Sabotage

Hal grinned and lifted his coffee cup. "Then fishing and cooking it is. But I gotta know what else you want to go along with it." He paused. "Not that... I'm a gourmet cook, but as long as it's something common, I can do it. And show you. If you want. I'm sure you can cook more than you think, though." 

He took another long swig and sighed. "You look tired. You should go home and get some rest."


"Aw man, you serious?" Eli looked over Ryan's shoulder. "Hunter and I hadn't looked down there yet." He sighed. "Yep. Oh, and... Tony had to leave for part of the day, and he couldn't get a hold of Zan. So... best chance we got is to at least get a good start on this thing so he can't refuse our help..."

...Between the four of them, they were able to work fast, but with as much as the car needed done, there was only so much they could do within a couple hours. By mid-afternoon, they were all covered in grime. Eli had already started working on the exterior, and had several parts taken off so he could get the dings out and repaint them. Hunter had gotten the most exercise from his trips around the junkyard looking for parts, and Axel, though unable to hold the tools, had hardly looked away from the engine for a moment, simply helping by instruction more than anything. All four of them were so busy in the garage, no one noticed someone else had arrived...

"Whoa, whoa whoa." Zan stepped into the garage and held his hands out, staring at the others. "What are you doing to my car?" He saw the parts laying about, and fire entered his gaze, which was shot at Hunter first, then made its way to Ryan. "What the heck?! Are you seriously trying to-"

"Hey!" Eli put his palm up to stop him. "Chill, before you give yourself a heart attack."

"Or kill someone," Hunter added.

Zan's glare remained as he came nearer. His hands had balled into fists. "If any of you think for one second that tearing my car apart will keep me from the races then you-"

"Hush!" Eli demanded. "We're not here to sabotage your car. We're -"

"And who let you in here anyway?!"

"Would you just listen?" Eli rolled his eyes. "We're here to help. If you'd just stop talking for one minute..." He gestured around. "Look. Just look, will you?"

Zan didn't relax, but at least moved closer to see into the engine. He could immediately see the work that had been done, particularly on the engine mount. Backing away, he looked at them all again. "I don't get it."

"I told you starting a fight wouldn't solve anything. We need to get you back out there racing so you guys can do some major damage to ol' Thunder's ego."

"But I..." Zan blinked and gestured to his car again. The anger was gone, but now he was just confused. "Why?" He looked at Hunter and Ryan. "This is insane."

"Pretty much." Hunter nodded. "Blame Eli. His idea. Well, his and Ryan's. Me an' Axel just got pulled into the whole thing."

Zan swallowed hard. "Axel... I've heard about you."

Axel gave him a wry grin. "More than likely. I'm the only mechanic in town with a bum hand."

"Naw, not that." Zan shook his head. "Just that you're one of the best."

Axel forced a small smile. "Oh. Well... I gotta try awful hard to keep up with Ryan."

"Really..." Zan squinted at her. "I guess... okay. I only got limited cash and-"

"Oh for crying out loud." Eli grabbed a wrench and slapped it into Zan's hand. "Just start working, will ya?"

Zan looked at it, then lifted his eyes to Hunter, and back to Ryan again. "I've been... preparing myself for when you start racing again... I... didn't ever think you'd be here helping me on my car."


"Mmm..." Feeling the warm emotions, Jason gave Katie a squeeze.
Stop that, or I'll never want to get up...

He sent his own playful emotions her way and wriggled his fingers around her ribs. 
We should take a walk and...

His emotions gave a short lurch as his mind came to a sudden halt. Sitting up and shaking the sleep from himself, he looked down at Katie. "Do you... feel that?" He really didn't want to be imagining things at this point, but it really did feel like the flow was stronger. Wider. Deeper. No longer being choked out or forced through a conduit too small. It was... relief. 

He blinked and took her hand, letting his scarred palm rest gently against hers, the sensitivity feeling every small crevice and curve. He slowly brought his emotions forward, pushing them towards Katie. It was a mix of positive and negative both, testing to see if they could be accepted... and they were. A smile creased his lips, and the next emotions were relief and happiness. 
Please tell me this isn't hurting you... that it's not my imagination.