It was summer again on the island of Sodor. Meredith had been tasked to pull the local train after Sir Topham Hatt sent Thomas for extensive work at the quarry. She was just departing Kildane when Nia pulled up looking more excited than usual. "Oh, Meredith! Have you heard the news?"

"News?"

"Yes! Sir Topham Hatt is selecting engines to take to this year's Great Railway Show. Oh, I hope I can go. How exciting would that be?" Nia was such a cheerful engine. Meredith couldn't help but return her bright smile.

"It sounds exciting." Meredith said. "I've never been."

"Maybe I'll be selected for the Best Decorated Engine competition!" Nia pipped excitedly. She wasn't really paying much attention to the other tank engine. Her mind was racing with all the possibilities. "Or maybe I could enter into the Shunting Competition." Nia started back up and continued to mumble quickly to herself. "Oh! Maybe I could do both!"

Meredith watched the bright orange tank engine depart. "Bye." She said curtly and she continued on with her passenger run.

Back at Knapford, Gordon was waiting to pull a heavy goods train. Ever since Rebecca came to the island, the two big engines had started taking turns pulling the express. Gordon wasn't all that thrilled with the idea, but he did his best to remain polite about the arrangement. Rebecca was sitting beside him at platform 1. She was as bouncy as ever. Gordon liked the engine well enough, but he did wish she was a little less excitable.

"I wonder what new passengers I'll see today!" Rebecca inquired dreamily. "People can be so fun to watch."

Gordon merely nodded in agreement. He was particularly tired this morning. Meredith kept him up rather late last night. He may be paneled, but that didn't stop the engines from fooling around as best they could. The big engine was frustrated, however. Meredith had become insatiable and there was only so much he could do for it.

Just then the little white tank engine rolled up with her coaches. "Apparently Sir Topham Hatt decided to attend The Great Railway Show again this year."

"Did he?" Gordon inquired with a curious raise of his brow. "I've yet to hear about this."

"I was going to make an official announcement of it later today." Sir Topham Hatt clarified as he approached his engines on the platform. "But you engines gossip worse than some people. I can't say I'm surprised I was beat to the punch."

"Oh! What's The Great Railway Show?" Rebecca bounced which shook her express coaches.

"It's a grand display of engines from railways all across the world!" Sir Topham Hatt gave a broad gesture. "There's races, parades, vendors, and all kinds of competitions for engines to display their strengths."

"That sounds brilliant!" Rebecca's perkiness caused Meredith to sneer. Gordon gave her a scolding look and she rolled her eyes. They may be partners, but given their rather broad age gap, Gordon sometimes acted as a bit of a paternal figure for the young engine. He didn't mind, but he found he had to reign her attitude towards Rebecca in quite a bit.

"Am I to compete in the Great Race again, sir?" Gordon asked hopefully.

"I don't see why not, Gordon." Sir Topham Hatt said with a smile. "Give you a chance at redemption after the last time, hm?"

Gordon chuckled awkwardly, his cheeks burned bright. "Right, sir."

"What happened last time?" Meredith and Rebecca said in unison and Sir Topham Hatt chortled.

Gordon groaned. "Ohhh the indignity…"

Thomas was steaming along the Mainline with heavy cars of stone from the Blue Mountain Quarry. His face was hot and drenched with condensation. It was high afternoon and the sun was beating down on every engine unlucky enough to be out of the shade. Thomas was bringing the stone to Brendam Docks to be shipped to the Mainland. He pulled into Wellsworth station where James was sitting with his coaches. He looked as hot and sweaty as Thomas. "How about this heat huh, James?"

"Ugh," James scoffed. "I feel completely disgusting! Sweat keeps dripping in my mouth and eyes and I just know this heavy sunlight is going to damage my paintwork."

Thomas rolled his eyes. "I'm sure your passengers aren't having a good time either in those stuffy coaches."

James scowled. "Ugh, well I'd rather be pulling hot coaches than dirty stone trains."

Thomas shook his boiler and started up again. "I'll be sure to tell Edward 'hi' for you when I see him at the docks." The tank engine winked mischievously at the baffled red engine.

"What do you mean by that?" James narrowed his eyes.

"I think you know exactly what I mean." Thomas teased and he steamed away. James stared in confusion. How would Thomas know about him and Edward? They were as careful as possible. James looked around nervously, the guard's whistles startled him and he departed with a jolt, nearly buckling his coaches.

At Brendam Docks Thomas had just pulled up in front of Cranky to have his stone unloaded when, just as he said, he saw Edward talking with Salty. "Edward!" Thomas called.

The little blue engine paused his conversation with the dockside diesel and puffed closer to Thomas. "Hello, Thomas. Do you need something?"

"Oh, just wanted to say hi is all." Thomas said with an innocent grin.

"Uh, hi," Edward could tell the tank engine was toying with him. "Are you sure that's all you needed?"

Thomas paused playfully. It wasn't often he had something to tease Edward about and he fully intended to take advantage. "Well… there is something else…"

Edward raised his brow in curiosity. His boiler bubbled nervously, but then Brian pulled up. "You're lookin' a little green there, Edward. Everything alright?"

"Yes, yes, everything's fine." Edward blushed. It's not often that he's caught feeling nervous. He glanced back to Thomas whose cheeky grin had dissipated. "What were you saying?"

It was Thomas' turn to feel bubbly in his boiler. Brian was intimidating to the little tank engine, and he knew that the black engine wouldn't care for him teasing Edward. "Oh, I- uhh… it's not important. I'll ask you later." He gave a nervous smile to both Edward and Brian then glanced up to Cranky who was busy unloading his stone. "Are, uhh, are you almost done, Cranky?"

"Does it look like I am?" Cranky retorted as he placed another pallet of stone onto the ship. There were still five full cars left of Thomas' delivery.

"Right." Thomas dropped his gaze. He could feel Edward and Brian staring at him. "What?"

"Somethin's bugging you." Brian said plainly. "Might as well fess up to it."

Thomas turned his attention to Edward. "I know James is your boyfriend." He said quickly and rather loudly.

Edward was lost for words. His steam puffed heavy from embarrassment when he noticed Salty and Porter had started staring. Brian sighed and turned towards Thomas who had an anxious grin. "You're not a very tactful engine, are you?"

James was flying down the Mainline with his coaches towards Knapford. He had to get to Sir Topham Hatt before Thomas. He didn't want that annoying little engine blabbing about his secret relationship with Edward. Not after what happened between Meredith and Gordon. James didn't want to be paneled.

The red engine slid into Knapford in a rainfall of sparks. Sir Topham Hatt was standing at the platform pouring over order invoices, his forehead shiny with sweat. The fat controller winced at the horrid grating of James' brakes and strolled up to the nervous red engine. "What ever is the matter, James? There's no reason for you to be coming into the station like that."

"I- I…" James stammered. He suddenly realized he had to come clean. "I just didn't want you to hear about… well… I just don't want to be paneled, sir."

"Paneled?" Sir Topham Hatt lowered his paperwork to look James in the eye. "Why ever would I panel you, James?"

"Well you had Gordon paneled, sir…" James said slowly. He tried to be cautious with his words. In case there was a chance to save his secret.

Sir Topham Hatt was confused. "I did no such thing. I would never have that done on my engines. It's cruel."

"But… I overheard Gordon talking to Meredith about it…"

The fat controller furrowed his brow and crossed his arms. He was not happy. "I'll get back with you, James. I have to make a trip to the Steamworks. And don't think I'll forget about how this conversation originally started." And without another word, Sir Topham Hatt quickly turned and started towards his car just outside the station.

"Meredith! Slow down!" Hayden called desperately from his engine's cab as she barreled down the line towards Vicarstown.

Her fireman, Devon, did his best to keep up, but she was going so fast her fire persisted in trying to go out. "What's got her so excited?" Devon's fair complexion was dirtied by coal dust, his wispy blonde hair plastered to his forehead from sweat and dirt.

"I don't know," Hayden said as he tried to add brake pressure, but the stubborn little engine released the brakes as soon as she noticed they were down. "Oh… dammit, Meredith."

Suddenly the tank engine braked as she approached her platform. She stopped so abruptly it knocked both Hayden and Devon into her coal bunker, covering the two in a good dusting of coal. The particles of coal clung to their sweaty skin and created a dark muddy layer on their clothes, hands, and faces. Hayden gathered himself and brushed his coat and face off as best he could before he swung the door open to Meredith's cab and stepped out onto the platform. "Meredith, what the hell was that?"

The little white tank engine grinned awkwardly. "I was just wanting to see how fast I could go… you know… for The Great Railway Show." She glanced at Devon who just stumbled out of her cab only to flop face first onto the platform. "Sorry, Devon…" she glanced to her driver who was tapping his foot impatiently. "Sorry, Hayden."

Gordon and Flying Scotsman were on their platforms watching the silly exchange with bemusement. It was the first time either of them had really seen Meredith's driver and fireman, but when Scotsman got a better look at her driver, his eyes widened. "Hayden? Hayden Jameson?"

"Yeah," Hayden said casually. He hadn't realized it was Scotsman talking to him as he helped Devon back to his feet. The driver noticed Meredith staring at him in bewilderment, however, which made him stop. "What?"

"You two know each other?" Meredith could feel Scotsman watching her, but she did her best to ignore it.

Hayden turned to Flying Scotsman, he could tell the big engine had recognized him by his raised brow and he had raised up a little on his suspension. "Oh, yeah, I used to be his driver. Well… one of them."

"One of them?" Gordon glanced to his brother who actually looked embarrassed.

"Oh yeah," Hayden started. He clapped his hands together to try and rid them of as much dust as possible then he pointed to Scotsman. "LNER has a real issue keeping drivers on for this engine. He doesn't particularly mind that well." Scotsman frowned and pushed more steam from his pistons. He didn't like being talked down on by a human.

Gordon laughed. "Tell me something I don't know."

Meredith giggled which made Scotsman blush angrily. The big engine started up in a huff, leaving Gordon and Meredith in a hot cloud of steam.

Gordon peered over to his partner and they both started laughing, but their tittering was cut short by Sir Topham Hatt who had just arrived at the station with his guards. He looked cross. "Gordon, I need you to head down to the Steamworks at once."

"But I still have several more trains before I'm done." Gordon protested. He didn't want to go to the Steamworks again. Not after spending nearly four miserable months trapped there.

Sir Topham Hatt stared sternly at his express engine. "I've already arranged for Henry to take your coaches for the rest of the day. Now go."

"Yes, sir." Gordon pouted as he was uncoupled from his express. He glanced at Meredith. She was worried, but she kept quiet. They didn't want Sir Topham Hatt to know they were still an item. Gordon laid on his whistle and left the station. He too was worried, but kept as calm as possible. He didn't want to scare Meredith.

As Gordon drove away, Meredith looked to Hayden who was standing beside her on the platform. Devon had already returned to her cab to keep her firebox hot. "I wonder what's happened?"

"I'm not sure." Hayden shrugged then gave Meredith a reassuring pat on her footplate. "He'll be okay though." Meredith forced a half-hearted smile and remained silent as Hayden returned to her cab.

Hello all! Things are spicing up and now humans are mixing themselves up in the mess. Poor Edward, to be publicly outed like that, but it's definitely on par with Thomas' behavior I'd say. Lol.

Pretty Katydid; There's so many angles to this I find myself getting dizzy as I try to figure out how or if I'm going to resolve the mess. I love reading complicated plots, but writing them is a *task*-seriously. I pondered the idea of having Gordon find a way to bust off his new modification himself, but I thought perhaps bringing Sir Topham Hatt into it would make for something more... interesting. I guess. Lol.

Also, I have intentions for Brian and Edward, but whether or not they remain platonic remains to be seen because nothing is sacred. I don't personally feel Brian leans that way, but at the same time I just wonder~. But idk. Don't take my word for it.

I also have this idea that Scotsman does NOT like people. Like straight-up. Even though he's so beloved by them, he carries this air of superiority over them and sees them as insignificant for the most part. I don't know why my mind insists on imagining Flying Scotsman as such a bad engine, but it does- I like him a lot though. I love writing him. Awful characters are just fun. They can create mixed feelings that basic *good* characters simply aren't capable of.

Anyway, I'll finish babbling for now. I have my next chapter (possibly another fic) to ponder over! Thank you for the love and the reviews!

Much love;

Bumble