Chapter Nine

Aladdin gulped nervously as he watched the UPS truck pull out of the driveway. Watch the car, watch the car… okay. He let out a sigh of relief. Both he and the Genie had decided that a car would be the best mode of transportation in this situation (despite the general impracticalness of driving in the city), but Aladdin hadn't expected to receive what appeared to be the Genie's own dream car. It was interesting… to say the least.

After a nervous glance at the imposing house, Aladdin loosened his tie, glanced into the side mirror and took a deep breath. Cool, he told himself. Just play it cool, boy. Real cool. And ring the damn doorbell already. He did, and Jasmine opened the door almost immediately, with a package in her arms.

"Hey!" Aladdin leaned in for a kiss.

"Mmpf!" Jasmine vocalized. "Not here," she whispered, setting the package down on a small inlaid table and exchanging it for her floppy purse.

"Jasmine?" came another voice from the echoey hallway, followed by a figure- Officer Sultana.

"Who on earth is that creature?" And another figure apparantly. One Aladdin wasn't too pleased to see.

"Daddy, Jafar, this is Alan. Alan, my father, Faisal Sultana."

"Delighted, my boy," said Officer Sultana, shaking Aladdin's hand vigorously. Jafar cleared his throat impatiently.

Jasmine rolled her eyes. "And this is my father's deputy, Jafar."

"Thrilled," Jafar intoned dryly, ignoring Aladdin's extended hand. He turned to Jamine's father. "Sir, do you really find it wise to allow this…" Jafar droned on and Aladdin felt a sudden grip of panic. Surely Jafar recognized him. True, he couldn't expose Aladdin without incriminating himself, but still…

"Nonsense, Jafar. Alan seems like a fine boy. Now, you two go off before it's too late."

"Thank you, Daddy." Jasmine planted a quick kiss on her father's cheek and pulled the still-panic-stricken Aladdin out the door.

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"So… where are we going?" Jasmine asked excitedly as soon as Aladdin had parked the car, which promptly disappeared as soo as her back was turned.

"Well…" Aladdin pretended to think. "You like Indian food?"

"YES! Oh my gosh, how did you know?"

"Uh, lucky guess?" If luck comes in the form of a large blue Genie… "Okay, it's on this street. Look for a sort of yellowish building, it's called the Magic Carpet. Best Rice on this side of the Atlantic, trust me. The Pacific too."

"Sounds fabulous." Aladdin couldn't be happier with how well things were going. It's not gonna last, the nagging little voice in his head told him, but then, what do little voices know?

They found the Magic Carpet after a little… distraction. Afterwards, Aladdin didn't remember what he ordered or how it tasted. All he remembered as he led Jasmine back to his apartment was that curry-flavored kisses were infinitely better than ordinary ones.

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"Holy, mamasitas, who is this?"

"Omar…" Aladdin ground his heel into his friend's foot. "Remember, this is--"

"OW!"

"Sorry. This is Jasmine. Jasmine, this is Omar, the resident idiot."

"Filling those shoes since 1985," Bobby cut in from behind.

"The resident non-idiot. Bobby." He grinned and gestured chivalrously for Jasmine to enter.

Aladdin stepped in nervously after her. Compared with her place, the apartment looked so… dingy. He tried to picture what she would think of it: the plaid couch was faded and had several holes in it, one of which Bobby had chosen to stuff with the shreds of an essay he'd particularily disliked. The TV was a jumpy 80's model, the table's varnish was peeling. There weren't clothes all over the floor (thank God for small favors, Aladdin thought), but Bobby's glasses were duct-taped and Omar's shirt had clearly seen better days. Aladdin considered himself lucky that Jasmine didn't know that he actually lived here- they were only here because Bobby had insisted upon being introduced to Aladdin's "mystery girl". So Aladdin had told her that the apartment he'd brought her to last time belonged to Bobby, a relative/friend (technically true, Bobby's mom was Aladdin's foster mother), and Omar, his brother. Which was also technically true, Omar and Bobby were certainly close enough to be brothers. It just wasn't—

"It's perfect." Jasmine smiled and scooted closer to him on the couch. "I love it here," she whispered, almost as if she could read his mind. "And I like your… cousins?"

"Yeah," Aladdin said, relaxing a bit. "Cousins." Fortunately the 'cousins' had decided to leave them alone.

"Wouldn't it be nice? To live somewhere like this, I mean."

Nice? Not exactly the word that came to Aladdin's mind… "Maybe for a while. Not forever, though. I mean, not so long that you're stuck and you –" Aladdin stopped himself. "Yeah, you're right. It would be." He checked the watch the Genie had given him. "Ohhh shit. We'd better get going if I ever want to be able to take you out again." It would take at least half an hour to find the car and drive her home and they only had sixminutes until Jasmine's curfew… wait. "Uh, why don't you grab your stuff and start down the hall. I'm just going to… uh… say thanks to Bobby and Omar for having us. I'll catch up in a minute."

Jasmine gave him a quizzical look but went to go get her coat. At the same time, Aladdin ran to his room and grabbed the lamp.

"Genie? Genie, I need you to get me and Jasmine back to her house within… four minutes. Can you—"

"Four minutes? You can't rush art, my man."

"Genie. Please?" Aladdin paused. "Oh, and could you possibly do it without her knowing what happened?"

"Ach, the things I do for you, kid…"

"Please?"

"Okay, stand by…" The Genie rolled up his sleeves and…

… and Aladdin found himself and Jasmine back at her house. With the car. Score. Thanks, Genie, he thought as he kissed Jasmine goodnight. He watched dreamily as he stood outside, watching that she made it inside all right. Suddenly, he felt his back slam against the brick wall of the house.

"We need to talk, boy," snarled an uncomfortably familiar voice.

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A/N: Mwahaha, I did promise you a real chapter!! Sorry this took so long to crank out, as I said, I had finals to prep for and also I'm really not too fond of this chapter. As I may have mentioned, I don't really enjoy writing fluff but it needed to happen and… the story can go on now!!! Wheee! Thank you all again for your wonderful feedback and hopefully the next chapter will be quicker in coming! Oh, and also: anyone who caught the West Side Story reference wins one of Mrs Podbelski's Most Excellent Cookies. Ta ta!