Several days later, they were watching television again, and this time Abby was lying stretched out on Logan's warm chest, nibbling on a piece of popcorn. He, too was munching on a handful of the buttery snack, taking great pains not to shift around too much in the chair and dislodge Abigail from her perch.
She had to smile at that. How different everything was now! He no longer abused or mistreated her in any way, and in fact went out of her way to take care of her. When she needed a bath, he filled the sink with soapy water, but left the room and let her wash in private. He no longer made her wear nothing but bathing suits all the time, but purchased a few sets of doll clothes that made her feel more dignified than she had at any time during the past year. And, best of all, he was starting to take pains to modify his home so she could get around better. Tiny ladders already adorned the kitchen counter and his computer desk, and he was working on plans for a miniature motorized lift that would carry her up the staircase on a little track.
Still, she felt uneasy. She was more comfortable than ever now, but something still wasn't right, and she knew what it was. Despite everything he was doing for her, she was still his prisoner. That was the one thing that could never change.
Or so she believed. As if reading her thoughts, Logan set aside the bowl of popcorn and looked down at her from above. "Abby," he said in a low and purposeful voice, "I have something I want to ask you. I've been thinking about it for days now, and I think it's the right thing to do."
"Okay, go ahead," she replied, somewhat confused by his directness. She had no idea what he was going to say, but when he finally spoke, she found herself shocked beyond measure.
"Well, it's really pretty simple," he explained slowly. "How would you like to get back to normal size?"
She just stared at him, totally flabbergasted. She even dropped the half-eaten kernel of popcorn and let it roll down his chest, where it came to rest in amidst the thick hairs between his pectoral muscles.
"I'm serious," he went on. "Before I came in tonight, I hooked up the phone outside. You can call those scientists if you want. I won't stop you."
With that, he reached down and carefully scooped her up in his palm. She made no attempt to resist as he carried her gingerly out to the kitchen and set her down on the countertop. Then he plucked the receiver off the wall and set it down next to her. The dial tone was loud and insistent.
"Go ahead," he told her. "You can dial it yourself, or if you want, I'll do it for you."
Finally she found her voice. "B-but why?" she asked in complete stupefaction. "Why are you doing this?"
"Because," he replied, "it's wrong to keep you against your will. I was such a complete ass before, and I don't know what made me do it. I'm normally a pretty nice guy, Abby. I'm a fireman, and I save lives every day, so that should be proof enough of that. But then I came home every night and treated you and Brooke like a couple of living sex toys. I've been trying to figure out why, but it keeps coming back to me. You were so small and helpless, and so incredibly sexy, I just couldn't control myself. And the way you used me to attack each other made you impossible to resist. I was a jerk, and I apologize, but that's not enough. I have to do more than that. I have to let you go."
"B-but--" she stammered weakly. "I-I still don't understand. Why now? Why didn't you just let me go before?"
"Before I found out there was a way to get you back to normal, I had no reason to," he went on. "I was actually afraid you'd get hurt out there, and you surely would have, you know. That was how I kept justifying all the things I did--you owed me, I figured, for keeping you safe from the rest of the world. It wasn't until I found out about the restoration procedure that I realized just what I've done, and what a horrible torture this must have been for you."
"And what about your little deal with Brooke?" Abigail asked, still somewhat stunned by his words.
"I don't care about that any more," he answered resignedly. "The minute you make that call, they'll arrest me, so I'll spill the beans on her. So, you see, you have even more motivation to start dialing. Go ahead. We'll probably never see each other again, except in court, so before I go, I just want to say one final thing."
"What's that?"
"I love you," he replied in a voice of complete sincerity.
She just stared at him in an open-mouthed daze. "W-what?" she barely managed to sputter.
"It's true," he sighed. "I always thought I did before, but I was wrong. Now, though, it's true. All I think about all day is coming home to you, Abby, and the only time I really feel complete is when I have you sitting on my chest or in my hand. That's probably not what you want to hear right now, but I keep hearing that old song lyric in my head--if you love someone, set them free. So that's what I'm doing, Abby. Goodbye."
Without another word, Logan stood up and walked away. He looked back at her once, at the foot of the stairs, and then glanced down at the floor, his blue eyes glistening in the distant light. Then he hurried up to his room, and she heard the door slam shut behind him, almost shaking the house with its sudden finality.
Abigail looked back at the phone, trying to forget what she thought she saw in Logan's eyes, and the way his voice had nearly cracked there at the end. It didn't matter if he was sincere or not, she told herself. He had given her back her freedom, for whatever reason, and she wasn't going to let this chance slip her by!
The dial tone had by now changed to the beep-beep-beep of an off-hook receiver, but that was easily fixed. She sat down on the switch, waited a second, and stood up again, so that the dial tone sounded once more. Then she started pushing the buttons for the toll-free number that was permanently etched across her mind.
This is it, she thought as she pressed the heavy controls one after another. I'm finally going to get back to normal size, after all these months! And, best of all, I'm finally going to achieve the ultimate victory over Brooke!
So why, she wondered at the last, couldn't she bring herself to dial that final digit...?