Chapter Nine

The next few days were at least less awkward for Mike. While he still wasn't all that fond of spending time with the animatronics Mike was glad to a sense of normalcy back. Chica went back to being strangely motherly, Bonnie and Freddy were just as talkative as ever, and Foxy was back as his usual grumpy and argumentative self. The only one who seemed to change a bit more each day was Felix who was already a master of rolling all over the floor.

While Mike wouldn't say that he was all that glad to return each night to the pizzeria he was happy to be able to come and play with Felix each day. Mike wasn't sure if he loved playing with Felix so much because it made him happy that there was a person on earth who really didn't seemed bothered by his awkwardness or because he loved making the baby giggle as they played together. Though Mike felt that the main reason he was so happy to just get out of his house was the fact that his mother seemed to be getting worst every day.

Mike didn't know when his mother stopped just getting drunk off of booze and moved into more dangerous drugs but he knew that the coke she snorted had been making her more active than usual. Before he could always count on his mother being passed out on the sofa, now he didn't know what he was going home to. Most times he didn't even go home and would just stay at his neighbor's house. She was a nice old lady who let him crash on her couch when ever he felt the need to. They didn't talk much, mainly because her english was pretty poor but he liked her all the same.

Still it was nice to go see a person that wasn't being nice to him out of pity and it was even nicer to be able to go and see this person every night, even if it was just too lie on the floor and roll around.

"I'm poking your belly Felix" Mike cooed at the baby as he poked the baby.

Felix giggled in delight as Mike continued to poke him. What delighted Felix the most however was how Mike would place his face as close to his and then quickly move away. Felix would try to catch Mike only for the older boy to move away at the last second.

"Are you two having fun?" Foxy asked as he casually read a magazine that had been left by one of the mothers early in the day. Mike nodded and Felix continued to make happy baby noises. Foxy was glad that at the very least the humans were happy, because lord knew that it had been difficult for the others.

Foxy had still been recovering from Fazbear's fit of the century. But what had been worst than Freddy's wrath had been the reaction of the others, once more he was a social paraya. It was just like the bite of 87 all over again. They were all so angry at him for telling Mike the truth. Supposedly Freddy had wanted to ease Mike into the truth, knowing that it would eventually come up, yet Foxy hadn't seen anything bad in what he had done. Sure he had let the truth slip, but it wasn't like he had hurt anyone. No one had died from knowing, and if anything it had made it all the easier to tell Mike of the danger of him falling asleep here. Still Foxy couldn't deny that at the very least he wasn't alone like last time. If anything he had Felix this time, and Foxy knew he also had Mike.

Ever since Foxy had sent Mike on his little journey, the fox had noticed that Mike wasn't so jumpy around him anymore. If anything Mike seemed to prefer Foxy's company more than the others which was just fine with him.

"We're having lots of fun right Felix? Now that you can roll over and your starting to crawl." Mike said proudly as he ran his hand through Felix's small tuff of red hair. "Your going to be a big boy aren't you." Mike cooed as he lifted Felix into the air.

Foxy continued to watch them play and he wondered if this was what things would be like for the rest of their lives. Mike would come over at night, maybe when Felix was old enough Mike would be the one to take him to school school, maybe Felix would sleep during most of the night since most humans seemed to do most of their activities during the day. Either way Foxy knew that there was a pretty high chance that if Felix needed another human to teach him how to live in the human world Mike could be the one to do it. Although it was mainly on a hunch, after all unless the second pizzeria got a new night guard it was very unlikely that Felix would get to interact with different humans. Though the more Foxy thought about it the more he felt comfortable knowing that if any one was going to teach Felix how to human that it would be Mike.

"Do what you want, 'cause a pirate is free, You are a pirate!" Mike started to sing as he twirled his security hat over Felix's head. "Yar har, fiddle di dee, Being a pirate is all right with me, Do what you want 'cause a pirate is free, You are a pirate! " He continued his tune until he had noticed Foxy with the biggest grin on his face.

"You like Pirates?" The fox asked a little too excited. It had been a while since he really had played the act of Captain Foxy, yet the role of a pirate had always been special to Foxy. As much as he had tried to forget all this lines of his old show Foxy found that he couldn't. Being a pirate was part of his very automated soul, it was a neglected part, but a part none the less.

Mike noded, "Foxy every kid loves pirates, that's basic little kid 101." Before he could say anything else Foxy was right next to him, looking almost as happy as Bonnie did whenever Mike had mentioned an interest in guitars. It was a truly terrifying look. Mostly because Mike was a little scared that Foxy might make him learn something, like Bonnie had done when he made Mike learn the first few cords to Bonnie's favorite song.

"Why don't you sing Felix that tune again, I'm sure he'd like to hear it. Wouldn't you my little potato?"

Mike gave the pirate a look but went along and sang the song anyway. "You know what would be better?" Mike asked as he pulled his phone out. "If we watched the video."

*#

Freddy had come into the cove a bit worried since Mike and Foxy hadn't come out all evening. Usually they would come out by two, but it was already five and Freddy hadn't seen them once the entire night. He peeked his head into the door "Hey guys are you-"

"Yar har, fiddle di dee, Being a pirate is all right with me! Do what you want 'cause a pirate is free, You are a pirate! Yo Ho, ahoy and avast, Being a Pirate is really badass! Hang the black flag. At the end of the mast! You are a pirate! We're sailing away, Adventure awaits on every shore! We set sail and explore. And run and jump all day. We float on our boat. Until it's time to drop the anchor, Then hang up our coats. Until we sail again! "

The two repeated the song over and over again as Felix clapped his hands in delight. Freddy slowly walked away and closed the door not sure what to do. He had never seen Mike or Foxy seem so happy so making them stop was not an option. Yet he knew that seeing them acting like fools was perhaps a once in a life time opportunity. Meaning that he had to bring everyone in to see it. Freddy ran as fast as he could and wordlessly dragged Bonnie and Chica towards the cove.

"Freddy what is your problem?" Bonnie asked angrily until he saw exactly what was happening in the cove. "Freddy I'm sorry for ever doubting you this is beautiful."

Chica giggled as she watched the two dance around, taking turns to swing Felix around.

It wasn't until the three started to burst out into laughter that the two stopped.

Foxy looked away sheepishly "Er, Hi"

"Oh don't mind us." Freddy howled as he tried to keep himself up. "Go on, do your little song again, it was great."

"Pfff, your just jealous." Mike said as he stood up proudly, "You'll never be as cool as Foxy."

If Foxy could blush he knew he would have but it was Freddy who would have truly turned red if he had blood in his body. "W-what? What do you mean not cool?"

"I didn't say not cool, I said not as cool." Mike corrected "Besides Foxy's a pirate fox, that as cool as you can get." Mike handed Felix to Foxy before heading out the door. "Anyway it's two minutes until six, I better get going." Before he left he turned to Foxy, "This was fun, thanks."

"Aye matey, it was quite fun."

With a final waved Mike yawned before saying "See you guys tonight."

For the rest of the day Bonnie could tell that Freddy was rather upset. As much as Freddy tried to play the easy going responsible one Bonnie knew that at his core Freddy was like the rest of them. He was determined to be the children's favorite, it was just their programing that gave them such a desire. Most times it wasn't a real problem, it was more of a competition, something that encouraged them to perform all that much more eagerly.

Though Bonnie had never expected that there was a competition to be the night guard's favorite. From Bonnie's perspective Mike was one of them, he was Felix's uncle after all so technically he was already part of the Fazbear family. The Fazbear was a close group ture, but they didn't have any favorites among themselves. But Bonnie knew that Freddy didn't see it that way.

As the pizzeria closed at ten pm as it did every night, Freddy waited for the night crew to leave before disappearing into the office. Usually during this time the animatronics all went to pirate's cove to spend some time with Felix until Mike came at twelve. Naturally curiosity got the better of Bonnie and he followed Freddy into the office.

"What are you doing?" Bonnie asked as he watched Freddy open drawer after drawer.

Freddy raised his head for a second before going back to searching the filing cabinets."Looking for something."

"Clearly, but what are you looking for."

Freddy sighed and looked at Bonnie. "I'm looking for Michael's information."

"Why?"

"Because,I'm curious, and I want to know more about him."

Bonnie tilted his head in confusion. "This is because he said Foxy was cooler than you right? You want to know what he thinks is cool, so you'll be his favorite." Bonnie shook his head. "Freddy that'll never work."

"What! That's not what I was trying to -"

Bonnie silenced Freddy as he gave him a look and laughed."Freddy it's okay to be jealous."

"I'm not jealous." Freddy lied "It's just that Foxy already has Felix, why should be get Mike too?"

"That sounds a lot like jealousy." Bonnie said as he turned to leave the office. "I'm gonna go play with the baby. And Freddy?" Bonnie peeked through the door before leaving. "Foxy needs Mike more than you, so deal with your thing, but leave them out of it."

Freddy was now left alone in the office, he digged around the cabinets for a bit more before finding what he was looking for. Holding the file in his hand Freddy was surprised to find how thick it was until he saw a bright pink note on the side of the folder.

The humans don't ever look through these, if any of you get curious enough, or if your reading this Mike then have fun going down memory lane. - Marionette.

For once Freddy was ecstatic of the puppet hobby of digging up dirt and leaving it behind. He opened the file eagerly seeing what could only be described as a mess of pictures, drawing, and the occasional note hinting at what the puppet had found interesting. Freddy smiled as he looked at pictures of what could only have been a younger Mike Schmidt. Most of the pictures seemed to be when Mike was between the ages of two to seven, and after that there were only a few images here and there. Occasionally he'd see another boy in the pictures next to Mike, one with Blonde hair, along with a girl who must have been his sister. The three looked so happy, in most of the pictures Mike had a wide smile as if he was laughing, it was very unlike his usual scowl that he wore. But as the pictures progressed Freddy stopped seeing the blond haired boy and Mike and his sister seemed to smile less in the pictures. Freddy began seeing the familiar scowl on Mike as he noticed the few pictures he was in he always looked to have an expression that seemed a mixture of anger, sadness and worry.

Among the pictures of the family Freddy found one that actually had himself in it.

"I rember this" Freddy said to himself as he examined one of the photos. It had been the blond boy's birthday, the fifth one, and over all it had been a very uneventful party. The theme had been ninjas, and Freddy smiled as he noticed the blond boy and Mike's sister dressed in all black. Though when he looked at Mike he nearly bursted into laughter. There in the photo was a young Mike head to toe in an elaborate pirate costume with a sign across his chest may the pirate ninja wars go on forever.

There were a few more photos of the party, mostly pictures of Mike next to his brother, but it was a drawing that had captured Freddy's eye. It was a simple drawing in crayon, with the words happy birthday Jeremy. The drawing was clearly done by an older child, Freddy guessed Mike yet what had his attention was a carefully drawn Freddy. In the drawing Freddy wasn't holding his mic but instead a slice of cake. It was utterly adorable and it warmed the animatronics servos.

"What are you doing in here?" Mike asked casing Freddy to jump from his chair.

Freddy hid the file behind his back but it was clearly noticed by Mike. "Nothing, just keeping the seat warm for you."

"What's behind your back?" Mike asked as he tried to look around Freddy to what he was holding.

"Nothing that concerns you, now if you excuse me I have to leave."

"Don't you have to put that back?" Mike asked as he curiously continued to try and see what the thing was.

"No I don't and Mind your own business Michael."

"That's a file," Mike said as finally saw what the thing was. "An employee file."

Before Mike could get another word Freddy made a run for it. Freddy knew that there was no way that he could talk his way out of this situation if Mike found out. Instead he chose to run with the file and sneak it to the one place Freddy knew Mike would never search through, the backstage. Freddy could hear Mike running after him and quickly found a spare head to stuff the file in. As he ran out Freddy ran on stage and pretended to hide something behind one of the curtins.

"Ah!" Mike cried out accusingly "Your hiding something sinister aren't you!"

Freddy stepped aside as if nothing had happened. "What ever do you mean?

Mike said nothing as he jumped at the curtains and moved them everywhere but found nothing. "I know you had something!" Mike grunted as he continued his search. After several minutes and having found nothing Mike glared at Freddy before leaving the stage. "I will find what you're hiding."

Freddy chuckled but only shrugged "I have no idea what your talking about."

When Mike was preoccupied with Foxy and Felix, Bonnie, Chica, and Freddy were giggling away at the contents of the folder.

"Oh my goodness" Chica squealed. "Mikey was such a cutie pie." She was currently looking at a picture of Mike at a park with what appeared to be his sister. "How old do you think he was here, two maybe?"

Bonnie took the image and compared it to an image of Mike blowing out two candles on a birthday cake. "I think he looks a little older, maybe closer to three?"

Freddy paid no attention to them as he scattered the pictures across the metal table. What he really wanted to see was another picture of Mike at the pizzeria. So far his search had been successful. He had found practically an album of what must have been his older sister's birthday, and even one of what appeared to be Mike's fifth birthday. Freddy wanted more, so he continued to look through the fat stack of pictures until a knock at the door startled the trio.

They all relax however when they discovered it was Foxy. "Are you guys okay? Usually you guys would have come to the cove by now, oh and Mike's in a rather foul mood so I wanted to ask if any of you guys knew anything."

"Foxy" Bonnie said as he jumped up and down. "You have to see what Freddy found."

"Alright I guess." Foxy entered the backstage yet as the others giggled over images of Mike, Foxy was captivated by a different image. "It's her" He whispered almost to quietly for the others to hear.

"Who?" Chica asked as he looked at the picture Foxy was holding.

Foxy only pointed to the girl in the photo, she was younger than when Foxy had met her yet Foxy was certain it was her. In the picture she wasn't smiling, yet she seemed content. "Her name was Beth, and she was Felix's mother."

The others stopped looking through photos and immediately surrounded Foxy. They all gazed at the image for a while and were silent for a bit after that.

It was Freddy who spoke first. "Felix does kind of look like her." He said warmly.

"She's pretty" Chica said with a hint of jealousy, "I-I guess she would have been a good mom."

Bonnie said nothing and instead looked uneasy at the picture. All he could think about was how Mike's big sister seemed to hold him in every picture. He could tell that she cared for him, and now she was dead. It bothered him to know that now Mike didn't have anyone. Freddy had mentioned how the puppet said Mike didn't really have anyone. The little blond boy was gone, his mother wasn't really a big part of his life, and from the story the pictures painted, this Beth girl was all Mike really had. "I'm gonna go check up on Mike." Bonnie said as the group now focused on finding pictures of Beth from the pile.

Bonnie slowly made his way to the cove thinking of whether to tell Mike about his true relationship with Felix, after all Foxy had already told them of the murders, why couldn't Bonnie tell him of something less terrible. He was sure that Mike wouldn't be so afraid of them if he knew that he was one of them.

"You know what!" Bonnie told himself "I'm gonna tell him. I'm gonna be the one to give him the good news." Bonnie bursted through the coves doors but when he looked around he didn't see Felix or Mike. "Guys?" Bonnie continued to look around and after a quick search Bonnie heard the a familiar sound of Felix's snoors. "Oh, sorry Mike. Is Felix sleeping?" Bonnie asked as he pulled the curtain to pirates cove. Only as he did a sense of dread fell over him.

There on the floor of Foxy's old stage Mike held Felix in his arms as the infant slept. Yet slump over was Mike, who was very much asleep, and very clearly having a nightmare.