Disclaimer: I only own Rachel White. All other characters are the property of some other lucky person.
AN: I should really be writing a Comp essay and catching up on my Musis Theory, but this is too much fun. I just can't stop. Hope you enjoy this as much as I did.
Wonka returned to Rachel's room by himself. Charlie was in the Inventing Room now, and Wonka was impatient to join him, but he knew he had to talk to Rachel first. He knocked on the door and when there was no answer, he turned the knob and saw that it was unlocked. He stepped into the room, expecting Rachel to be gone.
"Probably left after all." he said out loud.
But then he realized that she was sitting on the window ledge, looking out over the town. She did not turn to him when he had said that, or even when he called her name, so he walked over to her. She looked sad and it was as if she was in a different world.
"Rachel." Wonka said as he reluctantly touched her shoulder.
Rachel jumped at his touch, and turned to look at him. A smile formed on her face automatically.
"Hello, Mr. Wonka. Sorry, I guess I was off in my own world again. That happens sometimes. Can I help you?" Rachel said, turning towards him.
Wonka looked at her with confusion for a second. He did not fully understand what he had just witnessed. He knew that sometimes he seems to be off in his own world, Charlie had told him so. But that was just a figure of speech. What he just saw looked like she was truly in another world. It sent a chill up his spine as he thought of her quick change from sadness to happiness.
"Are you alright?" Wonka asked.
"Yes, of course I am. Now what did you want?" Rachel asked politely.
"I wanted to ask you about what you said earlier." Wonka said.
"Ah, yes. I suspected that you would be back. I guess you would like an explanation. Well, sit down then. I guess what you want to hear is not that important, but I would rather Charlie not know until he's older."
"What is it?"
"As you suspected, I've been hinting towards this. I'm not really Charlie's family. I was adopted when I was about Charlie's age. Even Charlie's parents did not know of this adoption until yesterday. For the longest time, they believed me to be true family." Rachel confessed.
"Well, that's not that bad." Wonka said, relieved that it was nothing worse.
"But there is more. Charlie's Aunt and Uncle died because of me. It's hard to explain, but the only reason that they died was because they gave me a home." Rachel said, tears starting to form in her eyes.
"How did it happen?" Wonka asked, quietly.
"I don't know. I had been gone for a couple days and when I went home and saw that there were police surrounding the house. No one really knew that they had a child because my adoption was illegal, so they didn't know that they should have been looking for me. That was the last day I saw that beautiful home. I just kept moving after that. I don't know the circumstances of their deaths, but I do know that it was my fault." Rachel said, crying now.
"You can't blame yourself for something you didn't do." Wonka said, trying to comfort.
"I can't stay here any longer."
"Do you hate me?"
"No, of course not." Rachel said, shocked by the question. "You're the sweetest man that I've ever met, but I need to leave. It's in my blood. It's just a part of me. I know that sounds weird, but it's true. I have no family here, so I have no reason to stay."
"You make me happy." Wonka said.
"What?"
"When you were with us earlier, and when you made Charlie happy, you made me happy too."
"You're such a child!"
"I know, isn't it great?" Wonka said with a laugh.
"You know, I don't remember anything from before I lived with Charlie's family. Nine years of my life are a complete blank. And that scares me sometimes. But I know one thing for certain about my early years. I never had a permanent home. I was always on the move, as I am now. Even when I lived with Charlie's Aunt and Uncle, I could not stay there for long. I would leave for days at a time, but I would always come back. The first time I did that to them, they were so worried about me, but they soon got used to it. And I've always known that I did not belong to that family, but I would try to by pretending. There's no reason to keep pretending anymore, I guess. All I know is that I must keep moving." Rachel said, seeming to go back into that other world.
"I don't understand." Wonka said.
"It's okay, Mr. Wonka, sometimes I don't understand either."
"Rachel, please call me Willy. Even if you aren't truly part of Charlie's family, I still want you to call me Willy." Wonka said with a smile.
"Okay, Willy. I'm sorry that I deceived you before." Rachel said, as she stood up from where she was sitting.
"Why don't you come to the Inventing Room with me? Charlie's already there." Wonka said, also standing up.
"Sure, it sounds fun. But I won't be able to walk too fast." Rachel said, hopping over to Wonka.
"Then we'll take the glass elevator."
"Glass?" Rachel asked, her eyebrows going up.
She followed Willy out of her room, using his cane that he had lent her, for balance. He would still not touch her, but she didn't really mind. He directed her to the glass elevator and they both got in.
"Is this entirely made of glass?" Rachel asked as Willy pressed the one button.
"Of course. Who would make a glass elevator out of anything else?" Willy said as the elevator went up.
Rachel looked down and saw nothing below her. A deep fear inside her was unleashed.
"Oh, God!"
Rachel screamed as she grabbed hold of Willy. He stiffened as she threw her arms around him and buried her face in his chest. He could feel that she was trembling and he slowly put one arm around her.
"What's wrong?" he asked, still stiff.
"Heights. Don't like. Can't look." Rachel said into Willy's chest.
He understood what her problem was now. She was afraid of heights and of course the glass elevator would be a terrifying experience for her. He relaxed a little the longer she held onto him. When the elevator made a sudden drop, she screamed again and held him tighter.
"We're almost there." Willy said, now putting his other arm around her.
As he stood there, holding her, he noticed that he liked it. He saw a reflection of the both of them in the glass, and began to smile. Laying his head on top of hers, he realized that he loved the scent of her hair. He held her like that until the elevator stopped. When they finally reached the inventing room, Willy let go of her. She backed away and looked at him. She was still shaking, but her smile was as beautiful as ever. Beautiful? Had Willy actually thought that? But it was true, she had a beautiful smile, and he couldn't help but to think that. They walked into the inventing room and Charlie ran over to them.
"I was wondering when you'd get here. I just thought of this great idea!" Charlie exclaimed as he dragged Willy away.
Rachel noticed that Willy had let himself be touched and he didn't even flinch. She wondered if he knew that he didn't always have that problem. Slowly, she walked through the room, looking at everything there was. While looking at the one machine, she heard a noise behind her. When she turned around to find out what that noise was, she saw a little man looking up at her.
Her first reaction was to scream, but she didn't. Instead she bent down to the man and smiled.
"Who are you?" She asked, but he did not answer.
"That's an Oompa Loompa." said Willy, who was now standing behind her. "They work here."
"Oh, okay. Don't they speak English?" Rachel asked standing up.
"No, but they understand it. Strange, huh? But they're really good workers." Willy said, and then returned to his work.
Rachel stayed with them until dinner, and then they walked back to the Chocolate room together. Throughout dinner, Willy would look at Rachel with a new interest. Something inside of him had changed when he was confronted with someone else's fears. Willy already knew how to love, but this was different. Yes, he loved Charlie and his family, and he even loved the Oompa Loompas, but he only knew about the love of a family. The thought of loving someone other than a family member never seemed to have cross his mind. He once again looked over at Rachel, and she raised her head, smiling back at him. His heart seemed to melt.
AN: One more chapter down, still lots more to edit. Let me know what you think, so please review.