Chapter One: What Was That Noise?
It was a lovely warm Spring afternoon on the Island of Sodor. Rebecca along with her driver, Eugene, and her fireman, Liam were done taking the express as they decided to take a break in Henry's Forest as not only the forest was rich and green, but it was calm and relaxing that it can make anyone feel alright in a matter of seconds.
As Rebecca puffed inside the forest, she was immediately greeted by two warblers as the two songbirds flew around with grace while they teased each other. Rebecca's eyes glistened as she adored seeing what the forest had in store and just seeing the two birds had already made her day.
While puffing slowly down the track, she saw some beautiful wildflowers being blown gently by the calm breeze as the breeze hit her skin gently. It was so satisfying and as it happened, she spotted some deers prancing around while the rabbits hopped into their burrows. She greeted all the animals as she loved the interactions from the forest creatures.
Once she had arrived at their destination, Eugene popped his head and patted the large yellow tender engine gently, "Alright, this looks like a great place to stop.", he smiled.
Rebecca agreed as she stopped at her tracks. The area they stopped was where the light managed to go through the tree leaves, which blocked the sun. This caused the ground to be surrounded by specks of light as Rebecca gasped in awe, "Wow! It's so beautiful!"
Eugene and Liam chuckled as they knew that their engine always enjoyed seeing new things, and she was a bubbly and curious type. There, the two men hopped off her cab while carrying their lunchboxes. They were both looking forward to having some delicious meal from all the hard work.
Once they found a spot to sit on, the two men adjusted themselves to the fresh green grass and they took a deep breath. Just smelling the aroma of the flowers nearby was lovely as Liam commented, "This is such a fine Spring Day."
"Yes it is.", Eugene replied, "And the good thing is that the area is peaceful and there's no loud noises to hear."
Just watching her driver and fireman interact made Rebecca smile as she giggled, "Today was such a busy day. At least Gordon will be taking the express this afternoon."
Eugene and Liam looked at Rebecca and nodded in agreement, "For once, we can just relax here and have our break as long as we like.", Liam chirped.
With that, Eugene opened his lunchbox and took out his chicken sandwich as he wasted no time on eating it as Liam opened his lunchbox and consumed his blueberry muffin. As Liam ate his lunch, Eugene raised his eyebrow, "A muffin for lunch? Really?", he asked as he rolled his eyes while smiling.
"What? It's so good!", Liam whined as Eugene chuckled.
As the two men talked while eating, Rebecca decided to focus more on the scenery that was in front of her as she saw some songbirds nuzzling each other on the tree branches as the wind blew the flowers gently. Rebecca appreciated nature and it did help that some of her friends also enjoyed the forest, especially Henry as he was the one to save the forest.
While witnessing the beauty of nature, Rebecca sighed happily as she closed her eyes, allowing the breeze to hit her skin with the speck of lights shining on her bright sunny yellow livery. This was peaceful and calming that she wished Gordon was here, but it was a pity that he couldn't as he was too busy. However, that didn't bother her as she focused on relaxing as she smelled the aroma from the wildflowers.
After a few minutes of relaxing in Henry's Forest, Rebecca swore that she heard a faint distress cry nearby. This made her eyes open quickly in shock as she gasped quietly. She was wondering what the noise was coming from, yet she didn't know what it was, "What was that?", she asked herself as her driver and fireman didn't seem to hear the cry.
This got Rebecca puzzled as Eugene and Liam were still enjoying their lunch while she could still hear a faint cry nearby. This got her worried the more she heard it. She needed to know where the noise was coming from, and she needed to know if that noise source was real or it was all in her head.
There, she decided to listen carefully to see if the noise of a cry continued. Sure enough, the cry still kept going but this time, it sounded like it was getting louder and more distressed. This made her mouth agape in horror as she knew that something was terribly wrong and that she needed to investigate it immediately.
With that, she looked at her driver and fireman as tooted her whistle to gain attention as she felt so distraught. This got them spooked as the two looked at Rebecca with confusion, "Rebecca? What's the matter?", Liam asked.
However, when they looked at Rebecca, they both noticed that her pupils went wide in concern as her mouth was still agape. They both knew that something was terribly wrong, "Rebecca? Are you okay?", Eugene asked as he and Liam approached her.
When they asked, Rebecca only answered while still looking ahead, "I-I hear a… cry.", she replied in a worried yet quiet tone.
This got the two men confused until they decided to listen carefully to what Rebecca was hearing in the first place. There, they began to realise what Rebecca had heard. This made their eyes go wide as they looked at each other, "I could hear the cry too.", cried Liam as he, Eugene, and Rebecca looked ahead with their eyes squinted.
There, Rebecca spoke with a worried tone, "I think we should check on where the noise was coming from."
Eugene and Liam looked at Rebecca with surprise as they didn't expect Rebecca to get so worried and she now seemed to be fixated on the cry. Usually Rebecca would make assumptions and look on the bright side as she can, but with this situation, they knew that this was something serious.
With that, the two men wasted no time hopping inside the cab as Eugene petted the yellow engine, "Let's go and find the noise, Rebecca!", he cried.
There, Rebecca didn't have a moment to spare as she needed to find the noise source quickly as she decided to not toot her whistle. With that, she puffed down the track as fast yet cautiously as possible so she could follow the noise.
The further she was away from where she, Eugene, and Liam rested, the louder and distress the cry was. This made Rebecca gasp as he thought to herself, "This cry sounds loud and frightened. Wait… the sound of the cry sounds familiar yet it sounds much louder and more distressed. What could it be, and where is it?"
...
After travelling for a few minutes, Rebecca spotted something very peculiar on the track that was in front of her. This got her gasped in shock as she immediately put her brakes on and thankfully her wheels didn't slip. Once she came to a full stop, she gasped to herself, "A basket of fruits that's been covered by a blue blanket. Who owns it?", she asked herself as she raised her eyebrow with a small frown of confusion.
However, before she could ask herself more questions, she realised that the noise was very loud as she tried to look around. Perhaps someone lost their basket of fruits, but that logic thinking didn't make any sense. Why would anyone leave a basket of fruits and cry for it in the first place?
As she examined her surroundings, she noticed that the blue blanket moved that was coming from the basket. This got Rebecca startled as she reversed back a bit in fright. She didn't expect this to occur, but when she looked at the basket, she realised that the noise was coming from the basket, but the question now was what's inside the basket?
There, she examined the basket cautiously as Eugene and Liam exited from her can and slowly approached towards the basket. Eugene tried to tolerate the noise as it was unbearable to listen as Liam got to the basket first. There, the two men looked at each other before Liam grabbed the blue blanket gently and removed it.
What they saw made them gasp in shock. Inside the basket was a month old baby boy being wrapped in a fine silky blue blanket as he wailed while flapping his arms. His skin was fair as his hair was naturally dark blonde. They both couldn't believe their discovery and if it wasn't for Rebecca hearing that noise, the baby would never have been found.
There, Liam cried, "A baby? What is it doing here all alone?"
With that, he gently scooped the baby up, who was still wailing as he tried to soothe it. When Rebecca saw the tiny infant, she gasped in shock, "A baby inside a fruit basket? What is it doing here? Where are the baby's parents? Is the baby okay? Is it hungry or tired or scared?"
All those thoughts race in Rebecca's mind as she never expected this to occur. As she watched her driver and fireman attempt to calm the scared baby, she looked at the small infant with pity and sadness as she couldn't bear to see the baby all alone. This made her wheeshed her steam sadly as her firebox dimmed.
With those feelings, she wondered why the baby was in the basket as she thought babies usually rest in a pram or in their mother or father's warm arms. This made her wonder more as she needed answers to why the infant was alone in the forest, "Eugene? Why is the baby all alone?", she asked as she sounded like a scared child.
"I honestly don't know.", he replied to the yellow engine.
However, before Eugene could go focusing on soothing the baby, he noticed a small note inside the basket. This sparked his curiosity as he went to collect the note. Once he picked it up, he began to read what it said. When he was done reading, his eyes went wide in disbelief and sadness as he looked at Liam, "Liam! Have a look at this!", he cried as he presented the note to him.
When Liam read the note while still trying to calm the infant down, his mouth went wide as Rebecca noticed their facial expression, "What's wrong? Do you know about the baby's parents?", she asked in a concerned tone.
There, Eugene and Liam looked at each other with sadness as they didn't want to break Rebecca's heart, if engines do have a heart as the answer wasn't really a happy one. There, the two men looked at the crying baby before the two looked at her and Eugene answered as simply as possible, "They don't want him, Rebecca."
When Rebecca received the answer, her eyes went wide as she gasped quietly in shock. She knew what they meant, yet she needed some confirmation from them before she jumped into the wrong conclusion, "You mean… he's… he's… abandoned?", she asked.
The two men looked at each other again as the two nodded, "I'm afraid so, Rebecca.", Liam sighed sadly as he lowered his head down.
This caused Rebecca to look at the wailing baby with pure sadness as tears were produced from her eyes as tears went down her cheeks. This made her firebox dimmed even more as she felt sorry for the baby, "He's... abandoned...", Rebecca gasped to herself as she continued to look at the poor infant as she thought to herself, "I don't know what to think at this point. I thought humans love their children. I've seen many parents give them hugs and kisses, and tell them how much they love them. It doesn't make sense for the baby's parents to leave it in a basket that looks like it's for carrying fruits. He's so small, so alone, and so scared. Who could be so heartless to do such a thing?"
All of those thoughts were too much to handle as she kept fixating on the crying baby. However, as she continued to look at the baby, the baby began to cough from crying so hard until the baby noticed the yellow sad engine. This made the baby stop crying altogether as he looked at her in awe and curiosity.
When Rebecca saw the baby's reaction, this made her confused and surprised as she didn't expect the baby to stop crying, and he stopped crying all because he had spotted her. There, she decided to slowly approach the infant as she looked at the baby in awe and curiosity, "He's so small. So tiny. I didn't realise how small babies are, and he seemed to not be afraid of me, despite the fact that I'm big.", she thought to herself while examining him.
After thirty seconds flew by, the baby unexpectedly began to laugh and coo happily as he tried to reach his tiny arms towards Rebecca. This made her gasp in surprise as her eyes went wide. She didn't expect this to occur as she watched the now happy baby boy. Her driver and her fireman were also surprised about this as Liam commented, "I think he likes you, Rebecca."
"He does indeed.", Eugene agreed.
There, Liam decided to climb up on Rebecca's running plate as he presented the small infant closely to her. When she got a good look on the baby's face, it made her firebox lit as her eyes glistened in awe. She thought he was the sweetest thing she had ever seen. There, the baby still cooed and laughed at Rebecca as she slowly but surely, smiled back as she tried to talk cutely to him.
Both Eugene and Liam were amazed about this as they had never seen this before, and they thought it was such a beautiful interaction. However, the two noticed in particular that Rebecca seemed to be acting maternal towards the small infant as it seemed like she was natural at it somehow.
As Rebecca interacted with the baby, he reached his hands at Rebecca's nose as she gasped in surprise, "Woah! Did he just touch my nose? He seems so happy when I'm here. This is something I didn't expect. This little one is special."
However, before she could continue on her thoughts, she felt a tingle on her nose as she sneezed really hard. This got her flustered as the baby laughed even harder. This caught Rebecca's love and affection as she slowly started to realise something, "This baby… this baby needs me, and he needs a mother, yet… I need him too. It's like somehow I already knew him. This is strange. I needed to raise him yet how could engines do that? Could it work?"
After a few minutes of the interaction, she knew what to do as she looked at her driver and fireman with a small sigh with pleading eyes, "He needs me.", she said in a soft tone, "And I need him too. I feel like he needs a mother, and I need to be his mother."
This made them both gasp in surprise. They didn't expect Rebecca to want to adopt a human baby. They knew that engines can't do things that many humans can, yet there was one thing they discovered that engines have and that was maternal instinct. They both looked at each other as they observed more of the baby's behaviour towards Rebecca as she treated him very well before she looked at them with begging eyes.
They thought to themselves of the idea of Rebecca adopting a baby, yet both of their gut feelings told them that she was meant to have him. There, they both looked at each other with agreement as Eugene explained, "Rebecca, it's very sweet of you to want to raise the child, but it's not that easy."
Liam added, "The baby needs to be fed, given a nice warm cot, and needs a place to live and Tidmouth Sheds is no place for a baby."
This caused Rebecca to give him a small frown as she sighed sadly while looking at the innocent child. The two men looked at each other as they could see the bond between her and the baby. It was strong as Rebecca's maternal instinct had kicked in hard. With that, Eugine sighed before giving the yellow engine a small smile, "But… we can talk to The Fat Controller about this so you can potentially have him."
With that, Rebecca gasped in surprise as she began to build her hopes, "Really? Do you mean it?", she beamed.
"Yes.", Liam nodded, "But we still need to talk to The Fat Controller about this."
This made Rebecca both ecstatic yet upset as she needed to raise the small infant, but she knew that not only it would be a difficult task for her to raise one, but she needed The Fat Controller's consent. With that, she understood as she hoped that she could have him as her own son.
There, her driver and her fireman assured her as much as possible that she might get to raise and adopt the baby. With that, she watched her driver and fireman hop off with the baby and collect the basket as they hopped inside Rebecca's cab.
With that, she knew that the baby was small and fragile as she needed to go slower to take the baby to Knapford Station. There, she didn't dare to toot her whistle to accidentally scare him. There, Eugene patted the engine, "Let's go!", he exclaimed.
There, she wasted no time as she puffed her way to Knapford Station. As she exited from Henry's Forest, she began to pray, "I hope that I can raise him.", she said to herself as she hoped that she could keep the baby.
