Here we go! The final chapter! I'm sad to see this story come to an end, but I'm also glad to see the whole thing posted.
The other thing I feel is bad because I've tortured the canon characters and my OCs a little too much in this story. I got the idea to write it because I thought it would be a good opening for Fudge in Cars 3 and I really do feel sorry for Lightning for what he's had to go through as well, but he seemed like the best character to use for this.
Enjoy!
Chapter 30- What a Feeling
The rest of October flew by at rapid speed. Even though Lightning McQueen was pretty much out of the running for a Piston Cup, he enjoyed being back on the track for the very few races left in the season and performed quite well in them. It was Bobby Swift who ended up taking home the Piston Cup that year and the entire RS gang was happy for him.
However, just because the racing season was over, that didn't mean that things came to a stop. For one thing, Lightning was once again in touch with his World Grand Prix buddies and they were making plans to meet up the following year for overseas racing.
For another, as the season came to a conclusion, most of the RS gang, including Fudge, attended a fancy Piston Cup dinner party as they had done quite a few times in the past. Fudge was a guest of honour, receiving a lot of attention from everyone.
Plus, during the end of the season and a little bit after, not only did Lightning get invited to do a bunch of interviews with the likes of Bob Cutlass, Darrell Cartrip, Brent Mustangburger and several talk show hosts, but Fudge did too! This was pretty exciting for the thirteen-year-old because while she'd been interviewed trackside before, abruptly after her knighthood ceremony and birthday celebrations, this was the first time that she was invited to do an interview.
"I'm pretty nervous", she commented to Lightning as they showed up to do the interview with Brent Mustangburger in early November.
She'd already done the one with Bob Cutlass and Darrell Cartrip and that went off without a hitch, but she was still nervous. At least she'd met Bob and Darrell before. Of course, Fudge had seen Brent Mustangburger on TV, but she'd never met him. This would be the first time and she was nervous.
"You'll be fine", he assured her. "Just do what you did with Bob and Darrell. You were fine then and Brent's really nice."
That was when Brent Mustangburger himself showed up. "Hello, McQueen. It's good to see you again."
"Thanks, Brent. It's good to see you too."
The Racing Sports Network reporter turned to Fudge. "You must be Fudge. It's very nice to meet you." He was smiling at her and held out his tyre for her to shake.
"Nice to meet you too." Fudge shook his tyre and started to feel a little more at ease.
That was when the other guests being interviewed by Brent Mustangburger approached. It was an orange and white crop dusting plane, accompanied by a red-haired teenaged girl. "Lightning McQueen and Fudge Rossi-Topolino?!"
Fudge's eyes widened. "Dusty Crophopper?! And Celeste Wright?!" She'd seen them on TV earlier that year, competing in the air racing competition, the Wings Around the Globe Rally. Sometimes, she followed air racing, but it just didn't speak to her the way that car racing did.
Celeste Wright managed a smile. "Hey there."
"It's so cool to meet you both", Dusty offered. "I'm a big fan. And I heard about your accident, Fudge. I'm glad you've recovered."
The thirteen-year-old smiled. "Thanks. And I've seen your racing. Your story is truly inspirational."
"Thanks!" Dusty echoed.
Like the one with Bob and Darrell had been, the interview was quite emotional for both Fudge and Lightning. Talking about the challenging year that they'd had brought both of them to tears.
"That must've been very hard on you", Brent commented sympathetically at several points during the interview, including when Lightning described the accident and giving Fudge CPR and Fudge talked about the challenges she faced with her physical therapy.
The next stop was The Mel Dorado Show.
"Lightning McQueen!" Mel marvelled. "It's a true pleasure to finally have you on the show! Your conversation with Francesco Bernoulli is one of the most memorable moments in this show's history!"
Lightning and Fudge laughed as they remembered that. It wasn't exactly memorable for them, in comparison to everything that followed it.
When they recounted the story of their 2013 on The Mel Dorado Show, Mel made the same comment as Brent Mustangburger: "That must've been very hard on you."
"That must've been very hard on you" were words that Fudge and Lightning heard a lot over the next couple of weeks as they travelled around the country, which was pretty exciting for Fudge. She'd never been to New York City, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Alaska or Hawaii before, but she was going to all of those places and she loved it (especially since now, she'd been to all fifty US states!). They appeared on dozens of talk shows to talk about the accident and the challenges they'd faced. With all of the travelling, talking to TV hosts and reporters, and sympathy, they were glad to return home to Radiator Springs just in time for Thanksgiving!
Normally on Thanksgiving, every single Radiator Springs resident had a job to do with dinner such as helping to prepare the food and washing up and the rule was if you don't help out, you don't eat, but that year, Fudge got out of hers. Every year, she was supposed to write up the menu and write the names on the place cards (to improve her handwriting, which wasn't great) while Ramone decorated them. However, she was asleep while that was going on. So, Lightning helped Ramone do that instead.
"Does that mean I don't get to eat?" Fudge wondered when Sally woke her up and told her that everything had been done without her, which meant not only could she not do her job, but she couldn't help anybody out with theirs. The Porsche's usual job was to help in the kitchen with Flo, Luigi and Guido. However, things were nearly wrapped up in the kitchen, so the two Italians had asked her to wake Fudge up, give her a bath and dress her.
"Of course not!" Sally assured her, running the bath. "You've been tired a lot lately and you needed a nap. That's not your fault."
The atmosphere in Radiator Springs on Thanksgiving was just as formal as the celebration dinner. Fudge was dressed in the green dress she got for her birthday again after she'd woken up from her nap and had a bath, all of the cars had had a car wash and most of them had new tyres and hubcaps again. Once again, the good china and crystal wineglasses were out and the candles were lit.
Everyone gathered around the table. Luigi insisted on sitting next to Lightning, so Ramone and Lightning had arranged them in this order: Lightning, Luigi, Fudge, Guido, Sarge, Fillmore, Sheriff, Lizzie, Red, Sally, Flo, Ramone, Mater.
"All right, everybody", Flo announced, "it's Thanksgiving, so you know the rules. No one eats anything until you've all said one thing you're thankful for. I'm sure with the eventful year we've had, you can all think of something."
They sure could. Here were some of the things the group said they were thankful for:
Sarge gave thanks for the strength that all of them had shown through a difficult year.
Sally gave thanks for friendship, believing that she couldn't have gotten through such a difficult time if she didn't have such wonderful friends.
Luigi gave thanks for Fudge's recovery.
Lightning gave thanks for not only Fudge, but all of the important people in his life.
"You know, we nearly lost Fudge this year. So, I want her to know- and I want everyone here to know- that I care about all of you a lot and I'm glad to have met you guys. Because when the day comes when any of you aren't here, or I'm not here, I don't wanna regret not saying it. So, I'm saying it now."
Everyone gave him a warm smile. A couple of them even cried.
Fudge gave thanks for family.
"I couldn't have gotten through all of this without you guys", she added. "Thank you. And I know Doc is watching over us all, so I'm thankful for that as well."
Again, everyone smiled and there were some tears.
"Well, we are all very thankful for you too, Fudgie!" Luigi gave her a kiss.
"So, kin we eat now?" Mater questioned impatiently.
Everyone laughed.
"Yes, I guess you can all eat now!" Flo announced. "Everyone, dig in."
Nobody hesitated to obey. Fudge was pretty happy to be able to feed herself now, albeit slowly. For some reason, food always tasted the best on Thanksgiving, especially mashed potatoes. The girl had a special weakness for mashed potatoes!
The rest of the year was slow-paced for the cars in Radiator Springs. Tourists typically came in fleets during the summer and while there were some in winter, not nearly as many. December arrived before they knew it and Christmas was right around the corner.
"I'm sure we'll have a very merry Christmas this year", Sally commented as she placed a candy cane ornament on the tree.
"Yeah", Lightning agreed.
Fudge smiled as she leaned over in her wheelchair to place another ornament on the tree (even though she was getting better at walking and could do so a little bit with crutches now, she was still supposed to be taking it easy because she got tired easily and in pain). "I'm glad we're all here."
The race car returned the smile. "Me too."
"With such a crazy year, I didn't think Christmas was ever going to come!" the thirteen-year-old remarked.
"Neither did I, to be honest", the stock car agreed.
But it did.
"Can you believe tomorrow's gonna be Christmas?" Fudge quizzed the others on Christmas Eve excitedly. As usual, they were all at Flo's that night and were watching the snow fall gently around the small town. They'd had a busy day, returning to the hospital to reveal a mural Ramone had painted sing Christmas carols and distribute presents and all kinds of treats for the staff and patients. It was their way of thanking the hospital for taking care of Fudge. That was followed by a tradition of home movies and looking through photo albums from previous Christmases.
"I know." Flo shook her hood in disbelief as she served everyone with drinks. "It feels like last Christmas was a lot longer than a year ago."
"It feels like longer 'cause so much has happened since then", Sheriff pointed out. "We've all been through a lot this year."
"I'll say", half the café patrons chorused.
"Hey, Aunt Sally?" Fudge piped up after a moment of content silent.
"Yeah?"
"I think I left my book over at the Cozy Cone. Is it all right if I go and get it now?"
"No!" the Porsche cried a little too forcefully.
"What? Why not?" Fudge cried defensively, getting close to tears. She hated anybody getting mad at her for whatever reason.
Sally took a breath. "Sorry, sweetie. I didn't mean to yell. What I meant was maybe I should go and get it and give it to you. You know, I'm not sure if you should be doing that much walking."
"I've done it before", Fudge pointed out.
"Well, you've done a lot of walking today, haven't you?"
"Okay..." Fudge was confused, but let it go.
As they often did on Christmas Eve, the RS gang launched into an epic snowball fight. Fudge was able to throw snowballs, but nobody else was allowed to throw any at her because she was still kind of fragile. Nobody minded, though. She still had fun. Like everyone else, she was laughing hysterically, but even so, she was asleep before eight o'clock as she often was nowadays with the medication and overexerting herself.
"We should take her home now, Guido", Luigi informed his best friend, smiling.
"Okay." Guido leaned over and gave her a kiss.
"Night, Fudge." Everyone kissed the sleeping girl good night.
"And when she wakes up, it'll be Christmas!" Mater shouted.
"Ssh!" everyone hissed, gesturing to Fudge, who was still fast asleep.
"Sure will, buddy!" Lightning added.
And indeed, it was.
"Fudge, Fudge!" a southern accent hollered in the sleeping Fudge's ear. "Wake up, wake up! It's Christmas, it's Christmas!"
"It is Christmas, Fudge!" another voice added. This one was a lot quieter.
Fudge opened her blue eyes to find both Mater and Lightning.
"It's really Christmas?" she asked in amazement.
"It really is", Lightning assured her.
"Yeah! Santa Car and Santa Claus have done been!"
"They have?"
"Yeah!" Lightning scooped her up. "Come and see for yourself!"
Sure enough, at Flo's, there was a mountain of presents.
"Whoa!" Fudge exclaimed softly.
"Dad-gum!" Mater added, even though he'd already seen them.
Waiting for the others to arrive to dive straight into them was torturous for Mater and Fudge.
Most of the gifts were pretty typical, straightforward holiday gifts. However, there were two very extraordinary moments during the gift-giving and both of the presents were for Fudge.
"Here, Fudge-O." Lightning held out a bright blue present bag. "This is something I've been thinking about giving you for a long time. I just wanted to be sure you were ready. And now, I've got no doubts that you are."
"What is it?"
"Open it and find out."
So, she did. Nestled underneath some pale blue tissue paper was a headset.
Fudge gave him a quizzical look. "What's this for?"
Lightning took a deep breath. "Fudge", he began with a soft smile, "I want you to be my crew chief."
Fudge paused. "Are you serious?"
The stock car nodded sincerely. "Dead serious."
"And you're sure I'm ready for it?"
"Absolutely. When you were giving me advice those last couple of races, even though you're only thirteen, you knew exactly what you were doing. You didn't make a single mistake and I was really proud of you for that."
"But I could never stay awake for the whole race!" Fudge pointed out.
"Don't worry about it", he assured her. "You just be my crew chief as much as you can. If you need a nap, take a nap. I just want you to have this job." He sighed. "You know, I've always been reluctant to get a new crew chief because I didn't wanna replace Doc, but that's not what this is. I just think I need all the help I can get. And I know you can do it. I trust you. What... What do you say?"
Fudge was extremely touched and honoured. "I say... Tex will be very disappointed."
Lightning laughed. "Is that a yes?"
"It's a YESYESYES!" Fudge shrieked happily. "I would love to be your crew chief." She gave Lightning a big hug. "I'll try not to let you down!"
"I'm sure you won't."
This sure was exciting. Fudge had gotten a promotion! Pretty much all her life, she'd dreamed of being an assistant crew chief. Now, she was partway towards that dream. She knew she wasn't ready to get out on the track again just yet, but she was happy to take it one step at a time.
"Fudgie?" Luigi piped up once all of the presents were opened. "Babbo and I have one more present for you."
Fudge looked around, wondering where said present was. "You do?"
"Yes. Wait here. We will go and get it."
The Fiat and the forklift headed off to the Cozy Cone and that's when it occurred to Fudge that that was why Sally hadn't wanted her to go over to the Cozy Cone the night before. That was where her present was! The weird thing was, though, it seemed to be taking them an awfully long time to get the present.
"Have they left me?" Fudge wondered after about five minutes.
"No, no", Sally assured her with a chuckle. "I think maybe they just forgot where they put your present."
Fudge wondered how they could do that, but she didn't ask.
When they returned twenty minutes later, they had a cardboard box with them.
"Here it is!"
"(We wanted to give you this for your birthday, but we decided to wait)", Guido explained. He kissed his daughter. "(Merry Christmas, Fudge!)"
"Merry Christmas, Fudgie!" Luigi added, also kissing her and placing the box down in front of the thirteen-year-old.
Immediately, Fudge became excited. She opened the box and she saw a flash of white and brown leap from out of the box. It was gone in a second and the box was empty.
Guido laughed. "(Come here!)" He grabbed the thing that had just escaped and held it out for Fudge to see. It was a little cat! It was mostly white with a brown head and back.
"Oh, my gosh! Is this real?!" Fudge's face lit up as she reached out to pet the cat.
Luigi laughed. "Of course it is." His face became serious as she added, "You have done a lot of growing up this year with everything that has happened. We decided that you were ready." He had deemed Fudge unready to have a pet after her attempts to keep Hoppy had been a disaster. "We know you will be responsible and take good care of her."
"(And since Hoppy passed away, we thought it was time to get you a new pet)", Guido added.
Fudge was hardly listening, though. "It's so cute!"
"Yes", Luigi agreed. "And very naughty too. It took us so long to get back here because she did not want to get in that box."
Fudge giggled. "It's a girl?"
Luigi nodded. "Yes."
The human girl grinned at Sally, Flo and Lizzie. "Hear that, you guys? There's another girl around here!"
They laughed. When she was little, Fudge would often get upset when little boy tourists refused to let her play with them or when Mater and Lightning were going off to do something just the two of them since they were best friends.
"There are too many boys around here!" the angry girl would complain, sniffling. "We need more girls!"
"Yeah, well, we girls are just gonna have to stick together, aren't we, sweetie?" Sally, Flo and Lizzie would often respond.
They would- and still did- often had girls' days and girls' nights, which Fudge enjoyed immensely.
Anyway, back to the cat, Fudge was so excited that she couldn't stop giggling and couldn't take her eyes off her or her hand off her soft fur.
"So, Fudge!" Ramone got her attention. "What are you gonna name her?"
Fudge hesitated, still petting the cat. "I don't know. It's gotta be something good."
Luigi stroked her hair. "I am sure it will be."
"Hey, Fudge!" Lightning called out. He had a paper bag with him. "These are all for you too."
Inside the bag were things like cat food, cat toys, a pale blue collar and various other things a cat might need or want.
Fudge took a long piece of string out of the bag and dangled in front of the cat, who was immediately interested. She stood on her hind legs to bat it and when Fudge moved away with the string, dragging it across the ground, the cat chased it. Everyone laughed.
Fudge smiled. "This has been the best Christmas ever!"
Everyone else returned the smile. "It really has", most of them agreed pretty much in unison.
Then Fudge looked around at her family and gave a content sigh. "Merry Christmas, guys."
"Merry Christmas, Fudge."
Lightning had watery eyes (but that could've just been his allergy to cat hair, which also explained why he'd been having sleepovers with Mater for the last couple of days!).
A couple of days later came New Year's Eve, which meant two things. One, Fudge would be returning to the hospital in a couple of days. Since the sixth was the anniversary of the accident, the doctors wanted to do another check-up on her. Two, there was a party going on in Radiator Springs to celebrate the New Year. With the eventful year they'd had and Fudge still not supposed to be overexerting herself, this party was going to be a lot more mellow than ones in the past. Only the RS gang would be there. However, some people had a couple of other things they needed to do first.
"Hey, guys!" Fudge responded to the beeping in her watch.
"Hey, Fudgsicle!" Sammy returned the greeting. "How's it going?"
"Okay. Thanks." She filled them in on her latest physical therapy session. "What about you?"
"We're very well, thank you", Finn responded. "It's just gone midnight here. but we just wanted to wish you a happy new year."
"Happy New Year!"
"We certainly hope 2014 is a much better for you and your family", Holley remarked.
"Yeah. Me too. Oh!" Fudge exclaimed abruptly. "I forgot to tell you! I came up with a name for my cat!" She had told her secret agent friends all about her new cat.
"Really?" Sammy was interested. "What?"
Fudge started giggling. "Jennyfur."
"What?" Sammy asked incredulously.
"Jennyfur", Fudge repeated.
"Jennifer?" Finn echoed.
"Jenny... fur!" Fudge explained. "You get it? Because she's a cat!"
There was a moment of silence.
Finally, Sammy started laughing. "That's pretty funny."
Even Holley and Finn had to smirk. After everything that had happened, it felt good to laugh over something as silly as that.
"Listen, we have to go now", Finn announced ruefully. "We've got another mission, but we'll talk to you on the sixth, all right?"
"All right", Fudge agreed. "Thanks for calling!"
"Happy New Year!" the agents chorused.
"Happy New Year!"
Meanwhile, outside, it was dark in Radiator Springs, but Lightning could still see where he was going. He never thought that he would need real headlights, but now that he had them, he was glad he did. There was no way he could get to his destination without them. Even though there were the stars and the moonlight, this place was hidden away. That way, members of the general public would never find it. The townsfolk made that agreement years ago to prevent it from becoming overrun with people who didn't really understand. It was the stone they had put up for Doc, even though he'd been cremated.
"Hey, Doc!" Lightning greeted the grave brightly.
He- well, all of the RS gang- talked to Doc's headstone every now and then just like they all talked to Stanley's statue on occasion, despite the headstone not being the only place they could feel Doc's presence.
"Well, it's New Year's Eve again and it's been one hell of a year." He gave a weak chuckle. "I guess that was mostly my fault." He paused. "Okay. It was entirely my fault. I'm sorry. I guess I should've listened to you when you told me not to take Fudge racing." Tears of shame came to the stock car's eyes. "I'm really sorry I did this to her, but I think she's come through this quite well. Doc, wherever you are, I sure hope you can see her", Lightning sobbed. "We're all so damn proud of her. And I know you would be too."
He talked to Doc for a little while longer with his parting words being, "I know everything worked out in the end, but I'm hoping next year is a smoother road. Let's hope 2014's a much better year for all of us. Thanks for helping me through this tough year, Doc."
When he returned to town, drying the last of his tears, everyone smiled at him.
"So", Sally began, "now that everyone's here, what do you say we get this party started?"
"Yeah!" Fudge looked around. "It looks like it's getting pretty dark..."
Lightning grinned at the fire truck and Model T over at the curio shop. "Red? Lizzie? You know what to do."
Of course they did. They switched the radio on and the song "What a Feeling" by Irene Cara started up. One by one, the neon lights of the town flickered on along with Fudge's bubble machine and the cars started cruising up and down the streets. It was just like that magical night seven and a half years earlier right before Lightning was found and left to go to California.
Out of nowhere, Guido scooped Fudge up, who yelped in surprise. "(Come and dance, Fudgie!)" He took off, twirling her around to her delight.
As the thirteen-year-old was spun around and she danced and laughed with her family, a huge wave of happiness swept over her. She had made it to the end of a difficult year and they were celebrating. What a feeling it was.
The cruising, dancing and laughing went on for a couple of hours before Flo insisted that they moved inside.
"Midnight's comin' up and we gotta make sure we're ready for the toast!" the ex-show car explained.
However, when they all looked around, there was one member of their little group missing.
"Where did Fudge go?" Flo wondered.
Nobody had seen her leave, but they could see that her bedroom light was on.
"I'll get her", Lightning offered. "I really wanna talk to her before midnight."
Nobody objected.
When Lightning got up to Fudge's bedroom, she was sat on the bed, petting Jennyfur, who was curled up next to her, fast asleep.
"Hey, Fudge-O."
Fudge looked up and smiled, still keeping her hand on Jennyfur. "Hey..."
"You okay?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Because you're up in here instead of at the party with the rest of us."
"I just needed a moment to myself."
"What are you doing?" Lightning wanted to know. "If you don't mind me asking."
"Just thinking."
"About what?"
"What a year it's been." She showed him the brief summary of the year she'd created in her journal with some help from Luigi, which looked like this:
January 6- Accident happens (don't remember it)
February 8- Hoppy died
February 28- Opened my eyes for first time since accident
March 28- Wake up from coma
April 21- Papà's engine attack
May 17- Come home from hospital
June 1- Find out I have to spend birthday in hospital
June 16- MY BIRTHDAY! Fudge Rossi-Topolino Birthday Bonanza
June 24- July 1- Caribbean cruise
August 7- Go missing
August 9- Found by Lightning
August 20- Start physical therapy
September 21- Walk again, Lightning and Luigi make up
October 5- Lightning racing again
October 26- First interview
November 4- Start doing interviews, travel round country for that
November 28th- Thanksgiving
December 25- CHRISTMAS! Get headset from Lightning for job as crew chief and Jennyfur (cat)
December 31- New Year
"I know", McQueen agreed. "It's been crazier than a road lizard."
"What?!" Fudge launched into giggles. She had heard her family say countless weird, surprising and/or funny things, but never had she heard Lightning say anything like that.
"Never mind", Lightning answered hurriedly with an embarrassed smile.
"Well, that kind of ruined what I was about to tell you was my favourite part of this year."
"What was your favourite part of this year?"
"After all that... you know... I really feel like I know you a lot better."
Lightning couldn't help smiling. "I feel like I know you a lot better too."
"Until you said that!" Fudge added with a laugh.
The stock car laughed too.
"Anyway, I know it's been a hell of a year", he went on. "I think I've cried more this year than in the last ten years."
"I guess it's been an emotional rollercoaster, huh?"
"Yeah... But I'm glad everything worked out in the end."
"Me too. I sure hope 2014's a bit better for us", Fudge added.
"Well, we do have some big plans. There's a new Piston Cup season coming up- with you as my new crew chief", he added, "and we're going to Australia and New Zealand in April."
It was Mark "Frosty" Winterbottom's turn to host the racers, so he had something special in mind. With Australia and New Zealand so far away from the others, it may be their only chance to go there. So, he decided to take them all on a tour of both countries.
"You're gonna love it!" Frosty had promised.
"I always want to go Australia", Carlos Vega declared dreamily. "I hope you... excited in... Radiator Springs!"
Lightning had nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, we are, especially Sally." Sally, in particular, had always wanted to go to Australia.
"We can't wait to see you again, McQueen!" Rip Clutchgoneski had proclaimed.
Lenny Zbikowski nodded in agreement. "We certainly have missed you."
"And Fudge!" Carla Veloso had added.
"Ja!" Max Schnell had agreed. "We are all excited to see how well your cheerleader has recovered from her terrible accident!"
"We all knew you would recover", Sebastian Freudenberger had put in, "but it is so wonderful that it has now happened!"
"And Francesco can't wait to beat McQueen again!" Francesco Bernoulli had teased.
Lightning had chuckled and rolled his eyes. "After the worst year of my life, I'm glad to see some things haven't changed!"
Even better, since Lightning wanted his international racing buddies to meet his local racing buddies, Bobby and Cal were coming too! The best part of all, though, was that all of the racers had unanimously agreed to donate the proceeds to kids recovering from accidents like Fudge's. That had delighted Fudge to no end.
"And I'm going to Italy with Luigi and Guido before that", Fudge added. They were visiting their relatives as they often did.
Lightning gave her a hug. "As long as you keep getting better, it should be a great year."
"Speaking of getting better, I'm going back to the hospital soon, aren't I?"
"Yeah. Just for a check-up."
"I know. At least it's just a check-up. I'll be home soon. Besides, I guess I can't really do anything about it. Might as well just make the best of it."
"Yeah. Wow, you've really achieved your new year's resolution this year."
"I have?" Last New Year felt like such a long time ago that she couldn't even remember what her resolution was.
"Yeah, you wanted to be more positive, remember? I know this year's been hard on you and there were lots of times when you felt like giving up, but you never did. And we're all so proud of you for that."
Fudge beamed.
"And we all know I've done mine!" he joked.
"What was yours again?"
"I wanted to spend more time with you guys."
"Oh, yeah."
"Well, it's nearly midnight", Lightning announced, glancing at Fudge's clock to see that it read 11:52. "We should probably go over to Flo's. But first, I want you to know I am so glad you're still here and I'm really sorry I caused all these problems for you."
"It's all right", Fudge assured him as he gave her a hug. Again, she didn't think it was all right that it happened, but she just wished he would stop feeling so guilty.
The two were silent for a couple of minutes, hugging, before Lightning kissed her gently and repeated, "We should probably go."
"Yeah", Fudge agreed, returning the kiss.
Everyone inside the café was crowded around the TV with party blowers, waiting for midnight to come.
"There you two are!" Flo cried when Lightning and Fudge came into the café. She handed them each a drink. "We were just gonna come lookin' for you!"
"Well, we're here", Lightning pointed out.
"Here we are!" Fudge added, giggling.
"Well, here we all are", Sarge announced.
"Let's hope it's a better year next year", Luigi added.
"I'm sure it will be", Ramone assured him.
"Well, you never know", Luigi muttered.
"True", Sally acknowledged, "but we can't think like that."
"Ten!" everyone shouted abruptly. "Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One!"
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!" everyone hollered in unison.
Lightning and Sally kissed. Flo and Ramone kissed. Luigi and Guido kissed Fudge. 2013 was over, but 2014 looked promising for them and the townsfolk of Radiator Springs were all ready for whatever came their way.
"All right, everybody!" Flo shouted once all of the commotion had died down. "You know what to do!"
They sure did. Everyone was raising their drinks.
"To 2014!" the café owner cried.
"To 2014!" everyone else echoed, clinking their cans.
Fudge grinned along with the cars around her. "It's gonna be a great year! I can feel it!"
The first thing Fudge did when the toast was over was rush to the phone to call the spies. Since they had called her hours earlier and wished her a happy new year at London's midnight, she wanted to return the favour.
As they had done the previous year, the RS gang lounged around until the early hours of the morning to discuss their resolutions and plans for the year. Again, Fillmore wanted to spread more peace and love. Luigi wanted to make sure he could balance his work life and his family life (which the others found odd because nobody had ever doubted that he could), but still take it easy after his engine attack. Lightning wanted to make sure the important people in his life knew that they were important to him.
"And I", Fudge declared, "want to live every day as if it's my last. By surviving the accident, I feel like I've been given a second chance at life and I shouldn't waste it. That's why I'm gonna live the rest of my life to the fullest with no regrets!"
Everyone smiled.
Fudge had no idea if anybody had come right out and suggested it, but the entire Radiator Springs population was gathered up at the Wheel Well to watch the sun rise.
"There's nothing like sunrise over Ornament Valley!" they often pointed out to each other and the tourists.
Nobody talked to or looked at each other for the most part. Just feeling each other's presence- and Doc's close by- was enough for them in this content moment. A challenging year had come to an end and a new year full of possibilities lay ahead. None of their lives would ever be the same after Fudge's accident, but they knew that this was the most normal things were ever going to get for them. Even though Fudge feared going back to the hospital in a couple of days, she just enjoyed this moment. What a feeling it was. What a feeling, indeed.
"Are you okay, Fudgie?" Luigi broke the silence at one point.
"Yeah. Why?"
"You look like you have something on your mind." He kissed her gently. "Something you want to say."
"Yeah", she admitted. "I need to ask Lightning something."
"Sure." Lightning stroked her hair. "Anything."
Fudge looked him straight in the eye and asked him with a perfectly straight face, "What's a road lizard?"
Lightning gave her a soft smile and a chuckle as he stroked her hair, but he didn't answer.
Before long, the sun was all the way up and a matter of minutes after that, the cars and human of Radiator Springs began to drift off one by one until every last one of them was fast asleep under the early morning sun. As they all slept, every single one of them saw Doc's face smiling at them and they could hear his gravelly voice.
"You're all gonna be fine", he assured them. "Just fine."
The End
That's a wrap! I can't believe the story's over!
Just some little notes:
First of all, I like how Fudge gets a cat. I love cats! As I'm sure you all know, I had a cat and she was my best friend, so I wanted Fudge to experience the same joys.
I've also done some volunteer work in catteries because I want to work in one and there was a cat named Jennyfur. That name just cracked me up, so that's what I named Fudge's cat.
Second of all, the "crazier than a road lizard" is something Owen Wilson says (and you may have noticed I make a lot of Owen Wilson references; he's my favourite actor for obvious reasons), I know it's OOC for Lightning, but I thought that's why it's funny! XD
Well, I hope y'all enjoyed this story. I will be posting Cars 3 soon, but, to go in chronological order, I'll post my Planes ones first, which will feature some new OCs (you've already met one of them briefly). Plus, I've got a couple of Ride companion fics. So, I hope you'll enjoy that. In the meantime, please let me know if you liked this one.