About a quarter of the way through the interview, the kid had started to yawn.
And now, it seemed, he couldn't stop.
"How much sleep did you get last night, rookie?"
Lightning had replied with a shrug that morning before rushing off to get ready for his phone interview.
Harv had ended up showing his face again while the kid was still on the phone in the back room.
Convenient.
"We have to get it all in before the hype dies, you know?" The agent had said when Doc asked about the seemingly… overabundance of interviews crammed into the last couple of weeks. "By the time February rolls around, too much time will have flown by and no one'll care. That's why we have to get it all in now, to remind them to care. Better safe than sorry is what I always say…"
The words were sickeningly familiar, taking Doc back to that last night in Flordia, when the kid had tried to convince him of the very same thing—using some of that exact phraseology.
The apple doesn't fall from the tree, so they say, and every encounter with this agent of Lightning's made Doc wonder if it was actually a Harv Junior he had encountered those first days in Radiator Springs. Before the kid went through all that character development…
Now, sitting on a couch in front of the cameras—that were broadcasting them live; he still didn't know how he felt about that—it was all Doc could do to answer questions, talk racing, and not call the entire thing off so the kid could get some sleep.
"What was it like to have the Fabulous Hudson Hornet show up at your tiebreaker race?" Their interviewer, a young blonde, apparently hadn't noticed Lightning's increasing fatigue or was politely ignoring it.
Even as the kid subtly aborted another yawn.
"Well, I already knew Doc from Radiator Springs, so it's not like he just showed up out of nowhere," Lightning began, glancing Doc's way with a grin. "But honestly? I didn't even entertain the idea of him coming to the race. I was too busy thinking about going back to Arizona, so yeah, I definitely didn't think he'd show up."
"I didn't either," Doc added, a bit of dry humor lacing his voice. "Fate sure has a weird way of working, doesn't it?"
Their interviewer—Kate, if he was remembering correctly—turned the next question on Doc.
"After more than fifty years, what made you decide to come out of hiding?"
"First off, thanks for dating me." This quip earned a snicker from the kid and Doc smiled. "Second, I wouldn't exactly say I was hiding—"
"Oh," Lightning said, "you were definitely hiding."
"Debatable. Anyway, I figured now was as good a time as any."
"But what made you choose this race specifically? I think I can speak for a lot of people when I say that you appeared in the Rust-eze pit box almost as if by magic."
He shared a brief glance with the kid before shrugging. "I can think of a few reasons why I chose to come back at that race, but I'd like to think the main one's obvious. Next question."
Kate smirked. "I like the way you work, Mr. Hudson. So, am I correct in assuming you're going to sign on as Lightning's new crew chief?"
"I'd say so, yes. I mean," and he eyed the kid, eyes twinkling, "it'd be a waste to set up his headquarters in my town just for me to turn around and quit on him, wouldn't you think?"
Whatever Lightning had been about to add to that was drowned out by a yawn he couldn't seem to swallow. Doc watched as the kid leaned casually against the arm of the couch, brushing a hand over his mouth.
"Lightning," Kate said, and Doc found himself wishing she would ask him another question, just so the kid could have a minute, "what was it like to find yourself miles off-track in some town you'd never even heard of before?"
"Well, Kate, countless people have asked me that question, so how about this: I'll write a book about it and give you the first copy. Who knows? Maybe I'll even dedicate it to you."
While Kate giggled, Doc rolled his eyes at the kid's antics. He was pretty sure Lightning could successfully flirt with a cactus if he put his mind to it.
"That sounds like a wonderful idea. While we all wait for you to take up your author's pen, though, maybe you can give our viewers a little sneak peek. What was going through your mind when you found yourself in Radiator Springs?"
"I was definitely confused," Lightning replied after a moment. "Scared, too." He winked at her then, leaning in close and lowering his voice. "But don't tell anyone I said that."
"I swear, I can't take him anywhere," Doc said, trying in vain to suppress his chuckle.
"Hey!" Flashing Doc a glare that lacked any sort of animosity, Lightning shook his head. "Anyway, that first day in Radiator Springs was really discombobulating, but I'll tell you this: getting stranded in that one-horse town is hands down the best thing that's ever happened to me."
Doc savored the warmth in his chest as he was reminded why he was sitting there in that tedious interview in the first place.
For the very same reason he drove all the way to the race in California: he was developing a bit of a soft spot for the kid.
Developing?
Try, you don't know what you would do with yourself if he suddenly went away.
Have I really come to that already…?
Doc crossed his arms and leaned back. "The town got a nice new road out of the whole experience, too, so I'd say it was a win-win situation all the way around."
"And that sounds like a story just waiting to be told," Kate said, eyes sparkling with excitement.
"It's also a great story to put in a book," came Lightning's smooth evasion of the question.
"You can write about it, rookie, but I'll be the one telling it."
"No, no wait! I'll tell it. You'll tell it all wrong."
"You mean, I'll tell it right."
"Yeah, but you weren't even there that first night. How would you know what happened?"
"I had a pretty good idea when I woke up the next morning and found I couldn't drive my car to the courthouse."
"Okay, fine, I'll tell the first part, you can tell the second part. Or, like, maybe the last part—"
Another yawn cut him off and Lightning's hand flew to his mouth. "Is it just me, or is there, like, no air in here." Leaning toward Kate again, he worked up an easy smirk. "Or maybe beautiful women just leave me breathless."
Smooth, kid. Smooth.
After she got over her next fit of giggling, Kate focused back on Lightning. "We're almost out of time, but I just have one last question."
"Shoot."
"What you did at the end of that last race, getting the King across the finish line like that… What made you do it? You were so close to being the first rookie driver in history to win a Piston Cup. It would've been so easy to just finish the race and then go back for the King."
"That crash… Well…" The kid spared a glance at Doc. "It reminded me of something that happened a long time ago. Something I didn't want to happen again. It just… It wouldn't have been the same if I'd finished first, you know? I can't explain it, but it would've been like climbing out of the ocean and drying yourself off before going back to save someone you know is drowning." A small smile stretched his lips then. "Besides, like I told the King, in the end, it's just an empty cup, and there's always another chance next year."
"Wow. I…" Kate laughed, taking a quick swipe at her eyes. "That was wonderful. I hope it goes in the book."
Doc, for his part, couldn't wipe the beaming smile from his face, not that he even wanted to.
Sometimes, he wondered how this could possibly be the same arrogant kid who had torn into his town that quiet November night.
Kate closed up the interview and Doc couldn't have been more grateful. He felt about ready to drop, so he could only imagine how Lightning was holding up.
The cool evening air greeted them, which was somewhat jarring considering they had entered the news building when the sun had still blazed overhead.
Doc glanced at Lightning while they waited for their ride. "You good, kid?"
"It's over, so yeah." His smile didn't quite reach his eyes. Doc didn't have to stare too hard to picture the dark bags hiding beneath all that TV makeup. "How about you?"
The question caught him off-guard for a moment and he couldn't recall ever hearing the kid return his concern before.
"Honestly?" Doc stifled a yawn. "I'm beat."
Lightning nodded in silent agreement. "At least we can go home now. I mean, after we finish going over the contract tomorrow."
Right…
"Sure there aren't any more surprise interviews? Where's the next one, Montana?"
The kid laughed, so Doc's work in that department was done.
"We're not going all the way up to Montana. Not when we're so close to home now."
"That's a shame. I've always wanted to go."
"All right, Doc, someday we'll go to Montana and you can go ice fishing or something. Wait, do they even do that there?"
"They do," Doc replied with a nod. "But sitting on a lake and freezing to death while a cod debates taking a bite of my line isn't my idea of a good time."
"Fine. Summer, then. I'm sure it's pretty there in the summer."
Doc glanced at the kid. "You ever been?"
"Nope."
"This summer it is, then."
The touch of excitement on Lightning's face was something Doc would treasure forever, and he had the sudden urge to make all the kid's dreams come true right there in that moment.
And he couldn't figure out why.
It's not like he's your son.
He doesn't have to be.
It was still the same sentiment.
"Really?"
Doc chuckled. "That's one thing you've got to learn about me, I don't suggest anything I don't truly mean."
"Cool."
"Are you really gonna write a book?" Doc asked after a while.
"Oh, heck no. I could barely write my essays in high school. I can think of at least five people way more qualified to write that book than I'll ever be."
"All right. Who?"
The kid didn't seem to be expecting that, almost as if he was still getting used to the idea there were actually people out there who cared about the things he said.
"Oh, uh, well, my mom for one… She was always good at writing." The was went unexplained and Doc didn't press the subject. "Mack, too, actually. He's written a few poems and stuff during rest stops on some of our longer drives." He shrugged. "Heck, I bet even Mater could write it better than me."
"Don't sell yourself or your friend short, kid. I'm sure you could write a very nice book."
"Uh-huh." Lightning cracked a smirk. "I'll let you read my best work sometime and then you tell me if you still think that highly of my writing skills. It was an essay titled 'Why I Hate Writing Essays: A Three Part Study.'"
Doc cocked a brow. "Your teacher let you get away with that?"
"Hey, I never said it got me a good grade."
Mack pulled around in the rental car soon after that, and the kid nodded off halfway back to the trailer, which was faster than Doc had expected.
The hard part came in trying to wake him up again.
"Come on, kid." A shake of Lightning's shoulder did nothing. "Your bed's waiting for you."
In the end, Doc got nothing for his efforts. If anything, Lightning seemed to sink even further into sleep.
Mack, for his part, didn't appear to be the least bit surprised—or even put out—by the kid's lack of consciousness. Instead of trying his own hand at waking Lightning, he scooped the kid up and held him close, carrying him into the motorhome.
"Usually when I have to do this," Mack softly explained as Doc closed the door behind them, "it means he's gonna have one heck of a hangover the next day."
Doc raised a brow. "And that happens... often?"
Mack shook his head. "Blackout level only about once or twice a year. The other times aren't too bad—or too often, if I'm being honest—but still..." He gently placed Lightning in bed. "I don't think I've ever seen him this tired before."
Doc searched for something to say, but came up empty. The best he could do was study the kid, who looked absolutely worn out, even in sleep.
After adjusting his cap and blowing out a sigh, Mack fixed Lightning's covers and slipped out of the room. Doc took that as his cue, silently wishing a good night's sleep for the kid before leaving the room.
Maybe it was because he had skipped his nightly reading session, or maybe it was due to his brain refusing to power down for the evening. Probably the first one...
Either way, sleep eluded Doc for hours after his head hit the pillow.
"I just wanted you to know that I didn't fire all of them like everyone says."
"I spun out... Harv thinks I threw the race..."
"I wouldn't be where I am without him."
"Who else is there…?"
When his mind wasn't on the kid, Doc found it drifting back to the fifties—a time without agents and major publicity.
Where a driver raced just to race.
Not to live as someone else's paycheck.
For the umpteenth time, he wondered how much Harv was getting out of all this.
Is that even a question?
The amount of interviews he's booked for this kid should be enough of an answer, don't you think?
At some point, Doc finally drifted off, only to be roused by muffled voices that didn't seem to have any knowledge of the meaning "quiet hours."
Shoving a pillow over his head didn't work as the voices only seemed to be growing louder in volume. So, Doc shuffled out into the main area in search of the source of his newfound irritation.
Mack sat at the table, sipping slowly on a coffee. His hunched shoulders and tense features told Doc all he needed to know.
He jerked a thumb at the door. "Is he out there?"
The trucker nodded. "They've been going at it for close to fifteen minutes now. Or," he amended with a sour face, "Harv's going at it. Lightning told me to stay in here, so..."
"Did he…?" Doc murmured, drawing closer to the window over the kitchen sink. Through it, he had a clear view of a conflicted Lightning and an absolutely fuming Harv.
"Look," he heard the kid say, "I can't help it if I'm tired, okay? I mean, what else was I supposed to do?"
Harv was shaking his head, lips pursed. "That's what coffee is for! Damn it, McQueen, that was live TV! I want you to just think for a second how that looked to the millions of fans who just tuned in last night."
"It's a local station! I doubt even ten thousand people saw it!"
"It was NBC affiliated!" Harv snapped back. "And you sat there looking bored out of your brains."
"I was exhausted because you—"
"Hey, don't you dare turn this back on me. I'm the one who got you this far. I made you. So don't you dare tell me how this is somehow all my fault. I wasn't the one yawning every five seconds on a live broadcast."
Something in Lightning deflated at this, and, albeit with much hesitation, he gave a small nod.
"Fine. You're… right, I guess. Sorry…"
"See? There's my star." Harv's smile physically turned Doc's stomach. "You always come back around. Now, you still wanna make it up to me for blowing it with Dinoco, right?"
"Well, yeah… Of course, I do—"
"Perfect. Then this new commercial I'm setting up in Cali will be a piece of cake."
"Didn't we just film one, though?"
"Keyword: one. You need a rotation, baby, or else people will get tired of seeing the same thing over and over. It's part of your contract with Rust-eze, anyway. Nothing either of us can do about that."
Washing a hand over his face, Lightning shook his head. "Sure. Sure, I'll do it. But first, I'm going home."
"Of course, you are. As you should. Right after you finish filming."
"No, Harv, now. I need a break, okay?"
"Oh, come on. You'll have a nice break during the drive to California."
"No. I'm going home."
Before Lightning could get even a foot away, Harv grabbed his arm. "You'll go where I tell you to, kapish?"
It was only then that Doc noticed his own fingers gripping the door handle. Mere seconds away from ripping it open and running the agent off their trailer site, he forced himself to pause when the kid jerked away.
"I never signed anything that said I have to work myself half to death, Harv," Lightning began, his tone cool and distant, but most of all, firm. "In case you've somehow forgotten, I'm Lightning McQueen and you're not. I can do whatever I want, and right now, I want to go home. So, unless you want me to seriously reconsider picking up that pen later, you'll get out of here and leave me alone."
Though the agent looked like his tongue was on fire with a comeback, he kept his mouth shut, backing away from the kid with his hands up.
"Fine," he said before climbing into his car. "Have it your way. I'll be in touch."
The shiny vehicle had barely turned around when Doc heard the small click of the trailer door opening, encouraging him to step out into the morning heat.
"How much did you hear?" The kid asked after a few minutes, arms firmly folded across his chest.
"Enough. I saw a lot more, though."
The kid winced, gaze falling to the ground.
"When does your contract expire?"
"In a few days. That's why he's here, I guess. I should've known he was here for a reason. He almost never shows at these things…"
Though Doc chose his next words carefully, lacing them with the kind of gentleness he knew the kid needed, he was done walking on eggshells.
This was one situation he was not going to allow to continue.
"As much as I know you'd like to think so, Hot Rod, he's not your friend." The acceptance of this truth burned in Lightning's eyes as he nodded. "He never was."
"I..." The kid sighed, hugging himself tighter. "I know… I guess some part of me always knew. It's just, for so long he and Mack were the only people I had and… Well, there are a lot of things you overlook when you're trying to hold onto someone who doesn't want to hold onto you… you know?"
"Come on, kid," Doc said, fighting to keep the emotion from clogging his throat as he slipped an arm around Lightning's shoulders. "Let's go home."
The kid spared a brief glance at the spot where Harv's car had sat mere minutes ago…
… Then he followed Doc without hesitation.