(Hello again guys, I'm actually quite enjoying making these chapters more and more. So without further ado I present the newest one.)

Chapter Four

The Feeling

~Boop Beep~

- Hey we're otw home. Everything went smooth XD -

Nicole read the text from Gumball with a smile.

"Was that them?" Anais asked.

"Yeah. Gumball said everything went smooth for them." answered Nicole.

"Told ya you had nothing to worry about." replied the young girl.

"Yeah...I guess you're right. Well I'm going to make lunch for everyone." Nicole said with a smile as she got up to head over to the kitchen.

"Hm maybe I'll make panini's for them." She thought.

Nicole gathered the presser and all the ingredients she needed in order to make the sandwiches. While she was cooking, the thought of her dream kept creeping up on her in the back of her head.

"Why would I dream of that? Of course I love him, why wouldn't I? He is my son after all..." Thought the mother.

It was now approaching 2:50 when Nicole just finished the last panini. She made sure Gumball's was made with a tad bit more love than everyone else's. Since he did something nice for her she thought that she'd return the favor.

"Perfect." She proudly thought as she finished his sandwich.

Nicole's ears perked up as she heard a car pull into their driveway. When she looked out the living room window she saw the boys. She made sure to just to take peek this time to make sure Gumball didn't spot her like last time. She saw the boys wearing a very confident smile on their face. And in Gumball's hand was a bag. She was honestly curious and excited to see what they got for her.

As they started walking up, she sat at the couch.

"We're back Nicole." Richard said.

"Hey mom!" Gumball and Darwin said excitedly.

"Hello boys." She said while hugging all of them.

"Guess what we got you mom!" Gumball asked with a smile on his face.

"I'm pretty sure it's something interesting. But let's have lunch first okay honey. I'm sure you boys are hungry." she said.

"You read my mind like a book." Richard said as he darted past her to take a seat at the dining table.

"Well now that you mention it, I wouldn't mind having something to eat." Answered Gumball.

She was glad to hear that. As much as she wanted to see what the boys got her, she still wanted to hear what Gumball would say about the sandwich she made him.

"Come on buddy let's go eat." Gumball said to Darwin as he placed the bag on the living room table.

All of the Watterson's we're now at the dining table. Nicole started handing out the plates with the paninis. First was Richard who immediately started eating then Darwin and Anais.

"And here's the best for the last." She secretly thought with a smile on her face.

As she handed Gumball his golden sandwich with extra ingredients on them.

When he took a bite of the sandwich he could've sworn he felt his taste buds dancing over his tongue.

"Man this is so delicious mom!" Gumball said.

"Yeah! Your cooking is the greatest mom." Darwin replied.

"Definitely." Anais added on.

Richard was sucking his fingers as he finished his last bite.

Nicole smiled at how satisfied the family was at her cooking.

"So how did the shopping go boys?" She asked

"It was ok until some boy tried to take the thing we bought you from us at the bookstore, but as you can see everything worked out." Gumball said with a proud grin.

Nicole fist started to ball in her lap under the table at the thought of how rude some kids could be. She knew it wasn't their fault. It was just poor parenting.

Nicole then looked over at Anais with a sly smile.

"Guess i was right after all." Nicole scoffed.

"Hmph, lucky guess." The little girl said while rolling her eyes.

"Well I'm glad everything is okay." She replied.

"Yup and by the way we got you a 1000 puzzle piece set since we know you loved to do them with us the back then. The highest you've ever done was a 500 piece set so I thought we should double that and we got ya a Sudoku book for whenever you're bored and wanna kill time." Gumball said.

Nicole's eyes lit up at the nostalgia of doing the puzzles with the kids when they were younger.

"That's very sweet of you thinking of something like this to do with me, but I thought you didn't like to do puzzles Gumball?" Nicole questioned Gumball.

"Meh. They're ok I guess and I haven't done one in a long time. Plus if it'll make you happy then I'd gladly do it." said the grinning teenager.

"I'm happy to hear that." The light blushing mother said.

"Well I'd like to join you guys but I don't wanna miss my show. It's a new episode today." Richard said.

"~sigh~ fine Richard." Nicole said while rolling her eyes.

Gumball went to go get the bag from the living room and gave the items to his mother.

Nicole carefully examined the Sudoku book and flipped through the pages.

"I'll try to make this one last..." She laughed in her head.

Then she pulled out the puzzle set.

"Well let's get started." The kids said in sync.

Nicole was glad to be doing something with her family again. She couldn't remember the last time they sat down together and had a NORMAL day. A couple of hours has passed making it now 7:30.

Gumball was honestly getting bored but he still wanted to continue because it was making his mother happy to be doing something for a change. Not to mention they were close to finishing thanks to Anais who helped Darwin and Gumball. She was a master at doing puzzles. She could've finished the entire thing in ten minutes flat but she wanted her mother to savor this moment with them.

"Alright last one! Mom, I think you should have the honors." Gumball suggested.

"Yeah you deserve it." Darwin pitched in.

"Go for it mom." Anais said.

"Aww, thank you everyone." Nicole said with the biggest grin she could give off.

Nicole gently placed the last piece in the middle. She decided to take a picture of it with her cell phone so she could always remember this moment.

The puzzle was a beautiful, twilight, sunset at a beach.

"Hm maybe that's the next thing we could do as a family." She quietly thought to herself with a smile.

"Well that was fun everyone. Thank you so much for spending the day with me." Nicole said with satisfaction.

"Don't mention it. Well I'm going to go shower." Gumball said.

"Alright kids I'll go make dinner." Nicole said while getting up to stretch.

It was now getting late. And Nicole finished making dinner for her family. Richard finished and immediately went to bed and so did the kids except for Gumball...

He heard Nicole again doing the dishes. And decided to help her out.

"Hey think you can use another pair of hands?" The boy asked with grin.

"Thanks but I'm almost done honey. I don't mind your company though." She said giving him a graceful smile.

"Well you're in a good mood. You look really beautiful mom when you're happy." Gumball complimented Nicole with a small grin.

"I-i do?.." she said while holding her face as it got hotter.

"Of course!" He said smiling while showing his teeth.

"Well it's thanks to you honey that I'm happy." Nicole said smiling in Gumball's direction.

"Well you can count on me to always be there for you. I'll do whatever I can to make sure your happy mom." He answered confidently.

"Aw thank you so much Gumball it really means a lot to hear that from you." she said while blushing even harder at her son's concern for her.

She then wiped her damp hands from the dishwater on her skirt and gave Gumball a warm hug to express her thanks, not caring even if he saw her flustered face.

"Hey you know you're blushing right?" He asked the mother.

"I know I'm just extremely happy to know you care about me this much." She replied still smiling.

"Well of course I care, you're the coolest mom in Elmore. How could I not love you honestly." He said smirking.

Hearing him say "I love you" made her start to nervously shake.

"You okay?" Gumball asked.

"Y-yeah..i'm probably just tired.." she said giving off a fake yawn while still blushing.

"Okay. Well get some rest. You need it." He suggested.

"I gotta catch some z's and get ready for school tomorrow." Gumball said while rolling his eyes.

"Ok honey. I'll pick you, Darwin and Anais up after school for this week since I have nothing else better to do." Answered the mom

"Alright mom, Goodnight!" He said while rushing up stairs."

"Night honey." She replied still feeling the burning sensation in her cheeks.

Nicole decided to stay up a little longer at the dining room table to ponder why she was feeling like this.

"Ugh I just can't shake this feeling...what is it..? It feels SO familiar.."

And then the idea of the "feeling" hit her hard like a truck.

"Wait a second...it must be butterflies. That can only mean one thing..."

"...Am I smitten...for Gumball...?" She said in a low but shocked whisper...

(Sorry for posting this kinda late. But on the bright side at least I'm working on the new chapter right this second and let's just say it'll be pretty interesting…)