A/N:

Hi everyone! Managed to get this one edited earlier than I expected, and I hope you enjoy it : ) Please review if you can! Thank you!

Dearest Friends

Chapter 15:

Lending a Helping Hand (or Arm)

All Jewel wanted more than anything else in the world was for Sally to come back home and for the Doctor not to be worried anymore and for the whole town to be able to get back to its business, and maybe for the Pumpkin King to make a quick appearance to really let everyone (including herself) feel like they were safe and that he had their concerns in mind. Then Jewel figured she and the doctor could finally get back to their own quiet life. And maybe with Sally around again, Jewel could come to better understand how to interact and live in this strange world of theirs that was so new to her…and maybe she could also figure out some of these strange, very specific but unknown 'feelings' she had been sensing a desire for inside of herself lately ('feelings' that were often specifically directed toward the Doctor). But Jewel just hoped most of all that Sally would turn out to be as nice and friendly as she imagined she might be, and that maybe they could be friends and even like family in a way. It would be nice to have another creation around the manor.

Yet, despite Jewel's great interest about Sally, sadly enough the Doctor would not let his newest creation join the town in looking for the missing rag doll. When Jewel had offered to accompany him in his own part of the search, Dr. Finkelstein had immediately refused the assistance and also plainly told her to stay and wait in the manor while the other townspeople looked. There was cleaning to do and a dinner to prepare for the Doctor when he got home, and not to mention he couldn't risk her getting lost too or hurt or something. He wanted her here and safe. As he had assured her, "I'm just going to go look around the town center a little while the others are looking in the surrounding areas. I'll be home very soon. Then I'll need you here with me for dinner and to assist with a few experiments I have to work on. And someone responsible should stay here also in case Sally comes home. Jewel, you're too young for the excitement of a search like this. It's just too dangerous to have you out there with this whole town in an uproar and rumors of Oogie Boogie's return floating around."

Despite how much the command for her not to leave the house might have sounded like an exact repetition of the Doctor's one rule for Sally, it was certainly delivered in a manner much kinder and more full of care than any order Doctor Finkelstein had ever given to his first creation. Indeed, Jewel had heard the Doctor's tone soften as he spoke and she had watched him frown and sigh softly. He had even taken her hand as he had spoken to her and looked into her eyes, like he really would have let join the search if she'd had more life experience or if the circumstances weren't so dangerous and if someone really didn't have to stay back here just in case Sally came home. "Just wait please, my precious Jewel, and try not to feel too lonely." These had been the last words of the Doctor to her before he had given her hand a gentle squeeze and then departed.

At first, Jewel had waited by herself and just tried not to feel lonely, like the doctor had said. But then she got an idea…

If Sally did suddenly return here during the brief time that the Doctor was out (and Jewel found the probability of her returning so suddenly to be very minimal at this point considering how long she had been missing), Sally knew the house well enough that she would need no one to greet her or be with her—if she had been out and lost certainly she would just come in, possibly make herself a small meal, and then go up to her warm bed. Then the Doctor would come back and find her and everything would be fine.

But going with the higher probability that Sally would not return within the next half hour or so…

Jewel could easily see a fatal flaw in this search plan of the town's: two fatal flaws, to be precise. First, everyone could not just 'avoid' Oogie Boogie's old lair until tomorrow sometime or until whenever Jack would be available to search it himself (and Jewel had a suspicion from the fears everyone had expressed at the town meeting that people would ultimately try to stall on searching that place for as long as they could until Jack really was available). A person was missing, time was of the essence—suppose Sally really was trapped down there right now?! Hurt or injured and unable to leave…. By the morning or later she could be beyond hope. Somebody needed to search there now!

The second fatal flaw in the town's plan was that somebody needed to be looking for Jack again as well, especially if they were relying on him to spearhead the search for Sally as soon as possible (not only had he been scarce in town lately again, but the lights at his house hadn't come on yet this evening, suggesting that he wasn't at home at all at the moment). But they couldn't just look for him at his usual haunts—people needed to start searching for him as thoroughly as they were searching for Sally, people needed to look for him where no one had looked yet.

The old town bridge and the gorge leading to Oogie's lair—that was one area where no one had looked yet for anyone…

So Jewel could only come to one logical conclusion of course: she would have to go off now and search the gorge and Oogie's lair herself for Jack or Sally.

Jewel knew in the most intellectually sound part of her brain that she was perfectly capable of performing a calm, unexcited, and thorough search of a given area, not to mention she desperately wanted to help in any way she could. She already felt like close friends with Sally even though the two girls hadn't even met, and she would have experienced a sensation of such…'badness' inside of her if anything bad happened to Sally.

Jewel sighed softly, heading to the kitchen in the manor now to prepare some things before she went off. There must be other, more detailed ways to describe emotions, but all that ever occurred to her to express how she experienced extreme things in her life were variations on 'bad' or 'good'. She had decided, when all of this was done, to ask the doctor if he could help her feel in a more accurate way somehow. Sally seemed to have had a full spectrum of feelings (the doctor always described her in the memories he related in terms of her emotions, after all—Sally was 'scared', Sally was 'restless', Sally was 'guilty', Sally was 'frustrated', Sally was 'grateful'). Jewel would get help from him or from Sally for her 'emotion' problem, whatever would work best.

In the meantime, though, if she really was going to go through with her plan to visit the gorge, she at least wanted to make sure that the Doctor had dinner when he got back (and that Sally might have something ready to eat too just in case she did pop home or was recovered before Jewel returned). She set a pot of stew to simmering and set up a tray with bowl and spoon and napkin for the Doctor and a teacup. Next, she put a kettle of tea on the stovetop too. Then she turned and gave a light whistle.

Soon a familiar lab assistant with a limp came around the corner. "Yes, mistress?" he asked with his lisp.

Jewel smiled at Igor. "Igor, the doctor is going to come back soon. In case I'm not back first, you tell him his dinner is in here, all right? And that there's some for Sally too if she happens to come back."

Igor nodded, rubbing his hands together. "Oh yes, mistress, of course. Master's dinner right here. Sally can have some too." He laughed a little.

Jewel nodded. "Thank you. And also tell the Doctor that I'm sorry, but the reason I left is that I needed to help with the search for Sally. It just makes scientific sense. And I'll be back once I've made sure we've really checked everywhere for Sally and for the Pumpkin King too, all right?"

It took Igor a moment to finish absorbing all of that information, but then he smiled and nodded again. "Yes, mistress went to find Miss Sally and to help the town check everywhere for Jack too. Scientific sense." He nodded, proud at condensing all of that into sentences he could remember.

Jewel looked at him with pride for his accomplishment as well. "Good, Igor, very good." She patted him on the head. "Are you hungry?" she asked pleasantly.

Igor nodded. "Oh, yes, mistress—Igor hungry!"

Jewel nodded. "Very well." She walked over to the icebox. Doctor Finkelstein often fed Igor Bone Biscuits, which Jewel frankly found disturbing—Igor was not a pet, he was their assistant, and therefore in this instance the Doctor's behavior was quite illogical to her and thus more than open to being amended. So, though Igor seemed to like the Bone Biscuit snacks, she would feed him other things too from time to time. Jewel pulled a nice mushroom and fennel and worms wart sandwich (with grave stone ground mustard too!) out of the icebox and turned back to Igor. "Here you go, Igor!" She presented him the snack.

Igor beamed, snatched up the sandwich, and practically gobbled down all of it at once! He smiled when he was done despite how much of a mess he had made of himself.

Jewel just giggled and grabbed an old rag, then bent down to clean him up. "Oh, Igor, so messy!" she teased. "We'll have to make sure you get a bath when all of this is over."

Igor shuddered and pulled back a bit.

Jewel just giggled again as she straightened up and put the rag aside. "If you take a bath…maybe I'll make a nice devils food cake for you…" She let the offer linger.

Igor considered, then seemed satisfied and nodded. "Yes, mistress, Igor will be clean for cake."

Jewel nodded. "Very good. You can go now, Igor."

Igor gave her a bow and then limped away.

Jewel sighed softly. "Now if only I could get him and the Doctor to start using utensils to eat…" Between Igor shoving things in his face and the doctor chugging his soups and stews straight from the bowl, Jewel couldn't believe them sometimes. No wonder Sally had often been overwhelmed. But Jewel was hoping she could help bring some more civility to both the Doctor and Igor—her two boys. They were her family to her, and she had a very… 'good' feeling about that. 'Happy' seemed like the technical word for it, but she sensed was something more complex there as well that she couldn't quite grasp.

Jewel shook her head though: she had no time to worry about trying to understand emotions now. She had to go out and hopefully find Sally or Jack or both—and at the very least she would be able to eliminate one very big searching spot from the town's agenda. And then in the morning, if Jewel's search for Sally near Oogie Boogie's gorge really did turn up nothing, the town could make other plans for how to go about finding their missing citizen (and for how to go about coaxing the Pumpkin King back into Halloween Town life).

Jewel sighed with concern as she headed out of the kitchen, down into the lab, and then finally left the house. She thought to herself as she walked down the drive to the manor gate. 'There's only one potential point of error in my plan. If I go to the gorge and find Oogie Boogie alive, I'll have no idea what to do.' She hadn't a clue how to defend herself against such a monster as people described him as. She could only hope at worst he was weak and possibly could be persuaded by reason.

Ultimately Jewel just hoped to be back here soon. The manor was home to her, and she liked the place…and she felt a small ethical qualm about disobeying the Doctor's heartfelt request by going off alone. But her doubts were well outweighed by her own logic regarding her plan as well as her continued desire for Sally to be back and Jack to be well and for the whole town to be at peace again so that she and the Doctor could go back to their good life together.

Jewel reached the road now and followed the sign to the old town bridge and the gorge…

Back inside, Igor watched through a window as his new mistress went away from their home.

He liked this new creation of the Doctor's, this Jewel. She spoke kindly to him and fed him very well, even if she did insist on everything being clean all the time. He hoped she would stay around. Sally had been around once, but now she was gone. Sally had been nice too, though they hadn't talked much. Then again though, she had always been busy running away.

Igor's gaze went over to Jack's house.

Igor had used to watch Sally from this same window when she snuck off sometimes. She seemed to go toward that house a lot. He wondered if she and the Pumpkin King were special friends. He had never told anything to the Doctor about what he had seen or what he wondered though—the Doctor always yelled when he found out Sally had run off, and Igor hated yelling.

With a sigh, Igor went away from the window now and limped back into the kitchen. He would wait patiently for his master—Jewel would like that, and he wanted to please Jewel. And Jewel didn't run away and she seemed happy here, so maybe she would stay and be the Doctor's very good friend. And then Sally and Jack could come back to town and be very good friends too. That seemed like a nice outcome for everything.

Whatever happened though, Igor was just grateful for one thing: no more Christmas stuff. Dr. Finkelstein had electrocuted him one too many times while trying to build those flying reindeer, and frankly Igor wanted no part of any of it. He just wanted to bring the plans and pull the switch and help the Doctor celebrate his successes. Doing those things had always made Igor sort of happy, but now with Jewel to recognize his efforts and to talk to him kindly he felt very very happy doing his job and being the best frightful assistant he could be.

Besides, if Jack and Sally really were going to be very close now, maybe Sally could talk to Jack, and then Igor would be able to get more of a part in the Halloween parade—he would have loved that so much!

Igor would ask Sally about it when he came home to town, which he hoped would be soon especially since everyone seemed so worried about her.

Jewel leaving the Finkelstein manor to find Sally had coincided with the moment Sally had caught Jack talking to Flora in the Holiday forest, fought with him, and then run off.

In the present now, Sally, a few tears still building in her eyes, her hair a mess from dashing through the trees, and her arm still missing of course, was now moving carefully through the woods, taking the back ways toward Jack's house. She didn't want any of the townspeople seeing her in a state like this, and she was hoping that by taking a different route Jack wouldn't think to look at the house for her right away. She didn't want to see him most of all.

Sally had done her best to dart quickly away from him at first to put distance between them and make him lose sight of her, so now she felt she was entitled to slow down her pace to a quick, firm walk. Doing so made trying to keep the stuffing in her arm an easier job and gave her a chance now to wipe the tears from her eyes.

Sally felt so awful right now. In fact, she couldn't remember feeling worse in her entire life. This whole evening had been beyond upsetting to her—like taking a big whiff of frog's breath and feeling her senses reeling and her whole picture of the world distorting all of a sudden. Jack really had been coming to her in the night, Jack hadn't meant a word of what he had said to her in the night, Jack had been running off to holiday worlds again even after promising her he wouldn't, Jack had been making friends with another woman. And Jack really didn't see why she should be hurt by any of this? Really? Not at all?

He had basically just revealed to her that he didn't trust her—not with his whereabouts, not with his feelings, and not even enough to be able to live with her without some little potion to get him through it all. 'Oh what was I thinking? He'll never love me, not really…' Sally thought to herself with such a frown. He would just find her charming, amusing, splendid like a pretty, new Christmas ornament, but he would never burn inside for her.

The saddest part of everything to Sally though was that despite her efforts to preserve her pride and despite her determination to walk away from this situation with her dignity, she still burned quite strongly for him.

And it hadn't exactly helped make that burning feel any more bearable watching him interact so comfortably and intimately with another woman for the first time.

"Hmm…" Sally scoffed to herself and pouted, her tears almost gone, "He says he doesn't like her because she's not even dead, but look how much he liked everyone being all warm and rosy in Christmas Town. Whether he realizes it or not, it does appeal to him. Well, I can't be alive, Jack, anymore than you can. No one in this town can. We don't spread joy or enjoy fresh things or sing sweet songs—we scare each other and make everything around us rotten and chant songs to terrify people half to death. And if that's not good enough for you then…oh, then just go be King of somewhere and something else! We'll all be fine here, I'm sure!" Sally sighed, her look softening despite the conviction (and deep jealousy) in her tone.

All she wanted really in her heart was for Jack to be happy here and for him to be here with her.

But perhaps he really couldn't be. And Sally knew she would have to accept that fact if it really was the case. She couldn't force him to be happy, and she couldn't force him to do things he didn't want to do. She would always love him, but maybe they just couldn't share a life together, not really.

So Sally planned to head back to her little tower now. She had decided to spend one last night there. Then tomorrow she would pack up the few things that were hers and leave. Certainly, if she went around town looking, someone would be able to give her a place to stay in exchange for her doing some chores and sewing. She would try the Mayor first—he always seemed a bit frazzled, like he could use a good assistant, and even if he didn't need any help she was sure she could convince him to maybe let her spend a few nights in the rafters of the town hall until she got on her feet.

The point was, Sally would do just about any honest thing to see to caring for herself if it meant she didn't have to degrade herself by going back to the Doctor's house and if it meant she didn't have to torture herself by staying at Jack's house.

Sally had reached the edge of the hinterland woods at this point in her flight, and as she stepped into the open air of the fields outside of Halloween Town now underneath the full moon's light, she finally let herself walk at her normal pace. She glanced at her surroundings. 'I'm not too far from the old town bridge.' Good, that was the most deserted area in town thanks to it being right near Oogie Boogie's lair, and even if he was gone she doubted the other citizens were too keen about poking around here. Even she herself felt a little uneasy wandering out here alone at night, and with one arm no less. Though, quite frankly, with how much Jack had riled her up and her experiences at Christmas, even if she suddenly slipped and fell right into that lair and came face to face with Oogie Boogie again she felt like her scorn at the moment could have given him quite the run for his money. Sally was not a person to be messed with right now, that much was clear.

"Oh, help me please! I think I'm scared, or that I should be scared! Please! Anybody, if anybody's there! Unless it's that mean Oogie Boogie, in which case please stay away, please. Oh dear…"

These soft cries met Sally's ears, and she paused and listened with wide eyes. Somebody's voice…But who…But, no, wait, she knew that voice. She… Sally gasped. "The Doctor's Jewel!" Sally glanced around but unfortunately could not see the owner of the voice anywhere—just the normal nighttime scene complete with full moon and the rickety old bridge up ahead.

"Please, anybody, if you're there? I'm cold. And I'm of no use to anyone stuck down here." There was a deep sigh and then the softer addition of, "The Doctor was right. Wandering off is a bad thing when I'm so young. Sally probably knew much better than me and knew how to keep herself safe. I just wish I could have found Sally—at least we could have kept each other company."

Sally couldn't know, but right now Jewel would have cried if she'd had it in her emotionally to do so. Jewel knew she felt bad, but had no access to true despair: she was just alone and hoping things would get better.

What Sally did know now though was that the voice was coming from somewhere near the bridge—probably not all the way down in Oogie's lair since it didn't sound that far away, but still…

With worry, Sally slowly crept over to the bridge and knelt upon the sparse grass. The rag doll popped her head over the edge of the gorge below and looked down. She bit her lip, not knowing what to say first but deciding to start with… "Um…hello?"

A gasp met her ears, and then in the dim moonlight shining down into the gorge, upon a rock ledge several feet down, Sally could just make out a pale white figure in a grey dress standing.

The person looked up at her and suddenly asked in surprise, "Hello! Are you Oogie Boogie?"

Sally blinked. The question was so strange, she almost could have laughed before responding. But she stopped herself, not wanting to make Jewel feel silly. Jewel was new to existence, and Sally still remembered being new to existence…and how the Doctor had always laughed every time she would misunderstand something or ask a simple (if silly) question like what kind of tea should she spoon into a dish when a recipe called for 'teaspoons' of something, or if the phrase 'scare you out of your pants' applied to her since she wore dresses (and if that fact made her scare-proof somehow), or like the first time the Doctor had ever given her a note to deliver to some person called 'The Pumpkin King' and Sally had gone out into the pumpkin patch and looked and looked for a pumpkin with a crown but had never found one and so had come back to the Doctor filled with disappointment.

So Sally had a great deal of sympathy for needing time to adjust to their Halloween world. And as such, she smiled down warmly at the woman below and merely shook her head in response to her question. "No, I'm not Oogie Boogie, I promise. But I think somehow you know me. My name's Sally. And you're…Doctor Finkelstein's new Jewel, right? It's nice to meet you." Then Sally couldn't help but frown. "How did you get down there?"

But Jewel was far too excited to answer Sally's concern. "Oh! Sally! Hello!" Jewel stood up a little higher and waved as best she could. "Oh there you are, and you're safe! Everyone will be so happy to hear that! They're all out looking for you, you know—the Doctor organized everybody. Oh Sally, don't worry about me right now. Please, run back to town and let Dr. Finkelstein know you're all right, then you can come and bring me help. I'll be fine for a little while. I'm just so glad you're not even further down here and really hurt or worse!"

Sally blinked a few times at this response. 'Well, the doctor certainly made sure she was selfless as could be.' She raised an eyebrow in surprise but then shook her head. "Jewel, I can't just leave you down there. You'll be all alone, and it's very scary out here and it can be dangerous. And I don't matter so much anyway, really. Besides, you must have fallen to get that far down—are you hurt at all?"

Jewel shook her head. "Oh no, I'm fine. I was just trying to peek down into the gorge to see if there was a passage down to the bottom, but then I slipped and fell down to this rock. I'm not hurt. But I can't find a way to get up or down." Jewel blinked and then brightened a little. "Actually, you must be the best person to help me—the doctor always talks about how clever you were at running away and escaping the manor house. I'm sure you'll come up with a good idea."

Sally swallowed and shrugged in a touch of embarrassment. "O-Oh, well, um…I'll try."

"Thank you, Sally," Jewel called up appreciatively. Then another thought occurred to her and she smiled again and added, "Oh Sally, there's something else—along with you, everybody's been trying to get a hold of Jack too lately. You know, the Pumpkin King. You don't know anything about what's going on with him, do you?"

Sally, who was now sitting up against a post of the bridge, just sighed. "Fear of commitment seems to be one thing…" she mumbled a little dryly.

"Fear of…what, Sally?" asked Jewel curiously.

Sally sighed again but smiled down at her this time. "Oh um, not fear—I said…fatigue. Yes, he's been through a lot over the last couple of months, so I think he's been very tired. He's just needed rest. Don't worry about him at all," she assured kindly. "You're the important one here now, and I'm going to do my best to get you safe."

Jewel smiled up at her brightly. "I knew you could do it, Sally. Thank you."

Sally swallowed and bit her lip but tried to remain optimistic sounding as she nodded. "You're welcome, Jewel. I know I can figure this out. Um…I'll be right back. I just need a minute to sort out a plan. I'll stay right near the bridge though, I promise."

"All right, that's sensible. I'll be waiting, Sally!" Jewel called back up, still seeming quite calm about everything.

Sally nodded and then slipped off to the side near a tree.

Then she let out a deep breath, her smile falling.

Sally had a problem.

She had no climbing skills, no rope, no ladder, and on top of which she was missing an arm! 'How am I going to get Jewel out of there?' Her only option seemed to be running to the town for help, though she hated to leave Jewel alone, not to mention the idea of going back to everyone right now made her sick inside. They were all looking for her? Dr. Finkelstein too? But why? Okay, fine, the Doctor might want her back as his 'property' or something silly, but what did she matter to everyone else? Oh, he had probably gotten then all riled up, demanded a full search, gone on and on about how she was his belonging and he needed her recovered…. She would hate all of that attention, hate thinking of how they must see her now, hate the snicker of the Doctor as she came back to him once again in her life lost and without protection and with no arm.

But Sally knew it was selfish to care about those things when Jewel was stuck down in that gorge. So if the situation got desperate, she would go back to the town and the Doctor even though she wouldn't like it. But for now she tried to think of something else.

But of course the only person she knew who had ever even been near Oogie's lair before and who would have the best idea of how to fix this situation, was—

Sally blushed a little and looked down with an angry pout, crossing her one arm over her chest. "I'll go to town and personally carry the Doctor's chair out here on my back before I'll go ask him for anything anymore." She would do just about anything, even acting like she needed the Doctor, to show that she didn't need Jack.

Sally let out a breath to calm herself and considered for a few more moments. The angry look on her face started to calm and turn to one of concern. Really, what was she going to do? Sally glanced at her torn in half limb and frowned. She tried to push some of the already falling out leaves back into it again, and then sighed. "Maybe I could summon my arm back to me. The distance is a little far, but maybe…" Sally closed her eyes and tried to concentrate really hard, begging her arm to please come home to her where it belonged.

"Wh-Whoa!" suddenly came somebody's very familiar voice to Sally's ears, along with the sound of woodland brush being pushed aside and branches being snapped.

Sally blinked and looked up, both in surprise and an anticipation she had never been able to help at the sound of that voice, only to see Jack Skellington come stumbling out of the edge of the forest, her arm in his grasp and the limb clearly all but dragging his forward.

Jack raised an eyebrow at her appendage. "Dear arm, what was that for? Did you sense something? I…" Jack Skellington paused and blinked a few times. His gaze was now over by Sally standing underneath the tree ahead. "Oh…" And then he swallowed and looked so strange to Sally for a moment…. She had been seeing him get that look every once in a while with her since Christmas but she just couldn't place it. If she hadn't known better though, she almost would have thought it was fear.

Sally felt herself compelled to observe his face more closely, but then she recalled that she was supposed to be very mad at Jack at the moment, and so she frowned and looked away from him, standing up straight with her head held high with pride.

Meanwhile, still paused not far from edge of the forest, Jack just continued to gaze at Sally. He frowned a little as she turned from him. 'Oh she really must be upset with me…' "Ow!" He winced. He looked down to see the arm had just given him a little flick on the shoulder and now it was pointing quite distinctly over at Sally. Jack, of course, knew what it wanted. He sighed, took a deep breath, and started to shuffle forward, mumbling to himself. "We need to have a talk. We need to have such a talk…but not out here. I need to convince her to come with me back to the house or even to Spiral Hill."

He didn't have the chance to ask her though as he was stopped instantly in his thoughts and his approach by Sally who had suddenly stepped away from her place by the tree and approached him.

She stood directly before him now, her firm and cool gaze meeting his. She let out a breath and spoke calmly. "I don't want to see you very much right now, Jack Skellington. I'm very upset with you. But I do need your help with something. And somebody else does too. Do you think you could do that?" She continued to look with seriousness to his eye sockets (though a slightly awkward blush couldn't help lightly tinging her cheeks a pale violet color).

A wide-eyed Jack just blinked once and then nodded to the odd request. "Oh, um…yes. Of course. Whatever you…" Then he shook his head to clear it. "But, wait, Sally, listen, I have to tell you something I—"

"Jack," Sally stated simply, politely cutting him off and holding up her one hand. "Please. Not right now. Just help me. Then I don't care what we do." Then she turned and started to walk off toward the edge of the gorge.

Jack raised an eyebrow and raced after her, trying his best to smile. "Sally, you don't mean that. What about our dates and our times together...? We both still care about each other…"

"Hmm…" Sally crossed her one arm over her chest and kept her eyes forward. "Is that you talking or those funny candies from your pretty little Valentine Queen friend?" She pouted.

Jack pouted at first as dwell but then scowled in a touch of frustration. "Sally, she has a name—it's Flora—and she was just trying to help. Please don't be mad at her. Anything that upset you is all my fault."

Sally just sighed and shook her head, almost having to brush a tear away from her eye. "Believe me, I know."

Jack blinked and then pouted a little more. This whole conversation was so…strange. He couldn't recall ever having anything like it with anybody else. There was almost an urge to walk away from it in distaste and yet a much stronger compulsion to stick with it and learn more about what was going on right now between himself and Sally. Jack looked back to the arm in his hand (who had been 'watching' the argument with interest). "Is she always this stubborn?" he asked the little limb.

The arm glanced back at him and rolled its hand 'face' in sort of an eye rolling gesture. Then it touched him on the mouth, touched him on the heart, then pointed at Sally, and then turned back to him with impatience. Jack glanced away a touch shyly, knowing what it wanted. "Okay, okay, just give me a minute…" he mumbled softly.

"Don't talk about me with my limbs, please." Jack suddenly stopped walking as Sally now stood in front of him again. "And I am not stubborn. I'm tired." She reached out and took the arm's hand, upon which the limb instantly jumped into its mistress's grasp. She looked Jack right in the eye sockets as she went on. "You weren't the only one who barely got any rest during the last two months, Jack Skellington. Some of us were running around like crazy trying to please your many demands about Christmas and also in my case trying to make sure you didn't get yourself or anybody else killed. Now please come with me. I told you, somebody needs our help." She turned back to the gorge and went over to stand at the edge of it near the bridge (placing her arm on the ground for the moment).

"I just asked everyone to do one thing each!" Jack frowned stubbornly, walking over to her. "And Christmas could have worked out. It really came close until the end there! I just went about it wrong. We could still celebrate it…" something in his tone softened, "You said you'd still celebrate it together with me, after all…remember?" He looked down at the ground in thought.

Sally's features softened as well for just a moment. She recalled the image she'd had in mind when she had made that offer to him a couple of days ago to celebrate Christmas together in the future: the two of them by a pretty tree (that didn't go up in ominous flames—yay!) with glittering decorations and Jack trying to cut out paper snow flakes but sighing and finally laughing when they all turned into intricate spiders, and she would make black sugar cookies and be dressed in a warm green and red patchwork dress. Then she would set down the cookies and come stand near Jack, smiling and rocking back and forth on her heels shyly. And he would look at her with an intrigued smile and an eyebrow raised. Then she would glance up above them to find some mistletoe, and he would grin and take her in his arms and dip her back and kiss her. Then later she would ask him if he thought Santa might come to visit their own children one day, just out of curiosity…

Sally shook her head, coming out of the daydream. She blinked a few times, trying to scowl again…but then she almost smiled. She had to. "It's three days after Christmas and you're already talking about next Christmas. Silly Skeleton man…" she replied softly. It was just so like Jack to be that impulsive—she couldn't help finding it amusing.

Jack quirked his mouth to the side almost in a touch of embarrassment. His gaze came up to her again. "I'm supposed to think about next Halloween the second it's over every year. It's not so silly to think about Christmas too…" He clasped his hands together in front of himself.

"Are you thinking of next Valentine's Day too?" Sally couldn't help the response. She was feeling so on the verge of forgiving him, but still they needed to talk before anything like that happened, and she was still hurt. Yet…

"I would prefer not to celebrate that holiday. I don't think I'd be very good at it," came the quiet reply to her ears.

Sally blinked and looked at Jack—his eye sockets were wide and cast down a little. Was that…humility…from Jack Skellington? Jack Skellington, the man with the biggest undead secret ego there ever was? "Does your new Queen not want to share her holiday, King Jack?" Sally asked with a touch of interest that she tried to mellow with a coolness in her tone.

Jack took a deep breath. "You know, the titles aren't really 'royal' titles," he started dryly, looking up more again. "It's more of a symbolic thing. I may take off my head to recite the occasional Shakespearian quotation, but I'm not actually descended from some Hamlet-like royal ancient court."

"Well, at least your Queen has blood, even if it can't really be royal. That's more than anybody here could give you." Sally sighed and looked away.

Jack scowled a little, putting his hands on his hips. "Are you suggesting something about me?"

"You know, twice now I've called her 'your Queen' and you haven't said anything about it." Sally turned back to him, putting her one attached hand on her hip. (Meanwhile, Sally's free arm was on the ground, looking back and forth between Jack and Sally as they fought in worry.)

Jack just scoffed and shook his head, leaning in closer to her. "You know, for somebody who doesn't want to speak to me right now and who doesn't care what we do after this, you certainly are speaking to me a lot and showing a lot of concern for what's going to happen after tonight."

Sally blinked and blushed slightly, then glanced away. "And there's a third time you've said nothing about her being your Queen."

Jack let out a deep sigh. He closed his eye sockets and rubbed one of his temples. "Flora is not my Queen. There, is that to your satisfaction, Sally?" He opened his eye sockets and tried to keep his tone and gaze level, though he was clearly quite adorably annoyed.

Sally smiled a little. "Oh. Well, it doesn't matter to me anyway." She shrugged casually, looking away again, smiling more. "But if you insist—fine, she's not your Queen."

Jack blinked, looked at her with wide eye sockets for a moment, and then let out a deep sigh of frustration and confusion, rolling his eye sockets. "You know, Sally, you're quite cute when you're angry, but there is a limit."

Sally smiled a tiny bit more, but did her best to hide it. "And you're cute when you're acting like a true royal prince who can do no wrong and who basks in the glory of being followed by everyone, but there is a limit to that too, Jack Skellington."

"Stop saying my name like that!" Jack crossed his arms over his chest. "It…It bothers me."

"Oh yes, I should really just call you by your title, oh mighty Pumpkin King!" Sally made a bowing motion and laughed.

"Mmm…" Jack moaned in frustration. "We have been over this, the title is just symbolic!"

"Um…excuse me? Both of you? Sally and…whoever you are… Oh, is this maybe the Pumpkin King? How astounding-I thought the odds were statistically impossible that we'd find you both together. Oh but, I'm sorry, I don't mean to interrupt. Really, your conversation is…quite fascinating to me. I've never heard two beings talk to each other like this. The way you interact is so scientifically mesmerizing. But now that the content of your talk is starting to repeat itself, I was wondering if you could pause for a moment to help me out of here? Oh but then please continue this…this…fighting, is it? It's like fighting but also not like fighting. I like it." The most endearing part of this whole speech was that it was devoid of sarcasm. Jewel, from her place still down in the gorge, sincerely wanted to hear more of this strange way Sally and this other creature were talking to each other. So full of…oh, something…It seemed like a bad conversation and yet there was some kind of goodness underlying it. She wanted to know more.

Jack staggered in surprise at the sudden voice coming from underground, and then looked down into the gorge. "Oh my. Who's that?"

Sally just blushed a little bit and turned to the mouth of the gorge too, playing with her hair with her attached arm and trying to ignore how quite heart-pounding all of that back and forth with Jack had been just now. 'Scientifically mesmerizing' was not even close to the world to describe its thrill, not at all. "Oh…um, I'm sorry, Jewel." Sally cleared her throat, addressing the creation below her. "Yes, you're right, this is Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King. He's going to help us get you out of there." Sally glanced at Jack now. "Jack, this is Jewel. You know her—she's the Doctor's new creation. She…well…apparently the town is out looking for me, and for you too." She swallowed, trying to keep calm. "Jewel came to look for us here, and she slipped. And now needs help getting out."

"Everyone's out looking for us?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow "But…why? I know I've been scarce lately and you've probably been spending most of your time at the house, but still…"

"Jack, it doesn't matter why." Sally looked up at him with a slight frown, trying to keep some tears back. "They want you because they need you to help them through any kind of crisis." She scowled a little and looked down. "I'm sure they just want me back because this is the longest amount of time Dr. Finkelstein hasn't been able to find me." She blushed.

Jack blinked. "Hasn't been able to…Sally, you haven't told the doctor where you've been…at all?!" His eye sockets went wide. "Well, no wonder he's worried! For all he knows you're lying in a ditch somewhere! We have to let everyone know you're alright."

Sally just sighed though and shrugged. "The Doctor's not a very 'concerned' person, Jack. He has other interests in me." She wiped a tear away from her eye with the heel of her attached hand just before the drop fell. "Jack, listen…" Sally sighed, pulling a needle and thread out of her hair and pocket respectively, "I think I'll be fine now that I have my arm again. Please just go back to town, let them know you're okay, and tell them I'm all right but want to be left alone. I'll figure out a way rescue Jewel and guide her back to town on my own, and then I'll work about what to do next for myself."

"But when…" Jack started hesitantly, "When…would you be coming back to our house?"

Sally's eyes went wide, and she knew that if she had a heart, it would have stopped.

Jack had just referred to that lovely manor of his as 'their' house.

"Jack…" Sally's voice was soft, and she looked down and away more, shaking her head a little.

Jack only moved closer to her though, his own voice softening and lowering too. "Sally, fine, you can tell me what you want to do later, whenever you're ready. But for now I'm not leaving you. You have no rope or tools, and Jewel's too far down there. You'll never be able to get her alone. I couldn't get her alone either. Let's work together. Then we'll worry about what to do after that. For Jewel's sake…please." He looked down, trying to catch her eyes.

Sally paused for a moment but then finally nodded. "All right, Jack. We can do that."

Jack let out a light sight of relief. "Thank you." Then he swallowed and added, "But Sally, I…I will have to let the townspeople know immediately that we're both safe and where we are and where Jewel is."

Sally looked up to him in a touch of panic for a moment.

Jack put a hand on her shoulder and spoke calmly to her. "They're our family. We can't let them worry if we can help it. I promise though, whatever happens, you'll be able to live your life however you want to with no bother from anybody. You have my word." And then Jack, a touch shakily, lifted up her attached hand, looked into her eyes, and kissed the back of it softly.

When he stopped he sighed and looked to her, awaiting a reply.

Blushing lightly, Sally just nodded, her eyes never leaving his eye sockets.

Jack smiled a little. Then he let her go and took a step back. He put two fingers in his mouth and gave a sudden sharp whistle.

There was silence for a moment and then the sound of far off barking from the direction of the graveyard. It took a few seconds, but suddenly Zero floated down between them, barking and smiling and giving them both kisses.

Both Jack and Sally couldn't help smiling and even laughing a little at Zero's affection.

Finally Jack looked at Zero and spoke to him. "Zero, old friend, I need you to do me a favor. Fly back to town, please, and let the mayor know that Sally and myself are safe and at the bridge. And tell him we've found Jewel and that everybody should be back at town soon. And I'll call a town meeting to explain as much as I can of everything to them. All right?"

Zero nodded, did a flip in the air, gave his master and mistress one last kiss, and finally was off.

"Thank you!" Jack called after him, waving.

Then Jack looked to Sally again, a soft smile still upon his features. He held out his hand to her. "Come on, Sally, we'll fix this…together."

Sally smiled a little, unable to help herself. But she hesitated taking the offer of his hand. "Um, just a moment, Jack. It's easier for me to sew my arm back on when I'm on the ground." She knelt down, raising up her needle and thread as her unattached arm moved toward her

Jack smiled a little more and knelt along with her. "Oh, um…well, speaking of…could I help you again perhaps with the sew—" Jack paused. He was just looking at Sally's arm, and he looked like his thoughts were deep and expanding.

Sally noticed and raised an eyebrow at him. "Jack? What is it?"

Jack was quiet for a moment longer. Then he looked to her eyes and smiled brightly. "I have an idea. For how to save Jewel, I mean."

Sally smiled. "Oh. What is it, Jack?"

Jack smiled a little more.

Then he reached up to the top of one of his arms, grimaced a little as he twisted his shoulder a certain way, a popping sound was heard…and then Jack carefully slipped his entire (and now detached) skeleton arm right out of his Jacket sleeve. He held it up to Sally with an excited grin. "Just listen. I promise, I promise it's good."

Sally only raised her eyebrow higher in further puzzlement, but she nodded to him just the same. He was the most creative man in town, after all, he deserved the benefit of the doubt. "Okay, Jack. What did you have in mind?" All the while as she asked this question and waited for a reply, she tried not to let herself become too distracted by how that long, white appendage of Jack's glowed like buttery silver in the moonlight. She had never seen much in the way of Jack's exposed bones before. His arm was quite spooky and quite…well-built for a man with no flesh or muscles. She liked his arm very much, she decided.

(And Sally's own arm seemed to agree with her opinion about Jack's limb as it made a gulping motion go through its hand and then glanced away 'shyly' from the limb before raising a pinky to give it a coy little wave).

Jack just chuckled, his eye sockets shining with his confidence and enthusiasm for his plan as he continued to look into Sally's eyes. "Simple, Sally. We're quite literally going to work together."

Jack then proceeded to explain the rest of the plan to her while Sally listened with interest and wonder (and eventually with a smile and a nod of full agreement).

"Oh!"

A certain golden robed, red-haired Valentine citizen with half-moon rose colored glasses landed squarely in a particularly brushy corner of the Halloween Town pumpkin patch. She sat there for a moment among the bright moonlight and sounds of eerie wind in the distance, her eyes wide as she tried to catch her breath.

"For the sweet love of Eros…" Madame Minister Marigold finally uttered, dusting herself off and blinking several times as she began to fully take in her new, strange surroundings. "How in the world do these holiday leaders actually like a journey like that? I just jumped into a hollow tree, fell through a chasm of color, got surrounded by bats, and now I've been flung to the ground somewhere I have no business being. Personally, all I want to do is go home and pretend no one ever discovered the headache that those holiday forests have turned out to be, not go traipsing through here being dazzled by whatever fresh insanity I might come across in this place."

Marigold stood finally, removing some old vines from herself and adjusting her hair and glasses. "Madness. Flora and Santa and the other leaders think we need an Inter-Holiday council of some kind…" She scoffed, working her way through pumpkins to head over to a nearby path that looked like it might lead to town. "Well, I think all of the leaders' political assistants need their own official meeting—a support group for everything we have to put up with, all of the worries these erratic leaders cause us, and the stress we have to go through every year making sure all of the holiday plans get organized and carried out behind the scenes." She sighed with a huff as she nearly tripped over a particularly large pumpkin. "I suppose I should be grateful though—Flora might put me through things like chasing after her and her chaotic matchmaking when our holiday's practically here, but I can't even imagine what the Magistrate or the Minister or the Mayor of this place must have had to go through with that Jack Skellington for the last two months with Christmas. Oh, the two of us should give the two of them such talkings to!" She nodded firmly to herself as she finally gained the road, raised her glasses up to see through the rose lenses, considered, and then picked a direction based on her quick observations and her feelings of love, and headed firmly down the path leading that way.

Marigold continued at a brisk walk in silence for several paces…but then her firm step eased just a little and the look on her features softened as well. She sighed into the night. "I know Flora means well…and I really hope she can fix things with Jack. I know it's important to her. She's a very loving person, even if she does get carried away with it sometimes." She looked up at the tall, bare trees and the bright moon overhead bathing the gothic landscape in glowing blues and silver. "Halloween Town is a strange place but beautiful too. Maybe it won't be so bad learning more about the other holidays first hand. And I suppose it might be good for the leaders too—it'll give them a break from focusing on their own holidays and help them from feeling like they're not in a rut." She smiled a little. "Hmm…in fact, maybe visits by the leaders to other holiday worlds should be encouraged. I wouldn't mind a week or so to myself back in Valentine Town sometimes to organize everything without having to mind the Heart Queen too."

Marigold then sighed again though, her look going a little dry. "But of course NOT a spontaneous, unplanned trip, and NOT one SIX WEEKS before our holiday! Honestly…" her pace quickened a little again. "Next year, Flora, if you want to add something new to our Valentine's Day experience, I have an idea—you and I change roles. I'll be the center of attention and ride at the center of the parade and dance around shooting arrows, and you can spend a month with a dull headache plotting out schedules and counting doilies and signing Valentine cards. Hmm," she crossed her arms over her chest and almost chuckled. "And frankly I think all of the holiday assistants should try that with their leaders. If we're going to start getting progressive and mixing things up with the holidays, let's go all the way!" With a very satisfied smile and nod to herself, Marigold went along on her way, her sense of the love that would attract Flora and her sense of the love that Flora always radiated leading her in the general direction of town.

A/N:

That's all for now! I hope you all liked this installment : ) In the next chapter, we see Jack's plan for saving Jewel…and it's going to result in some awkwardness (and a perfect opportunity to start making up) for Jack and Sally. The updates might be a little erratic from this point on with everything I've got going on with work and applying to schools, but I'll try to keep them as regular as possible. Thanks again for reading (and reviewing!) (and thank you SimplyTruth, I'm glad you're enjoying this fic as much as my HA! ones ^w^ ).

Happy Reading!

~Azure129 aka Jenna