Wizards were jerks.

That wasn't entirely fair. Life Giving Magus had seemed like a perfectly pleasant individual, if a bit odd, on the one occasion that Betty had met him prior. And she supposed that so long as he was under his curse Simon was a wizard too and he… was a jerk some of the time when he was Ice King. Still, the point was that not all wizards were jerks, just the ones she had been dealing with today and presumably even they weren't jerks all the time.

Honestly though, Betty had risked her life saving their magic and their city from Bella Noche. Yet after that she had apparently been left lying unconscious on the cold hard ground for half a day before any of them had thought to come look for her. And then once they had found her, they had unceremoniously kicked her out because Wizard City was for "wizards only, fool." Granted, Betty hadn't fought Bella Noche because she was concerned about Wizard City; she'd fought it in order to save Simon, but they didn't know that. And even if they had figured it out, Betty's motives for her actions wouldn't have meant she'd saved them or risked herself in doing so any less. Sure, they had given her a pretty nice wizard's cloak before they kicked her out and they had restrained themselves to just kicking her out instead of turning her into a wizard's staff which was apparently the usual punishment for trespassing, so Betty supposed that was something at least. But still, giving her free access to the city – which, once again, would no longer exist if not for her – despite her status as a non-magic user seemed like the least the Grand Master Wizard could do.

Not that she was all that interested in hanging around right now anyway. It would have been helpful for her research to be able to come back again later, not to mention it might have been nice to just look around, but right now she had to go check on Simon. His condition hadn't seemed to have progressed too far by the time Betty had left, despite the presence of some prominent wrinkles that he definitely hadn't had in his picture, and Betty didn't think she had taken that long to get to Wizard City and defeat Bella Noche, but she wouldn't be able to rest easy until she saw that Simon was okay. That was, as okay as he could be under the circumstances.

For the moment she was trying to keep herself from being too worried about the fact that he hadn't come looking for her after his curse had presumably been restored. That he hadn't didn't mean that he couldn't, it only meant that he hadn't. And as much as Betty might hope otherwise, she had reason to assume that Simon wouldn't remember any of what had happened during his temporary respite, which would mean that he didn't know that Betty had been off on a dangerous and admittedly somewhat reckless mission to save him. And since he didn't know that, Betty really hadn't been gone long enough at this point for there to be any cause for alarm. In fact, if Simon had gotten busy doing his own thing he might have chalked her absence up to her being holed up in the library or her room and still be unaware that she was gone. She was sure it was fine.

But what if it wasn't? The Simon in the picture and the one she had known for that one night had been about the same age as her, but the Simon she had left waiting had looked to be at least a decade her senior, probably closer to two. Which wasn't that old really, but she didn't know how long it had been between when the curse had been removed and he first started aging and when she had first seen him. And even if she had known that, she didn't know if he had been aging at a steady rate or if his aging would progress all the way through a standard lifespan before he…

No, Simon couldn't be dead. He couldn't die, not when they had just found each other again, not when Betty had finally realized how much he meant to her, how much she needed him. He couldn't leave her like that. Please don't, Simon.

Finally, finally Betty reached the Ice Kingdom and there she ended up having to pause to collect herself after the surge of relief that went through her. Because from here she could see through the open doorway to Simon sitting on a stool turned away from her and back to his old self, for a rather literal definition of the term, again. Safe and healthy and most importantly, more importantly than anything else in the world, alive. She had done it, she had saved him. Now she just had to do it all over again.

It wasn't until after Betty had assured herself of Simon's continued well-being that she noticed the other person in the room with him. There, on the other side of Simon, stood Muscle Princess, completely encased in ice. Oh Grob, what fresh Hell was this?

Betty hadn't expected Simon's behavior to change just because she was seeing things more clearly, or perhaps was merely more certain of her conviction in the things she was seeing. Ultimately her new understanding of the situation didn't have any real bearing on Simon's state of mind, so even if she felt like everything was different now, she was practical enough to know that it was only different for her, not for Simon. But even without that, Betty had thought they were past this. Simon hadn't kidnapped any princesses or done anything of that sort since the day she had come to stay with him, so why was he starting again now?

"Your girlfriend is going to be so mad when she gets back," Muscle Princess threatened as she strained against the ice around her.

"Girlfriend? Is that what you're freaking out about, baby? Well not to worry because this Ice King is one hundred percent available."

She would set aside for a moment the fact that Simon was, arguably, technically right about being available – a lot of things had been implied earlier, not the least of which being Betty rescinding her request that Simon not ask her to marry him, but nothing had been explicitly stated, so arguably, technically, he was right. However, he had never let the fact that they weren't dating stop him from acting like they were before, so obviously there was some other reason he said what he had. If she was right in her suspicion that he didn't remember anything from the interlude when he wasn't cursed, then that would mean the last interaction that he did remember them having was their fight last night – had that really only happened just last night? – when she had been quite adamant in her desire for him to stop asking her to marry him. Probably Simon had come to the conclusion that that fight was them "breaking up" and that's why he had gone out and kidnapped Princess Muscles. All Betty had to do then was correct that mistaken impression – it would be pretty impossible for them to have broken up before they had even gotten together in the first place, if they could even be officially considered together at this point – and then they could move forward with trying to make this thing between them work. Somehow. They would figure it out.

"Wenk?" Gunter had made his way over to the entryway and was peering out at her curiously.

"Yeah, I'm coming in," Betty said, urging the rug the last few feet and then landing it.

"Wenk," Gunter repeated, patting Betty on the leg with his flipper. She didn't know what that was supposed to mean, but she didn't care for the vague comforting air of it. Gunter wasn't, as a general rule, particularly given to comforting and she didn't like to speculate on what it might mean if he was being that way now.

"Gunter, is someone at the door?" Simon asked, getting up and turning around. "Oh, a visitor! Look honey, we have a visitor."

"Visitor? I live here," Betty protested. He couldn't have possibly thought that she had moved out just because of their fight yesterday, could he? It wasn't as though they hadn't fought before. Maybe he just didn't recognize her with her hood up; that would be pretty Simon, actually. "It's me," she said, pulling it off.

"Oh, now you're going to get it," Muscle Princess said. Betty shot her a dirty look. She wasn't mad at Simon and she could certainly do without the color commentary.

"Well, hello beautiful lady, thanks for dropping by. I'm the Ice King, and this is my humble abode," Simon said, adopting his "charming" tone.

"Yes I know that. I live here. Simon, it's me," Betty said. A sinking feeling began to develop in her gut.

"Me who?"

"Me Betty."

"Sorry, have we met? It's just I date a lot of women. I guess you do look a little familiar, but… nope, I got nothing."

Okay, so Betty had figured out why Gunter had felt the need to be comforting, then. Simon hadn't just forgotten what he had done while he wasn't suffering from his curse, he had also forgotten… everything. He had forgotten everything.

It was funny, possibly even ironic, in a way. The curse being broken and recast was what had re-scrambled his brains and made him forget – it must have been that since logically, at least as much as any of Simon's madness adhered to logic, it hadn't been nearly long enough for Simon to have forgotten her this completely. Even if she didn't count the time they were together earlier today, it had been less than 24 hours since they had seen each other last. They had been apart that long before without any significant adverse effects on his memory. They had been apart that long before, hadn't they? They must have been, even if she couldn't specifically remember when. Well either way, it was the earlier situation that had brought about that which yesterday – really? Only just yesterday? – had been one of her deepest fears with regards to their relationship. And yet it was the very same situation that had made it so she wasn't really worried about it anymore. He'd kept the letter she'd written him for over a thousand years and so she knew now that no matter what he forgot, it didn't make her any less important to him. She knew what they were, and that was enough.

"You're sure you don't remember anything? I've been living here with you for the greater part of a year, and we've had dinner together literally every single night of that time. Not to mention all the other things we've done together." That being said, just because she wasn't worried about it and found what she had to be enough, that didn't mean she was pleased with it or wouldn't have preferred the alternative where he did remember the time they had spent together. Of course what she would have really preferred was for him to be free of the curse and his insanity altogether, but that was something she was still working on.

There must have been some shades of distress coloring her tone when she spoke because Simon's response was soft and placating. "Hey, it's okay. Sometimes I remember things that didn't really happen too."

"No, Betty's right; she's been living here for a while," Muscle Princess said. "She's the girlfriend I was talking about."

"Wenk!" Gunter added.

"Arguably, technically we aren't dating," Betty pointed out.

"What? Lumpy Space Princess told me you were. If I had known that I never would have let my guard down enough for Ice King to capture me."

"She was misinformed. If we are dating, it's only as of this morning," Betty told her.

"Wait, we're dating?" Simon asked breathlessly.

"Yes," Betty responded decisively and Simon squealed in delight. "Officially, as of right now, we are dating." And that was one problem solved. Granted of all the problems before her at the moment, that one was so easily dealt with it hardly ranked the status of problem in the first place, but at least it was something she could check off her list. "Now let's see if we can't get you to remember some of the things leading up to us officially dating. I mean, it took you three days, but did eventually remember what penguin sledding was, so I'm sure at least some of this will come back to you." She didn't have any particular hopes of him remembering anything specific from either of the times they had met while he wasn't cursed, but she figured there was a better than average chance of him remembering the majority of the rest at some point.

"And in the meanwhile we can make new memories, princess," Simon said.

"That we can. And I'm not a princess." The latter words were said absently with no real heat to them. If anything, they only came out out of habit, as Betty had already looked away from Simon and was trying to remember where she had stowed that small sledgehammer she used for breaking up larger chunks of ice; setting Princess Muscles free could be the first new memory they made together.

"That's right, you're not a princess, you're Betty. You told me that before. Right?" Simon said.

Betty turned back to give him a reassuring smile. "I did. I've told you that a lot, actually. Do you remember anything else?"

Simon's face twisted into a thoughtful moue that was both comical and oddly endearing. "Oh! There was something I was supposed to ask you."

"Don't worry about that; I wasn't expecting these circumstances when I said it. You can ask when you're ready, when you want to." And given how very many times he'd asked before, Betty had no doubt he would again in the future.

"What? Why wouldn't I want to marry you?" Simon objected.

"Why would you?" Betty countered, though there was a genuine question in it as well. "We aren't going to get married just because you're lonely. You don't have to be lonely anymore anyways, because I'm going to be here with you no matter what." That had been her plan for a long time, even before she had learned who he really was. Even before she had realized that she was planning it, whenever she had considered the future she had never seen herself anywhere but here. The back of her mind knew what she wanted better than she did. Or maybe it was her heart.

"I already told you why I want to marry you. Because you're my princess," Simon said. To that there was nothing Betty could do but close her eyes and laugh, just a little bit. "What, did I say something funny?"

"No, it's just me." Because it wasn't just seeing she was doing more clearly now, she was hearing him better too. And she understood that when he called her "my princess" it had nothing to do with princesses and everything to do with her. Posed with the same question, she doubted she could come up with a better answer herself. "Alright, in that case let me ask you something. Simon Petrikov, will you marry me?"

Simon gasped, his hands flying up to cover his mouth. "Oh my goodness. I don't know what to say."

"Wenk."

"Well of course I'm going to say yes. Now shut up, Gunter; you're ruining the moment!" Simon chided and Betty just laughed again.

She held her arms open and Simon rushed in to hold her. It wasn't exactly the same as before and it wasn't everything that she wanted, but it was enough. "I love you, Simon."

"I love you too, Betty."

As soon as he said the words Simon began to change. It was so subtle Betty thought at first that she might have missed the way his spine pulled just a little straighter and his shoulder grew just a bit broader and his skinny frame got just a bit thicker if she hadn't been holding on to him so tightly. Of course, once she pulled back some to see, she realized there was no possible way she could have missed this change.

Simon, the real and true and one hundred percent himself Simon, smiled at her. "I guess we didn't have to figure out how to work around the nose after all."

There was really no way to respond to that except by kissing him. Soundly, but quickly because Betty still had questions she needed answered. Or one question at least. "But how did I break the curse? Was it by agreeing to marry you, because if someone had just told me…"

"No, love. It's far simpler and more complicated than that," Simon said, tucking her hair behind her ear. "The curse was broken because we fell in love."

"That is so beautiful!" Muscle Princess exclaimed, startling Betty. She had forgotten the princess was here.

"Oh sorry," Betty said, starting to pull away from Simon so she could see about setting Muscle Princess free as Simon did the same.

But the princess shook her head at them. "No, it's fine. You two just keep doing what you're doing and I'll see myself out." She flexed her muscles and suddenly one arm burst free, then the rest of her – which begged the question of why she hadn't done that sooner. She tossed them a pair of thumbs up then immediately pulled out her cell phone and began talking on it on her way out. "Oh my Glob, Lumpy Space Princess. I hope you're ready to call everyone, because you will never believe what I just saw." So much for keeping their personal lives private – the princesses of Ooo were as gossipy as a bunch of teenage girls. Though, come to think of it, that was what most of them were. Oh well then.

"So falling in love was really the key to breaking the curse?" Betty asked Simon. "I'd seen a few references to that being a way to break spells in my research, but they all indicated that it was a fairly archaic method. Not to mention it seemed incredibly cheesy and fairy tale."

"The crown itself is very old," Simon reminded her. "As best as I can tell it's the centerpiece of a very obscure Nordic version of the Beauty and the Beast."

Betty leaned forward and landed her forehead against Simon's shoulder with a thunk. "Betty? You okay?" he asked.

"Just excuse me while I feel like an idiot for a minute," she responded.

Simon chuckled and stroked her hair. "Don't feel like an idiot; you're one of the smartest people I know. Everything seems more obvious in retrospect."

"But it should have been really obvious. You even had those books of fairy tales in the library. I thought you just liked fairy tales; I thought it was sweet," Betty said.

"Well, yes I did have the books down there for research purposes, but I do enjoy them, fairy tales, folk tales, myths, legends, and all those types of things. It's fascinating the things you can learn about a culture by knowing the stories they tell," Simon said. Betty could hear the passion and excitement in his voice as he said that, and her lips couldn't help but to curl up and smile in response.

"I suppose Marceline was right anyway; it's just as well I didn't figure out how to break the curse." Falling in love with Simon, and accepting that she really did love him, had been a difficult enough journey as it was. She couldn't imagine trying to do that while having it hanging over her head that if she didn't fall in love with him, then she was dooming him to an eternity of being cursed. Not exactly romantic.

"Marceline is a smart girl," Simon said fondly. "Which reminds me, I should call her and let her know what just happened."

"I'm pretty sure she's already heard about it from LSP or one of the other princesses by now. I give us an hour at the most before we're mobbed by a crowd of well-wishers."

"Good, we can enlist all of them to help us move. Without the power of the Ice King sustaining it, all this ice is going to start melting soon. And good riddance. There are a lot of bad memories in these walls," Simon said.

"A lot of good memories too," Betty pointed out. Mostly good memories for her, but Simon had wandered these empty halls for a lot longer than Betty had, and she could certainly see how for him the bad might weigh more heavily than the good. Although… Betty wrapped her arms around Simon's neck and pressed up close against him. "In fact, we do have a little time before anyone shows up. Why don't we take advantage of that and make one last good memory together?"

Simon placed his hands on her hips and smiled at her. "That sounds like an excellent idea. Lead the way princess."

Betty laughed and smacked him lightly on the back of the head. "I am not a princess."

Beta'd by Prairiedawn