A.N. I may squeeze one more daily update in tomorrow morning, but after that I will be going on vacation for a week with no internet access. I'm still alive, and DEFINATELY still writing, and I'm bringing my laptop, so I will have plenty of Willy and Veronica's adventures to share with you when I get back... and if I get lucky, I may, MAY be able to get online once sometime midweek to surprise you all!

It wasn't long before Veronica had cleaned herself up, and she was presently sitting in the guestroom with a steaming cup of hot chocolate, sipping it quietly. Wonka was now rifling through her suitcases for all the things she was supposed to return. When he lifted the coat out from among her things, she started.

"Umm… I was actually wondering if I could keep that one. I've grown somewhat fond of it." She said quietly.

"Absolutely not! I have a private tailor, have you any idea how much these things cost?"

"In other words, an Oompa Loompa made it, and you can't afford to give them any more cocoa beans, before production suffers." Veronica snorted.

"Exactly." Wonka beamed at her. "You catch on quick!"

"In that case…" Veronica approached him and snatched the pair of gloves out of the suitcase, before he could take them back. "I'm keeping these." She smirked.

"Go ahead…" Wonka muttered, watching her pull them on with great satisfaction. She flexed her fingers happily for a few moments, listening to the squeaky sound the gloves made, then, noticing Wonka staring at her, she dropped her arms limply to her sides.

"Having fun?"

"…Shouldn't we be talking about the present… situation?" Veronica felt her heart sink like a lead weight, apparently hitting her stomach on the way down, because she suddenly felt quite ill again.

"Not if you're gonna get sick again, we're not." Wonka said anxiously, noticing how pale she had suddenly become.

Veronica sank back into the comfy white chair, clutching at her cup of hot chocolate with her two bizarrely purple hands. She squeezed her eyes shut, forcibly reminded of a ride in that horrid elevator, but trying unsuccessfully to banish that image from her mind. She was NOT going to be sick again.

"Well, I have to talk to someone!" She said.

"You can talk to Frank, he's an excellent listener!" Wonka grinned.

"Frank's an Oompa Loompa, isn't he?" Veronica asked dryly.

"Of course he is!"

"Mr. Wonka, I don't think an Oompa Loompa is going to be able to help me." Veronica said.

"I do have a first name ya know." Wonka snorted.

"Don't get me all tangled up off the subject!"

"I was just telling you…"

"Mr. Wonka… Will…Willy! Dammit, don't confuse me more. I need to lie down…" Veronica moaned. Wonka looked at her, quite interested, as she shuffled over to the edge of the bed, and flopped down unceremoniously.

"I've only been called 'Will' once before. Where did that come from?" His blue velvet eyes bore into her, attempting once more to read the secrets of her soul.

"I… don't know." Veronica said quietly. "A dream, maybe?" But try as she may, she could not remember ever calling him Will before, not even in a dream. She was utterly spent.

"Please don't make me go home." She whispered, beginning to doze.

"I TOLD you, you can stay HERE." Wonka insisted, but Veronica was already sleeping.

Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka, the amazing Chocolatier...

Wonka didn't let her sleep long enough to dream. He woke her, not with a jab of his cane, but instead with a tap of his gloved finger on her nose.

"We have work to do, get up sleepyhead!"

"How long have I been sleeping?" Veronica asked, blinking at the bright light.

"Oh… about twenty minutes. But I have work to do, and I'm not just gonna leave you to wander around lost in this place all day. You come with me." Wonka smiled. "We get to test all the machinery today, make sure nothing's broken." And he seized her by the wrist, pulled her out of bed, and practically dragged her to the elevator.

"Aren't you afraid I'll cave to the pressure of blackmail, and tell all your secrets?" Veronica asked.

"Well, for one, you won't. And, for two, you already know all my secrets, 'cause of the tour I gave you the first day. It's not my fault if you didn't listen to me." Wonka smiled and gestured for her to get in the elevator. Veronica sighed, and took a resigned step into the little glass box.

"So the answer's no." Wonka finally finished, pressing a button.

Veronica quickly remembered how weak her stomach seemed to be that day. She kept her eyes squeezed as tightly shut as she could, and she clamped her mouth shut as well. She didn't get sick, but she didn't want to get back in the elevator again. Wonka briskly brushed past her, cane tapping on the floor in rhythm with his gait. He stood perfectly upright, hat tilted just slightly on his head. Veronica realized that she had never actually seen him without his hat on, and the one time he actually was without it, she was so busy staring at his hideous pajamas… She had the sudden urge to snatch it off his head and run off, laughing like a maniac. But her stomach still felt iffy, and so she decided it was better to just follow him obediently. They moved through several rooms where everything seemed to be in perfect working order, and Veronica almost wondered why they were doing this.

"We need to get ready for the Easter rush." Wonka said, almost as if reading her mind. "I can't have anything breaking down when we're stretched that thin, that just wouldn't do."

Finally, when it was nearing what would normally be dinner time, Wonka led Veronica into the Taffy room. There was the taffy puller, sitting on the far side of the room, enormous and imposing. And there were two Oompa Loompas, getting ready to pull a rather large batch of taffy. They pushed the button and then…

In the blink of an eye, both Oompa Loompas had been thrown clear across the room as the taffy puller's three enormous pulling-arms swung out of control. The taffy itself was flinging little bits everywhere. Veronica shrieked. Wonka just stood there, watching, a very intense look on his face. He watched the taffy, still wrapped about the pulling-arms, lashing like whips all around the machine. There was no way to even get close to the machine to turn it off.

"Yep. That one's definitely broken." Wonka said, mostly for Veronica's benefit, as if she couldn't already tell. Then he stood silent for a long time, as little bits of taffy flung off of the long whips, attaching themselves to the walls, the ceiling, Wonka's hat, Veronica's glasses. Finally, he took two steps toward the machine, just barely out of reach of the ever-growing taffy whips, lifted his cane by the middle, and threw it like a javelin. It hit the control panel squarely on a large red button labeled "OFF." Veronica stared as the machine slowed, stopped. She then looked over at Wonka, who went to retrieve his cane as if nothing extraordinary had happened. He began picking pieces of taffy off his hat, tasted one, then made a face and turned to Veronica.

"Eww. That one's definitely broken." He looked at her for a moment, she was covered in little pink bits of taffy, then he picked one out of her hair, giggling. "Umm… you have… taffy all over you."

"I can see that, thank you." Veronica hissed.

"Well, I suppose I can do the rest on my own tomorrow." Wonka smiled cheerfully. "Unless you'd like to continue…"

"No… No. I think now would be a lovely time to stop." Veronica attempted to clear her glasses of little pink taffy specks. They didn't want to budge. "Lovely…"

"Good! Now, get your stuff and go home." Wonka continued to smile.

"Whaddya mean go home?" Veronica practically blew up. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm doing what you asked me to. I'm staying."

"No you're not."

"…Excuse me?"

"You can't just run away from your problems like that." Wonka said sensibly.

"YOU DID." Veronica shouted.

"No I didn't."

"You closed your factory for years!"

"Well now, I had just fired my entire staff. You don't expect me to run all these machines all by myself now, do you? I had to find new…impartial… employees."

Veronica opened her mouth to protest, then closed it again.

"That isn't why you closed your factory, to find new employees, and you know it." Veronica muttered.

"Be brave." Wonka continued on, ignoring her. "Face your fears. It builds character. That's what I did, and look at me!"

"I'll bet…"

"Go home. I'll still be here when you come back."

"Fine. Good night, Mr. Wonka." Veronica said sourly, finally pulling off the purple gloves and throwing them back at him. She turned and walked away without another word. Wonka watched her go.

"I do have a first name, you know!" He called after her.

Her frustrated scream echoed through the factory halls for the next hour.

A.N. Lu Vox: I am extremely honored by your request! I will give you permission to translate the story, with proper credit given, of course.

And I want to thank all of those who have reviewed this story so far, and its companion songfics! You have been AWESOME. You have kept me writing, night after night, even when inspiration didn't seem to want to come, and I truly owe what has come of this so far to you. This story started out as a joking response to the line "Don't touch that squirrel's nuts, it'll make him crazy!" in the movie... And the imagined response of an enamored Health Inspector, and with your support, it has become the monster that it now is! THANK YOU!