Disclaimer: Despite our many breaking-and-entering missions into the Burton compound where Willy Wonka is being held (i.e.: protected from rabid fans like us), we have failed in our task to acquire him. In other words, until Tim Burton decides to hand Willy over, we own nothing.

A/N: Wow, so much love and support from everyone! We love each and every one of you for all of the reviews and feedback you've given to this fic (as do our Oompa Loompa helpers). Thanks!

Chapter 10: Furious Arguments and Thoughts:

Once inside the Inventing Room, Danika saw Willy bent over a small stack of old newspaper clippings. Deciding to take him by surprise, she snuck up behind him; he was obviously intent on whatever he was glaring at that he wouldn't notice her until it was too late. Looking at the papers, Nika saw they held details about her aunt's wedding and marriage. She folded her arms over his shoulder and laid her chin on her arms, startling him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, hurriedly making to straighten the papers, but too late.

"I wanted to know what's bothering you," Nika replied. "You seem all...I dunno, tense."

He put the papers in a stack, shrugged her arms off of his shoulder, and stood up. Turning to her, she saw his amethyst eyes holding the same emotion as the day they met.

"It's none of your concern."

She was speechless for a moment. "Yes, it is my concern! I'm living here in your factory, and you're the only other human that I can have a conversation with!"

"Well, maybe I don't wish to share my entire life's history with you." he said a bit coldly.

"They say talking about it will make you feel better," she said, trying to be helpful to the man who had already done so much for her.

"I hardly think speaking of my private life will make me any happier," Willy said, sniffing disdainfully at her.

Nika grit her teeth. "You know, for a man who's making a lot of people happy, you sure are a stubborn son of a-"

"Don't even start with name-calling, little girl," Willy snapped.

"Don't you dare call me little girl!" she fumed, her green eyes flashing dangerously with hurt and anger. "I am not a little girl. At the present time, I'm probably the most mature person in this entire factory besides the Oompa Loompas!"

Willy's eyes darkened from violet to almost black. "Is that so?" he asked, his voice turning dangerously low. "I happen to be the oldest person in this factory, barring the Oompa Loompa elders, so that would likely make me the most mature person in this factory."

Nika laughed mockingly. "Mature physically, but not mentally!" she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "If you got in an argument with Kylie, she'd win hands down!"

A small grinding sound could be heard coming from Willy's mouth, and before Nika could say another word, he was stomping out the door. She merely sniffed disdainfully at him and headed back towards her own room, unsure as to whether she had won the argument or not.

Willy stormed upstairs to his room, his cheeks red with anger and humiliation. She had called him immature, yet she was the one who had almost called him names! Of course, he had thought of a few for her, but he didn't say them out loud! No, of course not, he was better than that, and he knew better than to call a woman names, it wasn't part of who he was.

Throwing himself into an overstuffed chair in his room, Willy Wonka stared at his wall for a good 20 minutes, losing himself in his own private thoughts. Images of red hair and hurt-filled green eyes floated through his mind, but he pushed them aside. He would not allow these thought to dominate his thoughts. Instead, Willy turned his thoughts towards his anger. Danika could not possibly know what it was like to loose someone she loved, someone she cared for as much as he had loved and cared for Marian. Marian had been his life, the sunshine in his day, and when those words of rejection had fallen from her lips, they had crushed him.

After that day, Willy no longer was his cheery, childlike self. In the days that followed, he had secluded himself in his Inventing Room as much as possible, churning out all sorts of different candies that were meant to be used as pranks. The Popping Caramels, Tongue-Numbing Sugar Sticks, and the chocolates that changed the color of people's teeth had been best-sellers, but they still didn't make Willy feel any better. In fact, thing had gotten worse when people began stealing from him, and he'd had to close the factory a few months later. Then he'd seen the articles in the newspaper of Marian's wedding, and he'd known that she was forever out of his grasp. To help numb his pain, Willy had begun exploring the world for new flavors to add to his already vast collection, and to bounce back from the hole he'd dug himself into. And yet, in making his delicious creations, he'd secretly hoped to win Marian over indirectly by making candy again…but now he'd never know if he'd succeeded in doing so.

'Especially after acting like you did with her and her family,' he thought, burying his head in his hands.

How could he have acted that way towards her family? He had been undeniably rude and inconsiderate after he'd managed to walk in after Danika's complements of his behavior towards her. Danika had even smiled at him, silently thanking him for being kind enough to allow her to see her family, and now look at what he'd done: he managed to ruin a perfectly good developing friendship because he couldn't control himself around a pair of red-haired, green-eyed women!

"I'm a fool," he muttered to himself. Pulling a cord, an Oompa Loompa approached out of nowhere, but Willy was expecting that. "I need a pot of mint-liquor hot chocolate." The little man scurried off to obey, a bewildered look on his face.

Twenty minutes later, Willy was half-way through the teapot of hot chocolate when a thought hit him like a ton of chocolate bricks. In his slightly drunk mind, he realized that Danika didn't really understand what had happened to his mind and heart after Marian and during those twenty years of isolation from humankind. In an effort to push her (and thus, the pain) away, Willy hadn't told her the story to help her understand or to get the pain off of his chest. Instead, he'd simply been rude and insulting…and now he was sure their budding friendship was back to the unease and hate it had been when they'd first met.

Groaning, Willy tried to loose himself in his drink, unaware of a conspiracy being plotted behind his back.

Nika stomped through the numerous halls, somehow able to find her way to her bedroom. A colorful stream of curses and insults flowed from her mouth, hopefully heading towards the chocolatier in another part of the factory. Several Oompa Loompas that were starting their day jumped out of her way to keep from getting trampled. She paid them no mind and kept on walking, not realizing that the scattering of Oompa Loompas were now talking about what could possibly have made her so upset.

As she slammed the door of her room behind her, Nika silently fumed to herself on what had happened. How dare he talk to her like that? After all, she was just trying to help! What did he have against her knowing things, anyway? It wasn't like she was going to tell anyone or laugh at his problems; it wasn't in her to do any of those things.

"What, did he think I wouldn't understand what was going on?" she asked herself, pacing the room. "I could try to understand, and it's not good to keep emotions all bottled up inside!"

By the time she'd calmed down enough to go to the edge of her bed, she had thought up all sorts of things to torment the chocolatier with. Throwing herself on her bed, Nika screamed into her pillow; it felt good to scream. He had come so far from the cold man he'd been when they had met...and now they were right back where they started…

Once she'd calmed down and was done screaming, Nika tried to think about all of the terrible things Willy was keeping inside. What could possibly be so important to him that he wouldn't tell her about it? It must be something bad for it to throw him back into his icy attitude towards her. In a way, she felt sorry for him. If something really bad had happened to him, then she was quite certain that he hadn't deserved it.

Sighing, Nika rolled over and looked at the ceiling above her bed. She lost herself in thoughts about how hurt Mr. Wonka had been after her aunt had refused him, and knew that she shouldn't have pressured him to talk about it; he should have come forward on his own, she had no right to squeeze it out of him like that. After all, no one likes to be forced into telling others about their lives.

"I really blew it, didn't I?" she asked herself.

A sharp poke in the shoulder turned her attention to the right side of the bed, a concerned Wendell right beside her. She saw the looks of worry, confusion, and pity on his face before she realized that he had a note in his hands and six Oompa Loompas right behind him. Picking up the note, she ripped it open and scanned it.

Simply put, the small people wanted to know what had happened and what they could do to make things alright again. Smiling, she looked down at their uneasy faces and told them everything that had happened from midnight until a few minutes ago. Nodding, three Oompa Loompas scurried off and returned with a tray of hot chocolate and soft white rolls with honey.

"Comfort food?" she asked. They nodded, and Nika eagerly dug in, polishing off everything edible on the tray. Suddenly, as the tray was pulled away, she yawned and felt incredibly sleepy.

"You drugged it," she softly accused as she lay back onto the bed, Wendell and another Oompa Loompa pulling the covers up to her chin.

She felt a pat on her cheek before drifting off into dreams.

That night, the two humans slept, one in drunken dreams, the other under the sleeping influence of fermented Green Caterpillars and Purple Beatles mixed into her hot chocolate. As the humans drifted off into dreams, the entire population of Oompa Loompas gathered in their wing of the factory and plotted.

They knew that their friend and savior, the Tall Cocoa Bean Man (a.k.a.: Willy Wonka) had been in pain since before he'd brought them here to work and live in the wonderful place that loved the cocoa beans as much as they did. They knew his heart had been broken, and had only just recently mended itself enough to care about the young woman who now lived here with him. The Oompa Loompas also knew that their tall friend was lonely and didn't know how to act towards women…particularly young, pretty women who seemed to care about his wellbeing.

We must do something, one of the females signed to the tribe.

The others nodded, and began tossing around ideas. Soon, everything was set, and all they needed to do was wait.

Nika woke with the sun in her eyes and an apologetic Wendell offering her a breakfast tray. Amazingly, she felt fully refreshed with no headache or side effects from the drug, and was totally willing to forgive the little man and his fellows for drugging her.

'Now if only I could forgive another man for his actions,' she thought as she finished off her breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes and sausages.

A few moments after the tray was taken away, Wendell came up to her with a note and a dozen red and blue roses, along with a note. Surprised, Nika took the roses, but read the note first. It was in Mr. Wonka's writing, so she sighed and opened it.

Dear Danika,

I would like to apologize for my actions the previous night. Please accept these roses as a peace offering; I do hope you like them, they are made of the finest candy in my factory. Also, I would like to invite you to a private dinner for two this evening. Wendell will show you where.

Yours truly,

Willy

"Well, that's really nice of him to do, but I'm not sure," she said, hesitating. She looked at Wendell. "Should I give him another chance?" The Oompa Loompa nodded. "Well, I guess I was a bit hard on him. Tell him, yes, I'll go."

After Wendell had left, Nika inspected the flowers. They smelled like roses, but when she put her fingers to her mouth, they tasted like chocolate! Smiling, she sat down and enjoyed the candy.

Sighing, Willy nodded to Wendell as he folded the note in his hands. "Of course I'll join her for dinner; she really did not need to ask. Ready my best suit."

AN: Oh, there's a plot forming right there! Hope you'll stay tuned for the next chapter, it'll be a good sappy one! Review!