Hello, everyone! Well, we've reached the end! Of the "official" version, that is.
To PennyIsAHero, sorry, you're trying too hard this time.
To TawogFanficReader, you're my man!
Anyway, here's the final chapter (the official one). Enjoy!
Chapter 7: A reason to be happy
It was the day before Loraine's fourth birthday. Gumball's shift at the bowling arena for that day had already ended, and he was now at the Elmore mall, trying to find the perfect present for his daughter's birthday.
He still thought about Penny every day, but he had finally found a way to live without her.
He moved on.
At the moment, he was staring through the shop window, trying to find a gift that would leave Loraine thrilled, or at least make Anais jealous of her.
That's when he got the perfect idea. He remembered that Daisy the donkey, Anais' favorite show, was also Loraine's favorite show, and Anais only had one Daisy doll, so he thought about buying, like, a whole box of Daisy dolls.
So he did just that.
Afterwards, he was walking around the store, with a box of Daisy the donkey dolls in his cart, not yet having paid for them. In the back of his mind, he was still unsure just how good of a prank this would be.
Then his cellphone rang.
"Halo?"
"DUDE, YOU GOTTA COME HOME QUICKLY!" It was Darwin, panicking a lot. "IT'S LORAINE!"
"What about her?"
"I CAN'T TALK ABOUT THAT ON THE PHONE, YOU GOTTA SEE IT FOR YOURSELF! COME HOME RIGHT NOW!"
Then Gumball looked at his cart, the box, and decided it was just good enough of a prank.
"No problem," he smirked.
Naturally, Loraine had already learned to walk and to talk. But it was something else that she also learned, that surprised Gumball when he came home.
The house was in a total mess, again. But by now, he had already gotten used to it.
"Dude..." Darwin panicked, gulped, and pointed at the backyard door. "You're not gonna believe this..."
Gumball sighed, rolled his eyes, and went to the backyard. And what he saw there caught him by giant surprise. Unnaturally, Nicole and Anais were standing there, barely even moving, frightened. But that's not what surprised Gumball.
What surprised him was that Loraine was flying!
His beautiful little girl was waving her wings, high off the ground, feeling endlessly happy.
Gumball shed tears of joy.
"Daddy!" Loraine yelled, excited to see her dad. She flew towards him, and the two hugged each other. "What did you get me?"
"Surprise," Gumball whispered.
"What kind of surprise?" Loraine insisted, childishly.
"If I tell you, it's not gonna be a surprise, don't you think?" Gumball said. Then, they both went back inside the house.
Nicole and Anais looked at each other, still frightened.
"We survived!" they both shouted, high-fived each other, and also went inside the house.
The next day, everybody gathered around the dining table, for the gift that Gumball had prepared for his daughter. Loraine was as excited as anyone could ever get.
"Ready?" Gumball asked her, smiling.
"Yes!" Loraine said excitedly. Then, she opened the box. When she saw all the Daisy dolls inside, she was way beyond thrilled. She was rapturous.
"Yaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy!" she said in utter happiness and hugged her dad. "You're the best dad ever!"
"I know, thank you," Gumball said.
Anais stared in complete and utter disbelief.
"You did not do that," she said to him. "You did not do that!"
"Yeah, I did, just yesterday," Gumball quickly responded. Anais just frowned and held her Daisy doll tighter.
As you can assume, all Loraine did all day was play with her Daisy dolls. And she wasn't getting any tired at all until late at night. And of course, just like that, she fell asleep in an instant.
A few days later, in the evening, everyone in the house was getting ready to sleep. So was Gumball. He was still sleeping in the master bedroom, as Nicole chose to keep sleeping on the couch.
At one moment, before going to sleep, Loraine came to Gumball.
"Daddy?" she said.
"Loraine, honey..." Gumball said softly, "shouldn't you be in bed?"
"Can I ask you something?" the little blue fairy said. Gumball noticed something she wasn't feeling alright.
"Yeah...?" he said, slightly worried.
"Well, today in kindergarten..." Loraine began, "...we all had to say something about our moms..."
This was already when Gumball's heart broke. Because he knew exactly where this was going.
"And..." Loraine continued, "...everyone was saying how great their moms are, and fighting whose mom is the best... and I didn't say anything... because I don't have a mom..." she looked at the floor.
Gumball sat on the edge of the bed, not knowing what to say.
"Daddy..." Loraine said, with sadness on her face, "What happened to my mom?"
Gumball didn't know how to tell her. He didn't know how to begin. How to say it in a way that she would understand.
"She..." Gumball began, but it was too hard for him to say it. But he had to say it. "She died." Long silence came afterwards. "I'm so sorry, honey... I..."
But then, Loraine hugged him. As tight as possible. And Gumball hugged her back. They both let out a tear.
"It's okay, daddy..." Loraine said. Gumball felt easier, seeing that his daughter was comforting him. Even though she was just a child, Loraine knew her dad missed her mom. "I'm here with you..." she said. Gumball smiled.
"Thank you..." he said. Then, Loraine thought of something.
"Tell me about her," she said, with a smile on her face. Gumball was genuinely surprised. He didn't know where to begin talking about Penny. He thought about her deeply before he started talking.
"Well..." he began, "...she was wonderful and... sweet and... caring and... lovely... She was just so lovely... I couldn't find anything wrong about her... And she was beautiful... she was so amazingly beautiful... You remind me so much of her, you know..."
Loraine smiled. Then:
"Do you miss her?" she asked him. Gumball sighed.
"Yes," he said, sadly.
There was another long silence.
"Do you think she would be proud of me?" she asked, with another smile on her cute face. Gumball looked at her.
"Yes," he said, without having any second thoughts. "Yes, she would be endlessly proud of you."
Loraine smiled, and hugged her dad again.
"I love you, daddy," she said.
"I love you too, my pumpkin honey," Gumball said back, kissing her in the forehead. "Come on, you should go to sleep now."
Loraine quickly got out of the hug and headed outside the master bedroom.
"Goodnight," she said.
"'Night, honey," Gumball said, closing the door.
Before going to sleep, he did one other thing that was quite of importance to him at the moment. He looked at a picture that was on his night stand. The picture was of Penny of him together. He then, once again, remembered all the adventures he had gone through with Penny. All the bad times, but much more importantly, all the good times, too. He thought about how she made him truly happy. It made him sad that he would never be able to feel that kind of happiness again. Luckily for him, he found a different kind of happiness, in Loraine. The very fact that he still had a reason to be happy was what motivated him to move on. Still, though, it was now his turn to be a semi-responsible parent.
And it was now Loraine's turn to become known throughout all of Elmore, for being mischievous.
Gumball sighed, placed a kiss on the picture, and peacefully went to sleep.
THE END
So, this is the official ending to this fanfic. However, soon, I will also be uploading an alternate ending, the version where - you guessed it - Penny lives. Until then, leave reviews and see you!
