A Little Rain and Some Sunshine

"Lizzie?" Jackson muttered the older cars name. He stared at Cruz as she began to cry. He wanted to comfort her, he really did. He just didn't know how. Then a rush of memories came back to him. He tried to push them down but they overflowed like a flood in his mind.

"Cruz? What's going on?" Flo asked, she was beside Storm.

"Lizzie...passed away last night..." 

Flo looked at her in despair. 

"Does everyone know?" Jackson asked in the most understanding tone he's ever used with Cruz.

"Just you two, me, and Sally." Cruz replied. 

The rest of Radiator Springs was alerted to the very sad news. They planned on holding the funeral for the next day. 

That night, the town felt empty. They lost a huge part of their history that they couldn't get back. Lightning comforted Sally who couldn't stop crying. Everyone was hurt and Jackson couldn't just leave them. He told Ray about the whole situation and he understood that he wanted to be there for Cruz. Jackson left his motel room and went to search for her.

He found Cruz out in the field outside of the pasture where the tractors were. He remembered that night when they went tractor tipping. Was that the night when he started having feelings for her?

He drove up next to her side. She didn't say anything. It stayed silent between the two for a few minutes with both of them turning off their engines.

"When I was younger, my parents didn't give me much attention." Jackson finally broke the ice. Cruz seemed to wake out of whatever she was pondering about and looked at him. He in turn looked back at her, the moonlight shined through his eyes. They looked more silver than they ever did before, Cruz noticed. 

"Yeah, my father left because he was married to his job more than to my mother. My mother cared more about her own career over raising me and that's why Mrs. Hotch had to do it all for her. She was the nanny that lived with me. She knew me better than my own parents. One day she told me that my potential shouldn't be wasted. I told her I was going to be a lawyer, but deep down she knew I wanted to race. Lightning McQueen was my role model, as hard as it is to believe I did look up to him. My mother always belittled me for wanting to race since she never saw it as a real career...Mrs. Hotch supported me all the way up until..." Jackson held his breath. He forgot the feeling of true loss. 

"Her fuel pump failed and it caused total destruction to her engine. She died that day...that day was my birthday...I know what all of you are going through. It hurts to lose others like that." Jackson's eyes looked as if they were withering away from the painful memories. 

"I'm so sorry Jackson...this explains a lot about why you are the way that you are." Cruz said in a soothing voice. 

"Does it? My past is no excuse for my behavior." Jackson told her. 

"No it doesn't excuse your behavior but I can understand why you were...the way that you were. I grew up with both of my parents' love." 

"They also didn't want you to become anything more than a trainer. So what did you do?"

She stared at him with nothing but confusion. Her mouth sat in a straight line. For the first time, Storm had seen what it looked like when she didn't have anything to say. 

"You proved them wrong, even though you keep it a secret from them. I grew up feeling totally unwanted and because of that I pushed everyone away. You were told not to do something but you did what others told you, you couldn't do. That's the difference between you and me, Ramirez. You never really let others change you." Jackson sighed.