Without further ado, here is the VERY long awaited conclusion to this very long story. As such, I literally don't know what this next chapter is - somewhere around 11, maybe 12, possibly 13, I totally don't remember, but this is a new chapter. And because it's been a hot minute, your obligatory summary:
Scooter Grosse is finally about to take the next step in his relationship with his girlfriend, Amanda Cosgrove. After meeting each other during a pool tournament, having dinner with Scooter's very extended Muppet family, Amanda enduring a lunch with the Axis of Evil, spending a romantic getaway with the frog and her royal highness, and experiencing jealousy thanks to the arrival of an old boyfriend, Scooter has plans on asking Amanda to marry him.
That of course is easily said then done with opportunities passing by him, but ultimately, during Thanksgiving at Kermit and Piggy's, Scooter was able to do just that. The lead up to their nuptials nearly ended in disaster when their booked church got flooded and Amanda's entire bridal party called out. Luckily, the Muppet crew came through. When we last left our band of bridal parties, Scooter had been kidnapped by his groomsmen on a week long adventure through California, while Scottie Coulter - Amanda's gay of honor - took her, Miss Piggy, Janice, and Camilla through a tour of San Francisco.
Upon their return, both bride and groom were panicked until arriving at Muppet Studios to see that the group had done up their sound stages as a makeshift church and bridal suite. At the end of the last chapter, Scooter and Amanda said their 'I dos' and became Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Grosse.
And now...without a moment to spare...our conclusion!
Chapter Something Something
Stage 78 was the last of the remaining sound stages before reaching the theater proper. It didn’t fail to raise eyebrows with how the stages were labelled, the convenient missing 77 was in there, regardless on how many times someone tried to convince the others that clearly the Muppet Theater was the official sound stage 77.
As Stage 76 had been turned into a church and Stage 79 had been split to accompany both the groom and bridal groups, Stage 78 was left to host the very large reception that was currently in progress. It was also the most scenic out of the entire lot that encompassed Muppet Studios.
This worked out perfectly for the wedding party of the now Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Grosse.
Stage 77 was set off to the side, but also faced the California mountains, giving it the perfect backdrop for the wedding photos. The start of their new lives together had started rocky for the newly married couple – their church had flooded, Amanda’s bridesmaids had all called out, and it was only recently that both remembered neither of them had booked a photographer. But of course leave it to their friends,
their family, to pull out all the stops to make sure that this day would be memorable in the best possible way.
Leave it to Piggy to know the best of the best when it came to photographers, picking Remy Fontaine to do the photoshoot. Fontaine was a friend of hers from her days in Paris and he just happened to be working a gig in the LA area around the same time; Remy of course loved the diva – as most photographers did – and he was more than happy to assist with the wedding, even doing so as a favor to the pig with no extra cover charge. The background was perfect – the sun was high in the sky, surrounded by fluffy white clouds; the temperature outside was a decent 78 degrees, making it a nice, breezy day. Remy took several pictures of the entire party and the new Grosses, but also took some of Amanda and Chase, the groom and groomsmen, the bridal party, and a few shots of the entire group together.
Remy had surprised all involved, even Piggy, when he stated that he planned on getting some great shots of the after party, as Piggy had only thought he would take pictures of the wedding ceremony and group pictures. The photographer had waved her off, only stating that in return she invite him to her own wedding to do the pictures for that. Either it was a decent request or they were still riding the ongoing events of the day, but neither frog nor pig seemed to do their usual dispute of any upcoming nuptials.
Within Stage 77, a large number of Muppets, Whatnots, and humans were massing inside. Tables had been set up and servers from both Cool Pool and the catering company Piggy normally employed were delivering food to the hungry patrons. Tables sat on either side of a large dance floor, which was situated in front of a small stage where members of the Muppet Orchestra and the Electric Mayhem were already set up and going through a playlist. To the right of the stage was a long table for the wedding party, while to the left of that was a DJ station, where Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his assistant Beaker seemed to be either setting up or arguing over setting it up. John Gelgoode, otherwise known as Dr. Teeth, saw the frog from the doorway and made a quick signal to Muppet conductor Nigel to halt the music for a moment.
“Ladies and gentlemen!” he announced loudly, quieting the room at large. “Melodious Muppets, wise Whatnots, hip humans, boys, girls, and everything in between. It is my utmost congenial indulgence to announce our most hippest of the hip married couple – the mister and missues of Scooter Grosse!”
Everyone stood and cheered, happy to greet the couple as they walked in, their wedding party trailing behind them, as they made their way to the front of the room. The Muppet Orchestra played a delightful rendition of the popular jazz standard, Blue Skies, a happy entrance to not only start their party but the lives of the young couple. The group made their way to their chairs, sitting down with Scooter and Amanda in the middle of the group. Once the wedding party had settled down, the rest of the room sat down to enjoy their food and wait for the cake, which sat tantalizing near the wedding party table.
It was a three tiered marble cake, with white frosting with red roses decorated on the sides and white lace connecting them together. At the top sat two figurines that looked exactly like Scooter and Amanda, their miniature faces lit up with smiles, signifying the happiness they would experience this day forth. Dinner was of course a lively affair, especially when combined with the full Muppet force – the orchestra was allowed to take a break from playing, allowing the automated music from the DJ station to play in the background.
Food was a free for all, employing some of the tasty delights at Cool Pool, as well as some high end cuisine thanks to the catering group. Janice, Camilla, and Gonzo had placed their own food requests, going for a more vegetarian and vegan fair for anyone that wasn’t feeling the fish, lamb, and beef courses. Knowing that the party was most likely to last well into the evening, both Kermit and Scottie as the relative best man and gay of honor had decided to make their toasts during the middle of dinner, which is what prompted Scottie to stand and tap on his champagne glass to get everyone’s attention. When that didn’t seem to work, he threw a somewhat panicked look towards the frog, who threw a patient one over to the pig on Scottie’s left. She in turn leaned forward to give the same look to the bassist that sat on Kermit’s left.
Floyd was already in the process of texting someone on his phone by the time Kermit nudged him, a murmured, “I got it” coming from his mouth as his tapped the send button. A short time later, Animal – who was sitting at a table with Rowlf and Robin near the stage, reached for his phone when he saw it vibrate, an incoming text from Floyd asking for his assistance in quieting the masses. Nodding, the red Muppet stood up and screamed, “Quiet!”, which did the job of quieting everyone in the room.
“Uh…thank you?” Scottie muttered, raising an eyebrow at the weird exchange, but none the less going with the flow of the situation. “I think I speak for all of us up here and the blushing bride and groom,” he continued. “But I would like to thank everyone for coming to the wedding of the century!” Everyone cheered, some with hoots and hollers before Scottie was able to calm them down again. “I would also like to thank the entire Muppet ensemble for getting all of this up and running in mere hours. As the honorary gay of honor, I can’t begin to tell you how you literally and figuratively saved the day.”
Again, cheers went up around the room, celebrating those that had come to the literal rescue when the couple needed it. The blonde again tapped on his glass to quiet the room. “I have known Mrs. Amanda Grosse, nee Cosgrove, since high school,” he started. “Back when she was all glasses and braces.”
“Oh my god, Scott!” the bride groaned, throwing a playful slap at his knee.
“Back then, I saw my girl go through a boyfriend or two, even me.” Sighing dramatically, Scott wistfully said, “Ah, the dreams of the young. There had been a time when I thought I was the one and only, the twinkle in Miss Mandy’s eyes…”
“Please stop.”
Scottie chuckled, before holding up his glass to the couple. “Alas, it wasn’t meant to be,” he said, though there was a smile on his face. “Which for all of us, is a good thing because it meant that you actually met the Muppet of your dreams. Manda Panda, I love you. You are as much my sister as I could have ever gotten or asked for and on this day, I am so
extremely ecstatic to be here for you and see your happily ever after actually come true. I have known you for a long time and I don’t think I have ever seen you as happy as I do when you’re with your darling Scooter.
“Scooter, I – along with Chase, of course – happily welcome you into our family. To your many, many happy years together. Salud.”
Again, the room went up in cheers and applause, with Amanda standing to give her long time friend a hug and a kiss on her cheek and allowing him to wipe a few tears from her eyes as she did. Both of them sat down, right as Kermit stood to make his own toast. “Well, I’m not sure how to follow that,” he joked, chuckling. Turning to the Muppet on his left, the frog smiled at the boy.
“Like Scottie and Amanda, I’ve known Scooter forever. Back then, he was the annoying little teen set to get our hair. Thankfully, young Mr. Grosse here proved he was much more than meets the eye.”
“Like a Transformer!” Fozzie throw out, causing everyone to chuckle.
“Will you be turning into our limo later?” joked Amanda.
Kermit let the laughter settle down before mirroring Scottie and picking up his glass. “Scooter…” he started, but cleared his throat nervously. “This…all of this…we did because we love you. There probably isn’t anything we wouldn’t do for you. I know your parents and your uncle, wherever they are, are proud of you because
we are so proud of you. And whatever strange reason, Amanda likes our company as much as she likes yours.” That caused a few laughs and chuckles.
Holding up his glass, Kermit finished with, “Amanda, you have joined the most zaniest of families, as you’ve clearly seen and yet continue to come back to. But I guarantee you that if you ever need us, all you have to do is ask. I wish all the happiness for you both, now and into the future.”
No more words were needed after that.
The party was just getting started by the time the toasts were over and the dancing began. It started with the traditional father-daughter dance, Chase choosing the classic Nat King Cole song of ‘Unforgettable’ to dance with his daughter. That was the song he and Lily had danced to when they had gotten married and it had always been a favorite of Amanda’s when she was a girl. Following in tradition, there was always a mother-son dance between the groom and his mother, something Scooter never thought he would ever get the chance to do.
He had the fleetingly thought to ask Piggy for the dance, but he didn’t want to make things awkward, however leave it to Floyd and the others to practically push the two together, the bassist calling out that there was only one pig the red head should be dancing with. With the mood clearly lightened, Scooter did his due diligence, standing from his seat and offering a hand to the diva for a dance. Unknown to either of them, all parental and child units involved had been pretty much confirmed on their separate trips.
It had been a running joke for quite some time that the gofer turned assistant was far more than an employee for the frog and pig. While everyone considered the red head family anyway, his relationship with Kermit and Piggy was far more than just friend and assistant; the three had shown just how much they cared about each other in various ways and their relationship did seem to mirror one of parent to a child; that was easily shown with Scooter’s participation in Piggy’s many schemes to get Kermit to marry her and in the boy’s reaction when the power couple had broken up. If the group as a whole had felt the splintering of their leaders, Scooter Grosse had seemingly been caught up in a very unique divorce. That had been the very mindset the others had thought and felt at the time, though no one outwardly said it with those three around.
However, in the last two weeks, both Kermit and Piggy had been put on the very spot about their treatment of not just Scooter, but Robin too. If the two ever underestimated their ability to be good parents, they at least had the others to counter that with a resounding yes, they had the skills to be fantastic parents and had already managed to raise two sons.
After the parental dances, it was tradition for the newly married couple to take their first dance together, however Scooter had decided to do things differently. While they hadn’t made the song their ‘official’ one, there was something about the Arctic Monkeys’ version of ‘
Baby, I’m Yours’ that put it in a special place for both of them. It was just one of the songs Scooter had picked to convey his feelings for Amanda on their anniversary, which just happen to fall upon Valentine’s Day.
It seemed only appropriate that the same song played at their wedding.
In the act of escorting his bride to the dance floor, the red head told her to wait while he was being announced on stage. Most of those in attendance had remembered the Valentine’s Day episode of the show, with some of the pool staff actively wondering who the Muppet had been singing about or two. Speculation had been wild for days, with Amanda neither confirming nor denying the idea that it was she who Scooter was singing too. That of course was all set to rest once Scooter, being backed by Kermit, Piggy, Gonzo, and Fozzie, began to sing the same song.
The bigger surprise may have been the way Amanda had stolen the mic from him and finished out the song. Scooter had left the stage during the chorus to sing to her directly and given that earlier in the week, the croupier had no problems singing on stage, singing to the Muppet she loved more than ever was easy peasy.
As was the kiss the two shared as their backup singers finished out the song.
Ain’t no party like a Muppet party because a Muppet party don’t stop.
That was at least the beginning words to the song some of the others had come up with whenever they were about to or were throwing a party. In many cases, the party
did stop, as most of those assembled ended up calling it a night usually after midnight or so. While the sun was sinking in the sky, the wedding reception didn’t seem like it would go that far into the night, given that the newlyweds would want to take their leave at some point, but they would be partying like it was 1999.
Once the married couple had done their dance, the floor was open for everyone else to get down and boogie. Beaker, who had volunteered to DJ so the band could also take a break, had set up his own equipment and was playing his own mix of popular dance music and electronic beats that had the place jumping. In the middle of all the chaos, Kermit managed to snag Scooter, only telling him to bring Amanda and to meet them in his office. The page nodded, wondering what both Kermit and Piggy needed with him, but curiosity caused him to lean over to his new wife –
his wife! – and tell her what was going on.
Excusing themselves from their conversation with two of Amanda’s coworkers and a Muppet named Harlan, the two made their way down office row until they both reached Kermit’s office, unsurprised to see both the frog and the pig waiting for them. “Hey,” Scooter said, nodding to the two. As obligatory tradition, the redhead also sent a ‘Hey Jim’ towards the picture of Jim Henson that hung at the entrance of the office before allowing Amanda to enter before him and closing the door. “What did you guys want to see us about?”
“Prompt as always, Andrew.”
“Hey, you made it,” Kermit replied, sending a smile to the both of them. “Little afraid you wouldn’t be able to get away for the moment.”
“S’all good,” said Amanda, sending a glance to her new husband –
her husband! – before turning back to the couple. “What’s up?”
“Well,” Kermit began. “Her royal highness and I figured the two of you would be too busy trying to get out of here, so we thought it best if we gave you your wedding present before you left.”
“Especially considering as that will be the place you will be going,” Piggy stated.
Scooter and Amanda looked at each other before looking back at the power couple. “Uh, no,” the page said. “We are going to our honeymoon suite, which I booked months in advance to ensure that I would have it.” Amanda turned to look at him again, smiling brightly.
“You booked a honeymoon suite months in advance before asking me to marry you?”
That did cause the go-fer to blush slightly. “I mean,” he chuckled, nervously. “We didn’t have to be married to use it.”
“Please stop,” Kermit groaned.
Amanda glanced the frog’s way, a smirk forming on her face. “We spent a weekend with us in a cabin,” she said.
“To which I happily assume that the two of you spent that time bird watching and/or playing cards.”
“That’s what you think we did?” the redhead asked. “Really?”
“Amanda, dear, stop,” Piggy chuckled, patting Kermit on the shoulder. “You’re going to ruin his gentle sensibilities.”
“Right,” Amanda nodded. “That’s your job.”
“The two of you are not allowed to hang out with each other,” Kermit stated, throwing a look at Piggy. “Your king has spoken.”
Grabbing his chin playfully, Piggy cooed at him. “So adorable.” Turning back to the younger couple, Piggy held up a set of keys before dropping them in Scooter’s outstretched hand. “Anyway, here you go.”
“A set of keys?” he asked. “What are these for?”
“I think the better question,” Amanda asked. “Is
where is this for?”
“Those, my darlings, are the keys to your present.” The diva smiled widely at the two. “Wanna know what it is?” The two nodded, though slowly and in confusion.
“Magnifique!” the pig exclaimed, clapping her hands once and quickly leaning over Kermit to rummage through the inside pockets of his jacket. Instead of saying anything that would do anything, the frog none the less threw her an annoyed look that was met with one of her own. “You insisted.”
“I did nothing of the sort,” he huffed. Piggy had started the strange and annoying tradition of placing her various carryon items into the inside of pockets of whatever jacket her frog seemed to be wearing at the time, instead of actually carrying a purse like a normal person.
“What’re you looking for now?”
Holding up the aforementioned object, that being her phone, and shaking it at him, she met his huff with one of her own. “My phone.” She unlocked it and went scrolling through something before handing it over to Scooter. Scooter took the phone, looking at the image that was clearly showing on the screen. It was the front of a modest house, two stories from the look of it, with a beige front and a nicely done front yard.
“It’s a house,” Scooter whispered.
“Correction,” Kermit said, a small smile on his lips.
“It’s
your house,” Piggy finished.
Both redheads looked up at that, tears already gathering in their eyes. It was at that moment that Scooter realized what this was. “Is this the house on Morton?” he asked, shocked, causing Piggy to look at him knowingly.
“Craig mentioned you had stopped by and asked for a card,” she murmured. “Moi pulled some favors, hence why the very fast construction. Wanted to make sure you two had a place to go tonight.”
If Scooter ever wondered if Piggy listened to him, this was confirmation that yes, she absolutely did. Nevermind that the diva had often proved that she had her ears out for anything and everything, she had none the less had known and been there when Scooter needed her the most. She had been the first person to discover when his birthday was, throwing together an impromptu party in the dinning hall, she had been the first to realize something had been amiss with his very first girlfriend, and it hadn’t escaped her notice when she had found herself in his own romantic gaze.
The redhead had made the comment about looking for a house and the housing market one morning while he was at the house, just blowing off steam and complaining about the state of the world. He had never once considered that she would not only pick up on his wants, but actually do something about it. Later, he would sputter that it was his emotional state that caused him to say what he did.
“You’re the best parents ever!”
It was clear that he obviously hadn’t meant to say that out loud and he would never ever admit that outside of…well, his own thoughts, but the sentiment was none the less true. He loved the Muppets, without question, but his relationship with Kermit and Piggy held a special place in his heart; he wasn’t sure when his feelings of superiority morphed into feelings of respect, then admiration, then love, but they were there. At some point, his eagerness in helping Kermit, in helping Piggy, had gone past the normal tasks one would’ve done and had turned into wanting the two to like him as much as he liked them.
In hindsight, his assisting Piggy in all of her matchmaking schemes could be interpreted as his own attempt at a parent trap between Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy and certainly their breakup had hit him the hardest, to the point where he had left Hollywood completely until the others had called him back into service as it were. He couldn’t stand being in the city, driving by the house that held both of their faces on the gate, knowing that he would never step foot in that house again. And he had been pretty sore at Kermit too, to the point that he had nearly stopped talking to the frog just on principle before leaving.
But returning to the Muppets had brought all those feelings back, stronger than ever before. Honestly, if Scooter had to choose his parents, he would’ve chosen the frog and pig; not that his own parents weren’t great, they were from what he could remember of them and sadly, it was only after the death of his uncle that Scooter truly knew how the elder Muppet felt about him. When he died, Kermit, Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo, Rowlf, and the others had been there for him, with the former two doing their best to console the young man through his grief.
For the aforementioned power couple, they had been hearing the statements all week long about how they had seemingly up and adopted Scooter and Robin for that matter, waving off the jokes, but the two were hard pressed to deny the claims. They just had never expected the feelings to be mutual, even if the signs were all there. Hadn’t Piggy sighed to him about Scooter not needing her anymore after his proposal? Hadn't he himself complained about the fact that his little tadpole of a nephew was taller than him now?
Kermit had meant what he said in his toast – they had done everything they could short of burglary and murder to make sure that Scooter’s wedding went off without a hitch. And they probably would’ve begged, borrowed, stole, and more just to guarantee it. The frog would’ve written the adoption papers himself if he could and he knew Piggy would have no qualms in signing them.
“Oh my god,” Amanda sighed. “Please hug each other, the suspense is killing me!”
That seemed to break the stalemate and the awkwardness in the room, which only truly broke when Piggy did as instructed, grabbing Scooter up in fierce hug that was soon joined by Kermit, who quickly grabbed Amanda and threw his arm around her shoulders. “You gonna help us move?” the go-fer asked, bumping into the diva playfully.
“Please,” she huffed. “This isn’t amateur hour. The monsters had all your stuff moved while we’ve been here, with explicit instructions to put everything in the same place as they found it. This way, you don’t have to worry about moving things around instead of…”
“Do not finish that sentence,” Kermit bemoaned. “Sorry about your honeymoon suite, Scooter. I hate that it’s going to waste.”
“It’s not,” Scooter replied. “Consider it a gift from the misses and I. One good turn deserves another, after all, especially when the two of you have been so diligent in hiding things from me.”
“What are you talking about?”
Scooter tsked at the question, instead he tapped a finger on Piggy’s neck or rather on the light, faded line that seemed to circle it. “Hiding tan lines is a lot harder than you would think,” he stated, smirking at the raised eyebrow he was receiving. “And I haven’t seen you wear BK in months. So…go on then. Let’s see it.”
Piggy tried to chuckle, though it came out as more of a nervous giggle than anything else. “You just want to know what it is.”
“Please,” the redhead huffed. “I already know what it is, I just want to know which one he chose.”
The frog matched the huff with one of his own before untangling himself from the group hug to actually reach inside his jacket, into his own pocket for a change. “You’ve gotten nosey in your old age,” he quipped as he did so.
“Some would call that being astute.”
When the flipper came back out, his fingers held a gold chain, which he unfurled to remove the diamond ring that had once been hanging from it. “We were trying to avoid spoiling your day,” the frog whispered, motioning for Piggy to hold out her hand so he could slide said ring on her left hand’s ring finger. The band was white gold, with a cushion diamond that sat in the center, with two smaller diamonds on either side.
“You know it’s our day because of everything the two of you did,” Amanda countered. “We can’t thank you enough.”
“Just invite us to your wedding,” Scooter quipped.
Both frog and pig huffed at the notion. “Like the two of you wouldn’t be in the wedding party,” the diva responded.
That's it for now, cause I'm still finishing the next parts! I originally had a different ring for Piggy, but it's been so long that apparently the ring no longer exists (or has been moved to another page), so I went with this one instead:
Piggy's engagement ring