My thanks to all of you who reviewed- you know who you are. I'm glad you enjoyed Chapter One! And, as promised, I finished my Document Based Essay and I've written Chapter Two! I hope you like it!

Chapter Two

Disclaimer: I don't own Jack or Sally or Lock, Shock, or Barrel. I've just adjusted them to fit the current time period. Paul, Ron, Mary, and Jane are MINE! Steal them and you die.

After dinner and a desert of iced marrow, Jack sent the children upstairs to get ready for bed and helped Sally clean the dishes. For a while, they just worked in silence, merely enjoying each other's presence. And as Jack relaxed, he remembered his conversation with Paul.

"Sally, have you heard much about Lock, Shock, and Barrel recently?" he asked as he dried a plate and placed it in a cupboard where it belonged.

Sally stopped washing the cup she was holding in her hands and looked over at Jack. "They're much worse then they were as children, or so Mr. Corpse's wife has told me. She says that they're always holed up in that dilapidated house of Oogie's." Jack sighed. At least they weren't out in the streets then. Sally looked at her husband, her eyes filled with concern. "Why, Jack?"

"I found the kids in a back alley playing their xylophones," he said.

"But that's alright, Jack. Remember, we said that they could play their instruments around town," Sally said as she resumed cleaning the cup.

"But a back alley, Sally. One of Oogie's children could have found them," Jack said. "And when I told Paul that he shouldn't have let them practice there, he called me a hypocrite and didn't really listen when I explained that Lock, Shock, and Barrel have changed."

Sally didn't answer, and they finished the dishes in silence. When they finished, she gave Jack a hug. "Don't worry, Jack. I'll talk to Paul, and then everything will be fine," she said. Jack's expression crinkled into one of doubt, but before he could say anything, Sally gave him a quick kiss. "Trust me, Jack. Everything will turn out fine."

"Ewww! Mommy and Daddy are kissing!" cried Mary from her perch on the railing of the steps that led upstairs. "Janey! They're kissing!"

"Mary, you'll kiss someone when you're older," Jane called from her room. "So don't say ew. Watch and learn," she continued as she joined Mary on the railing.

Jack looked at his wife with a look that said we never get a moment alone anymore, and let go of Sally. Before he did, Sally returned his look with one of her own that said you wanted children, and it's your fault that we had two daughters. Jack laughed and then walked over to his daughters.

"I think it's time for my favorite little eight-year old to go to bed!" he cried, scooping her off the railing into his arms. "And as for you, Jane," he said, noticing that she was still in her day clothes, "I think it's time for all thirteen year old girls to get ready for bed."

"Aww, Father, do I have to?" Jane asked, her face scrunched up into something that almost resembled a dead puppy's expression. Jack gave her a look that said it all, and she hurriedly ran up the stairs.

"Why did you kiss Mommy?" Mary asked Jack from her spot in his arms, looking up at him with a quite serious expression on her face. "Were you bored?"

Jack laughed and gently placed a kiss on his daughter's forehead. "No, Mary. It's because I love her very much."

"Then do you love me very much? Why do you only kiss Mommy on the lips?"

"You're just a bundle of questions," Jack said as he started up the steps with Mary. "Of course I love you very much! And I only kiss Mommy on the lips because she's my wife, and your mother."

"So does that mean Paul is married to that girl we saw?" Mary asked, her expression the epitome of curiosity.

Instantly, Jack felt all the happiness drain out of his body. Carefully, he maintained a smile, and said, "What girl?"

"She was really pretty. We saw her when we were looking for a place to play, and when we found that alley, Paul said that he had dropped something and left. I followed him, but he doesn't know I saw him. The girl was waiting for him an alley near ours, and she gave him a hug and a real long kiss," Mary said.

"Mary, could you do me a favor?" Jack asked, having already figured out who Paul's "friend" really was. "If you ever see her around Paul again, could you let me know right away?" They walked into Mary's room and Jack gently tucked her into her bed.

"Why, Daddy? Is Paul in trouble?" Mary asked, unusually wary for such a little girl.

Jack shook his head and kissed Mary on her forehead once more. "No," he lied. "I just like meeting my children's friends." He walked to the door and cracked it. "Good night, Mary," he said.

"G'night, Daddy," Mary said, burrowing under her covers.

Jack found Ron practicing on an old bone whistle in Jack's room. "What are you doing in here, Ron?" he asked.

"I couldn't hear myself practicing because Paul has his music turned up too loud," Ron said, putting the whistle in a little wooden case. Jack sighed. Was all he was ever going to hear about Paul going to be bad news?

"I'll talk to him after Jane goes to bed," Jack promised. "But now it's time for you to go to bed." He swooped down and scooped up Ron and tossed him up into the air before catching him again and proceeding downstairs to Ron's bedroom.

"But I'm eleven!" Ron cried indignantly as Jack carried him upside down. "I'm old enough to stay up late!"

"After this Halloween, I think your mother and I will let you," Jack said as he dropped his son on his bed. "But until then, you have to go to bed early."

"Aww… Come on, Father. Let me stay up late, just this once! I'll never ask you again."

"Sorry, Ron," Jack said, tucking his son into bed. "But not tonight."

Ron sighed unhappily and then said, "Tomorrow night?"

"Why don't you ask your mother?" Jack said. "Goodnight, Ron."

"Goodnight, Father," Ron said, yawning widely. "See you in the morning."

"Bright and early," Jack said, closing Ron's door all the way.

He walked down the hallway to Jane's room, but to his surprise, she was already in bed and asleep. "Amazing," he muttered as he placed a goodnight kiss on her left cheek. "Sweet dreams, princess."

And then Jack left Jane's room and knocked on Paul's door.

Paul had been lying on his bed, listening to a new band on the Halloween Radio called "I'm Greatful to be Dead." In his opinion, they weren't that bad, with a xylophone for melodies, a concertina for harmony, and a lead singer who knew his music.

His thoughts drifted back to the events earlier that day, just after lunch when he had gone out to scout for a place for him and his siblings to play their xylophones. He'd wandered through some back alleys, behind the Town Hall, but none of them were really easy to get to, and they were filthy. As he had tried to get back to the town square, he'd gotten lost, and bumped into a beautiful witch.

"I'm sorry," he'd said awkwardly, helping her up from the mucky streets. Never in his life had he seen anyone so beautiful. "I'm afraid I'm lost."

The witch had laughed and held onto his bony hand a bit longer than was necessary for her to get up. "I can tell. I've got to get out of here anyway, so I can help you get out of here," she had said. Paul had murmured his thanks, and she had laughed. "You're rather quiet. Are you a Skellington?" Paul had nodded bashfully. The witch had tilted her head prettily as she thought. "You must be the oldest one… Are you Paul?"

Paul had nodded, already caught by her beauty. "Yea." He didn't even question how she had known. "I've got to get back to my house to get my siblings so that we can go practice our xylophones," he said as the Town Hall's bell broke the awkward moment.

The witch had helped him out of the maze of back alleys. "Why don't you meet me in the alleys near Dr. Finkelstein's Laboratory?" she asked. "Just say you forgot something and come and meet me for a few moments."

Paul had nodded and hurriedly waved goodbye as he ran home.

And then, after he had found his siblings a place to practice, he'd met with the witch nearby.

"You came!" the witch had cried happily. "I was so worried. I thought you'd forgotten about me."

Hesitantly, Paul had said, embarrassed, "I could never forget someone as beautiful as you." And before he'd known what he was doing, the witch was in his arms, looking coyly up at him.

"You're a very handsome skeleton," she'd said quietly, very quietly.

"You're the most beautiful girl I've ever met," he'd said, meeting her eyes, falling into their depths. "You're just the perfect height…" And then he had kissed her, slowly, passionately. And to his surprise, she hadn't pulled away, she hadn't turned away, she hadn't stopped the kiss. Instead, she'd only deepened it. And he'd gently pushed her up against the wall, kissing her, loosing track of the time.

Finally she'd broken the kiss and leant against him. "You'd better go," she'd whispered. "Your family will be missing you." And so he had gone.

Jack knocked on his son's door again, harder. "Paul, please let me in." The door clicked and opened, blasting Jack's eardrums with the sound of heavy Halloween rock. Paul was lying on his bed, looking up at the ceiling. Jack closed the door and turned off the radio. His son looked up indignantly, but sighed and sat up.

"What do you want?" he demanded, unhappy that he had been interrupted during his memories of the witch.

"We need to talk, Paul," Jack said, sitting down at Paul's desk chair. "What in the name of Halloween is wrong with you? You've been skulking around alleys with mysterious witches, back-talking me, and you're being discourteous to your siblings. Tell me what is going on."

Paul shrugged, his face carefully blank. Inside, he was furious. Who had told his father about the witch? "Nothing's going on, Father. I'm just sick of the same old thing day in and day out. I want to do something different."

"Did you even know the name of the witch you were skulking around with, Paul?" Jack asked, recognizing his own former restlessness in his son.

"We weren't skulking around, Father," Paul said sullenly. "We were hanging out." You were doing a lot more than that, Jack thought.

"I don't want to hear any more bad things about you, Paul. Clean your act up." Jack left, closing the door, leaving Paul alone in his room.

Paul stared at the door for a few moments and then changed and climbed into his bed. Perhaps he would have dreams of the beautiful witch…

Review! Otherwise I won't post the next chapter…