Oh, he could not believe what he was seeing. That wretched girl. She did sneak out again. No wonder he didn't hear a peep from her bedroom. He should have checked, he really should have. How could she do this to him? After all he'd ever done for her? He was her creator! Surely he deserved better than this travesty!

This very evening, Dr. Finkelstein was observing a very intriguing, and yet angering sight. He could not believe the audacity of his creation! How dare she!

As he stared out the window on the ground level of the lab, he just...wanted to scream in such anger.

Coming up the steps, was Sally...with none other than Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King. Ever since Christmas, she had snuck out more and more. It was April now, and this had been going on too long.

Oh yes, Dr. Finkelstein knew about Sally's feelings for Jack all along. It was painfully obvious. The way she seemed to light up and actually genuinely smile whenever his name was mentioned, how she always had a faraway look on her face since she met him, the way she spoke his name with such sweetness and tenderness, and how she seemed to get so much shyer and nervous whenever he was around.

All because Jack had saved her from Oogie Boogie when he had mistakenly kidnapped her nearly two years ago. For days after, she wouldn't stop talking about him. Dr. Finkelstein knew from the beginning, when he saw Sally, meeting Jack for the first time, gazing up at him with such a dreamy smile.

Ever since, she fell in love with him. Dr. Finkelstein had wanted to pass it off as some kind silly crush. That she was no different from the rest of the women in the town who wanted him. Deny it as he might, he knew better. Sally was nothing like them.

Part of her restlessness and her eagerness to escape, much to his chagrin, had also been because she wanted to see Jack again.

And now here they were.

Dr. Finkelstein should have known. The way Sally daydreamed even more, looked happy all the time, and yet even more miserable.

She was seeing Jack behind his back! How could she? What had she done to bewitch him into being with her?

Dr. Finkelstein sometimes regretted creating Sally to be so beautiful. She had to have used her feminine charms on him. Why did he create her like that in the first place? Even to this day, he didn't know. It was just how things turned out. Even so, he had tried to make her as "small" as possible. "Modest", even.

But no.

The old scientist watched in surprise, and just...didn't know what to think. Jack was holding Sally's hand, and looked absolutely elated. Sally was walking beside him, but was actually a few paces back, as if slowing down. She was looking up at her window, no doubt, with a look of sadness.

Jack then stopped them near the door. He turned to Sally, saying something that Dr. Finkelstein couldn't hear. Sally then shook her head and pulled back, saying something as well. She shook her head again, tears pooling in her eyes. She looked as if she were...begging him, pleading him for whatever reason.

To his surprise, Jack's entire countenance fell. He looked as if he were the most miserable thing ever to exist. And it was all in seeing how sad Sally looked. He then gently brought Sally into his arms and held her close. She buried her head into his chest, her shoulders trembling, while Jack gently held her, stroking her hair and whispering into her ear. Although he couldn't hear, Dr. Finkelstein could only surmise that she was crying.

How...could she do this? That had to be it. She used her crying, pouting, and begging to get what she wanted. How could she do that to the Pumpkin King? Doing that to Dr. Finkelstein himself was one thing, but to Jack? He would not have it! Never!

He watched as the two of them embraced for a little while. Jack then pulled back, and gently lifted Sally's chin to meet his gaze. He smiled, though sadly, and said something to her. Sally clung to him tighter, her lips quivering, but she nodded. Once more, Jack's smile immediately faded, and then he released the rag doll, bringing his hands to cup her cheeks. He lay his forehead to hers, and said something else. Sally responded, still trembling a bit.

Much to his horror, Jack then leaned in and kissed her right on the lips. Sally's grip on him tightened before she moved her arms up around his neck. In response Jack let go of her face and brought his arms around her waist, bringing her closer to him. They kissed for some time, it felt like several hours.

Just when he had the will to look away, Jack then pulled back, and held Sally's hands in his own. He said something to her, and she nodded, responding back. He kissed her once more, and then let go of her hands, before heading off down the steps, occasionally looking back at her.

Sally stood there, reaching out to him. She even took one step forward, as if about to run off after him. Instead, she turned around, tears flowing down her face, and came to the front door, quietly sneaking in.

"Sally." Dr. Finkelstein turned his wheelchair from the window, staring right at her as she came in.

"D-Doctor! I...!" Sally squeaked, her eyes wide.

"So that's where you've been running off to...seducing the Pumpkin King, then..." Dr. Finkelstein snarled. "I cannot believe you...of everything, you had to do this!"

"N-No! No! Doctor, it's not like that!" Sally cried, backing away from him.

"Bah! I will never believe another word you say, you wretched girl! This is the last straw, you treacherous bewitching rag doll! You are never to see him again, ever! How dare you have him succumb to your feminine charms! That's disgraceful! Absolutely disgraceful! If I ever see you near him again, you will regret it! You've run away from the last time. This is your final warning!" Dr. Finkelstein then yelled, his anger growing.

"No!" Sally yelled, despaired. "Please, don't! I love him! Please! You can't keep me from him!"

"I can, and I will! Your reign of seduction ends here, Sally." Dr. Finkelstein said lowly.

Sally burst into angry and despaired tears before she ran up the ramp, sobbing. The slamming of her bedroom door was then heard, echoing throughout the lab. Dr. Finkelstein sighed, shaking his head. What a drama Queen. Oh well, he knew he made the right decision. She would be fine. It was just a phase, after all. She just needed to know her place, know who was in charge. He ascended the ramp to get back to the lab. Passing her room, he could hear her sobbing loudly.

A strange, stinging feeling came to his heart, but he ignored it. It was probably just satisfaction of his display of power. Finally, now she would become exactly as he intended her to be.

That was not the case.

The days went by, and Sally was just miserable. When she wasn't doing her chores with or without Jewel, she was in her room crying, or staring with melancholy out the window. She barely spoke, she never smiled, she even looked somewhat catatonic. She was so lifeless, as if nothing more than empty shell. At times she was even careless and made a mess. When she did, she just wordlessly picked it up. She didn't respond or do anything when he yelled at her, nothing. She was almost the same as she had been when he first created her. Robotic. Except this time with misery.

One time, out of anger, she actually placed a bowl of soup on his head, upside down. He had yelled at her with such anger and nearly threw the spoon at her. She had wailed and ran out of the lab after that.

...Well, Dr. Finkelstein for once, admitted he might have deserved that.

Oh well. She would get better in time, that much he was certain. She just had to get over it and move on.

A couple more days later was when Jack came to visit. If not for Jewel announcing his presence, considering she was down below in the kitchen, Dr. Finkelstein would not have been able to warn Sally to stay in her room. Oh, he had seen how brightened and hopeful she looked knowing Jack was there. No way in the world was she going to bewitch him any more.

"Jack, up here, my boy!" Dr. Finkelstein called down the ramp.

"Good day to you, Doctor!" Jack ascended the ramp. "The Mayor asked me to retrieve the plans you had for Easter!"

"Marvelous, they're in the lab, I'll get them!" Dr. Finkelstein nodded, turning his wheelchair around.

"Oh, and Doctor...I was wondering..."

He knew this was coming, but he stayed calm.

"Sally, how has she been? I haven't seen her in days, and I wanted to know if she was all right."

"She's...just fine, my boy. Of course she is." Dr. Finkelstein bluffed. "Now let me go and get those plans, then..."

He did so, not realizing Jack hadn't followed him.

Shrugging it off, he wheeled back out into the corridor. Just in time to see Sally run into the library room. Jack was in there, for whatever reason. He observed in horror as Sally ran to Jack and tearfully embraced him tightly. Immediately Jack was hugging her back just as tightly.

But that wasn't what angered him then.

"Jack...please! Get me out of here, I can't live like this anymore!"

"Shh, Sally...please, calm down...what's wrong?"

"He won't let me see you! He thinks I bewitch you...he won't... Jack, please take me away from here! I can't take it any longer!"

Sally then burst into sobs and cried into his suit. Jack looked a mixture of worried and shocked at this, his eye sockets wide. But he held her close, rubbing her back and whispering soothingly to her.

"Sally, my dearest..." Jack cooed to her in the sweetest, most loving tone anyone could possibly have heard from him. "I'll talk to him, I'll settle this. If he is making you this miserable...Then I will see that he does not deny an order from the Pumpkin King."

And that was how the old scientist knew he couldn't do anything more. He had never seen Sally this miserable, this desperate. But oh, the hardheadedness was able to stir up once more.

She just wants him for a better life...more luxury and splendor...I cannot allow that. Jack deserves far better than that treacherous, gold-digging Sally...

Unsurprisingly, any argument he had made was on deaf ears. Jack succeeded in taking Sally away. He by now had had enough of the way he treated her.

"I had tried to be fair Doctor, to realize that you only cared about Sally and wanted her safe. But you have gone too far to deny her like this. If she wants to leave, she should be able to do so. She is a person, a woman...and deserves better."

The look of absolute relief, happiness, and joy on Sally's face was beyond compare as she and Jack left.

Jewel admitted to being the one to let Sally out of her room just now, saying that she was tired of seeing the poor girl so miserable. Not to mention, that there was no such trickery. Jack and Sally truly loved each other.

Even now Dr. Finkelstein couldn't deny it. The way Jack looked at her all this time, you would swear she was some kind of Goddess meant to be worshipped. He loved her. He truly loved her. There was nothing but sincere honesty in his love for Sally. How could he have not seen that?

It was the first time Dr. Finkelstein ever felt such remorse, and regret.

And now Sally was completely driven away into the arms of her saviour.

Jack had saved her from Oogie Boogie. He had saved her from Oogie Boogie yet again. Now...he saved her from her own creator. He had saved her in every way that a person could be saved.

With Sally gone, it made Dr. Finkelstein realize that she was indeed far more than a creation. Far more than anything.

She was the daughter he never imagined.

And now she was gone. Like a bird that flew the nest.

Ever since he witnessed Jack and Sally first meeting each other, he had sneaking suspicion that even Jack would see her for what she truly was, and would receive her.

She truly was made for him. The perfect girl.

He had inadvertently created the perfect woman to one day be Jack's Queen.

And he lost her forever.

As he sat in the lab, with Jewel and Igor working along with him, it was the first time he felt a tear.

Maybe, in time, they could reconcile.

But until then, she was completely free. Left home, and never once looked back.

XD Don't ask. I just wrote this out of fun. It's not quite linked to other stories, it's on its own, but does take place after the movie.

I don't think Finkey is evil. He's just misguided. :)

Tim Burton owns the characters!