Okay! Here's the second chapter…sorry for that mini-sort of-cliffhanger!

…

Chapter 2: Promises and Goodbye

It's funny how someone's world could seem so perfect, so happy. How it can seem that nothing in the worked could bring you down. That was how Jeannie was feeling up until that very moment. She could never have imagined that some little thinking, a simple phone call, could shatter it all to pieces. This phone call did. She had trouble finding her voice.

"For how long?" the question came out barely as a whisper.

"Indefinitely." His answer wasn't much louder. Neither of them knew what to say. Jeannie leaned forward and embraced the man she was going to marry. We're they still going to marry? She felt a bit of relief when she felt his arms wrap around her. She felt vulnerable, and his arms served as the protecting she needed at the moment.

"What about the wedding?" Tony was hoping she wouldn't ask him about that because he really didn't know. They obviously weren't going to get married the following day, and he didn't know when he would get a chance.

"I, I don't know, Jeannie. But we will. I promise you, we will get married." He could feel her nod against his shoulder.

They stayed like that for what seemed like hours. Neither knew what to do. It seemed like if they stayed there, in each others arms, it would all go away. Tony and Jeannie both knew that their lives had changed drastically.

"Master," Jeannie said as she lifted her head to look at him. "I've been thinking, there's only one solution to this problem…I'm going with you."

"Oh no, you're not!" Tony practically screamed.

"Well why not?" Jeannie said stubbornly.

"Well because it's too dangerous. It's one thing for me to go, I'm trained for that sort of thing, but you, you just can't. If anything ever happened to you, I could never forgive myself! And I don't want to hear anything else on this subject." This was one thing Tony was not going to let Jeannie win. He wouldn't risk it. He was never much of a gambler after all. "Jeannie, I think its time to go to bed." He sighed as he reluctantly released her from his embrace.

"Yes, master." She replied, placed a light kiss on his lips, and smoked into her bottle.

Neither of them got much sleep that night. Tony stayed up worrying about Jeannie, about leaving her here, alone. He worried about himself as well. He had to take care of himself while he was gone. There was a lot of unrest in Vietnam. He knew it could get pretty ugly.

Jeannie, on the other hand, couldn't help but cry. She had seen those horrible headlines in the newspaper. She knew how bad the situation was in Vietnam. She cried at the thought of her master getting hurt, or even worse, killed, while defending his country. She knew there was no way to get him out of it and even if there way, she knew he never would. What scared her the most was not knowing how long he'd be gone. It would have been better if he had said a year or something. That way, she would be sure he was coming back. It wasn't until the sun came up that they both fell asleep.

…

That Sunday was probably the worst Sunday for either of them. She spent most of it in her bottle. Being inside it made her feel like it was all a bad dream. Tony, on the other hand, was busy packing everything he needed and making sure he'd leave everything Jeannie needed here. He thought it was kind of strange that Jeannie was staying in her bottle. Usually, when he would go on missions, she'd want to spend the most time she could with him. It was beginning to worry him. He finished packing the last of his things and walked into the living room.

"Jeannie?" he got no answer. "Jeannie, can you come out here a minute?" no answer, but smoke appeared out of the top of the bottle.

"Yes, master?" she wouldn't look up at him, but Tony could tell she had been crying.

"Hey, come here." He pulled her close to him. "Don't cry, please, don't cry."

"I cannot help it! You are leaving tomorrow and I do not know how long you will be gone!" She said, "It will be like being trapped in my bottle again." She began crying again.

"No, no it wont, Jeannie. You'll have Dr. and Mrs. Bellows and Roger! They'll come and keep you company."

"It is not the same, master! If Dr. and Mrs. Bellows come over for dinner, I will be sure to miss you even more if you are not sitting at the table with us, and Major Healey is nice to be around, but I do not love him and seeing him will make me miss you." Tony had never seen Jeannie so upset.

"Jeannie? I want to take you out tonight. What would you like to do? Go to dinner? Go dancing? Go to the beach?"

"Oh, I do not wish to go out, master."

"But I want to take you out! Now c'mon! Where would you like to go?"

"Well I'm not very hungry, are you?"

"No, not really."

"Then why don't we go dancing, and then to the beach? Does that sound good to you, master?"

"Yes Jeannie. Anything you want. I'll go get dressed." Tony said as he walked into his room.

Jeannie smoked back into her bottle and thought about what she wanted to wear She remembered a dress she saw in a magazine a few days before. She blinked up the magazine, found the page, and blinked the dress on herself. It was a black dress that went down to her ankles, but she blinked it to be above the knees and it was strapless. She blinked her hair into an up-do and smoked out.

Tony walked out of his bedroom and was dumbstruck when he saw her. Tony knew Jeannie was beautiful, but this, this was different. He had no words to describe it. He couldn't help looking her over a couple a times before finally being about to utter a single word. "Wow."

"Are you pleased, master?" she spun around only to surprise Tony even more. The dress was cut in a way that made a big "V" all the way down to her waist. Tony swallowed hard.

"Yes, um, shall we…go?" he said as he opened the door. He gave her his arm and they walked to the car.

…

They were opening a new nightclub downtown, so Tony decided to take her there. He knew it was his last night with her and he wanted to make it special. They picked a table near the back and ordered drinks. After a while, they went to dance.

It was nice, having Jeannie in his arms. Her warmth, her scent, her love. It would be all gone in the matter of hours. Tony tried to shake the thought of him being gone, but couldn't help pulling her closer to him. They slowly danced to the rhythm of the romantic ballad that was playing. They could have done it all night, even if there was no music, the rhythm of their heartbeats could have kept them going, but the music changed. Now, they we're playing the fast and loud music you would hear on the radio.

Now Tony knew that Jeannie was a great dancer and she wasn't shy when it came to what she looked like when she danced, she just enjoyed it. Tony, on the other hand, was a bit more reserved about his dancing. Today, Jeannie was dancing in a way he had never seen before. Not that he didn't like it, but he was sure that any other man that was looking at her liked it as well, and that bothered him. He was quite ashamed at what was running through his hear while he watched her dance. No, you have no right to think like that, not now…He had stopped dancing completely, until he noticed Jeannie staring at him.

"Master? Are you alright?" she asked, concerned.

"Yeah, yeah, sorry. I was um, lost in my thoughts."

"Oh, I see. Would you like to go now? I would still like to go to the beach if we can."

"Of course. Let's go, then." Tony led her out of the night club. He drove to the beach nearest to his house and parked the car. They were the only ones there. It was an abnormally hot night, and there was a full moon out.

Jeannie blinked up a towel and they sat down. Tony wanted to tell her, needed to tell her, so many things, he just didn't know where to start.

"Now Jeannie, after I leave, I need you to do a couple of things for me."

"Oh yes, anything master."

"I need you to stay away from where I am, wherever that will be. Promise me that you won't blink in unless it's a life-or-death emergency."

"But master!" Jeannie began to protest.

"No, promise me. Promise me you wont." He said firmly. "Please…"

Jeannie bowed her head. "Yes, master."

"Thank you. You should maybe go and visit your family for a while."

"I will."

"And here," he pulled out his wallet. "Take this credit card. If for any reason you can't blink up anything, use this."

"Yes, master." She took it and blinked it to her bottle.

"And Jeannie, one last thing, promise me you'll write to me as much as possible. Tell me about everything that goes on around here. When I arrive at my camp, I'll write to you the address you can send the letters to."

"Oh yes master! Of course I will! Master?"

"Yes, Jeannie?"

"I don't want you to go. I don't want to-" her voice broke, "I don't knew what I'd do if I had to find another master." A tear rolled down her check.

"Hey, hey, don't cry." He wrapped his arms around her. "You have nothing to worry about. You won't lose me."

"Promise me that, master. Promise me you'll come home."

"I promise."

….

Jeannie slept on the couch that night. She wanted to make sure that she'd wake up at the same time as Tony. She heard him shuffling around inside his room and began making breakfast. He walked out of the room with a suitcase in each hand. For once, Jeannie didn't like seeing her master in uniform.

"Good morning, Jeannie." He said as he sat down at the table. "I'm not very hungry."

"But master, you must eat. Especially today."

"Oh alright." Halfway through breakfast, the phone rang. "Hello…yes sir…yes sir… alright, I'll see you at the base in half an hour."

"'Half an hour'? But master, that means we must leave now."

"We?" Tony thought he was going to say goodbye to Jeannie, here, at the house.

"Yes, we. I am going with you." And with that said, she blinked a dress on and cleared the table. "C'mon, let's go." She got up, smoked into her bottle, came back out, and walked out the door. Tony wondered what she had taken out of the bottle, but followed her out. The suitcases had already been blinked into the car.

…

Saying goodbye is never easy. Sometime, it's the hardest thing in someone's life. You lose your voice, any warmth you're feeling, and what you want to say. Tony found himself standing with Jeannie next to the jet that would fly him to that foreign country.

"Master, I have something for you." She blinked something in her hands. She handed it to him. It was a necklace with a medal on it. On one side, there was a type of writing he didn't recognize, and on the other, there was an engraving of a genie's bottle.

"What does it say?"

"It is an old enchantment used for protection. Many genies give their masters medals like this one when they are going to embark on a dangerous journey." She took it out of his hands and put it around his neck. "Promise me you'll always keep it on."

Tony instinctively tucked in under his shirt collar. "I promise." He wanted to kiss her, to tell her he loved her, and that everything was going to be fine, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He pulled her close to him and softly kissed her forehead. He saw a tear run down her face. He didn't say anything. He let go of her and turned around, and began walking towards the plane.

Jeannie stood there, speechless and frozen. This was not how it was supposed to be. She wouldn't let him leave her this way. "Master!" she said, but it barely came out as a whisper. She closed her eyes and held her breath. She was trying to find her voice. "MASTER!" she exclaimed, louder this time and ran towards him.

No words were exchanged. Tony pulled her as close to him as he could and gave his heart and soul into that kiss. He didn't care if Roger and Dr. Bellows were there watching. He could feel his own tears running down his cheeks. They kissed for what seemed like an eternity and finally broke it off.

"I love you." Tony whispered into Jeannie's ear. "I love you." He released her and placed a light kiss on her lips and walked off in the direction of the plane. He didn't look back. He couldn't look back.

…

Since the first chapter was so short…this one was long…I hope you liked it!

R&R please!