1Hi again all. Such a delay before this chapter, and it's a really short one too. Sorry about that. I've been trying to get these last chapters out before I begin work on my final term paper. Life has been silly busy this month. Anyway, in the brief author's note before the last chapter, I included an website url that I used for research on decomposition. Apparently ffdotnet does not allow you to type urls, as when I uploaded the document it had disappeared. In the interest of giving credit to my source, I referenced deathonline dot net. As always (though I sometimes forget to say it) thank you for the reviews. They brighten my day indescribably.

PS: I've been trying to submit this chapter all week, but the upload hasn't been working. It appears that all is well now. Hooray!

Jack stretched his bones, the disappointments of the day fading temporarily. He lay on his ribs on the tower bed while Sally massaged his spine. The King of Halloween never in his existence had anyone do such a thing for him before she came along.

"How did you learn this, Sally?", Jack asked. She straddled him, leaning slightly forward over his back as she worked.

"I just knew.", she said. "Like sewing."

He grinned. Sometimes things arranged themselves so neatly that Jack could practically see an enormous, cosmic plan in action. It was all solid and flawless. Perfect. Of course, that was usually when something aberrant would take place, throwing a terrible wrench into the whole works.

"You're tensing up again Jack.", Sally said.

"Sorry.", he murmured. "I'm also sorry that it took me so long to come home, Sally. I know you must have been worried. I just needed to sit and think for a spell."

"Did it help?", Sally asked, pausing in her efforts.

"Not really. I saw Fishgal. She asked if we'd found any solutions, to which I truthfully replied. It's so difficult trying to talk to anyone about this. No one here understands. They don't know about fuzzy things like love and wanting to be with someone forever." Jack tensed once more with the frustration of it. Leaning up, he twisted to face Sally as he spoke. She eased him back onto his ribs.

"They might.", she said. "They just haven't had the chance to know about those things."

"A fair point, to be sure.", Jack conceded. "I didn't know about those things until you, and now look at me."

"I am. You're worried and under great stress.", Sally said sadly, biting her lower lip. Jack snorted, leaning up on his elbows and twisting around, once more.

"Only because I am trying to protect this most precious new part of my existence! It isn't you, it's the world that's a bother, Sally. I'm very happy! How could I not be happy? I'm the only King of Halloween, the most fearsome and feared creature around. I reduce grown men to weeping piles of shivery jelly. I'm loved and admired in my town. Now, I'm lying here in my comfortable, warm tower, while a beautiful, sweet girl, wearing next to nothing, massages my back. It can't get much better! Naturally, I'm under a small amount of pressure what with the doctor and all, but..."

Sally pressed her fiancé back down, more firmly than before. He exhaled in exasperation. She worked her fingertips between his vertebrae again.

"Do you think it was a trick? Do you think Lock knew what had happened to the body?", Sally asked.

"I don't believe so.", Jack answered, calm again. "I don't think Lock understands those things. It's rather complex anyway, how humans are. I feel terrible about it. A human dying here..."

"You don't know that.", Sally interrupted. "There's no way to know. And Oogie's gone now, so you did the best you could do. You did the best anyone could do."

"True, I suppose.", Jack said.

Sally slid her hands to his shoulder blades. Jack released a soft moan, making her smile. She considered what Jack had told her concerning his day. It appeared that Lock did indeed mean well. Given that, she would fulfill their bargain. If anything, baking cookies would be a nice diversion from her worries. As for the other part, she would do that too, of course. It was a small thing after all.

Across town, Doctor Finklestein banished Igor to the lower levels of their home. He needed absolute quiet in the laboratory. Igor assumed that his master was conducting some new, elaborate experiment. Something so complex that the old man required silence so as not to lose his concentration. Instead, the doctor simply sat, flicking his gaze from the operating table to his surgical tools and back again.

"Enough.", he said out loud, pounding his gloved fist. This had gone on long enough. He was tired of waiting for what had at first seemed inevitable. Jack would never tire of Sally. She would never return home. No matter, he thought. Sally was his, and that was all there was to it. She'd have to be returned to him. Only then could the only logical conclusion to this unfortunate chain of events play out. He nodded resolutely. He'd fetch her in the morning.

Downstairs, Igor sat against the side wall of the kitchen, eating congealed porridge from a dingy ceramic bowl. A cubic cardboard box sat between his feet, seeping moisture from the corners. Igor found the box sitting on the top step, right outside the front door of the laboratory. No one had rung the bell to announce such a delivery. Igor wondered if he should take the parcel upstairs to his master, but decided not to. The doctor had made his wish to be alone very clear. Any disobedience could result in a newspaper whacking, or at least a withholding of biscuits. The doctor could have the package in the morning.