Rain pattered against Darwin's window as he woke up, he stood out of his bowl and stretched his fins above his head. He looked over to Gumball's bed to find it empty, which wasn't unusual, but it did give cause for concern. He went to his window and pulled the blinders up to reveal the pouring rain running in the streets and over running the storm drains. "Well at least Gumball will have a shower this morning…" Darwin said to himself and headed for the shower, to find there was no line. "Am… I the first?" He asked in amazement. "Yes! Finally it's Darwin's time to get hot water!"

"No school today, they don't people in the streets." His mother's voice came from down stairs.

"Aw man…" Darwin muttered. "Can I still take a shower?"

"I don't see why not,"

Gumball batted his eyes twice before opening them fully, he could hear the rain outside and stretched on his couch. Sitting up, he examined his shirtless form and stretched again before forcing himself up to get ready for the day. He pushed open the door to his shed and exposed the flooded ground that was his junkyard. "Well… Fuck…" Was all he said and dialed home.

"Hey Gumball," His mother answered. "You spent the night at the shed?"

"Yeah, I spent all night working on a car… Please tell me it's too wet to go to school."

"Yeah, you have the day off, come home when it's safe, okay?"

"Okay, thanks mom." He said and returned to his couch, falling asleep once again.

Carrie sat in her living room with strips of newspaper and her computer on, all searches dedicated to finding some type of employment, School more than likely was no longer an option, but it's not as if she would miss it. She searched through everything she could find, her Grandma sitting in her chair to provide support, but nothing seemed to fit the bill that was their house. It was not a good situation, especially while she was down a car and a millionaire had a grudge against her.

"Well… I got nothing, so far stripper is the best idea posed." Carrie joked scrolling through a job site for the hundredth time.

"Nah, men like them big tits, you ain't got those."

"Grandma!" Carrie shouted again.

"You could her points for your tushi though." Her Grandma continued.

"Stop talking, like… Now, please," Carrie insisted rubbing her temples.

"Well, what else is there?"

"There's… a few waitress offers, one or two openings at Rainbow Corp. But that requires a high school education, there's a—"

"What about that stuff you write?" Her Grandma cut in.

"What? You mean my poems?"

"Yeah, you could sell those or something,"

"I don't think people buy poetry anymore,"

"Sure, lots of people buy poetry books, we just need to get you published."

"Still no high school education," Carrie reminded slightly annoyed.

"Well, what if you worked for your mechanic friend?"

"Gumball? What would I do for him?"

"Handle his business, he can do the work and you'll handle the business." Carrie played with the idea. It wasn't terrible, and Gumball was willing to help her.

"I'll think about it…"

"That or a stripper,"

"What the hell is wrong with you…" Carrie grumbled. "I think I should stop relaying on Gumball's hospitality, if I'm not careful it could become the same situation with a different face, but stripping is a last resort, got it?"

"Whatever you say sweetie," Her Grandmother said, rocking in her chair.

Gumball's head was buried in his arm, with a slight amount of drool staining his sleeve when a knock came at his door. He tiredly got up and slinked his way to the door and opened it with eyes half shut.

"Hi Gumball," Carrie said from the doorway. "Can I come in? It's kinda pouring out here,"

"Uh… Yeah, yeah, how'd you find this place?" He said as Carrie floated past him and examined the inside of the shed.

"It's the only thing that's not waterlogged in the entire junkyard, it wasn't incredibly difficult," She shrugged and took a seat on his couch as her legs grew from her tail.

"Uh, I finished your car last night,"

"In one night?" Carrie said in surprise.

"I was until like… Five, I think… I don't remember, anyway it's over in the garage if you wanna look at it,"

"That's okay… I just came to talk,"

"You? Came to talk to me? I'm not dreaming am I?"

"Are girls usually clothed in your dreams?" She asked with a smirk.

"No but… Hey! My dreams are very child friendly, but I am happy to talk to you, what's up?"

"Well… Remember yesterday? You told me to take a step in the right direction?"

"Yeah," Gumball shrugged and took a seat next to her on the couch.

"Well I… Maybe I should start at the beginning…" Carrie said to herself.

"Stories usually start there," Gumball joked and Carrie laughed a little with a nod.

"Okay, so remember three years ago?" And Gumball nodded.

"I believe your exact words were… I'm a annoying blue idiot who is too insensitive to realize how pathetic he is," He recited her words.

"Right… Allow me to apologize for that,"

"No need, you had your reasons,"

"Where you get all that optimism, I'll never know,"

"Well, someone has to balance out your pessimism." He grinned.

"What would I do without you?" She said sarcastically.

"Probably die, again," He said and all Carrie offered was a happy grin.

"I'm getting off topic, three years ago my parents were left our house, I don't know where they went or why they left but the point was, they were gone and they weren't planning on coming back. That left me and my Grandma, and no money, until I met Charon Richards, son of Morbius Richards, and he offered to help us, which was all well and fantastic, until he wanted compensation for his generosity. We told him we had no money and couldn't pay him back, but we didn't want money… He wanted me, if I had any friends besides him, our funding would be cut, if I refused anything he said, our funding would be cut… I couldn't just screw over my Grandmother out of her house, so I did whatever he said… For three years…"

"Can I ask the obvious question that everyone is thinking of?"

"I never slept with him, but…" She trailed off.

"But…?"

"I uh… Wash my mouth a lot more than I used to…" She said shivering slightly at the mention of it.

"Gross…"

"Anyway, long story short, he made my life miserable and you… Helped me through it, so thank you," She said a graced her face with a pure smile. It was a moment that it became clear to Gumball how beautiful she was, how much better she looked with a smile. "Gumball?" She asked and he realized he was starring.

"I uh… You're welcome," He said awkwardly rubbing his neck. "So… How will you keep paying for the house?" He tried to change the subject.

"Well Charon's last payment should be good until next month, I have that long to find some way to make money."

"Oh, I could… uh, help? I mean, if you wanted help, you don't need help and I'd hate to put you into a situation like the one you just got out of and—"

"Gumball," She cut him off with a small giggle. "Thank you, but I should be fine, you've helped me enough by giving me the confidence to get away from him, I do need to know how much you want for the repairs to my car though."

"Oh, no charge, you have a lot of work ahead of you, I couldn't ask for money you don't have,"

"No no, I refuse to accept pity, what do you usually charge?"

"Uh… Well, it was a pretty beat up car… The bumper alone would've been, fifty bucks… But I can bill you later, when you have money, for now just make sure you're taken care of," He said uncomfortably. "Wow this shack is really hot… I should get a fan…" He said pulling on his shirt collar. "So… What were you thinking of for a job?"

"I don't know… For some reason my Grandma is dead set on making me a stripper…"

"But… You don't wear clothes, what would you strip?"

"I do wear clothes, they're just white… And difficult to see…"

"uh huh, and my fur is a carpet I wear from time to time."

"That explains why you stink so often," She poked at him.

"Hey, I don't stink, I smell like man,"

"Right, well, what you suggest I do for a job Mr. Money maker?"

"Um… find something you enjoy doing?" He offered and she gave a puzzled look. "I mean, I got into this stuff because I liked it, it took my mind off the world and gave me my own space just to work on something that I cared about, or when I can cook for my family? It makes me proud to know I'm useful, stuff like that, so what do you like to do?"

"I like… Music?" She tried.

"Good start, can you play an instrument?"

"I used to have a guitar and a little piano but I haven't played in years,"

"Okay, what else do you do?"

"I… Write poetry occasionally?"

"My mom has a friend who knows a publisher if you think you're any good."

"I'd rather not let people read that… It's kinda personal…"

"Got it, well, have you considered writing a book?"

"About what?"

"You're life!" He happily cheered. "I mean, think of it, high school student turned slave, then famous author? You have first hand experiences that people can only speculate of, it would be like a really long poem!"

"Those are called ballads, like Beowulf,"

"And everybody knows who Beowulf is… He's a wolf right?"

"No… but it's not a bad idea; it just doesn't solve my short term money problems,"

"Right…. Damnit… Um, OH!" Gumball yelled with inspiration. "How much piano do you remember?"

"Like… Three lessons, if that, I didn't pay attention as much as I should've, my mom wanted me to learn for some reason."

"Right! That's where you can make money, every parent wants their kid to learn how to play piano and they'll pay a lot for it,"

"That's… Fucking smart," Carrie admitted. "But… Where am I going to relearn piano?"

"Let's find you a piano and see what you remember." He chimed and opened his door to reveal the still pouring rain. "Right… I forgot about that… Well, there are still some mountains of trash left, I'll see what I can find…" He said and grabbed a umbrella that had a few holes in it from the side of the door. Carrie stared after him in slight disbelief as he charged into the rain and began looking around for something to keep herself entertained. She wondered around Gumball's shed and peaked into his garage to find her car, better than ever and even had a fresh coat of paint. It looked to be a new car, and there next to it was a rust bike that could've used the paint job a lot more than the car.

Leaving them be, Carrie turned back and examined Gumball's little shed, it was literally a couch, a mini fridge, a T.V., game station, and a small desk. Not much to look at, but Gumball somehow managed to stay cozy. She approached the small desk and touched the old wood that made up its exterior, she felt pain when she touched, but not hers… It was like a stain of emotion on the wood, telling a story of its own. She pulled the drawer open from under the desk to reveal a stack of papers and pictures. Carrie eyed them, quickly flipping through the stacks of papers until her hand got stuck on one and she pulled it out of the stack. It was a letter, addressed to Gumball on the front and Carrie was planning on opening, when she stopped herself. "This is Gumball's personal stuff… I can't just rifle through it like a raccoon…" She mentally slapped herself and put the papers back, quickly closing the desk and sitting herself back on the couch. Then Gumball's phone rang and Carrie moved to it. It read Darwin and she thought to take the message for him. "Hello?" She answered it.

"Gumball I—" Darwin began and stopped himself. "Carrie?"

"Yeah, Gumball's outside right now,"

"What!" Darwin screamed. "Tell him to get inside! Now!"

"Why? What's going on?"

"The storm is supposed to continue into tomorrow and they already cancelled school for tomorrow, I'm not losing my brother again!"

"Again? What the hell are you talking about?" She asked panicked and Darwin let out the breath he didn't know he was holding in.

"Just please tell him to stay inside and keep the news on for further developments."

"Uh… Okay?" Carrie said, "Darwin, what are all those letters in Gumball's desk?"

"Did you read one?" Darwin's breath quickened again.

"No, I just saw he had them, are they important?"

"You could say that… Don't read them, they're important to Gumball, okay?"

"Okay," Carrie said and hung up the phone. She flew out the door and the rain fell on her like it would to a living person. Confused, she looked up to it, when a drop fell in her eye, "Ow… Sure… I can feel rain, but food? No, that's too difficult for ghost… I hate paranormal physics…" She silently cursed and began looking for Gumball. The junkyard was unfamiliar to her and confusing, piles of trash looked similar, only to be different the next time she passed by, the rain bore heavy on her and her hair became too wet to hold her skull clip in place. It slipped off and fell into the water below, without Carrie noticing as she floated on. After twenty minutes of searching for her blue friend it seemed pretty hopeless and she decided to turn back, only, she had no idea where back was. "Fantastic… Lost in a junkyard…" Carrie said and began looking for the way she came.

"It's not that bad, at least you have a dashing young man to help you," Gumball's voice came from next to her and she turned to face him. He was waist deep in muddy water and his face was stained with something that Carrie didn't want to address. "Here you go," He said warmly and handed her the skull clip that fell off.

"You found it?" She asked astonished.

"It found me," He shrugged. "I found a broken piano, but I can fix it, given that the rain doesn't wash it away,"

"Darwin called, they called off school tomorrow," She said readjust her hair by whipping it behind her head.

"Damn right they should," He laughed, "Come on I'll get us back to my shed." Gumball trudged through the water, grinning the entire time, all the way to opening his door and letting the water flood into the doorway of his shed. Carrie shook herself dry while Gumball forced the door close with the water running in and covered the base of the door with rubber. "Well, I'm stuck here, care to be stuck with me?"

"Well I think I can make room in my busy schedule of being broke, jobless and out of school, plus if the rain can affect me I should probably stay out of it," She shrugged and joined him on the couch. "So what do you have to do here?"

"I have T.V. and a few video games, which doesn't leave us with a lot…" He said and turned on the T.V.

"What do you usually do for fun here?"

"I work on Lucy," And that earned him a confused stare from Carrie. "She's my bike, one that refuses to stay fixed for whatever reason."

"Ah," She said in understanding, "Did you want to tend to her then?"

"Can't, I get most of my parts from the junkyard and the ones I can't find I order, but I don't think either is very accessible at the moment, and I used my last paint bucket, so I can't even paint her."

"At least we have the news." She said and settled into the couch. "Where can I sleep?"

"You sleep?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Ever heard of waking the dead?" She asked and he nodded. "The dead have to be asleep to be woken up." They both watched the T.V. for a time, without words and without interaction, and they both comfortably sat on opposite ends of the couch. However there is a time where someone cannot take the news anymore; and Gumball slumped over on the couch.

"We should do something fun," He said and let out a yawn.

"Like what?"

"I don't know, I've never spent more than three hours in the presence of a girl, what do most people do when left alone in a shack for a night?"

"Sex," Carrie said without much thought and suddenly realized what she said. "We're not having sex." She quickly affirmed.

"I wouldn't have the nerve to ask, but we can do the next best thing, Truth or Dare?" He asked her.

"You can't be serious?" She said dryly and Gumball's smirk wouldn't leave. "You're serious… That's a child's game,"

"Yes it is, now if you have a better suggestion I'm completely open for it," He said confidently.

"We could… Uh… We…" Carrie began sputtering out anything that came to mind, but never was able to finish it. "Truth…" She finally said.

"Who's your favorite poet?" He asked still confidently smiling.

"This is a sex game, you know that right?"

"I do, but I'm curious," Carrie sighed and looked off to the side.

"Logan Roth…" She said trying not to make a big deal out of it.

"He wrote…" Gumball put a finger under his chin. "Love for a Raven, right?"

"Yeah… How did you know that?" Carrie asked suspiciously.

"Ah, ah, ah, that's not how the game works." He said confident once again.

"Fine, Truth or Dare?" She spat out.

"Dare," He said with cheeky smile.

"You're mean… Do sixty push up," She ordered.

"What? Why?" He asked horrified.

"Because that's how the game works, on the floor mister."

"You know, I could swear that's joy in your voice, you're enjoying this!" He accused and she let out a light laugh.

"Yeah, maybe a little, let's go, push up time."

"Huh…" Gumball sighed and fell on the ground and began his dare. Carrie was surprised to see after fifteen he was still going strong, and showed no signs of slowing down after thirty. After a short seven minutes, Gumball hoisted himself back on the couch, breathing a little heavier than before.

"Gumball?" Carrie asked in disbelief. "Take off your hoodie,"

"Careful Carrie, we could be inciting improper behavior." He quoted their sex Ed. Project. "Also it's my turn, Truth or Dare?"

"Truth," She said impatiently.

"Back in the classroom, the first day of the project, I know you forced that answer to protect me, so I'm going to ask again, did you actually believe all the things you said about me?"

"I…" Carrie took a second to recall the incident. "Yeah… I did and still do. You were the last friend I had to get rid of… You were the hardest one to say goodbye to, Darwin volunteered you so I could eat, but you still felt like it was your responsibility to make sure I got to eat, you even let me use your dad to eat, you were really good to me, and as I watched you grow up into a clever young man, I just admired you." She said with a small amount of crimson gracing her cheeks and looking away from Gumball.

"Carrie that's the sweetest thing I've ever heard," Gumball softly said.

"Well, yeah, don't think too much of it, I'm just a ghost."

"You're so much more than a ghost; you're a person and a hell of a lot more alive than other people I've met."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you know what the difference between life and death is, so you always seem to be driven in your pursuits, you never seem to get a bad grade on a paper, although you don't like to show it, you fight for what you believe in, and when someone says you can't use their body, you take it." He grinned at her on the last note.

"Yeah…" She said rubbing her neck. "Let's pretend that never happened… Uh… Truth or Dare?"

"Dare," He said again.

"Take off your hoodie," She quickly said.

"Like… Slowly? I can do slowly if you want to savor the moment," He said laughing to himself.

"Just take off your damn hoodie," And Gumball complied, he took off his hoodie to reveal his tight fitting T-shirt underneath but that wasn't what Carrie was looking for. His arm muscles were surprisingly large and defined, but still remained proportional to his body. She could see the forming muscles underneath his shirt and Carrie felt her cheeks grow hot again. "Gumball…" She said trying to find something else to rest her eyes on. "You're hot…"

"Thank you," He chimed.

"No I mean, why the hell are you that muscular?"

"Have you tried lifting an engine? It's really hard until you do it like… Seventeen thousand times, I worked out a little, my cardio is a little low though…"

"You could get any girl in bed if they just looked at you, you know that right?"

"Hence the hoodie," He smiled.

"Why would you want to hide this?"

"That's not the game…" He muttered. "I don't want a girl who wants me for my looks, fuck me right?"

"Careful what you wish for," She said with a playful smile.

"Oh ha, ha, what about you, you hardly ever show off your ass-ets,"

"Yeah, it's because guys tend to stare, but you wouldn't know anybody who would do that, would you?"

"Me? No, not a one, who would be so rude to stare at a beautiful girl without her consent?" He faked confusion and they shared a small laugh at the reference.

"Gumball," Carrie said in her tone serious. "What are all those papers in your desk?" And Gumball grew a sullen look at the question.

"It's nothing but memories,"

"Memories of what? Please stop me if I get too personal," She added.

"I…" Gumball began, then his expression grew brighter. "You know what, it's about time I told someone, might as well be my favorite ghost," He smiled.

"You know other ghosts?" She asked amused.

"Not any as cute as you, but a few," He said and hopped off the couch. He approached his desk, grabbed a stack of the papers, and returned to the couch. He dropped his stack in between himself and Carrie and he faced her. Without looking he picked up one of the pieces of paper and unfolded it.

"Ahem." He cleared his throat. "Dear, Mr. and Mrs. Watterson, we believe your son, Gumball Watterson, is mentally fragile, we have proscribed medication with this letter and advise that you keep a close eye on him. Keep him as relaxed as possible and try to give him as much space as possible when he needs to be alone, but never, under any circumstances should he be farther than a short walk. Never leave him alone in his room and if you have any further questions please contact us. We have also taken the liberty of enrolling Gumball in a support group, here is their number:" And Gumball stopped and looked back to Carrie who was completely baffled at this point.

"What was that?" She asked uncomfortably.

"The hospital letter after I tried to kill myself," Gumball shrugged as if it was nothing.

"What!" Carrie screamed loud enough to shatter Gumball's ear drum.

"I tried to kill myself… Got pretty close too, had a damn good doctor though…"

"How? What? Why on Earth would you try and kill yourself?" Her mind was going a mile a minute with the new information.

"Oh look here's my suicide letter," He said picking up another piece of paper,

"How can you be so relaxed about this? You tried to kill yourself?"

"Right, sorry, I'm leaving you in the dark. Okay, so… This was… the summer after freshman year, and you had told me to pretty much go die, because I didn't really have a purpose, which, hurt… a lot, but then everything just seemed so… pointless, I tried to play with Darwin again or do something stupid to impress Penny, still nothing, I started to see my life as a big joke, the only reason I existed was to make other people smile, but I never really did, so I became engrossed in this idea that my existence was one the world could do without, because it doesn't need any more clowns, so that led me to contemplate suicide and when nobody took me seriously that I would do it, I hopped off a bridge," Gumball explain and slowly stood up. He removed his shirt to expose the giant scar on his back. "Surgery was hell, that had to fix a lot of internal stuff and the bill was giant, but that got it done."

"Gumball…" Carrie said in a soft voice. "I'm so sorry,"

"For what? It's not like you pushed me." He joked putting his shirt back on.

"That's just… I can't believe you would do that… You've always been a… Ray of sunshine,"

"Thank you, I think… But it's over now, I found purpose here in this garage, my parents give me the space I need here, and they never neglect to ask me about my day when I am home, it's a good deal, I'm glad I stuck around with the living, though it seems like I took the easy way out when I look at your situation. Never went to that support group…" He mused to himself. Then without warning Carrie was wrapped around him, pulling him into the most loving hug she could muster.

"You're not going to try again are you?" She said, her voice cracked, like she was about to cry and Gumball hugged her back.

"Not a chance,"

"Good, because my afterlife would suck without you, so if you die I'm bringing you back,"

"I'll hold you to that; I've grown rather fond of having you in my life." Carrie pulled out from the hug, but the two remained close to each other, still in Gumball's arms, there was brief moment where their eyes met before Carrie pulled herself to his lips and Gumball fall back on the couch as their lips meshed together. Their tongues danced for a brief moment, until Gumball pulled away. "Wait," He said to Carrie who kissed his neck. "Carrie, wait, I can't do this,"

"Why not?" She said lying on top of him.

"You just got out of bad relationship, it'd be wrong for me take advantage of you now…"

"You're not taking advantage of me, I want this,"

"I do too! But… I just don't trust myself, and I don't want you to do something you'll regret,"

"I've never felt more alive than when I'm with you, I swear I won't regret this," She pleaded with him.

"Please Carrie just… Hear me out, I just told you an emotional part of my life, so I'm emotional and you're emotional, so maybe we could just, hold off? Until we know what we want?"

"I know what I want Gumball, I want you, right now,"

"I'm sorry, I can't… Not in the right frame of mind, not without feeling a pang of guilt."

"Huh…" Carrie sighed. "Fine, whatever, I don't care…"

"I'm sorry, please believe me when I say I want this, I want you, but… I can't." Carrie didn't say another word to him and formed her legs into a tail again. She turned away from him with her anger practically boiling over. "I'll sleep in the garage, you can have the couch." He said solemnly and left her side.