Franklin had to listen Kelly's I told yous all the way back to his mansion. At one point she was singing them at him, she even had a dance.

And considering how things had gone... well... he understood why. She had been right.

All that arguing they had been doing and she had been right. He... he should have listened to her. He just... it never occurred to him that the Harpy was telling her the truth. He had thought this was all some sort of trick.

Though, he was very curious as to why Kelly had the Harpy throw in the necklace as part of the deal. If she really wanted a necklace made of bones, Elsa could have whipped her up something.

By the time they got back to his mansion the sun was firmly set, the moon was high in the sky. His date was officially derailed, and no doubt cancelled.

Selena was going to kill him.

He half expected her to still be there ready to tear him a new one. But she wasn't, and neither was Sammy which meant she had listened to him when he told her to take him back to Granny's. It was where he wanted to take Kelly, but she had demanded to go here, though she wouldn't tell him why.

He got the door open and was surprised to find that Margaret was still there. Odd, he was pretty sure that he told her to leave.

"You didn't have to wait for us," he said as Kelly moved towards the stairs. God, where was she going now? "You can go home, Margaret!"

He had to sprint up the stairs to catch up to Kelly. "What are you doing? Why are we here?" he called after her.

She had let herself into his office and was in the process of heading to the statue room. "I'm not going to be able to be able to sleep until I know if I was right!"

"Right about what?"

He had finally caught up. She was standing in front of Veera's statue. She had the necklace in hand and a nervous look on her face.

"If I'm right... if I'm right, this goes here."

She pointed to the empty slot around statue-Veera's neck. It was in the shape of a multilayered necklace. There was no way that the string of rat bones fit there.

Franklin turned back to her, a look of incredulousness that she frowned at. "Look... just... no matter what happens, I just need you to understand that I only wanted to help." Franklin nodded at her. Yeah that was fair. "And if I'm right I get to do that song and dance again."

Great.

Cause he needed another round of that song and dance again.

She put the necklace around the statue's neck and somehow... somehow it fit right in place like it was always meant to be there. She took a step back, both of them waiting to see what was going to happen next.

For a moment there was nothing. Kelly had started to frown.

And then they heard the whistle.

It started off low, and then, like a tea kettle it got shriller. The pressure in the room thickened around them, like the heavy calm before a storm. Franklin reached out for her, pulling her close to him, to shield her from whatever was coming.

The whistle got louder and louder, and higher and higher until it just... popped.

It was a soft whoosh, they weren't thrown off their feet, it was almost like a soft breeze had hit them. When Franklin dared to look he swore he could see those sparkles that Kelly had been talking about.

It was like the room was dotted in dappled pink lights. The statue of Veera was gone, and in its place was a portrait of the new her. She was happy, smiling and human with a Chef's hat upon her head.

Both of them stared at it confused.

It was Kelly who finally asked: "Did it work?"

"I uh... I don't know. We haven't broken a curse before, we don't know what it looks like." Kelly sighed, this disheartened sort of huff and Franklin softened to her. After everything she had gone through to get this far the girl deserved a win. "I guess we'd have to check on Veera to be sure."

"I knew I should have gone to get her first, but I didn't want to get her hopes up."

Franklin took a good long look at Kelly. He hadn't realized that she cared about anyone in this town, but apparently she did. He had to figure that it was actually just him she had a problem with.

And could he really blame her?

"Right, well... we can check on her tomorrow..."

Kelly winced. "Could we maybe go check now? So she won't be freaked out in the morning if somethings different?"

Franklin cocked an eyebrow at her. It was a sweet gesture, but if Veera woke up tomorrow uncursed she wouldn't freak out, or maybe she would. If she did it would be a happy shock, but a shock none-the-less.

That and he knew he real reason why she wanted to go check.

"You won't be able to sleep until you know, right?"

"No, I won't. So can we go? Please?!"

Franklin couldn't help but smile, this was the first time she seemed excited... about anything involving this town. For the first time he could see what a genuine smile on her face looked like. And the way it lit up her face just made her more beautiful.

Franklin lowered his own smile away from her so she couldn't tell where his mind had gone.

"Alright, we can go," he said. "Hopefully she's not asleep. She goes to bed early because she's always up early to bake for the café."

She nodded, but fell into step beside him as they walked out of the hall of statues and into his office. When they got out of his office they could hear a bit of a commotion drifting up towards them from the main lobby.

It seemed to be two people arguing about something.

Dear god, had Margaret still not left?

Kelly suddenly gasped and rushed down the stairs. Franklin followed stopping just short of the last steps when he realized where Kelly was running to.

Veera was standing there, over Margret's desk, hands on her hips, still in her PJs and rollers in her hair. She was missing all the pig parts that Franklin had gotten used to.

The pig nose, the tail, the little floppy ears, all gone.

She looked exactly like the portrait hanging upstairs, except that the Veera in front of them was frowning. She had been saying: "Yes, I'm very well aware that I don't have the pig's snout anymore, you insensitive, one-eyed twit!" when Kelly collided with her.

Kelly was hugging her tightly, jumping up and down and squealing, making Veera jump with her.

"It worked! It worked! It worked!" she kept crying and then she let go of Veera and back to Franklin. "It worked! I was right! I told you so!"

Franklin rolled his eyes. Yes, she had. She wasn't going to let this go.

"You did this?" Veera asked, coming to stand beside her. "You two broke my curse?"

"Well..."

"I found the necklace!" Kelly cried. "The Harpy had it, and we... I traded it for... you know I'm going to let Franklin explain that part. The point is, I found it, and you're uncursed and it worked! I'm so relieved!"

Veera wrapped her up in one huge massive hug. "Thank you! Thank you!"

A blush touched Kelly's cheeks. "It's okay... it was nothing really... I just matched the sparkles..."

Nothing? Figuring out the sparkles matched, arguing with him for weeks over this, eventually kidnapping the Harpy's daughter and orchestrating her return, all of that was nothing?

"You have no idea what this means to me," Veera said, continuing on as if she hadn't heard Kelly at all. "Tomorrow afternoon! We're going to have a party in your honour! Everyone will be there! Even you Franklin! Margaret, clear his calendar!"

"I don't work for you," Margaret cried, but Veera ignored her too.

"I'm going to go home, start thinking up the theme," she said heading for the door. "Tomorrow, you, the whole town. Thank you party! You better be there!"

"I wouldn't miss it for the world!" Kelly cried waving Veera off. Once she was gone she turned that giant grin to Franklin again.

Franklin sighed, trying to hide his smile, because he knew exactly what it was she wanted to say. "I know, I know, you told me so!"

"I did," she said proudly. "Now maybe you'll listen to me when I suggest things."

Franklin found himself sighing again. Yeah, he was going to have to start listening to her.

Within reason, of course. But right now he wanted the topic changed.

"Come on, we have to go. I'm sure Sammy's still up waiting for you..."

"Oh!" Kelly cried. "Your date! Do you think... do you think you can still make it? Or..."

"No it's too late now," he said though, honestly, he didn't care. His date had been the furthest thing from his mind since he left the mansion. "Let's just get you rested. After all of the heroics today, I bet you're exhausted."

Kelly nodded and once again the two of them fell into step. For the first time, she was walking close to him, he could nudge her with his elbow if he tried. That warm heat returned to his chest, it made his stomach twist and turn in that unfamiliar way.

They had turned a corner, he knew it. Things were going to get better from here on in.