A/N: Well, what can I say. Life is difficult?

Disclaimer: Don't own anybody. Well, I do own a few people. Haillie, Jala, Sorrah, (sort-of), the Sultana, (sort-of), Taabish, Cadi, the Sultana's 'son', and whoever else that you don't know. Oh yes. The press, and the violent threesome of girls. shudder Good thing they don't know that if they combined along with my little sister they could take over the world.

Wow. Disclaimer was longer than the Author's Note? jots down in archives

Chapter 28

Awkward

(Jafar)

I just couldn't.

I just couldn't, wouldn't get used to Jala being human. I couldn't very well reverse the wish now, but Jala human was just pushing my limits to beyond their limits.

At first, it was very agonizing, trying to figure out why the fact that Jala was flesh and bone bothered me so much. It was the seventh day after the transformation that I finally figured it out.

Jala walked into the room just as I was climbing out of my tiny bed. I had gotten used to her daily appearances two days ago, when I stopped expecting green mist to be waving over the now-empty genie lamp on the table.

"How soon do you think a genie will take your place in the lamp?" I asked casually. Jala narrowed her still kohl-painted eyes suspiciously at me. "Jafar, you're so greedy. You had me, Haillie, and now you want another genie?"

I shook my head quickly. "No, it's just…well, I'd like to know if another mystical being is going to be involved with us anytime soon." Jala smiled. "I forgot to say…there is a limit to the time a lamp can be used. This lamp is probably one of the oldest still existing in Agrabah. I don't think any more genies will be making a visit anytime soon."

I nodded agreeably.

"Are you sure?"

I had done so many wrongs in my life that Allah would probably just grace me with a curse. Admittedly, I deserved it.

Jala seemed to have sensed my thoughts. "Taqabbala Allahu minna wa minkum," she murmured to me softly, putting one of her delicate hands over my shoulder. Fire seemed to erupt from the place where she had touched me, and I involuntarily flinched back.

The former genie looked crestfallen. I didn't blame her.

That was when it struck me: I felt whole. Not as in literally, but there was a space in my figurative heart that had never been filled, not since my mother…Love.

I automatically flinched back form the word. It was poisonous and seething and evil. No. That was what I was. Love was the exact opposite, and I shied away from it, my ultimate downfall.

The exact time when I discovered that I loved Jala didn't come to me, but I was quite sure why. Jala was lovely, not only on the outside, wreathed as she was in graceful emerald green robes. Her HEART was beautiful, practically radiating with love while mine was that of a fallen angel.

"Jafar? Are you still alive?" Jala was saying, looking half mad and half amused.

"Or maybe you really are deaf," she commented at my blank look.

Then she softened. I absently touched the burning spot where her hand had been. "Jafar…" said Jala softly. "Hn?" I replied.

"Now that I'm human, can we be friends?" I was startled by the innocence in her voice. "What?" Jala looked stricken. "I said, can we be friends? You know, 'two people joined by a special bond', as the dictionary states."

"Of…of course we can be…f-friends," I said the word, my tongue unfamiliar with it.

"But I was hoping for a little more," I added quietly. Jala's head snapped up. "What?"

"Er, nothing, nothing at all," I replied smoothly, gliding up. What was /that/? Who had possessed me to say that? Was I /dreaming/ or was I just clinically insane? Jafar, THE Jafar, did not say that to anybody.

"No, you said something," Jala insisted. I whirled. "I didn't say anything, understand?"

Jala had stood up too. I noticed that she was nearly as tall as I was. Wow. That was impressive. Her frame was slim. Her eyes were a lovely, almost transparent green.

Her robes swished as she took a large step forward, nearly pressed against me. She smelled like jasmines. I tried not to do anything rash.

"Well, perhaps I can coax you to say it again? After all, I can be poor of hearing," she murmured shyly.

Now that was a lie if I had ever heard one. Jala? Poor of hearing? My butt.

Jala wrapped me in a warm, affectionate hug. My reflexes pulled back. Unfortunately, Jala was unbelievably strong for somebody of her size. "Now, what was that you said again?"

"Um…"

All rational thoughts fled my mind.

Jala's hands draped loosely across my shoulders. There was that fire again. I wondered where the burn came from…it seemed suitable to be that of a large woodland fire's. I bit my lip, my eyes widening.

Next thing I knew, Jala pulled my head down and kissed me softly. It was sweet and full, and though my body jerked violently to the sudden show of affection, my mind melted and failed to think anymore.

A/N: Ok, if that was totally out of character, then believe me, I KNOW. Try writing Jafar falling in love sometime. THE Jafar here, oh yeah.

Taqabbala Allahu minna wa minkum: May Allah accept from us, and from you.