Pops Racer could think of a couple words to describe himself. He was big, he was strong, he was passionate and caring and very protective of his family. He enjoyed cars and adrenaline like any other guy and he was smart. He knew that a reality show would bring in more business, but he also knew that there would be some sacrificing of privacy involved. He could handle that, anyways, it wasn't normally him the cameras were following…

But really, Pops really felt he could be summed up mostly by the word "protective". He also thought that the people who were following him could be summed up in one word "really annoying". Okay, so that was two words, but "annoying" didn't seem harsh enough on its' own.

"So, like, do you, like know if he'd be interested?" One of the women asked, twirling her bleach blonde hair around her index finger and fiddling with her cell phone as she walked beside him.

"He has a girlfriend." Pops replied as politely as he could and the cameraman (woman actually, Stu was following Speed around for the day).

"Yeah, but like, are they still happy?" Another girl asked, she could have been the first one's twin, right down to the hair twirling and cell phone.

"I think they're happy." Pops sighed.

"But like is he 'satisfied', I mean-" One girl piped up, a brunette this time, with long manicured nails and Pops suddenly didn't want her to finish that sentence.

"Know what? He's happy, he's with Trixie, anything else talk to him yourself!" Pops snapped, harsher than he intended, but nonetheless it didn't appear to deter the girls from their mission.

"Could you give him my number? The name's Cindi, with an 'i'" The first blonde said, pulling a pen out of seemingly thin air.

"No I can't." Pops replied, and at that picked up his pace. The girls dispersed, except for one short haired redhead who quickly leaned into the camera, flashed a peace sign and kissy lips, and then bolted away. He let out a groan. "Finally."

He loved his son, nothing in the world could change that, and he was willing to support Speed in whatever he did, but his fans were getting annoying. There were things he preferred not to know about Speed, including intimate details on his relationship with Trixie. That however, was all he was asked about.

He turned to the camerawoman, and gave her a small smile.

"Where are we headed Mr. Racer?" She asked, zooming the camera out, to show the eventual viewers where they were.

"Well, I got a call a few days ago from a guy named Cary Burns. He's a new driver, went to school with Speed in eighth grade. He would've been signing with Royalton Industries but after the whole legal issue about race fixing… anyways, he's looking for a new racecar to take on a rally race in December, so we're going to go see what we can do."

She nodded and continued filming him, finding it hard to believe all of the footage they had was going to be cut down to an hour long show.

"Oh my gumdrops! You're Speed Racer's dad, aren't you?"

Pops looked around, almost fearful as to who could possible be saying that. "He has a girlfriend!" He said out of conditioned reflex before looking down and seeing a little girl in a blue and orange dress walking beside him. She couldn't have been more than six. He paused, okay… he hadn't been expecting that. "Uh… yes, and you are?"

"I'm Susan." She replied brandishing a pad of paper and a pen and holding it up to him. "Sign please."

He blinked a few times, before letting out a hearty laugh and scribbling his signature on the paper. Little girls weren't so bad, in fact, it was pretty cute that this little girl appeared to be a fan. "Do you watch racing?"

"All the time with my brother Cody, he's ten." Susan replied, wide-eyed. "Speed's my favorite, and Racer X, his car's yellow. I think Speed's car should be blue, blue's my favorite colour."

Pops chuckled. "Well, I'll tell him that."

"I like his helmet." Susan continued, glancing over at the camerawoman, (Ethel) and titling her head to the side. "Who's that?"

"This is the camerawoman, Ethel."

"Hi," Susan said quickly.

Pops brightened considerable. Now that was cute, it was fans like that that made him feel good about what he was doing. And fans like Cary Burns, who, he realized, was not going to be a big fan if he was late, which he very nearly was due to the crowd of camera hogs and desperate fan girls unable to understand the difference between being a fan and being a stalker.

"Is your mother or father around?" He asked slowly, and the little girl gestured a few feet away where he saw a young woman sitting on a bench, looking through her purse. "Well, I have to go now-"

"Is Speed around?"

"Not right now, but if your mother will give me an address, maybe I can get him to send you a signed picture."

Susan nodded happily and rushed over to her mother. Pops followed behind. The girl's mother gave her daughter a smile and a hug as the girl showed off Pop's signature to her. "And he says if we can give him an address he'll get Speed to send me something!"

The mother's eyebrows shot up. "Really?"

"Yeah."

The mother gave Pops a look. "Really?"

"Sure."

"You know, I'm a big fan too." The mother laughed, and Pops noticed a lack of wedding ring on her finger. "Is he any good with kids?"

Pops blinked slowly. Full circle, back at square one… He got the address for the little girl, and made note to tell Speed to send her a picture. His mind then started to try and formulate ways to keep him from getting into these messes in the first place… hmmmm… maybe if he became a mute…

I wasn't a hundred percent satisfied with this chapter, but I still like it and think it's cute. Especially the mental image of Susan going "Oh my gumdrop!" Lol :D

Please review.