"It's not your unlife I'm worried about," he said. "It's hers. And when it comes to that unlife, Lock, Shock, and Barrel are better influences than you give them credit for."

Jack frowned, but nodded.

"As her creator, I expect better from you. Locking your creations up didn't work with Sally, and it certainly doesn't work with Carver. Something different is indeed in order."

But at least the doctor seemed to be coming around to the idea. Carver would be happy to hear it, especially knowing that she wouldn't be grounded for sixty or so years.

Finkelstein nodded, missing half of what the skellington said because he was deep in thought about a possible solution. "Hmmmmm...."

Jewel poked her head back into the room. "Excuse me, Jack, but are you two just about done? I still need to give my husband a proper examination. It shouldn't take too long, however, and you are of course welcome to join us for lunch afterward."

The doctor came back to attention as his wife spoke. He opened his mouth to snap at her that he was fine, but quickly stopped to re-calibrate his response. Right, she was female. Which meant she was ruled by her emotions, and controlled by an innate need to nurture and protect. Of course she was going to continue pressing the issue; reason alone wouldn't be enough to override that biological programming.

"Thank you, my dear," he said slowly and carefully, "but I really do believe I will be okay. I haven't experienced any difficulties functioning since I returned here. Perhaps you should simply start lunch now." Cooking for him should be pretty high on her priority list, and as another form of nurturing, it might be enough to counter the focus on his brain.

Jack turned to Jewel when she appeared.

"I believe we've reached an understanding," he said, "and I'm afraid I can't stay too much longer, but thank you for the offer."

He frowned, but made no further comment. Jack decided to let the couple resume their original argument as he bid them both a good day and headed back into town.

~~~

As Jack entered the square, he saw Lock sitting on top of the wall bordering the square as he assisted Wolfman with fixing a loose stone. He caught the little devil's eye and gave him a small smile. Lock glanced up long enough to return it, then went back to holding the stone in place so Wolfman could scrape off the excess mortar.

Jack then made his way to Town Hall to check in on Carver and give her the good news. He stepped inside and looked for the pumpkin creature. Already, the floors wonderfully creaked under his shoes, the excess dust had been wiped from the benches, and some of the spider webs had been better arranged.

"Carver?" he called.

Jewel blinked at her husband's word choice, narrowed her eyes at him for a moment, then smiled. She sidled up to his bed and proceeded to yank open his skull. She wasn't careless as she pulled his brain out, but she did move with a sudden and unexpected speed that the doctor wasn't able to stop her in time. She plopped it into a large jar of liquid with a satisfied nod.

"Have a good day, Jack. Send Sally my regards."

---

Carver was up in the rafters attempting to coax a rather timid widow spider back into her relocated web. Upon hearing her name called, she placed the spider as near the web as it would let her put it, and casually leaned over sideways until she tumbled off the rafter. Her lower vines easily grabbed onto it before she fell completely, allowing her to dangle upside down such that her face was just within Jack's comparatively elevated eyesight.

"Hi, Jack."

She was still pretty reserved, as she usually was with him, but she was noticeably more relaxed and cheerful than before.

Jack heard a rattling noise up in the rafters, and assumed it was the various items in Carver's cage shifting around. He smiled when he saw the Jack-o-lantern head appear.

"Ah, there you are!" he said cheerfully. "And wonderful work so far."

He stepped closer.

"But more importantly, after an admittedly frustrating talk with the doctor, you're not grounded," he said. "And I believe going forward, things will be different at home."

Carver tilted her head and squinted her lowest pair of eyes suspiciously. "Different how? What exactly did he say is going to change?"

"For one, no more trying to keep you locked in your room," Jack said.

He paused for a moment. The doctor said he had a new way of dealing with her, but didn't quite specify before Jewel came in.

"For another," Jack continued, "he's going to change how he interacts with you."

He gave her a soft smile.

"Things will be different," he promised, "and I'll check in here and there to be sure."

Carver frowned slightly and opened her top pair of eyes a little wider on one side, still squinting with the bottom pair. "If you say so..."

She shrugged and dropped to the floor, catching herself with her arms and somersaulting to an upright position. "Anyway... Anything else you want me to do in here?"

Jack surveyed the area for anything else that needed to be done.

"No, I don't think so," he said. "Go ahead and take a break, then I believe the Hydes needed some help sharpening blades and axes."

He then got down on one knee to be more at her level.

"And Carver," he said gently, "I don't want you to hesitate to come to me if you're still having issues at home. I may be the Pumpkin King, but I don't want you to feel like I'm unapproachable. Part of my job is to help every citizen be their best monster where I can, and you can't be your best monster if you're struggling."

Carver hesitated before slowly nodding. "Sure, Jack. I'll keep that in mind."

Jack gave her a soft smile and gently patted one of her vines, before he stood up. He had other things to see to.

~~~

The incident with Carver and the doctor spread through the town like the fog a few days ago. Lock clarified a few things with his siblings, such as how Jack stepped in, and the implied promise that he'd help Carver. Shock wished she had been there to witness it and assist Carver in taking that old codger down. Barrel figured it was for the best that Lock was there instead.

With enough pumpkins sitting at the station waiting to be carved, Barrel assisted with some of bulkier deliveries to the witches' shop. He carried a huge crate of dead man's hands. He pushed the shop door open with his back.

Shock was to his immediate left, chipping away at softened fragments of glue on Aggie's broom. The oldest trickster went around the shop in a cycle, letting some acetone sit and dissolve the first layer of glue on two of the brooms while she worked on the third. The acetone would have taken out mortal super glue with ease, but the Godzilla glue was a lot worse.

"Hey, Shock," Barrel said as he passed her by.

Shock grumbled something resembling a greeting without looking up from her work. Barrel just shrugged and headed for the counter. Agatha was running things up front and keeping an eye on Shock while her aunts made potions.

"Where do you want this?" Barrel asked her.

Agatha glanced over at him before quickly turning away. One the one hand, she couldn't really get back the spices she'd gotten rid of, which hadn't been her intention when she asked Carmilla to steal them in the first place. On the other hand, her original intentions had been put in place before she knew the extent to which he had used her. He hadn't just toyed with her interests to distract her from the broom gluing; he had also used her good graces to sell him potion ingredients she might not have otherwise sold to any of the tricksters, and used those to cause potentially deleterious effects on the entire town.

The young witch pointed to a tall shelf. "On top of that."

She waited for him to shuffle the box up to his head height and maneuver it onto the shelf before shaking her head. "Actually, never mind. Those belong over there." She pointed to a stack of crates on the other side of the shop.

Barrel lifted the box up as she instructed, and set it up on the shelf, only for her to change her mind. He groaned and pulled it back down to bring to the other side of the shop.

Sensing a bit of trouble, Shock looked up from her work just long enough to watch Barrel. She had a small smirk on her lips as she picked up exactly what Agatha was doing. Shock then got back to chipping off the glue, but kept Barrel in the corner of her eye.

Agatha tilted her head so the brim of her hat would hide her smirk from Shock as she still refused to face Barrel directly. Just as he got the box balanced and stable on the stack, she made a tiny gasp. "Wait, are those fresh dead man's hands? Those need to sorted and processed. Put them over there."

"Um...I think?" Barrel asked. "I can open the--"

But he didn't get to finish as Agatha gave him another order. He grabbed the crate again and moved it to where she directed.

Shock made a mental bet with herself about how long it'd take for her little brother to catch on.

Agatha took wicked glee in having him move it from one place to another for the next few minutes, slowly beginning to grasp at straws as she resorted to increasingly contrived excuses. Finally, she seemed satisfied with its location and waved for him to leave. Right as he got to the door, however:

"Actually," she suddenly piped up, "you know what--"

Barrel moved the crate to a few more places. It got increasingly heavier as he shifted it each time. When Agatha was finally satisfied, he headed for the door, ready to help out. He passed by Shock, who was starting to tremble from holding in her laughter.

Just as the little shop bell rang, Agatha started again. And like the bell ringing above his head, something rang in his mind.

"--Again?" he cried. "Make up your mind! It's like you're--!"

Barrel just stared dumbfounded at Agatha as it clicked.

"...Oh."

Shock completely lost it and nearly fell over laughing. She gripped Aggie's broom for support.

"Took you long enough, genius!"

Barrel's face suddenly turned gray.

"H-h-hey! It's not funny!"

Agatha turned to try and give Barrel an innocent look, but with Shock's loud cackling from the metaphorical gallery, she lost her composure and began to snicker as well. The tallest trickster's stumbling attempt at defending himself only made the situation worse. She almost felt sorry enough to forgive him.

Almost.

Shock got a hold of herself.

"You're right, Barrel," she said sweetly. "It's hilarious!"

Barrel's face grew darker. He strolled over to Shock and shoved her down. Shock fell to the ground, but never lost her smile. She simply waited for Barrel to pass her, then hooked her ankle around his to trip him. Barrel stumbled like a drunken beast into the counter. He nearly knocked over the cash register as his chest flopped over the long wooden boards.

Shock got back to her feet.

"Might want to be careful, brother dearest," she said cheerfully. "Unless you want to owe me more to cover the damage."

Barrel pushed himself up and shot her a glare, then tried to get back to his feet again. He unwittingly found himself directly facing Agatha as he did.

"Um...anything else?" he asked, in a pitiful attempt to regain some control of the situation.

Agatha nearly snapped at them both to watch it! as Shock knocked Barrel into the counter, but found herself dumbstruck as he suddenly pulled himself up and gazed directly into her eyes. Darkness echoed behind his pupils as they stared at each other. Her insides felt like eyeball jelly. She struggled to remind herself... There was something important...

"Um...anything else?"

Oh, right. She was mad at him.

Damn it.

Of course he had to pick that moment to gaze into her soul. Never when they were flirting. Only when he was in trouble, and she couldn't just give in and kiss him because that would mean she'd have to forgive him first.

...DAMN IT.

Agatha scowled and pushed him away again. "No. It's fine. Go... help somebody move a log, or... something."