Doc has no doubt in his mind when there's a knock on his door, that is either Red or Mack, here to collect their boy.

"I bet thats daddy kid." Doc says, getting up from his chair in the kitchen. Monty squeals excitedly, running over to the door and pulling it open. he immediately freezes and screams at the top of his lungs. Doc walks over quickly. "kid, whats wrong- Smokey?" Doc asks shocked.

"is that yours?" Smokey asks. River, Junior, and Louise are standing behind him. Doc scoffs.

"you know he's not. c'mere Monty." Doc says, scooping the boy up. Monty cries and squirms until Doc lets him climb up onto his shoulders. he sits quietly and hugs Docs head, clutching Tommy tightly to his chest. "he's the boy Red and Mack adopted, the one I told you guys about." Doc says. Monty whines.

"and we're not who he was expecting I guess." Junior chuckles as Doc lets them in.

"nope." Doc snorts, shutting the front door. they're surprized to find Docs living room a mess. littered with snacks, toys, crayons, pencils, markers, drawings, and a sippy cup.

"damn old man. take baby sitting real serious, hmm?" Louise chuckles.

"he'd rather be here than with anyone else." Doc says.

"yeah I can guess why Hud. you just let him run around and do whatever he wants?" River ask.

"he stays in the living room and he's getting to be a kid for the first time in his entire life." Doc says, taking the boy off his shoulders. he tosses Monty onto his bed, listening to the little boy squeal happily. "and if it makes him happy, I'm willing to let him do as he pleases. his parents abused the boy, we're working on getting him to understand the difference between abuse and punishment." Doc assures gently.

"its nice to se you Hud." Smokey says.. Doc smiles at them a little.

"so if you've got him, guess that means no racing hmm?" River ask.

"are you kidding? if I even look at that old Hornet without him, he loses his mind." Doc laughs.

"holy shit did the kid draw this?" Louise asks, picking up one of the drawings. its a picture of Red and Mack curled up together and sleeping on the couch. he probably saw them cuddled up together several times.

"yeah. he's pretty good. don't wrinkle that." Doc warns heading into the kitchen. "you guys want a drink or something?" Doc ask.

"not unless its a beer." Smokey says. Doc snorts and brings back four beers, handing one to each of his friends. Monty comes running out of Docs room giggling.

"he still unable to talk?" River ask. Doc had told them about the boy several times, but they'd never actually seen or met him.

"he tries. still mostly selectively mute." Doc says. Monty hugs his leg tightly and Doc reaches down prying the boy off. "whats gotten into you kid?" Doc ask. Monty squeals as Doc holds him upside down by his leg. he drops the boy into his empty chair, sending him into a bigger fit of giggles. "alright, scram or I'm going to sit on you." Doc warns. Monty scrambles out of the seat, laughing, as fast as he can, immediately climbing up into Docs lap to cuddle him.

"he always this full of energy?" Smokey asks.

"the better he gets, the more energetic he gets." Doc snorts as the boy, jumps on his lap. "hey, stop it." Doc frowns. Monty blows a raspberry at him and jumps off Docs lap running off back to his bedroom to get Tommy. he runs back and all five adults look at him. "you guys want to see something?" Doc ask.

"sure." Smokey chuckles.

"hey kiddo." Doc says. Monty looks over at him. "whats your favorite thing in the whole world to watch with me?" Doc ask. Monty perks up, letting out an excited squeal of gibberish. he runs over to Doc, hands him Tommy and runs back over to the tv.

"whats he doing Hud?" River ask.

"just wait." Doc smiles at him. Monty grabs a tape out and puts it into the VHS player. he immediately turns and runs back over to Doc plopping into his lap.

"oh shit, no way." Junior laughs as the tape starts playing their old races.

"had to put them on tape so that he wouldn't wear out my old projector. once he figured out who I was, its all he wants to watch." Doc chuckles softly. Monty jumps out of Docs lap and runs over to his stack of drawings. he pulls out a few of them and runs over to Doc. "yeah why don't you go give those to them?" Doc ask. Monty whines at him, clutching the papers tightly. he runs off quickly.

"whats with all the flowers?" Louise asks.

"kid picks them out of Reds garden if they have something wrong with them, missing petals or dying leaves, and brings them to be. obviously I'm supposed to fix them since I'm a doctor and fix him. he does the same thing with broken or damaged toys and broken crayons." Doc says.

"you fix his crayons?" Smokey snorts.

"nah, I have a really big box of them in my closet here and some in my desk at the clinic. I just wait until he's not looking and replace the crayon with a new one." Doc shrugs, smirking a little. Monty comes running back, waving his drawings at Doc. "nope, you have to give them the pictures." Doc says. Monty whines at him.

"what have you got there kid?" Smokey asks, looking over. Monty hugs Docs leg whining.

"we're not all that scary come on." Louise assures. Monty looks over at her.

"go on, thats just Louise." Doc murmurs. Monty clutches his drawing tightly, nervously side stepping between the table and the mens legs. "don't touch him. grown men make him anxious until he gets to know them." Doc warns gently. the other three men keep to themselves, until Monty stops in front of Louise.

"what about Louise?" Smokey asks, looking at Doc.

"the only woman I've ever seen him not react well to, is Sally." Doc shrugs a little. Louise sits forward a little and reaches for him.

"come here cutie, I got a grandbaby about your age." Louise smiles. Monty steps back hesitantly. he shoves the pictures at Louise before running fearfully to Doc as fast as he can. he clings to the older man. "oh these are so good!" Louise smiles, looking through the pictures. she hands the correct picture to each man beside her and then looks her own over. its the greatest detailed picture she's ever seen of her car. its even colored properly. Junior and River recieved similar pictures of their own cars.

"hey kid these are really good." Junior mutters.

"nice job kid." River smiles. Smokey looks at the picture he's been given. its a very nice picture of him, Doc, Junior, River, and Louise all standing together and laughing from back in '51. Smokey smiles a little.

"nice job squirt." Smokey smiles. Monty cuddles to Doc looking up at him with a whine.

"what use your words. I don't speak whining." Doc says. Monty whines again and curls up, tugging at a red patch on his pants. "I have no idea where your dad is kid, but I can call him." Doc says, getting up from his chair. "hang on, I'll be right back. feel free to look around. garage doors over there with the Hornet parked inside." Doc says motioning to his garage door. immediately Junior and River get up. Doc sets Monty on the counter and pulls out his cell phone. "alright kid, I'm gonna make this call to your daddy and you're gonna talk to him, then I need you to be good. its been a long time since I've seen these guys. I know they're scary to you but I promise they're not going to hurt you. okay? can you do that? do we have a deal?" Doc ask.

"oh-oh-ka-kay D-Doc-oc." Monty murmurs. Doc nods and ruffles his hair, calling Red.

"Doc?" Red asks, sounding tired. he's been pretty busy with some desert fires recently so he's exhausted, and Doc feels guilty for waking him. "s'Monty okay?" Red ask.

"yeah, he's just a little scared. a couple of my old racing buddies showed up and you know how he gets. he just wants to talk to you." Doc murmurs.

"yeah okay." Red murmurs. Doc hands him the phone and picks up the boy, sitting him in a chair at the table.

"when you're done we'll be in the garage." Doc assures. Monty nods and clutches the phone. Doc turns and heads for the garage.

"you fixed it up pretty good." Junior grins.

"only took a few years to do myself." Doc says. "actually kids the one who got it up and running." Doc murmurs, popping the hood open.

"no way, squirt fixed it?" Smokey ask.

"hell yeah. had the nerve to draw what I did wrong and then prove it to me by showing me one of those old tapes." Doc chuckles, rolling his eyes. "he's pretty smart." Doc adds.

"yeah or you're getting old." River grins.

"I'm 8 years younger than you." Doc says. Louise hugs his side.

"aww baby of the bunch." she teases.

"haha." Doc mutters. Smokeyis 10 years older than him, River is 8 years older, Junior is 6 years older, and Louise is 5 years older, leaving Doc as the 'baby' of the bunch. "what are you guys doing here?" Doc asks finally, looking around at his group of friends.

"well, we found out where you were hiding and came to talk." Junior says. they've been acting pretty friendly because of Monty, but they're not really on as good of terms as Doc would like.

"came to see if you'd finally tell us why the hell you never came back." Smokey says.

"to racing or Thomasville?" Doc frowns.

"both kid." River says softly. Doc frowns and looks away, before shaking his head.

"well, I was told not to come back to racing. they wouldn't let me back. got out while I was in the hospital what I was when a man was caught coming and going from my room and no one had any idea who he was. wasn't super hard to figure it out." Doc mutters. "I went back to my sponsors and was told to get the hell out, never come back. they moved right on to the next kid who could get as fast as me or faster. so I went home. I was threatened, warned, and actually attacked. people knew who I was, lot of people. so I left. figured I'd come back in a few years and see if it all blown over yet, but when I came back, it hadn't. even being a doctor couldn't get rid of the fact people knew I was homosexual. so I left again. found myself here, fell in love with the land and the fold around here needed a doctor a lot more than I needed another empty cup. so I stayed. I didn't want to give you guys a bad name of knowing what i was and not saying anything, so I cut myself off. didn't know what else to do." Doc explains. "by the time it had blown over and no one knew or was talking anymore, I'd already made myself a home here, figured it was better I just stayed." Doc adds.

"why didn't you call us? why didn't you tell us? we could've helped." Louise asks.

"and risk everything you guys had? no. I wasn't going to do that. I just left it alone. figured I had my 15 minutes of fame it was time to move on." Doc shrugs. "dropped Hud, became Doc and now I've become a babysitter." Doc says.

"kid, we would've given up everything to get you back out there." Junior says firmly.

"I didn't want you to. I was fine." Doc assures. "my homosexuality wasn't worth risking everything from your racing to your lives." Doc says, watching each of them carefully.

"jesus kid." Smokey mutters, pulling the younger man into a hug. Doc grunts a little but lets the older man hug him. when he steps back, Louise immediately hugs him.

"they're just a bunch of empty cups Hud. we would've fought for you." River says.

"hell, I know that, but I didn't want you guys caught up in my mess." Doc frowns. theres a tug on his pants leg and Doc looks down, making the other four look down with him. "hey, did you talk to your dad kid?" Doc ask. Monty nods and holds Docs phone up to him. Doc takes it and scoops the kid up gently. Monty cuddles him and looks a little sad.

"how come you've got him?" Louise asks, reaching out to rub his cheek gently. Monty lets her.

"Reds the town fire fighter. he's been out stopping wild fires, so he's pretty tired, and Macks a truck driver. he should be back later today. I'm just keeping him until one of them comes and gets him." Doc shrugs a little.

"I don't think you should be suckin' on them fingers of yours kiddo." Junior says, looking over. Montys got his fingers in his mouth again, something they were working on.

"he does that when he's tired or upset. we're working on it. I wouldn't," Doc warns carefully when Louise reaches up.

"huh?" she asks.

"he'll bite the fuck out of you if you do it. I wouldn't do that." Doc says.

"he bit you?" River ask.

"oh no, I'm not an idiot. he bit Mack and Red and Mater and Flo." Doc frowns at them. he frowns and shakes his head. "I'm not doing that. I'd rather not lose my finger, or worse my hand." Doc snorts.

"T-Ta-Tater." Monty mumbles.

"no we're not going to see Mater. you're fine here. I think its time you laid down kid." Doc says turning out of the garage and carrying Monty towards his room. Monty doesn't fight him. he lets Doc lay him on the bed and cover him with his blanket. Doc nods and heads to the living room, shutting the door slightly behind him.

"he just sleeps in your room?" River ask.

"only when he doesn't pass out on the couch." Doc snorts. he looks around at his friends a moment.

"well, if he's down for a nap, we've all got some catching up to do." Smokey smiles. Doc smiles back and sits himself on the couch, happily enjoying their company.