Well hello, there. This story has sort of been my pet project, so I decided to finally post it as my first story here. Rated K+ for some mild language.

P.S. The Nightmare Before Christmas does not belong to me, it belongs to Tim Burton, who I must thank for creating such wonders characters and worlds.

Enjoy!

'Twas a long time ago, longer now that it seems, in a place that perhaps you have seen in your dreams. For the story you are about to be told, took place after the nightmare tale of old. Now, you're probably wondered what happened after this prediciment. If you haven't, I'd say it's time to begin.

Jack was standing in front of the fountain in Town Square. Everyone was watching. And waiting. It was the most important day of his life. He was thinking about what could be's and hope to be's. Then he saw Sally walk down the aisle. He smiled. Who would have though somebody like him would find someone as wonderful as her?

And who would have predicted what would lie ahead?

"Dearly beloved," said the Mayor. "We are gathered here today..."

Twenty Years Later

"Oh, where could that stupid thing be?" groaned Jack looking under his bed. Today was the annual Council of the Seven Holiday Leaders meeting. Each News Year's evening, all seven holiday leaders would gather together and discuss everything that has happened the previous year.

He had been well prepared that day, making sure everything at home was well taken care of. The youngest children hadn't tortured the dog at all today. The two oldeset ones didn't murder each other (though they did shove one another once or twice). And the house was clean. Yes, it was a pretty good way to begin the evening.

But before he could think that everything had gone as planned, he couldn't find what he needed most: his briefcase. It had all the information he needed to tell the holiday leaders about the yearly review. So where was it? It had to be around here somewhere. He was posotive that he left it on his desk in his study... at least he thought so. Okay, he hadn't the slightest idea on where he left it, but it had to be somewhere.

"Um, Dad," said Marie holding the briefcase in her hands.

"Not now, Marie," Jack answered with his head still under the bed. Hmm... Ah, so that's were his cravat went. Or ruffled ascot, if that's the term you prefer. This was the garment that had been separated from his formal suit that he hadn't worn since he got married. "Now how did it get under here?"

"Dad..."

"Marie, please?" And there was his book Of Shreiks and Gore! How do these things get under here?

"Dad!"

"What?" Marie walked up to her father, pryed open his bony fingers, placed the handles of the briefcase inside them, and sealed them shut. "Oh..." he remarked embarrassingly as he looked at the black briefcase. "Uh, thank you, Marie."

"What are girls for?" Jack flipped open the latches of the briefcase, but his files were no longer in there. Uh oh...

He ran into the living room and found his two youngest children, Ella and Vincent, with his documents. They were having the time of their life drawing on them with their colorful crayons and folding them into paper aircrafts. Now, almost any other father would wonder how in the world he would take something he needed from little children. But this was Jack we're talking about. He wasn't stupid. He took a thin ream of paper from his tuxedo coat and handed it to the children. In exchange, he took the other documents and stuffed them into the briefcase.

"Goodbye, Ella, Vincent," said Jack kissing his children.

"Bye, Daddy," they both replied.

"Goodbye, Marie."

"Bye, Dad."

"Goodbye, Rhett."

"Whatever."

"Goodbye, Sally."

"Goodbye, Ja- wait." Sally stopped him at the door to fix his bat bowtie. Even though it didn't really need fixing, she always did it before he left for the Council meetings. It was sort of a good luck ritual, you could say. "There," she said with her hand on his heart.

"Thank you, dear," Jack replied smiling. He kissed her before going out the open door. As he was running down the stairs, the Mayor happened to find him, obviously not realizing he was in a rush.

"Ah, Jack," said the Mayor at Jack's gate. "I was wondering if-"

"Not now, Mayor! Have to talk to you about it later!" Jack replied running right past him. He was so focused on finding his way to the Christmas Town door, that he tripped on a pothole and he fell into a larger one filled with muddy water. "Note to self," he said picking himself up. "Tell Mayor to patch up these potholes." Jack ran through the graveyard, into the Hinterlands, and through the Christmas Town door.

Six unusual figure sat at a long table in the Christmas Town Town Hall. They all seemed as though they were finding was to occupy themselves, waiting for someone the Pumpkin King. Why did they have to have these meetings, anyway? Oh, right: Because the Pumpkin King nearly killed Christmas, and they had to make sure nothing was too unusual. Perhaps it wasn't a complete waste of time; it did make sure that the holidays haven't been in too much trouble. After all, they all needed some assistance once in a while. But, still, he was going to come here late, along with a ridiculous excuse.

"Well," started Santa from the end of the table. "It looks like Jack Skellington will be-"

"Not late!" shouted Jack bursting through the doors and out of breath (if he still had one). His white shirt was stained with muddied water and the left shoulder of his unbottoned coat was slipping off. Santa raised a white eyebrow.

"Well, since you are so unfashionably late, why don't you go first?"

"A-Alright, I will." Jack pulled up the shoulder of his coat and stood in front of everyone and said: "Now, uh, as you can see, my respective holiday has done quite well this past year..." He pulled out a document, but he didn't realize that it was scirbbled in orange wax until he looked at it. Well this was lovely. Not only was he impunctual, but also irresponsible. He took a deep breath to himself. Just calm down, Jack he said to himself You don't know that they're thinking that.

"Uh, moving on," he continued with a nervous laugh. "Now, let's see..." He reached into his briefcase again and this time pulled out not a colored sheet, but a clean document. Except that this one was creased with lines meant to be a paper airplane. He couldn't help but smile and laugh. They hardly knew how to write their own last names, and yet they could fold a paper airplane perfectly.

"What's so funny, now?" asked Santa.

"Nothing. Except for the fact that I ran to hell and back only to ask myself why. I made a complete idiot of myself running here and I am most likey going to be the subject of next day's gossip."

"Now, Jack, please understand that-"

"But I will stay just for the sake of respecting all the other holiday leaders." Jack jerked his arm as he said that and his coat sleeve caught on a chair and it ripped the sleeve right off. "Case in point."

Jack looked at his watch at the end of the meeting. eleven twenty-nine P.M. Perfect. I can't wait to explain this to my wife he thought to himself sarcastically. It was bad enough that my files were artistically defaced, but how in the world will I tell her that my shirt got wet not ten minutes out the door or that my entire sleeve was ripped from my coat?

"...And this concludes our Council of the Seven Holidays meeting," said Santa.

Jack knocked on the door to his house. His wife opened the door and looked his not-quite-what-an-official-wears attire. What in the world had he gotten himself into? How does one manage to get this torn up in three hours? She had hoped that no one tried to attack him on the way there. No, that couldn't have happened; they were all pretty decent. But then again, there were some... interesting people in these towns.

"What did you do, throw yourself against the pavement until you tore yourself apart?" was all Sally could say.

"Not quite," Jack answered entering the house as he removed his coat.

"Just how dangerous are these meetings? Last year, you came home with your head jammed into a trash bin."

"You certainly don't have to tell me that twice. But it was an accident; You know how Eros is always bumping into things."

"I suppose..."

"Oh, well... as long as nothing changes."

"What do you mean?" Jack took his wife's hand in his and said:

"As long as nothing changes in my life, I'll always be happy." Just then, the Halloween Town bell rang its errie tune through the night, following twelve solid chimes. "Look, it's midnight. Let's hope that this year will be just as wonderful as the last."

But things will cange for you, Jack. A change that will effect your whole life and for the better of everyone. It will give you even more of a surprise than when you discovered Christmas.

And your life will change sooner than you think.

That's all for now. I know I only vaguely described Jack's kids, but I promise in a later chapter that you'll know more about them. As for now, please R&R, but no flames, please.

By the way, for those of you who didn't pay attention in history, or just plain didn't learn about it, Eros was the Greek god of love, a.k.a Cupid. Just wanted to clear that up.