Filling in the Empty Spots
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Chapter 7: Changes
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"Ralph?"
The giant moaned and the covers on the bed moved. "Jubie?"
"Yes, it's me. Can I come in?" She already had opened the door to his little house and was leaning halfway inside.
"This is a bad time to come visiting. I am definitely not at my best."
She giggled and tiptoed inside and put her hand on the huge lump hiding in the bed to let him know that she was there.
"How was the party?"
"It would have been the best party ever, if not for two things."
"What two things?"
"You weren't there, and the reason you weren't there."
Ralph pulled back the covers and looked at her through bleary and blurry eyes. "That's the nicest thing anyone's said to me all year." He smiled at her through his horrible headache.
"Gene's out there with Felix's hammer and that Earthquake guy. But they're wondering what to do as some of the windows on the building disappeared. There are three stories of solid brick at the bottom of the building."
"Tell them to ask Felix. My head hurts too much to care right now. I feel like the floor of Tapper's"
"Felix is passed out in the bushes in front of Niceland with what I think is Sgt. Calhoun's bra hanging around his neck."
Ralph groaned again. "And did you see Calhoun?"
"Nope. And the arcade opens in half an hour."
"I'm sure someone will drag him out of sight before opening."
Jubileena reached under the covers and found his hand and squeezed it. "I'm not one of today's racers, so if you need me, I'll be in my meadow, unless you'd like me to stay here."
"Jubie, you're overwhelmingly sweet. They used way too much sugar when they made you. I don't deserve a girl like you," Ralph gushed.
"What do you mean? You deserve the world, Ralph."
"See! There you go again being all sweet." He reached out and wrapped his hand around her and pulled her into the bed for a big sleepy hug. He clutched her to his chest and she tried to ignore the fact that he stank of sweat and stale booze. "I love you Jubie. You're the sweetest thing ever."
"Ralph, do you mean it? Do you really love me?"
"I do." And then he yawned and was soon asleep again.
She wriggled out of his grasp and headed home to Sugar Rush, her head and heart afloat with romantic elation.
Back in her meadow she couldn't help herself. Not even bothering to put on her formal gown she ran through the tall grass, spinning and circling and giggling. She danced along the fallen trees and bounced on the gumdrops. Ralph had said that he loved her.
True, he hadn't been at his best when he'd said it, but he had been at his most vulnerable. His normally sharp mind hadn't been there to interfere with his bastioned heart. "I love him too!" she told the butterflies. "He loves me and I love him too!" she shouted to the peaks of the Snowcone range above.
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That night, Ralph appeared at the Random Roster Race, cleaned up and much improved from his earlier state. He was awake and alert and there at the base of her stand, ready to cheer her on. She had a box full of fans, but a thousand NPC's were worth his presence.
Still sailing high on Ralph's unguarded statement, she won the race effortlessly and flew into his arms afterward. Not caring who was watching, she kissed him. And unhesitatingly Ralph kissed her back. "Does this mean that we're boyfriend and girlfriend now?" she asked, looking into his brown eyes as he held her.
"I think so," he said. "That is, if you'd like it to be."
"I would!" she declared without hesitation, and she kissed him again. The other racers stood around open-mouthed in shock at what they were seeing.
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The pair's first night together in Fix-It Felix, Jr. was spent innocently playing outside of Niceland, chasing each other through the trees and having fun on the playground equipment for hours. Despite her age, Jubileena could be such a playful child at times asi f her appearance dictated her behavior. The Nicelanders all gave them the privacy Felix had demanded, but there had been a pair of eyes behind nearly every window on the right side of the building, everyone peeping and cooing at how cute the pair was playing together, and how nice it was to see Ralph with a smile on his face again.
When they grew sleepy, Ralph and Jubileena simply stretched out under a tree and curled up together and went to sleep on a mattress of 8-bit grass and only the leafless crown of the tree above for a blanket. None of the the leaves had formed on the trees that day. In the morning when they woke, they discovered that someone had left a picnic basket at their feet containing a big pie and two bottles of orange juice. The tag on the handle said "From Niceland."
More nights followed, all spent in a similar innocent bliss, whether they were in his game or hers. For them, it never mattered, just as long as they were together.
The Nicelanders found the relationship a bit odd, but not as odd as they had when he'd first gotten together with Vanellope. And even that had been tempered by Felix having broken the ice as far as inter-game relationships were concerned. Mrs. Fix-It herself seemed to be quite enthused about about Ralph's tiny girlfriend. "So when's the wedding?" she asked one morning, catching them kissing goodbye at the tram as she was headed back to her own game herself.
"We're still waiting on her to finish high school, and I'm trying to save up for a house," replied Ralph, unphased by Calhoun's teasing.
Calhoun laughed and hopped into the tram, throwing her longs legs over the front of the cart instead of trying to fit them into the Nicelander-sized compartment. "Well it's good to see that you have a plan for your future."
Jubileena was blushing and looking away in some embarrassment. There hadn't been any talk of marriage, or even a thought of it at all.
"Well if you kids need any advice from an old married lady, just ask."
Ralph was blushing himself a bit now. "Well thanks, Sergeant." He kissed Jubileena again as the departure chime rang, and then he picked her up and set her into the tram. "Have a good day of racing. Show them the reason you're top of the roster all the time."
"You're the reason I'm at the top of the roster," she giggled as the tram pulled away from the station and headed into the conduit to Game Central Station.
"Hey kid," called Calhoun after they were well away from the game.
"Yes Sergeant?" she asked, always a little intimidated by the tough-as-nails Space Marine.
Calhoun climbed over the few carts in front of her to come up right behind Jubileena, blatantly in defiance of the signs that told everyone to remain seated while the tram was operational. "You've done a world of good for Ralph," she said, settling again in the cart behind the racer. "He was completely devastated when Vanellope died. For a while I wasn't even sure he was going to make it. But he pulled through somehow. I never really expected to see him happy again. And then, after he spent that week with you exploring Sugar Rush, I saw a bit of light in his eyes again. And now, well, you've turned him completely around."
"Have I done that much?"
"You have, kid. I just wanted to tell you thanks. And not just from me, but from Felix and from the rest of the Nicelanders too." She put her gloved hand on Jubileena's shoulder. "It means a lot to us, especially Felix and I."
Jubileena felt something of both joy and pain in her chest. "I never knew he was so torn up after the President's death."
"He tried to hide it. The first few months were the worst. That's why Earthquake knows his job. He's the only guy who could even come close to standing in on those days when Ralph refused to get out of bed."
Jubileena giggled. "I see."
The light of Game Central Station appeared in the distance.
"There's one more thing I wanted to tell you though, kid. It's important."
"Yes?"
"Ralph's very sensitive inside, regarding Vanellope, and also about a lot of other things. If it seems like he doesn't want to talk about something, promise me you'll not push him or try to pry it out of him. Let him keep his secrets."
Jubileena blinked at her, surprised that the woman would be asking such a thing.
"Do I make myself clear, soldier?" she asked, her eyes hard on the little racer.
Jubileena nodded nervously. "I promise," she said timidly.
Satisfied, Calhoun smiled again. The tram drew to a stop at the station and they climbed out. "Have a good day of racing," said the sergeant as she swaggered out, swinging her helmet by its hanging strap.
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And while the reaction to their relationship had been positive in his game, the news was not taken quite so well by her fellow racers. While Jubileena excelled on the track, winning often, there was some resistance to her relationship with Ralph.
"Are you sure you're enough woman for him?" asked Taffyta snidely one afternoon between races. "I mean really, Jubileena. He's as big as a mountain."
"Taffyta's right," said Gloyd, walking past and catching an earful of Taffyta's cynicism. "You should at least stick to your own species."
Some of the other racers standing nearby gasped at the hideous insult while a few others giggled. Snowanna rushed to her side and put her arm around Jubileena defensively. "Go away, Gloyd!" she snapped at him.
Thankfully a quarter alert sounded right then and the nine racers all ran for their cars. "Don't choose me! Don't choose me!" Jubileena whimpered, hot tears running down her cheeks. She wasn't ready to put on a happy face for the player.
And thankfully the selection went again to Princess Vanellope, meaning that all Jubileena had to do was drive, and that she didn't even have to try. The tears blurred her eyes and she was off to a late start when the race began. But a third of the way into it, she suddenly decided that all she wanted to do was beat Taffyta and Gloyd. She thought hard of Ralph, thinking of him sitting there beneath her box of fans, his big hands waving and his smile aimed right at her. And with that she suddenly picked up speed, flying along the track, dodging all the obstacles as if they were standing still. From a struggling ninth place she whipped ahead to third, determined to keep Taffyta and Gloyd behind her. And so went the rest of that day in Sugar Rush her mind focused on the man she loved and on her determination to humiliate the unkind pair on the track. Often she would just follow the character the player had chosen, refusing to let either of them past, but allowing the other racers to sail by. It became terribly obvious when the player wasn't the best, but she kept it up.
When the final race of the day finished, she drove away to her secret place in Red Twist Park and hid in the tall grass, sobbing until her eyes stung.
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"Where did Miss Bing Bing go?" asked Princess Vanellope when she saw the Jubileena had not brought her kart into the speedway's garage at the close of the arcade. She pulled off her gloves and looked into the empty bay where the Cherriot was usually parked. Her repair crew was there shuffling about idly. "I was going to congratulate her on her racing today."
"Yeah," smiled a bitter Taffyta. Once Jubileena had turned against her and Gloyd, she'd not gotten any higher place that fifth in the races that day.
"She's got a new boyfriend," giggled some of the girls.
"Yeah, she's probably off to go meet him."
"A new boyfriend? How sweet!" said the princess with her benevolent smile.
"She's dating Wreck-It Ralph!" blurted Candlehead.
"Mr. Wreck-It? That big guy who comes to watch the races?"
"Haven't you noticed he always sits in front of her stand of fans now?"
"I hadn't given it any thought, really. He's from Fix-It Felix, Jr., right?"
"He's the bad guy there," said Gloyd acrimoniously. He was also feeling rather bitter toward Jubileena for her offensive against him on the Speedway.
"A bad guy? Really? I had no idea. He always has those sad brown eyes and he just looks so hurt and innocent when he's not smiling."
Taffyta struck a pose with her lollipop. "Yeah, well he is. I'm sure he'll be a bad influence on her."
Vanellope sensed a certain bias to Taffyta's pronouncement. She too had noticed Taffyta's exceptionally poor results that day. "Well, yes. We'll have to see."
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Not seeing Jubileena's kart in the line-up for the Random Roster Race, Ralph went to the garage. And not finding it there either, he turned to head out the door.
Princess Vanellope stood there...alone. "Mr. Wreck-It?"
"That's me, your highness." He bowed briefly.
She bowed to him as well. "It was brought to my attention that you and Miss Bing Bing are a couple now."
Ralph suddenly felt a bit flustered. "Uh...um, yeah." He edged a little closer to the doorway. "I have to go."
"Just a moment please."
Ralph's stomach suddenly wound up into a few knots. It was bad enough that she was the duplicate of the girl he had sworn to love until death did them part, but the fact that she was asking now about his new relationship simply made it a whole lot worse.
"Miss Bing Bing's a very sweet girl," she said softly, stepping a bit closer to Ralph, completely unintimidated by his size. "And some of the other racers seem a bit concerned about you being with her, especially as you're quite different from the citizenry of Sugar Rush."
"I am," he said, trying to sound neither proud nor ashamed of the fact.
"Well I just want you to know that we care an awful lot about her, as I'm sure you do as well."
"I think the world of her. She's a wonderful girl in so many ways."
"So I have your assurance that you will be good to her and treat her with the love and respect she deserves?"
"Of course I'll be good to her. Look, what's this about?" He drew himself up defensively.
The princess sighed. "I'm sorry, Mr. Wreck-It, but some of the others racers brought it up that you were the bad guy in your game, and that maybe you would be a bad influence on her."
"Oh...I see. I'll bet I could give you a few names to go with those accusations as well."
"You don't have to. I know who seems to be against you. I just needed your assurance so that I can tell them that all is well. It's my job to look after the kingdom after all," she said sweetly.
Ralph suddenly softened and knelt before her. "And you're doing a wonderful job of it," he said, taking her hand. "If you ever need help though, you can call on me."
The princess blinked, somewhat surprised at his statement. "Well, thank you, Mr. Wreck-It."
"May I go now?"
She nodded her head with a dip in her step. "Of course. Thank you for your time." She curtseyed again and took her leave.
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It took some time to get up to Red Twist Park, and it was already beginning to get dark as he arrived. He found Jubileena asleep in the grass, and was surprised to see her still wearing her racing suit. "Jubie," he said softly, placing his hand against her back to wake her.
"Ralph!" she cried on waking and she threw her arms around his neck.
"Jubie, what's wrong?" he asked when she began crying and sniffling against his shirt.
She told him the whole story, and he did his best to calm her down and to laugh it off. "Gloyd's right though. I mean, look at these paws." He held up one of his hands and spread his fingers. "You could use that hand for a blanket. Oh wait, you have."
Jubileena giggled weakly.
"And besides, while you're not that big, your heart sure is. I have no idea how they fit it into that little ribcage of yours. I'm not sure they could even get it into my ribcage," he said, thumping his chest.
"Ralph," she sighed and hugged him tighter, wishing her arms could encircle more than his neck or one of his arms. "I love you so much, Ralphie."
"You're so good to me," he said, one hand folding over her back. He stretched back into the grass and she squirmed up onto his chest and lay her head over his heart. Her hands curled around the strap of his overalls. The stars were beginning to appear in the twilight sky. "I'll always be good to you."
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Filling in the Empty Spots continues in:
Chapter 8: Breakdown
Chapter 9: Little Cabin in the Woods
Chapter 10: Back to the Meadow
Chapter 11: The Spring Solstice Ball
Chapter 12: The President's Legacy
Chapter 13: A Heavy Crown
Chapter 14: The Final Secret
Chapter 15: Filling in the Empty Spots Commentary
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Wreck-It Ralph and all related concepts, characters, worlds, and events are property of Walt Disney Pictures. Original characters and story elements are property of E. Potter, writing under the pen name of Miratete.