After the compromising situation of which they had recently witnessed, Nani dragged the unconcious body of Pleakley back towards the house. Nani's cheeks were flushed, and she afraid to look behind her, in case Jumba and/or Wilhelmina were coming in the same direction. It would take quite a while to talk to them after that situation, or even look at them. Lilo was standing in the doorway; Pleakley's scream had been loud enough for her and Stitch to hear.

"What's wrong, Nani?" she asked, holding Scrump. She noted Nani holding one of Pleakley's legs and added, "And why is Pleakley playing dead?"

Nani thought carefully of her choice of words. "Umm, nothing sweetie! Just a spider is all. You know how Pleakley hates those things." This made sense to Lilo, and she and Stitch went back into the house.

...

Meanwhile back on the ship with Jumba and Wilhelmina, you don't need to have a high IQ to figure out they were a little panicked.

"Jumba! What are we going to do?" Wilhelmina cried worriedly. "I will never be able to face my own cousin again!"

"Wilhelmina, calm down, love!" Jumba said. "Is no big deal..."

"NO BIG DEAL?" she cried. "Jumba! They saw us have...oh, I can't say it.." Jumba handed Wilhelmina her clothes before slipping on his own.

"We will talk," Jumba assured her. "Larger Girl and Pleakley will be understanding of this whole situtation. As long as wind does not get to Little Girl. She won't understand any of this. Neither will 626."

Wilhelmina looked at Jumba. "You mean...Stitch doesn't know, either?" Jumba shook his head.

"I never got around to explaining process to 626. Would be very awkward if he found out now, you know?"

Wilhelmina understood and laid her head on Jumba's broad shoulder. "Jumba?" she said timidly.

"Yes, my darling?"

"I...nevermind." Wilhelmina thought it was too embarrassing to say what was on her mind.

"No, is alright. What were you going to say?" Jumba asked. Wilhelmina's cheeks pinkened.

"We are in love...right, dear?" she began. Jumba grinned.

"Absolutely. You are love of my life!" He kissed her cheek for emphasis. Wilhelmina smiled.

"Well, it's just that...I know we said we would wait to do that, but now that we have..." Wilhelmina paused uncertainly, gazing at the door out of the corner of her glasses.

"Yes?" Jumba inquired.

Wilhelmina finished quickly, "..will there ever be a ring involved?" She covered her mouth as soon as she said it. Her cousin Pixley (who happens to be Pleakley's sister) had told her you NEVER bring up the subject of marriage, because if you did, the guy will more than likely chicken out and it'll never happen. Then again, Pixley was divorced at one time...

Anyways, the question was as a surprise to Jumba as it was Wilhelmina. Jumba had proposed to a woman once...but it ended in divorce. The reason the marriage ended in a rocky finish was his obsession over creating his illegal genetic mutations, and not at home with her. In fact, they'd only made love a handful of times in their whole marriage, the first time being on their honeymoon, and every other time was on their anniversary, not to mention a few times on her birthday. This erratic relationship was another reason, beside Jumba's obstinance, that they had no children.

Now his lab was lightyears away in another galaxy, and Jumba had a plethora of time on his hands. Not only that, Wilhelmina was much more different than Nathalia. Wilhelmina was young, gorgeous, caring...not that Nathalia hadn't been any of those at one time, but as Jumba's obsession prolonged, she got a bit aggravated with him. Jumba contemplated hard on Wilhelmina's question, and he was so quiet for so long, Wilhelmina was afraid he wouldn't, like Pixley said. Eventually, Jumba looked at Wilhelmina, and gave her an answer.

"Is hard to say right now, Wilhelmina. But I am knowing one thing: I'd sure love to." That gave Wilhelmina some hope he would propose. "Come, love...I need to talk to Pleakley." Jumba gestured towards the door, and Wilhelmina followed behind, a pang of fear in her heart.

Inside, Jumba went to talk to Pleakley, and Wilhelmina went to talk to Nani. It would be much easier to talk to someone of their own gender. Wilhelmina found Nani in the kitchen doing dishes; Jumba found Pleakley reading on his bunk. (Note from author: Since the two conversations happen at the same time, I'm just going to focus on Wilhelmina and Nani.)

Nani sensed a presence in the doorway and glanced behind her shoulder. She smiled a little at Wilhelmina.

"Hey."

"Hello," Wilhelmina answered back, casually walking by her. She glanced at the dishes piled up. "I'd enjoy helping you."

"Sure thing." Nani handed Wilhelmina a sponge. It was quiet for a few minutes as the two scrubbed and dried, until Wilhelmina mustered up her courage.

"Nani...I just want to apologize."

"For what?" Nani asked.

"You know..." Wilhelmina sighed. "Jumba and me...we were being irresponsible, but we thought everyone was gone."

"We were at one point," Nani pointed out. "But Pleakley was never one to knock, either." Both women laughed, until Nani added seriously, "We should know by now how you and Jumba feel for each other."

Wilhelmina did a small yelp of surprise. "W-what makes you say that?" she asked nervously.

Nani smiled, "Well, you two did kiss under the mistletoe this past Christmas, tradition or no tradition." Wilhelmina blushed.

"I didn't know our feelings were that obvious."

Nani wiped her hands on a dish towel. "It's just the little things. How you snuggle close together when we watch a movie, the little glances you two sometimes make at each other...you know how it is." Having a boyfriend of her own, Nani knew that's how love worked. "I think it's perfectly natural you and Jumba liking each other...and if you ever want to step up a bit, you know, and get married...that's perfectly fine with me."

Wilhelmina said hopefully, "Jumba did say he'd like to propose, but it's hard to say right now." Nani draped an arm around her female alien companion.

"Don't worry. If he loves you, he'll eventually get around to doing so. You two just need time to get to know each other. But if you ask me, I'm sure it will be soon."

Wilhelmina smiled. "Thank you, Nani. You're a very understanding person." Nani shrugged modestly.

"I can when necessary. I'm not always an ogre, you know." They both laughed again as they packed the dishes into the cabinents. Things, by the way, had also gone smoothly with Jumba and Pleakley. You didn't think a little thing like that would damage their friendship, did you?

...

That night, Wilhelmina was sitting at the vanity Jumba built for her in the ship. She was brushing her hair, when there was a knock.

"Come in," she called. Jumba appeared in the doorway with some wildflowers he had just picked. He was still in his pajamas.

"Hello, my love," he said softly. Wilhelmina stood up and greeted him a kiss.

"Hello, Jumby." She sniffed the beautiful flowers. "Are these for me?" Jumba grinned.

"They're certainly not for Pleakley," he joked. Wilhelmina chuckled softly,

"Thank you, my dear. Sit down if you need." Wilhelmina arranged the flowers in a vase with her daffodils.

"Is not necessary. Just wanted to kiss you goodnight is all."

"Awww...Jumba, you're hardly evil at all!" Wilhelmina said happily. She embraced Jumba with a hug and gave him several kisses the face, each one leaving their mark in red lipstick. Jumba blushed happily.

"Thank you, my dear." He kissed her back, and was about to leave, when he stopped suddenly. "Pumpky Boo, do you remember mineral Laoc back home?"

Wilhelmina thought. She recalled Laoc was a black mineral in space, found on both Plorginaria and Kweltekwan, that was very hard and when heated it achieved a tranparent luster, making it similar to an Earth diamond. "Yes, I remember," she answered.

"Do you have any?" Jumba asked hopefully. Wilhelmina dug into her jewelry box and pulled out a charm bracelet. It wasn't worth much and had little sentimental value, if any, to Wilhelmina. One charm was made of Laoc. "This one is made of Laoc. Why do you ask?"

"I need Laoc for...very important project," Jumba replied. Wilhelmina nodded understandingly and handed the necklace to Jumba. Jumba's grin went from ear to ear. "Thank you, my love. Good night!"

"Good night, Jumba."

Jumba hurried back to the room he and Pleakley shared, and burst open the door. Pleakley was instantly startled, as he had just been reading.

"Jumba! What's the matter?" Pleakley assumed Jumba had a reason for being in such a hurry. Pleakley let out a squeal of surprise as Jumba grabbed him from the bunk and twirled him around happily.

"Pleakley! I've done it! I've found Laoc! This will change everything!" Pleakley gasped for breath as Jumba let go him, sending Pleakley tumbling to the floor.

"What do you mean 'everything'? It's not for a bomb or something, is it?" Pleakley asked worriedly. Jumba had a knack for making dangerous things. But Jumba scoffed.

"Don't be so absurd, my friend! I'm going to find tools to heat the Laoc to make..." Jumba looked around. "Promising not to make peep?" Pleakley nodded curiously. Jumba continued, "When it's heated, Laoc resembles regular Earth diamond. Diamond is most often used for rings on this planet, correct?"

"Yes..but why.." Pleakley gasped. He knew why. He whispered, "Are you going to ask Wilhelmina to marry you?"

Jumba grinned. "You are hitting nail on head! But remember not to say anything! Is surprise, and will be a while before I...how do they say it..pip question?"

"POP question."

"Right, right. But I need you to be swearing you won't tell." Pleakley smiled at his robust friend. Once he was an evil genius, but now he was just like a big teddy bear.

"I swear I won't."

Tada! Sorry this story is kind of short, but I wanted a short, sweet little something to introduce the proposal. R&R and please be kind, because I know this is short.