Chapter 6: Anne's Proposal

"Say WHAAAAAAAAAT?!" Hop Pop yelled.

"You're proposing?!" Sasha shouted.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Polly laughed out. "Y-You've been dating Marcy for three years, and-and you're beating Sprig to the punch after he's been dating Ivy for THIRTEEN!"

"Oh, we're helping Sprig propose next actually." Anne explained.

"SAY WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!" Hop Pop screamed. "Two of my grandkids are getting married?!"

"And you know what that means Polly!" Sprig said mischievously.

Polly went pale at this.

"Oh no…"

"Now WE get to tease YOU about finding a boyfriend!" Sprig pointed out.

"Or girlfriend, if that's how you roll." Anne added.

Polly started visibly sweating at this.

"Hehe… greeeeaaat…"

"So, when the heck were you going to tell me about this Anne?!" Sasha asked. "Do you have any idea how worried Marcy's been about how you'd always freak out whenever someone asked you about proposing?!"

"I… I know… I'm sorry…" Anne said sadly. "I just… the thought of asking her just always feels so scary and… I just freeze up whenever someone asks me…"

"You're just scaring yourself Anne." Sasha explained. "This is something you've done for a while now, always think of the worst possible outcome, and you let that possibility consume your judgement. Honestly, I've been thinking about prescribing you with some anxiety medication."

"Sasha, it's not that bad…"

"This was the same situation when you asked Marcy out too! I told you that she most likely felt the same way, yet that fear and anxiety kept you from doing anything!" Sasha pointed out. "This is the same situation as back then too! You HAVE to know that she'll say yes!"

"She's right Anne." Sprig said.

"I mean…"

"Don't you dare try and say that I'm wrong here Anne, I literally have a psych degree, and I am talking about my best friend here." Sasha said sternly. "I KNOW that I am right!"

"About Marcy or me?"

"Both!" Sasha said. "She even SAID she would say yes Anne!"

"I… really?"

"Absolutely!"

Anne responded simply by taking a deep breath.

"Alright… I can do this…"

"I mean, you literally saved two planets and then clawed your way back from the afterlife afterwards… pretty sure proposing is not even close to as difficult as that." Polly pointed out.

"… Yeah, that's a good point." Anne said. "I stared death in the face and spit on it! I CAN DO THIS!"

"Spat." Polly and Sprig said together.

"Excuse me?" Anne asked.

"You stared death in the face and spat on it. Past tense of spit is spat. Get educated girl." Polly said plainly.

Anne just stared at her in shock.

"Uh… right…" Anne said. "Anyways, let's get to planning guys!"

And with a group cheer, they got straight to work.

After a couple of hours of planning that were cut short by Marcy suddenly returning from the grocery store, the group began heading into town.

They'd work out the small problems in their plan when they got to it.

On their way to town, Anne got her first glimpse of the Bessie and Joe family, and was brought to tears once again at her reunion with Bessie.

Naturally, the trip to town was spent on the backs of the two creatures, with the "Snirds" as they were called flying along side Joe.

When they arrived in town however…

"Anne? You good?" Sprig asked Anne, who suddenly stopped walking, and started staring off in the distance.

When they followed her line of sight, it all made sense.

Of course she would stop to look at her statue.

"Oh… oh my gosh…" Anne said as she began to tear up.

"Yeah, took a few months to get it all set… but we all knew that we needed to make a statue of you in town." Sprig said.

"Definitely beats that old one of that guy no-one knows the name of." Polly deadpanned.

"He was the founder of the town I believe." Marcy explained. "I don't think I was able to find their name though."

The conversation continued in the background as Anne just continued to stare.

Then, she began to tear up.

"The… the shoe…"

Sprig chuckled at that.

"Yeah, no-one here really knew you with two shoes, so…"

"No no I get that…" Anne said as she wiped a few tears away. "It's on the wrong foot is what I was trying to say."

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" They heard Loggle faintly yell in the distance.

"… Uh…"

"Loggle is a bit sensitive about that…" Sprig explained.

"Baby…" Polly deadpanned.

At that moment, Wally walked by.

"Oh there you lot are! Where's Anne?" Wally asked.

"Uh… right here?" Sasha said, pointing to Anne.

"Hmmm… nope, sorry, not fooling me!" Wally said defiantly.

"Good to see you too Wally?" Anne said, confused by his behavior.

Then, it hit her.

She quickly ran off into a nearby bush.

A moment later, she emerged, hair-tie removed, leaves and a stick in her hair, and her right shoe in her hand.

"Oh there you are Anne!"

That got everyone to start laughing.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up." Anne groaned out. "I'll never live the whole 'One-Shoed Anne' thing, will I?"

"Don't feel too bad… you still look good like that I say." Marcy said with a wink.

Anne couldn't help but smile at that, and kissed Marcy on the cheek.

"Thanks Mar-Mar."

"Oh! About time!" Wally said as he walked away. "Anyways, Stumpy's waiting for you Anne! So you better hurry!"

"Yeah! Sure thi-" Anne said before stopping.

"… EVEN WALLY KNEW WE LIKED EACH OTHER?!"

"Anne! Great to see ya girl!" Stumpy said as she walked into the kitchen.

"Same Stumpy! Love what you did with the place!" Anne said as she grabbed an apron.

Turns out, Stumpy took some notes from the time that Anne helped out when she was thirteen, and there was a slight Thai theme to the restaurant now.

It was still a bit of a mess, but it still looked nice.

"I wanted to have a way to remember your time here, so I remodeled a bit." Stumpy explained.

"Awwww! Stumpy!" Anne said happily as she gave him a hug.

"Please let me go." Stumpy said, clearly not a hug frog.

"Right, sorry." Anne said as she separated from him.

"Righty then, let's get to work." Stumpy said.

"You got it!" Anne said as she rolled up her sleeves.

Marcy was just sitting at a table, humming to herself as Sasha walked around town, catching up with the various frogs.

"Hey stranger."

Looking over, she saw…

"Oh my gosh! Maddie!" Marcy shouted as she pulled Maddie in for a hug.

Maddie however, just squirmed in her arms and pried herself out of the hug.

"Oh right, not a fan of hugs, sorry." Marcy said as she rubbed the back of her head.

"No problem, can't always have perfect memory." Maddie said with a smirk.

"Anywho! How have you been!" Marcy said before gasping. "What level witch are you now?!"

"Twelve and rising. Going up a level about once a year at this point." Maddie said with a smile… a creepy one, but a smile none-the-less.

"That's good to hear!" Marcy said.

"Yeah well, my sisters joining in on it helped I think." Maddie admitted. "Lavender just hit level five, while Rosemary and Ginger are still level four."

"Oh good for them!" Marcy said happily. "Glad to see you're all getting along great!"

"Yeah, same… it's honestly really nice." Maddie said with a… much less creepy smile. "What about you though?"

"Oh, you know, just doing my own thang. Drawing and stuff." Marcy said.

"Really? See, I heard a rumor that there's something going on between you and Anne?" Maddie said with a knowing look.

Marcy turned slightly red at this.

"Yeah… yeah we're dating."

At this, Maddie just gave her a look.

"Wait, dating? Not married?" Maddie asked.

"No… not yet…" Marcy said looking a bit down.

"Oh… touchy subject?" Maddie asked.

"For me, no… for Anne though?"

"Wait really? I'd think she'd be all over popping the question. I mean, how long have you been dating?" Maddie asked.

"Three years…"

"Oh, thought it'd be longer by now…" Maddie admitted.

"Were we really that obvious?"

"I caught her blushing at you multiple times ten years ago… yeah, it was." Maddie explained.

"Ah, gotcha." Marcy said. "But yeah, whenever she is asked about it, she freezes up…"

"Eh, she's probably just nervous about it." Maddie said. "Try not to think about it too hard."

"I mean, I guess that could be right… but I dunno…"

"Well… why don't you try and sit down and talk with her? Let her know you're interested?" Maddie asked.

"Didn't you hear what I said though?" Marcy asked.

"Yeah… but did you yourself ever ask her?" Maddie asked with a smirk, seeming to already know the answer.

"I… uh… no?" Marcy asked.

"Then try it, trust me." Maddie said.

"… You really are smart about this kinda thing, aren't you?" Marcy asked.

"Eh, I may or may not of had a few frogs ask me to make love potions. Learning to just give them advice was just easier." Maddie explained.

"Gotcha… thanks though, I mean it." Marcy said with a smile. "When we go home, I think I'll sit down and talk with her."

"Good… now then, looks like Sprig's calling me over for something, talk later." Ivy said before getting up.

"Later Maddie!"

A little while later, and Anne and Stumpy emerged from the diner, a buffet at the ready!

"Whoo! Been a while since I cooked up a storm like that!" Anne said while wiping the sweat from her brow.

"Well you did great! It all looks delicious!" Marcy said with a smile.

She then filled up a plate and began eating.

"Did I ever tell you that I love your cooking?" Marcy asked.

"Every day, yeah." Anne said with a smile.

Then, she kissed Marcy on the forehead.

They then heard a few frogs around them go "Awwww."

Anne couldn't help but laugh at this.

"Alright everyone, our love life is not your show to watch! Just go and enjoy the food!" Anne said teasingly.

The frog murmured in agreement, and went o their merry way.

"So, bump into anyone?" Anne asked.

"Oh yeah, just talked to Maddie. Glad she's doing well." Marcy explained.

"Yeah, that's good." Anne said as she sat down and took a bite to eat. "Man, I outdid myself tonight!"

"Psh, you always cook great." Marcy said. "You even learned to make less spicy dishes for me!"

"Yeah, kinda needed to if you were gonna breathe fire every time I made dinner." Anne said teasingly. "How'd you survive in Newtopia with all that spicy food?"

"It's not all spicy, so I just avoided the really spicy stuff." Marcy explained.

"Gotcha." Anne said.

The two then continued to talk, with each other, and whoever came over to say hello.

Eventually though, a band got together and began playing music.

"Thank frog, it was too quiet around here." Marcy said.

"Steal my line why don't you?" Anne asked with a laugh.

Then, it happened…

They started playing jazz.

"Oh heck yeah!" Anne said as she got up. "Come on Mar-Mar!"

Marcy couldn't help but laugh as Anne dragged her to the dance floor to start dancing.

The two pretty much attracted everyone's attention, as they completely tore up the dance floor… literally. It was really just a patch of dirt that they were kicking up.

Suddenly, Anne began twirling Marcy, before stopping and putting her into a dip.

The frogs around them began to cheer, as they breathed heavily from the dance.

"Wow… that was fun!" Marcy said with a smile.

"Yeah… I'll say…"

At that moment though, they began staring into each other's eyes.

Truth was, up until that point, Anne was still very nervous about the plan to propose…

But in that moment, with Marcy in her arms and their eyes locked onto each other, that fear melted away.

She then looked over to Sprig, and put a determined look on her face.

Forget the plan, it was time.

Sprig knew this just from the look she gave him and smiled.

"GO FOR IT ANNE!" He suddenly shouted.

"Huh? What? Go for what?" Marcy asked.

Anne then looked at her with a smile on her face.

"Anne? What's going on?" Marcy asked.

"Marcy… we've known each other for so long. Our entire lives basically.

We learned together, fought together, and eventually, loved together…"

"… Anne?"

"So… I think it's safe to say, that there is no-one that I'd rather spend the rest of my life with." Anne said. "I know you've been worried about this for a while now, so let me finally put that worry to rest."

Then, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the small box.

And Marcy's hands immediately flew to her mouth.

"Marcy Regina Wu… would you marry me?" Anne asked as she opened the box.

Marcy then took a step back… at least she tried to but forgot a crucial detail.

She was still mid dip.

"WHOA!" Marcy said as she lost her footing, falling to the ground and taking Anne with her.

The two then laid there for a second there, staring at each other.

Then they started laughing.

"What was that?!" Anne asked.

"I tried taking a step back and tripped, whoopsie!" Marcy said, continuing to laugh.

"Geez, classic clumsy Marcy I guess." Anne said.

"Got me there!" Marcy said.

"… So…?"

"Yes, of course I'll marry you you doofus." Marcy said before pulling Anne in for a kiss.

"NOW! DO IT NOW!" Sprig shouted in the back.

"But the plan!" Polly shouted.

"She just said yes! DO IT!" Sprig shouted.

"OH! OK!" Polly shouted back.

Suddenly, fireworks shot up into the air, before exploding in colorful rainbow of letters that spelt 'She said yes!'

When the frogs around them finally fully realized what just happened, they all began to cheer.

But none of that really mattered, as Anne and Marcy just laid there, focused completely on each other.

The proposal itself wasn't perfect, but as long they were together, it didn't have to be.

Cause as long as they had each other, life was perfect enough.

End of Chapter 6

I FINALLY FINISHED THIS CHAPTER! WHOOOOOOOOO!

So sorry about the long wait, I did not mean for it to take this long!

Regardless, I hope that you enjoyed what I did with the proposal. I feel like it is really fitting for them. The original plan though… well, you'll get an idea of what it might be next time.

Speaking of next time, might be a little while again for that one. I wanted to just get this chapter out there to let you all know "Hey! I'm alive! Still writing this thing!"

Recovery is progressing well btw, should be able to start by the end of the year.

Another story I want to talk about is actually a special one.

About a month ago was the anniversary of One Small Change, and I wanted to do something to commemorate that. I'll have that out soon, it is almost ready!

Once again, my twitter is the best place to go for updates on my stories, so please go follow me (77Xfire)

And on that note, sorry again for the long wait, I hope the wait for the next chapter is not nearly as long!

Til then: See you next time!

Outtake:

"Wait a minute, I just realized something." Anne suddenly said. "Where's Ms. Croaker?!"

Sprig then looked at her grimly.

"Oh gosh Anne, I'm so sorry…" Sprig said.

"What? What happened?" Anne asked.

"You see, Ms. Croaker…"

"Oh hey there Anne!"

Looking over, they saw Ms. Croaker walking over.

"Bout time ya showed up!" Ms. Croaker said.

"Oh! Great to see you're still alive and kicking!" Anne said.

"… Oh hi Anne!"

"… Wait huh?" Anne asked.

"Yeah, she's still alive, but her mind is kinda… all over the place now." Sprig said.

"Happens to the best of us." Hop Pop said sadly.

"Aww… well, good to see you alive Ms. Croaker." Anne said happily. "Talk to you later Ms. C! Gotta go help Stumpy!"

"Bye Anne!'

"… Hi Ms. Croaker." Sprig said.

"Still not your biggest fan Sprig."

"Yeah didn't think so."