Gahh, sorry for keep you guys waiting for so long! I'm terrible I know. I don't own Cars.

Anyways, here's what you came here for.

Lightning was sprawled all over his bed, staring at the ceiling as he reflected on the previous day's events.

He hadn't meant to flip out at his dad the way he did, but the way that his dad had showed up out of nowhere and acted so casually about it, as if they were had some kind of normal father-son relationship, irked him to no end. So afterwards, he had stormed all the way down to Willy' Butte and sat around brooding and sulking.

About an hour or so later, when Lightning had finally calmed down and stopped moping around, he headed back to the small town. He expected that his friends and fans would want some answers on why he acted the way he did, and he wasn't wrong. Several of his fans immediately jumped up to ask questions and take his picture, but luckily, Doc had saw this coming and sent Luigi and Guido to keep them off of Lightning.

The two Italians formed a mini barrier around the racer as he quickly made his way to his Cozy Cone. Once he got inside, he heard the sighs of disappointments followed with the sound of fading footsteps. He let out a sigh of relief and shouted his thanks to Luigi and Guido through the door.

For the rest of the day, Lightning spent his day inside his room. He entertained himself by watching TV or reading up on some other racing legends. He didn't head out to Flo's for dinner since his dad's car still seemed to be parked outside and he did not want to have to face the man yet, so Doc had to come by and bring him some food.

The two spent awhile talking about racing technique, other racing legends, and how Doc needed to go to more interviews with Lightning. They didn't talk about Lightning's earlier outburst or his dad, and for that, Lightning was thankful. He wasn't ready to talk about it yet. And Doc was fine with that. He just wanted to make sure that the kid was alright. So they left that subject alone.

But that was yesterday. Today, he had to face his dad no matter what. He didn't have an excuse to hide in his room all day again.

Lightning pulled himself out of bed at an incredible slow pace, sighing as he did so. He went through his whole morning routine at a slower pace than normal, hoping that it would delay the day altogether. Sadly, life doesn't stop for anyone, and Lightning McQueen was no exception.

Stifling a yawn, he stepped outside to see that his dad's car was parked near a room that was almost directly across from his. A part of him knew that his dad would've stayed, but the part of him that hoped that his dad had left was disappointed.

He was about to walk to Flo's to get some breakfast, but then, his dad had suddenly appeared by his side. Lightning jumped back in shock and was about to turn around and go back to his Cozy Cone because 'It's way too early for this; it's only ten-thirty!' when his dad grabbed him by the wrist.

"Okay, look. Before you leave, yell at me, or do anything, just listen. You and I both know that I messed up badly, okay? And I came here to try to make it up to you, but if you keep screaming and avoiding me, I can't do that." A slightly frustrated sigh escaped from the older man. "Give me another chance and join me for breakfast."

And Lightning, for some unknown reason, agreed.

The McQueen duo began walking towards the cafe in an uncomfortable silence. Lightning trailed after his dad, rubbing his wrist and wondering what on earth made him agree to this.

When they walked through the doors of the cafe, all eyes turned on them for a few seconds, wondering what was about to happen. The duo settled in a booth in the corner, far from the rest of the other diners. One of the Mia-Tia twin went over to take their orders, and was also hoping to catch something juicy but was sent away after the duo had given their orders.

The two settled into their silence once more. Axton tried break it a few times, but was shut down by one of Lightning's witty comment. The older McQueen slowly became more frustrated.

Finally, their food came.

As Axton began to dig into his food, Lightning decided to finally speak, "What I want to know is why you left me and mom."

"Cutting straight to the point huh?"

All he received was a blank face.

"Alright… I left you and your mom because I wasn't ready for you, for your mom, for anyone. I left because I was a mess and because I couldn't support you two enough. Because we were a family, and family has to look out for one another and I couldn't do that. So that's why I left."

Lightning nodded. It wasn't what he was expecting, or even wanted, but it would do. For now.

From there, the conversation went on more causally. The two talked about bits and parts of their everyday life. Lightning glossed over details and left out parts to stories, but his dad on the other hand, gave very generic answers. The only thing that Lightning found out about his dad was that he lived somewhere in South Tucson. But that didn't really matter to Lightning. He was eating up every word that his dad spoke.

Soon, they finished their breakfast, and Lightning was showing his dad around the town. As they made their way around the town, Lightning noticed that some of his friends were surprised by how well and how quick him and his dad were getting along. Some of them watched the older McQueen with suspicion. They felt as if the man was here for something more than just Lightning. But eventually, once they saw that everything that everything was fine, the feeling began to subside. Others automatically liked him right away.

At the end of the day, Axton had won over most or all of the townsfolk, and had spent the majority of the day with Lightning. Overall, the day had went better than either of them had expected and both felt at least a bit better than the day before.

The next morning, Lightning and Axton decided to go on a drive to see the scenery the town had to offer. They decided that this would have been a good bonding activity. Plus, they'd get some privacy from Lightning's fans and not be watched or followed around. Axton drove the car as Lightning talked about the history of the sceneries around them.

They had gotten a drink at The Wheel Well, and were now making the slow drive back to the small town. The car was filled with silence, until Axton broke it.

"So how long are you sticking around here?"

"Actually, I'm staying here for… maybe the rest of my life…? It's a great town with lovely people, and I've got a permanent room at the Cozy Cone- Sally's letting me stay there 'til I can get a place of my own, or forever if I want to. Though, I'm thinking when I turn 18, I'll get a team of builders down here to build me a house or something."

"... You're really sticking around here for that long? I would've thought that you would've found a more… stable place to live. Or at least somewhere where you'd have a lesser chance at being kicked out."

Lightning took a moment to take in what his dad just said. "What? What's that suppose to mean?"

"Well, I mean, these folks probably only took you in because you're bringing in money for them. You're attracting more people than they've had for years, if I'm not mistaken. With your publicity stunt with The King-"

"It wasn't a stunt."

"-you're even more popular than before. People like you better than they did before. And these townspeople probably saw their big opportunity to bring in some cash and took it."

"So you're saying they traveled all the way to my race in Cali just to get some tourists to their town?" Lightning was becoming a bit mad. "That's doubtful."

"Don't forget that your crew chief is the Fabulous Hudson Hornet. He could've wanted to get back into the racing world and you were his way back in."

"That's ridiculous!" Lightning nearly shouted. "He- he didn't want to get back into the racing world!"

Axton smiled slightly and said, "Oh? So you dragged him back into that world? He didn't want to go back and you dragged him back? Well, that's another reason. He probably doesn't even like you."

Lightning didn't respond, going over the things his dad had said. Axton gave a short chuckle. "You've got yourself two reasons as to why you should move to somewhere better."

A thought popped into his head.

"On that note, where are your foster parents? Aren't you suppose to be staying with them? I don't think I've gotten the honor to meet them yet."

Lightning kept silent, not wanting to answer his dad's question, but in doing so, he did.

"Oh! So you ran away from them? Or you ran away from the system altogether! You know that's technically illegal in Arizona and a few other states."

"And what are you going to do about it?" Lightning asked, unsure of where this conversation was heading.

"Nothing," Lightning looked over in surprise, "if, that is, you do something for me in return."

Of course.

"And what's that?"

"I'm need to borrow some money."

And Lightning nearly laughed. Of course, how could he have been so stupid? How could have he not seen this coming?

"And I'm guessing if I don't agree to this, you'll go and tell people about this?"

"Sure. I'm pretty sure there's a few journalists that would love to hear about this. Heck, maybe I'll bring this into court and get those townsfolk you seem to love so much in trouble for harboring a runaway. Maybe I'll get custody over you again and take away your racing privilege. You'd love that wouldn't you?"

Lightning blinked, and then stopped listening to his dad listing all the things he could do to make his life a living hell. All just for money. He was lost in his thought, panicking and trying to think on whether he should get this over with and give his dad the money. Part of him knew that he was being silly and should obviously just give his dad the money he wanted, but he couldn't give an answer yet. Not when he wasn't one hundred percent sure about it. He needed time to think things through.

Suddenly, they were pulling into the town and the car came a full stop.

"You've got until the end of the week to make your mind."

Alright, so the reason this is like, three days late is because, the one I was originally going to publish didn't make any sense so I had to go back and rewrite the whole thing. It took me a while to figure out how I wanted this story to play out, and it took a while to do a bit of research on Arizona's laws on runaways.

Anyways, I know there's a few holes and gaps here, but don't worry, you'll be filled in on those gaps in some of the future chapters. If I haven't went over them by then, feel free to yell at me.

Lastly, thank you to everyone who's left a review, favorited, or followed this story between this and the last chapter. The next update will be sometime next week. So bye!