AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is my second Simpsons fic I've ever written in a long time. After watching the episode "Holidays of Future Passed", I had an idea to write an AU fic taking place a little before the events of the episode, but with different fates for the children. A few points to keep in mind (though I'm not gonna spoil anything else):

1. To be honest, I did not like Jenda, even more so in the sequel to the episode. I felt she was being a jerk to Bart; rather than accepting his faults and his childish behavior, she flat out disses him, and that was what led to the divorce and to her getting full custody of their two sons (with visitation rights for Bart). "Days of Future Future" showed another disappointing side of the character-she dumped him for a freakin' alien! And, of course, Bart had decided to get over her, presumably also abandoning his sons in the process. This fic changes all that; Bart never gets to marry Jenda in the alternate universe, thus sparing him from his sorry plight in the episode. Here his wife is one of his sister's old classmates from Springfield Elementary, Becky Sparks, which pretty much does make sense since she was shown to have had a crush on Bart from the very beginning.

2. Though I like the Milhouse X Lisa pairing, I'm more of a Nelson X Lisa supporter than of the previous one. So I figured, "Why not have Lisa marry Nelson instead of Milhouse?" Likewise, Milhouse will get back together with his ex-girlfriend Samantha Stankey, and eventually marry her; an explanation for that will be covered in the next few chapters or so.

3. Finally, there's Maggie. Like in "Holidays of Future Passed", she will begin her career as a singer, but after marrying Anoop she will spend less time with her band in order to focus on married life, though as time goes on she may find it difficult to juggle two duties at the same time. It's clearly up to her to decide whether she'd want to give up her career as soon as her daughter is born in the next story.

And so now you know. I hope you enjoy this story, and please let me know what you think of it in reviews.

DISCLAIMER: The Simpsons characters belong to Matt Groening, and I do not own any of them except mine.

Prologue

In her old room inside the Simpsons' home, a young woman stood facing the mirror. She bent down and smoothed the wrinkles out of her wedding gown, then stood back up to make sure the veil on her head didn't come loose. This was the day Maggie Simpson had anticipated all her life-her wedding day.

At 27, the youngest of the Simpson clan, she had come a long way from being the adorable pacifier-sucking toddler she used to be. People who had known her since then couldn't believe how much she had grown; it was as if they could barely recognize her. Incidentally, Maggie was the last child to leave home, as both of her older siblings had already moved out and had families of their own.

Marrying a childhood friend was one of the best things to happen to her since the day she bought her first guitar. From the moment they first met in a sandbox as babies, Maggie knew from the start that she and Anoop were made for each other. Their friendship had grown consistently stronger over the years, and it was only after prom night at Springfield High that true love began to blossom between the two. Surprisingly, both of their families were highly supportive of the relationship, especially the Nahasapeemapetilons; normally the octuplets would have been married off through an ancient tradition of arranged marriage, but their father decided to give up the custom to allow his children to have free reign over their choice of spouses. The wedding of Gheet and Ling Bouvier (Maggie's adopted cousin) was the first interracial/intercultural marriage the families had experienced; it wasn't very large due to the limited budget, but it was still the most festive it has ever been. Maggie herself attended the ceremony as the maid of honor, and at the same time she wondered if it would be her own turn to walk down the aisle someday.

Gazing down at her right hand, eying the middle finger where the wedding ring would be, Maggie smiled as she thought back on the events that all led up to this moment. Soon she would be back on tour with her group, so as long as she is still in Springfield she had better cherish it while she can, otherwise there won't be any time left for the wedding night. Fortunately her manager was kind enough to give her at least a few more months to be with her new husband before she leaves, and even her bandmates felt obliged to perform music at the reception for her.

And to think it all started with a single Holo-Telephone call one bleary January morning, after New Year's Day...