By the time Jack and Sally were allowed to go back home, they were both exhausted. It had been an entire day of people cooing at the baby, making faces at the baby, asking them how they were adjusting to the baby, wanting to hold the baby... it went on forever and they were glad to be home. When Jack closed the door, he leaned up against it and let out a tired sigh.
"Well, at least thats over," He said, "Now it's just going to be individual people wanting to see her."
"Beats a big group of people," Sally said, taking Anna and sitting on the black sofa in the main room. "Isn't that right sweetie? Lil' thing needs a break." She gave her finger to the baby, who squeaked and held onto it with all the strength she had in her itty bitty little fist. Anna's mother smiled and rested her arm against a pillow. Jack came up and kissed Sally on the top of the head before sitting beside her.
Sally yawned and laid her head on Jack's shoulder. He put his arm around her and started stroking her hair with his long, boney fingers. "I never thought it'd be possible to be this tired."
"She looks pretty awake," Jack said, noticing the way Anna chewed on her fist as if she was waiting for something to happen, but then she looked a little dissapointed when nothing did. Sally moved her arm to a more comfortable spot against the pillow and smiled at Anna.
"Thats because all she had to do was giggle and let herself be passed around." She said, smiling. "But I am glad that everybody likes her."
"Of course they do!" Jack said excitedly, "She's a Skellington!" Sally laughed and so did baby Anna, who didn't even know what she was laughing at.
They stayed up together for an hour or so longer before Anna started yawning, letting her parents know how tired she finally was. She quietly and secretly curled up in her mother's arms and drifted off into a comfortable sleep. Jack and Sally smiled at her before Sally stood up to put her to bed. With Zero following her into the nursery, Sally carefully put Anna into her crib, careful not to wake her up. She was too tired to try and put a crying baby back to sleep, although a part of her figured Anna would wake up later on in the night and demand attention from her tired parents. But of course, Zero might do the same thing he did last time Anna woke up in the middle of the night wanting attention. He flew into her crib and entertained her with his glowing nose.
He really was a good dog.
"You'll watch the baby for me, won't you boy?" She asked, watching Zero look up at her without barking in response. Something inside him must've known not to bark when the baby was asleep because he never did. With a smile, Sally went back downstairs. She thought about leaving the nursery door open a crack so Zero could leave when he wanted, but then she remembered that he was a ghost dog and could just go through the door.
Up until around midnight, it seemed like that night would be the same as every night before it. Jack and Sally went to bed not long after Anna did, both of them exhausted from the long day, and Zero stayed in the nursery with the baby, who was sleeping comfortably.
But suddenly, out of nowhere, Zero came into Jack and Sally's room barking wildly, like the world was ending and he was worried they'd miss it if they kept sleeping. It didn't take much to wake them up, and he'd somehow managed to convince them to follow him. He led them up the stairs and into the nursery, where he flew right through the door and was barking against Anna's loud screaming.
Jack threw open the door and saw three shadowy figures fighting by the window. Hurriedly, he flicked on the light and saw that it wasn't just any three people. It was Lock, Shock, and Barrel, and Barrel was caught holding the screaming baby. Lock and Shock had been fighting over who woke the baby up, but the second the light came on they stopped and felt a sickening fear in the pit of their stomachs. They were doomed for sure, there was no way Jack would take this.
Without a real plan in mind, Barrel dropped the baby and the three escaped out the window. Sally hurried to her crying baby while Jack went after Lock, Shock, and Barrel as they tried to make their escape. But they got away, and that infuriated him. He could've sworn he heard the last bits of the earlier argument as he shut the window and double-locked it.
"Shh..shh...its okay baby." Sally cooed, trying to sooth Anna enough to stop crying. But she was scared, her tiny body shaking as she screamed. Jack looked at his wife and child, then down at his dog, who looked like he wasn't sure what was going to happen. But then relief washed over his expression when Jack knelt down and gave him a pat on the head.
"Good boy Zero," He said, smiling at him for a moment before standing up to try and calm his wife and child. Sally leaned against him, holding Anna close enough to almost smoosh her.
"God I hate those kids!" She growled, moving Anna so she could see her little face. "Why would they do this?"
"To mess with us," Jack said darkly, kissing the side of Sally's head. "But don't worry, I'll figure out some way to keep those little brats out of here." He brushed his long index finger against Anna's little skeletal cheek. "I won't let them get her."
Sally smiled a little. "I know you won't, Jack. You love her too much." He nodded.
"But just for tonight, lets move her crib into our room."
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When Oogie heard about what Lock, Shock, and Barrel did, he wasn't happy at all.
"Did I not tell you to leave them alone?!" Oogie shouted from inside his lair. The three kids were leaning against the large pipe in their treehouse, listening to him yelling. "Since when did it become okay to disobey me? When I tell you not to do something you don't do it! Now you've ruined everything!"
"But--" Shock tried, sounding braver than she felt.
"I don't want to hear it! Now he'll be keeping a closer eye on that little brat, if you had waited, we wouldn't have this problem! Do you know how long its going to take for him to let his guard down now?!" He was furious, and the kids were afraid of him. They had a right to be, he could get rid of them whenever he wanted and they were starting to tempt him.
"We're sorry," Barrel suggested, looking at his two comrads to see if they agreed. They did.
"You should be!" and after a moment, he added. "You three will have one LAST chance to redeem yourselves, and I don't want to see any disobediance on your part this time."
"Of course!" Lock agreed, glad to hear they didn't make his boogie list for this one.
"Don't any of you do anything to them, got it? No pranks, none of your little tricks, just leave them alone. All three of them, got it? My plan is going to be delayed thanks to your little slip up tonight, but it'll still work. If you three don't mess it up again."
"We won't!" Shock promised, and after that they were dismissed. Oogie was mad, but after he had a quiet moment to think about it, he could make this work to his advantage. He's got more time to plan now, to make everything fool proof, and now that they were more afraid of him they are less likely to double-cross him. Yeah...maybe what they did wasn't as bad for him as it could've been. But he'd never tell them that, it was better if they were terrified.
What he didn't know was that the kids decided that it would be best not to go into town for a while, Jack would be after them for sure, and he wasn't the best person to make angry. Esspecially when he had the entire town on his side.
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Anna slept in her crib in her parents' room that night, and that day Sally was going to take her shopping with her. But Jack wanted to keep her at home for the afternoon.
"The mayor is coming by to talk about the finishing touches for Halloween this year. I'm going to need all the adorable entertainment I can get." Sally smiled and agreed, part of her was glad to have the afternoon to herself and part of her didn't want to leave the baby home without her. But when Jack swore he would take excellent care of her, Sally forced herself to let him watch her. It wasn't like he was going to let anything happen to her, she knew that.
In fact, earlier that morning Jack was working to secure Anna's nursery window so Lock, Shock, and Barrel couldn't get back in. Just thinking about what those little brats did-- or more accuratly, tried to do-- was enough to infuriate him to the point of wanting to break something. No one was going to hurt his baby girl. He'd never, ever let that happen.
But he made everything secure, and it was safe for Anna to sleep in her nursery again. But just to make himself feel better, he moved Zero's bed into the nursery so he could keep an eye on her like he did the night before. He got extra treats in his breakfast for what he did, he deserved so much more than that though, they just didn't know how to thank a ghost dog for saving their treasure.
The mayor came by looking chipper and almost like he didn't want to work that day. But Jack knew better, that day was going to be filled with long questions that need a lengthy answer that would take all afternoon. He wanted to be outside with Sally, watching her shop for baby stuff at the witchs' shop for Anna. But at least he had Anna, she would probably make the day a little better.
Jack told the mayor about what Lock, Shock, and Barrel tried to do the night before, and he looked shocked to hear it. They discussed it for a little while, mostly Jack telling him about how he secured the nursery so it couldn't happen again, and the mayor telling him he didn't need to worry. They'd start a neighborhood watch if they needed to, he'd make sure those little brats couldn't sneak in again. Jack thanked him, but part of him hoped it wouldn't come to that.
Anna had a little red rubber ball in her hands, just kind of...looking at it. Her mouth was too small to try and chew on it, and she wouldn't be able to catch it if she threw it into the air. She was still pretty weak for a two-day-old baby, but she was able to hold onto the ball if she put her mind to it. Besides, what else did she have to do? Her daddy was busy trying to make Halloween scarier than last year, and would only pay small bits of attention to her when he had the chance.
But she put her little mind to something else also, she managed to somehow send the little red ball flying into the mayor's forehead, making his head spin around from happy to sad. When she saw the disgruntled look on his face, she squeaked in delight and smiled. Jack laughed when he saw the pleased look on her face, but the mayor didn't think it was very funny at all-- until he saw how adorable Anna looked when she laughed. Even he couldn't stay mad at a giggling baby.
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A/N:
yes, yes, I know. Two-day old babies aren't capable of half the things I give Anna credit for. But hey, that doesn't make it any less funny, does it? *Lil Flowergirl is sorry if it does ;_; * But hey! The next chapter is when things start getting a lot more fun for everyone! 
Its gonna be great.
