"So about Sherry," I said as I put my pte aside then picked up my wine gss again. "Would it be possible to completely heal her, without her having to know about magic or genies or the supernatural?"

  Jenna had a thoughtful look on her face as she sat cross-legged next to me on the big bck leather sofa. She was quietly munching on the st of her garlic bread, but when she was finished she replied, "Sure. I've told you before that's how my magic words. Normally the only ones who're aware of it are me and my master."

  "Like with Mr. McTavish," she added. "You made that wish in front of him and a few other people at the open house, and nobody ever noticed. Not even him."

  Before I could respond she continued, "Except your boss knows about me. And she knows you're thinking about doing this. So if her wife suddenly recovers or goes into remission or heals up from whatever's wrong with her, Erin's going to know what happened Vikki. Even if she can't prove it, she'll know."

  "Yeah," I sighed. "But I'm not talking about doing this behind Erin's back. I promised her I wouldn't do that. I just hope she'll keep her promise and think about it. And I really hope she changes her mind and lets us help."

  We were still down in our new games room, but since Jenna's friends had to leave we ended up skipping the party idea. Neither of us felt like having a date night either, so we decided to have a 'girls night in' instead. I heated up some store-bought sagna we had in the freezer, and Jenna poofed up a big basket of fresh garlic bread to go with it.

  Then over dinner I told her all about what happened at work this afternoon, with Erin wanting me to take over the business while she looked after her wife. I also told my girlfriend about my boss's fear of the supernatural, and how she didn't want to accept any kind of magical help even though it could save Sherry's life.

  And fortunately my genie was taking the matter seriously. She wasn't acting silly or being her usual impulsive happy-go-lucky self. She listened to what I had to say, and took my concerns and my boss's feelings to heart.

  After draining the st of my wine I asked, "Will you tell me what you did for Sophie Kovalenko? I know you said we made her very happy, but how exactly? And is that something you could do for Erin and Sherry?"

  Another thoughtful frown settled on Jenna's face as she had a big gulp of her co. She finally shrugged, "I gave her three wishes. I made it clear I wasn't her genie and that it was a limited time offer, since I didn't want her to try and have me stick around for ages like some masters do. I also told her that her wishes were a gift from my girlfriend, but I was careful not to use your name."

  "I had no idea you could do that," I responded as I stared at her in surprise. "Is that a normal genie thing? Like could someone wish for more wishes? Or does it only work if they wish for someone else to get three wishes?"

  Then I frowned, "Or did her three count against the ones you gave me? I um, I know I never really intended to use them, but does that mean mine are all gone now?"

  My girlfriend smiled as she scootched over to cuddle up against my side. And in return I wrapped an arm around her so I had her in a nice gentle side-hug.

  Then she shook her head as she leaned it against my shoulder and replied softly, "I've already told you that we can kind of make up our own rules about some of those things? So if someone asks for more wishes we can just say no if we want. Same with someone gifting their wishes to someone else."

  "And since you set me free I have even more leeway when it comes to those sorts of rules," my genie continued. "You wished we could do something to make it up to Sophie. So I decided giving her three wishes of her own would be the best and funnest way to grant your wish. But that didn't take away any of your wishes. You still have three more left."

  I gave Jenna a gentle squeeze as I said, "Thanks for expining all that love. So um, I don't suppose you'd tell me what Sophie wished for?"

  "If it's private then don't worry about it," I added quickly. "I'm just curious, but I don't need to know."

  She cuddled in a little tighter against my side then shook her head again, "It's private. Sorry Vikki. She didn't wish for anything bad though."

  After a pause she added, "Um, her first wish was simple and practical and had to do with her job. The second wish was kind of... There was monetary value, but nothing outrageous. And the st one was uh... Let's say it had to do with her physical appearance, and maybe some health stuff?"

  "Thanks Jenna," I gave her another little squeeze, then turned and leaned in to follow that up with a kiss. Then as I rexed again I asked, "So could we do something like that for Erin and Sherry? Like hypothetically, if I used the W word and phrased it so they'd get some wishes, would that be ok?"

  Once again my genie thought it over for a few moments before answering. Then she shrugged, "I suppose so? Even so, there's no guarantee they'll use them. If Erin's as scared of me and my magic as you say, she might refuse to go along with it."

  I frowned, "Right. Like that old saying, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. Anyways I wouldn't do it at all unless Erin agreed to it."

  Jenna pulled free then sat up and turned so she was facing me and asked, "Will you really give up and do nothing, if your boss says no?"

  "I don't..." my voice trailed off as I frowned again. Then I sighed and my shoulders slumped, "I honestly don't know? Part of the problem is I don't actually know what's wrong with Sherry, Erin wouldn't say. So I don't know what they're facing, or what's going on. She's always seemed ok whenever I've seen her, but I know she could just be masking. Or maybe I only see her when she's having a good day."

  With another sigh I added, "I think if Erin says no then I'll just try harder to get through to her. It's... The whole thing's complicated and I respect Erin a lot, I owe her so much and I don't want to lose her as a friend and mentor. But I don't want to see Sherry suffer or die when there's a solution right here waiting."

  "It feels stupid, bordering on criminal," I stated. My voice was a little harder as I got more emotional about the subject, "And the fact that Erin's making that decision for her wife feels even worse. Except Sherry doesn't know about magic or the supernatural, and probably wouldn't believe me if I went straight to her and told her about it."

  My girlfriend leaned in and hugged me again as she said, "Please don't get too upset Vikki. I know it's a stressful topic, but there's no sense getting worked up about something that's still hypothetical."

  "Right," I sighed once more as I hugged her back. "Sorry Jenna."

  We exchanged a kiss, then I reached for my wine gss before realizing it was empty. That only sted a second though, as my genie smirked and flicked her wrist. Suddenly I had another fresh gss of wine in my hand, and she was holding a full gss of soda.

  "Thanks love," I smiled.

  We were both quiet for the next minute or two, lost in thought as we sipped our drinks. And I realized she was right, there wasn't any point getting myself worked up about this stuff yet. I'd find out what Erin's decision was when I spoke with her on Monday. Until then all I could do was hope she'd make the right choice.

  For now the best thing was to let it go, and to that end I came up with something else to talk to my girlfriend about.

  "So," I looked at her with a little smile. "Did Ember and Ashley really find you hiding in the washroom today? Is that where you've been spending your lunch breaks these past two weeks?"

  Jenna cringed and grimaced, "Sorry Vikki. I know I said I'd stop doing that after the first day, but I've been worried about not fitting in. I hope you're not disappointed in me?"

  I pulled her into another hug as I said, "Of course not! I'm just sad that you've been so uncomfortable that you felt you needed to hide. You won't have to keep doing that now, right? You can spend lunch time with your new friends."

  "Yeah," she mumbled into my shoulder as she hugged me back. "After Ashley and Ember introduced themselves they took me off campus to a nice quiet spot with lots of trees all around. It's basically just an overgrown lot, but they both said it was nice having a little bit of nature nearby."

  I couldn't help wondering if that was a hint or a clue as to what kind of supernaturals her new friends were, but I didn't ask and wasn't going to try and find out. Instead I gave my girlfriend a kiss and said, "That sounds nice love. I'm gd they reached out to you, and that you've become friends with them."

  "Who knows," I added, "Maybe you'll start making even more friends now? I'm sure Ashley and Ember know other people they could introduce you to."

  Her eyebrows shot up in surprise as she admitted, "I never thought of that! Maybe they have a whole big circle of friends already? Oh! But now I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing? It'd be nice meeting more people, but what if that means Ember and Ashley are too busy with all their other friends to spend time with me? Or what if the rest of their friends group are all normal humans and they all think I'm weird? What if I -"

  "Hey it's ok!" I interrupted. "Remember the advice you just gave me? Don't let yourself get too worked up over hypotheticals, ok love?"

  I continued, "As for your new friends, I'm sure they'll have time for you even if they do have lots of other friends too. After all, it sounds like they went out of their way today to find you, then spent their whole lunch break with you. And they were with you another couple hours after csses too, remember?"

  My girlfriend cuddled against me with a sheepish grin as she apologized, "Sorry Vikki, I get carried away sometimes. You're right, thanks for reminding me."

  "Any time," I replied. Then for good measure I leaned closer and gave her a kiss.

  After that we ended up cuddling quietly together for a few minutes, until I finally spoke up again.

  "So it's Friday night," I commented, "And we're cuddling in front of this huge new home theatre system. Do you want to put on a movie or something? Or we've got this amazing new games room, have you tried pying any of the games yet?"

  I could feel my girlfriend's renewed excitement through our hug as she raised her head up from my shoulder and grinned.

  "Not yet!" she admitted. "Ember and Ashley looked around at the different games with me, but Pinkie really wanted to py cards so that's what we did."

  I smiled, "So how about we try a few of these things out? I'm not much for gambling, but I'm curious about the slot machines. Same for the video games and the pinball machines, I don't have much experience with either of them but I'd like to see how they work."

  "Sure Vikki!" my girlfriend nodded happily.

  We got up off the sofa, then started with pinball since that was closest to where we'd been sitting. My genie poofed up a couple rolls of quarters, and we spent the next half hour or so pying side by side.

  The machines were noisy and there were lots of blinking lights and other effects, and neither of us were very good at them. It was fun for a while though, but eventually we got bored and moved on to the video game cabinets.

  The first was some sort of futuristic racing game, the object was to win each race and progress to the next one. It wasn't just about driving skills though, the cars could attack each other as part of the game. And there were weapons and upgrades and fuel you could collect along the way.

  Once again neither of us were very good at it, and it only took about ten minutes before we moved on to the next game. It was a pretty straightforward concept, there were waves of invaders from space and you had to destroy them before they could nd. Neither of us did well at that either, but we both had fun.

  The slot machines were a lot less engaging, as far as I was concerned. They made noise and had lots of fshing lights, and the first couple tries it was interesting watching the numbered wheels spinning around while waiting to see where they'd stop. I even won a few dolrs at one point. But gambling didn't really do anything for me.

  Jenna seemed to enjoy those more than me, but I had a feeling it was more about the lights and sounds for her. She didn't seem the type to actually get hooked on gambling, especially because money was all but irrelevant for her.

  Still, it was fun trying out all the new machines together. And I could see myself pying pinball or the video games now and then.

  After about an hour we ended up cuddling on the sofa again, I had another gss of wine and my girlfriend had another soda. And this time we turned on the new home theatre system, Jenna picked some old romantic comedy for us to watch.

  I thought I recognized the name of the film, but the version we saw was a little different from what I remembered. Instead of a straight romance starring Richard Gere the movie we saw featured Rita Gere, and the plot was very gay.

  Which to be honest was the perfect way to round out an evening at home with my girlfriend.

  PurpleCatGirl