Chapter One: Hide Maria

Here is a new fic for you all.

This was spurred by an idea one of the reviewers from Valentine Conversation. Think you so much.

Maria: long brown haired in a high pony tail, blue eyes, tan, red short sleeve shirt with a mid thigh skirt style overalls on, red knee high socks, white shoes, and over course a red cap with the letter 'M' on it.

I hope you all have a Jesus filled day.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Maria ran to the door knocking on it then turning to look behind her for what felt like the hundredth time, unsure if the man followed her or not. When the door opened she rushed in and closed the door without looking at who answered. While she relaxed against the door she heard someone running off somewhere, "Why? Why today of all days? Her father must hate me or at least wants to punish me."

"Who are you talking about?"

Opening her blue eyes Maria smiled at the people that were staring at her. Face burning red she explained, "Peach's father, he invited King Bernard over and didn't tell his daughter. She found out by over hearing her father talking to said man then rushed to help me sneak out through a small window in the kitchen." The Plummer sighed getting off the door, "Since he knows where I live I couldn't very well go there. Then I remembered Bowser said it was okay that I could hide out here when Bernard showed up so I booked it here praying that none of his men saw where I was headed."

Bowser's kids laughed as Windy giggled out, "Yes, dad did say that." The shelled female smiled at the female plummer, "It's nice not to have to fight you and that you make dad happy."

Maria blushed again and rubbed the back of her head, "I can't be making him that happy."

"Are you kidding?" Blue eyes looked at Bowser Jr. who ran up and hugged her leg, "He has a hard time paying attention because of you."

While pushing her skirt so that it wasn't showing the young child her underwear Maria's blush got brighter as Ludwig laughed out, "Your letters make his day. He loves reading what you write him."

Windy took pity on the female plummer and grabbed her arm pulling her along, "Come on, I want to show the room my dad told you about. I've been so excited to show you the results."

Maria smiled patting Jr. on the head softly as he backed up and let go of her leg and allowed the other female to drag her. "Your dad has been telling me about your eagerness to do so."

Wendy nodded, "I can't help it. The moment he told us his intentions my siblings and I were so happy so we put a lot of effort in giving you a safe haven. Especially after hearing about Bernard." The shelled female gagged, "He is such a pig. I've heard about him from the other koopa troopas and goombas. Did you know he tried to ask for my hand by letter to my father?"

Maria's jaw dropped, "Are you serious?"

"Completely. My father was so furious, as his pervyness is well known, and proceeded to ban him from his land. He can't even make it past the secret path guards if he found them."

"Ugh, his kingdom is doomed to failure if he can't change his ways." Maria gagged along with Windy, "I feel bad for his kingdom."

The shelled female nodded in agreement, "Yep." She grinned when they reached their destination, "Were here." The human watched as the other push the door open. Surprise took over her face as she saw what was behind the door. The walls in the large room were navy blue with white and red accents in the furniture or décor. The bed had dark blue covers with white decorative pillows. "I kept it simple since you don't seem like some of my friend who likes a more lavish look."

"Thank you." Maria said picking up a picture of her and Bowser eating a picnic in a secluded field. "Which one of you snuck this?"

"Larry, he was the one dad would least expect."

The brown haired female laughed, "I'm surprised to hear that he doesn't expect any of you to follow. You are all so bright in colors and he seemed pretty adamant you guys like to bug him."

Wendy laughed, "You would think." The two girls looked at each other and laughed again. The koopa took Maria's hand and showed her the closet, "We had some clothes made that was similar to the outfits you wear and we made sure to stick with red like colors."

"So your dad told you about that did he?" The dark haired female laughed.

"Or we were being ourselves and bugged it out of him." Wendy replied with a wink.

Maria was once again tackle hugged on her leg by Jr., "Something tells me I need to get used to that." She leaned down and picked her boyfriend's youngest up, "You seem like quite the handful."

Jr. laughed and hugged her content with being in her arms. Even as she was amused Wendy patted her youngest brother's shell saying, "He's been eager to meet you since dad said he was going to start trying to capture you. We knew at that moment something was different and we were waiting for world shattering news."

Maria turned to look around the room again and froze seeing Bowser staring at her in shock. His expression said that he didn't know what to say. Smiling she said, "Hey, sorry to barge in like I did."

"Ah, it's okay." He cleared his throat then said, "After Morton came to tell me you were here, Iggy explained what happened when I came out and saw you and Wendy were not in the entryway."

Jr. leaned his head on the human's shoulder and closed his eyes. This caused blue eyes to glance at the young male with a fond smile. "He's lighter than he looks."

Bower nodded in agreement as he walked over and Wendy walked out of the room, "He's been interested to meet you on more friendly terms."

"So Wendy said." Maria giggled looking up at the king, "What were you doing before I interrupted? I hope I didn't interfere with anything important."

"You didn't. It's boring stuff I can finish later." He placed a hand on his girlfriends shoulder, "Are you hungry? I can only imagine he showed up before you were supposed to eat with Peach's father."

Maria looked down at her overall skirt with a sigh, "Yeah, he insisted that I wear something nice, said something about some visiting dignitaries. Now I know one of them was Bernard." She rolled her blue eyes, "I should have known by the way he said it he had some kind of plan. Heck, Peach nor I suspected anything."

Bowser let out huff of anger which Jr. copied making the brown haired female laughed in amusement. Smiling he indicated to the door, "I was going down for lunch soon myself. How about you join us? The kids would love to have you."

"I'd like that." Maria followed Bowser through the hall still holding Jr. who had gotten comfortable and was not keen on letting her go till they got to the dining room. "How have things been sense my last letter?"

"Good for the most part. I've had a few alliance offers and none look good for my kingdom. I've also had offers for Wendy's hand." He rolled his eyes, "I hate when they ask me. Not only does she have a boyfriend but I'd rather she meet them in person and the two of us make the judgment together."

"It must suck having a daughter for that reason."

"Nah, my boys have had the same offers come through however it just angers mewhen they ask for Wendy's like I'm the only one that can make that choice for her. I just wish they'd treat her like she can make her own choices. I raised her to be an independent young lady." Bowser draped an arm over Maria's shoulders making sure to not bump his youngest in the process, "I also got a letter from my ex-wife."

Blue eyes looked at Bowser in surprise, "You're kidding, tell me it isn't something cliché."

"Nothing like that. She just wanted to tell me she was getting married and she wanted Wendy in the wedding and the boys to attend." He laughed amused, "All said no."

Maria laughed causing Jr. to open his eyes and look at her as she spoke, "Wow, that's surprising after I heard what happened."

"She also asked if I found someone myself." He rolled his eyes, "I just sent a letter saying congratulations and the kid's response. She has no business knowing my personal life."

The human shook her head, "Wow, nosy much."

"Yeah, that woman just likes to try and fail to be a mom." Jr. said getting raised eyebrows from both adults. Looking between the two of them he said, "That's what Ludwig likes to say."

Bowser gave a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness, I was about to lose it if you heard that anywhere else."

Maria continued to look at the youngest trying to find the right words as her boyfriend led her to the dining hall. Praying she wasn't speaking out of turn she said, "Just because she was disrespectful to your father, your siblings and you doesn't mean you should do the same." This gained her confused looks from both Bowsers, "What you should do instead is show her what she missed out on. That means you should show her what a great kid you are and how you've been a great help to your dad." Bowser senior smiled as he took that in, "I don't mean do it just despite her or rudely. You and your siblings were raised by your dad alone and all eight of you ended up really good. I've seen single parents and it can be hard on any one of them. So if you see her be respectful, the last thing she needs is ammo against your dad."

Jr's. eyes widened, "You mean like her trying to take us away?"

"Yes." Maria replied with a small nod, "You do want to stay with your dad right?"

"Yes, he's the best dad in the world."

"Then be respectful and she has less ammo." The brunette blushed when she realized that the other kids had heard her too. She looked at Bowser senior, "Sorry, I just don't want you to lose them."

Bowser smiled at her and she could tell he was thinking about an old conversation the two of them had. "It's fine, I never thought of it that way myself. I'll have to keep that in mind now."

Maria placed Jr. on his feet so he could run to his chair that was next to an empty chair next to the head of the table. As she looked at the table she could tell the older siblings were thinking about what she had said, "So…"

"Your seat is next to me." Bowser said leading her to the empty seat next to Jr., "This way we are all on the same end of the table."

The blue eyed female laughed lightly, "Then thank you I appreciate this." She took her seat feeling awkward as the servants walked in to serve the food. She was not used to this treatment. She and Luigi usually set the table and made food together.

"You'll get used to it." Morton said with a smile, "You just need time."

"That I do." The brunette looked at Jr. moving his food around on his plate.

Bowser chuckled, "He hates when his food is touching. Once he separates them he will feel better about eating it."

Maria giggled amused, "Sounds like Luigi when his stake touches his mashed potatoes. Makes him cringe when I mix it."

"What is Luigi like?" Lemmy asked then taking a bite of his food.

"Well, what do you know so far?"

"That he's easy to scare and not as nearly brave as you."

"He's more of pacifist, and is not the biggest fan of fighting. However when it comes down to it he will for what he views as a good cause. Other than that he's really competitive in sports. That's when he is fearless." Maria replied with pride showing in her eyes.

"Really?" Roy asked and when she nodded he gained a large smile. "I'm so asking him to play a game of soccer with me."

Maria laughed along with Bowser and the others, "Mind if Larry and I join?" Morton asked after swallowing his food.

"Awesome, we can have teams."

While the three were making plans Bowser turned to his girlfriend, "Will he accept?"

"He will. It's been a while since he's had a good completion. The mushrooms, well other than Toad, don't try to play games with him so he's bored a lot of the time."

The larger reptile blinked, "I'm sorry, do any of the mushrooms, other than Toad and Peach, treat you like a normal person and not untouchable heroes?"

"No, not really." She pushed her food around, "They just…I don't know."

Wendy shook her head, "That's sad, you seem perfectly normal to me."

"Awe, thank you Wendy."

Jr. laughed causing the girls to look at him then laugh as well when the boy threw a wadded up paper towel at his dad. The large reptile's yell of surprise caught the rest of the boys attention and watched in curious fascination as they had all been distracted. "Jr. you better run when we're done eating." The smallest reptile's laugh turned to giggles as he tried to make himself seem smaller and hide using Maria who was still laughing along with the boy's sister. "Cause I'm going to make you pay you little stinker."

The rest of lunch was filled with much conversation and laughter as Jr. continued to torment his father by throwing random but non damaging items at him. The boys seeing the promising expression their dad had been giving their youngest brother startled to silently plan on how to protect their Jr. Maria was amused by this cause she recognized the look from when she would mess with her own brother. Wendy seemed pretty content with the idea of saying out of it but did give her brothers encouraging expressions when her dad wasn't looking at her. When lunch was done Jr. took off running with his dad right behind him while the older brothers went in different directions to plan and coordinate their attack.

Maria and Wendy wondered off into the living room and chatted with each other enjoying when any of the boys ran in the room. Jr's. cries of laughter could be heard in the air as well as Bowser's yelps when any of his older boy's traps activated on him. "I have to say you look really pretty in your outfit."

"Thank you, that means a lot. My brother helped me find the material to make it."

Wendy seemed surprised, "You made this? You so have to teach me how to sew. I'd ask the seamstress but they always look so busy."

"I'd be happy to; it's really fun once you get the hang of it."

"What else do you like to do?"

"Garden and cook, I find both to be very relaxing." Maria replied, "Since I don't have a legitimate job like I did where I came from I have a handful of hobbies I do to pass the time."

"Sounds like you need it, I can how bored you would get if you had nothing to do." The pink koopa agreed with a nod of her head, I myself have to be occupied because I honestly don't know what I want to do."

"It seems like you still have time to figure it out so if you want you and I can think of other things and see if you click with them."

"Yes, I would like that. To be honest as much as I don't know what I want to do I know I want it to be made with my own hands."

Maria smiled, "Sounds like you have an idea of what you want. So what's your boyfriend like?"

Wendy smiled answering even though Jr. ran through causing his dad to fall into another trap. Bowser shook off the feathers and bolted after his youngest. "He's amazing, dad approves of him and my boyfriend doesn't care that I want nothing to do with my dad's title. He's very supportive of my quest to find the right thing I want to do. I can't believe I'm so lucky to have him."

"This boy sounds lucky to have your dad's approval."

"No to have both of our approval." Wendy said with a nod crossing her arms, "I value my dad's opinion. So we both talk about it and decided together what is the best path."

"You know your dad talks about you and your siblings a lot when we are together." The pink koopa grinned happily, "You guys are his life."

"He's our life." The daughter looked away with a smile, "He could have gave up on us when mom walked away but he didn't and there is nothing we won't do for him."

"Including taking over a kingdom?" Maria asked with a small smile.

The female koopa laughed lightly, "Precisely."

Bowser walked into the room and on the couch nearby. The girls could tell he had been hit with water balloons and many other traps that caused him to be a little tired. Especially chasing after his youngest. "You looked wiped."

He looked at his girlfriend with a raised eyebrow, "It's not easy chasing down Jr. when he has help." The father sighed causing his daughter to laugh behind her hand, "I'm happy the worse one was distracted."

Blue eyes locked onto Wendy eyes, "Really?"

"Yes, her traps are the worst."

"Where's Jr.?" The plummer asked.

"I got him trapped in his room with his brothers." Bowser laughed, "They have to find their way out with the puzzles I left behind."

Wendy sighed, "And we still have no idea how he does it when he is literally the one chasing anyone of us all over the place." She got up and walked off, "I'm going to see if I can help them from the outside."

"You'll fail." Bowser called out making his child sigh again as she continued to head in the way of her brother's room. "Hopefully that will keep them all occupied for a little while."

Maria laid on her belly with her legs swaying in the air thus causing her boyfriend to freeze but she spoke having learned on their last date that it was the simple things she did that caused him to do that, "So do you do an escape room with them often?"

Bowser nodded his head then replied, "Yes, I guess you could say that this is my way of getting alone time and teaching them to get out of sticky situations."

"Better to learn at home than actually in danger."

"Exactly." The male sat up looking at Maria causing her to blush as he said, "I can't get over how pretty you are in that outfit." Blue eyes looked down embarrassed and fiddled with the small frays on the couch cushion. She was still having a hard time when he either flattered or complemented her. She was tired of reacting the way she did but she couldn't help herself. Hearing him move closer to her she peeked a glance to the side to see Bowser sitting next to the couch and taking her hand, "I'm glad you got to meet the kids. They've been bugging me to bring you home."

"Well, I guess we can thank Bernard for me bring here." Maria said with a small laugh.

The large reptile laughed lightly, "I guess we can." He reached and played with a piece of her hair. This was something he started doing recently. Maria could remember him saying how the texture of her hair was different than his. "I can't wait to see his face when he realizes who he lost you to."

Blue eyes rolled amused, "I'm sure he'd have some kind of panic attack and try to declare war against you. Peach says he's been kind of antsy with the east gearing up and tensions rising between the two."

An orange eyebrow went up, "Seriously that's the kingdom King Terrence is worried about? He could beat the west in his sleep." She looked at him confused, "The east has been trying to get an alliance with me. I knew he was about to go to war but I didn't know who. Now that I know it's the west I'm questioning if he's ever done any reconnaissance."

Maria giggled, "Peach has been telling me that Bernard has been trying to get an alliance but her father doesn't want part of a fight unless his people are actually in danger."

"Sounds like me. Honestly I have no reason to be in a war, besides I'd rather fix my relations with the mushroom kingdom and that won't help if I'm fighting them."

Maria smiled and held his hand with both of hers, "I'm glad that you stopped. I always wondered why you kept on attacking."

Bowser sighed and scratched the side of his head, "I honestly don't know why I started all I know is I just continued because I kept failing. We all know why I ended up doing that in the end." The human smiled with a light blush. "I'm not going to lie, I like when you blush."

The brunette's face went brighter, "Oh my gosh why?" Even though she could hear him laughing at her reaction she covered her face in embarrassment. She made a sound in the back of her throat. Maria felt she was more flustered than she should be due to her inexperience with boys this way. She wondered if other girls ever felt the way she did now or if she was just being a little more sensitive. Hearing Bowser's laughing die down she peeked between her fingers, "You're enjoying this way too much."

"I can't help it." The reptile said with an amused expression, "You're cute when you're flustered." Reaching out he pulled her hands down and held them softly.

Giving a nervous giggle the plummer replied, "Thanks."

She could feel his eyes on her as she looked down at their conjoined hands. If she was honest with herself she loved the feeling of his hands in hers. Not only were they rough showing that he was a hard worker, his hands made her feel at peace and safe. Kind of like she could let down all her defenses and let him protect her to his hearts content. Rubbing her thumb against one of his fingers she smiled felling the rough texture. Her mind went back to when she first told Peach and Luigi about her and Bowser dating. While her brother had passed out in shock the princess merely shook her head and said that she had a suspicion why he had changed targets for what seemed like no reason. "What are you thinking about?"

"When I told my brother and Princess Peach about our relationship." His hands tightened causing her blue to meet his dark ones, "My brother was in shock but he was okay with it. Princess had some suspicions after Waki Waki, due to you constant change in targets but she was happy for us." The human smiled at her boyfriend, "She hopes this brings your kingdoms closer."

Seeing the conflicted of emotions cross his face made her worried but before she could speak he took a deep breath and said, "That's not the reason I'm dating you. I actually like you and don't want you to be used as a token to bring peace. You're not in a position like Princess Peach is."

"I know, and that's not what Peach means." He raised a fluffy eyebrow prompting her to continue. "Her father is trying to do that very thing with King Bernard. She doesn't want to force me into that situation. However due to my friendship with her and us dating people will see it that way even if she tries to deny it." Maria sighed, "It's hard to explain but she really does want us to be happy."

Bowser sighed, "You're right she would never try that after all she does to get you out of the castle when Bernard shows up. Has Bernard ever tried to purpose to her?"

Maria nodded, "I was told she turned him down loudly in public. Her father was vastly embarrassed I hear." Bowser burst out laughing and collapsed to the floor in his hysteretic laughter. She grinned and watched him laugh, "Did you just picture her doing that in the square or elsewhere?"

"A ball with…a bunch…of other royals." The reptile laughed out, "The image of her father's…embarrassment is too brilliant."

The plummer giggled in response as she too brought up her own vision of Peach's father being embarrassed by his daughter, "It is kind of funny to envision."

Though he still looked like he wanted to laugh more the koopa calmed down a bit, sitting up and looking at his girlfriend. His grin was so contagious that Maria's smile got bigger, "I can only imagine his face when he finds out the two of us are dating." The plummer burst out laughing at the image her mind came up with, "And him sounding like him trying to treat you like he has, it will be all the more sweeter when we admit it."

Laying on her back blue eyes looked lovingly at the man she was growing to love more and more, "It will be nice when that happens. I won't feel that unneeded pressure."

"And whatever he offers…" Bowser took her hand in his own, "…I will accept nothing from him if he attempts to make a treaty using you. You are your own person and deserve to be treated as such."

"Thank you." Maria replied giggling as Jr. jumped up and cuddled into her side. Turning to her side she let go of the king's hand and held the youngest reptile to her while the rest of the kids piled in the living room both Morton and Ludwig jumping on their dad. Laughing the father turned and started wrestling them. As she watched Maria couldn't help but look forward to what the future held.