You know...it's kind of weird...the other night I actually dreamt about this story...and I don't usually dream about the stories I write, basically it wasn't exactly the story but I was explaining to some random person how cars reproduce in the Cars universe, then after that it just started to not make any sense... XD

So weird dreams aside...I was thinking to wrap this story a little sooner, I'll include the epilogue with this chapter, just so I don't have to come back to this story next week. Don't take it the wrong way, I love this story. It's just that I'd like to move on from it and make more stories ^^

That does mean this chapter will be longer, probably another page or so because I usually do 4 and a half pages for most of my chapters. Well, enjoy the final chapter of What Happens Next! :D

Cars (C) Disney Pixar

Chapter 23 – A New Life

Sally was in so much pain, she didn't know what the pain would feel like, but all it was now was the feeling that her trunk was going to burst. Lightning wished that he could share the pain so she wouldn't be in so much pain, he felt like he was too lucky to not experience any pain while the love of his life did.

As soon as Siddley arrived, Lightning sped behind his wife and quickly pushed her into the jet, as soon as they were both in; Siddley closed the hatch and sped off into the sky.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine." Lightning assured, rubbing Sally with his tire in support.

Sally didn't realise there would be this much pain involved, she assumed that the doctors would be doing more work than she was. She tried to research this part but didn't expect it to happen so soon. She had a little ironic moment when she thought it was because of her and Lightning always being super speedy and racing against each other a lot. A smirk wanted to form but all Sally's mouth was doing was trembling in intense amounts of pain and anxiety.

"I didn't know this would happen..." Sally muttered under her breath, a small groan emitting out of her mouth shortly afterwards.

Lightning only wished he could do more, he had no idea what carrying a tiny car was like, it must have been exciting but at the same time a painful experience once someone reached the end of it all. He always thought that all cars were born in factories, but seeing what he and Sally had managed to create gave him hope.

"Sally, if I could I would share some of the pain with you...I can't see you in this much pain." Lightning exclaimed, nuzzling her side before he felt a jolt against his side, a bulge from Sally's side.

He winced in slight pain, relieved that he was feeling some form of pain but wished it was more for Sally's benefit. He could see from all the pain she was holding in that she was struggling to keep it together. The troubled race car turned to see glowing clouds zooming past the windows against the black sky, seeing that Siddley was going as fast as he could to get them back home before anything major would happen.

"Why now?" Sally cried, tears engulfing her eyes. "Why now!?"

Lightning could see nothing else but pain her eyes as Sally sobbed out in tears and grunts of pain, he felt so annoyingly lucky that he didn't get to feel any of this pain. Sally was right about questioning now for the little car to make its way into the world. Even though Sally questioned the timing, both she and Lightning had an idea of why the due date of the little car was going to be earlier than planned, but they didn't expect it to be more than a month early.

"Don't worry; it'll be all over soon." He assured, actually having no idea how long this was going to take.

Another few more minutes and Siddley landed as close as he could to the town, he landed behind a small block of land behind Flo's cafe, several of Lightning and Sally's friends were situated around the area, watching the jet land down carefully and quickly. Siddley quickly opened the hatch and not long after were the sounds of groans in pain as they saw the couple appear from the back of the jet, their friends immediately rushed to their side and assisted them into getting to the hospital as soon as possible.

From Sally's point of view, all she could see was a blur, her vision had gotten so blurry from the amount of pain she was experiencing plus the tears that came along with it, she could hear Flo and Lightning close by, many of her other local friends talking in the background as she was being gently pushed into the Radiator Springs hospital.

The bright lights from within the building made Sally's eyes wince in the sudden change of light intensity; she could constantly hear Flo and Lightning especially assuring her that everything was going to be alright. She felt like she should have read up more of this process sooner, she felt like it was going to be an awful long night at this stage.

Not long later, she, Lightning and Flo were in a room all to themselves, the others waited anxiously outside the room, hoping that everything was going to turn out alright. It was then that someone came into the room to explain what the process of delivery was.

"Mrs McQueen, the pain you're feeling is the feeling of that car inside you cramping up and wanting to come out, and since a trunk like yours is hard to budge open, that's why you're experiencing so much pain." The doctor explained, looking at his notes while he explained.

Flo knew only so much from seeing the pain in others when they were expecting, but knowing the reason why Sally was under so much pain made it all the more sense why it caused so many female cars to experience so much pain, because some models simply aren't built for it, but luckily for Sally, she had the right amount of space for it. Now, it was becoming too crammed for the little car that it was making Sally's frame look deformed.

"How can this be fixed? How long will it take?" Lightning asked in a panic, wanting to know so much about what was going on.

He felt so helpless in that moment, the only thing he wanted in that very moment was to feel the same pain at the same level of intensity that Sally was feeling, but he could only feel that way emotionally. Flo could see the struggle and frustration build up inside him, she knew that it was only because he cared deeply for Sally, Flo did too, and she wished she could endure some of the pain too, just to take some of the stress off Sally. She sighed in remorse as she remembered the day she found out she and Ramone weren't capable of making new cars on their own.

It was a painful memory; it took her and Ramone awhile to get over the sad news but in time they pulled through. Now she was seeing what she could never do right in front of her, and all she wanted in that moment was to share the pain, she felt so terrible knowing how much pain Sally was under, with every tear that rolled down her hood and every grunt in pain she cried, it made Lightning and Flo look at each other in deep worry, wishing they could feel the same pain.

"We need to simply remove the door of her trunk and then there will be some tests run to make sure everything's alright for the new car, then it shouldn't be too long before they can be with you." The doctor assured, smiling at the three before exiting the room quickly.

"It'll be all over soon, don't worry Sally." Flo assured, rubbing her tire against Sally's side.

"You can hold on just a little longer, I know you can." Lightning reminded, reflecting how strong Sally was.

All this encouragement lessened the pain slightly, but physically all that Sally could feel was the feeling that she was going to burst, but because of her solid and tight frame it made it all the more painful for her. She heard the doctor's every word and sincerely hoped that it wouldn't be too long that the new car would be in front of the two.

Lightning and Sally weren't too far away from becoming official parents, Lightning was beginning to realise what would happen once word got out about this, he hoped that he and Sally could cover up the fact that they had been expecting long before they were married, marriage is what helped seal it, and this one mistake sped up their relationship, they couldn't see the worth in front of them yet, but knew with all this suffering in between that it was definitely going to be worth it.

Not long later, the doctor returned with some nurses by his side, he explained to everyone the procedures he was about to implement and then Sally was moved to another room for the operation. Unfortunately no one else could go in with Sally, so Lightning and Flo joined the others just outside the room and waited anxiously for the news.

Meanwhile inside the operating room, Sally was still grunting in pain, she was glad that the hospital had expanded and had more staff since Radiator Springs was put back on the map otherwise the news that she was delivering tonight would have been spread across the news already.

It wasn't long later that the pain melted away, she lowered her hood in relief as she could still feel the overwhelming bulge in the back of her but the pain was absent, it did confuse her mind for a moment, but she gave in, relaxing a little before she felt the door of her trunk being removed.

The operators were extremely careful. They could see that the little car had already damaged much of Sally both interior and exterior. The easy part about this process was ensuring that the little car had been delivered safely, now a more difficult process was giving Sally her old frame. All around her back and her sides near the back were dented inwards and outwards from the little car's constant pushing about.

Sally closed her eyes as she felt the pain returning for a moment before she heard a young crying sound emitting from behind, immediately her motherly instincts kicked in and soon she realised what that cry was. Her eyes widened and she fell silent as her lips parted in a gasp. She was finally a mother.

She wanted more than anything to see what the little car looked like, but she could only see the little car for a split second before it vanished as she kept her eyes focused on her rear view mirrors. Sally knew she had to remain calm as the little car was taken away to have some tests while she would be repaired back to the way she looked before the growing car inside of her dented her frame inwards and outwards.

"Are they okay?" She asked, desperately wanting to see, trying to fight her motherly instincts from taking over.

The doctor who was explaining everything earlier drove to Sally's front to see that new motherly look in her eyes, it made him look at her adoringly before explaining what they were doing with her newborn car.

"Don't worry, we're just going to run some tests first to make sure it's okay and then you and Lightning can have her." He assured, smiling at Sally before driving away.

The words took a moment to click in, but then Sally realised that she knew the gender of the little car that had been growing inside of her for the past four months. It was a girl. After all that thought and assumptions that it was going to be a boy, she was wrong, but Sally was still happy nonetheless.

Her motherly instincts took over, she wanted to see her little girl more than ever, she began to squirm uncontrollably, she moaned a few times while the operators behind her were trying to fix up her dented frame.

"Please remain still Mrs McQueen, we're almost done." One of the operators kindly requested, using a machine to get rid of the dents in her.

All the dents in Sally made her think back to when Holley said she was keeping her dent, it made her feel selfish at first for having her frame look all lovely and shiny after having a little car dent her inside out, but at the same time she knew that her dents were much worse and more consistent than Holley's single back dent. It was then that her thoughts went to Holley, she was forever grateful that Holley could help them in a time of panic and crisis. When she saw Holley next she would thank her dearly for helping her and Lightning out so much.

Meanwhile outside, it was silent. Lightning was with Mater, looking up at his best friend in deep worry of what was going on. Everyone sincerely hoped that Sally and the little car would be alright. And then, a little while later, the doctor opened the door and turned to the cars waiting patiently in worry.

He smiled at how many cars truly cared about this couple, and he felt truly honoured to be delivering Lightning and Sally's little car, he didn't care if he got no publicity out of this, he was just glad he had the honour of doing something for someone famous like Lightning McQueen, and his wife.

"It's a girl." He proudly announced.

Smiles spread across the room in joy, Lightning's smile widened the most as his eyes filled with tears of joy. All he wanted now was to see the little car and Sally, right then and there those were the two cars he cared deeply for, even if he hadn't seen one of them yet, Lightning could already feel the overwhelming attachment to his new daughter.

Everyone huddled around Lightning and congratulated him, he felt so modest in that moment he didn't know what to say other than thanks to everyone.

"Thank you, thanks." He repeated over and over, feeling overwhelmed with joy of the most wonderful news.

It was only ten minutes later that the same door opened again but this time it was Sally who drove out, many who were waiting for her to come back out applauded, Lightning rushed to her side and nuzzled her lovingly, proud that Sally was able to sit through all that. But then there was a decline in noise as everyone looked around Sally in confusion.

"Where is she?" Flo asked, confused and slightly worried.

"Oh, she's just getting some tests done, shouldn't be too much longer." Sally explained with an assuring expression.

"Congratulations you two, I know Doc would be so proud." Sheriff said with a smile, knowing how much of a father figure Doc was to Lightning.

Lightning and Sally looked at each other, feeling the strong and deep connection with each other somehow grow stronger after realising that they were both now officially parents. Lightning looked up at the ceiling, thinking of Doc and how happy he would be if he were there with them; he closed his eyes with content as he smiled. The new parents nuzzled each other before Mater friendly kicked Lightning's side with his tire.

"Congrats buddy! I can't believe my best buddy's a daddy now." Mater stated softly, tears developing in his eyes as he smiled proudly at his best friend.

The race car looked up at his tow truck pal, he was thankful for everyone being there for him and Sally, but he was especially thankful for Mater. He knew that if he had never been mistaken for a spy, he and Sally wouldn't have had a safe delivery back home. Lightning bumped his tire against Mater's with a thankful smile, he was glad to have a friend like this.

"Thanks for being there Mater." Lightning thanked, grinning at his friend.

Later on, everyone had left the hallway and were now near the main entrance to the hospital, Lightning and Sally were told that it would take at least another five to ten minutes before they could see their baby car, but then, within a matter of a few minutes, they saw an assistant forklift drive out of a room with something small in its arms. Lightning and Sally gasped with excitement, they were both over the moon with joy that this day had finally arrived, but at the same time they were surprised that it was all going to happen so soon, but all in all, they still enjoyed the moments.

"Here is your new daughter Mr and Mrs McQueen." The doctor announced as he and the forklift next to him approached the couple.

A blanket was neatly hiding the little car away from her parent's eyes, but then the forklift shook the blanket off, and then there she was. A beautiful little McQueen sleeping soundly right in front of her parents, everyone awed at the sight, already seeing how strongly connected the car was to both of them, through genetics and emotion.

Many comments adoring the newborn were heard in the background as Lightning and Sally approached their new daughter and their first experience as official parents. She was a lovely shade of blue with a hint of purple, and although her eyes couldn't be seen, Lightning and Sally were both more than sure that she had blue eyes just like they did, what they were most excited to find out is what traits did she share from each parent.

"She's adorable, what's her name?" Holley asked, approaching the family.

Lightning and Sally were both caught off guard with what name to give their daughter. They looked at each other in a slight panic, trying to remember what names they came up with, but felt blank in that moment from all the new things that were gushing through their minds. But they both took a deep look at their daughter, who was now on a small trailer carriage and the forklift had left.

All they could see was joy and excitement, they couldn't think of a name. The couple could feel their parental instincts kick in, and they knew from here on out that's what they'd feel whenever they were around their daughter.

Lightning glanced at Sally and then looked back down at his daughter, the resemblance in the model type was uncanny, and she definitely looked like a mother's daughter in his eyes. And that's when he thought of the perfect name that would always remind him of the love of his life.

"I think we should call her Sara." Lightning stated, as he looked down and admired his daughter.

Sally looked up with parted lips; she could feel that name stick for some reason, and the similarity to her name she could tell a few moments after repeating that name in her mind. Sally smiled lovingly at Lightning as she knew exactly why he wanted to call their daughter by that name. She awed and nuzzled her husband's side before looking back down at their daughter.

"Sara." Sally said, admiring her daughter. "It's perfect."

Just then, Sara's eyelids parted and beautiful blue eyes shone in the light as they opened and looked straight up at the loving parents. At first she looked confused, but then smiled as she recognised her parents within an instant.

Everyone gathered in close to the scene, it wasn't long later that Sally deeply thanked Holley for being there for them, and Lightning thanked Mater more for finding someone like Holley to be in their lives. It was a long and tiring week, but the couple were extremely grateful that they were able to have things moving along smooth and quick with the assistance of Holley and Siddley, they didn't know where they would be without them.

Later that night, as the moon rose high into the sky, showing how late it was in the night. The new loving family exited the hospital with their friends by their side. They all looked around in slight worry that they may have been seen earlier by news reporters, but there was no one in sight. The town was quiet and peaceful as the new family and their friends drove out of the hospital, congratulating the couple one last time before they all parted ways for the night.

Sara was neatly tucked onto her own little sleeping mat beside Lightning and Sally's, the new parents took one last adoring look at their daughter, extremely happy and proud that they had made it this far so soon in their relationship. It was only a year ago that neither of them were engaged or expecting a little car, and now here they were, Mr and Mrs McQueen with their new daughter Sara McQueen.

~A Year Later~

Little Sara was speeding down the little track that had been built especially for her as a birthday gift; she stopped and jumped with excitement as she turned to see her father looking at her proudly.

"Great job Sara, one day you'll be just as fast as me!" He exclaimed, racing up to her and nuzzling her little side.

"Thank cu daddy!" Sara said, still very new to learning how to talk.

Sally approached the pair and giggled in amusement as she saw the burnt rubber on Sara's little track, she could tell that by looking at those marks that Sara definitely had both her parents speed, but she could may as well have more of her father's speed since Lightning was a race car.

Lightning had won the next Piston Cup in the series, he was on his way to becoming a racing legend just like Doc and Strip Weathers. He had won 5 Piston Cups and the World Grand Prix, he was truly proud of his accomplishments and he knew that Doc would be truly proud of him.

Sally was back into the swing of things with work, taking more time off to spend time bonding with her little girl while her staff covered for her during that time. She felt more relaxed and happy with how she managed things with work and family, although she was working less than she was before, she was happy with it now. She laughed at the thought of her a year and a half ago, freaking out and worrying that all of this was not going to work, but in the end it did.

To the public, they kept Sara hidden from public eyes for half a month before revealing her to the public, claiming that she was adopted but Lightning and Sally chose really well how similar the car would look to them. Luckily, the public believed them and awed at the sight of the loving family. There were some questions raised as to how Lightning was going to balance being a father along with being a racer, but he assured everyone that he loves his racing almost as much as he loves his family.

And during his first racing season as a father, he had much more confidence that he would win it, and in the end he did. With Sally and Sara down in California to watch his final race for the season cheering him on before rejoining with him after the race was over.

Their daughter was a little racer in training; she loved to speed from one end of the track to the other. Both Lightning and Sally could already tell that in a way she was going to be more of a father's daughter, but at the same time by appearance she looked like a mother's daughter. It was the perfect balance.

Although Sara was still quite young, she definitely was developing the spirit of her father, wanting to race against others for fun and sometimes just relax and spend time with her parents. She loved her parents more than anything, and she loved it when her parent's friends would come and babysit her, sometimes even her mother would let her stay in a cone while she worked, playing hide and seek with her mother.

It was going to be a little while before Lightning and Sally could enjoy that amazing feeling of driving up to Wheel Well with little Sara by their side, but they knew in time it would happen. Lightning and Sally were so proud with how far they had come so far in their relationship, and they knew that it was only going to get stronger from here on out.

They were a loving family that was never going to break apart, it didn't matter what happened next, just as long as they had each other.

THE END.

Aww...you can all hug me now for wrapping the story up this way. I was actually hoping to finish this the day before but then I caught a bug and couldn't do anything, I'm still under the weather but I'll be better in time. ^^ I would like to thank you all for being very supportive throughout this story, and although this story may not be as popular as the other story I'm currently writing, I am glad to have you guys give me feedback and just love the story in general.

I would like to thank in particular for giving me so much support throughout the process of the story, that's why I took her name suggestion. I thank you the most for giving me so much support and always making me feel better about not rushing these chapters, you're amazing. :)

It's been a long journey but I am really proud with how it ended, I didn't think I would make this story so long, in the beginning I had no idea how long it was going to be but now I see how amazing of a story I wrote, and I am glad to have completed another fantastic story. Now, I'll be focusing on my other story for now but I will be making more stories in the future, more Cars themed ones? Who knows? :D

So see you all next time I write a new Cars story (or whatever story of mine you follow), bye! ^^