Chapter Nine

It had been four years. Four long years.

Cherie had just graduated from Oxford University and was finally heading back home. She had, of course, visited Willy and his factory since she left, but there were only short visits for holidays. Birthdays they would just mail packages to each other, and every week, without fail, Willy would send a box full of his sweets to her; ones that he wanted her to taste test. He also would send a letter but halfway through her final year the letters stopped. The boxes would come but no friendly hand written letter.

That's when she saw the newspapers. There was trouble at the Wonka Factory and there were claims that other candy companies were sending in spies disguised as workers and stealing Wonka's secret recipes and then those companies would release their own versions of the candy. Cherie was upset and ready to go down there and give those companies a piece of her mind but it was too late. Willy had announced he was closing his factory…forever.

The taxi drove away and Cherie hoped her key to the front gate still worked. She opened it up and walked in, making sure the gate locked behind her. She made her way into the front door of their living area and dropped her suitcases off before wandering around trying to find anyone.

The elevator still worked so she used that to try and find Willy but he was no where. Tired, after the long trip and then trek through the factory she retired to her room but not before checking Willy's room. She opened up the door and smiled at how neat the room was and how it smelled like chocolate with just a bit of Willy's own musky scent.

She glanced around the room just taking it in after not seeing it for so long. The walls were a maroon colour with gold accents. The bed had a milk chocolate coloured comforter with red, purple, and black pillows. There was a closet which was closed behind a door. She walked over to the side table and saw a clock and picture in a gold frame. She picked it up and looked at it.

Cherie smiled at the picture. It was a picture of the two of them taken after her graduation. She put it back down and noticed a piece of paper on one of his pillows. She picked up and realized it was a note for her.

"Really smart place to put this, Willy," she said shaking her head. "Dear, Cherie. I know you return from school soon and I am sorry I cannot be here to greet you. After everything that happened with the factory I wanted to travel and clear my mind so I decided to do just that. Please know that I will return soon and that you have free reign to the factory. Your friend, Willy." She put the note back down and sighed before leaving the room and heading to her own.

"Well, now what am I suppose to do?" she asked as she started unpacking. Being in the huge factory by herself did not sound so pleasing but she really had no where else to go.

Cherie sat in the kitchen eating a chicken salad and was watching the news. It had been a month since she returned and all she really had done in that period of time was try to look for a job and maintain the factory, which was a feat in and of itself.

This particular day she was cleaning the Chocolate Room. The waterfall still flowed and it was still amazing in there. Willy didn't have the heart to stop the flow of chocolate so he hooked up a pipe to feed the chocolate back up to the top of the waterfall so that it was the same chocolate that was falling all day long and being pumped back up to the top.

Cherie was covered in chocolate and sugar but she didn't care, she was also just sitting there in a tank top and some short shorts as she tried not to fall asleep and face plant into her salad. While she was at college she really had grown up, both mentally and physically, but she tried not to show it too much to Willy because she was afraid he would become uncomfortable around her. To him, she was his young friend, and he was her guardian at one point so he was fairly protective of her, but not necessarily in a father- daughter way, there was something deeper with them.

The news was boring as always, something about the water and what not, it didn't really interest her at all. She just let it play on though while she ate so that it wasn't just silence.

"You know how I feel about the television."

Cherie turned her head, fork poised to put some more salad in her mouth. She stared at him for a long time, he had changed too. His hair was a bit longer with it tied into a low ponytail, a top hat still perched on his head. He was taller and leaner and now had a goatee, but still was pale as ever.

"Willy?" she asked. He smiled and nodded. She got up and hugged him just so happy to see someone at last. He seemed to flinch a bit at the hug though and she pulled back.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Sorry, just not use to human interaction," he said and then a got a good glance at her and was quite shocked at the change.

"Nor am I, I've been here for a month. Where have you been, I can tell by your skin it wasn't anywhere tropical," she said as she made her way back to the table and Willy took at seat at the table as well.

"I was doing some research, and once you are finished eating I have something I want to show you. Something I think will help us," he said. Cherie gave him a sceptical look but continued to eat her salad.

"So, is there a reason why you are dressed like that and covered in chocolate?" he asked with a straight face, but inside he was smirking. He knew she had grown up, just like he had, and he acted like he didn't notice too keeps things form getting awkward, but he couldn't help but like the view.

"I was cleaning the Chocolate room," she said after swallowing a bite of food.

"Cleaning?" he asked shocked.

"No, like, making sure things weren't falling apart, not like cleaning out. No I would never do that to that room," she said. He sighed and nodded.

"Thanks, what else have you been doing here while I was gone?" he asked looking around expecting to find something new.

"I just kept everything clean and stuff, not much," she said. He nodded and she quickly finished her dinner and put the dishes in the sink. "So what is going on Willy?" she said standing next to him and getting serious.

"Right, come with me," he said leaving the kitchen. She followed and they entered the elevator and they whizzed off.

"The Roasting Room?" she asked confused. This was the room where they roasted cocoa beans. There was only a small batch in there now but she was still confused.

"Just wait," he said smiling.

She did wait and what she saw when those elevator arrived she was quite surprised. There were hundreds of small people who were tan and only wearing leaves. They stepped out and they were all staring at her and Willy.

"I'm confused," said Cherie looking at Willy.

"I found them on my travels and they will be living here now," he said he then did some weird hand motions and made some odd noises that shocked Cherie but then all of the tiny people waved at her with smiles on their faces.

"What did you just do?" she asked.

"I told them you were my friend and to say hello."

"And who are they?"

"They are Oompa Loompas." He said looking out over them with a smile. Cherie smiled at them before grabbing Willy's arm and dragging him into the elevator. She closed the doors and turned to him.

"What are you thinking? You can't just go somewhere and take a bunch of the natives and bring them home."

"They were in danger where they were living and starving to death, I saved them, and it isn't like we are-"

"We? I wasn't a part of this? And how are they going to help us with our future? Willy, I am worried I have no clue what you are planning and I need to know now!" He had wide eyes and sighed and nodded.

"They are my new workers," he said waving towards the oompa loompas and with a hopeful smile on his face.

"You do know slavery hasn't been around for-"

"No! No, not slavery! Where they use to live was a bad situation for them. They were constantly being killed and they had very little to eat. I offered for them to come live in my factory and work for me and in return they would have safety and all the cocoa beans they wanted. They find cocoa beans as a delicacy and they agreed and here they are," he said.

"But where will they live?"

"I have a few rooms that I can change. We will clean up things a bit, get some more materials and before you know it we'll be selling candy everywhere again without having to worry about weasels getting in."

"This is big, Willy. You know that right?"

"Of course I do. But now you know everything will be okay." Cherie looked out at all of the oompa loompas and sighed.

"All right, let's see how this works," she said. Willy smiled and hugged her before opening the door.

"Welcome!" he said to the oompa loompas in their language. They cheered and started swarming the two humans and nodding to them in their form of bow.

"What's are the saying?" asked Cherie as she smiled and nodded back to the oompa loopmas.

"They are calling us gods, well you a goddess," he said trying to keep his balance as they swarmed.

"Why?"

"I supplied them cocoa beans and you," he paused a listened to nearby elderly oompa loompa, "you are covered in chocolate and my friend." Cherie looked down at herself and laughed as she just remembered what she was wearing.

"Right," she said, "can you get them to stop?" He nodded and said something to them in their language and they all backed off. He said some more things before turning to Cherie and nodding.

"Let's go," he said. Cherie waved 'good bye' to the oompa loompas and headed into the elevator with Willy and off the went back to their living areas.

The next day began the beginning of their new lives. Cherie and Willy worked hard on transforming a few of their rooms into a natural environment for the oompa loompas to live in. Cherie requested a shipment of supplies for candies that would come in the next week. Willy worked on figuring out how to keep the factory warm and still be able to make the same chocolate as before without melting. Things were falling into place and Cherie turned down all the job applications that were accepted (all two of them).

They were going over all their shipments that had finally arrived when Cherie discovered a problem.

"Hey Willy?" she asked looking up from her clipboard.

"Hmm?" he asked inspecting some of the sugar.

"You told me to get everything in the numbers we use to get them right?" she asked.

"Yes, you did that right?" he asked walking over to her and looking at the list in her hand.

"I did, but we didn't take into account about the oompa loompas eating all those cocoa beans. Also you said it was a delicacy, could they become too much of a good thing?" she asked looking up at him. He looked down at her and made an 'oh' face.

"I hadn't thought of that, but that's why you are here," he said as he started walking away.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"To go ask them what else they would want," he shouted back before the doors closed on the elevator. Cherie shook her head and went back to checking the shipment.

A/n: So this is my new chapter. I have been working on so many other Disney stories (four in total) but I wanted to still be loyal to this and get this out. Slowly we are getting towards the movie, and I might do another time skip with the next chapter, or I might do some relationship development, we'll see.

Thank you for reading and reviews are welcome.

-Charlotte