AN: It took some time, but I think I finally have this chapter where I want it. Sorry for the delay, but this was too important a chapter to rush. Also, thanks to my reviewers! I had three or four new reviewers last chapter and I am thrilled! Oh, and just for good measure--

Disclaimer: I do not own CatCF in any way, shape, or form. Rowena's mine, members of her family are mine, but everything else is not mine.

"You, uh, wanna run that by us again, starshine?" Willy urged her, leaning close and staring at her intently following her quiet revelation. Charlie said nothing, simply watching her in avid curiosity.

It was a moment longer before Willy's words penetrated into Rowena's dizzying thoughts. "Oh, I…yes. I've seen Oompa-Loompas before."

"That's not possible. Is that possible?" Willy glanced at Charlie, who shrugged. "No, that's not possible," he asserted.

"Well, actually, it is," Rowena drawled, a little annoyed at Willy's determined disbelief. She wanted the subject dropped. They were crossing dangerous territory again, approaching that fine line that separated her personal life from her professional one. Before she'd stepped foot in the factory, that line had been an impenetrable wall, but now it lay in shambles.

"Why didn't you tell us before?" Charlie asked innocently, stepping closer to her to grab her attention.

It was a good question, Rowena mused, and she realized now why they were having a difficult time believing her. "I didn't know they were called Oompa-Loompas," she responded easily enough, shrugging her shoulders in an attempt to appear nonchalant. She failed miserably.

Willy was pressing ever closer, moving around so that he faced her now and could capture her attention more fully. "Well, don't keep us waiting!" he fairly begged, bouncing on his heels like a child waiting to run to their presents on Christmas morning. "Where did you see them? When? Why?"

So many questions! Rowena not only felt bombarded, but she felt frightened, too. She didn't want to remember more fully, she didn't want to speak of her past. It was too late; his questions were bouncing around inside of her head, sparking a chain reaction that sent her spiraling deeper than she'd ever gone before into a kind of repressed memory. The world around her was growing darker, and she was being pulled down, down, down... It was all coming back now…

The weather was especially hot. Everyone made mention of it, even her father, who usually was the easiest going of the group. Trekking through the thick foliage, he and Fitz led the way, their gleaming machetes hacking away to clear a path wide enough to pass through.

"Fitz, are you sure you heard the native's directions correctly?" Their mother sounded a little worried, trailing behind Rowena as she daintily stepped over a rotting tree branch. "I was almost certain he said to go around this part of the jungle and not through it."

Fitz laughed quietly up ahead of them, glancing at their father with a devilish little wink. "Getting where you're going is half the fun, mum. One way or another we'll get to the river, and I can promise you that the boat won't leave without us."

"That's because it's our boat," their mother grumbled, batting a buzzing insect away from her thick golden hair, most of which was hanging in limp damp curls around her face.

"Oh, don't fret, mum," A young Rowena called cheerfully, taking in the jungle scenery with her usual energetic enthusiasm. "We've only been lost for a couple of days, and I'm sure…" Her voice trailed off, prompting Fitz to glance over his shoulder at her.

"Everything all right, Ro?" he asked breezily, only slightly concerned.

"Look," Rowena whispered, her eyes fixed on something high above them. "Up there." She was pointing now, and with a confused murmur, Fitz followed her gaze up into the trees.

"Well, would you look at that!" he exclaimed, elbowing their father.

"Good heavens!" he gasped, and their mother was the last to look up. The Chantilly family all stared in awe at what appeared to be a small network of roundish huts slung high in the trees, connected by the occasional sloping rope bridge.

"Look, there're little people…" Fitz murmured, and Rowena watched as a very small man with pointy black hair raced across the bridge, moving so quickly that he was more of a blur than anything else. Squinting her eyes, Rowena could make out more of them rushing across their bridges, obviously as aware of the strangers as Rowena's family was aware of them.

"Let's talk to them," Rowena suggested dreamily, already moving towards a tree with the intent to climb it.

"We haven't the time," her mother urged, drawing an arm around her daughter's shoulders and leading her to join the men.

"Dad? Please?" Rowena came close to begging, and with a kind smile her father squeezed her shoulder lightly.

"I'm afraid your mother is right, darling. We are two days late, and we really must be getting to Egypt on time. Another time, pet, another time." More than a little disappointed, Rowena followed the others, her eyes lingering on the strange city in the trees for as long as possible…

"Yep, she's really having a flashback this time, Charlie. I'm absolutely certain." Rowena could hear Willy Wonka's strange tones far in the distance. Like a splash of cold water striking her in the face, she was abruptly freed from the memory, her mind leaping back to reality.

"Oh, no!" she gasped, hands flying to her mouth in true horror. "I did just have a flashback!" With quick, jerky motions she pulled her briefcase tightly to her side, took one step backwards, and then turned on her heels to flee through the doors.

Willy moved with lightning speed, placing himself squarely in her path with arms spread wide. "And where, exactly, are you going?" Rowena stumbled backwards, nearly toppling Charlie over behind her.

"I have to go," was all she could say, trying to sidle around him to get to the door. Willy outmaneuvered her, anticipating her every move and planting himself in front of her so that she simply couldn't pass without physically knocking him aside. That particular thought was proving very tempting for her.

"Mr. Wonka, don't you see what's going on here? I am not right for this job. Despite my best efforts, strange, um, things keep happening to me, and you need someone else to evaluate you and your factory!"

He looked both annoyed and perplexed, leaning his head down to meet her at eye level. "I don't get it. What's the big deal? You're doing your job, aren't you? You're taking your silly little notes, following where I lead, and doing a pretty darn good job of keeping up. So what's the big problem-o?"

She groaned in sheer frustration, gripping her head with both hands. "Mr. Wonka--"

"Willy," he swiftly interrupted.

"Yes, fine, Willy, what I mean to say is…I did just have a flashback, actually. That's-that's…completely and totally inappropriate!" She was going to be sacked, she knew, when she returned to the office, unable to complete the job. But what else was there to be done? Her carefully structured world was crumbling, and all because of one strange tour in a strange factory with its, yes, strange owner. She needed to regroup her scattered thoughts, reevaluate her strategy. All in all, she just needed to leave.

"Speaking from experience," Willy said with a guilty smile, blithely ignoring the warring emotions written plainly across her face, "I don't see what's so terrible about having a flashback. They just tend to happen, especially when you've repressed powerful memories and emotions that simply don't want to go away." He laughed shortly and without any real humor, planting his cane in front of him and shrugging his shoulders.

"How do you know that I have repressed memories?" Rowena demanded, aghast at the very idea, regardless of how true it was.

He ignored her question. "Before you get all excited and flighty like a little bird, why don't you tell us where you've seen the Oompa-Loompas?" His suggestion was surprisingly logical, but Rowena hated it. If she told them about the memory, questions would be asked about her family. It was what she had avoided for so long now, forever struggling to keep the past in the past.

She took another sidestep hoping to slip around him, but it was no use. He wasn't about to let her through, at least not without an explanation of sorts. "Oh, all right!" she burst out, feeling the pangs of defeat but still desperate for an escape. "I saw them in a jungle, many years ago."

That clearly wasn't enough information for Willy, or even for Charlie. They looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to continue, and once she realized what they were waiting for, she did. "I was with my, um…well, family." Her dark eyes alighted strangely, a truly puzzled expression schooling her features. How odd. That hadn't been nearly as difficult to say as she'd thought it would be. She exhaled slowly, surprised…and, dare she admit it, a little encouraged.

"What were you and your family doing in Loompaland?" Charlie asked eagerly.

"Loompaland? Is that where we were?"

"Most certainly," Willy readily supplied. "And it must have been a long time ago, too, since they all live here now."

"It was 18 years ago, to be precise," Rowena agreed. "I was nine, and we were in the jungle because…that's what my family did."

"Rowena," Charlie laughed, "you have to be a little more specific than that!"

"Fine then," she sighed, realizing too late that there was no avoiding it now. "We were exploring."

"Exploring? Like on holiday?" Charlie guessed.

"Well, sort of. Except that we weren't on holiday. That's just what we did. My family and I were, well, adventurers of sorts."

The boy froze. A light bulb seemed to go off in his head. Mouth agape, he slowly pieced the puzzle together. "Wait, your last name is Chantilly…Frederick Chantilly? Are you related to the Frederick Chantilly?"

No one had spoken her father's name aloud to her in years. She drew back a step, smiling tightly as she weathered weather the brief storm of emotion that his name inspired. "Yes, Charlie," she finally admitted. "Frederick Chantilly is my father."

"I wrote a report on him in school!" Charlie gushed, swinging her hand in his excitement. "He was a scholar and an explorer who was always searching for treasure and artifacts all over the world! The British Museum is full of his findings! I guess you knew all that, didn't you?" Rowena nodded, attempting to smile with a little more enthusiasm. She did not dare to look at Mr. Wonka, sure that his eyes would be fixed on her in that otherworldly way of his. She kept her attention solely on Charlie, fighting against an embarrassing and inexplicable blush that was warming her cheeks.

"But he disappeared eight years ago," Charlie finished, brow furrowing. "He isn't…" He didn't dare ask, hadn't even meant to insinuate.

"No, he hasn't died," Rowena assured him. "It's just that, after Fitz and my mother… Well, my father sort of exiled himself, locking himself away out in the countryside. It was all very painful for him. I haven't seen him in a very long time, either."

"But that's not fair!" To her great astonishment, it was Willy who uttered those emphatic words. "Of course it was painful for him. But it was painful for you, too. That's like losing your whole…your whole…f-family." Was it her imagination, or had Willy stumbled over his last word? He gulped and tugged at his stiff collar, confirming her suspicion, but the intensity of his gaze was distracting her.

"He's a good man, my father," she intoned softly. "He just…never saw it coming. He just couldn't grasp that they're…gone."

She could feel unshed tears gathering in her eyes. Thank heavens that Charlie, despite feeling truly sad for Rowena, was so curious about her life before that he launched into a series of rapid fire questions, giving her the chance to push her tears firmly aside.

"But you went with him on all of his adventures?"

"Yes, Charlie, we all did."

"So you've seen the world?"

"Well, yes, I have."

He looked close to laughing now, thrilled that the daughter of one of his heroes was standing right beside him. "Where have you gone? What did you do? What have you seen and found?"

"So many questions, Charlie!" Rowena laughed, feeling a little more at ease. Leave it to Charlie. "Why don't you ask me one at a time, like before?"

"All right, sure! Have you…climbed mountains?"

"Quite a few of them. There aren't always clear paths to the places you want to go. Sometimes you just have to scale a mountain or two."

"What about scuba diving? I read that Frederick Chantilly spent three months every year on a yacht in the Mediterranean Sea."

She nodded. "Mm-hmm, we all did. You'd be surprised how much treasure is lying about on the bottom of the Mediterranean."

Charlie was just getting warmed up. "I read that your father uncovered a city of gold in South America. Were you with him?"

She paused, trying to recall. "Oh, that city of gold. I was there, but the truth is that once you've seen one city of gold, you've seen them all. They're really nothing special."

He was laughing so hard, it appeared that Charlie might double over at any moment. Struggling to catch his breath, he somehow managed to continue his questions. "What was your favorite place?"

"My favorite place?" That would take some thinking. The truth was that Rowena had seen so much of the world, mostly parts that most people could never even dream existed, that it was difficult to choose just one. "I always loved the jungle," she finally supplied, practically invigorated that after all she had said about her past, the pain she expected to spill over had yet to come.

"The jungle!" Charlie echoed excitedly. "I bet that would be my favorite, too. What did you like about it?"

"Have you ever read Tarzan?" He nodded enthusiastically. "Just like Tarzan, my family lived in a real jungle tree house for a little while." If his wide-eyed expression was any indication, it was almost too much for Charlie to take in. "Fitz and I learned how to swing on the vines. I bet him that it was impossible, but not only did he prove me wrong, he all but forced me off of a tree branch to get me going."

"Could you do it now?"

"Now?" He couldn't possibly mean…

"Could you swing on these vines?" Rowena glanced at the long licorice vines dubiously. They looked sturdy enough, and the Oompa-Loompas were having no trouble swinging about. Then again, there really wasn't much of a comparison between the Oompa-Loompas and herself, but it gave some reason for hope.

"I suppose it would be possible..."

"Then let's do it!" Rowena was worried that the tales of her childhood had gone to his head.

"Charlie, whatever would your mother say to me?"

Charlie shrugged, grinning madly. "I've done it lots of times before," he admitted with an innocent smile. Walking to the railing beside Charlie, Rowena took her time making her decision. On the one hand was the severe and serious side of her nature, the same that had held sway and dominance over her every decision for years now. Equally strong, however, was a strange desire reawakening inside of her to let go, to enjoy herself for once. It was a part of her personality she had put away so long ago, buried deep within her on the same day she buried her mother and brother. When on earth had it decided to resurface?

Honestly, what did it matter? The fact remained that, from the moment she stepped foot into the factory, all of the rules and regulations she followed had been cast off to the wind. Just as Mr. Wonka—Willy—had predicted, standard procedure was no longer in play. Her soft lips curved into a grin, one so full of mischief and delight that both Charlie and Willy were taken aback for a moment.

"All right then, Charlie. So long as you don't tell your mother on me, let's do it." A few feet to her right was an opening where the railing ended and one could climb down a sturdy ladder to reach the jungle floor. Not so far from the opening was a tantalizing vine, just waiting for her to reach out and take it.

"Are you sure about this, Rowena?" Standing a couple of feet from the opening, she angled her head to glance at Willy. He was not warning her. If anything, he was tempting her, practically egging her on simply by the look in his eyes. There was a kind of test being administered, she felt instinctively, a challenge being presented. He wanted her to jump.

Without further ado, she took two quick steps and leaped into the air.

Being airborne never felt so good.