Well, I guess I just gave away the victim of the bad thing that happens in this chapter, didn't I? Oh, well. You can still enjoy the chapter. Sort of.
Chapter 15- Luigi!
"Where did everyone go?" Fudge wondered as Dr. Green got ready to inject the needle into her arm.
"They had to leave while your tests were being done", Luigi explained. He gave her a kiss. "They will be back soon, okay?"
Fudge's only response was to look out the window and exclaim, "Hey! It's raining!"
Luigi chuckled. "Yes. The weather has been very bad while you have been here."
The medication still made Fudge feel very tired, so after she'd had it, she decided to take a nap.
"Will you be here when I wake up?" she quizzed her fathers drowsily as her eyes began to close. She could barely stay awake.
"Of course!" Luigi promised, squeezing her hand. "Papà needs to talk to McQueen, but we will stay right here with you. You just go to sleep."
"Okay..." And just like that, she was out cold, making both of her fathers smile fondly.
Luigi rolled towards the door and opened it. "McQueen?" His voice was flat.
The stock car looked his way. "Yeah?"
Without a word, Luigi gestured for him to come into the room just as they heard thunder crack outside.
"Hey, Fudge-O!" Lightning whispered, going over to the bed and kissing the sleeping girl.
"McQueen?" Luigi repeated.
He dragged his eyes away from Fudge. "Yeah?"
"I think we need to talk."
"I think we do."
"Over the last few days", Luigi began, "Fudge has been very upset whenever I leave her while you came in. And if there is one thing I do not like, it is upsetting my daughter. And Guido thinks I should be civil to you..."
"I think that would probably be best for Fudge", Lightning agreed, sensing that Luigi wasn't going to apologise. "She needs to know the people she cares about are all here for her. With everything she's going through, the last thing she needs is us b**ching about each other."
Luigi nodded curtly. "I agree. But this does not mean I forgive you!"
"Luigi!" Guido piped up.
"Look", McQueen responded, "I don't blame you for being mad at me. I would be too if I was in your position. I'm really sorry about what's happened to Fudge, but you know I didn't do this to her on purpose, right?"
"Yes." Luigi was beginning to sound very annoyed. He thought that he could be civil to Lightning, so he could focus on Fudge, but he just couldn't. Every time he saw the stock car, he just thought about what he had done to his daughter and that was enough to make his oil boil. "But this would never have happened if you were not being responsible! I was afraid that this would happen if my daughter got involved with racing, but I trusted you to keep her safe!"
"Luigi!" Guido repeated. He couldn't believe it! He had been hoping for the two of them to have a mature adult conversation and be civil at the very least, but it looked like that wasn't going to happen.
"I don't know what you want me to do!" Lightning's voice was rising. "I've apologised a million times! I've been here with Fudge whenever I can!" He rolled closer to the Fiat. "What do you want me to do, Luigi?!"
"I want you to stay away from my daughter!" Luigi shouted, also rolling in closer. For a second, he was worried that he was going to wake Fudge up, but she'd been dead to the world whenever she slept lately. "I do not want to see you anywhere near her again!"
McQueen was speechless. "You... You can't do that!" he stammered.
"I can and I will! Get out of here!"
"And what's Fudge gonna say when she finds out I can't see her anymore?! She still cares about me! I know she does!"
"That is not important!" Luigi argued. "Fudge is my daughter and I will do whatever it takes to keep her safe!"
"What do you think I'm gonna do to her?!" Lightning retorted. "Take her home and just let her play with knives and fire?!"
"I..." Luigi trailed off as his eyes went really wide. He seemed to be gasping for breath. He could barely stay upright.
Right away, Guido became concerned. "Luigi?"
So did Lightning. "Luigi, what's wrong?"
"Pain..." he replied in a raspy voice. "In my engine!"
Things went from bad to worse when Luigi toppled over! He was still conscious, but he couldn't get up.
"Luigi!" Guido and Lightning shrieked simultaneously.
As if things weren't bad enough, all of the noise woke Fudge up and her eyes widened. "Papà!" she screamed.
Immediately, Lightning rushed to her side and closed the curtain around her bed. Luigi had heard the sheer terror in her voice and felt even worse because of it.
"Papà, what's wrong?!" Fudge demanded.
"Guido! You look after Luigi; I'll stay here with Fudge!"
"Okay!" Guido agreed.
Thank Chrysler the door burst open at that moment and in came a nurse named Saffron.
"Is something wrong?" she questioned, only to spot Luigi half a second later. "Oh, my gosh!"
"I... I think I am having an engine attack!" the Fiat announced weakly.
Fudge burst into tears and Lightning squeezed her hand comfortingly.
Saffron examined him. "I think so too", she observed, "but nobody panic. St. Wheeliam's, the car hospital, is across the street! We need to get you out of here!"
Guido rushed forward to help his best friend up and carried Luigi out of the room and down the hall. He turned around and called behind him, "(I will let you know when we have some news!)"
As soon as they were gone, Uncle Topolino appeared. "Is everything all right?" he questioned, concerned. "I heard some noise."
Lightning told him what had happened.
"Oh, no!" Uncle Topolino exclaimed in disbelief.
"I'll stay here with Fudge!" Lightning volunteered. "Could you go and tell everyone else what's happened?"
"Of course." Luigi's uncle raced out of the room towards the lounge.
"Lightning?"
"Yeah?"
"Is Papà gonna be okay?"
There was a pause. "I don't know", he answered honestly. "I hope so."
"I don't want him to die..." the girl sobbed.
Lightning had no idea how to respond to that. Fudge's face was white and she was shaking, despite how little she'd been able to move her body lately. The girl was really scared. He wanted nothing more than to give her a big hug, but he couldn't do that with how fragile she was at that moment. It was so frustrating for both him and Fudge just having to settle for squeezing her hand. Plus he couldn't even do that very much either. He gave her another kiss on the top of the head.
"It's gonna be okay", he whispered soothingly, but he wished he could be sure if that was true; just like the last time he told her everything was going to be fine. "Why don't you finish your nap? Babbo might be back when you wake up."
"Okay..." Fudge flopped back and tried to close her eyes.
When Uncle Topolino returned to the others, they all noticed that he looked stricken. Immediately, everyone was sent into a panic, knowing full well that something was very wrong.
"What?! Is Fudge okay?!"
"Fudge is fine! It is not Fudge..." He sighed. "Luigi has just had an engine attack."
"What?!" everyone exclaimed.
"Oh, no! That's awful!" Sally cried.
"F**k!" Sammy groaned.
Gloria didn't say a word, but her eyes filled with tears. Mario rested a tyre on her fender comfortingly.
"How's Luigi, man?" Fillmore questioned.
"Is it serious?!" Flo added.
"I don't know", Uncle Topolino answered honestly. "I wasn't there. I heard it from Mr. McQueen. He informed me that Guido said he would let us know when he had news."
"How's Fudge takin' it?" Sheriff wanted to know.
"About as well as you would expect", Uncle Topolino responded quietly. "Mr. McQueen is in there with her." He paused and added, "I think it will be best if we just leave them alone for now."
"Yeah", everyone agreed.
"I can't imagine what she must be feeling right now", Sally sighed. "She needs Luigi by her side, but obviously, he's not there."
"I guess now we just go back to waitin'", Sheriff proclaimed with a sigh.
"Yeah..."
Everyone went silent, worrying about Luigi and Fudge.
"How you doing, Fudge-O?" Lightning wanted to know once half an hour had passed. The only sound that she made in all of that time was sobbing, having given up entirely on trying to sleep.
"I don't know... That was really scary... Seeing Papà like that."
"Yeah, I know." He kissed her.
"Engine attacks can kill people, right?!" she asked fearfully.
"Yeah", Lightning admitted reluctantly, "they can, but they don't always. Try not to worry about your papà. We don't really know anything just yet. It's all right."
"I hope so."
Fudge was silent for a while until...
"Lightning?" Fudge's voice was so soft that the stock car wasn't sure that he'd heard her at first.
"Yeah?"
"It's Sunday, right?"
"Yeah. Yeah, it is."
"And what's the date today?"
"April twenty-first."
"April... I've been asleep for so long I've lost track." She gave a weak chuckle, making Lightning give one too. "So, there's a race on today, isn't there?"
"Yeah. Yeah, there is."
"Why aren't you there?"
McQueen squeezed her hand and kissed the top of her head. "I think that's obvious. I wanted to be with you. I'm not going back to racing for a while. Not until you're better." He didn't tell her about the PTSD he suffered as a result of being back on the track; he didn't want to scare or worry her more than she already was. "All of my racing friends have been asking about you, though. Some fans have too..." He gestured to the cards, flowers, balloons and stuffed bears around the room. "Did you know a lot of these came from fans? They all know what's happened to you. It's been all over the news."
"Yeah." Fudge tried to point to a soft, brown bear with bandages wrapped around its forehead and foot, a Band-Aid on his head and his arm in a sling (it was obviously one from the little shop in the hospital), but she was too weak to point. "This one's from you, isn't it?"
Lightning picked it up. "This one?"
"Yeah."
"It sure is. I got you the swan too."
Fudge smiled. "I named my bear Ouchie Bear."
"Ouchie Bear?" Lightning repeated.
"Yeah... Because look at it. It's covered in bandages. Plus, that's how I feel right now... Ouchie!"
Lightning couldn't help chuckling, but his guilt over Fudge's accident just came crawling back to him with that one innocent statement. So, he decided to changed the subject.
"How'd you know that one was mine?"
"Papà read me all the cards and stuff and told me who they were from..." She trailed off uncomfortably.
"Fudge!" Lightning exclaimed helplessly. "Everything's gonna be fine. You're still gonna have your papà. Don't you worry about that."
"I just want Papà to be okay."
"I'm sure he will be."
Lightning went silent after that. He was starting to experience a pang of guilt. Not only did he put Fudge in the hospital, but it triggered a chain of events that put Luigi in the hospital as well. There was no way that he was ever going to get his friendship with the Fiat back on track.
A little while later, the spies; Luigi's family and entire RS gang minus Luigi and Guido were gathered in Fudge's hospital room while she was asleep.
"We still haven't heard from Guido", Sheriff reported.
"She's really worried about Luigi", Lightning informed the others.
"I can't blame her", Sarge commented. "Poor kid."
"I guess she's worried about being alone right now", McQueen went on.
"With everything that's going on right now, I understand why that would scare her", Sally agreed with a nod, "but Fudge is never going to be alone."
"Absolutely not!" they all agreed without a nanosecond of hesitation.
"She'll always have a family!" Flo insisted.
"Ciao!" a voice called out as Guido entered the room again.
"Guido! Is Luigi okay?!"
"Was it an engine attack?!"
"(Minor)", Guido assured them all. "(He is going to be just fine.)"
Once Finn translated, everyone burst into cheers.
"(When can I see him?)" Gloria wanted to know.
"(Tomorrow)", the forklift replied. "(He needs to rest tonight.)"
"(But he really is going to be okay?)" Fudge's cousin, Luna, asked worriedly.
Guido nodded and everyone cheered some more.
All of the noise caused Fudge to wake up.
"What's going on?" she mumbled sleepily.
"Babbo's back."
"How's Papà?" Fudge wanted to know.
"(He is going to be just fine)", Guido repeated, taking her hand. "(He is resting now, but he should be able to come back to see you in a few days.)"
"(I'm going to miss him!)" Fudge proclaimed, eyes filling with tears.
"(I know and he is going to miss you too)", Guido informed her. "(He is very sorry he can't be with you, but he needs to rest.)"
"Do we know what caused the engine attack?" Sarge asked.
Lightning began to feel his guilt crawl back. He knew it was because of him.
Not surprisingly, Uncle Topolino interpreted Guido's response as, "It appears to be caused by the grief and stress Luigi has been feeling lately."
Everyone nodded sadly.
"I was worried this might happen", Sally remarked.
"He has been looking very tired and unwell recently", Sarge reminded them all, as if they needed reminding.
"This is all my fault", Lightning murmured.
"Stickers-" Sally began.
"It is!" Lightning persisted. "It's bad enough that I hurt his daughter, now I've given him the engine attack!"
"No", Fudge disagreed quietly. "It was my fault."
Everyone looked at her in surprise.
"Why do you say that?" Finn wondered, which was obviously what everyone was thinking.
"I got told I wanted to go for some extra laps, even though we'd already done some, but Lightning told me no", Fudge explained. "I should've listened to you, but I didn't."
"Fudge", Lightning whispered, taking her hand, "it was my fault. I should've just left. I was supposed to be responsible for you."
Fudge shook her head adamantly. "No. It was my fault. I'm sorry-"
Sammy ended the conversation in her usual, forthright way. "The accident was both your faults, but Luigi's engine attack was no one's. It was just an unfortunate by-product. Now, let's move on."
Uncle Topolino nodded in agreement. "We should not dwell on it anymore. That will not help, but we should focus on moving forward."
It was at that moment that there was a knock at the door and Dr. Wilson came in.
"Well, it's time for your tests and medication again, Fudge." She caught sight of the crowd in the room. "How's Mr. Topolino?" She'd heard about what had happened.
"It was a minor engine attack and he's fine", Lightning reported.
"Well, that's good", she declared, "but I'm afraid it's time for all of you to leave."
"No!" Fudge cried, her tears starting up again. "I want you to stay!"
"I'm sorry, Fudge", Dr. Wilson responded, "but it's time for your family to leave."
"NONONONONONONONO!" Fudge shrieked, bawling her eyes out as they all started filing out of the room.
"We gotta go, sweetie", Lightning informed her sympathetically. "We'll be back first thing in the morning, all right?"
"No!" she cried. "Please stay!"
"We can't stay."
"Don't worry. Everything's gonna be just fine."
"Wait! How's Papà?!" Fudge exclaimed abruptly. "Babbo said he'd let us know when there was news, but I haven't heard anything!"
"(It's all right)", Guido assured her, coming forward and squeezing her hand. "(I am here now. It was a minor engine attack and Papà's just fine. He's resting now, but he should be back to see you in a couple of days, all right?)"
"All right..."
"Don't worry about your papà, Fudge", Sally sympathised. "Babbo told you how he is. He's going to be just fine."
"I know..." she sniffled. "I just wish he was here... I... I don't wanna be alone."
"Fudge." Lightning took her hand. "You are not going to be alone in this, all right? We promise we won't let that happen."
"You got a loving family, who care about you so much", Flo chimed in. "Of course we're never going to let that happen."
"(We came all the way from Italy to be here with you)", her cousin, Annabella, pointed out.
"And we came all the way from England", Holley put in.
Fudge gave a watery smile. "Yeah..."
"We're all here for you, Fudge!" they all insisted.
Everyone crowded around the bed and kissed the girl on the cheek or the top of her head, telling her that they loved her and that everything would be okay. And then they were gone.
When the door closed, Fudge's sobs grew even louder. She felt so alone, even with Dr. Wilson right there, examining her.
"You've had a rough day", the doctor commented once she'd seen that Fudge's condition was nothing out of the ordinary and she'd been given her medication. "You should try and get some-"
She stopped short, realising that the twelve-year-old was fast asleep. That was one of the side effects to the medication she'd been receiving, but that was quick.
"Rest", Dr. Wilson finished her sentence quietly with a little chuckle.
Some things just never changed.
Aww! Poor Luigi! And poor Fudge! Well, poor everyone in this story. There are a lot of bad times in this story, but things do get better; just not for a while. (And I feel like it's too early into the story for Lightning and Luigi to make up.)