Foreword: Let's not waste time discussing how late this is or the fact that it has taken me an ENTIRE SEMESTER to put out what I consider to be a very sub-par chapter. I can promise you I intend on improving for 50, both in writing and in timeliness, which (happily for my sake) will not be a hard goal to accomplish. I am so, so sorry to all of you who have been waiting for an update and disappointed. It's been killing me. College is more draining on freetime than I ever imagined.

You've waited long enough and I have nothing left to say, except to remind you that I own nothing of Nintendo's and I am so very honestly sorry.

"This movie sucks," Bowser growled.

"Daddy, shush," Wendy snarled back, stuffing more popcorn in her mouth. The entire room of girls had turned their attention to the television, watching intensely as the lanky, dark-skinned reptile looked down at the younger koopa girl, wind tossing her unnaturally long hair.

"They're not even saying anything!" Bowser whined. It was true; this part of the movie seemed to only contain the two star-struck lovers, staring deeply into each other's eyes.

"They're about to!" Wendy shot back in a whisper. Right on cue, she mouthed the words along with the male protagonist.

"I'm so jealous of the wind,"

"But why?" the koopa girl asked back, stepping closer to her beau. He took a step back

"It can touch you, caress you, swirl all around you, and play with your waterfall of hair. There can be no fate worse than ours."

"Because if you touch me, I turn into stone?"

"No. Because every time I can't, my heart turns to stone instead."

The girls in the audience gave a collective sigh, one even lurching out a sob. Bowser groaned, and stood up. "I liked it better when they didn't say anything at all. At least then they weren't repeating various taglines every five minutes." He dipped his slice of pizza into the chocolate fountain, stuffing it in his mouth. In muffled words, he said, "I fought we weren' suppose to wath mothies uhnight ay-way."

"Daddy, stop interrupting. This is a good part."

He swallowed and continued, "Are you kidding? This is the movie's redeeming scene? I thought you said it was a monster movie- I haven't seen a single drop of blood yet."

"It is a monster movie," one of the girls replied. "Jason is a basilisk. But unlike common and incorrect mythology, he doesn't petrify people by looking at them. His eye-contact is just so piercing and breath-taking that you feel like stone. But if he touches anyone, they actually become stone."

Bowser scoffed. "You girls are all dumb. Dumb little girly girls. You even said-" He dipped another slice and stuffed it in his mouth, "we weren' suppose to watch mothies uhnight."

Wendy shook her head. "We're not supposed to until at least three. And it was 3:40 when we started this. It's bad to start them early because people tend to fall asleep."

"I kin see why," Bowser growled.

Ignoring him, Wendy continued, "But we've already had five girls fall asleep, and already frozen bras, painted their faces, given them whip-cream hair-dos, and moved their sleeping bags. We met our quota."

"I think we should go back to those pranks instead of this dumb thing. At least that was fun and more masculine. This is neither."

"The point of sleepovers is not to be masculine. It's like practically the opposite," Wendy snapped. She suddenly froze in fear, looking up at her father's angry look. "Um, why don't we take a walk, Daddy?"

"Yes," he growled, "Why don't we?" Bowser grabbed Wendy roughly by the arm and started storming to the door, his claw frozen on the handle. As of right now, everyone in the Palace that Bowser had yet to blurt his plans to assumed he was off doing something terribly masculine. "Um, actually, let's just sit down and play a game."

"I thought you totally hated sleepover games," Wendy asked.

"You guys play 'Truth or Dare' and the only dares you ever do are things like 'call this boy' or 'drink water out of the toilet'. And that whole 'light as a feather, stiff as a board' isn't fun unless you drop the punk on their head. So yes, I would hate those games." He dragged her over to a mountain of practically untouched board games, except for one missing game of Connect 4. Bowser grabbed a box from the middle of the pile, avalanching all the other games around them and creating a terrible amount of noise, and an even worse mess for the janitorial staff in the morning. "We're playing Battleship."

Finding this punishment much better than whatever Bowser was going to do to her outside, Wendy consented. With the movie going on beyond the destroyed pile of games, they settled into sitting positions and set up the game. Bowser grunted as they put together the frame, "I wish you girls played video games."

"Like a lot of us do, Dad. We just didn't think to have any sent up."

Bowser picked up a lid to his side and looked at his daughter with a scrutinizing gaze. "Instead you requested Trivial Pursuit? Really? What kind of koopa are you, Wendy O.?"

She stuck her tongue out at her dad and started putting pegs into place. "So Dad…why did you let Peach go? Why didn't you, like, kidnap her? I mean, she was totally happy here."

Bowser sighed, putting his pegs in place as well. "That's exactly why, ugly. She was happy…and I thought…I didn't want to ruin that. Now I kinda wish I'd kept her here anyway." He gave a half-smile, and in the mean times found a satisfactory place for his smallest ship.

"Well, I think it was a very…noble thing to do, Daddy. Like a real gentleman."

"It's not something that dumb basilisk would have done," Bowser disagreed with a bemused expression. "He even said he'd rather have Larissa turned to stone than never see her beautiful face."

"But he, like, also said 'no matter how much it kills me, I want you to be able to see the golden sunset, feel the dewy grass, and comb through your luscious hair; even if it's without me.' And even, 'Leave me, Larissa, for how can your true love be one who cannot hold your hand? Let someone else guide you through life and be your supporting shoulder. I would find more joy in your happiness than I could ever find in your sorrow.'"

"That line made no sense," Bowser grunted, adding "G-4".

"Miss," Wendy replied, "And I knew you were watching, Daddy! A-17."

"Miss," Bowser replied, his claws itching to move a piece that she was just one space from hitting. "It's not like there was a lot of other things to do, woman. C-4."

"Hit," Wendy growled. She put a red peg on her cruiser with a dramatic flourish and sigh. "Anyways, what I was trying to get at was that, like, you're doing the right thing, Daddy. Letting Peach choose for herself if she wants to be with you, or if she wants to be an idiot. I'm just…surprised that you actually did the right thing. E-7."

"Miss. You suck at this game, Wendy…not that I'm surprised. This is a game of strategy, brilliance, and swift and total destruction. C-5."

"Miss," Wendy replied, sticking out her tongue. "D-8."

Bowser looked down at his board, terribly upset that Wendy had, in fact, placed a hit on his littlest ship. "Miss," he lied, and as he put in a white peg, Bowser shifted the ship over a space.

"I think it's because Peach is a good influence on you, Daddy."

A pang of guilt hit Bowser, imagining how unamused Peach would be that he was cheating in Battleship. He would give anything to hear her complaints, but since she wasn't here to voice them, he left the little ship floating happily on D-7. "She probably is. But nobody's perfect, I guess. C-3."

"Hit," Wendy groaned, adding another red peg with a dramatic flourish. "Dad, you're so weird."

"I get it from your side of the family, twerp," he replied, giving Wendy a rare smile.

She smiled back, a little too evilly, and answered back, "D-7."

Daisy was still overenthusiastic and talkative the next morning, as they were out on the narrow streets of Grand Canal, window-shopping while the boys attended a private press-conference with a royal family they had previously rescued from harm. The princesses entered stores, often without even really looking hard at the fares they offered, but instead commenting on their own lives.

Peach had a whirlwind of emotions attached to Daisy's euphoria. On occasion, she was absolutely ecstatic for his cousin. She was acting as if Luigi had proposed to her, when in reality, it was a very different dream of Daisy's that had played itself out. She had always teased Luigi that he wouldn't ever have the guts to kiss her for longer than thirty seconds or so, but he had proven her wrong. They made-out, very passionately, for apparently quite a long time. And according to Daisy, they would have kept going if the unfortunate lady in the hallway hadn't starting freaking out at them and their public display of affection. Only then had Luigi realized his embarrassment.

Of course, Peach was also terribly jealous. Daisy had promised Peach earlier that one day, she would fall in love for real. Then she would understand what it's like to kiss so amazing and earth-stopping, she'd want to tell everyone you know all about it. Yes, Peach remembered that promise word-for-word. Because, unlike the passion and excitement of their hands and lips and tongues, Peach actually could relate to that promise, that experience.

And she was so jealous that while Daisy could spend hours relaying and repeating her kiss, Peach was doomed to silence. No one could know that she, too, had experienced a kiss that made the earth stand still, that contained every good thing in the world, and that seemed like it ought to last forever, beyond the collapse of the world itself. In fact, the only reason Peach didn't want to smack the grin right off of Daisy's face was remembering her own grin. Daisy put up with Peach when she was high off her own raging emotions. This was the least she could do.

At one of their rare moments where the girls actually cared about the contents of the stores, Daisy pointed out a fancy hat to Peach. "Look at this! It looks like a peacock exploded-"

"-On a lace nest!" Peach finished. They picked up the techno-color hat, taller than either girl's face and wider than their hips, laughing at it. Peach put it on, and they laughed some more. "Where would anyone wear this?"

Daisy pointed out another woman in the store, looking through the shimmering scarves. On her head was perched an actual stuffed peacock, apparently sweating pearl strands, and resting on a brim of silver shag. "Maybe we should ask her. Is it a party hat?"

"Proof of membership to get into a super-exclusive club?"

"A way to protect yourself from the Mafia?"

"Oh no," Peach denied with a shake of her head. "I think this would be too cruel and unusual for the Mafia."

"Not to mention heavier than cement shoes," Daisy added as she put it on her own head, straightening her back. "What do you think; am I the next Top Model?"

They giggled incessantly, playing their way through the store's hats and other accessories. When a shy-guy entered, sporting a scarf comprised completely of peacock feathers that was so fluffy it hid his already masked face, they had to leave the store to catch their breath.

"So, Peachy," Daisy said as they sat on a bench one of the few dry alleys, "I think we've exhausted my favorite topic of discussion. After the Peacock Club, I mean."

"We have?" She asked in mock surprise.

"At least for the next twenty minutes," Daisy laughed. "I want to hear more about your week being friends with Bowser."

"Well," Peach asked, blushing for some terrible reason, "What do you want to know? I don't…reaaaally want to talk about it in the middle of the city."

Daisy pondered for a minute before answering, "Well we're at least 30 minutes from the hotel-"

"-and by then you'll be ready to talk about Luigi again," Peach finished with a smirk.

"Probably," Daisy laughed. "Here- let's get a gondola. We can talk there and head back to the hotel…the boys will be done with their interview in about an hour anyway."

"We didn't buy anything," Peach complained, but Daisy had already hailed a gondola.

"Ciao, bellas!" the gondolier, a charming little shy-guy, purred. "And-a where are such-a beautiful ladies going to this-a morning?"

"WE NEED," Daisy began, shouting her words slowly and very loudly, "TO GO TO HOTEL CA'SHYGREDO. CA-SHY-GRE-DO. È CHIARO?"

The gondolier chuckeld, looking at Daisy amusedly. "Si, bella. Are you in a rush-a?"

Daisy's face went blank. "Shoot," she muttered to Peach, "How do you say 'no' in Italian?"

"Dayz, I think he speaks English," Peach muttered back. She looked over at the gondolier, who was smirking at the two tourist princesses.

"Of course he doesn't!" Daisy hissed. "Remember our first gondolier? He didn't know a word of English. This guy just knows a few phrases. And I think 'no' is just 'no'." She turned to the gondolier and shouted, "NO. GRAZI."

"Okay, bellas," he replied, chuckling. "Partiamo!" He shoved off from the narrow bank and started them down the canal, warbling an old Italian song as they glided in the middle lane, away from the much faster moving boats.

"Okay Peach; go!"

Peach tried to roll her eyes at Daisy as she perched herself to listen, but just thinking about talking about her time with Bowser made me smile. "Like I told you, he didn't kidnap me. It was…it was more his kids. But Bowser didn't want me to go home, either. So he was doing everything he could to make me feel comfortable. He really loves me, Daisy. He really, really does. And when he's not busy trying to find ways to kill Mario, he's a very fun guy to be around. He's really funny, too. And surprisingly sweet!"

Daisy smiled at Peach, a little annoyed. "Hun, we already had this discussion. I want to hear your story. I want to know how you…realized? Decided?...figured out that Bowser is so…"

"Wonderful?"

"Sure," Daisy laughed. "I would love to hear the story of how Bowser is wonderful."

"Okay, but I just want to make sure you're still okay with this. Remember last night, when you and I were talking about how being friends with Bowser was an ideal change for me?" Peach was awfully fidgety, messing with her skirt and looking from the crooning gondolier to Daisy over and over again. "That's…important. Because I don't want you to think I'm brainwashed or something. This is a real story. And this is real…friend…ship."

"I know, Peach. Just tell your story."

She exhaled and steeled herself before starting. "I had decided to take a solo vacation the night that Mario told me he had other plans last week than our original ones. I figured that, if I just called my own cab and didn't tell anyone until they couldn't stop me, and I was safe the way no one actually believes I can be, everything would work out. I still don't know how, but the koopalings- that's what they call Bowser's children in the Darklands- knew my plan and…intervened. So I fell unconscious in the cab and ended up waking up in a totally strange bed with no service and no memory of what had-"

"Woah, woah woah. You woke up in a strange bed? With no memories and…this is okay with you?"

"Oh dear," Peach muttered, hiding her mouth from Daisy. "That sounds terrible! But it wasn't like that, I swear."

"How do you know; you had no memories!"

"Well, it never occurred to me at the time that it was a…questionable position, but trust me, I know nothing…worse than kidnapping…happened. Trust me." Peach waited until Daisy lowered her guard a bit and then she took a deep breath and continued. "When Bowser normally kidnaps me, he's usually really, really busy. Every once in a while he'll try to woo me or whatever, but it's always…of second importance. He takes Mario and Luigi a lot more seriously than we always think he does, because…well that's not important right now. What is important is this time, Bowser didn't have much to distract him from me. And from his little apology-video-thing that showed up in my room, I could tell he wasn't the same Bowser I'm afraid of. He was…funny."

"Peach, you are all over the place. What apology video?"

Peach sighed as if Daisy's question was an enormous burden. "He wanted me to know that it wasn't his idea to kidnap me. And he was so…flustered." She smiled in a way that was evidently not intentional. "But I certainly didn't like him yet. I was furious!"

In a lot less detail than probably sufficient, Peach described how unhappy she was, how she went to Bowser's dinner because she felt morally obliged, not even mentioning Valkoopy's prodding, but ended up leaving in a total fit and freaking out in her room. "That, you see, was probably the turning point of the week. Well, the first turning point. Probably the most important…well, maybe not the most important, but definitely the most pivitol. It-"

"You're rambling again."

"Sorry," Peach blushed. "What I was trying to say was…that was the moment when I decided to give Bowser a chance, and let us both have a more pleasant week than we would have otherwise. Purely because that was the right thing to do as a princess…but that decision changed…everything."

She described the next day very fondly, all about her tour of the Palace. How she started to see Bowser's sense of humor and the soft center that he hid so protectively. She told Daisy all about his children, lovingly describing their traits, both physical in personality. Daisy had to stop her on nearly all of the eight children from going off in a complete tangent, but Daisy could tell right away- Peach had taken the "Mama" title and latched on to it with as much love as possible. She spent nearly five minutes describing the lights that Bowser showed her, and mostly how close she felt to him at that moment, how she almost forgot all her prejudice, how she almost wanted him to hold her. As Peach retold this moment, she looked almost confused. As if considering the moment out loud gave it more resonance than before. She stopped talking, biting her lip and thinking about the moment and everything it meant.

"Hey! Earth to Princess Peach!" Daisy barked, waving her hands in front of Peach.

"Sorry, I just…I just realized why I had those dreams that night. I…uh…I dreamed about me being with Bowser that night. And it wasn't a nightmare at all. And I never figured out why until now…in fact, that next morning, I just cooped myself up in the room and sat there really depressed until the koopalings came in to get me."

"Why do you think you had that dream?"

Peach looked at Daisy very seriously and said, "I think I was starting to…oh, never mind."

"No!" Daisy shrieked, standing up to jump at Peach. The gondola rocked violently and the gondolier spun around to glare at them. Sprawled over her cousin, Daisy flashed an apologetic grin over her shoulder. "Scusi," she said and fumbled back to a sitting position. "This is a discussion, Peach. You do not say 'never mind' and get away with it."

But she didn't want Daisy to mind. Peach wished with all her heart that she hadn't said anything because how was she supposed to admit that she had considered herself to be falling in…no. It wasn't that. That moment was just…the start of their friendship. Their forbidden friendship. "I was starting to become his friend," Peach finally finished. "And that's not supposed to happen, so I felt guilty."

Although not entirely satisfied, Daisy sighed for Peach to continue. "Like I said, the koopalings had come to get me. Apparently, Bowser wanted us all to go on a family picnic. It was really fun, but the important part was that was where he first told me he loved me. I was completely shell-shocked. Not surprised, really, even though I honestly hadn't considered it before. But somehow, I already knew that he loved me, deep down. So I told him."

"Told him what?"

"That I knew that already. I just said 'I know'. It…became my crutch. It was an easy way to reply to Bowser whenever he said he loved me…which, by the way," Peach started to grin and curl up, holding her knees close to her face, "he said a lot."

"And that's all you ever said back?" Daisy asked, glaring at Peach's nods. "You never…elaborated? Told him how happy you were to be his 'friend'? Or that you liked him more than you used to?"

"I said those things," Peach said, a little quietly, "but yeah, I only ever really replied with 'I know'. It was easier."

"Easier than saying what?"

"I don't know," she snarled back. "At least it was honest! Now, if I can continue my story…" The gondolier had, at this point, reached the hotel. Grateful, they paid him and headed into the Ca'Shygredo, up to their shared room. All the way, apparently no longer caring about those who may eavesdrop, Peach continued to tell Daisy about her week.

She described Bowser's brief history of his relationship with his dead wife, told Daisy all about running into him in the hallway and how ridiculous she felt, like a high-school girl asking someone to Ladies' Choice. When she told Daisy about Bowser's hints about his ideal gift and how awkward she felt, Peach's childish grin had become so contagious Daisy actually squealed for her.

"By now, we were totally friends. But not buddy-buddy friends. The kind of friend you get so excited to see, you can't sleep. And when you do see them, your stomach gets into this ridiculous knot and you can't think of anything to say, no matter how many times you rehearsed it before. But then you start talking, and you start touching, and everything is as smooth and warm as butter on a mushroom roll."

"And exactly how many friends do you have like that, Peach?" Daisy laughed.

Instead of answering, Peach just blushed some more. They both sat on Peach's bed, bouncing up and down when she told her about teaching Bowser how to play Pickleball and sitting for hours at the dinner table, just talking. Peach kept using words like "gentleman" and "charming" and "wonderful", words that, if Daisy hadn't heard the context, she would promise could never describe Bowser. But according to Peach, they did, and apparently better than any other words in the language.

Right at the beginning of telling Daisy about Bowser's birthday breakfast, Peach stood up. "I have to show you my ball gown!"

"Your what?"

"My gown- I didn't bring one, but they had one made for me, and it is the prettiest gown you will have ever seen ever!"

Instead of asking to see it once Peach got to the pertinent part of the story, Daisy simply said, "You have it with you and haven't shown it to me yet?"

Peach giggled and pranced over to her closet. Easily separating the nearly identical dresses to the shimmering custom gown, she pulled its hanger off the rack and spun, right along with the dress, towards Daisy again. "Isn't it gorgeous?"

"Oh, Peach!" Daisy cooed, standing up and clasping her hands. "I don't even like dresses and this is the most beautiful thing I've seen!"

"Isn't it though?" With the sunlight streaming in the windows, the dress sparkled and glimmered as if it was alive, as if it was dancing itself. "And Daisy, you should have seen Bowser's face when he saw me in it." She flopped down on the bed, squeezing the dress as Daisy sat back down. "First of all, he looked stunning and really, really handsome. Kamek had gotten him this black formal shell, and he did something different with his mane, and he smelled…oh my gosh, he smelled like love itself." She buried her face in the dress and was absolutely overjoyed to realize his must lingered on its fabric. Peach couldn't help but squeal as she smothered her face into the dress more, finally coming up to finish Bowser's reaction. "Dayz, I knew he loved me before then, but when he saw me in this dress, it was like I was his very purpose for being alive and all he ever wanted to do was be with me and love me. And I felt like that, too! It was absolute magic!"

Having decided to skip the entirety of Bowser's birthday in favor of the ball, Peach kept going with her story. Her description of the evening was exactly as the ball went from her point of view; it consisted of nothing but Bowser. She never mentioned the food, except how Bowser taught her how to eat it. Her description of their first dance lasted longer than the actual song, getting glassy-eyed about her hands in his, and their feet moving together. The entire time she clutched the dress like her life depended on it.

She talked about their dancing, describing that she never wanted to leave his side, told Daisy all about Bowser's wonderful dance contest, speaking with such pride in him, and even more pride in how he returned to her side right away. Peach's memory of the ball was practically perfect, and she spared very few details. But their private hour or so on the patio, under the stars and all alone, Peach chose to keep private. She certainly told Daisy that it happened, but kept silent about just how close they had been to each other, and how it was the closest she'd ever felt to anyone at all. Maybe it was because Peach didn't want to admit it to herself, but Peach chose to believe it was because the memory was to precious.

She described the last song with exact detail, even singing it to Daisy so she could understand just how "wonderful" it was. And, of course, she told her all about how Bowser was the best father she'd ever seen when he interacted with Lemmy. As Peach had seen a lot of fathers, Daisy took that with a grain of salt.

After a very long sigh, Peach said hurriedly, "there was a lot of stuff that happened the next day. We spent the entire time hanging out around the Darklands, acting like best friends. In fact, sometimes we were literally 'acting' like best friends." She smiled fondly, but brushed almost the entire day aside. "But Daisy, you have to hear what happened afterwards. This was my last day with him, right? And I was feeling pretty…attached. So I…um, Daisy…you need to tell me if this was the right thing or not. I…I asked him…We…"

There was a rapping on the door. Daisy and Peach grabbed for each other and screamed.

"Mama Mia!" Luigi said through the wood, laughter attached. "It's just-a me, Luigi!"

"And-a me, Mario!"

"Oh, um, sorry, let me get the door…" Daisy said, fumbling to stand up. She looked over at Peach, who was staring at her wide-eyed and clutching onto the dress for dear life. She swung the door open, looking at the two brothers as if terrified.

"What's wrong, Daisy?" Luigi asked. "Aren't you-a ready for the carnival?"

"The carnival!" Daisy shrieked. "I…um…" she started backing away awkwardly, looking around and steering herself towards a bowl of fruit perched on a nearby table. "Right. That. We're going to that. But first I…oh look, a pomegranate! Peach said she wanted one of these, right when you were knocking. That's…what we were talking about."

The Mario brothers looked at Daisy oddly as she fumbled for the fruit, throwing it to Peach who didn't even bother trying to catch it. "Let me open it for you!" Daisy yelled, dashing over to Peach. She opened the fruit, aiming it at Peach's arm. Somewhere along her life, Daisy had mastered the art of staining clothing for getaways just like this. An arch of pomegranate juice spurted from the fruit and landed squarely on Peach's forearm glove. "Oh no!" She cried, her voice cracking. "We need to get rid of this stain!" Daisy grabbed her cousin's hand, yanking her off the bed and towards the bathroom with the gown still in tow.

They slammed the bathroom door shut behind them and Daisy yanked the glove off Peach and into the deep sink, turning the cold water on with more force than necessary. She glanced at the bathroom clock's second hand before saying, "We have approximately forty-five seconds before they either get suspicious or tune out the water and overhear us."

"You want me to finish my story in forty-five seconds?" Peach whined.

"No, just answer two questions."

"But Daisy, I want to actually talk to you about this! I don't know what's going on!"

"I know, I know, and we will. But we're running out of time! First question- did you and Bowser ever kiss?"

"What?" Peach stuttered, wringing her gown as her face completely paled. "Why would you…how did you…"

"Answer, quick!"

"Actually yes, I…I kissed him." Peach admitted. She expected Daisy to lunge for her throat, but instead, she seemed to smile. "But not until we landed in the Mushroom Kingdom. It was kind of his present, I think, and I- "

"Second question," Daisy cut off. "Did you ever consider you might be in love with him?"

Peach's mouth dropped open and her mind went absolutely blank. In love? Her thinking was, yet again, cut short by Luigi calling, "Daisy? Are you okay?"

Daisy swore under her breath, looking up at the clock. "Forty-five seconds on the freaking dot. We'll have to finish this-" she dramatically sighed, "later."

"You can't…not after you…" Peach remained in the bathroom after Daisy flung the door open and ran out to Luigi's arms. This situation, apparently, wasn't fazing her at all. She was talking briskly in a voice Peach couldn't understand, and everything seemed a little fuzzy.

"Peach?" Mario asked, stepping into the doorframe. "Let's-a go."

Peach looked up at Mario, putting a hand on her knee. Love? Love? Could she be in love? "Go...oh, the carnival. Listen, I'm feeling a little…light-headed." She sat down on the side of the massive tub, putting her head in her free hand. That wretched word swam around her head, disallowing any distracting thoughts whatsoever. Then, the migraine set in. "I think I need to…take a bath or something."

Daisy released herself from Luigi, pulling him by the hand to the bathroom's doorway. "No, Peachy, I don't think that's a good idea. I think the carnival is exactly what you need." She walked over to Peach and took her hands, pulling her up to stand. "Clear your head. Get distracted. Carnivals are exactly the kind of silly you need right now."

"But…I…" Love? Love? Love?

She pulled her over, whispering in Peach's ear, "look, I'm sorry for dropping that bomb on you. Obviously the answer was 'no', and I kind of expected that you had already considered that…possibility. That was pretty selfish of me to ask and possibly ruin your day." She moved her head away and kept holding Peach's hand. "We'll get you to the carnival, put some hearty food in you, and clear off that sea-sickness or whatever is plaguing you."

"Sea-sickness?" Mario asked, a little put-out. "Does that-a mean we have to walk to-a the carnival?"

Luigi smacked his older brother over the head, hissing, "of course that is-a what it means. Give your girl-a-friend a little respect, Mario."

Peach gagged, then, choking on her own bile, started to cough furiously.

Eventually the group left the princess' room and headed down Grand Canal's narrow sidewalks, some walking with more enthusiasm than others. Luigi and Daisy lagged behind Peach and Mario who, at Daisy's less than subtle suggestion, were in a lively debate over the educational merit of history classes. "Daisy," Luigi muttered, "Peach does not-a get sea-sick. But that was-a very real retching. What is wrong?"

Daisy sighed, looping her arm around his. "It's kind of a long story that I don't have all the pieces to yet. I'll explain later, I hope…but for now just avoid using the g-word around her." She paused briefly and added, "or the b-word."

"What is the 'g-word'?" Luigi asked, "…gastrointestinal?"

"What?" Daisy laughed.

"Gourmet guy? Gondola? Gondolier?"

"Stop guessing, crazy!" Daisy laughed again before more seriously, though with a smile, answered in a hushed voice, "girlfriend or boyfriend. Don't use any relationship titles around her for the time being."

Luigi seemed disappointed as he whispered back, "so what am I supposed to call you?"

Daisy smirked and pecked his cheek. "Be creative, big boy."

Author's Note: I like having Daisy and Luigi together c:

So this chapter did not go nearly the way I had originally planned it, especially regarding Peach and Daisy's conversation, which has now altered the entire rest of the story. Those girls! They will NOT settle down; always insisting on writing their own interactions. What jerks. ;) Though I must thank them because now the ending can come even sooner than originally planned. And if you see that as a bad thing, may I remind you this story will have, as of next chapter, officially dragged 50 chapters.

Chapter 50 has big plans, if I can get in everything I want to, and should be absolutely riveting. Even if I don't get in as much as I hope, you will see the return of a character I know at least one of you has sorely missed. As always, I'm shooting for a post in a month, and that might happen, depending on how much distraction I need from finals.

Regardless, I'm very very honored with whoever stuck around to see this update happen and you have my eternal gratitude. Special thanks to juuub who is sort of getting this as a late birthday present...sorry I couldn't do more! And I WILL see you next month, I guarentee it :)

-Razzi