As the sun finally dipped below the trees and faded from view, the beautiful bright stars took its place. Nicole held the now sleeping Gumball in her arms. His gentle and rhythmic breathing seemed to soothe her. She knew it was time for them to head inside, but her body thought otherwise. Eventually a cold burst of wind danced around her and Gumball's body. This seemed to make her gain control of her reluctant body, as she started to shiver and pull her precious lover closer.

Ugh* "Time for bed then..." she said out loud, starting to stand up.

Gumball, hearing her movements, woke up groggily and rubbed his sleepy eyes.

"How long was I out?" He asked, standing up as well.

"Only for about an hour. I wanted us to head inside because it's getting cold out here." She said, opening the door and ushering him inside.

Gumball followed her upstairs to bed. They both were too tired for another shower. As he took off his pants and climbed in, he moved over to get closer to Nicole. As he nuzzled into her body, she wrapped him tightly in an embrace.

"I love this..." he said, reveling in her warmth.

Nicole let out a small chuckle before caressing his hair.

"I can see that. Let's hope you sleep as soundly here as you did out there."

Gumball chuckled back.

"Why do you say that? Did I like...snore or something?"

This caused Nicole to kiss his head.

"Maybe a little~"

"Oh great...I didn't wake you up did I?" He asked worriedly.

Nicole rubbed his hair in assurance, giggling to herself.

"No you didn't Gummypuss, I was awake."

"Oh...I thought you would have slept."

Nicole went silent for a moment.

"I thought I would too, but...I had a lot on my mind."

Gumball faced her again.

"Like what?"

Nicole lowered her ears and let out a deep sigh.

"It's just...the watch and the lack of understanding it, Darwin and Anais, the worry of how...Richard...is caring for them since we have been gone..."

Gumball cupped her cheeks and rested his forehead against hers. Nicole then continued.

"I know...I know I told you to not worry so much about all this...but the truth is Gumball...It's been starting to sink in for me. I'm...I'm just concerned..."

Gumball kissed her gently on the lips, pulling back after a few seconds to look her in the eyes.

"Hey...It's alright. It's okay to feel this way. You told me that yourself. Your reaction to all this was just delayed from mine. We all have emotions...and it's okay to feel them. We got each other for comfort, and can help one another during times like this."

Nicole smiled now, before lowering her head a little.

"Thank you sweetie...that means a lot."

They then both hugged each other tightly, before parting after she cleared her throat.

"Um...I guess since we are on the topic of 'things on my mind'...I have something to confess."

Gumball cocked his head slightly.

"What is it?"

Nicole turned her head away from his gaze a little before snickering to herself.

"Okay...so, you remember when you were in the bathroom with me earlier?"

This seemed to catch Gumball's attention.

"Oh! Yeah. What about it?"

"Well, I MAY have been teasing you in there. Now I feel a little guilty about it. You know, with you bolting out so fast after I got out and spoke to you..."

"Oh! Right! Haha!" He spoke, starting to chuckle himself. "I thought you were up to something."

Nicole grinned at that.

I'm glad you understand it now. I'm sorry Gummypuss, that was mean of me."

Gumball snuggled up against her warmly.

"No biggie, it's fine."

"Really?" She asked.

"Really."

Gumball then decided to boop her on the nose this time.

"In all fairness...I think I might need to get even with you though."

Nicole grinned and laid back on the mattress.

"Like that's ever gonna happen."

Gumball gave her a smug grin of his own in return.

"Are you doubting me? Is that a challenge?"

"Perhaps..." she responded coyly, pulling her arms back behind her head and closing her eyes.

"Well then, we will see about that. Keep your eyes and ears peeled, missy. I could strike at anytime..."

Nicole opened one eye and looked at him.

"Missy? That's a new one..."

"It is indeed. Ya like it?" He asked boldly, bringing his thumb and finger to his chin, waiting for her response.

This seemed to amuse her to no end.

"You know what...I do." She said, causing him to strike an 'I-totally-nailed-that' pose.

Little did Gumball know, but Nicole had snaked her tail slowly but surely towards him on the sheets, directly under Gumball's neck. With half lidded eyes, she asked him a question.

"Missy may be a good one...but I think another nickname would suit me better. Do you know what that is?"

Gumball paused to think of an answer, but before he could, she made her move. With rapid speed, she wrapped her tail gently around his neck and pulled him closer, throwing his mind through a loop. As she brought him closer to her, she stopped him only a few inches away from her face. His almost frightful eyes met her gleaming ones.

"W-what should I call you?" He asked cautiously, attempting to free himself from her grasp.

Nicole ever so slightly tightened her tail around him, preventing his escape. She was loving this feeling of slight power over him.

"How about you call me...Gummybear?"

"G-Gummybear?" He said, stopping his struggle.

Nicole then loosened her tail around him and pulled him into a small kiss.

"You like it? I thought since you're my Gummypuss...I'd be your Gummybear."

"That...actually works." He spoke, sitting back and admiring her for a moment.

"Heh. It really does. I mean...our blue fur does make us look like those delicious snacks."

"Are you calling me a snack?" She asked, fluttering her eyes and resting her knuckles against her chin.

"No! I...mean yes! I mean..." he stuttered, clearly off put by her question.

This made Nicole throw her head back in hysterical laughter. Gumball quickly caught on to this, before giving her a pouty look.

"Hey!" He said defensively.

After a moment of Nicole's contagious laughter, he eventually formed a smile on his face before joining her. The breathless cackle of her only seemed to fuel the both of them. After a good few minutes, Gumball could barely breathe.

"I *cough* think that was *cough* so unfair."

Nicole wiped a tear from her eye before responding breathlessly.

cough* "You're right. I'm sorry Gummypuss. I couldn't resist myself, heh."

Gumball then gazed over her form briefly.

"Although...I must admit. You do got a point. You do look pretty delicious~"

"Oh, NOW we're flirting are we?" She asked, crawling closer to him.

"Well mister, I think you look half delicious yourself."

"Careful my Gummybear, you don't want to get a sugar rush." He said, backing up against the pillows.

"Who said I didn't?" She responded tauntingly, inching ever closer to him.

They soon locked lips and Gumball was pushed easily into the bed. He reached over and caressed her cheek, only fueling her to kiss him deeper. Her mind was on fire now. She felt like she was on 'cloud-9'.

'Maybe he does give sugar rushes...'

Pulling back exhausted, Nicole plopped on to her back beside him. Despite her wanting to simply continue this lovely moment of passion, she felt like she was going to pass out. The combination of barely breathing from laughing so hard, to the very demanding 'make out session' had truly taken her breath away. As she turned to face Gumball, it appeared it had taken his breathe away too. As he heavily inhaled and exhaled beside her, he turned his head to face her. They both then smiled at each other in satisfaction before cuddling up against each other.

"Goodnight Gummypuss..." she said wearily.

Gumball then kissed her one final time.

"Goodnight, Gummybear." He spoke, before resting his head on her chest.

With that, they both drifted off into a blissful slumber.

——————————

Gumball awoke to the feeling of a hand gently rubbing his chest. As he looked towards the culprit, he saw a very happy Nicole gazing back.

"Good Morning~" she softly half sang to him. This felt like pure bliss to his ears. As he wiped his eyes, he felt her hand leave his chest and caress his cheek. Then suddenly, she did something unexpected. She...started playing with his ears. This caused him to temporarily freeze and tense up, before letting out a big sigh and loosening his muscles. Although he had certainty not planned for this, he was loving it. It was so nice. The sound of muffled hand movements combined with the relaxing sensation caused him to roll back his eyes and close them. His body felt like putty now.

"Ahhh~" he half muttered, truly at a loss of words.

Nicole smiled down on him hearing this. She half expected this to happen. She would occasionally do this to him as a child to make him calm down or cooperate. It had been years since she had done this to him, but she remembered all the right spots to hit.

"It appears my memory has served me well..." she spoke, eventually stopping her ear massage.

Gumball seemed to let out a whiny groan in protest for her ceasing the lovely assault on his ears.

"Why did you stop?~" he said, now facing her.

"Because Gummypuss, it's time to get up. I want to see if we can find more answers on that watch."

Gumball groaned one final time before plopping his head on a pillow.

"Fine..." he spoke groggily.

———

After getting up, getting their own showers, and having a small breakfast, the pair made their way over to the watch across the road. As they sat on the cement step and started looking over it, the watch twinkled in the sunlight, giving off a lovely silver glow.

"Despite all this watch does, I still admire its craftsmanship and beauty." Nicole said, taking it in her hand.

Gumball had brought a tiny piece of metal to poke and prode the watch; just in case it had any secrets still lying within it. Although the watch was basically completely sealed, it still held that note, making Gumball eager to look it over closer. As he took it from Nicole's hand to observe it better, he looked everywhere on it; from the handle, to the top counter, to underneath it. No luck.

He sighed, leaning back against the dented porch pillar. This felt like a waste of time; and it's only been about 20 minutes. As he was about to hand the watch back to Nicole, he noticed something. There, just on the side of the watch...was a crack. It seemed so small and wouldn't have been noticed unless the sun had shined and had its light warped around it.

"Nicole, look!" He said, gesturing her to look closer.

She inched closer and saw it too.

"Nice catch Gummypuss. But...I think this is just a scratch."

"No. Look. It's a fracture."

As he poked his metal piece into the crack, he was able to chip off another piece of metal doing so. The crack now turned into a smaller gaping hole. As they gazed inside, they both let out shocked expressions.

Inside the watch lied a strange, shiny blue spherical object that had moving golden mechanisms around it.

"I-is that a marble?" Gumball asked.

"I don't think so..." Nicole responded.

After observing it for a while, they both seemed to come to a conclusion.

"This MUST be the power source for this watch."

"I agree. But what exactly is it?" He asked her, causing her to shrug.

"I don't know. Maybe it's a core or something."

Nicole took the piece of metal from Gumball's hand.

"Maybe if we move it, something else could be inside to lead us to more answers about all this..."

Nicole slowly poked the blue orb, but nothing happened. As she turned it however, she noticed a crack down its length.

"Gumball. I think this...orb, is damaged."

"What? How so?" He asked, looking closer.

"Look here." She said, drawing the metal piece closer to it.

"It must have been damaged when it ca-"

She was suddenly interrupted by a strange sound emanating from the watch. Nicole retracted her hand, dropping the metal piece.

"W-what did you do?" He asked nervously.

"I-I don't know! All I did was tap on the crack of the orb and it started doing this."

The watch then started to heat up rapidly. Nicole quickly dropped it and blew on her hands to cool them off. The watch now was making a louder noise, slowly rising in pitch.

"What's happening?" Gumball asked, stepping back.

"Come on Gumball, let's get out of here before something bad happens to us." She said, passing him and off the porch.

Just then, a very loud wailing sound was heard, causing them to both cover their ears in pain. Nicole dropped to the ground, feeling her very brain start to vibrate. She focused her vision towards Gumball and saw he had fallen off the porch and was by the cement step. Slowly, she crawled with all her might over to him. The pitch of the wailing was unbearable now, and Nicole saw the watch starting to shake violently and release smoke. She had to reach Gumball!

As she crawled closer with gritted teeth, eventually she made it. She covered his ears with her hands and pulled him close to her, trying to use her body to dampen the waves warping against them. Just when she thought it couldn't get any worse, the watch sounded like it was going to-

"Get down!" She screamed, pushing him onto the grass and covering him with her body.

With a great flash, the watch exploded. The heat wave warped over the house and lawn, scorching the grass around them. Nicole screamed in pain, feeling the back of her shirt and pants start to burn and scorch her fur and flesh. The sound of the explosion made her ears pop. She couldn't hear anything now. The combination of her body half burning from the flames to the deafness of her hearing made her feel the world around her start to fade. With that, she blacked out.

———

"Nicole. Nicole!" A muffled voice shouted at her.

As her senses slowly came back to her, she opened her eyes. Looming above her was a blue blob that her eyes couldn't seem to focus on yet.

"Nicole!" It shouted, eventually making her eyes adjust to the sound.

The blob turned into Gumball as he looked down at her with a lot of fear. His face was covered in singed hairs and his eyes were filled with tears. Nicole reached out to touch his face, but was rocked with pain doing so. As she looked at her arm, her eyes went wide with horror.

"M-my arm..." she weakly said, looking at the deep burns on it.

"The wounds on your back are worse..." he said, looking away.

"What do you mean on my ba- ahhhggggh!" She wailed, suddenly feeling the pain hit her system. She must have been oblivious to it for a minute or two because of her adrenaline, but not anymore. It felt like a hot coals were simmering her back, feeling the hot waves of pain ripple through her.

"Gumball..." she spoke, pulling him close to her with her other arm.

"Are you alright? Do you have *agh* any burns or wounds?"

"No. I'm fine. All I got was a few burnt hairs here and there. All thanks to you..." he said, rubbing her cheek.

Nicole smiled, feeling a little relief from this, but was brought back to reality pretty quickly.

"Gumball, listen to me... *agh* you need...to bring me...to the bathroom." She half wheezed.

"But the house is so far. You can't walk." He protested, pointing towards her feet.

Nicole raised her body just enough to see her legs. She saw her pants were ripped and torn in several places. Where her skin and fur were exposed, she saw burn marks in their place.

"Shit..." she said, lying back down, and clenching her teeth in pain.

She then faced Gumball.

"Can you...drag me...in this house here?"

"Yes. The door was blown down."

"Check and see if there is a downstairs bathroom in there. Go. Hurry!" She shouted at him, laying her head down.

Gumball quickly got up from Nicole and ran past the debris and through the open entrance of the house. A few seconds later, he came back to her.

"There's one in there! Let's get you to it."

Nicole nodded, and gestured for Gumball to lower into a crouching position. She then climbed onto his back, crying out in pain the whole way. She then locked her arms around his neck.

"Okay. Let's go. But move slowly, and carefully." She warned, gritting her teeth again.

Gumball obeyed and move his way slowly up the steps of the porch and into the house. Nicole's legs dragged over the wooden floor, leaving a trail of blood behind them. They soon made it to the bathroom, and Gumball helped her into the tub. As he grabbed towels for her to her head on. She laid on her stomach as Gumball ran cool water and helped clean her wounds. Nicole clenched her fist from all the new pain she was experiencing. It all was excruciating to her. Every moment of this was hell.

After about an hour of this, she felt her body start to heal her injuries. It was a truly weird sensation. On one hand, the pain felt drastically reduced; on the other hand, she felt her muscles and flesh move back into place. Something she was not very fond of having the pleasure to experience.

"Feeling better?" She heard Gumball say to her.

"Yeah. I...I am."

After another 10 or so minutes, Nicole decided the wounds were good enough for her to lay on her back again. She then looked at Gumball.

"You're still dirty." She said, causing Gumball to check his face.

"Oh, sorry. I forgot to clean off myself when I was done cleaning you some."

"Come here..." she spoke, weakly gestured him towards her.

As he reached her, she cupped some water with her hand from her side and wiped his face. As she splashed more water on his face, he closed his eyes. After his cleaning was to her liking, Nicole pulled him into a deep kiss. When she pulled back, he opened his eyes.

"Thank you Gumball. You really saved me."

Gumball nodded and rubbed the back of his neck.

"If anything Nicole, you saved me. After all, you covered me with your body and stopped me from getting hurt."

"I...I guess your right on that..." she said, leaning her head back.

She then closed her eyes. She felt exhausted. Whatever that healing was doing to her, it really had taken its toll on her energy.

"Don't worry, you can rest." Gumball said, placing a towel on the tiled floor next to the tub.

"I'll sleep next to you, in case something happens."

Nicole smiled before nodding and leaning her head back again.

Gumball drained the last of the water and placed another towel over her and laid down next to her. As she looked up one final time, she saw the single bath light above her start to become hazy. Then, with that, she closed her eyes and fell into a very exhausted sleep.