Felix paced back and forth in his apartment's living room, rehearsing. "Tamora...no," he muttered. "No, no, no. Too formal." He cleared his throat. "Tammy, darlin', we've been..." He groaned in frustration and slumped down on his sofa. He pulled out a small box from his pocket and opened it to look at the ring inside. Felix had been enamored with Tamora Calhoun since the first day they met, and he planned to propose soon. But he was hesitant, wanting to do it exactly right. Looking at the ring didn't at all make him rethink his ways of going about it, but it did make him wonder how she would answer him. Of course, ever since he'd made the decision to pop the question, the chance of his girlfriend rejecting him had crossed his mind on more than one occasion. It would be especially hard for him, since he worried that she wouldn't be ready for another wedding. Not after the fiancé from her backstory was killed. Nobody knew much about Dr. Brad Scott. Calhoun never liked to tell anyone the details. In fact, no one was even sure of whether it had really happened or she was just programmed with an artificial memory of the event. Felix had already inadvertently triggered a mild panic attack from her once by reminding her of it, and he didn't something to happen to her again. It scared him, and he was sure it scared Tammy even more. He put the ring back in his pocket and sighed. It seemed like he was conflicted between the same things. On one hand, he loved Tammy more than anything, and he wanted to stay with her for the rest of his life. But on the other, he didn't want to bring about any bad memories, even if they were artificial. Just as he was trying to find what was the right thing to do, his old friend Ralph entered. "Hey Felix," he said nonchalantly. "Vanellope an' I're headin' over to Tapper's. You wanna join?" Felix looked at Ralph, frowning. "Somethin' wrong, buddy?" Ralph asked. "Sort of," Felix sighed. "But it's nothing really important. Are you sure it's a good idea to take Vanellope to Tapper's?" He changed the subject. "No," Ralph agreed. "But after I told her I was going she prodded me so much that I didn't have much of a choice." Felix nodded. "Well, I guess I'll come along." He followed Ralph out the door, figuring that it would be good to get his mind off of things.
But Tapper's wasn't much help. Ignoring Vanellope's boasting about her day of racing, he still couldn't stop debating in his head over whether Tamora was ready to get engaged again. Or, technically, the first time... The details regarding the sergeant's backstory were surprisingly complicated. "Hey, Fix-it!" a relatively high-pitched voice interrupted Felix's thoughts. He turned to see Vanellope looking at him with a big smile. "Haven't you been listening?" the little girl chuckled. "Oh, uh," Felix had to be honest. "No. Sorry. I guess I'm a little distracted." Vanellope frowned in confusion. Felix was usually the cheeriest of the group, but tonight he was acting strange. "Alright, Felix," Vanellope said. "What's the matter? Spill the jelly beans." Ralph looked toward Felix too, sharing the president's curiosity. Felix leaned back in his chair and sighed, knowing the two wouldn't leave him alone until he told them the truth. "I just...I'm not sure if proposing to Tammy is a good idea." "What?" Ralph's eyes widened. "Come on, Felix! What, is your brain glazed or somethin'?" Vanellope almost laughed. "That's all you've ever wanted to do since you met 'er! You never shut yer yap about 'er!" Ralph nodded and rolled his eyes jokingly. "Yeah, and ya still don't." Felix blushed, having not realized how much he talked about her before. "I mean, you do still love her, don't you?" Ralph said, furrowing his eyebrows. Felix sat up straight. "Of course I do! I love her more than anything! It's just that... I don't know if she'd be... up for it. Ya' know?" Felix smiled nervously. Ralph nodded slowly, realizing that Felix was talking about Calhoun's backstory. Vanellope looked back and forth between the two of them, still confused. "What's he talkin' about, Ralph?" she asked as she looked up at her tall friend. Felix shifted uncomfortably, remembering that Vanellope didn't know about Tammy's backstory. "Well, uh," Ralph cleared his throat. "Kid, the last time Calhoun tried gettin' married, it didn't really turn out so well." Vanellope was still puzzled. "What, did they get a divorce or somethin'?" Felix sighed again, reluctant to tell the story. Part of him felt like it wasn't his story to tell, so he only told her the gist of it. "No," he said. "He died at the wedding, actually." Vanellope frowned. She hadn't realized how dark Tammy's story was. She'd already known there was one, but not that it was so tragic. The candy president figured she wasn't supposed to know any details, so she pretended she didn't know it was most likely a cybug that was the cause. "Jeez..." she mumbled.
