Foreword: I really had planned on putting this up Christmas Eve, but spending more time with my family than expected made that...not happen. So, my apologies at not getting it up on the date I told some of you I would.
I haven't had a lot of time to revise this chapter, so I fear it's not as clean or concise as it should be...however, it includes what I was planning on including, so I still feel like it works for the holiday update. And as part of my holiday update, I'm having a nearly invisibly short A/N, which works since I don't have any of 47 written to warn you about yet. D:
Disclaimer: I don't own any of Nintendo's characters, though I certainly enjoy playing with them- especially on New Super Mario Brothers Wii! Koopalings, yay!
"..suthi tedring?"
Peach opened her eyes, her vision still blurred. Had she really fallen asleep? "Wha…what did you say?"
"Yuri neh, wouyu lisuthin tedring?"
"I'm sorry," she apologized, sitting up straighter and blinking. The pilot was standing in front of her, his hands behind his back as he waited patiently. "Could you repeat that?"
"Your Highness," he obliged, a little exasperated, "would you like something to drink?"
"Oh," she responded, "a strawberry water would be lovely."
The pilot nodded, turning to Bowser. Bowser's hand was still on Peach's her entire time asleep. "And you, sire?"
"A flaming bub-ulb, please. Make it stiff."
"Who's steering the plane?" Peach asked, a little calmer than most would.
"It's on auto-pilot, Your Highness. Just for the time being."
They were quiet. Peach was straining to remember if she had dreamt, but she must have been too tired. "Bowser, what's a flaming bub-ulb?"
"It's kind of a girly drink," he replied honestly, "but it's amazing."
Fairly soon, the pilot came out with two drinks; Peach's small glass was a faint pink, and Bowser's jug was filled with layers of green, orange, and red liquid with various fruit at the bottom. She watched as he sipped, smacking his lips with satisfaction.
"Stiff enough for you, sire?"
"Just perfect," he approved. Bowser set the jug on the table and looked up at the pilot with a hard stare. "But I'll need it a lot stiffer for the trip back."
The pilot nodded and returned to the cockpit, leaving them alone. Peach stared at her glass of water, swirling it around and watching the strawberry juice try to keep up with the less-dense water. "How long was I asleep?"
"Not very long," Bowser answered. "You kinda whistle when you sleep," he muttered, looking at her adoringly.
"I do?" Peach asked. She smiled. "Usually, Daisy falls asleep first and she snores like a pig. So nobody's told me that."
"Not even Mario?" Bowser asked.
She shook her head. "When we're together, we're always…doing something. There's never time to just sleep. And when we plan relaxation, it usually gets crashed by a certain koopa."
Bowser chuckled, proud of himself for ruining her moments with Mario. "So now you've slept with me twice. Bowser-2, Mario-0." He grinned down at her and she laughed lightly.
"It'll actually be really interesting to see Mario when he's forced to relax. I think we have some quiet planned for this week, and we're far away enough that he won't be able to escape off to adventure." She took a sip of her water and added, "Unless you crash this, too."
"Is that a request?"
She smiled, but shook her head. "I'd love to see you again, but…I think it's important that people stop thinking you're nothing but a menace. And if you ruin our vacation again, no one will ever get to thinking that."
"Hey, that was Junior," Bowser corrected pointedly.
"Nobody sees the difference back home," she muttered. "I really wish they did, Bowser!" She took his hand and squeezed it. "I wish they knew how much of a musical genius Ludwig was, how clever Iggy's plans are, how brilliant Roy and his political schemes are, how sweet Lemmy and Larry can be, how funny Junior is, how dedicated Wendy is, how determined Morton is, how…absolutely wonderful your whole family are." Shaking her head, she added, "They just see them as villains."
"You did too, Peach," Bowser murmured. "You didn't even know I had eight children until this week. And let's not get started on what you thought about yours truly…"
"You're absolutely right," Peach considered. "What changed?"
Bowser shook his head. There was probably a good answer, but he couldn't think of it at the moment. All he could focus on was that Peach, with all her good thoughts about the family at last, was leaving.
"I wish you didn't have to go," Bowser moaned. "It's going to seem so empty at home without you, Peach."
"And I had such a good time!" she agreed. "There are so many things I haven't seen…We still need to play a proper game on your pickleball court-"
"Your pickleball court," Bowser corrected.
She smiled. "Right. And we need to see more of the town, and the palace, and…we never saw that amusement park in the palace!"
"And you missed the little kids on their field trips! And you haven't tried Cookoopa's cherry pie yet, and you haven't bungee-jumped over the central heating lava pool…"
"You bungee-jump over that?" she asked, shocked.
He chuckled. "Of course! It's used to be my favorite thing when I was younger. Roy uses it as a threat all the time…brings up them fools who can't pay him, tie them up, and if they don't call his bluff, he pushes 'em over." Bowser laughed uproarisly. "Their faces! Are hilarious!" He laughed even louder and wiped a tear from his eye. "Then, they start hollering that they'll do anything, anything if Roy just lets them back up." He grins. "Roy hasn't lost a single coin yet."
"And no one ever dies?"
"Nope. That wouldn't help anybody out, now would it?" Bowser suggested.
Peach gave a little laugh and agreed. "You know, there are plenty of things I think you need to see in the Mushroom Kingdom, too."
Bowser waved his hand over the idea, taking a swig from his jug of flaming bub-ulb. "I doubt it. I'm in your kingdom practically once a month."
"But you're only there to wreck havoc! You've never seen the mushroom festival, or the Toadstool Gardens, or the Oink-Oink farm, or the annual Christmas Tree Pageant." She smiled, thinking about her kingdom. "You would love the Dog Days Games. Really, you've got to come watch them next year. Maybe even sign up for a few!"
"Is this an invitation?" Bowser asked, not even bothering to mask his grin.
She laughed at his excitement. "It certainly is! And if you set up a contact, we could probably work it off as a political thing, too. Then maybe ease some of the enemy status Darklands and Mushroom Kingdom have going on."
"My delegates would love that. You have no idea," Bowser murmured. He considered all the meetings he had missed, and even more, the ones he hadn't. Years of excuses would finally be finished; and on better terms than anyone expected from him!
"It's the least I could do. I did a lot of bad judging on my part, Bowser. I wish there was a way I could make it up to you."
He shook his head, brushing her hair with a free hand. "Peach, you've done more for my happiness this week than I think I've ever had. There's really nothing else you could do."
Regardless, Peach didn't quite agree. Did one week of being nice to Bowser really compensate for a lifetime of hatred and avoidance? Just because she was there for his birthday, did that mean anything more? He had been sweet, funny, strong, loving…she'd grown a soft spot for the Koopa King and she felt terrible that all she had to show for it was a week of memories and a torn piece of bejeweled fabric. Of course, he hadn't helped her out any with birthday gift suggestions. All he'd asked for was her happiness during that week. Well, that and…
Peach looked down at her hands, one holding a hopeful glass of strawberry water, one clutching Bowser for dear life. She honestly didn't want to leave, she really didn't want to trade up a funny, loving, sweet, Bowser for…Mario.
Comparing the two, her plumber semi-boyfriend seemed seriously lacking. Certainly, Bowser had some major flaws he needed working on. He was rude, crass, socially awkward, tyrannical, juvenile, and boorish to name a few, but he loved Peach and did everything he could to show it. It was obvious Bowser would do anything for her, and wanted nothing but to marry her and spend the rest of time making her happy.
Mario, by contrast, seemed like a perfect man. He was polite, quick, strong, appreciated her food and preferred to listen, and he was the bravest human Peach had ever met. But never once had Mario expressed that he loved Peach, or that he would be willing to slow down his life so they could be together. He had put off marriage (as well as vacation) as long as he seemingly could, and paid most attention to Peach when he was saving her from someone else's clutches. Peach laughed to herself. Bowser would rather die than let someone capture me even once.
She looked over at Bowser, now staring out the window. The clouds were beginning to clear and there was land below them for him to inspect. "What are you thinking about?" she asked.
"Honestly?" Bowser asked with a smirk. Peach nodded. "I was thinking that it would be AWESOME if a giant chain-chomp just tore up all those fields…ka-chunk, ka-chunk, ka-CHOMP…and then there was nothing but giant valleys and all the cows would get stuck at the bottom."
Peach laughed and laced her arm around Bowser's bicep. "I should learn to think like you."
Bowser nuzzled the top of her head, doing all in his power to keep from kissing her and scaring her away. "No, you should stay exactly the way you are. That's why I love you."
"But Bowser…" Peach looked up at him innocently.
"What?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
"If the chain-chomps are the ones making the valleys, why don't they eat the cows?"
Bowser rolled his eyes. "Vegetarian chain-chomps, Peach. Why else would they eat fields in the first place?"
xxxx0o0o0o0o0o0o0xxxx
"That one! Get that one!" Daisy cheered, leaning forward between the two front seat in the Mario brothers' truck. "Aaah, Mario, you missed it!"
"I would-a not-a have fit!" he replied, driving on for the next parking spot. "The truck is-a too big." He cranked the wheel to try and fit between a station-wagon and a cloudcar, but Luigi screamed in protest. He hadn't seen and had almost crushed a small, koopa-sized motorcycle. "Mamma mia," Mario muttered, "This is-a why I prefer the warp-pipe."
They pulled back out of the spot and, in a reasonable amount of time with an unnecessary amount of grumbling, found a parking spot in the parking terrace. They hopped out and worked as a team, carrying as many suitcases between them as possible. "Remind me why we didn't bring a castle-worker to help bring these in?"
"It was-a your idea to keep-a them home, Daisy!" Luigi groaned, wobbling under the weight of four stacked bags.
They managed to get the suitcases to a trolley, everyone's mood lightening considerably with the likewise lightened load. They pushed through the grand doors, entering the sparkling, high-ceilinged atrium of the airport. "I do love the Toad Town airport," Daisy whispered. "It feels like home. There's the baggage check!" They pushed the trolley over to the grinning Toad behind the desk.
"Good afternoon, sirs and madame. An' how kin I help y'all?"
"We have a flight we'd like to check our baggage for and get boarding passes printed out, please…it's the A17 Mushroom Air, 12:45 to Grand Canal."
"No problem there. Kin I have some identification?" On command, the three of them pulled out licenses and ID's. She checked them in, tuttering to herself as she clicked around the computer.
"Naow donch'all have the cutest names I've ever read! 'Mario Mario', what a thrill ter say!"
Mario looked awkwardly from Luigi to Daisy. "Have-a…have-a you not heard of us? The…the Super Mario Brothers, you know? We…we save-a princesses."
She bit her lip. "No, cain't say I hayve…oh, wait just one minute!" She slapped the counter. "I hayve heard of y'all! I saw y'all on the news once 'er twice." She grinned and began to check in their luggage as the boarding passes printed. "Pleasure to meet local heroes."
When Toadsworth's vans pulled up, he led a train of toads into the airport, marching over to Mario, Luigi, and Daisy. Just as Toadsworth reached them and opened his mouth to chastise their lack of care for his nerves, the baggage-check toad squealed.
"Naow you I recko'nize! Yer Toadswarth!" She bent down and picked up a signed copy of a book entitled, What to do When Bob's Not your Uncle. "Is' my fav'rite book! What're you here for, sir?"
Taken completely aback, he was too distracted to yell at Mario, Luigi, and Daisy. "Well, madam, I was just going with these spiffy blokes to pick up the lady Princess from her aeroplane to give her and they a proper send-off for holiday. Mind if you patch me through to the gates?"
"Well, that would be just dandy! Do y'all have a boarding pass? Can't letchu through to the terminal without a boarding pass."
"You're printing out ours," Daisy replied, motioning to the brothers and herself.
"Don't mean to be a bother, but we haven't any tickets…we're not going on holiday with them. We just came right by to drop them off, y'see. But we do have Federal Passes to get through security checkpoints…will that do?"
"I'll let it slide, Toadswarth," she agreed with a wink. "But only cause I like ya!"
They got past security, Mario and Luigi sort of grumbling about the situation, and Toadsworth genially leading his security team and the caterers through. At the terminal, the board with arrivals and departures shone down at them. As Toadsworth's reports had said, all nine flights scheduled to arrive within the hour were on time, except the blizzard at Gorilla Glacier had delayed the flight by one hour; still enough time for Peach to make a connecting flight.
"The terminal has only 20 gates. From this viewpoint we can see all nine Peach may come from, including the two private jetlines. Heff, do you have the chairs?"A bulky toad grunted a response, wheeling a cart of chairs over and taking them out. "Good show. I'm afraid there's naught left to do…but wait." He sat politely on a chair and a toad dressed like a waitress brought him a cup of tea. "And, of course, lecture you three on your complete disregard for my authority."
"In case you haven't noticed," Daisy muttered, "I have more authority in my pinky-finger than you."
"This is not an issue of Sarasaland authority, Princess," he retorted. "This is an issue regarding the Princess Peach, her safety, and the assimilated security of the Mushroom Kingdom. Of which subjects I have supreme authority over, and do not bally well appreciate your usurping!"
"Princess Peach is my cousin, and in the situation that her father and she lose authority, after my father, I have been given right as dauphin!"
"Oh, don't disillusion yourself," Toadsworth sneered, "That was years ago. This bloody plumber has more apt to rule a country than you do; let alone two!"
"She trusts me! And I trust her! You're the one who can't let her leave your sight for two seconds, and every single time you do, she disappears. Have you considered, Toadsworth, that maybe she's leaving you on purpose?"
"Why, you insolent little mandrake!" He hollered, standing up and spilling his tea. "What're you insinuating? That she chooses to get kidnapped? You think you could do a better job o' protecting her?"
"I certainly could! If you gave her one inch of space, maybe she'd learn-"
"One inch of space and she'd be bally dead!"
"Mamma Mia," Luigi voiced, tentatively looking at Mario. "They're going at-a eachother like-a cats and dogs."
Daisy towered over Toadsworth, yelling into his up-turned face as he spat into hers with over enunciation. They didn't stop until Heff T. forcibly lifted Toadsworth away from the princess. "Sir," he grunted, "You need to stop fighting. A plane just landed."
"Err, wot?" He muttered, uncurling his tense position and looking at his carrier. "Which one?"
"Do you think it's Peach's?" Daisy asked, breathing heavily to calm herself from the bought.
"Just as much of a chance as the others," Heff replied. "She can't answer her phone while in the air, so we won't know until she walks through a gate."
After being set down, Toadsworth brushed himself off and retrieved his cane. He led the group towards the blinking gate, a plane coming in from Yoshi's Island. They were all hushed as they saw the giant airliner touchdown in all its green-with-white-spots glory. After just a few minutes, the gate opened and the passengers, mostly yoshis and shy-guys, poured out to greet family and find luggage. Peach wasn't with them.
The group gave a collective sigh, and Toadsworth moved to peer over one of his assistant's shoulders. "The next flight is scheduled to arrive in ten minutes, sir," the toad said, answering an unspoken question. He dramatically crossed off "Yoshi's Island" from his list and tapped "Private Liner #1" with the pen.
"Hey-a, Daisy," Luigi said, taking her hand. "Is there something the matter?"
"What do you mean?" She asked, sitting down on one of Heff T.'s chairs.
"You seem…uptight. Angry, with-a Toadsworth."
"I guess I'm just worried." She looked at Luigi and glanced at Toadsworth, who was doing a poor job at pretending to not eavesdrop. Quieter, she continued, "I don't think there's anything wrong with Peach, and I think she's perfectly safe. But it is pretty odd to not know when she's coming, who she'd just been with, where she's spent the week…For heavens sake, she doesn't even know you and I are joining her and Mario on their trip. It's like we've stopped being friends for a week.
"I think, really, I'm mostly worried that this…could be our future. You and me doing our thing, she and Mario doing theirs…face it, Luigi; once Peach is queen, Mario won't be plumbing anymore. And she won't have time for her cousin."
"Don't think like-a that, Daisy," he cooed. "Mario and I are inseparable. You and Peach are even more-a so. This week, to me, only proves that even-a more."
Toadsworth stood up and approached Daisy, and though she was sitting, he was still barely eye-level. "Princess Daisy," he began, "I must offer my sincerest of apologies. I did not mean to begin a row with you…I suppose we both have just a tad too much on our plates at the mo'. Having your forgiveness would be absolutely brilliant."
"I guess fighting with a little mushroom shrimp right before I leave wouldn't be the best thing, would it? Dad would hate the poor tabloid publicity… 'Sarasaland Princess Flees the Continent After Lovers' Quarrel' or something."
"'L-Lovers' Quarrel'?" Toadsworth repeated with a bit of a stutter of shock. "I am in no way, nor shall I ever be, your lover, your highness! That position has been taken by the bloke in green bobbing his way over there!"
"And that's what makes it into the tabloids, Toadsworth," she winked. "Now shut your jaw- there's another plane coming in."
xxxx0o0o0o0o0o0o0xxxx
In Bowser's private jet, the seatbelt light dinged on and the pilot reminded them that they were beginning their descent. Peach immediately gripped Bowser's hand like a vice.
"Geez, Peach, what's the deal?" he asked. "You're not afraid of flying."
"Oh…sorry…" she released her grip, and immediately Bowser regretted his question."I guess I'm still worried to go home."
"Why should you be worried? You get to see your friends, your family…everybody loves you." Really, he thought, nervous was the wrong emotion completely. Absolutely horrified to leave would be more acceptable.
"I don't know!" She answered, jittery. "Maybe I'm more worried that everyone will instantly know what happened this week."
"That you spent it with your sworn enemy?"
"More that I enjoyed spending it with my sworn enemy," she replied. Bowser grinned back evilly. "I feel like I'll get off the plane and Toadsworth…because I'm sure he's there waiting right now, probably with half an armada… he'll just see in my face that I've been off enjoying myself with the person on the bottom of his list of possibilities."
Peach began to talk faster and faster, playing with her gloves and spinning her hair. She seemed very worried, more than she had all week. Was she thinking it would be hard to leave? Difficult to spend some time without his family and among her own? Because if that was her only worry, she clearly didn't realize how much Bowser was dreading the near future. Life without Peach was hard enough when he was only lacking her complaints. Now that he knew how happy they made each other from experience, he couldn't stand even considering if she was gone.
"…and I don't know the first thing about steering a gondolier!" she shrieked. "How am I supposed to get by without knowing anything about steering gondoliers? Oh, um…I mean gondolas. With an 'a'. Steering a gondolier would be a completely different issue." She laughed uncomfortably and looked Bowser's face over. "Oh, my gosh. What am I doing? We're about to land and all I can do is complain about a vacation that you're not even invited to."
"I don't mind," Bowser lied. "As long as you're talking about something. It's nice to hear your voice."
"Still! You've been so good to me this week, and all I've done for you is…" awkwardly, Peach bit her lip, she caught his eyes and her eyes moved down his face. Even Bowser felt awkward before she tore her attention away and started going on about flaming bub-ulbs and strawberry water.
"Peach!" Bowser roared lightly, grabbing her hands and her attention. She looked like a deer in the headlights, and swallowed her words. "Stop being so nervous. You're going to be fine…you'll get off the plane, see Toadsworth and Mario waiting for you, exchange some hugs, and get on the plane to Grand Canal. Everything will be fine. I wouldn't be surprised if Mustached-man was so conceited as to completely ignore the fact you've been gone all week, and Toadsworth will be too happy to see you alive to care at least until you're an ocean away. There's nothing to be worried about."
"But I-" her mouth hung open and as her eyes hung on Bowser's resolute expression, she quickly closed her lips. There were evidently more protests behind them, but for whatever reason, she didn't want Bowser to hear any.
In Peach's awkward, forced silence, the plane touched down on the runway. The pilot's voice came over the speaker, announcing that "there are no available jetways at the moment, as this is a popular time for the airport". In effect, the plane drove around in lazy circles, waiting for the four planes that had landed previously within the hour to take flight or get out of the way.
"Well, Peach," Bowser sighed, "are you about ready to get off?"
"No!" she squeaked, wringing her hands. "I can't get off yet!"
"Umm…will you be ready when we get to a jetway? I mean, if you want to stay on the plane and just go back to the Darklands, that's totally cool with me, but I thought-"
"I'll get off soon, but I'm not ready yet! I'm not brave enough. There are…prerequisites to my departure!"
"If I didn't love you so much, I would think you were crazy sometimes, Peach," Bowser laughed. "I think your voice has reached a decibel that only soul-mates and dogs can understand."
She laughed way too loudly, immediately covering up her mouth with her hands. Her eyes raced to Bowser's mouth again, then she abruptly shifted in her seat to face forward.
The plane came to a stop and the seatbelt light turned off. With a great deal of whirring, the stairs that built into the wall descended, setting nicely on the jetway and pointing towards its corner. When Bowser strained his ears, he could just barely hear the sounds of the Toad Town airport, but there was no way they could ever see the goings-on or hear their conversations.
The pilot came to the cabin, bowing politely to the royalty. "I trust you have some final goodbyes; as such, I will be attending the luggage in the rear of the plane. It'll be easier to check it to the Grand Canal connecting flight if I do it by hand. You never can trust those airport employees, you know." He walked over to Peach, and she stood up much too fast, gripping his hand fiercely. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness. I hope we see each other again someday."
"Goodbye!" she squeaked in response, pulling her hand out of his and squeezing it nervously.
Bowser watched the pilot leave, then turned to Peach. "Peach, is there really anything wrong? I don't want the last time I see you to be so…weird."
"I'm sorry," she muttered. "It's just…" Peach visibly relaxed as she looked at Bowser's eyes, as opposed to his mouth. His deep, dark eyes connected with hers and he felt goosebumps. "Have you ever felt like you got a really good idea, but then it was almost too late? Like you could finally repay everything you needed to, but you might not have the guts or means to do it?"
"Um…I guess. But I usually make sure there's no such thing as 'too late', and I try to make sure I have plenty of guts to spare for everything I do." He smiled at her, and she gulped. "Is that why you've been crazy? You got some awesome idea?"
"I guess you could say that…" she replied. "I don't know how awesome it really is. It just feels important to me. And if I go through with it, it's probably the craziest thing I've done in my life."
"Are you gonna hijack the plane while the pilot's gone and fly us to an exotic island?" Bowser asked, his eyes lighting up.
Peach laughed- her normal, tinkling, comfortable laugh. "No, Bowser. Not that crazy."
"Does it involve you getting off the plane?" She considered it for a moment, then nodded. Honestly disappointed, Bowser tried to hide his sigh with a loudly placed, "well then! Let's get you off this plane."
"Bowser…" Peach stalled, "Can't I get…a goodbye hug?"
He grinned and squeezed her as tightly, yet gently, as he could. It was more platonic than he would have liked, but if they could leave on friendly terms, it was light-years better than the awkward feelings that Peach's epiphany had apparently been causing.
They pulled apart and Bowser smiled down at her. She looked back up, her expression hard, but much more pleasant than it had been, as if she had decided on fulfilling that crazy epiphany. She took his hand and they walked to the stairs that would separate Bowser and Peach for however long they needed to be separated.
She let go of his hand and took a step up on the stairs. "Bowser," Peach muttered, slowly turning around to face him. Peach looked into his eyes; with the help of the stair, they were almost eye-level.
"What?" he asked, still quite close to her.
"Before I go…"
He started to repeat the "what", but was quickly cut off as Peach took his chin in her gloved hand. Blood pulsed through his veins and he lost all ability to form that simple, one-syllable word.
Using his chin as a fulcrum, she pulled herself up on her toes, and pulled Bowser down to meet her. She closed her eyes and kissed him, throwing her other arm around his neck. Bowser was in complete shock, and every sense seemed to be in overload. He couldn't fathom what was happening; he couldn't convince his brain that he was actually kissing Princess Peach. There was too much joy and excitement going on to comprehend anything at all.
She was holding on tight, to the point where one shoe slipped out from under herself, but Peach didn't notice or care about the reaction. She kissed him again, and finally felt his hand find her side, keeping her steady where her own arms may fail. Peach's eyes were closed, but they seemed to be rolling back into her head as every emotional overload she'd had that week came pouring out. She kept kissing him, but sense started to hit her like a sledgehammer as her other shoe starting to lose its footing.
Peach's lips smacked away from Bowser's as she fell back onto her heels and released his arms; he instinctively released her as well. She stumbled backwards a few steps, her face quickly flushing a tulip pink. Awkwardly, she turned around and made it to the corner of the jetway, dangerously wobbling the entire short walk, before she turned around.
Bowser was quivering in place as he saw her leave, unable to even realize he had a goofy grin plastered on his face. She had her own smile, shamelessly displaying her school-girl embarrassment. At last returning to her original sentence, she giggled, "Happy Birthday," then stumble-ran out of Bowser's sight and down the rest of the jetway.
Bowser stood there in the doorway, staring down the vacant jetway for a few minutes before the pilot returns. He may have said something to wake Bowser from his daze, but it didn't matter- he was in his own world.
Feeling began to return to the control of his brain, though his heart was still beating loud enough for the koopa king to hear and his burning and blushing cheeks couldn't settle down his smile.
Once he had control of his hand, Bowser brought a finger up to his lips, that sacred place where Peach had given him the birthday present he'd wanted his whole life. He found them, not nearly as rough as usual and definitely pulsing with blood. He took his finger off and looked it over…there was fresh, pink lipstick residue. Evidence of heaven.
He looked at his finger and licked his lips, still able to taste a bit of Peach.
Author's Note: Merry Christmas, and have a safe remainder of your holidays.
-Razzi
EDIT: So...It seems not having anything to warn about for 47 was a poor choice on my half. At least half of my reviews seem to give the impression that a lot of you think/thought this is the LAST chapter of Change of Heart. That is completely untrue... I'm sure it would make a good ending, but it doesn't satisfy me. The story is going to be continued and you can expect an update next month, as usual. Trust me, when we get to the end, I won't be able to leave you guys with a one sentance A/N. I would rather explode.