Chapter Five: Secrets Uncovered

Chapter Five: Secrets Uncovered

A few weeks passed since that party, and Doc and Maria became friends pretty quickly. But Maria found she knew nothing about Doc aside from the fact he was a doctor for about ten years and had been working in the hospital for about eight.

This bothered her quite a bit. Then again, she hadn’t revealed much about herself either to be honest. All that she had mentioned was she lived in a boring town and had worked in a library for some time.

Maria was nervous about speaking about her past, but she knew she would have to sooner or later. After all, she couldn’t hide it from her co-workers much longer.

Dr. Wheels came up to her when she was at work later that day and smiled at her. “Hey, how are you doing?” he asked as the red Dart smiled back.

“I’m doing well.” She replied as the white Mustang nodded.

“Good to hear. Listen, I need some more charts for a patient. Can you make sure they get to me?” he asked as Maria nodded.

“Sure can.” The female Dart replied.

“Thanks. Oh, and there’s another get-together tonight. Are you coming?”

That made Maria look back at him. “How often are these held?”

“Once a month.” Dr. Wheels replied as the Dart pursed her lips. “Everyone comes to the small restaurant where we first met you, and it just goes from there. We’re their biggest customers you could say.”

Maria giggled at the reply. “I don’t see why not then.”

“Great! I’ll see if I can get Doc to come. See ya then!”

-----
It was a normal shift for Doc when he saw Brian approaching his location. He sighed as he figured what his friend was coming to talk to him about.

“Let me guess, another get-together?” The Hornet asked as the white car came to a stop by his side.

“Yep! And Maria is going.” Brian replied as Doc blinked. “I figured you might want to go since she will be there.”

The midnight blue car looked down in thought before he faced his friend. “Look, Brian. I may go, I may not. It all depends on how busy my shift is.”

“Aw! Maria is going to be there!” The Mustang whined as Doc rolled his eyes. Of course his friend would pull that card…

“Fine. I’ll go.” The darker colored car relented as Brian grinned.

“Great! I’ll see ya then!”

-----
The party was busy that night as Doc found out. Maria was there, as Brian said she would be, much to his hidden delight.

The red Dart was by his side most of the time they were there. Inside, the Hornet was very happy, but he wasn’t going to show it in case his friend decided to tease him for it again. But that was just how Brian was, Doc knew. He only did it in good-natured fun.

“So, are you enjoying yourself?” Maria asked him as he looked at her.

“Yeah. And you?”

Maria giggled at his question. “What do you think, silly?”

Doc smiled at her before the red Dart let out a small yelp. “Oh shoot!”

“What?”

“I think I left my key to my apartment back home! I locked myself out!” Maria exclaimed before she sank lower on her shocks in disappointment.

The midnight blue Hornet pursed his lips. While he could try and get her inside himself, there was also the option of her staying with one of the hospital staff for the night, with himself among that number.

“What am I going to do?” She moaned as Brian came up next to her.

“You know, you could stay with Doc for the night.” He suggested with a sly grin on his face.

Both cars looked at him in shock, blushes on each of them.

“Brian!” Doc exclaimed as Maria blushed a deeper red.

“What? If she needs a place to stay, why not, right?” The Mustang teased.

Maria looked at Doc, biting her lower lip. Would he allow it?

The darker-colored car glanced back at her before he sighed, relenting.

“Just for tonight.” He replied as Maria felt her heart soar.

“Thank you!” She exclaimed as she latched onto him, making Doc blush even redder.

-----
Brian snickered to himself. Oh, she had left her key alright…Not! He grinned as he looked down at it. Of course, he would return it in the morning…

Or maybe not…

-----
Maria and Doc soon left the small gathering for his home. The red Dart had never been to his house before, or even to any of the other staff members’ homes.

“So, you live an hour away?” Maria asked as Doc looked back at her and nodded his front.

“Yeah. I could never get used to the city, so I chose to live in the suburbs instead.” He replied as Maria looked around at the area where he lived.

“It’s nice.” She remarked as the Hornet smiled back at her.

“Glad you think so. I bet it’s a lot better than where you used to live.”

“Oh yeah! I mean, all the old houses were nice and all, but I hated it. It felt too old to me. Now this, this is what I like.” The red Dart exclaimed as she looked around with her blue eyes.

Doc chuckled a bit before he saw a familiar place. “Here.”

Maria saw where he was headed and followed him. Her eyes went wide at the sight of his home. “Wow.”

“It’s not much.” Doc replied as he let her in first.

“C’mon! It’s much bigger than what I expected from a single male car living on his own.” Maria insisted as she entered Doc’s home.

“I didn’t want a small place to be honest. It would feel too confining.” The Hornet admitted as he also entered his home.

The red Dart let her eyes wander over his place. She could see two guest rooms off to the side along with the main area and main room for Doc to sleep in.

“Not bad for a single male.” Maria purred as the Hornet blushed ever so slightly.

“Heh…”

A yawn then escaped Maria as Doc smirked at the sight. “Someone’s sleepy it seems.” He joked before a yawn escaped him as well, making the female Dart giggle.

“Make that two someones.” She shot back playfully before Doc recovered himself somewhat.

You can take one of the guest rooms if you want.” He offered, pointing with a tire in the direction of them.

“Thanks.” Maria murmured before she went into one and closed the door.

Doc smiled before a yawn escaped him again and he went into his own room before falling asleep as well.

-----
The next morning, Maria woke up, feeling somewhat refreshed. She could remember last night, and she knew at once that she was at Doc’s house. She made her way out of the guest room, hoping to see Doc awake. But much to her surprise, he was still out like a light. She smiled, deciding to let him get some sleep.

Looking around, the red Dart caught sight of a few photos, each of what appeared to be Doc’s family. But she couldn’t tell who the baby blue Hornet was.

‘Must be his brothers and sister.’ She thought before she heard a chuckle from behind her. She yelped and turned quickly, only to see a wide-awake Doc facing her.

“Sorry.” He laughed as Maria giggled a bit before the male moved beside her.

“Is this your family?” Maria asked as Doc nodded.

“Yep. Believe it or not, that baby blue car is me.”

Maria stared before she giggled. “Surely you must be pulling my tire. There’s no way that the baby blue Hornet is you! You’re a midnight blue color, not that one.”

“Nope. I actually was that color. I was a twin actually. My sister was a powder pink while I was a baby blue. It made it easier to tell us apart that way.” Doc replied as he pointed at the pink Hornet.

“Wow! I didn’t know you were a twin!” Maria exclaimed as she looked at him again.

“Not a lot of cars knew because we were different colors. However, in my junior year of high school, I decided to ditch that paint color and went with my natural birth color, which is what you see me in now.” Doc replied.

“So, were you the oldest of youngest?” Maria asked.

“I was the youngest. My sister was older than me by three minutes, so even though we were twins, I was the youngest of us siblings.”

“How many did you have?”

“Aside from my sister, three older brothers.”

“Wow.” Maria replied as Doc nodded.

“What about you?” he asked as Maria winced a bit.

“I…ah…I was the middle child out of three siblings. But, ah…my older brother died in a car crash, and my little sister…I don’t know.” She replied. “My parents loved us all, but after my brother’s death, we just kind of drifted apart.”

Doc frowned a bit before he nudged her gently. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know about your brother.”

“No, it’s okay. I got used to it after a while, but it still hurts a bit.”

Maria could tell he was genuinely sorry for her loss, unlike some others she had met and told about it.

The male Hornet just nudged her again as Maria leaned against his side, feeling his powerful engine in his body purring. For some reason, it made her feel better to hear that smooth rumbling in his body.

Doc just let her lean against his side, taking comfort from him. If anything, he could understand what she was going through. He himself had lost his oldest brother when he had only been sixteen. So he knew what she was going through very well indeed…