A nightly visitor
Summary: Tony gets a nightly visit from Tony.
Time frame: Some time after the episode "Too many Tonys", but before "The richest astronaut in the whole wide world"
Disclaimer: I dream of Jeannie belongs to Sidney Sheldon Productions.
A/N: One of my favourite eps from all five seasons is "Too many Tonys" from season 1. I just love the great acting by Barbara, Larry and of course Hayden and the inherent romance and it's the one where I actually prefer the German synchronisation to the original. The German actor who lends his voice to Larry Hagman did something wonderful to the phony Tony. He gave him a low, mellow voice, an "afterglow" voice. Imagine my shock when I heard Larry's voice for the phony Tony for the first time in the original version. Well, enough of that. Let's get rolling.
Oh, you might find Jeannie's acting a bit OOC, but I just couldn't resist. Tony needs a good wake up call.
Tony= the real Tony
Tony= Jeannie's figment of her imagination
Tony awoke with a start and opened his eyes.
"Tony, wake up." A familiar voice, his own voice!, urged the astronaut and he peered into the darkness of his bedroom. A black shadow sat beside him on his bed.
"Will you already wake up, man!" The looming shadow tugged at his arm and reached over to switch on the lamp beside the bed. Tony blinked as his eyes tried to adjust to the sudden brightness. And then he gasped and sat up rather quickly when he saw who his nightly visitor was.
"What are you doing here?" He shouted.
"Shh, be quiet. You wake up my angel." Tony scolded Tony. Really, what saw the light of his life in this man? He would never understand.
"Your angel?!" Only now Tony woke up fully and processed the picture in front of him. There he sat, loverboy, and without a stitch of clothing. In fact he seemed to be quite content with his state of undress. Tony felt his hackles rise.
"We've got not much time, Tony. I need to talk to you."
Tony crossed his arms in front of him. "Then talk."
"Will you stop being difficult?... Good. Now, I know you don't like me. And frankly speaking, I'm not too fond of you either, but we have something in common – Jeannie. And this is why I'm here."
"Why are you here? I mean, I told Jeannie I never wanted to see me...you...whatever again."
"And you haven't, have you?" Tony hated the superior smile on his own face. It was so unlike him. "But I've been around for quite a while now. I get in when you get out in the morning and my angel and I spend the day together. Oh, the beautiful things we do together. Just a couple of days ago we..."
"Hold it. Do you mean to tell me, whenever I leave the house, you pop in and you and Jeannie ..." Tony was so disgusted and embarrassed that he couldn't even finish the sentence.
"Hey! Do you take me for a call-boy? Of course we don't do that..." Tony breathed a sigh of relief. "...all the time. No, Jeannie and I do all the things you refuse to do with her. We go out, have lunch together, stroll along the beaches of this world, have dinner, go dancing. We attend art exhibitions, theatre premieres, stuff like that. Haven't you noticed how happy and content she's been lately? Trust me, you have precious little to do with that, buddy." Tony looked at him pitying.
But Tony had stopped listening. Tony did things with his genie.
"How can you?" He puzzled out loud.
"What do you mean?"
"How can you do things with Jeannie? You're not even real and she isn't exactly human, is she?" Tony said triumphantly.
"I'm very real when she needs me to be, believe me. And my angel is the most human human being I know. She's kind and compassionate, warm-hearted, sensitive, smart... does that not qualify as being human? And anatomically she's all woman I have you know in case you haven't looked."
God, how he hated this mirror image of himself, this strutting prince of love.
"Of course I've looked! Do you think I'm dead?" Tony argued with Tony.
"Then you don't like what you see?"
"Of course I do! She's the most breathtakingly beautiful … woman I've ever seen in my life!"
"Then why don't you show that to her?"
"Huh?"
"Why don't you show it? I mean, look at you." Tony got up and started pacing at the foot of his bed. "All dressed up in your pale blue pyjamas and the red terry cloth bathrobe or in your uniform or in your casual wear. I've been through your wardrobe, buddy, and I'm appalled. You dress like a monk. Don't you ever show a bit of skin? Have you ever slept naked? I mean just slept. We're in Florida. Don't you just love the feel of freshly laundered bed linen against every inch of you? The way silk slides along your skin like a woman's soft caress? Come on, live a little. Risk a little! Be a man. Be the man for my angel. What harm will it cause, if you take her out from time to time?"
"What harm?" Tony gave a short but harsh laugh. "Has she ever told you and I assume, you actually talk from time to time... " Tony rolled his eyes at the weak slight. "... what she did, when I took her out?"
"You mean the belly dancer incident?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about. She behaved... I've never been so embarrassed in my whole life! And you want me to take her out again?! After that!? Forget it!"
"Of course you asked her what made her behave like this? Or did you just yell at her?"
Tony opened his mouth and shut it again. A petulant look settled onto his face.
"Just what I thought. Well, let me enlighten you. She did it for two reasons. First, she wanted to show you that she could do it better than that woman, she wanted to please you. And secondly from where she comes from it is perfectly alright to join, it is even encouraged. She didn't know any better. And instead of explaining how it's done in America, you berated her when you got home. Imagine how she must have felt."
Tony looked down into his lap, feeling ashamed all of a sudden.
"But of course that's your default answer to everything going wrong, isn't it? Shout at my angel, because she can't defend herself against her master. You take her for granted. You treat her like a house-keeper / cook. Why don't you start paying her for her services, hmh? That would be neat, wouldn't it? Clearly defined roles, no interpersonal complications. Purely platonic, eh? And you wonder, why I'm here? I make life bearable for her in this house. I pay her the compliments she needs to hear to feel appreciated. I take her out and treat her like she deserves. I teach her and explain things to her. I take her into my arms and make love to her. I do all the things you should do as her master, as a man, for her."
"Wonderful. Isn't that simply marvellous? I wonder, why I'm still around, if you're so grand." Tony spit out.
"Because I'm not really what she wants. She wants you. She loves you, you dolt! You, not me. I'm just a figment of her imagination. But I love her with all that I am. And this is why I left my angel's side tonight. Please, if you love her only half as much as I do, be more understanding and gentle with her. Let yourself go a bit. Show her what she means to you. It's the little things that count. Would it hurt you, if you start kissing her good-bye in the mornings and hello when you come home?"
"She's not my...girl-friend." Tony set up his last line of defence. "We can't ever be more than master and genie. I don't want her to get ideas."
"But she has them already. Otherwise I wouldn't be here."
"Then I don't want to further encourage her."
"So you truly don't love her? Not the tiniest little bit? Then you need to let her go, all else would be just cruel."
"I..."
"Yes?"
"I can't. Let her go. I tried so often, but I can't. I need her."
"So you do love her?"
"...yes."
"Then I think I won't be around for much longer, will I?" Tony smiled sadly.
"I..."
"It's alright, Tony. After all, I'm not real, am I?" He turned away and towards the bedroom door.
"Wait, Tony. Will I see you again?"
"That depends entirely on you. Be good to my darling angel."
"I'll try." He promised Tony. "Oh, by the way. Did you know that you aren't entirely my mirror image down there?"
"Well, you have the power to change that." Tony laughed softly, winked and waved at the very pensive astronaut as he walked through the door.
The end