(A/N: Calling all artists. I always make covers for my stories when I print them out because some of my friends don't have access to the internet so I print out copies for them. If there's anyone out there who could make a really cool cover, send it to me, and I'll announce the chosen cover. Any form of artwork is appreciated.)
"Do you want me to go with you?" asked Wonka. They were standing in front of Reya's house. It was nearly one in the morning and they both knew she was up.
"She'll flip out either way," said Reya.
"I'd better come them so I can take half the heat for you."
"Fine, but feel free to run away whenever you want to."
"Don't worry about me," he said, kissing her cheek. She took in a deep breath and nodded.
"Okay, let's go." He took her hand and they walked up to the door. Reya reached for the knob, but it turned before she could turn it, and the door was pulled open, revealing a very tired Reya's mother, wearing a pink flannel nightgown and her hair back in a ponytail.
"Rachel Elizabeth Carmen, do you have any idea what time it is?" Reya bit her lip. The middlename was never a good thing.
"I know, Mom," she said. "I'm sorry, but we both need to talk to you about something." Her mother scanned her and then Wonka, and her eyes widened and she placed a hand over her mouth.
"Oh my god, you're pregnant!" she gasped.
"What? No!" cried Reya.
"Definitely not," said Wonka.
"You!" she snarled, pointing at him. "Don't you dare say one word. Not a word! I've been good about this whole relationship, even though I've seriously had doubts. But now you both have gone too far!"
"Mom, listen to us!" wailed Reya.
"No! I don't want to hear anything. How could you do this, Reya? After everything your father and I taught you..."
"We haven't had sex, Mrs. Carmen," said Wonka, taking a risk and butting in. "If she's pregnant, it was absolutely not by me."
"So, now you don't know who the father is?"
"Mom, there is no father," she said, getting frustrated.
"Oh, so it's immaculate conception now? Who do you think you are? The virgin Mary?"
"I'm not pregnant, Mom!" she snapped. "I'm not pregnant. I never was pregnant. There is no baby." Her mother stopped to take a breath and ran her hand over her forehead.
"Then what on earth do you want?"
"Mom, we're getting married," she said, showing her the engagement ring. Her mother's eyes got bigger and she looked at Wonka in absolute fury. "Mom, don't even!" warned Reya.
"Oh don't even what? A grown man is trying to take my baby away from me!"
"I'm not a baby, Mom," said Reya.
"You're throwing your life away. If you go off with this man you will trash any hope you have for a future!" Reya rolled her eyes and stepped into her house. Wonka started to step in after her, but her mother stepped in front of him, blocking his way. "You are not entering my house or coming anywhere near my daughter!" she spat.
"My dear woman, I mean no harm. I came with Reya because she knew this would happen. We both want to talk this out with you, not start a riot, so unless you wish to startle the neighbors into calling the police, I suggest you let me enter."
"Mom, let him in," said Reya. Her mother looked at her as if she was ready to reply, but either couldn't think of what to say or thought better of it, and stepped aside, letting him in.
"Thankyou," said Wonka, and they went into the kitchen to talk. Reya and Wonka sat down next to each other and her mother sat down across from them. Neither of them said anything for a long time, and finally her mother spoke up.
"When did this happen?" she asked.
"An hour ago," said Reya. "Give or take a few minutes. We wanted to tell you right away rather than keep it from you."
"So, you thought about hiding it from me."
"No," they said in unison. "We didn't consider it for a moment," said Wonka. "We knew we had to tell you or that would make matters worse."
"Mom, both of us have given it some serious thought. It's really what we want. But we don't want to do anything without letting you know first." Her mother shook her head but said nothing. "Please say something," she said softly.
"What is there to say? You two have obviously made your choice. I can't do anything about it."
"Please don't look at it that way," said Reya.
"You know what, Mrs. Carmen, Reya's right," said Wonka. "You should have some say in this. If it will bother you this much we'll simply break off the engagement and pretend it never happened." Reya jerked her head around and looked at him with wide eyes.
"What?" she asked.
"After all, it'd be wrong if you really did feel that I was in fact stealing your daughter from you. Everyone can agree that stealing is wrong, no exceptions. If you wish it, I will break this whole thing off and let you keep your daughter."
"What are you doing?" asked Reya.
"Yes," said her mother. "I do wish it." Wonka nodded, but seemed so unnaturally calm about it.
"Reya, I'm sorry," he said, holding out his hand. "I'm going to be needing that ring back." Reya looked at him, not expecting him to be serious, but he seemed to be. She gave him a dirty look, yanked off her ring and slapped it into his hand.
"You bastard," she muttered. He merely shrugged and pocketed the ring.
"I'm sorry, Reya, but as long as she's not fine with this, we can't be together." She folded her arms over her chest and sank lower in her seat, shaking her head as tears formed in her eyes. He stood up, patting her on the shoulder and tipped his hat. "Well, I really don't think there's much more to be said here, so goodday, madam, Reya." He walked on out the door, swinging his cane and left quietly. Reya sat there waiting for him to pop back and say, "Just kidding!" but it wasn't until she heard the car start that she knew it wasn't happening. She shook her head again and looked at her mother, who seemed slightly shocked at what just happened.
"Well," she said after a moment. "Now we can put this past us and move on."
"Like it never happened, mom?" asked Reya in a dangerous tone. She stood up, rolling her eyes and headed to the stairs.
"Reya-"
"Mom," she growled, turning to face her. "See this? This is me trying not to get in a fight with you. Don't push this me over the edge or I swear you'll regret it you controlling, manipulative hag!" She had wanted to saw something else, but knew she'd make it worse, and headed up the stairs, waiting till she could use her pillow to muffle out her sobbing.
Reya didn't leave her room at all the next day, not for anybody, and refused to let anyone in. She stayed on her bed, crying off and on. She was furious with Wonka and her mother. She was torn between screaming at them and trying to kill them at the same time. They both had cut her so deep she wondered if this was what Frodo had felt like when the nazgul stabbed him in Lord of the Rings.
"Reya," called a voice. She sneered. It was her mother.
"Go away," she muttered.
"Can I get you some food?" Reya didn't answer. "Please, you need to eat something."
"Go away."
"Reya, honey. Please talk to me-"
"GO AWAY!" she half screamed.
Needless to say, it didn't take very far into the next day for her mother to be overwhelmed with worry. She finally accepted that desperate times called for desperate measures. Turning to the phone she dialed up the one number she never wanted to call again. "Wonka chocolate company. How may I help you?"
"May I please speak with Willy Wonka?" she asked.
"I'm sorry, he doesn't accept bussiness calls-"
"This isn't bussiness. It's an emergency. Tell him it's Reya Carmen's mother. Can you do that?"
"One moment please..." there was a pause and she waited, biting her nails, and soon heard the phone get picked up.
"Willy Wonka speaking," said a voice. Rebecca closed her eyes, tears falling down her face and she took in a deep breath. "Hello?"
"Hi," she said at last. "This is Mrs. Carmen."
"Ah, yes! Mrs. Carmen, what can I do for you?"
"Get me my daughter back."
"Pardon?" She shook her head.
"When I first learned you were engaged I said you were stealing her away. I thought you were too, but lately I've realized... you were completing her."
"What are you saying then?" She ran her hand over her forehead.
"I'm saying the girl who would come down every morning all bright eyed and bushy tailed won't leave her room. She won't talk, she won't eat. I know you can help her. You're the only one you can." There was a pause.
"Mrs. Carmen, I love your daughter very very much. I want to marry her, but I won't if there's going to be a wall between us. It's your call."
"You planned this whole thing," she said suddenly in realization.
"I cannot tell a lie. I did, my dear woman. But only with the best intentions. So what do you say? Ready to let go?" She sighed and nodded.
"Yes. Please, come and fix her."
"In that case, I'll be over in a minute." He hung up and she hung up the phone. Five minutes later there was a car in her driveway and she saw him come out, adjusting his hat as he came, and stepped up the concrete steps. She opened the door, tears still in her eye and heaved a sigh.
"Her room's upstairs," she said. "First door on the right." He nodded and hugged her comfortingly.
"It's going to be alright," he said softly. She nodded and he stepped back, heading up the stairs.
Reya heard the knock at her door and she looked up from her bed. "Go away, mom!" she cried, exasperated. The door slowly opened and she saw Wonka peek in. "You!" she shouted. "You bastard! Get away from me!" Tears of rage were falling down her face and she grabbed a glass of water she had on her night stand and threw it at him. He ducked and it shattered on the wall behind him. "Go away!" she screamed. He remained calm and walked over to her. She ran up to him, raising a fist to hit him, but he caught her by the wrist and stopped her.
"Reya, don't," he said softly.
"All this time you were looking out for your own skin!" she screamed. "How did you think it would affect me? You jerk!"
"That's not what happened, Reya."
"Liar!" she shouted, trying to hit him again. He grabbed both her hands fast enough that it startled her. "Don't you hurt me!" she screamed, falling to her knees. "Don't hit me!"
"Hit you?" he asked, appalled. "Reya, after all we've been through you think I'd hit you? Why on earth would I do that? I'd have to be bewitched to do something like that!"
"Yeah? Well I don't know what to expect from you anymore! First you want to marry me then you don't love me anymore... what am I supposed to expect?"
"I would never ever ever hit you," he said firmly. "Ever. Alright?" She nodded, but looked at him angrily.
"You're a lying... sick... deceptive bastard!"
"Reya, it was all planned," he said softly.
"What are you talking about?"
"The whole thing was planned! I knew your mother wouldn't keep us apart if she saw what it would do to you. I couldn't tell you otherwise the plan wouldn't work." She looked at him, slightly confused and stood up.
"You mean all this time you knew what was going to happen?"
"Not exactly," he said. "I knew you'd react badly, I just didn't expect it to happen so fast. You must've put on a pretty impressive show." She didn't say anything and he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Reya, I would never just up and leave you in a heartbeat. I would never leave you period! You should know that, and if you didn't then now you do." It took a minute, but she finally gave a weak smile. "See? You can smile." She started crying, and he put his arms around her, hugging her closely. He kissed her forehead and rubbed her back. She pushed him away and punched him in the arm.
"That's for lying to me!" she snapped. She hit him again and he pulled back, rubbing his arm. "That's for turning me into an emmotional basketcase!" She hit him a third time, despite his attempt to dodge and he gave a stiffled yelp. "And that's for giving in to my mom!" He stared at her in disbelief, stroking his arm, knowing there was going to be a bruise there, then placed his hands on her shoulders. He kissed her cheek and looked at her.
"I'm sorry I lied to you," he said softly. He kissed her cheek again in the same spot. "I'm sorry I turned you into a basket case-"
"Emmotional basketcase," she corrected him firmly.
"Emmotional basketcase." He turned her head and kissed her lips. "And I'm sorry I gave in to your mom."
"Don't you ever do that again!" she said, shoving him. He shook his head.
"Well, I obviously can't, now that you know how it works. Oh! I believe this belongs to you. He pulled out the diamond ring a held it out to her. She took it back with a smile and slid it on her finger.
"Still fits just right," she said softly.
(Some of this was taken from Ocean's Twelve because I thought it was cute. But if you haven't seen the movie then it doesn't matter in the slightest. Cheers!)
