Theyellowroseofsodor - The Yellow Rose Of Sodor

Chapter 19: Forever and Ever is here!!!

Camille, what's your favorite color?

Camille: I have 3! Purple, blue, and black! 😁

Thank you @smol4bluengine and everyone who got me to 50 reblogs!! This was a pretty cool milestone to hit! ❤️

FINALLY, MY MASTERPIECE IS COMPLETED!

Pebble

Rated G for General Audiences

Summary: Pebble’s, the stuffed rhino that belongs to James, origin story.

“What are you going to do?”

“Me?! What do you mean?? You were involved too, Thomas!”

“Yeah, but I’m not the one who broke it.”

“I didn’t know it was going to break! James’ shouldn’t have asked me to help with his laundry if there was something like this in here.”

Thomas and Percy stood next to one another, both with a slightly worried look on his face, looking down at the washing machine and the piles of wet fluff that littered all over James’ clothes. Mixed in the clothes, and the producer of the fluff, was a very deflated rhino plush.

“M-maybe he won’t notice or care?” Percy asked frantically with worry, glancing at Thomas. “I didn’t even know he had a stuffed animal until he asked me to put his laundry in the wash.”

“Was she in the basket?” Thomas asked, not taking his eyes at the devastation of the stuffy.

“No…” Percy confessed, “But she was filthy, I mean even her red bow had faded, and she was next to his laundry so I figured she was just supposed to be in there.”

Thomas picked up a piece of the fluffy innards of the stuffed rhino and squeezed the excess water out of it. “I dunno, Percy. James doesn’t just keep random things and he freaks out when anyone touches his stuff.”

“We’ve got to hide her then!” Percy said, frantically picking up the fluff, holding out his shirt like a pouch and stuffing them in there, “We can fix this right?? Do you think Emily or Camille know how to sew?”

Thomas eyed him, “You know they’d slap you for that kind of remark.”

“I don’t mean it like that! I just don’t know any guys that do and I know Camille does cross stitch sometimes!” Percy shrieked, panic beginning to take over, “What if this was really special to James?? I’m a dead engine!”

Thomas couldn’t come up with a rebuttal for that and quickly helped sort of the fluff from the clothes and put James’ clothes in the dryer. It easily looked like half of the stuffed rhino had fallen out and she looked like a raggedy dog chew toy by the time they fished her and her red bow out.

“I’m so dead…” Percy whined.

“Not if we can fix her first.” Thomas smiled confidently, “It can’t be that hard to fix!”

At that moment, the laundry room door opened and both engines startled, Thomas hiding the rhino behind his back. Percy had no way to hide the shirt pouch he had created but pulled it close so the contents couldn’t be seen. Edward walked in and looked between the two of them with an odd expression.

“Is something the matter guys?”

Percy was basically shaking where he stood. Although James would have been the absolute worst person to see at that moment, Edward, being James’ significant other, was indubitably the next worst thing.

Thomas, however, didn’t seem to think so. He looked relieved, “Oh Edward! It’s you! Percy could really use your help!”

Percy squawked at his best friend’s sudden betrayal.

Edward still looked fairly confused, “In the laundry room? It’s not that hard and we’ve done this for years, Percy, I would’ve thought you figured out the laundry machines by now.”

Percy’s face fell flat, “I’m not so dumb as to not know how to work the laundry machine.”

Edward blinked and looked at the two, “Well, if that’s not it, can I get by? James forgot to do his laundry and I know he asked the two of you to help but-“ He stopped and began to worry himself, “You didn’t do something to James’ clothes did you?”

“What?! No! Are you crazy?!” Percy asked, still holding tight to his shirt, his slightly pudgy belly showing, “Who in their right mind would mess with James’ clothes??”

Edward sighed and placed his hands on his hips, “Then what is this all about? Why are you two so antsy?”

When Percy couldn’t quite find the words to speak, Thomas took the lead again much to Percy’s chagrin. Thomas simply revealed the deflated rhino and her ribbon that he had been hiding.

Edward paled a bit at the sight.

“You washed Pebble??”

“She has a name?” Thomas asked incredulously.

“Sh-sh-she was right by his laundry!” Percy tried to explain as Edward came close and held the floppy remains, “A-a-and she was dirty and I thought she was supposed to have been in the basket since a couple of other clothes hadn’t made it into the basket and I didn’t know she had a hole in her because I wouldn’t have put her in otherwise and I’ve got her fluff here-“ He showed Edward his makeshift kangaroo pouch, “and I’m gonna fix her I just have to call Camille or maybe Emily and I promise to stuff her back properly and everything please don’t tell James!”

Percy was panting from lack of oxygen after such a confession and watched as Edward held onto Pebble and opened up the now very large hole in her side.

“We’ll need to be quick.” Edward sighed, pulling the remaining fluff out and handing it to Percy, placing Pebbles in the dryer with the rest of James’ clothes, “James doesn’t go one night without Pebble nearby and he will notice, I guarantee it.”

Percy was nodding quickly as Edward spoke, hanging onto every word that the older engine said, looking for guidance. Thomas, however, couldn’t keep his cheek in check.

“What’s a grown and married engine like James doing with a kids stuffy?”

Edward smiled as he shut the lid and started the load of laundry, “It’s not too long of a story. I can tell it to pass the time.” He smiled at Percy and knew he would have to reassure the small engine down from a full panic attack, “We can get her fixed before James comes home. You’re lucky I’ve had to stitch her before. C’mon.” He led the way out of the laundry room, holding the door open, “Let’s get her fluff cleaned up.”

All three engines made their way up to James and Edward’s room. Edward grabbed a towel and hair blow dryer from their private bathroom. He asked Thomas to go grab a small bowl from the kitchen and laid the towel down. He then nodded at Percy, signaling him to drop all the fuzz.

“This is everything?” He asked.

Percy nodded, “Y-yup!”

Thomas returned with the bowl and handed it to Edward before sitting down on the floor and joining the other two engines. Edward gently squeezed the excess water from the fuzz and placed it down on the towel to dry.

“Pebble has been around for a while.” Edward said with a smile, “Though not even I knew about her until James’ started moving into my bedroom. He kept her a secret, I think, due to his pride.” He chuckled, “You all remember how much he used to look up to Gordon? I think that in part was why he hid her. He didn’t want Gordon thinking he was small, weak, and childish.”

Thomas rolled his eyes at the mention of the large tender engine, “Of course Gordon’s involved somehow. He sure knew how to be a bossy butt when we first all started working together.”

Edward chuckled again, “Well, I think Gordon’s own pride comes from his own familial issues, but we won’t get into that today.” He moved the bowl after squeezing the last bit of stuff n’ fluff and turned the hair blow dryer on low, starting to dry the fluff slowly.

“James got Pebble from one of his passengers shortly after we became a team of six. He doesn’t really remember when, but it was before Emily’s time.”

——

James had brought himself to a screeching and grinding halt at the station, barely keeping himself from overshooting the platform. He smirked brilliantly.

“Heeeeere’s James!!” He shouted to the other passengers at the platform and to Gordon who was trying to catch a few winks.

The larger engine startled, looking around, when he caught a glimpse of the red engine. He sneered, “Really, James? Must you do that every time you arrive at a station?”

James looked at him haughtily, “Do you have to say ‘express coming through’ every time you depart or arrive at a station?”

Gordon gritted his teeth and rolled his eyes, “I have a very important job, you know. Announcing my comings and goings keeps every keen and wary that a large, powerful, and fast engine is approaching and to make sure to get out of my way. We wouldn’t want any accidents.”

It was James’ turn to roll his eyes, “You’re not the only important engine on the island, Gordon. Not to mention, I’ve had to do your job a few times for you since you have a knack of getting into trouble with the boss.” James smirked.

Gordon wrinkled his nose and closed his eyes, “Hmph!” That was the end of that conversation.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” James said with a sigh, waiting impatiently for his passengers to load and unload.

His driver came up, not looking too thrilled, “James!”

James sighed irritably, “What?!”

The driver glared and pointed a finger at him, “You’ve got to stop doing your stops like this! You could injure yourself, or members of our team, or worse yet a passenger! What if someone was thrown from their seat or hit their head? It would’ve been your fault!”

James frowned, “They should know how to stay seated till I come to a complete stop. Not my fault if they’re bad at keeping seated or balancing.”

His driver looked ready to fight some more, but heard the whistle from the station master and looked to see the doors shut for the coaches.

“Listen to me, James. One day, your reckless driving is going to get this railway into a lot of trouble.”

James rolled his eyes, “Oh please. Me? Trouble? Ha!”

But of course, there would be trouble. As it so happened, not long after this little conversation James ended up in the Steamworks with terrible dents, scratches, and cuts alongside his face and paintwork. The cause? He was so busy trying to be splendid and fast that he nearly hit a stray cow that had found herself stuck on the rails. Her hoof was caught and seeing the engine barreling down the lines she panicked all the more. James did his best to brake and move onto a different set of tracks, but it was no use and he ended up derailed on his side. Worse yet, his passenger cars ended up coming with him. It was a very serious accident with several critical injuries. He thanked Lady above that not a single passenger was labeled a fatality.

He found himself unable to look Sir Topham Hatt in the eyes as he was scolded repeatedly and almost threatened to be removed from the rails indefinitely. The passengers and their families were suing the railway and it was all James’ fault. He couldn’t help the frightened tears that ran down his face or the constant apologies he spoke as a result of the accident. A VIP was ready to have him scrapped and the pressure was put on the Fat Controller that it was seen through. The railway leader refused to have such a monstrous action happen, taking a life was not going to fix injuries faster, and it was no quick and painless death for an engine to be scrapped. James was staying, however he was to be taken off the lines and then some. He wasn’t going to be pulling coaches anytime soon.

The others visited him when he could, Edward most of all. Years later, that moment would become one of the turning pivotal points in their relationship. James still was nervous despite everything.

He was feeling particularly upset with himself one day, sitting all alone in the steamworks, when his former driver approached him with his little girl. She was holding a stuffed animal close to her chest as they approached. He looked up at them nervously.

“James, this is my daughter Tilly and she has something she wants to give you.” The man nudged her forward, “Go on, Tilly dear.”

The little girl walked up to James’ buffer and showed him a stuffed rhino with a red ribbon around it’s neck, “This is Pebble! Whenever you’re scared or afraid you’re supposed to give her a big hug because rhino’s are tough and can make scarier things go away.” He blinked in surprise at her, “I.. I know you can’t hug her but you can have her. Daddy said you’re really sorry about what happened and that mean people were saying really mean things about you. But you’re my favorite engine, James, and you’ve gotta be tough.” She smiled up at him and placed the toy on his buffer, standing on her tiptoes to nudge it closer to his face, “Pebble will scare all those bullies away. Mummy even gave me a splendid red ribbon to tie on her. I hope you like it.”

James looked down at the stuffed animal and the little girl who smiled up at him, a few teeth missing in her grin, and he couldn’t help but smile back. Not one passenger had ever given him a gift before and here this little girl was just looking out for him.

He swallowed and smiled at her, “Thanks Tilly, I’ll take really good care of her.”

She pointed a finger at him in a feisty manner, “You better! She’s the best stuffie in the world and she should go to the best engine in the world!”

He smiled brightly for the first time in a long time that day. James thoroughly apologized, again, to Sir Topham Hatt and the others and after a while was back on the rails. He had his driver hide Pebble in his cab and on days when he was alone or feeling particularly down he had the man pull her out from the cab and put her on his buffer to have close. When the day did come that the engines were able to shift one of the first things James did, once he had gotten used to his legs, was hold Pebble close, besides hold his beloved Edward.

——

“And that’s the story.” Edward said as he finished drying all her fluff, “At least we can get her repaired. She is pretty old.”

“No wonder James is so protective of this toy. I would be too.” Thomas said.

“And I ruined her…” Percy said feeling down, out, and defeated.

Edward chuckled, “No, you didn’t ruin her Percy and it’s not the first time Pebble has found herself de-fluffed in a washer.” He winked, “If you keep my secret, I’ll keep yours.”

Percy and Thomas chuckled, though Percy found himself really relieved, “Thanks Edward. Your secret is safe with us.”

Edward smiled, “Now, let’s go grab her from the dryer and get her all sewn up. We’ve still got some time before my husband gets home.”

Percy grinned, “You sure like to call him that, don’t you, Edward?”

Edward looked kindly at the small engine, “More than you can ever know.”

Many happy returns to the newlyweds! I hope you two enjoy your honeymoon, and your married life!

🎁 Gift Anon 🎁

James: Thank You, gift anon!

Edward: We plan on it. It’ll be nice to get away from the rails for a bit.

James: Well… 😏

Edward: One more crude joke out of you and you’ll be sleeping on the floor, James Hughes.

James: Yes dear…

I feel called out

For any couple who wants to answer: What’s your favorite quirk of your partner?

Edward: James snorts when he laughs really hard. Especially if he’s tickled.

James: Edward!! 😳

Edward: What? I think it’s cute.

James: You’re embarrassing me…

Hiro: I catch Henry talking or singing to his plants on occasion.

Henry: They thrive when spoken to.

Hiro: It’s very affectionate. It speaks volumes to his tender heart.

Henry: Hiro… 🫣 I like it went he calls me flower..

James: Hey! I didn’t get a turn!

Gordon: Should’ve spoken up sooner.

Camille: Gordon blushes on the tips of his ears when I compliment him. I think it’s super cute. 😊

Gordon: … … …

James: Hey! It’s happening now!

Gordon: Don’t you have somewhere to be, James?

James: 😁 Nope! Edward sometimes talks in his sleep and says the goofiest things.

Edward: Anything you find cute about Camille, Gordon?

Gordon: …

Camille: …?

Gordon: I don’t share that sort of information online.

Camille: 😊 Fine by me.

James: His ears are still red..