Foreword: We're not discussing how this ended up being tragically late again. That's too depressing for me. I equate it to not wanting to finish.

This chapter features the lovely Mama and Papa Mario, and even though all anyone knows of them is that they have great taste in shoes from Yoshi's Island, I LOVE writing them. But, like everything else in this story, I don't own them.

Waking up in a vaguely unfamiliar room was always more pleasant of an experience for Daisy than Peach. The room around her, blurring into view, was just as ornate and golden as she was beginning to remember, especially with the Grand Canal sunset coming in through the window. She turned her head out the window and saw Peach's silhouette framed against the rose and golden light. She was out on the balcony, leaning over the canals below, and had apparently been very busy while Daisy napped.

Daisy climbed off the bed, both the sheets and her dress considerably more wrinkled than they were a few hours ago. She ran her fingers through her hair, fixing the tangles with one hand and adjusting her dress with the other. Then she began a quick walk around the room. Peach's bags, all of them, were empty. That seemed rather overkill to unpack, seeing as she wouldn't be needing at least half the clothing, but her bags looked charming stacked and sitting in the corner.

After opening the glass sliding door, Daisy joined Peach outside. "I see you made yourself at home."

"I didn't unpack any of your things. If I'm remembering correctly, you like to just work out of your bag anyway."

Daisy nodded. "It makes packing up to go home so much easier."

"How was your nap?" Peach asked, changing the subject.

"Fantastic," she sighed. "You have got to try these beds out."

Peach laughed. "I will, don't worry."

"If you don't mind me asking…why did you unpack all your things?"

"Because last week, all my things were unpacked. The attendants took care of it for me, and I felt so…at home there. I think that attributed a lot to that."

"So you wanted to feel just as at home here?"

"If possible," she muttered, "that would be ideal."

"Speaking of which," Daisy began with a clever grin, leaning on the banister, "where was this home from last week?"

"Um…you sure we don't need to…uh…go to dinner right now?"

"Not yet, Peachy. Luigi said he'd come get us when it was time to go."

"When did he say that?"

"It doesn't matter; stop trying to change the subject. Where were you? Come on, Peachy, you can trust me!"

"Can I?" She asked quietly.

"Now that's hurtful," Daisy asked with a fake sob. "Seriously, Peach. You know you can tell me anything."

Peach had been bursting to tell anyone…absolutely anyone what she had been doing the past week. She wanted to relive every single detail out loud, just to remind herself that it was real, that it had been enjoyable, and that it wasn't just some weird dream. She wasn't so sure she wanted anyone's opinion on it, seeing as they would all tell her that she should stay far, far away from Bowser and everything connected to him, or that she was crazy for thinking he was charming in the least. She had almost called up the chauffeur, since he couldn't talk back.

But now that Daisy was here, begging for the truth, Peach didn't care so much about the negative opinion part. She just wanted to tell the world that she had been with Bowser, considered him a friend, and wanted to be back there with him and his family right at that moment.

She especially wanted to yell and scream about their kiss.

"You have to promise you won't tell a soul."

"You're actually going to tell me?"

"Not Luigi, especially not Mario, not Toadsworth …oohhhh if you tell Toadsworth, you're dead, I swear… not-"

"Peach, I get it. I won't even tell my stuffed Goomba. Let's go inside so no one hears you out here."

"Good idea!"

"Are you also going to tell me why you were so crazy at the airport?"

"Baby steps, Daisy," Peach laughed. They went inside, with Peach locking the door behind them. She shut the blinds, closed the curtains, ran to the door and peered through the peephole, tapped on all the mirrors, and ran a hand over all the picture frames. The procedure took her a well-practiced 45 seconds, but that was enough for Daisy to laugh whole-heartedly at her paranoia.

"I guess this is a really good dish then?"

"It would take you years to understand." She motioned to the uncomfortable looking (but surprisingly soft) sofa, and the cousins sat down. Peach took a deep breath and looked squarely at Daisy. "I need to you believe me when I say that I was very happy and very in control of my situation the past week. I was in no way desirous to be rescued or leave my locale…at least not after the first few days."

Daisy had so many questions already, mostly from the crazy look in Peach's eyes. But she kept silent and let her continue with the disclaimer.

"I left the castle last week with the intention to go on a secret vacation away from the knowledge of anyone at home. However, I did not have an intended location. I completely planned on showing up at the airport and buying tickets for whichever exotic arrival airport I was most conveniently timed for. However, my plans were thwarted and…my taxi cab…Daisy, you can't tell anyone any of this."

When Peach didn't continue, Daisy crossed her heart. "I swear on my life, Peach. My lips are sealed if you say so."

"Good," she breathed. "My taxi cab…was hijacked by a few of Bowser's children."

"What?" Daisy howled, scampering away from Peach on the sofa. "You were kidnapped?"

"Not exactly!" She begged in response. "Daisy, you said you'd listen to me! You have to keep listening!"

She took a few steady breaths, reminding herself that Peach was sitting on the same sofa as her, and thusly must have come out of the situation alright. Besides, the look in her face begged for so much understanding, it seemed outright cruel to fear the rest of the story. "I'm sorry, Peach. Keep…keep going." She sat closer to Peach again, still wary.

"The koopalings, Bowser's eight children-"

"Eight?"

"I know, I was surprised, too," Peach laughed.

"Who would have children with him? Eight times?"

"Hey, now," Peach wasn't laughing. "Let me…let me finish this."

"Okay, okay," Daisy apologized, finding Peach's hard glare a little unsettling, considering the subject matter. "His eight children…"

"They technically kidnapped me, without their father's knowledge, and took me to the Darklands. Once I got there, I was allowed to go back home, but…I chose to stay. Mostly for diplomatic reasons."

"So…you've been staying in the Darklands all week? The secret and rumored nonexistent homeland of your mortal nemesis and frequent kidnapper?"

"Um, yes." She answered simply, looking nervously out the window. "But you can't tell anyone quite yet. I just really wanted to get that off my chest."

"And you don't see anything wrong with that? You see nothing wrong with hiding in Bowser's homeland for an entire week without your security team having the slightest clue? Without your boyfriend, or best friend, or your father knowing?"

"To my benefit, I really did want to tell you once I arrived, but reception there is terrible." Peach felt a smile, remembering one of her earliest conversations with Wendy. "And everything obviously ended up okay."

Daisy couldn't seem to do much more than nod at the moment. This was…not the vacation she had expected Peach to retell. A controversial vacation on a topless beach, a questionable relationship with a peasant in some desert, a dangerous excursion through snowy mountains…those all seemed so much more likely and, at the moment, paled in comparison. But no, Peach was in enemy territory, doing what seemed like political and therefore dangerous work, and felt safe enough to keep it a secret. "Why did you stay so long?"

"Because I…" Peach faded off. She wasn't ready to tell Daisy the extent of her stay, even if she wanted to. And more importantly, Daisy didn't look ready. "That's a longer story."

She nodded. Daisy's eyes were unfocused as she processed the information.

"Dayz? Are you okay?"

"Just…surprised." She looked up at Peach. "Why would you put such a huge personal risk on yourself? On your life?"

"It wasn't really a risk. Bowser loves me too much to let anything happen to me in his territory. I was safer there than I ever am at home."

Her head had snapped up when Peach said "loves", and now her expression changed from the previous look of shock to one of disgust."Yeah, because you can't kidnap someone who has already been kidnapped," Daisy sneered. "And why are you so comfortable saying he loves you? How do you even know for sure?"

She blushed, having forgotten that it wasn't common knowledge. "It's…I just know he loves me now. For sure. It's kind of basic information in the Darklands."

Daisy stood up, running her hand through her hair. She made a lot of odd grunting, sighing, and clicking noises, as if unsure of even what word she wanted to form first. Finally, she sat down again, this time on the bed. "This is so crazy!"

"Trust me," Peach laughed, "it's even crazier for me."

"That's the thing. This maybe wouldn't be so weird to me if it was Mario, or Birdo, or even myself going off. But you're always so…not crazy, or spontaneous, or dangerous."

"It was exactly what I needed," Peach agreed. She thought about how much she'd grown from the week, especially living as a nearly unrecognizable citizen. And the fantastic attention she'd received from the one who loved her. "More than I ever imagined." She laughed, perfectly content in her own memories.

Daisy looked into Peach's eyes, lit with stars, even if they were once again unfocused. She let go of her confusion at Peach's change in character, and Daisy smiled. "I can tell, Peachy. I'm glad you went." She walked back to the sofa and took her hand. "And I can't wait to hear more about this secret week that keeps stealing you back from the present."

Peach looked at her with an unchanged smile. Her hair was curling around her face, making her look even younger than normal, and all the more innocent. "I can't wait to tell you. Just not yet. But for now…do you want me to help unpack anything?"

Daisy laughed and squeezed her hand. "Let's see if you left me any drawers in the bathroom, shall we?"

"Great idea!" Peach cheered, bouncing up. "You have to see the Jacuzzi and shower in this place. I swear they were designed with gods in mind."

xxxx0o0o0o0o0o0o0xxxx

Mario and Luigi's room looked almost identical to Peach and Daisy's. The only change at first glance was the missing neat stack of suitcases in a corner. Instead, the brothers had their limited number of sturdy, dull bags tossed in the main hallway of the room. And unlike the Princesses, if anyone searched through any drawers, they would find nothing but fresh drawer liners embroidered with the hotel's logo, a fine detail the brothers would most likely never even discover.

What they had discovered, however, was the bathroom fit for deity. Mario was tucked under the sink's U-bend, tapping the pipes and inspecting the fine plumbing, while Luigi tested the various combinations of pressure, location, temperature, and mobility that eight shower knobs offered. "Mama Mia, Mario, would you look at-a this?" Luigi poked his head out of the shower, his moustache and front locks dripping. "If you have-a the highest temperature, the neck-aimed piston lowers in intensity, but everything else keeps fully powered. It-a would prevent burns, si?"

Mario squeezed out from the sink to answer, but just stared at Luigi wide-eyed. "You are-a soaking!"

His brother looked over himself, Luigi's green undershirt sticking to his lean frame and hat sopping over the side of his head. "And-a your point?"

"We're supposed to see Mama and-a Papa! You cannot-a see them like that; Mama would rather die!"

"I did not think of that," Luigi admitted. "I will go and-a change." One by one, he shut off the knobs and the water ran down the marble walls to the grate in the shower's center. Luigi shut the frosted glass and grabbed a plush, white robe to prevent from dripping all over the carpet.

"Be quick. It is-a getting close to dinner," Mario added. He looked to the right; the stained-glass window was filled with bright color as the sun hit in, setting into what was most likely a stunning sunset. Even this bathroom look like a palace, and Mario felt oddly out of sorts when he stood up, surrounded by what was normally familiar equipment in a completely unfamiliar setting. Peach's castle had nothing on the Ca' Shygredo.

He entered their bedroom, hunting for the television set while Luigi peeled off his wet clothes and traded them for a clean set. Mario found the remote, and pointed it at every suspicious hiding spot he could, hitting "power" and praying for a familiar sizzle of the television coming to life. He prodded at cabinets, paintings, and even bare walls before finally finding the television in the mirror facing the beds. It faded from its reflective façade to show some soap opera with characters yelling at each other in rapid-fire Italian.

Mario was just watching long enough to figure out that it was the dubbed version of Shy Guys of Our Lives, and that Jeremy was still lost at sea on his journey to confess his mistake to Clarice. "Have you-a seen this show, Luigi?"

He looked over at the television, his fresh green shirt only half on. "No. Is that…is that an alien wearing those earmuffs?"

"It's a snow-alien," Mario explained. Continuing, he explained, "they only-a have this show in territories occupied by-a koopas or shy-guys, so I only see it when I'm-a in an inn on an adventure."

"Avvincente," Luigi praised sarcastically.

"Hey, you would-a like it, Luigi," Mario assured him.

"I'm-a sure. Also, I'm-a dressed; let's get the girls." The brothers stood up and, after turning the television back into a well-disguised mirror, they left the room exactly the way they'd found it.

After just a single knock, Daisy swung the princess' door wide open. She grinned down at Luigi and Mario, hugging her boyfriend as she exclaimed, "Have you seen our room?"

"Have you seen the shower?" Luigi asked in response.

"I have! It has like a bajillion knobs!"

"Well, only eight, but…"

"So are we ready to go to your parents'?" Peach interrupted, pleasantly.

Mario nodded, and led the group back to the dramatic cage elevator. They piled in, admittedly much more pleasant with each other now that they had rested up. The group chattered the ride down, and Mario led them back through the stunning hotel lobby and out towards the canals. Much like calling a taxi cab, he waved his hand and whistled loudly between his teeth. Promptly, a gondola situated itself next to the group.

"Ciao, my friends," the gondolier shy-guy greeted. He waited for them to get in the boat, and it rocked threateningly from side to side as they found seats. "Where to?"

Luigi pulled a wet and fragile sheet of paper out of his front pocket, replaced after he had changed his outfit. "Four seventy…one… Riga…" he squinted to read the blurry ink, "Rigatuna? Oh! Rigatoni! 471 Rigatoni Canal," he answered.

The gondolier shoved off, letting his boat slice through the water. The sunset sparkled in their wake, and Peach supposed this must be one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Especially considering how clean it was. Bowser wouldn't know what to do with himself here, she mused. There's not a single lick of pollution anywhere.

The ride wasn't terribly long, as the Mario parents were, in fact, just down a few canals. The family home was quite small, nestled against the water with almost no room to stand and, in fact, the gondolier opened the door without a word of permission. Just a few feet down there was another door, this one leading into the actual home. He propelled the boat a few more feet so that the group lined up with the doorway, and patiently waited for his golden coins.

After they paid him and stepped into the small waiting hallway, Mario and Luigi began to be visibly excited all over again. "I have not-a seen Mama and Papa for seven years," Luigi explained to Daisy. "We only get-a the time to write. And most-a residents leave during Party Season." Mario knocked on the door and backed up, nervously gripping Peach's hand. She was suddenly glad they both wore gloves.

There was a gratuitous amount of noise behind the door. Chairs scraped and pots seemed to clash against each other as footsteps made haste towards the door. Italian chatter got louder and louder until they could just hear "Vengo! Vengo!" and "Basta, Adolfo!" from a woman's low voice.

She threw the door open with one hand, her other hand pushing her husband away. Mama Mario had her older son's build; short and stocky with curly, dark hair. She had stunning blue eyes that filled with tears the moment she saw her sons. Immediately, she let go of Papa Mario and started sobbing, throwing herself at Mario and Luigi. "My boys! My boys!" she cried, and added between sobs "Mi sei mancato molto! Molto!"

Realizing she wouldn't blockade him any longer, Papa Mario stepped outside as well. He looked strikingly like Luigi, except he sported a full goatee instead of just a moustache. His eyes were a reddish brown, not unlike his hair. "Scusi, ladies. Mama gets a little overexcited, you know? It is-a…wonderful to meet you. You can call me Papa." He smiled warmly and put out a gloved hand to shake Peach's and Daisy's. "Let's go inside."

They walked past Mama Mario, her sons still captive in her grasp, repeating how she missed them so much. The front room of the Mario home was charming, though a bit overstuffed for two people. It seemed like they'd tried to stuff everything that fit in two homes into this one tiny canal-side house, and, somehow, actually managed to make it look decent.

Papa looked over at his wife and sighed. It seemed like she would never stop crying and smothering his son. A little louder than necessary, he told the girls, "Well, I guess I will-a make you some food to get-a yourself at home. What would-a you like? Mostaccoli? Cannoli? Spaghetti-O's?"

"Adolfo, no!" Mama Mario screeched, moving from her sons to her husband faster than one could imagine such a plump woman would move. She slapped him over the head and scowled up at him, warning, "You stay out of my kitchen! Non per voi! Shoo, shoo!" She pushed him away from the well-loved kitchen, turning her attention to the two girls. "And as for you two…are you hungry?"

Peach and Daisy blinked at each other. Daisy was the bravest, and answered, "Actually, I'm starving."

"Of course you are, you are-a so skeeneey. What do you-a want Mama to cook?" Her warm look changed yet again to a scrutinizing stare-down, as if their answer determined her acceptance of them as potential daughter-in-laws.

Peach looked back at Mario for help, but he and Luigi were still gripping each other and gasping for air. "Um…Mario's told me a lot about your Lasagna…But I know that takes a long time to cook."

Mama seemed pleased with her choice and bustled into the kitchen, chattering away that it was "not a problem at all-a. I can cook you up-a some Lasagna as fast as veloce!" Her voice was soon as hidden as her figure below all the clattering of dishes and ingredients.

"Would she want any help?" Peach asked. She longed for the familiar kitchen, remembering the instant kinship she felt helping Cookoopa and especially the koopalings. If she could get that here, it'd be one step closer to forgetting these thoughts that the Darklands had anything better to offer than her very own friends.

"No, no, signorita. If Mama wants-a your help, you help her. But if she doesn't ask…" He made a funny face, as if years of living with Mama Mario had changed his mind about the reasons why the kitchen was the most dangerous room in the house.

They laughed in understanding about the same time that Mario and Luigi recovered enough from their mother's affection to join them. Papa Mario turned to his boys and smiled. "My boys. Look at you. Vi siete sviluppato così bene!" He put a hand on each of their shoulders. Daisy watched as he looked at them with so much pride and affection, a look so unfamiliar to her that it caused Daisy physical pain. "I would-a hug you, but your sides look to still-a be sore."

They chuckled and nodded. "Papa, we have-a missed you so much."

Their father looked back with that same look. Proudly, he smiled at his sons. "Come- we have many-a stories to hear."

xxxx0o0o0o0o0o0o0xxxx

"Lemmy, get your foot off my face!" Iggy roared, bending over from the weight of his brother. He was acting like Iggy was a ladder, using him shamelessly to try and climb higher up the door. Unhearing, Lemmy's foot just slipped farther down and closer to Iggy's muzzle. "Gerroff! Gerroff!"

Helpfully as he could muster, Morton jump-tackled Lemmy, smashing him into the floor and snarled. "Why can't you hear words, you deaf-do-do? You're like a bat. A deaf, stupid, smelly bat who can't hear 'cuz he's deaf and stupid and smelly like you!"

"Now I can't see," Lemmy complained. He seemed to not care that he was pinned down on the stone floor with a tooth chipped and a kink in his tail. "I wanted to see King Dad."

Without his brother on his face, Iggy extended his height and pushed up. He was still a good few feet from the peep-hole in the conference door, even when he jumped. Once again, he questioned the logic of placing a peep-hole at a height only Bowser and the odd human could see through.

"Watch how a real koopa gets things done, Lemster!" Bowser Junior called, bracing himself to run at the door. He screamed the entire run, making Iggy scream in just as high a pitch and duck into his shell. With only a change of expression from determination to terror, Junior tried to brake his run. However, the momentum was already there and he smashed right into the spiky back of Iggy's shell. He howled in pain and flew up in the air, screaming in terror once again as he began his descent. Junior grappled madly for anything to break his fall, his claws scraping themselves into the decorative grooves of the door. He screeched to a halt, placing his face directly over the peep-hole.

Junior's surprise at his success mingled with the continuing pain from crashing, and he was silent for a few moments. "See?" He finally managed to get out, not daring to move his position to look down at the shocked small crowd of brothers. "Told you I could do it."

"Well? What do you see?" Iggy asked, having come out of his shell and standing by the slowly recovering Lemmy. "Is Dad in there?"

He squinted, getting the best view he could of the now freakishly concave view. "Umm…yeah, I see him!" The group sighed in relief and Junior continued, "He's next to this thing that looks like a bear, and a bunch of koopas. The bear looks angry."

"Is the bear ugly? I bet it's not as ugly as you, Ugly McUggerson. You redefine hideous into ugly as a butt-monkey named Junior who is Ugly!"

"He's not as ugly as you, fart-face," Junior replied.

"Don't make me go over there and tear you apart for bird food!"

"Oh please," Junior scoffed, pleased that no one could see his face as he bluffed. "You couldn't reach me with a ladder, Shortypants."

"Junior," Iggy spoke up, clearly trying to calm them down. "What is Dad doing?"

"I haven't seen King Dad all day," Lemmy complained. "He just disappeared and I want to see him."

"We know, Lemmy," Iggy snarled. "That's why we've been looking for him and asking people where he is."

"Is he in there? Why can't I see him still?"

"Because there's a freaking door in the way! Goll, Lemmy, why do you have to be so slow all of the time?" he roared. Iggy saw Lemmy's face fall and immediately his heart sank. For being one of Lemmy's closest friends, he wasn't being a very good one. They had gotten together to find their missing father, no one willing to admit they actually missed him except Lemmy, and now Iggy was treating him like an idiot when he was the only one smart enough to be honest about his emotions.

"Sorry, Iggy," Lemmy honestly apologized.

"No, Lemmy, I'm sorry." He nudged his glasses to avoid looking at his brother. "That was uncalled for and-"

"Hate to interrupt the Lifetime Movie, but I'm still hanging here, and my claws are starting to hurt," Junior snarled, his face pressed into the door.

"Yeah, Sappy girly boys," Morton grumbled. "Stop being such girly pink frilly boys."

"Okay then, what's Dad doing now?" Iggy asked.

"He's…he's getting up. And now he's shaking the bear's hand, even though he still looks angry. I think Dad's laughing at him? And the koopas are…oh crap the koopas are coming to the door! Get me down, get me down!"

Morton continued to stand there, mocking Junior for resembling an ugly freak on a coat rack, while Iggy and Lemmy ran over to try and reach Junior's feet. "Let go!" Iggy shouted up at him, "We'll catch you!"

"I'm stuck! Really, really stuck! Oww oww oww don't do that!"

"I'm not doing anything!" They kept arguing, jumping around while Junior swung from side-to-side, and Morton laughing in the background. Then, the door swung open, taking Lemmy and Iggy along with it and smashing all three brothers against the wall. Morton just laughed even louder. He fell onto his back, rolling and unable to even form one-syllable insults as he laughed.

The koopas spilling out of the conference room only gave him a passing glance, talking too loudly among themselves to hear the shouts of despair from behind the big stone door. Bowser, however, stopped to stare at his embarrassment of a son. "You look like an idiot, Morton. What are you doing on the floor?"

He tried his best to stop laughing, but once Morton caught his breath and swung himself onto his feet, he saw the door, pressed open against the wall, and lost it again. "Whatever, freak," Bowser muttered. "I have more dumb meetings to go to. You are so lucky your Mama Peach isn't here to see you look like an idiot."

"You're the one talking to someone who isn't sane enough to understand anything you're saying, sire," the bear grumbled, pushing past Bowser's shoulder to get away from the conference room.

"Good point. Maybe you should go talk to your slaves about how much you hate me. Oh wait…you don't have slaves anymore. You don't even have power anymore. And probably don't have friends, either." By now, Morton had stopped laughing and the other sons had used their combined strength to push the door off their backs.

The bear spun around, hatred in his eyes as he growled at the koopa king and lowered himself into a fighting stance. "You wanna go, old man?"

"Normally," Bowser started, walking in the direction and eventually passing the bear, "I would love to shred you into 7,000 finely sliced pieces of fried bear-meat. But I have about seven more meetings to go to before I join my daughter in her slumber party. And you're not worth the detour."

He spun around to face the bear one last time. He opened his mouth, most likely to add some smug insult to solidify his superior manhood, but froze when he noticed Iggy and Lemmy, clutching Junior's legs and yanking him out of the door. Bowser cleared his throat in a manner that immediately got his sons' attention. "Boys, next time you see this over-grown teddy bear, avoid him. Apparently, his stupidity rubs off on you from the other side of the…door." Bowser chuckled and walked off, turning to enter yet another conference room full of people.

Awkwardly, the hallway was now void of everyone but a few straggling and unaware koopas, and the koopalings and the bear. They looked at each other in silence, rage still filling the bear's eyes. "You…uh…you wanna help?" Iggy asked.

Snarling, the bear walked over to Junior and looked at his predicament. He leaned against the wall, eye-to-eye with the youngest koopaling, and grinned, showing off his rows of deadly teeth. "Nobody can help fruitcakes whose father regularly attends sleepovers. As for your...situation? Hang in there." Satisfied, the bear walked off, leaving the brothers in silence. Morton had no insults to add.

It was Lemmy who broke the silence first. He pointed at Junior and shrieked, "Hang in there! Because you're hanging! It was a joke!"

Author's Note: I don't have much to say right now. I'm excited for what's going down next chapter; we get some really interesting discussion on Peach's half of the story, and Shankjam has helped me out with Bowser's half. It should be good all around. :)

And, with the grace of the fanfiction gods, it should be closer to on time.

also, still looking for anyone who may be Italian. I've already slipped up and uploaded a chapter with English "Italian" words, and the whole process would be so much easier and less frightening if anyone knows enough to help out.

-Razzi