Author's Note: Told you your patience would be rewarded. Now, before I make this far too long of a disclaimer, The Nightmare Before Christmas is an excellent film based on a poem by Tim Burton. I had no part in the creation of any characters, design of any settings, or composition of any songs. All I did was watch the movie over and over again until I got inspired to start writing about it one day and the rest is history. Oh, and the slight reference to another Tim Burton movie is simply that. I don't own the movie rights, Tim does.

While Jack pondered the idea of running away from the dual wedding planners, Sally was just about ready to meet one. If she could find her, that is. Sally looked into Venus' temple only to find that the goddess wasn't home. How peculiar. Venus had set the Temple to be the meeting place every other time Sally visited to do wedding things. Now, as Sally walked deeper and deeper into the temple, she couldn't help but sense something was off. When she entered one last room, it was completely dark until someone inexplicably opened a curtain and let in all of the light.

"SURPRISE!" yelled eleven female voices.

"What?" Sally asked, stepping back from the crowd of women.

"It's your bridal shower, love," Venus said with a wide smile on your face. "Come on in, don't be shy."

"Shower? Here?" Sally asked, not quite sure what Venus wanted. "But I already bathed."

"Don't worry, we won't be asking you to drop anything. I still can't believe you did that, Venus," a woman in a short red tunic said to Venus. Her brown eyes gave the Goddess a skeptical look under her reddish brown bangs.

"Well, what was I supposed to say. 'Jack, be a dear and get naked?' Honestly, Erato," Venus said to the woman in red.

"Venus, I think we need proper introductions before our guest gets too confused," Psyche said, walking up to Sally and guiding her into the room.

"Oh, right. Sally, these woman are the Muses, goddesses of inspiration and the arts. I've brought them to celebrate with us. Face it dearie, more guests means more gifts," Venus said. "Now let's see, you already know Erato."

"Nice to meet you, you're going to find this very useful," Erato said to Sally, handing what appeared to be a gift-wrapped book.

"Thank you," Sally said before another of the Muses took the book out of her hands and took her grasp away from Psyche's. Sally watched this Muse give a sharp look to Erato.

"Erato, we're not giving presents yet. Not until we have tea," said the white-veiled Muse, fixing her floor length white tunic before addressing Sally. "Polyhymnia, Muse of sacred song. Erato is the Muse of lyric and love poetry."

"Sure, tell her who we all are because you're the oldest," Erato said, earning a glare from Polyhymnia.

"And the most responsible, baby sister."

"You're all sisters?" Sally asked Polyhymnia.

"Yes, you should hear our mother talk about raising us. Now, before I get too off track, the two bickering in the corner are Melpomene and Thalia, Muses of tragedy and comedy, respectively."

"Why are they bickering?" Sally asked Polyhymnia as both looked over to the woman in the black tunic sighing over something the woman in the yellow tunic said.

"They want to perform an original play at the wedding, but they never can mix their ideas without some kind of disagreement," Polyhymnia explained.

"That's very nice of them, but-" Sally started before two other Muses joined them.

"So this is the bride to be," said the Muse in pink before taking a graceful bow. "Terpischore, Muse of dance. Euterpe sends her regards," Terpischore said, nodding to the purple clad muse to her left.

"Oh. If you're sick, you should go home, it's alright," Sally said to Euterpe, who shook her head.

"Euterpe is the Muse of all kinds of music. She kind of threw her voice out practicing opera again," Terpischore said, Euterpe smiling sheepishly at Sally.

"Well, don't hog the bride all to yourselves, we'd like to see her too," said a Muse in a green tunic as she led two others, one in orange and the other in blue.

"Calliope, Muse of epic poetry," Polyhymnia said to Sally. "Always has to make a grand entrance."

"At least I'm not boring," Calliope said to Polyhymnia.

"Now, now. Last time I checked, Erato was the annoying one," said the Muse in orange.

"Hey!" Erato exclaimed. "You're not so fun yourself, Clio," Erato said to the Muse who had just insulted her.

"I'm the Muse of history. All that I take care of is interesting," Clio replied to Erato.

"Unlike me," said the last muse, who looked as blue as her tunic.

"Don't mind Urania, she still has no idea what she's going to do for the wedding," Polyhymnia said to Sally.

"What good is a Muse of astronomy at a wedding," Urania sighed apologetically.

"You'll find something, dearie," Venus said, rejoining the conversation. "Won't she, Sally?"

"Oh, um… yes," Sally said, still a bit confused over meeting the Muses.

"Tea time?" Psyche asked the group.

"Oh yes. Melpomene and Thalia! Stop arguing and join us for tea," Venus yelled to the Muses in the corner.

As Sally found out, a bridal shower had nothing to do with bathing. It was an occasion when friends of the bride would throw her a party and give her presents that would, hopefully, help make her new life as a wife more comfortable. Well, that part was coming later, as there was tea waiting to be drunk. Sally had to excuse herself for a few moments after a while. She wasn't use to having so many people fawn over her, and frankly, it was scary.

"Sally?" Psyche asked, following the rag doll into a secluded garden. "Overwhelmed?"

"A little," Sally replied, glancing at the slight belly Psyche's tunic was flowing over

"They tend to do that when they're in big groups. Nine sisters would drive anyone crazy."

"Psyche, can you keep a secret?"

"Better than Cupid. What's wrong?"

"Well, I love what Venus is doing for the wedding. I'm grateful, I really am, but-"

"You're eloping?" Psyche asked.

"Eloping?" Sally asked.

"That's when a wedding is held in secret. You have to run away to do it."

"No, no. Not that. Jack and I accidentally booked another planner."

"Who?" Psyche asked.

"The Mayor of Halloween Town. If you knew him, you'd know why this is a problem. His vision is completely different from all of this. Come to think of it, his vision changes every day. And he's very easily hurt. If Jack and I told him we didn't want him to plan the wedding it would destroy him."

"Oh my. And I suppose telling my mother-in-law she's out of a job isn't an option?" Psyche asked.

"No. Jack amazingly landed on her good side, and with Venus being the goddess of love, we wouldn't want her to curse us for firing her."

"Smart choice, she would do that, you know."

"I know," Sally said in a sad tone. "What am I going to do?"

"Have you talked this over with Jack?" Psyche asked.

"Over and over again, but he's just as scared as I am."

"You know, eloping isn't such a bad option. It's quite romantic."

"I can't do that to the Mayor. Or Venus for that matter."

"I'm just saying that if all else fails, give elopement a chance. How do you think Cupid and I married?"

Psyche giggled at the stunned look Sally gave her before walking back to the shower. Sally couldn't believe it. A nice couple like Cupid and Psyche had run off against the world to get married? It really was a romantic notion when you thought of it. No! What was Sally thinking? The rag doll shook her head back to her senses. That option would hurt two people instead of one. She couldn't choose it, could she? Well, that decision would have to be made later. Right now, there were presents she had to be given.

"Here, mine first!" Erato said to Sally, passing her the wrapped book once more.

"Thank you," Sally said as she unwrapped it, revealing a beaten book which had its title written in another language. "Um, will I be able to read it?"

"Oh, I think the pictures speak for themselves," Erato said cryptically.

"Well, alright," Sally said, beginning to open the book before Polyhymnia closed the cover.

"Wait a minute. Erato, is this Sanskrit?" Polyhymnia said, pointing to the title of the book.

"So it's an original copy. What's your point?" Erato asked Polyhymnia.

"Let's see, Sanskrit is a historic language of India," Clio pointed out. "Among India's many contributions to literature is… you didn't!"

"Didn't what?" Sally asked.

"Erato! How can you give this poor girl this filth!" Polyhymnia exclaimed, pushing the book back to Erato.

"The Kama Sutra is not filth. It's a collection of guidelines," Erato said, causing Venus to shake her head.

"What are you trying to do, scare her to re-death? She's a virgin!" Venus exclaimed.

"Exactly. It's like giving an artist paint and a brush," Erato said defensively.

"I understand your reasoning, Erato, but this subject has to eased into," Venus said.

"I'm not scared," Sally said, feeling the room grow silent. "I'm sorry."

"No, don't apologize, Sally," Psyche said before looking at the Muses and Venus. "If you all don't mind, it would be nice to give Sally a nice bridal shower, so leave all the bickering behind and don't take any presents back."

"I knew you were on my side," Erato said to Psyche.

"I'm on Sally's side," Psyche said before turning to the doll. "If you feel more comfortable opening that book back at home, with Jack, we more than understand."

"Ok," Sally said meekly as the shower went on.

She had never seen such a fuss over any book. It was definitely something to show Jack when she got home. Speaking of Jack, the Pumpkin King was listening to either the seventy-seventh or seventy-eighth version of his wedding according to the Mayor. Well, at least one of them was excited.

"Pickled rats as the table favors would be excellent, Jack!" the Mayor said, showing Jack a drawing of a rat pickled in a jar wearing a party hat. "Guests can eat them when they get home as a snack."

"Uh-huh," Jack said, looking out the windows of the town hall.

"And I found some really horrible entertainment from the Neitherworld. Adam and Barbara Maitland. They specialize in calypso hauntings. I've heard amazing things about their work with shrimp cocktails."

"Uh-huh," Jack repeated, now moving his gaze to the door, wishing he could run out of it at the moment.

"Look, Jack, Oogie Boogie!" the Mayor exclaimed, pointing to an area right behind Jack.

"Uh-huh."

"Jack!"

"Yes, Mayor?"

"Have you been paying attention to anything I've said?" the Mayor asked, clearly irritated by Jack's lack of enthusiasm.

"Of course, Mayor," Jack said. "You were talking about edible pickled shrimp and calypso rats."

"No, no, no! Oh, perhaps this plan needs to be scrapped too," the Mayor said sadly before the door to the square opened.

"Hey, Mayor. Can the Bone Daddy come outside for a minute?" asked the accordion player from the street band.

"What's all this about?" Jack asked, getting up from his seat.

"Someone wants to talk to you, Bone Daddy. Says it's important."

"Well, if it's important, of course. Mayor, I think we can continue this some other time," Jack said, secretly relieved to be out of that planning session only to wish he was back in there the moment he saw who wanted to have a few words with him.

"Jack, my boy. We need to talk," Doctor Finkelstein said, looking up to Jack from his wheelchair.

Uh-oh. These two haven't been on good terms for ages in my stories. What does the good doctor wish to say? Can he possible have wedding advice for Jack? And what about that lovely shower present, how will that play into the story? Stick around and find out.