"Is it time for the happy ending yet, Bill?"

"Well-"

"I swear I will kill you if the answer is not yes."

"Alright, fine!  You'll get your mushy stuff!  Just get off my back, MOM."

"What. Was. That?"

"Nothing!"

----------------------

After arresting the entire Gleeful family, purely out of spite at first until the evidence was discovered detailing decades of tax fraud, Y/N and Will returned together to the palace.  Their journey was a leisurely carriage ride as opposed to Y/N's frantic race across the country on horseback.  

They spent the hours catching up on their lives over the past ten years.  Y/N did most of the talking, as Will couldn't be persuaded to say much about his time as the Gleefuls' indentured servant.  In fact, he didn't speak much at all, mumbling one-word answers out the window and avoiding eye contact. 

"You okay?" Y/N finally asked after a prolonged silence, reaching across the seat to pat his knee reassuringly.  He jumped at the contact.

"Y-yeah, it's just... i-it's hard to believe this is actually happening," he admitted quietly, eyes still fixed out the window.

"Believe it," Y/N told him firmly.  "Now that I've found you, I'm never losing you again."

"You f-forgot me..." he murmured, so softly she wasn't even sure he'd spoken until he glanced her way.  "S-sorry.  I didn't mean-"

"It's alright.  I know what you meant, and I'm sorry for forgetting about you.  But it's all coming back to me," she added with a smile.  "Did we really ride a dessert cart down the stairs?"

Will's mouth twitched in the echo of her smile.  "Twice, actually."

She chuckled.  "How on earth did we get away with that?"

"We didn't.  You broke your arm, and I was grounded for a month for being a bad influence."

The chuckle turned into a full laugh.  "What, I wasn't grounded too?"

"I think your parents figured you'd suffered enough."

Her smile faded slightly.  "I think you've suffered enough for both of us now... Will, I'm so sorry.  By the time I was old enough that I could have done something about your situation, I- I didn't- Will, I-" Y/N choked on her words, focusing all of her self-control on holding back tears.  

Will's hand closed over hers.  "I forgive you," he whispered.  "None of this was your fault."

She shook her head.  "I should have-" she stopped again with a sniffling gasp.

"You did," he insisted.  "Look what you've done for me.  I don't know what's going to happen to me from now on, but you saved me from that house.  And I'll always be grateful."

"I'll tell you what's going to happen to you," she smiled through her tears.  "I'm never letting you out of my sight again, is what."

He smiled in response.  They sat holding hands for a long moment.

"Do you mean that literally or figuratively?" he finally asked.  "Because if you mean never again, it might get a little..."

"Oh, shut up," she snorted, rolling her eyes.

Silence fell between them again, but it was companionable rather than tense.  They held hands and watched the world go by all the way to the palace.

----------------------

"See, now there's the mushy stuff."

"Yes, yes, we're very proud of you.  Just continue already, I'm tired.  And Will looks like he's falling asleep."

"I-I'm not asleep..."

"Then why are your eyes closed?"

---------------------

Once they arrived at the palace, Will had been spirited off to his new rooms to be fitted for a new wardrobe.  Pleased at having accomplished her mission, Y/N rewarded herself with a leisurely bath and a change of clothes.

When she went searching for Will, she found him sitting on his new bed, wearing his new clothes, staring blankly at his shaking hands.

Y/N crossed the plush carpet to sit next to him.  He barely seemed to notice when she wrapped one arm around his shoulders.

"Tired?" she inquired.

"Um... just a l-little overwhelmed," he admitted.

"How so?"

"It's all j-just a little... much."  She waited for him to elaborate, so he continued.  "It's like... what's expected of me now?  Am I supposed to marry you?  W-we haven't seen each other in ten years!  Am I going to be k-king?  I don't know how to rule a country!  I'm the worst person you could have p-picked for the job... Even D-dipper would have been better at this..." his breathing was fast and shallow, his eyes full of panic as he continued to stare at his shaking hands.

"First of all, that megalomaniacal narcissist would not have been better at anything than you," Y/N said firmly.  "Second, who's expecting you to be king?  I'm not even expecting you to marry me if you don't want to.  Whatever happens to you from now on, it'll be up to you and we'll take things as slowly as you need to."  She squeezed his shoulders reassuringly, gripping both his hands with her free hand.

Finally he leaned into her, burying his face in her shoulder.  She let him sit in silence for several minutes while he recovered his composure.

"As for taking things slow," she finally whispered to him, "I'll give you the grand tour of the castle later.  For now, how about lunch?  We can eat in here if you want.  You don't even have to meet my parents until you're ready."

He nodded silently.  Y/N left him sitting on the bed while she went to the door and called for room service.  Five minutes later, a luncheon fit for a king was spread out across the carpet.

"There i-is a desk here," Will pointed out as he joined Y/N on the floor.  Will's new room was furnished with a sofa, desk and reading chair in addition to the bed.

"I know, but we always used to have floor picnics, didn't we?" she asked innocently.

"You remembered!" he said delightedly.

"I told you it's coming back to me," she teased, pointing at him with a spoon.  "Now eat up, you need to put some meat on them bones!"

She kept her tone light, but in truth she was very concerned about Will's health.  The evidence of the trauma he had gone through over the past ten years was painfully obvious.  In addition to his black eye and trembling hands, his new clothes practically hung off him and the look in his blue eyes was nothing short of haunted.

There's only one solution to all of this, she thought firmly.  Nudging a plate in his direction, she devoured a pastry in two bites and motioned for him to do the same.

"I still owe you a month of dessert, remember?" she insisted.  "Come on, get going!"

"Is there any for me?" a sudden voice asked.

Y/N shrieked, upsetting a glass and spilling orange juice all over the floor.  "Who said that?!"

"Hello!" Bill said, tipping his hat respectfully.  He was floating in between Y/N and Will, violating their personal space with his glowing yellow form.  "You're looking pretty sharp now, cowboy!"

"WHO THE #&%&$*# ARE YOU?!?!" Y/N screeched.

Bill's eye narrowed.  "Whoa.  Hey, Blue, calm down your girlfriend!  I'm just here to congratulate you!"

"My- what?" Will squeaked, his entire face turning beet red.

"Will, do you know what this is?" Y/N said in complete confusion.

"Y-yeah, this is Bill.  He calls himself my d-demon godbrother or something..." Will mumbled.  "He's the one who h-helped me get to your ball the other night."

"That's right, kid!" Bill chirped.  "It looks to me like you've gotten everything you could have wanted, and I'm here to make sure you thank me properly!"

Y/N's eyes narrowed.  "What do you want?  Money?  Power?"

Bill cackled uproariously.  "Now what would an omnipotent demon like me want with your paltry human things?  No, I just want a sincere thanks from both of you."

Y/N didn't break his gaze.  "Is that it?"

Bill waved his hand dismissively.  "And we might need to have a talk down the line when you have your firstborn child, but that's not important right now.  Just make with the thanks and I'll be on my way."

Will nodded obediently.  "Th-thank you, Bill.  None of this could have happened without you."

Y/N was still suspicious, but Bill and Will both stared at her expectantly.  She cleared her throat.  "Ahem... Thank you, Bill."

"Good enough!" Bill vanished in a flash of light.

Y/N and Will sat in silence for a long moment.

"So... should we both agree that that didn't just happen?" Y/N suggested.

Will shrugged.  "Sounds good to me."

(A/N: One more chapter!  Almost done with this sweet story!

More info on what's coming next: later!)