Thanks to conception.creation and Nari-nick for reviewing, and . . .wait a minute, I know you two! I am reading your stories (they're good)! It's always nice to know you're not alone in the B/K category. :D I hope you like this chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Bartimaeus Trilogy or the song Just What I Needed
Ch. 2

Kitty felt herself climbing back into consciousness. She shifted slightly, letting out a small moan. Not liking feeling vulnerable, she forced her eyes to open. She was greeted with a tan face smiling down at her.

"Bartimaeus?" she whispered.

"That's me. Are you okay?"

She gently touched her head. "Yeah. But . . .I thought . . ."

"That I was dead? No, Nathaniel dismissed me before it happened."

She felt her heart soften. "Oh." she propped herself up on her elbows. "So . . .it's really you?"

He grinned. "It's me."

She reached up and touched his face, as if to assure herself he was real. Then she smiled, hugging him tightly. He hugged her back, sitting her up.

When she kept her arms around him, he tried to pry her off. "Uh, Kitty, okay. C'mon, I get you missed me, let go."

She reluctantly let go and he sat in front of her.

"So," he paused, "why did you summon me?"

She looked down guiltily. "I was torturing myself. I wanted to show myself once again that you were dead and I couldn't keep thinking about you."

He nodded, unusually silent.

At length he said, "Well, you've summoned me, anything you want me to do?"

Kitty looked up. "Whatever you want to do. I can dismiss you right now. It's your choice."

He paused, as if unsure how to respond. Then, "I think I'll stay around for awhile. Besides, you've got quite a mess in this apartment and somebody's gotta show you how to keep it tidy. First off, the pillow goes on the bed."

She laughed for the first time in a year.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kitty put on fresh clothes, since the ones she had on were wrinkled, and I put loose pants, a shirt, and a jacket on Ptolemy. And shoes, of course (I thought that went without saying, but you humans are really dense). We decided to walk to a café and get breakfast. Well, Kitty was going to get breakfast.

As we walked down the busy streets of London, I felt a little strange. Here I was, the powerful Bartimaeus who spoke with Solomon, summoned to a master who just wanted to hang out. Of course, I didn't expect Kitty to order me around, but it was still a weird feeling.

I could tell Kitty had had a hard time recently. She seemed tired and downcast, and her apartment looked like a tornado hit it. But her mood seemed to be rapidly improving.

So we sat at a corner table in a café, Kitty eating and I had a drink just to look normal.

"So," I was saying, "Faquarl chased me all around the castle and occasionally, just to be a jerk, would flash his true form when I looked back. I was ready to puke within ten minutes."

Kitty laughed.

"When the army came at us," I continued, "he showed them his true form on the first plane. I think they lost half their army from heart attacks."

She laughed again, taking a drink. I had been relating some of my exciting exploits to her.

"So," I said, genuinely interested, "what have you been doing?"

"I went to Egypt. It was so beautiful, but . . .it reminded me of you so much I . . ."

Her face was reddening. For some reason, I didn't want her to be embarrassed, so I said, "I missed you, too."

Whoa. Where'd that come from? I never miss the opportunity to make someone embarrassed, even humiliated. And I certainly never tell a human, my master, that I missed them. The only master I've ever missed was Ptolemy. Come to think of it, I still miss him.

An awkward silence stretched between us.

"Around dinner time," she said, "I go to work at the Frog Inn."

"You're a bartender? Do you get a lot of tips?"

"It's not like that. But, you could come if you want."

I grinned. "Sure. As long as you wait on me."

She looked amused. "A human waiting on a djinni? This'll be one for the history book."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At the Frog Inn, Kitty was behind the bar preparing drink. She gazed across the room to where Bartimaeus was sitting at a corner table, feet up, and looking entirely bored.

She smiled, shaking her head. She dealt out the drinks and went over to Bartimaeus.

She sat on the edge of the table and said flirtatiously, "Hey good-lookin', I've got your drink."

He raised an eyebrow, taking it. "So, you do get a lot of tips."

She laughed, hopping down. "How are you doing?"

"Bored. The people here smell disgusting."

She reached into her pocket and pulled out a pack of cards. "Amuse yourself."

Handing it to him, she headed back to the bar and began to prepare more orders.

The owner, George Fox, looked at her. "You seem in a much better mood."

She nodded. "I'm feeling great today."

George smiled. "Is it that dark-skinned guy over there?"

She looked at him, surprised.

He laughed. "You keep starting at him, it wasn't hard to figure out. This is the first time I've seen you fall for somebody."

"I-I'm not falling," she said quickly, returning to her work. "We're just good friends."

"That's how it always begins, as good friends." He laughed, walking off.

Kitty watched him go, then looked back to Bartimaeus who was building the Egyptian pyramids with the cards.

She smiled.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

That night we were back in Kitty's apartment. She'd changed into her night clothes and I was back in Ptolemy's usual clothes.

"Where do you want to sleep?" she asked.

"I don't sleep, remember?"

"Oh, right."

She climbed into bed, snuggling in the covers. She smiled, then suddenly turned serious and said hopefully, "Are you going to stay tomorrow?"

"Sure, why not?"

Satisfied, she closed her eyes said, "Good night, Bartimaeus."

"'Night, Kitty."

So there I was, left alone in the apartment all night. I paced back and forth for awhile. Then I changed into a bunch of different forms, playing around with things I've never been. I even tried an African Dwarf Frog. Didn't last long, that. Then I did some exercises (isn't that what you humans do when you're bored?) but it was monotonous. After that, I checked out the view from her windows. And lastly, I cleaned her apartment.

Yeah, I know, even as I did it I couldn't imagine me, Bartimaeus, cleaning an apartment. I put all this junk back on the dresser and sat up some fallen chairs. I sat her cups in the sink and proceeded to the table to stack her mess of papers in an orderly fashion.

Let me clear something up: I'm not a neat and tidy djinni. In the Other Place, there's absolutely nothing to make a mess of anyway. But, this was Kitty, who had to live in this place every day. So I thought I should help her out. There was nothing else to do.

Anyway, as I shuffled through the papers, trying to put then into some organization, I saw the edge of what looked like a drawing. Pausing, I then pulled it out. It was a pencil drawing of London, probably one she drew looking out her window. It was, putting it in small words, beautiful.

I stared at it in wonder, then saw on the table were more drawings. I picked them up. There was a horizon line of London, a pretty park, her apartment, the Frog Inn full of people, and . . .

I stopped. There was an intricately detailed one of an Egyptian boy sitting in an abandoned building and staring thoughtfully out the window. To the side was my name written in curving letters.

I stared at the picture. She'd drawn me.

I couldn't help but smile as I glanced over at her sleeping form.

I tucked the art under other papers so it'd look like I hadn't seen it.

Please review!!