AN: Yes, I'm starting another story. Hopefully this will help kill my writer's block…

Anyway, this whole thing started as a challenge to myself to write an actually happy story (I know, unlike me) and it will also be my first story to include…. romance. I know, this is so out of character for me! I am really pushing my comfort zone here! I also chose to make this a Nightmare Before Christmas story for some reason, even though I'm pretty sure no one will read it. I mean, the main characters are OCs. Literally no one wants that, but here I am, doing it anyway. Oh well. This should be interesting regardless.

I don't own the Nightmare Before Christmas. I do own a lot of merch for it though. I'm wearing some right now actually.

Eve hummed softly as she watered her plants. She was very meticulous about taking care of them, making sure they were properly watered and fed, giving them plenty of light, and pruning them when necessary. Not that it ever was. Her plants were dead. They had been for as long as she could remember. Still, that was no reason not to take care of them. Everyone was dead here, but they still deserved care and love. So she kept watering them, humming all the while.

Eve loved to hum. She did it often, rarely stopping. She saw no real reason to. Afterall, her song never ended. And it was one song. She had been humming it for years, yet it never seemed to end. She had often considered the never ending nature of her song. She concluded that it confused her. Afterall, she wouldn't particularly mind if her song ended. It might be nice to hum something new. Despite this, it just kept going. Eve had wondered at times if her song was missing something, something that kept it from ending, but if that were the case, she had no way of telling. So she kept humming her song, content with what she had.

A slight whirring sound caused her to stop her humming. She looked toward the door to her room, waiting for it to open. Eve wondered vaguely what the Doctor wanted this time. Or perhaps it would be his wife. The lady of the household tried to keep Eve company, but she was often busy with her research. Eve had only seen her a few times this year. So it would probably be the Doctor.

The whirring sound stopped and there was a loud click as the door unlocked. It swung open silently, revealing the Doctor in his wheelchair. He rolled forward, the door closing behind him. Eve listened to the whirring sound of the locks re-engaging. She was very familiar with this sound. It was one of the only ones she had ever heard.

"How are you my dear?" Ah. The Doctor's voice. Another sound she was familiar with. Eve turned away from the door to face the Doctor.

"I'm fine," she said quietly. She set down her watering can. "My plants are happy."

"I'm glad to hear that." The Doctor said, sounding genuine. He always sounded genuine. That was part of what made it so hard. Eve looked out the window, her gaze drifting toward a small house on the edge of a pumpkin patch. She liked watching this house. The people who lived there seemed happy.

The Doctor rolled up next to her, following her gaze. He sighed as he saw the small house.

"I wish you could meet them Eve, I really do. But it would be too dangerous for you."

He sounded genuine.

Eve didn't respond. Instead, she started humming her song, picking up where she had left off. There was no need to start over. It never ended.

The Doctor sighed again, realizing she wasn't going to speak with him. He set a small vial onto the table next to her plants.

"Be sure to drink that before bed. And remember dear, do not remove your cloak."

The Doctor waited until Eve had nodded before he returned to the door. Once again the whirring filled her room. Soon, she was alone.

Eve stood up, still humming. Her cloak made another noise she was familiar with, a slight rustling. Eve wasn't sure how she felt about her cloak. It covered her entire body from head to foot, leaving no skin exposed. She had worn it for so long she no longer remembered what she looked like underneath it. At times it seemed to weigh her down, trapping her in this life, in this room. But at the same time, she couldn't even imagine taking it off. It was a part of her, just like her song was. She knew she could never bear to part with it.

She drifted toward her work bench. As she walked, she noted that her cloak would probably have to be extended again soon. Her cloak was a mix of different fabrics and styles that had been stitched on as she grew. She didn't mind the eclectic look. It reminded her of the doll lady who lived in the small house on the edge of a pumpkin patch. She was stitched together from different fabrics and she was beautiful. So Eve figured her own cloak was acceptable.

Upon reaching her work bench, Eve looked over her project. The Doctor and his wife were more than accommodating when it came to her experiments. They were scientists after all, and it thrilled them to see her experimenting on her own.

Not that Eve's experiments were anything like theirs. She hadn't seen much of their work in person, but when she was younger the Doctor would enchant her with stories of his experiments, both successful and not. They would sit together for hours, Eve laughing as the Doctor recounted the tale of his latest unintentional explosion. It had been years since they had spoken together in such a way.

Eve pushed the memories away, focusing on her work. She had left the mixture to simmer overnight, and if her calculations were correct, it should be ready for the next step. Eve carefully picked up a vial of old blood the Doctor had acquired from the vampires and tilted it over her cauldron. A single drop of blood rolled to the edge of the vial, hanging there for a moment before finally falling into the mixture below. Eve held her breath, pausing her humming for just a moment as she watched the mixture carefully. Her heart fell as it shimmered slightly before turning green. Another failure.

Eve sighed, carefully packing up the liquid. She would study it tomorrow, try to find out where she had gone wrong. For now, she needed a break. Her work station clear, she returned to her window, sitting down in the window seat and leaning her head against the glass. She supposed the glass was probably cold, but she couldn't tell through the thick fabric of her cloak. Still, it was solid and reassuring, and that was all she really needed.

Movement outside caught her attention. The door of the small house on the edge of a pumpkin patch was opening. Eve straitened a bit when she realized who was coming outside.

It was the family's oldest son, a skeleton boy about her age. He had definitely taken after his father, except for the shock of red hair that covered his head. Eve watched as he ruffled said hair. Eve couldn't hear anything outside of her window, but she liked to imagine he was laughing. He often looked like he was laughing.

This boy was the closest thing she had to a friend, which was rather sad considering the boy didn't even know she existed. Still, they had grown up together. He was the first child she had ever seen when she was small. The boy had played outside all the time back then, doing silly jumping and skipping games. Eve remembered trying to copy the games in her room. She would inevitably trip on her cloak, but she didn't mind. She liked to pretend that the boy was playing with her.

As the years passed, that fantasy got harder to maintain. More children joined the family and soon the boy was playing with them, not on his own. Eve had given up her wish to be true friends with the boy years ago. Still, she was rather fond of him. He had kept her company during some of her loneliest years, even if he hadn't known it. She would always owe him for that. Who knows, maybe one day she would even be able to repay him.

Eve stood up, turning her back on the window. As much as she had enjoyed watching the boy as a young girl, it didn't feel right anymore. He had his own life and family and pining after him seemed wrong. She would be content with her memories. It was for the best.

Night was beginning to fall. Eve picked up the vial the Doctor had left her. He was often giving her different concoctions to drink. He never really explained why, but he assured her it was for her own good. Despite not knowing the purpose of the elixirs, Eve always drank them. While she may have drifted away from the Doctor as she grew older, she still believed that he cared for her. He would not do anything that would harm her.

Eve drank the elixir quickly. This one was mostly tasteless, thankfully. Some of the earlier ones had been quite foul. The Doctor had had a difficult time getting her to drink them as a child. He had gotten much better at it since then. Or maybe she was just used to them.

Drink gone, Eve set the vial next to her own collection. She would give it back to the Doctor the next time he came to visit.

By now night was truly here. Eve wondered vaguely where the boy could have been headed so late, but shook the thought off. It was none of her concern. Wherever he was going, Eve was sure he had a good reason.

Pushing thoughts of the boy away, she lay down on her bed. Hopefully tomorrow would be more successful when it came to her project.

She was just about to drift off into sleep, her song playing in her head, when an unfamiliar sound startled awake. Eve shot up in her bed, eyes wide. An unfamiliar sound? She hadn't heard an unfamiliar sound in years. Her eyes roved the room, trying to find what had made the sound. She was beginning to think she had imagined it when it came again. This time, she was able to figure out where it had come from.

The window.

Eve stared at the window in confusion. What had made that sound? After a moment of hesitation, she got out of her bed, approaching the window cautiously.

Her thoughts raced as she walked. What could it be? Was it dangerous? Should she simply ignore it and go back to sleep? That was what the Doctor would surely tell her to do, yet here she was, walking toward her window.

Eve was feeling some kind of emotion she couldn't describe. It wasn't an unpleasant emotion, exactly, but it wasn't really good either. She felt tingly all over, her breath coming quickly while her hands shook. Based on these symptoms, she would assume it was fear, but it wasn't. She was familiar with fear. But if it wasn't fear, then what was it?

Just as she reached the window, Eve realized what the feeling was.

It was excitement.

Eve paused next to her window, taking a deep breath. Steeling her nerves, she looked out.

Standing there, at the base of her tower, was the boy who lived in the small house on the edge of a pumpkin patch. Smiling up at her.

AN: Tada! In case you couldn't tell, the Doctor was Dr. Finkelstein, the guy who made Sally. Eve actually lives in Sally's old room, so yeah. Fun, right?

Yay! First chapter! Here's to many more.

Bye guys! :)