Roger recognized the voice instantly and blinked, desperate to get them both away. Nothing happened. He tried again, several more times, but for some reason his magic wouldn't work. His eyes darted to the door they'd come through. "Jean, run.run *now*," he urged, pushing her towards it.

Two cages materialized, one around each of them, before they'd gotten two steps. Jean's was steel, but Roger's looked like it was made of some type of crystal. He pushed at the bars; not only didn't they give, but he felt a wave of dizziness go through him when he tried. He moved back to the middle of the cage and the sensation passed.

"Well well well," said the voice again, as a dark-haired woman in greenish harem garb appeared out of thin air. "We meet again."

"Roger?" Jean asked nervously, staring at the stranger.

"Jeannie's sister," he mumbled. "It's Jeannie's sister."

The woman stalked over to his cage. "Yes, it's Jeannie's sister. Long time no see, Major. Is it still Major? I can never remember.I just can't keep track of all these silly military titles you people like to use." She glanced over at Jean. "And you brought a friend with you. How nice."

"What do you want with me," he said, trying to keep his voice steady.

"And your friend calls you Roger too.isn't that sweet? I'll bet she doesn't even know why you want her to do that. But if you're intent on using that name, I suppose you'd be more comfortable in something else." She blinked, and suddenly he was wearing his army uniform, complete with hat, insignia, and astronaut's wings. He yanked off the nametag, shoving it into a pocket before Jean could see it.

She smiled, then turned to Jean. "Do you even know who this man is?"

"No," she whispered, her eyes wide.

"It doesn't really matter now, does it Major? All that's in the past. Ancient history." She addressed Jean again. "I always knew he was stupid -- you should be glad that I sent him that fake summons from Hadji. Don't worry, dear, I've probably saved you from a fate worse than death."

Jean was eyeing her uneasily. "What do you mean?"

She gestured at her captive. "Him. He's not just an idiot, he's a dangerous idiot.and I'm going to see to it that he's never a danger to anyone, ever again."

"Ever again?" he repeated warily, taking off his hat. "That's kind of final, don't you think-"

She whirled around. "Yes. It's very final. That's what 'never' and 'ever again' mean. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to trap you in another bottle and send it to the bottom of the ocean, where no-one will ever find you; or if I should just leave you in that cage until it sucks all your magic and then your life out of you."

Roger recoiled from the bars, now that he knew they were sapping his strength as well as his magical power. "I don't understand why you're doing this.what did I ever do to you?"

"What did you ever do to me?" she shot back. "Aside from ruining my plans to have Major Nelson? Aside from almost having to marry you? What do you think?" she snarled. "This is to pay you back for what happened to my *sister*."

Roger's face fell. "No," he said, shaking his head. "That wasn't-"

"That wasn't your fault? Is that what you were about to say?" she sneered. "Your excuses won't work with me any more than they worked with Hadji. You're lucky you've lived *this* long."

"Excuse me," Jean said pleadingly, from behind her metal bars. "I don't understand. What's going on? What did Roger do?"

The female genie sighed. "And here I thought that since she was a college girl, she was one of the brainy ones." She leaned forward, as if about to share some office gossip with her. "Didn't he tell you? Your genie killed my sister, as well as her master -- who happened to be his best friend, not that it saved him in the end."

Roger shook his head, horrified. "No, it was the accident.none of us knew what that ruby could do, we didn't know it was cursed."

"All you saw was a chance to get rich," she accused. "That's why *you* stole it from the Cave of the Aurora when the three of you were in Bucharest."

"I didn't know." he protested weakly.

"You misbegotten son of a hyena, do not dare to contradict me," she said, her eyes flashing dangerously. "Were it not for you, my sister and her master would still be alive."

"That isn't fair, I was-"

"Greedy. Selfish. How do you think he ended up a genie?" she said to his Mistress. "It was a punishment."

"A punishment?" Jean said in confusion, looking at Roger like she'd never seen him before.

"A punishment for the death of one of Hadji's favorites.and a means to replace my sister."

"I thought you didn't even like your sister," he countered. By this point he wasn't really thinking clearly, and he didn't know what else to say.

"I didn't," she snapped, her voice rising. "But she was my *sister*!"

Roger grabbed the bars again, not caring what it would do to him. "Do you honestly think I would have taken that ruby if I'd known what could happen? Do you think that if there was any way I could go back and change things that I wouldn't?" he shouted back. "Do you think that every night since this happened I don't fall asleep wondering why I'm still alive when they're not, and hating myself for it?"

The woman's face froze. She stared at him as if she'd been struck; her lips were parted, but nothing came out. A single tear formed in one eye, sliding down her cheek, only to be followed by another, and another, and another.

Roger, shocked by his own admission of guilt and even more shocked by the other genie's reaction, felt his throat tighten as the emotions that had been pushed back for so long finally forced their way to the surface. He bowed his head.

"It was my fault, all of it," he whispered, wiping at his eyes. "I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry. My God, if I could bring them back."

The woman in green just nodded, still unable to speak. She took his hand through the bars and gripped it; he held onto hers just as tightly. They stayed that way for a while, eyes closed and unspeaking, sharing their grief over something that neither of them could mend.

Jean was watching them, dumbfounded. She was so caught up in what was going on that she wasn't even startled when an older man in genie's garb materialized in front of them, with a few muscle-men in turbans at his side.

"Hadji?" Jean guessed, from behind the cage door.

"Yes, child. How very perceptive of you," he smiled. Then he cleared his throat, waiting for the other two to notice him.

Roger shot up when he saw him, pulling his hand back. "Hadji." The woman in green, still dabbing her eyes, also stood a little straighter when she faced him.

"Is there a problem here, with my newest genie and my most cunning genie?" he asked, gazing between the two of them. "I should think that old differences were to be put aside, especially since the coming of a new millennium."

"I am sorry, Hadji," said the female genie, in hushed tones.

"There is nothing to be sorry for, child," he said. "You did not harm the one you felt had harmed you. You have passed my test."

She looked up in surprise. "You knew?" she asked.

He nodded. "I knew."

"Then why did you let me."

"I wanted to see how you would respond to the test. You did well.when you learned for yourself how your colleague felt, you relented. You let him live."

Roger smiled thankfully and tried to speak, but his proximity to the bars had weakened him. He stumbled, then slumped to the floor.

Jean's eyes widened. "Please, get him out of there -- it's making him sick."

The woman in green put her hand to her mouth in surprise, then blinked. Both of the cages vanished, and Jean hurried to Roger's side. "Roger, are you OK?"

"I'm OK," he murmured. "Are you?"

"Yes, I'm fine.I was really worried about you for a minute," she said, helping him sit up. "Are you positive? I remember that when I kicked you, you said you were, but you really weren't."

"This time I am," he promised her. "Thank you."

"I'm sorry, Maj -- I mean Roger," the other genie said, finally using his name instead of the title. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Well, I have this splitting headache," he replied, rubbing at the place where his skull had hit the ground. "Could you do something about that?"

"Yes." She blinked, and the pain was gone. "Is that better?"

"Perfect," he sighed. "Can you put my clothes back the way they were too?"

"Of course," she replied, and he was back in normal twenty-first century (civilian) attire.

"And now that everything seems to be sorted out," mused Hadji, "Perhaps this would be a good time to discuss the work of my newest genie after all."

"Oh sir, I don't think this would be the best time." Roger began, thinking how (in the course of the past 24 hours) he'd managed to almost get his Mistress into all sorts of trouble, and could have gotten her killed by a genie bent on revenge against him. "Maybe I could have my review after my first week on the job?"

"Do not worry, Roger, you're doing fine.compared to some of my other genies when they first began their service," he said, glancing at Jeannie's sister (who casually looked in the other direction). Then he addressed her directly. "Is there anything you want to add, before you get back to work too?"

"Well," she said to Jean, with the hint of a smile on her face. "I suppose you do have a halfway decent genie after all. But watch out for him.he's easily distracted, and he has the common sense of a gnat."

"I prefer to think of it as not being bound by one-dimensional thinking," he replied.

"Miss Mackenzie? Do you have any thoughts on your genie's performance?" asked Hadji. "You do have the right to order him back into his bottle when he displeases you, you know. And if he truly displeases you, you may relinquish control of the bottle to another, or simply 'lose' the bottle.on purpose."

Jean rubbed her chin, as if considering her options.

Roger looked at his Mistress plaintively. Even after all the mishaps and missteps between them, he still wanted to stay with her. "Mistress, you wouldn't want to get rid of me, now would you?" he pleaded. "I can do better, I really can-"

Jean shook her head and laughed. "Jeez, Rog, can you stop with the puppy- dog eyes?" she asked, grinning. "Of course I'm not going to get rid of you. How could I do that? We're buds now, right?"

"Buds?" he repeated.

"You know, buddies. Friends. Like Annie and Gary and the others."

"Oh. OK," he said in relief. "Thank you Mistress, thank you, you won't be disappointed."

"Good for you. Now, you should all probably be running along; none of you want to be missed by your fellows." said Hadji.

"Goodbye, Roger. It was nice to see you again," said Jeannie's sister, sounding slightly embarrassed. Still, it was the warmest thing she'd ever said to him.

"We'll have to do this again sometime. Well, not exactly this, but something like it."

"That sounds lovely. Besides, I have all kinds of helpful hints for new genies," she replied conspiratorially. "I'll be in touch." With that, she blinked and vanished.

Roger turned to Jean. "Are you ready, Mistress?" he asked, folding his arms and preparing to blink.

"Yes, I am," she said. "Let's go home."

He smiled. "Home," he pronounced firmly.and then they were back in Jean's room.

Jean fell back on the bed, stretching luxuriously. "Man, it's good to be here."

"You said it," he agreed. "You'll probably be wanting to study now, so I'll just."

"I don't know about you, but I'm not really in the mood for studying," she replied thoughtfully. "I could use a rest, but maybe later on we could go to one of those fun places you were talking about last night."

Roger brightened. "Oh Mistress, that will be wonderful. You rest for a while, and then when you're ready we can go out; I won't disturb you until then," he said, going over to the shelf with his bottle. "We'll have a great time, I promise."

"I'm sure we will," she said, watching as he turned to blue smoke and disappeared back into the bottle.

After he was gone, Jean reached into the front pocket of her khakis, and pulled out what she'd seen Roger hide from her. Curious, she'd taken it from his jacket pocket when she'd helped him sit up; still weakened from his time in the cage, he hadn't even noticed. Now, though, she was free to examine it.

She was surprised to see that it was only a nametag. "Healey," she read softly, her brow furrowing. Something about it and the uniform seemed familiar, but she just couldn't place it.

She frowned, still staring down at the nametag. "Healey," she said again, and shook her head. "Now *where* have I heard that name before..?"

The End.