When I woke up Friday morning I actually felt pretty good, apart from the sprained ankle that is. It was impressive what a good night's sleep spent cuddling my girlfriend could do for my mood. In fact I felt good enough that I was determined to head into the office and get some work done.

  With a little help from Jenna I got dressed and ready to go, then she conjured up a nice light breakfast for the both of us. And after that I called myself a ride-share, and finally hobbled my way into the building on my crutch.

  I'd only just reached my desk though when my coworker saw my condition.

  "Woah!" he excimed as he emerged from his office. "Vikki what happened to you? And what are you doing here, why aren't you at home recovering?"

  I grimaced, "Hi Jason. Somebody drove into the side of my Jeep yesterday, then took off and left me in a ditch. Don't worry about me though, ok? It's not as bad as it looks."

  He frowned, "It's bad enough you've got a bck eye and you're on crutches! Did you break anything?"

  "Just my new car," I sighed as I turned on my computer. "As for me it's only a sprained ankle and a few bumps and bruises."

  Jason's frown got a little deeper as he stated, "There's nothing 'only' about any of that. I'll bet the doctor told you to take it easy, and to stay off the ankle. You should be at home resting and recovering, not coming into the office and making things worse for yourself."

  "I'll try not to walk around that much," I protested. "I can do my job from my desk here Jason, I'm not going to hurt myself by sitting down all day."

  He shook his head, "Sorry Vikki but there's nothing here that's so important it's worth your health. You'll be more comfortable and recover faster at home, and I know you know that."

  "So either you let me take you straight home right now," he added, "Or I'm going to call Erin and disturb her vacation so she can tell you to go home right now."

  For a moment I thought about arguing, but he looked like he was serious. So instead I asked, "Can you give me a half hour first? Since I'm here I'd like to check my messages and set up an auto-responder on my email. And I'd like to call the Walkers, the accident happened just as I got to their pce so we never had our meeting yesterday after all."

  Jason thought it over for a second before agreeing, "Thirty minutes Vikki, not a second more. Then I'm bundling you up in my truck and taking you home myself."

  "Thanks Jason," I responded with a little sigh. Then while he retreated back into his office I got on with the handful of urgent things I needed to take care of.

  First off I emailed my insurance people with all the information about the collision. Although I vaguely remembered giving my insurance information to the people who hauled my Jeep away, so maybe they already knew about the crash. Then I set up my voicemail and email to indicate I'd be out of the office for a little while due to medical reasons. And finally I gave June Walker a call.

  "Hello Miss Lawrence," the older woman greeted me. She sounded worried as she asked, "How are you doing? You looked to be in rough shape yesterday when you left with the ambunce."

  I grimaced, "I'll be fine, thank you for asking. My car took the worst of it I think. That's actually why I'm calling? I was wondering if we could reschedule our meeting to ter next week?"

  "Ah," Mrs. Walker hesitated. "I hate to say it but Bill had another run-in with one of those werewolves yesterday. You probably didn't notice the young man snooping around our property while you were busy with the police and ambunce attendants. I have no idea what's got our neighbours so riled up this time, but when Bill called to speak with Ms. Tate yesterday evening they were incredibly rude to him. And unfortunately my husband didn't take that well, so things got a little heated..."

  She sighed, "Anyways I suppose what I'm trying to say is we have no idea if their offer is still on the table or not. So rather than meet next week, how about we pn for a telephone call? Hopefully the werewolves will have settled down by then, so we can have a civil conversation with them."

  I stifled a sigh as I replied, "Very well Mrs. Walker, thank you for letting me know. I'll make a note to call you, maybe next Thursday? Or if you have news before then, feel free to call me any time."

  "Of course Miss Lawrence," she responded. "I hope you're feeling better soon, enjoy your weekend!"

  With that it felt like a bad situation had just gotten worse. It was bad enough the accident happened on the way out there for work, but now it seemed like it was all for nothing. Unless the werewolves changed their minds yet again.

  It took me another few minutes to go through the rest of my messages, then I finally said "Jason? I think I'm all done here for now."

  "Alright Vikki," he replied. "I'll be ready to go in half a minute."

  My coworker locked the front door and put up the 'be back soon' sign, then the two of us headed out back to the staff parking. He helped me up into the passenger seat of his big pick-up, then made sure I was comfortable and everything before closing the door.

  I still wasn't entirely used to this new and improved Jason McTavish, but I definitely appreciated the drive back home. I had to give him directions since he didn't actually know where I lived, either the apartment or the new pce.

  "Oh this looks really cosy," he commented as we pulled into the driveway. "Are you and your girlfriend settling in ok?"

  I smiled, "Yeah it is. And yes, we are. And thank you for the drive Jason."

  He shook his head as he got out, "Don't mention it. Just promise me you'll take it easy over the weekend, ok? Look after yourself."

  "I'll try," I replied as he helped me out of the passenger seat.

  Then he insisted on walking me up to the front door as he told me, "If you're not feeling up to it then don't feel obligated to come in on Monday either. Give me a call or something though, let me know how you're doing. Ok Vikki?"

  "All right Jason," I agreed. "And thanks again, I appreciate the lift."

  He just nodded, then got back in his pickup and headed away while I opened up the front door and made my way inside.

  "Vikki?" my girlfriend called from our big patial bathroom. "Is that you? Is everything ok?"

  I called up to her, "Hi Jenna. Everything's fine, don't worry. My coworker Jason scolded me for coming into work while I was injured. He insisted I come home and get better instead."

  My genie girlfriend called back, "Good for him! Wanna join me? I'm having a soak in the pool. That might be good for you ankle?"

  As tempting as that sounded I'd already decided what I wanted was to put my legs up and chill on the sofa. So I responded, "Maybe next time? I'm just going to rex on the sofa for now."

  Before getting myself comfortable I hobbled may way into the kitchen and got a soda and a bottle of water, then carefully headed over to the living-room. I moved the coffee table a little closer to the sofa, then finally sat down and gently lifted my leg up.

  Soon enough I was comfy, with a throw pillow behind my back and another one under my injured ankle. I had the TV remote in one hand and my co in the other, while my phone and water bottle were both in easy reach. And I let myself rex as I sipped my drink and began surfing through the daytime television shows.

  By the time Jenna came downstairs I'd settled on some cooking contest rerun, where professional chefs raced against the clock to come up with gourmet dishes using mystery ingredients they received at the start of the competition.

  My genie smiled when she saw me ying on the sofa, "Wow! You're actually taking it easy! I was positive I'd find you down here working from home, with your tablet or ptop or something."

  "Well now that you mention it," I teased as I made like I was about to get up.

  Her eyes widened and she shook her head, "No no no! Keep doing the rexing thing!"

  "Ok ok," I giggled as I settled back on the sofa once again.

  My girlfriend pouted when she realized I'd been joking, then she moved over to the big chair next to the windows. She sat crosslegged and sideways so she was facing me and asked, "Are you feeling ok? You're not in pain are you?"

  I shrugged, "My ankle aches a bit, but it's not bad. I guess everyone's right about keeping weight off it?"

  Jenna nodded, but before she could respond my phone pinged with an email. Then as I reached out to pick it up she frowned at me, "That better not be work."

  "I'm just going to check," I told her. "If it's not urgent I'll ignore it."

  "Fine," she sighed.

  The email turned out not to be urgent, but it was from my insurance company. So I opened it up, then my heart sank as soon as I saw what it said.

  According to the email they'd already heard from the auto shop where my Jeep had been taken. And apparently the insurance people took one look at the report and made the decision to write it off. I didn't think it looked that bad to me when it was hauled out of the ditch yesterday, but the insurance company cimed the repairs would be too expensive to justify for a three year old second-hand vehicle.

  The email went on to list all the damage, including a slightly bent frame, bent front bumper, damaged rear quarter panel, broken headlights, and so on. Finally the fact that the airbag had blown meant that would have to be repced, which was another costly process due to the safety concerns.

  The message ended with some details about how they'd process the cim, what I needed to do next, and who to contact if I had any questions.

  Even after I'd read through the whole email I found myself continuing to stare at my phone while it all slowly sank in. And I started thinking about how I'd have to begin my search for a vehicle all over again. I remembered how it took me months to even get started the first time around. And when I finally found my Jeep I was happy with it. It was my first car, I'd earned it all by myself, and I was proud of it.

  Now only three weeks ter and through no fault of my own it was gone. The money I'd spent on it, the time I'd put into finding it, and the joy I had driving it, all that was lost. And the more I thought about that, the more my emotions churned.

  Somehow I'd managed to stay pretty calm through the entire ordeal. The crash, waiting for the ambunce, talking to the police, watching my car get dragged out of the ditch then towed away, going to the hospital, I'd kept my emotions in check for all of that. And when I finally got home afterwards it was Jenna who'd broken down in tears. So I remained level-headed and looked after my girlfriend while she dealt with all the difficult emotions.

  Except it turned out I hadn't kept my feelings in check, I'd only been putting them off. And now, as I sat and stared at the email informing me that my shiny new bck Jeep was no more, I felt all those emotions come back with a vengeance.

  My eyes pooled up, then the tears started to flow, and finally the crying began. It wasn't long before Jenna noticed, and next thing I knew my phone was on the coffee table and my girlfriend was in my arms, holding me as I hugged her against my chest.

  In between my sobs I told her about the email, that the insurance people were writing off my Jeep which meant it was gone for good. In response she pnted a few little kisses on my cheeks, then whispered that she loved me and that everything would be ok.

  It took me a good five minutes to get all the tears out of my system, then when the crying finally subsided I couldn't help feeling embarrassed.

  I sniffed, "Sorry about that. I don't know why that set me off so much? I know it's only a car."

  "It's ok Vikki," my genie responded in a gentle compassionate tone. "It's not just any car, it's your car. And it's not fair that they're taking it away from you."

  "Yeah," I sighed. "You're right. It's not fair at all."

  It wasn't my fault some guy hit it with his pickup truck, and I wasn't the one who decided my car wasn't worth the cost of getting it repaired. I felt another little wave of sadness at the injustice of it all, then sniffed again as I began "I wish the -"

  "No," Jenna stated softly as she pressed a finger over my lips. "No wasting a wish on this one. Like I said st night, you're my girlfriend and I want to help you any way I can."

  My eyes widened slightly as I realized what just happened. I hadn't even been thinking about her magic, and I certainly hadn't meant to use the W word. Beyond that I couldn't help feeling surprised, at the fact that she'd stopped me.

  Meanwhile she lowered her finger and continued, "So I'm going to make this right for you Vikki. I promise. If those meanies at the insurance company won't fix your car, I'll do it myself."

  For just a moment I thought about protesting. I knew there was a bunch of paperwork already in pce, the insurance company were doing their thing, and if my Jeep magically appeared back in my driveway completely fixed it might lead to some uncomfortable questions in the near future. But in the moment, I decided I really didn't care. Those were problems for another day.

  So I gave my girlfriend a weak smile as I replied, "Thank you Jenna. I really appreciate that."

  "You're welcome Vikki," she smiled back.

  And since the two of us were still hugging, we followed that little exchange with another kiss. Or two, or twenty.

  PurpleCatGirl