Twelve o'clock rolled around faster than Doc would've liked and he soon found himself seated across a table from Harv, with Lightning and Sally on either side of him.

The younger two had met Doc at Flo's a short time ago after Lightning had finished briefing Sally on the situation. One thing he'd noticed the second they all sat down was the kid's lack of confidence. All the resolve from earlier that morning was nowhere to be found.

That, or Lightning had concealed it deep within the folds of the neutral mask he now sported.

Doc swallowed a sigh. Whatever the case, the time had come and they were all prepared to fight tooth and nail to get the agent to back off.

At least, Doc had thought that's what they were all prepared to do. As the meeting wore on, it became abundantly clear that their most important team member was having second thoughts.

Harv had looked Sally up and down when they first sat down, apparently remembering her from the night before.

"You're a lawyer, too, huh? A motel owner and a lawyer." He'd scoffed. "What a combination. Anyway, moving on to the reason we're all here…"

Soon enough, the man slid the contract across the table before Doc or Sally could argue the case any further.

Lightning, for his part, didn't have much to say.

"Just look it over, baby," Harv said, all his attention focused solely on Lightning, as if Doc and Sally were mere apparitions. "Tell me what you think and we can get this deal closed before dinner time."

Doc mentally purposed himself to remain civil, relieved when his tone came through without a trace of hostility. "That's the thing, though. After several long talks, we're not certain moving on with you as Lightning's agent is in everyone's best interests."

The smirk on the man's face set Doc's skin on edge. "Did you decide that? Or did he? Last I checked, this contract was between me and Lightning."

"Last I checked," Doc countered, "there were sections pertaining to me in that document, or am I wrong about that? I believe I have just as much of a say in this as he does."

"Okay, you have maybe a quarter of a say." Harv waved a hand. "More like one-eighth of a say. Either way, the majority of the decision is up to Lightning here."

"And he's made it perfectly clear to me and his lawyer where he stands on that decision."

"Yeah, so…" When Lightning spoke up for the first time since the meeting began, Doc detected a hint of hesitation in the kid's voice. "I'm thinking… Well, maybe it wouldn't hurt just to look at it, you know? Just glance through it before we make any final decisions…"

It took everything in Doc to keep the surprise off his face and he pulled from all his experience playing poker against Sarge. A neutral expression was key, though what he wouldn't give to knock the smug look off that agent's face…

Harv clasped his hands together with an air of finality. "Seems perfectly clear to me, and perfectly reasonable. Like I said, look it over at your leisure and we'll reconvene later this afternoon, closer to dinner. You're welcome to bring your lawyer again if you want, but it doesn't seem to me like she did much." Harv glanced at his phone. "Is it just me or is there, like, no service in this town?"

Any satisfaction Doc might have felt at this statement was drowned out by his growing concern for the kid. Something wasn't sitting right with him—and it wasn't just Harv's irritating smile as he left the cafe.

Sally, for her part, either hadn't taken offense or was hiding it well because she turned to Doc, her face all business.

"I'm going to need that signal boost to be turned back on, just for a few minutes," she added hastily when Doc lifted a brow. "There are a couple calls I need to make. It's crucial to the case."

"What case?" Lightning muttered under his breath as he aimlessly fanned through the contract.

The words were barely audible.

But Doc heard them.

"You'll have to talk to Red about that." Though Doc tried to give Sally his focus, his attention kept drifting to the kid. "But I'm sure a few minutes wouldn't hurt."

"Also, I do have to warn you that if this stunt with the signal booster comes to light, Mr. Terrain might be able to use it against us. If this thing gets messy, he's also entitled to a lawyer, just the same as Lightning."

Doc cracked a grin, feeling none of the humor he was attempting to convey. "I thought you were on our side."

"I am," Sally replied, her own small smile making it clear that she knew Doc was trying to lighten the mood. It's just not working, is it? "I have to lay it all out anyway, so you both know what to expect."

"You know," Lightning said after a moment, standing and tucking the contract under his arm, "lawyer you is pretty hot. When you're not prosecuting me, that is."

His smirk perfectly complimented her light blush, but now was not the time for flirting.

Not when Doc couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. More wrong than it had been before…

"I don't know," came Sally's coy reply, "I thought Mater was a pretty good lawyer."

"Oh, gosh." With a chuckle, Lightning ran a hand over his face. "Don't even get me started on that. That was probably one of the most bizarre days of my life."

Smiling, Sally shook her head at his antics. "I'll meet up with you two after I make my calls. I want to see what's in that contract before we go any further with this."

You and I both.

Lightning managed a smile. "Thanks, Sal."

On the way back home, the kid paged idley through the document, nearly running into a lamppost twice.

"Why don't you save that for when we can sit down at the kitchen table?" Doc asked, after redirecting Lightning's path a second time. "Seems the less dangerous option, if you ask me."

The kid shrugged. "I just want to get it over with, you know?" But he tucked the papers back under his arm nonetheless.

"Get what over with?" Doc was fishing and he knew it. He just couldn't shake that feeling. It buzzed through his veins and dug into his bone, slowly chilling him to the core.

Another shrug. "Everything. This whole mess. I don't know. Don't you think we've dragged this out long enough already?"

"Son, I think you need to prepare yourself for the possibility that this might not end today. Like it or not, Sally's right: Harv does have the right to bring in a lawyer if he wants to."

"No," the kid bit out as they reached the side door, "that's what I said. Remember? Up on the plateau. I knew this would happen. I knew he was going to fight me on this."

"That's why we're preparing to fight back."

With more force than necessary, Lightning tossed the contract onto the table. "Maybe I don't want to fight him anymore." A heavy sigh filtered through the small kitchen. "Maybe it really would just be better to sign it and get this over with. I-I don't know."

"Well, we can start by looking through this together." Keeping his tone hopeful was growing increasingly harder with each passing moment. "Hey, rookie. I said together."

This stopped Lightning's retreat to the stairs and he turned halfway around, slumping against the side of the archway.

"Can't we do it later?"

"I hate to tell you this, but our later is already starting to run out. Didn't Harv mention something about dinner?"

"Well, you go ahead, then."

"I think this is something we need to read through together." Doc sucked in a steadying breath through his nose. "But if you'd rather wait until Sally gets here, then the three of us can—"

"I don't want to, okay?"

Doc blinked as warning bells began going off in his mind, advising him to proceed with caution. "A minute ago, all you wanted to do was go through it."

"Yeah? Well, now I don't."

"What changed your mind?"

"I did." The kid's voice was heated now. "I changed my mind. In case you haven't noticed, Doc, that's just how I am. I do whatever I want, whenever I want; whatever benefits me at the moment, and right now, I don't feel like going through some dumb contract because, guess what? I'm selfish. That's just who I am, or did you forget already?"

Steady, old man, steady…

"I don't think that's who you are anymore, son."

The kid rolled his eyes at this, clearly at a loss for a good comeback. Because he knows you're right.

"Whatever." Shoving himself off the arch, the kid left the kitchen.

"Lightning!" Doc called, taking a slight breather before following.

"I'm done with this, Doc, so just leave me alone!"

"What happened? I know you don't want this contract, so talk to me, kid."

"You don't know anything about me," Lightning shot back, stomping up the first few steps of the stairs.

"Lightning—" Heart hammering, Doc grabbed hold of the kid's arm, hoping to stop his ascent long enough to talk some sense into him.

His grip hadn't been tight, which is perhaps why it was so easy for the kid to yank his arm away. It all happened so fast, Doc swore some part of him got whiplash.

Lightning jerked away, lost his balance, and ended up sliding down a stair or two, landing on the third step down.

Dumbstruck only for a few seconds, Doc knelt down in front of the kid, careful to keep his hands to himself this time.

For a long moment, neither said a word. Doc waited on baited breath as Lightning eventually cupped a hand over his face, leaning forward as his elbows dug into his knees.

"I…" Swallowing did nothing to hide the emotion that practically drenched the kid's voice. "Doc, I… I-I don't know what to d-do." A shudder shook his frame, the predecessor to an inevitable storm of tears. "I'm trapped and I don't know what to do. I don't—"

A sob cut the kid off and he hugged his stomach with the hand that wasn't hiding his face.

"Oh, kid…" Doc sighed, willing his heart not to shatter.

He should've known it would come to this.

Should've seen a breakdown coming.

Joining Lightning on his step, Doc slipped an arm around the kid's shoulders and waited. He forced himself not to think too far ahead; not to plan their next ten moves in advance and not to think about all the choice words he had for Harv.

As the tears eventually began to subside, Doc said softly, "We can get you through this, son. When exactly does your current contract expire?"

But the kid was already shaking his head. "You don't understand, I have to sign this new one. I c-can't just l-let the old one expire and that b-be the end of it."

"Why not?" came Doc's gentle prodding.

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Because…" Lightning sniffled, both arms now hugging his chest. "Harv said I had to."

Of course. "And if Harv told you to jump off a cliff, would you?"

It was the oldest question in the book, yet Doc hadn't been expecting this new sort of answer.

"Yeah, I guess," the kid replied, his voice barely a whisper. "If he pushed me off."

That feeling of unease resurfaced with a force Doc wasn't prepared for as he replayed their entire argument in his head, scanning for clues in every sentence.

"Lightning…" Though he'd tried desperately to keep his tone calm, Doc couldn't prevent the hard edge that lined his words. "What happened?"

The kid just shook his head.

Breathe. Calm. You need to be calm.

"This morning, you were ready to take on the world. Now, everything's changed. Something must have happened."

"Just…" Lightning huffed a tired sigh, his voice laced with a bone-deep weariness. "Just leave it alone, Doc. It's better that way."

"This doesn't seem better to me. Lightning, what happened?"

That's when he saw it.

As the kid pursed his lips and tightened his arms around himself, Doc's gaze zeroed in on the angry patch of red peeking out from the edge of Lightning's sleeve.

Staying calm had never been so damn hard.

For the kid's sake, however, somehow he did.

"Do I even have to ask who did that to you?" He said, pointing at Lightning's wrist. "Or would it just be a waste of breath?"

The kid was hardly startled by the question, almost as if he'd been expecting Doc to find out sooner or later—or was just too tired to care anymore.

"It'll be fine."

"Son," Doc pressed on, sucking in yet another steadying breath, "something like that isn't fine. It's no doubt going to leave a bruise. Would you mind if I see it for a minute?"

"I… I don't want to look at it."

"You won't have to," Doc assured him, "but I need to make sure there's no potential for long-term damage."

With a huff, Lightning held out his arm, his gaze turned away. "Whatever…" Almost as if he was trying to distance himself from the whole situation; to dissociate somehow.

The skin was marred and red when Doc forced himself to slide up the kid's sleeve. It would definitely bruise and he wasn't looking forward to seeing the painful cluster of blues and purples that would eventually fade into a sickly yellow.

Doc swallowed down his rising fury.

If he hadn't wanted to knock a few of the agent's teeth out before, he certainly did now.

"Slow down, Hud." Smokey's drawl echoed through his mind, shocking him more than he cared to admit. It had been a long time since he'd thought about his old crew chief. "You've got a nasty temper. One of these days, it'll get the best of you if you're not careful…"

It had been a long time since he'd truly thought about the racing world,too. Maybe that's why.

Counting to ten had never done him much good, but Doc did it anyway. Only, he soon found himself counting the thin indents on Lightning's skin instead.

Five altogether, outlining the splotch of red that couldn't resemble anything other than a handprint.

Doc tugged the sleeve back down, knowing the longer he stared at it, the harder it would be to keep himself from punching the wall.

"When did it happen?"

"Uh… Before I went to Sally's," came the kid's mumbled response as he tucked his arm in his lap.

Before the meeting.

Of course…

"Has it ever happened before?"

Lightning's silence was all the confirmation he needed.

"All right," Doc began, tone gentle but firm, "I need you to tell me everything he said to you." When Lightning let out a frustrated sigh, Doc pressed on. "It's important. If I'm going to help you out of this, I need to know. I wouldn't make you talk about it otherwise."

With great reluctance, Lightning recounted the unexpected conversation with his agent. The longer he spoke about it, the harder it was for Doc's fists to remain unclenched. So, he used that negative energy to tighten his grip around Lightning's shoulders ever-so-slightly. To remind the kid he was still there; still listening. That he still cared.

"He told me I have to sign the contract," the kid finished, his voice barely a whisper.

"And if you don't?"

Lightning looked at him for the first time since breaking down, red-rimmed eyes pooling with pain. "He'll ruin everything."