Some Assembly Required:

Disclaimer: One new computer later...

Morning shined on the other side of his eyelids, but Jack wouldn't wake up. He was too comfortable and warm to really move. He only came to wakefulness when Sally roused him with a gentle pat to the top of his skull. He yawned shamelessly. "Good morning... are we still on for the plan?"

Sally nodded in total confirmation. Her hair was brushed. Her eyes were bright and alert. She had started laying Jack's bones out on her bed to free up her sewing basket. She must have been up and ready for a spell while he slumbered like a skeleton half his age. He was almost completely laid out like a museum specimen. Nothing on him was connected but everything seemed to be in correct-looking order.

It was a display worth being proud of. But that thought could wait. "Fantastic! You wonderful woman. And Zero's still here?"

Sally nodded and clapped her hands together twice. "Zero!" she called, and Zero slipped out from his spider hole in the ceiling to heel at Sally's ankles.

"Wonderful!" he cheered to both of them. "It couldn't be more wonderful!"

At that, Sally tittered.

"What? What's funny?"

His friend gestured to all of him, laid out on the bed in pieces.

Sally laughed. "Could be more wonderful."

"True..." Jack smiled, despite the nervous feeling growing in his belly. "All right, Zero, find the doctor! Sally, out the front! Hurry while the doctor's distracted! And good luck!"

With the basket thrown over her shoulder, Sally sped out of the bedroom door while Zero flew the opposite way.

He had to wait, and Jack was beginning to loathe waiting. The Doctor below made some horrid grumping at Zero's meddling, but he couldn't hear whether Sally made it to the door or not. With some decidedly painful maneuvering of his jawbone, he was able to turn his head to face the window. He could see the tall tower that lead up to his bedroom and study through the window. He'd told Sally where the spare key was, gave her instructions to feed Zero and then search for his missing bones anywhere in the house. Zero's nose would leave the way. He just had to watch and wait, keep his eyes trained on his tower.

How old was Sally? How often had she looked out that window? Did she ever wonder who was up there on his long reading nights, when he let the fire burn long while his mind circled round his skull? Because he certainly hadn't. He was ashamed to admit to himself now, but he'd never thought to ask why the doctor's lights were on in the night, or who was moving behind that window. He was pulled so deeply into his own head, it never mattered to him. How much had he missed by never looking out?

It was so silly. He couldn't be more trapped in his own head than he was right now, but with Sally he had a sounding board for ideas, a friend to talk to... If he could be so literal, he had someone he could look up to.

There! He saw Sally's shadow in the window, illuminated by Zero's light! Now... oh, now it was time to put his plan in motion.

He rolled his head back and called, "Doctor!"

Without his ribs, he couldn't rattle the walls, but he was the Pumpkin King for a reason. His scream was just enough to fill every room of the house without going beyond.

The Doctor replied with his typical kindness. "What- Jack Skellington? What are you doing in the house? Where are you?"

"I'm..." A knot forced its way into Jack's throat so viciously that he had to swallow it in order to speak. "I'm in... Sally's room."

"You what?!"

He need not say more. He could already hear the doctor's motors kicking to top gear as he wound his way to Sally's door. Jack just sat, quietly cowed, and offered the doctor a timid smile as he burst through the door.

"Hello."

"There you are! What have you done to yourself?!" The doctor wheeled over, voice laced with concern. "All of your bones! Why are your thoracic and lumbar vertebrae out of order? Your legs are backwards!"

Between the burning embarrassment and the nervous smile, Jack managed, "Fancy that."

"Igor!" Finklestien shouted to his faithful aide. "Bring me the bone bag!"

Jack blanched. "The bone bag?"

"Don't worry, my boy, Igor and I will have you back together within the hour!" The doctor started palming up Jack's smaller bones in the meantime. "How awful! Who put you in such a state?! I don't know how you managed to pull yourself together like this, but so help me to whoever-"

"Doctor," he interrupted, "Please... let me explain."

While Jack began his explanation right from the very beginning, Sally and Zero finished up. A search of the house turned up no bones, and in her own mind, Sally wondered if that was due to the Mayor being unable to fit through the door. She sighed. Jack, for all of his flowery prose and charisma, didn't seem like the type to think things through. She doubted the next step of the plan as well, to search the Town Hall for Jack's missing pieces. Why would they leave pieces of him in a public place? No, if Jack as as loved and important as the meeting made him look, then the bones would be kept somewhere safe and close to the Mayor.

It would be disobeying her friend's orders, but Sally was learning, and very quickly, that being disobedient wasn't necessarily a bad thing. She'd kept Jack away from Doctor Finklestein out of fear of punishment, of course, but if they had just brought him to the doctor right off the bat, they could have been out of this mess by now. She could admit that to herself with no shame. But at the same time, that first mistake had given her a friend and a teacher and someone to look up to, in a figurative way. She wanted to impress him, and make him happy, and while her words couldn't make it to her mouth yet she would wow him once they did.

Oh, her stomach fluttered at the idea of that. She'd have to follow up on that thought later. She roused Zero from his sniffing with a quiet call of "Zero, find the Mayor!"

They swept out of the house just as Jack was wrapping up his recounting, just as Finklestein was through realigning his spine, and just as the doctor's patience was running out. He still put Jack's bones together in the perfect, correct order, and with delicacy and gentleness, but the hard edge never left his voice or his eyes.

"You taught her," he growled, "How to drug me."

Jack hadn't felt younger in centuries. And it wasn't in the fun way. He swallowed. "It was a rash decision," Jack countered.

"And then you sent her out into town all on her own!" the doctor dramatically sobbed. "A poor defenseless little creation!"

Jack scowled, his goodwill with the doctor slowly decreasing. "Who put me back together by hand."

"And incorrectly, I might add." The doctor didn't even try to hide his scowl, and evidently, Jack hadn't been either. "Don't you grimace at me like that. You're lucky enough I haven't called up the Mayor so he could see you in this state."

It was sheer coincidence that brought Sally to the Mayor's Mayor-shaped house and his trusting unlocked door. It was almost a little disappointing. All this sneaking around and thinking about how to get into and out of places was almost... no, it was just fun! It was very fun! It was a shame Jack wasn't here to be proud of her! At the same time, though, the door was very clearly unlocked. Maybe sneaking wouldn't be necessary at all. She just went right in.

The Mayor had a nice big home! Certainly more colorful than hers, with its checkered floors and red carpets. It smelled clean, too, and it was quiet inside. Zero yelped, and Sally jumped, but before she could turn and run the Mayor scooped up her hands and shook them both. "Oh it's you, miss! I bumped into you and gave you such a scare and I didn't even mean to! I'm so awfully sorry! What's your name?"

She couldn't help but smile at him. What a kind man! Was everyone in Halloween Town as nice as Jack? She'd never expected it from the townspeople that her creator called ignorant and foolish and slow. They all made him so angry, and yet Jack was kind and clever and gentle where the doctor was cold and abrasive. The Mayor remembered her and apologized for a bump she hadn't thought about since it had happened. She started to wonder who the foolish one was in this town. "Sally," she answered softly.

"Sally! What a dreadful name!" he complimented. "Have you any news about Jack?"

She shook her head. No news since she last spoke to him. "Just looking."

The Mayor's frown clicked into place. "Oh, it's just awful! And with Halloween right around the corner! Sit, I'll fix us some tea!" The Mayor disappeared behind the corner with a wail. "I need to calm my nerves!"

Zero yipped and zipped after him. Sally wondered if the Mayor still had "Jack's very bones" in his pockets. She sat herself on the nearest chair, which was oddly about her height, and waited for her host. He came back within only a few minutes- was the tea already prepared?- and noted. "Oh, you fit in Jack's chair. And here I thought he was the only monster in town tall enough."

Sally bowed her head. "I'm sorry."

"It's nothing to apologize for, miss. Now, where was I? Oh yes. I have the whole town out looking," the Mayor continued after setting out some teacups. "But no one's turned up anything! We're all worried sick!" Sally only had to nod in sympathy for him to continue. "You've even got Zero's nose on your side, and to no avail!"

Zero ruffed at his name. Sally followed her gut. "Zero, find Jack."

Indeed, Zero rushed forward and nudged at the Mayor's pocket. The Mayor sweetly patted the dog's head and held the bones out for him to see. They were in one of his pockets, and it looked like the full set they were missing. Sally felt wonderfully vindicated.

The Mayor gushed, "He's such a smart dog."

"Good Zero..." Sally half-gasped with joy. "Go to Jack!"

With the command, Zero took the bones and bolted through the open window.

"Oh! Oh Zero, heel!" The Mayor leaped to his feet and reached for his megaphone. "Oh dear! Stop those bones! Miss Sally!"

Sally threw herself out the door and ran after Zero herself, laughing all the while! How could she go back to that drafty cooped-up house when the world outside was so big and exciting! She would never stand to be stuck in the house with the doctor ever again!

Meanwhile, Jack continued to be stuck in the house with the doctor. He was promisingly complete and nearly at the end of his rope with worry. Only a few tiny pieces kept him from total mobility, and if Sally didn't find them- no, he wouldn't think like that. That was the doctor's talk getting to him. It was the longest half-hour of his life, listening to his friend's every perceived flaw and failing being detailed by her own creator. He wasn't brought out of his funk until he heard three little hollow knocks against the lab door.

"What- Igor! Open the door!"

Zero flying in with his missing bones- all blessed four of them- might have been the happiest moment of his life. "Yes! Doctor, my clothes, hurry! They'll be here any moment!"

"What?! What are you talking about?" The doctor only offered a short pause as Igor hurried Jack's clothes over to him. "Who is 'they'?"

Outside the house, Sally had long since lost Zero. The Mayor had kept following her because she looked like she knew where she was going, and then the Werewolf caught the smell of bones, and then a ghost or two, and by the time Sally could reach the door to home she had all the legged monsters of Halloween at her back. She threw herself at the handle and pulled- and it was locked?! Who had locked it?! Had the doctor found out she'd escaped again?!

"Miss Sally!" The Mayor stopped at the head of the crowd, and the rest of the town fell in behind him. "Are you all right? Did Zero go in there?"

She was too busy catching her breath to answer, just barely getting out a nod and collapsing against the door. He was in there, certainly, but she hadn't made it to the tower in time to put him back together. The whole town was here to discover Jack in pieces! Tears stung at her eyes. The whole plan ruined, if she'd just bought him more time-

Just as she was afraid that she'd failed, the front door opened for her, and she fell into a pair of long and bony arms.

All of the town screamed at once and Jack, for the first time, met her at his full height and his full tux and full set of bones. She looked so much smaller now, the whole world did once you spent a few days on the floor-or-thereabouts, but watching the smile break across her face and her eyes light up with realization... it must have been the most lovely thing he'd seen in his life. All of the scheming and sneaking paid off at that exact moment... or it would, very very soon.

"Everyone! He cheered. He turned Sally to the crowd, holding her tight by the shoulders. "Let me tell you how this wonderful woman saved my life!"

"Her?"

"Saved your life?"

"What'd she do?"

"What a hero!"

"Let me see let me see!"

"Tell us everything, Jack!" The Mayor took Sally by one hand, leading her out into the crowd. "And Miss Sally, we can't thank you enough! I'm telling you know, your name will be loved and remembered in Halloween Town for generations to come!"

"Won't she, though?" Jack cast a quick glance over his shoulder at the doctor's flabberghasted face, but kept the resulting chuckle to himself. He stayed in step with Sally instead. His arm would not be leaving her shoulder for a very long time, thank you very much. He kept an eye on her face instead, watching her smile get wider and wider. "I'll have to personally introduce her to everyone in town."

Sally reached up to hug him- and around his head! He had to stoop to come down to her shoulder level, and while he was there, he laughed. "Sally! Sally, I'm not a head anymore! Hug the rest of me!"

Her voice just reached his ear over the rabble of the crowd. "Thank you, Jack."

"Thank you, for helping me." He pulled himself away just enough to take her hands again. "Come on, there's a whole wonderful holiday I must introduce to you! We haven't begun to scratch the surface, even! Halloween through a fresh set of eyes... how exciting!"

Sally's new outlook, her wide-eyed wonder and marvel at what Halloween was- what it could be- got Jack through the next few months on sheer excitement. He never fully succeeded in getting Sally out of the doctor's house, but with the town knowing she was there and him right next door, he knew for a fact she wasn't being locked in the kitchen or denied an education. The doctor's terrifying glares kept him at a respectable distance, but he never stopped calling Sally his dearest friend, not once.

After all, she was.