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Chapter 25: Plans & Machine

"Smarty." I managed before helping her dig in the snow for a small black object that would save us a whole lot of legwork. "Willy!" I nearly fell backwards in the snow feeling someone goose me from behind without warning and hearing a familiar giggle behind me. "That was so not funny." I felt a gentle nip against my ear and rolled my eyes.

"Sorry dear…couldn't resist." I noticed several Oompa Loompa's in the special suits suddenly take over the work Lexie and I had accomplished before they led her inside the factory and I found a warm coat wrapped around me along with a certain chocolatier's arms. "Hopefully they will find this and save us a whole lot of trouble." I leaned against him smiling at how easily he had snuck up on me and making a mental note to get him back later.

"That would be nice." I closed my eyes feeling very gentle kisses against my neck and ear turning to meet curious violet eyes. "Stop teasing." I managed to tweak his nose giggling at his startled expression. "ha." I was then pulled into a very nice kiss feeling his lips lock with mine before he pulled back noting my eyes were alight with my own amusement and ideas. "I think we have too much time on our hands." I turned feeling a light tug on my leg and noticed one of the Oompa Loompa's waving something in his hand.

Before Willy could agree he knelt down to examine the object in the little person's hand. "Thank you." He stood watching as the many little people started back to the factory, he wrapped his arm around me and started to follow. "It's a security box from a company." His eyes were studying my interested look.

"Ok…but which company?" I stated the obvious question that I could see written on his face.

"We're about to find out…security room." We both stepped into the warmth of the factory and I watched as he flung our coats absently on the floor taking my hand and leading me back into the familiar security room. "Percy…figure this out quickly please." One of the Oompa Loompa's wearing a black uniform nearly blending with the room nodded accepting the small box from Willy. "Now we wait." His eyes lit up with mischief after that comment.

"Uh huh." I gave him an amused look then moved out of his immediate area feeling him attempt to tickle me. "No." I slapped away his hands giving him a look of warning. I then heard several amused giggles and rolled me eyes before noticing it sent Willy into a slight blush. I couldn't help but join in the giggles at the flush on his face.

His violet gaze twinkled briefly before he pretended to brush off invisible lint on his coat. "Enough you little devils." The giggling only increased in volume and I joined in with the Oompa Loompa's giggling harder. "Right." He walked over catching my arm pulling me close enough to wrap an arm around my waist and red faced led the way out of the security room.

I finally managed to control my giggles outside the security room. "You're still adorable in red." I noticed his violet eyes rest on me with an amused smirk lingering.

"You didn't help the situation." He regarded me for a moment. "You helped it along." I shrugged my smile broadening.

"I couldn't resist." I gently tugged on his sleeve pulling him toward the glass elevator watching his face turn into an interested look. "I have some sketching to do…I'm dragging you along." I hid my mischievous smile as he pressed the button to the familiar wing.

Once inside the familiar cinnamon colored hallway I started toward my room Willy's presence very comforting when I reached my door, he let out a sigh and started to return to the elevator. I wasn't letting him get away that easily to go do his own work, I actually had no intention of sketching at the moment. He let out a startled sound feeling my grip on his wrist and was thrown off balance by my tug forcing him to stumble into the room.

"Where do you think you're going?" I quirked my brow at his curious expression and then saw realization dawn in his eyes.

Tug, Tug

I opened one eye snuggled close to Willy pulling my blankets over my shoulders, He was warm and sleeping peacefully which meant the tug did not come from him. I opened both eyes and muttered something lifting my head enough to notice Iris standing on a stool and watched as she gently tugged on my hand again.

"Yes Iris?" I half croaked watching her smile briefly managing to keep the blush from her face and then she handed me a note.

I was informed to come get you and Mr. Cocoa Bean, the security team has cracked the security box. I apologize for intruding on you two lovers.

I felt my face sting with the telltale blush at the last part of her note. "I'll wake him." I gave her a piercing look before she giggled disappearing quickly from my room. "Willy?" I gently nudged him smiling at the annoyed protest I received in turn. "Willy, wake up." I whispered kissing gently against his neck and tracing my butterfly soft kisses gently across his face.

Willy felt the gentle lips against his skin and smiled slightly. "Yes dear?" he managed finally opening his violet gaze meeting mine.

"Iris said they broke into the security box and was here to collect us." I smiled starting to get used to the affectionate 'dear' he started to recently use often. He smiled briefly at me before sighing.

I felt his hand slowly lace into my hair pulling me into a gentle kiss of his own. "I suppose we better go see what they found." He sounded reluctant even to himself. "She's starting to make me lazy…I love this girl." He thought seeing her curious expression, he then pulled her into another kiss feeling her warm lips against his own. "I don't feel like moving."

"Don't feel bad…I could get used to this." I said referring to waking up beside him each morning and smiling leaning into his arms, disliking the fact I would have to move from the warmth of the bed and his tender embrace.

"Me too." He smiled staring up at the blue canopy and sighed again. "Up we go." We both reluctantly left the bed again dressing, I wrapped myself around his arm and let him lead the way to the glass elevator.

Once in the hall I saw Iris and Doris were both waiting for us at the elevator and once inside Willy watched their hand movements intently occasionally nodding in response to something. "She looks so happy." Iris thought noticing Willy had appeared far more like his old giddy self then usual and smiling. "Finally Mr. Cocoa Bean has someone…it's about bloody time." Doris thought studying the content couple while the elevator moved them rapidly to their destination. Inside the control room there was a chorus of excited sounds, I watched Willy gently disentangle himself from my arm with a sigh before smiling at me and heading over to a smaller computer monitor off to the side and studying the information compiled before him. I stood there smiling down at Iris and Doris before I heard a strange strangled sound that reminded me of when I first caught Willy off guard, only worse.

Thud

I glanced over to the source of the sound. "Willy!" I scrambled across the checkered floor and knelt down near his unconscious form and placed my hands gently against his face. "Willy?" he didn't stir. "Iris…get me something to revive him with." She nodded rushing from the room leaving Doris to stare between us in worry.

"What happened?" Doris signed rapidly to the one controlling the monitor Willy had been staring at before fainting. She quickly climb up to peer at the screen and let out a startled sound before noting my concerned gaze resting on her. Doris watched Iris return and started to write on a piece of paper.

I dabbed a cool cloth gently around his face hoping to revive him. "Willy…wake up love." I smiled faintly at the pet name deciding it suited him and took the note from Doris in my free hand.

The information is a near complete replica design for Mr. Cocoa Beans machine that caused all the problems, there are very important pieces missing and I think there's more in there then I could actually understand. It must have brought about one of his panic attacks.

"Damn." I murmured seeing both women exchange worried glances before I felt movement and noticed he was starting to come to. "Willy, love you alright?" his violet eyes fluttered for a moment and rested on my face with a small smile.

"Yes dear…I think." He groaned realizing he had fainted on the floor. "That was not something I needed to know." He was referring to the plans he had just currently fainted over.

"Doris explained." I showed him the note seeing him smile nodding at his trusted friend. "What does this mean?" he sat up placing a hand thoughtfully against his chin.

"A whole lot of trouble." He placed a gloved hand gently against my cheek and smiled. "We need to go talk with the Buckets." He stood helping me to my feet.

We were walking down the optical illusion hallway when we were greeted by a very happy Lexie and Charlie just inside the chocolate room playing with some of the Oompa Loompa's. I smiled at the scene and noticed Mrs. Bucket was entertaining Lexie's mother and grandmother with conversation, once she noticed us she excused herself and started across the chocolate room watching both Charlie and Lexie run off deeper into the room having a blast.

"You two look very troubled." Mrs. Bucket clasped her hands gently in front of her observing our weary looks. "What's going on?"

Willy briefly explained the current situation and the discovery of the plans, she paled slightly at the information. "There's more too it, I haven't gotten through all the plans and such yet." He gently placed his hand on her shoulder noting her jump slightly. "Keep everyone in here where I'm sure all is safe…I need to do more research." She nodded composing herself and returned to the current guests. "You're going to stay here to dear." I turned at that giving him a look.

"Like hell." I crossed my arms seeing his eyes spark with amusement and then they turned very serious. "No…I'm not leaving your side." I shook my head stubbornly.

He sighed glancing heavenward. "You are far too stubborn sometimes." I smiled reaching out and tugged lightly on his now crossed arms and then moved into his embrace.

"You love that about me though." I wagged my eyebrows seeing him roll his eyes again. "Please." I whispered softly with a pout.

He glanced at her pout for a long moment and sighed reluctantly. "I need to learn to say no…more firmly." He then took my hand lacing his fingers with mine and led the way back out into the hall toward the glass elevator.

"You love me too much." I retorted playfully hearing an amused snort before the elevator came into view, he was startled when he collided with the elevator but I managed to keep him on his feet. "Careful."

Willy offered a strained giggle before getting into the glass elevator and pressing a button sending us off into the magical dreamland of his factory. We were then outside the library and I followed him in watching him walk over to one of the computer terminals and start working away. I glanced around the immediate area of books and pulled out one that described zodiacs and some traits of various signs, I had gotten so engrossed in the book I wasn't aware of anything around me until I felt arms slowly wrap around me from behind and glanced up meeting violet eyes, he looked very troubled and I quickly put the book aside. Slowly Willy walked around the couch I was lounging on and sat down beside me, I wrapped my arms gently around him and pulled him close to me watching as he leaned into my embrace. His hat fell aside on the floor beside us and he looked up meeting my worried gaze.

"Delaine must have studied my design fairly well…there is only a few important details missing, also a plan for her and Mr. York to use on finishing the machine." He paused feeling my hand gently brush through his hair in a soothing fashion. Closing his eyes he let out a small content sigh. "They planned on kidnapping you or Charlie…whomever was more convenient, you were their first choice because of your drawing and being so close to Charlie. Being involved with me just made it worse." He felt an odd guilt over that and sighed miserably.

I already knew what was going through his mind and traced his face gently with my finger watching his eyes snap open at the gentle touch. "It's not your fault and yes I know your guilty look too…stop beating yourself up and listen to me. I'm perfectly happy being in love with you, even if it was highly unlikely in the beginning to happen…it did and now we deal with this together." I was firm and his small smile made me know I had gotten through to him.

"Yes dear." He sounded almost mocking and then chuckled at my almost evil glare. "I think it's enough evidence to at least get Delaine out of the equation so to speak, but finding our dear Mr. York is still a very big problem." I gave him a curious look before he sat up returning his hat and standing. "He's former CIA according to Lexie's mo-moth-mom." He wrinkled his nose in annoyance.

"That could be a problem." I nodded in agreement finding myself gently pulled from the couch into his arms. "Maybe that will be useful for the police actually doing their jobs. They can find out his old position and such." Whatever I said apparently had him thinking, I could almost see the bulb flash above his head.

Before I could ask he laced his fingers with my hand and headed from the library, I had to partially scramble to keep in step caught off guard after a moment I found myself inside the glass elevator rushing around the factory rapidly inside the machine and closing my eyes making sure I didn't experience any vertigo for the moment. The machine stopped to my surprise inside a neatly arranged hall full of what would appeared to be a waiting room with rich mahogany furniture and dark red carpeting. I noticed Doris was busily working at a desk and saw her glance up apparently surprised by his unannounced visit. Willy led me down the long hall waiting area to a large door and pulled me inside the room releasing my hand long enough to turn on a light. The office was literally a mix and match of things from all over the world, even from places I had no clue about. The office was like stepping into a cluttered museum with a larger the necessary desk in the middle of the room covered with various knickknacks, papers, folders, computer, and other random items. I realized Willy had brought me to his office due to some odd brainstorm and watched as he disappeared among the museum of items becoming hidden among several glass cabinets and high cases.

I took a breath and peered around the interesting room again. "What brainstorm did you get this time?" I called hoping that I was guessing approximately where he was in the room.

Willy come up behind me and placed a hand gently on my shoulder making me spin in surprise. "You reminded me that I have a friend inside the CIA." He giggled at my intake of breath and gave me an apologetic kiss to the cheek. "Well an outside contact anyway." He paused staring around his office trying to think and disappeared from my sight again.

I stood there for a long moment crossing my arms and patiently waiting while observing the room, my eyes paused on a sword with an ivory hilt I could guess was from France by the design. I nearly yelped when I felt a tug sensation on my leg I then peered down at Doris who motioned for me to follow her further into the room. I finally was led to Willy who was leaning against a wall behind a case with an odd insect in it, the critter gave me the creeps and I decided to leave the question of what it was alone, I did not want to know. Doris tugged on Willy getting his attention and he glanced up smiling before nodding watching her disappear.

"I found it." He held up a leather volume which I assumed was an address or contact book of sorts. "I really need to have Doris hold this." He was scanning over the pages in that rapid fashion of his and paused. "I'll give this to Doris and she can email him and see if we can sort this mess out." He noticed my uncomfortable look and peered at the large insect.

"I don't need to know." I pointed out before he could even explain. "Eep." I managed startled when Doris appeared again without warning and startled me.

Willy stifled an amused chuckle and handed Doris the book in hand. "Here's the contact Doris." She bowed disappearing among the cluttered room again. "I'll have to bring you here sometime when things aren't quite so hectic." His voice sounded husky and brought my attention from Doris's exit.

"Let me guess, large desk, things that scare me…you like the girly side of me." His arms wrapped around me from behind and pulled me close to his frame, his chin rested lightly on my shoulder.

"Maybe." I couldn't help but smile, he was far from the innocent child like man people assumed he was, but he was good at hiding his darker side, I couldn't deny his ideas didn't intrigue me. "Now that we've established we again have far too much time on our hands…let's go see if there's anymore information from the security box." He was just a bit reluctant to leave already liking his suggested thoughts but decided to behave…for the moment.

Soon I found myself carefully watching Willy observe the monitors in the security room silently hoping nothing else would appear and cause more issues. I heard the door, hesitant steps behind me and turned seeing Charlie was observing us carefully with a curious look, he walked over leaning into me hugging me close smiling at my offered kind smile. Charlie could see Willy was concentrating and nodded silently before giving me a curious look. "I see my idea worked, I wonder if they're both happy?" he couldn't help the thought and studied me closely before his gaze turned to Willy. Willy turned hearing the entrance and smiled at Charlie before turning back to the monitors, he appeared far more amused then Charlie was used to which he took to mean he was as happy as I was.

"What's on your mind." My voice was low making Charlie jump slightly at the question.

He hesitated meeting my gaze a thoughtful expression on his face. "Um…" he considered his question for a moment. "Are…are you and Willy happy?" he felt his face flush under my blue eyes and lowered his eyes quickly.

I smiled at his flush and saw Willy had returned his attention to us with a confused look. I winked and nodded all was good, before I place my hand gently under Charlie's chin forcing him to meet my eyes.

"We're both very happy Charlie…thanks for being such a little schemer." I kissed his cheek watching his face turn ever redder at the action. "Go see what he wants." I shooed him to Willy who was waving him over.

I watched both of them with interest for a few minutes and got the feeling something important was being discussed. I then observed the room more closely after a long while and was aware there was a lot of activity and yet the room was nearly silent. This was a mystery to me and because of this I started to move around peering over various Oompa Loompa's shoulders seeing nothing was off I should have at least heard a lot of clicking, but I heard nothing. Charlie come over beside me telling me he was off to help his mom and would see me later, I nodded fluffing his hair before returning to the curious soundless room. I was perplexed it was another puzzle to solve and I still didn't have an answer that's when I heard the slow sound of footsteps and turned.

"You look confused." Willy's eyes were twinkling seeing I had discovered the secret of the room, or at least discovered it was far too quiet then it should have been.

"Alright I am…spill." He chuckled at my slightly annoyed expression. "You like head games too much love." I caught his hand with my own and smiled.

"I know." He paused in thought. "It's silent because of a plastic I made that is nearly silent when in use on machinery…it was an accident but it has it's uses." I finally understood the mystery to the soundless room and gave him a look. "Yes dear?"

I laced my hands through his gloved fingers again meeting his eyes. "What am I going to do with you? Anything new?" his smirk appeared before falling at the second question.

"Nothing as of yet. I'm hoping Doris has something for us soon." I nodded removing my hands from his and wrapping my arms around his warm frame taking in the candy scents and the softness of his velvet coat. "This is going to come back and haunt me I know it." He sounded so sure I had to glance up to study his intense look, his violet eyes had hardened to a far too serious look and it didn't fit him in the least.