Funny story- I woke up just in time to catch the new Care Bears show on CBS this morning. In the second half Cheer Bear was trying to make Grumpy Bear feel better because he was especially grumpy. Except Cheer was only doing things that would have made her feel better, and didn't stop to think about what Grumpy really needed. I know it's hardly an original storyline I'm using, I'm just impressed that the very day I'm finishing the story, on the one kid's cartoon I've watched since I started, they're showing the same story. How neat is that?

EPISODE 1-4

Four days later, the tension in Castle Bleck still had not settled down. The minions weren't really even talking to each other, although they weren't entirely unfriendly if they met in the hallways. Nastasia kept herself shut up in her room as much as possible, as did Mimi. O'Chunks didn't have the words to say to anybody, and Dimentio was simply enjoying the days.

It was on the fourth day after Count Bleck and Tippi left, Dimentio was floating down the hallway, singing a song to himself, when he passed by Mimi.

"Mimi," he said, landing on the floor in front of her. "I haven't seen you around all day. What have you been up to?"

"Go away, Dimentio," said Mimi, stepping around him. "I don't want to talk to you."

"Have I done something to offend you?" asked Dimentio, falling into pace beside Mimi. "If you tell me what it is, I'll surely apologize for it."

"I don't want to talk to anybody!" Mimi snapped angrily. Dimentio stopped in his tracks, and Mimi stormed on.

He snapped his fingers and disappeared, reappearing in front of Mimi again.

"Isn't that something," he said as if to himself. "You went out and tried to make Nastasia feel better, and all you did was make yourself feel worse."

Mimi shoved Dimentio out of the way so hard he banged his head on the wall. "Go AWAY, Dimentio!" she shouted.

Dimentio rubbed his head where it had hit the wall. "Mimi, sometimes I think you don't know your own strength," he said, checking his hand.

She turned around. "I didn't hurt you, did I? Gosh, I'm sorry."

Dimentio shook his head and checked his eyes before continuing. Mimi stopped walking and stood next to him to listen.

"Mimi," he said, "The road to the Underwhere is paved with good intentions. All I'm saying is that there's more to helping than... than just that, good intentions."

"What do you mean?"

Dimentio sighed. "I'm not very good at this, am I? What I mean is, I know what you need to do to make it right."

"You mean how to make Nastasia feel better?" Mimi asked hopefully. She bounced up in anticipation.

Dimentio shook his head. "No, no," he said. "That's just it- if you want to make it better, you have to understand you can't make her happy again."

Mimi stopped bouncing. "Oh," she said dejectedly.

"Yes," he said. "I figured I would say something now, before the Count returned... I thought you might like to straighten everything out before his arrival. I'm sure he wouldn't be happy to hear you spent the whole week meddling with love rather than getting any work done. Dimentio lifted himself back up in the air. "Anyway, I must go. Count Bleck will return any time now, and I will be there to greet him. Ciao!"

"Wait, what?" Mimi tried to stop him. "We had work?"

"Yes, we did," said Dimentio. "I'm sure you would have remembered to ask Nastasia for your assignment had you not been too busy avoiding her."

"WHY DIDN'T YOU REMIND ME?"

"I shouldn't have to." Dimentio snapped his fingers and disappeared.

Mimi let out a frustrated shout. "Grah!" She stormed down the hallway as fast as she could. "I can't believe him! Even when he's trying to be nice, he's a meanie!"

Only an hour after that encounter, Count Bleck and Tippi returned. Right away they gathered in the meeting room, as was the custom when the Count returned from away. Everyone in the castle was in their positions- Mimi, O'Chunks, Dimentio, and Mr. L were on their platforms, and Nastasia and Tippi were up with Count Bleck, overlooking them all. The Beige Prognosticus hovered beside him.

"Hail Bleck!" his minions cheered.

The Count smiled. "I see that we have a new old face joining us today," he said. "Mr. L, what brings you back to our ranks?"

"I got a call asking me to come over to help with something," Mr. L. explained. "And since nobody was home where I was, I decided to hang around here, see what was going on, maybe help out a little. Also, Dimentio brought me here and nobody's sent me back, and I can't leave by myself."

"No, of course not," said Count Bleck. "We'll have to work on that."

Count Bleck looked over his minions. He could tell that something was wrong, so he decided to keep them a little longer. "So," he said casually, "Is there anything to report to Count Bleck? Anything noteworthy happen while I was away?"

Mimi, O'Chunks, Dimentio, and Mr. L all exchanged tentative glances, but it was Nastasia who spoke up first. "No, Count," she said. "Everything was pretty quiet while you two were away. We didn't get a lot of done, though."

Count Bleck pulled down on the brim of his hat to cover his face. "I see," he said. He looked to his other minions. "Is that so?"

They all nodded quickly.

"Very well," said the Count. "I'm sorry to hear that nothing much happened... although I do suppose it's better that nothing bad happened, isn't it?"

"Yeah," said Nastasia.

"Very well, minions, you are dismissed."

Mimi couldn't get out of there soon enough. O'Chunks and Mr. L followed right behind her. Dimentio looked around for a moment, opened his mouth, but decided the better of it and left as well.

"So," said Count Bleck. "Now that it's just you and me-"

"And me," Tippi interjected.

"And Timpani," he added. He looked up at her. "I wasn't going to forget you." Then he turned back to Nastasia and continued, "Now that it's just the three of us, would you like to tell me what really happened?"

Nastasia straitened her glasses. "Um... No, Count, I really don't think there's anything to report."

He looked her up and down. "All right," he said. "I'll take your word for it. Timpani, wait here for a moment. I have to make another entry in this book." He disappeared with the book before one of them had a chance to say anything- mainly, that nothing worth noting had actually happened yet.

Nastasia stood there uncomfortably, watching Tippi hang in the air. Finally, she said, "I had better take care of a few things."

"Is this about me and Blumiere?" asked Tippi.

"What?"

"Come on," Tippi said, "I've seen the way you've been acting, ever since we came back. I know how you feel about him, because I feel the same way. If it bothers you so much, why do you stay?"

Nastasia shook her head. "I couldn't leave," she said. "I swore my allegiance to him."

"He let you go."

"That doesn't make a difference."

Tippi sighed. "You know it's not the end of the world, right?"

"Not anymore, it's not," said Nastasia. "When he couldn't have you, it was."

"I'll give you that... but you know the Count loves you very much."

Nastasia looked up at her, surprised. She opened her mouth partways, and said surprisingly softly, "What did you say?"

"I said, the Count loves you very much," Tippi repeated. "He'll never love you the way he loves me... but there is a part of him that always did love you in some way, as well. He cares very much about you and enjoys your company. He appreciates you and is thankful to have you around. He isn't in love with you, but you mean a lot to him."

Nastasia blushed and looked at her feet. "Um... yeah," she muttered. "Is that so?"

"Yeah," Tippi said, "Is that what you needed to hear? Because every word of it is true."

Nastasia didn't say anything.

Just then, Count Bleck reappeared in his usual spot, with the book by his side. "All finished," he said cheerfully.

"Us, too," said Tippi.

"Wonderful, said Count Bleck. Shall we get to work?"

"Yeah," said Nastasia. "Let's get to work. I have us scheduled for an appointment to get started on something..."

"Wonderful," Count Bleck said. "I have just the something to get started on. Our couple's vacation inadvertently turned into a fact-finding mission..."

THE END