(A/N: You know, when I first had the idea for this fanfic, I never really saw it having this many chapters. That always seems to be the way with my stories, doesn't it? Well, I'll get this chapter started for you on the double!)


It was 7:00 a.m. in New Donk City. The sun was shining, and the birds were just waking up. It looked like it was going to be a lovely day in the city. Now let's get over to Pauline's apartment, since that's where Mario stayed the night.

Mario was still lying on the hide-a-bed in Pauline's living room, but his eyes were closed, so he must have gone to sleep at some point during the night. Then he awoke to sunlight streaming in through the living room window.

"Mama-mia... Is it morning already?" Mario asked himself as he sat up on the hide-a-bed and rubbed his eyes. He looked out the window, saw that it was indeed morning, and sighed.

"I wonder when the Toad Brigade will be here to get me." Mario said to himself, before deciding he might as well get up and get dressed so he'd be ready when they got here. He picked up his wedding tux and made his way to one of the two bathrooms in Pauline's apartment so he could get dressed for the day.

He was just about to close the door when he heard the door to the apartment open, followed by Pauline's voice saying, "Mario, are you here?"

"Pauline! Is that you?" Mario asked, recognizing her voice.

"Yes, Mario, it's me. Where are you?" Pauline asked.

"Sono in bagno. I'm in the bathroom." Mario called out.

"Oh! Well, when you get done in there, I need to see you! I picked us up some breakfast from Candy's Café, and I also got you a little something from the Crazy Cap store." Pauline called as she walked over to the kitchen table.

"Okie-dokie. I'll be out soon!" Mario replied.

With that, Pauline set the things from the café on the table and a small shopping bag on one of the chairs.


A couple of minutes later, Mario slowly stepped out of the bathroom, dressed in his white wedding tuxedo.

"I'm not going to lie to you, Mario. You do look very handsome in that suit." Pauline noted when she saw him.

"Lo so. I know, Pauline. But I don't think I can bear to face Peach in this outfit ever again..." Mario frowned as he walked over to Pauline.

"I might have guessed." Pauline replied sympathetically, before adding, "That's part of the reason why I stopped at the Crazy Cap before I went to the café. You didn't buy anything from the Crazy Cap here in New Donk City, did you?"

"Just a Power Moon, but that was the only thing I got from there." Mario replied.

"Good." Pauline thought, before saying, "Here you go." And she handed Mario a yellow and purple plastic shopping bag.

"Cosa abbiamo qui? What have we here?" Mario asked himself as he reached into the bag and produced the Sunshine Outfit and a pair of sunglasses to go with it. He was more than surprised to see these, because he hadn't planned on wearing that tropical shirt, or those sunglasses, unless he went back to Isle Delfino again. Now he had them for keeps, so he could wear them whenever he pleased.

(A/N: I know that the sunglasses come with the hat in the game, but in this AU, he didn't get the hat to go with the sunglasses.)

"Grazie. Thank you, Pauline." Mario said as he placed the items back in the bag. At least now he had something different to wear when he went back to the Mushroom Kingdom.

"You're welcome, Mario. Now I think we should have our breakfast. I got us both some coffee and doughnuts, and you don't want your coffee to get cold, do you?" Pauline asked.

"No, ma'am." Mario replied as he set the Crazy Cap bag on the floor, and he and Pauline sat down at her table and drank their coffee while eating doughnuts. Pauline even got Mario cream-filled doughnuts with chocolate frosting and sprinkles. She obviously remembered that those were his favorite kind. Her own doughnuts were glazed.


"So Pauline, when did you get up this morning?" Mario asked Pauline after swallowing another bite of his doughnut.

"I woke up at 6:00 this morning. I tend to get up early as a rule." Pauline replied.

"So does Peach..." Mario thought sadly as he took a small sip of his coffee. And he told her, "I got up just before you got back. I didn't even know you had gone out."

"I was going to tell you that I was going out, but when I was on my way out the door, I noticed that you were sleeping so soundly, I didn't want to wake you. You had been through a lot last night, and you needed your rest." Pauline told him.

Mario was glad that Pauline had thought to let him sleep. Then Mario had a sudden thought of something he probably should take care of.

"Pauline, how much did that outfit cost? You know, the one you just bought me?" Mario asked, reaching into his pocket.

"Mario, I know what you're thinking, but I'm going to tell you right now that you don't need to pay me back for the outfit." Pauline told him, sensing that he was going for his wallet.

"But Pauline..." Mario started, hand on his wallet.

"No, Mario. You're my friend, and I got it to help you out. You've done a lot for my city, and getting you that outfit is part of how I'm repaying you for everything." Pauline said.

Mario sighed. He knew that he really couldn't argue with his old friend's logic.

"Okie-dokie." Mario said as he let go of the wallet.

As soon as he'd finished eating, Mario grabbed the Crazy Cap bag and ran to the bathroom to change his outfit. No way did he want the Toad Brigade to see him dressed in a wedding tuxedo, for they'd get the wrong idea, and he didn't need that! Not after what he'd been through.


It was around 8:00 when a knock sounded at the door. Pauline and Mario had just finished putting the hide-a-bed back to normal, and they were busy putting the bedding away when it happened.

"Coming!" Pauline said as she walked to the door, and she peeked through the peephole to see who was there, but she didn't see anyone. She opened the door to see some very short people she was unfamiliar with. Maybe these were Mario's friends, the ones who he said were coming to pick him up.

"Mario, I think your little friends are here to take you home!" Pauline called.

Upon hearing that, Mario picked up the Crazy Cap shopping bag (which now held his wedding tux), ran to the door, and smiled when he saw the Toad Brigade standing there, smiling back at him.

"Hey, it's-a the Toad Brigade!" Mario smiled.

"Hiya, Mario!" said Yellow Toad.

"Ready to go home?" asked Captain Toad.

"I am." Mario replied. But before he did, he turned back to Pauline and said, "Grazie, Pauline. Thanks for letting me stay the night here, and for all that you did for me since last night."

"Think nothing of it, Mario. I was more than happy to help you after everything you did for me and New Donk City." Pauline replied.

Mario and Pauline shared a quick good-bye hug.

"I hope to see you again soon." Pauline said.

"You will." Mario promised before following the Toad Brigade out the door and down the elevator, to a park where the Starshroom sat.

(A/N: I know what you MarioXPauline shippers are thinking, but it's not going to happen. I have been shipping MarioXPeach long before I knew what shipping even was, so I view Mario and Pauline as just good friends and nothing more than that.)

"You landed the Starshroom here?" Mario asked. He remembered this place. This was where he did some jump-rope challenges for Power Moons after he defeated the Mechawiggler during his adventure.

"Yeah. We weren't that far from where you were when we landed, so we left it here." said Banktoad.

"Okie-dokie." Mario shrugged.

The group got in the Starshroom and began to make their way back to the Mushroom Kingdom.


As they flew through the skies of New Donk City, Mailtoad said, "Well, Mario, since we're going back to the Mushroom Kingdom, maybe you wouldn't mind giving this to the princess when we get there?" And he handed the package to Mario.

"Hmm... this looks like a brown paper package all tied up with strings." Mario said as he looked at the object Mailtoad handed him.

"That's the idea. It's one of the Princess's favorite things." said Hint Toad, and the Toad Brigade all got a good laugh out of that.

"Bel riferimento. Nice reference." Mario said, knowing that they'd made a reference to the song "My Favorite Things" from Peach's favorite musical, "The Sound of Music".

Then, thinking about the princess he loved, Mario asked, "How is la principessa, the princess? Is she okay?"

"I think she's fine, but Captain Toad said that she sounded rather sad when he spoke with her. Our guess is that she just misses you, Mario." said Banktoad.

"I think it's because Bowser might have put her through more than any of us know about." said Captain Toad, thinking about the monitors that showed the different rooms on the airship when they infiltrated it, looking for Peach's stuff.

"I wouldn't doubt it. Bowser's the biggest idiota it has ever been our misfortune to know." Mario replied.

"Well, you won't need to worry about Bowser right now, Mario. He won't be coming after you or Peach for a while." Yellow Toad said.

"Cosa intendi? What do you mean?" Mario asked, confused.

"Peach gave us a tall order before we came to get you, Mario. That order was to infiltrate Bowser's airship, to get her things back for her. We did, but before we left, I messed with the airship's engine so it won't start." Captain Toad said.

"Davvero? For real?" Mario asked, hardly daring to believe what he was hearing.

"Oh yeah. He did." said Hint Toad.

"Mama-mia. I bet Peach will love to hear that. You'll have to tell it to her sometime." Mario said. But he hoped more than anything that she would be willing to forgive him for behaving no better than Bowser. He knew that he could forgive her for what she did.

"I suppose I should call Peach and let her know that I've been picked up from the city." Mario said after a while.

"You should. We forgot to tell her that we got you!" said Captain Toad.

So Mario pulled out his smartphone and dialed Peach's cell number.


At Peach's Castle, the Princess was awake, sitting on the edge of her bed, feeling miserable. She didn't sleep very well due to having nightmares of Bowser trying to marry her all night, and she was still feeling very guilty about what she had done to Mario. She was so upset that she hadn't gotten dressed yet. But she did put on her fluffy, light pink robe over her pink satin nightgown, and she was also wearing the slippers that matched the robe.

Cappy and Tiara were there, trying to console her, but they weren't having an easy time doing so because Mario and Daisy were the best at comforting her, and neither of them were there to do that.

That's when they heard the "Super Mario Bros." theme playing. It was coming from Peach's smartphone. Peach looked at the phone, and the Caller ID displayed a picture of Mario's smiling face, as well as his number.

"Oh, Mario..." Peach said to herself with a dreamy sigh before answering, "Hello?"

"Hello, Peach." Mario said.

"Mario! It's so good to hear from you! Are you okay?" Peach asked.

"Sì. I'm currently on my way to the Mushroom Kingdom with the Toad Brigade." Mario replied.

"Okay, they already picked you up. That's good." Peach said, before asking, "Are you planning to stop by the castle when you get back, Mario?"

"Way ahead of you there, Princess. The Toad Brigade is planning to drop me off outside your castle when we get to the Mushroom Kingdom." Mario replied.

"Oh, okay. I'll see you when you get here." Peach said.

"I'll be there in a few hours." Mario promised.

"All right. I'll talk to you then." Peach said.

"Same to you." Mario said.

Then they ended the call.

"Please tell me the love spark hasn't been snuffed out..." Mario pleaded as the Mushroom Kingdom got nearer and nearer.


He'll find out whether or not it has in the next chapter! Stay tuned to find out what happens when Mario returns to the Mushroom Kingdom.