Disclaimer: I do not own The Nightmare Before Chirstmas, Tim Burton does. I made up Molly but that's about it.

Author's Note: Squee, I'm happy to say that now the story has reached over 100 pages! And I know that pretty soon there are going to be 100 reviews for this fanfic, and I just want to say thank you all for reading, reviewing, and being so patient with this last update. Work and school really took all my energy for the most part and now that I don't have to work anymore for credits, I can hopefully write more in my spare time instead of sitting around feeling tired. Special thanks goes out to Marissa, to whom I dedicate the fic to, and of course to Raptured Night, who not only helps me proofread like Marissa, but is also the reason why Oogie is so wonderfully in character. Anyways, without further a do, this is chapter ten! Enjoy!

Chapter Ten: Deception

"What do you mean that Molly's disappeared?" Jewel questioned, though her outraged tone made it seem more like a demand.

Vladimir, who stood inside the Doctor's laboratory along side the two Witches, put on his most empathetic expression as he could possibly make, especially since he really wanted to smirk at his own ingenious plot to get back at Oogie Boogie. "What else could have happened to her then?"

"She didn't show up for her work shift," the Short witch informed Jewel, to validate Vladimir's story.

"She did come in once though, to get some ingredients for a potion, but we thought it was for Vladimir, since he was feeling under the weather," the Tall Witch added.

The vampire then said, "But I haven't seen her since last night."

This was enough to spark the over imaginative, and pessimistic Jewel's mind, and she immediately took charge. "Well then did you question everyone in the town of her whereabouts?"

"We were about to but we thought we'd see if she was at home," Vladimir replied, "I can't bear the thought of Molly being in possible danger."

Jewel seemed even more worried now, "Then what are we waiting for?"

While this was going on, Molly was just beginning to awaken from her nap, feeling a little more disoriented, instead of refreshed. Most likely it was because she had been sleeping on the ground while taking the role of Oogie's pillow. "How long have I been sleeping?" she asked herself, trying to look around for any sign of a window in this room she had yet to visit in Oogie's lair. Because of this feature, or lack of feature, the room was almost pitch black, if it wasn't for the exit of the room, which didn't have a door to seal off the neon lights from other parts of Oogie's domain. The Oogie's burlap body also gave off some light, but not enough to light the whole room, but it helped her to find him so she could tug on the top of his head to rouse him from sleep as well. The Boogieman grumbled an incoherent threat, and stubbornly refused to wake up. "Boogie, wake up," she told him in a soft voice, but with a no-nonsense tone. "I have to get up, and you're too heavy for me to push off."

More grumbling came from an irritable burlap sack man before he reluctantly opened his eyes, and replied in a similar groggy tone, "Then why don't you try to be a good pillow and stay quiet, hmm Doll Face?"

A sigh of irritation escaped her mouth before Molly responded, "Because I have a home to go to before it gets too late, that's why."

Oogie turned over on his side so he wouldn't have to face Molly's scowl and yawned, "So? I am already at home, doesn't bother me none if you can't figure out how to sneak back into your own place."

Determined to have her way in this situation, Molly began to press her palms into Oogie's shoulders in a vain attempt to push him off of her body to free herself, and figure out what time of day it was. "C'mon Oogie, I'm serious!" she told him with a grunt from the strain she was experiencing, feeling like she was trying to move a wall of stone.

Because of Molly's determination to keep him from falling asleep again, Oogie Boogie regretfully sat up, so the rag doll was free to move about again. "Fine, and once you're done checking the time, make me something to eat why don'cha?"

"Make something yourself," she replied from the hallway after she left the room in search of a window that would give her a glimpse of the outside world. "It's probably time for me to head home anyways. I do have a life outside of this place."

Frowning at her last statement, Oogie then stood up and began to follow Molly, bent on reminding her just who was the boss around here. "If it weren't for my generosity you wouldn't, and don't you forget it either, 'cause I can always make you remember!"

Molly turned around when she felt his looming presence over her once he caught up to her. Folding her arms over her chest, she smirked, knowing that he was demanding her appreciation for his so-called, "generous" action. "Is that so? Well, if it wasn't for my generosity, you'd be a pile of bugs all over your lair by now." She grinned triumphantly as Oogie glared at her for bringing up how she cured the curse on him, daring him to try and come up with something that would top that. While he was fuming over the blow to his ego in silence, Molly decided not to waste another moment, and find a room with a window, and began to walk down the long hallway to find his torture room, knowing for sure that it had the feature she desired to find.

Not wanting her to win by having the last word, Oogie responded in a tone of steadily growing ire, "Well if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have had that problem either Doll Face!" Before he began on a rant of how her precious Fang-boy cursed him, he caught himself, and realized that the statement would probably make Molly question his meaning. To try and cover up his folly, he added bitterly, "You did take your sweet time to come visit me again. Just how long did it take you? Hmm?" Now speaking in a sarcastic way, he told her, "I'm glad you could steal some time away from Vladdy, otherwise I would have ended up as a pile of bugs." Pausing a moment, he then added thoughtfully, "Not that it would have been the first time that's happened."

Luckily for Oogie's sake, Molly had tuned out everything he was saying, and gasped when she noticed how dark it was outside, especially since it seemed that the clouds were covering the crescent moon. "Oh no, it's already dark! Mom's going to kill me!" Suddenly she began to walk briskly towards the secret exit of the casino themed lair, and quickly added a word of parting over her shoulder, "I have to go now."

Unhappy with the thought of Molly in such a rush to leave, and noticing that she didn't promise to return the next day like she usually did, he pretended not to care, but it was obvious that he was upset. "I would say see you tomorrow, but I'm not so sure if that'll actually happen. Not with Fang Boy around anyways. I can remember the last time how you said you would see me later, and how much time it took for later to come."

Glaring back at him, not believing that Oogie would chose now to act so selfishly, Molly retorted, "I don't have time to argue with you over this! I'm going home!"

Wanting to pursue the matter further since he was motivated by how touchy she seemed to be at the moment, Oogie continued to badger her. "I guess you wouldn't have time! Seeing as how you're probably late for a late night rendezvous with your precious little vampire anyways!"

"I am not!" Molly protested, stopping her fast pace for a moment to clarify that she had no intention of seeing Vladimir. She already had enough of his accusations, most especially the ones involving the self-centered suitor, which was appointed to her by her mother.

"Going to skip the date tonight then?" he asked snidely as he took his turn to cross his arms over his chest, daring her to prove him wrong.

"There is no date!" Molly exclaimed, now yelling in frustration. "I don't even know why I'm letting your opinion bother me. I have somewhere to go, and it's none of your business if I did have a date or not!"

After she turned away from him again, the boogieman decided to switch tactics in a final act to coax her into staying with him a little while longer. Acting as if he was resentful, he spoke in a dejected way, "Fine, I don't need you anyway. I can find something to do. It's not like I'm trapped down here for the rest of my days in almost complete solitude."

Too irritated with Oogie to care about his feelings anymore, especially when he didn't even seem to care about her own situation, Molly changed her tone and expression to one of apathy, as she responded, "That's right. You're not too fat to the exit to your lair. And if you are, then I'm sure you're smart enough to construct one that can accommodate to your size."

Oogie didn't have to pretend to be upset with her now that she intentionally insulted him with a word he hated to be called by. "No, I'm not! I'm just too interested in avoiding being killed by your King of Halloween, Jack Skellington!"

"Well that's not my problem," she responded snidely.

The burlap sack man was a little surprised by how cold her tone was at the moment, since she normally wouldn't talk that way to him. It annoyed Oogie, and he let his shoulders sag in defeat. "No, I guess it wouldn't be." Resisting the urge to keep her in his lair by force –which was a method he wished he could use more often, if Molly didn't put up a fight with him each time he did - Oogie turned his back on her, and began to walk towards another room slowly waddling, as if he was depressed now.

On the contrary, he was much more angry at the fact that he didn't have as much control over Molly as he would have liked. At first it was a little refreshing to not have her cower at the very sight of him like many other members of Halloween Town would have, her ignorance of how dangerous he really was being the cause of that fearlessness of his wrath. However, now that they had grown more comfortable in each other's lives, that insolence was beginning to irritate him, and he wished he could make her see things his way without having to argue, or act like he was some lonely hermit; even though he was, and would rather die by Jack's hands again in front of every member of Halloween Town than admit it to Molly. If only there was a way to do so. Molly was way too friendly with him to respond to his threats seriously enough anymore, and he didn't want to hurt her either, which could have an opposite effect, and drive her away. Even if he did try to use force, he was sure Molly knew how to manipulate him using her feminine wiles to eventually get her way. His insect filled head was empty with ideas on what else he could to do assert his authority over the rag doll that he considered his, just like his underground lair. He shouldn't have to be obligated to do without having her near when he wanted her to be. Shouldn't have to do practically everything but beg Molly to be by his side. Shouldn't have to wonder when her next visit was. Shouldn't have to fight for her attention.

Oogie was glad that his back was to Molly, so she wouldn't see the growing frown on his face as his mind lingered on these bitter thoughts, so his expression wouldn't ruin the act of hurt he was going for. "You're a terrible actor Oogie," he heard her say to him, still not allowing emotion to color her voice. It took whatever little self-control Oogie possessed not to turn around and take hold of her wrist and tell her he didn't have to be a good actor to make her stay. Instead he chose not to say anything, and continue waddling away from her. It seemed that this decision paid off, when he heard her sigh in defeat, and say in a reluctant, yet submissive enough tone, "Fine, it's too late now anyways, my mother will lecture me all the same, so I'd might as well stay a little longer, but only for a day. Tomorrow afternoon I'll have to go back, or else she'll send out another crazy search party, and that'll risk them finding out about you."

A chuckle escaped Oogie, as he thought victoriously, 'Yes! Ha ha ha! Looks like I've won this little game!' Turning around to face her again, he could not suppress the wide grin growing on his face. "So how about you cookin' something good for me then Doll Face? Might as well, since you plan on stickin' around. I feel like having roach potpie. Feel free to make something for yourself afterwards."

Molly replied to him with body language; placing her small hands on her hips, and shifting her weight to one leg, making her right hip jut out to the side, as well as twisting her mouth so her lips pursed together to the side, and lowered her eyelids to half closed slits. Oogie Boogie let himself chuckle, liking this particular pose Molly would make when he talked to her like he was right now. He knew even though she gave him a defiant look, and used her body to silently tell him that she wouldn't do as he said, that she would eventually give in, and do as he wished. This behavior was actually quite cute, since it was predictable out of her, almost as much as his own behavior would be if she lifted the skirt to her dress to allow him a peek of her wonderful legs.

"Why can't you cook?" she questioned him, keeping the look on her face, and began to tap her foot.

"Because you can," he replied simply, knowing that it would irritate her.

Molly was quick to argue, "But you can too."

Shrugging his burlap shoulders, Oogie responded carelessly, "But I don't plan to. So if we're going to eat tonight, it's because you cooked."

With that said, the Boogie Man began to hum his part of "This is Halloween" as he strolled towards his kitchen, expecting Molly to follow him.

Molly shook her head, muttering to herself, "Why do I put up with him?" before she proceeded into the same room as Oogie. "Well if I'm going to stay here longer," she began after they both arrived in the room made for food preparation, "then you're going to have to give me a reason to want to." The rag doll passed up Oogie, brushing against him intentionally, but acting like she accidentally bumped into him. Sitting upon the wooden table, she faced him with a grin that she wore whenever she had something in mind.

After feeling her bump into him, Oogie couldn't help but scowl in annoyance for a few moments. However, after noticing the difference in her attitude, her bump didn't seem as annoying as it first seemed. Brushing himself off where she made contact with him, he grumbled, "Mind watchin' where you're goin' Doll Face? I know even I don't take up that much space here."

Leaning back on the heels of her hand, Molly then crossed her right leg over her left thigh casually. With her grin still plastered on her face, she responded, "Right."

Hungry, and as impatient as ever, Oogie wasn't in the mood for whatever reason Molly had for delaying the creation of his next meal. Tapping his foot on the cold floor several times to warn her, and watching her still sit on his table with that irritating grin, he finally gave up and voiced his complaint. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

"I could just as easily make food at home," Molly began, pretending to find interest in the hem of her dress so that Oogie could catch a glimpse of some of her legs from below the knee. "So I'd like to know why cooking here is so special."

Of course Oogie's eyes were attracted to the exposed stitched flesh like a magnet. "It's special because you're cookin' in Oogie's lair," he explained, as if that alone would be a good reason.

"Well, since I'm doing you a favor," Molly spoke, changing the tone to a soothing coo. Laying down on her stomach now, but still having her dress hem pulled up enough to continue flashing some leg, she continued, "I figure maybe the Boogie Man might be so gracious as to grant me something in return."

Instead of being suspicious about her actions, Oogie was pleased by the tone of voice, and the respect she used in her response. "And just what might that be?" he asked, grinning in amused curiosity.

Without explanation, Molly suddenly sat up, and pushed herself off of the table. "That request was for roach pot pie, right?" she asked casually, as if the conversation they had never happened.

Oogie was caught off guard by this sudden change in her mood, and replied with uncertainty, "Uh, yes, that's right." As he watched Molly put together the ingredients for the meal, he began to wonder, 'Now just what was all that about?'

He wouldn't find out what it was about, until Molly popped the raw roach pie into the oven to cook, and came to sit in front of him. "So anyways, while we wait for the pie to cook," she began, again using the same tone as she did before while sitting on the table. "Maybe we should talk about that little favor you'd like to do for me, hmm?"

Oogie grinned back at her as he leaned forward in his seat, "Well, we can talk, but I can't make any promises, Doll Face."

A soft chuckle escaped Molly as she idly allowed her fingers to move across the table, making her index and middle fingers walk like legs. "Well my request is rather simple, Boogie." She then flashed him a coy smile as she adverted her eyes from her hand back to look him in the eye again.

"I doubt anythin' you come up with in that pretty little head of yours will be simple," Oogie replied dryly, now beginning to become wry of her intentions.

Molly told him casually, "I just want an answer to a question of mine is all."

Deciding to just give into Molly in this case, Oogie sighed as he responded, "Fine, ask away."

No longer teasing Oogie, the rag doll put on a straight face, and asked in a straightforward manner. "I was wondering why Jack Skellington killed you last year?" When she noticed how Oogie's disposition changed, she felt the need to explain her reason for asking. "It's just that Jack seems like such a patient person, and since nobody really seemed to want to remember you, I wanted to know what happened back then, since I wasn't around."

The Boogieman had not expected that kind of question from the rag doll from how she was behaving. "What!" he exclaimed on impulse, not using a furious tone as one might expect him to use. Instead, it was out of shock, almost in a sort of panic. His mind raced for an answer as he thought, 'She just had to ask that! Why in all hollow's eve did she have to ask me that?' Stealing a quick peek at Molly to see if she was catching on to his hesitation to answer the question, he was again taken my surprise to see her waiting patiently for his response. For a moment he watched her as she blinked her large eyes that stared back at him with an earnest want for an explanation. That look made Oogie have to swallow a lump in his throat. 'If I told her the truth,' he continued to think to himself, 'she would never want to come see me again.' Then it hit him, and he felt silly for feeling worried, 'No worries, I just won't tell her the truth. Oh Oogie, you're a genius!'

Whatever self-control Oogie Boogie knew, he needed to use to keep himself from grinning widely as his mind created a most delicious lie to tell the raven-haired doll. Instead, he sighs, lowering his eyes in a sad expression, and sagging his shoulders. "It's a long story Doll," he replied in a most nostalgic way.

"If you don't feel like talking about it, that's alright," Molly replied, trying not to sound too interested. For some reason, she felt uncomfortable seeing Oogie with that look. She knew that he hated Jack, but she never really knew why, and maybe it wasn't her place to know either.

"No, no," Oogie waved his pointed arm as if to chase away whatever memories he had that made him seem so depressed all of a sudden. However his hopeless tone still lingered as he continued, "It's okay, I suppose I should tell someone." For a more heartbreaking display, he sighed again, and made it seem like he was admitting his deepest, darkest secret to her. "It was because of Sally."

Molly blinked again, now it was her turn to be taken off guard. "Sally?" she repeated in a puzzled tone. She couldn't have reacted more perfectly to the start of Oogie's lie, even if Oogie had her rehearse for it.

Forcing himself to speak in a softer tone, which was no easy task for him, since it was very much against his nature, the Boogieman nodded. "Back when your wonderful Pumpkin King and I had something in common; a certain rag doll. Of course, Jack wasn't gonna go for that." There was nothing fake about the venomous resentment Oogie used while speaking the King of Halloween's name. "So Bone Daddy decided to do something about it, and take care of another problem of his at the same time."

"He killed you because you both cared about Sally?" Molly asked when it seemed like he was ready to stop speaking for a moment. It just didn't seem logical. Even if she didn't believe Jack was the most perfect being in Halloween Town – despite popular opinion of the townspeople – she still couldn't believe that he would destroy Oogie for such a petty reason.

Nodding again to confirm what she asked, he even managed to look sad about it as he continued his sad, fake tale of injustice and unrequited love. "Not to mention he made a mess of things last year." Moving his pointed hands, he sounded exasperated, "He almost ruined Christmas! See, he wasn't happy bein' the king of his own holiday, so he had to go out and steal Christmas. Of course, that was after he kidnapped poor ol' Sandy Claws." That statement would probably be the only one in his story that had some fact behind it. "But when he failed at runnin' Christmas, in order to save face, he went and blamed me for kidnappin' Sandy, and Sally! He told the townspeople that he saved them both from a cruel fate, and had to do away with me. So you see how he took care of his problems, and managed to come out lookin' like the hero?" Shaking his head in disbelief over these faux memories, and added, "He even convinced Sally that I kidnapped her, when really I invited her to see me."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked," was all Molly could think of saying. The unfair treatment of Oogie in the past was horrible, and not the good kind of horrible. Guilt rose up in her throat, making it seem difficult for her to say words of comfort. She gazed down at her hands, trying to avoid looking at him directly anymore. Not use to seeing the usually grouchy sack of bugs sad also made her quite uncomfortable in his presence now. Molly never experienced the loss of someone she cared about, nor had she experienced a true injustice. There were no words she could think of saying, even if guilt wasn't choking her at the moment.

This time Oogie allowed himself to smile, but he made sure to make it seem like one that was forced through sadness, "It's alright Doll, at least now someone knows the truth 'bout what really happened."

"I should check on the pie," she quickly made her excuse in order to avoid feeling obligated to sympathize with him. Pity for the Boogieman wasn't something she expected to feel, and she didn't know how to express it. There was nothing she could do, nothing she could say, that would be able to take back what had already been done to him. The damage could not be healed with an, 'I'm sorry'. She felt powerless, and she didn't like it anymore than she liked seeing a sad Oogie Boogie. She lingered near the oven for longer than she had to, peering inside to see a still raw potpie baking.

'Oh Oogie, you really are a genius!' Oogie mentally cackled at how gullible Molly was. It was just too perfect! He couldn't believe that she bought it; although she couldn't have known any better, since like she mentioned before, she wasn't living when the Christmas fiasco occurred. 'I'd better tell the brats about this so that they don't mess up my story. If she finds out it's a lie, she'll really never come around to see me anymore.'

Knowing she couldn't stand in front of the open oven forever to avoid uncomfortable conversation, Molly finally shut the door to the oven. Turning to her burlap sack friend, she then pulled out her playing cards, shuffling them in her hands. "Feel like playing while we wait?"

"No," Oogie replied grinning at her weakly, "I feel like winnin'."

Grinning in a more conspiring way back, Molly took her seat again, and crossed her leg over the opposite thigh, which in turn exposed part of her legs under her dress. "Well I can't really promise you that. We'll just have to see who the best card player is."

Oogie grinned a bit more genuinely as Molly began to deal, his empty eye sockets lingered lecherously upon her exposed legs, which was obvious she left open for his view to try and cheer him up. With these kinds of results, Oogie Boogie figured that maybe he should tell bogus sob stories more often. Especially when he could see all the way up to Molly's mid-thigh.

The sound of Werewolf's howl filled the air as Molly walked through the graveyard later that night. "I swear Oogie would make me stay with him in that lair forever if I couldn't talk some logic into that maggot-filled head of his," the rag doll sighed to herself. The truth was he almost tempted her into staying overnight with him again, however, she didn't pity Oogie Boogie that much. She allowed him to win the card games they played, in attempts to cheer him up, despite how irritating he was boasting of his own greatness, and talking in the third person after winning.

A chuckle escaped Molly as she remembered Oogie gloating over how he won some silly card games. At least then he seemed more like himself, and she'd rather be with an annoying Oogie Boogie, than be with a sad one. She just didn't know how to handle true sadness. She never really experienced it. She experienced frustration, and cried over that, but that paled in comparison to Oogie's own experiences. His injustices made her past feelings of dejection childish, and the rag doll felt a little ashamed. At least nobody tried to kill her for having feelings.

Molly's musings were interrupted when she finally stepped through the gates of Halloween Town, and was surprised to see what the citizens were up to now. With Halloween so close, one would assume that they would be feverously working on whatever task they needed to complete in order to meet their holiday's expectations. Instead, they all seemed to be looking high and low for something.

The question she was formulating in her head about what they were up to was soon answered when the Mayor spotted her. He got so excited upon seeing her, that he almost lost his balance and would have rolled around on the ground flailing and crying out for help, saying his infamous line about how he can't do certain things by himself. "Look! Molly's here! We found her!" This got everyone's attention and soon they all murmured amongst themselves; several of them even shouted out in triumph.

'They didn't find me, I came home on my own,' Molly thought dryly to herself, wanting to say so out loud, but restrained herself, since it wouldn't have fazed any of them. They all looked so happy that she was almost afraid they'd break out into song upon seeing her. However, they did not, so Molly felt grateful that she didn't have to waste three to four minutes of her life hearing them sing about how she came back to town.

Another question began in the confused rag doll's mind as she tried to cross the plaza without having the unsettling attention of pretty much everyone in Halloween Town greeting her and welcoming her as if she was someone important to their town, instead of one of it's delinquents. That question too, was answered quickly, as she heard the shrill voice of one of the few individuals of their town that probably rallied the citizens to go on a search party for her, – and judging by how happy they all seemed, the search had probably been going on for much longer than any of them would have liked – and that individual be her mother, Jewel.

"Molly Finkelstein!" Jewel's voice filled the air as she made her way towards her daughter, with Vladimir not too far behind her. Judging from her mother's tone and expression, she was not happy. Then again, Jewel had very few moments when she didn't seem that way. "Where have you been?" this question was more of a demand, and if her no-nonsense tone didn't make that obvious, the way she placed her hands impatiently on her hips did. Vladimir, along with the other townsfolk, began to stare at her more intently, since they too were probably wondering what made her stray from home so long and cause them to have to drop everything they were doing just to look for her.

Molly stood before the townspeople near the fountain, trying her best to stay calm, despite the uncomfortable gazes that were upon her. There were very few good excuses she could think of that might have a chance at pleasing this kind of crowd. She couldn't tell them what she was really doing, since they either wouldn't believe her, or Oogie Boogie's existence wouldn't be so secret anymore. Whatever Molly was going to tell them, she had to think of it fast, or risk revealing the secret of the Boogieman being alive. Something she didn't want happening since he wasn't just the arrogant Boogieman she met that day when she noticed the missing verse in their town's song. Oogie Boogie was her friend, and she would have to come up with a convincing lie for the entire town right now if she wanted to keep him safe.

Hehe, I am so evil aren't I? Here I don't update for five months, missing the main holidays when I should have updated, like Halloween, Christmas, and the first anniversary of the fanfic, and I have the nerve to make this chapter end with a cliffhanger. If you feel like flooding my email inbox with threatening messages, I will not blame you. I really hope you all enjoyed this chapter, to me this is the most groundbreaking chapter of all, since now the main plot of the fic is really starting to kick in.

I'd like to thank the following for their reviews:

Raptured Night

Phantom's Bride

Marissa

Alena Jamie Aberdeen

Kiely

Hearts Aglow

Twisted Destiny

Jack's Sweetie

Kaitlynn,

BloodyBess

Beany

Whiteangel

Moonliterider

Sparky

The Chimera

Queen Freaky

Darkest Fairy

Really, thank you all. I mean it. I know I took forever to update, but it's really fans like you who make me want to get off my butt and finish each chapter and try to put them up as fast as I can. I really hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I hope I don't take forever to update like I did last time. Remember, to read and review, because I love to hear from you readers :)

LaterZ,

Sydney Daimao