.

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I don't know where you are, but I miss you. I don't know what you're doing, but I'm thinking of you.

—London Mond—

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It seemed Ramirez did have a soft spot for him, an ooey-gooey one. Storm felt quite pleased with himself as he watched Cruz drive off giddy as a tween. But his cocksure grin slowly faded away when he realized he had never been on a date before. Social outings, yes, but never a one on one dating. What is he supposed to say or how does he even act? A sudden idea popped into Storm's head. "Gale…!" she was a girl, so he could ask her.

Storm hightailed it back to Radiator Springs to find his hauler.

Sally hummed a cheerful tune as she wheeled around the guest room she recently vacated of office supplies. Those were sent down into the basement. So many ideas popping up in her head like where to put the crib and what color to order the drapes in.

"Sally, where are you!?" Lightning called urgently. "Sally!"

"I'm in here!"

Lightning came speeding in. "Sal! I was wondering if you like to go out tonight?" he asked her abruptly.

"I would love to," Sally turned to him with surprise. "…but what has brought this on so suddenly?"

Lightning winched slightly instantly making Sally suspicious. "What? I can't surprise my wife with a romantic dinner at a newly opened restaurant and a scenic midnight drive?"

So that's what this is all about, she realized. "Of course you can't!" Sally replied cheerily. "Especially if it happens to be El Monto's. The same place where Jackson is taking Cruz-"

"Oh come on! I'm going with you, not my protege!"

She smiled sickeningly sweet at her husband. "Can't tell."

"Sally!"

"No, Stickers, you gotta trust her! She's an adult, just as you are. And what are adults supposed to do? Mind their business."

Sally was treated to the sight of legendary 95 pouting. Lightning turned his eyes away from her as he muttered angrily, "Just what does she see in him?"

"I cannot say," she shrugged. "But when I see Jackson Storm, I do see a younger Lightning McQueen-"

"WHAT?" Lightning demanded. "Come on Sal, I wasn't THAT bad!"

"Hm, you weren't? Oh-ho! That's debatable," she giggled. At seeing his dejected face, Sally reneged a bit. "Ahhh don't feel so bad! You certainly have come around, then why not Storm?" she reasoned.

Lightning sighed. "Okay, I was cocky and selfish…" he trailed.

Sally waited for him to continue. "Annnnd…"

"And stupid…" he admitted. "But I was no Storm! Storm is just… he's dark, Sal. He's a sadistic, underhanded sociopath and he will end up hurting Cruz for this own gain!"

"Lightning!" Sally chided him. "Do you know these things for certain?"

"…Technically no, but we can't trust him, Sal! He's-"

"Then why are you calling him a sociopath?"

"What else do you call someone who uses emotional manipulation on his opponents just to secure a win?" Lightning retorted. "And if he doesn't get his way, gets violent?"

Sally had nothing deflect that. "…Well, maybe that was the old Storm and not the one we've come to know here at Radiator Springs," she insisted.

Lightning rolled his eyes. "Yeah? And I'm a corvette!"

"Give him a chance at least, just one," Sally pleaded quietly. "Cruz has."

Lightning slumped, looking defeated. "…Argh! Just the memory of him shoving Cruz into a wall…!" Lightning trailed with an angry hiss. "I don't want her to get hurt again! Especially if she gets romantically involved with him. She'll come out worse than before!"

Sally nuzzled his fender gently. "I know you're protective of her, but Cruz is smart girl. She will be fine, okay?"

"Besides her lousy taste in boyfriends sure, she's juuust fine."

Sally raised a challenging shadebrow.

"Ugh, okaaay, okay!" Lightning agreed reluctantly. "I'll leave the dysfunctional couple alone! Are you happy?"

"Very," she kissed his cheek.

Lightning's tires sagged beneath him in contentment. "Thanks for setting me straight, Sal, I love you."

"And as always, I love you more."

"We're still going out," Lightning stated decisively. "It'll just be to our usual spot at Wheel Well."

Sally brightened. "I'll be delighted to go! Besides… I got a surprise for you tonight!"

Lightning wiggled his shadebrows. "The good kind?" he asked huskily, coming in for a nuzzle.

"Settle down, Stickers, it's a different kind of good!" Sally giggled. "Listen up! I've had some oil work done by my doctor when I was in LA a couple of weeks ago and she found something wonderful!"

"Like what?"

"We're having a carriage car!" This wasn't exactly how she planned to tell Lightning, it was a little too boring, but an opportunity was an opportunity.

Lightning blinked. His face going blank from shock. "A… a carriage car…?" he muttered with disbelief.

"Yes, a carriage car," Sally confirmed patiently.

He blinked again. "I'm… a dad…?"

Sally rolled her eyes. "No, Mater's the dad."

That snapped Lightning out of his stupor. "…WHAT?!" he yelped.

"Kidding, just kidding!" Sally laughed at his outburst. "Sorry for the bad joke!"

"This … this is amazing! You're amazing, Sal!" Lightning exclaimed happily. "I never thought I would become an actual dad!" Lightning pulled up next to Sally's side, pressing against her side door. "So, how's the little guy coming along in there?"

"It's too soon!" Sally chuckled. "You won't be hearing anything in there for several months and I, personally, am hoping for a girl!"

"We got to celebrate this and tell EVERYONE-"

"MR. MCQUEEN!" Cruz speed into the room. She slammed on her breaks to avoid hitting the couple by mere foot.

Lightning turned to her in surprise. "Cruz, have you come back to repent of your wayward ways?" he asked hopefully.

Sally raised a shadebrow. "Really, Stickers, you would ask that?"

Not losing hope, Lightning chirped, "Worth a shot."

"…w-what the…?" Cruz heaved, trying to catch her breath. "No, Mr. McQueen! It's Mater! I've come to tell you that he's missing and-"

"Missing? Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Lightning exclaimed. "Slow down, Cruz! Mater left town a couple of days ago to go pick up Otis. He told me about it days ago. Mater should be back soon-"

"But he never made it to Otis!" Cruz exclaimed.

Lightning and Sally's jaws dropped.

"Well, maybe he's just running a day behind…" Lightning tried to reason.

"But has he ever run behind before?" she challenged.

Sally shook her head. "No, Mater is pretty punctual."

"Mr. Ramone is afraid something may have happened to him! We need to look for him right away!"

"And there goes our evening again…" Lightning lamented, glancing over at Sally.

"Don't worry," Sally pacified him. "We'll make time before the carriage car comes."

"Carriage car…?" Cruz blinked. She looked back and forth between Lightning and Sally several times before it clicked. She pointed a shaking tire at Sally. "A-Are you guys expecting…?"

"Yep."

"Ohh…!" Cruz had to cover her mouth to keep from squealing. "Congratulations! When is it due?! When is it due?!" she asked excitedly.

Sally grinned. "This coming January."

"January!?" Lightning balked at hearing this. "W-We only have six months to prepare for a carriage car?!" he panicked.

Sally rolled her eyes. "Settle down before you blow a gasket! That's plenty of time!"

"But Sal, there's so much to do!" Lightning insisted. "The crib! Supplies! What if—Mmpphf!"

Sally pressed her tire to Lightning's lips. "The baby's due during off season so we have plenty of time to prepare," she stressed. "But we'll discuss that all later: right now, Mater's safety is our top priority!"

"O-Oh, right, Mater!" Lightning remembered. "Yeah, let's get going!"

Storm found Gale in town conversing with Mack. The hauler who normally kept to himself was talking lively with her. Gale, on the other tire, seemed a bit reserved. It was easy to tell she wanted out of the conversation like yesterday.

And Storm obliged her. "Hey, Mack!" he greeted Cruz's hauler first, trying to sound upbeat. "Nice to see you back in town so soon!"

"Yeah, Dinoco only wanted to do some scheduled maintenance on Cruz's trailer and it was all done in a jiffy!" Mack replied. "Besides the Relight Festival is within the week. I wouldn't miss it for nothing!" He sent a sidewise wink to Gale who did her best not to cringe. "I was telling this lovely semi all about it!"

Gale sent him a shaky grin. "…Yes, he has. It sounds lovely… but I am not sure if Mr. Storm will attending-"

"Well, that's exactly what I wanted to speak to you about!" Storm lied. "Got a minute?" he was already rolling down the road.

"Got to go talk to my boss," Gale excused herself.

"No problem," Mack replied easily. "I will be seeing you later ma'am, rawwrr!" trying to sound sexy and failed.

Gale visibly cringed this time. "Right…"

Once they were out of earshot, Gale asked, "Is that what you really wanted to speak to me about?"

"No," Strom deadpanned. "That was a rescue attempt."

"Oh thank you, sir!" She breathed a sigh of relief. "Mr. Mack is a bit too old for me but I didn't want to see rude by blowing him off."

"Gale," Storm did a u-turn to face her. "I need your um, advice…" he asked nervously.

"Yes, Mr. Storm?"

He muttered something.

"What…?" Gale squinted her eyes as she leaned forward. "I can't hear you…"

"…what do girls like?!" Storm gritted louder.

She blinked. Caught off-guard by his question. "…excuse me?"

"I'm taking Ramirez out this evening," Storm explained reluctantly. "I want to lower her guard by wooing her. What do I have to do?"

"That's... what you wanted me for?"

"Yeah. So, can you give me some pointers?"

"Ohhhhh no I won't!" Gale shook her head. "Don't get me involved in this! I want a clean conscious when all this is over!"

Storm rolled his eyes. "Gale, c'mon-"

"Don't Gale, me, mister! I will not help you to break an innocent maiden's heart!" She declared passionately. "Her heart is like a fragile spring flower and the bitter frost kills it with the icy breath of betrayal!"

Storm blinked up at her. "You… really do write poetry, don't you?"

The semi suddenly seemed sheepish. "Not that it's any of your business…" she sniffled. "But… yeah, I do."

"As a hobby?"

"When I get some free time..."

"That … that was pretty good… you should write more… Gale, give me a verse to quote-"

"Stop trying to butter me up, Storm! And NO! I will not help you!"

"Fine… be that way," Storm grumbled under his breath. "Hey Mack!" he yelled to the Dinoco hauler down the street. "Gale says she can't wait to go to the festival with you!" He then burned rubber, escaping Gale's wrath within an inch of his spoiler.

'Think of romance. Think of romance…' he got nothing. Ugh. Okay, what to guys to when they try to woo a girl…? They always brought presents, Storm remembered from the sitcoms and movies he watched growing up. Cheesy as it was, that seemed to be standard protocol.

"Oh yeah, girls love flowers too, right?" Storm muttered to himself. "I wonder who's the Florist in town?"

And when he found out who, he was immediately discouraged. "…Big Red," he muttered with dread. Seeing the firetruck completing flower arrangements in the window of the Florist Shop. "Here goes nothing… Hi there, Red!" Storm did his best to sound friendly. "I was wondering-"

WHAM!

The guy slammed the garage door on him and even flipped the sign from open to closed.

"Sheesh… and he holds a grudge!" Storm grumbled as he turned away, only to be faced with Ramone's grill. Storm blinked. How did the guy even drive up without a sound? "What are you-"

"There you two are!" the Chevy sounded agitated. "It's about time I've found you, sheesh! This town ain't that big, bro, how do you manage to hide in it?"

"Ramone… what am I needed for what?"

"I'm calling a town meeting!" Ramone banged his tire on the locked door. "Red, c'mon! This includes you, too!"

"I got better things to do tonight than to attend a stuffy old meeting," Storm snapped impatiently.

"Well, I hope you can spare us some of your valuable time because Mater's missing! I'm going to see if we can get some search parties started up tonight."

Storm's face went slack. "…Mater?" he gasped. He knew he hadn't seen the tow truck around lately, but he never thought Mater would go missing. "You know what, Ramone, I think my evening's free after all."

Thirty minutes later...

A lot of talk and some speculative gibberish past between the cars gathered at Flo's V8 Café, but there was nothing concrete until Mrs. McQueen spoke up. "Excuse me, everyone!" Sally interjected. "But I do believe the most important thing we need to know is how long Mater has been gone!"

"Good call, Sal," Lightning agreed. "Any ideas anyone?"

"I was with him," Storm spoke up.

"Where and when was the last time you've seen him?"

"The evening before yesterday. We were coming from the tractor fields together when Mater run away when my hauler came up the route thinking she was Frank. I don't know where he could have gone to…"

"Hmm… at least it gives us a starting point," Lightning hummed thoughtfully. "Okay, everyone, listen up! Everyone will be paired in groups of two and we will search a 25-mile radius of the town until sundown. If we find nothing, we will resume the search tomorrow morning! Does everyone agree?"

All the cars nodded.

"Group 1!" Lightning began to pair everyone up. "Flo, you're with Cruz. I want you two to search around Willy's Butte."

"You got it honey!" Flo chirped.

Cruz revved up her engine. "Consider it done!"

"Group 2, Mack! You're with Gale," Lightning told them. "I need you two to search along the highway along Route 66."

"You got it, boss!" Mack wiggled his shadebrows suggestively at the dark semi.

Gale cringed back. "Can I switch p-"

"-Nope! Group number 3, Sally!"

"Yes?"

"You're with Red since he's most comfortable around you. Hear that, Big Red? I'm counting on you to keep her safe! Understand?"

The firetruck nodded vigorously.

"Good."

Sally rolled her eyes. "I am fine, Stickers-"

"Of course you are," he cooed. "I need you and Red to search the perimeter of Radiator Springs!"

"Really, the town perimeter?" she asked incredulously.

"You never know, you may get tired and need some rest! Staying close to town is what's best for your condi-um, I mean you, right now," Lightning muttered protectively. "Ahem! Now, group 4! Ramone, you're with Fillmore and I want you two to be searching the Copperfields!"

"Sure, man," Fillmore agreed. "My eyes are peeled."

Ramone nodded. "We'll search behind every ramp and every high and low!" he promised, raising himself on his axles.

"And Storm…" Lightning turned his steely blues eyes on Storm. "…you're coming with me. We'll search the prairies and Redclay Canyon together."

"Oh goody," Storm deadpanned. This evening couldn't possibly get worse.

"That's pretty far past 25 miles..." Sally muttered worriedly.

"We can handle it, Sal, we're racers remember?"

"At least I am," Storm pointed out.

"Another word, Storm and I'll leave you stranded," Lightning threatened him.

"Make sure to bring him back, Stickers," Sally ordered her husband sternly.

"Naw, Sal. I'll bury him in a sand dune and blame his absence on the Nut and Bolt Flickers."

Sally sent him an unamused look. "Come back with Mater and Strom!"

"Yeeeah," Lightning said, not really listening to her anymore. "I'll get Mater to help dispose of the evidence too..."

"Ugh!" Sally rolled her eyes. Looking equal amounts of annoyed and embarrassed, she turned to Strom, "He's kidding, Storm!" she chuckled forcefully. "He's such a kidder!"

Storm sent her a nonplused look. He turned to Cruz and mock-whispered, "If anything happens to me, it was McQueen."

Cruz giggled.

"I'm serious," Storm turned to his hauler. "Gale! if we're not back by nightfall, search me out using the GPS."

"Hmph, I'll think about it," his hauler replied to him a little too coolly. Apparently, she was still mad about his stunt from earlier.

"Not now, Gale!"

Everyone laughed at his expense.

Three hours later...

Sally and Big Red searched the town perimeter for the 10th time just to stay busy. It was so embarrassing that this was the search area Lightning assigned to them. Couldn't he get any more obvious than that? It was dusk by now and soon all the cars came rolling back into town pair by pair until only the cars Lightning and Storm were missing.

"Why aren't they back yet?" Cruz muttered worriedly.

"Ah, don't worry," Ramone tried to reassure her. "Lightning and your boyfriend will be back any moment now-"

"H-He's not my boyfriend!" Cruz denied.

"Girl, pleeeeaaassseee!" Flo rolled her eyes at the yellow coupe.

Cruz's paint darken to the shade of a rosy orange.

"Cruz, why don't you try giving Storm a call?" Sally suggested. "You both have internal phones, right?"

She brightened. "Oh yeah, we do! I'll call him right now... Hey Hamilton, call Jackson!"

"Dialing Storm, Jackson… … … …" the line beeped and then an automated voice announced. "The number you have reached is not available. Good-bye."

"What?!" Cruz exclaimed. "This never happened before, let me try again!"

The same result happened. Not good.

"Gale!" Sally turned toward's Storm's driver. "Can you locate Jackson? I think he mentioned something about a GPS earlier...?"

"I will try," the hauler activated her GPS system. After a moment, she blinked, her shadebrows furrowing. Gale's next words chilled Sally's oil. "I… he's… I cannot locate Mr. Storm on my tracker at all…"

Oh, Manufacturer...

Sally took a deep breath to remain calm.

"...You don't think Lightning did the dirty deed and actually gotten rid of Storm...?"

"Oh, c'mon guys, Mr. McQueen wouldn't off Storm like that!"

"...yeah, I guess that's true, but that would mean both of them are missing!"

"Can we go out and search for them?" Cruz asked, her tires already turned towards Route 66.

Ramone shook his head. "At this time of night, it's too dangerous, kiddo! All we can hope right now is that Lightning and Storm are running a little late."

"And if they aren't?"

'Stickers is alright, Stickers is alright, Stickers is alright,' Sally chanted to herself. She took another breath and exhaled slowly. Remain cool, remain focused. Panic leads to nowhere. "Then we call the police," she stated decisively.

"Then who do we call?" Fillmore wondered hazily. "The only police car we have in the whole town is Sherriff," he reminded her. "And he's still out."

Sally took another deep breath. Remain, calm, remain calm, remain calm. "Well, yes in Radiator Springs, but certainly there must be another station somewhere in Carburetor County..."

"Nope."

"T-That can't be!" Sally sputtered. "You mean to tell me there is only one cop car in all of Carburetor County?!"

"I'm afraid Fillmore's right, honey!" Flo said. "We will have to alert authorities in neighboring county-"

"THEN DO IT ALREADY!" Sally yelled. Everyone reversed back from shock at her outburst. "…please... I-I am so sorry for yelling at you, Flo-"

"It's okay, we understand, sweetheart," Flo soothed her. "Don't worry about a thing! We will find, Lightning and Storm."

"Don't stress out, Mrs. Sally!" Cruz fretted, hovering around her like a bee. "It cannot be good for the carriage car!"

"Carriage car!" Flo exclaimed, her grill dropping open. "There's a baby involved in this!?"

"…yes," Sally sniffled. "Lightning and I were going to announce this during the Relight Festival, but yes, we're expecting our first carriage car."

"Well, then Congratulations!"

Honking horns and cheers ensued at the news. It was very touching for her friends to share in her joy. "Thank you..." Sally said quietly.

"And all the more reason to get daddy back home!" Flo grinned. "Right?"

Sally didn't trust herself to speak, so she just nodded. 'Yes, please come back, Lightning, you can't leave me like this-' her newly installed phone rang, causing Sally to jerk on her axels. "You have a call from Sarge," the automated voice chriped. Sally took a deep breath before answering. "...Hello, Sarge-"

"Let's skip the plesantries right now, Mrs. McQueen. We got ourselves in bit of a situation here!" the old army jeep told her urgently.

Sally felt her coils tigthening. "What is it?"

"I am in the middle of a rescue operation that's what, and I will need your help and every abled wheeled car in town if we're to get Lightning back!"