(A/N: I luv you all. Really. Maybe I buy you all a llama. They move great, but watch out for the talking ones. They get a little mouthy.)

"I wish I was smarter/ I wish I was stronger/ I wish I'd loved Jesus/ The way my sister did/ I wish that it had been easier/ Instead of any longer/ I wish I could have stood/ Where you would have been proud/ But that won't happen now/ That won't happen now/ There's a whole lot of singing/ That's never gonna be heard/ Disappearing everyday without/ So much as a word somehow/ Think I broke the wings/ Off the little song bird/ She's never gonna fly/ To the top of the world right now/ Top of the world/ I don't have to answer/ Any of these questions/ Don't have no God to/ Teach me no lessons/ I'd come home in the evening/ Sit in my chair/ On night they called me for supper/ But I never got up/ I stayed right there in my chair/ There's a whole lot of singing/ That's never gonna be heard/ Disappearing everyday without/ So much as a word somehow/ Think I broke the wings/ Off the little song bird/ She's never gonna fly/ To the top of the world right now/ Top of the world/ I wished I'd have known you/ Wished I'd have shown you/ All of these things/ What's on the inside/ I'd pretend to be sleeping/ When you'd come in in the morning/ To whisper goodbye/ Go to work in the rain/ And I don't know why/ Don't know why/ Cuz everyone's singing/ We just wanna be heard/ Disappearing everyday without/ So much as a word somehow/ I wanna get my hands/ On the little song bird/ Take her for a ride/ To the top of the world right now/ Top of the world/ To the top of the world/ To the top of the world/ To the top of the world/ To the top of the world"
-'Top of the World', Dixie Chicks

The news was taken badly by all the grandparents, and before they had time to even shed a tear, Wonka had fled from the scene and locked himself in his office, not returning to them at all the rest of the evening. Mandy remained in her room, never coming out or pressing the large blue button once. She did have a headache, and found the door to a blue bathroom in the back of the room. Stepping inside, she walked over to the medicine cabinet and opened it. There was a blue bottle labeled 'Asprin', and she grabbed it, struggling to open it with burned hands. Once it popped open, she looked in... and thought better of it, setting the bottle back in the cabinet (the contents inside were little blue pills, a risk she couldn't take). Deciding to wait for the headache to fade, she climbed on top of the bed, and curled up into a ball, falling asleep almost instantly.
-
There came a dull thud, and Wonka's eyes snapped open. He had dozed unintentionally while he had been sitting at his desk, head in his hands. Unfortunately as his body had relaxed, so had his hands, causing his head to land on the desk none too gently. Groaning and sitting back, he reached up to stroke his temples when the burns on his hands caught his eyes. He had completely forgotten about them and rose to his feet, deciding he'd best get them looked at. The oompa-loompa doctors were very good, and more pleasant to visit than a regular doctor (there was always the guarantee of a lollipop at the end), so he walked down there. About halfway to the elevator, he paused, and considered asking the young lady to come as well. She had been burned worse than him, and he knew she'd need more attention to them.
Perhaps in the morning, he decided, continuing on. She was exhausted and in too much pain to care about her injuries. Waiting until tomorrow shouldn't hurt anything. So he walked on, preparing himself for the painful process of having his burns treated.
By the next morning, the girl had finally emerged from her room, perhaps well rested, but certainly not looking refreshed. "I would wish you a good morning, but it appears this morning is far from good, so I wish you morning," said a voice, and she turned to see the man in the top hat, smiling, but looking so tired and miserable. "I need to go to the hospital," she said softly, showing him her arms. "I burned them, I guess. I didn't realize it was so bad..." She shrugged and he nodded.
"And we should get your eyes looked at while we're at it," he said softly. "Won't do you a bit of good to go blind."
She nodded and followed him slowly to the hospital/doctor's office in the factory. When she was sat down to have the burns cleaned, he could tell she was afraid of how much it might hurt. Her eyes were big, and she was shaking a little. She looked like a little child about to confront the monster in the closet. When the cleaning did start, she did flinch, and yelp softly, squeezing her eyes shut. He placed a hand on her shoulder to steady her and handed her a tissue for her leaking eyes. "It's okay," he said softly. He had never had to comfort anyone before, but he had seen the way Charlie's mother did it whenever Charlie was upset, and used what he had watched and learned. "It's almost over." She gave a wail inside a closed mouth, and he rubbed her back, gently hushing her and speaking softly to help her calm down a little.
"It hurts," she sobbed, and he hushed her gently, trying to think of a way to focuse her attention on something else.
"That's a lovely skirt you have," he said. Actually the skirt was torn and singed, but what was untouched was surprisingly soft. "Did your mother give it to you?"
"Yes," she said with a shaky voice. "She made it... ungh! She sewed it for me a year ago... ow!" There were times he was sure she would jerk her hand away, but her arm remained where it was until they were finished and moved over to the next.
"It's very pretty," he said softly. "What was your mother like?"
"She loved... she loved to sew. She'd sit around and do it for hours... ow!"
"Did she sew you any other clothes?" he asked, determined to keep her focuse as far from the pain as possible.
"Yes," she answered, her tears slowing. "Perhaps we can get that one patched then. After all, your mother did make it for you..."
"I don't want to remember anything about my mom," she muttered.
"Alright," he said softly. "That's okay." Before they knew it, the oompa-loompa was finished, and she was bandaged up. Her eyes, however, were forgotten about, something Wonka didn't notice until much later. For now, he took her to the kitchen to eat.
-
Mandy barely spoke that day, and when she did it was either to ask for directions to a room, or answer any questions he asked her. She didn't cry as much, too drained from before, but it didn't mean she felt better. Just being quiet and watching was an easier way to learn things, like the fact that Wonka couldn't see Charlie yet because he was in a coma. So the sad truth about his parents would have to wait, much to Wonka's relief. Being anti-social, she quickly learned, was not hard here. She and Wonka had eaten both lunch and dinner together in silence, not at all bothered by the on going silence. Actually, the silence did not last long during dinner because as she was about to fork a peice of roast beef she could have sworn she heard electric quitars and voices. As first she thought her head was playing tricks with her after the trauma, but when Wonka looked up as well she knew it was not just her. "It's the oompa-loompas," he said after a minute. "They adore music, and there's just no stopping their singing I'm afraid."
"It's okay," she said suddenly, the sound of her voice being almost foreign to him, and he expressed this by a hint of surprise on his weary face. "Music always helps me feel better," she added, looking down without a hint of enthusiasm in her voice.
"Me too," he said. "In fact, I rather enjoy their songs." At this she actually smiled. It was very breif, and her teeth were barely uncovered by her lips, but it faded just as fast, and they sat in silence, listening to the oompa-looma's happy songs. Something that really didn't belong in this particular setting at the moment.
-
Three days time had passed since that evening, and during that time they slowly were gaining the strength to converse lightly. The conversations lasted only a few minutes, and there was nothing they ever got out of them, but it broke the terrible silence that seemed to continuously follow them. She quickly learned that Wonka was not a very social man by nature, something that would have normally bothered her, but since her mood had been so rotten the last few days, she found it very easy to deal with, and preffered it to a happy go lucky voice.
Every so often he would say something that would paint a small grin on her face, but the grins never grew into large smiles or laughter. After a while, Wonka had come to the conclusion that she needed something constructive to do with her time rather than lay around and grieve all day. So he looked around the factory, trying to think of a job for her to do. Nothing at all came to mind as he really had no need for another employee at the moment. But there must have been something she'd be good at, something that she was meant to do. He decided to hold the job idea off for a while, and instead focused on trying to keep her out of her room more often. Then it occured to him. He had been avoiding trips to the grandparents because it had become such a sad place to visit, and he knew that he absolutely couldn't neglect them either -especially not Grandma Georgina- so something had to be done about it. Mandy didn't know Charlie or his parents, so the loss of Mr. and Mrs. Bucket didn't strike her as hard. Perhaps she could visit them regularly, make sure they were given anything they needed, helped them clean around the house, cook them meals. Yes, that should work perfectly. So he brought up the offer during dinner, telling her he'd pay her in cocoa beans. But she shook her head, and told him it'd be too awkward, going into a sad place like that. He frowned and nodded, saying he understood.
Mandy stared at Wonka for a while, knowing that there must be a reason why he seemed so reluctant to go into that place. She knew it was probably a painflul journey everytime, and wanted to do whatever he could to make the pain as easy to cope with as possible. Thinking of how she could help him in that department made her feel guilty, and it was not like she had anything better to do around here. She stared at his sad purple eyes and finally cracked.
"Do you have any peanutbutter cups?" she asked softly. He looked up.
"Hmm? Oh, yes. Why? Would you like some?"
"If you could pay me in those instead, I'll do it," she said softly. He smiled, eyes sparkling a little and nodded.
"I believe that will be fine," he said, nodding.
-
When she stepped into the crooked house (how Wonka had managed to get it into the factory, she couldn't guess) the place reminded her so much of home. She didn't know why, but it did, which made her nervous. Three old people were sound asleep in a large bed, and one old man was lighting a fire in the fire place. He looked up and beamed, though she could see sadness behind his eyes.
"You must be Mandy," he said softly. "Mr. Wonka told us you would be coming." She forced a smile, trying to look at least a little friendly for the poor man. She spend the next few hours cleaning, something she had openly objected to in front of her mother several times, but knew it wasn't a good idea to do it to four old people. Once she had finished cleaning the floors, windows, and dusting, she helped prepare dinner for them. Around this time was when the other three began to wake. Grandma Josaphine climbed out of bed at some point during this time and walked over to Mandy to see if she needed help.
"I've never cooked much," Mandy confessed to her, but recieved a smile.
"Not to worry, deary. That's why I'm here." Though she didn't mean to, she found herself talking to Grandma Josaphine for the next half hour than she had for the last, almost, week with Wonka. Grandma Josaphine reminded her so much of her own grandma, who had died years ago from old age. Her voice was so kind and loving, and she was very kind to her. After they had finished making mashed potatoes, they had time to talk while the pork was cooking in the oven.
"Didn't your mother ever teach you how to cook?" Grandma Josaphine asked her.
"No," she said softly. "Well, once when I was five. I helped her a little with dinner." She had tried to surpress it, but the pain came back, and her tearglands swelled up.
"Oh, Dear!" said Grandma Josaphine, and she wrapped her up in a loving hug. "There, there. I know it must be hard. Mr. Wonka told us all about it." Mandy drew in a deep breath and nodded in her shoulder. "There there, child, things will look up in time."
After a minute, Mandy stepped away, and dried her eyes on her sleeve, composing herself at last. Once they were finished cooking, she took her leave, returning silently to her room where she remained for the rest of the night.
-
"Mr. Wonka!"
His eyes slitted open and he looked around. It was still very dark in his room and he could just make out the dim silhouette of an oompa-loompa security guard, dressed like a cop without the gun. He groaned, still half asleep and lifted his head slightly, rubbing his forehead. "What is it?" he asked.
"It's the girl. She's sneaking out." He sat up, still too tired and wondered for a minute. Girl? What girl? Oh yes! Mandy. Where would she be going to? He climbed out of bed, still half asleep, and pulled on his robe, following the oompa-loompa up to where they kept the security monitors. With the push of a few buttons, a turn of a knob, and the yank of a cord that Wonka was still unsure of what it was really for, the image switched over to outside the factory. Mandy came in through the side, wandering up to the gate and standing there for the longest time.
"She can't get out unless we open it," muttered Wonka to no one.
"Should we keep it shut?" asked the oompa-looma.
"No," he said after a minute. "Bug her first. And then let her go."
The oompa nodded and pressed a red button with a picture of a beetle on it, then zoomed the screen in to get a closer look. A tiny, barely noticeable black dot suddenly whized into veiw and landed on her neck. "Alright," said Wonka, yawning as fatigue began to come over him again. "Open the gate." The gate swung open and she glanced back at the factory for a minute. Then, turning around slowly, she ran off and down the sidewalk.
"I want you to install a security monitor in my room, okay? I want to see where she's going."
"Right away, sir," said the oompa-loompa and Wonka nodded, leaving them and returning back to his room to catch whatever sleep he could get.
-