Disclaimer: I do NOT own The Nightmare Before Christmas, Tim Burton does. I made up Molly but that's it folks!

Author's Note:

Thanks to everyone who is still reading this fic and all new readers! I must also state that this fic is dedicated for one of my super duper helpers, who has been helping me with my fic work since probably when I began to write, Marissa! To the biggest Oogie fan I know, this one's for you! And a special thanks to none other than SexySaiyanSakura! Without her help, I wouldn't have been able to finish THE longest chapter of this fic! And now for your reading pleasure, chapter 4 of The Nightmare After Christmas!

Chapter Four: Lucky Break

The next morning at Dr. Finkelstein's Lab, the doctor had pulled yet another all nighter on his experiments, not even noticing that the hours had flown by so quickly. Igor had gone off to bed a long time ago, so the paraplegic man continued on enjoying the silence. That was, until his wife came into the room shouting at the top of her lungs, "MOLLY'S RAN AWAY! OR WAS KIDNAPPED! SHE'S NOT HERE!"

Dr. Finkelstein flinched from the sudden intrusion and it took several moments for him to calm his nerves. "Try to calm down dear, she's probably went to work...or whatever it is she does."

"She has the day off!" Jewel informed with a suspcious tone, "And she left last night saying that she was running an errand for you but never returned! I bet she hasn't been home all night. ALL NIGHT! I bet she's out there getting herself into trouble again!"

"Oh it's just her rebelious stage darling, she'll get over it soon." the doctor replied in an almost carefree way. "She'll come back when she wants to."

Jewel didn't seem to listen and continued to spout out in her frustration and panic, "If she is not back home by this afternoon I'm sending out a search party!" She then stomped out of Dr. Finkelstein's lab and the doctor sighed then went back to his work, sure that nothing could possibly be wrong and that his wife was overreacting like always.

However, this time Jewel hadn't been completely paranoid, because Molly was still in the clutches of the Oogie Boogie man. She managed to escape becoming the giant spider's midnight snack due to a change of heart from Oogie, but was currenly still asleep from the knock out gas. It wasn't until the golden pumpkin sun began to shine in through the small barred window in the torture chamber when the rag doll's eyes fluttered open after feeling the warmth of the sun's rays. The rag doll was sleeping on her stomach and gave a soft yawn. Trying to wipe some of the sleep from her eyes, she then realized that her hands were tied behind her back, and her ankles were tied together. Once she was more awake, loud snores caught her attention, and Molly realized that something was laying on top of her lower back and burlap arms wrapped around her torso. Turning her head to look back, she lowered her eyelids in annoyance to find that a slumbering Oogie was laying on his side, using her as if she were his favorite pillow, snoring in his peaceful sleep.

'That no good...ugh!' Molly thought in frustration, then noticed that the droopy point that was on his head was very close to her hand, she moved so that she could grasp it in her hand and added mentally, 'This ought to make him think twice about using me like a pillow again!' and with that thought, she yanked on the tip of his head in a quick, hard jerk.

This woke poor Oogie up, sitting up with a startled yelp, "Waaah!" Looking around he then noticed that Molly was awake, and had been the one who gave him such a rude awakening. "Oh. I see you're up now." he said to her with narrowed eyes before he sat down across from her with his stubby legs spread out in front of him and arms folded over his chest. He did not look pleased at the moment, as he got into a glaring contest with the rag doll for several minutes until he finally broke the silence. "So...you got something you wanna say to me?"

"Yeah..." Molly replied with a cross look, "...you snore."

Oogie narrowed his eyes more before he made the sound of a wrong answer buzzer, "Eeeeh. Wrong. Guess again."

"How about never use me as a pillow?" guessed Molly, narrowing her eyes more as well. "Or maybe untie me NOW?"

"No and NO!" Oogie responded, loosing his temper again. "Try saying, 'Thank you Oogie for rescuing me! I am forever in your debt!' or something close."

The rag doll laughed, "Oh yeah, thanks Oogie! I've always wanted to almost get eaten by a giant spider! Thanks for making my dream come true!"

The Boogie man stood up to make himself more intimidating to Molly, who was still tied up on the floor. "That may be true..." he said in a calmer tone before he pointed at her and added in a harsh way, "BUT I DIDN'T HAVE TO SEW BACK YOUR ARM!" With that, Oogie walked away into another room of his lair grumbling to himself after leaving Molly alone.

Molly rolled her green eyes at her retreating bully's back as she murmured, "Pft...yeah I'm sure you did..." But then she realized that her arm had been reatached. Looking to her left arm, she noticed a new set of stitches had been added around her shoulder, clear evidence that someone had to have sewn it back on. But why would Oogie do something that seemed...considerate? It didn't make sense, since they were not very friendly with each other.

Just when Molly began to ponder about how she was going to get out of the ropes, Lock, Shock, and Barrel suddenly came into the room and came over to her, squatting down to her eye level. "Wow, you're pretty lucky!" Barrel commented with a glad smile, since it seemed now that Oogie changed his mind.

"Rule one with Oogie: ..." began Lock as he took out a dangerously jagged knife that would make anyone who hadn't had their Tetanus shot shiver. Using the serrated side, he then began to saw away at the ropes binding Molly's ankles and wrists. "Never call him fat."

"He's a little sensitive about that, but he won't admit it." Barrel commented in a low whisper, afraid Oogie might have heard him if he spoke louder.

"Thanks..." Molly said in a sarcastic tone, "...you know I really like what you wanted to show me! Love it to bits! Especially when I got my arm ripped off by a giant spider!"

The children looked a little suprised as they looked to her arms, "Really? But your arms look fine now." Shock replied skeptically.

"Please, don't play dumb," Molly responded soon after Lock was done cutting the ropes around her ankles. She sat up so that he could cut the ropes on her wrists better. "I know one of you had to have been the ones to sew it back on. I mean, Oogie really couldn't have done it himself. I bet if he did it I'd have an arm coming out of my back!"

Lock finished cutting the rope binding her wrists before he informed her, "Wasn't us. We were up in our tree house after we sent you down the chute."

Molly looked a little skeptical, but she had a feeling that they were telling the truth. "And...Oogie's the only one down here...isn't he?"

All three of the tricksters nodded before Shock made a comment in a sly tone, "He must have sewn it back on himself...which means he must really like you..."

"Oh please!" the rag doll woman rolled her eyes as she rubbed her writs a little before folding her arms over her chest.

"Well it wouldn't hurt to be a little nicer to him..." Shock replied, not at all discouraged from continuing to persuade Molly. "At least thank him. Oogie would really appreciate that...and who knows...your stay here might be better."

Molly scoffed before commenting, "I'd rather take my chances with the spider again than go thank him!" She was still very angry over the whole idea of being held against her will. Then again, if she was a little nicer towards the oversized potato bag, perhaps she could convince him to let her go. It was worth a shot, she thought, as she stood up and began to look for Oogie in the direction he stopped off to.

Shock began to cackle in a diobolical way, while Lock's grin grew, but Barrel didn't look like he understood what was going on. "Uh...I don't get it. Why are we telling Oogie that she likes him, when she doesn't, and then, tell Molly that Oogie likes her, when he almost had her killed?" asked the shorter boy.

Turning to him sharply, Shock snapped, "Because, stupid! If they both get along better, Oogie wouldn't get so mad at us all the time!"

"And if Oogie focuses more on Molly instead of us..." Lock picked up where Shock left off. "...then maybe she can help him think up some new fun things for us to do instead of just sending us out to Town day after day!"

"B-but...don't they argue a little too much?" Barrel asked in an innocnent like tone.

The little witch shook her head, "No way! Some of the best couples argue like they do! Maybe even more!"

Barrel began to think about this, then suddenly realized the genius behind Shock's plot. "Oooh! I get it now! It's kinda like how you and Lock fight all the time!"

At this sudden realization, both the children Barrel mentioned smacked the boy dressed like a skelleton around and both cried out in anger, "NO! NOT LIKE US!"

The Boogie man had left the infuriating rag doll back in his Torture Chamber to go into one of his lesser known rooms; his Billiard Parlor. It was darker in this room than it was in the Torture Chamber, since this room had no windows to let in the golden rays of the morning pumpkin sun. Inside Oogie's Billiard Parlor, there was of course, a large Pool table, which had red felt instead of the usual green, so that in the dark, it glowed bright red. It was longer than the average pool table, which took up a large part of the room itself. All the balls were in the side and corner pockets because Oogie rarely played pool, since it was more fun to play against another person. So since Oogie didn't have visitors who made it past the Torture Chamber, the pool table became just a large felt covered table that he sometimes used to toss his dice upon. His white pair of dice were sitting upon the said table at the moment while Oogie was leaning against the side of the table with about five darts wrapped around in one hand while the other had another dart he was preparing to throw at his dart board. The dart board itself was a standard dart board, except for the fact that it was larger than a normal one, and in the middle was a sklleton replica of Jack Skellington, which already had a few darts stuck in its eyes sockets.

Molly happened to walk into the room just in time to see Oogie throw his next dart right between the eyes of his target which was made to look like his rival. The doll took a step back from her momentary surprise, then took notice of the other darts stuck in the head of the fake Jack Skellington. 'Sheesh, Oogie must really hate Jack...' she thought before clearing her throat to hopefully catch his attention. "Nice shot there." she commented, trying to break the ice in a casual way.

Oogie turned to her immediatly after hearing her voice and wondered how she got free of the ropes, then he figured Lock, Shock and Barrel must have done it since he knew they were running about his lair. Still upset with her, he began to mutter to himself in a grumpy way before he continued with his darts game.

She watched as he threw another dart and thought to herself, 'Geez, touchy guy ain't he?' Taking a step forward, more towards him than in the range of his dart board, less he got mad enough at her and decided to put her in the fake Jack's place, she continued to think, 'I honestly don't want to thank him, but it won't hurt anything but my pride. And I can put that aside if it'll help me get out of here sooner.' Putting on a small smile, she began to rub the part of her shoulder where her arm was resewn together and said outloud, "You know, you did a pretty good job sewing my arm back; looks good as new, and feels that way too." Molly moved her arm a bit to show how strong the threads held her arm to her shoulder.

When she looked back at him to see his reaction, Oogie only shrugged casually, not even looking at her as he threw a few more darts.

Molly felt like stamping her foot on the ground since the burlap sack wasn't making this easy for her, and wondered if he knew that. Of course, Molly was up for a challange, and was determined not to let him get the best of her, after finding out what speaking her mind rewarded her with last night. "I guess what I'm trying to say is..." she began again with a shy looking smile as she looked off to the side to make it seem like she was having trouble with what she wanted to tell him. "...well...thank you." Molly finally forced herself to say without grimmacing. "You really didn't have to do that for me but you did it anyways. I think that's really..." she tried to force herself yet again not to make a sour face as she ended her statement, "...thoughtful of you."

Oogie had been trying to ignore her and focus on aming his dart so that he could hit his next desired mark, but after Molly said that what he did was thoughtful, he was caught off guard. The Boogie man never thought that the rag doll would thank him after the heated confrontation between them, and nobody had ever thanked him sincerely before. At the same time he had gone into this momentary state of thought and surprise, he had thrown the dart, which ended up missing the board entirely. A minute passed before he finally collected his wits again and responded, "...You're just saying that."

'Finally got his attention...' Molly thought to herself, glad that now he was finally talking to her, an odd feeling since she wished he'd leave her alone, yet now she was seeking him out. Of course, not because she wanted to spend time in his presence, but to gain her freedom. "It was hard for me to believe that you would do me a favor like that after how mean I was to you last night."

"Well I did!" the Boogie man snapped, slightly pouting as he threw another dart. "And you could have at least tried to be thankful!"

"That's why I came to find you..." Molly replied, still using her soft, very kind tone, "...to thank you." She began to rub her shoulder again and shifted her feet a bit to make it seem like she was still a bit shy around him after finding out that he helped her.

Oogie was still very suspicious of her intentions, taking notice of her drastic change in attitude. "Oh just to thank me?" He asked her skeptically then narrowed his eyes as he made his loud voice boom with harsh accusation. "Why? Because you don't want me to throw you back down to play with my pet again?" Not waiting for Molly's reply he added in an authoritative tone in efforts to intimidate the rag doll, "Well you should be scared! I'm the Oogie Boogie man after all!"

But instead of being intimidated by him, Molly mentally rolled her eyes and thought to herself, 'What an ego...wonder if his is bigger than Jack's. Best not ask him though; last thing I need is to is make him mad again.' Luckily for her she didn't loose her wits as easily as Oogie did when caught off guard. "No, not just because of that, because it's polite to thank someone after they do something nice without having to."

A snort escaped the still skeptical Oogie, "You're jokin' Doll Face! Now you suddenly want to be polite?"

"Well being rude doesn't help anyone." Molly countered quickly.

"Helps my pet spider get dinner..." he replied in a soft devilsih way with an equally evil smirk.

Molly truely wanted to yell at the impossibly hard to get along with burlap foe, but she continued to try and stay calm, though now her voice held a bit of frustration in it as she told him, "Well I'm sorry I was rude before, but getting told that you're held captive against your will by someone you've never met doesn't put you in a good mood!"

"Yeah well...just remember who you're dealing with next time!" Oogie warned her after throwing his last dart then went to take the darts out of the board.

The rag doll took this time to take in the room a little better and noticed that a pair of dice was sitting on the pool table. "You roll dice a lot?" she asked in true curiousity as she took a few more steps towards the dice to inspect them better.

At this question, Oogie seemed to beam with pride as told her, "Why of course! No one in all of Halloween Town is better than the Boogie Man when it comes to dice!"

"Mind if I roll them a few times?" Molly asked as she picked one up, looking at the skull designs on it. "I've tried to make a pair of dice myself, but I just couldn't get the shape quite to my liking."

Molly's interest in his dice amused Oogie, and he began to think that perhaps now she knew just what kind of authority he had over her as her captor. "Hehe, knock yourself out Doll Face." he answered with a chuckle.

'I'd rather knock you out!' Molly thought to herself as she rolled the dice in her closed right hand before tossing them onto the felt pool table. The number that she rolled totaled to seven; three on one dice and four on the other. "Hmm...seven...is that good?" she asked as she looked back to notice the look of total shock that was on Oogie's face for a brief moment.

"Y-yeah..." the Boogie man then shook his head to get rid of the shock of her getting a good number while he always got snake eyes. "But it's just beginner's luck."

"Must be." Molly shrugged as she picked up the dice again, not helping the small smile as she rolled an eleven this time; one dice read six and the other five. "Now I got eleven. Is that good too?"

Now Oogie looked inceresingly frustrated that she got yet another good roll number. "Yes! Still just luck! So don't think you're hot stuff just yet!"

After she tossed another seven, with five on one and two on the other dice, she commented smugly, "Wow, I must be Lady Luck herself today."

"Well dice is nothin'!" growled the now irritable burlap sack man, "I am the master of all games!"

"Oh really?" the rag doll placed her hand on her hip and leaned that hip to the side as she raised her brow to question him.

Instead of getting mad at her silent questioning of his credintials, Oogie found her ignorance of his skills highly amusing and cute. With a smirk, he bowed dramatically, "Of course! I told you that there is no one in all of Halloween Town better than Oogie Boogie! BAWAHAHAHA!"

'Okay, I know your name already...' thought Molly as she lowered her eyelids to give him a dry look before she glanced back at the pool table. She knew how to play pool, but hadn't played in a long time, so she decided to challange him. "Wanna play a little pool to prove that then?"

This made Oogie chuckle again, "Why not? I'm feeling generous today, so I'll even let you start."

Molly picked up the hem of her dress and gave him a short curtsy, "Why thank you Boogie." She then began to take out all the balls from the side and corner pockets to help him set up the game.

The rag doll and the Boogie man played a regular game of pool, but they got along quite well for two people who got on each other's last nerves. Since Molly wasn't that skilled in pool, Oogie managed to win their first game of pool, causing Molly to want to play another. This went on until Oogie won five times in a row. After hitting the black eight ball into the left corner pocket with a grin, he gloated. "Looks like you're not Lady Luck after all. Hahahahaha!"

Although he had been laughing at her after each time she made a bad move, hit his ball into one of the pockets on accident, and after she would lose, Molly was actually enjoying the pool games. She chuckled and admitted to him in a light hearted tone, "Okay you've got me beat in pool, but that doesn't prove that you're the master of all games. After all, I was good with the dice before."

"So you think you can beat me at something else?" Oogie asked, not able to hide his interest in whatever it was she had in mind to challange him to next. Usually he would have to spend his time throwing around a pair of dice that would always show him snake eyes when he wasn't plotting ways to get back at Jack. Playing and winning against Molly was very enjoyable for him, and he was glad that he had descided against letting his spider kill her. 'I could get use to this...' he thought to himself with a smile.

Molly hopped up to sit on the edge of the pool table close to where Oogie was standing and replied, "Oh I don't think..." getting closer into his face she added softly, "I know!"

"And just what game might you be so good at?" he asked her with his amused grin growing more at her confidence.

"Ever heard of a little game called Bat Snot?" she questioned with a raised brow, still close to his face.

"HA!" Oogie then threw his head back laughing harder, "Hahahahaha! I might as well invented the game!"

Molly couldn't help the practically evil smirk that made it's way upon her lips as she bragged, "There's nobody in Halloween Town that can beat me."

"Ooooh-ho! How sweet!" the burlap sack man crooned as he rubbed his pointed hands together diabolically. "Well Doll Face, no one in Halloween Town may be able to defeat you, but someone outside of it can. Care to play a game to prove it?"

A stitched hand disapeared into her dress pocket and withdrew her deck of cards slowly, then suddenly opening them out in a fan like display with her smirk growing. "Already ahead of ya, Boogie. But let's make things interesting. I feel like a little gamble."

Molly had just said the magic words to Oogie to keep him amused, "Oh? And just what have you got to bet with, Rag Doll?"

"Well..." Molly pretended to be thoughtful as she looked away for a moment then replied, "If I can win the best two out of three games, maybe you could...oh I dunno...lemme go?"

At this proposal, the Boogie Man looked intrigued, "And if you lose? That's a big bet right there, you must be willing to bet something equally big as well?" Just what was it that she would bet for her freedom? Oogie's mind reeled with many ideas at what it could be, and all of those ideas made his grin grow all the more.

Molly began to look away from him, still pretending to be shy and thoughtful before she answered him, "Well...what would you want me to do for you if you won?"

'Hmmmm she's giving me the choice...I like the way she thinks.' Oogie thought to himself as he took on a very thoughtful apperance; scratching his chin with his pointed hand. Not really paying attention, he thought to himself out loud, "Stop arguing with me for one..."

The rag doll woman had been leaning on the edge of the table waiting for his responce and was surprised at the quite simple prize. "Really? Is that all? Doesn't sound very big to me."

Oogie gave a little jump after being caught off guard, since it was not his intention for her to hear his thoughts. "Yes well...considering how much you argue it is!" Molly began to giggle at the look on his face, and covered her mouth to try to stiffle them but it didn't help much. With a cross look on his face now, Oogie placed his hands on his sides and spoke in the intimidating tone again, "Just for that, I'm uping the stakes! You win you get your freedom; I win, you have to do whatever I ask! Forever!"

Once Oogie announced this, Molly stopped her giggling and took on a more serious apperance. "Sounds good to me Boogie. You sure that's what you want though?" she asked with a grin.

"YES!" shouted Oogie with a glare, causing Molly to chuckle a little as she shuffled the cards a bit then began to deal them out to her and Oogie. As she dealed the cards out, Oogie growled a little out of annoyance from being teased.

"Yes, hahahaha!" Oogie laughed as he began to gloat after beating Molly in the first game of Bat Snot. "Can't say I didn't warn ya, Dolly!"

Molly did not try to hide how upset she was at losing the first game as she thought with bared teeth, 'Darn it! I can't beleive this! Nobody's ever beaten me at this game! Not even once!' Looking back at Oogie she spoke out loud, "You still have to win one more time in order to make me do whatever you want..." then added with distasteful thought, '...forever! Ugh, I better start to cheat a little if I want to keep my dignity!'

"You should just save yourself the time and give up!" chuckled Oogie.

"Oh but what fun would that be?" Molly grinned as she shuffled the cards again to deal them out for the new game.

Oogie nodded in agreement, "Ah yes...good point Doll Face."

Time passed by as they played their second game of Bat Snot and Molly managed to cheat several times without Oogie Boogie noticing by pretending to scratch an itch between her fabric skin and where her boot was, where she kept a card that would help her with her next move. However, Molly's luck ran out when she reached down into her boot, once again pretending to scratch an itch to pick out another helpful card. Oogie had decided to look away from his cards to try and get a peek at Molly's leg, hiding his smile behind his cards, but it changed to a frown when he noticed what she was doing. Grabbing her arm and pulling her closer to him, Oogie plucked the card from her hand and inspected it with narrowed eyes. "What do we have here? A cheat!"

A frightened gasp escaped Molly as her emerald eyes met with his intensely furious empty sockets after getting caught. She gulped and tried to shake off her look of alarm to replace it with an innocent look as she answered, "N-no! I was going to play that card when I got an itch!"

Oogie's glare became meaner as he yelled at her, "I am no fool! The deal is off!" He then threw her arm away from him and stood up, since he had been sitting on the ground while she had been sitting on the edge of the table.

"W-wait!" Molly cried out in desperation, trying to think of a reason to make him change his mind as fast as she could. "I haven't been cheating the whole time! Honest! It was just right now that I was! I won't cheat again! Please?"

The Boogie man turned back to glare at her, but he secretly enjoyed playing Bat Snot with her too much to want to quit so suddenly. Besides, it would be much more fun to beat her at her own game, and she was practically begging him not to cancel their deal. "Fine!" he finally replied and sat back down, "But if I catch you cheating again, there will be no third chance!"

"You don't even trust me?" asked Molly with a sad frown to try and make Oogie feel a little guilty.

Oogie sneered, "I trust that given the chance you would take a pair of scissors to me!"

With a sigh, Molly pulled up the hem of her dress up to her knees and began to untie her bootlaces, catching Oogie's full attention. The giant, glowing green burlap sack man could not help himself as he stared at her now exposed legs with a letcherous grin. After she removed her boots from her dainty Barbie feet, she ran her hands over her stitched legs and explained her actions to him without looking at him, so she missed Oogie staring of great interest in her legs. "Here, I'll keep my boots off for the rest of the games and just to make sure I don't pull out any more cards, I'll keep my dress up to my knees. Happy?"

Her words were barely processed by Oogie's brain and it took him a few moments before he nodded his head dumbly in responce as he thought, 'Hehehe...I'm very happy with this! Once I win, I'll have to make her cut off some of her dress! I could get really use to this everday. Wahahaha!'

The unsuspecting rag doll woman placed down a card that was from her hand to end her turn, "Your turn Boogie..." she said with a sigh. Suddenly she noticed that it took the Boogie man a little longer to respond to what she said as he put down a few cards of his own, looking like he snapped out of a trance. 'Hmmm...I wonder...' Molly thought to herself as she moved her legs so that they would no longer be hanging off the side of the pool table and would rest to the side, with one leg over the other; now sitting more on her hip and using her arm to brace her weight. She then placed down her cards for her turn then looked up to see Oogie's reaction.

Oogie had indeed noticed her movement and placed down his card, obviously distracted by something as he thought, 'Oogie likes what he sees...hehehe!'

While he was distracted, Molly slowly removed another helpful card from her bodice then placed down her remaining cards in her hand, "Ooh lookie here! I won!" she announced with a pleased grin.

At this news, Oogie shook his head in disbelief, "W-what! No way! You cheated!" Then a thought came to him, "But wait..." he trailed off and thought, 'I was looking at her legs the whole time, so she couldn't have a chance to cheat. Uh...best not tell her that!' Shaking his head again, he finally concluded, "Nevermind..." then he admitted with an angry frown, "Fine. You win."

A giggle came from the rag doll as she patted him on the shoulder to act like a good sport, "Don't worry Oogie, we still have one more game left."

As she took the cards and shuffled them a third time, Oogie began to grin again, "Yes..." he said softly, "...yes we do."

Just to test out her theory again, Molly stretched her legs out, suddenly acting like she were fidgety, "Oh so exciting! I feel like I just can't sit still!"

Oogie swallowed hard as he stared at her legs again while trying to fight off the familure feeling of the pesky fireflies that were inside of him from glowing around his cheeks that would give away his embarrassment by making his cheeks glow a faint neon pink in the dark against the glowing green fabric.

'I KNEW IT! HE IS STARING AT MY LEGS!' Molly yelled mentally, feeling embarrassed herself, yet slightly flattered for some odd reason. 'I should cover my legs immediatly, but his little leg fettish might just help me gain my freedom! So I'll just let that lecherous, sack of bugs stare at them for a little while longer.' she decided as she then laid on her side on the pool table after dealing the new set of cards to start their third game. Moving her legs so that her left one was laying down and the other was propped up so that her knee faced the ceiling, she asked with a fake yawn, "You don't mind if I lay down for a bit, do you Boogie? I am feeling kinda tired."

He shook his head and tried to act like he didn't care, "Do whatever you want." Molly couldn't help but chuckle as she noticed how hard he tried not to stare at her legs too much.

Ten minutes later, with several more distrations and helpful cards from her bodice, Molly won the last Bat Snot, and felt relieved that she could now leave Oogie's lair and never have to see him again. "Well, it seems I won!" she said happily after sliding off the pool table, her dress covering her legs again as she picked up her cards and put them back into her pocket and plucked her boots off the floor. Walking away to the exit of the room she added over her shoulder, "No need to see me out; I'll ask Lock, Shock, or Barrel where the exit is. Later Boogie baby!" A smug grin was on her face as she waved back at him.

The Boogie man was not at all pleased by this, and wasn't about to allow Molly to leave so easily. Growling as he stood back up and managed to get between her and the exit, he responded in a strict tone, "Not so fast, Doll Face! You cheated! I know you had to have!"

Molly didn't have enough time to stop herself from walking into Oogie's massive belly, and took a step back to look up into his glowering face. "What do you mean I cheated!" She demanded with a defensive frown, "How could I have!" Though she really did cheat, she wasn't about to admit that to the Boogie man, not when he couldn't prove it.

He just glared more and replied, "I just know so. The bet is off now!"

"Hey!" the rag doll shouted, not caring anymore about the way she talked to him. "That's not fair! I won, so I get to leave!" She tried to get past him but he made sure that she didn't get an inch past him.

"I'm the Oogie Boogie man! OF COURSE I'M NOT FAIR!" he bellowed.

"But you can't prove that I was cheating!" Molly seethed as she returned his glare.

Oogie folded his arms over his chest and said in a final decision making tone, "It doesn't matter, because you-are-not-leaving!"

Fed up with Oogie's stubborness, Molly actually managed to push him aside enough to get past him out of the Billiard Parlor. "I won fair and square, so I-AM-LEAVING!" she shouted with a strong tone of her own.

Furious with her actions, Oogie growled, "Rarrr!" then quickly grabbed Molly around her waist with one arm and pulled her back, causing her to drop her boots from the sudden jerk and he was pleased when she gasped in surprise. With her back facing him, he kept a firm grip around her slim waist and pointed his free hand in her face to warn her against struggling. "No! You're NOT!" he yelled, his voice echoing off the walls in the room. "And if you keep trying to leave I'll toss you back into the Labyrinth with the spider!"

Molly's chest rose and fell dramatically as she took short but quick breaths in and out, trying to keep her cool in the situation she was now in. The last thing she wanted was for Oogie to throw her back into the Labyrinth and back with the spider, who might want to take more than her arm this time. She desperatly wanted to break free of his rough grasp, but knew better than to struggle from experience. The two minutes of silence that passed between them seemed like an eternity while Molly tried to calm herself and Oogie continued to hold her close to him in his tight grip. When she did look back at his leering face, her own held a doe like apperance with big, pleading green eyes. She blinked once before she asked in a soft, meek voice, "Please...let me go back home Boogie. Please?"

"No! Forget it!" he shouted, trying to crush all her hopes that he might change his mind. His decision was firm; she was his captive and she would not leave until he truely wanted her to leave. The fun was just getting started, and though the Boogie man would never want to admit it, he got lonely and it was nice to push around someone else who had the same interests that he did, especially when that person happened to be a pretty rag doll woman with a nice pair of legs.

But this rag doll was not just a pretty face, and she would not lose hope that she could change the giant burlap sack's mind. "Common...please Oogie Boogie?" she asked, still using the timmid tone, not daring to raise her voice to him again just incase he lost his temper and decided to do something she'd regret. "I've got to go back home. My parents are probably wondering where I am and I've got a job too." Trying her luck, she turned her body in his grasp, making it so that now he held her close to him from the front. Her slimmer torso now leaning against his large middle, as she looked up into his eyes with a much better eye-to-eye contact than she had when he was holding her back to him. "It would mean a lot to me if you let me go back to Halloween Town."

For a moment, Oogie was thoughtful, but then shook his head and responded with a firm tone still, "No! You will stay here with me! So don't even try to change my mind because it's already made up!"

"If you want me to come back to see you again I will." Molly said softly to him as she reached up to bat at the tip of the point that hung behind his head with her fingertips.

"Yes, of course you would, with a pair of SCISSORS!" he yelled as he continued to glare, swatting her hand away to make her stop playing with the point of his head.

"No! Of course not with a pair of scissors!" Molly responded, looking appauled by his accusation.

"Then with Jack Skellington instead!" suggested Oogie as he glared more, tighting his grip to make Molly more uncomfortable.

"No!" she denied quickly as she squirmed a little from discomfort, "Just me with nobody else! Honest!" Looking away from him to try the shy tactic again, Molly added, "I wouldn't want to get rid of someone like you..."

An unflattering snort came from the larger burlap sack man, "Yeah, because everyone likes spending time with a fat sack of bugs who feeds his guests to his giant pet spider! Yes people are dying to come over and visit Oogie Boogie because he's fun to be around!"

"Well getting my arm ripped off by a spider and running around a Labyrinth wasn't fun but everything after that was!" Molly argued, and this time, she managed to catch Oogie off guard again. Not giving him any time to respond just yet, she added quickly, "I mean...nobody's EVER beaten me at Bat Snot. Not even once! But you did." Wiggling a little so that she could set her arm which had been resewn by him, and rested it softly against his own arm that held her captive. Looking deeper into his eyes making hers have the most sincere look, she continued to say, "And it made me desperate enough to think about cheating, and of course you caught me, something NOBODY'S ever done before...except you...Oogie."

Upon this bit of flattery, Oogie began to rethink his decision, looking more thoughtful than he did last time. "Well..." he trailed off before finally deciding, "...you would have to swear to come back!"

Molly nodded her head several times to show how seriously she took him, "Yes of course! I promise I'll come back to see you again as soon as possible!"

With a reluctant sigh, the Boogie man released Molly slowly and took a step back before he added sternly, "You better come back then Molly. If you don't you'll regret it!"

Suddenly the rag doll threw her arms around his neck in a friendly embrace, extremely happy that her luck was so great, and had she been just a tad more excited, she might have even left a small peck on his cheek, but Molly decided that such a thing might have gone too far, and that she would feel sick to her stomach after doing so. "Oh thank you Boogie!" she cried out happily, before giving his neck a little squeeze and then backed off, giving him a warm smile. "Trust me, if I don't come back I would regret it!" Picking up her boots again she took a few steps towards the exit of the room and looked back at Oogie one more time, "After all, I wouldn't want to lose my best Bat Snot playing buddy." With those last words said, she then left the room completely, heading back to find one or all of Boogie's Boys to show her the way out of Oogie's death trap lair.

Oogie Boogie watched her leave and continued to stare at where she once was until he shook his head, "Rrrr...she tricked me!" he said to himself, though he was grinning a little, which betrayed his irritated tone. A few minutes later, he heard the scurring of feet and saw Lock, Shock, and Barrel enter the Billiard Parlor with looks of alarm on their small faces. "Now what do you three want!" he asked in his usual grumpy tone, placing his arms on his sides and leaning down a little at them more to their level.

"Y-you let Molly go!" they all responded together, with wide eyes.

A deep sigh escaped the bag of bugs that was the three children's boss, "Yes, I let her go. And? Do you question my judgement!" Lock, Shock, and Barrel immediatly shook their heads to dissagree that they had any problems with his decision to let Molly return to Halloween Town. "Good!" He then added defensively, "She promised to come back, so it's not like I did anything nice for her!"

"Wanna bet?" Lock asked skeptically, not at all convinced that Molly would come back to see Oogie again. Not even he, or the other two children would want to come back to Oogie if they weren't so afraid of him.

"WHAT!" howled Oogie, losing his temper yet again with them, causing them all to flinch but Lock boldy explained his words still.

"Common Oogie, why would she wanna come back to see you?" for once, Lock liked being the one to put down the giant bully and added causally with a cruel grin, "Now that she's free again, she's probably not comming anywhere near you again."

Shock socked Lock as hard as she could to keep him from angering Oogie any more, but the damage had already been done. "SHUT UP LOCK!" she shreiked before looking back at the still glowering Boogie man and grinned sheepishly up at him. "Don't listen to Lock, boss! Of course she's going to come back."

"Really? Give me a good reason why she would..." Oogie spoke softly until he turned on Barrel and narrowed his eyes, "BARREL!"

Barrel was caught off guard and fell back from his great surprise. He gulped and began to say nervously as he thought really hard about his answer, and the fact that Oogie was glaring down at him and tapping his foot impatiently while Lock and Shock were staring at him didn't help either. "Um...well..." he looked up at Oogie to get some kind of help, but he continued to glare down at him, seeming bigger than he usually did. "Uh..."

Oogie Boogie was not a patient man, and he got more and more angry with Barrel as the small boy tried to think of something to say to him. "Rrrraaaaaaah!" The Boogie man roared and stomped his foot in frustration before shouting, "DON'T YOU BRATS HAVE SOME CANDY TO ROT YOUR TEETH WITH! GET OUT OF MY SIGHTS OR ELSE I'LL THROW YOU TO THE SPIDER!"

Even Lock knew better than to argue with Oogie after he lost his temper and threatened them. All three of the children ran as fast as they could out of the room to get away from their furious boss. After they reached the Torture Chamber, they all stopped to catch their breaths, which they lost from fright rather than exaustion from running. Once the little witch caught enough of her breath back, she then socked Lock's face again. "I CAN'T BELIELVE YOU! YOU...YOU...IDOT!" Before he could get up from the ground she dropped down and began to choke him with both hands wrapped around his neck, "HOW COULD YOU BE SO STUPID!"

Lock managed to push Shock off of him and once he got enough air back into his lungs he pointed to Barrel with an accusing finger. "HEY IT'S NOT ALL MY FAULT! WHY AREN'T YOU BELTING HIM FOR STADING AROUND ACTING LIKE A BIG DUFFUS!"

"Hey!" Barrel replied in his own defense, "I'd like to see you come up with something nice to say about Oogie Boogie!"

The three children continued to fuss loudly with each other and even started to beat up each other, which was quite normal, and happened on a daily basis. Oogie could hear everything they said since they were so loud and narrowed his eyes as he stomped over to collect the darts and began to throw them at his customized dart board again.

Molly finished retying her boots on the bridge that was on the other side of the tree house to travel through the grave yard to go back to Halloween Town. Once she was done she began to treck back home. "Ha! Will I come back! Ooooh don't you worry Boogie boy! I'm commin' back! Not with a pair of scissors, oh no! Those wouldn't get the job done like a double edge axe would! Or a sword for that matter! And you think I'll let Jack get rid of you? Oh no, no, no, no! I'm going to take care of you personally!"

She noticed that it was already dark outisde as she continued her rant by muttering sadistic ways to get back at the difficult and stubborn Boogie Man, but it wasn't long until she ran into someone from Halloween Town; the loveable, yet very slow talking and moving, Behemoth, who usually tended the pumpkin patch, but was out in the graveyard for some odd reason. After bumping into him and realizing who it was, Molly gasped, "Behemoth! What are you doing out here?"

Behemoth teetered on his heels for a little while before regaining his ballance and stared at Molly for a few moments before replying in his deep, but slow tone of voice, "Everyone...wonder where...Molly went to. Mrs. Finkelstein...worried...about Molly. I look for Molly...all over pumpkin patch...I don't see Molly there. So I come look for...Molly here...I find Molly. Molly okay?"

"Y-yes I'm fine Behemoth." Molly responded quickly after getting over her momentary shock. "So I guess my mother did take notice that I wasn't around and got the whole town on some wild search party, eh?"

The giant that was clad in denim overalls and a hatchet lodged in his head nodded a few times slowly. "Where did Molly go?" he asked curiously.

Luckily for Molly, Behemoth was not the brightest fellow in Halloween Town, so she was able to make an easy excuse, even though it was obvious that she had been around Lock, Shock, and Barrel's treehouse. "Well..." she began to wonder if she should tell him about Oogie Boogie still being alive. After all, Jack had tried to get rid of him before, certainly there was a reason for that. And nobody in town seemed to want to remember him by editing his small part of their Halloween song out. Finally she responded, "I was just out for a walk this whole time and got a little lost."

"Ooooh..." Behemoth replied, then stated, "Molly should go back to lab to see Molly's parents...they worried..."

"I know Behemoth. I will!" the rag doll said kindly before she continued on her way back home, wondering why she had just lied about everything that had happened in the past day.

Perhaps it was because she didn't care to explain? Or maybe Behemoth wouldn't understand the seriousness of having Oogie Boogie around? Though the main reason, Molly was afraid of, was that she actually didn't want to tell anyone about what transpired between herself and the Boogie man. But why could that be? What she had told him was all an act to get him to let her leave...or was it all entirely an act? Quite frankly, the rag doll truely did have a wonderful time playng games with Oogie, even when she was losing. That giant burlap sack was a challanging opponent, something she was not use to. Molly thought of all these ideas and questions as she opened the gate to Dr. Finkelstein's Laboratory, then finally came to the realization that despite all of Oogie's bullying, she did make a promise to come back to his lair. Just as Jewel opened the door to the actual Laboratory Tower and began to scold Molly, the raven haired rag doll smiled to herself as she began to think of when she could see Oogie Boogie again.

Yep, this one was quite a long chapter indeed! Now the total number of pages to this story have reached 40! Wow! So whatcha think? Don't they just get along great! Haha, hope you enjoyed the chapter, it's stuffed with comedy, a bit of tension, and lots of the reviewers' favorite lecherous Oogie lines!

I'd like to thank the following for their reviews since my last updation:

SexySaiyanSakura

Quillian91

Moonliterider

Queen Freaky

White-Angel

Hope you all enjoy this fic still! I try to update at least once a week! High School can be quite a handful, but it's worth it and I try to give myself enough time on the weekends to finish up chapters and when I'm bored in class, (like in Chemistry and Spanish 3-4) I think up of what to put int he next chappies! Don't forget to read and review your thoughts!

LaterZ,

Sydney Daimao