Thank you to mrspencil, DragonsandInk, and Rachel420 for their kind reviews.

And now for our second Halloween chapter.

"Jack!" Sally cried as she saw the skeleton being dragged back to Halloween Town. She darted towards him as quickly as she could on badly sewn legs.

The ghost dragging him paused for a second.

"Let go of him, you… you brute!" Sally exclaimed, sending a disembodied hand straight through the ghost. The ghost glanced behind it at the hand, which was now crawling back for a second round, shrugged, and let go of its bony captive. It then floated off to the eves of the nearest building and settled down to watch the scene unfolding beneath it.

"Jack!" Sally breathed, taking his head between her hands. "Are you alright?"

"S-sally?" Jack murmured, clearly still not quite in his right skull. "How did you?"

"You're in Halloween Town," she explained. "One of the ghosts dragged you back. What happened?"

"I…" He paused for a moment and just stared at her. "Nothing really," he said as casually as possible. He unconsciously brushed his side. "Just a broken leg from falling off the post."

Sally narrowed her eyes at him. "You might as well just call me 'leaves for brains'," she grumbled as she began undoing Jack's black coat.

"Sally… Sally, don't…" Jack said, sounding appropriately panicked now.

She ignored him, instead proceeding to unbutton his shirt. She gasped and placed her remaining hand over her mouth.

"Come on, it's not that bad," Jack said, feebly attempting to re-cover his two badly cracked ribs.

"Who did this to you?"

"No one. I fell off the post."

"Jack, do you think I'm a complete idiot?" Sally hissed. "You do not get two broken…"

"Cracked," he corrected, half closing his eyes. "Just cracked."

"Broken," Sally continued. "Ribs from falling off a post!"

"How would you even know? You're…"

"If you say 'filled with leaves', Jack, I swear I will put so much nightshade in your tea that you won't be able to stand for a week."

Jack grinned for the first time since coming back to Halloween Town. "You know," he said as he brushed away the tears starting to trickle down Sally's cheek. "I don't think I'd mind if you did."

Sally smiled despite herself. "Bonehead," she murmured.

"Leaves for…" he stopped as he saw the ghost stir from its roost in the eves.

Sally looked up as well. "Where are you taking him?" she asked once the ghost had floated back down.

The ghost looked at her sadly then gestured towards Oogie Boogie's.

"Well, he can't at the moment," she said.

Jack looked at her with confusion.

"You can have him as soon as I'm through with him," she said, suddenly looking menacing. She stood up and began to reattach her hand. "He has a debt to me he has to pay," she said, deftly moving the sharp needle in and out of her hand and arm. She tightened the string so that her hand was in place again and turned to fully face the ghost. "I presume the King won't mind him a little more battered than he is?"

The ghost shook its head, looking a bit confused itself.

"Good!" she growled and began hauling Jack off in much the same way the ghost had. "You can pick him up by Dr. Finklestein's in one hour," she called over her shoulder. "I won't be long."

"Sally? What do you think you're doing?" Jack protested as he watched her bustle around her kitchen. She'd propped him up in a chair with a bit of bone fish at his elbow and was now putting a kettle on the stove.

"Making tea," she replied.

Jack frowned. "Sally," he began. "I don't mean to be rude, especially after saving me from that ghost, but is now really the time…"

"Special tea," she added. "My special tea. You do know what my special tea is, right?"

"Your special…" Suddenly, things began to click. Sally's specialty. Poison. "Sally, you're not going to…"

"I don't see any other option at this point," she interrupted as she pulled some deadly nightshade out of the cabinet. "That ghost is going to be here in a little over half an hour. Nightshade takes about three minutes to start working and twelve hours for the effects to fade. I'll find you by the time you wake up."

"Sally…"

"Look, Jack, we really don't have time." She poured the boiling water over some nightlock berries mixed with leaves. Then she put two heaping tablespoons of crushed nightshade into the teapot and began to stir. When she was pleased with the result, she poured out a cup for Jack. "Now drink up," she said, setting the cup next to him with a thud.

Jack stared at the cup of tea. "Sally," he began again. "What if I have to…"

"Have to…?" she echoed.

"…Scheme my way out?"

"From Oogie Boogie's?" she exclaimed, setting the nightshade back on the shelf. She slammed the cabinet door. "Drink your tea."

"I'm serious!"

"So am I!" she cried.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking down at his arm. "I can't."

Sally's expression softened. "No, Jack," she said. "I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking." She took the cup off the table and dumped it into the sink. "I'll make you some fresh tea."

"Thanks," he murmured. He picked up a bit of the bone fish and twirled it between his fingers. "Sally," he said, in little more than a whisper. "I'm frightened."

"I know," she said as she tipped the poisonous mixture out of the pot. She watched the brown liquid flow out the spout and down the drain before pouring more hot water into the pot. "So am I."

"What are we going to do?"

"I don't know, Jack," she said as she set the fresh cup of tea in front of him.

Jack looked up at Sally. She was shaking.

"I'm sure it won't be that bad," he said, forcing a grin. He took the fresh cup of tea and took a sip. It tasted a little odd, but then Sally had been distracted and in a hurry. He took another sip, trying to think of something comforting to say. "He'll probably just try to scare me."

"He's already done that," Sally murmured.

Jack swallowed another mouthful of tea. That was true. But what else could he say? He didn't want Sally to think he'd end up as part of Oogie's snake and spider stew. Frankly, he didn't want to think that either.

"I'm sure everything will be…" He suddenly lost his train of thought. "…Fine," he finished, wondering exactly how hard they'd hit his skull. He drained the rest of the cup of tea. "When did you say that ghost is coming here?"

"In about thirty minutes," she said, looking at him anxiously.

He nodded and nervously swirled the dregs around the inside of his cup. "How are you going to make it look like you got revenge on me?"

"Don't worry about that," she replied. "I'll work it out."

"Are you sure? Because I could…" Suddenly, he noticed something at the bottom of the cup. A little trace of brown herb. "Sally," he said, his voice equal parts worry and betrayal. "You… you…"

Sally watched as her dearest friend collapsed on the floor. She choked back a sob and began washing out his cup. "One teaspoon," she murmured to herself as she poured out the remains of the nightshade and nightlock berries she'd left at the bottom of the pot. "Two hours for the effects to wear off."

She repeated this over and over to herself as she took a pair of scissors and made a nice ragged cut in his ink black suit, hoisted him over her shoulders, and carried him to the door. When she got to the front door, she rested him against the doorframe and, out of habit more than anything, smoothed out a wrinkle on his striped shirt.

"I'm really sorry about this, Jack," Sally said, hoping somehow he could hear her. She buttoned his jacket, then remembered that he was supposed to look injured and unbuttoned it again. "I love you," she whispered, tears streaming down her cheeks. She kissed him on top of his skull then, before she could lose her nerve, opened the door and arranged him so it looked like he'd fallen into the street. Then she waited, her arms crossed over her chest and her lips in a thin, malicious line, until the ghost floated towards the house.

To explain one point, when someone makes a pot of tea some tea leaves are left behind even when the whole pot has been drunk (or in this case poured out). When Sally pours out the first pot of tea, she's leaving behind the mixture of nightshade and nightlock berries in the pot. When she adds more water, she simply creates a diluted version of what she already had. She's estimating that the solution created by the second pot will be at about 1/6 the potency of the first pot, the equivalent of one teaspoon of nightshade rather than two tablespoons. Whether that will be enough remains to be seen.

Reviews appreciated as always!