A/N: A few things before reading: First, THIS IS THE LONGEST CHAPTER! The text in bold indicates a flashback. The bold in italics indicates narration within the flashback. Also, disclaimer: I do not own the scene within the flashback. I am just quoting some parts as a reference to my own story. The scene belongs to Disney and Pixar in the movie Cars 3 (Link: watch?v=xUY-E1snVkc). Thank you.

Cold Confessions (Part 2)

Cruz

Cruz drove to her old desk at the Rusteze Racing Center. She was shocked to see that everything stayed exactly how she left it after she quit at the Florida 500.

Wow! I can't believe I didn't clean out this office once I quit! I'm surprised that everything is still here.

She marveled at the framed pictures of her family on the desk, the cluttered paperwork that covered the table top, the mini #95 posters that plastered the walls, and the speakers she used to play her favorite songs while she worked.

"Well, time to get packing!" she said as she started to fill some boxes with her things.

While she was packing away all her precious mementos, she heard some voices down the hall.

I didn't know anyone was here.

The voices got louder as two cars passed by. She drove over to the door and opened it halfway. She peeked through the half open crack in the door to see who was talking.

"You sure you want to do this? It would crush her," one of the voices said.

"No Tex, I'm positive," the other voice replied.

Cruz recognized that voice anywhere: "Mr. McQueen?" she said as she opened the door more.

Sure enough, it was Lightning and Tex talking at the end of the hallway.

"I know she loves racing, but I have to think about my career as a crew chief. She's just not good enough for me anymore," Lightning said.

What did he just say?! Not good enough anymore? I hope he's not talking about me.

"I understand Lightning. We'll just have to break the news to her gently."

"Yeah, she's not going to take it well but it's for the future of Dinoco."

What are they talking about?

"Just say the word and Cruz will be gone," Tex said with a smile.

WHAT?!

"Oh yes Tex. I made my decision: I want to train another rookie. Cruz is no longer my racer," Lightning said.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Cruz screamed as she sped out of her office.

She jumped up from her bed, breathing heavily. She looked around to find herself in her Cozy Cone with the time reading: 2:50am.

"Okay, okay. It was just a dream Cruz, it was just a dream," she said to herself as she opened her diary.

Dear diary,

I just had the craziest dream. Mr. McQueen was going to replace me with another racer! I honestly don't know where all that came from, but I think I may have an idea. I still can't get over the argument we had yesterday. All he wants is to be a great mentor, but I just won't tell him how I feel about our mentor/mentee relationship. I'm just... scared.

Cruz closed her diary and pushed it to the side. Sally's words flooded her memory:

"Lightning is never going to abandon you. And I'm sure if you told him about how you feel, he would tell you the same thing. He may be a little rough around the edges so to speak, but under all that bravado, he is nothing but a tender little teddy bear."

Cruz chuckled at the thought of Lightning having a soft side. Maybe Sally was right. Maybe she should just get over her fear and tell McQueen how she feels about him.

"Alright Cruz, it's now or never," she said to herself as she exited her cone.

It was a peaceful night in Radiator Springs. The starry night sky covered the town like a blanket, while crickets chirped and the cool night breeze whistled in the air. Cruz drove slowly to Lightning and Sally's cone. The garage door in front of the cone was locked. She could hear the noisy snores that erupted from the cone. Her heart was pounding so hard that she felt her oil pressure rise. She lifted her front tire to knock on the door, but she paused midway.

Come on Cruz. Just knock.

She went to knock on the door a second time, but again her tire froze in hesitation.

Grrr! Why can't I just knock? Maybe I should wait till the morning to do this. Well, I can't go back to sleep, not after that nightmare I just had. Awww, what do I even say to him? What if he spazzes out at me for waking him up at nearly 3 o' clock in the morning? Look I need to get this over with. Come on Cruz you can do this. Here goes nothing.

She swallowed that lump in her engine and finally knocked loudly on the door.

Lightning

Sally and Lightning were sleeping side by side in the cone that they now shared as a couple. They each snuggled against each other for warmth on this breezy night. They filled the room with loud snores that could be heard from outside the cone. Even if they both swore that they never snore, the whole town would say otherwise. They were resting peacefully near each other until a loud knock on the door woke Sally up (she was always a light sleeper, while Lightning slept like a rock). She groaned a bit and was about to go back to sleep when she heard the same loud knock again.

"Stickers. Stickers!" she whispered as she tried to wake Lightning up. It was no use. He was out cold. The knock on the door came again as she nudged his side.

"Stickers wake up," she whispered again as she nudged him harder.

"Hmm?" he said as he struggled to fully open his eyes.

"You hear that?" Sally whispered, referring to another knock at the door.

"Hear what?" Lightning groaned as he tried to go back to sleep.

The knock came again.

"That! There's someone knocking at our door," she said as she attempted to keep Lightning from falling asleep again.

"At this hour?" he groaned.

"Apparently so. Just go and check it out," she said as she tried to push him out of the bed.

"Sal I'm tired," he groaned as he closed his eyes again.

Another knock came at the door.

"Well the person outside isn't as tired as you are. Just get up and see who it is."

"Alright, alright I'm going," Lightning said as he drove to the door and pushed the button to make it open.

You can't be serious! This better be something important.

Cruz

She knocked as many times as she could, but there was no response.

Well, I tried. I guess I'll have to wait till morning.

Just as she turned to leave, she heard the door open and immediately turned around. Her engine began to rumble and her heart began to race. She saw an exhausted Lightning emerge from behind the door. His eyes were half open and he looked extremely drowsy.

Oh man, what did I do? I'd better make a run for it before he sees me.

"Cruz?!" Lightning exclaimed as his eyes shot open.

Too late!

"Uh, hey Mr. McQueen! Isn't it a beautiful night tonight? I mean, just look at the stars!" she said with a nervous laugh.

Lightning's face remained as straight as an arrow. He obviously wasn't into the small talk at this moment. All he did was blink extra slowly without uttering a sound.

"Cruz, do you have any idea of what time it is?" Lightning said in an annoyed tone.

"Um, a little after 3am?" Cruz said with another nervous chuckle.

"What's going on? Why are you up so late?" he asked, with a hint of concern in his sluggish voice.

"Well um, I needed to talk to you. It's very important and it couldn't wait until morning," Cruz said in a quivering tone as she dragged her front wheel into the ground.

Lightning

Although he was extremely tired, he couldn't help but notice the wave of fear that spread across Cruz's face. Something was definitely wrong. After living in Radiator Springs for the past couple of months, Cruz never woke up in the middle of the night like this, especially not to wake anyone up. This was the very first time she ever woke anyone up so late at night. Lightning knew that this had to be a serious issue since this moment was so rare. He gazed at her face one more time. It's as if he could see right through her. She looked so terrified, like she's seen a ghost or faced her worst fears. He could see her constantly dragging her front tire in the ground as her body trembled a bit. There was something unusual about her behavior. He had no choice. He needed to address this once and for all.

"Come on Cruz," he said as he came out of the cone and motioned for Cruz to follow him.

He led her to the main desk of the Cozy Cone Motel (the place where Sally does most of her work). He backed up near the desk to face Cruz. They were both turned at a horizontal angle away from the desk, facing each other.

"Alright. What's up?" Lightning asked as he looked into Cruz's nervous eyes.

Cruz

She couldn't believe that this was happening. She felt so many different emotions at once. They were all spiraling in her soul. She looked up at Lightning's blue eyes, which were full of concern and wide open. Cruz knew now that he was fully awake, ready to listen to what she had to say.

"I um, want to first apologize for waking you up so late. I mean this is important and all, but I didn't want to pull you out of bed-"

"Don't worry about that. Right now I want to know what's going on with you. Are you okay?" Lightning said, interrupting her apology.

Cruz looked away from Lightning. She fought back the tears that were itching to come out. No more crying Cruz. It's time to be a big girl now.

"No Mr. McQueen, I'm not okay," she said with a shaky sigh.

"What happened?" Lightning asked in a gentle tone.

She took a deep breath. How can I even say this?

"I don't deserve you Mr. McQueen," she said, blinking back tears.

"What do you mean?" he asked in confusion.

"Remember the day when you first came to the Rusteze Racing Center?" she asked with a smile.

"Cruz-"

"This is leading somewhere I promise! Anyway, do you remember?"

"Yes I remember. How could I forget?" Lightning said, being completely oblivious to where this was actually going.

"Well a couple of days before you arrived, Mr. Sterling told me that you were coming and that I had to train you. I was completely ecstatic when I heard the news..."

Cruz was in the Rusteze Racing Center helping Kurt with the bugs again.

"One more time Kurt, here come the bugs!" she yelled as she pressed the button.

Kurt closed his eyes and his mouth as the small bugs flew onto his face.

"Did I do it right Ms. Cruz?" he asked as he tried to open his eyes.

"Um well, the idea is to keep your eyes open so you can see the track. Let's try again." she said as she attempted to press the button for the second time.

"Cruz!" Sterling shouted from the balcony above.

"Yes Mr. Sterling?" Cruz answered.

"I need to see you in my office now," he said as he drove away.

What could he want to see me about?

I had no idea what this meeting was about, but I met Mr. Sterling in his office like he asked.

Cruz entered the office and found Sterling behind his desk with a big smile on his face.

"Come in Cruz. I have some exciting news for you."

"What is it Mr. Sterling?" Cruz asked as she made her way over to his desk.

"I just got a call from Rusty and Dusty Rusteze and they told me, get ready for it: Lightning McQueen is coming to the Rusteze Racing Center!" he exclaimed.

Cruz stood there with her mouth wide open. She completely froze as soon as she heard the news.

"Excuse me Mr. Sterling," she said as she left the room.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Cruz squealed as Sterling shook his body from inside the office.

She came back into the room breathing heavily and smiling hard.

"Sorry about that," she said as she blushed.

"No worries. I was worse than that when I heard the news," Sterling said with a laugh.

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe this is happening!" Cruz exclaimed as another big smile spread across her face.

"Me neither. Now I have an assignment for you. Lightning is coming here to train for the Florida 500. You know that last season ended with his devastating crash."

"Yeah that was brutal," Cruz said as she cringed. She was never the same after seeing her childhood hero smash into a wall and wreck on the track. Remembering that incident made her oil run cold.

"Yes it was. He wants to get back into the game so you know that he'll need a trainer."

"YOU WANT ME TO TRAIN THE LIGHTNING MCQUEEN?!" Cruz screamed.

"Yes ma'am. You will train him until he leaves for Florida. Can you handle that?" Sterling asked in a serious tone.

"Of course I can! You can count on me Mr. Sterling, I won't let you down!" Cruz said with a grin.

"Well then, I suggest you start planning your exercise routines or whatever you need to prepare in order to help Lightning. Remember, McQueen is not a rookie like the ones that you work with on a daily basis. He is a veteran racer with seven Piston Cups under his hood. He has a lot of experience so you have to dig deep in order to find a routine that works for him."

"You got it Mr. Sterling. I have everything under control."

"Alright get to it then."

"Yes sir!" Cruz said as she left the office.

I was excited and terrified at the same time. I told Mr. Sterling that I had everything under control but in reality, I didn't know what the heck I was doing. I struggled to find routines that were fit for a Piston Cup Champion. Then it finally hit me:

"That's it! Mr. Sterling said that Mr. McQueen was a veteran racer, that means he's old! Of course! I can use the "old man training style." Since he already knows so much about racing, he could do all the easy stuff. If Mr. McQueen works his way through the easy training style (which I know he will), I could then show him how to use the new simulator. Once he masters the simulator and his training, Mr. Sterling wouldn't suspect that I didn't know how to train Mr. McQueen in the first place! Oh Cruz, you are a genius!" she said to herself as she began to map out her exercise plan.

Lightning

"What?!" Lightning said as he interrupted Cruz's story.

"What's the matter?"

"You were going to put me through an "old man training style" just so you could prove that you are a great trainer, even though you had no idea what you were doing in the first place?!" Lightning asked in an aggravated tone.

"Well it doesn't sound that great once you say it like that," Cruz whined.

"That's because it's a terrible idea. That's cheating. Why didn't you just put me on the simulator as soon as I got there?"

"Well we both know how that turned out after you skipped the process of my routine to try the simulator by yourself," Cruz said with a cunning smile.

Lightning gave her a nasty glare. Is this girl for real?

"What? You're the one who broke the thing!"

"I get it Cruz. You can continue," Lightning said as he rolled his eyes.

Cruz

"Thank you. As I was saying..."

I was finally finished with my routine. I was so pumped about meeting you that I almost forgot something:

"What am I going to say to Mr. McQueen when I meet him?!" Cruz exclaimed as she drove around frantically in her office.

She got a cardboard cut out of Lightning and put it to stand in her office. She drove back and forth in front of the cut out and began to practice some greetings:

"Good afternoon Mr. McQueen!" Nah, too formal.

"Hey what's up Lightning? How ya' feelin' dude?" Eww no! WAY too casual. Besides, I can't call him by his first name, that's not professional.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Definitely can't do that.

Come on Cruz think! You have to impress him. You can't be fangirling like this! I got it! Use reverse psychology on him. Make him angry enough so you can show him your positive training techniques. What can I do to make him mad? Oh yeah, just tell him how old he is! I know exactly what to say.

The day finally came when Mr. Sterling announced that you were here. Everyone was excited, but no one was as excited as me! I decided to use the simulator so that you could see me on it when you came in. I was determined to impress you. After I got off of the simulator, I saw you watching me train the other rookies. I made sure that you heard me give them encouragement and motivation. You should've seen me blush after you told Mr. Sterling that you liked my attitude. Then the moment I've been waiting for finally came:

"Hey Cruz!" Sterling called as he, Lightning, Luigi, and Guido made their way over to her.

OH MY GOSH! HE'S HERE! LIGHTNING MCQUEEN IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! Stay calm Cruz, stay calm!

"Oh hey Mr. Sterling!" Cruz answered with a smile.

"I'd like to introduce you to Lightning McQueen," he said as Lightning drove forward.

"I hear you're the maestro!" Lightning said with a chuckle.

AAAAAHHHH! He just called me a maestro! He's impressed already! Alright Cruz, time to show him what you rehearsed.

"Mr. Sterling did you say Lightning McQueen was here because, I don't see him anywhere," she said.

Lightning's face dropped. He couldn't believe what he just heard.

Look at his face! I hope I didn't offend him too much. That means the reverse psychology is working!

"Um, he's right here. Do you not see him?" Luigi asked, as if he was speaking Lightning's own thoughts.

"Nope still don't see him," Cruz said. Oh, I've got him now!

"HE'S RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU! IT'S LIGHTNING MCQUEEN!" Luigi yelled.

Now it's time to pull out the big guns!

"He's obviously an impostor. He looks old and broken down-"

"Hey!" Lightning interjected.

"With flabby tires!"

"I do not!" Lightning protested.

Here we go: "USE THAT!" Cruz yelled, causing Lightning to jump back.

"Oh I see, I can use that energy for motivation right? GRRRRRAAAHHH!" Lightning said with a growl.

"It's all about motivation Mr. McQueen! You can use anything negative as fuel to push through to the positive!" Oh yeah baby, that's good!

"I've been pretty positive ever since I was a rookie," Lightning said with a smug grin.

Alright Cruz, maybe you can fangirl for a minute: "I am SO EXCITED to train you! I grew up watching you on TV!" Cruz said with a huge smile.

"Oh, is that right?" Lightning said, feeling flattered.

"These young guys are great and all, but I like a challenge!"

"Not that much older but-" Lightning said with a nervous laugh.

"In fact, I call you my "Senior Project!"

BACK TO THE PRESENT...

"And you know that the rest was history! I told you all of this because meeting you, Mr. McQueen, was like a dream come true for me. In all my life, I would've never imagined that I would get to meet you face to face. I mean I've always had fantasies (don't judge) of me getting to meet you at one of your races, but getting to train you? That's something I never dreamed of doing! At first I thought you were going to be this cocky veteran racer who knew everything about racing and didn't need my help. It felt that way in the beginning, but once I got to share my hopes and shattered dreams with you, I realized that I read you wrong the whole time. You even used your last chance at winning the Florida 500 to make my dream of becoming a racer a reality. No one has ever done something like that for me in all my life!"

In fact, no one has ever cared for me like that in my entire life.

"It was no problem Cruz. I wanted you to race for me because I knew that you could do it," Lightning said with a smile.

"Yeah but what do you think of me now Mr. McQueen? I totally blew it! Now you have to put your job on the line just because I had a freak attack a few days ago!" Cruz said as she banged her tire against the desk.

"Cruz, don't do this to yourself. It wasn't your fault."

"Would you stop saying that?!"

"Cruz where is all this coming from?"

She just couldn't hold it back anymore. All the tears came bursting from her eyes and her lips quivered hard.

"I CAN'T AFFORD TO LOSE YOU! There, I said it!" Cruz yelled.

Lightning

He was crushed by that statement. It hurt him deeply to see Cruz in such pain. He didn't know exactly why she was feeling this way, but all he wanted to do was make every ounce of that pain disappear.

"Cruz please, just tell me what's wrong. Why do you think that you're going to lose me?" Lightning said as he wiped her tears with his front tire.

"I never really had someone who cared about me like this. I mean, my family was there but they always shoved my dreams into a corner. I never told you this, but you gave me hope. Every day I would watch your races on TV and be inspired to hold on to my dreams. Watching your races kept my hope alive. You didn't realize it, but while you were winning all those Piston Cups, you were shaping the confidence of a little girl in Texas who wanted to be just like you. It felt good to finally have someone who believed in me, I just don't think I could handle losing that."

Her words warmed his heart. He never knew how much of an impact he had on Cruz's life. When he first met her, he thought that she was just another fan who treated him like he was a brittle fossil. He knew that she wanted to become a racer because of him, but he didn't realize that he had given her some hope to hold onto.

"Cruz you are not going to lose me. Look, if this is about the argument we had-"

"No. I had a nightmare," Cruz interjected.

"What?"

"I had a nightmare. I overheard you talking to Tex about replacing me with another rookie. You didn't want anything to do with me anymore so you fired me as a racer," Cruz said as she looked away from Lightning.

Wow. That explains a lot.

"Look Cruz I'm sorry that you had that nightmare, but you've got it all wrong. If anything, you are the one who can fire me!" he said with a small grin.

"Seriously?" Cruz said as she looked at him in shock.

"Yes. I fired three crew chiefs in my rookie season."

"Mr. McQueen!"

"Yeah I know, I was young and stupid back then but the point is, I'm not going anywhere unless you decide to get rid of me."

"Oh wow. I didn't know that," Cruz said as she blushed with embarrassment.

"You're stuck with me Cruz, whether you like it or not. And don't worry about trying to prove your worth to me. I love you as if you were my own daughter, scratch that, you ARE a daughter to me Cruz and nothing you can say or do will ever change that. I couldn't be more proud of you. This accident was a minor set back. I know that when you recover, you would be unstoppable on that track!"

Cruz

Her heart was doing somersaults. Her bright, beautiful smile was returning to her face.

"Awww Mr. McQueen! I haven't been this happy since the last couple of days!" she said with a huge grin.

Lightning gave her a warm smile. "Yeah, it's good to have my girl back!" he said.

Cruz drove closer to Lightning and wrapped her tires around the side of his face.

"I love you dad!" she said as she hugged him tightly.

His eyes widened as she pulled back from him.

"You realize what you just said right?" he asked.

"Yup! I sure do!" Cruz said as she drove back to her cone.

Lightning chuckled to himself and followed after her.