thank you to everyone that reviewed! I love you all and I am so glad you all like this story! huzzah! long live Victor/Victoria! I am fairly certain there are grammatical errors galore in this chapter I had little/no time to check but I really wanted to post it tonight. oh, and to Kill all flamers: I lied, Emily might be coming back, I'm not sure. at the very least a flashback (it won't be lame I swear).but she won't be with Victor. feel free to email me if you want to know why I feel so strongly V/V yay chapter!
"I want to move on."
Victor hurried to the door busily tying his tie.
"Who is it Victori-ah!" He suddenly looked very white but smiled all the same. Victoria smiled thinly back at him. "It's – you. Bo Jingles… Bo Jangles…"
"Bonejangles." The skeleton said helpfully.
"Yes Bonejangles!" he gave a strained laugh. "Ahem." Then put his arm around Victoria, trying desperately to look as though he were the one in charge and not the bowler hatted thing from beyond the grave standing outside. Is, there, something we can, can do for you? Sir."
"I certainly hope so." There was an awkward silence
"Ah." Victor finally said, the strained smile still perched precariously on his face. Victoria looked from her husband to the skeleton standing outside and inwardly rolled her eyes.
"Well then," she said graciously, "Do come in"
"Thank you" said Bonejangles, and he did just that. Victoria shot a helpless shrug over to Victor as Bonejangles strode past. Poor Victor looked every bit as lost as if he had wandered again into the forest. Bonejangles seemed not to notice the reluctance of his hosts and instead busied himself admiring the architecture.
"Some place you have here…" as an afterthought he said. "Nicely furnished…" It wasn't really. In fact there was no furniture in the room at all. The couple had only just moved as the reader will surely have gathered by now, and the only rooms that were furnished at all were the parlor/library and the bedroom, those being the rooms in which they spent most of their time (Hildegard's room was very put together as well but that was of course none of their doing). Somehow, Victoria couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not; facial expressions are difficult to read when there is no flesh left to form an actual expression.
"Thank you kindly" she said, careful not to show her confusion. "Would you like something to… er… sit. down. on?" She said slowly, uncertain what he could possibly want to drink, and uncertain whether or not she would want to know.
"That sounds lovely" Bonejangles said happily.
"All right then." There was another pause. Victoria darted a meaning glance towards Victor who appeared to have momentarily checked out. "Victor!" he gave a minute start, "will you um, fetch Hildegard? I think she might like to meet our guest. We'll be in the parlor.
Victor hurried off glad to have an excuse to be gone. She turned back to her guest. Now, if you'll follow me Mr. um…"
"Bonejangles"
"Yes, yes, this way please." Victoria led him into the parlor with small swift steps that were solely her own. She motioned him to take a chair and shut the piano key cover all in one smooth movement, and stiffly sat herself down on the chaise lounge. Bonejangles chose the chair next to the piano which she had been sitting on minutes before and grinned grimly around at his surroundings. His one eye scanned the titles of the books on the bookshelf behind Victoria and (she was uneasy to note) Victoria's own appearance. She sat in demure silence, hands clasped in her lap, reverting back to her ways of impeccable breeding. According to "the rules" she was not allowed to speak unless spoken to when with a stranger, and Bonejangles didn't seem to be in any hurry to say something. He was just too occupied by the parlor
"She's asleep." Victoria and Bonejangles both looked up in surprised at the Victor's pale face poking into the room. Victor crossed the room and sat beside Victoria on the chaise lounge and touched her hand as though to comfort her but more to comfort himself. He didn't like this odd reminder of his past escapade in the land of the dead.
"Well Victor," the skeleton said, "you are a very lucky man… I mean not many get to go down and up so quickly, and into such a sweet little setup… the piano is just lovely" he eyed the instrument with an odd look of lust.
"Yes, yes, but-" Victor tried to interrupt
"You play piano don't you Victor? Always a good talent to-"
"All right-"
"And your little wife," Victoria's eyes widened in surprise, "just, well, a little skinny for my tastes but…"
"All right all right! All right what do you want?" Victor finally said, seeming a little surprised by his own bluntness.
"I need your help."
"Yes, yes, we seemed to have already established this, but what do you need our help for?
"That's the thing, I can't really tell you." Said Bonejangles, seeming nervous for the first time.
"Th-then, I'm afraid I must ask you, sir, to leave." He glanced towards Victoria for support and she raised her eyebrows. "My home. I must ask you to leave my home." He finished quickly. He stood and gestured politely to the door.
"Wait, no! I can't tell you the details but I can tell you that I need you to accompany me on a little… journey."
"Why do you need our help?" Victoria spoke up suspiciously.
"Darlin' you're the only ones I know topside, and I can't just travel by myself." Victoria put a hand on Victor's arm and gestured for him to sit back down "me, a lonely Skeleton…" Bonejangles continued, "trying to make it in the cruel muted land of the living. In this town I can walk around with little more than a raised eyebrow or two, but out there…"
Victoria looked to Victor. They were both unconvinced and Bonejangles could tell, so he had to finally reveal everything in a last ditch effort to appeal to their sympathies.
"I want to move on." He said slowly.
"Move on?" Victoria said. Bonejangles took his bowler hat in his hands and anxiously fixed his one eye on the ribbon around it. "I've been in the land of the dead for so long and it was great for the first decade… or three. But it's kind of lost its flavor since then. There's nothing keeping me there now that… that" he faded out for a moment and looked sincerely disheartened, but it was only a flicker and then he was playacting again. "But apparently there is something keeping me there. I have unfinished business see, or else I wouldn't still be here. As soon as that's taken care of I can move on, like… Emily did." Victoria stood up.
"We'll take you" Both Victor and Bonejangles looked extremely surprised.
"You will?"
"We will?"
"We will." Victoria nodded her head and resolutely squared her shoulders. "You say you have unfinished business and I believe you." Victor still looked thoroughly aghast. "Victor," she said, "wouldn't you love the excuse to get out of this town even for just a little while?"
"Well…"
"Excellent! We'll talk to my mother." Victoria began pacing the small room at a rather dizzying pace. "I know I know! Don't give me that look. Of all our parents, she's the one who would keep our story the longest. No one will miss us for a little while, but when they begin to, she can say that we went on a trip and that we were rather in a hurry so… yes this trip would be best left secret. Her fib would buy us plenty of time."
"But Victoria "
"Victor." She suddenly dropped her voice to a near whisper. "Everyone deserves to rest in peace." The two exchanged a deep meaning gaze and Victor could see that despite all her bustling about, Victoria's eyes were glazed with tears. They smiled.
"Well, that's great you two! Thank you kindly for your help." Said the skeleton as he flipped his hat back upon his skull. "Shall we go then?"
"Yes of course" Victoria laughed. "Just allow us to pack a few things first, and then we'll be-" Victor placed a hand on Victoria's and she turned to meet his confused gaze with her equally questioning one.
"Victoria, what about your father?"
"What about him?"
"They are married won't he be able to tell that she's keeping a secret from him?"
"Oh no, my father hate's my mother." Victoria said lightly turning again to leave.
"Well, regardless of that," Victor awkwardly persisted, "wouldn't he know her enough, won't he… see it in her eyes or something?"
Victoria laughed again and planted a quick kiss o her husband's cheek.
"Don't be silly," she said. "All he can see of her is her chin."