"This is all my fault," Alyssa said, wringing her hands and pacing, staring back and forth from Willy to the window of the room they sat in, as though looking out the window would yield some sort of answer. "All my fault - I let them go on their own when they asked, I should have told them no. I was just so caught up in the moment - Charlie has walked that same street to Kellie's home safely tons of times, nothing's ever -"

"Lyssa," Willy said chidingly, his voice surprisingly calm. The absence of sheer panic in his demeanor surprised Alyssa so much that her rambling was abruptly halted. "You simply could not have known that this was going to -"

"I should have been responsible," she continued suddenly. "I should have been the adult in this situation, not gone run off like a child."

At this, it was Willy's turn to be silenced - the idea that thinking and acting the way a child would was nearly an insult to him, but in his mind, he justified that Alyssa had merely expressed her sentiments in these specific words because of a lack of better description in times like these. However, if he had to find an adult way of handling the situation, then so it would be.

"Come with me." He said, standing up and taking his hat from the nearby stand. Alyssa stood silently, looking rather confused. As Willy was putting on his coat, he looked back over his shoulder at Alyssa and gestured for her to follow. "If this regards Cullen Calloway then I know of only one person privy to information that will be any help whatsoever."

Alyssa expected to follow Willy to an investigator, to a police officer, perhaps even a bounty hunter - Willy certainly had enough money to place a large bounty on Cullen Calloway's head if such things were in his nature. Alyssa did not, however, expect to find herself walking into a small candy shop on Cherry Street that was just closing up for the evening.

"Bill." Willy said as they stepped into the doorway. Alyssa glanced around questioningly - she understood that Willy was a recluse, and that if he ever even admitted requiring assistance, the circle of trusted advisors he would turn too was limited. However, coming to a candy shop as the solution to the problem of two missing children seemed a bit ludicrous, even on a Wonka scale.

"Willy," said the shop owner in fond greeting. Willy was quick in explaining the situation, and wasted surprisingly little time in asking for any information that Bill could offer.

"I do know a bit about the Calloways. Come, sit," Bill said, stepping out from behind the candy counter he had erstwhile been tending to with a washcloth. He gestured towards a pair of stools before continuing. Willy took a seat, but Alyssa stood, glued in place, looking just as guilt-ridden as before. Bill reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "And don't look so glum, have faith."

"The Calloways started doing business in a small Chocolaterie in the French Quarter. Very small, rustic, but very successful in its time - Cullen's father Cameron became overambitious in his plans for expansion. Tried to create a nationwide business, but until the day he died, he could never attain the sort of presence he desired. That was their downfall - but I would wager that they still own the residence."

Alyssa stared at Bill in rapt attention, her brow furrowing. Even in the high emotion of the moment, it "So Charlie and Kellie -"

"When do I leave, then?" Willy asked, tapping his cane gently on the ground. Alyssa quickly turned around to face him, looking surprisingly incredulous. Surely she didn't think, Willy mused, that he wouldn't find a simple and clean resolution to this problem?

"You won't, Willy." she said resolutely. "You're a terrible liar, and you'll stick out like a sore thumb, no one in the world doesn't know your face. I'll go.:

"You're leaving again," Willy said, glancing at a spot somewhere over Alyssa's shoulder; the woman let out a short breath, shaking her head.

"It's not that simple - I'm leaving, yes," Alyssa said, crossing her arms and taking two small steps towards Willy. "But the only reason is because I'm going to bring Charlie and Kellie back home - I doubt even her parents will do anything more than call the police."

Briefly, a piercing silence penetrated the room. Alyssa stared at Willy with her arms crossed, Willy stared at Alyssa as though closely examining her face. They were being tested again, less than a day after their most recent rest had ended.

"I'll expect you to phone and confirm you haven't disappeared from the face of the Earth," Willy said in resignation. Alyssa reached out to thank him, even to embrace him, but he simply bowed his head briefly, then strolled off out of the shop. Alyssa looked up and stared pleadingly at Bill - Bill clearly understood William Wonka far better than she did.

"It's difficult for him, Miss Cabot" he explained gently, and she let down a soft groan, finally slouching down into a seat. "So many things have happened lately to complicate his world, all at once. He's been working nearly his entire life to avoid that."

"It's impossible to avoid, though," Alyssa sighed in exasperation as Bill filled her a small glass of cream soda. At first, she took it only to be polite, but she soon found that the sweetness of the drink was in its own way soothing - it was cold and frothy, and the simple need to lick the foam from her upper lip was itself a distraction from the situation at hand. "You can't avoid facing the things in your life that make it more complicated."

"I believe," Bill said, raising his eyebrows a bit and leaning on the counter close to Alyssa, "that you may be the only one who can help him realize that."

At this, Alyssa laughed a bit, but it was evident that her laugh smile was a weary one. "Isn't that a slightly hefty task to set before only one person?"

Bill gave a small chuckle, looking up at the ceiling pensively. "You know, Willy Wonka is perhaps one of the world's foremost geniuses. His knowledge of what it takes to make the perfect chocolate, his knowledge of what simple sorts of things bring people happiness - many would be quick to call it limitless. Even you, I think it would be safe to say," Bill said with a knowing twinkle.

"But," he continued, "you cannot let his genius lull you into forgetting that no man can know everything."

"A penny for your thoughts, Mister Wonka?"

Willy had been sitting at a table in the welcoming room of his factory, his hair unkempt, his jacket and shoes still on, when Grandpa Joe had appeared in the room. It was only at this point that he looked up at the clock and realized that he had been sitting in the exact same place, in the exact same position, for well over two hours.

"She's a very strange girl," Willy said with a wistful smile, shaking his head slightly. It didn't seem right to burden the man with anything heavier than that while his grandson was missing. "Very strange."

"She's only doing the grown-up thing to do," Grandpa Joe explained, his voice familiarly and affectionately muffled by his mustache.

"Well," Willy chuckled, "then perhaps I wish she would not do so quite as often. It's terribly frustrating."

"Mister Wonka, you'll forgive me for being to personal, but we've known each other a good while now." Grandpa Joe said carefully, sitting down across from the younger man. Willy thought briefly that this faintly resembled the way he envisioned a father sounding as he prepared to chide his son. "Love is a very -- a very grown-up emotion. Things don't stay simple when you care for someone."

"Grandpa Joe," Willy chuckled, shaking his head as though he felt the words he had just heard were something incredibly silly. "I think love ought to be the simplest thing in the world."

A/N's

First of all - I know it has been a long time and may I just say that I'm so grateful that there are still people subscribing to this story. I've been working on it, but never typing it - mostly bits and pieces of dialogue on napkins. But now, I've actually sat down and typed a few more chapters, though I do want to spend a bit of time looking over them instead of posting them all at once.

Though I won't share too much, since that's not what you came here to read, I am happy to say that my muse for this story is alive and kicking due to some new relationship insight that has come from being married _ really hope to use it to bring more depth to the story.

Anyway, the story will be moving to a new location for a good while, a fictional location in the French Quarter where you will be meeting some new people. I know this is straying really far from the simple Willy and Alyssa romance, but I hope you guys will bear with me, as I am really enjoying writing this story arc.

Remember, reviews are always, always, ALWAYS appreciated! And also, I'm thinking about syncing my FFN updates to my Twitter account, though social networking sites aren't really the forum for good and intelligent writing. We'll see. But in any case, thank you for your continued support!

Cheers!