As he wiped away a tear that had begun forming underneath his right eye over the passing of an unfulfilled childhood, Charlie noticed another pile of mementos in his drawer, clippings of pictures of the winners and of them and their guardians mostly standing outside the gates of the factory. Out of all of them, one picture caught Charlie's attention in particular, it was a group image of all ten guests lined up nicely, taken by one of the factory's security cameras in the courtyard as they watched the singing animatronics show before Wonka emerged out of nowhere and welcomed them inside his mysterious factory. One of Charlie's qualities that Wonka loved was his ability to pick up on a seemingly insignificant detail and explain it away as if it were the central piece tying everything together, and that was exactly what he did with this picture. Charlie noticed that if he started from the right and moved leftwards a particular order was established; Mr. Teavee stood at the end with his son Mike next to him, followed by Mrs. Beauregarde and Violet, then Mrs. Gloop and Augustus and finally Grandpa Joe and Charlie himself, but that was where the pattern stopped, and a new reality took form. The Salts were the only other family left to be accounted for, but instead of Mr. Salt standing next to Charlie, none other than Veruca stood at his side. Veruca stood slightly taller than Charlie, even though he was a bit older than her, a detail that put a smirk on Charlie's face when he contemplated it.

Another detail that made Charlie smile and feel all warm inside was the fact that while Mike and Violet physically distanced themselves from those around them, and while Augustus probably wanted to do that as well but couldn't due to the limited space between people and his larger-than-average span, Charlie and Veruca stood together in line literally rubbing elbows, and forearms and almost hands for that matter. That image of the sleeve of Charlie's worn-out flannel jacket rubbing up against the sleeve of Veruca's elegant silver mink coat perfectly symbolized the nature of their Yin and Yang relationship; both came from totally different worlds but nonetheless came together for this special event. The similarities could also be seen in their guardians, Mr. Salt and Grandpa Joe; both were gentlemen who were noticeably older than everybody else in the group and wore hats, gloves and three-piece suits under their overcoats. The only difference was while Mr. Salt's slick outfit declared affluence and prestige, Grandpa Joe's scruffy apparel was that of a man who, despite his lack of wealth, tried his best to present himself in the best possible light. Even though Charlie could recognize how ridiculous he sounded in moments like these, he never let that get in the way of his explanations. Was the fact that Charlie and Veruca stood side-by-side while the other winners were separated a mere coincidence? Most likely. Was Charlie's chance encounter with Veruca the night before a sign that there was a deeper meaning to an event that occurred nearly a decade and a half ago? Probably not. Would Charlie use this revelation to try and understand the strange feeling that drove him to interact with Veruca? Absolutely, one hundred percent.

For as long as Charlie knew him, Wonka never appeared to be much of a sentimental person, it was only after his sales plummeted following the contest that he reached out to Charlie for life advice. And even after his father died, Wonka did not mourn for long before jumping back into his routine, although most of that had to do with his lack of a relationship with the dentist. Unfortunately, the same could be said about the other contest winners; throughout the tour, the master chocolatier was rather rude to the other children, but whenever Charlie brought this up, he always retorted that they were even worse. Charlie also questioned whether decades of being locked inside the factory played a role in forming Wonka's terrible relationship with the other guests as his social skills were in a severe deficit. Such an attitude towards the other winners would make any kind of reunion nearly impossible if Wonka had the final word, but since Charlie had a say in what happened in the factory now, he knew that he had some leeway to manifest such an event into reality.

Charlie did not ask Wonka for much, and being honest, he often felt weird asking his benefactor for something after he had given him the world, but he ginned up the courage to ask for what he most desired, asking, "Wonka, may I ask you a question?"

"Of course, my dear boy, I'm all ears," Wonka replied, glad to have a chance to regain Charlie's confidence following his jokes being interpreted as taunts by his heir.

"I've been thinking lately. Next year is going to be the fifteenth anniversary of the Golden Ticket winner's factory tour, and I was thinking that maybe we could organize a reunion. You know, so that all the winners can get together and catch up on everything that has happened to everyone over the years," proposed Charlie, bracing for the rebuttal from Wonka he knew he would surely receive.

"You know what, yes Charlie, that sounds like a wonderful idea. And after that, we will take a trip down to Loompaland without any Snozzwanger mace. Hehe," Wonka sarcastically responded and then wrapped up with his signature faint nasal cackle.

While his laugh typically brought a smile to Charlie's face, Wonka noticed his heir just sat there with a serious look on his face, causing him to also become serious, and reply, "Oh, you're not joking. Well then, why would you ever ask such a ridiculous question?"

"Well, what if we didn't invite all of the winners? I mean, Veruca shouldn't live that far away, Buckinghamshire is on the other side of the city," Charlie retorted, hoping he could at least get this smaller concession from Wonka as his mentor was dead-set against a full reunion.

But, it was that request that turned Wonka into the indignant one in the conversation, sending him into a rant, declaring, "The Bad Nut! Especially not her! No, if she were to ever set foot inside my factory again, I would personally make sure the incinerator was properly working this time and throw myself down the garbage chute. No, scratch that! I'd throw her down the chute. It'll be less tragic for everyone that way."

"Oh Wonka, no need to be over dramatic, having her over wouldn't be that bad," Charlie pleaded, almost hurt because Wonka singled Veruca out as the one he never wanted to see again.

Yet, despite Charlie's calls for caution, Wonka was having none of it, adding with an almost dismissive tone in his voice, "But it would, my dear boy. Only Mumbler Mikey what'shisname would be a worst guest."

While Wonka felt confident about his decision, he noticed just how affected Charlie was by his comments, so he tried to alleviate some of his heir's discomfort, explaining, "Charlie, my dear boy. You must understand, they were rotten children when they first came here, and now they're fully grown beasts. Those are not the kinds of people we want infecting out creative space; it would not be good for our business, our future."

Charlie understood what Wonka was trying to say, it's not like the other Golden Ticket winners were choir members, but in order to hammer his view through his heir's head, Wonka evoked Charlie's most beloved deceased loved one, saying, "You know, I once had a conversation with your grandfather, and it confirmed what I always suspected. It takes a special kind of person to work at my factory, you and your Grandpa Joe before you shared many qualities with me. We can make something out of nothing, and we see things that are not there in the eyes of others. We have a sacred duty to use our superior skills to better this world and we cannot do that if we have the scum of the earth rubbing off on us. So, Charlie, please, I hope this is the last I hear of this reunion rummytot."

Wonka's invocation of Grandpa Joe really struck a chord with Charlie, he was surely not trying to be disrespectful to his benefactor nor did he want to do anything that might undermine the trust Wonka had in his contest winner. However, Charlie also knew his feelings were legitimate and needed to be respected, he was just not sure how to express them publicly.

With the tension in the room eased by the passing of time, Charlie recalled his plans for tomorrow, but he felt he needed Wonka's permission to go along with what he envisioned, to which he said, "Also...uh...Wonka. Um, I promised my new friend that I would accompany her furniture shopping tomorrow. I also promised I would bring a van with me to help transport the furniture to her home."

While they had spent the last few minutes in a heated debate, Wonka was caught off guard by such an uncomplicated dilemma, and simply responded, "Oh, well, that doesn't seem too harmful. Have some Oompa Loompas down in shipping accompany you with an empty truck. And why don't you take her some of our chocolates? I think she'll love them."

Charlie was glad he had Wonka's blessing to go forward, but instead of clarifying just who this friend was, he got up from his chair, and politely declared before walking out, "Thank you, and now if you'll excuse me, it seems I'm needed in the Inventing Room."

With Charlie out of the room, Wonka was left to ponder why his heir went from talking about his new friend to a Bad Nut like Veruca and back to his friend. If he did not know better, he would have assumed that they were one and the same, but refusing to believe that his heir could be so foolish to think The Bad Nut would make an appropriate partner, he vocalized his thoughts, saying, "No, it can't be. Can it? No, impossible. Charlie might be sweet, but he's not stupid."