A/N: Aaand this will be it for the weekend. Read the note at the end after reading the chapter!
Bowser was at the end of his rope. He missed her. She had become his entire life, and he felt empty without her. The kids were just as devastated. They had grown accustomed to having a mother in their life again, and now she had been taken away. Wendy missed Celiko's female influence, and was concerned about the new baby. Lemmy and Iggy ran out of ideas for projects, because they lost their source of inspiration. Roy and Morton had no one to burn off their energy with, and ended up laying around listlessly. And of course the youngest Koopaling was hit the worst; poor Larry didn't understand why his Mama and the new baby were taken away, and couldn't sleep. No one could; the bedroom hallway was too quiet without their older brother's piano filling the air.
Bowser and Kamek had searched every corner of the Dark Lands for Celiko and Ludwig, to no avail. They weren't in Pipe Land, Grass Land, Ice Land, Desert Land, Sky Land, Giant Land, Dinosaur Land, or even her old home of Water Land. He had even broken down and asked Peach and Daisy if they had seen either of them. Peach and her staff were shocked to see Bowser so worn out, and had even asked Mario and Luigi for help. After exhausting nearly all their contacts, they finally had a lead... from the Beanbean Kingdom.
Ludwig kept on alert as he heard someone approaching the cell, but backed off when the food door opened and two bowls of gruel were thrown in. He took the usual precautionary bite out of each bowl, but then handed both of them off to Celiko. "You'd think they'd be considerate and give you an extra bowl..."
"It's okay, Ludo, we'll be fine," she replied. "If you think about it, we could have been treated a lot worse than we have been." She then looked down at her lap. "It's okay... Papa is going to come save us soon..."
Ludwig lowered his head in sadness, but then tensed up when he felt a rumbling through the floor. Celiko felt it too and cowered into the corner, just as Ludwig sprang up and used his body to shield her from any potential attacks. He stood tensed, facing the door as the floor and walls continued to rumble. When the rumbling stopped, he heard several indistinct voices on the other side of the door. They got quiet, then suddenly someone was forcing the lock. Celiko whimpered and Ludwig growled as the door opened, and they were blinded by bright light and smoke. When it cleared, a small creature stepped forward.
"...Ludo?"
Ludwig squinted through the clearing smoke, unsure if he heard right. Sure enough, a pair of pink winged sunglasses soon came into view, followed by a shiny pink head.
"Roy?"
"Ludo, it is you!" Roy ran back out into the hall. "Over here, I found them! They're alive!" Heavy steps then came thundering down the hall, and the door was soon torn off its hinges by a winded and worried Koopa King.
Bowser came running as soon as Roy called, and ripped the wall off the prison that kept his family from him. The first thing he saw was a surprised Ludwig, and he just couldn't help taking his eldest in his arms. "Ludo, you rotten brat, how could you do this to your old man?" he joked, tears welling up in his eyes.
"...I missed you too, Father," Ludwig answered, returning his embrace and hugging him tight. "But you'll be happy to know Sir, that I tried my best to toast my enemies whenever possible, just like you taught me."
"That's my boy!" Bowser said with pride, patting his son on the back. When he opened his eyes after the hug, he saw his love in the corner waiting patiently for him. He let Ludwig go and hurried over to Celiko, who until this moment carried a grin but stayed entirely silent. That was when he noticed she had a large blanket lump in her arms, not on her stomach.
"Look, Junior, Papa's come to rescue us!" she said, turning down the blanket and revealing a little green head with tiny horns and a lock of fluffy orange hair on top. "We're finally gonna go home and meet sissy and your other bruvvies!"
Astonished, Bowser collapsed beside Celiko and stared in awe at the little Koopaling huddled in her arms. He had been so focused on finding Celiko and Ludwig that he lost track of time, and hadn't realized that her due date had come and gone. His eyes welled up, and he reached a finger out to the little guy. "D...did you say... Junior...?"
"It was the only logical choice," she answered, chuckling as Junior shied away into her chest. "He looks so much like his father, I just had to give him your name. Would Bowser Senior like to hold Bowser Junior?"
"Y-yeah," he stammered, before holding his arms out. She gingerly laid the baby in his arms, watching with a smile as father and son stared wide eyed at each other. Junior reached up and pulled at his Papa's eyebrow, making the two other children chuckle. Bowser growled slightly from the pain, causing Junior to fuss.
"...Mama!"
"It's okay, baby, I'm right here. Papa didn't mean to," she cooed after hearing Junior call, and kissed his cheek. "Right Papa?"
Bowser was dumbfounded. "He can talk already?!"
"Mother went into labor right after they captured us," Ludwig explained. "That was, what, three months ago? If I remember correctly, Iggy started talking around that age."
"It's amazing how quickly he's growing," Celiko said as she leaned against Bowser. "Human babies usually don't start talking until they're a year old, and they don't have their hair that soon either. Though, I suppose he would have grown a little more if he had more than breast milk to eat..."
"I'm so sorry, baby..." Bowser said, pulling Celiko under his arm and nuzzling her head under his chin. "We looked everywhere for you, I even broke down and asked Peach and Mario for help. That's how we figured out Fawful did it. But this time I ripped him apart. He won't be harming you again." Bowser then turned to his newest son. "I'm sorry I missed your birth, little guy. But I know everyone's excited to meet you, so we better get you home right away. I hope you didn't cause Mommy too much trouble when you came out..."
"His little horns were thankfully soft then, otherwise that would have really hurt," she joked. "You know that egg Kamek said I was growing? It was like a little membrane around Junior. When I went into labor, it broke like in a normal human pregnancy, but the membrane stayed around him from the neck down. So it kind of kept his shell from stabbing me on the way out, if that makes sense. Ludo did a very good job delivering him."
"I didn't know you were a doctor, Ludo," Roy joked, slapping him on the back. "Can I hold the little guy?"
"Of course you can," Celiko said, wrapping Junior in the blanket and handing him to Roy. "Junior, this is your brother Roy. Say hello..."
"Hey, he does look like Pops! Hi, Junior. Nice to meet you!"
Junior responded by poking Roy in the nose. "Mama!"
"Ow!"
"He must be a little overstimulated," she guessed, taking Junior back and kissing Roy's nose, causing him to blush. "Let's just go home, Bowser. There's a little blue guy who I'm worried sick about, especially since his father isn't there to comfort him..."
"He's been just as worried about the two of you," Bowser replied, standing and scooping up Celiko and the baby. "He was afraid they'd take the new baby away if we didn't find you in time. But he'll be thrilled to meet Junior, especially since he was expecting a little sister."
Celiko let out a little chuckle. "...Wendy?"
Bowser nodded. "Yeah, she kept saying it had to be a girl because you were glowing so much. Didn't help that Iggy backed her up with his mathematics and junk. 'The sex of the child is determined at conception, based on the gamete of the father with a fifty percent chance for either sex. Given that 85.74 percent of us have been male, it is highly likely that your next child will be another female child.' I don't know what half that means."
"Don't worry Papa, we'll get you another little girl," Celiko mumbled, as she happily settled into Bowser's arms for the ride home. "Oh Junior, just wait until we get home. You're gonna get a nice warm bath, and we'll get you some comfy jammies, then you can say hi to the rest of our family! It'll be so nice..."
A/N: Surprise! I'll bet you weren't expecting that little bundle quite so soon, huh. Yes, Celiko's trouble at the end of the previous chapter was actually the start of her labor. And unfortunately, Bowser Jr. came into the world in Fawful's jail cell. But big brother Ludo stepped up to the plate and helped his mother through it. Bowser was so focused on finding them that he totally forgot about the baby, and probably thought he'd find them with Celiko still pregnant. Thankfully that wasn't the case, because if so then you know something would have been terribly wrong.
I originally planned to have them stuck in the cell for a year, but shortened it to three months because I couldn't stand hurting poor Bowser and the kids any more than that.
Happy birthday, Junior!
