Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Doc had known the kid was big, but the amount of news coverage and people who came to Radiator Springs was just excessive. No wonder the kid had a big head, everyone was all over him. Doc had been part of the racing world too though and he knew how it was. Those people didn’t really care about that kid or who he really was. They wanted their entertainment, news coverage, attention, and to just use him. Even those that idolized him did not see that deep down, Lightning McQueen needed help, character building, a shift in priorities, and even guidance. It was at this time that Doc began to deeply regret delivering the kid back to the world. After all, that is what he was. A kid. A kid whose personal growth had been stunted by being given everything he could imagine with no consequences and maybe in other ways he had grown up too fast having to learn a new famous lifestyle without a good foundation to go on. Why had Doc done it? He had wanted the kid and his racing world nowhere near him but allowed Sally to convince him and the town to have some consequences for ruining the road. It had turned out good for the kid, but as soon as he got too close for comfort for Doc, he had gotten rid of him.

Doc had just considered Lightning the spoiled and arrogant brat he was when he first showed up in town. That boy thought of only himself. Doc didn’t think of him as anything different until he saw the town’s reactions to him leaving. He was doing the town a favor wasn’t he? Getting rid of the kid that only knew how to use others for his own gain like the rest of the world. This small town didn’t need to be hurt anymore.

“It’s best for everyone, Sally.”

“It’s best for everyone, or best for you?” Sally’s reply struck something in Doc.

He didn’t want that kid to hurt her, but instead he ended up being the one who hurt everyone. Sally knew about the world. She had been a big lawyer before retreating to Radiator Springs. If someone as careful and calculating as her would let someone into her heart, then Lightning McQueen couldn’t be as bad as he thought.

“I didn’t even get so say goodbye.” Doc knew Mater wore his heart on his sleeve. He had just had his friend taken away. That kid had wanted to leave so bad when he first got here. Only talking about his big race and even blew Mater off, but Mater never held a grudge. Doc got the feeling that he should have read a page out of Mater’s book to life.

The town had opened and accepted the kid. With the loss of him, everyone started to go back inside all heartbroken. Quickly the town turned to darkness, leaving Doc staring out into what was. Even the traffic light above him turned back to its old ways of the constant yellow flashing. Maybe that kid was just what the town needed. A fresh young change. What was so wrong with it? Lightning McQueen had learned to respect the old and what was there but brought a new life back into the old town.

Doc’s debating with himself went on for quite some time through the night and early hours of the morning. It always ended the same though. Lightning McQueen had come to Radiator Springs as misguided and inconsiderate, faced consequences, and became a more caring and responsible person, but had then been pushed out of the town. There were two relationships Doc had ruined. One was between him and the kid, which there never was a one besides that he disliked the kid and the kid him, until he learned who Doc was. The other was between Doc and the town. Neither the town nor Lightning McQueen had wanted him to leave the town. So, Doc figured that the best way to try to solve this was to invite the kid back himself.

~

Like Doc, Lightning had some different words ringing in his head. “You’re a big shining star. You’re a super star. you don’t belong there, anyway.” These were the words Harv said that Lightning couldn’t let go. This kind of talk just a week ago would have kept confirming all that Lightning was told about himself from everyone. It would have boosted his confidence and given him the feeling that he was loved by all, but now it just made him feel uncomfortable and sick to his stomach.

'I don’t belong there? Funny. Because that was the only place, I ever felt like I belonged.' Lightning began to think of more times that Harv had blown him off. When was the last time anyone had wanted to go do something with him? He had gone to parties, but people wanted his autograph and picture and then talk about his racing. He didn’t have friends, just fans.

Harv had found Lightning when he was young at fifteen, signing off on him so he could start to learn racing. Lightning never talked about his parents and was shut down whenever they came up. Looking back, Harv had him convinced that his parents were holding him back growing up and he was mature enough to do things on his own. Lighting had bought all of this until this last week, at the age of seventeen, Doc had treated him like a kid. Lightning didn’t realize how much he craved having a person to guide him and treat him his age until now.

Realizing that Doc, like everyone else, didn’t want him, he might as well go to the only other place he felt at home. The racetrack. It hurt that Doc wouldn’t train him, but Lightning understood why not. He was a jerk when he rolled into town and had no respect for Doc. Only finding out who Doc was and his accomplishments in life had changed that. That was not a good reason to be nice to someone. Rather it seemed like sucking up so of course Doc had thrown him out. Maybe that was a big reason of why Doc hadn’t told the town who he was. The town would have treated him differently, but after they found out he was still just Doc to them. And thus, was how Lightning also got a lesson in treating people as people and not by who they were or what they had done.

There was one race left in the season and then Lightning could reevaluate his life and future. For now, he was going to return to his old life with the aspects and outlook of his new life.

Chapter Text

It was the day of Lightning McQueen’s big race. Doc had battled with himself overnight on how to go about meeting up with Lightning and bringing him back. He didn’t want to cause a big scene and be recognized, so he would avoid the big race. After this race, Lightning would be done for the season and then he would just have training. Doc didn’t need to mess anything else up for the kid so he would wait until after the race to contact him. For now, the town had gathered to watch the race on a tv that was placed on a cart on the porch of Lizzie’s. Doc didn’t expect to be welcomed after last night, and he wasn’t, but he wanted to talk to Sheriff. Sally definitely saw him as she side eyed him walking over, although she didn’t acknowledge him. Flo gave him a soft pitiful smile and offered him a drink which he politely shook his head no to. Sheriff, ever forgiving, gestured to the open lawn chair beside him and doc refused, shaking his head again. He stood in the back behind them all, on the other side of the porch. Crossing his arms over the railing and resting his chin on his arms he was content to watch.

Maybe it was Doc’s way of punishing himself. Not thinking he deserved to be included until he settled his guilt and fixed what he had done. The town’s overall welcoming to him after all he had done only made his guilt greater though and he vowed to not put off bringing the kid back after the race.

The rest of the town saw Lighting on the track staying relatively close to the other racers. Doc’s trained eye saw a distracted driver who was not really in the race, rather, driving automatically. He also saw a lot of determined targeting coming from the racer Chick Hicks. A protectiveness that Doc didn’t quite understand came about him and anger ran through him. Hicks easily sped up and ahead after another brief moment of tormenting McQueen where he seemed to be talking to him through the coms. Doc stood with eyebrows furrowed and glared at the green car.

“Hey, how did they get color into that thing?” Lizzie blurted out referring to the tv. A soft chuckle was emitted through the small crowd and Doc couldn’t hold back a small smile. The old woman may have some early memory problems, but she was doing real good for her age. Doc suspected she may even outlive him one day.

Sarge caught sight of an American flag on the tv that was placed in the wrong spot on a stand and was venting to Fillmore his frustrations on the lack of respect for the flag and how fewer and fewer people were taught flag etiquette these days. Fillmore responded with something along the lines of maybe those people needed a sip of his “organic fuel.” Doc didn’t even want to try to figure out how those two got along.

The sun beat down on Doc making him a bit drowsy as the race was also slow with little action. The race was between the King and Hicks for the time being while Lightning made no moves in the back yet. Doc looked around more and his eyes landed on Red. Red was often overlooked. A firefighter who had some past traumas and retreated to Radiator Springs. Doc tried to remember the last time he heard the man speak and couldn’t recall. The man was quite content taking care of his garden, and at this time, just being involved in the group. Red also liked to people watch and seemed to live through other people. There was a lot the man brought to the town and his value was easily overlooked. Sally specifically went out of her way to interact with the man and compliment him on his work. Red could make someone’s whole day with a smile and Sally loved it when she could get one out of the man. He often hung around Lizzie who would do most of the talking.

It was nearing the middle of the race and Lightning had only made a few moves in attempt to get ahead which were aggressively blocked by Hicks. If there was any chance of winning this race, Lightning should start to think about looking for openings to get ahead and stay there.

Sheriff was sitting directly in front of Doc on the porch and leaned his head back in the lawn chair to get a look at him. Doc looked down to meet his eyes.
“Comfortable out there?”

Doc didn’t bother to engage in that topic as he knew Sheriff could read that something was wrong. “Kid needs to start thinking about getting around those two.”
“You know, this seat is still open.”

Doc sighed. ‘So, Sheriff really isn’t going to let this go.’ “Yeah, I know.” Sheriff waited to give Doc a chance to add anything else before accepting that Doc was not and looked back toward the tv. Doc looked at his hands. He knew Sheriff wasn’t angry with him and would talk anything out with him, but he just couldn’t bring himself to join the rest of the town on the porch until he had fixed what he had done.

As it was nearing the end of the race, Doc began to watch more closely. The kid seemed a bit more focused now as he knew it was now or never for this race, yet he still didn’t drive like he had his whole heart in it. Doc wished the kid would get into the game. He was driving around the track at around two hundred m/h trying to pass aggressive cars all while being distracted. Lightning tricked Hicks and was able to get to the side of him and then brake while Hicks tried to slam into his side. As Hicks went one way, Lightning went behind and up around the other side. He was then able to get to the side of the King. It was the last lap and Hicks was not about to lose. Lightning blocked his attempt at passing and Hicks in turn ran up into Lightning’s back tire. With the back tire being hit forward and the right back tire not, the front right end was turned into the King who was pushed into the wall and pinned. As the 95 was at an angle it immediately began to roll and became airborne. Wherever it hit, the sides crunched in on itself on the ground as its own weight had such a magnitude of force behind it.

Everyone in Radiator Springs could not tear their eyes off the scene in front of them. The car just didn’t seem to slow down and every time it hit the ground; everyone felt an extreme dread. Doc knew exactly how it felt to be in that car. The 95 kept spinning violently in the air and bouncing forward until finally the height of the roll started to decrease and it just kept rolling quickly forward. The only thing that stopped that car was the cement wall it smashed into on the other side of the track. Doc’s heart dropped and he wasn’t even sure it was beating. He felt sick. He stood with his forehead set down on his arms which were still crossed on the thick wooden porch rail.

Chapter Text

No one said anything. It seemed like forever before the wail of the sirens came over the tv as the emergency crew rushed onto the track and toward the car. The car lacked any definite shape at this point, and it was hard to imagine it was even the same sleek car it had been a few moments ago. Smoke billowed from it and the crew rushed to get McQueen out as there was a fire threat.

“Doc, tell me he’s going to be ok.” Sally turned to Doc with a quiver in her voice. To some it would sound as almost a threat, but Doc knew it was fear in her voice. As the town doctor everyone turned to him.

Doc desperately tried to pull himself together as the attention was directed to him. The town turned to him for answers he did not have. He was frantically trying to quell his own memories brought up with the site and his own anxiety for the kid’s health.

“What’s wrong with Doc?” said Mater who also sounded shaken up for his best friend.

Doc was brought back into the moment and realized that he was breathing rather heavily. He took a few minutes to steady his breath before lifting his head to look at the rest of the gathering.

“Doc….?” Flo started teary eyed. She didn’t know what she wanted to ask or how to phrase it. She just wanted to know Lighting was alright, but she knew that was unreasonable to ask Doc as he knew just as much as all of them.

Sheriff tore his eyes off the tv and looked at Doc. The man looked to be in shock and on the verge of some sort of breakdown. It hurt Sheriff just as much as everyone else to see the young boy they loved in the accident and to not know whether he was dead or alive as he was rushed to the hospital. But Sheriff had a tough job and was used to needing to pull himself together quickly in situations like this.

“Everybody, I know this is hard right now, but we need to just stay calm. We don’t know anything right now. All we know is that our boy is already receiving care right now and going to a hospital to get more care. We need to just remember that until we hear anything else.”

Red was softly crying as Lizzie rubbed his back. No one was quite sure she knew what had happened, but she sure knew how to be there for them. Ramone had an arm wrapped around his wife, Flo’s, back and his head in her shoulder while pulling her close to him and another hand gently on the back of her neck. Flo was quietly praying with a quivering voice to please let her baby be alright. Luigi and Guido hugged with Luigi mournfully crying as Guido solemnly watched the tv. Sally busied herself with comforting Mater to be there for her friend but also to serve as a distraction to her own fears.

Sheriff read the towns emotions as fear, grief, and anxiety decided it was time he dealt with is friend. As long as the town was not in hysterics, they needed time to process what they just saw. Sheriff would process later. Right now, he got up and off the porch, grabbing Doc’s elbow. They walked to Doc’s house and stepped inside. Sheriff sat Doc down at the kitchen table. Doc immediately propped his elbows on the table and covered his eyes with his hands. Sheriff turned and got him a glass of water and set it down at the table. Resting his hand on Doc’s back and the other on the table he took in the site of his friend. Doc was still having a more desperate breathing along with tear streaks down his face. The man wasn’t crying which was almost scarier as the tears were from such stress that they just came down his face.

“Paul, take a drink.” Sheriff rubbed Doc’s back trying to bring him to the present. Doc gulped and took a deep breath trying again to calm himself. He didn’t move yet, and Sheriff was afraid that he would put himself into a panic again if he didn’t do something to bring himself back, so he tried again. “Paul.”

Doc startled as he took in a deep breath and lifted his head and glanced at the water before picking it up with a shaky hand and taking a sip. The cool water helped bring himself back to the present. Sheriff could hear the shaky, but calmer breathing from inside the cup that Doc drank. Deciding that Doc was stable now, he pulled up a seat and sat next to him. Sheriff didn’t say anything. He let Doc gather himself quietly as he watched with arms crossed against his chest and leaned back in the chair.

“Sorry. Just brought up memories.” Doc addressed Sheriff without making eye contact before closing his eyes and facing his head up. “Lord, please let that kid be alive.” Sheriff gave a silent amen to that. Doc slowly blew out another breath from his mouth. “I need to see him.”

Sheriff was confused at that unexpected statement. “You need to see him?”

“I need to know he’s alright.”

Sheriff replied with a chuckle that lacked any humor. “We all want to see him.”

Doc had a strange tone in his voice that was almost desperate for Sheriff to understand him and read between the lines. “No, you don’t understand. I did this to him.” Sheriff paused at that and had to think over his response. He wasn’t quite sure what Doc was referring to. Of course, it wasn’t the man’s fault, but he didn’t know how Doc had put together that it was his fault.

“Paul, you weren’t even there. How could it be your fault.” Sheriff had a calm steady voice.

Doc paused before giving his painful answer. “I called and told the press where he was. I kicked him out of town, and he was distracted driving because of me.”

Sheriff had already put two and two together about Doc calling the press. Who else would have and Doc had been punishing himself mentally all day for it. “He was going to go to the race anyway, Paul. Either way he would have been there. Only thing you did was call his ride for him a bit early. Maybe no one is super happy about the way it turned out and that you called them, but I know why you did it.”

Doc didn’t have much to say after that. Sheriff continued. “You know that Hicks was playing dirty on the track. Probably been picking on the kid all year. You had nothing to do with what happened and you can’t help that he was distracted. As for calling the press on him, maybe you need to solve that out with him.”

Doc had been calmed considerably after their talk. “I need to start figuring out where they took the kid. What hospital he’s in and then I am going to go see him.” Seeing that Doc was alright and was going to be busy, Sheriff excused himself letting Doc know that he would be with the others. Doc was already looking up numbers and contacts to figure out where the kid was being kept and what condition he was in.

Sheriff headed back to the rest of the town. He did as much as he could for Doc at the time being and now the rest of his town needed him.

~

Lightning couldn’t stop thinking about the town. He was filled with regret about how he acted. Getting out of his trailer he felt full of shame. He hadn’t noticed how his peers ignored him before. Why wouldn’t they? He treated them like they were inferior. The fans and reporters around him only made him feel worse. He used to crave their attention, but now he was embarrassed about the kind of man he had shown the world he was. An arrogant and mean one. He knew he would need to build a lot of trust and work to gain any real friends here.

He was somehow able to get around the reporters and make his way into the main building that was used as a spot for racers to crew chiefs. He felt utterly alone. Everyone had crew chiefs they were close to and people were all together. He was obviously alone and had never been terribly bothered by it until now.

“Lightning.” The King greeted him while filling up a paper cup at the orange water cooler. Lightning’s heart swelled. The King had always shown Lightning forgiveness and love even though every time he was walked all over and never given respect back. He even shared racing and life tips. Lightning had never wanted to be like this man more who had unending patients and grace.

“Good morning, King.” The King looked back at the boy and studied him for a second and Lightning felt as if he was completely transparent. The king heard an obvious change in the boy as his greeting was heartfelt. Lightning felt raw after a night of soul searching and discovering he needed and had a big change.

“Radiator Springs, huh? How did you ever end up there?”

“It’s a long story actually.” Lightning chuckled.

“Why don’t you come join me and tell me about it.”

Lightning smiled and followed the King to join him, his wife, and his sponsor. It felt so good to be welcomed and able to have a good conversation with caring people. Later, they wished each other luck as they parted ways to find their cars and head to the track.

This was the last race of the season, and all Lightning could think about was his friends at Radiator Springs. He felt a lot better after being welcomed by the King, his wife, and sponsor, but he still felt like an imposter in his old life. He almost felt embarrassed to be here after he had acted and treated everyone over the last racing season. His mind ran in circles as he went through the race. Toward the end he realized he really needed to get his head in the game if he wanted to win this. He started working on getting around Hicks who wasn’t afraid of hitting to block him. Lightning backed off. He would try again a couple times later.

Lightning felt a little surge of pride when he was finally able to outsmart Hicks. He blocked him from trying to regain his position and Hicks out of pure fury, ran Lightning’s back tire at an angle. Lightning felt himself lose control of the car. There was a long moment where he was jammed at an angle between Hick’s and the King’s car. He knew going almost sideways at around two hundred miles an hour would lead to no easy stop and he felt paralyzed as the car left the ground. Everything after that happened so fast that Lightning wasn’t even able to process anything except that he was violently being thrown around, an extreme fear, and a pressure in his head. He didn’t remember anything after that.

The King was able to slow down his car to a stop without any more damage or rolling it himself. Hicks never stopped. He went straight for the finish line. Some cameras and people saw him cross, but most people and every tv only showed the smoking 95. The King got out on wobbly legs and started walking to the 95 as fast as his shocked body would allow. He needed to see if the kid was alive.

“Let me ride with.” The emergency crew never stopped their hustle.

“No room.”

“Just where are you taking him?” the King settled for.

“Closest Mayo.”

The King backed off to let them close the doors and take off. He knew where Lightning was going, and you could bet he would go to that hospital as soon as he could.

Chapter Text

Strip, The King, Weathers would not admit to anyone that he knew where Lightning McQueen was being taken. He only told Tex and his wife Lynda. The last thing the kid needed was the press all over him. His wife convinced him to wait at least two hours, that were filled with frantic pacing, before calling the hospital. When he did, he facepalmed. They wouldn’t give him any information as he was not a contact in Lightning’s medical records and there were HIPPA rules. 'Of course, there are. But then again if they could give out information to anyone then the press would be having a hay day wouldn’t they.' Strip knew where he was. He would go to the hospital later and see if he could get in somehow.

~

Doc had done a lot of digging that day and found that a Harv was Lightning’s agent. After a lot of pulling strings and more sharing of his identity than he had done in over twenty years, Doc had finally got a hold of Harv. Harv instantly gave Doc a bad impression. The man had his mind on other things than the wellbeing of a kid in the hospital whose status was unknown. Doc was surprised the man even picked up his phone. The impression he got from others he had talked to was that Harv had taken Lightning into his legal custody and was in charge. You would think that someone who was willing to take someone else into legal custody cared for them, but Doc had the feeling that Harv saw the kid more as a source of income. The man seemed irritated. Probably angry that his star was out of commission for the time being. Doc convinced Harv to allow him on the visitors list which wasn’t terribly hard to do. Writing down the hospital, Doc hung up the phone and started throwing some clothes in a suitcase along with whatever else his mind thought of. Throwing it all in the backseat, he drove to where everyone was still gathered on the front porch.

It was obvious to everyone that there was a change in Doc. They could see the purpose and determination in his eyes. Originally, he was just going to let Sheriff know he would be gone, but the rest of the town didn’t give him the privacy.

“Is he going to be alright Doc?” Mater yelled over the porch to where Doc was stepping out of the front seat. Originally, Doc wasn’t going to give much of a response but when he looked up he was met with everyone’s pleading eyes.

“I’m going to go find out,” he responded while walking to where Sheriff had stepped off the porch to come meet him.

“I’m coming with you.” Sally outright told Doc.

“Oh boy, this will be fun.” Doc thought and had to hold himself back from grimacing. This is why he wanted to quietly leave.

“No, you’re staying here.” At that response, anger flashed across Sally’s face. Doc silently motioned for her to come off the porch and come talk with him. Doc took a step back toward the car to give him and Sally a little privacy from the rest of the crowd on the porch.

“The kid doesn’t need everyone in town in his room right now and if you go everyone else will want to as well. They need you here right now. It was hard enough for me to get myself on the list of people who can get access to him, so you won’t be able to see him anyways if you go.” Doc began trying to reason with Sally. He watched her face go from determination to consideration. There was a moment where Sally let this run through her head to fight her feelings with the reasoning she had been given.

“I can stay in a hotel until I can come see him,” she said but it sounded like she knew she had lost.

“How about this,” Doc settled, “you’re the first person I call when I find out anything.” Sally nodded.

“Alright. I’m holding you to that.” Doc nodded. “Doc,” Sally began, “would you give him this when you see him?” Sally surprised the man by pulling him down by the shoulders and leaning on her tip toes to reach up and kiss his cheek.

Doc’s lip twitched up, “don’t think it will be quite the same coming from me, but I’ll give it to him.” Sally smiled and surprised Doc again by wrapping her arms around him in a hug which was then returned with a soft pat to her back. He held her until she let go and walked back to the porch.

Sheriff walked over from where he had been watching. “So, what did you find out?”

“Not much. He’s at the Mayo over there and press doesn’t know where he’s at yet so there should be some privacy for a while there.”

Sheriff nodded and him and the town wished Doc luck as he stepped into his car and took off out of town.

Doc had a long drive ahead of him. He was speeding a bit and planned on stopping as little as he could between Radiator Springs and the hospital. He started to run through what he could possibly need and discovered he had left quite a bit in his house. That was alright. He could buy new things and he was sure Sally would not be held off for very long. She could bring him things.
Doc realized he had no plan of how long he was staying. What was his plan? Would Lightning even want to see him? He guessed that he was just seeing how the kid was doing and telling him that Radiator Springs was open for him to come back to and even a place to heal if he needed it. He had no idea what state the boy was in after his accident.

Doc turned the radio on to a quiet volume. He was too preoccupied with his thoughts to listen to it, but at least it wasn’t completely silent in the car anymore. There was at least a nine-hour drive ahead of him and it was already about four pm. Doc debated stopping and staying the night somewhere as the hospital probably wouldn’t let him in at one in the morning or whatever time he would get there. He then decided to keep driving as he wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway. Stopping once for gas, Doc arrived in Los Angeles at once at around two in the morning and found the closest hotel. Having to talk himself into sleeping as there was nothing he could do at the moment anyway, Doc slept for a few hours before waking up at seven in the morning.

Calling ahead to the hospital, Doc found out he could come in and start on his paperwork to have access to McQueen. Digging through what little he remembered to pack, Doc came up with at least a toothbrush and his razor. Cleaning up a bit, he found he felt a bit more ready for his day. He had no idea what kind of situation he would be walking into as nothing on McQueen’s state had been released but he didn’t expect it to be too great after a crash like that. He had the news on in the background as he sat on his bed to tie his shoes. They were talking about McQueen’s wreck. Doc avoided looking at the tv, not wanting to see the gruesome scene again, but listened to what they had to say. No one knew anything so it was just all speculations and people putting their two cents into everything. Doc would never understand why everyone felt the need to share their opinions on things they didn’t know. Why not just admit they didn’t know anything and move on until they did?

He picked up his watch he had at the bedside table where he had set it before he slept. It was an older one, but quite beautiful with a leather strap. He put it around his left wrist. Muting the tv, the man grabbed his keys and jacket before locking the hotel room door behind him and heading to his car.

Chapter Text

Doc parked his car in the parking ramp of the hospital. It was cool and almost had a damp feeling in the lot from the cooler air of the night on all the concrete. He locked his car and jogged to the nearest door and stair well before hopping into the elevator there. It was a major hospital in the state and had many floors. Doc picked his among all the numbers and waited while the elevator rose. It dinged after a minute and Doc stepped out. It was still somewhat early but there were patients walking around as many had early appointments. Doc kept walking across the building, and it gradually started clearing out until there was almost no one. That was when he found what he was looking for. This was where the nurse on the phone told him to go. It was a more private wing of the hospital where he was told special cases go. He guessed McQueen was moved here to heal after coming out of the trauma unit in the ICU. At least he must be stable enough to have been moved.

There were only the nurses behind the front desk and one man in a plain blue jacket in front of them in the whole waiting room. Doc was thankful for a mostly empty room. Doc noticed the other man in the room had a small NASCAR logo on the bottom of his jacket and got a little concerned that the man was a fan. The jacket looked a little too clean and professional for a fan though. The man was very calm, but you could hear an underlying tone of frustration.

“I understand I am not an emergency contact, but I am a good friend of his.”

“I am sorry,” the nurse replied, “unless I get authorization from his guardian or he himself I cannot let you see him.” The nurse seemed to want the conversation to end, and Doc was sure they had been at it for a little bit now.

“So, he’s not awake I take it. Has he woken up at all yet? He must not have if you can’t ask him about me!” The man started off and the nurse closed her eyes briefly to regain herself.

“I am sorry, I cannot tell you anything about his current medical status at the moment as you are not one of his contacts and we have legal rules about sharing that information.” The nurse kept her tone professional, but Doc could tell this was not her first time telling the man this and he suspected they had been going in circles. In all honesty, Doc couldn’t believe he had gotten Harv to agree to let him see McQueen. He knew it was his name and legacy of the Fabulous Hudson Hornet that had won the man over.

“I was literally with him when he crashed though!” exclaimed the man. That statement had Doc eyeing the man again. He wouldn’t have thought anything of it except for the NASCAR logo. The shade of blue matched the Dinoco car that was on the track. It wasn’t too hard to remember as there were only three cars on the track that day.

“The King?” Doc questioned and the man turned around with a suspicious look on his face.

“Yeah,” the man cautiously confirmed.

“Paul Hudson the Fabulous Hudson Hornet.” Doc reached his hand out to shake with the man whose face lit up in shock and eagerly met his hand.

“Strip Weathers. It is a pleasure to meet you!” Strip told the older man. Doc didn’t miss the nurse’s subtle relief as Strip was distracted from their conversation.

“I saw your race yesterday,” Doc told Strip solemnly. Strip nodded in the same manner. “Were you hurt at all? Your car was pushed into that wall pretty hard,” Doc questioned.

Strip was taken back surprised, “Me?” he hadn’t thought about himself much through all this, “I am completely fine, just worried about McQueen.” Doc nodded understandingly. “I suppose that is why you’re here too isn’t it. McQueen.” Doc nodded again.

“I have your papers here Dr. Hudson,” the nurse said reaching out over the desk. She had heard Doc introduce himself and had been the one he talked to over the phone. Doc took a step forward and grabbed the papers and a pen and stepped into the sitting area to sign them. He was followed by Strip and both men sat down opposite each other. Doc grabbed a book and crossed his leg to be able to support the book to sign his papers on. Strip leaned forward with elbows on his knees and hands laxly folded between them.

“What brought you up here then? You saw the race; you know McQueen?” Strip shot off his questions eager for answers and to hear anything about the boy.

“He was in Radiator Springs for the time he was missing. I live there now,” Doc informed Strip.

“Ah you’re the doctor and judge he talked about,” Strip said with some pride at the recognition.

Doc looked up from his papers. “I’m sure he included some other choice descriptions among that,” Doc gave a small smile.

Strip shook his head no. “Actually, he seemed very fond of the whole town. You know, he was completely different when he came back. He was actually quite humble and even sweet. I guess that makes this all the harder because before he almost deserved it with how cocky he was but now it just seems cruel. I don’t know what happened to him when he was gone but man was it good.”

Doc’s heart clenched a little at that, but he pushed it down. “We had him doing some road work,” he smiled, “I guess some responsibility and consequences did good for him.”

“Road work!” Strip chuckled, “maybe I better send you my nephew sometime and you can put him to work too.” Doc chuckled and finished up signing his papers.

“You’re going to see him then?” Strip asked seriously.

Doc nodded. “I had to pull a lot of strings but talked his agent into getting me into his contacts list.”

Strip was confused. “Why does his agent have any say in it?”

“Apparently he is also Lightning’s guardian I am told,” Doc said uncertainly waiting to see if Strip could give him any more insight.

“Oh. You know, he never talked about his parents, and I’ve never seen him with anyone personal at that,” Strip thought looking into the distance. “I’ll have to get ahold of Tex to talk to Harv for me. I don’t think I have actually ever met Harv.” Strip followed Doc back to the front desk where he handed back his papers. Doc turned to Strip again as the nurse was processing his papers.

“Why don’t you take my number so we can stay in contact,” Doc told the other man. Strip pulled out his phone and they exchanged numbers.

“Alright, I’ll tell you what Tex comes up with for me,” Strip said waving his phone in the air.

“You do that. And nice to meet you again son,” Doc said shaking the man’s hand.

Strip returned the pleasantry and turned toward the door. He made it to the elevator before he gave a triumphant whisper of ‘yes’ accompanied by a small jump of excitement. He had just met his hero and got his phone number. He chastised himself for his boyish feelings in a serious time as now. He was able to compose himself before the elevator door opened but couldn’t wipe the small smile off his face. He felt a lot better knowing that Lightning would at least have someone with him for now. He had Tex dialed up on his phone before he even shut the car door.

“Tex….no I didn’t get to see him. I hope you and Harv get along good.”

Chapter Text

Doc waited for the nurse to finish with the paperwork. The room was silent save for the nurse’s typing and some distant method beeping of a heart monitor and some other machines. The floor was a tight knit carpet with grays and browns woven into it. It made the room smell slightly homier considering where they were. On the nurse’s station there was a bottle of hand sanitizer. Doc reached out and pumped a glob into his hand, mostly out of boredom, and rubbed it on his hands. The nurse’s station was a long half oval with a tall ridge that was just higher than the computers which sat on a large slab that went all the way across which served as the desk part. Two nurses currently sat in their comfy black chairs. One was higher than the other. On the ledge Doc noticed sticky notes in a fancy holder that assured only one came out at a time. His eyes also drifted to the calendar in the back with a few open shifts that needed to be picked up and a little plastic solar powered plant that swayed side to side with a smile on its face.

“Alright, you are all set,” the nurse gave a final click of her mouse and looked up. She had her strawberry blonde hair pulled back in a loose bun. Her face was done up in nude toned makeup and a dark eyeliner just across the top lids. Her name tag hung in the pocket of her scrubs on a retractable string which would allow her to pull it out and scan it at doors. The name read Angela. She got up, pushed her chair in, and came around the side to meet Doc.

“You can come with me now and I’ll show you to his room,” Angela led him down a hallway. The carpet ended and was replaced by a white hard paneled floor. It changed the environment and smelled like antiseptic in the cool air. The doors remained opened so that the nurses could hear any alarms or changes in monitors, but curtains surrounded the beds. A nurse came out of one door in front of them and moved to the next one doing rounds to check on the patients. A doctor slowly stepped out another door and finished writing on his clip board before nodding at Doc as Angela walked by and continued the other way down the hall. It was very quiet in the hallway besides the few sets of footsteps and the monitors.

Angela eventually slowed down and stopped at a thick wooden door that was open about an inch wide. “Here he is,” she looked at Doc. She gently pushed the door open and walked in. There was one curtain that was closed about two feet in front of the door that Angela pushed to the side to reveal the rest of the room. Doc’s eyes were immediately drawn to the bed where a small figure lay. Doc had prepared himself for this, but it still was hard to see since he had somewhat known the kid. He never would have thought it was McQueen on the bed if he didn’t already know. There were too many bandages to really tell. A large one covered his eyes and wrapped around his head. There was a ventilator and many monitors stuck on his finger and chest as well as head. His hand was wrapped in a cast and there was gauze taped over his ears. Doc couldn’t see much of the kid besides his blonde hair, which had streaks of pink washed out blood, that lay over the back and sides of the bandages around his head. Doc suddenly became conscious of Angela again and turned to see her watching him.

“Why don’t you sit with him, and I’ll get the doctor to come in and talk with you,” the nurse gestured to the fully cushioned chair that sat next to the hospital bed. She slowly shut the door behind her as Doc moved to sit down in the chair. He watched the door finish closing. The chair reminded him of one you would find in the waiting room. One of those weird mixed breeds of chairs that weren’t living room chairs but were not uncomfortable hard ones either. It had the shape of a hard one but was big and padded the whole way around and you could almost sink into it and sleep. Doc looked at his hands as the heart monitor methodically beeped and the ventilator gave a steady rhythm of air flow in and out. There was a clip board at the end of the bed which Doc took off the nail. It was the kids chart of important information and what they had been giving him. Doc, being a doctor, made his own analysis from the drugs shown. He came across the name on the papers. Montgomery McQueen.

“Montgomery?” Doc was surprised. He hadn’t thought much about Lightning’s name. He assumed it was a nickname but never speculated what his Christian name was. He gently put the clip board back on the nail and looked back at the boy.

“Montgomery, huh?” he whispered to the figure. The boy hadn’t moved at all save the steady rise and fall of his chest. Doc gently brushed his hand against the boy’s arm to discover it a little cool, so he pulled the thin blankets slightly higher around Lightning. He didn’t say anything after that. He sat leaned forward in the chair just taking the scene in front of him in.

A light wrapping on the door brought Doc out of his thoughts as he turned to see the doctor opening the door and slipping in.

Chapter Text

The doctor was fairly young. Maybe middle aged with thick dark hair and a beard to accompany it. His white coat swung around his thighs as he shut the door behind him.

“Dr. Paul Hudson?” the doctor asked softly as Doc nodded. “I am Dr. Van Wheelan.” They shook hands and the Dr. pulled up another chair that was in the room to sit next to Doc, slightly angled in toward the bed. He pulled a binder and iPad out from under his left arm and opened the iPad while setting the binder in the side of the seat between the arm and cushion. Pulling up the Radiology files he held the iPad between himself and Doc so they both could see the x-rays.

“I thought I would go over what I did with you. Well, he had a comminuted fracture in his left forearm which required some fixation using a couple screws. The left wrist also was sprained. His right arm had an incomplete oblique fracture which was incomplete so there was no reduction needed on that. There were some breaks in ribs five through eight on the left side as well. He must have hit against the door on the left side multiple times.” Dr. Wheelan scrolled through the scans of Lighting’s ribs.

“All the breaks non-displaced?” Doc asked, “no lung puncturing?”

“No! We got lucky there. His MRI showed nothing in the lungs either,” Dr. Wheelan continued, “His legs were mostly protected by the body of the car. He is pretty badly bruised all over.” Dr. Wheelan lifted the blanket to expose Lightning’s bare legs which protruded from his hospital gown. Doc felt sorry for the boy. His legs were the definition of beaten black and blue.

“Now,” Dr. Wheelan paused, “that was the easy fixes.” Another MRI was pulled up of a skull. “He had a depression fracture on his occipital bone. There was some trauma to his occipital lobe and his optic nerves are swollen. We are hoping the swelling goes down and his vision isn’t affected. As if that isn’t enough, his helmet’s shield lost some pieces when it was cracked which found their way mostly just into his corneas of both eyes. So, we are wrapping his eyes to heal from that and keep some light out to help with his occipital nerve swelling.” Dr. Wheelan paused for a minute.

“Must have hit his shield on the steering wheel to bust it like that,” Doc theorized.

“Yes, and something hit the back of his helmet hard enough that it was able to give him that depression fracture in the occipital bone. Surprisingly, he didn’t have any severe symptoms of whiplash.” He watched Doc nod thoughtfully at the ground. “I know it doesn’t seem like it, but that helmet saved his life. If there wasn’t a helmet, whatever he hit the back of his head on would have sent it through the back of his skull. Lucky kid.”

The kid didn’t seem to be too lucky to Doc, but he added, “they build cars with a lot sturdier frame these days to protect the racer. I guess I half expected him to be dead after that crash.”

Dr. Wheelan nodded, “I saw a picture of the car after. It seemed to have a strong interior that didn’t give too much. At least saved the roof and the sides from caving in completely onto him.”

“What happened to his ears?” Doc suddenly noticed they hadn’t discussed those yet.

“We did one more complete look at him after we took care of all the urgent matters. His ears looked irritated. Nothing was ruptured though. We have some gel to help them heal in there and thickly wrapped them just because they look quite sensitive at the moment. We should be able to unwrap them within a week or two.” Dr. Wheelan finished and they both watched the rise and fall of the boy’s chest again.

“He hasn’t woken up yet?” Doc asked even though he knew the answer.

“No, he’s in a coma at the moment. I am not terribly worried about it though. It’s only the day after and his body is healing a lot. Hasn’t been too long out of surgery either. We just left the ventilator in for now as a precaution. I have sleep department monitoring all his brain activity,” Dr. Wheelan motioned to the glued little pads around his head with wires attached. “I would expect at least a few more days if not closer to a week or so more before he wakes up. Brain traumas are always hard even though this is just occipital lobe. The brain is such a complicated thing,” he sighed as he finished.

Doc had to agree with that. They watched Lightning’s breathing for a few more minutes before Dr. Wheelan slowly stood up and walked over to some of the monitors. He looked them all over carefully before standing fully upright again and facing Doc.

“I had better go check on my other patients. It was a pleasure to meet you. I will be back around in a few hours Dr. Hudson.” Dr. Wheelan shook Doc’s hand again.

“Good to meet you as well Dr. Wheelan,” Doc returned as the other walked out the door.

Chapter Text

It was quiet again in the room with the loss of the other Doctor and Doc was then again faced with his own thoughts. He didn’t know the kid really and the kid wasn’t awake to tell him what he really came for. Doc had been raised a responsible man and he saw there was no one else in this room but him. There were no parents or grandparents or even guardians here. There was a little boy lying in a hospital bed with no one to take care of him. Doc felt responsibility as he was the only one there. He didn’t feel comfortable or quite right about leaving the boy.

“Where is Harv? I thought he had legal custody over the kid?” Doc couldn’t quite figure out that relationship. He supposed the kid was underage and needed someone to sign off on him to race. He imagined Harv to care a little more if he had been willing to sign off on Lightning. Then again, Lightning did have a lot of potential to make a lot of money which his agent would also get a portion of. Doc sighed. Either way, he was here. He tried to rethink his plan.

“Alright. I am here to see if he is alive. He is. I am also here to tell him he’s not as bad of a kid as I thought, and the town would love him to come back when he isn’t racing. Well, I guess I could change that to come especially while he’s healing. The last thing I know is that I don’t know this kid, but I seem to be responsible for him as I am the only adult here for him.” Doc watched the kid’s breathing as he contemplated his current life situation.

He had his belongings in the hotel still and he didn’t especially want to leave the kid alone. Lightning probably wouldn’t wake up for another week, but it just felt wrong leaving a little boy alone. Lightning looked so small laying in a bed with only thin sheets to cover his frame. The boy wasn’t especially tall, and Doc was quite tall so there was a big contrast between the two. It only made Doc look at Lightning even more like a child.

Doc contemplated calling Sheriff and asking him to come over and help switch off shifts of sitting with Lighting before remembering he promised Sally, he would call her first. He couldn’t call Sheriff and then tell Sally he called her first. She would figure out he lied. Women always figured things out. He pulled out his phone and brought up Sally’s contact. He paused as his finger went over the call button.

~

Sally sat with Flo, Mater, and red outside at a foldable table playing cars. It was a dry heat that was only bearable in the shade. They didn’t talk a whole lot as all their minds were only on one thing, but they all took comfort in each other’s company. Occasionally Sally and Flo would exchange some small talk. They sipped on their drinks that Flo had brought out. She had made quite the variety of treats the previous night. Flo was a nervous baker and had released her anxiety in the kitchen. Red would share some knowing smiles with the girls when Mater would throw down cards in various orders playing a different game than the rest of them.

The rest of the town had their own activities to keep their minds busy. Ramone was painting random things he pulled from Mater’s yard, Luigi and Guido were deep cleaning their shop, Sheriff drove around town, Sarge cleaned his weapons, Filmore did some sort of meditation, and Lizzie played her records.

It was about afternoon when Sally’s phone rang and she flipped it over on the table, immediately answering it. The rest watched her excitedly. She gave them a smile as she ran toward her office. The other three sat waiting for her to come back. They almost felt more nervous than they did before.

~

“What on earth am I going to tell her?” Doc took about ten minutes before deciding to just wing it and see where she took the conversation. There was no easy way to do this. She answered her phone on the first ring and Doc cringed. Part of him wished she didn’t even pick up.

“Are you alone?” Doc asked. Mostly just for something to start talking and avoid the actual topic.

“No, Mater, Red, and Flo are with me. I’m going to my office right now,” she responded, and Doc heard shuffling on the other end of the phone. A minute later he heard a door close and a chair roll. “Alright, what did you find out?” she tried to sound casual, but Doc heard the cautious eagerness in her voice.

“He’s stable.” Doc didn’t give her anything else but heard a quiet sigh of relief.

“What else? Is he awake?” Sally had to hold herself back from shooting off questions.

“A couple broken bones, a lot of bruising, and a hard hit on the head.” Doc gave a long pause and Sally could hear the hesitation in his voice. “Sally, he has a fracture in the back of his skull by his occipital lobe, so things are swollen. He is still asleep and probably will be for a week or so because his body is doing so much healing right now. Anything with the brain is tricky so I just want to warn you that we might not know everything until he wakes up.”

“I know Doc,” she said uncertainly. “Can I come up then?” she asked hopefully. Doc knew he couldn’t really force her not to come either way, but recognized she was looking for a fatherly opinion.

“Actually, I was hoping Sheriff would come up. I haven’t called him yet though. I have something more important for you to work on. I am the only one here and I want you to act as my lawyer and talk to Lightning’s agent, Harv, and negotiate getting at least Sheriff and you to be able to come in here. Harv hasn’t bothered to show up so it’s just me here.”

Sally was almost delighted at this. A challenge concerning someone she cared about. “I’ll work on it Doc.”

“Thanks Sally,” Doc replied fondly in his normal slow and calm unexpressive voice. If Sally didn’t know him, she would have missed his tone. She smiled as they ended the call.
Next Doc called Sheriff where they sorted out that Sheriff would come up and at least stay in Doc’s hotel and bring him things until Sally could get Sheriff permission to come into the room so they could take shifts.

Chapter Text

Once again, Doc was left with his own thoughts. He busied himself with looking over all the monitors hooked up to Lightning. They really were monitoring everything. Doc appreciated that Dr. Wheelan was taking Lightning’s head injuries very seriously. Once he went through all the monitors he sat back down. He gently lifted the blanket to look at Lightning’s body. The legs were still black and blue. His chest was wrapped. There was the cast on his left arm. Doc laid the blanket back down. He studied the boy’s head. Reaching out, Doc gently swept some hairs to the side off the bandages around Lightning’s eyes. The bandages were thick and covered a bit over his eyebrows and only stopped at about the tip of his nose.

“Hey kiddo,” Doc whispered. “Rest up and get better soon, alright? I’ll be here.” Doc didn’t know what else to say. He knew the boy couldn’t hear him anyway. Doc leaned back in his chair and continued to examine to room. He found a few magazines sitting in the bottom of a bed stand. They were a couple years old but that didn’t matter.

It neared around one thirty in the afternoon when there was another knock at the door. Doc looked up from where he had his head down and eyes resting. Angela slipped into the room and looked over all the monitors.

“I am just going to the cafeteria for my break. Can I bring you anything?”

Doc thought for a minute and realized he was getting hungry. “Sure. Here take some money.” He pulled out his wallet and handed a twenty over to her.

“Anything particular that you like? There is probably any common food down there,” Angela offered.

“Surprise me,” Doc gave her a small smile.

“Alright,” she returned in a toothy smile, “I’ll be back in about forty-five minutes.”

Doc was thankful for her offer. It would be alright for him to go get his own food as he wouldn’t be gone long and he was in the same building, but he didn’t want to leave the boy just yet. There was a tv on the other side of the room and Doc gave himself the task of locating the remote, finding it behind the tv. He turned it on and was grateful that it had been turned down to a low volume when it was shut off last. He turned it down a bit more and found that the captions were already turned on. He started flipping through the channels and settled on a history one that was talking about the Persian Empire. He wasn’t necessarily paying attention to the show but filled a bit of the silence in the room.

True to her word, Angela came back about when she said she would and brought pasta with her. She set it on the table along with a drink, plastic silverware, and some napkins, then passed the change back to Doc.

“Thank you very much, I appreciate it,” Doc thanked her.

“Of course! No problem,” she smiled back before checking over the monitors again and then heading out the door.

It was hours later and Dr. Wheelan stopped by again to see how his patient was doing. He brought bandages with him and asked Doc to help him change the bandages on Lightning’s eyes and back of head. He slowly moved the hospital bed into a slightly higher angle than it was.

“I just need you to lift his head off the pillow enough to get the bandages out from behind. We have to be careful of his fracture in the back as well as his ears,” he explained to Doc. “I don’t want to lean him up any higher that will put pressure on his ribs.”

Both men sat on the hospital bed on either side to help stabilize themselves. Dr. Wheelan found the edge of the wrap tucked in on the side and began to unravel. Doc very gently lifted Lightning’s head from the sides, below his ears, and lifted it just off the pillow. Dr. Wheelan slowed down his wrapping on the last layer, carefully and slowly peeling it off. There was some resistance around the eyes, so he brought out some sort of Vaseline and carefully put a little on the eyes and gradually peeled the bandage off. There was more blood in the back bandage. Lightning’s eyes and the bandage were full of a yellow antiseptic and his eye lids were taped down. Dr. Wheelan gently cleaned and then reapplied another bandage before Doc set Lightning’s head back on the pillow.

“Thank you for your help,” Dr. Wheelan said, “you’re planning on staying the night then? You know he won’t be waking up.”

“I know. I just think I should be here. I am working on having a friend stay as well so there is always someone here.” Doc sat back down in his chair.

“I understand,” Dr. Wheelan empathized, “you do know that chair reclines, don’t you?” Doc looked up confused. “Here,” Dr. Wheelan pulled something on the side of the chair and Doc’s legs shot up and the chair leaned back a bit. “You might sleep better like that,” Dr. Wheelan said with a smirk.

“I suppose I might,” Doc chuckled, “thank you.”

Dr. Wheelan left again, and Doc sat in the chair and slept in it through the night, waking up sometimes when the nurses would come in to do their rounds and turn Lightning slightly onto either side to avoid any pressure sores.

Chapter Text

The next day didn’t really seem to have a beginning or end. It felt like a Sunday for some reason where you are sleepy the whole day, yet comfortable and able to doze off whenever. And that is exactly what Doc did. He hadn’t slept throughout the night, so he slept through parts of the day. Nurses came and left as well as Dr. Wheelan who came to sit with Doc for a few minutes. He brought some EEG scans of the last two days to show Doc Lightning’s brain activity. The day was mostly uneventful.

It was later into the afternoon and a nurse had again brought Doc food. Today it had been pizza. Lightning was hooked up with something to get nutrients in his blood stream since he had not been eating.

Later, Doc phone began to buzz. He looked at it to see that it was Strip Weathers calling. He picked it up and answered.

“Dr. Hudson! How is he?” Strips voice came over the phone.

“You can call me Paul, Strip,” Doc replied, “he hasn’t woken up yet.”

“Tex got ahold of Harv for me. I have permission to come in now. I plan on coming in tomorrow if that is alright.” Strip paused to let Doc speak who told him of course. “I also plan on brining my wife Lynda with. Only us two though.”

“Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Doc finished before they hung up.

Doc wondered how Sally was coming along with Harv. Harv wasn’t the easiest person to deal with. Doc decided he would try calling later. Doc stood up and went to the bathroom. He already had a day’s stubble around where he usually cleaned around his beard and mustache. He flipped through some more channels on the tv before deciding on watching some sort of competition in ping pong.

Doc looked at Lightning. He was honestly surprised at how good of shape the boy was in considering that crash. The boy wasn’t in great shape, but he was alive and was expected to wake up in a fairly short period of time considering what he had went through. Doc gently ran his index finger back and forth across Lightning’s lower jaw. It seemed to be the only part of him that wasn’t injured or wrapped up.

Doc had never been particularly fond of the boy. He had only known him for a couple days and the boy was rude to him almost every time they talked. What brought Doc here then? It was because Doc sent him away due to personal reasons and it was at a time when he had been helping the town too. Doc saw how hurt everyone was when he was gone. Strip also said he saw a huge change in the boy. Doc willed the boy to be better, but he knew it didn’t work that way.

The boy had no one here with him in the hospital, not all surprising considering how Doc witnessed Lightning treating others. He still figured some parents would be here which turned out only Harv because he had guardianship over Lightning. Yet still no Harv. At least he answered his phone and seemed willing to allow a few special people in.

Doc sighed and got ready for another night sleeping in a chair.

Chapter Text

Doc had been dozing in the chair when his phone’s vibrating woke him up. Strip Weathers was on the caller ID. He looked at the time on his phone. It was a little after nine thirty in the morning. Doc swiped across the screen to pick up the call.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Paul,” Strips voice came through clearly like he had been awake for hours. “Me and Lynda will be there a bit after ten, so this is your forty-five-minute warning.”

“Alright, thanks for the heads up. I’ll see you in a bit then,” Doc told him before they hung up.

Doc looked around the room. There was nothing to prepare really. He pulled over two chairs from the corner of the room over near the bed. He would clean up if he could, but he had nothing to clean up into. He hadn’t changed for the last few days as a matter of fact. Depending on how long Strip and Lynda would be, maybe he would take advantage of their visit and go back to his hotel room to shower.

True to their word, the couple arrived when they said they would. Angela was working again and knocked on the door.

“Montgomery has some guests,” Angela announced leading the couple in. Doc didn’t miss the shocked look on Strip’s face at the use of Lightning’s Christian name. Apparently, no one had mentioned Lightning’s name to him either.

Both Strip and Lynda hovered at the foot of the bed for a minute just taking in the sight in front of them. Doc knew the feeling.

“Take a seat,” Doc broke their thoughts. The couple looked at him blankly before the words seemed to set in and they found the chairs that had been pulled up for them.

“Poor boy,” Lynda said. Her statement was heartfelt. She reached across the bed and gripped Lightning’s uninjured right hand. “Hello sweetheart,” she whispered.

Strip gently set a hand on Lightning’s shoulder as if he thought anything more would completely break the boy. Not that he was completely wrong. “He hasn’t woken up yet?” he asked already knowing the answer.

“No. But the doctor doesn’t think it will be terribly long now. Within the next week, which is very good considering his state.” Doc shifted in his chair, restless after sitting there for days.

“How badly did he hurt his head?” Lynda asked in her usual soft voice. Doc took a breath and began to explain some of the trauma. After he had finished, they all sat there, taking in the information.

“If you both are alright being here awhile, I am going to go back to my hotel room and grab my things.” Doc said standing up.

“Of course, take all the time you need,” Strip replied as his wife smiled and nodded.

Doc could not believe how good it felt to stand and stretch his legs as he walked down the hall. He ran into Angela and told her he would be back in a while before he went out the door. It felt like ages since the last time he had been in the parking ramp and in his car. The fresh air brought him out of his mind a bit and reminded him that there was a world outside the hospital room. He sat for a minute in the driver’s seat and took a deep breath before heading back to his hotel room.

The first thing he did in his room was set his watch on the bedside table and start peeling off his clothes. He relished the feeling of the warm water running over him in the shower and took his time cleaning up. He hoped he hadn’t smelled too strongly to the Weathers, but he was sure he hadn’t sweat much just sitting in a chair. He reluctantly shut off the water, dried himself off, and dressed in fresh clothes. He laid on the bed for a few minutes and rested his eyes before strapping his watch back on his wrist and packing up the rest of his belongings. He had decided that he was just going to leave this hotel room for the time being as he wasn’t using it anyway.

After he checked out, Doc threw his belongings in the backseat of the car and drove to a restaurant. He ordered a burger and fries with a pop. He had finished his meal and was just sipping on his drink when he decided to call Sally and see where she was at with talking to Harv. The phone rang twice this time before she picked up.

“Doc?”

“Yeah. Kid is still sleeping. Just wondering where you’re at with Harv.” Doc decided to tell her right off the bat that there were no changes with Lightning. He knew she would ask.

“Well, that has been a bit harder than I thought. Harv has been a little short with me. He says something about it starting with letting one person see Lightning and then everyone is wanting to.”

“Yeah. One of Lightning’s buddies and his wife are seeing him right now,” Doc explained.

“Oh, I see. He may be feeling like he is losing control a bit of the situation,” Sally theorized.

“Well, he shouldn’t be. He hasn’t come to see the kid once; I don’t know why he is so concerned over who sees him. Would probably like the media in there too so he could get more publicity on his racer.” Doc snapped. Sally knew it wasn’t aimed toward her though.

“I am still talking to him. I am not giving up,” Sally told him.

“I appreciate that, Sally.” Doc paused. “How is the rest of the town doing?”

“Everyone is still going. We are all worried about him though,” she said sadly.

“I know everyone is,” Doc said in his usual calm gruff voice. That was the end of their conversation and Doc left the restaurant after paying his bill and leaving a tip on the table. He didn’t have much else to do and decided he had better start heading back to the hospital.

~

Doc had left the hospital leaving Lynda and Strip to sit with Lightning. They sat in a content silence for a bit, Lynda still holding Lightning’s hand and Strip his shoulder. Lynda noticed her husband had a funny look on his face. For the past few days, all she had seen was worry and desperation from the man but right now she saw some anger and hurt.

“What is it darling?” Lynda gently pressed.

“Just thinking how this shouldn’t have happened. I guess the past few days all I thought about was Lightning and seeing him. Now I am thinking about why he was here in the first place.”

Strip had a bitterness in his voice. Not something that was usually seen from the patient and forgiving man. Lynda let the silence continue for a bit. She knew Strip was thinking and putting things together in his head. There wasn’t anything she could say to make him feel better. This was something he had to get out.

“I guess I don’t even know the outcome of the race,” Strip continued, “did they give Hicks the win? They better not have. That accident couldn’t have been an accident.”

“I am sure they are reviewing it all now if they don’t have it decided already,” Lynda assured Strip. “I think you should ask Tex about that.” Strip nodded and pulled out his phone to shoot Tex a text and then put the device back in his pocket.

Chapter Text

By the time Doc got back to the hotel room it had felt like no time at all to Lynda and Strip. They were perfectly content to sit in the room with Lightning where they could see him breathe. Even if that breathing was done through a ventilator. Doc quietly sat back in his designated chair visibly looking much more refreshed than he had before he left the room earlier. They all sat for a bit and would talk once in a while.

Strip’s phone gave a soft ding and he pulled it out of his pocket, reading his text with a stone expression. “Tex says Hick’s behavior was deemed unsportsmanlike conduct, so he forfeits his Piston Cup.” Setting the phone down he slowly let out a relieved breath. Doc leaned his head back in his chair. He hadn’t given much thought to Hick’s or the outcome of the race. It was good to hear there was some justice at least. Doc would rather have Hick’s behind bars if not executed for purposely putting two other racers in danger.

It was a while before anyone spoke again. “His doctor was in here and explained to us a bit that his ears were not really that bad, but they couldn’t be sure about his eyesight or more brain trauma until he wakes up,” Lynda questioned Doc.

“His ears had a little bit of internal damage. His hearing should be fine, just wrapped them to let them heal a bit,” Doc confirmed.

Lynda nodded, “It still won’t be easy to not have sight in the hospital after a wreck like that.”

Doc was a thoughtful man, but he hadn’t really considered what Lightning’s feelings could be without his sight. Lynda was a woman who was strong and calm like her husband with an extremely caring and thoughtful side to others. Of course, she would have considered the boys emotions. Doc had experience from his own wreck and healing that he knew would be similar to Lightning’s now but hadn’t put much thought to the differences the lack of eyesight would bring. Doc hadn’t thought too far ahead until now, rather taking one on problem at a time.

“Yeah,” Doc said preoccupied with his thoughts.

“He is going to wake up confused and in an unfamiliar setting,” Lynda continued.

“I plan on being here when that happens,” Doc assured her. She nodded approvingly. Strip couldn’t help at look at his wife with loving eyes as she showed her thoughtfulness for the boy.

It was nearly seven in the evening by the time the Weathers reluctantly stood to leave. Doc was sorry to lose their company.

“I am not sure when we will be able to make it back, hopefully in a few days. You’ll let me know if there are any changes with him?” Strip looked at Doc.

“Of course,” Doc nodded, “thanks for coming today, it really helped me out.”

Lynda smiled softly, “We’ll be back.” Doc returned the smile.

~

Strip and Lynda walked hand in hand silently all the way to their car in the parking lot. Both were mentally exhausted after a long day in the hospital worrying about Lightning. Lynda recognized that her husband had a change in moods from the last few days. He had been frantic to find out any information about Lightning and to see him. He had been calmed again after seeing him and now he was just solemn after seeing the state of the boy. It was simply a waiting game now to when he woke up and the next steps could be determined. Both were lost in their thoughts as they sat in the car. Lynda was the first to come out of them as she realized they had been sitting in park for a few minutes now.

“Honey?” She addressed her husband who had his hands on the wheel looking off into the distance lost in thoughts. He blinked and looked at his wife before regaining himself. He kissed her almost to prove he was there before putting the car in reverse to leave the ramp. The drive home was comfortable silent as both had much to think about.

~

Angela came into the room. “You look better! Nice to get out of the room a bit?”

“Oh yes,” Doc smiled. It had been good to get out and have company in the room.

Angela handed Doc some cookies and glass of some drink that had been left over from a tray someone brought to the breakroom. Doc thanked her as she moved to do her routine checks on the monitors.

Doc let himself relax and watch tv with the volume so low he mostly read just subtitles. He kept thinking of Lynda’s words. The kid would probably have a harder time with no eyesight for the time being. Doc had a hunch that Lightning would need quite a bit of help.

Chapter Text

Doc woke up stiff in the chair again. He really hoped Sally would be successful in getting Sheriff up here for a night or two so he could go sleep in a bed a few nights before the kid woke up. He considered talking to Strip about staying a night. Stretching felt good and he stood up and walked around the room a bit and look at Lightning’s vitals before settling back down in the chair. Doc’s limbs had been aching with lack of movement and his mind wrestles with the lack of activity.

Dr. Wheelan stepped in the room. “Good morning,” he said pleasantly which Doc returned. “Mind helping me out with his bandages again?” Doc agreed and they set to work. “A nurse is going to come in later and give him a sponge bath of what she can.”

“He could use one,” Doc agreed. Lightning had been in a car wreck and laid in a bed for days. He still had blood in his hair and dirt in places along with sweat and whatever else he managed.

“We cleaned him up of what was needed when stabilizing him. We didn’t do it earlier because we wanted to let him settle for a bit and not jostle him after the accident and surgeries. I think it could be done now.” Dr. Wheelan wiped Lightning’s face down gently before starting the next bandage.

Angela came in later and Doc pulled down the blankets for her as she set down her supplies. She lifted off the hospital gown on Lightning before starting his bed bath. She handed Doc a washcloth that was damp and soapy. He began carefully on Lightning’s chest and shoulders. Angela started on Lightning’s hair, avoiding where the bandage and injury was on the back of his skull.

“You put in a lot of hours here, don’t you?” Doc more stated than asked. It seemed like Angela was always the nurse on duty.

Angela smirked, “I might as well live here.”

Doc did under Lightning’s arms and began to wash off what he did with a washcloth with only water and then went back and gently patted him dry with a towel. He moved on to Lightning’s lower body as Angela finished his hair and took care of the bandages around his ears. They finished up and Angela took all the supplies she had brought back out with her as Doc fixed Lightning’s gown and blankets.

It was a little later into the day when Doc’s phone buzzed. Looking down, he saw it was Sally and picked it up.

“Hey Doc,” Sally greeted.

“Get Harv to let Sheriff come in?”

“I did one better,” Sally started, “you have custody of Lightning!”

Doc froze. He hadn’t been expecting that at all. “What?”

“I got you custody! Harv and me argued for a long time over letting Sheriff in. I convinced him that Lightning will need a lot of help right now. I guess all my points made him realize that as guardian he would be the one responsible for taking Lightning out of the hospital. Must have been more work than he wanted to get into, so he is willing to give up custody. He needs someone to take over for him though before he can back out. I volunteered you.”

Doc tried to take all the information in. He came here to apologize and fix a problem and was now ending up with a kid. “Um, yeah,” Doc trailed off in thought.

“Doc,” Sally paused, and Doc waited for the ‘but’ she had coming, “there is one more thing. Harv is dropping Lightning and is no longer his agent. He sees Lightning as more of a money loss. He doesn’t think he will ever race in the future after this.”

“I see,” Doc acknowledged her last statement.

Sally waited a minute as she waited for Doc to say anything. “Doc?” Doc hummed in response. “You are going to sign for his custody, aren’t you?”

Doc was silent for a minute as he thought again. Somehow it didn’t feel quite right. Lightning was almost legal age to be an adult and he had absolutely no say in the matter. Doc would have felt a lot better if he could just ask the kid if he would be alright with him signing the papers.

Doc hesitated, “yeah,” then more confidently, “yeah I’ll sign for him.”

He supposed that if anything the papers would allow Lightning to come home with him so he could help him heal. When he woke up, they could discuss it and back out if Lightning had a problem.

Doc could almost hear Sally’s smile on the other end. “I am faxing the papers to the hospital. They will give you the paperwork and do their part and give me back mine.”

“You did good, Sally.” Doc gave one of his rare compliments.

Sally beamed, “thanks Doc.”

They ended the call and Doc sat in thought. He had a lot more to occupy his mind now.

Chapter Text

The next time Dr. Wheelan came in he brought papers with him. “We will have to go over treatment plans when Montgomery wakes up, but I have papers here for your custody of him.”

Doc took the stack of papers from Dr. Wheelan. “Yeah, as of now I am planning on taking him home unless he wakes up and tells me something different.”

“You know, it surprised me how young he was. Can’t believe they allow kids to race like that against adults too.” Dr. Wheelan sat in a chair and crossed a leg over the other.

Doc nodded, “I guess it doesn’t seem crazy when you’re that age. You think your grown up, but a lot of learning happens after that age. I suppose you never stop learning.”

Dr. Wheelan nodded thoughtfully. “That it does.” His eyes had settled on the papers as he thought. “Oh, I suppose you’ll need a pen to sign all those.” He pulled one out of his coat pocket.

“Might help, thanks.” Doc took the pen.

“I’ll leave you to it,” Dr. Wheelan stood and left as Doc began his work.

Doc read each paper quite carefully. It didn’t seem like something he should just sign to get over with. He read all about his duties and Lightning’s rights and much more. There were many more papers than there probably would have been due to Lightning’s career and fame. Doc paused before each signature. It felt wrong signing each one for a kid he didn’t know and wasn’t even sure said kid would even appreciate this. He kept signing. He knew that this kid meant a lot to the town, and he even began to mean something to Doc.

About halfway through the stack of papers, Doc’s phone received a call. This time it was Sheriff. He eagerly answered the call.

“Long time, no see.” Sheriff’s voice reached Doc’s ear.

“Didn’t expect things to turn out like this,” Doc replied truthfully. “Talk to Sally?”

“Yeah, I hear you’re getting a kid?”

Doc cringed at Sheriff’s wording. “Just signing off on him so he can leave with me. I get say who comes in here now too. Not sure how kindly he will take it when he finds out I am in charge of him now.”

“I think it will be ok,” Sheriff replied, “Doesn’t sound like his past guardian was much to compete with anyway.”

“Heck no,” Doc confirmed, “left me with all the work.”

“I am packing up my stuff right now and I’ll head over so you can get some rest. What do you want from your place?” Sheriff was grabbing items and throwing it in a suitcase with one hand while he held his phone in the other.

Doc smiled in relief. “That will be helpful.” Doc rattled off a list of items and told Sheriff just to grab him more clothes.

“Guess I’ll be there in about eight hours. I’ll get a hotel we can go back and forth to.” Sheriff exchanged his goodbyes with Doc.

Doc hung up the phone relieved there would be help coming. He felt guilty that he would be leaving Lightning again, especially after he just signed to be his guardian. If he hadn’t felt responsible before, he definitely felt it now.

Doc finished signing the papers and set them on the bedside table. He leaned back in the chair and just thought. The days were marching on, and it would be getting closer to when Lightning was expected to wake up. Doc hoped he would be here when Lightning did. He should take advantage of time he got now with Sheriff coming up to get some sleep and exercise, so he was ready for the situation of Lightning awake.

Doc looked at Lightning. It was weird to think that he just got a kid in some way. He was at least in charge of this one as of now.

Chapter Text

It was early in the morning when Doc got another phone call from Sheriff. Sheriff informed him that he had arrived late in the night and had slept in the hotel room he booked for the remainder of the night. He was going to head to the hospital very soon. Doc told him thanks for the heads up and hung up the phone. He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. Lightning was still in the same comatose position. Nurses came in for their routine duties and Dr. Wheelan came and left again. Doc didn’t want to leave, but he knew that now would be the best time to go and get some much needed rest to prepare for the future.

It was later in the morning when Sheriff arrived. There was a knock at the door and a nurse came in with Sheriff on her heels. Doc stood up to greet him.

“Michael, thanks for coming.”

“Of course,” Sheriff replied. He pulled over a chair and both men sat back down.

“My gosh, he looks awful.” Sheriff was looking at Lightning seriously.

Doc turned to the boy too. He had bruising and tons of wrapping which looked the worse. The ventilator made it all look extremely serious. Those were all not the worse part though. His head injury weighed on Doc’s mind.

“You were told about his head injury? We don’t know how bad it is until he wakes up. Otherwise, he is doing very well.” Doc ensured Sheriff.

“Wouldn’t have thought that from looking at him,” Sheriff responded. “So, how long you think?”

“He’ll probably wake up after the next couple of days here.” Doc pressed his fingertips together as he dwelled on that thought.

After a few more moments of thoughtful silence, Sheriff brought up another thought. “So, you took on guardianship. He’s your kid now.”

“Well, I suppose as of now. I don’t know what he wants to make of that. Might not want anything to do with me. He is almost old enough to legally be an adult anyway.”

“Guess we’ll see,” was all Sheriff had to say about that. Somehow, he got the feeling that Lightning wouldn’t be too upset about being stuck with Doc.

When it was around noon, Doc ran downstairs and bought food for him and Sheriff. They ate and talked in the room and after they finished, Doc decided to go to the hotel room. He stood up and took a long look at the kid.

“He’ll be here when you get back,” Sheriff said as he watched Doc linger on leaving.

“Just don’t feel like I should be leaving him.”

“You’re not. That’s why I am here. Go rest and someone will call you if anything changes. I won’t leave him alone here.” Sheriff reassured Doc that he could leave. Doc finally nodded and left the room.

Doc nodded at the nurses on his way out. He recognized all of them at this point after being at the hospital nonstop for days. It was a weird feeling to be out of the room again. It was good to be limitless on the distance he could go. He eventually made it to his car in the parking ramp and got in, going straight to the hotel that Sheriff had gotten.

He pulled out the key that Sheriff had passed over to him in the hospital room and unlocked the door. He found his bags that the Sheriff had brought up put nicely on the chair in the room. Sheriff’s were open and strewn across a few places in the room. The covers on the bed were thrown off on one side where Sheriff had slept. Doc noted that Sheriff had only gotten a room with only one bed

‘Whatever, it’s not like were both here at once.’ Doc rolled his eyes at the bed. He threw off the covers on the opposite side of the bed and planned to sleep on that side for the night. He peeled off his clothes and had his second shower in what was too long. He lingered in the shower in no hurry. He had all night to relax. He checked the time on his watch that he had set on the bedside table and found that it was still pretty early in the evening and yet he was exhausted.

Doc left the hotel and ran to the nearest gas station and grabbed some containers of assorted fruit along with some other smaller portions of snacks and went back into the hotel. He propped himself up on the pillows in bed and turned on the tv as he ate. His mind was still on Lightning though and the past days’ events. He hadn’t done much physically, but mentally he had been quite busy, and he was exhausted. Eventually he fell asleep with the tv on.

Chapter Text

Sheriff turned back to Lightning as Doc left the room. The poor boy had been laying there for days now all battered and bruised. Sheriff almost felt bad for the boy because he would have to wake up and feel his body’s pain.

“You work on getting better, boy.” Sheriff lightly held Lightning’s shoulder.

Sheriff leaned back in his chair and folded his hands behind his head. He set his feet on a ledge of the hospital bed and watched Lightning as he thought. Sheriff was a good friend of Doc’s and knew Doc pretty well. This last week he had really seen a different side of the man though. Doc never really mentioned much of his personal life. Sheriff was surprised to find out Doc was a racer and how famous he actually was. He wasn’t mad at his friend for not telling him though. Sheriff was a cop and had seen lots of things that he had just as well rather did not come up again in any sort of conversation. He knew Doc’s wreck had caused him some pain. Lightning coming to town had exposed Doc’s past and even now had brought Doc back to seem to face it.

Sheriff shook his head. There had been so much that had happened so fast. Lightning may have been a disrespectful kid when he first came to town, but Sheriff smiled fondly at the boy thinking of his last night in Radiator Springs and how he had helped everyone restore the town.

Sheriff planned on staying at least two nights with Lightning to give Doc a rest. He couldn’t stay much longer than that though before he needed to run back to Radiator Springs and check in. Radiator Springs was a small and peaceful town, but that didn’t mean it didn’t have occasional trouble from people looking for it. Depending on how long Lightning would take to wake up, Sheriff would go back and forth.

Sheriff settled into what had been Doc’s routine for the last few days, which entailed a lot of thinking and restless sleeping.

~

Doc woke to his phone ringing early the next morning. He quickly picked it up, fearing it to be something with Lightning, before seeing it was Sally. He almost didn’t answer, being tired and not in the mood to really talk but knew Sally would keep calling.

“Yeah?” His voice rough from sleep.

“How is he?” Sally skipped formalities.

“Same. He is stable though.”

“I am coming over when Sheriff comes back,” Sally stated.

‘There is the no debate lawyer tone,’ Doc thought and almost rolled his eyes. “OK.” He really wanted to go back to sleep.

The other end of the line was silent. Sally had expected a little more dispute from Doc. “OK,” she mirrored back.

“We’ll make plans later then,” Doc settled, “bye, Sally.”

“Bye, Doc.”

Doc threw his phone over to the other side of the bed and fell back asleep.

~

Sheriff had been on and off sleeping all night, waking up every time a nurse came in or just from being uncomfortable. It was hard to get into a deep sleep in a chair. One nurse had been kind enough to show him that the chair could become a recliner, which made Sheriff wonder how he hadn’t noticed it could do that and why they had to make chairs so confusing, although it still couldn’t compare to sleeping in a bed.

‘I don’t know how Doc did this for so many nights,’ Sheriff thought as he shifted in the chair. It was an early hour in the morning and Sheriff knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep much more. Sheriff had a new respect for what Doc was doing, not that he didn’t before, and vowed to try to help out as much as he could with the hospital stay. There was only so much time you could sit in a chair in the same room.

The day proved to be extremely uneventful besides dressing changes and the routine hospital tasks that went on day and night. Sheriff wasn’t in the medical field like Doc, but he found some of the things fascinating. He would ask the nurses questions of why they did the things they did and many questions about the body. It was a source of entertainment.

“My, you’re really testing how well I listened in my classes,” one nurse teased him.

Sheriff found the magazines in the room and went through those and thought about later turning on the tv. Nothing to do didn’t severely bother Sheriff though, he was a very thoughtful man, like Doc, and was quite content to just contemplate on life. The sitting in one spot did get to him though and he would occasionally stand in places around the room and slowly pace just for the sake of movement.

~

Doc had finally had enough sleep and was just laying in bed and relaxing. His phone rang again. He loved Sally, but he really hoped it wasn’t her. There was only so many times he could tell her that there was no change in Lightning before she would not take it as an answer. He looked at the phone screen. It was Strip Weathers and Doc suddenly remembered the man saying he planned on visiting again in a few days. Well, it had been a few days.

“Hello?” Doc answered.

“Yeah, I plan on dropping by later today if that’s no problem.” Strip checked in.

“Sure. I am not there, a friend of mine is, but that’s no problem.”

“Ok. Just me and Lynda again,” Strip informed Doc.

“I’ll let my friend know,” Doc agreed.

Doc dialed Sheriff’s number and let him know that Strip and Lynda would be showing up. They agreed to meet up for lunch to allow the couple some time alone. Doc felt he should probably be there when the couple arrived since he was the one who knew them, but he wouldn’t have been ready in time anyway. He finally peeled himself out of bed to go shower and get ready for the day.

Chapter Text

There was a knock at the door, which Sheriff had been expecting, and a nurse guided Strip and Lynda in behind her. Sheriff stood to greet the couple.

“Hi, Doc told me you were coming. I’m Michael,” Sheriff introduced himself, “here, take a seat.” He pulled up the other two chairs in the room.

Strip introduced himself and Lynda. “You know Doc then. Are you from Radiator Springs then too?”

“Yeah, I am the Sheriff there,” Sheriff confirmed.

“Ah,” a smile of realization came over Strip, “Lightning told me a little bit about you.”

“Oh?” Sheriff smiled suspiciously.

“I heard he gave you a bit of trouble.”

“Yeah, he basically ripped apart the town coming in, but he left it better than it was before.” Sheriff smiled softly at the boy in the bed. It was odd to talk about him right there and yet he wasn’t really there at all.

“He really loves your town,” Strip looked at Sheriff seriously.

Sheriff had somewhat known the feeling was mutual in the end but had been focused on how much he and the town missed Lightning, not how much Lightning may have been missing them. He swallowed, “That’s good to know,” he said sincerely.

They talked awhile more before Sheriff went to meet Doc for lunch, agreeing with the couple that they would stay at least until he got back. They did not mind at all though and cherished the time they had with the boy, even if it didn’t involve much interaction with him.

~

“You’re early.”

Doc turned around to Sheriff walking up to him. “You’re late.”

“Was talking to the Weathers. Nice couple.”

“Yeah.”

Doc and Sheriff moved from the patio, where Doc had been waiting, toward the entrance of the restaurant. They found a booth in the back, and each took a side, then were quickly brought menus and waters to start.

“Nice chair you got in the hospital,” Sheriff commented as he read the menu.

Doc lifted his eyes over the menu, “yeah it’s real comfy. Maybe I should take it home with me and replace my bed with it.” He looked back down to the menu.

Sheriff couldn’t hold back a snort. “Well, you’ll have to fight me for it first. I’ve become quite fond of it.”

Doc smiled. He had missed Sheriff’s company. Lightning wasn’t terribly conversational at the moment, not that it was his fault, but man was not meant to be alone.

Both men settled on ordering some type of sandwiches and drinks, suddenly missing Flo’s cooking back home.

“Dr. Wheelan went over a little bit of Lightning’s sleeping patterns with me, not that it meant a single thing to me. But what I got from it was that his body is exhausted from the healing, and he has a brain injury and as he heals and has more energy he is starting to wake up.”

“Basically,” Doc confirmed.

“So, it is getting sooner to when he may wake up?”

“Wheelan showed you his REM patterns? You saw the lines didn’t go down as far as they started? Yeah, as they get shallower, his sleep isn’t as deep and when they are more toward the top, he is getting closer to awareness. We are looking at him waking up soon when the lines are not always so deep.”

“You should be there when he does wake up, so I will be here a night or two more so you can rest. Then I will have to drop by Radiator Springs, but then I can come back.”

“Well, if you drive all the way back, you should at least stay a few days.” Doc told Sheriff. “Strip is willing to stay a night or two. He is eager to help, so I might just ask him to stay a night coming up here.”

“Sounds good,” Sheriff agreed.

“Sally informed me she is coming over when you get back.” Doc stated.

“I see,” Sheriff smiled knowingly, “I put her in charge of the town while I am gone. That’s why she has to wait until I get back.”

“Ah, I see,” Doc laughed. “I knew there was a reason she wasn’t already over here.” Sheriff nodded. “I won’t let her stay overnight in the hotel though. I don’t want to put that on her. I’ll just have her help during the day.”

“Yeah,” Sheriff agreed. She will fight you on that you know.”

Doc knew.

~

Strip and Lynda sat with Lightning feeling a little useless. Seeing Lightning helped both of them because they knew that he was alive. They knew it did help Lightning though. Someone would always be here for him if he woke up or if something happened. They were glad to help Doc out. A nurse had come in and allowed them to gently help her dab any visible parts of his face and neck down. It wasn’t much, but it helped them to feel like they were more directly helping Lightning.

Later on, they had a knock at the door and Doc and Sheriff walked in. Doc gave Sheriff the last chair and settled himself on the vent that protruded from the wall.

“Strip, I was wondering if you would want to do an overnight here on Wednesday?” Doc questioned.

“Yeah, of course!” Strip had offered multiple times and was glad Doc was taking him up on his offer.

“Alright, that will help out a lot. That is about a day before he is expected to possibly wake up.”

The four of them talked for a while after that before the three left Sheriff to sit overnight again with Lightning. The three got into an elevator to head to the parking ramp where they all had parked.

“So Harv dropped him as guardian and as his agent.” Strip stated solemnly.

“Yeah, he wasn’t willing to put in the work as guardian or stick it out to see what happened as his agent.” Doc confirmed.

“Poor kid. He deserves better than him.” Lynda said. “He has got awhile before he needs to start worrying about an agent though.”

All of them knew that. There was a huge amount of recovery needed before Lightning would be good to race again. Doc was sure not all that recovery would be physical either.

Chapter Text

The next day was completely uneventful. Doc went and ran just to get some energy out. He walked all around a mall and bought a few things he and Sheriff hadn’t thought of. Sheriff was here now, and he needed to take advantage of the time he had now. Finally, he allowed himself to go back to the hospital.

“Couldn’t stay away, huh?” Sheriff greeted Doc as he walked into the hospital room.

“Guess not.” Doc sat down next to the hospital bed and looked over the notes left on the foot of Lightning’s bed on the clip board.

“You had better leave here soon if you want to get to Radiator Springs at a decent hour.” Doc looked at Sheriff.

“Strip is staying tomorrow night. I can stay tonight too. I can put the business at home off for one more night.”

“You’re the Sheriff. You have stuff to do,” Doc argued.

“One more day will be fine. Sally will call if there are any issues. I’ll go back after tonight,” Sheriff counter argued.

Doc thought for a moment, not wanting to inconvenience his friend. He knew Sheriff genuinely wanted to stay though. “Alright,” he agreed in defeat, “thanks.”

Sheriff smiled, knowing Doc meant it. “I’ll come back after a few days at home and hopefully he will be awake,” Sheriff motioned towards Lightning, “and I can help you with whatever comes with that.”

Doc nodded. “Alright.”

Doc knew there was a whole town eager to help in any way they could. They all kept the town running though, even if there were few outside visitors. It was an eight-hour drive to the hospital from Radiator Springs, so it wasn’t really convenient for any of them to simply swing by and relieve Doc of sitting in the hospital all day. On top of all that, Doc didn’t know if Lightning would really want so many different people seeing him like this. So far, he had just kept it to him, Sheriff, the Weathers, and now Sally.

Doc talked with Sheriff awhile before sending him out to get exercise and rest so he would be ready for another night. While Sheriff went to the hotel for a few hours, Doc settled back into his chair and thoughts. He started to wonder more about Lightning’s parents, or lack of them, and his past. Where had the kid come from? The thought dawned on him that as his guardian he would probably have the ability to access a little bit of that information. It was tempting as he was just sitting with his thoughts and his kid he knew nothing about. He ultimately decided against it though. Lightning would have the right to tell Doc whatever he chose to. Doc wasn’t about to go and take away the kid’s privacy.

Doc ran his thumb over the bracelet on Lightning’s right wrist. He eyed the name. Montgomery McQueen. ‘How on earth do you come up with a nickname like Lightning?’ Doc wondered. No one had really questioned it before, including himself, and Doc wondered why no one had asked before considering it wasn’t really a traditional nickname.

Doc’s mind ran through many things before Sheriff came back and they switched spots for the rest of the evening and overnight.

Chapter Text

Doc woke up the next morning in the hotel again and got ready to head over to the hospital. He would bring food for him and Sheriff before sending the man back home and waiting for Strip to come.

Doc picked up a small pizza and headed for the hospital. The nurses let him walk back to the room freely, knowing him well by now. He entered the room to find Sheriff half asleep in a chair. The man woke when Doc scooted a chair to a different spot.

“Hey,” Sheriff lifted his head, “that smells good.” His eyes landed on the pizza.

“Go ahead.” Doc opened the box which he had set on a small rolling table that was used by the hospital bed and they both began to eat.

“You better get going,” Doc said awhile after they had finished eating.

Sheriff hesitated, not wanting to leave the situation. He knew he had to stop back at Radiator Springs though. “Yeah. I’ll call you to figure out the next plan of when I can come back.”

“Don’t worry. Strip is coming tonight, and it will be fine. I am good. Thanks for the help.” Doc stood to see Sheriff out.

“Alright. I guarantee Sally will leave the second I get back,” Sheriff smiled.

“I’m sure she will,” Doc returned the smile. He settled back into his chair as Sheriff left.

A few hours later Strip showed up, walking in with a small bag, and greeting Doc. He took a seat next to the bed.

“You ready for a fun night?” Doc asked Strip.

“You bet,” Strip confirmed. “So, they’re thinking he will wake up soon.”

“Probably in three days. I’ll be staying every night after tonight just to give some buffer room in case he wakes up early.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Strip approved. He was looking at Lightning and after a moment spoke again. “I really came out lucky.”

Doc knew he was talking about the crash at the race. “He did too in some ways,” Doc nodded at Lightning, “could have died on impact.” Doc analyzed Strip. “You didn’t come out of that completely untouched, did you?” It was more of a statement than a question.

“I just have a couple bruises and a bit sore.” Strip told Doc and then averted his eyes, knowing full well that wasn’t what Doc was asking him to tell.

“You know what I mean.”

Strip sighed. “I guess I’ve dreamed about it a bit. All my thoughts have been on him,” he referred to Lightning, “wondering how he is. I guess I was scared in the moment, but I never had time to dwell on it right after it happened. I kind of just kept going and didn’t acknowledge it happened. It is scary to think that it did happen, but ultimately, I am completely fine. I didn’t even flip my car. Nothing happened to me that will cause me problems. I keep dreaming about him though.”

Doc nodded thoughtfully at this. He knew Strip hadn’t been hurt bad, but doubted the man came out of the event completely unscathed. It seemed the man had been much more disturbed about Lightning’s crash than his own. “You see anyone about it?”

“No, it doesn’t affect me like that. Lynda and Tex are always there for me. This helps me. Being here for him,” he nodded at Lightning again, “when he is ok, I will be fine. I just need to know he is ok.” Strip finally managed to convince Doc. It was his turn to analyze the man this time. “How about you? You watched it on tv.”

Doc met his eyes. He didn’t necessarily love bringing up his own experience. There was a reason he hadn’t talked about it since it happened. ‘This is what I get for being nosy,’ he thought. “Yeah, it was rough to watch.”

That answer didn’t satisfy Strip though. “You had your own crash. It was a bad one too. Ended your racing career. I’m sure you have to be reminded of that with this.” Strip pushed a little bit.
Doc knew Strip wanted to hear more. “I guess that’s part of the reason why I’m here. It was horrible trying to get back on my feet after that. No one was there to help me do it and I pushed away the few that were.” He thought about his brother Smokey. “I went to school and moved to Radiator Springs where no one knew me.”

Strip took all the information in. “So, you never raced again after the crash,” Strip said hesitantly. It was much too early to be thinking about it, but he hoped this wouldn’t kill Lightning’s career for life.

“No, I didn’t,” Doc confirmed, “but it wasn’t only the crash that kept me away. I was ready to go back at it. They wouldn’t take me back.” Doc said bitterly.

Strip was surprised. He hadn’t known that. Who wouldn’t want to take back a racing legend? “I didn’t know,” Strip was a bit bewildered. He hadn’t heard that version of the man’s story.

“Yeah,” Doc knew, “I guess it was hard to see the kid go through a rough crash like that. Reminded me of my own.”

Strip nodded. He knew Lightning’s agent had already dropped him. Rust-eze hadn’t dropped him yet and he doubted they would. “It’s way early to be worried about sorting all this out, but Tex will talk to him when he gets to that point.” ‘If he does get to that point,’ Strip thought sadly. It was scary to think that there might be damage they could not be aware of until Lightning woke up. Brain damage was a tricky thing. He refused to think of it now. Right now, he still had hope that Lightning would be fine.

“That’s good of him,” Doc was happy to know Lightning wouldn’t be completely turned away by the racing world.

The two men talked for a long time after that before Doc finally left, thanking Strip again for staying the night. Both men felt different after their talk. It was good and felt like a little bit of closure to both. There was still a long road ahead of Lightning though.

Chapter Text

Doc settled in for his last night in the hotel for a while. He woke up the next morning to Sally calling him again.

“Yeah,” He answered the phone.

“Are you awake?”

Doc rolled his eyes, “I am now.”

“Sorry,” She said knowing it was a dumb question, “I left at four thirty this morning. Should be there a little after noon.”

Sally was a lot more awake and eager than Doc was about the day. He closed his eyes to process the information for a minute.

“Why did you leave so early?”

“Couldn’t sleep. Where do I go when I get there?” Sally got right to the point.

“I am not there right now. A friend is there now. How about we meet for lunch, and you can follow me over to the hospital after?”

“Alright,” she agreed.

Doc gave her the name and location of a restaurant and then went right back to sleep. He woke later and showered and trimmed his facial hair. He took his time, knowing it would be the last chance he would have for a while. Packing everything he had in the hotel, he went down and checked out and drove to the restaurant. He stepped out of the car as Sally pulled up in her baby blue Porsche and parked next to him.

Doc nodded to her, and they walked in together and were seated at a table. Doc could almost hear her thinking. It was almost amusing as her lips started to form questions and then stopped to rethink. Doc put down the menu and finally looked at her.

“How was the drive over?”

“Fine. How is he?” She asked, again, getting straight into it.

“Exactly the same as the last time you asked me.” Doc raised an eyebrow at her. He knew she was just worried, but he had told her that he would say if anything changed.

Sally looked a bit bashful, “Sorry, I am just a bit worried.”

Doc’s lip twitched upward slightly, and he gave one small nod. “I know,” he said knowingly.

They each ordered pasta when the waitress came around. Doc took Sally and his menus, stacked them, and handed them to the waitress.

“How long do you plan on staying?” Doc questioned, almost fearing the answer.

“I don’t know,” she said distractedly thinking, “I guess I was hoping to see him awake.”

“He might not be awake for a while. Besides, I was thinking that there should probably only be one person when he wakes up. Don’t want to overwhelm him. Also, it could be embarrassing for him. He might not want a lot of people seeing him in this condition.” Doc watched Sally think over what he had just said.

“I hadn’t thought of that. Does he really look that bad?” Sally asked Doc.

“I guess he doesn’t look too great. He just isn’t awake to make any decisions right now and I don’t want make him feel like he was too vulnerable when does wake up.”

Sally nodded thoughtfully again. “I see,” she looked at Doc with a look that asked him what she should do. She trusted him like a father. Sally was grown and quite independent. Doc knew she really trusted him to allow herself to let him know she was looking for advice.

“Why don’t you get a hotel for tonight and we will see him today and you come back tomorrow in the morning and drive home later that day?” Doc gave her an option.

“I can’t even stay overnight?” She almost gaped.

“Nothing is happening at the moment. A few hours there will probably be plenty for one day. Why don’t we just see what you think later?”

Doc knew that seeing Lightning in the hospital was an emotionally exhausting thing. He was sure Sally might need a break after a while. She was a strong woman but seeing anyone you know in the position Lightning was in was not an easy thing to do all day and night.

Sally agreed. They finished their food and Doc paid for the both of them, which Sally protested, and left a tip. They got in their cars and Sally followed Doc to the hospital and parked in the ramp. Sally found a spot a ways away from Doc and met him at the elevator.

She tried to prepare herself for whatever she was about to see as she rode in the elevator with Doc. Doc noticed that she had become a lot more quiet and thoughtful. Putting an arm around her shoulder he gave it a light squeeze. “It will be fine.” Sally nodded.

Chapter Text

Doc lead Sally into the hospital room. Strip was up in the chair looking tired with slight bags under his eyes. Doc was sure the man didn’t sleep well in that chair. Doc watched Sally as she came in behind him and finally laid her eyes on Lightning. She kept a straight face, but Doc could see she was a bit unnerved at the site. Doc put a hand on her back and led her to sit down.

“Strip, this is Sally Carerra. She is also from Radiator Springs.”

“Hello Miss Carerra,” Strip extended a hand, “Strip Weathers. Nice to meet you.” Strip greeted her kindly.

“Nice to meet you as well,” she found her voice.

Doc took a seat and Sally did as well. Sally continued to look over Lightning. He was all bruised and wrapped up, but the worse looking part was the ventilator he had in.

“Can he breathe without that?” She asked softly.

“It’s just in while he is unconscious. It’ll be taken out when he wakes up,” Doc comforted her.

Strip stayed awhile longer before standing up and grabbing his things to leave. Doc thanked him for staying and Strip told him to call if he could use any more help. He also planned on visiting again soon. Doc turned again to Sally after Strip had left. She was still looking down at the bed. Her hair had fallen in the way of her face. Doc reached over and gently brushed it behind her ear.

“Not what you expected?” He asked softly.

“I am not sure what I expected. I just want him to get better. I just wish he was awake.”

Doc nodded. “Everyone does.”

They didn’t talk much. They mostly just sat and thought. Sally ran her fingers gently through Lightning’s hair after a while. The hours flew by pretty quickly even though they were uneventful. Doc could see that Sally’s mind was full of thoughts and it was physically taking a toll on her. She looked tired. It was tiring to be in such an environment for a long time.

“Why don’t you go get a hotel now. You can come back in the morning.”

Sally met his eyes, “Why don’t you? I can stay overnight. You have been doing it a lot, you should have a break.”

“I had a break for four nights. I am completely fine, you don’t have to worry about that.”

“Well, I can stay here with you,” she looked sincere about helping.

“Nothing is happening. There is no use in two of us staying. Common.”

He stood up and reached out a hand. She took it and stood up. Doc pulled her into a hug. His hugs were rare, but he thought she looked like she might want one. Sally wasn’t one to give out many hugs either, but she melted into this one. Doc rubbed her back and then placed a hand on the back of her head and leaned down to kiss the top of it. He finally let her go and walked her to the door.

“Text me when you get to a hotel room,” Doc instructed her.

“Alright,” Sally confirmed. She was touched that he wanted to make sure she got there safe. From anyone else it may have made her mad, but she knew Doc trusted her.

Doc sat back down and later got a text from Sally saying that she was in a hotel room. He allowed himself to sleep the best he could.

Sally was back the next morning. She had slept well the last night, being so exhausted from driving and visiting the hospital. She was recognized at the front desk and allowed in the hospital room. She snuck in and quietly sat down, seeing that Doc was still asleep. It was silent in the room, save the methodic beeping of the monitors. It was about a half hour later when Doc finally moved. His eyes opened slightly and then closed. Then did a double take realizing Sally was there. His breathing was still deep with sleep as he moved to sit up more and rubbed his eyes.

“Hey. What time is it?” he asked in a rough deep voice.

“It’s eight o five,” Sally replied.

“Oh,” Doc said stretching.

They talked for a while and also just sat in comfortable silence. It was noon when Doc told Sally she had better leave and start her drive home. Sally reluctantly agreed, knowing there was nothing she could do here. She had seen Lightning and that would satisfy her for now.

“You’ll tell me when something happens?” she checked even though she knew the answer.

“Of course,” Doc confirmed.

They said goodbye and Sally started off home.

Chapter Text

The rest of the day went fairly quickly after Sally left. The nurse, Angela, stopped in and greeted Doc as she did her work. Dr. Wheelan also stopped in and went over charts with Doc. They were looking at Lightning waking up the next day or the day after.

Sally called Doc late that evening just to tell him that she had made it back to Radiator Springs. She didn’t ask how Lightning was. She knew Doc would tell her when anything happened. She told Doc to sleep well and they said goodnight. Doc slept about as well as he could in a chair that night.

Dr. Wheelan came in that next morning with a tablet and sat down with Doc. He showed Doc the latest patterns in Lightning’s sleep. It looked like he would wake up very soon. Doc didn’t take his eyes off Lightning for the next few hours.

In the late afternoon Doc swore he saw a twitch. He stared intently at the boy. The boy’s facial muscles twitched again. There was not much to go off of to tell if he was awake when his eyes and ears were wrapped and a ventilator still in. Doc pressed the call light and Dr. Wheelan rushed in right as he did it, having already been alerted from Lightning’s monitor that he had reached a specific range of sleep. He stood over Lightning’s bed and watched with Doc. Nothing happened for a minute and Dr. Wheelan quickly looked over Lightning’s monitors. He watched something for another minute and then turned back to Doc.

“He is going into another sleep cycle now. Watch him though, he already woke up once so he is in lighter sleep. He should come out again later.”

Doc nodded at Dr. Wheelan’s instructions. The doctor left and said he would start coming back more often. Doc watched more carefully. He decided that he had better stick to his word and let Sally know that there had been a little change. Sally picked up the phone. Doc could hear it in her voice that she was trying to not let her hopes up.

“Hey Sally, he just started to wake up. He wasn’t awake for more than a minute. Wasn’t enough for him to know what was going on or anything.” Doc tried to tell her without giving her any sort of false impression of what happened.

“That’s good news,” she said, “so he should start becoming more aware later?”

“Yeah. Might be a little bit yet. Just thought I should let you know there was a change. Let Sheriff know, will ya?” Doc asked.

“Yeah, I will. Thanks, Doc.”

“Yeah. Once he wakes up, I might not be able to call right away. I’ll tell you what happens though.” Doc warned her. He knew it would be more challenging when Lightning was actually awake and aware.

“I understand,” she said.

They said their goodbyes and Doc went back to his job watching. Dr. Wheelan came in multiple times just to check over Lightning. It was in the evening when Dr. Wheelan came to stay. He took a seat, claiming that Lightning’s charts looked like he would be awake again soon. He and Doc sat with their chairs turned, watching the boy intently. It almost felt like a sport, seeing who would see any signs of life first.

There was another twitch and both men leaned forward. They watched as the boy began to become more aware. The twitching became more personal as signs of confusion were shown on the Lightning’s forehead. Lightning slowly moved his head to one side and then the other. They watched as his chest moved and his hand moved upward.

“He’s fighting the ventilator,” Dr. Wheelan said as he stood and paged a nurse.

Doc stood as well and grabbed Lightning’s wrist before he could grab hold of the ventilator. A nurse ran in and grabbed a bucket, already anticipating that they would be taking the ventilator out. Lightning started to thrash a bit, scared he couldn’t breathe. The ventilator let him breathe at a fixed pace and it did not feel right that he could not draw air when he chose.

“You want to hold him up?” Dr. Wheelan addressed Doc.

Doc nodded and put an arm behind Lightning’s head and helped him into more of a sitting position as Dr. Wheelan moved the bed into a better position. Doc got somewhat behind Lightning to hold him up while keeping an arm around the back of his head and holding his hand down while keeping Lightning’s casted wrist down with his other. Dr. Wheelan began to pull out the ventilator as the nurse held the bucket under Lightning’s mouth. As soon as it came out, vomit followed and all went straight into the bucket.

“Trade you,” Dr. Wheelan took the bucket as the nurse took out the ventilator.

Lightning dry heaved and then started letting out a moan. He was breathing irregularly and his heart monitor sped up. Lightning continued his heartbreaking moaning that was full of fear. He couldn’t see and could not make out any sounds. All he knew was that he woke up and couldn’t breathe, was now throwing up and people were holding him.

“Here, you take this again,” Dr. Wheelan handed the bucket back to the nurse. Lightning was getting more frantic and the heart monitor had sped up. He walked over to the side of the bed and released some medication through the IV into Lightning’s system. “That should help calm him down some.”

Doc continued to hold Lightning. Probably would have a huge difference if Lightning could hear right now. He began to soothingly run his thumb along Lightning’s wrist that he had been holding, in hopes of calming the boy in any way possible. The medication kicked in after a minute and Lightning stopped fighting so much. He lay more slack in Doc’s arms, but the pitiful cries and moaning continued. Doc gently lay Lightning back down, not letting go of his hand, still watching to make sure he didn’t bring his casted hand up.

The nurse left to dispose of the bucket Lightning had thrown up in. Dr. Wheelan was watching Lightning’s monitors and writing things down. Doc cupped Lightning’s shoulder and gently rubbed it while holding his hand with the other. Lightning clutched Doc’s hand back like it was his life line. Slowly his moaning began to subside and the small cries slowly died as Lightning began to fall back asleep with the help of medication.

“Hopefully the next time he wakes up won’t be as tough for him,” Dr. Wheelan said.

Doc hoped so too. He knew this wouldn’t be much easier the next time either though.

Chapter Text

Lightning slept through the rest of the night. Doc did not. He lightly dozed on and off, but he kept his hand in Lightning’s hoping he would be alerted if anything happened. He hated the thought of the boy waking up so scared again. Doc was aware of the more frequent visits of nurses that came in through the night.

It was early in the morning the next time Lightning had stirred. Doc became fully awake and immediately started rubbing Lightning’s hand in hopes to soothe the boy some as he woke.
Lightning was scared, but overall, too tired to become terribly concerned. His dose of medication had been changed to keep him somewhat sedated. Enough that he wouldn’t completely panic. Lightning lifted his hand to touch his eyes, realizing he couldn’t see. His hand was held back though, and he realized it was being held. He pulled again and whoever held it did not let it budge.
Doc did not want Lightning to pull off his bandages, so he held his hand. He tried to do so gently without making it feel as though he was purposefully restricting the boy. With another tug though, Doc realized the boy would realize that it was not wanted that he touch his eyes. Doc had an idea. He took Lightning’s hand in both his own, holding his casted one down with his elbow, and started drawing in the palm of Lightning’s hand.

Lightning felt his hand being straightened out. He tried to pull away when he felt a tickle in his palm. He wasn’t sure he liked it. It took a minute to dawn on him that there was a pattern being formed with the tickling in his palm. D-O-C-D-O-C-D-O-C. It kept repeating. It took a long minute for Lightning to put it together. It finally clicked. ‘Doc?!’ Lightning’s heart clenched at the possibility. He didn’t know why it would mean so much to him that the man was here. Anyone with him would be a surprise really. He closed his hand over the finger which was drawing in his hand and reached his hand out.

Doc hoped his idea had worked. He hoped to communicate to Lightning who was there. It seemed hopeless at first. There was no reaction from the boy and fears of more severe extents of brain damage crossed Doc’s mind. He was writing his name very slowly in the palm of Lightning’s hand. Finally, Lightning’s hand closed over his finger. He let Lightning’s hand loose when he realized he wasn’t reaching for his own face, but Doc’s. Doc had to redirect the hand to meet his own face. He felt Lightning run his hand across his face and focus more on the shape of his facial hair. Lightning smeared his glasses in the process, but Doc didn’t mind.

Lightning felt his hand go to Doc’s face. He ran his hand over the face, searching the features to confirm what he was suspecting. Everything seemed to match up with Doc. His hand was finally brought back down and held in Doc’s. He felt a wave of relief pass over him after realizing that Doc was there with him. He was still scared though. He had no idea where he was or why he could not open his eyes or hear anything.

Doc held Lightning’s hand. The boy had begun to softly whine, probably not even realizing he was doing it. Doc rested a hand on the side of Lightning’s face and lightly began to rub his index finger across the boy’s jaw. It seemed to help calm him some. Doc began to wonder how much more he would be able to communicate with Lightning in the same method as before. He extended Lightning’s hand out again and began to slowly write out something else.

Lightning felt his hand become extended again. Something was being wrote again in his palm. It seemed to move so fast for his sluggish brain to understand. H-I-H-I-H-I-H-I. It continued and Lightning understood this one a little quicker this time, there only being too letters making it a bit easier. He closed his hand around the finger again, signaling he had figured it out. He wanted to write something back, but he found he could only move one arm. He struggled with his one arm for a second before letting it go and trying to open Doc’s hand with his one. Doc understood what he wanted and held his hand flat out.

Doc understood the signaled H-I back. There was a pause and then a question mark. Doc sighed. He knew the boy wanted to know what was going on. Where to start? He couldn’t sign out everything and he was sure any long words would be too hard for Lightning to follow right now. He decided just to sign O-K back. He could tell that wasn’t enough for the boy as his forehead showed lines of confusion.

Doc decided to try to get Lightning to take a small sip of the water that was by his bed. He slowly lifted the bed slightly and felt Lightning’s grip on his other hand tighten. He grabbed the water and placed the straw at Lightning’s lips. His lips pursed a bit, not knowing what was there before figuring out that he was supposed to open his mouth. He finally recognized the straw and took a small sip. Doc laid him back down. Lightning wasn’t awake much longer than that.

Doc was glad Lightning wasn’t in hysterics this time that he awoke. He knew that was due to the drugs in his system.

Chapter Text

Dr. Wheelan came in later that morning, just arriving for his shift for the day. He sat down in a chair and looked over vitals.

“I hear he woke up again?” he looked to Doc for more details.

“Yeah. He was a lot calmer this time. Probably too groggy with the med increase.” Doc theorized. “I did get him to write ‘hi’ back to me in my hand though.”

Dr. Wheelan perked up. “You did? Anything else?”

“Nah, he was a bit slow on picking it up, so I didn’t want to try anything more complicated besides my name.”

“I see,” Dr. Wheelan’s eyes were off thinking, “I think we should take the bandages on his ears off early. Hate to have him sit there without all his senses when he doesn’t know what’s going on.”

Doc agreed. They planned on taking the bandages off of Lightning’s ears the next time he woke up.

“I also want more MRIs done and maybe a few X-rays. We will definitely wait until he has bandages off his ears and we can tell him what is going on. Then we can also do an assessment on where he is mentally.” Dr. Wheelan ran his plan by Doc.

Doc agreed to notify Dr. Wheelan the next time Lightning was awake. He was eager to finally be able to try to talk with the boy. Lightning had become almost a shell in the last week. Just a body that lay in a bed that people talked about while around him. It felt good to finally be able to personalize the body again.

It was hours later when Doc felt another small movement from Lightning’s hand, which was in his hand. Doc patiently watched the boy fight for consciousness once again. He pressed the call light and asked the nurse who came in to notify Dr. Wheelan that Lightning was waking up. When Lightning was becoming more aware, Doc lightly held his casted hand as well to prevent any panicked movement towards his wrapped head. The light whimpering started a few moments later. Doc hated that noise. He knew Lightning probably wasn’t even aware he was doing it, but it just had so much pain and fear in it.

Dr. Wheelan came in to find Doc, stone faced and conveying no emotion, leaning on the bed with both of Lightning’s hands in his while the boy was letting out whines.

“Let’s get those bandages off,” Dr. Wheelan proposed.

He had brought supplies with him and pulled a chair over to the bed. He had grabbed a rolling table and set his things on it next to the bed as well.

“Alright, let’s do this slowly,” Dr. Wheelan spoke to Lightning, although it was more to himself since the boy couldn’t hear him.

Dr. Wheelan took the edge of some tape on the gauze and padding over Lightning’s right ear and gently began to pull on it. He was constantly rubbing a Q-tip with some chemical on it under the tape, attempting to destroy the adhesive of the tape to prevent further pain. That wasn’t to say it wasn’t uncomfortable though. Lightning, confused and scared at the foreign hands on his head, started becoming more distressed. The whining and whimpering grew louder and more distressed. Doc tried grounding the kid by rubbing his hands, but Lightning was too uncomfortable with the whole thing. Dr. Wheelan tried to work a little faster when Lightning wasn’t handling it all well.

Lightning felt hands pulling at the side of his head. An uncomfortable and painful pulling. He had no idea what was going on, but he knew he couldn’t move. He couldn’t see or hear anything. As the pulling went on, the muffled sounds became slightly louder.

“Alright, that’s it for the gauze. Just need to clean out some of the jelly I put in there.” Dr. Wheelan informed Doc.

He had coated the inside of Lightning’s ears with a clear ointment to allow some healing. He would clean out the big glob he had that covered the whole inside of the ear and just leave a thing coating around the inside. Dr. Wheelan hauled out a water pick sort of contraption with a pan that he fitted underneath Lightning’s ear. He began to squirt water into Lightning’s ear to flush it out. The whole feeling was awfully uncomfortable to Lightning who started writhing to get away from the contraption.
Suddenly Lightning was aware of a loud uncomfortable sound that only made him more frightened. It was a bit before he realized the sound was coming from himself. He stopped and took a gasping breathe. He could hear himself breathing and a lot of beeping. Otherwise, the room was silent.

“Hey, kiddo. Can you hear me?” Doc’s voice was rough and unemotional, but not unkind.

The sudden voice startled Lightning. Somewhere in the back of his mind he had known Doc was there. His jumbled brain couldn’t seem to put things together though. He was still very surprised to hear Doc. Actually hearing the voice put a reality to the fact that Doc was actually here.

Lightning tried to talk, but his throat was so raw nothing happened. He managed a broken hum and then felt a straw being put to his lips. He sucked up the lukewarm hospital water which had never tasted better.

“We’re taking off the bandages on your ears, kid.” Doc explained.

Lightning slowly nodded. It was so hard to orient himself when he couldn’t see. Everything felt like he was dreaming. Hearing sound really helped ground him though.

“Hello, Montgomery, I am Dr. Wheelan. We’re going to take the bandage off your other ear now, alright?” Dr. Wheelan made his presence known.

Lightning was surprised, not realizing there was another person in the room. All he could manage was another broken hum that came out more of another whimper, which he was embarrassed came from his own mouth.

“We’ll need to switch sides,” Dr. Wheelan looked at Doc.

Doc stood up and felt the grip on his hand tighten as he started to pull away.

“Just going to the other side of your bed, kid. I’ll be right here.”

Lightning reluctantly let go of Doc’s hand and, true to his word, Doc was back on his other side in a moment. Doc gave up his hand to Lightning again who returned to having a vice grip as soon as Dr. Wheelan started working again.

Doc had more hand holding in the last two days than he was sure he had in his whole life. He was not one to show emotion and was alright with that. He was more of a reserved man that preferred to deal with emotions privately. He had always been that way. This was something completely different. He knew the boy needed it and he would be uncomfortable and hold hands if he had to. If it helped Lightning, he would do it. He knew the boy must be completely terrified without his sight. At least now he would be able to hear.

Dr. Wheelan continued on with his work and Lightning began breathing heavier with the uncomfortable feelings. He had not whimpered or whined any more, now being aware that he had been doing it. Doc was grateful for that. He didn’t think anything less of the boy for doing it, rather it was just hard to listen to knowing the boy was scared and in pain.

Chapter Text

“Alright,” Dr. Wheelan gathered his items, “were all done with that.”

He sat back in the chair and analyzed Lightning. He couldn’t help but think about how much the eyes conveyed about a person and how much he would have liked to see Lightning’s right now to get an idea of where he was at. Lightning had yet to talk and Dr. Wheelan was waiting with his inability to determine his mental state.

Doc was also curious about Lightning’s cognitive abilities. “Kid? Can you hear me alright?” he prompted, trying to get Lightning to speak.

“mm-hmm,” came a shaky confirmation.

Dr. Wheelan was already planning hearing tests. He looked to Doc and saw the man was also disappointed that the boy had not actually said any words to the question.

“Know where you are?” Doc tried another question. There was a hesitation and a slight head shake of ‘no.’ Doc had hoped there would be a rise of some sort of question at that. “You’re in a hospital, kiddo.”

The grip on his hand slightly tightened in anxiety at that. Doc let there be a silence after that, letting Lightning absorb the knowledge into his mind and dwell on it. He also hoped the silence would force Lightning to ask for an elaboration on why he was here.

As the silence continued for a few minutes, Dr. Wheelan decided to let Doc work with the boy alone for a bit. No vitals were showing anything off, so Dr. Wheelan figured his own medical examination could wait a bit longer. Doc was a doctor also and would be able to relay anything serious to him.

“I’ll leave you alone with him for a bit,” Dr. Wheelan nodded to Doc, “we’ll attempt MRIs and mental status a bit later.”

Doc understood and nodded before turning back to Lightning. Lightning had made no more attempts at speaking and lay stiffly, almost afraid to move or breathe too freely.

“Do you know why you are here?” Doc continued slowly.

There was a longer pause before Lightning shook his head again. Doc wasn’t terribly concerned at that. It was common for people not to remember moments right before accidents.

“You were racing and got into an accident.” Doc couldn’t help but think how accident wasn’t the right word with how Chick Hicks acted at that race.

Lightning’s breathing tightened some and was more shallow. His face was more pinched as he was alarmed to hear this and more so that he did not remember it.

“It’s ok if you don’t remember,” Doc comforted, “that’s normal for people not to remember things like that.”

He started to rub his thumb over Lightning’s knuckles in attempts to keep the boy grounded and not start hyperventilating or panicking in any way. Doc’s eyes drifted to the plastic bracelet around Lightning’s small wrist and was suddenly reminded of his questions having to do with Lightning’s name.

“So,” Doc analyzed Lightning’s face for any reactions, “your name is Montgomery.” There was a bit of amusement in Doc’s voice, humored at the fact that the boy had somehow got to the nickname ‘Lightning’ that had no connection to his actual name.

Again, there was a hesitation that almost convinced Doc that he was not going to get any form of answer. Then there came another hum of confirmation, although this one was less committal.

“Monty,” Lightning whispered in a weak hoarse voice.

Doc was quite surprised he had gotten anything out of Lightning. He wanted to see how far he could push the progress, so he continued on with his questions, postponing his medical related ones that he desperately wanted to know.

“Monty, huh? How did you come up with ‘Lightning’ then?”

Another pause and Doc hoped it had to do more with thinking of his response than his accident.

“Harv came up with it,” Lightning said uncertainly, “said it would be good for publicity.”

Lightning didn’t offer any explanations of who Harv was. Doc didn’t need it anyways as he had already had his business with the man.

“Doc?” Lightning had never lost his uncomfortable tone of voice. “I can’t open my eyes.”

“They are wrapped up, kid. We’re going to let them heal for awhile,” Doc informed him.

“Where is Harv?” Lightning suddenly realized the man was absent and wondered why Doc was present.

It was Doc’s turn to hesitate, unsure how to explain to a boy who just woke up from an accident that his guardian and agent had let him go and washed his hands of responsibility.

“He’s not here, kiddo. I’m going to stay with you.”

“Oh,” Lightning responded thoughtfully. Doc couldn’t determine the emotion it was said with.

Chapter Text

Lightning had fallen asleep not long after their exchange, which didn’t surprise Doc. Lightning had to be exhausted. His body was still healing. Doc took the opportunity to find Dr. Wheelan and share the conversation he had with Lighting, which didn’t take long as there wasn’t much said, and his own medical theories he had drawn from what little he had been given. He returned back to Lightning’s bedside shortly.

Overall, Lightning seemed to be doing extremely well. They hadn’t done any mental tests, but he had been able to hold a small conversation. The only problem Doc could pick out so far was the hesitations and lengthened time it took for Lightning to understand and respond. Those were things that could be chalked off to concussion, grogginess of medication, or exhaustion. There wasn’t a terrible worry over this yet.

Doc felt he should call Sally and Sheriff and tell them that Lightning had spoken a little to him. He decided to wait until he knew more to call. He settled for sending Sheriff a text that said that he had talked to Lightning for a short amount of time, he seemed to be alright, and that he would call after he knew more. He told Sheriff to relay the message to Sally and everyone else.

It was the waiting game again now until the next time Lightning woke up. It was only suiting that life would revolve around Lightning McQueen again. Doc got curious and looked up Lightning’s name to find many news headings and articles on him. It was funny how the accident occurred almost two weeks ago, and these people were told nothing since, yet they kept producing new articles with ‘breaking news.’ The most recent one was published two hours ago and Doc began to read it. It had no new takes on the matter save one wild theory proposing that Lightning staged it to escape the racing world.

Doc rolled his eyes. That statement would never hold up. Call him old fashioned, but there was a reason Doc never trusted media. Any media. He saw first hand what every platform had said about him, his personality, his life, his crash, and none of them seemed to get anything right. Doc took his news from multiple sources and with a grain of salt.

With nothing new to state, some articles brought up almost memorial tributes, talking about Lightning’s rise to fame and any ‘facts’ they could put in about him. There didn’t seem to be much known about him besides what he had showed in front of cameras. Different articles had slightly different takes. Doc was curious to see if Lightning would tell him anything about himself.

Doc rolled his eyes and went out of the news pages. He wasn’t reading them to find out anything. He knew more information than he could ever get from an article. He had read them to see how much the boy was trending and what kind of image the public was getting. He hoped the media’s image wouldn’t impact any decisions of agents if Lightning attempted to get back into racing again. It sounded as though Tex would talk to him though. That was a problem for another time.

Chapter Text

Doc had fallen asleep in the chair and was lightly dozing when he had been woken and brought back to awareness.

“Doc?...Doc?” Lightning was weakly calling out, progressively getting more panicked.

“Right here, kid.”

Doc grabbed Lightning’s hand, hoping to quell some of the fear he had heard in Lightning’s voice. Lightning’s hand was tense, but he did not pull away, rather clung to Doc’s hand so he couldn’t pull away if he had wanted to.

“I crashed?” Lightning asked guardedly, as if not to let Doc know how scared he was at the idea. He failed and Doc knew the thought that he had crashed and not remembered scared the boy.

“Yeah,” he debated how much to tell, “Hick’s hit your back tire. Sent you and The King into the wall.”

“The King?” Lightning was horrified that the nice man had been in a crash too.

“Strip is completely fine,” he decided to put off explaining how much worse Lightning’s crash had been than Strip’s. “You know, he and his wife came to see you a couple times.”

“They did?” Lightning was obviously touched they had come.

“Strip stayed over night with you a few days ago.”

Doc watched Lightning’s face carefully as he said his last statement. Looks of shock, disbelief, and gratefulness crossed his eyebrows and mouth. He seemed at a loss for words. What Doc did not know was that Lightning hadn’t thought anyone would have been willing to do something like that for him. He still couldn’t fathom that Doc was with him. He wasn’t going to complain though.

“You up for some tests?”

“What kind?” Lightning asked a bit worried.

“Algebra,” Doc leaned over and pressed the call light.

“But why-”

“I’m kidding. Just questions about yourself to see how you’re doing.”

It was a few minutes before a nurse came in and Doc asked her to get Dr. Wheelan in when she had time. They didn’t have to wait long before he arrived and introduced himself for the second time to Lightning.

They started off with questions about his full name and birthday. Lightning was able to answer with some hesitations. Doc was again struck with how young and alone the boy was. A few simple math and history questions were asked. There seemed to be no memory problems besides the race. He hadn’t remembered anything after a few laps of it.

“Alright, that’s all I got for those. I’m hoping to do some scans if that’s alright,” Dr. Wheelan said.

“Scans?” Lightning asked uncertainly. He wasn’t too keen on doing anything since he couldn’t see.

“MRI. Like an x-ray,” Dr. Wheelan elaborated when no look of recognition crossed Lightning’s brows.

Doc couldn’t help thinking how nice it was that Lightning was more expressive. Otherwise, he never would have been able to read him without his eyes. The situation and medication also played a part in that.

“OK,” Lightning said noncommittally.

“Alright. We’re going to have to take you to the machine, so we have to move you to a chair and roll you over.”

It all sounded like a lot of work and moving in an unfamiliar place. He didn’t like how uncomfortable he felt. It shouldn’t be that big of a deal to be going to a different room and getting a scan. Except it was a big deal because he couldn’t see and the only person he was familiar with was Doc, who he didn’t really know.
He realized he hadn’t said anything for a little bit. Dr. Wheelan had left to go get a chair. He hadn’t wanted Doc to realize he was nervous, but his silence had showed it.

“It will be fine. You don’t have to do any work besides being moved there and back.”

Lightning managed a nod.

Chapter Text

Dr. Wheelan came back with a chair. He first sat Lightning’s bed almost as far upright as it would go to adjust him to a sitting position. Lightning felt his head spin a bit and become lightheaded. There was a slight ringing in his ears which somewhat cleared up after a few minutes. It was hard to stop the feeling when he couldn’t focus his eyes on anything. He had so many emotions and not a clear enough mind to try and make sense of any of them.

Dr. Wheelan was taking off the monitors and rearranging items so they could relocate Lightning to the wheelchair. There wasn’t anything left now except to move Lightning.

“Ready?” Dr. Wheelan asked.

Lightning knew that was a loaded question. Was he ready to physically move? Was he ready to mentally be moved? Was he feeling well enough to be moved? The answer was no to all, but he nodded anyway. He gasped as he felt himself being gently moved to a side of the bed. His legs were over the edge of the bed and someone was supporting his side while he sat on the bed. He was thankful for the support. He hadn’t realized how weak he was until then. The other man came to his other side and he was lifted up. Lightning clung to whatever he could get his hand on, which happened to be Doc’s arm. If Doc hadn’t had on a jacket, Lightning’s fingernails would have been in his arm. He was desperately afraid of being dropped as he was turned and set down in the wheelchair.

“Still doing ok?” Dr. Wheelan checked in.

Lightning hummed in confirmation. He almost felt sick with how nervous he felt. The hospital gown he was wearing was the thinnest thing he thought he had ever felt and it left him feeling exposed and cold. His tender body had a sickly ache against the unpadded chair. Everywhere his body touched felt an aching pain. His free hand explored his casted one, then moved to reach up to his eyes.

“Don’t take those off, Monty,” Doc quickly warned.

Lightning’s hand stopped in the air before slowly finishing the journey to his head where he just barely touched the bandages. He ran his fingertips across them, feeling all the textures and the width of them on his face. Doc watched intently as the doctor side of him did not want the eyes and bandages to be messed up and the other side of him knew the boy had to do this. Finally satisfied that he understood what was keeping him from seeing, Lightning settled his hand down on the armrest.

Dr. Wheelan had been observing silently. “MRI machine is ready now,” he broke the silence softly.

Doc bent to the ground and warned Lightning that he was going to put his feet up. He put both feet in their footrests that hovered above the ground. He gently squeezed Lightning’s knee before standing up. He slowly turned the chair toward the door. If Lightning hadn’t gotten whiplash from the car crash, Doc definitely didn’t want to give him it now. He didn’t think Lightning could have gripped the chair any harder though. His knuckles were white. He was pale enough for Doc’s liking anyway.

Lightning shivered in the chair as he was moved into the open hallway and through different areas. He could hear differences in sound in each area. The last stop was a room that was a bit bigger.

“We are going to have to move you again to the machine,” Dr. Wheelan apologized.

There was a mechanical whirring as a radiologist lowered the bed, which was just a flat slab to lay on, on the MRI machine. Lightning startled and dramatically gripped the armrests on the wheelchair as he was unexpectedly moved. Doc pushed the wheelchair over to the MRI machine in a position that Lightning wouldn’t have to be transferred over very far. Lightning felt arms underneath each of his armpits and he was lifted. He gasped and felt himself be lifted, turned, and sat on the cool hard bed.

“Let’s lay you down now, Montgomery.”

Dr. Wheelan put an arm behind Lightning and gently lowered him back on the table. Lightning didn’t bother to correct him that he preferred either of his nicknames over his full name. He lay tense on the table, his fingers slowly searching around his sides for anything to hold, only feeling the flat table beneath him. The radiologist in the room gently took Lightning’s limbs individually and arranged him how she wanted and told him to remain very still.

“Alright, we are going to step out for a few minutes,” Dr. Wheelan explained, “we will be able to hear you from the other room. The table will move and you’ll hear the machine around you, but nothing will touch you.”

Lightning heard footsteps as the three turned to leave the room.

“Wait,” Lightning exclaimed in panic, “Doc?”

Doc stopped in his tracks and turned to the boy on the table. He could see that Lightning was trying to reign in his emotions and keep himself calm. He walked over and placed a hand on Lightning’s shoulder.

“Yeah, kid.”

Lightning didn’t know what to say, he just didn’t want to be left. He clenched his jaw shut and drew a breath from his nose. Doc stood there knowing Lightning’s feelings without having to be told. The MRI still had to be done though.

“It will only take a few minutes, Monty, I’ll be just in the other room watching.”

Doc waited for any sign that Lightning was fine with continuing. Lightning remained silent, knowing that there was no other way out and he would have to agree.

“I’ll be able to hear you, kid. You can yell if you need to pause,” Doc told Lightning when it was clear he would not get a response.

Lightning felt Doc’s big warm hand leave his shoulder and was left feeling cold and exposed again. He heard the radiologist say she was starting the machine over the speakers in the room. The whirring started again and it was much louder, as this time the whole machine started up. He felt his head grow hot with panic. If he could see, his eyesight would have gone dark with spots. His whole body was rigid with tension as he felt the bed move. He would have yelled out for everything to stop if Doc hadn’t spoken just then.

“It’s alright, kid, it’s just the noise. That’s all it's going to do for a couple of minutes.”

Lightning needn’t be told again to stay still. He was like a statue, afraid if he moved something would happen. It felt like the machine ran forever, and yet it felt short at the same time. Eventually, it started to slow and soften in sound as it shut down.

Chapter Text

“You did good, kiddo,” Doc put a hand back on Lightning’s shoulder as he, the radiologist, and Dr. Wheelan stepped back into the room.

Lightning was eager to get off of the MRI machine and relished the warm feeling of the two arms that took either side of him to transfer him back to the wheelchair. They were as gentle as they could be with him, but it still was a little painful to move his tender body. Lightning mourned the loss of the warm bodies as he was set in the chair.

“Alright, back to bed with you,” Dr. Wheelan said from somewhere in front of him.

Doc took the liberty to push Lightning back to the room, following Dr. Wheelan. He nodded a thank you to the radiologist as they left the room they were in. Lightning was transferred back to the bed where Doc again helped him to lay back. They kept his bed a bit more upright so he could sit up. Dr. Wheelan left, noting that he would be going over the MRI and come back later with the results. Lightning hadn’t realized how relieved he was to be back in bed. He couldn’t think why he would be so tired just from being moved to another room and back. He searched for the bedsheets with his un-casted hand. Doc noticed and brought them up to cover Lightning.

“Doc? It’s cold in here.”

Doc thought about pointing out that he was practically naked in the thin hospital gown, but silently stood up and walked over to a cabinet he knew had more blankets.

“Doc?”

The underlying fear in the voice caused Doc to turn around. Lightning had heard him get up and his footsteps walk away. He had thought Doc was leaving him alone in the room and couldn’t stop himself from calling out.

“Just grabbing a blanket, kid.”

Doc had a thought that he may need to start explaining himself more. Lightning couldn’t see and was relying on him at the moment. He didn’t know what was going on around him. Lightning wanted to kick himself for the inability to control his fearful cry for Doc. He had heard the footsteps walk away and was suddenly thinking about what he would do if he was left alone in the room. He was filled with embarrassment for his blind panic when Doc was just opening a cabinet a few feet away.

“Better?” Doc draped a thicker blanket over Lightning.

“Yeah. Thanks,” Lighting mumbled, still embarrassed over his small outburst.

They sat in silence, both thinking. Lightning’s thinking was frantic and rapid thoughts and fears. Doc’s was calm and rational planning and reanalysis which incorporated what Lightning’s reactions had been so far. Doc realized that Lightning was uncomfortable in the silence.

“Want the TV on?”

Lightning nodded. He didn’t really want it on, but he needed something to focus his mind on. Doc flipped through channels. He hadn’t realized how much of TV shows and comedy relied on sight. He settled on the history channel because there was more dialog in the programs and there wasn’t much else to choose from anyway.

Doc was surprised that there were not any questions coming from Lightning. He figured the boy would have been talking off his ear by now. Doc would have preferred that. The boy had to be concerned with his current situation. Doc was willing to let things play out though.

Doc hadn’t known that Lightning did have many questions. He just didn’t know where to start or what to ask. Lightning was scared to ask details of his crash as just thinking of it made him sick. He was scared to hear about what was wrong with his body. He just wanted to know when the bandages on his eyes were coming off. He wasn’t terribly surprised that Harv was not present, but was confused why Doc was here. He didn’t want to ask Doc why he was here. He felt like he was treading on thin ice, that anything he said could make his situation worse. He didn’t know why Doc was here, but he definitely didn’t want him to leave. He didn’t know why, but he didn’t want to ask and risk Doc leaving. Doc was his lifeline in a world where he recognized nothing and he barely knew Doc.

Lightning wasn’t listening to the tv. He focused on Doc’s soft breathing beside him. He made sure Doc was with him.

Chapter Text

It was a while before Dr. Wheelan came back and interrupted the silence of the room.

“I went over the MRI results extensively with a radiologist. It all looks very good. No internal bleeding, everything is still set and healing, the skull fracture is on track and the occipital lobe looks very intact. That area is something we will not be completely sure about until later on though.”

Doc nodded thoughtfully as he followed everything Dr. Wheelan brought up. Lightning was lost and overwhelmed with his tired and confused mind.

“How long until you are thinking of taking off the bandages?” Doc referred to the ones around Lightning’s eyes.

“We’re going to try three weeks to allow the eyes to heal from the scratches to heal and the swelling to go away in the optic nerves. I think there was minimal damage unto the occipital lobe, but there is one more surgery we will try if it comes down to it. I didn’t want to mess with it any more than I had to when I didn’t know if it had to be done or not. When we take off the bandages we will decide if that surgery is needed or not.”

Lightning had stopped listening as most of it went over his head. He shook his head ‘no’ when Dr. Wheelan asked if he had any questions. Dr. Wheelan left and the room became quiet again, save for the soft sounds of the TV. Lightning found himself with more questions than he started with. He didn’t know that Doc was watching him fight himself.

“You understand what he was saying?” Doc opened up the floor for Lightning, knowing he wasn’t going to ask on his own.

Lighting immediately took advantage of being directly asked, surprising himself at how quickly the question shot through his mouth despite his previous hesitations. “So, I won’t be able to see for a month until they take off the bandages?”

Doc almost said yes, before stopping. Lightning was missing part of this. Doc closed his eyes in the realization that Lightning had misunderstood what had happened.

“Monty,” Doc started and Lightning immediately didn’t like the tone, “taking off the bandages doesn’t mean you will for sure be able to see.”

Doc said it flat out. Lightning needed to understand this fully. He couldn’t save the boy any pain in not telling him how it was. He watched Lightning’s mouth begin to form questions and stop again, confused with fears he didn’t want to be answered.

“You had damage to your eyes and the part of your brain that controls eyesight. The bandages are for your eyes to heal and to not aggravate the part of your brain that was injured. When the bandages are off, we will see if anything more needs to be done.”

Doc watched as Lightning’s face further contorted in pain and fear. He had to know the boy understood what was happening to him though.

“You understand what’s going on?”

Lightning nodded and brought his free hand up to his mouth as a sob ripped out of him. He was overwhelmed and now suffering the possible loss of his site. It wasn’t for sure coming back as he thought it would.

“I’m sorry, kiddo.”

Against his own comfort, he sat on the bed, turning himself to face Lightning, and pulled the boy in for a gentle hug. Lightning’s casted hand lay uncomfortably between them and his other was immediately wrapped around Doc. Lightning’s face was on Doc’s shoulder and wet, but not from tears, it was from saliva and snot that ran from Lightning. Doc didn’t care though. He gently ran his hand up and down Lightning’s back, feeling his vertebrae through the thin hospital gown. The small body shook in his arms for a long time. He didn’t let go, even after the sobs turned into sniffling and once in a while a hiccup of a sob. Eventually, he pulled a blanket up and around Lightning’s back to warm him. Lightning never let go of Doc.

Doc realized this is what he had been waiting for from the boy. Lightning had been too quiet for a reason. This had been bubbling its way up to the surface. Doc was fine with it. He knew it would only help Lightning to release some anxiety and emotions.

Chapter Text

Eventually, Lightning became exhausted. He was already tired and now completely spent from crying. He didn’t protest when Doc leaned him back and lowered the bed, so he was laying down more. He was very grateful that Doc rested his hand on his upper arm and left it there after he lifted the blankets around him. He fell asleep too tired to care about anything else happening to him at the moment and with the comfort that Doc was right there.

It was later on when Lightning dozed in and out of consciousness, hearing the low and quiet tones of Doc’s voice and going back to sleep, feeling comforted by the sound.

It had been a while after Lightning had fallen asleep and Doc was left with his thoughts. He had taken off his snot-covered jacket, rolled it up, and put it in a bag he had brought in, exchanging it for another jacket that was in it. He had suspected it but was now faced with the proof that Lightning was completely scared. It was to be expected though. He decided to call Sheriff, realizing he hadn’t updated anyone since Lightning had first woken up. He debated calling Sally first but decided he would rather talk to his friend about this first than explain it to a girl who was more like his daughter. Doc began to summarize what had occurred so far in hushed tones to Sheriff.

“It’s just not a problem to easily solve,” Doc had gone through the medical updates and was on to the most recent emotional ones, “I can’t just give him a prescription or something.”

“You just being there does a lot. He needs consistency now when everything is happening and he can’t see it, and you’re that consistency.”

“I know, I just wish I could do more,” Doc was feeling a bit useless as all there was to do was let Lightning heal.

“You are doing a lot more than you think. If anyone, you’re the person to understand what he’s going through right now.”

“I could see after my wreck,” Doc pointed out.

“You still ended up in a hospital, I heard. I’m sure it was more than your body that was hurt.”

Doc didn’t respond, not wanting to talk about his own emotional state. Sheriff caught on and decided to move on with the conversation. “Do you need me to come over?”

“No, I’ll be fine. I’m not planning on leaving anytime soon. I’ll ask Strip to bring over some stuff if I need anything. No use in you driving all the way over if I am not going to leave.”

“Well, depending on how the kid is doing, I was planning on coming over anyway in a few days. That is if he is up for visitors.” Sheriff proposed the idea.

“I’ll ask him later on when he is doing a bit better,” Doc said, “like I said, he’s overwhelmed and still adjusting right now.”

“OK,” Sheriff agreed, “and Paul?” he waited for Doc to hum into the phone. “You’re doing fine.”

Doc didn’t argue with Sheriff. They said their goodbyes and Doc waited a while before he decided to call Sally. This call was a lot less in-depth. He stuck to explaining a few of the medical updates. She, of course, asked when Doc thought that Lightning was up for visitors. Doc simply told her that he was not ready for them yet and he would ask Lightning how he felt when he was doing better. Doc refrained from telling her about all the emotions and reactions of the day. Doc and Sally said their goodbyes and Doc was again left in silence. Deciding he had better let Strip know that Lightning had at least woken up, he sent a text saying he had, he was doing alright, and not up for visitors yet. Strip responded right away that it was great news and to tell him if there was anything he could do to help.

It was early evening now and Lightning was still sleeping. Doc watched him, noting how the worry had been swept away from his eyebrows and the tension from his body as he slept. His breathing was more relaxed, and Doc felt it was an amazing sound to listen to the soft breaths and see the rising and falling of Lightning’s chest without the ventilator.

Doc leaned back in his chair, folding his hands across his stomach, and setting his feet up, and fell asleep without realizing it. It had been a long day for him as well. He got a few hours of sleep before he heard movement from the bed. The light had been turned off in the room, but the TV was on as well as a few smaller lights that lined the room. He could see Lightning on the bed moving around as he was waking up. A small pained gasp was let out.

“Alright, kid?” Doc whispered.

“Doc?”

“Yeah.”

“Where are we?”

Doc stopped, stunned at this. His mind immediately went to brain bleeds but knew those were not expected this long after the accident.

“In the hospital, Monty.” Doc reminded him slowly, “do you remember why you’re here?”

Lightning was silent for a few seconds which increased Doc’s concern.

“The crash,” Lightning said defeatedly as it all came back. He had been confused with sleep.

Doc was relieved as it seemed to be just disorientation.

“Doc, it hurts,” Lightning said.

The pain seemed to come back with the memory of why he was here. The pain was what woke him up, he realized. Doc adjusted something and released more medication into the IV. He told the kid what he had done and tucked the blankets back over, telling him to just breathe and try to go back to sleep. It didn’t take long before the boy was sleeping again.

Chapter Text

Lightning slept through most of the rest of the night, which Doc was grateful for. Lightning was up early the next morning, unable to sleep anymore. Doc sat next to him with bleary eyes from lack of sleep. Lightning sat feeling a bit numb and uneasy. There wasn’t much to help take his mind off of what was going on. His only distraction was Doc and Lightning wasn’t feeling much like sharing his feelings. The TV was his only other distraction in the room and he didn’t feel like trying to focus on it.

“Are you hungry, hotrod?” Doc asked.

“Maybe,” Lightning responded. Eating would give him something to do.

The next time a nurse came in Doc arranged to get some food brought in for both of them. It was all soft bland foods and liquids that came. Doc helped sit Lightning up and stuck a spoon in a yogurt. He directed Lightning’s hand to it and held the container still as Lightning gripped the spoon. There wasn’t much on the spoon when he lifted it out, but Doc stayed silent to let Lightning be a bit independent. Doc watched as the spoon was slowly lifted and missed the open mouth and hitting Lightning’s chin. Lightning adjusted and lifted the spoon higher and got to his mouth. He missed the container trying to dip the spoon back into the yogurt. This repeated a few more times and Doc could sense the frustration growing.

“Want a drink?” Doc redirected from the yogurt.

Lightning nodded and Doc warned him that he was bringing the straw for an orange juice up to his lips. Doc didn’t bother to let Lightning try to hold on to the orange juice with his shaky hands.

“Want your spoon back?” Doc encouraged Lightning to continue eating.

“I’m not hungry,” Lightning said strained.

“Can I give you a few more bites?” Doc proposed, wanting Lightning to get a little more food in.

Lightning nodded, too frustrated to feel defeated and accepting that he wouldn’t have to struggle anymore with one hand and no sight. Doc took the yogurt cup in one hand and scooped a bit out, bringing it to Lightning’s lips. Lightning opened his mouth when he felt the spoon and licked the remnants off his lips. This continued for a few more bites before Lighting decided he had enough and turned his head away. Doc got him to take another sip of his drink before he was satisfied with his efforts.

Lightning rested his head against the pillow and let out a shaky breath. Doc watched him.

“Alright?”

Lightning replied with a weak and broken hum.

“Not going to throw up, are you?”

Doc worried a bit that it was Lightning’s first meal since he had woken up. Lightning replied in a similar way, but with a tone that implied no. Doc let it go after that, realizing that Lightning didn’t want to talk. Lightning was trying not to cry again. He was afraid he would break again if he had to talk. He also knew Doc wasn’t dumb enough to not catch on that he was barely holding himself together. Lightning was thankful that Doc didn’t say anything about it and had turned up the TV which allowed Lightning to have a distraction. His stomach churned a bit from anxiety and a bit from the food but not enough to throw up.

Dr. Wheelan came in shortly after and checked in. Doc told him that Lightning had woken up in the night, that he had given him more meds, and that he had gotten a few bites of yogurt in with a drink. Lightning wasn’t really listening. He was more focused on not breaking down and crying again. Dr. Wheelan attempted to talk with him a bit, but Lighting didn’t offer any conversation. Dr. Wheelan looked to Doc who just gave him a look that said he was letting Lightning be for now. Dr. Wheelan understood and said his goodbyes and that he would be in later to check up.

There was again no conversation in the room. Doc watched Lightning struggle in silence against crying. He didn’t want Lightning to hold everything in, but he also knew Lightning was trying to hold some composure. Doc decided to allow Lightning a little bit of time before pushing him to open up.

“Kid, why don’t you try to sleep a bit?” Doc asked him, hoping that he could get some rest instead of torturing himself.

Lightning nodded and Doc lowered the bed down more. It didn’t take long for Lightning to fall asleep. He was healing, on medication, and emotionally tired.

Chapter Text

Doc listened to the change in breathing as Lightning fell asleep. ‘What am I going to do with this kid?’ He wasn’t quite sure how to entertain him, especially when he couldn’t see. There were many conversations they needed to have with each other, but it wasn’t a good time for any of them.

Lightning slept for a few hours and when he woke up, he felt a bit more clear of mind. He reached up to rub his eyes out of habit before he felt his wrist be gently caught and he was reminded not to touch his eyes. He could have cried again but nodded and set his wrist back down. He felt Doc adjust how his casted left hand was laying on his chest.

“Want to sit up?”

“Sure,” Lightning said quietly.

Doc set the bed up a bit higher. Lightning tucked his chin into his chest. Neither of them said anything and both desperately hoped the next few days would not be like this.

“In any pain, kid?”

“A little.”

Doc adjusted the medication a bit again.

“Where is the most pain?”

Lightning paused and thought about it, “Head mostly. I just ache all over.”

Doc nodded even though Lightning couldn’t see him, “Back of your head?”

“Mostly.”

It was quiet for a little while again and Lightning tried to focus on his surroundings. He could heard Doc’s faint breathing and shifting in his chair, the beeping of machines, footsteps down the hall, and the TV. He could smell the clean and stale air of the hospital which made it more real that he was in the hospital.

“Doc?”

“Hm?”

“How long do I have to stay here?”

Doc didn’t respond right away, “I don’t know, I guess we’ll have to ask your doctor the next time he’s in here.”

There was another pause as Lightning thought about that response.

“Not having fun here?” Doc teased him.

Lightning shook his head no, “I guess not.” He was more solemn.

“We’ll figure it out, kid.” Doc dropped the joking tone and squeezed Lightning’s shoulder.

Lightning nodded his head and sniffed. He didn’t know what he wanted, but he definitely didn’t want to be here. He felt Doc arrange the blankets around him again. Doc asked if there was any type of show Lightning wanted to listen to in particular and Lightning shrugged. Doc left the TV on the channel it was on. Doc knew the days couldn’t go on like this with Lightning silently working himself up over his current state. Sure, Lightning needed time and to come to terms with what happened, but he would make himself sick thinking about it all day. Thankfully, Lightning did a lot of sleeping anyway.

“It’s about noon,” Doc began, “do you want to try eating again?”

“Ok.” Lightning didn’t sound very excited.

Doc got them some bland hospital food for the both of them and again attempted to start Lightning on his own food, but didn’t push very hard and ended up feeding the boy himself again. Doc didn’t mind but was concerned about Lightning’s pride. Lightning was too stressed to care much about it. He didn’t eat a whole lot again and Doc didn’t push him. Doc wiped Lightning’s mouth with a napkin and neither said anything about it.

Later that evening Dr. Wheelan came into the room before his shift was done. Doc asked him about how long he was expecting Lightning’s hospital stay to be.

“Honestly, I could release him in a few days. I want him to be able to sit in a chair on his own and maybe take a few steps first. His scans show nothing concerning though, so all that’s left is for him to heal right now. Let’s see how the week progresses to decide.”

That was a lot sooner than Doc had thought. Dr. Wheelan was right though. There wasn’t anything to do, but heal. Lightning wasn’t in any critical condition and they weren’t expecting any severe changes.

“How does that sound to you, Montgomery?”

Lightning felt more uncomfortable with the use of his full name. “Good.”

“Alright,” Dr. Wheelan slapped his hands on his knees, “I’ll be going home now. Anything else I can do before I go?”

Lightning didn’t bother to respond, making Doc do it. “No, thank you. I think we’ll be good for tonight.”

Chapter Text

Lightning slept with more restless periods throughout the night, but never fully woke up. Doc was kept awake due to a lack of activities to tire him, sleeping in a chair, and Lightning’s periodic rustling. Doc ended up holding Lightning’s hand at some point in the night and rubbing absent-mindedly when Lightning started lightly crying out in his sleep. Doc never said anything about it in the morning and knew Lightning wouldn’t remember it anyway.

Doc sat the bed upright at an angle when Lightning woke up. They repeated what the events of breakfast had been from the previous day and sat with the TV again. It was quiet for a bit before Doc noticed Lightning looking like he was trying to find words to something he couldn’t quite get out.

“What is it, kid?”

“Um, well,” Lightning stalled a bit, “I…need the bathroom.”

“Alright. Let me grab the wheelchair.” Doc didn’t bother to wait for a nurse to help.

Doc pulled the wheelchair over to the bed and locked the breaks on it. He put an arm around Lightning and the other under his legs, turning Lightning’s legs off the bed and held on his back.

“Think you can stand?” Doc asked.

“I feel dizzy and weak,” Lightning admitted.

“I’ll lift you over. Ready?” Doc put his arms under Lightning’s.

“Yeah.” Lightning gripped Doc with his un casted hand.

Doc warned Lightning that he was going to move him and then he lifted him up and pivoted him to the chair and sat him down. Doc stayed bent down for a second longer until Lightning released the grip he had on Doc and moved his hand to the chair.

“Lift your feet,” Doc wheeled him to the bathroom, and they repeated the process to the toilet.

Lightning hated that it had to be this way and was embarrassed. He was grateful that Doc hadn’t hesitated or shown any disgust in helping him though. He had apologized once and was immediately shut down by Doc, who assured him it was fine. Doc helped him to the bed and wrapped him up in blankets again. Lightning felt a sickly ache again from the cold. A cold toilet seat hadn’t helped.

“We could probably get you some actual clothes now,” Doc stated as he watched Lightning shiver under the thin blankets.

Lightning nodded, “The closest stuff I have is in my trailer. Where’s Mack?”

“He doesn’t know where you are. I guess I didn’t think to let him know. You know his number? We could see where he is at.”

“I have it saved in my phone. Not memorized. I have no idea where my phone is.”

“I’m sure I can find his number. Want to talk to him? Let him know how you are?”

Lightning delayed his response as he contemplated. “No,” he said quietly, “but he should know.”

“I’ll talk to him,” Doc stood up, “let me go find the numbers.”

“Wait,” Lightning didn’t finish and he didn’t need to. Doc knew he didn’t want to be left alone.

“I’ll make it quick and I’ll just be down the hall.”

Lightning clenched his jaw and put his head to his chest, not agreeing, but not disagreeing either.

Doc accepted it as alright. “I’ll be right back.”

Lightning felt his heart speed up as Doc left the room. He was alright for a few seconds before his mind got the better of him. He could feel the pulsing grow until it felt loud in his ears. He tried to breathe in and out calmingly, but it turned into more gasping as the seconds moved on. His head felt as though a burning heat was growing all over it and behind his eyes started to burn. He tried not to think about it. He was alone. He trusted Doc, but he was still alone.

~

Doc went straight for the front desk and got a nurse to pull up paperwork he had signed. That alone took a minute, which wasn’t long but when you were trying to hurry it added up, and let Doc scroll through pages. Doc eventually found Mack’s number and typed it into his phone. He dialed the number, telling himself he would make the call quick. Mack answered and Doc introduced himself and told him he was with Lightning. He was immediately answered with a string of relieved words and ramblings that he was hearing any news of Lightning. Doc told him he was alright and politely declined when Mack asked to speak with Lightning, stating that Lightning was not feeling up to it. Doc asked where he was and found he was quite a ways away.

“Alright, I just needed some of his clothes. I’ll find something for him.”

“I’ll start the drive over right now!”

“No, you might as well stay there until he is up to see you. I’ll let you know.”

“Fine,” Mack sighed, “but I want to know if anything happens, and I want to talk to him right when he is able to.”

“Will do,” Doc was a bit surprised at the man’s amount of care he had for Lightning.

~

Lightning felt like he was going to completely fall apart and couldn’t believe the amount of relief that washed over him as Doc walked in. Doc could see Lightning was shaken.

“I’m back,” Doc said as he sat down.

Lightning nodded and brought his fist up to his mouth to cover his shaky breathing. It was too late though, Doc had already seen his flushed panic. He didn’t say anything about it though and let Lightning calm himself.

“Mack was relieved to hear you were alright. He had been worried about you,” Doc watched Lightning’s reaction.

Lightning had always known the man would bend over backward for him. Lightning had always said they were friends but was now struck with guilt, knowing that he had said it and not acted like it or believed it. He had never bothered to do anything for Mack. He couldn’t even stay awake with the man after he said he would. Lightning remained silent.

“He wants to talk with you as soon as he can. He is nowhere close to here; we will have to buy you new clothes.”

Lightning nodded. He took in a slow breath and hoped that Doc couldn’t hear the small hitches in it. He knew Doc could and appreciated that Doc didn’t acknowledge it out loud.

“Strip Weathers is staying nearby and I was thinking he could pick some stuff off and drop it by.”

Lightning didn’t immediately agree to this either. He wasn’t keen on having any visitors or having to hold many conversations.

“He’s been waiting to see you again since you woke up,” Doc added.

Lightning eventually nodded and Doc texted Strip, asking him to pick up a few things. Strip agreed and said he could be over the next day.

“Still cold?”

Doc watched Lightning shiver with the blankets pulled up to his chin with his fist at his mouth. He pulled out a sweatshirt he had bought and gently pulled the blankets from Lightning’s hand. He slipped the hoodie gently over Lightning’s head. It easily went over without pulling on him as it was quite a few sizes too big. Lightning allowed his fist to be pulled away from his hand and slipped into the sleeve. Doc left the casted arm alone. The sweatshirt smelled like Doc and Lightning hated to admit that it comforted him. He said a thanks and comfortably slipped into the sheets and the warmth.

Lightning had felt something on Doc’s wrist when he had been helped into the sweatshirt and sleepily asked, “Doc, what was on your wrist?”

“My watch,” Doc gave his hand to Lightning and let him explore the watch.

Lightning felt around the watch using his finger tips to analyze the small intricate details and grazed over the glass face, making an image in his mind. “It’s not new,” Lightning decided.

“It was my father’s. Only thing I have of his left actually,” Doc speculated. Lightning hummed thoughtfully and both him and Doc drifted off in thought about different yet related memories. ”

Chapter Text

The rest of the day was uneventful and the next morning Lightning woke to his name being gently called and a light shaking of his shoulder.

“Hey, sleeping beauty,” Doc greeted him when he mumbled a complaint, “Strip is going to be here in a few hours.”

Lightning was fully aware at that. “Is Mrs. Weathers coming?”

“You want her to?”

“It’s fine.”

Lightning tried to sound indifferent, but Doc could hear a little bit of hope in his voice. Lightning wanted the couple there but at the same time didn’t want anyone to see him. He was tired and didn’t know if he was up for it.

Doc quick texted Strip that he should bring Lynda with if she wanted to come. Strip was glad to receive the text as he had already brought his wife shopping with him because he had no idea what to buy for Lightning. It would save him a drive to drop his wife off and she had really wanted to see Lightning as well.

~

Strip was shopping on one side of the rack and Lynda on the other. Strip pulled out different shirts and studied them, having no idea what he was looking for. Lynda sifted quickly through sizes and styles and moved on down the rack. Strip followed down to her and held a shirt up.

“What’s wrong with this one?”

Lynda lifted her eyes for a second, “That one is too big.”

“It’s the same size as this one,” he held up his other arm that was holding clothes Lynda said they would buy.

“Yes, but it’s a different brand and those sizes run bigger.”

Strip stared at her blankly as she continued to sift and contemplated the thought of clothes sizes being different.”

“Why? Isn’t sizes all a standard and the same? Why did one company just sizes with different measurements?”

“I don’t know, dear, every company is different.” Lynda moved down the row again.

Strip shook his head and just accepted that some things in life would never make sense and sent up a quick prayer in thanks for his wife who bought all his clothes for him. Lynda threw another shirt in the pile over Strip’s arm and they moved on to sweatpants.

~

Lightning relished in the feeling of being snuggled in Doc’s big sweatshirt, which was an extreme oversized look on himself. He had slept better that night and was as well-rested as he could be at the moment. He waited anxiously for the Weathers to show up. Lightning fidgeted nonstop, which almost drove Doc mad, and tried to itch his hand that was in the cast.

There was a knock at the door and Lightning heard Doc say a greeting and stand up. He heard the couple’s voices and it almost felt surreal that they were there. Their voices were so alive, and yet no image of them to prove they were there. Lightning’s heart swelled a bit hearing their voices.

“Hey! It’s good to see you awake!” Strip squeezed his shoulder.

“Hello, sweetheart,” Lynda said.

Lightning heard the smile in her voice and the pure genuine joy both the couple had. He felt her arms snake around him and he allowed himself to fall into a hug against Lynda. He took in her scent and warmth. She had a motherly feel about her, not that Lightning would really know, but her instincts took over as if to further support that feeling. She gently and firmly held him and whispered sweet nothings in his ear. He found himself crying and had no idea why really and wondered if this was what PMS was like for girls. He felt Strip’s bigger hand on his back.

Doc watched a little pained that he couldn’t do much and felt a bit awkward as if it was more of a private scene as Lightning had only allowed himself to break with Lynda. He knew Lightning was holding it back but he had not pushed Lightning, figuring he had been trying to save a bit of pride. He would never have shamed the boy for crying. He made a mental note to let Lightning know that he would talk about it if he wanted to.

It was a few minutes before Lightning had composed himself back to just sniffling. He slowly peeled himself off of Lynda.

“Come here, bud.” Strip pulled Lightning in for a hug. Lightning leaned into Strip for a few seconds.

“How are you feeling?” Strip asked Lightning softly.

“Ok,” Lightning hated how pathetic. His voice sounded after crying.

Doc held back from adding that Lightning had some pain and that his head bothered him some.

“We picked up some different options for clothes,” Lynda nodded to the big bag they had brought.

“I see, thanks. I’ll pay you back for that.” Doc reached for his back pocket where his billfold was.

“No you won’t,” Strip said firmly, “we want to do everything we can and this was something we can do to help.”

“Alright,” Doc nodded and softly smiled, “thank you.”

“Thanks,” Lightning added.

“Of course, sweetheart.” Lynda gave him a light peck on the cheek.

“Paul, you need to get out? You can go to our place for a bit if you want.” Strip offered.

Doc watched Lightning’s face as he waited fearfully for Doc’s reply.

“Monty, will you be ok for a bit?”

Lightning didn’t respond. He didn’t want to admit that he wasn’t comfortable with Doc leaving him, but he didn’t want to have Doc leave. He trusted the Weathers, but he didn’t want Doc to leave.

“I’m good for now,” Doc said.

The Weathers didn’t protest, catching on to Lightning’s discomfort as well.

Chapter Text

Lynda held Lightning’s hand and Strip gently massaged Lightning’s shoulder. The couple talked with Doc about various things, all staying away from the most direct topic right in front of them. Lightning was comfortable just to sit and listen to the conversation. He was content just laying back and having the couple love him and hold him.

Doc finally said he was going to go grab something to eat downstairs and asked Lightning if that would be alright. Lightning thought for a minute and hesitantly nodded. Doc asked if Lightning wanted anything to eat and got a no in response. Doc assured Lightning he would be back shortly. It was a few minutes after Doc left when Lightning felt his lip quiver and he started to break again.

“He’s in the building, bud, he’ll be back soon,” Strip said, catching his dilemma.

“We’re right here. We won’t leave you alone, sweetie.”

Lightning nodded. He knew that. He couldn’t help but feel like a baby being left in a nursery or daycare and watching his parents leave him.

“Do you know my nephew, Cal?” Strip suddenly asked.

Lightning hummed a no.

“No!?,” Strip said in a bit of a dramatic disbelief, “well, I’ll have to tell you about him then.”

Strip proceeded to softly tell stories of the antics that his nephew had gotten into. Lightning was amused by them and gradually began to fall asleep. When Doc came back, Lightning was asleep, and Strip had lowered the bed to a more comfortable angle. Lightning’s breathing was deep and relaxed.

“Go alright?” Doc whispered.

Strip nodded, “got a little worked up at first, but we figured it out.”

“Sorry you weren’t able to get out any,” Lynda empathized.

“No, just walking downstairs stretched my legs. Thank you.” Doc told her.

“Have you talked to him any about Harv?” Strip side-eyed Lightning, making sure he was deep in sleep.

“Not yet,” Doc checked on Lightning’s state as well, “it’s just never been a good time. I’ll bring it up soon. He’s been doing a lot better really quickly.”

Strip nodded. Lynda was watching the sleeping boy deep in thought. She still had his hand in hers. They all remained quiet for a while and were content in the silence.

Lightning woke up to the low tones of voices. He couldn’t make out what words were said but was comforted by the sounds of familiar people with him. Over time, he became more aware and started to make out the conversation around him.

“…and then we got married,” Strip finished telling some story. “Hey, look who’s up!”

Lightning tried to sit up, not getting far with only one arm, before he was helped.

“Here, kiddo, have a drink.” Doc held a straw to Lightning’s lips that was in a big plastic hospital cup with water inside it.

Lightning sat and listened to the three adults talk around him. He didn’t feel like conversing with them. He had just woken up and was still tired. An hour later, the Weathers decided they had to leave.

“We are so glad to see you awake, Lightning. Thanks for letting us visit,” Strip said.

“Thanks for coming,” Lightning replied tiredly. He meant it though.

“We’ll come back soon, honey. We love you,” Lynda leaned down and kissed Lightning’s cheek.

Lightning was shocked and moved at Lynda’s statement. “I…I love you too,” Lightning said quietly.

Lightning couldn’t stop thinking of what Lynda had said long after her and Strip had left. He couldn’t remember the last time he had heard that and couldn’t believe how much it meant to him. People said a lot of stuff to him about being friends, Lightning being a great and amazing person, and being told by his fans that they loved him. It felt completely different when Lynda said it and Lightning believed her.

“Good to see them?” Doc asked.

“Yeah,” Lightning confirmed.

“You should probably call Mack tomorrow.”

“Ok,” Lightning accepted.

Doc was a little surprised that Lightning had agreed without hesitation. He could see that Lightning had been wiped out from his visit with the Weathers. Doc didn’t want to exhaust Lightning or push him too soon with visitors, but Mack seemed to be close to him and should probably just hear Lightning’s voice to know he was alright.

Lightning felt a lot better after the visit. He had been nervous he would have to talk about his crash, something he couldn’t even think about, or that he would have to socialize the whole time. The Weathers had instead proven to be comforting to him and hadn’t pushed him at all. He had actually enjoyed resting and having the white noise of conversation around him. He decided he owed it to Mack and could muster up a few minutes of conversation tomorrow with Mack.

Chapter Text

The daily hospital tasks that were becoming routine continued the next morning as Doc helped Lightning with his breakfast. Lightning got a little bit more food down that he had been getting and Doc was glad to see some improvement in appetite. The tv was on, as usual, in the room with the volume down low which helped give a little white noise that drown out some of the beeping and sounds of the hospital. Neither Doc nor Lighting talked much, and they hadn’t much at all so far in the hospital stay, but at this point it was past being very awkward. Lightning trusted Doc to take care of him and at least knew who the man was, even if he didn’t know a whole lot about him besides his racing career.

“Do you want to call Mack now?” Doc asked. Lightning agreed, figuring it was better now before he became too tired again. Doc dialed Mack’s number and Lightning could hear the faint ringing of the phone in Doc’s hand and a voice pick up on the other end. Doc was barely able to say any sort of greeting before Lightning heard the faint indistinctable sounds of an excited voice on the other end. Doc was barely able to get a word in edge wise. "yeah…ok…well, I…yeah he is…alright, well Mack,” Doc quickly interrupted before Mack could start another string of sentences, “he is right here, I’ll give him the phone now.”

Lightning felt the phone press against his ear and he brought up his one unwrapped hand up to take it out of Doc’s hand. As soon as he said ‘hi’ to Mack, the man could not contain his excitement.

“Oh my word, boss! You’re ok! I didn’t hear anything about you after I saw your crash and I couldn’t find you and then I get this call saying you’re here, and I can’t believe I am finally hearing your voice! This is the second time I lost you! I’m so sorry!” Mack rambled on, too worked up to stop.

“Hey, Mack.” Lightning interrupted, “It’s good to hear from you too.” He let Mack talk another bit. “No, I’m fine. I’m feeling alright right now…no, it doesn’t sound like I will be here a whole lot longer.” Lightning opted not to say anything about his current blindness as he didn’t know if he could talk about it without breaking down, but he did decide to go into some of his minor struggles. “I broke an arm though,” he smiled a bit as Mack went into a new string of worries, “the cast itches a bit.”
Doc listened and noted that Lighting gradually brought the conversation away from him and his accident and casually moved it to other topics. Lightning hadn’t brought up his most serious condition with his eyes and had been obviously uncomfortable whenever it had been brought up. Eventually Lightning convinced Mack that he would see him when he got out of the hospital and said his goodbyes before he handed the phone back to Doc.

Chapter Text

Dr. Wheelan entered the way he usually did and took a seat next to Lightning’s bed after greeting both two men in the room. “Well, I think we are going to take you off your IV and switch you to pills so we can prepare you for going home.”

Doc and Dr. Wheelan discussed different medications, which meant nothing to Lightning, and he felt anxiety bubble up. He wanted nothing more than to leave this hospital and at the same time he never wanted to leave. It was so nice to have someone here for him consistently. He didn’t know why Doc was still here, but he liked it and wasn’t sure what would happen to him after he left the hospital. Harv pretty much gave him what he needed and then left him to his own devices. This was something he couldn’t do alone. He was blind! He couldn’t live alone. He hadn’t asked what would happen after he left the hospital.

“I also want you to get up and do some walking before I release you. I know your body is still tired and healing but we need to get you up and exercising some now.” Dr. Wheelan said and began lifting Lightning’s covers off of him.

“Right now?” Lightning asked surprised that they were starting walking exercises right then. He had thought they were talking about sometime in the future.

“Got anything better to do?” Doc asked as he came around the other side of the bed.

“No,” Lightning almost pouted as the cold air hit him and Dr. Wheelan’s arms snaked under his legs and another around his back to pivot him so his legs were over the edge of the bed. He felt a man take each side of him and slip an arm around his and under his armpit. They began to walk slowly toward the door. Lightning was firmly stabilized between the two around him and was able to focus on just walking. He felt slightly dizzy but pushed past it and kept walking. He heard and felt and change in the air as they stepped into the hallway and again when they entered another room, which was the lobby and nurses station.

“Look who’s up!” Nurse Angela ran around the station and stuck a sucker in Lightning’s mouth. “That’s for all your hard work.” Lightning couldn’t help but smile.

By the time they were back at his bed Lightning was exhausted from the effort. He was helped to lay back down and felt Doc pull the blankets up around him again as he sunk into the pillow.

“You’re doing good! Let’s just keep doing that and we will switch your meds, see how you’re doing, and then we’ll let you go. We will do some checkups every other week until we take off your bandages and see if anything more needs to be done.” Dr. Wheelan concluded before heading off to write a prescription to switch Lightning to.

The room was left almost quiet again with the sound of the beeping of machines, background hospital noises, and TV that Doc eventually turned up a bit to help with the awkward silence. Lightning wasn’t listening to the TV, he was working up the courage to ask Doc some of the major questions he had on his mind.

Doc caught on to Lightning’s discomfort and watched him begin to say something and then cut himself off before he could begin a few times. “What is it, kid?” Doc asked, not beating around the bush.

“Um…,” Lightning panicked and tried to quickly come up with a strategy to get answers, “how long have you been here?”

“Been where?” Doc didn’t know what Lightning was referring to.

Lightning almost chickened out but it was too late to stop now. “Here with me.”

“Pretty soon after you got here,” was all Doc responded with.

Lightning was hoping for a little more insight from Doc, but realized he would have to ask more questions. “How far did you drive to come here?”

“About nine hours,” Doc stated.

Lightning realized he wouldn’t get any information while avoiding direct questions so he tried to build up the courage to ask a straight question that wasn’t too embarrassing. “Why did you come?” Lightning hoped it didn’t sound like he didn’t want Doc there because he desperately wanted and needed him.

Doc could hear a slight quiver in the quickly blurted question. He supposed that he hadn’t really given Lightning any explanations and he didn’t really know what was going on. He had almost hoped they could just go along without ever addressing the whole thing but knew that couldn’t happen. He sighed, “Monty, I owe you an apology.”

“For what?” Lightning tried to hide the confused worry in his voice.

“I called the press and told them where you were back in Radiator Springs.”

Lightning didn’t say anything for a minute and Doc waited for a sign of anger that never came. “So, why are you here now?”

“You’re not wondering why I called the press?” Doc couldn’t imagine Lightning didn’t have any wonders about it.

“I wasn’t all that nice to you. I only wanted your help after I found out who you were.” Lightning concluded.

“Well, there is a bit more to it than that. There were some more personal reasons too. I was taking out a few of my past problems with racing on you.”

“Oh,” Lightning thought back to the garage and what Doc had said to him about only caring about himself like the rest of the racing world. “So, you’re here because you feel bad?” Lightning felt a little hurt at just being considered a pity case to redeem Doc.

“No, you did a lot for the town, and everyone was growing on you. They were all pretty upset when you were gone.”

“I…like all of them too.” Lightning was a bit confused on where Doc was going with this. “Why did you stay with me?”

Doc realized he would need to just lay it all out since Lightning wasn’t picking up what he was getting at subtly. “I came to ask you if you would come back to Radiator Springs with me. Now, you’ll need a place to stay and heal anyway.”

Lightning felt some anxiety wash away. Doc did plan on sticking with him then and he would have help after he got out of the hospital. He just nodded, not trusting his voice to not betray his relief. He mentally cursed his state and the medications for making him so emotional.

“Alright, that’s settled then. I get calls and texts daily from them asking about you. I’ve had to do not much less than beat them off with a stick from coming over here.”

Lightning smiled. People that weren’t fans actually wanted to see him. He wouldn’t be alone.

Chapter Text

Lightning woke up in pain and broke out a moan. He clutched his head and had to hold back writhing in pain.
“What’s wrong, kid?” Lightning had almost forgotten where he was in the pain. “Pain?” Lightning gave a tone of affirmation through gritted teeth. “Alright, hold on.” Doc stood and pressed the call light, and it wasn’t long before a nurse came in and Doc told her something about pain medications before she left and got Dr. Wheelan.

“Hello, Montgomery, I hear your in pain. I brought some extra medication for you now.” Dr, Wheelan helped Lightning sit up enough before setting a pill in his mouth and helping him take a sip of water from a small paper cup to get the pill down. Both doctors discussed different pain medications and changes before Dr. Wheelan left to go alter his previous prescription.

“It will be about twenty minutes before that pill kicks in, kiddo.” Lightning groaned at that and whimpered when a sharp pain ran through the back of his head. “Does your head hurt the most?” Doc received another pained approval at his theory. Lightning felt the bed dip as Doc sat next to him and his strong hands around his shoulders. “Here, just try to ride it out.” Doc pulled Lightning forward so that his face was in Doc’s lower chest and Doc had one arm under his head and cradled him. He ran another hand gently through Lightning’s hair and massaged parts, giving more pressure on uninjured parts. Lightning gripped Doc’s shirt on his back when a wave of pain would come. The pressure and movements on his head helped with the pain and eventually the pain dulled as the medication kicked in.

Lightning was so relieved when the pain began to dull. He was too tired from the pain to even care that he was still basically laying in Doc’s lap with his head being cradled and massaged. He could have fallen asleep like that.

“Feeling better?” Doc asked quietly. Lightning hummed exhaustedly and now sleepily. “Sorry, hotrod, we are going to have to experiment with meds a bit. Let me know if you ever feel the pain getting too much.” Lightning agreed to that. Lightning shifted when his arm started to become numb, and Doc interpreted it as wanting to be let go. Lightning silently mourned the loss of the position as he was gently laid back onto his pillow.

Dr. Wheelan came for a while and did his own analysis of Lightning again and discussed medication dosage changes with Doc. Lightning didn’t bother to listen once his part was over. It was decided he would stay in the hospital as long as it took to get his medication figured out and he was able to walk around a bit more easily.

“I’m going to call Sheriff,” Doc told Lightning once Dr. Wheelan had left, “he wanted to know what is going on.”

Lightning nodded, glad that Doc was choosing to make the phone call in the room and not leave him alone.

“Michael… Yeah, they are just figuring out dosages with his pain meds now.” Lightning listened as Doc summarized his recovery so far. “Well, he should be out of here by the end of this week. It’s not really worth it to drive all the way over here if you’ll see him at home soon.”

Doc argued some more with the phone before tapping Lightning and whispering, “Sheriff wants to talk to you, you want to?”

Lightning agreed and felt the phone being pressed to his ear, so he took it from Doc’s hand. “Hello?”

“Hey, punk! It’s good to hear your voice! I haven’t seen you since you woke up yet, how are you?” Sheriff didn’t bother to hide his excitement.

“Hi, Sheriff, I’m doing ok.” Lightning broke a soft smile.

“Say, would you mind if I came and visited you? I don’t have to if you’re not up for it.”

“No, I want to see you,” Lightning quickly ensured, “but that’s a long way to drive over.” He only knew how far he was from Radiator Springs due to his conversation with Doc earlier.

“Doc tell you that? Don’t let him convince you he’s right, he doesn’t know anything. I’m coming over if you feel up to it.” Sheriff put down any of Lightning’s polite thoughts of inconveniencing him.

“Ok,” Lightning said with an audible smile.

“Now, put Doc on the phone so I can set him straight.” Sheriff instructed Lightning.

Lightning handed the phone back to Doc, telling him Sheriff wanted to speak with him again. He heard faint sounds of Sheriff’s voice and unamused accepting sounds that resembled that Sheriff was indeed setting Doc straight. Eventually Doc submitted and told Sheriff he would see him later then.

“He’s already got a sweet spot for you, y’know. Can’t wait until you’re home to see you.” Doc told Lightning after he had hung up the phone.

Lightning didn’t know what to say to that.

Chapter Text

Doc and Lightning were in the middle of their late breakfast when Lightning heard a knock and the door open.

“There’s the little juvenile delinquent! You’re awake!”

Lightning broke a smile, “Hi, Sheriff.”

“You drove all night,” Doc stated.

“Not all night,” Sheriff defended, “I got here a few hours ago, got a hotel, slept, then came here.”

Doc shook his head, “You could have slept in, we aren’t going anywhere.”

“Couldn’t sleep anyway,” Sheriff sat in the chair on the other side of the bed. Doc didn’t believe him. “How are you feeling?” Sheriff addressed Lightning.

“I’m doing fine,” Lightning said. It was an understatement, but overall, if he ignored the fact he was blind then he was doing alright. He knew Sheriff didn’t buy it, but also didn’t push it.

“It’s good to see you awake. Gave us all a scare when we saw what happened to you.” Sheriff had lowered his voice.

Lightning nodded solemnly. He didn’t want to think about his wreck. Didn’t want to think that he had been through it and didn’t even remember it. He couldn’t forget because it was the reason he couldn’t see the world around him. It was too scary a thought and he didn’t trust himself to talk about it yet.

“How is Radiator Springs?” Doc asked.

“The same. Everyone is dying to see him,” Sheriff nodded to Lightning, “and I practically had to lock Sally up from coming over again.”

Doc closed his eyes in dread, hoping that Lightning didn’t hear what Sheriff had said.

“Again?” Lightning asked cautiously. “She was here?”

No such luck for Doc. Sheriff shot his eyes over to Doc who was glaring at him a bit disappointed. Sheriff looked a bit apologetic, not realizing Doc hadn’t mentioned that Sally had been there.

“Who else was here?” Lightning asked in nervous agitation.

“No one else you didn’t know about. Sheriff and the Weathers.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Just hadn’t been a good time,” Doc concluded. It hadn’t really been. He and Lightning didn’t talk all that much as he mostly slept and wasn’t completely comfortable with the man he didn’t know well. Doc was never one to talk endlessly or talk when he didn’t feel he had to.

“How long was she here?”

“Just a few hours for two days.”

Lightning halted before asking, “What did she say?”

Doc thought carefully about his next response. He could hear that Lightning was embarrassed that people were seeing him in his current state, especially a girl about his age. “She was really worried after watching you on the TV and it helped to see you.”

“And I can’t see anything,” Lightning commented bitterly.

Doc was a bit surprised, as it was the first time that Lightning had really brought up his own blindness, although he had known that Lightning had been struggling with it. “That’s just as of now. You’re still healing.”

“I’m still blind,” Lightning bit out.

“Yes, you are,” Doc said sternly and Lightning clenched his jaw before he continued more softly, “as of now. If you still can’t see when we take off the bandages then we will take the next steps. One thing at a time, kid.”

Lightning’s anger immediately fizzled out and he was left with a pit in his stomach. He knew Doc was right. Lightning had almost wanted to fight and release anger, but instead, Doc had given him reality and refused to give meaningless encouragement. His blindness was acknowledged rather than pretended it was nonexistent. He was blind right now and there was nothing he could do about it right now. It didn’t mean it still wasn’t scary though. Lightning tucked his chin to his chest and gave a shaky, “mhmm.”

Sheriff patted and rubbed Lightning’s upper arm when he sniffled. Lightning was surprised he didn’t straight up bawl, but couldn’t help but shed a few tears. “Where did the clothes come from?” Sheriff asked awhile later, still soothingly rubbing his arm as Lightning was falling asleep. They had leaned his bed back down.

“The Weather’s bought them,” Doc explained.

“That was nice of them.”

Eventually, Lightning’s breathing changed, and it was apparent that he was finally asleep. “So, you didn’t tell him Sally was here. I’m assuming you haven’t told him about Harv or you signing those papers.”

Doc’s eyes flashed back to Lightning to make sure he was still asleep. “No.” He didn’t bother making any excuses.

“Probably better done sooner than later.”

Doc nodded. “Didn’t think he needed anything to think about right now. He won’t be worrying about agents anytime soon and me having custody doesn’t change much.”

“Yeah. He’s still gotta know and better sooner than later.”

Doc agreed with it. It didn’t make it any easier to bring up, but he knew he would have to tell Lightning everything at some point.

Chapter Text

Lightning woke up and could hear Sheriff snoring loudly beside him. Assuming Doc was sleeping as well, he tried to maneuver himself into a different position with his one uncasted arm. He was startled when a pair of hands gently grabbed him and helped him to sit up. Realizing it was Doc, Lightning ducked his head in embarrassment, even though his eyes weren’t visible, embarrassed from his previous small outburst of anger. There was silence and Lightning tried to focus on anything to distract himself but ended up listening to Sheriff as it drown out any other noise in the room. He wished he could see Doc’s face and try to read what he was thinking. Lightning ran his fingers over a rough hospital blanket and compared the texture to other things he could feel.

The silence continued before being interrupted by Doc’s unamused statement. “Sounds like a pig next to you.”

Lightning didn’t believe it at first but burst out laughing after a few seconds at the random and pure bluntness of Doc’s annoyed observation. Doc chuckled as he watched the boy succumb to a fit of laughter. Sheriff stirred and Lightning tried to stifle his laugh as to not wake him up. “Cmon, kid, don’t wake up the hog,” Doc whispered to him which just sent him almost into hysterical laughing. Doc smiled, suspecting that Lightning’s meds had a little bit to do the reaction but was just glad to see Lightning laughing for the first time after so many weeks in the hospital.

Sheriff drew a sharp breath and rubbed his face as he abruptly woke. “What’s going on?” He yawned.

“Nothing,” Doc laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Sheriff asked as Lightning tried to calm down.

“You had to be there,” Doc smirked.

“I was here,” Sheriff rolled his eyes.

“You had to drive here overnight and were sleeping here,” Doc pointed out humorously.

Sheriff shook his head and rolled his eyes again, “Whatever.” He looked at his watch and found it was late afternoon. “You want to go to a hotel tonight? I will stay here.”

Lightning was finally able to solemn himself when he heard what Sheriff said. Doc, knowing that Lightning was uncomfortable with him leaving, declined. “Besides, if you sleep here then no one else will be able to.”

“What are you saying?” Sheriff narrowed his eyes. “I snore?”

“No louder than a jet engine,” Doc said cheekily.

“I do not!” Sheriff balked at the statement, “tell him, son.”

“He doesn’t sound like that,” Lightning said and Sheriff gave Doc an ‘I told you so’ look. “I would describe it more like a train.”

Doc barked out a laugh and Sheriff’s mouth dropped a bit at the unsuspected jab from the boy. “Well, I see when I’m not wanted.” Sheriff got up and tried to hide his laughter. “I’m going to go get something to eat, you two clowns want anything?”

“Yeah,” Doc told him.

“Well, you’ll have to get it yourself!” Sheriff laughed as he left the room.

Lightning found it a little easier to small talk with Doc after that. He had seen that Doc did have a sense of humor and a different side to him. It made him feel a little more comforted in the fact that he knew Doc could laugh.

Chapter Text

Sheriff came back later with food he picked up and had been thoughtful enough to pick something a bit more bland to be easier on Lightning. He hadn’t had much of an appetite and couldn’t eat anything strong without feeling sick to his stomach. Sheriff jumped straight into helping Lightning with his food, giving Doc a break and trying to be a help to the both of them. Lightning was content to try his best with the food, but ultimately gave up when it was the least bit challenging and allowed Sheriff to do the work for him. He found he was frustrated more easily now and didn’t want to end up taking it out on the people who were taking care of him. He was happy to listen to Doc and Sherrif talk about nothing as he was fed.

“Hey, kiddo, don’t conk out just yet.” It was a while later and he had noticed Lightning’s features relaxing and breath deepening. Lightning was brought back to full awareness, a little shocked, he hadn’t even realized that he had been falling asleep which disturbed him. “You should try to take your walk before you sleep,” Doc advised.

Lightning moaned as he was helped from the bed, his muscles still quite sore, but found it felt good to get out of bed with almost a good pain. He was not as weak now and was able to walk mostly just using Doc and Sheriff as balance and direction. He couldn’t believe how hard a task as simple as walking could be with sore muscles and no sight. They just went up and down a few hallways before heading back to the room and setting Lightning in Doc’s chair. Doc sat on the edge of Lightning’s bed and threw one leg on top.

“I was falling asleep but now I’m not tired. Why am I so tired all the time?” Lightning asked from the chair, feeling refreshed after getting up and sitting in a different area.

“Your body is still healing, kiddo. You’ve also been sitting in the same bed for weeks now, bored, and it helps to get out and get moving.” Doc gave some explanations. Lightning nodded, understanding in some way.

Eventually, Doc moved Lightning to the bed and tucked him in when he started getting tired. It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep. Getting out of bed for a while helped with his restlessness.

“This how most days go?” Sheriff asked.

“Yeah, he’s been sleeping a lot. When he isn’t there isn’t anything for him to do but listen to TV. I’m not sure what to do with him.” Doc said regretfully.

“He’ll be out of that bed and in Radiator Springs hopefully soon. Then there will be a lot of things he will have to figure out how to do.” Sheriff said. Doc agreed, knowing that there would be a lot of challenges for Lightning in learning to live without vision. He just hoped it was temporary.

Sheriff stayed into the late evening before heading to his hotel room. He was back the next morning bringing breakfast. The next few days went about the same before Sheriff decided he had better get back to Radiator Springs, as they didn’t know exactly when Lightning would be released from the hospital anyways.

“Good to see you, son. I’ll see you back home.” Sheriff gave Lightning a one-armed hug before he left to go back to Radiator Springs. Lightning was sad to say goodbye to him but knew that he would be seeing him again fairly soon.

“Doc? When did you become a doctor?” Lightning asked. He was more comfortable asking Doc some more personal questions now, avoiding some topics and wanted to be entertained by the answers. Doc found that he was more comfortable sharing about himself than he had been in years. Both managed not to bring up racing which was quite a feat considering both of them had a career in it at one time or another and both were alright with it.

Chapter Text

Dr. Wheelan came in one late morning to look at Lightning’s progress and see if he could be released. “Well, it’s nice to see you so alert,” he said when seeing Lightning sitting straight up in bed and talking with Doc. He took blood pressure and a few other standard tests and writing them down. “Well, you’re looking really good. Shall we take a walk now?”

“Ok,” Lightning said. He flung his blankets to the side with one hand and slowly started to move his legs off the bed, taking hold of Dr. Wheelan’s arm that had been placed on his shoulder and using it to help turn himself to the side of the bed and lower his legs. It was somewhat tedious as Lightning was careful about moving his sore body, but Dr. Wheelan was more impressed by the eagerness and initiative that Lightning had. Doc knew that it was probably just to impress Dr. Wheelan into letting him out of the hospital as soon as possible. He definitely had allowed Doc to do all the work in moving him out of bed all the previous days.

“I think we should try having just me walk with you and Paul standing by,” Dr. Wheelan said.

Lightning had a slight falter in his confidant façade at the change in norm but quickly recovered. “Alright.” He held on to Dr. Wheelan slightly tighter than he would have if there had been two men helping him but otherwise continued almost normally. Lightning didn’t convey that he felt slightly dizzy and wasn’t sure if it was the movement or not being able to see anything to fix his vision on. Dr. Wheelan was nice enough to warn him when they were turning and went slow. Lightning wanted to throw his other arm around to make sure he wouldn’t run into anything but it being in a cast saved him from that embarrassment. He was relieved when they made it back to the bed and he wasn’t on the spot anymore or being tested.

“All your tests read in the normal range and you are able to walk without any complications other than lack of vision. I’m going to release you tomorrow morning. All there is to do is wait and I will see you at your next appointment to discuss your progress.”

Lightning’s mouth twitched but he kept his face mostly straight and nodded. Doc began talking about medications and many other medical aspects that would continue outside of the hospital. Lightning became lost in thought about what life would be like outside of the hospital and had many mixed feelings about it. He was not nearly as anxious about leaving now that he knew he would be staying with Doc, but it would still be different. He was bored out of his mind at the hospital though.

“Well? Excited?” Doc addressed Lightning after Dr. Wheelan left. Lightning nodded but remained silent. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m glad to leave here.” Lightning sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

Doc watched him and after a while, he spoke again. “You know it’s going to be a bit different outside of the hospital.” Lightning knew. He was scared of facing the outside world when he was so vulnerable. He supposed the only reason why he wasn’t in hysterics was because he knew Doc would be with him. “Right now, you just have to make it until your next appointment when the bandages come off.”

“And what if I still can’t see?” Lightning choked out.

Doc noted how different this tone was compared to the first time Lightning had brought up the topic. “Then it will be different, but right now, that isn’t the case. Just take it one step at a time.” He patted Lightning on the back. “You were certainly eager to show your doctor that you could walk fine.”

Lightning’s mouth twitched upward. “He said I could leave if I was walking fine. It’s not all that fun here.”

“What are you talking about? I’m here, how could it not be fun?” Doc teased.

“You know what I mean,” Lightning laughed.

Doc called Sheriff and let Lightning tell him the news that he was being released the next day. Lightning couldn’t help but smile at Sheriff’s excitement when he said he was going to tell the rest of the town. Doc sent a text to the Weathers to let them know and they planned to see Lightning before he left for Radiator Springs.

“Alright, kid. Get a goodnight’s sleep, you got a big day tomorrow.” Doc tucked Lightning in and set his arm in a comfortable position. Lightning was still anxious about leaving the hospital but was comforted by the knowledge that Doc would be with him.

Chapter Text

Lightning groggily fought for consciousness as he felt a hand rubbing his shoulder and heard his name being softly called. Doc attempted to wake up Lightning, but it was pretty slow going. Lightning had been having a hard time waking up since his accident and he had no sort of consistent sleep schedule. Doc eventually got quiet noises of protest in response which slowly began to become more intelligible.

“Hey, kiddo, want to get going?” Doc asked once Lightning seemed semi-lucid.

“Mmm, What time is it?” Lightning slurred out of exhaustion.

“Almost 10:30. I’ve got all the paperwork done and everything packed up.”

Lightning didn’t feel more awake until he was sitting up. Dr. Wheelan came by to say goodbye to Lightning one more time and to deliver a few more instructions on care. Nurse Angela was there and brought out a wheelchair and helped to move Lightning over to sit in it. Although Lightning could pretty much move himself at this point.

“Why do I have to sit in a wheelchair if I can walk?”

“It’s more of just a policy we have here.” Angela patted Lightning's shoulder from where she stood behind him. Doc grabbed their belongings and they left the room. The nurses at the nurses' station all said their goodbyes to Lightning as he was wheeled out. They had to go through some hallways to find an elevator that would lead to the parking ramp. Lightning clutched the wheelchair when the elevator moved and Doc noticed him tense. Fortunately, the elevator ride wasn’t very long. On the other side of the elevator, Lightning could feel a slight change in temperature and the sound of air moving under the doors.

“I’ll go pull my car up,” Doc said.

“Wait,” Lightning quickly stopped him. He faltered, having nothing to give Doc a reason to wait for.

“I’ll be right back.” Doc squeezed Lightning’s shoulder and held on for a minute, waiting for confirmation from Lightning that he could leave. Eventually, he let his hand leave Lightning’s shoulder.

“Doc,” Lightning frantically thought for any reason to keep Doc from leaving him. He suddenly had an idea, “Can I hold your watch?” He was nervous when he didn’t get any response but was relieved when he felt the leather and cool metal was set into his hand.

“I’ll be right back,” Doc said and Lightning heard the door open and Doc had left. He clutched the watch and tried to keep his breathing controlled.

“Monty, can you give me your opinion on something?” Angela asked when they were alone. She tried to distract him. “My son is six and going to school this year. What kind of lunch box should I get him, a shark one or snake?”

“I say shark,” Lightning let out a calming breath.

Angela entertained Lightning for the next few minutes with a funny story about her son. “Here he is!” Angela saw Doc pull up his car and Lightning felt relief. He came and opened the door and held it while Angela pushed Lightning out into the ramp and then opened the car door. Doc put his hand on the back of Lightning’s head to guide him into the car without hitting his head. Lightning’s heart swelled a bit at the feeling of the fatherly action when Doc reached over him and buckled him in. Angela said goodbye to Lightning and Doc stood and thanked her for everything. The car door shut and all Lightning could hear was the engine and muffled voices until the driver’s door opened and Doc got inside.

“So, you’re about to ride in the Hudson Hornet.”

“This is the Hornet!” Lightning was surprised and had a bit of excitement riding in the famous car. Doc smiled and put the car in drive. Lightning was tense as the car moved, but otherwise, put up with the movement alright. He felt an underlying anxiety set in again about leaving the hospital into the unknown, but pushed past it.

“Are you hungry?” Doc asked. It was nearing lunchtime. Lightning was never really hungry but he said sure anyway and Doc found a small place that served soups and salads. It wasn’t a food that was easy for Lightning to eat, but it was one easier for him to stomach. He was never physically sick, but he still wasn’t interested in food after a traumatic accident and not eating for at least a week, and did not feel like eating anything that was not bland.

Lightning hated the silence and the instant discomfort he felt when Doc left the car and shut the door behind him. He was alone in the muffled car only for a few seconds before he was relieved again when Doc opened his car door and reached across to unbuckle him and then helped him stand. They locked elbows and began to walk inside. They quickly got a table and Doc ran through a few choices for Lightning who wasn’t all that interested and let Doc choose for him. Their waiter examined Lightning out of harmless curiosity of the bandages around his eyes and the cast on his arm but said nothing regarding either.

“Here is your spoon and crackers are on the top right on the plate under the bowl.” Doc guided Lightning’s hand to the spoon and watched him, to a while he started on his own soup. They had sat on the same side of the table so Doc could help Lightning eat and try to avoid the dumping of a bowl.

Doc saw Lightning reach out of the corner of his eye and then he caught the glass of water Lightning had bumped before it could tip onto the table. “Sorry,” Lightning was embarrassed and had thought he was being more gentle in his search for the glass of water.

“Don’t worry about it,” Doc assured him it was alright. Lightning was still embarrassed about the near accident and was more dainty in his approach to attempting to eat. In the end, Lightning hadn’t eaten all that much and Doc paid and they left. Doc helped Lightning in the car and again left Lightning with the few seconds of dreaded quiet while he made his way around the car. Lightning hated the never leaving anxiety that had settled itself in the back of his mind. It was anxiety of being out of the hospital and not knowing what he would do. There was no agenda, nothing he had to do, no goals, and no expectations.

Lightning was missing the structure of the typical hospital day.

Chapter Text

“I think we’ll just stay in a hotel here overnight. Strip and Lynda want to drop by before we start for Radiator Springs.” Doc ran his plan by Lightning. Lightning hummed an agreement and tensely gripped his hands on the car as Doc drove to a hotel. When they arrived, there was another one of those moments of being left in the car for a few seconds before Doc came around and got him. Lightning hated those seconds for multiple reasons but it was becoming another opportunity for him to realize how dependent he was. Doc had been parking as close to doors as he could to minimize the walking distance for Lightning who was quite careful in his steps. Lightning couldn’t focus on anything it seemed to him as his mind ran circles. He didn’t listen to Doc making arrangements for a room and rather picked out the unfamiliar smells and sounds of the hotel. He realized the lobby was large with a high ceilings by the way the sounds carried in the room.

“Alright, kid.” Doc brought Lightning back to the present and walked him to the elevator. He held Lightning closer to him for stabilization as the elevator lifted upward and caused Lightning to feel unsteady. Lightning relaxed more when they were off the elevator and was surprised to find how he had never noticed how different an elevator really felt compared to solid ground. He had a soft amused smile when he listened to Doc struggle with the key card and curse under his breath about how he wouldn’t have the problem if it was an actual metal key. After a few more attempts, the door accepted the key and Doc was able to open it.

“Sit here a minute,” Doc sat Lightning down on a bed before moving some things around the room. “I’m going to go grab the stuff from the car.”

“Can’t we get it later?” Lightning asked and Doc could already hear that he was getting worked up.

“No, we both need to change. I’ll be right back. There is a phone to your right, but I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Doc left no room for dispute and Lightning knew there was no convincing him.

“Can... can I hold your watch?” Lightning’s mind went back to the watch he had given Doc back since the last time he had held it earlier that day.

Doc slipped his watch off his wrist wordlessly and set it in Lightning’s hand before patting his hand against Lightning’s cheek lightly and walking to the door and reassuring that he would make his absence quick. He contemplated the sudden obsession his watch during times he had to be apart, formed a theory, and decided he wouldn’t bring it up as long as it didn’t cause a problem.

Lightning felt his lip twitch as he became more distressed and tried not to cry. He felt raw and tired after even such a short day with few activities. The day was proving to be emotionally challenging for him. He clutched the watch in his hands and breathed calming breaths trying not to count all the seconds Doc was gone. He quickly tried to compose himself when he heard the door being opened. He heard Doc’s awkward and heavy steps which became normal after the luggage he brought up was set down.

“Let’s give you a bath,” Doc softly said as he pulled his watch from Lightning’s hands and pretended not to notice Lightning’s hitched breathing. “C’mon.” He led Lightning to the bathroom and set him on the toilet lid as he bent down and ran a bath.

“Doc?” Lightning began shakily and pitifully concluded, “I stink.” Lightning could smell the hospital and nervous sweat on himself as the warm steam came off the water and opened the smells of the bathroom.

Doc laughed at the unexpected comment. “That’s why you’re taking a bath.” He helped Lightning remove the clothes off of his tender body and around his cast which made Lightning’s body seem fragile in comparison to its awkward thickness. “Feel the water. Alright?”

“Yeah,” Lightning deemed the water temperature acceptable and Doc helped him in the bathtub.

“Keep your cast over the edge,” Doc reminded him as he almost brought his arm into the water. “I’m going to wash your hair,” Doc began to unwrap the bandages around Lightning’s head, “don’t try to open your eyes. They are glued and taped shut anyway.” Lightning felt it so tempting to just open his eyes as if all he had to do was lift his lids and he would see the world, but he couldn’t if he tried. Doc was very gentle around Lightning’s head while shampooing and Lightning enjoyed the feeling on his sore skull. Doc gently dabbed around Lightning’s eyes with a rag and told him he would re-bandage after his hair had dried.

“I can do that,” Lightning grabbed the rag from Doc when he had tried to start washing around his shoulders.

“Alright. I’ll grab you some clothes.” Doc was glad to see some independence from Lightning and went to find fresh clothes and lingered to give Lightning time and privacy. He came back and rinsed some soap off of Lightning’s back before helping him stand and wrapping a towel around him to step out of the bath and sat him down on a towel he had sat on the ground. He patted Lightning dry with another towel and retrieved a complimentary lotion from the counter. “Hold out your hand,” Doc squirted some lotion into Lightning’s hand and allowed him to attempt to lotion his legs as Doc quickly did his upper body. Lightning shivered despite the heater running and Doc dressed him.

“What are you going to do?” Lightning asked after Doc had set him in a bed and pulled a blanket over him.

“I’m showering now.” Doc sat on the edge of the bed and turned on the TV to begin running through channels. He gave Lightning the option between a baking competition or some sitcom before heading to shower. Lightning was too tired to be bored and drifted off comfortably knowing Doc was in the room as long as he could hear the running water of the shower. When Doc came out Lightning was sleeping so he turned off the lights, left the TV on, and settled in the other bed to relax.

Chapter Text

When Doc woke, he didn’t know what from but looked at his phone to discover it was about one in the morning. He looked over to see Lightning wasn’t in the bed and that a blanket had been thrown on the floor. That’s when he heard retching in the bathroom which hauled him out of bed to run in. He found Lightning leaning over the toilet throwing up.

“Oh, kiddo, you should have woken me up.” Doc got behind Lightning and held him to keep him out of completely lying in the toilet from pure exhaustion. Eventually, it just became dry heaving and Lightning was trembling from the effort. “You need to take a drink,” Doc had grabbed a water bottle and opened it.

“No,” Lightning protested.

“Then we might have to go back to the hospital. You’re dehydrated,” Doc warned him.

“No,” Lightning moaned.

“It’s ok if you throw it up, I just need you to try to take a sip.” Doc encouraged him and Lightning agreed. Doc instructed him to take small sips and was thankful it all stayed down. They stayed there for a while longer as Lightning dry-heaved and cried exhaustedly into the toilet. “You know what made you sick?” Lightning shook his head. “Because of food you ate?” There was another head shake. “Are you in pain?” Lightning gave another no. By the end of Doc’s questions, he had chalked it up to nerves, a migraine, and being overwhelmed from the quick changes of the day.

Eventually, Doc determined Lightning was done throwing up and led him to his own bed and wrapped an arm around him so he could lay sideways with his face sniffling onto Doc’s chest. Doc flipped through the channels as he patted Lightning’s back and landed on a channel that played slightly older shows. Lightning fell silent after some time and Doc lay with his eyes closed and slowly rubbed his fingers across Lightning's back. He was starting to drift off into sleep before he heard Lightning call his name again. “Yeah?” He was a little surprised, having thought Lightning had already been asleep.

“How come she has to climb somewhere to answer the phone?” Lightning whispered. Doc was a bit thrown off by the attentiveness and calmness which was different than the pained boy who had thrown up in the bathroom a little while earlier.

Doc looked to the TV and saw that it was ‘Green Acres.’ “Something about the phone company couldn’t reach inside the house so they put the phone on the top of the telephone pole outside.”

“Why couldn’t it reach?” Lightning was confused.

“I don’t know. The whole show is kind of about inconveniences on this farm they buy.” Doc tried to remember what little he had seen of the show. The ‘Ed Sullivan Show’ came on next and Lightning finally fell asleep during ‘Bonanza.’ Doc slept horribly that night. He was restless and couldn’t stop his thoughts. He realized that there was a little more going on in Lightning’s mind than he had originally thought. He knew the transition out of the hospital would be tough but was finding Lightning was having a harder time than he thought. He listened to the late shows and Lightning’s breathing through the rest of the night when he was partially conscious.

Chapter Text

Doc had a hard time pulling himself to consciousness the next morning. He felt and listened to Lightning turn and try to get up in his semi-lucid state. He somewhat heard his name being whispered but was too tired to care and try to wake up. When he was shaken and heard Lightning frightenedly try to wake him. He moaned and the shaking stopped. “What is it,” Doc wanted to know in a husky voice from lack of sleep.

“Nothing,” Lightning told him embarrassedly. He had panicked and woken Doc up after not getting any response right away.

“What’s wrong?” Doc asked. He was a little more awake now. Lightning told him it was nothing again and Doc decided he had better get up. He mumbled that he was going to take a shower. He hoped it would wake him up enough to get on with his day. Lightning sat in the bed fretting that he may have angered Doc by waking him up. He decided to attempt to get dressed on his own today as to not be any more of an inconvenience. He found his way to the floor and to a suitcase which he determined to be Doc’s after a bit of feeling and moved on to another bag with clothes more his size. He hadn’t considered his cast in all of this but found it was the biggest hindrance to his movement.

When Doc came out of the shower, he was met with the sight of Lightning on the floor inside a shirt with only one arm out of it. “Need some help?” He asked and the movement from inside the shirt paused.

There was a frustrated huff and then a sigh. “Please.”

Doc lowered to his knees and angled Lightning’s arm closer to his chest so he could get Lightning’s head through the neck of the shirt and then moved to maneuvering the cast through the arm of the shirt. He combed Lightning’s disheveled hair with his fingers before standing him up and helping him with a change of pants.

“And how about breakfast now?” Doc proposed. Lightning agreed more out of lack of other activities. Breakfast gave structure to the day and it was something he craved now in a world that was new to him. They ate the hotel’s breakfast in their dining hall. Doc silently monitored and mentally tracked how much Lightning had been eating, which was not much, and did not push him to eat more just yet.

“Is there anything you want to do?” Doc asked as they walked down hotel halls for exercise.

“No,” Lightning said. He didn’t know what he could do.

“The Weathers want to see you today. Feel up to seeing them?” Doc asked.

“Yeah,” Lightning agreed.

The Weathers showed up at about noon to the hotel and they each gave Lightning a hug.

“Glad to see you out of that hospital bed,” Strip told Lightning.

“Want to go out for lunch, sweetheart?” Lynda rubbed Lightning’s back.

“Sure,” Lightning agreed. He silently searched for Doc to make sure he was coming with and Doc caught his hand and helped him walk outside. There was a restaurant just a little bit away from the hotel that they just walked to and picked a booth with the Weathers on one side and Doc and Lightning on the other. Lightning felt comfortable surrounded by people that he had been coming to know very quickly. They talked about many things and made plans for the rest of their day after lunch.

“There are a few small shops down the street here I was thinking we could go through,” Lynda suggested.

“I actually think I will take a nap and let all of you go ahead,” Doc declined the offer, “I need to catch up on sleep.” Doc wasn’t keen on walking for the next few hours with his body already sore from lack of sleep.

“Alright, we’ll miss having you. Lightning, are you up for it?” Strip watched the uncertainty in Lightning’s face after Doc declined.

“Yeah, he is good to go.” Doc patted Lightning’s back once. Lightning had obviously quieted out of nervousness. Doc knew Lightning was uncomfortable but he wasn’t going to do anything but sit around restlessly at the hotel all-day, so it would be good for him to get out.

“We will plan on meeting you back at the hotel for dinner then,” Lynda decided.

“Anything we need to know? Any meds he needs to take?” Strip asked.

“No, he might need to sit and rest often. He’s not due for meds again until this evening.”

Lightning felt everything spiral out of his control a little too quickly for his liking. He had known the Weathers longer than Doc and yet he was panicking over leaving Doc to go with them. He had been basically on his own for years and now the idea of leaving Doc, who he barely knew, scared him. He hated being so dependent. This would be for hours though which felt like an eternity to him now. Doc had become one of the few constants in his life and he needed all of those that he could get. He found Doc’s arm and squeezed it to get his attention.

Doc leaned over to him. “What’s up?”

“Can I hold your watch?” Lightning whispered back.

Doc wordlessly undid the leather strap on his watch and put it around Lightning’s wrist. After they paid, they went outside the restaurant. Doc gave Lightning a quick side hug and said, “I’ll see you in a few hours,” before they split ways. Strip and Lynda went on either side of Lightning.

Their first stop was a book shop which mostly involved Lynda going through as Strip and Lightning talked in a corner on a couch. Lynda tried to make it quick so the boys wouldn’t have to wait too long. Strip noticed that Lightning’s fingers almost constantly traced the watch on his wrist when they were sitting down. They moved on to an ice cream shop and ate at a small outdoor area before moving on to a few more places. At the end, they came across a pet store that had puppies in the window. Lynda insisted on going in and Strip, knowing his wife was not that big of a pet person, knew it was more for Lightning, and went along with it. Lightning couldn’t one animal had had ever touched before and wasn’t completely thrilled about the idea of a pet place, but as soon as he was sat down and had a puppy or two cuddling in his lap he was content. Strip happened to get one that was a little more riled up. All three of them burned quite a bit more time than they expected with the puppies. They relaxed and talked while holding a few puppies which was an activity Lightning could engage in.

“Well, should we head back? It’s about dinner time,” Strip proposed as he was starting to get hungry again. Lightning was surprised that the time had flew by in the end and that he hadn’t been so worried. Strip sent Doc a text and they met him at a bar and grill in the hotel.

“How was your day then?” Doc asked them when they sat down. Lightning found himself eager to share their activities with Do as it was the first thing he had really done in a long time. Doc shared looks with the Weathers throughout Lightning’s recap of the day, all three of them were glad to see Lighting more carefree and social.

“Paul, are you up for a drink tonight?” Strip asked.

“Alright. I’ll get Monty his meds after this,” Doc agreed.

“Monty, how about me and you spend the evening together then.” Lynda requested and Lightning agreed.

Doc changed Lightning, left his watch on his wrist, gave him his meds, and helped him into bed before Lynda came over. “Tired? You have had a busy day,” Doc noted. Lightning was tired but it was a different kind of tired than he had been over the last few weeks and it felt good like he had been productive. Doc let Lynda in the room before saying, “bye, I’ll see you in a little while,” to Lightning and leaving the room to go meet Strip.

“I brought a book if you want me to read to you,” Lynda said. Lightning settled in as Lynda sat on the bed and ran her fingers through his hair while she read to him. Lightning enjoyed every minute of it and kept himself awake so he wouldn’t miss a thing.

~

“Today is probably the best day he’s had since his accident, you know.” Doc pulled up a stool where Strip was sitting.

“Glad he had a good time. Lynda and I love him and we’re glad we got to spend time with him. He’s gotten pretty close to you, Paul.”

“I still don’t know much about him at all,” Doc argued.

“I’m not sure anyone does, but he trusts you and in time I am sure he will share more.”

Doc caught Strip up with Lightning’s healing progress and they moved to other topics for a few hours before they went back to Doc’s hotel room.

~

Lynda looked up as the hotel door opened when Doc and Strip entered quietly before realizing Lightning was still awake and talked freely.

“Well, honey, I think we will go home now.” Lynda gave Lightning a hug and a peck on the cheek.

“We will come see you in Radiator Springs in a week or two if that’s alright.” Strip sat on the bed and pulled Lightning in for a hug.

Lightning was sad to see them go but was glad to get some time with Doc again when he lay down on the bed beside him and flipped on the TV for some background noise.

Doc didn't plan on falling asleep in that bed but as he lay there motionless he began to drift off. A long time later there was a feeling so light that it tickled his arm and he peeled open his eyes to see nothing. A little bit later it happened again. Doc opened his eyes and watched this time and caught Lightning’s hand inching forward to lightly touch his arm and then sneak back. Doc watched it happen a few more times before Lightning decided just to lightly hold his shirt sleeve between two fingers, in hopes that Doc wouldn’t notice, unaware that Doc was watching the whole thing. Doc closed his eyes again, thinking that now Lightning was holding on to him, the light touching would stop. About ten minutes later, Doc felt another light brush at his arm and looked to see Lightning fingering his shirt sleeve and feeling his arm. Doc rolled his eyes, realizing Lightning was checking to make sure he was still inside his shirt.

“Hey, kid,” Doc started and Lightning’s hand shot back to his own side, “come here.” Doc pulled Lightning closer so his arm was wrapped around him and he felt Lightning relax.

Chapter Text

Doc let Lightning sleep in the next day and packed up their belongings while he waited for him to wake up. When Lightning did wake up, they checked out of the hotel and went in the car to drive for a few hours. Doc only planned on driving a few hours to another hotel on the way back to Radiator Springs as to not tire out Lightning too much.

Lightning tried to relax when he was sat in Doc’s car which was hard when it started moving. Doc tried to drive as smoothly as he could for Lightning.

“Want music?” Doc asked Lightning.

“Sure,” Lightning agreed. He was so full of thoughts that he hadn’t really noticed the quiet of the car.

Doc flipped through channels. “Anything specific you like?” Lightning didn’t feel like searching the dial so he told Doc there wasn’t. Doc settled on a channel that was playing 1920s music for a while before switching to country that was in the 40s through 60s. None of it was anything Doc would have ever chosen for himself but it was comfortable and felt right in Doc’s car. He wasn’t energized enough for his own choices of music anyway.

Lightning was quite restless after a few hours so Doc stopped to eat to get them both out of the car. It helped and Doc drove a couple more hours to a hotel after that. He got two beds again and helped Lightning into one not long after they got there. Lightning, being exhausted, fell asleep right away which left Doc time to himself for the evening. He called Sheriff and let him know that he and Lightning had started the trip home and checked in with Radiator Springs. Eventually, he went to sleep in the other bed.

~

Lightning woke up with a start and found himself crying. He tried to stifle his crying with his hand and calm his breathing. It took him a minute to remember where he was. He had dreamed he was in his car and had crashed. He had never dreamed about it before and furthermore, he hadn’t remembered any of the crash so he was just bothered by the fact that it had happened. He wondered if his dream was parts of what happened or if it was just images his brain made up of how it might have happened. He could hear Doc sleeping in the next bed and was glad he hadn’t woken him up. Although greatly disturbed by his dream, eventually Lightning was able to lull himself back to sleep with the calming presence of Doc’s breathing and the knowledge that he wasn’t in that car.

The next day was quite similar but they drove less than they had the day previously and stopped at another hotel. Lightning went to sleep relatively quickly again and Doc followed suit a few hours later.

Lightning woke with a small cry this time and tried to stop his crying that had started in his sleep. His heartbeat so fiercely he could hear the pulsing loudly in his ears. This nightmare had felt more vivid but the happenings were close to the same as his dream the previous night. He was so panicked he thought he was dying even though he had woken up. His only thought was that he needed help and thought to Doc. He couldn’t hear him breathing over the heartbeat in his ears so he threw off the blankets and took a few steps to where Doc’s bed would be. He attempted to discretely make sure Doc was still there, but in his panic he had swung his arm and slapped Doc on the arm.

Doc groaned before sounding much more awake. “Monty? What’s wrong?”

Lightning realized his breathing was still ragged and couldn’t help crying a little harder out of relief of being caught. Doc had swung his legs out of the bed and pulled Lightning closer, holding him by his elbows. Eventually, Doc had got out of him that he had been dreaming. Doc was relieved that he wasn’t hurt and settled Lightning into the bed with him, turning on the tv for a little background noise to help orientate him on where he was.

“Doc?” Lightning was too relieved to remember where he was then to be embarrassed. “How come I didn’t dream before now?”

“I’m sure you were too tired and your body was putting a lot into healing,” Doc theorized.

“Is this going to keep happening now then?” Lightning asked a bit concerned.

“Good chance. Probably come and go sometimes. We’ll find a way to deal with it.”

Lightning’s way to deal with it was Doc right now.

~

Lightning developed another migraine the next day so they didn’t drive very far before stopping at another hotel. Doc didn’t bother to get two beds that night, knowing Lightning probably would end up with him in the same bed anyway.

Chapter Text

Doc decided not to leave until later in the day so that Lightning could sleep in after having a rough few last nights trying to sleep.

“Hey, sleeping beauty, are you hungry?” Doc noticed Lightning had finally woken up and helped him out of bed to get dressed. Doc packed up all their things and brought everything to the car. He planned on making it home that night. He realized that he had been gone a long time and wondered how long it felt for Lightning as he had been unconscious for a lot of it. He knew the whole experience had taken a toll on the boy though.

Doc brought them somewhere for lunch and they got a booth. Lightning was getting slightly better at eating with less help, but his success really depended on the type of food. He had a bowl of fruit which was going alright and was struggling a little more with pancakes and syrup.

“We can make it back today then?”

“Yeah, only a few more hours to Radiator Springs.” Doc confirmed.

Doc eventually got up to go pay at the counter. “I’ll be right back,” Doc told Lightning.

Lightning immediately felt the small pang of anxiety. “Can I hold your watch?” A few seconds of silence met his request.

“I packed it with my stuff. It’s in the car,” Doc informed him. He watched Lightning’s eyebrows draw together.

“What?” Lightning had a hint of panic in his voice. He felt a cold burst run through his body at the change.

“I’ll be right back, kid. Just give me a few minutes.” Doc patted Lightning’s shoulder as he walked by, not leaving room for any protests.

Lightning was alone before he was able to even think of any excuses to not be left at the table. Doc wasn’t very long at all, but every passing second felt like an eternity to Lightning. He knew Doc wouldn’t leave him here but he couldn’t help his racing mind. Doc had the car and keys and his watch and everything he needed to just leave. Lightning had nothing and was helpless. He couldn’t even find the door without a struggle. He tried to hold himself together but jumped when he heard Doc again. It would be impossible not to notice the sweat and nervous wreck Lightning had become in just the few minutes Doc had been gone. He didn’t say anything and led Lightning to the car.

It had been a few minutes of a silent car ride before anyone said anything. “What happened?” Doc finally asked.

“What do you mean?” Lightning really didn’t want to discuss any of it.

“You don’t like being alone, which is understandable, but why was it so bad for those few minutes back there?” Lightning didn’t respond and Doc left the uncomfortable silence as it was, hoping that it would be uncomfortable enough that Lightning would fill it. He never did. “You didn’t have my watch,” Doc prompted, “was that what was different?” Lightning didn’t respond to that either but he dipped his head into his chest a little further. “Why do you like to hold my watch?” Doc gently pushed on even though he had already guessed.

“I don’t know,” Lightning mumbled.

Doc gave another minute of silence before going on again. “You think I’m going to leave you somewhere?” Lightning took a small inhale of breath in a gasp. He was taken aback and the abruptness of the unspoken answer. “My watch isn’t that important,” Doc snuck looks at Lightning while watching the road, “you are and I won’t leave you anywhere.” Doc saw Lightning’s bottom lip quiver. “You know that? I’ll always come back for you.” Doc squeezed Lightning’s shoulder once and Lightning snapped his head to face the window. He couldn’t even pretend to fool Doc that he was looking out it with his eyes unseeing and wrapped up.

His mind was racing. Somewhere in his mind he had knew that Doc would just leave if he had really wanted to, but the watch had given him a safety net to ensure Doc would come back. It was hard to believe that Doc had told him that he would never just leave him somewhere. He had believed Harv and hoped he was right that Doc was different. Doc had been proving himself since the day he had first come to the hospital and stayed since.

Doc let the rest of the trip go to silence and it felt needed.

Chapter Text

“Only two more hours, kid. We can make it to Radiator Springs tonight,” Doc told Lightning. They had left late the next day and were on the last stretch of the journey home. It was dark by the time Doc pulled up to his house. Doc could see the lights on in Sheriff’s house and the man came out when he saw Doc pull up.

Doc shut the driver’s door quietly when he got out and opened the passenger door before he bent down near the ground so he was eye level with the sleeping Lightning. “We are here, kiddo.” Doc gently woke up Lightning, feeling a little badly about waking him up when he hadn’t slept well in the last few days. Lightning groggily stumbled out of the car and Doc steadied him when he stood.

“Hey, you made it.” Sheriff made his way to Doc and Lightning. He took Lightning from Doc and exhaustedly, Lightning let himself tip into Sheriff’s chest. “Whoa, don’t fall asleep on me!” Sheriff tried to get Lightning to wake up a little more and not lean so heavily into him.

“Let’s get him in bed before he passes out here,” Doc opened the door to his house and was followed by Sheriff leading Lightning in.

“Lift your feet, son.” Sheriff had to prompt Lightning multiple times for anything to make sense in Lightning’s foggy brain to get him to take a step into the house.

They led him to an extra bedroom in Doc’s house and laid him down. Lightning was asleep the second his head touched the pillow so Doc and Sheriff opted out of attempting to change him into anything else to sleep in since he was wearing sweatpants anyways.

“Was the drive home alright for him?” Sheriff asked while he was handed a bag from the backseat of the car the help carry inside the house.

“We drove short distances and stayed in hotels on the way. The movement of the car is hard when he can’t see out the windows. He fell asleep on the last stretch so it wasn’t bad.” Doc grabbed the last of his luggage and they headed back into the house. Doc instructed Sheriff to throw their luggage in the entryway and he would take care of it later. They sat down in the kitchen and Doc made coffee and grabbed a deck of cards. Sheriff dealt out the cards and they sat and played for hours while they talked.

“When is his next appointment?” Sheriff drew another card.

“Three weeks and the bandages come off,” Doc threw some cards down on the table.

They played and talked for another hour before Sheriff paused and looked up. “You hear something?” Doc paused his movements and listened. The noise happened again and he could make out the soft calling of his name. Both men stood and made their way to the back bedroom where they found Lightning closing a closet door and feeling along a wall in the room.

“Right here, Monty.” Doc led Lightning down the hall and into the living room where he sat him on the couch with him. “Throw me the remote.” Sheriff picked it up from the coffee table and passed it to Doc before sitting down in a chair. Doc flipped through channels before settling on jeopardy. Lightning was asleep not long after and Doc and Sheriff continued to whisper before Sheriff decided he should leave and he helped Doc lead Lightning back into bed again.

“See you tomorrow,” Sheriff left for his home across the street.

“Yep,” Doc turned to head for his own bed.

~

Doc was up the next morning before Lightning woke up, which he was glad about so Lightning wouldn’t wake up in the house alone, and made himself coffee while he waited. He heard a knock at his door and went to answer it.

“Hey, honey! I brought over breakfast,” Flo came in and set containers on the kitchen table.

“Thanks, Flo. Do you want coffee?”

“Alright,” she sat down and caught up with Doc. Soon enough, Lightning found his way into the kitchen, following the voices he heard. “Goodmorning, sugar!” Flo stood up and pulled Lightning into her, hugging him as tight as she could. “You have no idea how worried we all were for you.”

“Goodmorning,” Lightning hugged her back. He was sat down and mothered by Flo while she helped him with breakfast as Doc had his own.

“Let’s go get dressed and we’ll go see everyone else.” Doc led Lightning out of the kitchen and Flo went back to her café where everyone else was gradually going to hang around.

~

“Doc...,” Lightning nervously started. He didn’t even know how to phrase what he was wondering. “What are they all going to think?”

“About what?” Doc asked. Lightning faltered with words and then gave up, shaking his head and dismissing his question. “Kid, they are all dying to see you.” Lightning didn’t answer. He wasn’t quite sure what he felt but he was just uncomfortable being so dependent and vulnerable and hated people seeing him in his state.

They didn’t even make it in the door before they were met outside with a rush of everyone who had seen him coming and all talking at once. There were arms and hands all over Lightning and he tightened his grip on Doc’s arm. Guido and Luigi rambled excitedly in their native languages and one was kissing Lightning’s cheeks. Ramone snuck in and gave Lightning a quick hug and a ‘hey, man’ before Sarge clapped a hand on Lightning’s shoulder and Filmore said a hello before he and Sarge argued about being more gentle with Lightning.

“Buddy!” Mater could hardly contain his excitement as he flung his hands around Lightning while rambling and Doc had to attempt to tone down everyone’s excitement as to not overwhelm or be too rough with Lightning.

“Alright, don’t suffocate him,” Doc freed Lightning from all the arms.

Sally and Red approached, having given space and letting everyone else rush ahead. “Hi, stickers,” Sally lightly hugged Lightning.

“Hi, Sally,” Lightning quietly said back and returned the hug. He was engulfed in another hug by a much bigger silent figure which he recognized matched Red.

Everyone talked for hours in Flo’s and no one said anything about it when Doc helped Lightning some to eat lunch and cleaned up ketchup on his shirt. Of course Lightning’s crash came up but he avoided reliving it too much and managed to change subjects. Lightning had never known that Sheriff had warned everyone not to push the subject too much as he didn’t want to embarrass Lightning about everything. In the late afternoon, Doc brought an exhausted Lightning back to his house.

“How come I’m always taking naps and you’re not?” Lightning asked as Doc sat him on the bed he had slept in last night.

“I’m not quite that old yet,” Doc threw a blanket over Lightning. “I’ll be around the house,” Doc finished settling Lightning in before quietly shutting the door behind him. He found Sheriff sitting in his kitchen and they went out on the front porch to play cards.

Chapter Text

Lightning woke up and slowly rolled over and listened. The house was silent save the faint ticking of the clock in his room. He knew it was still at least the late afternoon because he could feel the heat of the sun coming from behind the curtains and through the windows above him. He lazily lingered for awhile longer until he became fully awake and the bed became uncomfortable before he got up and slowly walked until he found a wall. He trailed his fingers until he found the door. Stepping out of the room, he paused to listen and heard nothing. He decided to try the kitchen first to find any signs of life and found nothing so he moved on to the living room. Lightning slowly moved from room to room and called for Doc, gradually getting more worried about being left in the house alone.

Finding his way back through the kitchen, he found the door he had been led out earlier that day, and opening it, he was hit with humid air. He paused, not wanting to step out of the house into open space. He called once and waited, hearing nothing, he started to walk out and around the house while always keeping a shaky hand on a side of the building.

“Over here, kid.”

Lightning felt his worry wash away and was replaced with a bit of hurt and anger. He became unfocused in his relief and didn’t feel the step in front of him which resulted in his foot catching on it and his knee and hand falling hard onto the wooden staircase.

“Alright, son?” Sheriff called out.

Lightning hummed a sound of affirmation and picked himself up, frustrated and feeling stiff from the fall, and found the railing before carefully making it up the three steps to the deck around the house.

“Come sit down,” Doc offered to Lightning.

Lightning’s eyebrows kept in the same position drawn together as he waited for someone to help him to a chair. He became even more frustrated when he realized no one would and he felt around with his feet until he found a chair not far from him. He sat down and drew his arms close to him folded his one over the casted other one across his chest where he also tucked his chin.

Doc and Sheriff exchanged looks, both catching the moody tones coming from the boy. Doc closed his eyes and quirked an eyebrow while shaking his head. Sheriff shrugged his shoulders.

“What’s going on, Monty?” Doc asked as he picked his empty glass off the table.

“Nothing,” Lightning said bitterly.

Sheriff took that as his cue to leave and claimed he had some business to attend to. Doc sighed at Lightning’s claim of nothing bothering him when he was so clearly bothered.

Lighting was almost glad his eyes were wrapped at the moment. It would hide any of the threatening tears he had behind his eyes if they did decide to fall. He cursed himself for getting so worked up to the point of almost crying from frustration and blamed the situation and medication. He knew it was irrational to take out his anger on Doc, but he was angry with the man at the moment for leaving him alone in the house and then not helping him on the stairs or to the chair. It felt so good to have someone taking care of him again, unlike Harv had ever done, and he was a little hurt and feeling neglected. The rational side of him knew Doc was only letting him learn to function on his own and deep down appreciated it.

“It’s about time for your meds again,” Doc’s chair slid back as he stood up, “come here, I want to show you something.” Lightning stood up and followed where he heard the footsteps leading and stopped behind where they stopped until he felt his arm held and pulled him a bit closer until his hand was rested on a handle. “There is a glass door that leads between the kitchen and the living room. Open it.” Lightning struggled with the latch, having only one hand, but eventually got it and felt a bit of pride when Doc’s arm slung around his back and led him into the kitchen where he measured out meds. “Anything you want to do today?”

“I can’t do fricking anything. I’m blind,” Lightning bit out and almost wished he could take it back. It hadn’t made him feel any better. Doc didn’t say anything but Lightning knew that he was watching him because the noise and movement had stopped. He didn’t know why he said it. Maybe he just wanted a fight to prove himself right that Doc would only put up with him for so long. Maybe he just had nothing to blame his anger on. Maybe he was comparing Doc to Harv.

“Flo wants to see you again today,” Doc moved on and didn’t rise to Lightning’s bait, “I’ll bring you over there.” He handed Lightning his medication and a glass of water. He wasn’t quite sure why Lightning was suddenly being hostile toward him but figured it was wise to have a little time apart before things became any tenser between them. Lightning didn’t respond but recognized Doc spacing himself after the rough words he had just said.

Doc did silently lead him to Flo’s where he was drawn back into more hugs and kisses from the woman and he lingered in a hug a bit longer than needed. “Hello, sugar, come to help me?”

Lightning nodded and turned his head to where he knew Doc was standing. “I’ll come pick you up for supper.” Doc rested a hand on Lightning’s shoulder before leaving.”

Lightning began to feel awful for the way that he had been angry with Doc but the time he had with Flo and how she found ways for him to help had him relaxed and thinking. Flo mothered him and spoiled him as he rolled cookie dough into little balls with his one hand. When Doc came back, Flo made them all dinner which they ate with her and Ramone. Lightning almost fell asleep with how relaxed he felt. He and Doc didn’t say another word as they walked back to Doc’s house but both knew the air between them had calmed. Doc helped Lightning change, as he struggled with his arm in a cast, and helped him lay down in his bed that night and pulled the covers over him.

Doc sat on the edge of his bed as Lightning sank into the bed, “I’ll be inside the house when you wake up tomorrow,” he said before standing up and clicking the light switch and shutting the door after Lightning nodded an understanding.

Lightning was familiar with Doc enough to pick out the caring and meaning of the statement despite the unemotional tone and it gave him some warmth in his chest.

Chapter Text

Lightning had been sleeping a lot which meant he went to bed before and got up after Doc did. He didn’t know it, but Doc would occasionally crack his door open to check up on him when he slept. That night, Doc happened to catch Lightning after he woke up from another nightmare.

Lightning woke up with a gasp, his heart racing and his breathing ragged as he tried to get a hold of reality. His dream always ended with a sinking feeling as his car went air born and a sick jolt and crunch of the first time it hit the ground before he woke up. It wasn’t always completely the same, but the ending was. He always started crying in his sleep and would wake up panicked and left trying to calm himself. He would try to slow his heart rate and remember where he was before attempting to sleep again. He hadn’t woke up Doc or told him about his dreams since they had gotten back to Radiator Springs and didn’t plan to.

This night it was not long after he had woken and jolted to a sitting position that he heard the door creak open. He held his breath as his chest spasmed to draw more panicked breaths. Even after how many times Doc had seen him panic and cry it was still embarrassing to be out of control of his emotions. He hoped Doc would leave but the door only opened wider and a second later he felt the bed dip a bit as Doc sat down. It was quiet for a long minute and Lightning knew Doc was probably waiting for him to say something, but he couldn’t without crying harder. Eventually, he had to breathe, and it came as a gasp of air he barely got in without crying harder.

“Dreaming?” Doc quietly asked although he knew the answer. Lightning nodded, still holding a hand to his mouth to try to stiffle his panic. “I’ll read to you,” Doc offered.

Doc read to Lightning who laid back on the pillows and eventually evened his breathing out. Doc stopped when Lightning fell asleep and sat for awhile before heading back to his own room.

~

True to his word, Doc was in the kitchen when Lightning woke up. He had stayed in the house and had been cleaning out cupboards, not the type to be able to not be busy, as he needed something to do until Lightning woke up. He already had breakfast on the table.

Lightning went to rub the sleep out of his eyes but stopped when his hands brushed the netted bandages. He stepped to the location he heard a chair being pulled out for him and was able to pinpoint exactly where it was. Doc pushed his chair in and Lightning felt the man lean over him and heard the clicks of silverware and occasional screech of a knife on a plate in front of him. He smelled syrup and pancakes, which was what they had whenever they didn’t go to Flo’s for breakfast. Doc didn’t attempt any extreme adventures in food preparations.

“Mater has been over here asking for you,” Doc informed Lightning.

Lightning hummed in thought. He had grown to consider Mater as a friend in the very short time they knew each other. One of his only friends. Mater had considered him a friend long before Lightning had ever treated him like one.

Lightning had just finished and Doc had taken his plate to the sink when Mater bust through the door again. “Doc, is he up? It’s almost - hey, buddy!” Lightning returned a greeting with a soft tired smile. “While you were sleepin’, I was thinking of all the stuff we could do today and I came up with some stuff. You ready?”

Lightning turned his head to where he thought Doc would be. “Go ahead, kid. I’ll find you for lunch,” Doc assured him. Lightning hated how uneasy he felt when away from Doc. He was so vulnerable without his sight and a broken arm and Doc had covered his every need.

“So, I was thinking that first we go...” Mater gave the itinerary for the day as Lightning became lost in thought. To Mater’s credit, he did come up with activities Lightning could partake in for the most part and they all did pass time. They had fun and Lightning got involved enough that his blindness for once wasn’t at the top of his mind.

It was further into the day when Mater noticed Lightning gradually got quieter. The hot sun beat down on them and they leaned against a wall, both slightly fatigued by the heat. “You alright, buddy?” Mater asked for the third time, not believing Lightning the first two times.

“I said I’m fine,” Lightning snapped getting annoyed with Mater’s concerns.

“Alright,” Mater sighed, not believing Lightning but letting it go all the same, “let’s head to Flo’s, it’s past noon.” They pushed themselves off the wall and began walking. Lightning staggered like a drunk a bit and Mater reached out a hand to stabilize him. After a few more steps, Lightning slowly sank to the ground. “There is something wrong with ya,” Mater accused a bit offended that his friend would try to hide something.

“I’m just dizzy,” Lightning panted. He felt very lightheaded and it was getting harder to focus on anything.

“I need to get Doc,” Mater sounded worried.

“I’m ok,” Lightning tried to say but he couldn’t say it louder than a whisper. “Just help me up.”

Mater did help him up, seeing as they were not very far from Flo’s, and walked him to the door although he basically dragged him with how heavily he leaned on him.

“What happened!” Flo exclaimed when she saw Mater drop a faint Lightning into a seat as gently as he could.

“He just kind of fainted out there so I brought him here. I need to go get Doc!”

Lightning didn’t even protest this time. He felt a cold and sweating glass of water being pressed to his lips. “Take small sips,” Flo instructed him. He did and felt the stark comparison of the cool water to the sticky and sickly sweat that he was drenched in. He felt slightly better after the water but was still lightheaded.

“Here he is,” Mater led Doc in the diner.

Doc felt the back of his hand to Lightning’s face. “Beginning of heatstroke,” he concluded, “thanks, Flo,” he took the glass of water from her.

“How come I didn’t get it?” Mater asked.

“He’s a bit more susceptible right now to that kind of stuff as his body is going through a lot,” Doc explained. “I’m going to go give him a cool shower,” Doc stood Lightning up gently and walked him back to his house.

Doc didn’t say anything as he stripped Lightning and helped him step into the tub on his extremely shaky and weak legs. Doc washed all the sweat off of Lightning and ran the cool water over him until he was almost too cold. Lightning wasn’t feeling so physically sick anymore but was still weak from the whole ordeal.

“How come you didn’t tell Mater you weren’t feeling good?” Doc sounded a little angry.

“I didn’t know it was that bad,” Lightning bit back defensively.

Doc shook his head and sighed. He finished dressing Lightning without another word. “Just be careful, kid.” He led Lightning to sit on a couch and didn’t let him go outside the rest of the day.

Chapter Text

The next week went by with little activity. Lightning had small episodes of dizziness, headaches, fatigue, ringing in his ears, and other small symptoms that continued on through his healing process. Doc made him take it easy but recognized that extra downtime meant that Lightning was overthinking, so he tried to keep Lightning occupied. Mater and the rest of the town found things that Lightning could do with them.

~

Sally came knocking on Doc’s door one morning and asked to take Lightning out for a drive. Lightning wouldn’t admit it, but his heart skipped a beat and Doc never saw him leave the house so quickly before without looking back. Sally had a small picnic packed and she drove them to the Wheel Well Motel where they sat on the ground outside the car. Lightning wished he could see the view around them that he knew was gorgeous but the smell, feel of the environment, and the company helped him do without.

“How is living with Doc? He’s not the easiest man to get along with,” Sally joked.

Lightning’s lip quirked up, “You don’t have to tell me that.”

“He’s really got a soft spot for you though,” Sally became serious, and Lightning tilted his head down. He really hoped that was true. He hated that he needed Doc so much and had even become very attached to him.

“I wish I could be more of a help around here,” Lightning moved on to another subject, “I think we should fix this place up, even if no one else ever comes up to see it.”

“There are still things you can do. You just need to find different ways to do them.” Sally tried to argue but Lightning wasn’t debating it. It had always ended with him getting snotty with Doc and he didn’t want to take it out on Sally as well.

~

Strip and Lynda took the trip to Radiator Springs for a few days during the week as well. Doc watched with a little bit of pride when Lightning took it upon himself to link his arm through Lynda’s and allow Strip to hold on to his upper arm that was in a cast and haul them across the street to where he knew Flo’s would be. Doc drove them all around town and showed them all the interesting parts of town.

“Come see us when you come in for your next appointment,” Strip hugged Lightning.

“We hope to hear some good news when you come in,” Lynda kissed Lightning’s head.

Lightning hoped there would be some good news too, but he tried to keep his hopes down and not think of it.

~

As the days passed by and it grew closer to his next appointment, Lightning grew more solemn and silent, scared of what he might find out when the bandages on his eyes were removed.

“Why don’t you go sit on the front porch, you need fresh air,” Doc suggested as he sifted through papers at his desk.

“I don’t want to.” Lightning sat in an old wingback chair slumped over and stiff with his good arm folded over his casted one.

Doc lifted his eyes above his reading glasses to look at Lightning. The boy had been more moody and quiet lately. When he did speak, it was usually with a bit of a bite. He didn’t like being alone though, so he trailed Doc around the house which got on Doc’s nerves. “Well, you need to do something.”

“Why?” Lightning shot back defensively.

Doc removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose, trying not to lash out back at the attitude he had been receiving for days. “Because you are bored and need something to keep your mind busy.”

“I’m not bored,” Lightning snapped again. He didn’t want Doc to make him go away to sit somewhere and occupy himself.

Doc thought for a minute. “Monty, Lizzie would like you to come over.”

Lightning turned his head up toward Doc. Doc could see him contemplating what he was told and Doc was sure he was wondering why he hadn’t been told this earlier. Truth was, Lizzie had said nothing but Doc knew she would like to see Lightning anyway. He needed Lightning to do anything but what he was doing now. To his relief, Lightning accepted Lizzie’s fake offer, stood, walked to the doorway, and stopped to turn around. Doc knew he wanted someone to walk him over and he stood to escort him.

They walked silently arm in arm over to Lizzie’s where Doc knocked on the door. Lightning felt a bit lethargic in the heat as they waited for the door to be answered.

“Well, I have two fine strapping gentlemen callers today!” Lizzie opened the door, “Come in, come. In.”

“Lizzie, Monty came to stay the afternoon with you,” Doc informed her as he moved Lightning further into the room.

“Oh, yes, I am supposed to babysit your son today. I’ve got cookies in the kitchen,” she went off to fetch them.

Doc gave Lightning a pitying look he would never see and leaned to whisper in his ear. “Be careful, the cookies could be almost as old as her.” He felt like he won a prize when Lightning’s lips tugged into a slight smile. “I am going to get back to work, Lizzie. I’ll pick Monty up later.”

“Yes, get working. We will be fine!” Lizzie shooed Doc out the door and hauled Lightning into her little living room to sit.

Lightning listened to all Lizzie’s stories and ramblings for a long time and found he didn’t mind it at all. Somewhere during another story of her Stanley, she spoke of their song they used to dance to. She found the record and hauled Lightning to his feet and continued to instruct him in the motions to dance her around to it. It was a bit difficult with one arm and he tried desperately not to step on her petite feet.

The afternoon flew by and there was a knock at the door that went unheard in the evening. Doc let himself in when there was no answer and watched Lizzie and Monty finish dancing to another song. Lizzie took notice of him after she twirled herself around on the last beat of the tune. Doc shook his head at how mobile the woman was in her old age.

“Ah, you’re back. Your son behaved himself quite well today, I should say. He only had a small snack so he shouldn’t have ruined his appetite.” Lizzie gave Doc the rundown of the afternoon’s events as Doc nodded quite seriously.

“That is very good to hear. He has been something of a troublemaker lately, I’m glad you were able to keep him inline.” Doc pulled Lightning to him with an arm around his shoulder.

“Anytime,” Lizzie walked them to the door and bid them goodbye.

It was another silent walk back to Doc’s house but this one had a completely different air to it. It was not tense, but rather a content silence between them. Outside had cooled considerably in the evening and it was comfortable and almost cold. When they got to the house, Doc stopped in the doorway. “Wait here,” he said and disappeared inside the house leaving Lightning to wonder what he had planned. He returned shortly and led Lightning to the backyard. “Stand here,” Doc said and Lightning felt him leave his side. “Ok, come here and sit down.” Lightning heard Doc from somewhere lower and felt hands pull his waist closer. He reluctantly knelt down and gasped when he was pulled back down. His feet left the ground and he felt a bit of movement swing back and forth. He put together that it was a hammock they were in.

Lightning relaxed when Doc adjusted him so he was in the crook of his arm and felt warmth and protection from the cool air when a blanket was thrown across them. Doc began to read to him and Lightning again was able to forget his pending anxiety and racing thoughts for the time being again.

Chapter Text

Lightning tried not to think too much about the future, but he found it impossible not to. He didn’t want to think of new career plans just yet. He held onto a little hope that he would have his sight back at his next appointment. He did find it odd that no one was hounding him yet about training for the next racing season.

Lightning was sitting in the chair in Doc’s office again, running his fingers over the raises and indentations of the stitched patterns on the armrest. His fingers halted when a thought hit him. “Does Harv know where I am?” Harv had never checked in on Lightning more than needed but it had become suspicious that he hadn’t called to make sure his biggest client was ready to go.

There was a short pause. “Yeah.” Doc didn’t offer any further explanation. He moved a stack of papers on his desk.

“He knows I can’t... see?” Lightning’s concerns grew the longer the silence continued. “Doc?”

The movement at the desk stopped when his name was called. “He knows.”

“...What did he have to say?” Lightning hesitated to ask a question that could have more personal insight to his relationship with the man.

Doc knew he couldn’t put off this conversation any longer and wished he had been able to bring it up earlier. Lightning heard Doc’s chair move back and his heart rate rose when footsteps came toward him and stopped to sit in front of him. He heard another uncomfortable shift in the chair and knew he would not be liking this conversation. “Harv... only ever talked to me on the phone and he... decided not to be involved anymore.” Doc attempted to pick his words carefully, not knowing what Lightning thought of the man and not wanting to harshly break all aspects of the situation at once.

“I... what do you mean?” Lightning faltered, not quite understanding what not being involved meant.

“He isn’t your agent or guardian anymore.” Doc knew he couldn’t keep beating around the bush.

Lightning felt a cold shock run down his spine as he gathered what that all meant. His agent dropped him. The racing world had already turned on him like they did Doc? They didn’t even have faith he would get his sight back. “How is he not my guardian?” Lightning’s voice wavered. He knew his relationship with Harv was surface level but his need to be loved masked the realization so he could play along. There was no denying it now though. Harv didn’t think of him as anything more than income.

“He gave up custody and I had to sign for you to release you from the hospital,” Doc watched for any signs to guide how the conversation was going. He saw Lightning’s mind racing and bouncing from each new piece of information.

“You had to sign for me?” Lightning’s voice rose in disbelief and shock.

Doc heard the note of panic in Lightning’s voice and tried to adjust his statement to calm him. “I couldn’t ask you and I had to. It was just to get you out of the hospital. I-”

“Just to get me out!” Lightning’s voice went to almost hysterics. The man he thought actually might stick with him was only there because he had to be. “Why did you do that?” He shot up from the chair and felt Doc do the same. Doc placed a hand on Lightning’s shoulder.

“Kid-”

“Don’t touch me!” Lightning slapped the hand away with his only arm, not in a cast.

“Monty,” Doc tried again in a low voice to try and grasp his attention.

“Don’t call me that!” Lightning threw his hand out to push Doc. Doc was a lot bigger and sturdy than Lightning who didn’t move Doc at all, took the force back to himself, lost his balance, and fell into a sitting position on the floor. Doc already stepped forward to help Lightning up but the boy had already seemed to sense it. “Don’t touch me,” he yelled reaching the point of hysterics as he backed into the wall.

“I won’t!” Doc held his hands up and stepped back. Nothing he said could get through to Lightning who was too upset to listen and went on yelling. Doc realized he was setting Lightning off, left the room and planned a change of person to try to get through to Lightning before his hysterics got himself hurt further. Doc pulled his phone out and dialed Sheriff’s number as he walked out of the room.

“Get over here,” Doc said in a gruff voice as soon as he heard the phone had been picked up.

“Wh-.” Doc had hung up the phone before Sheriff could say a word. He rested his head back against a wall and tried not to think as he heard the crying and yelling coming from down the hallway. The second he heard the door knob turn, Doc threw himself off the wall and pushed past Sheriff in one motion.

“In my office,” Doc said without stopping. He kept a strong and fast pace across the street.

Sheriff let his friend go and stepped inside the house where he could already hear the commotion from the entry. His heart dropped a bit from the sounds but he knew it wasn’t injury or Doc wouldn’t have left. He slowed his approach when he reached the room. He was met with the scene of Lightning hyperventilating, crying, and spouting out hurt and angry phrases. Sheriff tried to make a little noise to warn Lightning of his arrival and began calling his name. Lightning didn’t notice until a hand fell on his shoulder and he gasped.

“Just leave,” Lightning exclaimed and tried to push the hand off.

“Hey, do you know who I am?” Sheriff calmly asked from where he was on his knees at the floor.

Lightning stopped his fighting and Sheriff could see him trying to focus his racing mind. The silence was filled with heavy breathing until he came up with an answer. “Sheriff?”

“You got it. Now, can you do something for me? Breathe in and hold your breath for a second.” Lightning only held it for a millisecond before gasping another breath in, but Sheriff encouraged him anyway. He tried again a few more times before he was able to hold it a little longer and let it out slowly and shakily. When Sheriff thought he was calm enough he began some questioning. “Why are you upset, son?”

“Did you know?” Lightning demanded, remembering the news and starting to raise his voice again.

“Know what?” Sheriff asked calmly.

“Why did he sign the papers?”

Sheriff thought for a second before sighing. Doc hadn’t told him about having custody until now. “Oh, I’m sorry, kiddo. I thought he was going to tell you a lot sooner.

“Why did he do it?”

“You know Harv gave up custody...,” Sheriff watched and saw it was knowledge Lightning already knew, “Doc signed so he could stay with you, we could come see you, and then he could take you home.”

“No, he had to because Harv dropped me and he was there. He said he had to sign!” Lightning was quick to argue.

“He wouldn’t sign if he didn’t want to.”

“He did because he just felt bad for calling the press on me!”

Sheriff stopped before readjusting his approach. “Monty, Doc went to the hospital because we were all worried about you, including him. Maybe he felt bad at first, but he did not have to sign for you. He chose to do that and he wanted to take you back here with him. He wants to take care of you.”

“That’s just because he’s a doctor, he has to feel like that!” Lightning shot back with a wavery voice and pained face.

“No, he doesn’t. Monty, you are the only person he has let get this close to him in a long time.” Sheriff gripped Lightning’s shoulders. Lightning had no response. His breathing was still labored from crying but Sheriff’s words occupied his mind. Sheriff watched Lightning’s face and saw that he was slowly winning over the doubt in Lightning’s mind. He sighed and pulled Lightning across and over to him to almost sit in his lap and tucked Lightning’s face into his chest.

“But I’m just a charity case. He only came in the first place because he felt bad for kicking me out of town,” Lightning tried again. Not fully convinced from Sheriff yet.

“That is not how he feels now. He saw something in you to come in the first place. He knew right away that he was going to stay with you and take you home. He only hesitated with custody because he couldn’t ask you if it was what you wanted.”

Lightning allowed himself to be rocked as he softly cried and hiccupped a breath once in a while. His mind continued to run over everything and once in a while, he would restart an argument only for it to be shot down by Sheriff who assured him that he was wanted. Sheriff knew his body would protest in the morning, but he carried Lightning to his room and set him in bed. He laid down with him and shot Doc a text.

~

Doc couldn’t have left his house much faster and made his way to Flo’s. He didn’t want to be anywhere near his house. Thankfully it was late evening so most people were in bed. He found Flo and Ramone sitting at a table talking. They looked up at his entry to the diner and both paused looking hesitant and concerned.

“Doc, what’s wrong?” Flo was worried. Doc wondered if he really looked that bad.

“Hey, man, you should sit down,” Ramone stood up.

“Just get me a drink,” Doc sat himself in a chair and placed his head in a hand before closing his eyes. He opened them when Flo sat a drink in front of him.

“What happened, honey?”

Doc sighed, “The kid and I just got into an argument. Sheriff is with him.”

“Want to tell me what happened?”

“I just want to think for awhile.”

Flo shared a glance to her husband, uncomfortable leaving the man alone when something obviously shook the unshakeable man. She gently wrapped her arms around Doc from the back and kissed his cheek. “Come get us for anything,” she headed toward the door. Ramone patted his shoulder on the way past before leaving with his wife.

Doc took a long time to finish his drink before getting one more. He knew he should have told Lightning sooner. When was a good time to do it though? Not right after he woke up. It just never happened. Sheriff told him to do it, but once again he avoided facing a hard situation that didn’t go away. He would come back to face this situation though.

His mind ran over the whole ordeal again and again. Had Lightning really not wanted him as a guardian that badly that he was sent to hysterics? Harv never showed up for the kid once. Was it that much of a shock that Harv had dropped Lightning? He had tried to explain to Lightning that he didn’t have too much of a choice to sign the papers for custody and that they could change it. It didn’t have to mean anything. Why had Lightning reacted so badly?

Hours later, doc received a text from Sheriff. ‘All good here now.’ Doc stayed a long while longer.

~

Sheriff got another text that just said, ‘here.’ “Doc is here. I’m going to leave now,” he whispered to Lightning, “you can always come talk to me.” Lightning nodded.

Sheriff found Doc in the kitchen, looking uncomfortable in his own house. He looked guilty. “You finally told him?” Sheriff sat down in a chair.

Doc nodded. “He ok now?”

“Fine,” Sheriff confirmed. They sat in thoughtful silence for a few minutes. “He’s not mad at you, ya know.” Doc met Sheriff’s eyes and hoped the man didn’t see the hope in his eyes. How could the kid not be angry with him? “Did you really say you signed the papers because you had to?”

“I thought he didn’t want me to sign them,” Doc was confused.

Sheriff shook his head. “He was worried you didn’t want him.” He watched Doc’s motionless face. He could see the change of realization and emotion in his eyes though.

“Oh,” Doc said.

“You better make sure he knows you want him,” Sheriff stood. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Doc nodded, lost in thought. He stood when Sheriff left and walked back to Lightning’s room, pausing by the door before pushing in. He saw the rise and fall of Lightning’s chest that seemed in
sleep and walked toward the bed. Doc lowered himself to kneel by the bed and rose a hand to brush Lightning’s bangs off from across his bandages. He lightly carded a hand through the hair.

“Doc?” Lightning sleepily whispered. He could faintly smell the alcohol on Doc’s breath. The man wasn’t drunk though.

“Yeah, kiddo.”

“Am I ever going to race again?”

“We will see in a week and a half,” Doc whispered back. He hated to be so realistic now, but he wouldn’t lie to the kid again. Even if it was only in the form of not telling him at all.

“But Harv dropped me, why would anyone else let me back?”

Doc realized what Lightning’s concern was. “This isn’t like what happened to me. Tex is willing to help you out and get you a new agent. Rusteze is holding out for you. People are going to help you back.”

“Oh,” Lightning was a bit relieved. “Doc?”

“Yeah, kiddo?”

“You don’t have to keep custody of me if you don’t want to,” Lightning said half-heartedly.

Doc closed his eyes at how pitiful it sounded. “No, Monty, I won’t do that.” He didn’t even give Lightning the option of ‘I’ll give it up if you want me to.’ He knew the kid would take it personally and tell him to give it up. “I want custody of you. I want you here. I want to help you now and I want to keep you after you are all healed.” He said confidently and watched Lightning’s face as he said the words. “Will you please stay here with me, Monty?”

Lightning nodded and couldn’t help a small smile that broke out, “Yeah.”

Then Doc said something that he could count on one hand the amount of times he had said before. “Monty,” he leaned over further, “I love you,” and he kissed Lightning’s forehead.

Lightning’s sleepy smile grew and he whispered the words back, “I love you, too.”

Doc and Lightning both felt at peace with the truth out and conflicts resolved.

Chapter Text

Lightning’s nerves grew as the days grew closer to his appointment date. Mater wanted to throw a little going away party before he left again but Lightning shot it down immediately. He didn’t want any more attention to his eyes or the appointment he was trying not to get his hopes up for.

“Why not? We can get everyone at Flo’s the night before you go and-”

“Just stop!” Lightning snapped. Doc stopped his work on an old radio in the other room to listen. “Please, Lightning continued more softly after a moment, “I just really don’t want to talk about my next appointment.”

“Well shoot, buddy, I didn’t mean to upset ya.” Mater became aware and concerned about his friend's display of feelings.

“It’s alright,” Lightning whispered. “Let’s do something.”

Mater thought for a moment. “Oh, let’s go get more rocks!” Mater had been doing a good job at finding odd activities and somehow including Lightning. He and Lightning were collecting rocks which Mater would then organize by color into a sort of art project he was making on the ground. Lightning liked talking to Mater and found he could determine slight differences between textures of the rocks.

“Ok,” Lightning didn’t hesitate to move on from the uncomfortable conversation and on to the activity.

Doc shook his head and went back to work on the radio. He had more to ponder on after overhearing the exchange between the two boys.

~

Doc noticed that Lightning became more thoughtful and quiet again. Doc was able to distract Lightning some, there was no use in sitting around waiting and worrying, and got him to spend his days with the rest of the residents in town. Doc picked up on some of Lightning’s nervous ticks and patterns that began to show themselves again. Doc was sitting on the porch reading with Lightning in another chair beside him. He watched Lightning pick on the edge of his cast with his fingers, ripping fuzz off the inside.

“You want that off, kid?”

Lightning lifted his head and turned to Doc. It was reflex to sound even though he could never see where he was looking anyway. “You can do that? Can’t only the doctor who put it on take it off?”

“I am a doctor,” Doc rolled his eyes, “they have your scans but I can take another x-ray here and see if we can switch you to a brace or recast you. Your cast is falling apart anyways.”

“Ok,” Lightning agreed. He was eager to get the itchy thing off.

Doc led him out to his clinic that was connected to his house and told him to sit down. Lightning sat in a chair, becoming lost in thought in the silence and soft buzzing of machines, he jumped when Doc touched his arm.

“Keep still,” Doc warned him before starting to cut his cast off.

Lightning didn’t move a muscle when he heard the small saw fire up. The relief and cool air began to reach his tender skin that felt gross and unnatural from lack of exposure. His hand stayed in the same position after the cast was completely moved and he gingerly tested out his fingers and wrist. His joints didn’t move easily or smoothly. His hand felt so weak.

“Let’s get you another x-ray,” Doc led him to a table and laid him down on it. Lightning let him arrange his arm to a good position to get a clear image. “Don’t move, kiddo.”

Lightning heard a noise as the machine took an image and then another. “What does it look like?”

“Relax, rookie, I haven’t even looked at them yet.” Doc helped Lightning off the machine and to a chair again. Lightning heard Doc sit down next to him to look at the images. Lightning bit his tongue to keep from asking again about his arm.

It was another few minutes before Doc set the images down next to him. Lightning perked up ready for the answer. “I can move you on to a brace now.”

Lightning broke out a smile, happy to be done with an itchy cast and finally feel like he was making a little more progress in healing. Doc gently cleaned Lightning’s skin that had been under the
cast for weeks before putting him in a removable brace.

“You won’t have as much trouble showering now. We can take this one off.” Doc had still been helping Lightning with showering, as embarrassing as it was for Lightning because he couldn’t do it himself. He had been getting very dusty causing a little trouble in Radiator Springs with Mater. Doc watched Lightning test the slightly expanded range of motion he had in his brace, wiggling his fingers a bit. Lightning’s face was relaxed, fully distracted by the feeling of moving his fingers. “Do you want to leave a day early for your appointment to split the drive or do you want to try to make the whole thing in one day?”

Lightning’s face fell slightly, reminded of his appointment. “One.” He didn’t want to leave any sooner than he had to for that.

“You sure?” Doc pushed, “it’s about a nine-hour drive.”

“Mhmm,” Lightning nodded.

“Alright, I’ll plan on that then. You can always change your mind.” Doc patted Lightning’s back as he hopped down from the chair. Lightning swallowed the lump in his throat. “Got any plans until dinner?”

“No, Mater had to go help Red with some yard work.”

“Want to go read?” Doc offered. Lightning accepted without hesitation. Doc reading to him had become a favorite pastime. They often did it in the hammock when it was nice out in the mornings or evenings and in his bed at night if Doc caught him after a nightmare.

~

Doc and Sheriff were sitting on the porch shuffling cards around. Sheriff looked up when the door opened. “Hey! You got a new cast!”

“I have a brace now,” Lightning smiled a bit proud. He held it out to Doc. “I am going to shower.” It wasn’t a question for help this time. He was going to shower on his own without Doc’s help.

"Good, you need it,” Doc teased as he undid the tightened mechanism on the brace to slip it off. “Don’t slip or be rough with that arm. I don’t want to put you in another cast again.”

“I won’t,” Lightning sounded like he would have rolled his eyes.

Doc unwound the bandages on Lightning’s eyes, leaving the tape and some gauze on his eyes. “Don’t get these wet,” Doc ruffled Lightning’s hair.

Lightning had no problem starting the shower. Doc had been giving him baths so there wouldn’t be splash and as much risk of getting his cast wet. Fortunately, Doc wasn’t into products so there was only one bottle of a three-in-one shampoo. He took a long time on his hair, careful not to let any get to his eyes. He took a rag to wipe around his face. He was very careful not to slip and had already thought to lay out a rug before getting in the shower. He wasn’t risking any more setbacks to his healing.

Doc shared a smile with Sheriff when Lightning came back out. His shirt was on backward and inside out, but he had done it all himself. Neither said anything. He was going to bed soon anyways so what would it hurt to let him have his independence and a shirt on wrong.

“You smell better already,” Sheriff teased him.

Doc took the towel around Lightning’s shoulders before dabbing his arm dry to reapply his brace. He then did the same to his face and hair before applying new bandages around his eyes.

Lightning sat perfectly still. Doc pinched Lightning’s cheek on his too serious face when he finished. “Ok, Lizzie,” Lightning laughed which made Doc and Sheriff laugh.

Chapter Text

“You ready to leave tomorrow?” Sheriff sipped his morning coffee on the front porch with Doc.

Doc kicked his feet up on another chair. “I packed for the both of us.” Doc had began packing the night before, not bothering Lightning with the topic and just preparing himself. “We will have to leave early in the morning.”

“Everyone coming to say goodbye tonight?”

“No, he doesn’t want a lot of attention. I think he’s pretty nervous about the appointment.”

“Hope it goes well,” Sheriff sighed, “Sure you don’t want me to come with?”

“No, I’ll call you later if I need help. I feel like it should just be me and him for this.”

Sheriff nodded his head in agreement. “I’ll come over before you take off in the morning.”

Lightning woke up awhile later and made his way to the porch, now familiar with Doc and Sheriff’s morning routine where he assumed they would be, and attempted to push open the sliding door. Doc and Sheriff turned to the door when they heard it being pried open. After a moment Lightning was able to open it and stepped onto the porch still in the clothes he slept in.

“Hey, you’re up before noon!” Sheriff teased.

“Only because Doc made me go to bed so early.”

“You will be getting up earlier the next couple of days. You need to change your schedule.” Doc reminded him.

Lightning silently took a chair and crossed his arms to fend off the cool morning air. Lightning’s mood, immediately changed, brooded at the reminder of the dreaded appointment. He wanted to get the appointment over as soon as possible but at the same time wanted to put it off in fear of what he might find out at it.

“So, got plans today, kid?” Sheriff asked a few minutes after the conversation was killed.

“Nothing specific,” Lightning’s curiosity was slightly drawn.

“Get dressed and then you can help me out today.”

“Ok,” Lightning went to go change without any further questions. He was up for anything to distract his mind from his appointment.

“What have you got planned for him?” Doc asked after Lightning had left.

“I’ve got Mater helping me with some work around the house. I might stay sane if Lightning does most of the conversing with him.”

Sheriff and Lightning headed over to Sheriff’s house where they found Mater, hands on his hips, inspecting the outside walls. There was paint, brushes, a ladder, and a hammer sprawled around the ground in the front yard. Mater turned when he heard the two approaching.

“Sheriff, I think I could add a whole front porch on ‘ere with a full sized window on the other side and a-”

“Mater! I just asked you to replace those few boards, repaint, and wash the windows.”

Lightning smirked, already getting a preview of what the rest of his day would probably look like. After a few more minutes of arguing, Sheriff got Mater to settle on the original plan again. He found another job for Lightning. Sheriff brought out a big box of nails and screws that got mixed together and set it on the front steps for Lightning to sort out.

“Hope you got your tetanus shot, kid. Be careful with these,” Sheriff warned.

Lightning knew he was being given pointless tasks to keep busy but didn’t mind since it was something to do and he was able to talk to Mater while he did his work. He was content to examine and classify each item in the box and separate them as the hot sun beat down and the noises of the day surrounded him. He felt alive with the smell of the outdoor air and life around him. Later on, Flo brought over lemonade and sandwiches for Lightning and Mater to sit on the steps and eat.

“Ah, this hits the spot,” Mater declared, “it’s been a good day.”

Lightning hummed in agreement as he bit into his sandwich. “What color are you painting the house?”

Mater had been replacing boards, scraping paint, and washing windows all afternoon. He was now onto freshening up the paint. “It’s a pretty pale yellow color.”

“Huh,” Lightning put down his sandwich, “I would have thought a light shade of blue.”

“Doc’s is kind of that color. I guess I would have picked a gray for Sheriff’s,” Mater concluded.

Lightning enjoyed the rest of the day, working and talking about nothing. The time flew by without him even realizing it. The day gradually started to cool down as the sun lowered in the sky. Around seven in the evening he heard approaching footsteps to the steps he was still sitting on.

“Hey, kiddo. Sheriff in here?” Doc ruffled Lightning’s hair as he walked up the steps.

“Yeah,” Lightning confirmed. The last few nails and screws to sort were in his hand.

Doc stepped into the house and the screen door slammed shut behind him. Lightning couldn’t make out the voices inside but somehow, he just felt at home taking everything in.

“C’mon, let’s go eat,” Doc stepped out with Sheriff on his heels a few minutes later.

“Let’s go, Mater.” Sheriff reached up to grab the can of paint off the top of the ladder as Mater climbed down. They headed to Flo’s and shuffled around a table.

“All the troublemakers are here tonight,” Flo came to take their order, “alright, sugar, let’s start with you.” Mater started and they ordered around the table.

“Lightnin’, let’s go to Red’s tonight. I’ve got a prank I’ve been planning for awhile,” Mater snickered.

“Actually, I need Lightning tonight. We are leaving early in the morning and he’s gotta be ready to go,” Doc set his drink down. Lightning dipped his head down.

“Awe, heck. We’ll do it when you get back and you can see,” Mater settled for.

“We don’t know what is going to happen yet tomorrow,” Doc said while he watched Lightning’s face. He had ducked it down from embarrassment and his eyebrows were creased in a deep thought of worry.

Sheriff slunk a hand to Lightning’s back. “Let’s talk about what that prank involves though, Mater.” His eyes were pointed suspiciously.

“It’s harmless,” Mater was quick to point out, “and legal. But I could name a few things Filmore is doing that ain't.” He had a sly smile and Sheriff rolled his eyes.

As they finished eating and were leaving, Flo and Ramone came out. “Hey, man, hope it all goes good tomorrow.” Ramone pulled Lightning into a side hug. His wife pulled him into a full embrace and kissed his cheek, saying something similar. Lightning tried to not feel sick as it all became real, and anxiety pooled in his stomach. He would actually be leaving for an appointment in the morning. The moment made the walk home silent and solemn. Lightning prayed someone would talk and lighten things up. Even Mater was in deep thought.

“Come back soon, buddy. I’ll miss you when you’re gone.” Mater told him before leaving. “I’ve got a lot of things planned for us best friends to do,” Mater changed his voice to a low tone, “but seriously though, we can’t talk to Sheriff about some of this stuff because I-”

“Mater!” Sheriff cut him off.

“See ya,” Mater parted ways with the rest of the group.

Sheriff sighed, “you two keep this town young. I’ll stop by in the morning. Goodnight, Monty.”

Lightning mumbled a goodnight and let Doc lead him into the house. Doc made him take a shower as he washed up Lightning’s brace and packed their things for the trip. Lightning took a long shower and lingered in his thoughts. When he did finally emerge, he heard voices from the entryway.

“C’mon, Sally, he’s washing up and going to bed soon.”

“I just want to say bye, Doc.”

“Make it quick and don’t make it a big thing.”

Lightning almost thought about hiding in his room before Sally won the argument and he knew he would have to go or she would find him. He wanted to talk to Sally, but didn’t want to be reminded of his appointment anymore.

“Hey, Sally.” Lightning found his way to the front door, cutting off anything more Doc had to say about not pushing him. Doc squeezed his shoulder as he passed to leave them alone.

“I just wanted to see you before your trip tomorrow. I’ve got some new spots planned for some more picnics when you come back. I’ve got business plans I’d like to tell you about too. You better come back soon so we can have more fun.”

“Ok, Sal.” Lightning didn’t think he could say much more. Sally hugged him and gave him a peck on the cheek before saying a quiet goodnight and leaving.

“Alright, time for you to hit the hay.” Doc retrieved Lightning once he heard the door close. Right as they turned around there was another knock. This time it was Guido and Luigi who said their goodbyes. They went through the whole town this way and almost a half-hour later Doc was finally able to settle Lightning into bed. To their defense, none of them had made it a big deal. Doc didn’t know how they all knew Lightning didn’t want a big ordeal about his leaving but then again everyone always seems to know everything in a small town.

Doc had noticed Lightning had quieted considerably and was not his talkative self. He could chalk that up to nerves though. He was glad Lightning had a good day though.

“Try to sleep tonight,” Doc encouraged what he knew to be a harder task than simply said to be. Lightning nodded and relaxed into the bed as Doc drew the sheets around him. “You know where to find me if you need anything.”

~

Doc felt bad waking Lightning the following morning. He lingered in the doorway debating on letting him sleep a while longer but knew they didn’t have time for that. He surrendered to what he knew he had to do and gently shook Lightning awake. It took a few tries and some patience from Doc to get Lightning up. He was extremely groggy and Doc ended up leading him by the shoulders out of the room and into to kitchen to sit after he got him dressed.

“Didn’t sleep well last night?” Doc asked as Lightning all but collapsed in the kitchen chair and laid his head in his arms on the table.

“Mhnn,” Lightning groaned.

Doc slung a bag over his shoulder to throw in the car. Opening the front door, he ran into Sheriff.

“Kid up?”

“In the kitchen. Wake him up, would you?” Doc called back as he opened his trunk of the car.

Sheriff found Lightning where Doc said he would be in the kitchen, breathing slightly shallower and slower showing he had already begun to fall asleep again. Sheriff pulled out a chair to sit on the side of Lightning.

“Hey, son, let’s get ready to go.” Sheriff gently rubbed his hand across Lightning’s back until he got a response. Lightning drew a deep breath as he woke and lifted his head off the table. “Goodmorning! C’mon, you can sleep in the car.”

Doc slammed the trunk, watching some dust settle to the ground. He brushed his hands against each other to clean off the dust. Turning around to the house again he saw Flo making her way over carrying a bag and two drinks.

“Hey, sweetheart, I brought over breakfast.” Flo set everything in the car when Doc opened the door for her.

“Thanks Flo, you’re the best.”

“Doc,” Flo became more serious, “is he going to be ok if this doesn’t go well?”

Doc shoved his hands into his pockets and leaned back against the car, “I don’t know what will happen, but he has got a lot of people who love him now. I think he’ll be ok.”

Flo nodded thoughtfully and then smiled, “I think you’re right. Thanks, Doc.”

They both looked up when the front door opened to see Sheriff leading Lightning out. Doc noted that Lightning looked less like he was sleeping and more like he was moping now. He watched as Flo hugged Lightning who melted into the embrace and lingered before pulling away and mumbling a goodbye.

“Call me if you need anything,” Sheriff gave Doc an unneeded reminder before he pulled Lightning into a tight embrace. “See you later, son.” He changed his tone to a low quiet one when he saw Lightning’s face slightly contort into a distressing feeling. “It will be ok.” Lightning nodded into his chest. Doc waited patiently for the moment to end before helping Lightning into the car and buckling him in to leave.

~

Lightning fell asleep a few hours into the car ride and slept through a good portion of it. He was silent when he was awake, only giving short responses and Doc let him be. He had the radio on softly in the background for some distraction, although both their minds were too occupied on appointment. It was evening when Doc finally parked the car in their destination of a hotel parking lot.

“Lynda and Strip are meeting us in a bit. They want to have dinner tonight,” Doc informed Lightning.

Lightning got out of the car and stretched his legs, feeling lethargic from sitting in the same position all day. Everything felt like a blur around him with so much on his mind. He was happy to see Strip and Lynda. Their presence brought him comfort but he was content for them to do most of their talking with Doc as he sat between them. His nerves kept him quiet and deep in thought. He hugged Strip and Lynda tightly as they wished him well on his appointment in the morning. He didn’t remember much of checking into the hotel.

“We’re getting up early tomorrow,” Doc warned him, “then we will finally know what’s going on up here,” he ran his hand through Lightning’s hair. Lightning nodded halfheartedly. “Try to sleep tonight.”

Chapter Text

Lightning felt the pit in his stomach immediately when Doc woke him up. He was exhausted after a night of restless tossing and turning but quickly became wide awake when remembering what day it was. Doc set some clothes on the bed next to Lightning after he had sat up. He left and Lightning heard him in the bathroom brushing his teeth. Lightning attempted to itch his skin under the bandages before dressing himself. He realized that Doc must have woken up sometime earlier before waking him up because the man was completely ready to leave and was only waiting on Lightning now. Doc was an early riser, but this was excessive. It was the first that Lightning considered that Doc may actually be nervous too about this appointment.

Both were content to say very little, both lost in their own thoughts. He thought it extreme when a thick sweatshirt was pressed into his chest after he stood from tying his shoes. He wouldn’t possibly need something so thick in the climate they were in. Lightning didn’t realize how early it actually was until they stepped outside into the chill air, not yet warmed by the sun to the extreme heat it usually was, and to the nightlife sounds of insects.

Doc led him by the arm to the back of the car before letting go and heading for the driver's side. Lightning easily found his way to the passenger’s door and slipped in. He buckled himself easily now that his arm was not in a cast. He tugged the sleeves of his sweatshirt over his hands to clench them as he crossed his arms over his chest. It was big enough to easily go over the brace on his arm. The smell of the car was much more apparent with the lack of heat. The cold air created almost a stale undisturbed environment in which he could pick out everything’s smell including the dust settled to the ground, leather, and even Doc’s cologne. He wished they would never reach the hospital once the car started moving. No such luck. It was the longest and shortest ride of his life.

“Want to stop and eat? We have a little time.”

“No,” Lightning softly declined. He expected he might throw up if he did eat.

Lightning noticed multiple changes in the environment, and he felt ill when he realized Doc had pulled into the parking ramp of the hospital. Both exited the car and Lightning waited by the trunk for Doc to meet and lead him to their destination. He hated when Doc took his arm uncharacteristically gently, feeling Doc was acknowledging that this was a hard time for him and Lightning didn’t want any kindness right now. He was afraid it would dissolve any of the little courage he had right now.

Lightning’s thoughts raced and time seemed to be moving so slow but yet his memory was a blur from leaving the car until reaching the check-in desk. He listened to Doc give information to the secretary about the appointment and was surprised when he easily rattled off information including Lightning’s birthday. Lightning didn’t know if he was happy to get closer to having the appointment done or if his hopes of it being canceled were crushed when the appointment was confirmed. Doc led him to the waiting room.

They sat on a cushioned bench waiting. Both sat slumped back with their arms crossed and Lightning’s shoulder pushed against Doc’s upper arm, Lightning hidden in the shadow of Doc’s much larger frame. Doc crossed his ankles and was much more relaxed compared to Lightning’s tense and defensive features. Again, Lightning’s thoughts consisted of the same but now amplified feelings he had over the last few weeks. Wishing to get this over with and wish it would never come at the same time. After an amount of time that Lightning would never trust his brain to accurately guess, Lightning sighed. He sensed Doc turn his gaze to him and almost said something before his name was called.

“Montgomery McQueen?” A nurse called out. Doc gave a quick glance around the room but thankfully found no one seemed to give the name a second thought. Lightning’s real name wasn’t really known to the public, but he was glad the last name didn’t draw any suspicion. For once Lightning was not concerned about attention or fame his name brought. He only felt a surge of emotion as it was finally time to see if he could see.

In the back of his mind, he heard the nurse ask to confirm his birthday as they walked down the hall, but it took him a moment of silence to realize he had to answer. He looked to Doc, even though he couldn’t see, and realized Doc wasn’t going to answer for him. He quickly replied with his birthday to the patient nurse and realized that legally he probably had to be the one to confirm the information.

The nurse went through the normal information and questions on the computer in the room they had been led to, taking blood pressure and other routine checks, before leaving the room for the two to wait for the doctor. The sterile environment made it painfully obvious that they were in a hospital and the silence making the time drag. Lightning picked out sounds of the room as he waited, the ticking clock, faint running of the computer, beeping of machines activated in other rooms, and occasional passerby in other hallways. Doc had deliberately pushed Lightning in front of him to sit on the edge of the bench closest to the computer where the doctor would be while he sat on Lightning’s other side. Lightning, lost in thoughts again, was almost surprised by the opening of the door when the doctor finally arrived.

“Montgomery, good to see you again!”

Lightning recognized that voice.

“Dr. Wheelan,” Doc greeted the man and Lightning felt Doc’s arm extend next to him to reach out and shake the doctor’s hand. He recognized the voice and name of the man who had been his doctor throughout his previous lengthened stay at the hospital. Somehow, he hadn’t quite expected the same doctor to continue with him.

“You look considerably improved since I last saw you,” Dr. Wheelan said as he logged into the computer. “And I see you have your cast off,” he continued when he had no response from Lightning. He did receive a nod for his observation though. “Any confusion? Dizziness?”

Lightning gave a shrug and shake of his head no. He hoped Doc would just take over. His wish was granted when his replies were not satisfactory or thorough enough for Doc.

“I haven’t noticed confusion and dizziness has improved quite a bit. Occasional headaches and fatigue although it has been less frequent and improved. He goes to bed early and sleeps late.”

Lightning was shocked with all the symptoms Doc rattled off, his progression, and his shortcomings in healing. Things he hadn’t noticed himself and suddenly felt uncomfortable with the fact that Doc knew more about him than he did. Doc pointed out areas he had yet to heal and improve in that he himself hadn’t picked up on.

Lightning felt the mood change after both men had gone through scans Doc had sent Dr. Wheelan of his arm and finished discussing all of his mental and physical improvements and setbacks. Now was the time they discussed the future of his health.

“Montgomery, you know you’re eyes are currently healing. We have bandages on to heal the corneas which were scratched by the shield of your helmet in your crash.” He waited for Lightning to acknowledge the information with a nod before continuing. “It is past the needed time to heal so we will remove the bandages. We are still unsure about the status of your eyesight, not because of the cornea scratches per se, but because of the inflammation and swelling around the optic nerves.”

“You understand what he said?” Doc questioned Lightning softly. Lightning nodded.

“If you do have swelling, I have one surgery we can do in attempt to regain your sight.”

Lightning nodded. He had nothing to say and if he did, he wouldn’t because he was afraid he would cry.

“Alright,” Dr. Wheelan changed to a lighter tone, “let's get on the examination table and look at your reflexes and head first.”

Dr. Wheelan announced everything he was going to do and yet it was still a shock when his cold hands touched Lightning’s neck to feel his lymph nodes and traveled to the back of his head to analyze the healing to the damage that had occurred there. He documented everything on the computer after testing reflexes and hearing. Lightning listened to the clicking of the keyboard as he waited, trying to shift but stopping as the paper on the examination table crinkled loudly. Finally, the tapping of keys stopped and Dr. Wheelan turned his chair around.

“We will check your eyes now,” Dr. Wheelan said back in his more serious manner. Doc stood as well and moved to stand next to where Lightning sat, placing a hand on his back.

Suddenly it all moved so fast for Lightning. He wasn’t ready to know. He restrained himself from grabbing Dr. Wheelan’s hands to stop him from slowly winding the bandages around his eyes off. The bandages were removed and the taped cotton swabs on his eyelids were next. Dr. Wheelan used a wet Q-tip to remove the adhesive of the tape.

“Keep your eyes closed when I am finished,” Dr. Wheelan instructed as he removed the tape and gauze off one eye. It felt freeing and odd to have air on his naked eyelids again. “I just have to remove some glue from your eye lids now.” Dr. Wheelan gently rubbed a little more along his lashes. “I’m going to dim the lights now, your eyes will be sensitive after being closed for so long.”

The lights were shut off and the glow of the computer illuminated the room enough for both doctors to see. Dr. Wheelan held Lightning’s head gently in his hands and turned so he could see directly his closed eyes.

“Alright, Montgomery, I want you to slowly try to open your eyes.”

Lightning hesitated before slowly opening his eyes. There was a slight resistance of his eyelashes before he got past it. The room was silent and waiting for him. He hadn’t noticed anything yet. He was still getting around the feeling of opening his eyes. He quickly closed them again as the feeling of air moved across his sensitive eyes. He slowly tried again and then again to where he could allow them to remain open longer. He knew the room was supposed to be dark.

“Can you make anything out?” Dr. Wheelan inquired once he saw Lightning was able to open his eyes.

Lightning finally focused on trying to see anything. He tried to focus on anything. He couldn’t make anything out. He couldn’t find anything he expected to see. Then it hit him. He couldn’t see
anything.

“No,” Lightning’s voice wavered in disbelief.

“Montgomery, I have a computer on over here,” Dr. Wheelan turned Lightning’s head gently in the correct direction, “are you able to make out the light from it?”

Lightning focused as hard as he could, opening his eyes wide and squinting them, searching for anything at all. He thought he may have seen something where he knew there would be but ultimately found nothing there. He kept trying. He heard Dr. Wheelan inhale, debating on ending Lightning’s futile attempts. Lightning beat him to it.

“I can’t see anything,” Lightning managed to blurt out, only choking at the end of it. “I can’t see!” He involuntarily sobbed before throwing a hand to his mouth and biting a knuckle. He felt the hand on his back move to the back of his neck and squeeze firmly. He grabbed and found Doc’s arm with his other hand and held a death grip on it. Doc winced but didn’t remove it.

Dr. Wheelan tilted Lightning’s face back to him and clicked a device on. Lightning felt a slight heat of light on his face. Dr. Wheelan was shining a light into his eyes and Lightning wasn’t seeing any of it.

“No, please.” Lightning begged although he didn’t know to who. His panic became evident as he was realizing his disbelief was reality. His eyes were opened and he wasn’t seeing. His breathing turned ragged as he began to sob in panic.

Dr. Wheelan let go of Lightning’s head and moved out of the way so Doc could move in. Doc slid in front of Lightning where he tried to get his attention. Lightning’s eyes were wide in panic, probably not even realizing they were open, and hyperventilating. Doc gently drew Lightning’s hand from covering his mouth and pulled him into his chest. Lightning began to bawl and gripped Doc tightly. Doc tried once to gently shush his wails but had no success.

“Monty,” Doc said in a serious low voice to get his attention but Lightning was much too distraught to stop. Doc moved Lightning’s legs to either side of him and hoisted him up off the examination table. He adjusted Lightning a bit in his grasp, holding one hand under him and the other spread open across his back and firmly pushing him to his chest. Lightning was sobbing into his neck.

Dr. Wheelan quickly turned and typed something into his computer as he was of no help now. This was only something Doc could do. He waited a minute after Doc had moved Lightning to his arms and stood whispering words Lightning would never hear into his ear as they were drowned out by his despaired cries.

“I have an opening on an MRI scan for noon. Would you like to try then?” Dr. Wheelan hated to bring it up now, but he whispered to Doc anyway. Doc nodded in agreement. It was no use putting it off if there was still a possibility of restoring his sight.

“We’ll be there at noon, then,” Doc confirmed before heading for the door. Dr. Wheelan rushed to open it for him. Dr. Wheelan closed the door after him and moved to his chair in a daze of thought. He had really hoped it wouldn’t come down to the surgery.

Doc moved back through the waiting room and out to a hallway and to a corner he knew was vacant. The hospital was almost dead in the area this early in the morning. He stopped in the corner of the side hallway, completely empty, with a big window that overlooked the city. He began to rock and soothe the distraught boy in his arms. He gently swayed back and forth, occasionally softly bouncing him as he walked back and forth. He hushed Lightning and ran his hand firmly up and down his back and held Lightning’s head to the crook of his neck as he rocked side to side.

It was a long time before Lightning even remotely calmed enough to realize some of his surroundings. He became lax in Doc’s arms as he had exhausted himself from crying. He still had ragged inhales of breath and hiccups of cries. He was comforted by the tight and firm hold Doc had on him. He felt somewhat safe in his vulnerable state. The only thing he knew at the moment besides being lost in the darkness of the world was Doc. He faintly recognized that Doc was quietly humming something as he fell asleep.

Chapter Text

Doc felt his heart sink when there was no reaction to Lightning opening his eyes. He saw the descent into horror as Lightning realized he couldn’t see. He quickly stepped in and tried to console the boy in anyway. He quickly realized that Lightning was past the point of discussion and pulled him into his arms.

He agreed to do the scans at noon. There was no use pushing them and the surgery off and leaving Lightning more time of knowing if he was permanently blind or if there was hope. Might as well get the surgery done and recover. Or learn to live without sight.

Now Doc was rocking a sleeping boy in his arms as he overlooked the city. It had taken a long time for Lightning to cry himself out enough to fall asleep. Doc swayed gently side to side as he overlooked the city and watched it gradually wake up. The dark sky began with a sliver of light which gradually broke out into colors across the buildings as the sun rose. He had a lot of time to think.

He never tired from the weight of Lightning in his arms. He found himself not wanting to ever let go. Something he never thought he would ever feel.

Hours later, he checked his watch as the time slowly approached noon. Finally knowing he couldn’t push it off any longer, he made his way to where he would check into Lightning’s appointment for his scans. He didn’t bother to wake up Lightning, not wanting to disturb his final peace, and carried him the way. He checked in and stood with Lightning in the waiting room until he was retrieved.

The waiting room was quite busier than it had been hours earlier and Doc stood out of the way where there would be minimal attention. Lightning was small enough in frame that Doc could easily hold him, but it was obvious that he was not a child. Doc was never one to care what others thought though and always did what he knew was right. No one stared too long though at the sleeping boy in his arms.

A little surprised to see Dr. Wheelan himself come out to get them, Doc realized the man must have cleared his whole day for Lightning and took over for the nurse to get Lightning himself.

“We’ve got everything ready. We’ll do an MRI on his head and let you go home. I’ll call you back after we’ve analyzed it and come up with a plan.” Dr. Wheelan spoke in low tones in respect to not wake Lightning as he led Doc down the hall to the Radiography rooms.

Dr. Wheelan held open one last door that led to an oddly still and quiet room with an MRI machine inside. Doc had seen many of these rooms before but now it felt just a little different. Behind a window, sitting behind a computer, one of the radiographers offered a small wave and Doc gave a nod in return.

“Shall we wake him now,” Dr. Wheelan reluctantly instructed to move on with the procedure.

~

Lightning was in deep sleep and it took a minute for him to realize that he was being lightly shaken and that it was his name being recited. He took a sharp deep breath when consciousness returned to him and he began to become aware of his surroundings. His body was dead weight laying on what he recognized as Doc. He first knew Doc’s smell and an uncomfortably clean smell. Next he realized his face was lying in a wet patch of fabric. Lightning peeled his face slowly off the fabric and raised his head to hover a little higher. The pattern of the stitching was etched into his hot face from laying on it so long and the cool air was cold on his damp skin.

“Hey, kiddo.”

Doc watched as Lightning’s bloodshot eyes lethargically shifted to the direction of his face. They were unseeing and seemed to look through him. There was a lack of emotion on his face like he didn’t have any thoughts at all.

“We’re going to do a scan of your head.”

Lightning seemed to register what Doc told him after a delayed second when he sighed and rested his head on Doc’s shoulder again. Doc stepped forward and knelt to set Lightning to sit on the MRI table where Lightning was detached without protest. Lightning leaned forward to drop his head into Doc’s ribs.

Dr. Wheelan watched, thinking back to when he first received Lightning as a patient. Doc had come in and taken over without even really knowing Lightning. He remembered some of the uncomfortable encounters and feelings the two had and how far Lightning had come in his healing process. He watched the two before him now and noticed a stark difference in their interactions and comfortability with each other.

Doc turned his head to Dr. Wheelan to signal he thought Lightning was ready to go on. Dr. Wheelan waved in the staff behind the window.

“Montgomery, we are going to do that scan now.”

Lightning let himself be arranged and maneuvered on the table into the position the staff wanted him to be in. Doc wished there would be any sort of reaction from Lightning but he remained silent and staring as he was compliant to all the demands of him. The radiographers stepped away after placing Lightning just where they wanted him and Doc stepped forward.

“I’ll be in the other room watching. I can hear you if you need anything,” Doc waited for Lightning to respond but he just stared forward, “Try to stay still.”

Doc reluctantly stepped back and out the door feeling uncomfortable with the lack of any feedback from Lightning. Dr. Wheelan was last to leave the room and stood next to Doc behind the two at the computers to watch the images coming in across the screen. An area of interest stood out to Dr. Wheelan who leaned in closer for a minute before standing back up and stroking his chin. Doc knew the area of the brain but it wasn’t his specialty and wasn’t able to pick out any distinct differences.

“Have Dr. Jacavitch look at those as soon as possible and go over them with me,” Dr. Wheelan instructed when the scan finished. The radiographers stepped back into the room to help Lightning off of the machine. “I’ll call you as soon as I hear back on those and we can discuss a date for possible surgery,” he turned to Doc.

Doc, as a doctor, knew it was a question that couldn’t be answered but he asked anyway. “What do you think about his chances of seeing again?”

Dr. Wheelan met Doc’s eyes and hesitated thoughtfully before settling into a response that he had probably given similarly to many others. “We can’t be certain of anything right now.” Doc nodded, not having expected anything more, but Dr. Wheelan didn’t seem to be satisfied with his own response because he sighed and added to it. “I’ve got high hopes but anything with the brain and eyes is always tricky, so I don’t want to give any firm answers.”

Doc knew he could never get a definite answer but appreciated Dr. Wheelan confiding in him doctor to doctor. “Thank you,” Doc held an arm out to take hold of Lightning who was being led to him, “we’ll be in touch.”

Doc removed Lightning from the grasps of the radiographers who led him on either side, holding under his arms, and moved his own arm under Lightning’s to lead him out. Lightning was slow in walking, seemingly depressed and not caring about anything in his surroundings. Doc kept him moving. They parted with Dr. Wheelan at the door and Doc made his way hauling Lightning with him to the car. He almost considered just picking Lightning up and carrying him out but wanted Lightning to come out of the shell he had made.

Lightning made no moves for himself, not even trying to understand the world around him. Doc opened the car door for him and pushed him in. Lightning at least sat in the seat but Doc ended up buckling him when he made no move for himself to do it. It was a more quiet ride back to the hotel than it was there. Doc didn’t even offer lunch; if he wasn’t hungry, Lightning definitely wasn’t.

As soon as they were in the hotel room, Doc let go of Lightning’s arm and Lightning walked to where he knew his bed was and laid face down into the pillow. Doc watched him before closing the door. It was not even two o’clock in the afternoon but as the first move and decision Lightning made for himself, Doc wasn’t going to fight it. Doc shut off the lights, not that it would affect Lightning’s sleep in anyway, and sat on the other side of the bed where he rested his head on the headboard. The room was still decently illuminated by the sun that shone through the curtains. He sat and thought in the quiet room for a long time. Doc knew from the breathing that Lightning never fell asleep but he never cried or had any other emotion either.

Doc rested a hand on Lightning’s back. “I’m going to go make a phone call down the hall. Are you alright here?” Getting no response, Doc grabbed his phone and slipped out the door. He only walked down the hall and around the corner where he found a window that overlooked the pool down below. He pulled out his phone and hovered his finger over Sheriff’s contact, trying to think what to say. He decided there weren’t really words and he would just wing it. He didn’t need to rehearse what to say to his good friend.

“Hello?” Sheriff picked up after the second ring.

“Yeah,” Doc said. He didn’t add anything else. He ran through how to say it. This was the first time he had to tell what happened to someone else who cared about Lightning and now it felt real.

“Done with the appointment?” Sheriff asked cautiously.

Doc hummed an affirmation. The tone wasn’t promising.

“It didn’t go well, did it.” It wasn’t a question. Sheriff knew from Doc’s voice, or the lack of it.

“No,” Doc exhaled.

There were a few minutes of silence. No words had to be said. Doc found it relieving that his friend knew.

“Where is he now?” Sheriff finally asked, level headed as always.

Doc watched the tiny people below scurry around in the pool, the kids climbing the stairs to the water slides, the parents with their tiny toddlers in the kiddie pool. “In bed.”

“How’s he doing?”

There was long pauses between each man’s responses as they dwelled on what to say and each other’s words.

“He wasn’t good in the appointment. He fell asleep and when he woke back up he never said anything. I can’t get him to talk.”

“Just give him some time to come to terms with it. He needs to grieve before he moves on.”

“But he isn’t done yet. There is still more he can do. The doctors are looking at surgery for him and will call me when they have a plan,” Doc argued. It was huge that Lightning couldn’t see now but from his medical perspective there was still more to be done.

“I know. I pray the surgery works. We were all hoping it wouldn’t come down to it though.”

“I know.”

They left it at that for a few minutes. Doc wished Lightning was one of those kids begging to get to the pool and swim. He turned away and rested himself against the wall.

“Should I come over there?”

“No, I don’t know how soon his surgery will be. I’ll call you when I know. Strip and Lynda are here and I can call them if I need help.”

“Alright. You know it’s not an inconvenience,” Sheriff reminded.

“I know.”

Doc returned to the room and found Lightning in the same position, still withdrawn. Doc was tired himself after the events of the day and laid down to rest is eyes.

Chapter Text

The next morning Lightning hadn’t moved much in the bed. Doc, as always, woke up early. He quietly slipped out of bed and got ready for the day, slipping into his day clothes and washing up. Doc’s back ached and was stiff from the day prior, another reminder that he wasn’t so young anymore. He looked in the mirror and analyzed the slight darkening under his eyes from the exhausting prior day before pressing a warm damp towel to them and then drying off. He couldn’t believe yesterday had even happened and at the same time another part of him was already moving on to the next steps. He knew it wasn’t that simple for Lightning though. Lightning needed some time to grieve. Doc didn’t plan on letting him get too far into grieving though, because there was still a bit of hope.

Doc slipped quietly to Lightning’s bedside and leaned over to get a look at him. Lightning hadn’t moved at all besides his face laying to the side on one cheek instead of facedown into the pillow. His breathing was deep in sleep and Doc was grateful he at least was resting. Doc lingered to watch Lightning a moment longer before heading downstairs to grab breakfast.

Doc took the elevator down to the lobby and planned on being back before Lightning even woke up. The dining room was almost empty as few in the hotel were yet awake. Doc grabbed a paper plate and added things from the buffet line before finding a seat. He found the quiet room easy on his mind which was full of thoughts. He had just finished his food when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. Pulling it out, he found the caller ID from the hospital.

“Hello,” Doc picked up already knowing what the call was for.

“Paul, its Dr. Van Wheelan. I’ve gone over Lightning’s MRI with the Radiologist and a surgery team. We can move forward with the surgery.”

“Alright, good. What did the scans show?”

“It confirmed what I had expected,” Dr. Van Wheelan said, “there is pressure and a bit of trauma that hope to relieve with surgery.”

Dr. Van Wheelan went through the expected procedure with Doc, discussing medical details and expectations of the surgery until Doc felt content that he knew everything that he could. At the end of the conversation, Doc thanked him and hung-up feeling determined and more confident in the next steps.

~

Lightning was still laying on the bed wrapped in the covers when Doc made it back to the room except now Lightning was on his back and his eyes were opened and pointed at the ceiling. Doc quit trying to be quiet after seeing Lightning was awake and was disturbed when he found no reaction from Lightning at his entrance to the room. Doc stood by the edge of the bed and leaned over once again to analyze Lightning. Lightning’s eyes were still unfocused and expressionless and Doc began to worry about shock. Lightning closed his eyes and slightly furrowed his brow when Doc placed the back of his hand on Lightning’s forehead.

“What are you doing?” Lightning whispered weakly when Doc moved two fingers to the side of his neck.

“Taking your vitals,” Doc said, secretly relieved to hear Lightning speak for the first time in a long time. “I think you should try to get out of bed.”

“I don’t feel like it,” Lightning pushed Doc’s hand away and Doc let him. Doc shook his head as he turned around to his bed to dig through his luggage.

“Your doctor called,” Doc began as he still sifted through his bag, “your surgery is scheduled for next week Tuesday.”

“I’m not doing it.”

Doc could have got whiplash with how fast he turned his head around. “What?” he asked incredulously.

“I’m not doing it,” Lightning sounded more firm this time.

“You’re not doing what?” Doc asked confused. He couldn’t believe what he thought Lightning was referring to.

“I don’t want to do the surgery,” Lightning said stiffly before clenching his jaw.

Doc stared at Lightning, not believing what he had heard and confused on where it was coming from. “You’re not doing the surgery?”

Lightning kept his jaw shut and face solemn in his seriousness. Doc realized Lightning meant what he said.

“Why not?”

Lightning shrugged the best he could laying down. It wasn’t satisfying for Doc who thought the surgery was common sense.

“You don’t even have a reason?” Doc pushed, “Kid, you’re getting the surgery.”

“No, I’m not.”

Doc was at a loss. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes for a moment, frustrated that Lightning was being moody and arguing with an obvious process.

“Will you at least get out of bed?” Doc sighed. He decided to let the other argument go for the time being.

“No,” Lightning sounded more frustrated after Doc’s obvious annoyance.

“You’ll never fall asleep tonight,” Doc tried to reason with him.

“I don’t care,” Lightning threw his arm across his face in an attempt to end the conversation.

Doc wasn’t going to let Lightning win either argument but decided to remove himself before saying anything he regretted. He muttered that he would be outside before leaving the room. He rested his head against the wall in the hallway and rethought over the discussion he just had. He couldn’t figure out the reasoning behind Lightning’s behavior and he couldn’t even get the boy out of bed. He rolled his eyes as he pulled out his phone because it was beginning to feel like he had to call Sheriff for help more and more lately.

“Yeah?” Sheriff answered within a few rings.

“Hey.”

“What happened?” Sheriff was knew Doc too well for him to hide anything.

“He won’t get out of bed and he doesn’t want the surgery.”

“Why doesn’t he want the surgery?”

“Didn’t say,” Doc relayed. Doc was obviously a bit annoyed.

There was a moment of silence and Doc knew Sheriff was thinking.

“Let me try talking to him,” Sheriff requested.

~

Lightning didn’t feel like getting out of bed. He felt devastated that he couldn’t see the world around him after the doctor removed all the bandages, glue, and tape from his eyes. He had absolutely no motivation to get up and face the world on this day. He felt bad for becoming snippy with Doc but he was annoyed. Why couldn’t Doc just leave him be? He didn’t want to get up, he didn’t want the surgery, and he didn’t want to do anything.

Lightning heard the door open to the hotel room. He hadn’t moved since Doc had left. He knew Doc’s gait and footsteps well by now.

“Here he is,” Doc said as he crossed the room.

Lightning was thrown off. He had only heard one set of footsteps but it made sense when a phone was pushed into his hand.

“Hello,” he said into the device that he moved up to his ear. He heard the hotel door close again.

“Hey, son, Doc driving you crazy?”

Lightning had no trouble recognizing the voice. The irritation left him immediately and was replaced by another emotion. His eyes burned a bit.

~

Doc gave Lightning the phone and left the room. He wandered down the halls and eventually downstairs to order some food. He hoped Sheriff could talk some sense into Lightning. He could understand not wanting to get out of bed in the morning, but no surgery? ‘What’s gotten into that boy?’

Doc looked down at his phone which had quietly buzzed. It was Strip Weathers with a text that asked when a good time to call was. Doc shoved the phone back into his pocket. He didn’t want to keep Strip and his wife in the dark but he wasn’t going to say anything until he and Lightning were on the same page again. He had hoped it wouldn’t come down to breaking the bad news to everyone yet but in his mind there was still a bit of hope.

He checked his watch and decided enough time had passed in what felt like no time at all. He made his way back to the room. He swiped the plastic key across the panel on the door and pushed it open when he got the green light and a small beep. The first place he looked was the bed where he saw Lightning sitting on the side of it, feet on the floor and phone in the sheets beside him. His head was down and Doc couldn’t see his face through his hair. Doc couldn’t help but feel a little successful that Lightning was at least out of bed.

Doc wordlessly crossed the room and tediously sat on the bed next to Lightning. Neither said anything for a few long seconds. Doc tried to analyze Lightning but ultimately wasn’t given much to go off of as Lightning wouldn’t look at him or say anything. Doc decided he would probably be safe to touch the boy now and it wouldn’t enrage him. He seemed in a different mood than when he had left.

Doc gently brushed Lightning’s eyes out of his face and discovered his vibrant blue eyes shining with wet silent tears. Nothing else in his body gave signs that he was crying. His face was composed, and his shoulders were still.

“Talk to Sheriff?”

Lightning nodded and Doc was glad there was some progress in communication between the two of them. Lightning didn’t offer anything else.

Doc hesitated a little, “listen, I know you don’t want to get out of bed, but I am just pushing you to do it because I know how hard it is the longer you wait.”

Lightning nodded again. This time he added a quiet, “I know.”

Doc was a little surprised at the 180-degree shift in Lightning’s compliance. He didn’t know what Sheriff had said but whatever he did had changed something.

“Do you still not want the surgery?” Doc didn’t want to throw off Lightning’s feelings no matter how much he disagreed.

This time Lightning’s breathing became a bit wavering. “I don’t know. It’s dumb. I feel like I am going backward and ending right back in the hospital and healing where I started.”

“It’s not what we were hoping for. Sometimes you need to go backwards to go forwards.”

“But we don’t even know if the surgery will work. I guess part of me couldn’t believe I might actually be blind when the bandages came off. I know you tried to set me up for it but I just couldn’t believe it. And right now, if there is still hope, I can believe that I might not actually be blind. But if I get the surgery and it doesn’t work then I will for sure actually be blind.” Lightning was beginning to get worked up himself.

Doc was realizing that Lightning’s stubbornness was more out of fear. “I understand. I just didn’t want you to start grieving too much when there is something we can still try.”

“I know,” a silent tear rolled down Lightning’s cheek, “I know that it’s stupid not to get the surgery done. I just can live without knowing if I’m actually blind or not if I don’t get it.”

“It’s not stupid,” Doc reassured, “but if you don’t get it then you will be living like this forever either way. If there is a chance, you might as well take it.”

“I know,” Lightning choked, “I’m just scared that this could be permanent. I don’t want to know.”

“It’s ok to feel that way,” Doc sympathized, “I just don’t want you to hold yourself back from this possibility because of a positive outcome that is the same as where you are now. I know it’s easier to not know though if this surgery doesn’t work though.”

Lightning rubbed his nose that had started dripping onto his sleeve and sniffled quietly. “I’ll get the surgery,” he said.

Chapter Text

“When did you say the surgery was?”

“Next Tuesday.”

“Oh,” Lightning replied.

“That’s a little over a week away. Do you want to go home for a few days or stay here?”

Lightning didn’t know when Radiator Springs became ‘home’ but it felt nice to have a place to call it. “Here.” It was too far of a drive, and he didn’t want to have to see everyone after they knew he still couldn’t see.

“Alright,” Doc agreed.

“Doc?” Lightning still sat on the edge of the bed with Doc by his side. “I don’t feel that great.”

“What’s going on, kiddo?”

“I feel kind of sick to my stomach and my head hurts.”

“Headache?” Doc asked.

“No, not headache, just pain.” Lightning moved his head into his hands. “I don’t know how to describe it, it’s like a white pain.”

Doc leaned back slightly. “When did it start?”

“I guess since I woke up.”

“Ah,” Doc said in an understanding tone, “I think it’s anxiety.”

Lightning lifted his head from his hands. “This is all in my head?”

“Well, the symptoms are real, but the cause is your mind,” Doc explained.

Lightning nodded and Doc moved to get up. Lightning heard him rummaging through a bag of clothes.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting you dressed. I don’t care what we do, we don’t even have to leave the building, but if you don’t get out of bed or at least change then you will never be able to sleep tonight.”

Lightning stood from the bed. Now that his eyes were not glued shut he realized that they were wide open in attempts to see the world around him. He was concentrated in not bumping into
anything and now he realized in his focus that his eyes were open. He shut them and opened them again then he closed them harder to just feel they were for sure shut before cracking them open again. Still darkness.

“Anything you feel like doing today?” Doc turned and stood up from where the bag was thrown on the floor. “What is it?” he asked when he caught the concentrated concern on Lightning’s face as he was staring at the wall with wide eyes.

“It’s just weird to have my eyes open and still not be able to see,” Lightning took cautious steps forward until he found Doc with his outstretched hand.

Doc noticed the almost haunted effect Lightning’s blank eyes gave. Lightning fumbled for all the clothes in Doc’s hands and took them back to the bed to change into them.

“I don’t know what I want to do today,” Lightning responded to Doc’s earlier question.

“Strip and Lynda want to see you at some point,” Doc threw himself back on the bed as he waited for Lightning to change.

“I know,” Lightning sighed, “Can it not be today though? I don’t really want to talk about anything right now.”

“Fine with me.”

“Can we go to a movie?” Lightning imagined Doc raising one eyebrow questioningly at that when silence greeted him. “I can listen to it and it will get me out of here to a place I don’t have to talk or think.”

He was slightly surprised when Doc so easily agreed. They ended up going to some romance movie, which was neither of their first picks, because the other options were mostly action and few with much dialogue.

“Pick a spot a stick to it, kid,” Doc commented when Lightning adjusted his seat in the movie theatre for the eighth time in a minute. Lightning sheepishly smiled as he pushed the recline button one last time until he met a position, he deemed satisfactory and left it there.

About halfway through the movie Doc had his eyes closed and was resting with his hands folded over his chest. Lightning had his head rested on Doc’s shoulder. It was an awful movie but it was a welcome distraction that Lightning became captured by. He noted the moment Doc’s breathing deepened signaling he fell asleep. When the movie ended the change in sounds of the ending credits caused Doc to wake up with a jolt.

“How was it?” Doc rubbed a hand down his face.

“Mediocre,” Lightning decided. It was a lot worse than that but the lack of entertainment made Lightning a lot more content with anything than what he usually would have been.

Doc led Lightning out of the theatre. He had noticed others watching Lightning. His eyes were a bit unnerving to anyone who wasn’t used to them. They were unfocussed and unseeing as he focused on his steps. They were blank. It didn’t bother Doc at all and he didn’t care if people stared, but Lightning did.

“Is everyone watching?” Lightning questioned Doc after he overheard a mother whisper to her son not to stare.

“Some,” Doc answered honestly, “They mostly just because they are curious and then they don’t look anymore.”

“Do you have any sunglasses?”

Doc slipped his aviators out of his pocket and onto Lightning’s face.

Chapter Text

The days moved too slow and too fast for Lightning. He wore Doc’s aviators everywhere, day or night, inside or out, to avoid stares and extra attention. He almost wished his eyes were taped shut again. It was too unsettling to have them open and still see nothing.

Doc tried to find a few small things to do every day for Lightning just so he could tell the days apart and maybe tire himself out enough to sleep at night. They walked downtown, sat in the park, went to more movies, and even just walked around the hospital. Lightning would ask Doc to describe people that he saw so he could imagine something. Doc would make up some descriptions with exaggerated features just to humor Lightning.

As promised, Doc did arrange dinners and meetings with the Weathers. The first one was the hardest and Lightning was nervous. He knew and loved them both but he was just dreading the first conversation about his eyes.

Strip and Lynda both hugged him tight when they met him and Doc in a restaurant one evening. Lightning sat between the two of them and kept Doc’s sunglasses on even though the restaurant was slightly dimmed, and it was dusk outside.

“Sweetie,” Lynda placed a hand on Lightning’s shoulder, “Can I see your eyes?” Lightning slipped off the sunglasses, although he didn’t want to but he couldn’t turn Lynda down, and slowly opened his eyes again. He tried to keep track of where his eyes were looking but knew they must be off of wherever he tried to look.

“Oh, honey, I have missed these!” Lynda exclaimed with nothing but love as she cupped Lightning’s cheeks in her hands and studied his eyes. She kissed his cheek.

Strip turned Lightning’s face his way with a finger on his chin. “Eh-hey! Look at those pretty blue things!” Lightning blushed slightly and looked down smiling.

After the first meeting again, Lightning couldn’t wait to see Strip and Lynda whenever he could. They met every day up until his surgery. The Weathers, Lightning, and Doc would all go do things but some evenings, Lightning liked it when Doc and Strip would go out themselves and Lynda would stay and read to him. He also called Sheriff quite a bit and would talk to whatever other resident of Radiator Springs happened to be around. Mater would catch him up on his daily events during calls. Lightning could almost forget his worries for the time being.

The day before the surgery Doc and Lightning had an early dinner together since Lightning was not supposed to eat at least twelve hours before his surgery. Strip and Lynda both wished Lightning the best on his surgery and told him they loved him, no matter what happened, and told him they would visit him sometime after his surgery.

Doc and Lightning walked back to their hotel room after parting with the Weathers. Lightning was lost in thought and Doc was content to let him think. Lightning wanted desperately for someone to tell him he would get his sight back after this surgery, but he knew no one could do that. He also appreciated that Doc told him the truth. Didn’t give him false hope. He didn’t know how he would ever sleep tonight.

“Take a shower, kid.” Doc pushed Lightning toward the bathroom.

Lightning stopped in the doorway of the bathroom and turned back to Doc. “Here,” he pulled Doc’s sunglasses off his face and held his hand out. Doc turned around. “Might need to buy me my own pair tomorrow,” Lightning’s voice cracked in the end.

As soon as Doc gently slipped the glasses out of Lightning’s fingers he turned to go shower. “Don’t get too far ahead of yourself, kid.” The bathroom door shut. Doc sighed and moved to sit on the bed.

They didn’t say anything when Lightning came out of the shower, wrapped in a towel, and Doc swapped places to go shower himself. Lightning found clothes, not caring if they even matched, and dressed. He immediately searched around for the tv remote and pressed buttons until the tv turned on and he found a channel that was tolerable. Anything was better than the silence and his thoughts. He laid flat on his back on the bed, only half listening to the tv, and waited. He waited for sleep, Doc, his surgery, or just anything. Eventually, Lightning heard Doc exit the bathroom and shuffle around in his luggage before sitting on his bed and flicking on a lamp. Lightning didn’t know how long he laid there trying to sleep before he gave up.

“I can’t sleep.”

“Are you trying to?” Doc turned another page in whatever he was reading.

Lightning huffed, “Yeah.”

“Why can’t you sleep?”

“I don’t know,” Lightning rolled over, “I just can’t stop thinking.”

“Just close your eyes and relax,” Doc flipped another page.

“What do you think I’ve been doing!” Lightning exclaimed a bit angrily. He heard Doc close whatever he had been reading and set it on the bed.

“Want to sit with me?”

Lightning thought about it for a few seconds and decided he wasn’t sleeping anyway. He got up and took a step out and into the next bed where he quick snuck under the covers and curled up on his side. It wasn’t any different than he had been doing before, but somehow this was better. He heard Doc pick up his reading material again and flip back to his page. A minute later, Doc’s hand rested on his head and carded through his hair. He eventually fell asleep to that.

Chapter Text

Lightning was woken up with a hand on his shoulder the next morning. He wanted to do nothing but sink into the bed and sleep the rest of the day. He started to get up and laid back down when he heard Doc enter the bathroom to shave. A few minutes later, Doc came back, rolling his eyes, and shook Lightning awake again.

“Come on, kid, we’ve gotta get going.”

Lightning groaned and pushed himself up. Doc stayed this time to make sure Lightning actually made it out of bed. Lightning stood up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, not that it made any difference, before beginning to change into the clothes Doc then handed him.

Lightning’s stomach churned. He didn’t think he could eat even if he was allowed to eat. He felt nauseous. His hands shook slightly and he wasn’t sure if it was more nerves or not eating. Doc opened the car door for him and Lightning didn’t know if he hated the special care or appreciated the extra attention on this particular day. The one thing he was sure of was that he wanted this over with.

The drive was quiet and Lightning was lost in his worries. Doc would glance over to him throughout the drive. Lightning rested an elbow in the window and he head on his hand.

“What are you most worried about?”

The question threw Lightning off guard. “I don’t know, all of it?” Doc didn’t say anything but Lightning wasn’t content with the lack of response. “I am worried I still won’t be able to see after the surgery. I’m worried about the surgery itself.”

“For the surgery, all you need to do is show up, they put you to sleep, you wake up when it’s done.”

“What if something happens during it? They are messing in my brain.”

“There is a risk with every surgery, even the smallest ones. Brains are always serious, but you have a good team. You know you’re going to be a b it swollen and sore after?”

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” Lightning quickly said and turned toward the window. The rest of the drive was quiet.

Lightning new they reached the hospital when the car slowed, and he felt the small heat from the sun disappear from his skin and instead felt the cool shade of the parking ramp. He felt his heart jump for a second with the spiked anxiety. He hesitated before making himself stop thinking and get out of the car.

“Watch out for the car next to you,” Doc warned, “I don’t need to be paying any more bills.”

Lightning slipped out of the car and held the door so it wouldn’t swing into the next car over. He shut his door once he slid out and ran his hand along Doc’s car until he reached the end and found Doc waiting for him. Doc wordlessly slipped his arm through Lightning’s.

“I know you know where I stand on this, but you can still back out of this.” Doc led Lightning across the parking lot to the elevator door.

Lightning thought on that for a second, very tempted to just back out of the whole thing. “I don’t have much to lose,” he mumbled.

The whole elevator ride and walk to the front desk, Lightning wrestled with going on and just blurting out he didn’t want the surgery. He appreciated that Doc did all the talking to the woman at the front desk who checked him in. Doc led him to bench in the waiting area once he was checked in. It was just more time of what Lightning hated: the waiting game. It made it hard to keep going when he had time to think about what was coming.

“Want to talk?” Doc asked. Lightning shook his head no. “I know it’s impossible, but try not to think too much about it,” Doc said. Lightning just nodded. He was too nervous to argue about anything.

Lightning asked Doc for the time multiple times, thinking it must have been at least fifteen minutes between each time he asked and was surprised to find each time that it had only been about three minutes between each time he asked. On the fourth time he asked, Doc threw his arm around Lightning’s shoulder and pulled him closer. Lightning took it as his warning to calm down and found it helped to get through the remainder of the time left.

“Montgomery McQueen?” A nurse called out expectantly.

Lightning felt like there was a frog in his throat and he felt shaky when he stood up. Doc led him by the arm to where the nurse was waiting.

“Hello, Montgomery, can you give me your full name and birthday?”

Lightning tried to swallow the lump in his throat. There was a long pause before Doc answered for him. The nurse didn’t say anything about it besides a thank you. Lightning was embarrassed he couldn’t answer but relieved Doc did it for him.

“Please change into the gown in this room and come out when you are done,” the nurse instructed.

Lightning found the door and went in. Doc slipped in behind him. Lightning didn’t mind accepting the help, he couldn’t focus on anything today. He slowly started taking his clothes off. Doc helped him speed it up and slipped the gown over Lightning’s head. Lightning held the gown shut around himself as they continued down the hallway. His heart fluttered in his chest again when they entered a room. The room was cold and Lightning’s bare feet were freezing on the floor.

“Hop into bed and we will get you ready for surgery,” the nurse told him.

Lightning found the bed and shakily crawled in. Doc had pulled the sheet back for him. The nurse pulled out a pair of socks and put them on Lightning’s feet before Doc pulled the sheets back over him. Another nurse came in at sat at the computer in the room.

“Hello, Montgomery, I am Janelle and I am here to help prep you for surgery.”

“You can call me Monty,” Lightning said a bit shakily. It surprised Doc a little bit but he was happy to hear Lightning speak.

The first nurse shuffled for some supplies before sitting at the other chair by the bed. “I’m going to put your IV in now, Monty. This will be cold,” she warned before rubbing an alcohol wipe on his arm and slipping in the IV.

Lightning felt the cold of the wipe and a small pinch when the IV slipped under his skin. It broke his composure a bit when he felt it as he let out a small gasp and realized this was all real. He was about to go into surgery.

“Oh, honey, take some deep breaths,” the nurse soothed.

Lightning did breathe to calm himself. He felt on the verge of panic.

“Have you ate or drank anything in the last twelve hours?” Janelle asked from the computer.

“No,” Lightning answered.

“Good!”

“Were just waiting for surgeon to come back and let us know he is ready for you,” the first nurse said.

Lightning nodded. The lump was back. He wondered where his eyes were looking at the moment. He hadn’t worn the sunglasses today. He shivered in the bed.

“Are you cold? I have a heated blanket here,” the nurse pulled a blanket out of a warmer and draped it across Lightning who felt instantly a bit relieved. He wrapped himself in it trying to get all
the warmth he could.

The nurse had slipped something on Lightning’s finger to monitor O2 stats and heart rate. Lightning listened to the faint beeping of the machine above his head and the keys clicking on the computer. He felt Doc rubbing his thumb on his shoulder. He heard footsteps and faint talking. He also heard beeping from other rooms. He heard the curtain of his room be opened and the metal curtain rings run across the rod.

“Goodmorning, Montgomery, I’m Dr. Perez and will be doing your surgery today. Are you ready?”

“Yeah,” Lightning said even though he wasn’t quite sure about that answer.

“I’ll be waiting in the back for you,” Dr. Perez said before leaving.

“Alright,” the nurse said, “I’ll put you to sleep now.”

Lightning shifted uncomfortably and nodded.

“I’ll be here when you get out,” Doc told him and took Lightning’s hand in his own as the nurse slipped a mask over Lightning’s face.

“Can you count backwards from ten for me?”

Lightning didn’t make it to six.

~

Doc felt Lightning’s hand go lax in his own and watched the stress leave his face. He let go and let the nurse wheel him away to surgery. The room was oddly quiet and Doc wondered for the first time what he was going to do while he waited.

“It will be about three hours. I have your number in the computer, if you wanted to go out, I can call you before he gets out of surgery.”

“Alright,” Doc agreed. It would kill him to wait in the room for hours so he left.

He went to the cafeteria and ordered an orange juice and a muffin. He wasn’t hungry, but it was something to do. Doc sat by the tv and only half paid attention to it. About twenty minutes in, he decided to call someone. He couldn’t take the waiting. He supposed this is what Lightning felt like waiting. Now it was Doc’s turn to worry and he needed someone to help him through it.

“Hello?” Sheriff answered the phone almost immediately. Doc was sure all of Radiator Springs and the Weathers were waiting desperately for any news.

“Hey.”

“Is Monty in surgery now?”

“Yeah,” Doc confirmed, “he just got in there. It will be about three hours.”

“So where are you now?”

“Cafeteria. Just needed to go somewhere.”

“Sounds like a good plan.” The line was quiet for a minute. “Do you remember when Mater rigged up his own parachute and tried to jump off Luigi’s tire tower?”

Doc smirked. This was exactly what he needed. “You gave him quite a talking to after I convinced him he’d have more broken bones than it was worth.”

Chapter Text

True to the nurse’s word, she did send Doc a text message when it was estimated that Lightning would be out of surgery in about twenty minutes. Doc made his way back down to where he had sent Lightning off for surgery.

“Thanks for the message,” Doc told the nurse who was in the room.

“Of course,” she smiled.

Doc only had to put himself through about ten more minutes of torture before Lightning was wheeled back in, still unconscious. Dr. Perez came into the room to recap the surgery to Doc.

“The surgery went very smoothly; we took out the excess liquid that had built up back there and there was minimal swelling. It took off a lot of pressure on the nerves back there. We will have to wait on his sight until he wakes up.” Dr. Perez recapped the surgery to Doc.

Doc thanked him before he left. Now it was just more waiting. The nurses monitored Lightning’s vitals and Doc listened to the beeping and waited for any signs of waking from Lightning. It wasn’t too long before Lightning stirred.

Lightning’s eyebrow twitched and he moaned softly. Doc waited patiently for Lightning to become aware of his surroundings. Of course the next thing to happen was Lightning tried to open his eyes to see his surroundings. Doc watched like a hawk for any sign of the status of Lightning’s sight. Lightning’s eyelids twitched and they slowly cracked open and slowly shut again. It continued a few more times. His eyes lethargically moved around a bit.

“Monty?” Doc looked to get a reaction from him.

Lightning’s eyes lazily traveled Doc’s way with his eye lids still drooping half closed.

“You awake?”

There was a long pause and Doc was running through all the medical diagnoses from simply just waking from anesthesia to brain damage. Lightning blinked at him a couple times. Then his eyes perked up a bit and he blinked a few more times. Lightning’s face became more alert and shocked. His eyes shot around the room.

“Doc?” Lightning sounded a bit frantic.

Doc’s heart sunk in fear, “yeah?”

“I can see some stuff,” Lightning showed excitement, “It’s a bit blurry but I can see!”

“Kid, that’s good!” Doc smiled. He was overjoyed at Lightning’s reaction.

“The blurriness could go away later. You a small bit of swelling due to surgery.” Nurse Janelle picked up a flashlight and waved it across his eyes and watched his pupils react.

Lightning couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. He sighed in relief and wiped a tear from his eye. “I’m sorry,” he said to Doc and the nurse.

Doc hugged him. “You have nothing to be sorry for, kid. You finally made it off the rough road.”

They stayed there a little while longer until Lightning was awake enough and the nurse had declared she had monitored him long enough and he was out in the clear. Lightning was brought upstairs into a recovery room.

“You will just be staying here a night unless your doctor decides you need to be monitored longer,” the nurse said.

“Feel ok?” Doc asked once they were alone.

“Yeah,” Lightning said still softly smiling. He couldn’t wipe it off his face. He wasn’t even thinking about his slight headache or after effects of surgery. He couldn't get enough of looking around the room. Even the white walls were fascinating to look at.

“I think you better make some phone calls, bud.” Doc laughed.

“Ok,” Lightning agreed.

He first called Sheriff on Doc’s phone. Sheriff answered right away.

“Is he out? How did it go?”

“Why don’t you ask him yourself,” Doc handed the phone to Lightning.

“I can see!” Lightning immediately declared to the phone.

Doc could hear Sheriff’s excited yells from where he sat. He laughed. He couldn’t think of a time he had ever heard Sheriff so wild and emotive.

They called the Weathers next who were both ecstatic. They drove straight to the hospital once the call ended.

Mac was the call after and he erupted into elated yells of excitement.

Mater called him not long later and if Lightning and Doc thought that everyone else was wild, then Mater completely topped them all. Mater didn’t even try to contain his excitement.

~

Dr. Van Wheelan came in later excited himself. “Montgomery! I read your current reports and hear you have your sight back!”

“Yeah,” Lightning smiled. Dr. Van Wheelan noted that this was the first time he had ever seen Lightning happy.

Dr. Van Wheelan examined Lightning’s eyes for a minute. “Everything looks good. I’m going to have the nurses bring in some cold gel packs to leave on your head to keep down any swelling.”

Lightning thanked his doctor before he left. Lightning became thoughtful and more solemn for the first time since he got his sight back. He had a thought.

“What are you thinking about?” Doc caught the shift in Lightning’s mood.

“I was just thinking,” Lightning paused, “what happens now?”

“Whatever you want,” Doc was a bit confused at what Lightning meant.

Lightning was a bit disappointed that he didn’t get more of an answer and was hoping to save himself from some embarrassment of actually straight up asking.

“I mean where am I going when I get out of the hospital? What am I going to do?”

Doc thought he caught on to what Lightning was worried about. “You’re stuck with me, kid. I’m dragging you back to Radiator Springs with me and you’re staying there.” He saw Lightning visibly relax. “If you want, we can work on getting you back to racing, but there is no rush.”

Lightning’s smile returned. “Sounds good to me.”

~

The Weather’s showed up as fast as they could and looked as if they had held themselves back from running through the hospital to Lightning’s room. They both were all smiles when they finally made it to the room and made beelines for Lightning’s bed and hugged him.

“Sweetheart! You can see!” Lynda took Lightning’s face in her hands and looked into his eyes.

“We were up all night; we just couldn’t wait for this to be over. It’s over!” Strip clapped Lightning’s shoulder and firmly as he dared.

They all easily fell into conversation and Lightning found the underlying stress that had always been in the back of his mind had disappeared. After a while, he found his eyes drooping and he tried to stay awake.

“You can go to sleep, Monty.” Doc finally told him after watching him fight sleep for a while. Lightning didn’t win the battle with sleep and was out pretty quickly after.

Strip and Lynda stayed and talked with Doc for a long time after Lightning fell asleep. They left later and were back in the morning to see Lightning discharged.

~

“Well Montgomery, are you ready to leave?” Dr. Wheelan asked the next morning.

“Yeah,” Lightning yawned. He was tired but in high spirits and ready to leave.

Lightning was helped into a wheelchair. Practicing protocol, a nurse wheeled him out and they stopped at the front desk for Doc to sign Lightning out. Doc and Lightning parted ways with Strip and Lynda in the parking ramp, agreeing to meet back at Doc’s hotel room.

The ride back to the hotel room was again quiet, but this was a different kind of quiet. It was a good relaxed quiet. Doc kept glancing at Lightning who was fully immersed in looking out the car window.

“Anything interesting out there?” Doc teased.

Lightning shook his head and smiled, “I am just happy to be seeing anything at all.”

Doc nodded thoughtfully at that. He couldn’t disagree.

Strip and Lynda arrived at the hotel shortly after Doc did. Strip and Lynda each took Lightning’s arms in their own to keep him steady. He was still tired from the strenuous surgery he had undergone. They ordered food in to be delivered to the room and all sat on the beds and put on a movie. Lightning, as much as he wanted to stay awake, drifted off not too long later with his head resting on Lynda’s shoulder.

“Did you hear the ruling on Chick?” Strip looked over at Doc, “he’s been permanently banned from racing again and his piston cup and win were taken away.”

Doc at peace with that news. He would have been happier if Chick was behind bars or even dead, but maybe Chick considered losing his piston cup as a worse punishment. The only reason he was able to forget about Chick was that Lightning had his sight back. The damage wasn’t permanent. He still was angry Lightning had even had to go through all the unnecessary suffering he had endured, but Chick had been punished and Doc wasn’t going to let it eat him up forever.

~

Doc and Lightning stayed in the hotel for another day and Strip and Lynda spent most the day with them. They didn’t do much because Lightning was still worn out from his surgery, but that was fine with everyone. Strip and Lynda just wanted to spend time with Lightning. Strip and Lynda came the next morning to send Doc and Lightning back to Radiator Springs.

“Goodbye, sweetie, we’ll come see you soon,” Lynda hugged Lightning tight and kissed his cheek.

Strip pulled Lightning to him, “we’ll see you around. We are both so happy you’re alright now.”

Lightning hugged them both in return. “Thanks for always being here for me. Even when I wasn’t so nice,” Lightning said a bit embarrassed. Strip just hugged him tighter.

Doc gave Lynda a quick hug and shook hands with Strip. “Thanks for all of your help. Come to town whenever you can.”

Lightning missed Strip and Lynda before they even walked away. He walked beside Doc to his already packed car and got in the passenger seat while Doc slipped in the drivers side. Doc smiled and shook his head each time he caught Lightning admiring Doc’s car. He had rode in it many times over the last few months, but now he was actually seeing the same car he had heard so much about.

Lightning was happy to look out the window the whole ride home. He didn’t think he would ever get sick of it after not being able to see for so long. In the nine hour ride home, he had a lot of time to think too. He thought of how much his life changed at once. Strip had always been there for him even though Lightning never let him help and later he met Lynda. His only family and friend was Harv who he only talked to about his public image and money. He was embarrassed to think of how highly he thought of himself and his lonely life. He was disrespectful to Doc and everyone in Radiator Springs and yet he was taken in by them. He now had people that cared for him. Doc had taken him in, given him all his time, taken care of him, took him to his appointments, stayed countless nights with him, and took full custody of a kid he didn’t know that was disrespectful to him.

“Doc,” Lightning suddenly turned from the window, “thank you.”

Doc looked over at Lightning. He didn’t need any more explanation of what Lightning was thanking him for. He heard it all in his voice. “Of course, kid.”

Chapter Text

Radiator Springs was alive with energy when Doc and Lightning arrived. Doc had barely put the car in park before the car doors were yanked open and Lightning was pulled out. Lightning was showered in hugs and kisses and he felt more alive and loved now with the small crowd of people than he ever did in front of huge amounts of fans. Flo had made desserts and drinks for everyone to celebrate and everyone spent the whole evening and late into the night just sitting out in front of Flo’s and talking.

Sally slipped over to Doc and sat on the bench next to him, wrapping her arms around him and resting her head against his chest. “Thanks, Doc.”

Doc was never big on physical touch but he could never say no to Sally and he didn’t mind so wrapped an arm around Sally and let her sit with him. Sheriff started a fire in a small fire ring when it got dark outside and Mater began to tell a ghost story when everyone had begun to quiet down after they had all tired. Lightning fell asleep first out of everyone in a lawn chair. Everyone stayed late into the night before they began leaving one by one.

Doc said goodnight to everyone and picked Lightning up and carried him back to his house. Lightning stirred but only came out of sleep enough to become semi-lucid. He was vaguely aware of Doc dumping him in his bed at the house and wishing him goodnight. Lightning fell asleep content at peace, feeling finally at home.

~

Strip, now retired, and Lynda visited Radiator Springs quite often. They considered Lightning their family and Lightning was very fond of them and became good friends with their nephew, Cal. Rusteeze continued to support Lightning and welcomed him back instantly. Strip put in a good word and found an agent that was willing to take on Lightning.

Lightning became a bit restless to get back behind the wheel. He found it unnerving to see pictures and video of his wreck and even more so to see his totaled car in person, but ultimately he didn’t remember any of the actual crash besides dreams his brain would put together. His car was quickly restored and he forced himself back in the drivers seat. Doc helped him start getting back behind the wheel slowly and Lightning found that it got easier. Soon he was ready to get back on the track.

The years later were different than his first year of racing. It was fun. He had Doc behind him giving advice, not only as a crew chief, but as his father as well. He had his family and friends supporting him at his races. Everyone he competed against his first year racing would whisper how different he was. Lightning actually formed good friendships.

Lightning stayed with Doc in his house since they got back. They never talked about it, he just never left after Doc put him back in the guest bedroom when they got back. Doc considered Lightning his son and that is what Lightning was from then on. Lightning never asked if Doc wanted him to stay because he never felt the need to question it. Although Doc didn’t say it often, Lightning knew he loved him and Doc showed him that by always being there.

FIN