Author's Note: Oh my, it seems I'm locked in the house while snow piles up outside. Whatever will I do? Well, I can always update! Ladies and Gents, I bring to you more of this little old thriller/comedy/drama/semi-romance/mish-mosh of a story. It's a loving interpretation of the world and characters of The Nightmare Before Christmas. I had no say in the poem or film. If I did, I'd be a heck of a lot older and a bit richer. Then again, I doubt I'd be writing this, and that would be sad. So here's to another chapter and happy reading whether or not you're snowed in.

Daniel wasn't the only one having a restless night. Ever since finding "Little Jack", the Pumpkin King wondered how a baby could pretty much sleep the entire day. The answer came in a wail in the middle of the night. Jack woke up, yawned, and stretched as he got out of bed. He had to see what was wrong with Little Jack before Sally could wake up. The skeleton looked back at the bed to see that he had woken up too late. Sally was already up and gone. Jack quickly went down the staircase and sure enough found her rocking the sniffling baby in her arms and trying to contain a yawn.

"He was hungry," Sally said as he tilted her head to the empty bottle next to her leg.

"I'm sorry. It's my responsibility, I should have woken up," Jack said.

"Jack, I don't think it's too safe for him sleeping in his little tent all alone down here."

"You're right. I'll take it upstairs and put it next to the bed."

"Yes. If he needs anything else, we'll be right there."

"He's wide awake. I didn't know he could be so alert at this time," Jack said as he waved to the baby and watched him curl his lips into a little smile. "Hey, I didn't scare him this time!"

"You're learning," Sally said as she slowly got up with the baby. "Think he'll be up all night?"

"Billy would've told me if he would cry all night."

"Maybe it's in that book he gave you. Have you looked at it?"

"Not really," Jack said as he picked up the materials for Little Jack's tent.

"Well, you'll have plenty of time to look through it now," Sally said as she walked up the stairs ahead of Jack.

"So much for sleep, I guess."

Little Jack was up the entire night. During quiet moments, Jack would research the infant's behavior in the book and Sally would get at least a few moments of sleep. Evidently, infants Little Jack's age had no set biological clock that would alert them when to sleep and when to awaken. It wasn't his fault, it was how he functioned. Sleep deprivation, much to Jack's dismay, was a common thing for new parents to undergo.

By the time morning came, Little Jack had finally gone to sleep. A dead-tired Jack decided that today would be a good day to visit Billy and ask him why he had not told him babies were nocturnal. Heck, he'd even take the baby with him. Sally would need the break after the day and night before.

"Sally?" Jack asked.

"Yes?" Sally answered as she lifted her head from a pillow.

"I'm taking Little Jack on a little field trip to the Real World. I need to ask Billy a few things and I think he'd like seeing the little guy."

"Alright. Take some diapers and formula, maybe a rattle or a pacifier. You might have to take a bag and put Little Jack in a carrier. I'll help you pack."

"Oh no you don't. You practically took care of him all of yesterday. Lie back and relax. If anyone's going to be sleep deprived, it's going to be me. Go on back to sleep, you'll need the energy."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Mother."

"You can be so immature. It's hard to tell which one of you is the kid," Sally said as she reached out for Jack's hand. "Be careful with him."

"I'll guard him as if he was our own," Jack said and he held on to her hand.

"Don't take too long. When I do have energy, I'll want to talk to you, maybe even kiss you again if you lock the doors."

"Consider it done. I won't be long, Sally."

Jack lifted her hand to kiss it and gently let it go. Sally smiled at him before closing her eyes and going back to sleep. Jack changed and prepared himself and the baby for their journey to the Real World. He thought of bringing Zero again, but saw that he was looking out the window at a black cat lying on the branches on a tree. Jack decided to let things be and just take Little Jack by himself.

Billy Colby was feeling a little under the weather that morning. It seemed that the warmth he felt the day before wasn't due to the spring weather of Kentucky after all. Billy had a headache, a fever, and a slight cough. He had called his girlfriend to warn her that their impending date might have to be canceled. She promised to see him when she got out of work. He was lucky she did not stop by earlier, because an unexpected visitor dropped in with a most unusual agenda.

"Lord, I think my head's going to explode," Billy said to himself upon hearing the doorbell. "Coming!" he exclaimed before opening the door.

"Did I come at a bad time?" Jack asked, noticing the purely shocked look on Billy's face.

"That's the first time you've ever entered my life like a normal person," Billy said with a cough. "I'm not counting the time you brought the three homicidal maniacs in training."

"I apologized for that," Jack said as he brought a bag and a carrier into Billy's home.

"Jack, I'm a little sick today. I don't know if I'm up for your spookiness."

"What's so spooky about this?" Jack asked as he revealed the baby in the carrier.

"Well I'll be damned! He's human. I was kind of expecting a little monster thing."

"I found him in the woods, remember?"

"How do I know you don't live in spooky woods where everything that goes there ends up all scary looking?"

"Billy, I have many things to discuss and very little time to spare."

"Alright," Billy said before kneeling down to the baby. "Cute little guy. Hard to believe he was dumped off in the woods."

"Yes, because since babies don't come from the woods. They come from the Stork and cabbage patches."

"... Excuse me?"

Billy was sure he had not heard Jack right. Stork and cabbage patches? Billy wasn't sure where to begin telling Jack how wrong he was. Besides, he was a little sick himself, so he wasn't sure he'd get a good explanation to the skeleton anyway. Still, when Jack repeated that babies came from the Stork and cabbage patches, Billy cracked up.

"What is so funny?" Jack asked.

"I haven't believed in the Stork since I was a kid. Same with cabbage patches. You've been getting some bad information."

"Can you give me some good information then?"

"Well, what you want to know about that is hard to explain. Have anything easier to talk about?"

"But I want to know about the Stork."

"The Stork doesn't exist, Jack. It's a fairy tale."

"Sure, and Santa Claus doesn't exist either."

"That's right," Billy said in a very confident tone before coughing.

"You're wrong there," Jack said, breaking into a grin.

"Are you for real?"

"Santa Claus exists. We've spoken on several occasions."

"How about the Easter Bunny?"

"He's real too."

"The Tooth Fairy?"

"Tooth Fairy?" Jack asked in a confused tone.

"She's supposed to visit you when you lose teeth," Billy explained, excited to hear if any other beings from his childhood really existed.

"Oh. Well, I haven't lost any... we're getting off subject!"

"What were we talking about?"

"You were going to tell me where babies come from."

"No I wasn't."

Before Jack could protest any more, Little Jack began to cry from his carrier. Billy and Jack looked at each other before both turned to the baby. He seemed to be wet again, which caused Jack to ask Billy why babies were always so wet to begin with. As Jack changed the child's diaper, he explained that babies couldn't control their bodily functions; that's why diapers were needed in the first place. Babies were usually toilet trained when they were older, about two or three years old.

"We have to teach them how to do that?" Jack asked as he finished up the diaper-changing.

"You'll still have him by then?" Bill asked as he scratched his head.

"Well, no, I guess not. His parents, whenever we find them, will have to deal with that."

"You know, Jack, adoption here isn't so easy. We can't just put a baby for sale ad in the paper. I think I can go to jail for that."

"Do you know any childless couples who want a baby?"

"A lot of the time they want one that belongs to them."

"Well, if they take Little Jack, he will belong to them."

"Not in that way, Jack. It all goes back to where babies come from. And don't ask me to explain because I'm too sick to get all my facts straight. You'd better go before I get the kid sick too."

"Sick? They can get sick?" Jack exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me that before?"

"It didn't cross my mind," Billy said. "Don't worry about it."

"What if he gets sick though? I'll need medicine. We don't have medicine in Halloween Town. Everyone's already dead so they don't get sick."

"I'll take some to you then."

"You will? That's great! Do you know how to get there?"

"I have no clue."

"Oh. Well, go to the Wolf Creek Cemetery and walk into the woods past it. You going to feel a little weird at one point, like you're lost, but that's just because you're crossing worlds. Keep walking until you see a clearing. In that clearing are trees in a circle, each one with a different door. Halloween Town's the one with the smiling pumpkin door. You can't miss it."

"Crossing worlds?"

"Every forest leads into the clearing. Only those who want to find it will. When you want to leave this world, you'll enter one of the others."

"It won't hurt, will it?"

"No. Just pick up the medicine when you can and go into the woods. If you have anything to make you look scary, wear it. You'll fit in better that way."

"Alright then," Billy said with a sneeze. "Don't expect me until tomorrow."

"Feel better then. Thanks for the information, even if it wasn't the stuff I wanted in the first place," Jack said with a yawn.

"Believe me, once you know about the facts of life, you'll know why I didn't want to explain it. Get some sleep."

"Say goodbye to the nice mortal, Little Jack."

Billy watched as Jack faced the baby towards him before putting him back in the carrier. He held the door open for them as the skeleton made his way back to his world. Luckily, Jack didn't get back to Halloween Town for quite a time. While he was gone, Sally had to answer to a visitor looking for him.

"Hello?" Sally asked as she answered the door.

"Sally! How have you been?" Cupid asked. "Is Jack in?"

"I've been fine. Jack's not here though."

"Oh. Well, I will be on my way then."

"Is something wrong, Cupid?"

"No, nothing. Really."

"Something is wrong then."

"No, not at all. In fact, I am going to be a father soon."

"Really? That isn't bad news."

"No. I've just been letting secrets out lately, and Psyche wanted to keep this quiet."

"Don't worry about it. Say, where did you get a baby?"

"Pardon?"

"Jack and I have been thinking of getting one a while after we get married. You wouldn't know where to find one, would you?"

"Well, it is not that difficult, you just, erm, well..."

"Yes?"

"Ok, it is a little difficult. I know who would be perfect to tell you this."

"Who?" Sally asked.

"My mother," Cupid replied.

"Are you sure she won't be mad?"

"I think you would cheer her up. She has been out of sorts since finding out she is going to be a grandmother. Helping you out would make her feel much better."

"Thank you, Cupid. I think I'll stop by later. I'll let Jack know you were here."

"Tell him to go to the turkey door in the clearing. All of us will wait for him there."

With that, the God of Love took a bow and flew off. He was proud of himself for not upsetting another woman over the disappearance of a baby. Little did he know that he was flying over the missing child. Jack stopped in his tracks as watched Cupid fly away from his home waved to him.

"He didn't see me. I wonder what he was doing here. Well, time to go home, Little Jack," Jack said as he continued on his way, unaware of how close he had come to being found out.

Whew, that was close. Look's like luck is on the Pumpkin King's side this time around. What's going to happen in Thanksgiving Town? Will Jack realize that he has the baby everyone's talking about? And will either he or Sally get the right information instead of storks and cabbage patches? Find out next time. ;) (Re-edit Comment: Billy can be such a little kid sometimes.)