A/N: Gosh...school is hard guys. I've been having a lot of trouble finding time to update because things are miserably busy. All of the large accounting firms are running their huge recruitment weeks, and since I really really need an internship, things have been nuts. Forgive me for being so slow! Other than that, I really like this chapter, and I hope you will too! Enjoy! (By the way, since it's been so long since I've said it: I don't own Nintendo or it's characters, or much of anything else. I write for fun, not for profit, that's why I need a job so badly.)

Toadsworth hummed a jaunty tune to himself as he strolled about the pristine castle gardens where servants were making final preparations before the arrival of his guests. King Toadstool had generously granted his most trusted adviser use of the gardens for the entire day so that he might entertain the members of the Silver Club, an association for persons retirement age and older. He plucked a hors d'oeuvre from a silver tray carried by a busy Toad and noticed a flash of yellow and green from behind a bush.

"Ahem! Miss Daisy and Master Luigi, King Granbi and I can see what you two are doing in those bushes and I must say I do not approve!"

The two distracted spies scampered off to find some place more private while Toadsworth shook his head. The nerve of those kids! Miss Daisy has never had much common sense, but I would expect better from Master Luigi; why, his mother is due to arrive at any moment!

As anticipated, the elderly visitors began to arrive forty-five minutes early, ready to pontificate about their various aches and pains, the decaying moral fiber of the youth, and the corrupt politics of countries that they could not locate on a map, if anyone cared to ask them to do so. Toadsworth graciously greeted and escorted each of his guests out to the courtyard, where the Mushroom retainers had set up a croquet course as the afternoon's entertainment.

Mayor Dour, as the chairperson of the Silver Club, arrived first, followed by Puncilla, the Puni Elder, who declined to play croquet because of her bad back. Also among the guests was the Old Fisher Noki, whom the Yoshi Village Elder initially mistook for a large and tasty berry. Former Mayor Kroop and his brother, Koopa Koot also joined the game, along with Mama Mario, Old Man Watchitt, and Toadsworth himself.

"Mighty fine day we're having, isn't it?" said the Noki, aiming his light blue ball through the nearest wicket.

"The sun is a tad bright for my tastes," remarked Dour. "You there, Miss Toad, could you see your way to bringing some shade over here? We're just not as young as we used to be, and the sun is so glaring today. We're liable to get sunstroke!"

The Yoshi elder chimed in, "Back when I was a small Yoshi, I got the worst case of sunstroke when I was playing hide-and-seek in the jungle and I got stuck in a tree. I was there for two days!"

"That's nothing!" The Puni Elder replied. "Once, some uncouth aliens from the moon invaded the Great Tree and locked us in cages. I can't even remember how long we were in there. We had nothing to eat but a dwindling supply of dried shrooms. If it hadn't been for dear old Marty-O coming to rescue us, we surely would have starved to death! Not to mention, being in those damp cells with my arthritis…"

"Eh? Marty-O you say? Never heard of him," said Mayor Kroop. "I once knew a fine young gentleman by the name of Murphy. If you can believe, he slew a dragon and rescued our current mayor's father. What a stand up guy!"

"Ahem," Toadsworth turned to Mama Mario. "How is that son of yours doing these days?"

"Well I should say you might know better than I do. Hasn't he been around the castle lately?"

"Admittedly, I cannot say he has. I thought perhaps he might be busy with work or other such things."

"Oh! Of course, that would make sense! He is surely working hard to save up money for his bright new future! That's my boy, always very sensible; he gets it from my side of the family, you know."

"Eh? What's this about a bright new future? I hope that you do not intend to tell me that our dear hero will be taken from us. I simply do not know what we would do without the aid of your son in our times of need!"

"Oh, heavens no," Mama Mario quickly covered her mouth, suddenly realizing that she had said too much. She took Toadsworth aside, her desire to share her excitement overriding her ability to keep her son's secret. "I am so surprised that you haven't heard anything of it yet. I thought, as the princess' guardian, he would ask for your blessing first. Believe you me, I taught him that much!"

"Excuse me madam, but I haven't the foggiest clue of what you're getting at. What on earth would Mario ask my blessing about?" asked Toadsworth needlessly, disbelieving his own ears.

"Why, isn't it obvious? My son and your dear princess are quite obviously in love! During his last visit, my Mario just couldn't wait to tell Papa and I that he intends to ask for the princess' hand in marriage!"

"Why…this is wonderful news!" Toadsworth exclaimed.

"Yes, I know, and I am so glad to hear you say it. But, not a word can be breathed to the princess, or anyone else for that matter. My sweet boy would be terribly upset if anything ruined his surprise in any way. He's awfully sensitive like that; he gets it from his father."

"Yes, of course, my dear. I understand completely!"

Peach casually strolled throughout the kitchen, where the cooks were too busy preparing lunch for the elderly guests to notice her swiping sweets and drinks to put in the small basket she carried with her.

She internally praised herself for her excellent planning. She knew it would be rather suspicious to travel to the Darklands again in such a short time, but she also wanted to honor her promise to Junior and picnic with him. Instead of finding a flimsy excuse to return to the Darklands, she chose to meet Junior and his father in a remote corner of her expansive gardens, somewhere far away from the guests and their game of croquet.

She had been quite worried when Daisy arrived, unannounced, at the Mushroom Castle two days prior; however, she had slyly managed to convince her cousin to embark on an all-day boating trip with her favorite green-clad plumber, and now nobody stood in her way of meeting the royal Koopas in the garden.

As she left the kitchen, she paused for a moment to re-fluff her hair before walking outside. She was careful to travel perpendicular to the croquet party, lest any elders decide to stop her and inevitably make her late with stories about doctor's appointments and high-achieving grandchildren. Worse still, Toadsworth might ask her where she was going with a basket full of food. She huffed, annoyed at the thought that she was not even fully permitted to travel of her own accord to where she would like on her own castle grounds. For Petey Pirana's sake, by the Mushroom Kingdom's legal standards, she had been an adult for years! She neared the darker, more forested section of her gardens. She had always loved the seclusion of the place. She caught a glimpse of father and son spreading a blue and white blanket. She waved cheerily to the duo.

"Mama Peach! You made it!" Junior gave her a big hug and grinned. "Look, I gotta loose fang!"

Peach smiled as Junior wiggled his upper-right fang in demonstration. "Wow, that is pretty loose, Junior. Do you think the Tooth Fairy will come for it?"

"Yeah, and when she does, I'm gonna catch her and put her in a cage!"

"Oh, that doesn't sound very nice, Junior. How will the Tooth Fairy get around to all the other kids?"

"Who cares? She's a weirdo who goes around stealing teeth for a living! Nobody steals from me without getting locked up; it's the law!"

Bowser chuckled at his little son's antics. "Well Munchkin, if you're done runnin' your yap, then maybe we can get down to some chow! I dunno about you but I'm starving!"

Peach sat down slowly, spreading her dress around her. "I brought some petits fours and fizzy drinks for us to share."

"Peta-whats?" Junior asked, saying aloud what Bowser was thinking.

"Petits fours are tiny cakes that look really pretty." She produced one out of her basket. "See?"

"Mm, cake's my favorite! I want one right now!"

"Hey runt, you know the rules, you gotta have some real food before you go wolfing down all of Mama Peach's cakes."

"No King Dad; you said this is my day and I can have whatever I want! Today, I want dessert first, other stuff afterwards!"

The Koopa King shrugged at Peach, "Whatever, I guess we'll have dessert first then."

Peach was surprised Bowser would give in to his youngest so easily. She tried to help by telling Junior that other foods would help him grow big and strong.

"Mama Peach, I'm not a baby, you know. Look at King Dad. That's my dad; of course I'm going to be big and strong, no matter what I eat! If I didn't, I'd have to be a—a juh-net-tic dee-fect. King Dad says that Koopa royalty never has any of those. He says nothing about us is ever any kind of mistake, so I don't even have to worry about it!"

Peach shrugged and passed some cakes to Junior then offered some to Bowser as well. Junior's speech about genetics reminded her of the video she had watched that night in her room at Bowser's castle. Never any mistakes. It certainly seemed to be intentional, but why?

Meanwhile, Bowser was hauling a massive load of food out of the Clown Car, concealed in the distant bushes, all of Junior's favorites. As requested, the Koopa King brought the desserts first. There was banana crème pie, mint chip ice cream, jelly filled mochi, and gummy bears. Peach leaned forward to swipe a little meringue off the top of the pie and place it on Junior's snout. The little Koopaling roared in surprise and summarily returned the favor as Peach shrieked in delight.

Of course, it could not have been a picnic tea party without tea. Bowser frowned as he fiddled with the various thermoses. How do you open these dang things? Peach approached from the side, a smear of meringue still on her right cheekbone. "Need some help?" she offered.

"Nope," he replied, having just solved the contraption. He carefully wiped the bit of meringue off Peach's cheek. "Looks like you might though. You 'kids' better not have started eating without me!" he roared, loud enough for Junior to hear. Junior's fork clattered to the plate and he ran over to the Clown Car to help unload the rest of the food.

Before long, the blanket was covered in delightfully mismatched plates, cups, forks, and saucers; as well as plates of steaming Koopa dumplings, pigs-in-a-blanket, fruit salad, golden fries, and strangely, asparagus, Junior's favorite vegetable.

"I want this one!" Peach exclaimed playfully, seizing a dainty daffodil-yellow, vertically striped porcelain cup with a red and white checkered saucer underneath.

"Aww, no fair. Fine, I want the blue one. King Dad, you get the one with the cat on it." Bowser frowned at the disgustingly cute kitten on the mug, which was staring back at him with pleading blue eyes.

"Here Mama Peach, you can have my favorite Axem Rangers plate."

"Thank you, Junior. That's very sweet of you."

"Hey," Bowser interjected. "I'm your dad you little traitor; why can't I have the Axem Rangers plate?"

"Because Mama Peach is my best friend and she's pretty. You're my second best friend, so you can have…this plate." Junior handed his father a plate that he had decorated himself at school. It had yellow suns, blue water, glitter, and some unidentifiable stick figures. Peach giggled as she saw Bowser piling fries onto his glittery art plate while holding the kitten mug full of bright pink watermelon iced tea. He really, really loves his kids.

"Hey, I'm the king; I'm not second best at anything," Bowser retorted. "But I guess if I have to lose to anyone, it's alright if I lose to Mama Peach…sometimes."

"So Junior, how has school been going for you?" Peach asked politely.

"It's lotsa fun, most of the time. Sometimes it's hard, but most of the time it's really really easy. Sometimes I miss home, but only when the girls pick on me."

"Junior! You mean to tell me you let some dumb little girls pick on you?" asked Bowser, suddenly defensive of his little whelp.

"Well, sometimes they won't let me play house with them, and when they do, they always make me the baby brother and try to put me in a diaper," he replied dejectedly.

"Oh Junior, don't be sad. I'll bet at least one of them just has a crush on you and just thinks you're cute." Junior returned the comment by giving a disgusted face and blowing a raspberry.

"Why I never!" huffed Princess Peach. "Blowing a raspberry at a princess at a tea party? How rude! Somebody ought to teach you some manners, and I know just the person…" she trailed off pulling her hand from behind her back. Her thumb touched her other fingers in such a way that her hand resembled a pointed mouth. "Mr. Nipper Plant!" she squealed, "nipping" at Junior. The ticklish Koopaling screamed and ran away, the princess in hot pursuit. Bowser smiled gleefully as he popped another snack in his mouth and watched his beautiful princess chase his son around the grassy hills.

Peach was amazed at how fast Junior was able to run. However, her legs were longer than his were and she had almost caught up with him when her heeled shoe suddenly sunk into a pocket of muddy grass, instantly breaking the heel of the shoe. Peach fell, her face twisted into an expression of pain. Bowser and Junior quickly ran over to figure out what happened.

Tears welling in her eyes from pain, frustration, and embarrassment, Peach explained, "Ooh, my stupid shoe broke!"

"You okay?" asked Bowser, tenderly checking her foot, which was covered in mud.

"Yes, I think I'm fine, it's just…" She winced and stumbled into Bowser as she tried to get up. The pain shooting from her ankle caused more tears to flow to her eyes.

"Oh no you don't," the Koopa King replied. "You twisted your ankle real good there. There's no way I'm letting you walk on that thing." With that, Bowser picked her up and cradled her in his arms.

Peach let out an aggravated scream of exasperation. "No, put me down. I'm fine!" How was she going to explain to Toadsworth why her dress was caked in mud and her ankle was twisted?

"Not a chance."

"Well what do you expect to do? You can't just waltz into my castle and set me down."

"Why not?" he asked, knowing she was right. "Look, just don't worry for a little while, your awesome Koopa King will take care of stuff. We need to get you some kind of medical attention. If you come back to the Darklands with me, we can get you cleaned up and stuff, but you'll be gone for a while. Otherwise, we're going to need to think of something else. Your call, but you're NOT gonna be walking on that foot."

Peach wailed at the hopelessness of her situation, "I can't go to the Darklands with you, I have to be back by the time Daisy gets back. Just put me down and I'll be fine."

"No."

"Arrrgh, you're such a—a—stubborn bully!" Peach yelled, her tears now leaking down her face.

"Yep, and don't you forget it. Guess we're goin' on a tour of the Mushroom Castle. C'mon Junior, let's go."

Peach began to squirm, yell, and protest, but Bowser held her firmly. At last, Junior spoke up sadly, "Mama Peach? I'm sorry you got hurt when you were chasing me. Did I make you sad?"

When she heard how sincere and sad Junior was, Peach could not hold it in anymore, she started crying. "Oh Junior, sniff, don't be sad. I'm-- I'm just sad because, hic, this always ha-apens to me. I h-h-hate feeling so helpless! I can't ever run around the grass without..." Peach lapsed into more crying and lightly rested her head on Bowser's pectoral muscle, softly beating her fist on his carapace.

Meanwhile, two mischievous would-be spies entrenched in a steamy smooching session broke away from one another to watch wide-eyed as the royal trio approached.

"Oh my Stars, Weegie, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Daisy whispered urgently.

"W-What should we do? Bowser's kidnapping Peach right in front of our eyes!"

Luigi whipped out his phone, expecting Daisy to suggest he call Mario. He turned to see Daisy emerging from the bushes, armed with her own spiked heel in her hands.

"Mama mia! Daisy, what are you doing?" he screamed after her, also emerging from the bushes to rush the Koopa King and his dastardly son.

"Hiii-yah!" cried Daisy, as she brought her pointed shoe down upon Bowser's brawny arm in an act of righteous fury.

"What the ffff—" Bowser stopped himself mid explicative, remembering that his youngest son was mere feet away. Bowser turned to face the source of pain with an evil glare.

"Get away from my cousin you giant reptilian pervert!" screamed Daisy whilst continuing to bash Bowser in the arm with her high heel, a terrified looking Luigi in the background.

"Daisy? And Luigi?" he roared. "Everywhere I go, stupid moronic plumbers will follow!"

"Hey!" shouted Daisy. "This is between you and me, pal. You leave my boyfriend out of this! That's so typical of some stupid uncouth lizard just to go ahead and assume that women can't be held responsible or treated equally--"

"Listen you loudmouthed lamebrain, first of all, I'll speak to whoever I want, you and your poor choice in men aside. Secondly, if you don't stop hitting me with that ugly little shoe, I'm gonna sit on you, capisce? How's that for equal treatment? I. Will. Sit. On. You."

"Daisy, Bowser, please stop it!" Peach pleaded. Now, she was getting a headache as well.

Daisy and Bowser glared at one another while, a short distance away, Junior and Luigi were busy making obnoxious and rude faces at one another.

"Peachy, don't worry, Lulu and I are gonna rescue you!"

Lulu? Bowser made a face. "Well guess what, you presumptuous little pug-faced princess, she doesn't NEED any saving, 'cause I'm on the job!"

"Bowser," Peach warned.

"Oh yeah, then you wanna explain why she's crying and asking to be put down?"

"Daisy…he's actually right; I'm okay, I just twisted my ankle and the pain got to me and I just wasn't thinking right and started crying."

Daisy looked stunned. Junior threw a triumphantly superior look at Luigi who had "lost" the ugly face making competition. "Well then, Peachy, uh...what exactly are you doing out here with him?"

Peach's face flushed as she looked for a reasonable excuse. She hoped Daisy and Luigi had not already come across the picnic gear that they had left behind. How long had they been watching? Wait just a minute; they're supposed to be on a boat trip. What are they doing out here?

"It's a long story, but aren't you and Luigi supposed to be out boating today? What were you doing all the way in this part of the gardens?"

Now it was Daisy's turn to avoid explanations. She did not want to admit that she and Luigi had been trying to spy on her and Mario for the past few weeks, nor did she want to admit what she and Luigi had been up to in the garden's bushes. "Um, well…we got lost. And we missed the boat."

Bowser and Junior simultaneously gave disgusted faces. "Well, if you're all done explaining your intimate business, you clowns actually came with good timing. Take the princess back to her castle and make sure she gets proper care."

Bowser reluctantly let Peach out of his grasp; putting her, piggyback style, onto Daisy's back. The two Koopas sadly waved goodbye to their favorite princess, then walked back to the Clown Car.

Meanwhile, Daisy and Luigi took turns hauling Peach back to the castle. Daisy looked at her cousin with a mix of amusement, excitement, and embarrassment. What in the Underwhere just happened back there? "Mm, Peachy?"

"Yes?"

"I think it might be better for all of us if we didn't mention this to anyone at the castle. From now on, you, me, and Weegie were all out enjoying the sun and playing Frisbee until you twisted your ankle, right?"

"Uh, right."

Daisy wanted to know--she neededto know what Peach was doing on the outskirts of the castle gardens with Bowser Koopa and his son. It took every ounce of her restraint not to ask a million probing questions. She looked at Peach, chatting happily with Luigi about birds while riding on his back. She'll come out with it in her own time…she'd better.