1

Later that evening, Jack Skellington found himself in throes of nervous shivers and fear. I wonder if this is how all those humans feel?, he asked himself. Jitters aside, he felt ready to ask Sally for her hand. She was home before him. Jack found her sitting on a couch in the parlor, working with a large needle and black thread. A pile of his socks rested beside her. Jack cleared his throat.

"Sally, you and I need to talk tonight. We are going to have a very special dinner, as I have something quite important-" He stopped mid-sentence. "What are you doing to my socks?"

"I'm fixing them. See? No more holes."

Sally held up a sock for him to inspect. Jack laughed.

"Wow. You are something. Sally, once again, you realize that you don't need to do these things, don't you? I appreciate it, of course, but...you're not a servant. I'd be just as pleased to find you sitting here relaxing."

Sally looked down at her lap.

"I like doing things for you Jack. You've given me a warm home, and so much more..."

Jack removed the sewing tools from her fingers and laid them aside. He held her hands.

"Sally, I...well, we need to discuss something over dinner."

Sally glanced at him, trying to read his expression. His voice sounded strange. She nodded.

"I'll start dinner, Jack. What would you like?"

"Don't go to the trouble of cooking something, Sally. There's still plenty of that wonderful stew you made last night, isn't there?"

Sally was confused.

"I thought you wanted a special dinner tonight." Her voice was thin, uncertain, but in his own state of anxiety Jack didn't notice.

"I meant that I really need to have a talk with you. That's what's important. The food, is kind of beside the point."

"Is it about my staying here...for such a long time?", Sally asked.

Jack wondered what she was thinking. She didn't suspect, did she?

"In a way," Jack said, his bony hands trembling. "I'll set the table, alright? You relax,".

Sally sat on the sofa as Jack carried dishes and food from the kitchen to the dining table.

"Almost ready!" he called jovially. Jack lit a candelabra and put a dish out for Zero. Then, he walked to the couch and extended his hand.

"Dinner is served."

He helped Sally to the table. She was silent, afraid to say a word. They began to eat. Jack could feel the ring burning in his pocket like a cinder. He wished he had rehearsed something. How does one do this? The need for perfection made him rethink his words over and over. Finally, after about ten minutes, he spoke.

"Sally, in the past months since you've been in my home, I've been forced to rethink the way I live. You know I've always been accustomed to being alone in this house." Sally nodded. Jack continued:

"I've thought in the past, I mean way back in the past, about maybe not being alone. But really, it's all I've experienced. I've never felt the way I feel for you. You are the most gentle, spooky, smart..." He stopped. Sally didn't know what was going to happen. The pressure of everything that had happened these past months pressed down upon her at once. She started to cry.

"Oh!" Jack breathed. "Sally? What's wrong? Why are you crying?" She stood and turned away from him. Her voice trembled with tears.

"Jack, I've been imposing on you for a long time now. I've been here since Christmas. You know how much I love you. I've loved you all my life. I know that hasn't been long, but... You're so used to being alone. That, and everyone is talking about us. Do you want me to leave? If you want, I can find somewhere small to live, and you and I can continue like we have been..."

"I don't want to continue like we have been!" Jack blurted. Sally felt as if the fist that had held her heart all evening had just squeezed it to bursting. She was devastated.

"Sally? Could you turn around?" Jack asked. She shut her eyes tightly and shook her head. He tried again.

"Please?"

She turned slowly. Her vision was blurry from the tears. Then, Jack's voice came from slightly below her:

"Um, Sally? Here." She looked down to see him on one knee before her, holding a tiny sparkly thing.

"Dearest, I don't want to continue as we've been, because I want to marry you. Will you marry me? Be my wife, and my Pumpkin Queen, and my everything, and stay right here with me forever? And be Zero's mistress?"

Sally had never in her brief existence experienced such a crushing low followed by such a dizzying euphoric high. And that was probably why she fainted.

"Sally? Sally? Darling, are you okay?"

Sally opened her eyes. She was lying on the sofa in the parlor. Jack was beside her, gently patting her cheek.

"You okay?" he asked again. She smiled.

"I was just so scared..." she whispered. Jack placed a skeletal finger on her lips.

"Answer me," he said.

"Yes. Yes to everything." As they kissed, little Zero did his special somersaults through the air in the hallway.

"Do you like the ring?" Jack asked.

"Ring?"

"On your finger. I put it on you while you were out. Presumptuous of me, I guess."

Sally lifted her small stitched hand and stared at the ring.

"I don't know what to say, Jack."

"You've already said what I wanted to hear, baby-doll. Shall we finish our dinner?"

Sally sat up slowly. She smiled, biting her lower lip.

"Later, Jack. Let's go to the tower."

Some time later...

Jack lay on his back in the tower bed, filled with bliss. He and Sally had made love three times before he declared himself spent and all but passed out in a pile of pillows and woolen blankets. He could imagine no finer way to celebrate their engagement. Her cheeks still flushed, Sally sat beside him in the bed. She turned through the pages of a renaissance art book. Jack's tower was a veritable library of volumes on just about any, and every, subject one could imagine. Sally was not an expert reader, but she was learning. Tonight, she simply looked at paintings and sculptures the likes of which she had never before seen.

"These women don't look like me.", she murmured. "I suppose I should say, I don't look like them, since they came first."

Jack smiled. He turned to his side.

"You're beautiful, Sally."

"The Fishgal says I used my body to get your attention."

Jack laughed at this.

"Well, I can't say that your body doesn't get my attention, although that is an egregious oversimplification of our relationship."

Sally smiled. Jack continued to speak, stroking a seam on her side with his fingers.

"That reminds me love. The doctor is looking for you. The witches said he needs to speak with you."

A strange expression passed over Sally's face, too quickly for Jack to decipher. They hadn't talked much about her creator.

"I'll speak to him.", she said quietly. Surely, the old man wouldn't try to take her back, would he?, she thought. Certainly not. It had been months since she'd stayed there, and he had built himself a new creation, just as she had encouraged him to do. Sally sighed. Dr. Finklestein was the last thing she wanted to think about on this wonderful evening. Sally laid the art book aside and looked at her fiance.

"I'm not scary, Jack. Not even a little bit. Are you certain that's okay? Shouldn't the Pumpkin Queen be scary?"

Lifting his tired bones from the bed, Jack sat up beside her.

"I am scary enough for both of us, Sally.", he said. She brightened at this. A sudden thought struck Jack.

"Sally, have you ever seen me work? Have you ever seen me...scary?"

She had to admit that she had not. Everyone knew Jack was the scariest creature in Halloweentown, scarier even than the late Oogie Boogie, but now that he brought it up, Sally realized that she hadn't seen it. Jack grinned.

"You really should, just so that you know."

Sally nodded agreeably, unsure what to expect. Jack sat back from her, gathered himself for a moment, then...

His entire countenance transformed. It was only for a matter of seconds, but the happy, familiar Jack disappeared, replaced by a snarling, demonic monster. Then, just as quickly, he was back.

"How's that then? Are you alright?", he asked.

Sally was visibly shaken, but caught her breath.

"That was terrifying, Jack. I think...I rather liked it."

Jack laughed loudly at her reaction.

"And that, is why you are going to be my wife."

Rejuvenated, Jack found that he wasn't entirely out of energy after all.