Better Off Without-TCW

Chapter 3

A/N: First of all, I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone that has commented on, followed, and favorites this story so far. I feel bad about not thanking you guys sooner and personally, but I really do appreciate every comment, fave, and follow I get.

I'd also like to give a special shout out to Poptart Cat, who illustrated a moment from the first chapter on Deviant Art. Unfortunately the link provided didn't work, so I had to do a bit of digging to find it. But still, I never thought anyone would make fan art of something I wrote.

But anyway, I hope y'all all enjoy the chapter.


"Come on! Come on!" Anais frantically said into the phone. She had been trying to get a hold of her parents or Gumball for at least two hours now, in-between searching the house with Darwin in hopes of finding any more clues as to their brother's whereabouts. But now she just found something big, but her parents weren't answering and her calls to her brother just went straight to voicemail.

"Hello?"

"Dad!" The younger rabbit's ears perked up at the sound of her father's voice. "I've been trying to get a hold of you and mom for hours! I need to tell you…"

"Well sorry sweetie, but your mother left her phone in the car when she took off to look for Gumball on foot and I was driving. And your mother always says to never talk on the…"

"Never mind that!" Anais interjected. "I need to tell you something. I figured out Gumball might have been planning on running away and I found a journal tucked under his mattress..."


The Fitzgerald Household

In her room, Penny Fitzgerald was laying belly down on her bed, while reading a book. Specifically a fantasy-romance novel of some kind with an illustration of a sword and shield wielding hero in green, standing protectively between a fierce dragon and bow and arrow wielding maiden in pink, aiming a shot at the monster adorning its cover. Occasionally reaching down below her bed to take a bite from some chocolate chip cookies that lay on a plate on the floor next to a glass of milk in-between turning pages. She was just trying to relax before she was ready to turn in for the night. Something she really needed after her boyfriend had somehow blown up/flooded half the school earlier today. Somehow getting her covered in table condiments in the process.

But unfortunately, she was having trouble concentrating on her book, as her mind wanted to drift back to the aforementioned blue feline. She tried to force her mind to focus on picturing the exciting scene described in her book, but it was determined to derail this train of thought and steer things back towards the cat. Not helped by the hero of this particular book just so happening to be an adventurous, kind, and romantic, but very brash, impulsive, and often self-centered individual, who regularly got himself and the people he cares about into trouble even when his heart was in the right place. Sound familiar?

After a while, the fairy just sighed and tossed her book to the side, before finishing off a cookie she had been ideally chewing on. 'Oh Gumball, why can't you just go two days without causing some kind of incident.' Penny loved Gumball very much, and to be honest, she felt his knack for getting himself into sticky situations, both intentionally and not, was part of his charm. There was never a dull day spent with him. But she would be lying if she said loving him was not exhausting sometimes.

She lifted up a cellphone in a pink case, that was decorated with stickers of blue and pink flowers on the back and frowned upon seeing there were no new messages. Earlier, she had sent Gumball a text asking how he was doing, but he never replied. So she sent him a couple more and tried to call him, but still, no reply. And now she was starting to worry.

Penny knew her boyfriend had been feeling down as of late, even if he tried to play it cool whenever she asked him if he was feeling alright. And after what happened at school today, she figured he probably wasn't feeling any better. And now she heard that he ran off after some big fight with his mother over it. 'I just wish I knew how to help him,' she thought as she flopped her head down on the bed. She was considering going out and trying to track the feline down herself, but she wasn't sure where to start.

(chirp chirp chirp)

Penny's head shot up at the electric sound of birds chirping being emitted from her phone. She picked it up in a heartbeat and saw that it was a message from Gumball.

"Hey Penny, look out your window."

The changeling fairy quickly got up and ran to the window, before pushing it open and looking down to see Gumball standing in the yard, looking up at her. He awkwardly waved up at her as his glowing feline eyes made contact with hers.

Having alerted his love of his presence, Gumball dug his claws into the side of her house and began to scale the building, like a white knight scaling the tower to rescue his princess. He had wanted to surprise her, but last time he tried climbing into Penny's room to surprise her, she mistook him for a burglar and kicked him in the crotch before she realized who he was and had to carry him to her bed and spend the next two hours apologizing and asking him for anything he needed while nursing him back to health… after she kicked him again for scaring her. So, as nice as it was having his girlfriend take care of him all night, he figured he should probably at least tell her he was out here before he started climbing up.

But before Gumball could make it halfway up, he felt the fairy's arms wrapping tightly around his midsection as she yanked him from the side of the house. He instinctively grabbed onto Penny's arms as well as he could, while she flew them up to her window. Though to his surprise, instead of trying to gently squeeze both of them through the opening, she kind of just shoved him through and let him fall onto the floor, before gracefully re-entering her room.

"Still mad about what happened at school today?" He asked as she walked over him.

"A little," she said as she leaned down to help him to his feet. "Though I'm more upset with how you haven't been responding to any of my messages! And after your mom called and said you've up and disappeared I... I've been worried sick about you, you know?" She raised her voice a little and her glow started to turn a little red, but she tried to be careful not to speak loud enough to alert her parents.

He scratched the back of his neck nervously, while looking to the side. 'Nice going Gumball, first you piss off your mother to the point that she doesn't want you in her life anymore, and now you're pissing off your girlfriend." He sighed, then turned back to Penny. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that. But… well, it's a long story."


The City Park

Back at the park, Nicole was sitting on a bench by herself. Lost in her thoughts.

She had just spent the last hour or so running all around the park, hoping to find her son (to no success), before collapsing on the nearest bench to catch a breather and think. Though part of her felt ashamed for not immediately continuing her search for her son, as soon as it became apparent he was not here.

But she was both physically and emotionally exhausted from the search, and now she had no idea where else to even start looking for Gumball now that she ruled out the local park and all his friends she was familiar with. So she just sat there. Trying to get her emotions in check and reinvigorate her drive to find her lost child.

But as Nicole sat there, a certain thought kept trying to sneak it's way into her mind. Despite her best efforts to force it away and how disgusted she was with herself for even having it, she just could not ignore it. She had to think about it. Whether she wanted to or not.

"Do I really wish I never had Gumball? I know he's... raising him has never been easy, but is there really a part of me that wishes I never had him? That he was never… born?"

The mere fact that she was even humoring such a horrid thought made her feel like a dagger was slowly being pushed through her heart. But she shook the tears off and began to think back on her life. Specifically the long stretch of it that started when Gumball entered the picture.


Over Twelve Years Ago (though for some reason, Nicole felt like it should have been at least eighteen years ago or so by now, but that's not important)

Nicole stared wide-eyed at her own reflection in the mirror, in the bathroom of her and Richard's little one bedroom apartment. Then turned her head down, without changing her wide-eyed look, to examine six white sticks that had a green plus sign on them and one that had a red minus sign on it that she had sat in the sink. She absent-mindedly picked one of the sticks up, while in her daze.

A few days ago, Nicole had begun to have odd nausea spells that would come out of nowhere, before disappearing just as soon as they had come. And soon afterwards, she had begun to become unusually fatigued while doing everyday things, seemingly at random, as well as having weird cramps in her gut and her breast started to feel oddly sensitive.

Having a good hunch what this might be, she swung by the local drug store yesterday and, after working up the courage, bought a cheap home pregnancy test. Then after getting the results of said test, serenely asked her boyfriend, without taking her eyes off the test, if he could run by the store and get her another one just to be sure. Then hysterically demanded he bring her five more, after getting the results on the second one. Just to be extra sure.

Out of those five pregnancy tests, all but one told the same result: positive. But the very last one she took had been negative, leaving a small seed of doubt that maybe she was worrying over nothing. Maybe, just maybe, the six tests she took earlier were all wrong. So, she and Richard had decided that today they were going to the hospital to see for sure. See for sure… for sure if she was going to be a mother.

The whole thing seemed so surreal to Nicole. She had always thought that she and Richard would have a child or two sometime down the line. She wanted at least one at some point. But now that that moment might be here, she didn't know what to think! It just felt too soon!

Nicole had begun to rub circles around her belly, as the face in the mirror turned somber. 'Am I really ready to be a mother?' She thought to herself. 'I just got to the point where me and Richard can start putting some money away and I can start going back to college again. But now, I might have to raise a kid on top of working and going to school.' She started to tear up. 'Can I really do all this?'

But in the midst of the cat's worries over her future, her mind began to wander towards the subject of her (at the moment theoretical) future child. 'I wonder what they'll even be like? Will they take after me or Richard? We're so different and, well, as much as I love him, I don't think I want to have to raise a second Richard.' Nicole cringed at that thought, but her expression soon turned inquisitive as she placed a finger on her chin. 'But then again, it would be nice if they inherited some of their father's charm. Oh! maybe she-or he will be some kind of amalgamation of the two of us. Yeah, that would be great! She, I mean they, will have me and Richard's best qualities and that will balance out both our imperfections! That would be great! Though I still wonder if she'll be a cat or a rabbit?"

Nicole's once terrified expression had been replaced by the widest grin she had ever put on. Her head was filled with the most beautiful of potential future moments with her theoretical daughter or son (though she was leaning towards hoping for a daughter, she wasn't that bothered by the idea of a son). Like watching her-them! take their first steps, watching them light up when she bought in her birthday cake, dropping them off at kindergarten and having to pry them off her leg, seeing her ride her bike on their own for the first time, teaching them martial arts (Though she planned on waiting for when they were older for that one, like maybe when they're thirteen or fourteen, but she was definitely going to do that at some point down the line), and even getting to comfort her when she was feeling down. Something her own parents rarely did for her.

'We could do this. I have-I mean we have some money saved up now. And Richard said he was going to buckle down and really get back on his job search. So soon we'll have two paychecks coming in. And I can totally handle a job and going back to college at the same time. I am Nicole Senicourt after all. And once Richard gets his act together, I'll have him to help me pick up the slack. Yeah, we're ready to handle a baby.'


Meanwhile, back in the present, at the Fitzgerald household

Gumball was now on Penny's bed, leaning his head into her, while she held onto him like he was a blue cat plushie. Rubbing his back comfortingly as he ate a cookie that she had offered him.

He had just finished explaining to her what had happened between him and his mother. And while he tried to stay strong and keep his cool, she could tell he was on the brink of breaking down. So she had insisted he sit down on the bed with her, before gently wrapping her arms around him and gradually pulling him into her comforting embrace, as he continued his story. Now feeling secure enough to not worry about hiding his emotions, he just let it out while she did her best to comfort him.

Her own parents had come by to check on the commotion coming from their daughter's room. But after seeing Gumball flooding the room in a few inches of tears while in Penny's arms, as he was explaining the events that Nicole had summarized to them over the phone earlier when she called asking if they'd seen him, they simply exchanged glances with their daughter before leaving. So now the two of them had all the time they needed to themselves.

"I can't believe your mom would do something like that," Penny said, her voice filled with a tranquil fury at how much Nicole had hurt Gumball. "I knew she could get kind of intense, but she always seemed so loving and protective of you… I mean, I understand her being mad and all, but what she did was way out of line."

Gumball was completely silent. He simply wiped away some remaining tears, before just trying to relax into his girlfriend's embrace. Penny continued to comfort him like he was a timid kitten, not knowing what else to do. She had had some pretty bad fights with her parents too, but nothing like this. But then she got an idea on how to cheer up her boyfriend.

The changeling fairy suddenly pulled the cat up to look at him face to face, putting on the most innocent looking smile she could. "You know, Gumball, if you don't feel like coming home tonight, you can stay over for the night." She moved her face closer to his. "We can even share a bed if you'd like." She fluttered her eyes as her boyfriend's blue cheeks turned red. This earned him a giggle from his girlfriend, before she gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"I can't believe you're still so easy to get all flustered. It feels like we've been dating for three or four years now."

"Hey! Like you're not?"

"Yeah, but you're supposed to be the brave, confident, and adventurous one!"

He chuckled at this, as he turned away slightly. "Me? Brave? And confident? Yeah right."

She put a hand on his shoulder. "I always thought you were the bravest and most confident person I know." She gave a moment for her words to sink in. "I mean, how many other guys are brave and confident enough to come to school in their mother's wedding dress?"

Gumball had to try not to chuckle at Penny's attempt to lighten the mood. "I should have never told you about that."

"I still can't believe we couldn't tell it was you. You actually pull off women's clothing surprisingly well."

"Well, I do look a lot like my mom, so…" Gumball suddenly went silent, as he had inadvertently reminded himself of his mother and brought the mood down again.

Penny sighed, before pulling her boyfriend in for another hug.

"You know, I was serious about you staying here till things cool off at your house. I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind letting you stay over."

"Haha. Let me stay over? Your dad only agreed to let me start coming into your room, if he didn't have to let me through the front door anymore! That's why I have to come in through the window."

She sighed at this. "Yeah. My dad can be a real jerk sometimes." She then looked him in the eye sympathetically. "But he's not that much of a jerk. He'll understand. Though he probably won't like the idea of you sleeping in here, on my bed." Gumball giggled at this. "But I'm pretty sure I can convince my mom to compromise on making you a pallet, so you can sleep on my floor."

Penny started to turn her head from left to right in an exaggerated motion, before leaning in to whisper into the cat's ear. "And if you want, we can lock the door so they can't barge in here without alerting us. And you can sleep in my bed. So long as you don't try anything, of course."

"Haha. Do you even know what 'try anything' means?"

"Not really. Do you?"

"No. My mom just said she would give me 'The Talk' after I turned thirteen, whenever something like that comes up." He shrugged while in her arms.

Penny raised an eyebrow at this. "Your mom would? Uh, I'm no expert, but isn't it usually the father that gives 'The Talk' to boys."

"Yeah, she told me that's how it normally works when I pointed it out to her. But she said it's too important to trust dad to do it, and 'even though it will undoubtedly be the most awkward conversation both of us will ever have in our entire lives, it's probably best if I do it myself.'" Gumball had put on an intentionally bad impression of his mother, despite being capable of doing a near perfect one. This caused the both of them to break out laughing.

After their laughter subsided, they exchanged another kiss, before laying down next to each other while holding hands. They spent a long while like this, just enjoying each other's company in silence. Until Gumball started to slowly lift himself up and looked Penny in the eye.

He took a deep breath, but hesitated to tell her what he needed to say. The changeling fairy looked at him curiously, wondering if she should say something, as he worked up the nerve.

"I'm not going back. I can't go back."

The room went quiet again, as Penny wasn't sure how to respond to this. So Gumball started to get up, only for the fairy to grab hold of his arm.

"What-what do you mean you're not going back? Where will you go? I mean… I don't mind letting you live here, but I'm not sure my parents would agree to it," she added, half-jokingly.

Gumball opened his mouth but hesitated to speak, as he wasn't sure if his mysterious friend would appreciate him telling her about him or his offer. But after thinking over it for a moment, the blue cat figured he'd understand, since after all, he was apparently some kind of great hero. And besides, he had been dying to tell somebody about this opportunity that had been offered to him and he would hate to not be able to at least tell the girl he loved about it.

"Ok. A while ago I met someone..."


Back in the flashback, now several months later

"I swear, if I ever have another kid, I'm demanding paid leave," Nicole said to herself as she got out of her car after a longer than usual shift at work and was ready to fall into her bed and cuddle up with her soft and cushy husband.

But sadly, her parking space was about four blocks away from her apartment building and her apartment was about two stories up. Oh, and she was now going on nine months pregnant. So that made an already tedious walk she had to take after an already draining day at work, an absolute nightmare.

She couldn't wait to move out of that dump and into her new house, where she could just pull into the driveway and walk to the door. But getting the paperwork to go through had turned out to be surprisingly difficult, and while everything should be ready by the time the baby came, in the meantime, this was just a pain she had to deal with.

Already feeling exhausted just thinking about the journey, she just leaned against the car's front end and through her head back, as she tried to work up the strength to walk.

Now other women, especially ones in her current condition, would be worried about standing around by themselves in the middle of the city past sundown. But she was Nicole Seni-Watterson. All of the local muggers and other criminals in the area already learned to stay clear of her a long time ago. Even in her current condition, few were brave enough to try anything, and one crook that did try to pull a knife on her back when she was only six months pregnant, wound up getting a black eye, a broken nose, a knee to the groin, and his arm broken in three places, before being thrown onto his back and finding her foot pressed against his throat, while he tried to spit out a plea for mercy. And she swiped his knife. So, Nicole felt safe enough to take as much time as she needed out here.

"Fat, lazy bum, could've at least been down here to help his pregnant wife home," Nicole said to herself out of frustration. She didn't normally think of Richard so harshly, but having to support the both of them while heavily pregnant was starting to make her rather… exasperated with him.

During the first few months of her pregnancy, Richard had actually spent a lot of time going out and looking for work, and was always eager to jump in and help her around the apartment. Nicole was hoping that becoming a father was just the drive her new husband needed to finally mature and step up to help her. But after months of nothing in his job search panning out, he eventually gave up and returned to his regular lazy self. Though he at least was still happy to lend a helping hand around the apartment when she needed it.

Nicole's thoughts regarding her husband were interrupted by a particularly strong kick that came from inside her, followed by an onslaught of lighter kicks. She absentmindedly rubbed circles around her belly, as if to calm the unborn child inside her.

Once he had started kicking, he seemingly never stopped. And Nicole just had to learn to ignore him while she worked. 'If only we had a decent maternity program,' she thought bitterly to herself before looking down at her swollen belly. "I just hope to God, you don't turn out as useless as your father." She signed. "I know I shouldn't think like that. I really do love him with all my heart. And if I'm being honest, your father's easy going nature is part of his charm. But I'm getting sick of having to carry this whole family by myself. I don't know how much longer I can do that."

But as she thought about the future with her soon to come son, her frown turned into a smile. "But I know you'll be better than that." She pressed her hand to the area where the baby was kicking which, surprisingly enough, actually seemed to calm him, if only for a moment.

Ever since she had come to terms with the fact she was really having a baby, she was actually going to be a mother soon, she had spent a lot of time wondering about the kind of person her baby was going to turn out to be. Especially after they saw the ultrasound that taught them two things: her baby was a boy, and he was a cat like her.

Though, as much as she hated to admit it, she was kind of hoping for a girl, the fact that her baby happened to be a cat like her, but male like her husband struck her as very curious. Like it was a sign that her child was going to be the perfect combination of his parents. "I just know, you'll be better than either of us could ever hope to be. You'll be as strong, smart, and determined as me, but as sweet and happy-go-lucky as your father." She stood there, just gently rubbing the spot over where her baby was.

"I know things probably won't always be sunshine and rainbows. But I just want you to know that I'll never be as harsh to you as my parents were to me." A happy tear formed in her eye. "You'll always be the best thing to ever happen to me and I just know you'll make me proud."


A/N: Any of y'all think Nicole might be setting her expectations a bit high there?

I don't know if whatever Penny is was ever officially named in the show. I know people often call her a fairy, but I don't think that's a descriptive enough name for her species. So in this chapter, I have dubbed her species "changeling fairies".

Anyway, next chapter will be kind of a dual flashback episode, switching between Gumball's meeting with the mystery guy and Nicole's memories of Gumball's early life. I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter and I'd appreciate any and all feedback. Like do you think I might have been laying it on a bit thick towards then end?

P.S. This chapter is it a bit late because of some technical stuff my end. You see, do to various complications in my life right now I'd rather not get into, I had to upload this through the fanfiction app on my phone and some things kind of got lost in along the way, so I had to go back and fix them.I think I got everything now and on the bright side, it let me make a few minor tweaks I didn't know I needed to make as I was looking through it. But if anything looks off, that might be the reason. But hopefully it comes out right. If not, it'll give me the excuse I needed to start reediting this story, I guess.