Child of a Peach
Peach rocked slowly in her chair, watching her kids play on the lawn.
Rose was chasing Bowie, her blonde hair gleaming against her glossy pink shell. Bowie, meanwhile, was scrambling to get away from his boisterous older sister, tripping over the shell he had yet to grow into.
Suddenly, she was lifted into the air from behind. She felt rough, paw-like hands gripping her, but not un-kindly.
"BWAHAHA!" laughed a gruff voice. "I have caught you at last Princess Peach!"
Peach giggled. "Oh, Bowser. You caught me a long time ago. You know that."
He set her down and she turned to face him. He shrugged.
"Eh, old habits die hard."
The princess kissed him on the nose. "How is dinner coming along?"
"Pretty good, I think. The Kook Koopa is almost done."
Peach smaked his arm lightly. "Bowser! I thought you said you would make dinner tonight!"
"I started to!" The 'evil' king protested. "But not using mushrooms really cramps my cooking style."
Peach rolled her eyes sarcastically. "I'm sure you would be able to think of something."
Before they could argue more on the matter, a Koopa in a chef's hat poked his head out the door.
"Your Domesticnesses?" he inquired. "Supper is ready."
Peach smiled sweetly at the turtle-like creature. "Thank you, we'll be right in." she turned back to her husband, a light glare on her delicate features. "We will finish this later."
Bowser gulped and offered a nervous smile. Peach was small, at least compared to him, but angry she was worse than one hundred of those Mario brothers.
They called the kids in and sat down to eat. After supper, they retired to the den.
The kids quickly became fixated on their favorite mindless cartoon. Bowser pretended to read Battle Plans Daily, but Peach could tell he was watching it too. She smiled at the familiar scene and picked up her own reading material.
It was one of her favorites, a novel called Beneath the Scales, an adventure/romance novel about a prince and a dragon trying to rescue a princess. She was just to the part where the princess transformed into a troll when the Nanny Koopa tapped her on the shoulder.
"Your Momlyness?" it inquired. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but the child won't stop crying."
Peach frowned a bit. She never liked them calling her baby girl 'the child.' Ever since baby Cream was born, the Koopas had disliked her. Peach knew why, of course, they had a natural dislike of anything without a shell. Still, she wished they would make more than one exception.
"Very well." She told the Koopa.
She put her book down and went to the nursery. Peach had always thought their house was cozy and perfect. Bowser thought it needed more turrets. But seeing as the Mario brothers had built it for them (not without some help, notably) neither one of the former royals had decided to look the gift horse in the mouth.
As such, it didn't take her long to reach the nursery. It was arguably her favorite part of the house. It was the perfect balance of frilly and elegant, much like Peach herself, and right in the middle of it was an adorable pink crib holding an even more adorable six month old girl.
Peach approached the crib and peeked into it. There was no sign of tears on Cream's face, nor any evidence that she had even woken up. Typical.
The Koopas were always shirking their baby responsibilities and shoving them onto her. Simply because the young girl was born without a shell. The only real reason they listened to Peach was because most of them were present for her marriage to Bowser. And all of them were there for the renewal of vows.
But because of their deep set mistrust, they would neglect baby Cream as much as they thought they could get away with. As if Peach wouldn't notice.
The princess picked her child up, cradling her gently in her arms. The small red fuzz on the infant's skull gleamed in the soft, gentle lighting.
It wasn't all bad, Peach supposed. The Koopas' negligence allowed her to spend more time with Cream then she had with Rose or Bowie. It may not have been the happiest of circumstances, but she was glad for the time she got. It wasn't playing favorites, it was ensuring her child grew up just as cared for as the other two.
Besides, both of the older children had the love and adoration of the Koopa army. If that didn't even things out, Peach didn't know what did.
Her baby girl would not grow up neglected and unloved. Not on her watch.
This story was mostly created for my sister. I don't exactly ship this, but at the same time I don't not ship it. If that makes any sense. Anyway, this is set after Super Paper Mario. Happy Birthday Sissy!