Make Do and Mend

~Cars (c) PIXAR 2006-2011~

A/N: Cameo appearances for Luigi, Guido, Ramone and (sort of) Flo.

~Mater's office, downtown Chicago 1100 Hours~

"Ya' know, Mater, you're gonna have to leave your office sometime."

The young police car watched his friend with raised eyelids (the private eye already rid of the bandage covering his now nonexistent headlight) as he paced the length of his office, oftentimes murmuring quietly to himself. "Ah've got a buncha' cases, McQueen," the tow truck muttered absentmindedly, gaze flitting over to a board set up along the wall, dozens of newspaper clippings and images tacked onto it.

It was true however that the detective's popularity had increased ten-fold after his discovery of the counterfeit tire ring, and now had several dozen cases to work on as of late. McQueen was proud of his friend, there was no denying that, but the tow truck was beginning to became a bit fixated on his work. And so it was the police car's job to get Mater to lay back and enjoy life, or at the very least make him leave his office. So far McQueen was failing.

"Oh c'mon!" the police car cried huffily, driving up closer to his friend, "I could find you a nice girl, and then we could go out on a night on the town—like a double date."

Mater smirked lightly, glancing at his friend out of the corner of his eye,"Ah'm purdy sure Miss Sally would wantcha' all ta' herself."

McQueen grinned dreamily at the mention of his fiancée, before swiftly returning to reality with a shake of the hood,"Oh please, Mater, don't even play that card. You and I both know you can't stay in here forever."

The tow truck shrugged somewhat apathetically, before changing the subject, "How's cleanup on the Big D case?"

Frowning at the sudden adjustment of topic, the cruiser answered, "Pretty good, I guess."

"The DA get a hold a' Big D?"

McQueen smirked impishly, "Yes, Sally made sure he was put in jail."

"Good, good," the private investigator nodded. "An' everythin' else?"

"Oh, The Carbacabana was bought by another car…" McQueen paused for a moment, before the name came to him."Flo Motorama. She also owns the café a couple blocks uptown, and her husband the body art place just across the street from it."

Mater nodded rather indifferently, before realization dawned,"Motorama?"

"Yep. She's Lola's cousin, apparently. Nice lady, the club will be better for it."

"And the tires?"

"Recalled from every store," the cruiser affirmed, before pausing. "Well...except one."

"Whadaya mean?" the detective questioned, an eyelid raised.

"There was this little privately owned tire shop…they refused to sell the counterfeit tires and now that the other stores are gettin' next –to-no business, they're pretty much rakin' it in. Forgot the name of the place though, it was nice, kinda quaint and Italian-like…."

McQueen shook his hood, clearing his mind."Back on topic, Mater! You can't stay locked in here all day!" the cruiser rode over to the lone window, pulling open the blinds so that tentative sunlight could filter through, "You've gotta go out, have fun! Find a girl, at the very least!"

"No can do, bud," Mater said with a shake of the hood, disregarding everything the police car had just told him, direction his gaze towards the tacked board once more, "To much ta' do here."

The cruiser sighed dejectedly, sagging visibly before beginning to back out of his friend's office, "Suit yourself, Mater. But if you need anything, just drop by the station." McQueen paused for a moment, before adding, "And don't even think about rushing off without telling me, by the way. If you get a lead on any case, come and get me so that I can help. I'm not always goin' to know who your sources are, and where to find 'em, like with the Big D case."

The tow truck nodded idly, and the police car finally left the dark office, doors closing behind him with a low click.

Once the purr of his friend's powerful engine faded, Mater turned away from his 'evidence board' and towards his desk, where more recent newspapers covered the old. And one of the newest correspondents depicted the tiny and significantly blurred image of a female car (the picture was far too fuzzy to be able to tell what the model was) at the far corner of the page, the print above it just as small. The miniature title read 'Technical Department MI6 Agent-Missing.'

Scoffing lightly under his breath, the tow truck flipped open the newspaper, swiftly scanning over the small paragraph of information. Nothing too interesting or attention-grabbing. Shoving the newspaper away, Mater began flipping through a few others, once again finding nothing particularly out of the ordinary, before moving over to his 'evidence board', several lengths of string connecting each clipping and image. It wasn't until later that Mater would find the name of the missing MI6 agent –and the agent in general—to be, actually, rather important.

A/N: Yep, I updated this pretty quickly...as opposed to my other fics...

Anyway, there's the Sally/Lightning you were all waiting for, and don't worry, there will be more.

And yes, Sally is the DA= District Attorney ;)

Now...review!