Time seemed to fly by for Edd and Marie and before they knew it December is almost half over. With the end of his first semester of college coming to an end Edd was starting to feel the burn of college and working. His classes are more of a challenge then high school was and it wasn't helping him that Dave has also been giving him more to do at work. Perry needed to take a leave from work and Dave went and put Edd in charge of the electronics section of Books and More. Edd loved the promotion, but it required him to go into work five times a week to manage the department so he would be up late working on his school assignments. But luckily for Edd, Marie was there making the burn not as bad as it could have been. She would make him coffee on the nights when he would be up late working on school work and she'd also stay up with him not wanting to go to bed without him.

Some nights she would just sit on the couch reading, but most of them she would be putting the finishing touches on her book. Some nights she would end up falling asleep on the couch and Edd would stop working on his school work to wake her up and they would go to bed.

Marie was able to sell her painting at Little Arts and she was so happy she framed a copy of the check on the wall of the apartment by her art shelf. The buyer haggled with Sidney to get the painting down to a hundred and fifty from the two hundred they were asking, but even after Sidney took her cut, She only wanted fifteen percent but Marie made her take more as a thank you, Marie had enough to spoil Edd for once.

It wasn't much, but to her treating him to lunch at a nice restaurant, a movie, and ice-cream was all they needed.

"You know what's funny?" Edd asks as they sit on the trunk of his car eating their cones of ice-cream.

Marie leans back against the window of the car. "What?" She asks taking a bite out of her chocolate ice-cream.

Edd leans back next to her. "This was just like our first date." He says smiling at her.

Marie thinks back on the day they cut school and went to Peach Creek Mall. "Ha! I didn't even plan that. Well today is just that more awesome then." She says enjoying her day out with her boyfriend even more.

Edd looks up at the sky watching the clouds pass by. "Thank you again for treating me." He says as Marie moves to lean against him.

"Don't thank me, thank the crazy cat lady that bought my painting." She says resting the back of her head against his shoulder.

"How do you know she was a crazy cat lady?" He asks lifting his arm up to put it around Marie.

Marie readjusts so she's resting her head against Edd's chest as he puts his arm around her. "Well, she had a cat sweater on that was covered in cat hair."

"Well so long as she's happy with your painting."

"And I'm happy with the extra cash."

Edd lets out a laugh. "You're adorable Marie."

"Damn straight." She says making him laugh again.

"Well I am officially done with my first semester of college." Edd says walking into the apartment.

Marie turns around from her painting easel. "Hold on I have something for this." She says running over to Edd's computer.

Edd puts his messenger bag down on the island counter and walks over to her. "What do you have?" he asks kissing her on the cheek.

"This." She says clicking the play button on the ITunes program and a song starts playing.

Edd didn't recognize the guitar playing at the beginning and when the lyrics started to play he was still confused, but once the chorus of the song started he understands why Marie chose that song.

"School's out for summer, school's out forever, School's been blown to pieces." The song plays as Edd laughs.

"I thought it was funny." Marie says turning to face Edd. She puts her hands around his neck and leans up to kiss him.

Edd rests his hands on her hips as they kiss. He's happy that the first semester of school is over and the winter break for Christmas has started. "It is a fitting song, but I'm only out of school till after the new year." He says once Marie ends the kiss.

"Still, a week of you not being in school gives us a lot of free time for other, more fun activities." She says running her index finger up and down Edd's chest.

"What did you have in mind?" He asks pulling her closer to himself.

Marie leans up close to him. "I was thinking." She whispers to him. "That maybe we could get up early one day…"

"And?" He asks expecting her to say something that would not go along with her actions and tone of voice.

"And find some place out of the way for us to… practice my driving stills." She says grinning at him. Marie has wanted to get her license sense her and her sisters turned sixteen, but only Lee had the free time to go with their mother and learn, Marie having her job at the grocery store and May with her cheerleading.

Edd smiles. "Sure we can find an empty parking lot one of these days before we head back to Peach Creek for Christmas." He says not taking his hands off Marie.

Marie moves her arms to under Edd's and hugs him. "I honestly wouldn't have thought your mom would invite both of us to stay with them for Christmas." She says resting her head against his chest.

"I think it's them wanting to make up for Thanksgiving." He says resting his head atop hers.

"Makes sense, I think it's safe to say that it was definitely one of the top ten worst holidays."

Marie takes and then lets out a deep breath as she puts her hands the steering wheel of Edd's car. 'Mirror check, seat right height and I can easily reach the pedals.' She thinks going over her mental check list.

"Ready?" Edd asks from the passenger seat of his car.

She takes another deep breath. "Yep." She says turning the key in the ignition to start the car.

It's been a long time since her last driving lesson so she was a little rusty, but Marie took it one step at a time as they started. Slowly she drove Edd's car around the empty parking lot keeping the speed low at first, but as she went around she slowly accelerated the car going faster and faster.

"I think you have the hang of this Marie." Edd says as Marie parallel parks the car by the curb.

Marie turns off the engine. "I think I do too, think we can go down to the DMV and I can take the test?" She asks unbuckling her seat belt.

"I don't see why we can't, but we should probably wait till after Christmas. I just don't see the DMV being opened for several more days."

"I'm cool with waiting a few." Marie says excited that she might finally be getting her driver's license.

"Is it ok if I take Leonidas out of the cat carrier?" Marie asks looking into the cat carrier at her kitten. Leonidas looks out at her and meows at her as Edd and Marie drive down the highway towards Peach Creek.

"So long as he stays off the floor I don't see why you can't." Edd says not looking away from the road.

"Thank ya Double Dee." Marie says as she opens the door to the carrier. Leonidas slowly steps out of the carrier onto Marie's lap, and once he's fully out she puts the carrier down on the floor by her feet.

Leonidas looks around the inside of the car and then up at Marie and meows. "This is all new for ya isn't it? But its ok Leonidas, Double Dee is a great driver." Marie says scratching him on the top of the head.

Leonidas walks over to the window and climbs up the door and looks out the window as Marie pets him. He stands there looking out the window at the cars and the passing scenery. After a while he climbs down from looking out the window and sits down on Marie's lap and looks up at the front window.

"What you looking at?" Marie asks looking out the window to see if she can see what he's looking at. She gets her answer when Leonidas jumps from her lap onto the dash of the car.

"Whoa!" Marie says shocked by what her cat did.

"What happened?" Edd asks looking quickly from the road to Marie and then looking back.

"Leonidas just jumped on to the dash." She says as Leonidas curls up on the dash.

"Why would he do that?"

"To… sleep in the sun it seems.?" She says with a laugh.

"Hello? Mother, Father?" Edd says as he opens the front door to his parents' house. He walks into the house carrying his duffle bag full of clothing for the two of them for the next few days followed by Marie carrying Leonidas in his carrier and her backpack in her other hand.

"Your mom knew we were coming today right?" Marie asks closing the door behind her.

"I did Marie." Pam says from the top of the stairs. "I was just finishing getting Eddward's old bedroom ready for you two."

"What did you do to my room Mother?" Edd asks.

Walking down the stairs Pam says; "Your father and I decided to turn your old room into a guest room."

"Oh, I see." It hadn't occurred to Edd that now that he's no longer living in his parents' house that they might repurpose his room into something they will use, like a guest room.

"So if you'd like, you two can go upstairs and put your stuff away and then we can sit down for a late lunch." Pam says cupping her hands together in front of her.

"Ok Mother, we will be back momentarily." Edd says before Marie and him climb the stairs up to the second floor of the house.

Edd's parents have only added the bare minimal needed for a guest to stay in the room. There is a bed where Edd's once sat, and there is a three drawer dresser against the wall where his desk used to be.

"This is a little creepy." Marie says looking around the room. "I know it's your old bedroom, but it doesn't feel like your room."

Edd sets his bag down on the floor next to the bed. "I know what you mean. I could tell you where everything once was, but the room doesn't feel out of place."

Marie sets Leonidas's carrier down on the bed and sits down next to it. "You think Leonidas will be ok in his crate?" She asks leaning down to look into the carrier.

"I think if we let him out often enough during our stay he will be ok." Edd says sitting down next to her.

After having lunch with Pam, Edd and Marie left to meet up with their friends at the same pizzeria the group of friends visited the night of a school dance years ago. Marie didn't want to leave Leonidas alone lock in the cat carrier, so they brought him with them to meet up with their friends. Marie set him on her shoulder to see if he would stay, and after adjusting his grip and position he sits on her shoulder looking around at all the new people.

It was nice to see all of their friends again, say for Rolf who couldn't take the time away from caring for his grandmother. Nazz was showing off her ring to everyone and Marie felt a little envious of her, she wouldn't tell anyone of course.

Marie was surprised to see Lee and Eddy joining in the meetup. After Thanksgiving May told her that Lee has been acting more antisocial than she already was. For the whole time the group of friends were standing around, and eventually sitting on their cars, Lee didn't say much.

"Hey Lee." Nazz says walking over to Lee who's leaning against Edd's truck as the boys of the group talk.

"What?" Lee says looking at Nazz as she joined her in leaning against the truck.

"So, how've you been?" Nazz asks crossing her arms and looking over at Lee. Nazz could tell that something was off about Lee from the moment the group met up.

"Eh." Lee says shrugging her shoulders.

Marie saw Nazz walk over to her sister and grabbed May and went over to her sister incase Nazz asks the wrong questions and Lee needed back up. "What are you two talking about?" She asks letting go of May's arm.

"I was just telling Lee that I like her new hair style." Nazz says looking from Lee to Marie.

"Really?" Marie asks looking at Lee.

Nazz is unsure why Marie is questioning her. "Yeah, you three have had the same hair style sense middle school. It's about time one of you makes a change of your style."

"If you touch my hair, I will have to hurt you." Marie says pointing at Nazz with one hand and putting the other on top of her head being careful not to knock Leonidas off her shoulder.

"I'm no hair styler so I won't lay a finger on your hair." Nazz says waving her hand in front of herself.

"Good, I'd hate to make Kevin a widow before you two tied the knot." Marie says grinning.

"Don't you two start fighting." Lee says looking away from the other girls.

May walks around and leans against Eddy's truck next to Lee. "There just messing around Lee, remember were all friends." She says hoping to keep Lee from over reacting.

"Yeah Lee. Were cool, right Marie?" Nazz asks holding her fist up to Marie for a fist bump.

Marie taps her fist against Nazz's. "Yeah were cool."

"See we're, what the heck is the female version of bros…" Nazz says trying to think of the word to describe their friendship.

"Uh, broettes I think." Marie says thinking on the same topic.

"Broettes? Yeah that works." Nazz says liking the title.

"So what, do we start chanting and other shit?" Lee asks looking at her sisters and Nazz.

"And what? Start acting like those animals? Hell no." Nazz says pointing at the group of guys.

The girls all laugh and Lee joined in much to her sisters' surprise. "So broettes?" Nazz asks holding her fist up again.

"Broettes." May says adding her fist to Nazz's.

"Why not, broettes." Marie says taping her fist to May's and Nazz's.

Lee looks at the three fits together. "Might as well." She says adding her own fist.

"You got to say it Lee." Nazz says looking at Lee.

"Yeah sis, say it." Marie says.

Lee rolls her eyes and sighs. "Fine, were broettes." She says as a small smile comes to her face.

"What are you ladies doing?" Eddy asks as the group of guys walk over to the girls.

"Would you believe we're plotting the downfall of all men?" Marie asks grinning.

Edd walks over to Marie. "I hate to say I do not believe the four of you could pull it off." He says kissing her on the cheek.

"Well you will be in for a rude awakening when the uprising starts." Marie says making the other girls laugh.

"Will your uprising come before or after the robot one? Cause I can only plan for one." Ed says looking at the girls with a serious look on his face.

The group all look at Ed. "They were joking man." Eddy says breaking the silence.

"Oh… that makes sense." Ed says causing everyone to laugh.

"I hate to have to go, but my mom wants us up early for the drive to my grandparents." Nazz says looking at the clock on her phone.

"It is getting late." Edd says sliding off the hood of his car where he was sitting next to Marie.

"Well I guess this is it for the night then gang." Nazz says jumping down from the hood of Kevin's car.

"It's been fun catching up." Kevin says unlocking the passenger side door of his car for Nazz.

"That it has." Edd says doing the same on his car for Marie.

Kevin opens the door for Nazz. "Later guys, and my broettes." She says getting into the car.

Edd turns to Marie as they get into his car. "Broettes?" he asks looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Chick version of Bros." Marie says setting Leonidas down on her lap. "We had a bonding moment while you guys were talking."

"Well that's good to hear." Edd says as he starts the engine.

"Yeah, I think it helped Lee to know that she's still got her friends."

"Having friends and family around after an ordeal like she's gone through is the most important thing."

Marie awoke before Edd the next day, she was looking forward to seeing her mother and to give Edd his gift so much that she just couldn't sleep. She didn't want to wake Edd yet, so she just lays there in his arms with Leonidas sleeping above their heads.

An hour or so later Edd wakes up himself. "Morning Muffin." Marie says turning around to face him.

Edd smiles, he loves seeing Marie first thing every morning. "Good morning Cupcake, how did you sleep?"

"Good, merry Christmas by the way Double Dee." She says giving him a quick kiss.

"Merry Christmas to you too Marie." He says after they end the kiss. "When are you going to go see your mother and sisters?" Edd asks as Marie buries her face into his chest.

"Around noon." She says cuddling into him to fight against the cold.

Edd pulls the covers up around them to also fight the cold. "We should get out of bed you know." He says not wanting to follow his own suggestion.

"Five more minutes?" She asks wanting to stay in bed longer.

Edd chuckles. "Ok, five more minutes."

"How about fifteen?" She asks looking up at him with a grin.

Marie chose to walk over to the trailer park wanting to "enjoy the walk", but in reality she didn't want Edd to see her story book she still needs to wrap. So after eating breakfast with Edd she grabbed her backpack and headed down the alleyway to the Park and Flush.

The Park and Flush was her home for so long, its where Edd and her met for the first time, where she thought up plans to torment Edd and it was the place her and Edd's relationship officially started. It may be a dirty dump of a trailer park, but Marie still loved it and the memory's it held.

"Hey! Anyone home?" Marie yells as she opens the door to the trailer.

"In here!" May yells back at her from the kitchen.

Marie walks into the kitchen and sees her sister and mother sitting at the table. "Hey, merry Christmas." She says walking over to the table.

Ms. Kanker smiles happy to see her daughter."Merry Christmas to you too Marie."

"So I know it's never been our thing to give presents." Marie says as she sits down at the table. "But I got you all something." She then sets her backpack on the table.

"You didn't have to get us anything Marie, having you home for the holiday is enough." Ms. Kanker says as Marie opens her back pack.

"I know, but I wanted to give you guys something seeing as I don't get to see you every day anymore." Marie didn't bother to wrap the gifts to her sisters and mother.

Marie turns to May first. "Seeing as you're getting into cooking I made you this." She says pulling a cooking apron out with "Kiss the Kanker" written on it.

"Thanks Marie." May says taking the apron from Marie.

She then turns to her mother. "Seeing as I'm on my way to becoming a famous painter, I thought you'd like to get your hands on a one of a kind Mom." She says holding a page cut out of one of her sketch books. Ms. Kanker takes the piece of paper from her and sees it's a drawing of the ship from the ship in a bottle she gave to Marie when she visited her in Lemon Brook.

"Thank you Marie." Ms. Kanker says as she reads the caption Marie had written on the bottom. The caption reads; "For the best mom in the world, the seas may have been choppy, but we wouldn't have made it to port without you."

"And this is for you Lee." Marie says as she removes the last gift from her bag. Lee's gift is a framed picture taken at their high school graduation. The picture was of everyone from the cul-de-sack in their graduation gowns smiling at the camera.

"Why would you give me this?" Lee asks looking from the picture to Marie.

"I know life seems to be the shit right now for you, but this is to remind you that you're not alone. We have friends that care, not to mention our boyfriends." Marie says putting her backpack down onto the floor.

"That is really thoughtful of you Marie." Ms. Kanker says proud at how much her daughter has matured in just a few years.

Lee looks back at the picture. It was just a few months ago that this picture was taken, but it seemed like it was a whole different world. At the time of the picture Marie and Edd still lived in Peach Creek, Nazz and Kevin weren't engaged and Lee didn't hate the world as much as she does now. Seeing the picture did remind Lee that she wasn't alone, but it wasn't enough to make her not continue to feel miserable. "Thanks." She says setting the picture down on the table.

"Who's that one for?" May asks pointing into Marie's backpack seeing a book in it.

"Oh, that's for Double Dee." Marie says smiling. "I didn't want him to find it so I brought it with me."

While Marie was with her mother and sisters, Edd chose to visit with Ed and Eddy at Eddy's house. They are in Eddy's garage as he tinkered with the engine of his truck.

"This is an event that hasn't happened in a very long time." Edd says as Eddy digs through his tool box.

"What are you talking about?" Eddy asks walking away from his tool box with a wrench in hand.

"It being just the three of without our girlfriends." Edd says as he watches Eddy tighten a bolt inside the truck.

"Yeah it has been a long time since it was just the three amigos." Ed says looking into the tool box for something to entertain himself with.

"Hey, you can thank yourself for that Double Dee. It was you who first started dating and would bring Marie around." Eddy says walking back to his tool box.

Edd grins. "Well you will not hear a complete from me." He says thinking back on when they were younger. "We really have changed since tenth grade."

"What are you talking about now?" Eddy asks going back to working on his truck.

"Well you yourself Eddy are not nearly as rude and bossy as you once were." Edd says describing how Eddy has changed. Eddy has also given up drinking and is trying to be a nicer person, but wouldn't tell Edd that.

"And Lumpy isn't the stinky idiot he was, he's cleaned up and even smarted up since getting his glasses." Eddy says pointing over at Ed, who was lost in his own thoughts.

But at the mention of Eddy's nickname for him Ed snaps back from his dreams. "Huh? What?" He says looking from Eddy to Edd.

"Were talking about how we've changed from when we were kids." Eddy says closing the hood of his truck.

"Oh, like how Double Dee is more calm about stuff and isn't as much of a pushover." Ed says pointing out how Edd has changed.

"Well, in the simplest terms he is right." Edd says as Eddy sinkers.

Eddy's mother came into the garage and asked Eddy to run an errand for her leaving Ed and Edd alone. They chose to head over to Edd's house to continue hanging out.

"So how has things been with May Ed?" Edd asks as Leonidas walks across his lap and onto the empty couch next to him.

"Things are going great Double Dee, I'm going to ask her to marry me." Ed says casually as he pets Leonidas.

Hearing this shocked Edd and he was at a loss for words. "Ed… you, you shouldn't rush into a decision as big as this." He says finally regaining his thoughts.

"But I love her Double Dee. She is the coolest person I've ever met." Ed says unsure why Edd would object to his idea.

"Have you even told May that you love her?" Edd asks still a little dumfounded.

The thought of telling May that he loves her never occurred to Ed. "No, should I have?" his expression growing blank.

"I think you should tell May that you love her first and then see how she reacts before you think about asking her to become your wife." Edd says trying to save Ed from rushing into marriage.

"But I know she loves me too." Ed says trying to defend his choice to ask May to marry him.

"Has she said it to you?" Edd asks fearing that this is a losing battle he is fighting.

Ed shakes his head. "No, but I know she does."

Edd lets out a sigh. "Just, don't get your hopes up Ed." He says pinching the brim of his nose.

"So my mom said that next year we have to have Christmas dinner with her." Marie says as Edd and her walk up the stairs. They have just finished eating dinner with Edd's parapets, and even though they had a long talk and things are good between Edd's parents and the young couple, it was still a long and quiet meal.

"That sounds fair, it would be nice to change things up." Edd says as they reach the top of the stairs.

Edd opens the door to his old bedroom for her. "And May is surprising good at experimental cooking." Marie says walking into to the room.

"Experimental cooking?" He asks unsure what she meant.

Marie drops down onto the bed. "She doesn't follow recipes and tries out all kinds of way to make stuff." She says picking Leonidas up from atop her backpack where he was sleeping.

"That makes sense." Edd says sitting down next to Marie.

Picking up Leonidas woke him up and he started to meow as Marie sets him down on the bed. "Enough about my sister and her skills in the kitchen, I have something for you." She says moving her backpack onto her lap. "Now close your eyes and hold out your hands."

Edd doesn't respond back, he just closes his eyes and holds his hands out like she asked with a smile on his face.

"Ok, first there is this." She says before kissing him on the lips. "And then there is this." She says placing her finished book in his hands.

Edd opens his eyes and looks down at the book in his hands. It's a thin book with covers made from a type of crafting foam that feels almost as hard as a normal book and is bound together with knitting yarn sewn around the edge. "The Weekend that Changed the World." He says reading the title before opening the book.

The first page of the book is like most book, handwritten text saying; "The Weekend that Changed the World. Story by Eddward Vincent and illustrations by Marie Kanker. Dedicated to the love of my life and source of all my great inspiration."

Edd turns the page and sees the first part of the story, again hand written on one side of the page and Marie's drawing of the same part of the story on the other. Edd immediately recognizes the story as the one he told her months ago one night when she asked him to tell her a story. "Marie, this is amazing." He says as he carefully flips through the book looking at every drawing Marie has done to illustrate the story he'd told her.

"Like it I take it?" She asks admiring her own work with him.

"I love it, is this what you've been working on all this time?" He asks looking through the book for a second time.

"Yeah, I loved your story you told me and I thought it would be cool to make it into a story book." She says happy that Edd likes her gift for him.

Edd sets the book down on the bed. "I feel like my gift to you is an underachievement now." He says getting up from the bed to walk over to the dresser.

On top of the dresser is the duffle bag of their clothing. "These came in the mail just the other day." He says as he digs out two wrapped packages from the bag.

Marie gets excited seeing the two gifts for her. Edd hands them to her as he sits down. "Open the bigger one first." He says suggesting to her which of the two gifts to open. Taking his advice Marie rips the red wrapping paper off the long rectangle box. When she has the paper off she opens the box to see it filled with small pieces of hard paper.

She takes one out and sees that they are business cards that read; "Marie Kanker. Freelance artist." As well as her email address and the URL to the website where she has her work on display. In the corner of the cards is a little blue bow with a skull in front of it.

"This is awesome Double Dee." She says looking at the business card in her hand. "Now I am really legit."

Edd is just as happy about Marie liking the cards as she was about him liking the book. "I'm glad you like them, I hope I did you justice with the little Marie flare on them." He says pointing to the bow and skill in the corner.

"You did. So can I open my other one now?" She asks putting the card back into the box and set it to the side.

With a chuckle Edd says; "Corse you can."

Her second gift is a smaller box than the one the business cards came in. "What is it?" She asks hearing something move inside the box.

Again Edd chuckles. "Open it and find out." He says enjoying Marie's curiosity.

Marie rips the paper off and finds a black box. She takes the top off the box. "Oh my gosh Double Dee…" She says looking at a brand new black IPhone.

"I was able to get a deal when I perched a new phone for myself and I thought you would like to have a new phone as well." Edd says as Marie looks from the box to him.

Marie is excited to get a new phone, but a concern came to her. "But what about the plan I have with my sisters?"

"I asked the salesmen at the store and it's a simple matter of taking this phone down to your provider and they should be able to transfer your plan onto it." Edd says answering her question.

Marie sets the box down next to the other. "Ok, that's all I needed to know." She says before she jumped at Edd pinning him to the bed as she kisses him.

"Like your gifts I take it?" He asks when they finally break the kiss.

"I love them, you're the best Double Dee." She says running her fingers through his hair before she kisses him again.

Despite Edd recommending him not to ask May to marry him, Ed still chooses to ask her. Its a few days after Christmas and Ed and Marie are driving back from the comic book shop in Ed's car.

"I think my sub list is getting a bit ridicules." May says looking at the stack of comics sitting on her lap.

"It's not that bad." Ed says making a turn.

"Forty dollars a lot to spend in one place." She says looking out the window and seeing that they are not heading towards the cul-de-sack. "Ed, where are we going?" she asks looking over to Ed.

"I thought we could get something to eat." Ed says making another turn.

May turns to look back out the window. "Oh, where are we going?"

"I thought some burgers at the drive in would be good."

They sit in Ed's car eating their burgers, being careful to not to get anything on their comics. As he sat there chewing his burger Ed looks at May and smiles. "So I was thinking May." He says setting his burger down on the wrappings on his lap.

"About what Ed?" She asks between bites.

"Well, you're my best friend and the coolest girlfriend in the world." Ed reaches into his jacket pocket. "And I was hoping you'd accept this." He says holding out his replica One Ring.

May looks at the ring puzzled. "Why are you giving me your One Ring? It's a limited edition."

"It's the only ring I have, and you're supposed to have a ring when you ask someone to marry them." Ed says with his big dumb smile on his face.

May is dumbstruck. "What?" She asks unsure if she misheard him.

"I want us to get married May." He says as May's eyes grow wide.

May desperately wants to say yes, she cares deeply for Ed and can see her being happy to spend the rest of her life with him. But she knows is would be irresponsible of them to do so."Ed… I…" She says looking him in the eyes. She can see the anticipation in his eyes and she lets out a long sight. "It's not a no, just a not yet." She says doing what she knows is best.

Ed's expression changes he frowns looking down. "Oh…" He says dropping his hand down onto his leg.

May grabs his hand. "It's not that I don't want to say yes Ed, but we can't just on a whim get married. We need to have plans and not live at home with or parents."

Ed looks over at May. "But I love you May, isn't that all we need?" He asks telling her he loves her in a casual way.

Hearing Ed says he loves her made May's heart swell with love. "Ed… I love you too, but we need more than that. Ok how about this; you have two years to move out of your parents and ask me to move in with you AND to get a real ring. If you can do all that by the end of the next two years then I know we'll be on a good path and then I will say yes." She says giving him a set of goals to work towards.

Ed thinks over May's request, she does have a point about them not having a plan and still living with their parents. "I understand." He says putting the One Ring back into his pocket. 'I can do that in two years.'

"Um, question Ed." May says as they go back to eating.

Ed stops half way from putting his burger into his mouth. "Yeah?"

"Did you mean it?"

"Mean what?"

May feels her face grow red. "Did you mean it when you said you love me?" She asks looking over at him.

Ed looks over to May and smiles. "Oh, cores I did."

"Good, cause I meant it too." She says before leaning across the center console to kiss Ed.

"It was nice to see everyone wasn't it?" Edd asks as he sits down on the couch next to Marie with a glass bottle and a pair of plastic champagne glasses.

Marie takes one of the glasses from him. "It was, but it was nice to get back to our apartment too. It just feels weird sleeping anywhere else." She says as Edd pores the contents of the bottle into her glass.

"Well this is our home now, it should feel different being away from it." He says filling his own glass.

"As long as I'm with you Double Dee, anywhere can be home." Marie says before taking a drink from her glass.

Edd kisses her on the cheek. "Same for me Marie."

Marie looks at her glass. "You think were being lame, staying home on new years?" She asks as Leonidas jumps up onto her lap.

"You're asking the man who used to label everything in his room and would prefer to do complex math equations over going to high school parties whether we are being lame or not?" He asks with a smile on his face and a questionings look in his eyes.

"Hey I always thought it was cute that you'd label everything, made it easier to steal from you." Marie says retuning the grin. "But you know what." She says moving to leaning against Edd. "I'm perfectly happy drinking sparkling grape juice and watching movies with you."

"So am I." Edd kisses Marie on the side of her head. "Ready?" He asks picking up the remote to the Blu-Ray player his parents gave them for Christmas.

"I am, what are we watching?" She asks curious as to what movie Edd picked out for them.

"I thought a movie that has some special meaning to us would be fitting." Edd says as he pushes the play button on the remote.

At first Marie is unsure which movie he meant, but after the first minute of the movie played she knew which movie he chose. "Aw, the movie we saw on our first date." She says looking away from the TV to look up at Edd.

"I saw a box set of the three Bat-Man movies at work the other day and thought it would be nice to own them."

"You know, I still haven't seen the two before The Dark Knight Rises, but thanks to Ed who turned May into a comic nerd I know everything that happened in them. And everything that was done right, wrong and what should have been in these movies." Marie says turning back to watch the movie.

"I would say I'm sorry on Ed's behalf, but I know nether Ed or May would be sorry about that." Edd says as he moves his arm around Marie.

"We have an odd but fun bunch of friends." She says lacing the fingers of her hand that is opposite hand to Edd's.

"I think my Ed's and your sisters are more than just friends, they are family. And I am glad to call them that."

Lee feels out of place sitting in an old chair pretending to read an out of date hair styling magazine. She wanted to get up, leave and never come back to this psychiatrist's office ever again, but she made a promise to her mother and Eddy to go to at least one session with the psychiatrist. And if she didn't like it she never has to go again.

'This is so stupid.' She thinks tossing the magazine onto the end table. 'I wish Eddy could have come.'

After everything that has happened Lee is sure she wouldn't be doing as well as she has been if not for Eddy. He gave her support when she needed it and she couldn't thank him enough for being there when she needed him.

"Ms. Kanker?" the receptionist behind the counter says.

Lee looks over. "Yeah?" She says guessing that it's her turn to see the psychiatrist.

"Doctor Carris will see you now." The receptionist says gesturing to the door with her hand.

'Called it.' Lee thinks as she gets up from the chair.

Lee expected the psychiatrist to be some old guy that would tell her she needed to find religion in order to start feeling like her old herself again, but she's surprised to see a woman that looks to be in her thirties sitting in an armchair with a mug in one hand and reading a clipboard in the other.

"Hello Lee." Doctor Carris says looking up from the clipboard. "Have a seat." She says pointing at the armchair across from her.

Lee walks over and drops down into the chair without a word.

Doctor Carris holds up her clipboard. "So I've been reading over the information you gave my assistant."

"And?" Lee asks crossing her arms.

"And I'm guessing you are not a fan of people and you don't want to be here." Doctor Carris says before taking a drink from her mug.

"What gave you that idea?"

Doctor Carris looks back at her clipboard and says; "Well I doubt you full name is "Lee Fuckthisplace Kanker", and if your phone number really is "None of your business" its going to be very difficult to set up a follow up appointment."

"Your point?" Lee says looking away from Doctor Carris.

"Well if you don't want to be here, why did you come?" Doctor Carris asks setting her clipboard down on the arm of the chair.

"My mom and boyfriend thought it might help."

Doctor Carris looks Lee right in the eyes. "Do you think it will help you Lee? A miscarriage can really mess with your mind and talking to someone can help."

Lee slams her fish down onto the arm of the chair. "That's all people ever want me to do is talk! I don't want to talk about the kid I'll never have anymore, or have people telling me it wasn't my fault."

"We don't have to talk about it then Lee. We can talk about anything you want. Your sister moving away must have been a big change." Doctor Carris says changing the subject.

"It was."Lee says crossing her arms again. "We've always been together for years. But Double Dee is a good guy and I know Marie will be safe with him." Lee isn't sure why she's opening up to Doctor Carris, but Lee knew Doctor Carris couldn't tell anyone about what they talked about.

"I take it you and your sisters are close?" Doctor Carris asks taking another drink from her mug.

"We had to be, for the longest time it was just us three against the world." Lee says uncrossing her arms as she starts to feel comfortable talking to Doctor Carris.

"May I ask what happened?"

Lee lets out a little laugh remembering everything that happened in the two weeks that ended with her and her sisters becoming friends with the rest of the kids in the cul-de-sack. "Marie went and got herself locked in our high school over a weekend."

Epilog.

Talking with Doctor Carris helped Lee fight her depression, but Peach Creek just reminded her and Eddy of their loss to stay. One night almost a year down the road Eddy and her made the choice to pack up his truck and move out of state. Lee only took her clothing, a few personal things she owned and the framed picture Marie gave her.

She left a letter for her mother and May explaining why she chose to leave, it was handwritten with a lot of words crossed out from changing her mind as she wrote.

"Mom and May, Me and Eddy are leaving Peach Creek. I tried the therapist thing but it just isn't working and I just don't like it here anymore. I always thought you May and Marie would need me to be around to watch your backs, but you don't need me to watch out for you anymore. So I'm going to do something for myself and try and get my brain back in the right place.

Me and Eddy are going to find someplace to start over together, we'll let you know where we've settled once we find a place. Lee."

It hurt both Ms. Kanker and May knowing that Lee didn't want to live with them anymore, but they understood and let Lee do what she needed to do.

A few months after she left Lee sent then another letter in the mail. In it she tells them that her and Eddy are doing fine, they found a small one bedroom apartment in a city one state over. She's working as a server at an Olive Garden and she's going to start working on getting a hair dressers license and that Eddy found another construction company to work for.

Ed did his best to reach the goals May set for him, but it took him longer than the two years to save up the money he needed. Ed knew that he's not the smartest person in the world and even with the improvement he's gone through he is still unsure about what needed to do. Which lead May to stepping up and helping him with a lot of it. Together they were able to set a savings plan and figure the best way for Ed to manage his money. He had to cut back on the amount of comic books he would buy every week, but he knew May was worth the cut.

But even with the planning and cutting Ed still wouldn't be able to afford an apartment by himself, so he checked off the first item on the list of goals and asked May to get the apartment with him. Of course she said yes and with a heart full of happiness for her youngest daughter Ms. Kanker let the last of her daughters leave the trailer.

May enjoyed experimenting in the kitchen and when she just couldn't handle working at the movie theater anymore she quit and found a job working in the kitchen of a local restaurant. She started out as a dishwasher but she watched the cooks as much as she could and learned a great deal, so when an opening came for an assistant to the head chef she was able to show the owner of the restaurant that she knows how to cook and landed the position with ease.

Things were going good for May and Ed, he was saving up money little by little for a proper ring for May, but when he found out about Edd and Marie he started to work more at the comic shop to save up faster.

Edd never did grow his hair back out, having short hair was easier to manage and every now and then Marie would style differently for fun. When Edd and Marie's fifth anniversary arrived Edd decided that it was finally time to ask Marie to take the final step in their relationship.

"This place is really fancy." Marie says as Edd pulls her chair out for her.

Edd pushes her chair in and walks around to his own. "Five years together is a big milestone." He says as he sits down in his own chair.

"Well it's still a big step up from what we normally do." Marie says as she adjusts her dress. It's the first time since their high school senior dinner that Marie has worn her dark green dress and she knew she looks good in it.

"I just wanted this night to be a rememberable one." Edd says smiling at Marie.

Marie reaches into her purse. "Well in the spirit of making tonight rememberable, here's your anniversary gift Double Dee." She says pulling out a small box from her purse.

Edd takes the box from her. "Thank you Marie." He says looking at the box.

"Well, open it." She says getting excited to see how Edd will react to his gift.

Edd takes the top off the box and sees the bolt nut Marie has kept as a memento with a small chain running through it. "To remind you that you still have to do it right." Marie says leaning her head on one hand with a smile.

Edd takes the nut out of the box and sees that the chain was a necklace chain. "This is just too funny." He says with a laugh.

"What's so funny?" She asks confused as to why Edd would laugh at her very thoughtful gift.

"It's just the coincidence of what I got you." He says getting up. He puts the necklaces on before reaching into his pocket as he walks around the table to her.

"I know you love being a Kanker, and I would never want to take that away from you, but I was hoping that maybe you'd also like to be a Vincent." He asks getting down on one knee opening a ring box.

Marie was not expecting this, she thought Edd would not know what to say and would fumble his words as he got nervous like he does in situations like this. But finally proposing to her was the last thing she thought he'd ever do. She takes the ring from him and as she looks at it she remembers something she'd told him years ago when he asked her to a school dance.

"Like you need to ask silly." She says putting on the ring before hugging him and kissing him.

The restaurant breaks into applause as Marie kisses Edd. "Is that as a yes?" Edd says when they finally break the kiss.

"Yes you big silly, a thousand times yes." Marie says as tears of joy form in her eyes.

Sidney came to see Marie as the daughter she never had, and was not too surprised when Marie invited her to Edd and her's wedding. Edd and Marie didn't have a big wedding, just their friends and families together in Edd's parent's back yard.

All of their friends showed up for their wedding. Jonny came in his military dress uniform, Kevin and Nazz flew back from California and Rolf even went and got himself ordained so he could perform the ceremony. He claimed that it was; "A tradition from my home country to untie ones friends together in, as you call it, marriage." Even Eddy and Lee made the trip back to Peach Creek for the wedding.

Marie and May were in the upstairs bathroom of Edd's parents house putting the final touches on Marie.

"Don't you think the blue mascara is too much?" May asks as she looks at Marie's reflection in the mirror.

"Heck no, the first time I wear my hair out of my face in years I have to make my eyes look like they could kill." Marie says as she applies her blue mascara to usually covered eye. As her something old Ms. Kanker gave Marie an old butterfly hair beret which she was now using to keep her bangs out of her face.

May rolls her eyes. "Ok, it is your wedding."

"Damn straight it's MY wedding." Marie says. It's been several months since Edd proposed to her and she still gets chills of excitement over the fact that they are really getting married.

"Just because it's your wedding doesn't make you that boss, that will always be my job." A failure voice says from the door.

Marie and May turn to see Lee standing in the doorway with her arms crossed and smiling. Right away Marie and May could tell Lee was back to, if not better than, her old self. She still has her hair out of its classic curls and she's cut her bang so they don't cover her eyes anymore, she doesn't need to hide anymore. But they were not eyes filled with hate, anger and sadness like they were when Marie saw her sister the last time.

"I was worried you wouldn't come." Marie says holding back her excitement at seeing her sister.

"Someone has to hand you over to Double Dee, and seeing as our dads are all dead beats I figured your bossy older sister would be the next best thing." Lee says walking into the bathroom.

"As Ed would say, we are three once more." May says with a tear of happiness forming in her eye.

Lee walks around and puts her arms around her sisters. "I see you've also gotten hooked by a man." She says to May as she lifts her left arm up looking at the engagement ring on May's hand.

"Yeah, when Ed found out about Marie and Double Dee he didn't want to be left behind. We're going to wait a while to get married though, money is still tight." May says blushing a little over talking about her own engagement.

Lee cracks a smile, she's happy for both of her sisters. "So when are you and Eddy going to tie the knot so we can officially say that our trick in the abandon house worked and that we've had the Ed's scene we were twelve?" Marie asks as Lee lets go of her sisters.

"I can't do that, got to be free to ditch him for when something better comes along." Lee says as Marie checks for the tenth time that her hair, makeup and dress are all perfect.

Marie looks at Lee in the reflection of the mirror, they both knew that Lee was lying, Lee has no intention of ever leaving Eddy. After all they have been through she knows he's the only person she wants to be with. Marriage is just not something Lee needs to prove that her and Eddy are happy' never mind that they are too stubborn to admit they love each other in public.

"Well don't come crying to me when he does the same to you." Marie says stepping away from the mirror happy with how she looks. "Alright girls, my man is waiting for me." She says as she picks up her dress so it won't drag on the ground as the sisters exited the bathroom.

At the bottom of the stairs the sisters see their mother talking with Edd's mother Pam and Sidney. Marie couldn't help but smile as three of the four women she has respect for, the fourth being her former art teacher, stand around and talk. "Well, how do I look?" Marie asks making her presence known to the three women.

They turn and look at Marie and her sisters on the stairs and Ms. Kanker was the first to say anything. "You look more beautiful than ever." She says as the sisters reach the bottom of the stairs.

"I have to agree with your mother Marie, you look amazing." Sidney says complementing Marie.

"Thanks." Marie says to her mother and boss before turning to Edd's mother. "So Pam, Think Edd will like the dress?" she asks turning slightly from side to side.

"Yes Marie, I think he will." Pam says also smiling.

"Glad you approve." Marie says making one final joke before Pam became her mother in-law.

"I think my boy chose the perfect girl to give my mother's ring to." Pam says giving Marie a hug.

"Damn, better make sure you keep that if things go south Marie." Lee says cracking a joke.

Out in the back yard Edd was standing in front of his friends with Ed and, much to his surprise and enjoyment, Eddy standing next to him as his best men.

"I am really glad you came Eddy." Edd says shifting his weight around from excitement.

"Hey I couldn't let an event like an Ed marrying a Kanker pass by." Eddy says giving Edd a playful punch in the arm. "Especially cause you started this whole thing years ago." He adds meaning that it was Edd who first started dating one of the Kanker sisters.

The back door of the house opens and Lee, May, Ms. Kanker, Sidney, Pam and lastly Marie come out of the house.

Edd smiles at the sight of his soon to be wife. "That I did Eddy, and I and I am forever grateful that I missed that bus." He says as Jimmy starts playing "Here Comes The Bride" on his keytar, which he's become very good at playing, as Marie starts to walk down the allies to Edd.

Edd and Marie loved their apartment, but after almost seven years of living there it was just not big enough for them.

"This is rather sad, leaving this place." Edd says as Marie and him look around the empty apartment.

"Its just like the first time we came in here together, only you got Leonidas in a cat carrier instead of a box with a shelf in it." Marie says resting her head against Edd's shoulder.

Edd puts his arm around her and hugs her. "The place looks bigger with everything already moved to the house."

Marie grabs Edd's hand and pulls his arm closer around herself. "It might look like it is, but we both know we need more room then this old love nest can offer." She says as she rubs her slightly swollen stomach with her other hand.

Marie still works for Sidney at Little Arts and is still selling paintings out of the shop. She's not super famous at all, but her art in the shop window always draws people in and her works always sell, Jacqueline even bought one. Slowly Sidney gave Marie more and more responsibilities at the shop as time went by to get Marie ready for when Sidney is ready to retire and to have Marie take over the shop from her, though Sidney knew it was going to be a few more years for Marie to be ready when Sidney found out about Marie becoming pregnant.

It was strange for Marie having all the responsibilities she did at the shop. Sidney has Marie handling the ordering for the shop, prepping for the holiday seasons and making sure the high demand items were available and most recently Sidney has been teaching Marie how to manage the bookkeeping of the shop.

But Marie has met every challenge presented to her and has not disappointed Sidney in showing her that Marie cares about the shop and wants to do everything she can for it.

When Edd started his second year of college he was still unsure of what he wanted to do for a major, so he dabbled in a few different subjects to see what peaked his interest. He also joined a tutoring program the school offered to tutor grade school kids. Edd took a real liking to helping the kids and felt a great sense of pride when one of them told him that their grades have improved thanks to him.

Edd started to wonder if he had found his calling in life and one night shared the idea of becoming a teacher with Marie. She of course agreed that he would make a great teacher.

"I did tell ya once that you could make money off of helping your friends with their school work remember?" She had said when they talked about Edd's interests in teaching.

It did take Edd a few more years of schooling to get a teaching license, but when he was done he happily turned in his name badge, the same one he was given when he started working at Books and More, to Dave and Kelly.

Dave was a little sad to see Edd go, but Kelly knew of how great a worker Edd was and wished he wouldn't leave.

"I'm sorry Kelly, but I really want to be a teacher." He said when she asked him for the final time to reconsider leaving.

Kelly sighed. "Ok, just don't be a stranger, come by and say hi once in a while." She said taking Edd's name badge from him.

"I won't, I promise." Edd said before he walked out of the back room for the last time.

Edd chose to become a computer science teacher for the Lemon Brook Public Middle School. It was mostly introduction to the concept he would teach the kids, but he did have an advance class he would teach the more complex things to and he acted as an IT tech for the school when needed. But he loved every minute of it and would even let his students come into the classroom during lunch to play games on the computers.

One day as he stood out in the hall by his classroom waiting for his student to come into the class he spotted a redheaded girl in a black T-shirt and blue jeans with rips in the knees chase after a boy with dark almost black brown hair in a orange hoodie and black pants down the hall.

"Leave me alone Kimie!" The boy yelled at the girl behind him.

"Don't pretend that you don't like me Peter!" The girl yells back as she gets closer to the boy.

"I wouldn't be running from you if I liked you."

"But you know how much I just love a good chase Sugar Lump." Kimie says as the two kids turn a corner.

Watching the two kids reminded Edd of how Marie and him once were and he couldn't help but let a chuckle out. 'If they are anything like we were, then they are in for a great life.' He thinks as the final bell rings.

The End.

Final Thoughts.

Well there it is, the end of Edd and Marie's New Life in Lemon Brook. I'm really happy with how this story turned out and who the characters grew to be. I didn't have much of a plan for this one when I set out to start it unlike the first story involving Edd and Marie, I just wrote about stuff I felt could/would happen to them.

Lee's part in this was hard for me to write and when I finished it I was pulling at my own heart strings to the point that I kind of lost the drive to keep going for a while. But I think I did good in the end for her and Eddy, cause lets be honest, they are the two most toxic characters in the Ed, Edd & Eddy universe and I wanted them to grow out of that. And I feel like they had to fall hard to grow into good people.

This is the end to this version of Ed, Edd and Eddy fan fiction from me, but I have a whole new story idea that I thought up one day and fell in love with so there will be a whole new Edd and Marie story to enjoy. They are my OTP so it should be no surprise that I want to do more with them, but I'm not sure if I'll focus on that one or another idea I had first.

I do know that it's time for another break and for me to maybe not spend so much time writing, my steam library is getting too big.

I also want to give a shout out and my thanks to the writers that inspired me; KiltedEngineer's "Bad Girls with Big Hearts" and Mr. Alaska's "Ed Edd n' Eddy Senior Year". These two fanfics, and all the fan art on DeviantART, inspired me to start writing about Edd and Marie.

It's been almost a year since I started writing fanfiction and I can't believe it's been THAT long since I took the risk of posting something online. And despite my less than perfect grammar and sentence structure, "A Weekend Alone" became a hit and one hundred and sixty of you liked it enough to favorite it.

Thank you everyone that has read this or any story I've written, knowing that I created something other people enjoy is what keeps me going at this and drives me to want to do more.

Until next time, keep being awesome.

Linken88