The next morning, Sandy awoke to the smell of fresh bread and tea. She yawned and then got up; putting on a bath robe she found hanging on the inside of the bedroom door. Then she went downstairs, seeing James standing in the kitchen, only wearing a pair of red pyjama trousers, making some fried eggs while the tea was already standing on the table in the living room. Sandy walked up to him, not able to prevent a second yawn, so James finally noticed her standing there.
"Good morning! Did you sleep well?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder and smiling, before turning back to the eggs.
"Hm... morning. Yes, your bed is actually quite comfortable compared to the one in the hotel... erm, motel," Sandy answered, rubbing her eyes.
"Well then, please sit down at the table, I'll have breakfast ready shortly," he said.
Sandy went back into the living room, sitting down at the table and waiting for James to join her. She couldn't resist the smell of the fresh bread anymore though so she took one loaf and started to eat it. It tasted wonderful, better than anything she had eaten since she arrived on Sodor.
"Yes, that bread is really good. I can hardly resist the smell either," James chuckled lightly before walking around the table to give Sandy one of the fried eggs.
"Thanks. I'm not used to such a huge breakfast but I'm actually quite hungry since I didn't eat anything for dinner yesterday," she answered.
"You may help yourself, eat as much as you want, you'll need the energy, today's gonna be a long day," he said, sitting down across from Sandy.
At first they ate in silence, but then slowly started to discuss what they were to do that day. First, they would go to see if one of James' friends needed help on his branch line and then James would show Sandy the main line of the North Western Railway. At last, he would show her his locomotive and explain everything she needs to know about it. After being done with general railway information, they would visit the head of the railway to get James' working schedule for the next week and afterwards they'd go and fetch lunch.
At 10:00am, both were ready to leave the house. Sandy wore her blue dress, just with flat yet elegant black shoes this time, and James put on the clothes he wore the day before. They got into James' car and drove off. A few minutes later, they arrived at a small station called "Elsbridge". There they got out of the car and walked right to the platform when a small blue tank engine bearing the number one pulled into the station with his two orange coaches. The train stopped right in front of them and a boyish-looking man stepped out of the engine's cab. He wore blue overalls in the same colour as his engine and walked up to James and Sandy. He greeted James with a handclap and a smile.
"Hey there, James! What are you doing here, I thought you had the week off?" the man dressed in blue asked. "And who's that sweet lady with you?"
Sandy blushes at hearing that, slightly biting her bottom lip, trying to get a smile onto her face since she wasn't used to being called "sweet" or "beautiful".
"Hello, Thomas! Well, I thought I'd visit to see if you needed me to fetch anything while I'm on my way to Knapford. Oh and may I introduce Sandy? I met her yesterday, was booked into the motel where Henry found Emily those many years ago," James explained.
"Ah, nice to meet you, Sandy! You're lucky James found you, a young woman like you shouldn't stay at those unpleasant places," Thomas said with a slight bow.
"Thanks! Nice to meet you too, Thomas," Sandy answered, reaching to shake his hand.
"Say... where's Percy? Isn't he supposed to get slate trucks down from Ffarquhar?" James asked his friend, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, he's late today. Didn't hear his alarm clock go off in the morning," Thomas explained, sniggering to himself.
"That sounds so like Percy. Well, we have to go to Knapford now, I want to show Sandy the main line and my engine then. See you!" James answered before turning around and walking back to his car with Sandy and Thomas shouting a rushed "bye" after them as he jumped back into the engine cab.
They drove on down along the tracks of Thomas' branch line until they reached a large station which read "Knapford" on the big station building and had a golden lion on a column at the entrance. James helped Sandy out of the car and they linked arms. Then went up onto platform one where a large blue Pacific class was waiting with its coaches. James walked up to the cab and then gestured Sandy to follow him.
"James! I thought you wouldn't come here on your days off," a deep voice was audible from the inside of the cab and then, a tall and muscular man with dark blue jeans and grey shirt came out of it.
"Hi, Gordon. Well I was showing this young lady here the North Western Railway as railways are part of her studies. We already were at Elsbridge and met Thomas there. Gordon, meet Sandy," James said, making room so the two could shake hands.
"Very pleased to meet you, Sandy! How do you like Sodor so far?" Gordon asked her.
"I didn't like it much until I met James yesterday. Everything seemed so dark and unfriendly, but now my opinion is slowly changing for the better," Sandy answered, smiling.
He gave her a small nod before James asked him for the whereabouts of their friend Henry. He told his friend that Henry was on his way back from Brendam due to him having taken twice as many fish with the "Flying Kipper" that day than usually.
"Aha, okay. We're better off to Tidmouth then. I still have to show Sandy my locomotive," James told him, before waving good-bye and walking Sandy back to his car.
It only took them two minutes to drive to Tidmouth where they got out of James' car again and walked up to the sheds where there was one blue and one red mixed-traffic engine.
"So who's driving that blue one next to yours?" Sandy asked, waving her hand towards the 4-4-0.
As an answer, a slim elderly man with greying hair popped his head out of the cab and said, "My name is Edward, but I don't have much time to talk at the moment. I have to get to Wellsworth right away, orders from Sir Topham Hatt." And with that, he drove away, leaving a bit of smoke behind.
"Whoa, I've never Edward in such a hurry," James said in Sandy's direction. "Must be something important the Fat Controller has ordered him to do."
"And who's that person you two were talking of?" Sandy asked while she walked over to James' engine.
"The Fat Controller? He's the head of the North Western Railway, he organizes everything," James told her.
James then walked over to where Sandy was standing next to his engine. She was running her left hand lightly along the splashers and firebox before stepping up into the cab. An unexplainable shiver ran down James' spine as Sandy ran her hand along his locomotive. He then followed her into the cab to explain all the different buttons and leverages. Sandy was already surveying everything before James could even say a word, though after she gave him a questionning look, he started to explain everything he could think of; what was needed to get an engine to move either forward or backwards, how the breaks worked and the different types of whistle signals. Sandy listened closely as this was the stuff she always wanted to know from earliest childhood on.
While explaining all these things, he got a bit too close to Sandy, but she didn't seem to mind though she blushed every time they got in unintentional physical contact. Sandy turned around all of a sudden to face James, but stumbled over her own feet and fell right into his arms. He held her close so she didn't slip until she found her balance again. She didn't seem to mind though that James held her that close. Sandy looked up and right into his eyes, making her legs weak once more. His eyes were displaying a fire that she had never seen before in anyone else's eyes. She somehow felt attracted to James, so much her head was spinning, and it made her very nervous.
The two were gazing into each other's eyes for some time before James slowly lowered his head, stopping a hair's breadth before her mouth. Sandy could feel his breath upon her lips and parted them slightly. Her heartbeat had increased rapidly and her breath came slightly unregularly. She closed her eyes half way, looking at him through her lashes, slightly nodding her head. James then touched his lips to hers lightly, slowly kissing her. Sandy ran her hands up and through his hair, ruffling it slightly and pulling his head closer to her. A low moan escaped her throat as James ran his tongue along her lips and he took the chance to slowly push his tongue into her mouth. She circled her tongue around his and wrapped her left leg around his waist. It just came to them naturally even though they had just met the previous day and hardly knew each other.
James pressed Sandy back against the tender of his engine, kissing her passionately, groaning a bit into the kiss. His hands were roaming her body now though his touch was slightly shaking. With his left hand he pushed her dress up and ran his fingers along her thigh, making her shiver and goose bumps formed on her skin. Sandy then suddenly pushed him away, confused and dazed. She leaned her head back, resting it against the metal of the tender, trying to catch her breath.
"I- I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that…" James stuttered, quite ashamed of his actions, and trying to hide his "excitement" somehow.
Sandy blushed as she noticed that and looked away, out of the cab, making sure nobody has seen them, then she started talking with a shaking voice, "It's ok. In fact… it wasn't all that bad."
"I thinks it's best now we go to get my schedule for next week and then fetch lunch," James said.
The two then climbed out of the red engine's cab and went back to James' car. Sandy's legs were still a bit weak from the passionate kisses they had shared so she had to hold onto James while walking even though she only wore pumps. James opened the car door for her to sit down and then climbed into the driver's seat himself before starting the engine and driving off slowly towards Knapford again.
When they reached the big station, they both got out of the car and James led Sandy over to Sir Topham Hatt's office. As they entered, the controller was busy talking on his phone to one of the station masters so the two waited patiently. As soon as he had finished the call and had hung up, he stood up to greet Sandy with a slight bow and lifted his hat.
"Hello, young lady! Hello, James! I do have your schedule right here," the Fat Controller said and handed it over to James.
"Thank you, Sir!" James answered with a nod.
"Now tell me, who is your companion? Also what did you do that Henry is so confused? He stumbled into my office just moments ago, mightily distracted and babbling things that didn't make sense and he was blushing which I haven't seen him doing for years. He also mentioned hearing strange noises at Tidmouth sheds a few minutes ago," Sir Topham Hatt asked the two in front of him.
"Sir, her name is Sandy and she's here to study railways, music and art. I only showed her Elsbridge, Knapford and Tidmouth sheds so far. And, about those noises... Sir, I don't have any explanation for that. I'd need to talk to Henry to get more information in this case," James answered; blushing slightly due to the thought Henry might have heard or seen them before.
Sandy blushed too, avoiding James' and the Fat Controller's gazes. Sir Topham Hatt raised an eyebrow but didn't question their blushing. 'Phew, I hope he doesn't ask James about that when he's here alone,' Sandy thought to herself, gazing out of the office window to see Edward stepping out of his engine's cab and walking over.
"I think we should be going now, James. Didn't you say you know a nice little restaurant where we could pick up lunch?" Sandy started an attempt to get out of this uncomfortable situation.
"Yes, you're right. I'm actually quite hungry now that you've mentioned it. Good bye, Sir!" James said, taking Sandy's hand and pulling her out of the controller's office.
The two nearly crashed right into Edward if it wasn't for his fast reaction making room for them. He stared at them perplexed as they walked away quite fast as if to hide something. He then simply shrugged and went into Sir Topham Hatt's office.