Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Pixar. All OCs belong to me.

Chapter 3

Over the next few days, Doc watched Lightning closely, but everything seemed fine. He resumed eating, and he apologised to Mater for snapping at him. Doc put Lightning's fever down to a twenty-four hour flu. He believed that the tests had failed to pick it up because the flu was so short in duration. To make up for being so mean to Mater, Lightning reluctantly agreed to go tractor tipping with him. Lightning knew that Doc didn't approve of tractor tipping, because it meant a late night and there was every possibility that Lightning could get injured. But since Lightning wasn't training at the moment, he was sure he'd be able to get away with it.

Sure enough, Doc and Elinor were fast asleep by the time Lightning snuck out of the house at around ten-thirty. He met Mater at their rendezvous point outside the drive-in cinema.

"Der you are!" Mater exclaimed excitedly.

"Shh!" Lightning hissed. "Doc's a light sleeper. I was lucky to get out without getting caught!"

"It sure is purty funny dat you're more scared of Doc now dat he's yer step-dad!"

Lightning gave Mater 'the look'. "Are we going tractor tipping, or are you just going to stand there insulting my family?"

"Nah, I jus' think it's funny dat yer behavin' like a kid who's scared of his parents!" Seeing Lightning continuing to give him 'the look', Mater closed his mouth. "Let's go,' he muttered.

The two best friend headed down to the tractor field, and they crept through a gap in the fence. Mater went first. Sneaking up on a sleeping tractor, he sounded his horn loudly. Surprised, the tractor woke up, started forwards, but then it toppled over backwards, mooing. Once it had landed on its back, it backfired. Mater and Lightning burst out laughing.

"Do a few more, Mater, then I'll do the rest."

"Okey-dokey!"

Mater tipped over a few more tractors. Lightning then took up his position in the middle of the field, ready for his turn. When Mater was done, he gestured to Lightning. Taking a deep breath, Lightning revved his engine as loudly as he could. Startled, the rest of the tractors woke up, and they all tipped over in unison, backfiring simultaneously.

Mater and Lightning were still laughing, when suddenly…

"Hey! What do you two think you're doing?"

"Oh, dang! It's Sherriff!" Mater exclaimed.

Sure enough, Sherriff drove into the field, headlights blazing. He aimed them directly at Mater and Lightning, who squinted in the bright light. Their eyes widened when they saw something looming up behind Sherriff.

"Uh, Sherriff…" Lightning began. "I think you'd better start driving… Fast."

"Give me one good reason why I should?"

Mater and Lightning exchanged a quick glance. Then, together, they said, "Frank."

Glancing behind him, Sherriff's eyes widened when he saw Frank, the huge combine harvester, standing directly behind him! Turning on his headlights, Frank bellowed furiously. Sherriff screamed!

Mater and Lightning had already taken off across the field, laughing hysterically. Sherriff floored it, putting on his red and blue pursuit lights in the hope that it might distract Frank. They did at first, giving Sherriff just enough time to get away from Frank.

Minutes later, Mater, Lightning and Sherriff were standing safely out on the road, trying to catch their breath. Mater and Lightning couldn't stop laughing though.

"Oh, your expression when you saw Frank was priceless, Sherriff!" Lightning laughed.

"Hehe! Oh, that's funny right there!" Mater chuckled. "Who'da known dat Sherriff screamed like a girl?"

"Hmm!" Sherriff grunted. "It wasn't all that funny from my point of view. And Mater, I've warned you more than enough times to stay out of that field."

"Aww! Come on, Sherriff! It was jus' a bi' of fun! We ain't hurt nobody!"

"Be that as it may, you were still trespassing. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to fine the both of you. If you want to play, you're going to have to pay for it."

"Well, that's just typical!" Lightning exclaimed.

Sherriff glared at him. "Would you rather do community service instead?"

Lightning gasped. Then he pouted. "I'll take the fine."

"Good. And now I'll escort the two of you back to town."

"Oh, you're not going to tell my parents about this, are you?" Lightning whined.

"Of course I am! They have every right to know."

"I'm not a kid anymore, Sherriff!"

"So? You're still living with them."

"Only temporarily."

"I'd still tell them regardless."

Lightning pouted again. Behind him, Mater chuckled. Lightning spun around. Mater was lucky. If looks could kill, he'd have been fried in an instant!

"You'll pay for this, Mater!"

"Hey! It ain't my fault!"

"Come along, you two!" Sherriff ordered, giving Lightning a push from behind.

They left Mater at his yard. Sherriff then escorted Lightning over to Doc's house behind the clinic. Lightning gulped when he saw that the front light was on. Before Sherriff could knock, Doc opened the door.

"Get inside," he ordered Lightning. "I'll take it from here, Sherriff."

Nodding, Sherriff drove away into the night. Sighing, Lightning entered the house. Doc closed the door quietly.

"Thought you could sneak out without me hearing you, huh? You should know better than that."

"I'm sorry, Doc, but I had to make up to Mater somehow."

"Go to bed," Doc sighed. "We'll discuss this more in the morning."

Doc turned the light off, and they went into their separate rooms. Elinor stirred a bit when Doc settled down beside her.

"What happened?" she asked sleepily.

"That son of ours decided to go tractor tipping with Mater."

"Oh. You have to let him have some fun in his life."

"There is a limit, Elinor. I know you love him and all, but even you have to admit that some of the education he had during his teenage years is questionable. I doubt Peter and Susan took the time to teach him much. The racing scene hasn't helped him either. He's grown up rebellious and selfish. I'm doing my best to change that, but it's slow going. At least he respects me enough to listen to me. So far, he only obeys me after arguing. We need to stop that, and get him to obey without questioning."

"He is twenty years old," Elinor pointed out.

"Just. But in some ways, he behaves like a fifteen year old. Please, just work with me on re-educating him."

"Okay, I'll try. Goodnight, Hudson."

"Goodnight, Elinor."

…

The next morning, Doc gave Lightning a very long talk about responsibility. Lightning listened attentively, but he didn't say anything, even after Doc had finished speaking.

"One more thing," Doc added as Lightning was about to leave. "I don't want you to go tractor tipping with Mater ever again. Understood?"

"Yes, Doc," Lightning sighed. Then he headed outside.

Lightning found Sally attending to her customers over at the Cozy Cone motel.

"Hey, Sally. I'm sorry if you're busy."

"Oh, don't worry about it. I could use the break. So, I hear that Doc gave you a lecture this morning."

"Mater told you, huh?"

"Uh, uh. Elinor."

"Oh."

"I hope you listened to Doc."

"Yeah. I did."

"Good. You do need a bit of sense knocked into you."

Lightning pouted. "He's told me not to go tractor tipping again."

"I'm glad. Mater's a nice guy, but he's a bit of a bad influence on you."

"In what way?"

"Lightning, trespassing is a crime, and-."

"I know, I know! Doc's already been over that. Anyway, I'd better let you get back to work. Would you like some help?"

"Thanks, but I think I've got it covered."

"Okay. Drinks later?"

"Only if you're shouting."

"Fine. I'll see you later."

…

Lightning kept mostly to himself for the rest of the day. Even Mater did his work quietly without annoying anyone. Later that evening, they joined everyone else at Flo's for drinks. As promised, Lightning bought Sally's.

"I hope you boys aren't planning any tractor tipping tonight," Sherriff said.

"After what happened last night?" Lightning chuckled. He glanced over at Mater, who grinned sheepishly. "I think we'll leave it for tonight."

"Wise idea," Sherriff said, winking.

Lightning looked slyly at Sherriff. "Why don't you have a go at it, Sherriff? I'm sure Frank would love to hear you scream again!"

"Do you wanna spend the night in the impound?" Sherriff growled.

Doc thumped Lightning with his tyre. "Stop pushing your luck." Then he grinned wickedly. "Actually, Sherriff, that might not be such a bad idea… Might teach him some more manners."

Lightning cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, Sherriff. I shouldn't have said that."

Sherriff nodded, accepting the apology. Doc glanced at his stepson.

He sure is a fast learner, he thought proudly.

About an hour later, the Radiator Springs residents went to their separate homes to go to bed. But Lightning, for some strange reason, couldn't fall asleep. It took him a few hours to realise the reason for his restlessness.

His mouth hurt. Badly. Something was wrong with it, but he had no idea what it was. Finally, he couldn't take the throbbing pain anymore, so he went to his parents' room. He knocked softly on the door.

"Doc?"

He heard Doc coming. Then Doc opened the door.

"What's up, son?"

"I need a painkiller, please."

"What for?"

"My mouth really hurts."

Sighing, Doc led the way into his clinic. He opened up one of the medicine cabinets. "Where exactly is the pain?"

"At the back of my mouth."

Doc froze as the realisation dawned on him. It all made sense to him now. Lightning's unexplained fever… His snapping at Mater… Being off his food... His age… Slowly, Doc turned around to face Lightning.

"Lightning… Son… I think you're cutting your wisdom teeth."