I had to do it. no, really, I had to, or I was going to implode. no, seriously. I'll put this into the Corpse Bride section as soon as one exists. cough hint hint cough okay, yes, this is a Victoria/Victor pairing, and no, Emily isn't coming back in this story. I love her despeatly, but she's moved on, and I don't think it would be fair to ask her out of wherever she is. one other thing, Bone Jangles Kicks ass.

"Hello Darlin'"

Married life suited them both beautifully. For the first time that anyone had known him, Victor smiled at passerby on the streets; Victoria looked rosier than she ever had in all of her young life. Oddest of all, both of them seemed, thoroughly… happy. Not just every so often, but happy all the time. To any other town it would have been lovely and romantic, but this town found it very suspicious. Not only were they both happy and colorful when they should be demure, and quiet and dull, but they had also chosen to make their home in a mansion far on the other side of the church, only redoubling town's suspicions. The town's citizens made it his or her personal duty to discover what exactly was the secret to their happiness, as it could not be anything proper or wholesome they concocted some rather shocking and immoral theories. None of them could even imagine that it might have something to do with love. Ideas as unfashionable as love were seldom entertained by the rich folk, and Victor and Victoria VanDort were certainly rich.

Of course, it helped that there was some scandal surrounding the marriage in the first place. No one knew the whole story but apparently, on the day of Victor and Victoria's wedding rehearsal, Victor had actually married another woman, and Victoria had been demonically possessed. The very next day, Victoria married another man; witnesses said she looked as though she was in a trance, induced by… witchcraft perhaps? It was that night when (who could forget) the dead rose from the grave and said final goodbyes to their family. Somehow, Victoria's husband was killed that night, and moments later she and Victor were married. And what of Victor's "other woman"? The story goes that that marriage was null from the very beginning. Other than that, no one knew anything of Victor and Victoria.

All they knew of the young couple's married life was what they had heard in rumors, and what they could gather from seeing them walk (yes walk, another oddity of the couple was that they employed no servants only Hildegard, an elderly nurse of Victoria's, of whom she was very fond) to visit their parents. This was an admittedly rare occurrence. For our own purposes however, we shall need a far more intimate perspective on Victor and Victoria's lives, let us follow them into their modestly sized mansion, past the small drawing room, and into the parlor. Here we find Victor playing a passionate ballad on the piano, while Victoria sits nearby. She wears a dress of vibrant blue with a hoop of brightly colored needlepoint abandoned on her lap.

It is early springtime, and the whole room is bright and colorful, and because the house is new (the VanDorts made plans to build the house the day after Victor's engagement to Victoria had been settled. He found such plans rather unsettling and premature, but they assured him it was to be small, only 4 bedrooms, perfect for newlyweds, and they said that as soon as he was married, he wouldn't want to live at home anyway. He couldn't argue the logic, and so allowed them to continue with the project.) a faint paint smell lingers on the walls trying to choke the hearty flowers vased on the piano.

Here is the scene in which we begin our story; a perfect place to begin, for it was right at this moment that Victoria let out a great half contented-sigh. Victor looked up from the piano and smiled at his bride.

"Yes Victoria?" he said gently. She smiled back at him, the now ever present blush on her cheeks suddenly more prominent.

"Oh Victor." She looked down at her forgotten needlepoint, then back at her husband. "I do so wish I could learn." Victor tilted his head ever so slightly.

"Learn?" he said. Victoria nodded, her eyes suddenly shining with a distinct childish playfulness.

"The piano! I would love to learn to play the piano. You play so beautifully that it stirs in me this… longing." She blushed deeper into her needlepoint and raised her eyebrows, "to learn. That is."

"I see." Said Victor. He rested an elbow on the piano and smiled, "and here I thought piano was far too passionate for a young lady."

A mischievous smile danced across Victoria's lips and, her face still downcast, she gazed up at Victor.

"A little piano could hardly hurt. After all, I have been so very passionate these past weeks that I find it difficult to believe that any other feeling could possibly compare. If playing the piano is improper in its passion, then I am fairly certain that I have gone far beyond such impropriety… as far as passion goes."

Victor seemed to consider this for a moment then said, "well Victoria, if you truly wish to learn, then come over here and sit next to me"

She stood happily, not caring to notice her needlepoint fall onto the Persian rug, and sat next to Victor on the piano bench. She looked challengingly at the piano as though it were a predator, and pressed one of the keys. She was delighted when it emitted a beautiful resonating note, charmed that the sound had happened because of her.

"Are you ready to begin, Victoria?" She nodded. "Well then, I suppose… the first thing you must learn is how to rest your hands on the keys. You want your fingers to be rounded- a bit more gently than that. Here, this is how I was taught." He made his hand into a fist, knuckles up. "No, rest your hand upon mine…" She tentatively did as she was told and rested her small hand upon his. "See… how your hand…" but he never finished his sentence, for the moment their skin touched there was a thrill. Both of them felt it and both were surprised by the intensity and passion they felt on the surface of he other's hand. Piano forgotten, the two leaned in for the inevitable kiss.

Ten minutes later found our lovers startled back into reality by a loud knocking on the door. They sprang apart in alarm and scrambled quickly into a standing position. The knock sounded again.

"Is that really how you were taught, Victor?" Victoria asked, smoothing out her dress and buttoning it back up to the very top of her fearfully high collar

"Well, no… not precisely" they smiled shyly at each other and the knocking on the door became more insistent.

"Oh… dear. I'll get it," Victoria said, "of the two of us, I'm the more presentable at the moment"

"Yes, of course," said Victor, "now if I could only find my jacket…"

Victoria hurried to the door, her hair in waves about her shoulders, and her face all the more flushed. She reached the door just as the person was knocking caustically and more insistently than ever, and after a swift hopeless look in the mirror, wrenched it open to find a Skeleton standing unconcernedly on the other side. He had one eye, and leaned on a cane. He looked Victoria up and down and tipped his Bowler hat.

"Hello Darlin'"

Victoria looked back at the Skeleton in only mild surprise "Oh…" She said, then turned and called over her shoulder, "Victor, darling! Someone for you, I think"