Make a Wish

"Please, Marcus, please," she whispered, urging him back up.

"Of course, mia bella," he said softly, and moved so that he lay gently on top of her.

"I love you," she said, then found his lips for an urgent kiss.

"And I love you," he replied breathlessly when they separated, and drove himself into her. The warmth and wetness surprised him and he released a soft, inarticulate shout. He lost track of everything else as their bodies moved and lips met. When he could not hold it back any longer, he wrapped his arms around Julie and held her to him as his body shook with release. Rolling to his side, he cuddled her close, almost desperate in his refusal to let her go.

Julie let him hold her, wishing she could get even closer. No one had ever felt so right to her, or with her. She would never love anyone like she loved him. In fact, she wasn't sure she would ever love anyone else at all. Why? She wondered once more, tightening her arms around Marcus. Why, after all this time, with all the people in the world, did she have to fall in love with the one person who wanted stay but wouldn't be able to? But she wouldn't change anything, she knew. She wouldn't have missed this.

She must have drifted off to sleep, for she didn't remember when Marcus' hand had begun stroking over her body again. Opening her eyes, she leaned her head to face him and melted under the intense but tender expression on his face. "Can we, please…?" he asked softly, leaning down to kiss her.

"Oh, yes," she said, returning the kiss more fervently.

x-x-x-x-x

For a week, Julie was almost blissfully happy. She loved Marcus, he loved her, and coming home to him every day made work fly by. Mindy had probed gently, pieced things together from Julie's noncommittal and semi-evasive answers, and was thrilled for her friend. Julie deserved some happiness, she thought. The only thing Mindy regretted was the knowledge that Marcus would have to leave. Julie never mentioned it, though, and so Mindy let it be.

As happy as she had been on Friday when leaving, Mindy saw that Julie was depressed the following Monday. Oh no, she thought, as her throat tightened, Marcus must have left. She went over to Julie and touched her shoulder. Julie didn't even look up as she held Mindy's hand while letting her head drop to her desk and crying.

Mindy let her sob for a few minutes, then decided to take action. "Julie," she urged softly, "come on. Come with me." She set Julie's coat over her shoulders, grabbed her purse, and led her out of the office. With no real plan, she found she'd led them to their usual coffee spot. It was as good as any place, Mindy thought. She guided Julie to a chair, went inside to get the drinks, and hurried back out, relieved to find Julie hadn't left.

"What happened, Julie?" Mindy asked. She hated seeing her friend like this. Julie seemed even more broken up than when she'd received the news about her parents. Mindy had known Julie was an intense person, that she tended to extremes in her emotional commitments, but she'd never seen her like this.

"He… he's gone," Julie said, her voice flat. Mindy nodded and reached over to squeeze Julie's hand. "I told myself it would happen," Julie continued in the same stilted tone. "I said I would do it anyway because I couldn't help myself. But, oh, God, Mindy, I didn't think it would hurt this much." She closed her eyes, remembering their last contact.

Saturday night, then been sitting quietly on the couch, Julie curled up on his lap, when suddenly she felt him stiffed. Oddly, she thought at the time, she also felt something shift within herself. She didn't know if she would be able to describe it, but something had… changed.

"I have to go," Marcus said. Julie's head snapped up to look at him. He was looking at her with a mix of love and sadness.

She was on the verge of protesting, but let the words die. She'd known it would happen and there was nothing to do or say to prevent it.

"Can I… can I make one more wish?" she choked out. He nodded, winding one hand in her hair. "I wish for you to be happy," she said, reaching up to kiss him. That was the last thing she remembered, kissing him. When her eyes opened again, she was alone on the couch.

"Even the bottle was gone," she told Mindy, her voice breaking. Mindy shift her chair closer, keeping an arm around Julie's shoulder and wishing she could do something. Frustrated tears crept down her own cheeks.

x-x-x-x-x

A couple of weeks later, Julie was feeling somewhat better. She wasn't back to normal, Mindy knew, and probably wouldn't ever be quite the same, but she would continue to heal. Mindy knew how it hurt to lose someone you loved, and now Julie had experienced it three times in just a few months.

Mindy entered the code for her apartment building, started for the elevator, then remembered the mail. Turning, she walked back to the wall of boxes and dug out her key. Among the bills and junk mail was a slip indicating a package waiting for her at the desk. Puzzled, she took the slip to the security guard. She couldn't remember ordering anything, nor could she think of any occasion for anyone to send her something.

"Here you go," said the older man with a smile, handing her a medium-sized box. It had a little weight to it, but the plain brown cardboard gave no indication of source or sender.

"Thanks, Tom," she said, heading back to the elevator. Her curiosity rose higher and higher, and when she locked the door behind her, she didn't even take her coat off before finding a knife to cut the tape on the box. Buried under Styrofoam peanuts she found a blue bottle. Her breath caught in her throat as she took in the three globes stacked like tennis balls in a can. It was Marcus' bottle.

Why had it come to her? Her thoughts were chaotic as she sat on the sofa, the bottle on the table before her. How had it come? What was she supposed to do? Mindy stared at the bottle as though afraid it might break or explode. Then she shook herself. This was ridiculous. Nothing would be resolved unless she brought Marcus out of the bottle. Determined but a bit unsure, she reached out and ran her hand over the bottle.

There was a soft glow, and then suddenly Marcus stood in front of her, looking a bit bewildered. "Mindy?" he asked, startled.

"Hello, Marcus," she said, still surprised. "Please, sit down."

"How is Julie?" he asked anxiously. "I'm sorry to be forward, but I need to know." Marcus had long since lost his fear of retribution from a master, as long as he could learn about Julie.

"She's all right," Mindy said, smiling as she heard the love and concern in his voice. "She misses you terribly."

"Oh, gods, I miss her, too," he said, dropping his head into his hands.

"Well, you can certainly go see her if you'd like," Mindy said. "Truthfully, I don't know what to do with you."

"No, I can't… not yet," he said.

"Why not?" asked Mindy. "I don't mind, really."

"No, I mean, thank you," he said, "but that isn't the problem."

"So what is?" she prompted gently.

"Julie's last wish," he said. A tightness formed in his chest. "She wished…" He wiped at his eyes. "She wished for me to be happy."

Mindy felt tears gather in her own eyes. "That sounds like something she would do."

"The thing is," Marcus said, "what I need to be happy is… her. I need to be with her." He looked at Mindy hopelessly. "I've spoken to other, older genies. They say it's possible for us to be together, but it isn't in my control. I don't know what to do. Julie can't wish anymore, and she couldn't wish me to be free anyway. I have never hated this so much," he said with quiet vehemence.

Mindy sat silently for a while, wheels turning in her head. Julie couldn't wish it, he'd said. And obviously Marcus couldn't, either, since he was in the business of granting wishes and not making them. But Mindy… she didn't see why it wouldn't work. At least, it couldn't make things worse, she thought.

When she was younger, and her mother and grandmother had told her of the genie, she had often thought of the wishes she would make, once they'd explained the rules they knew. They were silly, teenage girl wishes, for the most part. Pretty clothes, a good figure, passing grades on her math tests, possibly making the cheerleading squad. She had also thought, though, how she might wish for someone else. That her mother might get a job easier than cleaning houses; that her grandmother's eyesight would improve. Both older women had smiled indulgently when she'd talked about it with them, but said they had no need for her wishes. If a genie ever came to her, she should wish as she saw fit, they told her.

Now, here it was. Her chance to wish. She could wish for a better car, fancier clothes, a home in the suburbs. But it wasn't what she wanted, she realized. Cars were cars, and as for the rest, she'd rather earn it herself than wish it. There was only one thing she could think of to wish for.

"Marcus," she said, drawing him out of his thoughts.

"Yes?" he said.

She took a deep breath. "I wish for Julie to be happy." It was difficult not to close her eyes and hold her breath while she waited to see what happened.

For a moment, Marcus stared at her, uncomprehending. Then a wave swept over him. He couldn't define what happened, but he felt different when it passed. Both he and Mindy jumped when the phone rang. Mindy reached over to the end table and grabbed the receiver. "Hello?" she said.

"Mindy, it's Julie." Mindy smiled at Marcus.

"Hi, Julie," Mindy said. "What's up?"

"I don't know," Julie sighed. She curled up in the corner of her couch, pulling a blanket over her legs. "I guess I just wanted some company. I was hoping we could get together for dinner or something."

"Or something," said Mindy, trying to keep the excitement out of her voice. "Stay right there, I'll be over in fifteen minutes." She hung up before she said anything else. "Come on, Marcus," she said, happily.

"What is it?" he asked, puzzled. Mindy's mood seemed have changed on a dime. He realized he couldn't sense it, he was only reading the clues in her voice and body language. That was odd. As a genie, he'd always been able to sense emotions.

"I think my wish worked," she said with a wink. She'd seen an aura, or light, or something, sweep over Marcus after she'd made her wish. It had been a risk, she knew, but she'd had to take it. Instinctively, she had known that the light wave meant Marcus was no longer a genie. She could only hope Marcus wasn't angry when he discovered he was merely mortal.

On the ride over, Marcus held his questions back. He desperately wanted to find out more, but Mindy only smiled at him like a mischievous child. "What are we doing here?" he couldn't help but ask as they stopped outside Julie's house.

"You'll see," she said. "Come on." He followed her up to the door, but Mindy gestured for him to stand down and to the side. Still confused, he obeyed. Mindy rang the door bell.

Julie came to the door, wishing she could lose the lethargic feeling she'd had since Marcus had left. She was functioning, going to work, eating, even taking walks, but she always felt as though she was carrying a weight with her. She knew it was emotional, that she would have to find a way to let it go, but so far she hadn't been able to even ease it. She sighed once again and opened the door.

"Julie!" Mindy squeaked. Julie stepped back and narrowed her eyes. When Mindy squeaked, she had something planned. Probably to cheer her up, which she didn't really want. She knew she couldn't wallow like this forever, but she didn't feel up to pretending to have fun.

"What's going on?" Julie asked warily. Mindy was practically jumping up and down.

"I've brought you something," Mindy said, grinning hugely. She grabbed Julie's hand and pulled her out onto the porch. "Look." She stepped aside and pushed Julie in front of her.

"Marcus?" Julie whispered. "But how… I don't understand."

"Mindy made a wish," he said, smiling as he climbed the steps to the porch. Mindy backed away quietly. Part of her hated to leave their reunion, but she didn't want to intrude.

"A wish?" Julie repeated.

He nodded and reached up to brush her hair back. "You wished for me to be happy. She wished for you to be happy." He kissed her gently. "I'm free, Julie. I'm not a genie anymore. I'm human and I want to spend my time, my life, with you." Speechless, she threw her arms around him, burying her face in his chest. He chuckled softly, holding her close.

Riding over, with Mindy's happy silence, Marcus had mulled over what he knew. Then it dawned on him that it felt like something was missing. He tried again to focus on Mindy's emotions and found nothing. When the stopped at a red light, he tried to work some magic on a piece of paper he found on the floor. Nothing. Gradually he pieced it together -- Julie had wished for him to be happy. For him, that meant being with Julie. But apparently that wish wasn't enough. Then Mindy had found him, wished for Julie to be happy, and released him.

Julie needed him to be happy, it struck him. She needed him to be with her, to stay with her. He couldn't do that as a genie. But he could do it as a mortal human. As they stopped near the house, he felt something in the pocket of his jeans. He reached back and pulled out a wallet. Dumbfounded, he opened it and looked through the contents, finding a driver's license in his name and some money. At last he grasped it. He didn't know how it had worked, but he was now human, mortal and in love with Julie.

"I love you," he said, over and over, holding her close.

"I love you, too," she said, looking up at him with happy tears. "Come on," she said. "Let's go inside." She turned to say something to Mindy, but to her surprise, her friend was gone.

"We'll thank her later," Marcus said. He couldn't read her emotions as he had before, but he didn't need to for this. "Let's go in and I'll tell you what I can." He kept her close to him as they went inside.

"I wish Mindy could find someone," Julie said, leaning against him. "It doesn't seem fair."

x-x-x-x-x

Mindy sighed as she parked her car. As usual on a Friday, all the spots were taken, so she had to park across the street and down the block. Maybe I should just go out myself, she thought. No, she decided. She wasn't up for solo socializing tonight. As happy as she was for Julie, she couldn't help feeling a little jealous. Oh well, I've got lots of good, mushy movies, she thought as she got out of the car.

She checked left, right and left again, but lost in thought, she didn't register the small car coming down the street. As she moved to step into the street, she let out a short shriek when an arm grabbed her at the waist and pulled her back. The car sped by, oblivious to her or any speed limits. She leaned against the nearest car, slightly out of breath.

"Sorry," said a deep voice. "I didn't think you saw them." Mindy turned and found herself facing a pin-striped wall. She looked up. "My name's Finn," said the owner of the voice, holding out his hand. He was tall, with dark hair and startling blue eyes.

"I'm Mindy," she said. "And thanks." He also had a killer smile. Then she smiled on her own. "Can I get you some coffee as a thank you?" she asked.

"Sounds great," said Finn.

"I know a nice little place," she said. He took her hand as she turned and they began walking.