Rick finally broke the silence. "So... what's actually causing this to happen? And why now, after four weeks?"

Belldandy grimaced again. "It was your second wish, Rick. Don't worry, you didn't actually do anything wrong. But... it would have been helpful if you had been more clear. Your choice of words was, um, open to interpretation."

Rick was thoughtful. "Uh... I said something like, I wish life was like a movie, or a TV show, or a comic... Where you could just wish for a perfect girlfriend, and fall in love, and live happily ever after..."

Then he grimaced. "You know... that was a slip of the tongue, to be honest..."

Belldandy shook her head. "A Freudian slip, maybe. But it was an honest wish. The Ultimate Force wouldn't have granted it if it hadn't come from your heart."

"And I was the one who was caught in the cross-fire," Mara said impatiently. "We know that. What does that have to do with the bugs?"

"It was a heart-felt wish," Belldandy said, "but still, it wasn't clear that you had Mara in mind. In order to grant your wish, but still to allow for misinterpretation, and to minimize the consequences if it didn't work out...

"The Ultimate Force had to implement a thirty-day trial period."

"WHAT!" Mara yelled again. "Do you MEAN!— to TELL me!— that MY CONTRACT!— is SHAREWARE!"

Belldandy sighed. "I told you that you wouldn't like it."

"WHY didn't SOMEBODY TELL ME before NOW!" Mara demanded.

Urd shrugged. "Dunno. Bureaucracy, I guess. Yeah, with only a probationary license, there's no way that you could have known."

Rick guessed the rest. "And the trial period is about to expire, and the force of the contract is failing, and bugs manifest when the failing contract is referenced. So we've got two days left?"

Belldandy shook her head again. "No. It expires at midnight."

Rick glanced at his watch. "But... that's less than two hours from now! And it's only been twenty-eight days!"

Urd explained. "Mara must have set certain processes in motion when she first, uh, stole the case list. And it must have taken her about two days, Earth-time, to get around to you."

Rick felt for his wallet. "Well, let's hurry up and make the payment, before the trial period expires. I just hope we've got enough—"

Belldandy smiled. "You're on the right track, dear. But this contract can't be paid with money. It was made for the heart, and it has to be accepted with the heart."

Mara held her face in her hands. "Oh, no... You mean—"

"All you have to do," Belldandy said, "is to say, 'I love you'. But you both have to say it. And mean it."

Mara looked up. "But I tried to talk about our relationship, just yesterday! And then I tried to, uh—"

Belldandy shook her head yet again. "Neither of those will do. Love comes from the heart. You can't express it by talking about a relationship, or consummating it. You simply have to say it."

"Hey, wait a minute!" Urd said. "Do you mean to say, you've been living with him for four weeks, and you only just put the moves on him yesterday! Why, you've had affairs that were shorter—"

Mara hissed. "URD! Not in front of the client!"

Urd crossed her arms and smiled sweetly at Mara. "But the question remains. Why didn't you make your move sooner? The 'client' doesn't have to make the first move. And he's no Sean Connery, but he's not that bad."

Mara hung her head. "Because... I... *mumble mumble*..."

Belldandy frowned. "Pardon?"

Mara put a hand over her eyes. "Because I *mumble mumble*..."

Urd grinned, held an open hand behind one ear, and leaned in. "Sorry? Didn't quite catch that..."

Mara suddenly looked up and glared at them both. "Because I thought I could have something special, and I didn't want to foul it up! There! I said it! Are you happy now!"

Then she hung her head again. "But... Aw, nuts!... Rick... It looks like I've fouled up again. I can't expect you to... uh... eh?..."

Rick had walked up to Mara. He stood in front of her, and took up both of her hands, and held them in both of his hands.

"I love you, Mara," he said.

"!" said Mara.

Rick smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry I had to say it like this. Not very, uh, romantic, huh?

"I know it's only been four weeks. And I'm not asking you to marry me... but the contract is as good as marriage, I guess. I have no idea what I'm doing, or what I'm getting myself into. It might be better, that I don't know.

"But I know that I would miss you terribly if you weren't here. And I think I must be the luckiest guy in the world, to have been visited by a demon, and to have fumbled two wishes, and still... I've ended up with a goddess like you.

"This is all my fault, for not being clear, so I'll say it again. You're the perfect girlfriend... at least, for me... and I've fallen in love... and now I want to live happily ever after."

Then he looked around the room, and saw five astonished faces, with eyes wide and mouths hanging open. "What? Didn't I say that right? Oh no, don't tell me I've made things worse!"

Belldandy sniffled, and smiled sweetly. "Oh no, Rick. That was wonderful. You are full of surprises, aren't you?"

She turned to Mara. "It's all up to you now, Mara. You don't have to say it like he did. Just three little words will do it."

Mara gulped. "Uh... er... um..."

She let Rick hold her hands, but she looked around her. She saw everyone watching her, waiting on her, rooting for her. The ones that she had tortured for so long were all around her now, hoping for her happiness.

Mara suddenly went white, and froze, as if she were a deer in the headlights of an oncoming tractor trailer. Then, she pulled away from Rick, spun around, flew up, and dived into the dresser mirror head-first.

Belldandy sighed. "Oh dear. That was wonderful, Rick, but it might have been too much for her. But don't worry. You've done very well. You're both doing the best that you can."

She turned to Urd. "I have to go after her. Can you watch over things here, while I'm gone?"

Urd nodded solemnly, and spoke quietly. "You bet. Better hurry. There isn't much time left."

As Belldandy drifted up, flew to the mirror and disappeared into it, Rick fell back and sat heavily on his bed, and held his face in his hands. "Aw, man... and women wonder why men don't like to talk about their feelings..."

Urd grinned. "Aw, buck up, little camper. You've got Team Yggdrasil on your side. We're the best at exactly whatever it is that we're doing here."

Skuld smiled too. "I still don't understand why you want her, but we'll get her back for you. We sure don't want her back."

And then, Keiichi put a hand on Rick's shoulder. "Don't worry. It's like they said. Belldandy's on the case, and she's never let any of us down."

Belldandy went through the looking-glass.

She came into a dark empty space. The only source of light was a pane of silver, the shape and size of the dresser mirror, suspended behind her at eye level on a featureless black wall.

She lit on a featureless black floor, and walked a short distance along the wall. Her shadow grew long as she moved away from the silver pane.

She found Mara sitting against the wall, knees drawn up, resting her head on folded arms, and making sad little sniffling noises.

Belldandy kneeled besides Mara, and spoke. "Mara? I know you probably want to be alone, now, but—"

Mara suddenly looked up at her. "Belldandy! Thank God you came! This really sucks! You gotta help me! What'm I gonna do now!"

Belldandy didn't skip a beat. She smiled warmly. "You can do anything you want to do, Mara.

"You don't have to accept the contract. You know that Yggdrasil won't force it on you, if you truly don't want it. You know that I've chosen to accept my contract, and spend this mortal life with Keiichi, of my own free will.

"You can go back to Yggdrasil, if you want. I can help transfer you to another office, one that has nothing to do with the mortal plane. You wouldn't ever have to see him again. You wouldn't even have to see me, or my sisters, ever again.

"You could defect from Yggdrasil, and return to Nifelheim as a free agent. You'd lose all your powers, and I don't know if Nifelheim would take you back, but you'd be free to try.

"Or you could go anywhere. The number of dimensions is virtually infinite. I could help you find a random dimension, and send you there through a one-way portal, and you'd be free of all of this forever. Even my Father couldn't find you, if we did that.

"You could even stay here. I could seal you here, just like you tried to seal me and my sisters, so many times. You'd never have to see, or hear, or do, or say, or feel, anything, ever again.

"But you don't really want to do any of those things. Do you?

"You could have something special. You said so yourself. Even if you didn't realize it, at first... something made you stay. Something more than just the contract. Remember that, Mara.

"You've come so far. And you're so close. Don't give up now."

"But..." Mara sniffed. "But... I've already... run from him... How can I... go back now?"

"He loves you, Mara," said Belldandy. "Forgiveness is part of love. And you've already done much worse to him than this."

Mara half-chuckled, half-sobbed. "I'm beginning to think... this was all set up... from the beginning... You probably... even let me... steal that case list..."

"*I* didn't," Belldandy said. "But... even if that were so... Would it matter? You know Yggdrasil works in mysterious ways. Do you still doubt that Yggdrasil would allow something to be, if it wasn't for the best?"

Mara hung her head again. "I sure as hell can't doubt you, Belldandy. Here you are, and after all I've done to you..."

Belldandy stood. "I'm a goddess. It's my job. And now, you're a goddess too. You're my co-worker. And... my friend."

She turned away from Mara, and walked back to the silver pane. "You've got some time to think about it, Mara. But not much. There's only about an hour left. You could just let the clock run out...but I think you owe him an answer, at the very least. Think about it, Mara... but think about him, too."

Mara didn't answer. She was resting her head on her folded arms again. But she wasn't crying any more.

Belldandy gazed into the pane of silver light, and looked through it, into Rick's room. She saw Rick sitting on the bed, with her sisters and Keiichi around him.

She bowed her head, clasped her hands, and silently prayed.

Please, Mara, she prayed. Make the right choice.

Urd and Skuld looked up at the dresser mirror. Keiichi and Rick looked up after them.

Belldandy came back through the mirror first. She was smiling. And she was holding Mara's hand. Mara came back through, just after her.

Rick stood up, as Mara came to him. The others stood back.

"Um, Rick?" asked Mara, with an un-Mara-like sad, shy little smile. "That stuff that you said before? Do you still mean it? Even after I panicked and ran away from you?"

Rick grinned. "Of course. I'm sorry. That was an awful lot to unload on you, all at once—"

Mara put her arms around him. "I love you too. Now shut up and kiss me, before this nightmare gets even worse."

They kissed. And as they held each other tightly, the emblem on Mara's forehead glowed, and shimmered in place.

Belldandy saw Mara's emblem glow, and clasped her hands happily. "Their contract is accepted. Oh, Keiichi, isn't it wonderful?"

Keiichi smiled and held an arm around her. "It's wrong, in so many ways... But, yeah. It's great."

Skuld was holding up her detector again. "Zero bugs manifested. No irregularity in the Ultimate Force. Looks like that worked."

Urd grinned and held up an ornate hourglass. "And we still had twenty minutes to spare. Why, that wasn't close at all."

Skuld sighed, and bowed politely. "I, um, hope you'll be, like, happy, and stuff."

Mara grinned back. "Thanks, kid. I owe you one."

Rick also smiled. "Thanks for your help, Skuld. We wouldn't be together, now, without your help."

Skuld rolled her eyes, put her finger in her mouth, and made a sick choking sound again. Then she stepped up over her thermos and disappeared.

Urd grabbed Mara and gave her a hug that almost cracked her ribs. "You take care, now. And come see us, okay? I've got a few barrels of sake with your name on them."

Then she gave Rick a hug that was only a little less crushing. "You better be good to her, pal. If you think her lightning bolts are bad, just wait until you experience mine."

Rick gulped. "Yes, ma'am."

Urd winked as she disappeared into Rick's television. "Now, now. You can call me Urd. Ciao."

Then Rick shook Keiichi's hand again. "Uh, thanks—"

Keiichi grinned. "No, Rick. Thank you for keeping her. Thank you, thank you, thank you..."

Mara and Belldandy also embraced. "Any little thing," Belldandy said. "You know our number. Any little thing, anything you want to talk about, be sure and give us a call."

Mara sighed. "You're one in a million, Bell. You know that?"

Belldandy stood back, and smiled at Mara. "So are you, dear."

Rick and Mara watched as Keiichi and Belldandy went back through the dresser mirror.

Rick also sighed. "Nice people, huh."

Mara smiled. "The nicest... Hey, you mind if we call it a day? It's past midnight, and it's been a rough day."

"Sure." Rick turned, and pulled his bed out, and sat on it, as Mara turned off the room lights.

Mara sat on her bed, but then she bit her lip. "Um, Rick?... I don't believe this... Would you mind?..."

Rick smiled. "Of course not. It has been a rough day."

But then, as Mara came to his side, he gulped. "Uh, Mara?... I know you've slept next to me, just for comfort... But... are you?... are we?... do you want to?..."

Mara raised an eyebrow. But then, she giggled. "Ah. No. Well, you can disregard the rule about your hands... especially after I broke it myself, yesterday.

"But it really has been a rough day. And there's plenty of time to do that... if you really do want me to be with you, always.

"I still can't believe you said that, after the way I've treated you, the past four weeks. You really are an idiot, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," Rick said. "But it's worked for me, this far."