A/N; I own the OCs and the plot, but that's all. Have a nice day!

Willy held up three pills. "We've got to administer the complete dose at once, otherwise, with her being so old, the effects will not be strong enough to return her to her original age." He paused, his eyes clouding over as he was lost to his thoughts. "Let's see..her real age is twenty-two and then she ingested about sixty years worth of Wonka-Vite, so she was a -42 year-old Minus..then we.."He caught an accusing glare from Sarah, Mirwana, and Jareth and coughed to cover his faux pas. "Ah..that is..I overdosed her on Vita-Wonks and now she seems to be about eighty years old."

"I'M OLD ENOUGH TO BE MY OWN GRANNY!" Wailed Scrub from the background. She had found that she had a strange compulsion to knit and had given in to that desire. By now, almost every living being in the castle had been awarded at least two or three scarves, hats to match, and a minimum of seven pairs of hand-knitted socks. She was now determined to knit away all of the pink yarn in the vicinity, having stated that if she were her younger self, she would have just built a gigantic bonfire out of the stuff and danced around it singing 'Disco Inferno'.

"Yeah...umm..I'll fix that."Willy said uncertainly as he shifted from one foot to the other.

"You'd better!" She commanded crabbily. "I'm old and I've got arthritis, bursitis, pancreaitis and just about every 'itis' under the goshed-darn sun! If you don't fix me soon, you...you nug, I'll be forced to take drastic measures!"

Jareth observed the fight between the aged woman and the currently extremely uncomfortable Chocolatier and smiled. "I think that comment would be much more insulting if any of us actually knew what a nug is." He suggested with a smirk.

"It means something so mean that I don't usually like to use it very often." Was Scrub's reply as she resumed her furious knitting. "Well, get on with it. "She said pleasently, a rapid change from her mood just seconds ago. "I'd rather be myself again, if you don't mind, mi amigo."

Willy sighed with relief, he wasn't going to be the target of the famous temper of Martha Jones, other wise known as 'The She-Wolf' in most of the recognized wrestling circles and in quite a few bars as well. "Right then." He gave her the glass of water and the pills. "Here you are."

She set down the finished set of socks (Maroon is definitly not the best color for a rabbit!) and swallowed them. And so they all anticipated an immediate reaction with the Wonka-Vites, but were surprised to find themselves standing there for over three minutes with nothing having happened. Scrub crossed her arms. "Well?"

Then, the color of her hair began to return. It started up from the roots and returned to it's former state, bleached tips and all. The wrinkles receeded and her face appeared as it was when she was younger. Her rhuemy body was replaced by her youthful one and she stood up straight..not that it made much difference with her height. She grinned and the dentures disappeared from her mouth and her normal teeth began to regrow.

Within seconds, the old (old as in the one they were used to dealing with) young Scrub. "Happy days are here again!" She crowed and rushed forward to shake Willy's hand. "Thanks, now I have to go find Hatter!"

Sarah watched her run off, then turned to Jareth. "She's fixed." She said bluntly, hiding all emotion. "And the Knids are vamoosed.."She gestured weakly at the battered wall and the crushed grass that was left from the relatively short battle. "So I guess my job is done." Jareth nodded stonily and she bit her lip, trying not to cry.

Willy coughed, breaking the moment. "Uhh, can I go home now? Dawn's probably worried sick, not to mention Charlie and his family."

Jareth cleared his throat. "Of course, but wouldn't you like to say goodbye to everyone first?"

"Oh, yeah, right." Willy shifted uncertainly. He twisted his head to look over his shoulder at the castle that seemed to shine in the morning light. The sun was rising and it was hitting the white stone of Marmoreal so that it shimmered and glittered from being lit from behind. The only thing that ruined the sight was the remaineders of the crushed, outer walls that had protected the castle for so long against intrusion by the Knids.

Sarah smiled and patted his arm, even though he flinched a bit when she did so. "Don't worry about Scrub, now that she's herself, chances are that she isn't mad at all anymore. Her temper lasts sixty seconds at best when it comes to the people she likes. She likes you, so she most likely is all 'forgive and forget', you know?" He grinned and relaxed, sighing in relief.

Sarah glanced at Jareth and he was giving her some kind of penatrating, expectant stare. She knew what was going to happen now and somehow it didn't feel like she would be going home... it felt like she was leaving it. Jareth's eyes, they were blank. The typical high-and-mighty stance was now fading to a slouch. "You are planning on leaving." It was not a question, almost an accusation, really.

"Yes." She didn't know what kind of excuse to use for why she was. Maybe she was afraid of what would happen if she stayed? She cringed under his scrutiny. It was a cowardly thing to be afraid of love, but she was. She couldn't even explain why she was so petrified of this foreign emotion..she just was. And the worst thing had to be that it was quite possible that Scrub would want to stay behind. Sarah would have no one in the Aboveground. Her stepmother had long ago banned her from visiting her family, insisting that she was a bad influence on Toby. She would be alone.

And yet she wanted to go back.

There was silence between the three of them. Willy didn't dare speak, only squeaked his gloves in earnest at the tension. Jareth and Sarah were staring hard at each other. A shout startled them all out of the moment and they realized with a somber pleasure that Scrub had returned and she was practically dragging Tarrant with her. She came to a halt before them and grinned. "What's up with all the long faces?"

Willy took this as the 'go ahead'. "I'm going back to the factory...and Sarah wants to go home as well."

Scrub's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion and hurt. She didn't like this one bit, Sarah needed someone if she was going back. She glanced up at her Hatter, then at her best friend. She made a decision. "Then I'm going back, too."

"What?!" Sarah asked in disbelief. "But..but you love him!" She spluttered. "You can't just leave him to keep me company!"

"And you love Jareth." Scrub pointed out stubbornly. "And you're leaving him."

"That's different." Sarah said. Her heart felt as if it had been shot through with icy splinters. Not only would she be making Jareth miserable, but she'd have to live with breaking up Tarrant and Scrub. Would she be able to live with the thought that she'd ruined her the chance her best friend had at love?

Hatter gasped and clutched at Scrub's hand. "No..don' do this tah meh!" His eyes were pained and the deepest, solumnest blue that was possible for them to be. "Please! Nawt now!" He fumbled around in his pockets. "Ah was plannin' on askin' yeh ah bi' la'er, bu' if there's ah chance you'll stay.."He brought out a tiny box, covered in black crushed velvet. "Martha Diana Velveeta Jones-"

Sarah laughed suddenly and Scrub glared at her. "So that's what the V. stood for!" She hunched over laughing, holding her sides.

Scrub made an irritated noise. "My mother was a fan of cheese, okay? A really, really big fan." Sarah attempted to stifle her giggles, but was unable.

Hatter, too worked up to acknowledge the exchange, continued on with his proposal. "Marth Diana Velveeta Jones, Ah've been considering things tha' begin with the letter 'M'...matrimony, marriage..." He paused for a moment and pleaded with her using his huge, expressive eyes."Would yeh...could yeh marry someone as mad as a hatter?" He flipped the box open with his finger, and nestled inside was a pincushion ring identicle to the one he himself wore with only the exception of the color, which matched the blue of the sky.

Scrub's mouth gaped open in shock. "I.." She began tentatively.

"HELP!" Screamed Nivens McTwisp as he scrambled down the pathway. His arms were flailing around above his head. "Oh, help!" He shouted again, sounding even more distressed and out of breath.

"Jareth, go see what's wrong, please." Sarah said, her laughter having eased to a stop a while ago. "It sounds serious. Maybe we missed a Knid." He nodded and set off.

Hatter rambled on regardless of what was wrong with McTwisp. "We'll even 'ave kits! A 'ouseful o' 'em!" He didn't notice the silent tears making trails down her cheeks at this new promise. He was so caught up in professing his affection that he couldn't see what it was doing to her. "Ya ken pick ou' th' names, Ah've never been especially talen'ed a' tha' kint o' thin'."

Sarah and Willy both stared, wide-eyed at each other at this proclamation. "Uh.." Willy interrupted somewhat angrily."I think you should stop. Really. Shut up." Scrub started sobbing and Sarah came over and petted her hair, trying to soothe her.

Hatter paused. "Huh?"

"I'm guessing she chose not to tell you, then?" Willy said with no small amount of bitterness. He gently patted Scrub on the back. "She can't have kids. It's physically impossible for her." Scrub's crying fit was only slightly muffled by Sarah's shirt and so the chocolatier had to talk louder. "It's an extremely upsetting topic that we usually avoid at all costs."

Scrub lifted her tear-stained face from Sarah's shoulder to speak. "It's..it's..f-fine..he didn't know!" She hiccuped. She swiped away the tears on her cheeks, but evidence from her emotion bled through into her voice and her words came out thick and heavy with sadness. "I...think..that in light of the circumstances that I just can't say yes." She lowered her head. "I really do l-love you, but if you want children.." She coughed, her throat constricted and her heart breaking into a thousand pieces. "I'm sorry." She fled towards the castle.

Jareth was forced to jump aside as Scrub sped past him. "What in the world?" He walked over the stunned group to find Hatter with his jaw nearly touching the ground, Willy glaring down at the Hatter with no tiny amount of disdain, Sarah with a semi-soaked shirt, and the whole atmosphere so tense that it made one want to turn tail and head for the hills. "What happened?"

"It's..." Sarah shrugged helplessly as she gazed longingly after her friend. "Extremely complicated."

"Well, it seems that I'll have to add to the complications." He sighed, his fingers massaging his temples as if he had a really bad headache. When he spoke, there was worry in his tone.

"My sister has been kidnapped."