*Chapter 49*

"So, how are we going to go about this?" Ralph chuckled nervously as he rubbed the back of his head. The three had made it back to the castle's large, warehouse like garage. A small piece of the crossed stripe branch was set delicately on their crafting table.

"Well," Taffyta sighed as she slammed a smaller toolbox onto the table, "Very carefully. We only have so much branch to work with."

"You really think my bumbling hands are worth it?" Ralph wrinkled his nose and gave Taffyta a nervous look.

"You'll be fine," Taffyta smiled, "I'll help."

"Me too!" Tammy chimed as Taffyta softly ruffled her hair.

"Tammy too," Taffyta beamed down at her.

"I have my hammer if we absolutely need," Tammy smiled up at Ralph. He smiled gratefully down at her.

"We can always count on you, Tams," Ralph smiled.

"How do you want the ring to look, Ralph?" Taffyta asked as she carefully began to saw off a chunk of the crossed stripe branch.

"Well," Ralph sighed and looked away nervously, "I had never given much thought to how it'd look."

"You haven't?" Taffyta asked in shock as she held up the chunk of branch she had cut off.

"Nope," Ralph sighed, feeling bad.

"You haven't even thought about your wedding band either, have you," Taffyta chuckled as she slumped her shoulders; Ralph's eyes grew wide before he lulled his head back and heaved a long, noisy sigh.

"It's okay," Taffyta laughed, "I'm just pulling your leg. After you propose, Vanellope will probably be the one to make your wedding band. Here, you try carving a small hole into this piece here."

"I'll try," Ralph said nervously as Taffyta handed him a chiseling tool and the piece of hard bark.

Ralph swallowed hard and tried to steady his large hands. Taffyta put her hands on her hips and avoided giving too much instruction; she gazed up at Ralph, hoping he'd catch on for himself. He suddenly swung at the piece of bark, causing the chiseling tool to make a loud pang noise, sending pieces of bark flying. Taffyta and Tammy ducked and covered their faces before giving Ralph a surprised look.

"Uncle!" Tammy exclaimed as she looked around at all the pieces of bark.

"Ralph," Taffyta doubled over laughing, "You HAVE to be gentle!"

"Are you blind?" Ralph hollered, "Do you see what I look like at all?"

"Ralph!" Taffyta hollered in between laughter as she placed both her hands on his, "You CAN be gentle, I know you can."

"This is going to be the end of me," Ralph growled as Taffyta cut off another piece of bark and handed it to him.

"Here, like this," Taffyta chuckled as she grabbed both of Ralph's wrists; she very gently began to motion his hands in the proper motion, "See?"

"I guess," Ralph said nervously as he began to tap on the piece of bark by himself.

"Now, add a TINY bit more force," Taffyta winced as she hovered her hands over Ralph's wrists.

Ralph inhaled sharply before adding a bit more pressure to his venture; Taffyta relaxed her shoulders as Ralph tucked the bark closer to him and began to gently work. Taffyta chuckled and lulled her head towards Tammy and caught eyes with her. Tammy giggled and scrunched her shoulders before Taffyta began to saw off another piece of wood, just in case.

"Alright, good!" Taffyta chuckled, "Make a small hole and we'll size it from there."

"Size it," Ralph froze before looking up at Taffyta nervously, "I don't know how big her fingers are!"

"It's okay," Taffyta beamed, "Vanellope and I have the same size fingers, you can use my fingers to test it out."

"Okay," Ralph sighed as he continued to chisel the piece of bark in his hands.

After a small amount of time, Ralph had calmly managed to make a make shift ring. The outside of the ring was bulky and awkward, but he assumed it'd be cleaned up. He beamed and held it in Taffyta's general direction.

"Hows THAT for gentle," Ralph beamed as Taffyta smiled and took the craft from him.

"Perfect!" Taffyta beamed as she carefully tried to wedge her ring finger into it; she winced, "Gotta make the hole a tiny bit bigger, Ralph."

"User help me," Ralph sighed as he took the bark back from Taffyta.

"You're going to have to sand it down and round it out afterwards," Taffyta said gently.

"What should I carve into it?" Ralph inquired casually, "Shouldn't I put some sort of design or carving onto it?"

"It's totally up to you," Taffyta smiled, Ralph slumped his shoulders, "Maybe you should put 'my heart glitches for you!'"

"Yeah, THAT will go over well," Ralph rolled his eyes and Taffyta and Tammy laughed to themselves.

"Glitch-me-not," Tammy snorted a laugh, Taffyta held her stomach and doubled over laughing.

"Real funny, guys," Ralph growled as he focused on chiseling.

"Glitch this!" Taffyta and Tammy rolled with laughter.

"Never asking for advice from you two ever again," Ralph said causally as he kept his eyes on what he was working on.

"Carving words onto the ring might be too difficult anyways," Taffyta chuckled as Ralph handed her the unrefined ring; she slipped it onto her finger and smiled, "Perfect! Now let's go sand it down, make it smooth and round."

"I'm not so sure I should keep working on it," Ralph said nervously as him and Taffyta began to head over to the sander across the garage, "I don't want to wreck it after all the work I've put into it."

"Ralph, you won't wreck it," Taffyta smiled as she motioned for Ralph to sit down at the sander, "You've come this far and you can't give up. How would you feel if I, of all people, made the finalized ring for YOUR wife?"

"Good point," Ralph chuffed as he stepped down on the pedal, letting the motorized sander rotate quickly; a soft whirring noise was present.

"Don't push the ring too hard against the sander or else it will shatter," Taffyta instructed as she slapped a pair of protective goggles over Ralph's eyes.

"Why do I have a feeling this isn't going to end well," Ralph moaned as he wrinkled his nose, trying to adjust to the goggles.

"Just remember to be as gentle as your little wrecking hands can possibly be," Taffyta chuckled as she carefully pulled herself and Tammy a few feet away from the sander.

Ralph rolled his eyes before very carefully pushing the ring into the sander; he yanked it away the second flakes of wood began to fly from it. He gave Taffyta shocked expression before nervously inspecting the ring. Taffyta laughed and motioned her hand for him to continue.

"That's supposed to happen, Ralph, keep going!" Taffyta urged over the whirring of the machine.

Ralph heaved a hard sigh and gently pushed the ring into the sander once more. After a few minutes of constant care and rotating, he finally pulled away from the sander and let his foot off the pedal. He held up the softly shaped and small ring before him, a large grin plastered across his face.

"It's perfect," Ralph said gently with a smile as he rotated it around, inspecting every curve to it.

"You did great," Taffyta chuckled as she stepped closer to inspect his work further.

Ralph handed her the ring, a silent way of asking her to try it on. Taffyta carefully slipped it over her ring finger and beamed down at it. She moved all her fingers around and shook her hand around, seeing that it was snug and held. She slipped it off her hand and handed it back to Ralph with an eager smile.

"Looks like you've got a winner, there, Ralph," Taffyta beamed as she pat his shoulder, "I'm sure Vanellope will have fun carving your ring."

"Uncle Ralph's hands are five times the size of Vanellope's," Tammy chuckled as Ralph stood.

"How do you manage to get anything done?" Taffyta wrinkled her nose and gave Ralph a knowing look after glancing at his large hands; Ralph's whole face turned red.

"We manage!" Ralph barked as he stepped away from Taffyta and Tammy. Tammy gave her a confused look as Taffyta stifled a small laugh.

"Guys, we need help down by the south end of the building," Calhoun said loudly to Vanellope, Candlehead and few men from her corps.

"I'm feeling anxious," Vanellope said in a sullen voice as everyone began to trek to the other side of the building.

"Why?" Candlehead asked, but she knew the answer.

"I figured after all this time, Ralph would come join us," Vanellope worried, "What is taking them so long?"

"Okay…to be honest with you, I had Ralph go off with Taffyta and Tammy because they had a surprise for Tammy," Felix fibbed, "I'm sure Taffyta just said that she needed Ralph's help so not to spoil the surprise for Tammy."

"Oh," Vanellope said as she perked up a little, "Why didn't you just say so?"

"Well, I-I guess I just… forgot," Felix sheepishly trailed off, to the two, as Vanellope trekked out of earshot of her sister and Felix.

"How much longer do you think we can stall her?" Candlehead worried to Felix as Vanellope skipped on ahead, "Vanellope is going to head straight to Ralph's house after this. What if Ralph isn't there and she goes into Sugar Rush to look for him?"

"Hmm," Felix pondered before looking around, "Maybe I can slip away and go collect Tammy. Maybe warn Ralph and Taffyta that Vanellope will be finished here soon?"

"I'll cover for you," Candlehead smiled as Felix handed her his golden hammer.

"Thanks, Candlehead," Felix said gratefully as he began to step away, "I'll be back."

"Hurry," Candlehead sneered as she waved him off secretly.

"So, if you don't mind me asking," Taffyta started as she began to gloss coat Vanellope's ring, "How are you going to propose?"

"I haven't totally thought about it yet," Ralph sighed, "I was thinking of taking her back to Vanilla Lake and doing it there. I know she really loved that place."

"Maybe you can do it on top of the Niceland building," Tammy giggled, Taffyta smiled in her direction.

"Possibly," Ralph chuckled as he gave her a genuine smile.

"Vanilla Lake sounds nice," Taffyta smiled as she carefully handled Vanellope's ring, "I'm positive she will cry."

"She'll cry?" Tammy worried.

"In a good way," Taffyta smiled towards Tammy, "Happy tears."

"Oh," Tammy chuckled as she slumped her shoulders.

"How are you guys doing?" Felix calmly chimed, though Ralph and Taffyta nearly jumped out of their skin.

"Don't scare us like that, Felix," Ralph scoffed as he clutched his chest.

"I'm sorry" Felix said curiously as he froze in place before Tammy jumped up to greet her father.

"Daddy!" Tammy chimed as she glomped him around his middle; Felix chuckled and hugged her to him.

"Hi sweet pea," Felix beamed before gazing up at Ralph and Taffyta; they had unglued themselves from their focus and kept their nervously excited attention on Felix.

"We're doing great," Taffyta answered Felix's question with a smile as Felix worked his way over to the two.

"Did you guys manage to get a double stripe for Vanellope's ring?" Felix asked happily.

"Ever better," Taffyta beamed as she held up Vanellope's glossy, finished ring, "Ralph managed to get the rarest branch of all. The crossed stripe branch."

"How did you manage that?" Felix asked in shock as he smiled at the gorgeous ring Taffyta held before him.

"Some good 'ol wrecking, brain power," Ralph beamed as he stood up and placed his hands on his hips.

"It took a while, but it was definitely worth it," Taffyta smiled as she focused on her task; she carefully began to re-coat Vanellope's ring.

"Most definitely worth it," Felix repeated with a smile as he gazed up at Ralph, "I'm really happy for you, brother."

"Thanks," Ralph chuckled as he looked away in a shy manner, "Never thought I'd be doing this."

"Good things come to good guys," Felix said gently with a loving smile; Ralph chuckled in disbelief and rubbed the back of his head bashfully. Felix inhaled deeply and smiled down at Tammy, "Well, I came by to collect my little fixer, but I also wanted to let you guys know that Vanellope will be done in Hero's Duty shortly and will be headed to your house once she's done, Ralph."

"Good to know," Ralph said in a concerned way as he glanced at Taffyta nervously.

"Don't worry Ralph, this will only take a few more minutes," Taffyta chuckled as she barely glanced up at Ralph, she could practically feel his nervousness.

"We'll try to stall her as much as we can," Felix smiled as him and Tammy began to head for the door.

"Thanks Felix," Ralph smiled before he pointed to Tammy with an eager smile, "Remember Tammy. It's our little secret."

"My lips are sealed, uncle, don't you worry!" Tammy said confidently as she waved. The two slowly left the warehouse and shut the door behind them.

"Let's hope she actually makes good on her word," Taffyta sighed with a small smile as she rotated Vanellope's ring around a few times.

"If she doesn't, it wouldn't be the end of the world," Ralph sighed with a small chuckle as he lulled his head.

"I guess not," Taffyta smiled as she stood up straight. She looked over Vanellope's ring a few times before beaming at Ralph.

"Is it done being glossed?" Ralph asked eagerly but gently as Taffyta made her way in front of Ralph.

"Yep," Taffyta smiled as Ralph held his large hand out to her, eager to see the finished product.

Taffyta gently placed the small ring in Ralph's large palm. Ralph inhaled deeply and gazed down at the beautifully crafted crossed stripe ring in his hand. It was creamed with soft whites; the bright red stripes were powerful and bold, while the delicate, messy array of the small, mint green stripes weaved all around. The two swirled and crossed and bound perfectly. He could hardly believe this moment had come. He stared long and hard down at the delicate, glistening ring in his hands before averting his attention to Taffyta. The air was thick with calm, lulling silence. Ralph gazed at Taffyta earnestly as he could feel his heart pang with a brotherly love towards her. Taffyta finally caught eyes with Ralph and smiled back at him with the same force of sincerity. Her piercing blue eyes gazed into his with purpose and truth; wisdom, yet endless youth.

"Taffyta," Ralph started gently as he looked away, "I know you don't like sap, but…I really appreciate all your help today."

"It's the least I can do for my brother," Taffyta chuckled as she looked down and nudged Ralph's arm playfully; she inhaled a small breath and gazed down at the ring in Ralph's hand, "I've never had the experience of having a big brother."

"Well, now you do. Thanks for always believing in me," Ralph said gently as he gazed down at her, his facial expression serious but sincere, "You're one of few."

Taffyta smiled up at him happily for a few moments before carefully wrapping her arms around Ralph's neck and giving him a proper hug. Ralph widened his eyes but smiled and gently wrapped his free arm around her upper back. He smiled a wide smile and gently squeezed her to him; he shut his eyes tight and held Taffyta carefully. He wondered where this sudden soft side of Taffyta had come from, but he tried not to question it. He could feel Taffyta inhale a long, unsure breath.

"You're the best brother I've ever had…I love you, Ralph," Taffyta said softly and seriously into his shoulder. Ralph froze for a second before smiling wide; he exhaled a small chuckle, barely audible.

"I love you too, Taff," Ralph said gently with a wide smile. The two remained locked for a few, calm moments before Taffyta pulled away from him, her eyes curiously becoming glassy.

"I want you to have something," Taffyta said seriously, her facial expression almost excited.

"What's that?" Ralph asked eagerly as Taffyta gazed up at Ralph for a moment. She then quickly slipped away and began to approach a beautifully crafted chest, hidden behind a few of the toolboxes near the far wall. She opened the chest, using a code, and began to rummage inside.

"It's something only royalty, here at Sugar Rush, has access to," Taffyta stated calmly as she turned around to face Ralph; she was holding what looked to be a book. It was beautifully bound in the wood of Vanilla Lake's cherry blossom trees.

"What is it?" Ralph asked curiously.

"It's everything that runs Sugar Rush, all the workings, how to work the code room, every gumdrop, sprinkle, coding, everything is in this book," Taffyta explained with a smile before gently handing it over to Ralph.

"You, want me to have it?" Ralph asked in shock.

"Only Vanellope, Candlehead and I have access to this book," Taffyta explained as Ralph carefully locked his hand onto the book, "As the new King of Sugar Rush, it belongs to you now."

"Wow," Ralph breathed as he gazed down at the book; he knew marrying Vanellope was a serious business, but it only just hit him like a pile of two ton bricks; he inhaled a confident breath and gazed down at Taffyta in a sincere way, "I, don't know what to say…"

"Take care of her, Ralph," Taffyta said gently after a few moments of calm silence between the two; Ralph gazed down into her eyes earnestly. Her eyes pierced his soul, she began to look intimidating, but she kept a confident, loving air about herself.

"Always," Ralph said above a whisper.

Ralph gazed down at Taffyta with a slightly nervous, yet confident expression. He always knew Taffyta was the one who took care of Vanellope; she was Vanellope's older sister. As he gazed down at Taffyta, he realized it wasn't just Vanellope he'd be taking care of. With one simple vow, he had inherited not one, but two younger sisters and a whole kingdom to care for as well. He knew he was in for a massive culture shock, but he also knew Vanellope was worth stepping out of his comfort zone for. He smiled down at Taffyta, the look of sisterly longing hung in her eyes before she shook her head and cleared her throat gently.

"Now," Taffyta choked as she tried to subtly wipe her eye; she softly shoved Ralph's arm and nudged the book into his chest, "You have a lot of reading to do, I suggest you go before this room is filled to the brim with sap overload."

"I think that's a new record. That's the longest I've seen you be so sappy," Ralph chuckled as he slowly began to step away, Taffyta shoved him a little bit more, "I can only imagine how you'll look on YOUR wedding day."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's not prolong it any more than we have to," Taffyta barked with a chuckle as she gave Ralph one final shove.

"Thanks, Taff," Ralph smiled back at her, "For everything." Taffyta beamed and waved her hand.

"Git," Taffyta choked before giving Ralph one final, loving smile.