Chapter Two: A Hole in the Heart

In the deserts of Arizona, there's always the chance of getting broken down on the side of the road, even on Route 66. Luckily, there's always a certain tow truck there to help when things get rough.

"Tow Mater is here to help you!" Mater called as he approached a sputtering old car on the side of the road. The old car's engine choked terribly, making a high-pitched squealing sound when he tried to kick up the power. "Hey Otis!"

"Hey Mater." Otis greeted with a smile, looking a bit sheepish. "I'm so sorry. I thought I could make it this time, but…" He tried revving his engine, only to sputter uselessly. "Smooth like puddin', huh?"

"Well dad gum, you leakin' oil again." Mater noted, glancing at the puddle of oil on the ground. He moved behind Otis and hooked his tow hook under the smaller car's bumper. "But look on the bright side: this is your tenth tow this month so that means it's on the house."

"You're the only one that's nice to lemons like me, Mater." Otis said gratefully as Mater began towing him back to Radiator Springs.

"Hey, don't sweat it." Mater assured. "Shoot, these things happen to everybody, Otis."

"But you never leak oil!" Otis cried incredulously.

"Yeah, but I ain't perfect." Mater shrugged. "Don't tell nobody, but I think mah rust is startin' to show through."

Otis looked over and spied a billboard that read "Welcome to Radiator Springs: home of Lightning McQueen." "Hey! Is Lightning McQueen back yet?"

"Not yet." Mater said, sounding a little disappointed. He sure did miss Lightning when he went on his racing tours.

"He must be crazy excited about winning his fourth Piston Cup!" Otis guessed, sounding quite excited himself.

"Yeah, we're so dad gum proud of him." Mater said, pride in his tone. "But I sure wish he'd hurry up and git back. Jus' me and—" Mater looked ahead as Radiator Springs came into sight, and he gasped when he saw a familiar red stock car. "McQueen!" He cried happily speeding up and seeming to forget Otis was still attached to him.

Meanwhile, the rest of the residents had gathered around to welcome Lightning back to town. Normally Lightning would take his Radiator Springs pit crew with him to races, but after his race for the Piston Cup he and Harley stayed behind while everyone else went home. That was almost a month ago, and when the town found out why they were gone so long they were ecstatic. But none of them could deny that it was good to have everyone together and back home again.

"It's good to be home, everybody." Lightning said happily. He looked up at the sound of a horn honking, and everyone turned to see a familiar tow truck come barreling up the road. Lightning lit up. "Mater!"

"McQueen!" Mater called excitedly.

"Mater!" Lightning laughed, noticing Mater was hauling a car behind him at breakneck speed.

"McQueen!" Mater finally turned and skidded to a halt, the whiplash from his hook sending Otis spinning like crazy right into Ramone's shop and onto a lift. After making sure he didn't accidentally smash Otis against a wall, Mater turned his attention to Lighting. "McQueen! Welcome back!"

"Mater, it's so good to see you!" Lightning said happily, having missed his best friend while he was gone. The two began their usual "best friend greeting," which usually never stayed the same as everyone noticed.

"You too, buddy!" Mater said happily. "Oh man, you ain't gonna believe the thigs I got planned fer us!"

The townsfolk watched amusedly. It couldn't be denied that Lightning and Mater were definitely the best of friends. It almost felt like they were brothers. "Oh, these best friend greetings. They get longer every year!" Mack noted with a warm smile as the pair finished their greeting.

"Hey, what am I? Chopped liver?"

Mater turned as Harley skated up, and if it were possible to explode from excitement Mater would do it. "Sissy!" He nearly ran Harley over as he hurried to the girl and nuzzled her. Harley laughed as she hugged the tow truck.

"Hey Mater." Harley sighed happily. "Oh boy did I miss you." Mater reversed and smiled warmly at the girl. The now-sixteen-year-old had certainly grown up some, but it did little to affect her overall look. Her cobalt-streaked, rust-colored hair reached almost to her elbows and developed a bit of a curl, always pulled back in a ponytail. In honor of her late father, she had also adopted a jacket to her usual outfit: cobalt blue, like Doc's paintjob, with copies of his old racing stickers across the sleeves and a quote from Doc on the back that read "If you're goin' hard enough left, you'll find yourself turnin' right." Harley wore the jacket proudly, often keeping it unzipped to show her Hudson Hornet themed shirt.

"You ready to have some serious fun?" Mater asked his sister and best friend excitedly.

"Well actually, I've got somethin' to show you first." Lightning said. "Harley, is it ready?"

"Set up and ready to go, Speed Racer." Harley nodded. She and Lightning led Mater to the racing museum and into Doc's wing. Resting near the wall was the Piston Cup trophy Lightning won, only now the trophy read "Hudson Hornet Piston Cup" and featured a small sculpture of Doc on the top.

"Wow!" Mater breathed. "They renamed the Piston Cup after our very own Doc Hudson!"

Lightning smiled proudly, but his face fell as he drove to the other wall and stared at the newspaper clippings of Doc in his racing days. "I know Doc said these things were just old cups, but…to have someone else win it just didn't feel right, you know?" He stared sadly at the pictures of his old crew chief. Harley had since taken over the position, a request Lightning made personally when he started racing after Doc's death. Though nearly everyone was surprised Lightning trusted the job to a fifteen-year-old, he had insisted because he knew Harley was trained well enough by Doc to know what she was talking about. Harley had long since shown how well she could handle the job.

Harley sighed as she stared at Doc's picture. "Gosh, I miss him."

"Well Doc would've been real proud of both of ya." Mater said, making the two of them smile.

"All right, pal. I've been waiting all summer for this." Lightning said as they exited the museum.

"Oh-ho-ho! You sure you kin handle it?" Mater asked, nudging Lightning playfully.

"Come on, you know who you're talkin' to?" Lightning smirked. "This is Lightning McQueen! I can handle anything!"

"Awright!" Mater cheered. "You wanna come, Harley?"

"Actually, I'm going to spend the rest of the day with Doc." Harley said. "I'll catch up with you guys later, okay?"

"Sure thing." Lightning nodded. "Tell Doc we said 'hi'." He and Mater waved as Harley skated off.

Harley skated through town, waving to everyone as she passed their shops. She even patted Stanley's statue as she skated past it, going around the courthouse and towards a large plot of land at the base of the mesa behind the town. Two graves rested at the bottom of the hill. One was Stanley's, weathered a bit from age. The second was much newer, the desert not having a chance to make it really dirty like Stanley's. Harley carried a bucket of water in one hand, carefully dumping the liquid over the two graves to clean them. Nodding in satisfaction, she sat before the second grave and read the writing carved into the tombstone.

Paul "Doc" Hudson

aka The Fabulous Hudson Hornet

He was known for many things, but most of all for being a

Racer

Father

Friend

Harley smiled warmly, scooting a little closer to the tombstone. "Hey Daddy. Lightning won his fourth Piston Cup. And guess what? They renamed it in your honor! Isn't that cool? To heck with modesty and being humble, that's just flat-out awesome! Racing season went well. I certainly hope I'm making you proud and doing an okay job with the whole crew chief thing. Everyone else in town thinks I am. It's only because I learned from the best." She laughed lightly. "But now we're taking a break from racing to spend some time at home. It looks like Lightning's really happy to be back. So am I." She smiled warmly. "I really miss you. But I'm here now; so what memory should we go through today?" She pressed her hand to the dirt, only a few inches from Doc's tombstone. She closed her eyes in concentration, allowing her psyche human powers to make the connection.

"Doc, I can't sleep." Five-year-old Harley complained as she leaned against the door frame to her adoptive father's room.

Doc looked up from the book he had been looking through, staring at Harley worriedly. He gestured for her to come in, and the child quickly moved to stand by his side. He lifted a tire and helped her climb onto his hood. "What's the problem, darlin'?"

Harley hugged her blanket. "I can't make myself go to sleep. Can you sing to me?"

Doc looked a little nervous. "I don't know, sweetheart. I'm not exactly the best singer."

"You can try." Harley shrugged a little, staring at him with very innocent, crystal blue eyes.

As stern and rough as Doc could be, he was a sucker when it came to his little girl. He couldn't say "no," not even to something as simple as singing to her. But he wasn't lying; he couldn't remember a time when he ever sang to anyone or at all for that matter. What on earth could he sing? He finally nodded and allowed Harley to get comfortable as she lay on his hood. He searched his memories, wondering what he could sing that would be soothing enough to make Harley sleep and also not sound terrible with his voice. He remembered some of the songs Harley liked to listen to with her CD player, and one song in particular came to mind. He waited until Harley was fully settled before he cleared his throat and began.

Surprising enough, Harley's eyes actually began to flutter shut at the sound of Doc's voice. The old racecar continued to sing softly, hoping he didn't hit a wrong note. But he smiled warmly as he finished the song and Harley seemed to full fall asleep. She breathed evenly, sighing softly. Doc quietly rolled from his room and back to Harley's room, gently lowering the girl onto her bed.

"Hey Doc." Harley murmured, still keeping her eyes shut.

"Yes, Harley?" Doc asked.

"You're right about your singing." Harley sighed. "You sound like a bag of gravel."

Doc's hood burned in embarrassment, and he chuckled albeit nervously.

"But….." Harley yawned, sleep taking over her. "I like it when you sing."

Doc stared at his daughter in surprise, then smiled warmly and gently nuzzled the girl. "Love you, Harley. Goodnight."

Back in the present, Harley opened her eyes and allowed the connection to break. She smiled warmly. "I didn't think your voice was that bad." Harley giggled. "Glad you stuck with racing, though." She giggled again, patting the soil under her hand.

Harley didn't know if she necessarily believed in ghosts. But something told her the spirits of Doc and Stanley constantly watched over the town. Harley discovered some months after Doc's death that she was able to somehow use her psych-man powers to connect with her father's spirit, and often used it to relive some of their fondest memories over the years. It became almost therapeutic for the teenager. She always kept her promise to never be sad for Doc's passing, yet she couldn't help but miss seeing him around town. She continued to live in the clinic, with Sheriff as her legal guardian. He was no Doc, but Sheriff had always been more of a father figure than an uncle over the years, so it made the transition much easier for Harley.

The brunette sighed and leaned back, letting the sun wash over her freckled face. Wonder what Mater and Lightning are doing. Hopefully Mater isn't dragging the poor racer through anything dangerous. Harley sighed again, a little sadder this time. She loved that Mater finally found a best friend; he needed a little more contact with someone a bit closer to his age. But for some reason, Harley felt a twinge of loneliness nowadays. She still had a wonderful family with the Radiator Springs' townsfolk, especially with Lightning and Mack joining the family; she had a great home; she loved her job as Lightning's crew chief and traveling to races. Everything should've been perfect for her.

Except when Doc died, he seemed to take a piece of Harley's heart with him. Even though she never cried over his death, she couldn't fill the hole in her heart no matter what she did.