A/N:

Hi everyone! I hope you're all doing well and enjoying the start to your summer (I have to work a ton this time of year, so mostly I'm full of sleepiness more than enjoyment lol.) ^w^ Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter—Jack visits Sally again…and we also get to see some of what the town's been up to and what they think of Jack's absence : ) And, as the title says, this is the last time Jack visits Sally because of those candies...though it's certainly not the last time he ends up in her room in this fic ;) Thank you for reading, and please review if you can!

Here we go!

Dearest Friends

Chapter 13:

Jack's Third (and Final) Visit

"Town meeting! Town meeting! Town meeting right now!"

The Mayor's voice boomed out of his megaphone as he stood by the entrance to the Town Hall (wearing his panicked face, naturally) while the citizens filed in one-by-one for the emergency get together tonight which had been organized only a few hours ago and scheduled for sunset.

Suddenly from behind a nearby building, Lock, Shock and Barrel dashed toward the town hall and hid themselves in a shadow along the side of the building. There the three children rested for a moment, catching their breaths.

"Okay…" Barrel (who sounded the most winded of all) announced, wiping his brow and speaking between pants, "I vote we stop…messing around with these bugs…and go back to doing nothing…. It was easy and fun. I'm much better designed to do nothing."

Lock nodded, leaning on his pitchfork a little. "Shock, I'm starting to agree with him. Seriously, it was bad enough getting barely any sleep when we were just hiding out in the tree house waiting for Jack. But now we're not getting any sleep at all and we're running all over town and back and forth to the tree house…and who knows what'll happen if this ends up working out in some weird way?"

Shock sighed deeply, scowling at the two boys. "Look…" She straightened her dress and spoke as calmly as she could (so as not to attract attention from any of the other nearby citizens), though her tone almost burned with impatience, "Let me go over this one more time. If something is happening with Oogie Boogie, or whatever's left of him down there, it's going to happen whether or not we're a part of it." An angry smile came to her features. "But at least if we're a part of it then maybe if he does crawl up through the shoot in our home to say 'hi' he won't SKIN US ALIVE AND BOIL US IN OUR OWN BATHTUB FOR SOUP!" She shouted the last words in the loudest restrained voice possible, seething with frustration.

Barrel blinked and stumbled back a little, clinging to his lollipop. "But why would he want to hurt us? We helped him get bugs and get Sandy Claws." He grinned. "He'll probably reward us!"

Shock glared at him. "And we also helped the Mayor get to his lair so that Jack and Sally and stupid Sandy could be saved, you ninny!" She bopped him on the head. "He is NOT going to 'reward' us!"

"Ow!" Barrel rubbed the spot she'd hit. "But he wouldn't know all of that!"

"I don't know, Barrel…" Lock suddenly added, a hand to his chin as he thought, "Maybe she's not just being paranoid and bossy as usual, maybe she really does have a point."

Shock grinned and nodded. "Thank you." Then she blinked as the wording of his comment processed and scowled. "Hey!"

Lock stuck out his tongue at her but then went on. "Oogie Boogie could know that we sided with Jack in the end, or at the very least he could find out. After all, Sally was there that night, and no one's seen her since. If some part of him finds her before we do, she could tell him, or anyone else he caught would tell him too except maybe Jack of course. But Jack's gone all 'brooding' again." He rolled his eyes.

"Exactly." Shock sighed, shaking her head, her usual frown returning. "The point is, there's no harm in getting in good with again him if he's coming back, and if he's not coming back then who are we hurting? We're just letting things play out and looking out for ourselves." She smirked. "Who could blame three trick-or-treaters for doing that?"

Barrel sighed and nodded, crossing his arms over his chest. "Okay, I guess…. But speaking of Sally, can we please just find her soon so we can finish with this stupid plan? I'm sick of having to sleep on cages and cages of bugs in the tree house."

Shock sighed and gave him a nudge as she moved past him. "Why do you think we're here, dummy? It's a town meeting—Sally always goes to those. She's bound to show up…or at the very least Dr. Finkelstein is bound to show up and maybe give us a clue about how to find her. Now quit complaining, and let's listen already!" She crept closer to the stairs to observe the entering citizens.

Lock nodded with a smirk and crept close beside her, and Barrel rolled his eyes but smirked and joined them as well.

"Town meeting! Town meeting right now!" The Mayor announced again (his panicked face still clearly on display of course). "We have a lost citizen, and she must be found!" He glanced around, and then suddenly his eyes lit upon a familiar figure in a wheelchair approaching (and being pushed along by a figure who looked almost like an upright doctor, though she was a woman). The Mayor came toward the top of the ramp along the side of the stairs and lowered his megaphone. "Dr. Finkelstein, there you are. Rest assured, we'll find Sally and figure out if anything is going on with Oogie Boogie." Despite the assurance, his tone sounded distressed to say the least.

Lock, Shock and Barrel's eyes all went wide at this information about the nature (and intention) of this particular town meeting. The three looked at each other and then back to the party talking.

The Doctor merely sighed and nodded to the Mayor as he and Jewel reached the top of the ramp. "Thank you. I'm sure this meeting will help. I just wish Jack were here. Is there any sign of him yet?"

The Mayor sighed and shook his head. "No, not since a few days ago in town. The lights are on in his house frequently, so I think he's at home. But I haven't wanted to disturb him, not after everything he's been through. But I know this is an emergency. If you'd like I can take the town car and try to pick him up and bring him here."

Dr. Finkelstein considered but shook his head. "No, no…the boy is tired, let him rest. I'm sure this matter can be resolved simply. We can make a thorough search and then only bother him if it's necessary."

The Mayor nodded. "Very well, Dr. Finkelstein. I just hope Jack really is well." He put a hand to his head. "Everything with him has been so strange lately. It worries me so much."

The Doctor nodded, looking down with a pensive frown and scowl.

And from their place in the shadows, Lock Shock and Barrel looked at each other, grinned, whispered some things to each other and then hopped onto the steps in full view of everyone. And as they proceeded to enter the town hall behind the rest of the citizens, they each made several 'loud' announcements.

"Gee, I can't believe no one's seen Jack in so long!" Lock grinned.

Barrel nodded, licking his lollipop. "Oh yes—if we're having a town meeting, we should definitely focus on that problem! I know it would make me feel much more comfortable as a citizen!"

"Jack's definitely the first priority! After all, if we fix the problem of getting him out of his house back into town—however long that takes—he can fix any other problems we might be having all on his own later when he gets a chance!" Shock offered, trying to make sure as many people as possible (and specifically the Mayor) heard her. "Jack's the key! Forget anybody else for now…"

The three children chuckled as they scurried into the town hall.

The Mayor looked after them with about as much extra unease as he could add to his already uneasy face. Then he looked back to the Doctor and his companion. "Jack really could help us. And we really should probably talk about him along with Sally as long as we're having a meeting, Doctor."

The Doctor sighed but nodded. "I agree. As long as everyone's here, we might as well deal with that issue as well."

The Mayor nodded too. And then, as everyone else was already inside, he turned and waddled into the town hall, the doctor and Jewel following behind him.

And as she pushed the Doctor along, Jewel (feeling a little shy and overwhelmed by suddenly finding herself thrust among the whole town like this) sighed and thought quietly to herself. 'Logically, they're right—finding Jack first makes the most sense. Still though, poor Sally…I want to be able to find her too and quickly, even before Jack, even if that's illogical.' As the town hall door closed behind them and she continued moving along behind the Doctor's chair, her brow furrowed and she sighed. 'Of course the easiest situation would be if Jack and Sally were together waiting to be found. But I suppose the scientific odds of that fact happening are quite slim.' She shook her head and then wheeled the Doctor to his usual place in the auditorium (while the trick-or-treaters silently and strategically placed themselves throughout the audience) and waited for her first town meeting to begin.

Sally lay upon her sofa in her room with one of the throw pillows in her arms, her eyes closed, and a content smile upon her lips. She was preparing to daydream until she fell asleep for her nap. That was how she had always fallen asleep back at the doctor's house: she would just curl up in her bed with her one raggedy pillow in hand and then sigh and close her eyes and daydream until the fantasies melted into real dreams. The practice was very pleasant, and it seemed like such a fitting finish to all of the romantic progress she had made downstairs with Jack today as well as a good way to relax before their upcoming date and her upcoming talk with him about the truth of her circumstances and her feelings. Sally smiled more to herself, letting out a content, restful sigh. And she took a great deal of comfort in thinking that Jack was enjoying a similarly peaceful repose right now downstairs himself.

While wisps of daydreams came in and out of her imagination, Sally's sleepy mind wandered to other thoughts now as well. 'I wonder what Jack dreams about?' She bet he had the best nightmares, very creative and very frightful. He was so brilliant and smart and so complicated after all—that skull of his could probably dream up things beyond imagination. All she ever seemed to dream about were little things that she always found scary—locked doors and bumps in the night and thinking for a moment that she had forgotten to do all of her chores and that the doctor would be so cross with her he would lock her up again! And then of course there were her dreams about Jack…not scary, but so private and nice. Some nights when she woke up from those dreams she would just lie in bed in the dark smiling…imaging Jack was there alongside her, stroking her hair and asking her if she was sleeping well.

Here in her little tower room, Sally smiled more and hugged her pillow more closely. 'That must be so nice, to have someone near you to comfort you while you sleep.' In that case, she wouldn't need to dream of Jack anymore—she would just be happy being near him and being there for him as well. After all, considering all those deep nightmares he must have, Jack would probably like having someone beside him to gently touch his skull in the dark and smile and ask him how he was sleeping and if he was all right.

Speaking of romance and slumber, Sally sort of hoped she wouldn't have anymore of those 'intense' dreams of hers about Jack as she napped. Not that they weren't pleasurable and exciting, but they also took a lot out of her, and she could really have used a peaceful sleep right now. Besides, she was getting bored with fantasy—even a simple real kiss on the cheek with Jack was far more precious to her than nights and nights of dreams about him touching her and crooning words of love to her. No question. Sally sighed softly, starting to feel drowsy. The Jack in her dreams may have been fun, but she preferred her real Jack always. He was the sweetest man there could be, and she loved him for it…even if she did crave kisses and more with him in reality that he seemed too shy to give her just yet.

Creak.

Suddenly, Sally heard a creak on the stair, and the sound frightened her for just a second. But then she remembered that Jack's house did tend to be very creaky as part of its naturally spooky nature. And besides, if anyone were here or anything really were going on, she had nothing to fear. She knew, from Christmas and Oogie Boogie thing, that she could take care of herself, and she could even take care of both herself and Jack at once if necessary…and she also knew Jack could take care of her.

All of her fear went away, and Sally began to let herself drift off into a nap...

That creak had been the result of a certain sleepwalking skeleton man silently easing his way up the trap door stairs towards Sally's room.

Yes, if it wasn't painfully obvious already, Sally had not been having mere dreams about Jack visiting her and touching her and professing love to her. Oh no, Jack had been eating his little bag of candies before bedtime, and each night after dozing off he would wake up with a grin and find Sally and profess some of his deepest passionate urges and feelings about her, though his conscious mind could never remember any of it. All Jack knew was that he had been sleeping well after eating those candies and that he had been waking with the sensation of being young and spry and having a spring in his step. He didn't feel brooding or sad or frustrated…He just felt happy. And happy was such a wonderful thing to feel.

Jack had certainly felt happy as he had fallen asleep on the sofa down in the living room a few minutes ago. That response to his situation might have seemed strange—after all, he was lying on a sofa that was too short for him, and he had most of his clothes on, and his only pillow was his jacket, and he didn't have a blanket. But he had been tired, and the sofa had been a soft place to just curl up and go to sleep in peaceful slumber. And, indeed, with the sweet, sugary taste of Valentine candy still lingering in his mouth and his lovely Sally to look forward to seeing later on, why should he feel anything but happy as he slept?

She still lingered in his dozing thoughts, that fairest lady. She overwhelmed him in so many ways. She touched that natural passionate part of himself—she made it tremble to its very core actually. And it was so hard for Jack not to indulge in all of the compulsions he felt regarding her which he simply couldn't help. These feelings…they were the ones that had surged in him when he had seen her sleeping near his house Christmas Eve night and had tucked her in and then wanted to kiss her. He still wanted to kiss her…but even that desire was only a piece of everything going on inside of him. He wanted, in the depths of his fantasies, to create and explore and delight all around Sally. He wanted to treat her as he had treated Christmas, only with so much more vigor and care. And he wished he could spread all of this joy to everyone, though spreading joy to Sally first would be the priority, always the priority. To exist in a frenzy of color and passion and glorious song with her was his deepest dream. Even while doing that about Christmas he had still been alone, but now he could be together with someone in the midst of his revelry, and that aspiration beckoned him so.

These thoughts all but pulsed in Jack's subconscious while he had napped on the sofa, and as they had done so his chest had risen and fallen and his breathing had accelerated. Oh he had a secret! A secret, and he couldn't bear not to share it! He loved Sally madly! And what bliss it would be to finally tell Sally everything!

And with that final thought entering his subconscious, Jack had suddenly sat bolt upright on the sofa, eye sockets hazed almost as if in sleep, and a little smirk on his features. He was silent for a moment, and then a velvety voice cooed from his throat, "I really must stop leaving my vile vixen alone for so long. She'll feel neglected. I cannot let that happen." Jack loosened his tie a little and pushed up his shirtsleeves some more. "I feel so in a daze sometimes, like I can't remember anything before her and like I'm barley there during the times between our moments. But I suppose first love will do that to a man, and especially about such a fantastic woman." He sighed deeply and rested back on his palms. "My burning love will guide me to you, my most desirable darling."

Jack had stood and instantly headed over to the staircase to the tower. He had to be with her right now. Every fiber of his being beckoned him. Sally beckoned him by her existence. Oh she was so wonderful whenever he came to her—she smiled, she sighed, she even blushed! And the way she trembled as he spoke to her and touched her, and how she admitted her secret thoughts and feelings to him, and even the way she could pass out from being overwhelmed by him…all of it was so splendid! He must be with her again, he must be there to surround her with love and to admit all of his secret passions to her! Everything! Yes, tonight, everything! Why not? He had no doubts, so why not? And the evening was still young this time, so there would be more than enough opportunity finally to weave his complete vision of love for Sally and to experience a full reaction from her!

And so now here Jack was, gliding up the stairs…and having just permitted a little creak to escape one of the wooden steps as he went along—he didn't want to startle Sally, though he did want to surprise her, and a little 'creak' was the surest way to gain her attention without letting her know that it was him who was approaching. His thoughts wandered in a daze. 'It will just be so grand to finally have the chance tell her every passionate fantasy of mine about her. And then our whirlwind romance can finally bloom to its full effect, and there will be nothing but sweet-nothings and touches in the moonlight and grand parades and gothic serenades for the two of us forever! Oh what a great plan! Much better than my silly—oh what was it called, Christmer, Jollymas…Christmas, was that it, Christmas?—yes, much better than my plans for that silly old day. A day—please. What does a day matter when I've found the woman of my dreams and nightmares?' Jack chuckled lightly to himself and continued on his stealthy way toward the tower trap door.

Jack's creak, however, along with being a potential warning to Sally of his approach, had also summoned another being in his home. Zero, hearing the sound and awaking from a nap of his own to see his master going up to Sally's room, had smiled and gotten up from his little bed in the corner to join his master, floating up the attic stairs as quickly as possible.

Jack, seeing his little companion fly up alongside himself, merely smiled and patted the dog's head and shook his skull. "Oh Zero, it's nice you want to see Sally too, but I'm afraid I need some private time with her at the moment." He looked up to the tower trap door, his eye sockets growing even more dazed. "Oh Zero, the things I'm going to tell her…. I'm going to woo her with all of my charm and daring, and then we'll be together forever, never apart, one and the same, Jack and Sally! She shall be my Queen, Zero. Isn't that just splendid?"

Zero, however, was looking at his master in concern. Jack didn't sound quite like himself, and it made Zero worry. His master really had been acting funny lately. In fact, for a couple of nights now, Zero had come back home late from his romps in the graveyard and gone to Jack's room to sleep at the foot of the bed…but his master strangely hadn't been there. And now with the way Jack was speaking and how he looked…. Suddenly, Zero was very concerned that his master might do something to upset Sally or to upset himself. Zero hated to see anyone upset. "Rww…" He made a little concerned sound and then tugged at Jack's pant leg, trying to bring him back downstairs.

"Zero," Jack merely said confidently, shaking his skull as he paused for a moment on the stair, "Now now, this is no time for fetch or games. It's time to watch this old Pumpkin King romance the finest lady Halloween's ever seen. I shall tell her everything, Zero, and we shall live eternally in bliss together." And with that bold statement a dreamy look, a smiling Jack headed up the staircase anyway.

Zero watched in even more concern as his master went forward. But since he really couldn't stop him if he wanted to go, Zero decided for now to turn invisible and hide near the top of the stairs to wait and see what might happen. He hoped everything would be okay and that he wouldn't hear any loud yelling or sad things. His favorite time now was when Jack and Sally sat together and laughed, and he would watch them from his bed and smile. He hoped Sally would stay with them like that forever as a new best friend to play with.

Meanwhile, Jack now stood just below the entrance to Sally's room…and the smile on his skull and the gleam in his eye sockets indeed suggested even more wonder and awe (and even more potential for disaster) than had been there when he had first looked upon Christmas town in all of its glory and felt warmth and hope in every part of himself for the first time in ages.

Meanwhile, while Jack had been finishing his ascent…

Though her fears were gone and though she wasn't so very nervous about talking to Jack later anymore, Sally found herself unable to fall asleep. Instead she just lie there, resting peacefully, lazily playing with a little ball of yarn (something Jack had gotten her from town along with her sewing supplies), gently holding and pushing it along the edge of her makeshift bed. Yarn… 'I don't do enough knitting,' she thought to herself drowsily. It would be nice to knit something for Jack one day. He probably got cold easily, thin, bony man that he was. That probably explained the full-length suits—he must need all the cloth he could get to keep warm. Of course, those pinstriped suits also looked very becoming on him, but warmth was probably a factor too in why he chose to wear them. She could knit him a scarf or a winter hat. Something for his head, she decided, since that was the part of him that was exposed the most.

Plop.

Sally's little ball of yarn had plopped lightly to the floor.

Sally yawned and blinked a few times, then let her eyes close again. Maybe she would sleep, after all. But she didn't want the yarn ball getting dusty near the underside of her sofa, and so she let an arm drop down and felt here and there for the ball.

'No…no…Oh, maybe it's too far under. Maybe I can just get it later toni—'

Sally felt something. It wasn't the yarn ball though. It was…cloth—thin, silky, and yet…pointy? She lifted this strange thing up and opened her eyes a little.

'Hmm…' Oh, she recognized it now. It was one of Jack's ties.

Sally smiled to herself and blushed a little, letting her arm drop again, the tie still loosely held in her hand. One of Jack's ties… 'How silly…' She really almost fell asleep, but before she could do so, her mind was trying to catch onto a memory to satisfy itself about the tie. It was trying to recall when the tie must have gotten up here and how.

And Sally genuinely couldn't remember, though Sally started to remember instead that during that dream she'd had about Jack being up here with her and touching her and telling her about his feelings, he had taken off his tie…along with taking off his jacket and pushing up his shirt sleeves. But that couldn't be the right memory for explaining the presence of his tie now since that experience hadn't been real.

But…that night had been the only night Jack had been up here, so….

Sally's eyes opened. She had to puzzle this out to make sure she wasn't making a simple mistake from tiredness or forgetting an incident or confusing something. She also had to squeeze the tie in her hand to feel its reality again.

When else would (or could) Jack have left a tie up here and why? It couldn't have been here from before she had come to stay—Sally had cleaned this room top to bottom along with the others in the house her first afternoon here. She would have found it.

Sally really wracked her brain. Yet, unless Jack was sneaking up her when she wasn't around, which she could never think he would do…something did not add up.

Sally finally sat up in bed. She really didn't feel sleepy now anymore. She looked down at the tie once again and spoke to herself. "I need to ask Jack about this…if maybe it fell off in his sleep during our last date. But he ties them so tightly that it just falling off really doesn't make any sense." She sighed, her brow furrowing slightly. "Jack and I really do need to talk. Something much bigger than this tie hasn't been making sense lately…. Unless my dreams have been real. But how could they be? Jack never seems to remember them." Sally raised an eyebrow—she was stumped, but she was all the more determined to discover an answer now.

It was then that the trap door in her floor suddenly burst open.

Sally practically jumped, sitting up completely on the couch and clinging to an end of it with wide eyes as she looked toward the door. "J-Jack?" she asked in confusion

And indeed the Pumpkin King himself began to ascend into the tower fully, and Sally's eyes went very very wide at the sight of him. Jack was smiling ear to ear, his eye sockets were hazed, his jacket was gone, his tie was loose around his neck, a few buttons near his collar were undone and his shirtsleeves were pulled up once more. He looked just like in her dreams, and for a moment—"Ouch!" Sally squeaked as she pinched herself to make sure she really wasn't dreaming. But no she wasn't—there truly was Jack rising up out of her floor like some swarthy and charming and utterly romantic vision of himself from her most private daydreams or fantasies.

Sally's jaw fell. She utterly didn't know what to say do.

Then Jack turned in her direction with a particularly fiendishly enticing grin and spoke to her in a tone that would have set her off-balance legs to wobbling had she not been sitting down. "Ah, my deadliest little nightshade is awake. Oh how splendid. Tell me, were you already awake or did the little creak I let the stairs make as I snuck up here wake you? Oh forgive me, darling, if I did disturb your slumber—but my desires simply could no longer be ignored. Don't worry though, love—I'll go slowly, gently. I know you still have trouble sometimes being overwhelmed, and I promise not to make you faint, my spine-tingling lady of stitches." He took a graceful step toward her.

"Mm!" The tiniest little squeak escaped Sally, and she sat there with her eyes wide and her jaw open, blushing immensely. It wasn't even just because of the compliments and the speech, it was also, well… 'D-Did he have to say 'deadliest nightshade' of all things?' She snapped out of her thought and shook her head. "Jack…" Sally tried addressing him, "what's going on here?" After all, she knew she was awake right now, she KNEW it: this wasn't some 3 AM rendezvous that she could convince herself had been part of her dreams. What was going on? Were all of the other strange moments like this between them real then? And, if so, why had he never mentioned them the next morning?

Jack paused only a few paces from her and gave Sally a pleasantly amused grin. "Why, darling, your most devoted gentleman caller has just come for a visit as usual, that is all. You drive a man to madness with all of your alluring qualities—can I help if I need to be near you just to make the passions flowing through me bearable?" He resumed approaching her in his slow, sultry way.

Sally all but fell off of the sofa, but then finally steadied herself and even managed to stand, though her legs did indeed wobble. "J-Jack…" she took a deep breath and tried to control a compulsion to smile at all of his flattery. Still though, maybe this was just his way of starting to try and be romantic? Maybe he had just been too shy to own up to it at first or something? It was a long shot, but she couldn't think of any other explanation at the moment. "Jack," Sally cleared her throat, "That's all very sweet of you to say." She raised an eyebrow at this passionate Jack and added hesitantly, "You seem very romantic tonight, Jack. Did you have a good nap?"

Jack just glided around the sofa with a shrug and his dreamy smile remaining. "A nap? As though I've been able to slumber with you on my mind so eternally." He chuckled and then leaned over the back of the sofa, resting an elbow there and his skull on his hand, grinning charmingly up at Sally. "Of course, if you were in the mood for a nap…perhaps we could set up a little place up here by the fire like the other night and take one together?" Another little chuckle escaped him, and he asked in a slightly lower voice, "Could Sally doll use some more touching?"

Sally blushed furiously and looked away, taking a step back, her eyes wide again. She played with her hair. "J-Jack…" At that time, perhaps she had allowed herself to get carried away with the 'touching', but now… 'I think I liked him better when he was modest and shy. What's going on with him tonight?'

"We have the whole evening to ourselves after all…." Jack stood up straight again, and he walked around the sofa, approaching her slowly. "You could slip into that cute little sheet of yours…" His grin picked up on one side.

Sally turned quite violet in her features and looked down. Did he have to be so forward, did he have to be so suggestive? "Jack, don't say things like that…" she mumbled with a swallow. "I-I just didn't have a nightgown yet…and I just fell asleep near you the other night because…I was sleepy."

"Oh, pet, please don't be so shy." Jack playfully pouted as he slid up right near her. "You tend to faint on me when you're shy, and then I have to wait for you to wake up before I can continue to woo you." He grinned again. "Besides, I wanted to finally share my every desire about you this evening—my deepest, most private fantasies. And I need you to stay with me so that I can finally do so." He sighed dreamily. "I want nothing more than to pour out by dead heart to you and then to embrace and kiss you, darling, for all the while the moonlight shines upon us tonight. And then tomorrow and every day afterwards can be about nothing but you, you, you." He had one of her hands raised up, and he was starting to kiss the back of it.

Sally blushed more, but she also blinked and frowned at Jack. Every day all about her? But… "But Jack, don't you have Halloween plans to go over tomorrow? And don't you want to finish taking down the Christmas decorations? And, and…" fantasies, desires, nighttime together? "Jack, none of this is like you, none of this makes sense," Sally managed, her concern finally winning out over her fluster even as his little kisses to her limb continued. "Why are you acting like this? Are you sick? Is there something wrong with you?" For a moment she wondered in fright whether or not the whole Christmas fiasco really had taken more of a toll on Jack than she had realized—what if he was suffering under a great mental strain from the whole ordeal? A great wave of worry came over Sally now.

"Wrong with me?" Jack's kisses finished, and he chuckled warmly before grinning at her and putting his free arm around her waist, suddenly pulling them flush together. "I am a man in love—nothing can ever be wrong with me again. From now on we'll do everything we want to, Sally: no rules, no responsibilities, no obligations. We will live in a frenzy of love and color and song!" Suddenly he spun her in half a circle and then dipped her back practically horizontally. "Oh yes, darling, I said I'm a man in love. And I love you, I love you…I love you."

These were the words Sally had longed to hear from Jack in real life for so long, and yet now they brought her no joy but only more worry and fear. She tried to straighten up a little in his grasp. "Jack, please stop saying that like that. You're making me very worried." Her heart felt very heavy. She missed Jack, her Jack, the Jack with all of his flaws and excessive modesty too. That Jack lacked something intensely passionate perhaps, but she believed he was just lost and needed time and help to find his way a little. This Jack, however, seemed almost hysterical with passion, more like how the other women in town had always imagined Jack must be romantically instead of how she had observed he really was romantically during their time together.

This Jack just blinked and looked down at Sally, his grin fading a little. "Wh…What?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "Oh Sally, you must be playing a little game with me or something." His smile grew again. "Why would you not want me to tell you how much I love you—how I can never stop thinking about you, how I dream about you, how I want you…" the intensity of his gaze and his voice was growing, "how I've planned for us to run away together, and then we can—"

"Jack, no!" Sally got herself completely upright again and gently pushed away from him. That look in his eye sockets… She felt like he really would have run off with her right now—like all she would have had to do was nod her head yes and he would have scooped her up into his arms and whisked her off into the night and moonlight and a life of passion burning brightly as jack-o-lantern fire. She had even dreamed about that kind of life sometimes herself. But that was fantasy. Having it in reality wasn't right, not at all, and her normally sensible and humble Jack would have known that. "Please stop talking like that, Jack," Sally pleaded softly. "You don't mean it. And you're scaring me…."

Jack raised an eyebrow in puzzlement for a second, though his smile quickly returned once more. "Oh, but I do mean it, my sensual little siren. Please just stay with me always and allow me to prove my love to you as your humble suitor." His hand came up to gently rest in her hair and along the side of her face. "Your lips beckon me. Kiss me, my love? I'm sorry it's taken me so long to come to you like this, I'm sorry we kept being interrupted, but kiss me now please, just like on our hill together? And then I'll tell you everything. And then nothing else will matter but you and I…and…a-and…" Then Jack seemed…stuck for a second. "I…" his gaze darted side to side a little, "Did…I'm…scaring you?" finally managed to come out of him hesitantly as his eyes returned to hers.

Sally blinked. That question and its tone was the closest thing to something 'her Jack' (the real Jack) would say that she had heard come out of this Jack's mouth so far. "Yes…" she said softly, nodding and looking into his eye sockets, "I'm very scared, Jack. I'm very worried about you." She frowned.

"But…I…" Jack blinked a couple of times, but then that fiery, romantic look returned to his features. "Ah but, my love, what reason is there to be scared? You have me and I have you, and you will be my haunting little vision and I will be your terrifying specter of the night, and we'll make our own holiday full of love and little scary surprises. And I will be the only one to ever frighten you, and as soon as I do I'll kiss you and kiss you to make it better."

"No, Jack," Sally said very softly, very sadly, lightly removing his hand from her hair and squeezing it, "No…I don't want that, Jack. I only want you better again."

Jack's smile really faltered now, and he blinked several times and actually staggered back a little. He was quiet for a moment. Then, "But…you don't want…and everything I planned out was…" He seemed struggling again, confused, hesitant—like he was transitioning between something inside of himself. "How can you not be happy?" he finally asked her, looking into her eyes. But then he blinked once more and smiled again. "Is my deadliest little nightshade sure she's not just playing hard to get with her Pumpkin King?" He leaned a little closer, and his grin picked up on one side. "I adore hard to get, you know. It's part of why I find you so intriguing—just thinking about your modesty and your shyness toward me all of these years, and knowing now that it was to cover up your deep affections for me…Oh Sally, it sends shivers all up and down my spine." He let out a shuddery sigh.

For just a few seconds Sally was quiet as she fought against a daydream about Jack's spine and shivers and whatnot. But she managed to bring herself around quickly enough, releasing his hand. "I'm not playing hard to get, Jack," she replied firmly. "I wasn't ever playing hard to get. I was just…alone and unsure." She pushed back some emotions and went on. "I never knew what to say to you. I was scared you wouldn't like me anymore if I told you how I felt since you seemed so uncomfortable around the other women whenever they would tell you how they felt." Then Sally pouted a little and added just as firmly, "And I'm not playing hard to get now either. I'm not happy." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Jack, this is serious—what's wrong with you? What happened to you?" Her posture and tone relaxed a little. "Did you hurt yourself at Christmas? Do you need me to take care of you for a little while? I'll do anything I can to help you, Jack."

Jack's smile and whole face had remained motionless as Sally had spoken. And now, as he tried to speak again, he faltered once more—a twitch came to one of his eye sockets, and his grin fell. "S-Sally…But, I…Sally, don't you understand—I'm coming to you, I'm saying I love you, and that I want to be with you, I want to touch you, I want to dote upon you, and now and here I want to finally reveal every fantasy and desire I've ever had about you and to kiss you and run away with you to be together forever. We can finally have that, Sally. I'm everything you could possibly want in your wildest dreams…why won't you be everything from my wildest dreams too?" His voice sounded so simple and so confused.

Sally blushed slightly, trying not to think about what kind of wild dreams Jack might have of her exactly. "J-Jack, there's a time and place for wildest dreams, but it can't be all the time and the only place. And I don't want just wildest dreams." She smiled a little, lowering her arms to clasp her hands in front of herself. "I know you're letting me know all of these thoughts and feelings of yours because you care about me, and I appreciate that. And some of them are beautiful thoughts and feelings. But we can't act on them, Jack—not like how you want to. And I don't think trying would make either one of us very happy."

"Mm…" Jack sighed, his distress and confusion clearly growing. "B-But, are you sure, my….my, um…my lovely little…my scrumptious…um…my doll who is….my…"

Sally watched in both deeper concern and more in interest as Jack stumbled over these words—an event especially strange to her since Jack was normally the most articulate person she knew.

"You're…unhappy?" left Jack now. He blinked and frowned, her unexpected response finally fully sinking in, though he did try to smile again and make one more attempt at playing the passionate suitor. "O-Oh, love, you really are hard to please, aren't you, heh? But I must continue to do my best. After all, faint heart never won fair lady."

Though Sally really was concerned for Jack, she couldn't help but frown in just a bit of annoyance right now. She was very clearly (and patiently, she felt) asking him to stop flirting with her in this way, and yet he still kept trying to lay on the passionate advances. She did not like this resistance on his part. The Jack she knew was never this aggressive and never this (okay, okay, never quite this) erratic, and the Jack she knew always respected her wishes and listened to her. The Jack she knew was never this desperate, and quite frankly the Jack she knew, despite his ego about some things, was never this overly confidant about his appeal as a man and about anyone's attraction to him as a woman including herself. She didn't want to upset him in whatever fragile state he was in, though she opened her mouth to begin explaining all of these feelings to him as gently as she could nonetheless.

But Sally stopped as she suddenly found herself overwhelmed by the sight of Jack pacing before her now. He spoke, and though his words seemed like they might be directed to her, they also seemed directed to himself a great deal. "I planned and executed every detail without fail. I love you, and I've come to pour my heart out to you and only you…. We have so little time together, and yet I can't remember anything but that time together. It's like a…like a memory long since passed. Everything lately feels like…but then this must be real, with her, our nights and the sheet and the touches and now wanting to tell her everything about how I love her and for us to finally run off together! But, no, no...if she's so sad…if she's unhappy…if she's scared… That's not right at all. The answer's right in front of me, she is the answer but she's saying I'm wrong! She's spectacular and witty and brilliant and clever and exquisite and beautiful and good and, oh…oh fearless, and that's what drives me maddest of all. It's what makes me want to come to you on my knees and shout how every bone in my body craves every stitch of yours because I don't even think I was properly dead let alone alive until you, sweet you, came to me. And I have to show you all of that while there's still time, but I tried and…nothing. I don't even know what I mean. My skull's so full it's tearing me apart! And all the colors and electric lights and the trees and the snow where I found you, and I wanted…! Ah, where am I? Sally, Sally, I'm so confused, where am I right now? I—"

Splash.

Jack's very bewildered, very sad, and very psychologically significant rant finally ended as Sally finally found the courage to step forward, raise her little vase from the coffee table (after removing the flowers) and douse Jack's skull with the water it held. This action was all Sally had been able to think of to get him to stop, though she hoped she hadn't gone too far. He had been hysterical though, saying everything with a variety of emotions playing across his features and his tone varying from lyrical to dismal. And it had caused her such pain to look upon such raving that she had finally settled for tossing the water at him as the only possible solution she could think of to shock him out of his confusion (aside from a kiss, though she'd had a feeling that option would have only made the situation worse).

Jack just remained frozen on the spot, his mouth half open in speech and his eye sockets wide and unblinking.

Finally a deeply frowning Sally put down the vase and found her voice. She gently addressed Jack. "Jack…are you all right? Did I hurt you? I'm sorry. Jack…? Please say something to me. Please." Anything but that awful ranting, she couldn't help but think to herself, anything but that. A little insane worked around here, but Jack had practically been having a full mental breakdown. That was not okay at all even in Halloween Town.

"S…Sally…" met her ears faintly.

Sally swallowed and focused all of her attention on Jack.

He was standing there, a hand raised to wipe some of the dripping water from his skull. He blinked a few times, frowning. "Sally…" Jack went softly and shakily and slowly again, "…where am I? Did something happen? I…oh, I don't feel very…" And then he sighed deeply and collapsed down into a sitting position on the sofa, holding the side of his skull and resting against Sally's pillow. He let out a deep breath. "Sally, am I okay? I feel…dizzy. And I can't remember where I was just now. And I feel exhausted." Then again, several months of near constant work on a new holiday followed by an exploding sleigh ride that had lasted half a night followed by a daring battle with a villainous fiend during that same night followed by spending days and evenings with Sally, mornings sneaking off on hikes to Valentine Town, and nights sleepwalking due to special candies could certainly take their toll even on an undead skeleton. Jack never slept much, but even he needed a good night's rest now and again. And he felt like he could have turned in for twenty good night rests right now, to be honest. He was exhausted.

Sally hesitated but then moved forward and sat down next to him on the sofa. She gave him a small smile. "You'll be all right, Jack. And everything will be okay, I promise," she did her best to assure. But then she took a deep breath and went on. "Jack…have you been sleeping all right? And have you been having any bad dreams…o-or, um very good dreams?" She bit her lip, a warmth building in her features.

Jack, still with a hand to his temple and a frown upon his skeletal mouth, sighed and did his best to answer her. "I don't know…. I feel good after I sleep. Dreams…? Well, I used to have just frightful nightmares, but lately of course I've been dreaming of—" Jack had regained just enough coherence now (and enough relief from the slowly ebbing pain in his skull) to realize what he was saying, and he stopped saying it. "I…really can't remember details, but my dreams now make me happier than the nightmares ever did…" he mumbled quickly. And indeed such was the truth—Jack knew he must have been dreaming of Sally lately since the feelings associated with his dreams brimmed with love, but to be honest details were fuzzy to nonexistent (not that he wanted her to know either way that he dreamed about her of course).

Sally blushed a little but nodded and then pressed on…a weight coming over her heart that nearly created a lump in her throat. "Jack, I think…" she bit her lip and considered very carefully, "I think that doing Christmas this year was a lot for you. I think you need some time to relax and to not think about any holidays for a while." She frowned. "And I think that…I think that it might help you relax more if maybe I only came to visit instead of living here so suddenly like this. So I think I'm going to leave the house for a little while, Jack, just until you have more time to feel better about Christmas and to get used to things with us now. I'll come see you, and I'll help take care of you of course, but for now you need your rest." Of course, Sally knew she had nowhere else to go except this house. But if Jack was really going into odd 'trances' like whatever it was he had just come out of, and if the only significantly new change in Jack's life from the time of the trances starting was the start of their relationship and her coming to live with him, then…his breakdown might somehow be her fault. Sally couldn't bear that idea…. And her poor, vulnerable Jack didn't deserve to have such a difficult time with his first real relationship. "I-I'll still stay nearby, Jack, and…I'll probably come back to live here again soon," Sally went on. "I just want you to have a little time to yourself first to—"

"No!" Jack suddenly gasped, his eye sockets going wide as Sally's words finally sunk in. "Sally," he sat up, wincing a bit at his headache but continuing on, looking into her eyes, "Please don't say that, please don't leave. You can't leave. I couldn't…if you left, I..." How could he keep her safe? How could he try to make her happy? And how could he ever be happy himself again, being so close to something so good only to lose it? But then he just…Jack sighed softly and spoke more calmly, defeat in his tone. "But…if you're unhappy in any way then…of course you should go." Some of his emotion got the better of him for a moment again though. "Did I do something, Sally? I must have done something to make you want to leave. Please just tell me what it is, that's all I ask," he requested humbly.

Sally really couldn't deny him. And besides, she knew she had to explain his hysterics to him so that he could get some help (and since he clearly wasn't aware of them on his own). She would care for him as well as she could during her visits from now on, but Jack would have to confront his strange mood swings on his own too and he would also probably need to see a…doctor. And Sally only knew of one. And Sally also knew that if necessary she would get down on her knees and beg Dr. Finkelstein to help Jack. Part of her felt she could even have born it if the doctor made her return to his house and his keep as his price for helping her dearest friend (though the idea of such a future made her shudder inside.)

"Jack…" Sally finally managed in reply, trying to smile to ease the blow of the news, "you've just been saying strange things to me sometimes and getting very excited and not remembering any of it. You've been doing some strange things too. I would have told you sooner, but since it all happened at night I thought I might just be dreaming it. But…I wasn't. I even found your tie from the night you spent up here—and you only took the tie off during the part of that night that I remember and that you don't, the part that happened after our date." She swallowed. "You've been coming to where I sleep, Jack. And you've been very intimate with me…more intimate than I've ever hoped you would really be with me. The way you spoke to me and looked at me and h-how you touched me…" She was blushing and hid beneath her hair a little to hide it. "You told me secrets about how you felt about me. And I didn't think it was real. But now…just a few minutes ago you came up here and you said you needed to be near me and wanted to lie down with me…and that you were ready to admit all of your secret passionate feelings to me and wanted to run away with me and kiss me again and again. I…then I just…Jack?"

Jack had suddenly started up from the sofa, his eye sockets wide! He was looking down at her, and Sally blinked at how full his features were with panic and shock and utter devastation. He practically looked like he could cry.

Sally stood, her tone soft with reassurance and understanding. "Jack…" she held out a hand to him.

Jack backed away though, looking down, looking anywhere but at her. His skull was burning hot as his bone marrow rushed and pounded in his ears. He had been telling and doing WHAT to her? He genuinely seemed like he was going to be ill again. But how could he sit down on her sofa again after knowing now that he had been outright wooing her to lie down with him on it mere moments ago!? And perhaps he was starting to remember the things she was saying about his nightly actions, but at the same time all of it was fuzzy, and maybe also he wanted to avoid the memories for now because who could bear such details on top of everything else? He had mortified himself to her in every way possible, and she wanted to leave him…and could anyone really blame her?

And could anyone really blame him if he suddenly felt like leaving in a way now too?

Jack found it in himself to muster a few words to Sally as he slowly backed away to the tower exit. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean…You shouldn't have heard any of that. I shouldn't have done those things to you. You aren't the one who…" He sighed, and it came out like a shudder as he finally made it to the staircase to descend. He blinked several times, turning so pale that his skull seemed almost translucent. "Forget everything I said, forget all of it, please. Go wherever you want to, wherever will make you happiest. I can't…I'm sorry, Sally, I have to go now, I just have to. I'm sorry." And then with an embarrassed cringe he bolted down the stairs.

In his fear, Jack knew there was only one place he could go, one place where Sally wouldn't go and where none of the townspeople would go, but where maybe he could have some time to himself to think…and then some time to talk to somebody—somebody in particular who could maybe help, who could maybe show him where his heart and affections had gone all wrong. It was the only hope he had left to cling to in this sudden moment of despair.

Jack went swiftly to the front door and out into the street, and then he started for the hinterlands to reach the holiday forest.

Back inside the house, Sally had looked so sad as she had watched Jack leave in his crushed and embarrassed and confused state. If he really was only just realizing what had been happening between them lately, she couldn't imagine how overwhelmed his truly shy nature must be. She wished she could have said more before he had left the room, but she had almost been afraid of hurting or humiliating him further. And then the words he had said upon leaving confused her a little bit too. 'You shouldn't have heard…' 'I shouldn't have done those things to you' 'Forget everything I said…' Perhaps he was embarrassed, yes, but…if he truly did love her in return, then what would be wrong with her experiencing and remembering those things he had said and done no matter what? "Something's wrong here, very wrong." Sally frowned to herself and shook her head.

Suddenly, Sally heard the front door open and close downstairs. She blinked and rushed to her window. In the fading daylight, could see Jack heading off quickly…but not toward town or to the graveyard or the pumpkin patch or even to Spiral Hill. He was walking towards the hinterlands of all places.

Sally had an idea.

She whistled and then called out into the house, "Zero!"

Almost instantly the ghost dog flew up through the trap door and appeared before her. And he looked about as anxious as Sally did (having heard the entire exchange from his place hiding invisibly by the trap door of course).

Sally looked to him, her tone calm and decisive, her eyes full of concern. "Zero, I think Jack's running off to wherever he's been sneaking off to lately. I can't keep up with him on foot. But you know where that place is, so I'd like you to lead me there Zero. Please." She frowned. "I know you promised not to tell where he's been going, but this is very important. I think something's wrong with him. Please take me to him, Zero."

Zero didn't even hesitate. He flew up and barked and nodded, let his nose glow extra brightly to help light their way, and then he pushed open the window and let the rope ladder unfurl down.

Sally nodded and smiled. "Thank you, Zero." And then she moved to the window and proceeded down the ladder to follow after her dearest friend. 'Jack…I'll find you and I'll help you and we'll make everything better, just like with Christmas, I promise.' She nodded to herself as she continued her climb downward.

Sally's little feet soon hit the dank ground outside, and then Zero flew a bit ahead of her down the road and Sally quickly followed after him…though she did pause for a moment at the gate to Jack's house. A light had caught her attention at the corner of her eye. And over at Town hall, all the windows were indeed aglow. A town meeting. And she had a very good idea what it might be all about….

Sally swallowed but shook her head and plowed on toward the hinterlands, ignoring the light and its significance for now. She had a very good feeling that everything would work out, she reminded herself again. She just had to do her best. And nothing would be bad in the end as long as she and Jack ended up safe and together.

Sally ran on after Jack and Zero into the night.

A/N:

That's all for now and I hope you enjoyed it! In the next chapter we see the results of the town meeting…and then Jack and Sally confront each other (with the additional presence of a certain Heart Queen :33 ). I promise drama and maybe some passionate fighting XD I hope you all enjoy it!

Oh and as of this point, we're past the half way point of this fic, so yay! Progress! :D (The story will be 24 chapters with an epilogue that'll make up the 25th chapter).

Thanks for reading/reviewing, and Happy Reading!

~Azure129 aka Jenna