When Mallard came across Marilyn one iced morning he was shivering from the cruel cold. The wind whistled up from the south, threatened to chill his firebox and his crew, his eyes watered from the cold and his breath came out in puffs of steam. The height of winter, visibility on the mainline was almost nonexistent, the only guidance for trains were rows of yellow light poles along the working tracks and of course, an engine's own headlamps. He found her slumped on a siding along with her coaches, lit and empty. She was awake but stared ahead with dead, exhausted eyes, she didn't even notice the male as he stopped and reversed, only when he moved to the spur did she flinch. "Mallard…" she exhaled shakily. "Mallard please leave."

"What happened to you?" The blue A4's boiler was wet with snow that melted from his building anger as he noticed her body covered in scrapes and dents, her eyes bloodshot and afraid. "Who did this?"

"I can't talk about it," the young female looked away. "I came to try and rest but once I stopped all I could think about was if he found me again— I couldn't close my eyes."

Mallard's expression hardened. "If who found you?"

Marilyn winced. "No one…"

For once, Mallard was worried about someone other than himself. He continued to watch Marilyn, her eyes worked hard to avoid his and the longer he stared the more they appeared to glass over. He moved closer and the young female lowered her head. "Please… leave…" she whimpered.

"What happened?" Mallard was firm, he felt sick. "Talk to me."

"Just leave!" She shouted, her gaze finally locked with his, tears flowed free but she glared as hard as she could. "Please…"

"No." The male declared. He nuzzled up to her, she was shockingly cold, her fire had gone out. He kissed her cheek then her lips, all freezing and threatening to ice over. "You need to warm up. Why is your fire out?"

Marilyn shivered, she closed her eyes to take in the male's much needed heat. "The wind… it blew out my firebox and my crew can't make it light again."

"Then let me take your men and I'll tow you to a shed. You're not going to sit out and freeze on my watch."

"Fine…"

Mallard was quick to turn around and drop off his coaches on another longer spur, though he had passengers to retrieve from London he was none too concerned about them. In that moment all he cared about was taking Marilyn somewhere safe, somewhere secluded, somewhere she would maybe feel comfortable enough to open up. Once he returned her entire body was shaking violently as he had her coupled to his tender. She rattled his frame until he picked up enough speed on the mainline towards Doncaster. He knew the works would have an open carriage shed outside that was temperature controlled and once he located one that was mostly empty aside from a small brake van he backed the young engine up into the cozy building. She settled in while Mallard turned around to face her once more. "Thank you…" she murmured shyly.

"Of course," Mallard was able to have a better look at her assortment of minor injuries in the fluorescent lighting. He noticed a spot where the assailant's paint had transferred onto hers. "Sam did this to you."

Marilyn suddenly appeared very scared, she eyed the still open door behind him nervously, expecting the mere mention of her brother's name to somehow summon him. "Please don't say anything to Scot. Please. I fully intended to be repaired but I've just not had the time."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why would he do this to you?"

Marilyn shifted uncomfortably, it was that movement that sent a sharp pain rocketing up and out from her undercarriage. "Just a little roughhousing between siblings… you know how it is."

"Mhm," Mallard wasn't at all convinced, but he could tell Marilyn was extremely uneasy and he didn't want to push his luck. "You know, I've missed you these past few weeks. You'd not come to me at all."

"I'm sorry," she said shakily. "I wanted to, truly."

"So why haven't you?"

"Too busy…"

Mallard furrowed his brow. "Is that so?" He glanced around. "Well you're not too busy now."

"No…" the female had begun to warm up and while she knew what Mallard was implying, she had a sinking feeling she couldn't follow through despite how badly she wanted to. "I just— I don't know if I can… keep up."

"Then let me do the work," he purred, he was still furious about Sam, but he so badly craved her, he forced his anger down and drew the young female in for a hot sloppy kiss.

"As much as I've enjoyed kissing you, I'd love if you'd let me do something more."

"What more is there?"

"Relax and I'll show you."

"Scot!"

Flying Scotsman's eyes barely opened as the door to his shed was flung agape by wind and a strong engine. He growled low when he saw who it was. "Oh please, haven't you tortured me enough? I can't even dream properly now!"

Mallard was unphased by the dominant male's bellyaching, he entered the shed and made sure the door was shut to block out the ever-growing snowstorm outside that shook the shed's refurbished walls. "We have a problem."

"We?" The A3 shook himself of exhaustion. He had been given the day off after the blizzard shut down all of Sodor's mainlines and his excursions to Edinburgh were cancelled. "What is this we?! There has never been a we!"

"Well there is now," Mallard snarled back, it was the closest he had ever been to Scotsman outside of a gnarly brawl and he was able to see just how worn down the handsome male had become. "Your children, it seems, are no longer getting along."

Scotsman did not like the smug undertone in Mallard's expression and voice. "So? Brother and sister fight, it happens."

"Yes, but I fear there's something else going on," Mallard insisted. He was in a weird position requesting Scotsman's help, but as well he didn't want to make it clear he was fucking Marilyn and had likely caught feelings for her. "I found Marilyn this morning on a siding, bruised and beaten, her firebox frozen. A simple scrape of sparkly paint on her livery suggests the culprit is Sam."

Scotsman narrowed his eyes and straightened up to be as tall as his overreaching subordinate once more. "And why would this be of concern to you?"

"Your son is clearly an unhinged maniac that is abusing and even raping his own sister. Why wouldn't it be a concern of mine or yours for that matter?"

The dominant male clenched his jaw and glowered. "Do I really need to remind you what you did to Meredith? And countless others?"

"I'd rather you not." Mallard admitted.

"Oh, so you've suddenly grown a conscience?" Scotsman was furious over what he believed to be his cousin's fake concern. "You're accusing my son of raping his sister, tell me, what would lead you to even make such a bold claim?"

Mallard swallowed and looked away with a sigh. "I was being intimate with Marilyn earlier this morning, when I went to connect with her she cried out in pain. I pulled my rod back and there were trace amounts of blood. Clearly she has been forced upon."

The air fell thick with tension as Mallard awaited Scotsman's response, he still kept his eyes on the window darkened by the storm. When he finally looked back to the dominant male he was shocked to find him still silent though warped with fury. Scotsman took a deep breath and closed his eyes for only a moment. "You— you are sleeping with Marilyn, my daughter?!"

"You don't own her!" Mallard retorted quickly, though he was nervous. They were alone and thanks to his own mental games, the old engine was nearing the brink of insanity. There was no predicting what he might've done next. "It was her choice! I never forced her."

"I ought to tear that smug face of yours off with my own teeth," Scotsman growled. "You just can't leave me in peace!"

"Well now I'm offering a truce should you allow yourself to stop being blinded by your hatred of me for five fucking seconds!"

"A truce!" Scotsman about jumpedt the tracks. He was in complete disbelief, he put himself directly in Mallard's face and snarled steam. "Why on earth would I do that?!"

"Because you're old and losing your touch, your son could easily down you." Mallard did his best to not smirk as he spoke but Scotsman knew he wanted to. "You need someone who could best him."

"You forget I have Edgar and Quicksilver and now Gannet, your much more formidable counterpart," Scotsman allowed himself to smirk boldly. He knew how much Mallard hated Gannet after their rather ugly falling out many years ago. "I don't need you."

Mallard stared blankly for a moment, his frown then deepened. "Do you even believe me? Do you even care?!"

"I believe that I will discuss this with Marilyn myself, she's a sensible girl—" he paused and eyed Mallard up and down. "Mostly."

Mallard groaned and rolled his eyes, he began to reverse from the shed before he decided to stop and make another damning comment. "I knew you were too weak to do anything. Just another cranky old bastard."

Scotsman watched the blue A4 slip back into the snow, his eyes darkened and he locked his smoke deflectors forward.

Over in Micah's office at Doncaster, Hayden and Marjorie sat with Edward as the young controller reviewed the last month's repair log with his chief engineer. He was pleased to see everything was minor, no injuries caused by brawling, only the expected and even welcomed worn brake pads and bent couplings. The group all seemed jolly and comfortable while huddled around the office's fireplace, Marjorie clutched a warm mug of hot chocolate while she and Edward discussed locomotive behavior and biology. Though after a few minutes of easy chatter everyone stopped when they heard yelling from the repair yard below. Micah walked over to the door but before he could reach the handle it was swung open by a panicked engineer.

"Sir!" He was looking at Hayden. "You have to come see this…"

Hayden exchanged a weird glance with his colleagues but shrugged and approached the young man at the door. He was about to step out when he realized the engineer was pointing so he followed his finger to an open bay door where the shadowed figure of a large locomotive sat. The young controller furrowed his brow and started down the steps. "Scot? What are you—"

He was cut off by a resounding metal clang on the concrete floor and froze at the sight of Mallard's mangled head as oil and blood pooled around it. "Scot!"

"I'm not weak," the dominant male snarled, flashing his teeth red with blood. He spit at the gored engine's smokebox then reversed into the blizzard to head northward to Edinburgh's shunting yard.

"Guess who's back…" Cameron sang softly to a resting Meredith, her eyes were closed but she smiled as the newly repaired Big Boy snuggled against her side.

"What is it with you always finding me when I'm sleeping?" Meredith groaned, though she liked how the male was rubbing against her.

Cameron chuckled and moved away, only to come back facing her on the exposed siding outside a snow-sprinkled roundhouse. He lifted her onto his platform so he could kiss her cheek and nose. "Just lucky I guess. You're more willing to put out when you're sleepy."

"You're such a pig," Meredith giggled, she opened her eyes and nipped at his nose. "You expect me to just open up whenever you desire?"

Cameron nodded and took on a seductive gaze. "That's exactly what I expect you to do." He went in for a kiss and groaned happily when he tasted her open mouth. "Fuck, I don't want you to leave." He whispered before taking her mouth fully. Meredith's eyes watered as their kiss deepened, but she wasn't expecting what he had to say next.

"I love you too," he breathed, his lips remained against hers as he spoke. "I love you, Mer, please don't go back. Stay with me."

Meredith looked at Cameron, she could see his sincerity in the way he kept earnest eye-contact. He tried to force a small smile to break the tension but it didn't work well, it only seemed to deepen his desperation. The female looked away briefly, then leaned closer to him. "Take me somewhere private and show me just how much you love me."

The male broke a salacious grin and eagerly obliged. He led Meredith outside of town again, but instead of continuing straight they took another more ragged siding until they reached a sight most familiar to the little engine. A forest. It was barren and snowy, but it almost looked like home during the winter with the intertwining branches and snow-capped brushery. They kept through a canopy until they were so deep in it seemed civilization had all but vanished. No cars could be heard, nor the puffing and chuffing of working steam engines, it was just the two of them, the crackling of falling slow, and the melodic howl of winter winds. Meredith had turned around before they reached the siding and watched Cameron as he rolled his platform back so he could scoop Meredith up once more. The kiss that ensued was intense, more so than they had ever had, Meredith grinded her body against his rod as he let it out with considerable ease and anticipation. They both moaned while they tasted and took in each other's physical touch and when Cameron made his connection, their movements together were deep and sensual. The way he thrusted suddenly brought Meredith back to when Flying Scotsman first took her, everything was new and bright, her nerves were on fire and his rod felt like a dream. She then soaked all of Cameron in, how he smelled, tasted, how he rode her. She so desperately thought she wanted to stay but the more he made true love with her the more she realized all she wanted was Scotsman.

Emma woke with a start, her stall doors had opened from what she at first thought was the wind, but when her eyes adjusted she was shocked to see Flying Scotsman eyeing her rather hungrily. "Scotty?" She whispered. "Is everything alright? I thought your train was cancelled?"

Without a word he entered her berth and grabbed her buffers to pull her close, she then noticed his blood-splattered paint. "Uhh… Scotty—"

"Give me your valve," he purred.

"What?!" Emma's face flushed, her whole body heated up and she tried not to completely melt into a rambling mess. "I— I… are you sure? You and Meredith— it's just been so long I—"

She was cut off by his tongue as it snaked past her lips, the black shunter finally allowed herself to relax and took him in as he seemed to snack on her mouth. Emma was so distracted by the nasty kiss she didn't even realize he had dropped his rod until it suddenly found its way deep inside her and she had to pull back to groan excitedly. "Ohhh, Lordie!" She closed her eyes and held her smile as he started to fuck her hard, her smile didn't last, Scotsman took her in again for a ravishing kiss as he worked her undercarriage over with an almost excessive roughness. The medium-sized female didn't mind though, she moaned in his throat and sighed his name every chance she had to take a breath, she was in paradise, she didn't even care that the door was still swinging open she just hoped whatever came over Scotsman wasn't just a one time thing.

When Flying Scotsman left Edinburgh most of Mallard's blood had been washed off from the mixture of snow and sweat. He powered down the mainline with a speed he'd not reached in years, he felt like his younger self again and he was eager to find another beautiful piece of tail to lay into in his shed. It was then he came across Ellis' sister, Ada, stopped at a water tower to top her tender off before an early end to her day. She spotted the newly feral male and smiled. "You're rather chipper considering this yucky weather."

Scotsman smirked. "I am, so chipper in fact I'm feeling so bold as to proposition a good rough fuck in my shed once you're all done there." He winked and Ada's cheeks turned bright.

"Oh! Well…" she looked around nervously, biting her lip. "I don't know."

"Oh, don't worry about Gordon, he doesn't have to know." Scotsman approached her slowly to whisper. "I'd just like to see what's got him all worked up is all."

Ada continued to fret even as her driver returned to her cab. Her water was full as was her coal. She allowed her gaze to slink back to Scotsman and his boiler rumbled when she did. "Maybe… one time wouldn't hurt."

"It never does," Scotsman teased, he bumped her buffers. "Now hurry up before I decide to fuck you right here."

Meredith sat impatiently at the pay phone while the line continued to ring and ring and ring. The more it rang the angrier she became until the line did finally pick up, but it wasn't Scotsman.

"Meredith?"

"Quicksilver?"

"I assume you're calling for Scot."

"Yes…" she didn't like the tone in the lieutenant's voice. "What happened?"

"I can't go into detail, but rest assured he is safe."

Meredith sighed. "What is he doing?"

There was a pause, a pause that told the female the tactful A4 was debating whether to give a fully honest answer or just give little nuggets of truth. It was when he sighed she knew she was about to get the whole truth. "He's busy with Ada."

"Ada? Gordon's new girlfriend?" Meredith wasn't phased that her partner was fucking another female, but what did bother her was that it was Gordon's newest flame.

She heard the male nod. "The very one, seems your partner has embraced his old habits, he was apparently seen up north in a shed with Emma only a couple hours earlier."

Meredith clenched her jaw, she knew she had no place to be cross with him, yet somehow she still felt hurt, but she forced herself to swallow her pride. She did tell him he should keep his own needs met, though she did hope he would exclude that to Dirk or maybe even Emerson. "I'm glad to hear he's doing better. I was worried, he seemed down for some time."

"Somehow I'm not convinced by your tone."

"Really, it's fine. I didn't expect him to stay celibate while I was gone." Meredith forced a smile he couldn't see then became overwhelmed by impulse. Her smile grew. "You remember what it was like? You and me."

She heard the male inhale deeply before his response. "Mer, we shouldn't talk about that. We don't see eye-to-eye regarding physical relationships and while I respect your ideals I have to remain firm with mine."

"So you won't even loosen up for a little fun phone sex?" Meredith cooed. "C'mon, when was the last time you even let that delicious rod of yours out?"

She didn't see it, but hearing her describe his rod as 'delicious' made the male shudder. He cleared his throat as he felt his own desires cloud his judgement. "Meredith, seriously, we can't do this."

"So you don't wanna think about me easing myself onto you, sliding back and forth while I taste your tongue?"

Quicksilver squirmed as his undercarriage's pressure built up considerably. He wanted to play along, he wanted to think about her taking him all the way, but he couldn't. He growled, desperate to change the subject. "Mallard and Kestrel are dead!" He shouted over the line.

Meredith froze, all the heat in her body seemed to wash out and onto the tracks beneath her. She stared at the phone with wide eyes, tears pooled up in their corners.

"Mer?" Quicksilver's voice was considerably calmer, he had realized his mistake. "Mer, please talk to me."

"How long?"

The question made Quicksilver wince. He waited for a diesel to slip by with empty coal cars before he continued speaking. "Mallard was just today… Scotsman beheaded him this morning. I'm not exactly sure what prompted it so suddenly. Kestrel… Kestrel had been gone for some time now. A few months."

"A few months?!" Meredith began to sob, drawing the attention of Cass and Jimmy talking quietly on the other side of the yard, but as well there was Cameron who rushed to her before his brother could swoop in. She ignored all of them. She needed answers. "Why… why has no one told me?!"

"No one wanted to upset you while you were gone…"

"He was my friend!" Meredith screamed. "I deserved to know when everyone else did!"

Cameron leaned over to try and offer her comfort but she shoved him away, still bawling. "No! No, leave me alone!" She flew backwards down the siding then off on the main passenger line towards the foggy horizon. Jimmy was quick to chase after her but Cameron glared at the still open phone line.

"What happened? What did you say to her?!"

Quicksilver was taken aback by the rough new voice. He steadied himself and leveled his own tone. "Just keep an eye on her and keep her safe until she comes home."

"Sure," Cameron replied slowly then the line hung up. He looked off to the horizon where Meredith disappeared and could still see his brother's billowing smoke from his chimney. He built up his pressure and took off down the line, determined to catch him before he found Meredith.

Unfortunately, Cameron wasn't quick enough to reach Jimmy before he cornered Meredith outside Lagrange, she was wailing uncontrollably and his brother was doing a poor job at calming her. "Hey!" Cameron snapped, drawing his brother's attention from the distraught little engine. "You don't just back her into a spot like she's your prey! Give her room to breathe, dumbass."

Jimmy growled but did as Cameron said and moved away from Meredith which seemed to calm her down almost immediately. Cameron smiled at his little victory and stopped to look at the little female. "What happened back there? Who was that?"

Meredith sniffed and blinked away a few more tears. "Quicksilver, one of my partner's… bodyguards I guess. He uhh… told me news I wasn't expecting to hear."

"What news?" Jimmy pressed, earning a sharp glare from Cameron.

Meredith bit her tongue for a moment. She felt uneasy talking about Kestrel with them.

"I don't feel comfortable discussing it," she offered an apologetic smile and glanced between the two of them. "I'm sorry… I appreciate your concern."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Cameron inquired, ignoring the weird look from Jimmy after hearing 'we.'

Meredith simply shrugged. "Unless you can bring my friend back to life…"

"I wish we could, darlin'." Jimmy said softly. "You have my condolences."

"And mine." Cameron added quickly.

Meredith watched the two males glare daggers at each other and huffed in frustration. She knew there was only one way to distract them. "You two ever considered setting aside your differences for a friendly threesome?"

Both of the Big Boys' attentions snapped to the little female, their expressions and glares had dropped and they simply stared at her in wonder. "Like… now?" Jimmy stammered.

"Yes, now," Meredith couldn't help but laugh at how stunned they were. "What? You do it with Chief all the time."

"Yes, but that's… Chief," Jimmy gave his brother a side-eye and fumbled when he realized he was moving towards Meredith. He started towards her as well and bumped his brother. "Where do you think you're goin'?"

"I think I'm gonna get laid," Cameron pointed out with a smug grin. "How about you?"

Jimmy grunted in annoyance and quickly went to turn himself around and snuck up behind Meredith. He nudged her buffers and chuckled when she yelped in surprise. "Who do you want first?"

Meredith's heart raced, she closed her eyes and simply let her steam rush out from her valves then something cold gently caressed her cheek. She pried her eyes open and found Cameron's polished rod tip right in her face. She hadn't seen it in the light before and fell into a bit of a trance from how perfectly smooth the steel prosthetic was. It glinted in the winter sunlight, it was almost too lovely considering what it was used for. The little engine looked up at Cameron and he smiled. "They did a good job, didn't they?"

"Yes, yes, your dick is sooo pretty," Jimmy growled as he lifted Meredith up from behind. "I'm surprised you don't parade around with it out since you seem to love it so."

"You're just upset that I turned a disability…" he dragged the tip under Meredith's chin and over her lips, she sputtered and swooned. "Into an advantage." He then looked up at his brother. "Leave room for me."

Jimmy chuckled as he connected with the little engine, making her gasp. "I won't."