“You two ready?”

Adam sat outside the plexiglass box that had become his home within his home in the past few days. It wasn’t a bad idea, mind you, the box – it would allow him more time with Stephanie. The world was becoming a very dangerous place for him, not that it hadn’t been before.

“Okay. Two minutes to air.”

Two weeks, it had been. Two weeks since the night that Adam had made it home, the night he and Stephanie had made love to each other despite the gulf between them, the one that had been widening for months.

“Do we have his mike up? We’re ready to go to him?”

In two weeks, the gulf had widened further. He was now just a centimeter tall, a bit less than four-tenths of an inch. The size of an ant.

“All right, camera four – the image is good. We’re just going to stay on that. 90 seconds.”

Stephanie loomed four-and-a-half times larger than she had that night he’d explored her. She appeared almost a thousand feet tall, over three hundred meters. There was no question of whether she was a skyscraper now. She would have been the tallest building in the state, by his lights. Her legs alone would have been smallish skyscrapers.

“One minute to air. Jayne, stand by.”

She sat by his side, on a chair that had been placed next to his table in the living room.

It wasn’t a prison. Stephanie had seen to it that he could open the doors to the enclosure that had been constructed for him, a feat of quick and intelligent engineering by a couple of engineering students at a local university. There were buttons that he would be able to press for another few weeks, anyhow.

But he wasn’t going to leave it much, he knew, and certainly not on his own. The world was a big place now. He only would leave if she was there.

“Thirty seconds.”

She looked down on him and smiled, squinting from her distant perch. She was trying to make out his features, he knew. He was too small for her to read him from more than a few inches away. And when she was a few inches away, she was too big.

He couldn’t integrate the enormous pool of an eye, the cliff of a nose, the rough terrain of her lips. He still ached for her. And they had kept making love these two weeks, as best they could. But each day had taken her just a little bit more beyond him. Each day, she became tougher to navigate.

He’d almost gotten lost in her vagina yesterday, got too deep in and got turned around, and he’d made the mistake of gasping, draging in a lungful of her juices….

“All right, coming up in five, four, three, two….”

Two more weeks, maybe three if he was lucky. And then – then she’d be utterly beyond him.

The theme music began.

* * *

The questions came fast and furious, even as they were sympathetic and even, at times, cloying. Jordan was at her best – she knew, in the back of her mind, that she was doing this in front of one of the largest audiences ever to watch a cable show. Everyone was tuning in for Adam White’s last interview.

She got through the boring stuff first – asked Adam to show them his safe house, talk about being back with Stephanie. The small microphone and close-up camera weren’t ideal, but they worked well enough.

He handled the questions about his kidnapping with grace. Asked about the death of Tanith Nightingale, he’d been almost kind.

“I don’t know if she knew what she had gotten mixed up in,” said Adam, thoughfully. “It was like a game for her. Marbas, Andousha – they scared me a lot more than Tanith. Don’t get me wrong, she did horrible things to me, and I don’t know as I can forgive her. But I don’t think she deserved what she got, especially while the real brains behind the operation is running free.”

(In a hotel room, a Goddess laughed a bit at that, knowing as she did that Marbas would have traded anything for mere imprisonment – or indeed, for the punishment Tanith would receive when she reached Hell. Lucifer had been descriptive after a few glasses of wine, and Aphrodite was very glad that she had not chosen the master her husband had.)

Jayne let Adam tell the story of the escape. The bird carrying him, dropping him by a post office. (Adam had never told anyone, save Stephanie, that he heard the bird speak. Even Stephanie didn’t believe him, though she didn’t not believe him.)

“Was it a miracle?” Jordan asked.

“I don’t know,” Adam said. “This whole thing is, I guess. Nobody’s explained how my shrinking is possible. What’s one more miracle? Maybe someone out there was looking out for me. I hope so. That would mean that there’s something else beyond all this. And that the next few weeks aren’t all there is.”

Aha, thought Jordan, leaning back in her studio, studying the two on the monitor. Foreplay’s over. Here we go.

“Do you think you’ll go on shrinking forever?” she asked Adam, quietly.

“No,” Adam said, firmly. “Because at some point, I get so small that I can’t breathe. I can’t eat. And frankly, I don’t want to live until then. Once Stephanie and I can’t understand each other anymore – at that point, I may as well just drop dead, because that’s the point at which I’m gone.”

“Stephanie, what do you think of that?”

Stephanie wiped a tear away from her eyes, and looked down on the bug that was her husband. “I’d love to believe that somehow, Adam could always exist, even if he got so small I couldn’t see him. But that’s not a life for him. I can’t imagine being separated from the world like that. If this can’t be stopped….”

“It can’t,” Adam sighed.

“I know,” Stephanie said, wiping away another tear. “I just wish it could.”

Jayne let the two look at each other for a moment, smiling inwardly as her director went to a split screen, with the close-up on Adam showing him looking up at his wife, as his wife looked down on him in the wide shot. He’d be getting a bonus for that.

“Does it bother you, the law the legislature rushed through?”

“Yes,” Stephanie said.

“No.” Adam said.

“You disagree, I see.”

Adam spoke first. “I asked for it to be passed, and I’m grateful that it did. It’s the only sensible way to proceed. If Stephanie wakes up some day and I’ve shrunk down to nothing – well, my situation’s unique. At that point, I am dead. Dead to the world, anyhow. I want her to be able to mourn and move on. If some miracle reverses it afterward – well, it’s not going to.”

“If it does, it’s not going to be undoable,” Stephanie said, firmly, in a tone that echoed the discussions they’d had ten days ago when Adam first suggested the idea, eight days ago when his buddy Chris had called his brother-in-law who was the Governor’s Chief of Staff, six days ago when the legislature met in special session, five days ago when the law was signed. “Because as I’ve told Adam, I’m not rushing down to the courthouse to get him declared dead. And frankly, the day I do is only the first of a lot of days that I’m going to be missing him.

“I know why he wanted it done, and I guess…well, it works for us. But I still hate it. Because I don’t want to think about losing him. I don’t want to think of a life after ‘us.’”

“Do you think you ever will be able to?”

“No,” said Stephanie. “Maybe I will. But I don’t know how I could be.”

“Adam, do you want Stephanie to find someone else, someday?”

The question was a bit out of left field, but somehow, it didn’t catch Adam off guard. His image was priceless. He looked down, and smiled, serenely. “Absolutely,” he said, without looking up.

“Really?” Jayne and Stephanie said as one.

“Really,” Adam said, now turning to look at his enormous bride, his voice breaking, along with his heart. “Stephanie, I love you with everything I have. Everything. And I want you to have a long and hap…a happy life. I’m only sorry I won’t get to be there with you.”

Stephanie broke down at that point, and Adam cursed silently. He wanted to run to her, to throw his arms around her, but aside from a few strands of hair or – for maybe a few days more – her clitoris, there was nothing he could come close to embracing on her.

Stephanie looked back down at Adam, and somehow recomposed herself. “Adam, honey,” she said, “you’ll always be with me. Always. I will carry you with me every step of the rest of my life. And if I do meet someone, a few years from now – well, he’d better be a damn good man, because he’s going to be competing with you, and I don’t know who could.”

And that was the ending Jordan was hoping for. Well, besides a miracle recovery – which would mean more specials.

But if not that, a bittersweet farewell would do.

“Adam, Stephanie – it’s been amazing and heartbreaking sharing this journey with you.”

They wrapped quickly after that. And the camera crew packed up and left the home of Adam and Stephanie White, and the two of them looked at each other across a very wide gulf indeed.

Adam knew who was going to watch him die. And he hated it. And she did too.

* * *

Aphrodite drank the ouzo and Coke in a small Greek grocery-slash-café, one she’d sat at a few months ago, back at the beginning. She waited, and toyed with the baklava. He would be here soon enough.

She watched two old men in the corner playing tavli, somewhere in the plakoto stage of the series, trash talking in Grenglish and having a fine time of it, while on the wall a fading poster of Aphrodite of Soli watched over them.

She wondered, idly, what they’d think if the statue’s model came over to talk to them. Probably fall over each other trying to impress her.

No. Better to leave them to their games. It would be over soon enough, and then on to the next one, a cycle repeated, over and over again, until they won.

“Waiting for someone?”

Aphrodite looked up.

“Yes. You. Sit down,” she said, looking back down at the baklava.

“So,” Hephaestus said, as he lowered himself into the chair. “Seems like it’s all worked out.”

“Has it now.”

“Yes. Boss told me that you were amenable to sharing your discoveries with us – which, I have to tell you, really makes Marbas expendable. He’s gonna have to work real hard not to end up just another damned soul before this is all over.”

“How lovely,” Aphrodite said.

“And the Whites are gonna solve the bet for us, aren’t they? Yeah, constant companion, this has worked out perfectly.”

“Yes. And all it took was you lying.”

“Oh, come on. You’ve lied to me.”

“About trivialities. About who I slept with. Not about the Adversary. Not about a wager. I took the serious things seriously. Always.”

Hephaestus harrumphed.

“Anyhow, I don’t really want to spend more time with you than I have to. So say your peace and get back to Hell.”

“All right,” Hephaestus said. “Seems to me that as soon as the promise is executed, you win the bet. Unless she fails to do it.”

“She’ll make every effort. Unless he lets her out of it. You know this. So just concede and let it end.”

“I still have a chance,” Hephaestus said, “to bring you to Hell, to make you the wife of the Chancellor of Hell. To show you the type of God you deserve. I will not pass that up.”

“So you hope to win my bondage, and rape me. Hell is indeed the right place for you, Chancellor Polymitis Adramelech. Very well. We will both know when the moment is at hand. At that point, we meet and we formalize the result. And until then, may you truly enjoy the smell of sulfur.”

Hephaestus gave a half-grin. “So be it,” he said, and rose and left.

Aphrodite finished the ouzo and Coke in a quick gulp, and followed.

* * *

It was one week after the interview. Stephanie was puttering in the kitchen, working on a dinner for one; Adam had grown too small for normal foods to work well for him; he could, with difficulty, eat some vegetables, and if the meat was ground down enough – but it was difficult. The doctors had provided some pastes that provided nutrition;

Adam didn’t complain. Oh, they tasted bad, but frankly, nothing was easy anymore. Even water had become difficult to consume – it was still refreshing, in its way (at least, he wasn’t thirsty after he drank it), but the surface tension covered each drop with what felt like jelly. If he got through it, the water flowed more like syrup. It could be consumed; it quenched his thirst. But it wasn’t right.

None of it was right.

“So what are you making?” he asked Stephanie, as he sat in the plexiglass box, trying to work up some enthusiasm for nutritious paste.

“Nothing exciting. Frozen pizza. You want to try –”

“Nah. We’ve been down that path. I can live on what I’ve got.”

Stephanie sighed as she checked the oven; the earphone she wore picked up the sounds from Adam’s dollhouse. She picked up the general disdain in his voice a lot these days, not that she blamed him. It was getting tougher for him. He was half a centimeter tall now, and he was so small he was but a figure to her; she couldn’t read his face anymore, not really. But she could tell what he was thinking by his voice, and his posture. And she knew he was nearing the end of his rope.

She sliced the pizza, and brought it back out to the living room, where the plexiglass box sat; she didn’t leave this room much any more. She slept on the couch (despite Adam’s protestations that she should get a good night’s sleep) because she didn’t want to be away from him. And the box wouldn’t carry easily to the bedroom.

She didn’t dare take Adam to the bedroom outside the box; an insect could get to him in the night. And if the insect didn’t – well, she didn’t think Adam would easily survive if she rolled over on him in their sleep.

She set her plate by the box, and smiled at her tiny husband, who sat in the box and picked at his paste.

“So what do you want to do tonight?” she said, after a long silence.

“I don’t know,” Adam said. “Do we dare try again?”

Stephanie looked at him, and sighed. “I don’t know, Adam. I mean, you were knocked out. I don’t want to kill you – not that way.”

Adam sighed, as he looked at his beautiful, massive monolith of a spouse. They had stopped making love three days ago; he had been a couple millimeters taller then, but still small enough that her body was no longer a wonderland, but more a danger zone.

He’d been riding her clitoris – and she’d enjoyed herself. But he’d lost his grip, and tumbled down into the abyss, swept inside by subtle motions of her muscles. He had thankfully been quickly rinsed out – and she had thankfully looked for him immediately. Had she not felt him fall, had she scooted her butt, just a little bit….

They both shuddered to think of it.

“Damn it,” Adam said, looking at her with a wry smile only he could see. “Death would be worth it.”

“No, it wouldn’t,” said Stephanie. “There’s still a chance for a miracle, babe. If I killed you the day before this turned around…and I know, I couldn’t know that, but I’d always fear that.”

“It’s not going to turn around,” said Adam.

They sat in silence for a few minutes after that.

“Stephanie,” Adam finally said, “do you remember what you said you’d do for me? At the end?”

“Yes,” said Stephanie, looking suddenly down at her husband. He couldn’t be saying it was over…now, could he?

“You don’t have to do it,” Adam said.

“What do you mean?”

“If it would hurt you…you don’t have to do it.”

Stephanie slid her plate to the side, and got down on one knee, putting her eye up as close as she could to her husband.

“Adam,” she said, softly, in a voice that still shook the box. “I promised.”

“I know,” he said. “But I’m not going to make you do something you’ll regret.”

“No,” Stephanie said. “I don’t want to kill you while you’re still with me. While I can still talk to you. While we can still be together, in some real way. If you don’t turn around before the end, though…Adam, I know it’s suicide by Steph, in some ways.”

Adam smiled sadly, a smile Stephanie could see.

“I know that’s what you want to do, and I’m okay with that – when it’s time. Because I know that once we can’t communicate, then…well, then.

“But when the time comes…I want to give you myself, one last time. But not before the time comes. I want say as many words as I can to you, until the day we can’t anymore.”

Adam wiped his eyes dry. “I love you,” he said.

“I love you too,” she replied.

She stepped back, and sat down on the couch.

“You remember when you used to go on business trips? And you’d get lonely? And we’d…talk?”

Adam looked out at his wife, who was peeling her blouse off to expose her mountainous breasts. And grinned.

“Well,” said Stephanie, “it may be too dangerous for you to do things directly. But…we can still talk.”

Adam smiled. “Okay,” he said, leaning against the wall, watching the mountain, who was now removing her skirt. “Let’s talk.”

* * *

It was a grey, somber Wednesday.

She had looked in, seen him sleeping. The microphone was struggling to pick him up, now. She could no longer make out detail in him at all – he was a millimeter tall, as tall as a fingernail clipping is thick.

Compared to him, she was almost two miles tall.

She took a very fast shower, put the listening device back in, dressed and popped toast in. He still hadn’t woken up; he usually greeted her.

She walked over to the enclosure,expecting to see him sleeping, but he wasn’t. He was pacing. When he heard her coming, he turned to her – at least, it looked like he did. And jumped up and down.

Her heart all but stopped. She walked slowly toward him, and knelt down.

The microphone was in working order – the test button worked, and the earphone was receiving.

He had just slipped below its ability to hear him.

She looked at him, and put her hand against the wall of his glass, and started to cry.

Adam saw his wife do this through his own tears. He couldn’t make out features exactly, but he saw the eye, saw the water running like a rivulet down the walls of the box. Saw her uneven breaths fogging up the side of his final home.

When finally she regained herself, she got down at eye level, and said, in a voice that shook the box, “So this is it.”

Adam swallowed, and nodded.

“I love you so much,” she said to him. “I’m gonna…I’m gonna miss you so much.”

“I love you too!” he screamed, hoping she heard it.

She didn’t. But she could see what he was doing, when he put his hands to his mouth.

“Are you saying you love me too?”

She saw the speck enthusiastically nod yes.

“I know, Adam. I know.”

They watched each other silently for a long time. For as long as they could, before they knew.

It was time.

Stephanie opened the box.

“Now,” she said quietly, as she put her hand to the doorway, “if you want to stay in the box for longer…if you want to hang on for more…don’t step out onto my hand. Stay where you are. Maybe…we can….”

But Adam looked out resolutely at the 4,000 square feet of hand in front of him, and stepped into it. He was ready.

She lifted him up to her face, and brought her lips down next to him. She didn’t press them against him – she waited for him to approach, and to lean up against her bottom lip with all his force, so she would know that he was indeed kissing her goodbye.

“I’ve thought a lot about where to put you,” she said, after moving him back from her face. “Part of me wants to put you in my ear – see if I can hear you. But…well, there’s a part of me you always seemed to like quite a bit. And I think you’ll be happy there, for as long as you live. Which I hope is a long time.

“I love you so much, Adam. I will never, never, never forget you. I’ll see you again. I promise.”

They looked at each other, and then Stephanie slowly, carefully lowered her hand, until it rested against her lower abdomen. With her other hand, she stretched out her panties and the waistband of her shorts. And carefully, she dumped her husband into the forest of her pubic hair.

Adam skidded quite a ways before coming to rest in the shadow of the hair, in a world that quickly darkened as panties and shorts were put back into place. He rose, and found that some force – static electricity, maybe – held him to Stephanie, just enough that he wasn’t falling further.

He walked through the grove of brown trees, smelling the odor of Stephanie carried on the breeze. He didn’t know how long he would survive. Hours, days maybe – maybe minutes.

But he sank to his knees and kissed his wife’s skin. He could think of worse places to depart the Earth from than here.

She had given him a gift. He was grateful.

* * *

“It is over,” Aphrodite said.

“It is over,” Hephaestus agreed. “You have won.”

* * *

Stephanie lay back on the couch, not daring to move. She didn’t think she could even feel him down there; she wondered if he’d been hurt in the fall. This, she realized, was a strange worry; he was legally dead, according to state law.

But when all is lost, hope survives. And Stephanie still hoped, even as it dwindled away.

And so, as she’d prayed for months, she prayed one last time, to whatever Gods existed.

“If there is anyone up there, anyone at all…he’s a good man. And I love him. Please…I’ve prayed every night. Every night. And I don’t know if anyone’s listening. But if he could just be big enough for me to talk to – just big enough to see him. I don’t need him restored. I don’t need him back to normal. I just ask for him to be just an inch or two tall. And I will love him and be faithful to him and protect him until death do us part. Please. Amen.”

Stephanie cried until tears wouldn’t come any more. She wondered how much longer she could lie on the couch. She didn’t feel him down there, but that didn’t mean he didn’t still live – and that she could kill him by accident if she wasn’t careful.

That he wanted that – that he was counting on it – did not make it easier.

She didn’t want to call his parents. She didn’t want to call the county. She didn’t want to alert the media. That would make it real. And she didn’t want it to be real. She wanted to give the Gods a chance.

Maybe another five minutes. And then she’d get up.