I found myself staring wide-eyed at the genie sitting crosslegged on my desk, where a huge bouquet of roses had been just a moment earlier.

Evidence of the flowers was still scattered all over my desk, the floor, my clothes, and in my hair. Worse, my boss was standing on the other side of my desk, and she was covered head to toe in rose petals as well.

"Vikki?" Jenna asked as her smile faded. "What's wrong? You don't look anywhere near as happy as I was expecting."

Then Erin cleared her throat and asked, "Vikki? What's going on here?"

Suddenly my heart was racing again. I knew from the brief encounter with Jesse Vaughan that nobody could see Jenna but me, which meant Erin just saw a big bouquet of flowers explode in our faces for no reason. And I couldn't exactly talk to the genie while my boss was standing there, or she'd think -

"Hello Ms. Rhodes!" Jenna said as she twisted around to greet the older woman. "It's a pleasure to meet you! I'm Jenna Jenkins, an old friend of Vikki's. I couldn't resist a bit of a prank and a big flashy entrance."

My heart rate spiked once more, as I realized the only thing worse than trying to deal with an invisible genie around the office was having a visible genie hanging around pretending to be human.

At least she was dressed normally, in a pair of tight faded blue jeans and a pink t-shirt. She had white sneakers on her feet this time, rather than showing up barefoot. And her jet black hair was still in a short messy bob. Somehow there wasn't a single flower petal on her, despite my boss and I and the rest of the office being covered in them.

Meanwhile Erin was still staring at the new arrival. She managed to stay polite though as she responded, "Hello Jenna, it's nice to meet you too."

"Perhaps I should go and get the vacuum out of the closet," she added as she glanced around at all the flower petals. "I can't imagine this will do much good for the carpets if we leave it until the cleaners visit next week."

"Oh that's no problem Ms. Rhodes!" the genie replied with a smile. "I can just -"

"Jenna!" I interrupted as I finally snapped out of my shock. "It's nice to see you but this isn't a good time, or place. You couldn't wait to surprise me at home in private? You had to do this at work? In front of my boss?"

I put some extra emphasis on that last word, in hopes that the genie would understand I didn't want her doing anything to get me in more trouble than I was already in.

Erin looked back and forth between me and Jenna then said, "I'll leave you two to get caught up. Vikki, I know you've got a lot on your plate right now but can you and your friend please make sure to tidy up all these rose petals before the end of the day?"

"Yes ma'am," I nodded. "Sorry about the mess."

My boss just gave me a smile then turned and headed off into her own office, leaving a trail of flower petals behind her.

As soon as Erin's office door was closed behind her I turned towards my unexpected guest and sighed, "Why are you here Jenna?"

"Aww," she pouted. Then she scooped up some of the orange flower petals and held them out as she asked, "Orange you glad to see me again?"

I managed to not face-palm, or even eye-roll. I nodded, "Yes I'm very happy to see you. I've been wondering what happened to you, if everything was ok after I... After you disappeared two weeks ago. But showing up at my work and setting off a flower explosion in front of my boss is going to get me fired."

"Nah," she made a dismissive gesture. "If I wanted to get you fired I wouldn't have gone for the flower explosion, I'd have picked the other kind."

"What's the other kind?" I asked, then immediately wished I hadn't.

The genie did some sort of slight-of-hand trick and suddenly she was holding what I first thought was one of those red roadway flares. It was about thirty centimetres long and three or four centimetres in diameter. There was a fuse of some sort sticking out of the top, and the letters 'TNT' written along the side in black letters.

She held it out as if offering it to me as she replied, "Trinitrotoluene seems to be the most popular choice? At least in the cartoons I've seen. The coyote seems to like it anyways."

"Jenna? Please make that go away?" I asked in a very urgent whisper. "And can you please clean up all these flower petals too?"

The genie rolled her eyes, then with a flick of her wrist the explosive and all the rose petals were gone. And she'd moved from my desk to one of my guest chairs, where she sat sideways with one leg tucked up underneath her.

"So you're really happy to see me?" she asked with a hopeful smile. "You weren't just saying that?"

I took a deep breath then sighed as I nodded, "It's true. I've been wondering what happened to you, where you disappeared to, and if you were ok."

She grinned happily and explained, "You wished I was free, remember? After that I wasn't bound to any masters or mistresses. Or bosses or chiefs. And before that you asked if I had any wishes or dreams of my own? Well I did, and I've spent the last sixteen days doing them all!"

"I've travelled around the world," she continued with a wide smile on her face and sparkles in her eyes, "I've seen sights and done things! I ate sushi in Japan! I had a hot dog at a baseball game! I've been to rock concerts and operas! I saw mountains and oceans! I rode a roller coaster in New Jersey and a ferris wheel in London! I even went over Niagara Falls in a barrel! And it was awesome! And I owe it all to you, Vikki!"

I couldn't help glancing towards my boss's office while Jenna was excitedly telling me about her adventures, but the door was still closed. I just hoped Erin wasn't listening in. Then I looked at the genie again and smiled, "It sounds like you've packed a whole lifetime of travel and excitement into only sixteen days, but I'm glad you're ok. So what's next on the list?"

"Nothing," she shrugged. "I did it all, and it was great. Now I'm back here again to be with you."

My eyes widened, "Wait what? Why? What do you mean you did it all?"

The genie spread her arms out in a broad gesture as she announced, "I did everything on my wish list. I did all the things! It was great and I had loads of fun, and it's all thanks to you! So now I'm back to repay you, by helping you out everywhere I can!"

"Plus," she added with a sly grin, "You still have five wishes left. Free or not I honour my promises as well as my debts."

I wasn't sure what she meant by 'helping me out' but it definitely got some alarm bells ringing somewhere in the back of my mind. The five wishes thing also caught me off guard, and I found myself frowning as I asked her, "Shouldn't there only be four left? Didn't that first one count, when I wished you were free?"

Jenna shook her head, "Nope! You were reluctant to use any wishes at all, remember? So I offered you a freebie, to try it out. You wished me free with your free wish! Which is actually a very fun sentence to say, now that I've said it out loud."

"Anyways the point is you've got five left, and I'm not going anywhere until you've used them!" she added with a happy smile. "Plus I owe you a life debt, since you freed me and let me do all the things I ever wanted. So I'm here to help you in every way I possibly can."

Those alarm bells in the back of my head got a little louder, and I stifled a long sigh as I stole another glance at Erin's office door. Then I looked down at my desk and all the work that was still waiting for me, the check-list I still needed to review for tomorrow's open house, and everything else I was already an hour behind on since stopping for lunch.

I finally looked to the enthusiastic genie again and told her, "Like I said I'm happy to see you again Jenna? But this isn't a great time for me right now. I've got a lot of work to do this afternoon, and I'm going to be busy all day tomorrow with a very important open house. So please don't take this the wrong way, but can we maybe put off the reunion until Sunday?"

"Where are you staying?" I added. "And do you have a phone or something, can we exchange contact information so we can keep in touch?"

A worryingly-happy grin appeared on her face as she replied, "You don't need a phone to find me Vikki, I'm staying with you! I've already moved all my stuff into your apartment!"

Those alarm bells just kept getting louder, while a cold weight settled in my gut. "You what? But... My apartment's not that big? And there's only one bedroom..."

"It's fine," she made a dismissive gesture. "You didn't have very much stuff, so there was plenty of space for my things."

Then she gestured towards my desk, "And don't worry about all that boring work nonsense. I went through your to-do list while you were having lunch, I've already done it all."

"You have?" I asked with a blend of shock and fear.

The genie grinned and shook her head, "Nah I'm just funnin' ya. I could though? Like I keep saying, I'm here to help out! Point me at a task and I'll handle it!"

"Jenna Jenkins reporting for duty, ma'am!" she added as she gave me a salute. Although she was still sitting on her leg sideways across my guest chair, which detracted from the whole salute and duty thing.

This time I didn't bother to stifle my long sigh. I slumped back in my chair and slowly shook my head as I stared at my desk and the magical being sitting on the other side of it. I finally asked, "So where'd 'Jenkins' come from? Is that a real name, or did you just make it up?"

"All names are made up Vikki," she responded in a serious tone. "They didn't appear fully formed along with the rest of creation, nor were they handed down from on high by the gods. Despite what some religious types might claim. Anyways all names are made up, and the ones we make up for ourselves are every bit as valid as the ones our parents bestow upon us. More-so in fact, for no-one can know a person better than they know themself."

I blinked as I stared at her, "That's... That's actually a very good point. I hadn't really thought about it like that."

Jenna looked back at me as she replied, "Then you probably haven't been close friends with any trans people yet."

"Anyways!" she added as the serious look suddenly gave way to her normal enthusiasm, "I'm here to help, so just throw some tasks at me and watch me handle them! Or if you're bound and determined to slog through it all on your own, then I'll see you at home when you're done. There's a whole channel full of cartoons on your TV, and they're not gonna watch themselves."

The abrupt shifts between serious and hyper left my head spinning, but I really wasn't ready to trust her with any of the important work I had on my plate. So I may have jumped at the option of getting her out of my hair for the rest of the afternoon, without fully considering the consequences of sending her home to my place entirely unsupervised.

"Why don't you go watch cartoons then?" I suggested. "I'll see you later, after I finish up all this work I'm doing now. Ok?"

Jenna jumped to her feet and saluted again, "Mission received and accepted, Vikki! I'll be waiting for you at home!"

There was another Poof! sound as she disappeared in another explosion of flower petals. Not from roses though, this time they were from violets for some reason. Fortunately there weren't as many of them, instead of covering everything there was only a small pile of purple petals where she'd been standing.

I sighed yet again, then stood up to go fetch the vacuum cleaner. Except as soon as I was on my feet all the little purple flowers vanished with a thousand small poof! sounds.

"At least she cleans up after herself," I mumbled to myself as I sat back down.

It ended up taking me another minute or two before I was able to properly focus on work again, but once I got started I quickly got back into the routine. I sent an email to the cleaning people, received confirmation from the caterers, and reviewed my checklist for a third time. I also received two more emails asking after the Kovalenko property, but rather than write out personalized responses I just copy-pasted the last one I sent before lunch. In fact the rest of my afternoon went by smoothly, despite how busy I really was.

Then around four o'clock Erin's office door finally opened and my boss emerged. She glanced around as she made her way over to my desk then commented, "You and your friend did an excellent job tidying up. Thanks for taking care of that."

Without waiting for a response she held out her key fob and added, "Anyways Sherry's on her way to pick me up, so here's the key to the SUV. Why don't you head home as well? I trust you've already finished everything you had on your plate for today."

"Thank you Erin," I replied as I accepted the fob. "And yeah I guess I'm just about done here?"

She smiled, "Then I'll lock up the front door and turn out the lights, and we can head out back together."

I hesitated, I still felt like she was spoiling me by letting me go home early. Then again it was only an hour early, and I really had completed everything on my list.

"All right boss," I finally smiled. "Thanks again. For lunch, for loaning me the SUV, for everything really."

"You're welcome hon," she replied as she started to close up the office for the weekend.

I grabbed my purse and folio, along with my business cards and the package of flyers. Then the two of us headed out the back door together. Sure enough her wife was already out there, waiting in her little hybrid coupe. Sherry waved while Erin bid me a good weekend and wished me luck with the open house. Then the two of them set off while I got into my boss's SUV.

The drive home was much too short, and all too soon I found myself standing outside my apartment door trying to brace myself for whatever I might find inside.

After a deep breath I unlocked the door and swung it open, to my completely normal and unchanged home. The only thing out of place was Jenna, sitting sideways across my favourite chair. She was hugging an enormous stuffed pink pony plushie to her chest as she watched cartoons on my TV.

"Welcome home Vikki!" the genie announced with a big grin. "How was work?"

I looked around, I even checked in my little kitchenette to be sure but everything seemed normal. I finally settled onto the sofa in the living-room, after putting the brochures and business cards down on the coffee table, along with my purse and folio.

"Work was fine," I replied. "And um, I thought you said you moved your stuff in here? Everything looks normal though."

"Or by stuff, did you mean the stuffed pony?" I added.

Jenna cringed slightly and replied in an overly level voice, "Yes. The pony. That's exactly what I was referring to."

"Only maybe don't look in the bedroom right away?" she added very quietly, as she cringed a little more. "At least not until after your second or third drink."

PurpleCatGirl

This is a commissioned story, so updates only happen when patrons commission a new chapter. Patrons always get chapters one or two weeks before anyone else, so if you're eager to get caught-up join are Patreon and you'll get all the latest chapters and new stories! And if you'd like to help move this story along, think about sponsoring a chapter!
This chapter comes courtesy of Meg, who commissioned it!
https://www.patreon.com/purplecatgirl