Chapter Six:

A/N: Omg, I am SO sorry for leaving you all hanging this long! I guess life just got busy, and I was also having a bit of writers block. I recently received some inspiration as I was lucky enough to meet Barbara Eden herself, and let me tell you, she is just as lovely and sweet as she is on screen. Well, let me know what you think!

Tony returned home from the base after speaking to Roger, though he had stayed a little longer than he had planned. Once he had broken the news to Roger, he just couldn't stop his feelings about Jeannie's behaviour and how he was coping with losing the baby from pouring out. He was also hurting, but he was trying to put his hurt aside and just be there for Jeannie. He would eventually deal with the situation and grieve for their baby, hopefully together, but first he had to get through to Jeannie.

'Jeannie?' He called as he walked through the door.

After all that followed was silence, Tony set about trying to find her. This task was almost impossible with Jeannie, as unlike any other woman, when she wanted to be alone; the only way you could find her was if she came to you. Still, Tony checked all the obvious places she might be (well, for a Genie anyway).

After coming up empty, Tony decided to get dinner ready, and then continue his search. He needed to find her soon as Dr. Bellows would be arriving not long after they were due to have their dinner. He had told Dr. Bellows to show up as if it were an unexpected visit. He did not want Jeannie feeling like they were all trying to gang up on her.

Continuing his search, Tony came to the conclusion that Jeannie was not in the house. He then decided to head to the beach. One of Jeannie's favourite places other than her bottle was the beach. And Tony was not to be disappointed.

Jeannie was sitting on the sand, her knees drawn into her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs, looking out into the waves. As he got closer, he could see her mind was elsewhere, her face void of any emotion.

'Jeannie,' He said softly, sitting next to her, 'what are you doing out here?'

Her facial expressions changed so fast, that if he hadn't been watching her so closely he would have missed it. Not ten seconds ago she was emotionless, and suddenly, when she heard her husband's voice, immediately put on her biggest smile. If it had been anyone else, they might have bought it, except, this wasn't just anyone. Tony knew her well enough now to know when her smile was real or not, and unfortunately for Jeannie, her eyes gave her away. There was just no spark of happiness in them at all.

'Oh, hi Darling. I was just getting some fresh air before I started dinner.' She said, as she started to slowly get up, mindful of her injuries.

'No need to, Jeannie. I thought I would cook dinner for you for once. Come on, let's go eat.' Tony said as he helped her up.

While they were walking back to the house, Tony decided to try to get her to open up just a little bit.

'How are you feeling?'

'Oh, just fine,' Came Jeannie's predicted answer.

Tony gently placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks.

'Look, Jeannie, I know what you've been through was severely traumatic, and nothing I say or do can make it any better, but I just want to remind you that I'm here for you. I love you, I always will, and I just can't stand to see you like this. You're not yourself anymore, and I just don't know what to do to help you. Please open up.' He all but begged.

'What are you talking about, Anthony? I feel just fine. My injuries will heal soon.' She said, as she started to walk back to the house, clearly trying to end this conversation.

'Jeannie, wait! How can you say you're fine? You hardly eat, you've got bags under your eyes from not sleeping enough, and you won't talk to me about what happened. If we are going to move passed this, we need to talk. You shouldn't be bottling you're feelings up. We may have lost a baby we didn't even know we had, but I feel like I'm losing you too.'

The whole time Tony had been speaking, Jeannie had stopped in her tracks, but had yet to turn around. After he had finished, silently hoping that this conversation would finally be their stepping stone to healing from this tragedy, he waited for some kind of response from her.

Finally she turned around, and he knew straight away he was out of luck, though she finally had some real emotion playing on her face: anger.

'I am fine, and I don't know how many times I have to say it! There is nothing to move passed! We lost a baby we didn't even know existed. We hadn't even grown to love it, so why should I feel the need to talk about it? Now that we've talked, I'm going to serve dinner.' And with that, Jeannie marched off without another word.

Throughout dinner, the air was filled with awkward silences and the tension was so thick it could be cut with a sharp knife. While Jeannie cleared the dinner table, even with Tony's insistence that she should rest, the door bell rang. Dr. Bellows had arrived right on time.

Opening the door to greet their guest, Tony was glad he had a trained professional to turn to when he really has no idea what to do himself.

'Well good evening, Dr. Bellows. What a pleasant surprise! Won't you come in?'

'Thank you, Major. I'm sorry to intrude on your evening like this but I just wanted see how everything is. It really is quiet without you at the base, you know.'

'Well, come in Sir. Let me fix you some coffee and let Jeannie know you're here.'

The idea of having Dr. Bellows come and talk to Jeannie was really quite unsuccessful. Though he tried to bring up the topic of both the accident and the baby, Jeannie would side step both topics and quickly moved onto another one. Dr. Bellows, was, however, able to see first hand how Jeannie was dealing with recent events, and while she was busy, once again, clearing up the dishes, he gave his findings to her concerned husband.

'She seems to be scared to show her true feelings. Despite what she said to you about not having the chance to love this child, it's obvious she did. I think she feels like she's to blame for what happened, and in turn, she probably believes that you blame her too. She probably feels like a failure as a wife.'

'I tried to get her to talk to me, but-'

'So now you're going behind my back since I won't talk to you?' Jeannie suddenly interrupted. 'Well, don't let me interrupt, I'm going out.' And with that, she breezed passed Tony and Dr. Bellows, and out the door, slamming it behind her.

'Jeannie!' Tony yelled, running after her, but when he opened the door, she was already gone.

A/N: So I'm one of these people that just writes what comes to mind. I don't usually have a real plan with my stories; I just go with the flow. However, if anyone has any ideas of where they would like this story to go, feel free to leave a comment! =)