CONFUSION.

Shock groaned as she came to. Everything at once took on a startling clarity and she flinched away from it. There was a mixed murmuring not far from where she lay and she struggled to open her eyes. What was going on here?

Her eyes creaked open with great difficulty and she groaned again as sunlight burned them from where it was streaking in through a near by window. In too much pain to turn her head, she stared straight up at the ceiling in horror. Shock tried to sit up, finally realizing she was in bed, but her body protested; screaming in exhaustion. The garbled murmuring continued. She could almost make it out now…

"Shock can you here me?"

Her eyes raced around in their sockets to find the source of the voice. Thank Oogie, she wasn't alone! Her dark purple/green eyes finally landed on the pumpkin kings as he crouched down next to her. She'd never thought she'd be so happy to see the thwarting skeleton but something similar to relieved tears sprang to her eyes as she look at him now, a concerned crease in his skull.

"Lock?" the name came out scratched and broken and now tears of pain flowed over her cheeks as her scorched throat flared up. Jack looked confused and leaned closer to hear her. She beckoned him ever closer with her eyes until the side of his white skull was practically resting on her mouth.

"Lock?" she breathed again, unable to drag her voice above a pained whisper.

Jack straightened now, looking down at her worriedly. Shock's formally un-beating heart seemed to sputter. Was Lock ok? Had he made it out of the forest? Her breathing became ragged, her burning throat starting to blaze even more. Where was Lock? And Barrel too! Had either of her friends made it out of there undead? Why wasn't he saying anything?!

"Lock!" she croaked, eyes bleary now with desperate tears. She couldn't remember ever feeling so weak. Not since Oogie had died. "Barrel!"

Jack rested a bony hand on her trembling shoulder and she was powerless to push it away. Her head had managed to roll to the side now and she pressed her face into the side of the pillow, willing her body to turn over. The skeleton king started to retreat from her bed side and her outstretched hand was about ten seconds too late to stop him.

She forced herself into a sitting position, intent on top of him. As she dragged her legs across the bottom of the bed, a pain from her ankle shot up her leg. She bit her tongue, fighting back a scream she knew would rip her throat to shreds and shuddered. How bad of a shape was she in? She turned back to Jack, hoping to hide her moment of agony

Noticing the curtain behind him for the first time, she let out the breath she'd been holding in as he pulled it back to reveal a sleeping Lock. She let out another shaky breath and closed her eyes to fight off the tears of relief. Opening them again she studied her friend and couldn't help herself from thinking that he looked terrible. He had bandaged rapped all over his arms and if possible, was even paler than usual.

"Paul," she whimpered his real name, begging him silently to wake up. He didn't.

She visibly settled down and cast a thankful look to Jack. She had no doubt in her mind that he had saved them both. He moved again and her eyes followed him as he crossed the room that she now realized was Dr. Finklestein's lab turned infirmary. He approached the bed opposite hers and she sighed again as she noticed Barrel lying there, content in some sort of dream. Jack leaned in close to Barrel for a moment before straightening up again.

He made it back to Shock's bedside just as she collapsed back onto her pillow, exhausted from all the moving she'd done. He gave her a concerned look, but she just smiled back up at him, eyelids drooping. She hadn't smiled sincerely at anyone for a long time and she knew she caught the skeleton off guard. He leaned down to her again, seeming to know she had something to say.

"Thank you, Jack," she murmured before letting herself be dragged into the darkness of blissful sleep once more.

PAIN.

Lock gasped as he sat bolt upright. As soon as his brain caught up to his actions, he howled in pain as his tender arms felt like they were dipped in fire. He lowered himself back gently onto the bed and tried to coach himself into taking deep steady breaths. At the same time he was starting to wonder just where the hell he was. The last thing he remembered was staggering out of the flaming forest and realizing Shock and Barrel weren't with him.

Shock!

He jumped up again, hissing as his body yelled at him in pain. He ignored it though as his eye scanned the immediate area. He noticed Barrel lying in a bed across the room and let a brief feeling of release wash over him. But where was Shock? Was she alright? Was she even here? If not did she know where to find him? Could she find him? Was she dead?! He blocked this thought from his head immediately and grit his sharp teeth in determination, horns growing from beneath his hair. He would find her.

Having had enough of this guessing game, he tossed aside the blanket he was currently tucked under. Thanking whoever had housed them for leaving his clothes on, he groaned as he inched his way out of the bed. It was that he was physically sore, but the burns on his skin were still fresh and sensitive to the touch. His bare feet touched the ground and he hissed lowly as his muscles tense from supporting his body weight.

He swayed a bit before taking a tentative step forward. Another, louder hiss escaped him and he stumbled forward, clutching at a nearby curtain to steady himself. His tail swished angrily behind him and his eyes grew yellow in annoyance. He wasn't this weak! Breathing deeply he took another step - and another - and another, until he released the curtain, confident on his own two feet again. He staggered forward, eyes searching the room for a tangle of black her or a glimpse of a purple dress. He limped towards the edge of the curtain, ready to wake up Barrel to begin the search when he glanced over his shoulder.

Shock!

He spun, nearly losing balance and again having to grip the now protesting curtain. He helped himself over to her bedside and perched on the edge, tail lying protectively over her lap. Lock turned his head this way and that, observing Shock's face. She was sleeping. Her hair was wild and pretty around her creamy face and her breath came in ragged gasps. A burn mark darkened the right hand side of her face. Lock glared at it.

Was this his fault? Was his anger and jealousy over losing Shock what had driven them all to this crazy plan and nearly killed her? Had he nearly killed her? His decidedly empty stomach plunged at the thought. He shook his head. No. No, he could never do anything to hurt Shock. Not intentionally. He lo-

He cut the thought off, too afraid to admit it even to himself. Glancing down, he noticed Shock's delicate hand resting over her slowly moving stomach. He took the small appendage into his own hand and held it tightly. She was leaving him. He frowned. No she wasn't dying but within hours she'd wake up and then within days she'd heal and be off to live with the other witches.

"Catherine?" His voice had to be forced passed his shaky lips as he stared deeply into her unresponsive face.

Had Shock (Catherine) opened her eyes at that moment she would have been the only one to ever witness a stray tear travel down the devil's face before evaporating into nothingness on his jaw line. His dead heart seemed to be breaking at that moment.

He loved her.

RELIEF.

Barrel sat happily in his borrowed bed, devouring a lollipop that Sally had brought to cheer him up. Nearly suffocating and watching your friends burned a live can be very traumatizing to one so freshly dead. He hummed a pleasant tune to himself. He couldn't remember the last time anyone in town had dared to sing 'Making Christmas'. That whole year had become taboo.

He stared amusedly at his two friends directly across from him now. Lock had fallen asleep clutching Shock's hand and was now lying half on-half off her bed, his face pushed into the cushion that was her wild hair. Shock hadn't seemed to move all that much except that she was now turned slightly toward Lock and her other hand had moved to cover the one of his that was already clutching her other. They looked –dare he think it- cute.

He had been awake the longest of them all and had heard all of and witnessed part of both of his friends' near break downs. What he couldn't understand was how they didn't seem to realize they were in love just yet. He licked his lollipop contemplatively. Were they stupid or something?
Everyone took Barrel to be a pretty dense character but in actuality not much got by the chubby teenager. He'd noticed for years the way Lock stared after Shock and the way Shock seemed to gravitate towards Lock in return. Saying they weren't in love was like saying the same thing about Jack and Sally. Untrue.

He chuckled to himself, now starting to gnaw on his candy. He wasn't jealous in anyway that both Shock and Lock seemed more worried about each other than himself. In all honesty he'd worried enough about himself for the three of them. he was just relieved that they were all fine and would be going home soon.

Well of course Shock wouldn't be there long, and Barrel got the feeling that if she wasn't there long then Lock wouldn't be either. Crazy devil. He'd follow that witch to the end of Christamas Town and back. Made him want to laugh. So he did.

He laughed long and loud and only laughed harder when he noticed that the noise made his older cohorts flinch and curl further into each other. Shaking his head he snorted and continued to devour his treat. The door creaked open softly and he turned his round head to the side.

"Are you okay in here, Danny?" Sally the ragdoll asked worriedly having heard his laughing from down the hall and taken it as crying. He nodded, smiling, and motioned with his eyes over to Shock and Lock.

Sally raised a confused stitch of an eyebrow before she noticed the two teens and smiled sweetly. She rested her mix matched hands over her woolen heart and sighed in a girlish way. Barrel snickered again. Mrs. Skellington made her way over to his bed silently and perched on the edge.

"They're so cute," she cooed, voicing his earlier forbidden thought. He nodded in agreement, the cracking of the sucker between his teeth taking the place of his voice.

"Mhm," he mumbled over the muffled crunching sound.

He was happy for his friends obviously. He'd always known they would end up together. This of course meant that their trio would become a duo but he couldn't bring himself to care. He had become scarily unselfish after Oogie's death and wouldn't blame his friends if they left him. Birds of a feather didn't always flock together.

Still he smiled in relief that the future was looking up and flashed a row of rotten teeth at Sally. The thread of her mouth pulled up into a smile and she patted his head lightly. After disposing of his now bare lollipop stick, she tucked him in with all the care of a mother hen. Barrel snickered again.

"Do you need anything, Danny?" she asked, again using his real name that he had decided to trust her with. He shook his head 'no' and settled down on his cot. She smiled before retreating from the room. Barrel cast one more glance at his sleeping friends before turning onto his side and surrendering to a sugar nap.

Hey guys! Sorry its been so long since I've update! Crazy times, believe you me! but anyway I hope everyone enjoyed this. at first it was more of a space filler to let you all know I hadn't abandoned this story but it's actually turned out to be a really important chapter that was fun to write from all the different views :D

Thanks for reading!
~monie

p.s. i bet no one was expecting Barrel to be that intuitive were they? :D haha, me either!

p.p.s. I got their real names from the actors that voiced them incase anyone was wondering why I picked those specifically. Ok that's it! Byeee!