Author Notes - And here is a simple epilogue of sorts to wrap up a couple more plot-threads, as well as functioning as a sort of 'where are they now?' kind of thing. It is a little weird to think that this story is over now, after eighteen chapters and almost a year of production, but here we are.

Out of all of my Bubble Guppies fanfictions, this one is (for now) the most successful one by far. Considering the subject matter, that doesn't surprise me. In fact, this story has been quite popular for a modern BG fanfiction. I'm totally okay with this (ironically, considering the name of this story), seeing as I put a lot of time and thought into this one.

Thanks to all those who not only read this story but considered it good enough to be worthy of a favourite. Seriously, knowing that a lot of people enjoy reading my stories helps give me the motivation to keep writing! So, thanks to (in alphabetical order): 4597boss, Celebi2005, CrystalColden, Destoroyah616, edd5689, Hyperion106, JayBird9854, JayTheDon, ReaderandWriter9000, sean21die, SuperAvengerMan, and Zakirmatron for that! And further thanks to those who didn't/couldn't leave favourites, cos you're awesome too!

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - AS GOOD AS AN ENDING AS IT CAN GET

'Over the weeks I've been gone, I've missed you so, so much.'

'I've missed you too.'

THREE WEEKS LATER…

'Oh, they're gonna be SOOO excited! I can't wait to see them again!'

'Shhh! We want it to be a surprise, and you'll give it away if you keep yelling.'

'Oh, r-right.'

Between Molly and Gil's meeting and the current moment, not much had happened. Or, at least, the three weeks didn't seem so eventful after all the horror and misery that had happened the fortnight before. Nonny had officially taken over as the 'leader' of the band, and Molly had promised that - when Gil returned - she would give everyone the same amount of solos as herself, if they so desired. The others had adapted to a classroom life without Gil, but were nonetheless looking forward to seeing him and his energetic smile once again.

A few things had happened over that time. Molly had noticed that Goby's attempts to 'make her know what Gil went through' had happened less and less as the days went by, until they had stopped completely just a few days ago. Clearly, her apology to Gil had done more work than she expected. Deema, too, had returned mostly to her carefree and goofy ways and hardly ever mentioned causing the accident anymore. Of course, she was still a lot more careful around her friends, for she never wanted to hurt anyone (but perhaps herself) ever again.

Mr Grouper had also gotten around to disciplining the Little Fish, who had escaped punishment for a while thanks to all the other stuff the teacher had to take care of. Since they were even younger than the Guppies and thus even less aware of the consequences, he went fairly easy on them and spent most of the process simply telling them off. Still, they had some privileges revoked. They were among the most troublesome things in Gil's life, but they all confessed to it and so Mr Grouper saw no reason to punish them too harshly.

'They will be so happy when I finally - owowowow!'

'Woah now! Don't move that arm too much. It needs another week or so to heal.'

'I-I don't think I'll be forgetting that now.'

On this particular day - that didn't seem so special to the Guppies quite yet - Molly was seated at the computer. Like many mornings, she spent her time on their website. Over the last few weeks, she had removed most (though not all) of the photos of herself, replacing them with those of the other members of the band. It was a small thing, yes, but it went a long way in making sure her friends got the exposure that they rightfully deserved. By this point, the fans had seemed mostly settled with the changes, though there was still a small yet vocal band of Molly fans who were still protesting her replacement. None of them seemed to understand that it was one-hundred-percent her choice, or at least they believed that she must've been 'brainwashed' or something. In fact, she could see some comments about that very thing on the screen.

Oh well. All fandoms had their crazies, and it wouldn't be right to call the entire fandom insane or immature or anything like that over just a few.

The other Guppies, as per new leader Nonny's orders, spent the time doing whatever they wanted. Mr Grouper had left a little while ago, and left him in charge of the class while he was gone. The amount of trust he had for the young boy was astounding, but for the most part he made sure he had his eyes on his students. No need to go through this entire mess again.

'Well, you've certainly come to the right place!' Deema said to her newest 'customer', from her old desk in the corner.

Zooli giggled. 'Do you have to say that every time?'

'Well, the fans consider it a bit of a catchphrase, so I just gotta do whatever makes them happy! Also, it's just really fun to say.'

Goby's block tower had remained standing after all this time, and in fact he was still working on it. By this time, he had used every single block in the classroom to add a couple smaller towers and had been forced to use other things. Now, he decorated the base with many of the plush animal toys they had. And, at the top of the highest tower…

'Do I really have to do this?' Clam asked, less frightened about falling and more annoyed with his predicament.

'Well, you agreed to do it.' Goby said. 'And I thought it'd be a nice idea to bring back our old classroom friend. We haven't seen you in ages.'

'Yeah, there's a reason I stopped volunteering to be your class pet.'

Oona had insisted that Nonny take a little break, and after a lot of convincing managed to get him into the book corner. It wasn't easy, considering how dedicated to his leadership role he was, but the dinosaur books were simply too enticing. As everyone else did their thing, Oona and Nonny sat back with a good book each. While Nonny read his usual books about dinosaurs and other extinct species, Oona settled for one about baby squids. No doubt Deema would like that book too.

'Give me another fun fact.' Oona said.

'The Dunkleosteus had one of the strongest bites in animal history, almost as strong as a T. Rex.' He replied.

'Oh my. That is very strong!'

All-in-all, it was just another regular day for them, aside from Mr Grouper deciding to leave them by themselves for the first time in weeks. That changed soon after Oona and Nonny's short conversation when the front door opened.

'I'm back!' He announced, swimming into the classroom.

'Mr Grouper!' The other Guppies greeted all at once.

The arrival of their most beloved teacher got every Guppy to stop whatever they were doing immediately and swim into the middle of the room. Deema even sat down in her usual spot in the classroom, just for the fun of it. They knew they were in for something good when they saw the excitement on Mr Grouper's face. He only ever had that look if he knew that the Guppies would love his news. Or when he just heard that Stylee had released a new album. One of the two.

He nodded. 'That's right! But I've brought with me a little surprise…'

He gave them a few seconds to anticipate what this 'little surprise' could be. Cupcakes? A new book? The introduction to a new topic? He waited until they leaned forward in excitement to reveal the big news, though he could tell from Nonny's simple expression that he already knew. Oona could barely contain her giggles, since - as a former hospital assistant - she already knew where this was going.

'Ta-dah!' Mr Grouper exclaimed, before he swam to the side and revealed…

'Hi guys!'

A certain blue-haired Guppy with his arm in a sling, waving at his friends.

'GIL!' His friends all cried at once.

Oona giggled. 'Oh, I knew you'd be coming today, but I'm still so happy!

Sometimes, no words can properly describe a situation. Elated, excited, overjoyed… no word in the dictionary could truly sum up just how joyous the other Guppies were to see their friend at school once again. No sentence could explain just how much their hearts soared.

*THUD*

Don't fret, dear readers, for that loud thudding sound was merely Deema being so overjoyed at the sight that she fainted. The other Guppies, still fully conscious, dashed over to Gil and brought him into a big and loving group hug before he had a chance to get his bearings. Most of them waited for just a moment, however, to let Molly get the closest to him.

'O-Okay, I missed you guys too!' He said, struggling a little to breathe in the hug. 'But I don't need my ribs breaking again!'

Immediately he was met with a small wave of apologies, and his friends backed off and gave him some room to breathe. He only had a moment, though, because Deema recovered from her fainting and gave him a hug so tight that it felt like the entire class was embracing him anyway.

'I'm so glad you're back!' Deema cried, already starting to shed tears of joy.

Gil chuckled. 'Deema, you're acting like I was in Big Bubble City for a year or something.'

'I-I know, but seeing you here is so much more amazing!'

Nonny tapped her on the shoulder. 'Deema, give Gil some more room.'

'Sir yes sir!'

Once Deema backed off just a little, the Guppies allowed the sight of him in their school to sink in. It just seemed so strange to see him here again after more than a month. Now, you could hardly tell that he had been sent to the hospital at all. All the bruises and scratches had either faded away or left tiny scars that were barely noticeable, and only the arm in the sling showed any sign that he had been hurt before.

'Sorry for showing up out of nowhere,' He said. 'But Mr Grouper and I thought it would be so much fun to make it a surprise! The doctors said that I was ready to leave, if I was okay with wearing this sling. I'll admit, it was actually kinda comfortable just lying in bed all day, but… ah, I'm so glad to be on my own tail again!'

Everyone went quiet for just a bit, just to let it all sink in. Gil had gotten used to being stuck in a hospital bed while the others had adapted to him being gone so long, so now the 'normal' from before felt weird. The first one to talk after the silence was Goby.

'You have to see this!' He said, grabbing Gil by the (unbroken) wrist. 'I really hope you like it, but I decided to build a tower just for you when you came back!'

'You built an awesome tower without me?' Gil asked, before he laughed. 'Just kidding! I never said you had to wait for me to build anything.'

'I just hope you like it!'

Gil's eyes widened and his jaw dropped when he saw the mighty tower that Goby had created. The glorious structure rose higher than even Mr Grouper, and the blocks making up its 'walls' were arranged carefully in a chromatic fashion, with red on the top and purple at the bottom, to resemble a rainbow. Gil couldn't remember the last time he had even built up a tower so high, but perhaps that was because he often knocked them over by accident. So, he made sure to keep his distance from it.

'Whoa…' He said, almost losing his breath. 'It's awesome! And… is that Clam at the top?'

'Mmm-hm!' Goby responded, a big smile on his face. 'When he heard about what happened to you, he wanted to be a part of it too!'

'Yep.' Clam said, still looking a little annoyed. 'I've been here for three days. Good thing I can filter-feed from up here.'

Goby scratched the back of his neck. 'The only problem is that I used up all of the blocks in the classroom to make it, so… we're gonna have to tear it down if we want to build anything else.'

'Oh, that's okay!' Gil said. 'We can keep it up a little longer. And maybe take a photo of it so it stays up forever! In a photo album, at least.'

Gil got a good look at Goby's expression. The short-haired kid had never seemed this happy before, not even when he found his toy dump truck again, and it was clear that he wanted to make up for not just all that lost time, but all those 'jokes' played on Gil too.

'You know,' Gil said. 'You didn't have to do this. None of you had to do anything!'

'We know,' Oona said. 'But we had to do something for you! It's been so long since we've seen you outside of a hospital bed, and we would've done so much more if everyone knew you were coming. But I didn't want to spoil the surprise!'

'But I don't think it matters too much.' Nonny added. 'If you think this welcoming is good enough, then you didn't need us to do anything else.'

'Exactly!' Gil said. 'I still appreciate it, of course. But you don't have to treat me like a prince just cos I've been in the hospital for the past few weeks. I'm still just another classmate!'

'If that is how you want to be treated, then we shall treat you as such.'

Gil laughed. 'Speaking really fancy-like, huh?'

Nonny blushed, undoing any attempt at seriousness he was achieving. 'I, um… Sometimes I get a little too into this role.'

Most of the other Guppies crowded around Gil, though making sure they gave him enough room to actually breathe, with one exception. Molly stayed in her place, observing her friends from afar. She had made a couple of visits to the hospital since that fateful day, but she had no idea what to say to him now that he was finally back for real.

She couldn't help but focus on his arm in the sling. As usual for him, he didn't let the injury put him down. After all, even losing an arm didn't mean your life was destined for tragedy, as many movies and news stories seemed to believe. And it was a relief to see that Deema had stopped blaming herself for the entire debacle. Still, Molly knew that she herself had indirectly caused it. It made any sort of attempt to strike up a conversation near impossible from her point-of-view.

'Hey, Molly?'

She flinched, for she only now noticed that Goby had separated from the rest of the group to speak to her directly. The short-haired boy rubbed the back of his elbow, and stared at the floor awkwardly.

'What is it, Goby?' Molly asked. 'You know, you can go to Nonny now for any difficult-'

'No, I need to talk to you.' He said. 'L-Listen, I said a few weeks ago that I…' He gulped. 'That I hated you.'

Molly nodded. 'Yep. And I think it was deserved.'

'Yeah, about that… I-I think I really did hate you back then, because of everything you had done. You had hurt Gil and Deema, a-and I couldn't handle it anymore. B-But over the last few days, I realised that…' He paused for a while. 'I don't think I hate you anymore.'

She smiled. 'That's what got you so nervous? I'm pretty sure that's a good thing. It's good to know that I haven't completely destroyed any relationships.'

'I-It might still take some time before I can say that I like you again, though. That was a lot of hatred to get over.'

Molly placed her hand upon his shoulder. 'And that's okay. If it was that easy to recover from things, this entire mess would've been over in a day. I'm sure we'll get there eventually.'

He smiled too. 'Thanks, Molly.'

Meanwhile, as Molly and Goby had a little patch-up, Gil and Zooli had whispered to each other about something else. Zooli had a smirk on her face, while Gil seemed quite a bit more apprehensive. Oona's encouragement didn't exactly help all that much.

'A-Are you sure?' He asked.

'It's worth a try, isn't it?' Zooli replied. 'I know a lot about starting new friendships when everyone else already knows each other really well.'

'Let's do it!' Oona declared.

Gil looked to Nonny, who gave his own answer. 'I think it's a good idea. It isn't like your relationship with Molly could get any worse.'

'I mean, it could.' Deema said, which was very unhelpful and got her looks from all her friends. 'BUT, I don't see this going that badly!'

The blue-haired boy took a deep breath, and slowly swam up to his friend. He stopped halfway, and needed to be pushed along by Zooli to make it to his destination. When he finally arrived, he looked as if he were a living target at a shooting range with how nervous he was. Molly and Goby remained silent, letting him say something first.

'Uh, hi!' He said. 'I'm Gil! What's your name?'

Upon asking this, he held out his hand for a handshake. Molly stared at his open palm for a few moments, before giving him a look of confusion.

'Excuse me?' She asked.

'I said, my name is Gil. What's your name?'

She giggled. 'Gil, you already know me.'

'Really? You kinda remind me of someone I knew once. She had pink hair too. But she was kinda mean to me, so I didn't really want to be friends with her again. But you seem nice. What's your name?'

Molly gasped. At that moment, she understood exactly what he was doing. Now with absolutely nothing to lose, she took his open hand and shook it.

'Hi! I'm Molly! And it's time for… our friendship to get back on track.'

'Like I said to that other pink-haired girl,' Gil said. 'I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to forgive you- er, her. But I wanna give you another chance. I know you're better than she was. While I don't think I'll ever be able to call you my best friend ever again, I think there's still something between us.'

Molly nodded. 'And after everything I've done to you, that's all I could ever ask for.'

THE END

Author Notes - Coming up with an ending that I hope was satisfactory was difficult. On one hand, I wanted to end on a relatively happy note. On the other, I didn't want things to return to normal like nothing had ever happened. So, my solution to this conundrum was to have Nonny take over the 'leadership' role, while Molly and Gil have to start their relationship totally anew. Hopefully, this provided an adequate ending. Still can't believe this amazing project is finally finished...

I won't lie, it is a little tempting to write an 'alternative timeline' of sorts, where Gil doesn't forgive his friends. I'm not entirely sure, though, since a story like that is going to end on a sour note no matter what, and I tend to hate sour endings because they often make me wonder 'why did I get invested in this story, again?', but it's on the table. No guarantees from me, though. I'm just glad that this particular story of mine has finally arrived at the finish line!