Gordon thought back to the first time he laid eyes on Meredith. He told Flying Scotsman that he didn't get a good look at her at first, but that was a lie. He saw her and he took her in. Every little bit. He had managed to keep his composure during their first exchange, but the entire time his boiler was close to bursting. He was terrified. He had never felt that way towards another engine. He didn't even know what to call it at first, but after all the time with her he finally figured out what it was. Love. Gordon knew the moment he saw her smile and heard her voice that she was special. Though he didn't quite anticipate just how Meredith would break him down. It was pure bliss coupled with unimaginable agony.

"And here we have our competitors for this year's Great Race! I swear I've never seen a more impressive lineup than the one we have before us! On track 1 we have…" The announcer's voice faded into the background as Gordon began to stare off onto the track ahead. He could feel Meredith watching him and it took all his strength to not acknowledge her. He glanced over to the track beside him at Flying Scotsman. The smug engine had locked his smoke deflectors into place so he wasn't able to see Gordon's prying eyes. Gordon wondered if his brother was looking at Meredith. He hoped not, but given his younger brother's shameless track record, it wasn't out of the realm of possibility.

Gordon finally allowed himself a moment to peek over at Meredith and she wasn't even paying attention to him. Instead she was focused on Brian beside her. She looked stunned. Her older brother was completely unaware of her staring. His attention was directed somewhere else. Gordon decided to follow Brian's gaze and he realized it landed on his own brother. He furrowed his brow, but before he could ponder any longer the cannon to start the race rang out and all the engines started up with a roar except for Gordon. The big express engine lagged behind yet again, but it didn't take him long to catch up to Flying Scotsman. He passed his brother with ease and continued on, heading directly for Spencer.

Back on Sodor, Donald and Douglas were down at Knapford. They were picking up a goods train meant for Harwick. Donald pulled into the yard first and was shocked to find it in such a mess. "Aye, Duck!" He called as his brother puffed up beside him. "What's goin' on here? The yard's a disaster!"

"Just a little bit of a delay is all." Duck called as he hurried back across the yard with a long line of cars. "But we're catching back up now, I assure you!"

"You look a little boggled, Duck." Douglas said with a concerned tilt of his boiler. "Do ya need some help?"

"No, no," Duck said quickly as he dodged Thomas coming off a siding. "I've got everything under control."

The twins exchanged a concerned glance then Donald spoke up again. "I suppose. So where's our train?"

"I've got it!" Philip exclaimed as he scurried forward pulling a long train of miscellaneous crates and boxes. He had to brake suddenly when Diesel cut in front of him with a cackle. "Hey!" Philip called as the cars bumped him. "I was taking that track."

"Not anymore!" Diesel chortled and he shoved past the twins.

"Ugh," Philip puffed. A couple of the cars had buckled and some yard men had come to attempt to straighten them out again. "Sorry, Donald. Sorry, Douglas. I'll get this squared away in just a moment."

Donald and Douglas couldn't shake the concern on their faces. Duck was usually so good at wrangling the littler engines. They were surprised to see him appearing so out of his element. They both sat quietly as Philip and the yard men managed to get their train back on the rails. Donald took the pole position as usual with Douglas taking up the rear. The twins signaled their departure and Donald yelled out to Duck. "We'll be back to help after this delivery!"

"I don't need help!"

Meredith watched Gordon fly down the track. Her eyes were wide. She had never seen him go that fast before. Brian gasped. "Wow, I knew they were both fast, but I wasn't expecting that."

"I know." Meredith said slowly. She stretched as far forward as she could to see, but they had disappeared around a bend. A moment passed and the awe of Gordon's speed wore off. Her attention returned to Brian who was oblivious to her glaring. "Brian."

"Yeah, Mer?" He said, his attention remained on the tracks ahead.

Meredith paused for a moment. The cheering crowd and booming announcer made it difficult for her to gather her thoughts. She wasn't sure if confronting him there was the best decision, but she wasn't a patient engine. At least not all the time. "Where were you earlier?" She asked again. Her tone serious.

"I told you." Brian had backed up to be able to look his sister in the eye. "I took a moment to breathe outside the yard." He narrowed his eyes. He could tell his sister was suspicious of him. "Why do you keep askin' me? Do you not believe me?"

"I don't think you're telling me the whole truth." Meredith was growing more annoyed. "So I'm going to ask you one more time- where were you?"

Brian furrowed his brow and started to respond when a near earth-shattering boom sounded from the final bend of the race track. Both Brian and Meredith whipped around to find a huge cloud of dust and smoke had rippled up. An engine had derailed, but the massive plume made it difficult to distinguish who. The two tank engines glanced at each other then started forward, the crowd had gone completely silent as they waited for the dust to settle.

Meredith shoved ahead of Brian and found herself buffer to buffer with Gordon as he slid out of the fog. She looked the dusty engine up and down. His buffers were bent and cracked and he was limping on a broken axle. "What happened?"

Gordon let out a hot gust of steam from his pistons. His expression was ominous as he continued forward, pushing Meredith out of his way. "I won."

Meredith watched him inch forward towards the finish line but her attention was abruptly ripped away when the dust had finally cleared. There she saw Flying Scotsman lying unconscious on his side, his boiler caved in. "Oh God…"

James and Edward were over by the vendor tents while their drivers and firemen indulged in the fatty fair foods available to them. They were talking quietly amongst each other when they heard a loud commotion from the track for the Great Race. "What was that?" James peered at Edward curiously.

"I don't know." Edward said. He inched forward a little, but he still couldn't see the track. "It didn't sound good."

The two remained silent until they heard the sound of distant sirens. Their attention turned towards the front of the show yard where a fire truck and a banker engine pulling a breakdown train powered through. They were headed straight for the track for the Great Race. Edward and James looked at each other then to the tent where their drivers and firemen were eating and mingling. James blew his whistle. "Hey! We need to go to the race track!" The drivers and firemen all sighed before they shoved themselves up and rushed back to their engines.

James and Edward rolled up to the track and found Meredith standing with Brian. "What happen- oh shit." James got a sense of dejavu when he saw a mangled Flying Scotsman as he was lifted into the air. He leaned to Meredith and dropped his voice to a whisper. "Gordon?"

"Yep." Meredith said and she gestured towards the tracks closest to the stands. There was Gordon with a crew of engineers as they examined his axles and buffers.

By that point Rebecca had found the group. She gasped. "Oh no! What's happened?"

"Someone has anger issues." James sneered. Edward bumped him. "What? He does."

"Who does?" Rebecca was confused.

"Gordon." Edward said. "This isn't the first time he and Flying Scotsman got into a tiff."

"You're saying Gordon did this?" Rebecca couldn't believe it. She didn't peg Gordon to be the violent sort. She watched as Scotsman was gently lowered onto a flatbed. He had come to somewhat, but his eyes were heavy. "But why?"

All the engines but Rebecca turned to look at Meredith. The little white tank engine felt her face grow hot. She didn't like that they all knew. It made her feel even worse about the situation. But she was shocked Gordon confronted Scotsman so publicly. She saw Spencer stopped on the track whispering to the other big engines, by now the crowds had begun to disperse. People didn't want their children seeing the wreckage. "Spencer!" Meredith called. "Spenc-"

"Okay, all." Meredith was interrupted by Sir Topham Hatt marching towards all of his engines. "Unfortunately we have to leave now. Gordon requires repairs and I feel it's best we get him away from the other engines. He's clearly not well. I'm sorry, Edward. Perhaps next time we will be able to complete all the competitions." Edward simply nodded considering the fat controller didn't know he had offered his position to Meredith.

All the other engines muttered their 'yes sirs'. Meredith looked at Spencer then shook her boiler as she followed her fellow engines out of the yard with Gordon faltering slowly behind them with his eyes locked onto the rails before him.

Meredith kept pace with Gordon the entire way back to Sodor. She didn't say a word to him, but she wanted him to know she was there. She didn't know it, but Gordon was grateful she lagged behind with him. He was firm in his decision to break things off with her, but it comforted him to know she wasn't spiteful. Maybe one day they could be together once more.

It was nearly dark by the time the engines arrived back at Vicarstown. The station was empty other than a few goods trains awaiting their engines. There was a solemn feel in the air amongst the group. Meredith stayed with Gordon until the turn off for the Steamworks. She gave his boiler a gentle nudge with her smoke box then watched as he disappeared down the branch line without a word to her. Meredith sat silently in the dark -alone. She finally allowed herself to break down sobbing and further in the distance Gordon had done the same.

It was early morning. The sun had begun to crest the horizon when Donald, Douglas, and Duck finished cleaning up Knapford yard. Sir Topham Hatt was less than pleased to see the goods yard in such a state, but he was understanding and could see the engines were working hard to make up for the mess.

Thomas and Percy puffed into the yard and found the three coastline engines sitting together. They looked completely exhausted. "Did you three work all night?" Thomas was baffled.

"Do ya need to get your eyes checked, Thomas?" Donald scoffed. "The yard was completely fucked."

Duck nodded in agreement. "I don't normally agree with such crass language, but Donald is right. It was… fucked."

"And thanks for helpin'." Douglas huffed in frustration as he shunted one more empty car into place. "Considering most of this cluster was your fault!"

"My fault?" Thomas stuck his nose up. "How was this my fault?"

"You silly engines cannae stay focused for more than two seconds." Donald scolded with a puff of steam. "You're too busy being cheeky. I don't understand how Sir Topham Hatt can even trust you with your own branch line."

"I'll have you know I'm a very useful engine and I'm very good at my job." Thomas was fuming.

"Then what was all this about?" Douglas said. Duck was keeping quiet. He normally would have intervened, but he figured he'd let the twins have a go at the little tank engine.

Thomas chuffed forward, his cheeks were bright from both anger and embarrassment. "We were just enjoying a relaxed day is all. We were cleaning it up as we went."

"Clearly." Donald sneered with a cut of his eyes.

"Ugh, you two think you're so special, huh?" Percy chimed in and was just as annoyed as Thomas. "You think you can gang up on us just because you're tender engines."

"This has nothin' to do with size ya can." Douglas said. "This is about doing your job as you're meant to do."

"What did you call me?" Percy glowered and inched closer to the twins.

"I think you heard him." Donald whispered.

By now Duck was uneasy and put himself between the four engines. "Okay, okay, that's enough of that." The great western engine said. He didn't want to see a fight break out. "Donald, Douglas; thank you for your help. You're free to go about your day's duties." The twins regarded Duck's stern glare seriously and puffed away grumbling to each other. Then Duck returned his attention to Thomas and Percy who were both pouting. At this point, the sun had come up and Rebecca was waiting patiently on the express platform for her coaches. "As for you two, I expect you will carry on with your work properly from now on?"

Percy and Thomas exchanged a glance. "Yes, Duck." Thomas said finally.

"Good," Duck whistled to signal his departure. "Better get those coaches to Rebecca. We don't want the express being late." The two tank engines took off into the yard and then Edward arrived. He was looking a little tired. "Have a late night, did we, Edward?" Duck smirked knowingly.

"Eh heh," Edward blushed. "I… couldn't sleep."

"I can see that." Duck chuckled. "I imagine it was hard to sleep with James in your berth, hm?"

Edward rushed backwards to get in front of Duck. "How do you know about that?"

Duck laughed again. "Oh, everyone knows, Edward. But think nothin' of it. No harm done."

"O- okay." Edward stuttered and let Duck pass. The little engine bit his lip. He was worried that if the engines knew about his affairs with James that Sir Topham Hatt wouldn't remain ignorant to it for much longer either. He glanced over to Thomas who had just been coupled up to Annie and Clarabel. The tank engine noticed Edward's staring but didn't acknowledge it as he puffed onward towards his branch line.

I've really not got much to say about this chapter. I'm planning for this fic to possibly go to 30 chapters, but I'm a finicky individual at best and it could end sooner or later than that. Lol. I hope ya'll are still enjoying this roller coaster. I think I'm having too much fun with the mess and now I have all these loose ends to tend to. I really love that for me. Lol. Also, to address the situation with Edward and James, certain trusted engines knew about them, which is why Edward was shocked that Duck knew. Anyway, I'll catch ya'll in the next chapter! Thank you for the continued support and love.

Much love;

Bumble