A/N: Hello beautiful people! I thank you so much for your patience! This chapter was way overdue and I apologize for that (school kept me very busy, I am in college after all). To make up for it, here's a nice, long chapter with plenty of emotional fluff! Just to recap a bit, Lightning was training Cruz for the new racing season (see chapter 9) and now she's finally ready to race! Just as a reminder, the italics are the thoughts of the characters. Hope you all enjoy!

Like Father, Like Daughter

Cruz

The day finally arrived. It was still dark outside, but all the Radiator Springs townies were wide awake. They were all getting ready for the big send-off: Cruz was officially getting back to racing. Everyone was gathering at Flo's V8 Cafe while Mack attached himself to Cruz's trailer. Sally and Flo were in the kitchen cooking up a big breakfast for everyone. Luigi and Guido rushed in and out of the tire shop, packing tires into the trailer. Mater offered to help the ladies in the kitchen (he was mostly there to be the taste tester). Lightning and Cruz were in Ramone's paint shop getting touch ups on their paint jobs.

"Hoo wee! You look amazing Cruz," Ramone said as he unveiled Cruz's updated Dinoco paint job.

"I love it Ramone! You are a true artist," Cruz said as she marveled at herself in the mirror.

"Ah, it's nothing really," Ramone said as he blushed.

Lightning emerged from the other painting booth, revving his engine. He still had his blue Fabulous Lightning McQueen paint job, but he added a few Dinoco decals to his sides.

"Alright Mr. McQueen! Looking mighty fabulous there!" Cruz said with a big smile.

"Thanks Cruz. You don't look too bad yourself!" he said as they both stood side by side in front of the mirror.

All of the townies were gushing over Lightning and Cruz as they made their way to Flo's. Everyone enjoyed the delicious breakfast that Sally and Flo made as they were laughing and having a great time. Cruz smiled as she saw how happy everyone was.

This season is going to be great! I can feel it.

The loud ringing of the phone near the front of the cafe broke her concentration.

"I'll get it!" Cruz said as she sped over to the phone.

Tex appeared on the small screen within the phone.

"Hi Tex!" Cruz said with a bright smile.

"Hello Cruz! It's great to see ya' dear. How ya' feelin'?" he asked.

"I'm doing well. Just can't wait to get back on that track," she said with a gleam in her eye.

"That's good to hear. I'll be rooting for ya' sweetheart," Tex said with a wink.

"Hey Tex!" Lightning said as he made his way over to Cruz.

"Hey Lightning! Ready to get back on that crew chief podium?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," Lightning said with a smile.

"Alright then, I'll see you two in Los Angeles in a few hours. Hope you guys drive safe and make it there on time."

"You got it Tex. We'll be there," Lightning said.

"Good luck Cruz!" Tex said with a smile.

"Thanks Tex!" Cruz said as she hung up the phone.

She turned to face Lightning, giving him a nervous smile.

"You ready to go?" Lightning asked as he made his way over to Mack.

Cruz nodded as she followed behind. Luigi and Guido were already in the trailer with the tires neatly packed away in the back. Lightning pulled over to the side and let Cruz go up the ramp first.

"Good luck sugar!" Flo said with a smile.

"Keep your head up high soldier!" Sarge commanded.

"You can do it Cruz!" Mater yelled as he jumped around with excitement.

"Take it easy out there," Sheriff said.

"What? She's going off to college too?" Lizzy said with a confused look on her face.

Sally drove closer to the ramp. "You are going to do great hun. Just relax and listen to Stickers," she said with a soft chuckle.

Cruz gave her a warm smile. "Thank you Ms. Sally."

"No problem sweetie. Keep an eye on Stickers for me until we meet you guys in LA. Make sure he behaves himself," Sally said, giving Lightning a stern look.

"Don't I always?" Lightning asked with a smug grin.

Sally rolled her eyes and gave him a kiss on his fender.

"I love you Sal," Lightning said as he returned the kiss.

"I love you too," Sally said as she snuggled next to Lightning.

"Um, can you two love birds hurry this along? We need to get moving," Cruz said as she grimaced at the sight of their public affection.

Lightning laughed. "See you guys there," he said as he got into the trailer with Cruz.

The trailer door closed behind him as Mack pulled off from Radiator Springs.

"California here we come!" Mack said as he drove off.

The drive was long and quiet. They made a few stops along the way to stretch their wheels and replenish their gas tanks. After a few hours, they finally made it to the Los Angeles International Speedway. Cruz stared out the window as they were approaching the track.

Lightning

He could tell that Cruz was nervous. She didn't speak much for most of the ride. He watched as she stared at the window with a disoriented gaze. He could hear her engine rattling and he could see the slight tapping of her tire against the window pane.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Lightning asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"Huh? Oh, I'm feeling nervous, anxious, and excited all at once," Cruz said as she bit her lip.

"You'll be fine. Once you get back into the swing of things, all that nervousness will go away," he said with a comforting smile. "Just remember, I'm here to guide you. If you listen to me, you'll do great."

"Yes sir," Cruz said with a smile.

Mack dropped off the trailer to the appropriate #51 parking spot. A crowd of paparazzi was surrounding the trailer, with cameras flashing rapidly. Cruz took a deep breath.

"Well this is it," she said as she looked at all of the reporters waiting outside.

"Listen, I need you to focus. Don't worry about the press and don't worry about Storm. Just worry about yourself," Lightning said.

Cruz gave him a small nod. Luigi and Guido were already unloading the tires. The rest of the team made it just before them and were waiting for Cruz at the Dinoco pit area. Sally was there too, eagerly waiting to cheer Cruz on. Mater had a massive, blue dinosaur hat on with the number 51 plastered over the front in yellow. He knocked over some tires as he drove to the front to get a better view.

"I'm going to give you a few minutes to get yourself together. I'll be waiting for you outside with the others," Lightning said as he pressed the button to open the trailer door. He fought off the swarm of paparazzi outside.

"She's not taking any questions right now. Please save them until the end of the race," Lightning said in a stern tone as he attempted to get the large crowd to leave.

Cruz

She could hear her mentor clearing the crowd outside. Cruz smiled to herself, thinking about how lucky she was to have Lightning in her corner. She took a deep breath and looked at all the trophies on the shelf.

Wow. I can't believe that I won all of those! Mr. McQueen is right. I need to calm down and focus on myself. You can do this Cruz.

She closed her eyes and took another deep breath. "I am a fluffy cloud and a beautiful, bright banana babe," she smiled as she said her mantra to herself.

I can do this. Come on Cruz, just get out there and win this race!

"Hey Cruz, are you ready?" Mack called from outside the trailer.

"Yup! I'm ready," Cruz said as she pushed the button to open the trailer door.

She emerged from the dark trailer like a champion. She had a confident smile on her face and a twinkle in her brown eyes. She beamed with excitement as she made her way over to her pit area.

This is it Cruz! Don't let anything ruin your focus.

"Oh my goodness! Is that costume girl?" a familiar voice said in the distance.

Cruz knew that voice all too well. She rolled her eyes as she groaned in annoyance.

Oh great. Here we go.

"Hi Jackson," Cruz said through the grit of her teeth as she turned to face him.

Sure enough, Jackson was right in front of Cruz with a smug grin on his face.

"Long time, no see! I was starting to think that you were never going to come back. Don't worry, I've been keeping your trophies warm for you," he said with a condescending laugh.

"What do you want Jackson?" Cruz asked with a huff.

"I just wanted to say welcome back and I hope you stay safe out there. We wouldn't want another accident like last time right?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Cruz said as she revved her engine in anger.

"Calm down costume girl. I just wanted to warn you: if you stay out of my way, then I'll stay out of yours. Nobody will get hurt. Got it?"

"Excuse me?"

"Good! Well, I'll see you out there!" Jackson said as he sped away from Cruz.

Cruz's moment of confidence slipped away from her faster than Jackson's overpowering exit. It seemed like he took her confidence with him in that split second. She felt the brush of cold air as he whipped past her. All she could do was sigh as she drove over to her pit area. Everyone greeted her with a warm and cheerful welcome. Lightning also saw Cruz approaching and drove up to meet her.

"You okay?" he asked as he noticed Cruz's defeated appearance.

"I-"

Before she had time to answer, Jackson drove up to the both of them with a smug grin on his face.

"Good morning champ! You're looking fabulous today," he said with a cunning smile.

"Um, thank you," Lightning said with an awkward smile.

"Well, see you on the track costume girl!" Jackson said as he drove off.

Cruz let out an aggravated sigh. I really can't stand that dude! UGH!

"Did he say anything to you?" Lightning asked, seeing the frustration all over her face.

Cruz didn't want to relive the moment. It was bad enough that Jackson ruined her mood, she didn't want Lightning to get upset too.

"It doesn't matter," she said with a sigh.

Lightning cocked a brow. "What did he say?" he asked.

Cruz just sighed. She knew that he wasn't going to let up. "He just told me to stay out of his way and that no one would get hurt if I did."

"So, he threatened you?" Lightning asked as his eyes widened.

"Mr. McQueen it's okay. You don't need to make a big deal out of nothing. I need to focus on myself remember?"

"Yeah you're right. Don't worry about him. I'll keep an eye on him for you. Just stay focused," Lightning said as he made his way to his crew chief podium.

All the racers started to get into their poll positions on the track. Since Cruz wasn't able to do her practice laps (due to her recovery from her anxiety attacks), she started the race at the back of the pack. Jackson, of course was in the top position. Cruz looked ahead at all of the cars in front of her. She was taking deep breaths as the race was mere seconds away from starting.

"Hey, take it easy. You'll be fine. Remember, stay focused," Lightning's voice filled Cruz's mind as she heard him through the microphone.

Cruz smiled as she felt her confidence returning.

"Boogity, boogity, boogity! Let's go racing!" Darrell Cartrip yelled as the Piston Cup pittie waved the green flag in the air.

Cruz mustered up all her strength and instantly passed several cars within the first few minutes. Each lap went by quickly. Cruz was inching herself between each car, heeding the instructions that Lightning was giving her. The sun was setting as the race was heading into the final 10 laps. Cruz made her way to the pits while Guido replaced her tires.

"You're doing great! This is it, 10 more laps to go. Pace yourself, chase Storm down, and bring home that Piston Cup," Lightning said with a smile as Cruz pulled off from the pits.

She was getting closer to Jackson. Every lap brought her to a higher rank on the leaderboard. It was the final lap and Cruz was right on Jackson's tail. Danny was coming up behind her, placing Cruz in between him and Jackson. All three of them were approaching the finish line. Instead of staying in a line, both Jackson and Danny moved right next to Cruz. They were on each side of her as they all fought bumper to bumper, ready to cross the finish line. Cruz was in the middle, but she saw a small opening near the wall around Jackson's side.

If I go near the wall and manuver around these guys, I'll be sure to win this race!

Before Cruz could make her move, Lightning quickly saw the opening as well.

"Cruz, I know what you're thinking. It's a bad idea. Danny is going to try and move to the middle. If you stay on the inside of the track you'll be able to pass both of them at the same-"

Before Lightning could finish his statement, Cruz moved over to the wall and tried to squeeze herself through the tiny opening. She hit the wall on her way through, causing her to lose her balance and veer right into Jackson. Jackson moved over to avoid getting hit while Danny moved away from Jackson to avoid getting knocked off the track.

Lightning

Lightning's engine raced as he saw Cruz hit the wall. He wanted to come down from the podium and get her off the track as quickly as possible. He saw her rear end hit the wall while the front half of her body swerved into Storm's direction.

"I don't believe what I'm seeing Bob! Cruz Ramirez is loose!" Darrell said, noticing Cruz swerving wildly on the track.

"So are Danny and Storm!" Bob said as he saw all three cars veering out of control. They created a large cloud of smoke around them.

Lightning started to panic. His engine was racing and his oil pressure was through the roof.

"Cruz! Are you okay?! Can you hear me?!"

He kept yelling into his head set, but Cruz didn't give him an answer. Sally, Mater, and the rest of the team looked on with concern. They've never seen Lightning so frantic before.

"Cruz I need you to answer me! Cruz!"

There was still no answer. He couldn't take it anymore. He got down from the podium and took off his headset. He watched closely as he saw Cruz struggling to maintain her balance on the track. She emerged from the smoke, but she was still trying to keep her body steady. Lightning wanted to race on to that track himself to prevent anything bad from happening to her. He wanted to jump into action and save his precious girl from having a terrible accident.

Come on Cruz! Please pull through!

While Jackson and Danny came out of the smoke cloud, trying to maintain their line on the track, Cruz was able to speed past them once she caught herself and managed to keep from falling off the track. Cruz crossed the finish line with a huge smile on her face. Fireworks were blazing in the black, night sky while everyone in the crowd cheered for Cruz. Lightning breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that his protègè was alright.

Cruz

After she received her trophy, along with many compliments from Tex and the rest of the team, Cruz was heading back to the Dinoco building to put her Piston Cup in the trophy cabinet. As she was making her way to the building, she bumped into Jackson again. Jackson glared at her while she gave him a smug grin.

"I thought I told you to stay out of my way!" he yelled.

"Listen Jackson, I won fair and square. You just have to deal with it," she said, beaming with pride.

"This isn't over! I'll make sure you-"

Jackson froze when he saw the massive dent that Cruz had on the left side of her rear bumper.

"Nice dent you got there," he said sarcastically.

"What?" Cruz said with a confused look on her face.

"Ooooooo! Wait till the Champ sees that!" Jackson laughed as he drove away from Cruz.

Did he just say...dent?!

Cruz quickly made her way to the building and rushed to find a mirror. She went to the small bathroom and stopped in front of the body mirror that was near a small sink. Her mouth dropped open as she saw the huge dent in her rear bumper. It was a deep dent that completely scratched her paint job and chipped her tail light. It was a nasty scar.

"Oh my gosh! Mr. McQueen is going to kill me!" Cruz said as she rushed out of the bathroom.

After she put her Piston Cup in the trophy cabinet, Cruz started to drive frantically around the lobby.

"What am I going to do? How am I going to hide this?" she asked aloud to herself as she continued to drive back and forth.

Lightning

"Great job team." Lightning beamed as Fillmore, Sarge, Luigi, and Guido were packing the tires and fuel away.

"Always a pleasure," Sarge said with a smile.

"No problem man," Fillmore chimed in.

Sally drove over to Lightning. "You had me worried there for a minute," she said.

"What do you mean?" he asked with a confused look on his face.

"Well you had a mini panic attack a few minutes ago."

"Oh that. I'm sorry Sal, I was just-"

"Yeah I get it. You thought Cruz was going to get hurt, at least that's what it seemed like at first."

"Yeah. I'm glad she's alright. Do you know where she is?"

"I saw her heading in that direction," Sally said, pointing her tire to the Dinoco building.

"Oh right! She must be putting her trophy away. I'll meet you back out here," Lightning said as he drove off.

When he came into the lobby, he saw Cruz driving back and forth like a manic.

"Um Cruz? What are you doing?" he asked.

"Mr. McQueen!" Cruz screamed as she quickly reversed into a corner of the room.

Lightning was dumbfounded. He just stood there in silence, trying to make sense of Cruz's weird behavior.

"So um, how does it feel to win your second Piston Cup?" Lightning asked as he snapped back into reality.

"It feels great! Really great!" Cruz said with an awkward laugh. She backed up further into the corner, attempting to hide the dent.

"Why are you in the corner when there's all this space out here?" Lightning asked.

"I love corners," Cruz said with a crooked smile.

"You love corners," he said in a stern tone.

"Yeah!"

"But you're so far away."

"I'm not that far away. Your eyes are playing tricks on you Mr. McQueen," Cruz said with a timid giggle.

Lightning rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll just come closer to you," he said as he drove up to her.

Cruz

Her engine was revving as Lightning came closer. "Stop! That's good enough for me. Don't come any closer," she said, stopping Lightning in his tracks.

"Cruz what's going on?" he asked with a confused look on his face.

"Nothing's going on Mr. McQueen. You were a little too close that's all."

"What are you hiding Cruz?" Lightning asked as he drove closer to her.

Oh no! He's on to me!

"What? I'm not hiding anything! What makes you think that I'm hiding something?" she said with another nervous laugh.

"Well, you reversed into the corner, you don't want me within five feet of you, and you are acting very strange."

"I'm not acting strange. You're the one acting strange, asking all these questions Mr. McQueen. Didn't you want to tell me something?" Cruz said, trying to change the subject.

Lightning took a deep breath. "Um, yes. I wanted to tell you how proud I am of you," he said with a warm smile.

"Really?" Cruz said as she bit her lip.

"Yes. I'm happy now, but during the race, you scared me when you hit that wall. I was going crazy in the pits," he said with a laugh.

Cruz laughed too. "I can imagine."

"I'll admit I did panic, but when you came out of that smoke without a scratch on you, I was extremely happy! I mean, that was just incredible!"

"Yeah, very incredible," Cruz said as she looked down at the floor.

Cruz saw the pride that was radiating off of her mentor's face. She couldn't tell him about the dent now, it would just ruin the mood.

"Well, we'd better head back to Mack. It seems like everyone is leaving," Lightning said as he turned to leave the room.

"Wait! Can I go first?" Cruz asked. I just can't let him see this dent!

"Um, sure," Lightning said as he moved aside to let Cruz pass through the automatic doors.

Cruz slowly drove out from the corner. When she reached over to Lightning's side of the room, she turned around quickly and started to reverse. She turned around so fast that she whipped past Lightning. He was even more confused at the sight of Cruz trying to make her way to the automatic doors.

"Why are you reversing?" he asked.

"It's the new trend! Everyone is doing it! Get with the times old man," Cruz said as she continued to reverse to the door.

Lightning just rolled his eyes and watched as Cruz was backing up to the door post, almost knocking over a potted plant.

"Hey watch out for the-"

Lightning's warning didn't come out fast enough. Cruz knocked the plant over and broke the pot that it was in. The plant and all the dirt covered the white, tile floor.

"Oh man!" Cruz groaned as she saw the mess on the floor.

"New trend huh?" Lightning said in a sarcastic tone.

"Well as you can see, I'm not very good at it," she said with a crooked smile.

"Here, let me help you," Lightning said as he drove over to the mess.

"No I got it! Just stay where you are and don't move!" Cruz yelled as she tried to clean up the mess and hide the dent simultaneously.

While she was trying to hide the dent by sweeping the dirt away from her left side, she made an even bigger mess than when she started.

"Cruz you need help," Lightning said as he watched her struggle.

"I'm fine Mr. McQueen. I can handle it," she said as she swept more dirt across the floor. Cruz grunted in frustration and turned all the way around to properly clean up the mess. Unfortunately, she forgot that Lightning was still there.

Lightning

His eyes widened when he saw the dent. He stayed silent for a few minutes, trying to wrap his mind around what he just saw. The image of scratched paint, and a chipped tail light made him stare in shock.

"Is-is that a...dent?" he stammered.

Cruz also froze before turning around to face Lightning. She turned slowly, revealing a very ashamed look on her face.

"Uh, yeah. It's a dent," she said with a sigh.

Lightning just stared. They both stayed silent. The eerie tension in the atmosphere made things worse.

"You hit that wall harder than I thought," Lightning said in a low tone.

"Well, it wasn't that bad. I didn't even feel it at first," Cruz said as she moved her tires around in the dirt on the floor.

Lightning immediately snapped out of his daze. He rushed over to Cruz and drove in a circle around her, checking for additional injuries.

"Oh my gosh! Are you hurt?!" he said as he frantically searched her multiple times. He made her stretch out all four tires as he inspected every inch of her body.

"Mr. McQueen I'm fine!" Cruz said.

"Are you sure?" he asked as he drove back to his original spot.

"Yes I'm positive."

"Okay, good," he said as he continued to stare. He was trying so hard not to blow up at her.

Just breathe Lightning. Just breathe. As much as he tried to play it cool, the image of that dent kept coming up in his mind. He just couldn't take it.

"Wow! That's it? For a minute there, I thought you were going to-"

"Do you see what happens when you don't listen to me?!" Lightning yelled.

"Oh, never mind," Cruz groaned.

"I told you! I told you not to take that opening and you didn't listen to me!"

"Mr. McQueen I-"

"I told you from the very beginning that all you had to do was listen! Why didn't you just listen?!"

"You were complimenting me earlier. Why don't we just go back to that?" Cruz asked in a timid tone.

"Not after I saw that dent!" Lightning yelled.

"Mr. McQueen, hear me out. I just wanted to show you that I can handle things on my own."

"And how did that work out for you?!"

Cruz

Her heart broke like the potted plant on the floor. She tried to answer that question, but no words dared to come out of her mouth. Her lips quivered as she tried to speak.

"You-you were just under so much pressure Mr. McQueen. I just wanted to, you know, relieve you from some of it."

"Cruz this isn't about me! It was never about me! This is about you and your safety! I couldn't live with myself if I allowed something to happen to you on that track! You could've crashed!"

Her eyes widened with sympathy. That was it. In that moment, she didn't see her mentor as being unreasonable. She didn't even see him as a mentor at all. She saw Lightning for what he really was: a concerned father who wanted his daughter to be safe. She knew that he didn't want history to repeat itself. She couldn't hold it back anymore. They really needed to talk about this. She could tell that this was tearing him apart.

"Mr. McQueen, is that what you're afraid of?" Cruz asked, hoping to ease them into the conversation.

Just as Lightning started to answer, Sally came rushing into the building.

"What's going on in here? I could hear you guys from outside! I was waiting to leave once you guys left but Mack told me that you both were still in here. What happened?" she said, looking around at the mess.

"Um, we-"

"We were just leaving," Lightning said, interrupting Cruz. "I'll meet you outside Cruz," he said as he drove out of the building.

Both Sally and Cruz watched Lightning leave. Sally looked at Cruz with great concern.

"What happened?" Sally asked.

"This happened," Cruz said as she moved to show Sally the dent.

"Oh!" Sally exclaimed as she winced at the nasty dent.

"Yeah," Cruz said as she looked down in shame.

"Let me guess, you tried to hide it?"

"Uh huh."

"And he saw it?"

"Yup."

"And he chewed you out for it?"

"Oh yeah!"

"And what about the potted plant?"

"Well, I broke that by accident. I was trying to reverse out of here without him seeing the dent," Cruz said with a crooked smile.

"Cruz, Lightning means well. Although he yells at you, he really means it from a place of love. Sometimes I get caught in the middle of his outbursts."

"Really?"

"Yes ma'am. I don't usually let him get away with it, but he's blown up at me a couple of times. Then he would apologize and things would go back to normal," Sally said with a smile.

"I didn't mean to make him mad. I just wanted to ease his stress," Cruz said with a sigh.

"If you want to make his job easier, why don't you try to be more careful? And make sure you listen to him at all times. He was really freaking out when you hit that wall."

"Yeah he told me about that."

"No Cruz, you don't understand, Lightning got off of his podium and was ready to get out there on the track!"

"What?" Cruz couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Listen, give him some time to cool off and then you guys can talk it out. You have a long ride ahead of you so make every minute count."

"Will do Ms. Sally," Cruz said with a smile.

"And the next time he yells at you like that, come see me," Sally said with a wink as she and Cruz drove out of the building.

Cruz made her way to the trailer where Lightning was waiting outside with the ramp down. Cruz looked at Sally, who gave her a nod of encouragement. Cruz smiled at Sally as she drove slowly and stopped in front of Ligthning. She gave him a nervous look. His face remained stern while he stared at her.

"After you," he said, pointing his tire to the open trailer.

Cruz reversed up the ramp while Lightning followed behind. Luigi and Guido were already in the trailer when Mack pulled off to go home. Cruz did as Sally said and gave Lightning some time to cool off. He didn't seem as angry as he was before, but she didn't want to chance things. He turned on the plasma TV and was flipping through the channels. Lightning's silence was grating on her. Is he still mad at me? Well, there's only one way to find out.

"Um, Mr. McQueen are you still mad at me?" Cruz asked, as she bit her lip.

Lightning was still looking at the TV screen. A few minutes later, he turned the TV off and looked Cruz straight in the eye.

"No. I was never mad at you Cruz. I was mad about what you did."

"I know and I'm very sorry about that. You just wanted to protect me and I should've respected that."

"It's okay. I'm sorry for yelling at you like that. That's something I'm trying to work on," he said with a small chuckle.

"You know, I appreciate you looking out for me like that."

"Of course! I want to make sure that you're safe," he said with a warm smile.

"Look Mr. McQueen if you're worried about me crashing and stuff, I just-"

Lightning held out his tire as a way of cutting her off. "Cruz, let me just say this: there is a big difference between witnessing a crash and experiencing one for yourself. When I was a rookie, I used to see a lot of accidents while racing. I used to count my lucky stars that I didn't have to experience something like that. Then one day, I experienced it for myself. Look Cruz, I know what it feels like to not only suffer the physical damages, but to go through the emotional challenges as well. Let me tell you, I never want you to experience something like that. As long as I'm around, I will make sure that you never have to."

Cruz's eyes almost welled up with tears. She could still hear the pain in Lightning's voice when he spoke about his crash.

"It must've been very hard for you," she said.

"Yeah it was," Lightning said as he looked away from Cruz.

"It's alright Mr. McQueen. You got through it and you came out stronger than ever!" Cruz said with a big smile.

Her smile made Lightning laugh. "I sure did, thanks to you."

"Me?" Cruz asked with a confused look on her face.

"You were my maestro of motivation remember? Plus you beat Storm and saved my career!"

"Oh stop Mr. McQueen. We did that together. We really do make a great team huh dad?"

"I couldn't agree more my banana babe," Lightning said with a wink.

They both laughed out loud as if they didn't have a care in the world. They knew that no matter what life threw at them, they would always love each other like father and daughter should.