Finale

It didn't take long for word to get out about what had happened in Niceland in the wee hours of the morning. Games were chatting it up, all the way from Pac-Man to Shooting Gallery. They just couldn't believe what NICELANDER GENE had done!

"He kicked HOW MANY butts?!"

"Sent them all cryin' to their mamas!"

"You could hear the screaming all the way from here!"

Gene of course was still dumbfounded by what he had done. By the time he was done helping Mary with her ankle, his memory was a blur of the previous events. All he could remember was some yelling and running….

He just couldn't take in how much he had done, even when the others relayed the story to him.

"I SAID WHAT?!" the mayor said, looking at Calhoun in utter disbelief.

"Hold still mayor…" Felix said, carefully tapping the man on his lip with his hammer, making the pixels of his mustache appear once more.

Gene rubbed his lip, happy to have his mustache back on. "Thank you Felix…." The man sighed "But unless I have some sort of proof of what happened…"

"YOU MEAN THE BROKEN TREES AREN'T ENOUGH?!" screamed Roy.

Gene shook his head, still looking caught up in the moment.

"I just can't really believe it…."

The man then looked at his neighbors, the group still a little surprised at that mayor's confused, as well as calm reaction.

"B-but if you say so!" the man sniffed, straightening his tie "Then I guess I DID take care of things around here!"

"YEEEEAH. Ya sure did!" Ralph snickered, rolling his eyes.

"But all that aside, there is ONE thing I DO remember clearly…." Gene said, walking up to Ralph with a smug grin.

"And what would that be?"

"The bet." The mayor said, pointing to himself "I. WON."

Calhoun turned her head, a hand to her mouth as she stifled a laugh; the look that Ralph had on his face was priceless. If only she had a camera for this moment.

The wrecker grumbled a bit, putting his hands in his pockets.

"UUurgh, I guess you're right…." The man growled "Y-You…."

"Yes?" Gene said, smiling cheekily.

"Y-You w-w-!"

"Ah-huh?"

"You WON."

Gene nodded proudly at the wrecker; he didn't have anything else he wanted to say but to hear those words pass Ralph's lips? They were like some sort of beautiful music!

"Okay, so ya proved ya could last a week without getting' mad. Good for ya." Ralph mumbled.

"Ah, ah, ah. We still had a deal!" Gene said.

"What deal?!" the wrecker said in surprise "I don't think I owed you anything other than not to mess with your stuffy butt as much!"

"Who said I was asking YOU for anything?" the mayor said, going to the bar to fetch something.

A moment or two later, Gene came from behind the bar, holding not one, not two, BUT FIVE of his homemade bottles of vodka, smiling all the way.

"I want you to have these."

Ralph was stunned; he remembered that if HE had won the bet, it would have been GENE would had to give up something! But everyone had agreed that the mayor was the victor!

So why was he giving Ralph HIS prize?

"Gene….WOW! I don't-!"

"Ah, c'mon. Can't a guy do something nice without some incentive?" Gene said with a smile. His smile then faded a bit "Besides, I'm not really sure whether or not I hit people during my rage and if I hit YOU….take that as an apology."

"You didn't, but thanks for the gift anyway!" Ralph said, looking at the bottles.

"But seriously Ralph…I'm sorry if I scared you and anyone else this week." Gene said, sitting on the couch "I scared MYSELF to be honest!"

"Pfft, well. If I hadn't pulled some things, I don't think ya would have been HALF as crazy as you were!" Ralph said with a chuckle.

The man then turned, only to be faced with a rather COLD glare from Gene.

"YES. I KNOW."

Uh-Oh. Ralph hadn't wrecked whatever the two had going, had he?

Without warning, Gene broke into an uproarious laugh, almost as if he weren't mad at Ralph at all.

"Don't act so scared, my boy! Things are just fine!"

Unsure what to do, Ralph chuckled nervously, feeling a tad uncomfortable all things considered.

"But seriously, don't pull crap like that on me again." The mayor said, running his fingers through his hair, still eyeing Ralph.

Yeah, it was best not to get on Gene's bad side after this.

It only took a few hours for things to get running again in GCS. Felix had repaired the link for Surge, Niceland was once again spotless, and everyone had returned to their games safe and sound.

"So, one more time…." Calhoun sneered up at the Grtiz Gang "If ANY of ya get the bright idea to go messin' with ANYONE in this station, who will you have to deal with?"

The group of men looked at each other, shaking a bit.

"G-Gene?" whimpered one man?

"Uh, didn't hear YOOOOOU." The woman said teasingly, one hand over her ear, the other DANGEROULSY close to the trigger of her gun.

"Nicelander Gene!" said another man.

"Hmm, I think I heard somethin' but I'm not sure. I should get GEEEEENE in here and-!"

"MAYOR GENE, MA'AM! MAYOR GENE!" screamed Gritz.

"Heh, 'ts what I thought…." Calhoun said, leading the men back to their game.

"I don't think we'll have any more trouble with them!" Felix said with a smile, putting the final adjustments on Surge's repair.

"I hope so Felix!" Surge said, sparking a bit "I don't think my circuits can take any more stress!"

The work day went by like a dream. Never before had anyone felt so relieved! No one was under any silly bets, people weren't taking advantage of each other but most importantly, a little man in a blue cardigan had finally freed himself of all the stress he had put himself under.

"Quitin' time!" Felix called, walking towards the stairs on the roof, the other Nicelanders following him.

"So Gene, got anything planned for tonight?" asked Tony.

"Not that I know of! I'm sure I can think of something though!"

"Oh, Gene!" Felix said, stopping the mayor in the hall "Tammy found somethin' of yours!"

"Oh, and what would that be?"

Felix reached into one of his pockets, pulling out the repaired watch that Gritz had crushed only a night before. Gene looked at it in surprise; in all the madness that had happened, he had totally forgotten about it but seeing it again brought joy to the man's heart.

"Oh, Felix! Thank you so much!" the mayor said as he took the item, opening it up to see that it was working just fine "I'm sure MARY will be happy to know that its working as well, so I better-!"

"MAYOR NICELANDER GENE!" called a voice from the hall, a rather ANGRY sounding voice.

Gene jolted in shock to see Mary standing behind him, a rather miffed looked on her face. Gene and Felix were both a little surprised; what was Mary so upset about? In fact, she had seemed just fine a moment ago when the two left the roof.

Trying his best to please her, Gene ran up to Mary, taking her hands warmly, "Dear, is something wrong?"

"What are you doing out here in the hall?! You promised you would meet me for DINNER!"

"I DID?" asked the confused Mayor. He would NEVER have forgotten a date if Mary had planned it!

"Of COURSE you did!" Mary retorted rather sharply, poking Gene on his nose "Do you know how late you are?! Huh?"

"Er, excuse me dear?!" Gene piped in, not sure what to say.

Mary's hand shot out and took his watch, opening the latch and pointing towards the hands "You're three minutes late!"

Gene and Felix exchanged looks of bewilderment. Neither had a clue what was going on but if they wanted it to end….

Gene cleared his throat and looked his love right in the eyes, "Darling! Please, I'm sorry that I upset you but I can assure you that there is nothing to get THIS worked up over!"

"Ah-bah-bah-bah!" Mary said, holding out a hand to the man "I don't want to hear excuses, SIR! You are coming with me!"

"But Mary!"

"Don't sass ME, BIG GENE!" the woman said, taking hold of one of Gene's chubby cheeks and pulling him towards her apartment.

"OW! OW! But Mary! OW!"

Gene could do nothing more than flail around helplessly as he was dragged into Mary's apartment, Felix looking on, not sure what to do.

"Just when I thought we were done seein' people rage out here…." The repairman said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Look dear, if I've done anything to upset you I'm SORRY!" the chubby mayor sputtered as he was shoved into Mary's apartment "But can't we talk this over? I mean, it would be much better than ARGUING, don't you think?"

Mary closed the door of her apartment, her back still facing the mayor.

"You want to talk things out?" the woman asked in a low voice.

Gene backed away towards the couch; just what was going on?

"Mary? Sweetie? Are you alright?"

Without warning, Mary turned around and playfully leapt on the mayor, squealing happily as she did so. Gene let out a squeak as he landed on the couch, Mary landing atop him.

"OOF! G-GOODNESS, what is goin-?!"

"Oh HUSH, Gene. You should have known I was playing with you!" Mary said teasingly, squishing Gene's cheeks together.

"Urrrf! Playingth wiff meef?!"

"Mmmm-HMM!" the woman smiled, giving the man a kiss on the nose "I'd figured it would be a fun way to get you alone!"

Gene blushed a bit as Mary let go of his face, looking up at the woman in shock.

"M-Mary! You could have ASKED if you wanted to see me!"

"But that wouldn't have been as much fun seeing you blush like this!" the woman replied, diving right into Gene as she embraced him in a tight hug, snuggling him.

Gene blushed brightly as Mary held him, "D-DEAR!"

"What? I love your hugs!"

The mayor knew he was caught and there was no escape. He just laid there on the couch, Mary still embracing him in an inescapable hug.

Wait a second? Why was he fighting this? Wasn't this what he wanted?

Gene looked down at Mary, the woman lying atop the man with her eyes closed, a smile on her face. The man then gently began to embrace her, the woman sighing.

"You know, I love your hugs…."

Chuckling, Gene ran his fingers through Mary's hair, smiling warmly.

"You know what?"

"Yes?"

"I think this is all I want to do tonight….." Gene smiled.

Mary wiggled a little closer to Gene's face, her nose touching his.

"That's fine by me, MAYOR."

And with that, Mary planted a kiss on Gene's lips.

There was nothing better in the world that Mary's kisses. Not even her baked goods could measure up to the feeling of happiness Gene got when he had a chance to kiss her.

The man held tighter onto Mary, both drifting off in the warmth of each other's arms.

"I love you, Gene." Mary said, looking up at the man.

"And I love you too, Mary." Gene said, returning the woman's kiss "I love you, I love you, I love you."

After thirty years, he finally said it.

And it was the best moment of their lives.