Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to Pixar. All OCs belong to me.

Chapter 1 – Operation Lightning

Wesley Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland – Saturday, 9 January 2016.

"Lightning?" a gentle, feminine voice called. It penetrated through the heavy fog of sleep that surrounded Lightning. However, since it wasn't Sally's voice, Lightning decided to ignore it.

Someone shook him gently. "Come on, sleepy. Wake up."

A low groan escaped around the tube stuck down Lightning's throat. Reluctantly, he opened his heavy eyelids a slit, only to be blinded by a fierce white light. He quickly closed his eyes again.

"I've just had a response from him, doctor," the feminine voice said. "Do you think we should remove the tube now?"

Lightning never heard the doctor's reply. He'd already drifted back into a very deep sleep.

…

"Stickers?" Sally called gently. "Stickers, can you hear me? Please, wake up."

Lightning groaned heavily. He just wished everyone would leave him alone and let him sleep. He'd felt so warm and comfortable until Sally had disturbed him. He shifted around for a moment while he tried to settle back down to sleep, but then he realised that the awful tube had been removed from his throat. He yawned widely.

Sally chuckled. "That was cute. I wish I could've seen you do that as a baby. You look so sweet and innocent whenever you're asleep."

"Huh?" Lightning grunted. He slowly blinked open his eyes again. This time, the light didn't hurt his eyes quite as much, so he opened them fully.

Sally was parked directly in front of him; a foggy halo surrounded her. The halo was caused by the effects of the anaesthetic and the lights in the room, but Lightning was still too heavily drugged to be aware of that fact.

"Wow! You look gorgeous, baby," he whispered.

Sally blushed profusely. It was easy to see the blush against her pale blue paintwork. "Well, I'm glad to see that your new fuel tank hasn't ruined your sense of humour."

For a moment, Lightning was confused by that statement. But then, everything came back to him. He'd just had surgery to replace his old fuel tank with a new and much larger one, so that he could race in the V8 Supercars Championship Series that year. Glancing around, he saw that he was back in his nice, private, hospital room, although now he was connected up to a drip, which was secured to an oil line under his bonnet. Several other monitoring machines were also connected to him in various other places.

A nurse drove into the room. "Ah, I'm glad to see that you're awake at last, Mr McQueen. Thank you, Mrs McQueen, for warning us about the fact that he has stopped breathing during an operation in the past. We were fully prepared for that possibility, but fortunately, we didn't have any problems with your husband during his surgery. It went very smoothly."

"I'm glad," Sally replied, smiling. "He seems to be recovering well now."

"Yes. I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave now, Mrs McQueen. Visiting hours are over, and I need to prepare your husband for a few tests that the surgeon wants to perform. We need to make sure that the new fuel cell has settled in with his system."

Sally nodded. Then she planted a big kiss on Lightning's lips. "I have to go now, Stickers. I'll see you again first thing in the morning."

"Take care," Lightning whispered. He was feeling exhausted already.

After Sally had gone, Lightning closed his eyes again. He heard the nurse fiddling with one of the machines, and then he drifted back to sleep.

…

A sharp spasm of pain woke Lightning abruptly in the early hours of the following morning. Instinctively, he lashed out with his rear tyres, catching one of them against the side of his 'bed'. The noise attracted the attention of the night nurse, who came dashing into the room, flicking on the light switch in the process.

"Mr McQueen!" she exclaimed, seeing him lash out again. "Please, settle down at once! You could hurt yourself if you do that again."

"It really hurts!" Lightning said through his gritted teeth. He shuffled backwards, trying in vain to stop the pain coming from his undercarriage.

Realising that Lightning was in some serious pain, the nurse quickly glanced through his medical chart to see when he'd last had any pain medication. Seeing that he was due for some, she hurried to prepare it. Nearly blinded by the pain, Lightning lashed out again.

The nurse spun around to face him. "If you don't stop that at once, I will be forced to restrain you for your own good!"

Lightning tried to rev his engine to show just her how cross he was, but since he had no fuel in his system, owing to his operation, nothing happened. The nurse brought over a large syringe filled with a cloudy white liquid.

"Open up, please," she instructed.

Lightning opened his mouth, and the nurse forced the tip of the syringe all the way to the back of his throat. Before Lightning's gaging reflex kicked in, she managed to squirt all of the painkiller straight down his throat. Once she was sure that Lightning had swallowed all of it, she removed the syringe.

Poor Lightning coughed and spluttered for a moment, but then the pain medication started to kick in and make his drowsy. The nurse watched him closely for a few minutes, hoping that she hadn't accidentally overdosed him. She'd been rather surprised that the dosage of painkiller she was required to give him was higher than for a normal car of his size, but she had to remind herself that he was a race car. She'd never had one in her care before, so she guessed that maybe they needed a bit more painkiller to knock them out.

Finally, she saw Lightning sink slowly down onto his chassis. That was the position cars usually adopted whenever they were in R.E.M. stage sleep. Sighing, the nurse began to take Lightning's vitals. Afterwards, she made some notes on Lightning's chart before leaving him to sleep.

…

Lightning felt a little bit better when he awoke the following morning. Not long after he woke up, his surgeon, a large forklift, arrived, along with Dr Andrews and another forklift, who was his day nurse.

"I must say, you're looking a lot more alert than you were yesterday," the surgeon remarked.

"Well, you were the one who drugged me," Lightning muttered, making everyone chuckle.

"How are you feeling this morning?"

"Better, I suppose. But I feel…bigger."

The surgeon nodded. "That's a normal feeling after the type of surgery you had. Are you feeling hungry at all?"

"No. Should I be?"

The surgeon shook his head. "Everyone responds differently during recovery. However, if you haven't started drinking water by tomorrow morning, I will start to get concerned. You should be able to go back to having fuel and solid food in about a week."

"A week?" Lightning whined in dismay. "But what about my cake on Tuesday?"

"Cake? What cake?" the surgeon asked, confused.

Lightning pouted. "It's my birthday on Tuesday."

"Aww!" the nurse said in empathy. "What a way to spend your birthday, poor thing."

The surgeon smiled slightly. "I'll tell you what? If you're feeling up to it, I'll be happy to let you have some jelly, okay?"

"Okay," Lightning happily agreed. He perked up a little. "With sprinkles and a bit of cream on top? Please?"

Everyone laughed again.

"Don't push your luck, Speedster," Dr Andrews warned.

"You may have the sprinkles, but not the cream," the surgeon said. "The cream could make you sick. In fact, you're not to have any dairy for the next few weeks, is that understood?"

"Yes…"

"Good. Now, going back to your recovery, I have the results of the tests I did on you early last night, and I must say that your new fuel cell has already taken nicely to the rest of your system. That is an excellent sign this early on in your recovery, and…" He paused when he saw Lightning yawn. "Sorry if this is boring you."

"Sorry, doctor," Lightning whispered sleepily. His eyelids slowly closed.

The two doctors glanced at each other. "I think we wore him out," Dr Andrews said.

When they looked back at Lightning, they saw that he'd already fallen asleep again.

…

Lightning was much more alert the next day, and he was feeling rather peckish. However, he wasn't allowed to have anything more than water in the morning, and a little bit of baby oil in the evening.

"This is really embarrassing," Lightning bemoaned to Sally as he sipped on the baby oil.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone," Sally replied. She winked at him. "I'm just glad to see that you're feeling hungry again."

"Mmm… Have you heard from mum and Craig recently?"

"Yes, I spoke to them this morning before I came here. They're really enjoying their honeymoon in South Australia. Elinor said they visited another winery yesterday, and then they went to a spa together. Craig said that he had a better massage than the ones Doctor Anderson gives, but we're not to tell him that."

Lightning chuckled. "Knowing how tense with nerves we are before a race, I'm surprised Doctor Anderson manages to get us as relaxed as he does."

Lightning's night nurse knocked on the door. "Sorry, Mrs McQueen, but visiting hours are over. I'm afraid I must ask you to leave."

Sally gave Lightning a loving kiss goodnight. "I can't wait to have you home with me again, Stickers."

"Likewise. Drive safely, Sal."

"I will."

Once Sally had gone, the nurse checked to see how much baby oil Lightning had drunk. She recorded the amount on his chart. "I understand that it's your birthday tomorrow?"

"Yes," Lightning replied.

"And you'll be twenty-eight, correct?"

"You wouldn't have known that if my birthday wasn't on that chart," Lightning smirked.

The night nurse quickly put the chart back. "Time for your sedative, Mr McQueen. We're starting to cut down on your painkiller, so the sedative will help you get the sleep you need."

"Considering I've done nothing but sleep over the last few days, you'd think I'd have caught up on all the sleep I've missed over the years, wouldn't you?"

"Very funny. Are all racers as sarcastic as you?"

Lightning shrugged his fenders. "Ow! Okay, that really hurt!"

"Sounds like you're ready for this then," the night nurse said as she held up the syringe filled with sedative. Groaning, Lightning reluctantly took it.

…

Sally was the first to arrive at the hospital to visit Lightning on his birthday. Over the following hour, Leyland, Jamie, Mater, Flo, Sherriff, his grandparents and both aunts also arrived, all bearing gifts and plenty of 'get well soon' wishes.

"Thank you so much, guys!" Lightning said after he'd opened all of the presents. "I really appreciate the effort you've all gone to."

Leyland passed over a card. "I got the whole team to sign this before they went on holidays," he explained. "I'm so sorry I had to schedule your surgery right before your birthday, but I wanted you to have it as soon as possible, so you could have plenty of time to recover from it before the racing season starts again."

"That's okay, Leyland. I know it wasn't an easy decision for you to make. The good news is that I'm recovering very well, and I should be released from here before the end of the weekend."

"How's your appetite been?" his grandmother asked.

"I had some regular oil and a bit of juice for breakfast this morning," Lightning replied, slightly embarrassed. "The surgeon said it'll be a few weeks before I can start having high performance oil again, along with dairy. Hopefully, I'll be able to have a bit of fuel tomorrow. If I can keep everything down, I've been told that they'll fill up my tank for the first time on Thursday morning."

Lightning's grandmother looked rather disgusted. "You shouldn't discuss those things!"

"To be fair, grandma, you did ask the question," Lightning said in defence. Just then, his phone rang. "Excuse me, guys." He answered it. "Hello? Oh, hi mum! How's the honeymoon?"

"It's been perfectly lovely so far," Elinor replied. "I've got you on loudspeaker, sweetie, so Craig can talk too."

"Happy birthday, Speedster!" Craig cut in.

"Yes, happy birthday!" Elinor echoed.

"Thanks! I'd rather be with you two right now, though. Sampling wines sounds much more enjoyable than being stuck here in hospital."

"Aww! I know, sweetie, but I'm actually glad you're there, because at least I know where you are, and that you're safe."

"Mum!" Lightning whined. "I'm twenty-seven!"

"Uh, twenty-eight, actually," Sally interjected, correcting him.

Lightning shot her such a look! "Mum, I'm twenty-eight now," he said into the phone, correcting his mistake. "I can look after myself perfectly well, you know."

Jamie snorted, also earning himself a cold glare from Lightning.

"I know you can look after yourself," Elinor continued. "But as your mother, I still worry about you."

Lightning rolled his eyes. "Can you phone me back later this evening, please? I have a lot of visitors at the moment."

"Okay, sweetie. Have a good day. I love you."

"Love you too, mum," Lightning muttered, before hanging up his phone. He cringed sheepishly with embarrassment. Then he cleared his throat. "So, uh, Mater? Why don't you tell everyone how you proposed to Holley?"

Now it was Mater's turn to be embarrassed. "Ah, shoot! Now I's is blushin'!"

Everyone laughed until Lightning yelped in agony.

"Are you okay, son?" Sherriff asked with genuine concern.

"Yeah, it just hurts when I laugh," Lightning assured him. He smiled at his best friend. "Go on, Mater. I know you've told me, but I don't think anyone else knows, do they?"

"Lightning, leave him alone," Sally admonished. "If Mater doesn't want to tell us, he doesn't have to."

"Nah, it's okay, Miss Sally," Mater said quietly. "I's jus' asked 'er after a movie, 'n' she said 'yes'."

"And what movie was that?" Lightning prompted, earning a smack on the fender from Sally. "Ow!"

Mater blushed profusely, and he stared down at the floor. "Da Good Dinosaur…" he muttered so softly that not everybody heard him. Those who did chuckled kindly.

"You are a big softie, aren't you, Mater?" Flo said.

Hearing a gentle knock on the door, everyone turned to look as a nurse peeked into the room. "I understand someone is having a birthday today?"

"Yup! He's right here," Sherriff replied.

Grinning, the nurse disappeared, only to return a moment later with a food trolley. On it, was one of the largest cloches Lightning had ever seen!

"I'm sorry you can't have any cake on your special day," the nurse said. "But we couldn't let you go without. Your surgeon said that you wanted jelly for your birthday, so we made this up for you…" And she carefully lifted up the cloche.

Lightning's jaw instantly fell open and his tongue rolled out as he stared at his jelly 'cake' in amazement. It had three layers, each made up of a different colour and flavour of jelly. The bottom layer was red raspberry creaming soda; the middle layer was yellow pineapple, while the top layer was blue mixed berry. And, as promised by his surgeon, the whole thing was covered in coloured sprinkles. Furthermore, on top of the jelly 'cake' was a little figurine of Lightning himself!

"Dad-gum!" Mater exclaimed in awe.

Sally did a double-take of Lightning's expression. "Lightning? Pull your tongue back in!"

Lightning promptly did so. "Wow! Okay, the figurine on top is probably going a bit too far, but I love it!" He smiled at the nurse. "Please, thank everyone who made it up for me. You have no idea how much I appreciate this."

"You're most welcome," the nurse said, and then she left.

"Okay, everyone!" Sally said. "Before we devour this masterpiece, let's all sing 'Happy Birthday' to our beloved birthday boy."

"Sal…" Lightning muttered bashfully.

Sally ignored him. "On the count of three! One…two…three!"

Everyone immediately began singing. "Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Lightning. Happy birthday to you!"

"Nows may we dig in?" Mater asked eagerly.

"Yes, we'd better have our share first, before Mr Hungry tries to eat it all," Flo said, glancing pointedly at Lightning, who pouted.

"It's not my fault I had that operation…" he muttered pitifully.

However, even after everyone had taken their share, there was still plenty left for Lightning to enjoy. He did too, only to end up getting his mouth coated in sticky sweetness.

"That was fabulous!" Lightning said once he and everyone else had finished.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," Leyland remarked, "Because you won't be getting your tyres anywhere near another dessert like that until Jamie's birthday next month."

Lightning grinned at his teammate. "What kind of cake are you planning?"

"Hmm… How about chocolate mud cake coated in thick gooey chocolate ganache with Krispy Kreme doughnuts on top and around the sides? Oh, and for the main course, pizza and garlic bread?"

Lightning let out a longing sigh. "I don't care what Leyland says now, I'll be there!"

Leyland grunted crossly, but he said nothing more. Since the whole team was on holidays, there was nothing he could do to stop them eating whatever they wanted.

Later, as everyone was preparing to leave, Mater drove closer to Lightning.

"Hey, Lightnin'? We's all headin' back home tomorrow, ands I was wonderin' if ya could send me a copy of yer racin' schedule? Ya sees, me and Holley would pretty-near love ta have ya and Miss Sally there fer it. I's also want ya ta be ma best man. Please?"

Lightning smiled broadly. "I'd be honoured to be your best man, Mater. I can send you the schedule when I get home from here. I hope you can find a suitable date. I'm going to have a very busy year this year."

"Thanks bud. Yous take care, ya hear? I's wanna go tractor tippin' wit ya again whens ya get home!"

Lightning laughed. "We'll definitely do that, Mater! Have a safe trip home."

Grinning blissfully, Mater left the room, following along behind everyone else.

Well, there it is! The first chapter of the sequel to Lightning and the V8 Supercars. I'm really looking forward to reading everyone's feedback on this, and I hope everyone enjoys it just as much as my other stories.

If you haven't read Lightning and the V8 Supercars yet, please make sure you do, otherwise you won't be able to follow this story.