It was all over the news.
"Give me some damn eetos, Larry!"
"You get your own 'damn eetos'!"
Okay, not that scene. A scene that wasn't even in the last event.
Ember had come up with a new law. A new legal event.
News everywhere.
America.
"Ember Jade has made it possible to-"
India.
"Mayour Ember has made a new law that states-"
Britain.
"No' even Menry would be able 'o do 'is-"
Australia.
"Ember has made it perfectley clear that-"
And Elmore.
"Our new mayour, Ember Jade, has made a new law for us a few days ago. Any and everybody, within both parents' consent, may get married. In words for the dumber people, if you're 14, you can get married as long as both parents say yes."
Gumball turned off the TV and smiled big at Darwin.
"Is that your 'who farted' face or your 'I have an idea and you're probably not gonna like it but I wanna do it anyway' face?" Darwin crossed his arms.
"The second option."
"Gumball."
"I'm 14."
"Patrick hates you."
"Hated."
"It's still risky."
"Ember wouldn't've made it a law if she knew it wouldn't be able to happen."
"She probably didn't make it just for you, Gumball. There are, like, 100,000 people in this town. You're one of them."
"Penny."
"Two. Still quite a lot."
"Come on, man. What about Carrie? Don't you wanna marry her?"
"I'm 12, Gumball."
"Two years, bro. Smaller wait than it was usually."
"You are not buying a ring for Penny. You don't even have the money, and neither does Mrs. Mom."
Gumball got the box out of his pocket and smirked, "Oh?"
"Who'd you steal that from?"
"I bought it!"
"From what, the Temu store?"
"No, from Papa's Jewelry."
"Where did you get the money?"
"Totally not Ember's purse."
Darwin facepalmed, "How much was it?"
"$10,000."
"Dude. When'd you do this? The law was just announced."
"Who said I did it today?"
"When the fish did you do it?"
"Totally not 2 years ago or before I started dating her. Totally not."
"What the hell?"
Gumball covered Darwin's mouth, "Shhhh, don't cuss."
"Bruh. The entire family does. I think."
"I don't want my baby brother copying me," Gumball replied.
Darwin sighed, "How are you going to hide the fact you stole money from Ember...from Ember?"
"She's dumb, she won't notice."
"Why the fuck is there $10,000 missing from my bank account?" Ember asked, entering the house.
"Darwin did it," Gumball replied, instantly, pointing at his younger brother.
"No, he didn't," Ember replied.
"Yeah, why would I steal money from my friend?" Darwin questioned, turning to Gumball.
"Gumball, I have millions of dollars in my bank account. You don't need to hide it. If you do hide it, I will ban you from stealing my money ever again. Understood?" Ember asked, firmly.
Gumball sighed and nodded, "Fine..."
"Why'd you need that much money, anyway?" Ember asked.
"Ring," he replied.
"Ah, I get it," Ember smirked, "Little man think he's all grown up. My brother felt that way." She paused while glaring at the ceiling. "Miss you, lil' bro." And looked back at the others.
"Anyways..." Gumball continued, "Darwin thinks you didn't make the law for me."
"Oh, I did," Ember smiled. Learn a lesson on patience. She thought to herself.
"Welp, you just started an argument."
"Hm," Ember smiled, eyes closed and face moving forward, about a centimeter, and then back to its resting position. "Wait, where's Penny?"
"She ran out of the house, like, three hours ago. Not sure for what."
Penny opened the door.
"What's up?" she asked the household.
"We were just talking about you," Ember smiled.
Gumball got on his knee and opened the box.
"Oh, we're doing this now?" Ember asked.
"Marry me," Gumball smiled.
"Not right now," Penny replied, giggling, "We're too young. I know the new law states 14, but we're still kids. Wait until 16 or something."
"Awwwwwwwww."
"Told you so."
"Nice ceiling," Ember said, completely off-topic.
That night, Gumball and Penny were...distant. Nobody really noticed except themselves.
At 12:00 in the morning, Ember woke up, and got curious about her phone.
Ember picked up her phone and checked her notifications. One was a direct message from Penny on ElmorePlus. She clicked it and read it.
P: your house. now please. living room.
Ember shrugged and teleported to her living room, 15 steps away. Penny was on the couch.
"What's up?" Ember questioned.
"Gas prices," Ken answered, in his own room.
"You're a fucking comedian," Ember shouted back, sarcastically, "Go back to sleep."
"I...didn't even... know...that... I-I was..." Penny started to cry, sending Ember over to her into a tight hug.
"Didn't know what, babe?" Ember replied, using her normal pet names that would probably anger Gumball if he heard her.
"I... I was pregnant... but... I lost the baby...they had to do a scan on me in my uterus...there wasn't any placenta... and the baby was... I didn't even... I..." Penny cried again, hugging onto Ember tighter.
"It's okay, Penny. You didn't know. You can't really control this shit," Ember said, "Does Gumball know?"
"No...I didn't even know..."
"Let's go home and tell him," Ember replied.
"Can we at least wait until the morning?" Penny asked, voice quiet and shakey.
"Yeah, let's wait. I'm still tired and if I don't sleep now I won't be able to. ADHD sucks ass," Ember giggled. Penny did a weak giggle.
"Does Gumball know you're here?" Ember asked, after seconds of silence.
"No. I snuck out."
Ember sighed, "Penny, why- nevermind, where do you wanna sleep tonight?"
"I'll sleep here," Penny replied.
"Okay," Ember replied, standing up, "Good night."
"Night."
Ember walked back in her room and laid back down, closing her eyes.
The next morning, Ken tapped on Ember continuously trying to wake her up. After getting annoyed, she turned to him and slapped his face.
"Bro, lemme sleep," Ember said, turning back to the original position she was in.
"Ouch," Ken reacted, rubbing his slapped area. He moved his hand back down and continued, "Why is Penny asleep on the couch?"
"It's a long story, let her sleep."
Ken groaned, "But why is she here?"
"Long story. Go to sleep, comedian."
"I thought I was a fridaying comedian," Ken corrected.
"Go to sleep, fucking comedian," Ember repeated, firmly this time.
Ken smiled, "There ya go."
"I will slap you again," Ember threatened.
Ken rocketed to his room, not wanting to get slapped again.
Penny walked into Ember's room, "I think I'm ready to tell Gumball... but do you think you can help me?"
"Yeah, of course," Ember said. She stood up, grabbed Penny's hand, and teleported into the living room of Gumball's house.
"Penny, I was so worried about you," Gumball said, standing up from the couch, "Where we you-"
"I was spending the night with Ember," Penny interrupted, "For, uh, a reason..."
Gumball slowly grabbed a ring box from his pocket. Penny noticed and groaned.
"Gumball, stop. I don't want to get married at the moment!" Penny shouted, "When I say no the first time, I mean no and it stays a no."
Gumball slowly put the box back.
Penny sighed, "Gumball, I was pregnant again."
"What?" Nicole popped out of the kitchen door frame.
"But, I had a miscarriage. So that's wonderful," Penny continued.
Gumball continued to stand in the middle of the floor, not saying anything.
"Hello?" Penny waved her hand in Gumball's face, "Are you there?"
"I... I didn't know... " he managed to stutter.
"I know, me neither," Penny replied.
Gumball hugged her tight, "I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry, too, I should've told you sooner. But I didn't know how," Penny admitted.
"At least you did," Gumball replied, "We'll get through this together."
Penny thought of something and turned to Ember, "Ember?"
"Nope, not happening. Love you!" Ember teleported back to her house.
"Welcome back," Ken greeted, chilling on the house.
"Ha ha, funny," Ember sassed.
"Are you okay?" Ken asked.
"Nope," Ember slammed her hand on the counter, "No, I am not."
"Why? What's wrong?"
"It's all my fault," Ember said, "I did it I made the law. Gumball took it. He used it. It's all my fault," her voice shook, "It's all mine, it's mine. I didn't mean to, I didn't. I need to cancel the law."
"Ember, what are you talking about?" Ken asked.
"You know damn well what I'm talking about," Ember shouted, "Don't give me that game!"
"What game?!" Ken shouted back.
Ember paced around the island counter, "I just.. I thought she'd say yes! I had a feeling she would. But she didn't. She didn't. I did this for Gumball and Penny! But the STUPID miscarriage got in the way!" she continued to pace.
Ken stood up, "Okay, how about we calm down?"
Ember glared at Ken, who put his hands up. She shook her head, "You shouldn't be joking right now. You shouldn't be joking."
Ken put his hands down, "Ember, calm down."
Ember cried, "I can't, Ken! It's my fault!"
"No, it's not! You didn't know she'd say no!"
"But still!" Ember yelled, "I shouldn't have risked it!"
Alana entered the living room and paused, "Uh, what is going on right now?"
Ember pointed at Ken, "Ken thinks is soooo funny to make jokes right now. Well, lookie here mister!" Ember held her stomach slightly and continued talking, "This is SERIOUS, not a time for jokes."
"I'm sorry, I just wanted to lighten the mood!" Ken replied, stomping to his bedroom.
Ember turned to him and flipped him off, "Don't have an attitude with me!" She turned back to Alana.
"Are you okay?" Alana asked.
Ember sighed, "No." And teleported out of the house, following another stomach pain.
Alana sighed and walked into Ken's bedroom, with her arms crossed.
"What?" Ken asked, sighing.
"What happened?" Alana asked, cocking her head to the side.
"Ember's blaming herself, again," Ken answered.
"Blaming about what?" Alana questioned.
"The law she made. About marriage. Gumball used it, proposed to Penny, Penny rejected him, Penny had a miscarriage of an unknown pregnancy again, Gumball tried to propose again, Penny told Gumball about the miscarriage, Ember blames herself that she was in fault, the end. Need more popcorn?"
Alana shook her head slightly, "She should know it's not her fault. She didn't know she'd say no."
"That's exactly what I said," Ken replied.
Alana sighed, "I guess we'll just wait for this to pass through."
"Yeah," Ken replied.
A few days later...
Ring! Ring! Ring!
Ken opened his phone and answered the call.
"Ken Gtswint, how may I help you?"
"Penny's in the hospital," Nicole answered.
"Why? What happened?"
"She's been diagnosed with sepsis."
To be continued...