AN: Kind of uneventful chapter, but they need some down time once in a while :)
Well, you've overdone it, Kiddo." Doc muttered quietly while inspecting Lightning's knee.
Gray morning light filtered in to the living room, having stayed so late the evening before, they'd spent the night at the house again.
Lightning had forgotten his medications at the hotel.
He'd woken up in more pain than he knew was physically possible, nauseated and fighting to keep his breathing level, he'd shouted for Doc, not realizing he was already making coffee in the kitchen.
Doc had found him white faced and trembling, barely able to form a sentence.
He'd winced and bit back a curse as they'd propped his knee up with pillows, and Doc removed the brace.
"Breathe, Hot Rod." He sighed, it was one thing for Lightning to make sure he took it easy, but he was the physician, he should have made him take it easier.
"You have two options." He glanced up at the clock as he spoke. "I can give you the highest dosage of pain reliever available in the house, but you'll have to wait before you can go back on your prescription. Or you tough it out a little longer till I get back with your stuff."
"Which is better?"
"Whatever's here will only dull it somewhat, still might not be manageable."
"I'll wait-"
Doc stood quickly and reached for the keys on top of the television before thinking of something. Lightning watched in strained silence as he rushed up the stairs and could hear muffled voices before Doc returned.
"He's bringing you a heating pad. It'll take the edge off till I get back."
"Thanks-..."
Lightning stared at the black screen of the television until a bleary eyed Smokey appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
"You alright?"
"I will be."
They very carefully got him situated with the heating pad beneath his knee and he sunk in to the couch cushions.
When Smokey had gotten a chance to wake up some, he brought coffee in for both of them.
"Thanks."
He only nodded, commenting after a moment. "My brother take his phone with him?"
"Um, I think so."
"You should tell him to just bring everything out here. Cancel your reservations in town."
When Lightning finally got a hold of him, he was already on his way back.
"I'll go back later." Doc replied before hanging up.
"This'll probably knock you out since you went off your schedule." Doc had commented while measuring a dose out of the bottle. "But you'll wake up good as new."
"That's all I care about." Lightning muttered tightly, holding his hand out.
Smokey had watched from the doorway, feeling a strange disconnect between the kid he'd watched grow up on a dirt track and the licensed medical professional before him.
The image of an injured kid on the couch didn't help much either.
Doc was right, Lightning was out in twenty minutes.
"How long you been a doctor?" He asked as his brother passed him to go back to the kitchen.
"Started a practice in...'67?"
"Hmm." Same year the speedway was abandoned, ironic.
Doc pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, blinking rapidly a few times. "I'm gunna head back to get our stuff."
"Need any help?"
"Nah." He reached for the travel mug he'd forgotten the first time around. "We barely unpacked."
Smokey only nodded, commenting as he went to leave. "We'll be here."
It wasn't their luggage that took so long, it was waiting for managers and misinformed clerks at the front desk to get the situation sorted out and their money back for the rest of the week when he'd gone to return the key. It was after noon by the time he'd gotten back to the homestead.
He wasn't surprised to see the living room darkened and the light of the projector, Lightning's face illuminated by the film reflected off the screen.
Smokey had been outside and had followed his brother in when he'd returned but paused in the kitchen when he heard Jesse's less than amicable tone.
"You don't need to watch this."
"I've seen it before."
Here he comes, it's the Fabulous Hudson Hornet, knocking at their door! What's he got up his sleeve today?
"You've seen some."
"Look at how many places you took, though!"
Smokey leaned his shoulder against the door frame, just able to make out the images from the angle he stood at. A much younger version of himself hit a fist against the post he'd been leaning against in excitement.
Somehow for as adamant as Doc was about shutting the projector off, they all watched in silence.
-trouble! The Hudson Hornet has lost control! The Hudson Hornet has lost control!
Smokey glanced over to see the kid's face had paled, he'd obviously not seen as much as he'd claimed, his eyes were round as a red flag was waved on the screen and cars skid and fishtailed to a stop, Nash, Scott and Moon all jumping out of their cars.
What should've been a scene of jubilation has turned tragic here today, folks, as we await news on the Hudson Hornet's condition. As this is such a dangerous crash, we can only hope that this race today...wasn't his-"
Lightning glanced up toward Doc as he'd flipped the switch on the projector.
"You...you were able to get out of the car?"
"I don't remember getting out of the car." He muttered. "Was in such severe shock I did more harm than good."
Silence fell over the living room, and he sat at the end of the couch Lightning occupied while Smokey took the chair.
"How long-"
"Nearly three months." Smokey replied. "That was just the hospital, it was nearly another eight after that."
"Don't remember much of that either."
Lightning opened his mouth to speak but thought better of it, afraid to break the silence that descended once more.
"Knowing what I do now." Doc started slowly, he'd never admitted this aloud, had barely admitted it to himself over the years. "I wouldn't have ever let someone with injuries like that back out there either."
Two pair of eyes swung in his direction in disbelief.
"What?" Lightning asked in surprise.
Once he'd started, he knew he couldn't just drop it. "You gotta understand, Kiddo. I spent eight months dealing with dizzy spells, memory loss and the occasional lack of depth perception. Believe me, if you had half the health issues I had for a year I would've yanked your license before you knew what was happening."
Smokey was silent, staring at the coffee table.
"Do you still-' Lightning was afraid to ask.
Doc only shook to head. "Not in a long time, dealt with headaches when I was around your age and the occasional pains where I'd broken ribs."
"All I did was bust up my knee..."
"That was more than enough."
Lightning wondered idly if that was why Doc had become Doc but he was afraid to ask. He remained silent and watched when Doc got up and removed the film from the projector. He snapped the metal canister closed around the reel before he tossed it aside.
Lightning was more than content to spend a lazy day on the couch after the painful drama of that morning. He'd pulled a bunch of boxes closer to the couch and spent the day looking over old articles and images down to most mundane scraps of paper that might have had something to do with racing in the '50's. Even the programs and playbills for the few fund raising benefits were interesting.
He suddenly realized he was on his own and glanced up to see Doc and Smokey through the screen door in the kitchen. Lightning fished his phone from his pocket and hunkered further into the couch, listening to the phone ring as he flipped through an old magazine.
"Stickers, I thought I'd never hear your voice again."
"Sorry." He grinned even though she couldn't see him. "Been really busy."
"How'd you finally find some time?"
"I'm kind of on bed rest for the day, maybe tomorrow-"
He wasn't surprised to hear concern in her tone. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, just need to stay off it a while."
She hummed and he could picture her tilting her head to hold the phone against her shoulder, brushing her hair behind her ear.
"I really miss you, Sal." He finally said quietly.
"Oh, are you really having such an awful time that you can't wait to be back here." She teased.
"No." He smirked. "That's not it at all, I wish you were here. You'd really like it out here."
"Hmm."
He could hear her typing and the sigh that followed. "You'll be there another five days?"
"Well could be any length of time now, we canceled the reservations at the hotel."
"What?"
He hummed in affirmation. "We're staying with Smokey."
"Wow. Ok."
"Yeah." Lightning grinned. "It's been a good trip."
She caught him up on the happenings of town and he told her everything that had happened on his trip so far.
There was a pause and he grinned when she wondered aloud if she could get one of the Miata twins to cover the last few reservations at the hotels.
"They might be really bubbly but they have good work ethic..."
"We'll meet you at the airport, just give us a day and time." Lightning grinned.
Now that the worst of their conversations had been taken care of, Doc and Smokey sat at the rickety table on the back porch and caught up on decades of stories.
Doc tested the table and glanced at the rotted leg beside him. "Tell me this isn't-"
"It's not. They just never last long for some reason."
Leaning back against the railing Doc gestured in to the house. "Saw the pictures in the living room."
"Mmm." He nodded. "Joan went to visit our girl up north, she figured it was a good week to be away."
"Joan." Doc smirked. "Joan Williams? The same Joan Williams that couldn't stand me."
"She had nothing against you, she didn't like the time you took up with Piston." He shrugged and had to admit. "She's not particularly fond of you now but..."
"A lot of people aren't." He'd gotten used to that over the years.
Smokey eventually broke the quiet that had fallen over them. "What about you, magazines don't cover your entire life you know."
"Most of what you read in the magazines comes from the kid anyway."
"Well he paints you in a good light."
Doc grinned in agreement while looking through his wallet and passing across a beaten and tattered black and white photo.
Smokey glanced the picture over before reading the back. Before '60- was all it said.
"Couldn't remember the exact year it was taken when I found it again."
Smokey studied the couple looking up at the camera from what appeared to be an old diner booth.
"Are you kidding me. Is she-"
"Yeah."
"Ruth was right!" He flung the photo back toward his younger brother, albeit carefully. "How did that happen?"
"Chance." Doc shrugged a shoulder, looking over the photo before returning it to his wallet.
"That's news. I've never-"
Doc sighed. "You wouldn't. She passed before the kid showed up in Radiator Springs."
Smokey's brow furrowed in sympathy. "Jesse-"
"I'm ok." He looked toward his brother and nodded.
"You have a habit of outliving anyone you care about."
"It's exhausting. As long as it doesn't happen with the kid I'll be fine."
"Don't let him hear you say that."
They heard the screen door and looked up to see Lightning balancing in the doorway, unable to tell if he'd heard that conversation or not. He'd hopped on one foot through the kitchen.
"Why are you up?"
"I hopped."
"I see that, why are you up?"
Lightning looked between the two. "I wanted to know if it's ok that Sally comes for a few days."
Doc shrugged, and looked toward his brother, that wasn't his call.
"House is empty for the foreseeable future. I don't mind."
"Great." Lightning grinned. "I'll call her back."
Doc leaned around the table to look through the screen door. "That is not hopping!"
