A/N: I'd like to thank my beta-reader.

I'd like to give a shoutout to Amelka-Wonka-Kitty on deviantart, who's drawn Scarlett and created photoshopped pictures of her with Willy Wonka, using the actress I picked.

If you recognize it from the Wonka Community, I don't own it.

Scarlett woke to see bits of makeup on her pillow. Her head hurt to the point that she felt like it would burst at any moment, and looking to the floor, she saw her shoes recklessly thrown to the side. She realized next she'd gone to bed in her dress, rumpling it to the point where it would require a trip to the dry-cleaner, how tiresome, and her purse lay on her dresser, with the contents spilled out. As if all that wasn't enough, she heard noises from the living room.

Last night was a complete blur, but Scarlett easily explained the noises to herself by guessing she'd been watching TV, and forgotten to turn it off. It wouldn't be the first time she'd left technology running while drunk. She was just glad she'd had enough sense not to touch the stove, the apartment hadn't burned down in the night, anyway, and she hadn't seen her keys on the dresser. Scarlett hoped that she meant she'd also had the sense not to drive, though that might have been because the bartender had taken her keys away before she could. If so, it wouldn't be the first time that had happened.

Taking her dress off, Scarlett got a kimono from her closet, wearing it like a bathrobe, and making a mental note to see if her plan from last night had worked. She took a look at herself in the mirror and saw her hair in disarray, and makeup smudged all over her face. Mornings were never her best time, and her mornings after her drinking nights were even worse. Scarlett searched her purse and the contents dumped on her dresser for her keys, and not finding them, decided that her previous conclusion about their location was right.

Her hand across her forehead, Scarlett went to the bathroom, on her way glimpsing Ken in the living room, wearing baggy clothes and playing Zelda.

"Hey, Ken," Scarlett said, as she entered the bathroom.

"Hey," he grunted back, intent on the game.

She pulled makeup remover and a bag of cotton balls from the cabinet and placed them on the counter. Scarlett was about to take a ball from the bag, when something clicked in her head.

She rushed from the room.

"KEN! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

Ken jolted and nearly dropped the controller. Then he composed himself, and continued playing.

"Way to greet your big brother," he said, sardonically. "What happened to 'hey'?"

"Half-brother," Scarlett spat. Her head was pounding like mad. "Let me guess, Candi threw you out."

Ken laughed, and paused the game. "Where have you been? That was years ago. Now I'm married to Trudy."

"Putting as much distance as possible between myself and Dad's side of the family is where I've been," Scarlett said, bitterly.

Satisfied the game was paused, Ken turned to face Scarlett. When he saw her, his expression changed to one of horror, and then he laughed uncontrollably.

"What's so funny?" Scarlett demanded, her eyes narrowing.

"Did you take a look at yourself in the mirror?" Ken said between laughs, as he returned to the game. "You look like the Creature from the Black Lagoon."

Scarlett went to the kitchen and gathered the Prairie Oyster ingredients, responding snarkily, "I suppose if anyone has a right to judge attractiveness, it's the guy who looks like a bum someone picked up off the street."

"Doesn't matter what men look like, as long as they have a good personality," Ken retorted.

"You have a personality?" Scarlett said sarcastically, getting so angry about the double-standard that she broke the yolk of the egg she cracked. Scarlett gave a frustrated sigh, and dumped the glass and its contents on the dirty dishes that filled the sink.

"That still doesn't explain what you're doing here," Scarlett said, as she looked for another glass in the cabinet, only to find that she was out of clean ones.

"Haven't you figured it out?" Ken asked, as Scarlett was rinsing off dishes and putting them in the dishwasher. "Trudy threw me out, and I need a place to stay."

"You couldn't stay with Tanya?"

Ken scoffed. "I'm sorry, do you not know Tanya?"

"The Evil Queen," Scarlett said, begrudgingly. "How could I forget?"

Scarlett finished loading the dishwasher and saw a few dishes left, making a mental note to get them later. She went to her room and turned on her cell phone to see tons of missed calls from Willy and a few text messages. She'd get back to him but, right now, there was something else she had to deal with, and it was sitting on her couch. She called Tanya.

"Hello," Tanya said, in her fake cheerful voice. "Who is this?"

"It's Scarlett."

"Oh, if it isn't my favorite sister," Tanya said, her voice still cheerful, and still fake. "How are you?"

On the other end, Scarlett rolled her eyes.

"Cut the crap, Tanya," Scarlett said. "What's Ken doing here?"

"Straight to the point, as usual," Tanya said, giggling. "Ken came to me in his time of need and I sent him to you."

"Why?" Scarlett said, getting angry.

"Well," Tanya said, in her sad voice. "It's just that, with the money situation being what it is, Josh and I just couldn't afford to take care of Ken. You remember Josh? Our dashing quarterback of high school fame, and your old crush? I hope you're not too depressed that he married me."

"Still harping on that, are you? What can I say? You two were meant for each other," Scarlett said, with a smirk. "So, you didn't have enough money to take care of Ken, but you had enough to ship him all the way to my apartment?"

"You know what a handful Ken can be," Tanya said, something Scarlett had to concede. "It's cheaper buying him a plane ticket than it is putting him up in your house."

"You couldn't have sent him to Dad?" Scarlett asked.

"He wouldn't want him. Daddy's new job keeps him pre-occupied," Tanya began, innocently. "And so does his new marriage."

Scarlett stood there in silence, until she finally got over the shock enough to speak. "Dad got remarried?"

"You didn't know?" Tanya said, pretending to be shocked. "Then again, it's not all that surprising. You never were as close to him as I am."

"Tanya, I'm working on something really big, and I can't afford to deal with Ken right now."

Tanya gave a dramatic sigh. "It breaks my heart when someone refuses to help their family in their time of need."

"You did," Scarlett countered back.

"I'm not rolling in money, like you are," Tanya said bitterly, and then went back to her sweet voice. "But that would change if you'd just spare a bit of cash for me."

Scarlett scoffed. "Forget it. Last time I gave you money, you spent it all at Tiffany's."

"Well, then enjoy your new house guest," Tanya said, keeping her sweet voice that, to Scarlett, was the vocal equivalent of nails dragging across a chalkboard. "It was wonderful talking to you, but I really must get going."

Tanya hung up, leaving Scarlett standing there frustrated. She called Willy next, to deliver the bad news. By now, she should've been at the Chocolate Factory.

"Finally," Willy said, when he recognized Scarlett's voice on the line. "Why don't you answer, and why are you there, and not here?"

"I'm just calling to say that I can't make it," Scarlett explained. "I've got a few problems."

"Fix them later," Willy told her.

"It's not that simple," Scarlett began, hesitantly. "My brother's here, and I don't trust him alone in my apartment."

"Your brother?"

Scarlett could practically hear Willy's jaw drop before he spoke again.

"That's simple, send him on his way."

"Well, I kind of agreed to take him in," Scarlett murmured

Willy laughed.

"You must be mumbling, because I could've sworn I heard you say that you agreed to let your no-goodnik brother stay with you."

"I wasn't mumbling," Scarlett said, ashamed.

This was met with silence, for longer than Scarlett liked, but before she could think of anything to say, Willy's voice crackled over the line.

"I'm thinking to myself that I can't think what you were thinking to yourself, to think you'd want your self-described dead-beat brother to move in with you."

Scarlett sighed at all this disapproving talk of thinking. She'd been in no condition to think.

"I was thinking, 'Woo-wee, I'm having the time of my life!'"

"So you were drunk," Willy said. "And under-the-influence, you agreed to let a brother you call a waste of space, stay with you."

"Everyone has their vices, Willy," Scarlett defended. "And I really don't appreciate being lectured about mine."

Scarlett was met with another silence.

"Willy?" Scarlett said, wondering if he might hang up. She'd prefer a lecture to that.

"I just remembered you have a brother and a sister," Willy chirped.

"Yeah, what about it?" Scarlett could see where Willy was going with this, and he wasn't going to like her answer.

"Ship the sod off to the sister."

"She shipped him off to me."

"Shucks," Willy said, thinking. "So give him some bread and water, and lock him in a closet. You need to get over here, pronto. We have a contest to plan."

Imagining Ken locked in a closet, Scarlett laughed.

"Not a bad idea, but I think it would be better to have the house extremely baby-proofed," Scarlett said. "It will make Ken uncomfortable and I won't have to worry about the police."

"Whatever works," Willy said, nonchalantly.

"I'll get there as soon as I can, I promise."

She heard the click as Willy rang off, and put the phone down. Speaking of vices, before she confronted Ken, she had something to take care of. Reaching into the cabinet, Scarlett removed a bag of what looked like crushed oregano, and breathed a sigh of relief that Ken hadn't found her stash. Maybe he'd been too tired from his flight to look, but Scarlett knew that wouldn't last. If she expected to keep it, she'd just have to put this in a place Ken would never look. Scarlett beat feet back to her bathroom, and saw a box of condoms in her medicine cabinet that she kept next to her birth control. There was no guarantee that all of her conquests would bring protection, so it was good to have that stash around for insurance, but more importantly, behind birth control of any kind was the last place Ken would ever look. Feeling confident in her solution, that's where Scarlett stuck her stash.

Scarlett went to the living room to see her brother still on the couch.

"Ken, did you know Dad remarried?" Scarlett asked.

Ken continued playing video games, ignoring her. Scarlett shut off the game.

"Hey, I was this close to getting the third spiritual stone!" Ken said. "Thanks to you, Hyrule's doomed!"

"I'll send an apology note to Princess Zelda," Scarlett said, rolling her eyes. "Did you know Dad remarried?"

"Yeah, last year," Ken said, angrily. "Can I get back to my game, now?"

"My game," Scarlett corrected. "When and where?"

"No idea, I threw the invite away. The only time I talk to Dad is when I want to hit him up for cash," Ken said, and then turned to her with gleeful shock. "You mean you didn't know?"

Scarlett kept her mouth shut, not wanting to admit that she didn't know, but not wanting to lie either.

"I figured you weren't invited, but he didn't even tell you?" Ken said, laughing. "I should have known. The order's always been Tanya, me, and, last and most definitely least, you!"

Scarlett clenched her fists, fantasizing about kneeing Ken where the sun don't shine. Against all expectations, what she was hearing stung. Scarlett did say she wanted to cut off all ties to Dad's side of the family, but to not even get one peep, from her own father, that he was getting married? It's not like Ken and Tanya cared about him all that much. All they saw was a living ATM, even if Tanya wouldn't admit it. Yet he still included them in his life. The stinging feeling disturbed her. It was amazing how Scarlett's logic told her one thing, while her emotions told her the exact opposite.

"You can stay here until you find a job and a place to stay," Scarlett said coldly. "There's a newspaper on the kitchen counter, so feel free to look through the classified sections. After that, you're on your own."

A/N: I actually intended for the chapter to be longer, but I thought this would be a dramatic note to end it on. The offer for cameos is still available and I got myself hooked on Animorphs. I also made a journal entry on deviantart about what makes a Mary-Sue. Check it out, if you're interested. Right now, I'm having a problem. I have all this stuff I have to do (original fiction, fanfiction, my video game blog), but I have no idea what I should prioritize and that includes this fanfic. Read and comment, please.