AN: Shorty, but I'm going away for the weekend!

He'd been a resident of Radiator Springs for maybe 8 months. He'd picked up the odd job here and there and had struck up a fairly good friendship with one of the head officers of the bustling little town.

"You've got to keep an eye on the coolant levels in heat like this, Michael, or it'll get to a point that I can't even bring it back."

"What's the damage?"

Jesse gave him a deadpan look, head tilted, as smoke continued to rise up from the Mercury's engine.

"I'll give you a ride back to town. We'll have it towed back."

Officer Carwood slid into the passenger seat. "What do I owe you?"

"How about lunch at the café?"

It was his preferred method of payment for work at the moment. Might as well get a free meal.

There wasn't much money left when he was done paying for lodging. He needed to figure out something more permanent. He liked this town.

"That I can do."

They'd barely made it through the door when Flo stopped them short.

"He overheat again?"

"What makes you think that?" Jesse grinned.

"Because this's the third time this week he's bought you lunch."

"Maybe I'm feeling generous." Carwood cut in.

"Sure, honey." She replied before she gestured to Jesse. "You'll be taking care of those grease covered hands before sitting at one of my tables."

"Yes, ma'am." He nodded with a smile.

Once clean of grease and dirt, Jesse slid into the booth across from his friend, rolling his sleeves up. He looked over to see Michael staring out the window.

"That's a nice car."

"Done me well."

"Hudson, right?"

"Yeah." It said so in about four different places.

"That's your last name too?"

"Yeah." He replied, glancing up briefly from the menu that Flo had set in front of him. He did a double take at the look he was being given.

"What?"

"It can wait."

Jesse leaned his elbows on the table, giving his full attention to a menu he didn't even need to see. His brow furrowed, preparing for an unwanted conversation. He'd expected to make it a little longer before anyone figured out who he was.

Both men in the booth jumped suddenly at a shout from the other side of the café. Looking toward the commotion, they could see a young woman had fainted flat out on the floor.

They jumped up at the same time. Jesse pushed himself up with a hand against the table. "This conversation's not over."

"Like I said. It can wait."

A crowd had formed quickly around the family that had been seated at the little table for four. An older woman was speaking frantically, Michael assumed it was the girl's mother.

"She said she wasn't feeling well- they'd been down at the track! I didn't think-"

"This ever happen before?" He asked while Jesse came up behind him, hissing lowly at the fact that no one was doing anything.

"No! Please-! Just-"

He yelled to Ramone to get over to the firehouse as quickly as possible, it'd be quicker than him trying to get all the way back to his car where the radio was. It also allowed him a chance to calm the woman that had a vice grip on his arm.

She fell silent and he looked toward her in confusion to see that her attention was trained back on her daughter. He looked in the direction she was staring and raised a brow before stepping away from the woman.

Jesse had knelt beside the girl, fingers over the pulse point on her wrist and his ear hovering over her mouth.

Michael knelt on the girl's other side.

"She's breathing, but they better get here..." Jesse commented as he looked at one of her eyes. Putting a hand behind her head, he looked toward Michael. "Get her on her side."

They maneuvered her carefully and stepped back as soon as those that were better qualified came through the side doors.

Michael didn't miss how quickly Jesse was out the front door. He followed after him doggedly.

"You see that a lot on a track?"

Jesse spun on his heel. "You wanna keep it down?"

"Just a question."

"I'm tired of questions."

"Sorry." He paused. "But did you?"

"Occasionally."

He saw it more often with family, though.

Silence fell over them and both looked up toward the windows in an attempt to see what was going on inside.

Jesse finally looked away and back toward his friend. "What was that about a track?"

They sat in the Hornet and stared out over the Butte. Jesse gripped the wheel briefly before dropping his hands and slouching in the driver's seat.

"You should take 'er around-"

"Wrong tires."

"Pity."

"Mmm..."

After a moment, Michael looked toward him. "You looked like you knew what you were doing back there."

"No. Not really."

"Could've fooled me."

"I have a general knowledge of a lot of things...picked up a lot along the way..."

Between trying to be there for his sister, and learning how to deal with his own injuries a few years later, he'd actually learned quite a bit.

"We need a doctor, you know."

Jesse laughed suddenly. "Could you imagine...no I don't think so."

"Just think about it."

"Yeah, ok."

The next time they crossed paths, Jesse had a book thrown in his face. He juggled it in one hand before pinning it to his chest and reading the cover.

"Oh, come on, Michael. I don't have time for this."

"What do you have time for?"

Jesse was silent, reading the subheadings.

"Just think about it. Read through it and see what you think."

Within two days Jesse had finished the book and was seriously considering the suggestion.