Two months and nineteen days, that's how long her cruise had been since it was an "Around the World in 80 Days" sort of trip. All because she wanted to forget about the boy who scorned her…accidentally. She really was in the wrong this time, it was one of their usual touchy subjects and she knew how he was, but she just...snapped. He was going off to go searching for a dangerous bandit out in the middle of nowhere in a camper with the Chief of Police for a whole month, and she just didn't want to accept it for what it was. He may have been going out to risk his neck, but at least he wouldn't have been alone, though personally she'd rather worry about him in person, but of course it was one of those situations that it was so dangerous that it was best that she didn't get involved, then she snapped.

Two months and nineteen days, 80 days in total, she intended to forget about him, but she just couldn't. She even regretted one of her final words to him being that she never wanted to see him again. Those were just words she said out of anger, she didn't really mean them. She even told Clarabelle to continue throwing dishes at him after she left to get on the ship, with the recommendation that the cow aimed well. At the time Minnie felt quite justified, but it's been over two months since then and she's long since seen the error of her ways. She needed to apologize to him.

Minnie wasn't the least bit surprised to only see Horace and Clarabelle here to greet her and pick her up at the docks.

"How much did I miss?" Minnie asked after she hugged them both in greeting them.

"A lot." They both replied in unison but in their own distinctive emotional tones. Horace sounded uneasy, while Clarabelle exaggerated her tone to sound exasperated. They both then looked at each other worriedly, wondering how they were going to break the news to their little friend, she wasn't going to take it well that much they could guess. They were so hesitant on elaborating their statement that Minnie decided to ask another, more important question.

"How's Mickey doing? I'd like to apologize to him since I was in the wrong this time."

"Oh, he's long since forgiven and forgotten about that, considering he's moved on completely." Clarabelle told her in a tone that was grating, spiteful and obviously directed at Mickey.

"Clarabelle!" Horace hissed at her for putting it so harshly.

"Oh, stop taking his side Horace!" Clarabelle shot back.

"Well if you just accepted it fer what it is, I wouldn't have to! Minnie told him she never wanted to see 'im again, so when he saw an opportunity, he took it! Any fella with sense woulda done the same!" Horace retorted, keeping his ground. "Especially since both of you threw dishes at him." This he muttered but both girls heard it.

"Horace, how do you know about those things?" Minnie asked suspiciously. As much as a gossip that Clarabelle was, even she could keep secrets about sensitive subjects.

Horace then lost his determined posture and suddenly became sheepish. "He told me at the wedding."

"What wedding? Who got married?" Minnie asked in confusion, trying to count off everyone she knew in her head who was pretty close to getting married, she would've remembered getting an invitation and staying just to wait for it rather than going on the cruise like she did, but she came up with nothing.

"Mickey." Both the horse and the cow quipped in unison again. And again in their own tones, Clarabelle still sounded spiteful, while Horace was reluctant in even saying his name in response to the questions that coincided with one another.

The information hit Minnie like a ton of bricks, surely that couldn't be right. Mickey getting married to someone who wasn't her…it was unfathomable. There was no way it could be true, the timing didn't make any sense.

It was Horace who elaborated for her so she wouldn't have to look so dumbfounded anymore. "After you left, Mickey didn't have to go after that dangerous bandit 'cause he was caught by somebody else on the force, then of course since you weren't home so he could apologize and make it up to you, he went on a vacation of his own, about a month later he came back home only to get married to a girl he just got to know over the course of that month."

"We all thought it was a little odd about how sudden it was." Clarabelle continued. "Even I knew something was up when I first met her, she managed to burn cake, and yet when she invited us to dinner at their place later that evening, her cooking tasted like it could've come out of a restaurant menu. So I tried to see what her secret was, but I didn't expect to see things flying throughout the kitchen."

"I didn't believe Clarabelle about that at first, but as it turned out she wasn't seeing things. Samantha, that's his wife's name, really was a…" Horace trailed off, not wanting to say the word, because in all honesty it sounded rude no matter how one says it.

"She's a witch!" Clarabelle finished for him. "Over the course of the next month it became more obvious not just to me but to the rest of the town. All she had to do was snap her fingers and something happened! She could get a parking spot where there really was no parking spot, she even killed Mrs. Jone's prized tulips and roses because they were prettier than hers! Eventually the whole town wanted her out once everyone caught on that she was the cause of every mysterious mishap. So she was driven out, but Mickey went with her since they're quite the pair now. I don't know where they moved to, so it'd be hard for you to apologize at this point."

"Duckburg." Horace interjected simply. Clarabelle did a double take at him and Minnie made a mental sigh of relief that Mickey was still close by despite all of this new information.

"And just how do you know that's where they moved to?!" Clarabelle demanded.

"He sent me an early Christmas card as an excuse fer me to have his address, but I think Chief O' Hara and Goofy are the only other people who have it. And Donald too since they're in his neighborhood now." Horace replied with ease. Then he turned to Minnie as an afterthought came to him. "I think Mickey left a note fer you at your place before they moved, so I think its best that you read that before you go see him fer any reason that you may have left."

Minnie was still in shock at all of this new information, she didn't know what to feel. She knew at the very least that she should feel bitter, but instead she couldn't help but feel extremely remorseful. After all, with the very words of not wanting to see him again, he took it to heart and moved on, all because she couldn't…

"I do still want to see him again, but you're right, Horace. I really should go read that note that he left me." Minnie said slowly. She honestly felt like she was going to faint, but somehow she didn't.

They took her home, and Minnie told Horace to pick her up to go see Mickey in about an hour. She found Mickey's note right away, he must've slid it under her door since she found it on the floor right as she walked in. Knowing him, he didn't want it getting lost in her mountain of piled up mail. She set her suitcase aside just to read it.

It mostly contained his own remorse on how it had to be this way, and how he knew it would be hard for her to come home only to find that he got married to someone else. He regretted that more than anything since he had known Minnie for much longer. He would've invited her to the wedding if she hadn't gone on that cruise, and if it weren't for the circumstances, she and Samantha, his wife, could've been great friends. However, he did genuinely love Samantha despite what anyone thinks or says about his wife otherwise. He also regretted not being able to say goodbye to Minnie in person since he had to move, but at least he'd just be in the next town over. He hoped that Duckburg was big enough that no one would care about Samantha's magical antics and be too focused on Scrooge McDuck and his witch troubles with Magica DeSpell. He finished off the letter surprisingly on an interesting note. Minnie was more than welcome to visit anytime, so long as she kept any spiteful comments to herself and not tick off Samantha.

Minnie was then even more determined to see him, even though the idea of him being married to someone else was still all so surreal. She could still hardly believe it. Did she really strike that much of a chord before she left that she unknowingly caused him to turn his back on everything they'd ever been through together? Even after reading his letter, she highly doubted that was even the case. It was part of why she had to see him and inevitably meet his new wife.

After an hour had passed, Horace came by to pick her up and drove her all the way to Duckburg. Along the way Minnie couldn't help but ask Horace something.

"What's Samantha like?"

"Sweet as a peach, if it weren't fer the circumstances, you'd get along fine with her as a friend." Horace replied carefully. He almost mentioned that Mickey was in good hands, but that would be overstepping one too many boundaries.

"Heh, it's funny, Mickey said the same thing in the note he left." She replied wistfully.

"Well, that coincidence just shows how true it is!" Horace said cheerfully in an attempt to lighten Minnie's mood…to no effect of course. Horace's hopeful smile fell as soon as he realized his attempt failed miserably. "Look, I know I can't say much of anything since it really ain't any of my business, but a bunch of us asked him why any of this even is even Chief O'Hara gave her the stink eye the whole time. Anyway, the short answer, was you not wanting to see him ever again. He's well aware of the suddenness of it to everyone else's perspective, he knew it even when he was asking her father for his blessing. But I'm not entirely sure he'll tell you the same thing he told me and anyone else who asked. He might, but it'll be a bit more emotional since it's between you an' him…if you can get him alone that is…"

Minnie picked up on what he was trying to say in general, but she also picked up on the implication that Horace trailed off with. But just to make sure… "She's clingy?" Minnie asked cautiously.

"Juuuust a little…She's only shown signs of it twice. There was the time she made it rain just on their house to keep Mickey from playing baseball with Goofy, they told me about that and I almost didn't believe them. Then there was the time that Chief O' Hara asked for Mickey's help to catch Pete again with permission from Samantha of course, and she did give it but then she snapped her fingers and all of a sudden Pete turned himself in, right on Mickey's doorstep!" Horace admitted.

"And he stuck by her after that last one?" Minnie couldn't help but question skeptically. Mickey ran on adrenaline half of the time, and even she knew that if she herself married him it would be a risky quirk that she would have had to grin and bear. He couldn't live without the thrill of adventure, even if it was a mundane common criminal within Mouseton's streets.

"Now that you mention it, that does sound kinda weird for him…But he was determined to stay with her even as all the neighbors put up picket signs in front of their house back in Mouseton…Determination can go a long ways, Minnie." Horace shrugged, knowing that wouldn't help anything, but it was all he could offer.

"I suppose…" Minnie replied dejectedly.

They didn't say anything more to each other throughout the rest of the car ride. Though when they reached their destination, conversation was imminent.

"Cute house," Minnie couldn't help but quip. "How long has it been since they moved here?"

"About two weeks, give or take. For the record, she chose it." Horace told her. Then he just had to ask because he wouldn't know what to do if he were in her position. "Are you sure you wanna do this?"

"Of course. I have nothing left to lose but him, and I've already lost him in one way. I can't lose him in the other way." She replied adamantly.

Horace knew exactly what she meant. She lost her lover, but she refuses to lose her friend. It was sad and funny at the same time, despite how everything turned out, the mice were truly made for one another. During Minnie's absence, she was only mentioned directly to Mickey at the wedding, never again, not even Clarabelle pushed the subject of the obvious onto him. Clarabelle did poke fun at whether or not he missed being a bachelor, but alas, that was just when he had to get out of the house for a while as Samantha wanted him out of the way while she cleaned house. Still the painful obviousness of the situation remained. He knew Minnie for years, and out of the blue he goes and gets married to a girl he only knew for a month….it was a testament to how dumb his half thought out decisions really were.

"Alright, but just to be sure, if she opens the door instead of him, brace yourself for any smart remark she makes upon knowing who you are once you introduce yourself. Mickey most likely told her everything about you, and could've emphasized your bad side out of spite at the time. She handled Clarabelle pretty well, and that was just over the burnt cake." Horace warned.

"I'm sure I'll be able to handle anything she has to dish out at me, after all…I'm here to apologize to him if anything." Minnie chuckled softly at the thought of Clarabelle meeting her match. The cow could be quite cruel when it came to snide, sarcastic comments. Anyone who stood up to her in an equal manner would have to be pretty clever.

Luckily, they didn't even have to go up to the door, as the garage door was wide open, and Mickey stepped out to check why there was a car parking awfully close to the house while both he and Samantha were home, and they weren't expecting her father to visit yet until they had completely finished unpacking.

He saw Horace first of course, and was happily surprised to see him. However, he noticed that Horace was with someone, and nearly had a heart attack and dropped dead at the sight of Minnie. Her gentle smile at him didn't help his frazzled nerves. He wasn't prepared for this, truly he wasn't. He may have had to talk to anyone who asked about what he was going to do about her when she came home from her cruise, but he didn't worry about it because she gave him an ultimatum, and yes he did leave a note for her that practically welcomed her with open arms despite everything, but he truly didn't count on her actually bothering to visit him, as he honestly believed with every fiber of his being that she wouldn't want to see him ever again.

Obviously he was wrong to even think that, because here she was, smiling gently as if not much had changed between them, even though so much had already changed in such a short span of time. It was a struggle to even remember that he was a married man now, and not married to her, as a flood of memories with Minnie hit him full force like a hurricane.

He then regretted getting married, if only for the fact that he was dumb enough to not even think for a second that Minnie would indeed get over her initial anger with him. It really was a dumb thing to get mad at, since he and his love for adventures were always a mine field of touchy subjects. The idea that he loved adventure more than anything was a constant, but at least he hadn't reached that point with Samantha yet, and probably wouldn't for a while if she kept using her magic to catch the bad guys for him. Ooh, that cheesed him off more than anything, but he kept it to himself for now, if she kept it up then he'll confront her about it. Their marriage was still new and they still needed to take baby steps.

His mind then forced him back into reality as Minnie and Horace were still waiting for him to say something…Like hello.

"Uhhhhh, hiya, Minnie, Horace." He greeted finally, slowly walking over to them, occasionally glancing back to the house to make sure the coast was clear.

"Hi, Mickey." The two replied in unison.

"So, uh, when didjya get back, Min?" Mickey asked nervously.

"Just today." She quipped. Then things started getting fuzzy for some reason.

"Wanna be my Mistress?" Mickey asked suddenly and as easily as if he were asking to go get some lunch.

The thought of what he just asked alone was enough for Minnie to question reality. Then she woke up startled. Noticing Mickey beside her in bed after immediately recalling what he just asked was rather unsettling. So she did what anyone would do, she panicked.

Minnie yelped, which was enough to wake Mickey, and grabbed her pillow with enough force that she fell backwards off the bed with a very loud thunk. If Mickey wasn't already startled awake himself, he was now as soon as he realized that second noise was Minnie actually falling out of bed.

Minnie groaned in the slight pain of the hardwood floor at her back, her legs being tangled in the sheets somewhat helped soften her momentum and in turn soften her fall. The sound of Mickey's voice asking if she was ok, made her get back to her frantic movements as she untangled herself from the bed sheets and backed herself up to the wall.

"You stay away from me you- you philanderer! YOU PIG!" She shrieked at him.

"Philanderer? Pig?" Mickey muttered under his breath in confusion. He couldn't help but counter cheekily, "Minnie, if either one of us is a pig it's you dear, considering ya hog me all ta yerself some nights on end." When Minnie wailed at his cruel joke he panicked and quickly apologized. It must've been one heck of a nightmare for her to be acting this frazzled. And calling him a philanderer had him wondering what she was dreaming about in regards to him if she was scooting away from him right now as far as she could get, as now she was backed up in the little space between her nightstand and the wall.

"Minnie, do me a favor, look at yer left hand fer me and tell me what ya see." He coaxed her gently. He then heard her sniffle and then shortly sigh in what he hoped was relief, and a light thump against the side of the nightstand.

"Oh thank goodness, you're still all mine." He heard her whisper breathlessly.

"That's right, and ain't nothin' gonna change that." Mickey replied with determination. "Now," he started as he slunk down from her side of the bed and plopped down on the floor in front of her but well away from her so that he gave her enough room to panic in if she was still panicky, and rested his head in his hand as he laid on his side facing her. She was using her pillow as a sort of shield and comfort object at the moment. "What in Sam Hill did ya have a nightmare about that's got ya all in a tizzy enough ta run away from me?"

"You were still married to Samantha by the time I came home from that cruise." She replied solemnly.

"Now see? This is why I didn't wanna tell ya about Samantha, but nooo, ya didn't listen ta me did ya? Just had ta know, despite anything unsettling that ya wouldn't like that happened between her and I, just 'cause you and I are married so it wouldn't make a difference!" Mickey complained, rolling onto his back in his complaints.

"Then you asked me to be your Mistress shortly after we said hello." Minnie continued as soon as he was quiet from ranting and raving.

He was quiet for about two minutes longer after she said it before he just blew a long raspberry in the air and sputtered a "What?!" before rolling back over and stood on his knees and a forearm. "What? EEWW! No! No, no! No, NEVER NO! Minnie, I have more class than that ya know! EW! Please tell me I lead up ta it or somethin'."

"Nope, you just threw it out there right after I told you that I had just come home that day." She replied in the same tone as admitting the Mistress part.

"Good gosh Min." He said exasperatedly, unable to properly think of what else he could say.

"I even had your mentality down to pat before that though. You were at war with yourself after you saw me again after all that time. But the Mistress part came out of left field." Minnie went on.

"Ahp! See? Remember when I had that nightmare of ya gettin' married ta Prince Penguin and I couldn't make it in time? I had you down ta pat too but ya didn't believe me when I told ya!*" Mickey pointed out cheerfully at being right that it was possible for them to know each other so well that they could act like each other in their dreams.

Minnie finally chuckled thankfully. "Yes, I remember. But if you really were married to someone else, as you are now, why wouldn't you want me being your Mistress?" She asked curiously. She watched him as he groaned and lay on his back again with an arm over his eyes.

"Min, pardon my incoming vulgar phrasing but, there ain't a snowball's chance in Hade's hair that I'd wish sloppy seconds on ya, and vice versa fer Samantha. Don't ferget, in the time she and I spent not really even married in that magical dimension her father cooked up, she and I never really did anything. Nothing romantic even…I don't even recall kissing her at any point either now that I think about it." Mickey explained in an emotionally exhausted tone that sounded like he was more tired with life than anything.

"Ew." He heard her quip quietly.

"Don't say I didn't warn ya, 'cause I totally did!" Mickey deadpanned, slowly rolling over again and this time crawling over to her since she sounded like she was getting to be herself again. "Feelin' better, toots?" He asked with a peck to the back of her hand.

With that same hand, she reached up and grabbed the sides of his face so she could kiss him. After several seconds she pulled away and answered him. "Much better, thanks."

"Ready ta go back ta bed?" He asked softly. Minnie nodded, so Mickey quickly pecked her lips before lifting her up and holding her to him as if she were a koala even with the pillow smack dab in between them. Then he walked over to the bed and fell backwards on it, and finally rolling them both into their former places in bed, as he and Minnie giggled the whole time. "Aw, gosh…Seriously though Minnie, who even asks that right off the bat, jeez. If I actually ask that again in another dream of yours, I give ya permission ta smack me upside the head with a nine iron if ya can remember ta."

"I'll try to." She giggled at his suggestion.

"And fer the record, the only reason I jumped the gun in wanting to marry Samantha so soon is because I honestly thought ya didn't want me anymore, even though it was one of the usual topics you never agreed with. Some good that thought process was, huh?" Mickey added as a matter-of-factly.

"Mickey..."

"I know, I know, ya can never stay mad at me. I only brought it up 'cause I thought it was a little somethin' that ya should know." He finished quickly.

"Thank you." She sighed exasperatedly, leaning up to peck his forehead as he quipped his 'Yer welcome.' She then settled in for the night and nuzzled into his chest before sighing blissfully, thinking of something that she had to add. "Mickey? Think you can promise me something?"

"Only if it's something better than promising to not leave ya fer the 88th time…I've kept a tally. Besides, ya should know better by now. There ain't anyone else I'd rather spend the rest of my life with, not even my cousin Manfred can take that title from ya." He quipped sternly. Minnie let out an unladylike snort which sent them both into a fit of chuckles. Minnie piped up as soon as the chuckles settled.

"Alright, um…Promise me you'll never leave me for another woman and then suddenly come back just to ask me to be your Mistress." Mickey snorted this time, mostly because she said the very last bits so sarcastically.

"Of course I promise." He said sincerely as soon as his inward chuckles died down, he had also wrapped his pinky around hers and sealed the deal with a wholesome kiss to her lips. "88 and counting." He announced suddenly, and rolled over to his nightstand to get the piece of paper he was using to tally it with to mark it.

"Mickey it doesn't count." Minnie tried to argue.

"It was in the same sentence, it counts. 'Sides, it's how old we'll be in human years might as well count it!" He told her cheerfully.

"Oh-ho, Mickey." She giggled at him but didn't argue further. For who could argue with a lucky number of the year such as that?

AN: To be honest it really was gonna go somewhere and be it's own alternate timeline with Minnie actually meeting Samantha and secretly being Mickey's Mistress, but Samantha, like all one shot comic characters, doesn't have enough personality to work with, and actually going through with the Mistress idea is kind of mortifying actually.

But I still managed to stick in a few innuendos right? Right.

And in case you could't already tell, this is based off of chapter 10 of Story Bites for the Mice.

*A reference to my Nightmare Jitters fic.