A/N: This story is based on the NBC television show I Dream of Jeannie, which as far as I know, is the property of NBC, Screen Gems, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, and Mill Creek Entertainment. No infringement is intended. I also want to add that things are going to get very dramatic and intense in this story, and a major character death is going to occur, so please read responsibly. God bless you all, and happy reading.

Chapter 1: Reciprocity

September 18, 1965

"Tony, how could you ask that of me?" inquired the twenty-two-year-old new college graduate and nurse, Jeannie Wyatt, who was obviously deeply hurt by her fiancé. He was now standing before her in his living room, and they both were very nicely dressed for the evening. "I just completed my degree in nursing back in June, and I've only been working as an R.N. at the hospital for about a month now. I can't just walk away from all the patients who need me, and from my colleagues at the hospital. There are people who really need me and depend on me. I can't walk away from my responsibilities." Jeannie Wyatt got away from home the second she graduated from high school at age eighteen, and over the next four years, she worked her tail off to earn the money she needed to pay for her college tuition and living expenses, part of which were already covered by scholarships she had earned. She had dreamed of becoming a nurse her whole life, but life threw her a curve ball she didn't expect. The very day after her college graduation, Jeannie met the charming, handsome twenty-nine-year-old NASA astronaut, Air Force Major Anthony Nelson, and they fell for one another almost instantly. And after dating for only two months, Tony proposed to her, and Jeannie happily accepted. But when she first got engaged to Tony a month ago, she never dreamed that he would insist upon her giving up her lifelong dream of nursing to be a housewife.

"And what about your responsibilities to me, Jeannie? I…I don't want a wife who's married to her job and not to me. Call me backwards, call me selfish, call me sexist, but I don't want to share you with your nursing career, Jeannie. I just don't."

"Oh, but I have to share you with your astronaut career."

"That's different. As the man, it's my job to be the breadwinner and provide for you and for all the children we're going to have someday. And speaking of our future children, you told me yourself that you wanted to give up your nursing career after we had children so that you could devote yourself to them fully and completely. Well I want and deserve that same kind of devotion, too."

Jeannie shook her head in disbelief and said, "You're a grown adult, Tony. You don't need me to cook your breakfast for you and do all your housecleaning for you and do all your laundry for you and iron all your clothes for you. You are perfectly capable of doing those things for yourself. Babies and children, on the other hand, need constant care and supervision. I love you, Tony Nelson, but I am not going to baby you just because you're a man and I'm a woman and you think that cooking your own meals and doing your own laundry is beneath you. I want to be your wife, not your maid."

"Jeannie, I'm not marrying you because I want you to be my maid. It's just that the hospital can call you in any time of the day or night when they're shorthanded over there, and you're almost constantly at the hospital because of your job anyway. And like I said, I don't want to share you with your career. Furthermore, one of us has to be the breadwinner, and I make considerably more money than you do because I have many more years of experience than you, so it's only sensible for the breadwinner to be me."

"I understand your point, and I'm not any happier than you are that I have to be down at the hospital so much and that we can't see more of each other. But let me ask you something, Tony. If the tables were turned and it was me asking you to make a choice between your career at NASA or me, could you even begin to make a choice like that? That's the position you're putting me in. I've dreamed of becoming a nurse my whole life, just as you dreamed of becoming an astronaut your whole life. If you had to give up your career at NASA for me, we both know you'd really resent me for making you give up your life's dream. And even though your career also makes it hard for us to have quality time together sometimes, it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make because I love you far too much to ask you to throw your biggest dream away. All I'm asking is that you love me enough to do the same. All I'm asking for is a little reciprocity, here."

Tony then put his hands on Jeannie's upper arms, looked into her eyes, and said in a condescending voice, "Now, Jeannie, I know that the women's movement is confusing a lot of young women today by putting silly notions into their heads that they have to be men and do the things that it's the man's place to do. And I don't blame you for getting caught up in it. But I will not have some pushy, overbearing feminist as my wife, and that's final." And in the next moment, Tony kissed Jeannie on the cheek.

"Now wait a minute, Tony. Even though the feminist movement is wrong, horribly wrong, to promote torturing babies to death in the womb through the evil practice of abortion, there are many things that feminists are truly right about. Women should get equal pay for equal work. Women should have the same educational and career opportunities that men have always enjoyed. And having a satisfying career and being the family breadwinner aren't things that are just a man's place to do. Why should only men be allowed to chase after their lifelong dreams and have satisfying careers and have something for themselves beyond their home and family? Why can't women have those same things? Why is it that women are the ones who are always expected to have their whole world revolve around their husbands while men are allowed to have so much more than that?"

"Jeannie, I just told you that I want all this feminism stopped, and I meant it. Now you know, I've told you before, that when we get married on Valentine's Day of next year, I'm going to be the one to wear the pants in this family. You know I'll never mistreat you, but you also know that when you and I get married, I am going to be the head of our household, and that's all there is to it." He then planted a light kiss on Jeannie's lips, and he told her, "Now, come on. As you know, we've got dinner reservations this evening at that new French restaurant in town. We don't want to be late."

"Coming, Master," Jeannie responded with bitter sarcasm as she reluctantly followed Tony out to his car.

During the first few minutes of their drive, they just sat in Tony's car together in complete silence. The tension in the air was incredibly thick to say the least, and Tony could practically feel his young fiancée's anger at him just dripping off of her.

Finally, Tony looked over at Jeannie for a brief moment and asked in an exasperated tone, "Jeannie, are you going to be mad at me all night?"

But before Jeannie could respond to Tony's question, she saw headlights out of Tony's car window, heading straight for them. Immediately, she screamed, "TONY, LOOK OUT!"

It was then that the car, driven by a drunk driver, slammed right into Tony's car. In the next instant, both Tony and Jeannie sank into darkness.

"I just can't get over feeling like the whole thing is my fault," a tearful Jeannie told Dr. Bellows in his office two months later in November.

"Now, Jeannie, we've been through this."

"I know."

"The accident was never your fault, dear girl. Never."

"It's just that I can't get over the fact that in the very second before the crash happened, Tony turned his head to look over at me and didn't see that car heading for us. And why was he looking over at me? Because I was angry at him."

"Honey, we have been over this so many times. First of all, we both know that even if Major Nelson hadn't looked over at you in that one second, there still wouldn't have been enough time for him to get out of the path of that drunk driver. And second of all, it wasn't your fault that you were angry at him. It was his fault, and we both know that, too. I've seen you and Major Nelson together. I've seen how he treats you. He's a high and mighty astronaut whose career – and gender – have clearly gone to his head over the years. He treats you as if you're an object that he owns. Major Nelson and his desires and needs have always come ahead of yours. Always. He expects you to constantly put your needs and hopes and dreams aside for him; he expects your whole world to revolve around him and only him twenty-four-seven. We both know that you would never treat anybody the way Major Nelson has treated you."

Jeannie nodded and said, "Yes, Dr. Bellows, logically speaking, I know that everything you just said to me is true. I just can't seem to get that message through to my heart. I just can't help but feel that I should be the one in an irreversible coma and not Tony. Yes, Tony has his faults. Yes, he can be very selfish, sexist, and overbearing at times, but I know that underneath all that guff, he really does care for me. And he's such a brilliant, accomplished man. He even went up into outer space in May of this year. He's done things I can only dream of. It's so unfair that a little nobody like me got out of this horrific car crash with just two broken ribs and a few bruises and a slight concussion, and was able to recover from my injuries within several weeks, while an amazing man like Tony could be stuck in a coma for the rest of his life."

"My dear girl, you don't have to feel guilty because Major Nelson is in a coma and you aren't. And yes, you are very right when you say that the Major is a brilliant and accomplished man. He certainly is. But you shouldn't sell yourself short. You are a highly intelligent, gifted young lady who is warm and gentle, who constantly cares for the sick and injured and is always putting others ahead of yourself. I don't mean to be uncaring or harsh when I say this, but deep down, I do wonder if the crash might actually be a blessing in disguise for you. I'm certainly not glad that this horrific turn of events happened to Major Nelson, of course, but after meeting you and getting to know you as well as I have these past few months, I can't help but feel that the good Lord did not put you on this planet just to cook Major Nelson's meals for him and do his laundry for him and spend most of your life just waiting for him to come home from work. I don't say that to put down women who feel it's their calling to be a homemaker, of course. Some women genuinely are called to do that, and that's fine. But I can tell that you are not one of those women. Your calling is to be a nurse. The good Lord may even call you to go on to medical school in the future. I can already see it in you that you would, in fact, make a wonderful doctor someday. But back to my point, as difficult as this might be to imagine for you right now, Jeannie, it very well could be that this car crash is actually a kind of blessing for you, in a way. Even though the odds certainly aren't in his favor, I'm not giving up on the Major, and I know you aren't, either. We're both going to keep clinging to hope no matter what. But in the meantime, Major Nelson's coma basically leaves you with no choice but to start focusing on your life, on your needs and wants. Before the crash, you were prepared to throw your life dreams under the bus completely for Major Nelson. You were prepared to have your whole world revolve around him and him alone. But with the Major no longer conscious, you have no choice but to start focusing on yourself now, and that could be a very good thing for you in the long run."

Jeannie nodded and said, "I think I hear what you're saying."

"Good. Think about it, Jeannie. Think about everything I've said long and hard until our next session one week from now. And when you come back, we'll talk on it some more."

"Thank you, Dr. Bellows," Jeannie said quietly.

"You're more than welcome," Dr. Bellows told her in a warm voice, and then Jeannie nodded and got up from her seat and left his office. And as soon as she left, the older man shot up a prayer to Jesus for her. He'd come to faith in Christ as a child, but as an adult, it had been quite common for him to neglect his relationship with the Lord. But ever since Major Nelson's accident, ever since he'd begun counseling the Major's young fiancée, Dr. Bellows had found himself praying for the good Lord's help more than ever before. The weeks and months ahead were going to be very hard to say the least, and Dr. Bellows knew they'd need all the help they could get.