention was?" Doc didn't have to look at him to know the answer. "I'm not going to ask again, what did you do?" Doc paused for a very long time before saying anything. It all seemed so… unreal. How could this have happened?

"She found out." He finally said, and Strip understood completely.

"She never knew?" Stip interrogated, "Of course not, how could she when this whole town doesn't even know. The whole world doesn't know, why didn't you ever tell her?"

"Stop. You know I couldn't tell her." Doc muttered and turned away from him.

"And why not?" Strip followed as he pressed on for more information.

"I wanted to keep her safe." Doc solemnly said.

"Oh yeah, you're definitely keeping her safe.." Strip began to get frustrated again, "because now she's God knows where, she could be hurt, she could be kidnapped, and you didn't file a police report until two weeks after it happened! Until two weeks after she was gone!"

"Strip-"

"And you have no excuses on that when your best friend is a sheriff! and you, you're a judge." Strip continued his barrage.

"I did not want the press involved!" Doc barked

"And why not!? Because they might find out too?" Strip asked, leaving Doc quiet. "You couldn't risk the big secret being revealed, could you?"

"I couldn't risk cars hunting her down." he finally retorted. "Random strangers that might want to hurt her, to actually kidnap her for ransome!" Strip shook his hood.

"Ransome? You're really using that as an excuse?" Another silence fell upon them. "You know something, I looked up to you." Doc looked at him without changing his frustrated expression. "Growing up I watched you race, and you inspired me. You were my hero. That's why I recognized you at the hearing over a decade ago. And I never did think our paths would cross. In all my years of, it never even crossed my mind. But now that they have… and here we are..." Strip looked him up and down. "I never knew I could be so disappointed." Doc had nothing more to say. How could he say anything? What could he say? Strip was well in his right to say whatever he wanted to, and he knew it. They both did. Strip began to head out the door, but Doc remained there. Silent. Still. He was more than disappointed in himself. He only hoped Strip wouldn't tell anyone the details of this conversation, but if he did.. so be it. Doc knew he deserved anything that would be coming his way.

Strip stayed only as long as he needed to to find out all the facts of that day. The day she went missing. He heard it all, the arguments about Harley's racing dreams over the past three years, the fights, the disagreements. And the last battle between her and Doc that lead to her discovering the truth and running off. Of course the towns folk thought they had just argued about her racing and she couldn't take it anymore. She needed a coach, so she took it upon herself to find one. At least, that was the town's folk believed. Strip didn't say anything of his rather aggressive talk with Doc. He rationalized that it was between The King and the Hudson Hornet. Strip and Doc. No media, news, or press would find out about him even being in this town. But he would be on the lookout for his niece, because he knew if she's anything like her family, she'll always be drawn to the track. And he'll be there waiting..

No matter how long it would take, he'd be waiting for her, because she's a daddy's girl. She always had been. Stirp only wished her father David would have still been around. Maybe they wouldn't be in this mess if he had been.

"Thank you for everything." He told Flo and the others as he began to head back to his trailer. "Hopefully she'll come back."

"Hopefully." Flo said back with a sad expression. "And , if you ever need anything, we're one call away." He gave her a nod.

"I do appreciate it." He said and went on his way. All he could think about was Harley. He worried about her, about his sister Joan. He hadn't heard from her in years. How was she holding up? Was she even.. still around?

Two weeks later, he lost his race.

.

.

Back in Colorado, Harley had been hitting the track hard. Everyday for hours on end, Ryan Lee had her driving around that dirt track until her light silver paint was a dusty brown. In fact, Ryan had to hose her down after every practice before she was able to come back inside the cabin. She hated it, but that was life. At least that's what Ryan would always say.

Even though she had been living with him for over a month, Harley didn't know much about the purple '72 mustang. He didn't like questions, so she could never find out much. But today was going to be different because today was break day. Of course Harley had no idea. She had grown accustomed to waking up at a certain time every morning, so eventually Ryan stopped waking her up. One less thing for him to worry about.

Harley woke up, went through her morning routine and made her way to the kitchen where she found, as expected, a mustang sitting at the far end sipping on coffee, listening to the news while reading it too with the paper. How he caught two different stories at once was beyond her. What else was strange to her was that her breakfast was much lighter then it had been.

"What, am I going on a diet now?" Harley asked with a small chuckle as she drove up. Ryan, without looking away from his paper shook his hood.

"Nope, you're going on a break." Harley's smirk quickly faded.

"A break?" She asked confused. "Race cars don't take breaks."

"I've been doing this for a number of years." Ryan said then paused to take a sip. "I think I know what race cars do." Harley took her usual spot at the table and began to eat.

"It just seems kinda weird." she said with food in her mouth earning her a one eyerim raised look from Ryan. She swallowed and continued. "What good is a break when I could be on the track?"

"What good is the track if you're so worn out you break. Breakdown that is." He went back to his paper, his eyes drifting over ads and columns.

"Okay.. you got a point.." She then suddenly remembered a not so distant memory. And she could clearly remember Doc's words.

"Sheriff has been so kind as to tell me that you seem to be pushing yourself a little to hard."

"Ha! There's no such thing."

"Oh yes there is! I've seen it; I've been in this town long enough… Harley, when's the last time you got coolant from Flo?"

"I don't know.. a while I guess. Is that bad?" Doc sighed and shook his hood.

"Yes, Harley, it is. You're running low on coolant." He then gave her a nod so she knew she could close her hood. "If you end up having none, you're going to overheat your 'll do that quicker seeing as you practice daily. After that, then what?"

"Then I'll have you fix it, duh."

"So when you're off racing, you're going to drive from wherever you are with a busted up engine to have me fix it for free?" Doc asked with a raised eye rim.

"Well, no, my driver will drive me to Radiator Springs so you can fix it." Harley smiled smartly while Doc sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Heed my warning and go ask Flo for coolant.."

Harley unconsciously wore a small smile as she thought about that. She forgot that it happened the same day she found out the truth about Doc. The day she left. All she could remember was that simple, calm conversation between the two.

"Hey, kid, are you listening?" Ryan asked snapping her from her daze.

"Huh? Uh, yeah!" She said and shook her hood, "Just could you repeat it, I want to make sure I heard you right." Ryan sighed and looked down and he shook his hood.

"Ryan, you said you wouldn't train kids," he mutter to himself, "the hell happened to that?" He sighed and Harley slightly sank. "I said, I do have a point. You gotta take a couple days off. Partly for a break. Mainly for a road trip. We gotta start hunting."

"Roadtrip?" Harley asked confused again. "Why? And hunting what?" Ryan drove over to her with the newspaper.

"Scoutin' season is starting. Some scouters are going to start looking for cars to sponsor." He pointed at an ad for an annual race at a nearby town. "They're small scouters, but hey, it's something. And also you need to start getting out there if you wanna make a name for yourself." Harley read the ad and saw that it was called 'The Annual Youth Race of Valley Canton.' It was accepting participants from ages 15 through 18 and it started in a couple days. It was a tournament.

"Real racing!" Harley had a bright smile as she got more and more excited about it. "That's amazing! And look! It already starts next week!"

"I know." Ryan said without so much of a change in tone. "Which is why we're taking a break. You can't race looking like that." Harley looked over at Ryan as her excitement was slightly toned down.

"What's wrong with how I look?" she asked and he sighed.

"Seriously? You look average already. No signature paint job, not even a number. You need to look the part before you get it, sweetheart." She chuckled at his sarcasm.

"So where to then?" She asked and looked around. "Cause, uh, I highly doubt there's a painter near by."

"Zip it, smart ass," Ryan snapped, "I'm well aware, but I know a guy in Davenport. It's about half an hour from here." Harley could hardly contain her excitement, but Ryan only moaned and rolled his eyes.

"That's so cool!" She chipped up, then Ryan pointed at her food.

"Oh for God's sake, just finish your breakfast!" He ordered, "That's the only thing that's going to be cool and then you won't eat it, and we have to drive out of town today!" Harley only giggled at his facade of frustration. "I swear, I'm going to start being a shitty cook if you keep this up." She rolled her eyes and was rewarded with a stern glare.

"Okay, okay." she once again started eating the looked back at Ryan.

"Shee, Ahm ea'in." She said with food stuffed in her mouth. Ryan gave an exasperated sigh. He was already tired with her, but chose to keep this job regardless.

"Why do I have to deal with her?" he asked no one and turned away. Harley swallowed and laughed.

"I mean, no one forced you to." He looked back with his eye rims classically furrowed in his usual expression.

"You're asking for it." He scowled and she soffed.

"Oh yeah you're real scary." Now Ryan was getting really mad.

"Harley! You want to run laps until you can't breath!?"

"Hell yeah!" she said catching Ryan slightly off guard. He scoffed as he realized he was starting to rub off on her. "What? No snarky remark?" he shook his hood and disappeared into the hallway.

"Finish eating!" He called out, "We leave in fifteen!"

"Sir, yes sir!" Harley shouted back.

"Stop that!" She giggled again and continued eating. Yeah, Ryan was rough around the edges, but maybe that's just was she needed. And maybe her quirkiness is just what he needed too. Who know how long the old grump had been alone. Too long was Harley's bet.

"Far too long." Harley agreed with herself aloud and continued to enjoy her perfect breakfast.