"Doc-" Fillmore started. 

"take it home Fillmore. just take your van home. I'll take him home." Doc assured. Fillmore nodded slightly, closing the door and moving to let Sally in the passenger seat. she frowned but climbed in. "go a head and get home. we'll get home in a bit." Doc says, helping Lightning towards his car, it was not easy the kid was fighting him all the way. "stop it." Doc hissed, glaring at him. "your a race car driver. wrecks happen you can't just give up on cars." Doc hissed. Lightning fought with him heavily, but Doc managed to get him into the passenger seat, slamming the door shut. he was just getting in himself when Lightnings cell phone went off in his cup holder, startling them both. Lightning gave him a confused look, why did he have his cell phone. "its Mack." Doc muttered answering the phone. "Mack, whats up?" Doc ask.

"I heard you were going to pick up the boss and were having issues, I need to come get him?" Mack ask.

"no I got him, he's panicking about getting in the car. he'll be fine. I managed to get him into the Hornet, but he didn't make it easy." Doc huffed, shooting a look over at the younger. Lightning was gripping the door the door handle with a death grip, in a way the looked utterly uncomfortable. "just focus on the 95, I'll get the kid home." Doc assured.

"you got it." Mack said, hanging up. Doc sighed and looked over at the kid. he looked ready to jump out of his skin.

"I know you don't want to be in here. but we'll take it easy, I'm not going to drive like I'm on the track. you know I wouldn't do that. just breathe kid." Doc assured, starting the car. although the starting of an engine was something that got him excited for a race, he noticed Lightning flinch. "it's alright. we can take as long as we need to to get home." Doc said, sitting back in his seat. the best way to do this was to let the kid get comfortable in the car again. he understood what the kid was going through, had they let him back onto the track immediately after he had wrecked, he would've ended up wrecking again, thats how nervous he'd been after his wreck. this was the kids first real wreck. sure he'd wrecked before, he'd crashed, gotten flats and spun out, but this was a real wreck. not some some little fender bender where he had a bump on his head or his care had just simply caught fire. he'd almost died and Doc knew it would be bad for a while. he reached over and patted the kids leg gently. it was pretty bad now, but Doc was positive that in a few weeks or so, Lightning would be back to racing, if they didn't replace him that was. Doc made a mental note to sit down and call up a few of his and Lightnings connections to make sure that wouldn't happen. he put the car in reverse and immediately felt a pain in his arm again. he frowned and looked over, McQueens had was wrapped tightly around Docs, nails digging into his skin hard enough Doc was sure he was going to be bleeding soon.

"kids going to give himself a heart attack or something."

Doc thought bitterly, backing the car up carefully. he decided it was better to just let the younger man keep a hold on his hand, even squeezing it reassuringly here or there. after a little bit of slow driving through the parking lot, the hand gripping his own for dear life loosened. he looked over and realized that Lightning was sleeping, probably all the drugs they'd had him on other the months of being in the hospital, with his head laid against the window. he internally grimaced at the thought of all the oil in his hair leaving smudges on his windows, but decided it was better than the kid being awake and nervous. looking at his dash clock he sighed, 4PM. he hadn't thought it would take that long to convince the younger to let him drive them home.

it was only an hour to his home in Radiator Springs, but they didn't even pull up until nearly 9 PM. immediately their friends came rushing to see if they were okay, Doc quickly pulled his hand free from the sleeping mans grasp and parked the car stepping out.

"hush. you lot are going to wake him up." Doc snapped. oh he was grumpy and tired.

"what took you guys so long?" Sheriff ask curiously. Doc motioned towards the passenger seat.

"he got sick on the way, took forever to convince him to get back in the car." Doc muttered. "where's Mack?" Doc ask.

"he just showed up about 20 minutes ago. he's parking his truck then he's gonna take Lightnings car and park it in his garage." Sally said.

"good when he's done get him to carry the kid inside my place." Doc muttered, heading towards his house.

"Doc, you're bleeding." Flo said. Doc looked over at her, she was starring at his hand and looked down at it. he was surprised to see blood gushing from his hand in several spots.

"what happened?" Sheriff ask, shocked.

"kid and I got in a disagreement. I told him to get in the car and he lost it. just a little blood. I'll take care of it." Doc muttered, heading inside. the residents of Radiator Springs looked between each other than to Lightning. "hey! who moved my stuff!?" Doc shouted. he poked his head out of his house growling.

"we did. you said he was staying with you and neither of you need to be sleeping on that old couch of yours." Sally said.

"where is my stuff?" he snapped.

"in your garage, properly packed away and sorted." Sally assured. Doc growled lowly but headed back inside. he frowned looking around. sure that saved him some time, but there's no way in hell they didn't take the opportunity to look through his things. he heard footsteps on his porch and turned around, Mack was heading up the stairs with Lightning snoring away in his arms.

"where do you want him?" Mack ask with a smile, just glad to see his boss in one piece not laying in a hospital bed in agony.

"spare room, over there." Doc said, pointing at the opened door. Mack nodded and carried the man off. he returned a few minutes later. "thanks. saves me the trouble of waking him up." Doc said. Mack nodded at him and headed back outside. Doc grumbled heading to the kitchen for his first aid kit, his hand wasn't bad, but he wasn't going to let it get bad either. he cleaned it and wrapped it, before heading to check on the kid. he had no idea what the hell he was supposed to do with the kid or why he volunteered to care for him. he kept telling himself it was because was the only one in town qualified to do so, but there was something much more than that, that he couldn't quite put his finger on. something he didn't understand but was determined to figure it out. he shook his head and closed the door some, enough to block the sound of the tv, but not completely closed. it would be Lightnings first night of sleeping without medicine helping. he frowned, he should've sent someone to get his prescriptions from the pharmacy, but didn't think about it. he looked back towards his front door and headed for it, what could asking hurt? if no one grabbed it he'd leave early in the morning to get it just as the pharmacy opened and hopefully be back in time without waking the kid. Red, who'd avoided the hospital, standing just as the button of his stairs. he looked up, seemingly embarrassed at the fact he'd been caught waiting. Doc smiled slightly at him, before turning. "Sally!" Doc called, towards the Cozy Cone. he saw her poke her head out and start heading towards them. 

"Doc? is he okay? has something happened already?" she ask nervously.

"no, nothings happened yet, did anyone get his prescriptions from the pharmacy?" Doc ask. Sally frowned a moment in thought.

"yeah hold on, I think Sarge got them." she says walking off quickly. Red looked over at Doc silently.

"he's fine Red, he's just sleeping." Doc assured. Red gave a quick smile and nodded, walking off to do whatever it was he did. Doc was glad Red hadn't gone to the hospital. he would've been sobbing until the day came Lightning could walk over and hug him without getting hurt, because would hug him way too tightly.

"here Doc." Sally said, running over to him with a bag.

"thank you." Doc muttered, taking it from her.

"you going to be okay with him tonight?" Sally ask worriedly.

"we'll be fine Sally. don't worry. if he wakes up, I'll feed him and knock him out with these." Doc smirked, shaking the back. he was joking of course, something he'd gotten better at since Lightning came around. Sally smiled.

"well, alright, but I'm never too far away if-" Sally started.

"I know, it's okay, I got this. you're forgetting I've done this before." Doc assured her carefully. Sally frowned.

"yeah, on yourself, 20 something years ago." Sally said. "you haven't taken care of someone else like this and he's not like you Doc. he picks up your tips and habits, but he's not you and I don't think he's just going to brush it off." Sally said.

"I already know that." Doc muttered, holding his hand up so she could see the bandages.

"what really happened?" Sally ask. Doc just frowned at her a little and turned to head back inside. "if you need help Doc, the whole town is here to help." Sally assured.

"I know Sally." Doc assures heading back into his house. he paused hearing something from his spare room. he sat the medicine down on the table and headed for the spare room. Lightning was staring confusedly at the ceiling. "hey kid, know where you are?" Doc ask. he nodded slightly, slowly sitting up. he scribbled on in his notebook Doc had set on the nightstand and held it out to him.

how did you get me in here?