Author's Note:

Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 129

Strategic Retreat

Ruby was technically on bedrest and she hated it. No one was delusional enough to think they'd keep her away from work so the rule was that she had to take it easy and stay seated most of the shift. (She hated that she kind of needed that too since her body still hurt and she got tired easily.)

What was driving her nuts though was that everyone was so... so weird. Okay, everyone except the Originals. They were fussing and that she expected. She was actually relieved to see it since that meant that they weren't behaving differently around her. Foxy still didn't hesitate to get close and they didn't look afraid of hurting her with the revelation of what happened in her coma. Oh, and Spring was still a sweetheart and he hadn't changed his behaviour either. If anything, he was actually more confident about saying what he wanted to and stubbornly offering support or help if he sensed anyone needed it.

It was everyone else that was the problem.

First off. Mike Shit. Temporary Night Guard. The thought alone got her hackles up. Okay, sure, he seemed like a nice guy. He'd helped Hedy and Jeremy and he didn't blame the bots for anything.

But... Still... Her job.

To be fair, she'd behaved herself. She'd restrained her reaction to intense stares and occasional hisses when he got too close.

But the puns. The first time she'd been caught off guard and ended up throwing a glitter bomb at him. Apparently he made them a lot when he was nervous and she made him nervous. So... it was a slight problem.

Then there was Hedy and Jeremy. They were being weird too. They both stared at her a lot and followed her if she went somewhere in the pizzeria. Honestly someone was always following her if she went somewhere. The Originals couldn't since they were on their own kind of bedrest while Hedy fixed them. So it was usually Jeremy, with Hedy watching the cameras, or, of all bots, the Toys.

They were confusing her the most. Once things had calmed down somewhat, she'd been scooped up in a tight hug by Mangle, the bot too emotional to say much. That was normal. Mangle liked hugs well enough. And BB had hugged her too and he didn't let go, which was also normal. Ruby didn't stop him since the poor bot needed some comfort after what Michael did. He stuck close to her since Michael always avoided her.

Especially now.

That look on Michael's face when she made him bleed.

She made a ghost bleed. Imagine that...

Then there was Teddy who...well, they were civil before this mess. He was a bit uptight but okay. But now he kept checking on her and asking if she needed something and playing a damn nursemaid so earnestly. Ruby didn't know what to think.

And finally there were Toby and Chi.

...

...

...

Ruby was pretty sure there was something wrong with their coding now. Chi had shoved a slightly misshapen cupcake at her the second night she was back before fleeing. Toby hadn't snapped at her once. What was going on?!

And Puppet... Okay Puppet was Puppet and thank goodness for that. With everyone being weird it was driving Ruby crazy. Hence the reason she was sitting in the blind spot in the prize corner, having bolted the moment Hedy was busy with the Originals with Jeremy and Mike helping.

Ruby suspected the men were worried about Hedy and her reaction to Michael's appearance. She smirked. Hedy hated being babied and "cared for." It made her feel weak or something. Hedy's Brother and Shitch were in for a scolding if they pushed the mechanic too fair with their attempts to help.

Ruby huffed out a chuckle and glanced at the camera, pointed away from her. Dammit she couldn't find a moment alone in the pizzeria anymore. But at least the Clown still behaved the same around her. He was glaring at her through the small crack he opened when he lifted the box lid a couple of inches.

"Night Guard," he "greeted". That was blissfully normal. He never said "hello" to her. "Is there a particular reason you're invading my space?"

Ruby opened her mouth, the familiar retort of 'Clown' on the tip of her tongue but a flash of Nightmare Puppet had it stuck in her throat. She swallowed and tried to shake the uncomfortable feeling off.

"Puppet," she muttered in return. "Everyone went mad in the week I was gone." She never mentioned the coma if she could help it. Not after everything she had already spilled. She had just been...gone, for a few days. "They're acting weird and it's driving me up the wall." She scowled at him because that was a familiar thing to do.

Even in the dim light he could still see her. She was leaned against the wall with her legs drawn up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. Her clothes were baggier than usual and there were dark circles under her eyes. She still held herself as if she was in pain even though she was good at hiding it. Only Puppet, Goldy and maybe Jeremy noticed it most of the time. There was a tension to her body that had been there since she returned.

He still didn't fully open his box, keeping it cracked as a silence stretched between them. What he wouldn't give even for the ticking of his broken music box.

"Did you really expect anything else?" he finally asked, poking his head out a little more. "I believe this is the closest you've actually been to dying. Call us psychopaths if you wish, but the Toys haven't had to deal with death in a personal context in many years, then suddenly they're faced with Hedy first then you in the space of a few months. They've never been afraid like this before."

Ruby frowned. "I understand them freaking out about Hedy. And okay, I can see Hedy and Jeremy being... clingy for a bit since they both overreact. But why would the Toys care? Things are back to normal. So why aren't they normal?"

Puppet considered his next words and resisted the urge to reach over and slap the teenager for being so obtuse. Was she being oblivious on purpose? Was she trying to irritate him with stupidity?

"Perhaps because they've gotten past seeing you as just the Night Guard."

Ruby snorted. "Right," she shook her head. "Since when do you joke? Is the new guy that much of a bad influence?"

"I don't 'joke.' And Schmidt can take those awful puns and shove them. I only put up with them because they seem to amuse Hedy somehow."

"Hedy has a terrible sense of humour," Ruby deadpanned.

Ugh, puns...

"Yes it's a new piece of her personality I wasn't overly pleased to learn about. At least she doesn't like to make terrible puns herself. In any case, I wasn't joking. The Toys see you as a more complex relationship than when we first met. It's natural. They're growing up. We all had very one-dimensional ideas of people when we were younger. They're simply finally progressing along the learning curve like they should have years ago. Except for Mangle. Mangle's maturity caught up a while ago."

Ruby pulled a face. "I don't like change."

And a lot had changed while she'd been gone for the week.

"Not sure you have any choice in the matter," Puppet said dryly.

Her scowl deepened. "It's weird." Her words had a plaintive edge to them. "I just want things to go back to normal."

"This is 'normal' now. Deal with it," Puppet scoffed.

Ruby bristled. "Asshole," she muttered.

"Bitch," Puppet replied without thinking, then paused in irritation. He huffed and rolled his brightly glowing eyes. "Great. You've dragged me into your immaturity."

Ruby cracked a smug smile at that.

Puppet glared at her. "Wipe that stupid look off your face, Night Guard. I don't even know why I bothered explaining any of that to you."

Ruby didn't know either. They had a strange relationship. There was still a lot of distrust and hostility but she honestly didn't think he would try and kill her or hurt her anymore. He tolerated her now. It was different from her relationships with the others. Her friendship with the Originals was stable and the same as it had always been. She'd also adopted Goldy into that group.

Hedy was someone who had earned her respect and, admittedly, affection. Seeing her acting differently was setting her on edge.

Jeremy was surprisingly more normal, acting more or less the same as before. Although, as much as he hung around recently, he had been forcing himself to eventually leave early or come later in the nights and the very thought seemed to pain him like he didn't want Ruby or Hedy out of his sight. He had some big case he was focusing on or something. She was waiting until she could properly run away from him before breaking into his death machine to investigate those tantalizing case files he hid in his back seat instead of bringing inside. But that was for later.

The Toys she'd admit in her head she cared about, comfortable in the petty arguments and threats. Them openly showing concern was throwing her off.

There was an underlying thread of... of possessiveness in her relationship with most of them though. They were her bots or her mechanic, or even her cop. That had always been absent with Puppet. He wasn't hers. He wasn't Hedy's either like Spring was.

She didn't know why she'd fled to his room out of the entire pizzeria. Maybe she'd wanted someone who wouldn't treat her with kiddie gloves. No matter the situation, Puppet could be counted on to be blunt at least.

He had to be aware of that.

He was.

Puppet asked himself the same question. He hated that this situation left him as the "stable" one Ruby would come to. It was ridiculous. Hedy should be doing this, but it wasn't lost on anyone that she was stretched thin and working hard to fix everyone, perhaps too hard.

He settled into the justification that whatever mockery of "normality" he could offer Ruby was temporary.

Hedy would notice Ruby's behavior soon.

He just had to deal with it until then.

The frustration and annoyance bled out of Ruby's expression after a few minutes and she was left staring at Puppet speculatively.

"How bad was it?" she asked. "The week. I got snatches of explanations but no one will tell me straight what actually happened."

She scowled. She always hated not knowing things.

"I know Mike took the job and then kept coming back despite being told to leave," and while she didn't like him purely for territorial reasons, she could respect that stubbornness. "I know the ghosts went back to their old ways. I know Michael was a dick. But there's more to it isn't there?" She kept eye contact with him. "What does Hedy not want me to know about?"

"Depends," Puppet said, leaning on the edge of his box a little. "It depends on how much she's already told you. And you know the mechanic. She might not be intentionally keeping something from you and is just prioritizing you recovering. She's well aware more stress can hinder your healing process. I doubt she'd lie if you outright asked."

Ruby squinted at him. "That was a long-winded way to not actually answer me," she growled.

Puppet stared at her, not giving away that she had caught him.

"Fine," he hissed, his voice nearly skipping a moment when she flinched at his aggression. It was a tiny reaction and well hidden. He probably wouldn't have even noticed if he wasn't specifically paying attention to her body language. "Hedy is recovering too. She is deeply ashamed about this week."

Ruby frowned in disbelief. "What the hell does she-"

"Let me finish," Puppet snapped. Wordlessly he partially unzipped his suit and snaked out an arm, uncomfortably showing Ruby the black charred etching that ran up the wood resembling little burnt tree branches. "The worst night was the fourth," Puppet said as he put his arm away before Ruby could scrutinize the damage too much. "Hedy had been hiding her panic from Michael getting too close to her the previous night..." He watched Ruby's face twist in anger,

"What did he do?" She growled.

"Sliced her arm. She has stitches under her sleeves right now. Anyway." He pressed on, ignoring her irritation for brushing over Michael's actions. "Several of us wrongfully thought she was coping well enough," Puppet said. He paused, considering how to say it before deciding blunt was best. "She nearly killed us."

Ruby's expression was static, if a little confused. She was clearly wondering if Puppet was being dramatic.

He just continued. "She was cold and calculated, very much like she was at the Warehouse when she and I met. She had a plan to knock out the children and Michael early in the night because she rightfully theorized that during possessions, the ghosts are just as much bound to the physical limitations of the animatronics they inhabited. So we planned to wet the floor. The Toys and I would avoid the water. However, we tried to lure all the ghosts to the same area as we couldn't flood the whole building fast enough. The original plan was to just trigger the sprinklers and let the ghosts short out. However..." Puppet huffed a little. "Hedy panicked when Michael was too close, She triggered the sprinklers before the Toys and I were out of range. She failed to account for the simple fact that all of our internal voltage would compound to electrocute all of us at the same time, much more severely than if it was just one animatronic shorting out with water. Add to the fact that we continued to short for quite a while until the men were able to insulate themselves and pull us out individually. Several of the Toys have burnt out chips and wiring, and I'm sure you've noticed the Originals glitching occasionally."

Puppet was quiet for a moment, but refused to let Ruby verbally respond just yet. "Hedy's guilt is compounded by the fact that it wasn't entirely an accident. She knew the shock would be huge with just the Originals and Spring but was banking on the fact that as much as it would hurt, they were tougher against electrocution and don't have as many delicate electronics. Anything that was damaged, she could repair. She meant to hurt them and justified it." There was no accusation in his voice. He was just stating a fact. "She did not count on the Toys and my running electricity to add to the voltage. We blacked out the building and apparently some surrounding area outside."

Ruby was silent for a long moment and he couldn't read her. It was always unnerving when she did that because reading people was his thing. It was what he did. What he was good at. And most of the time he could read her but sometimes her expression just blanked.

Eventually she started talking, slowly like she was choosing her words carefully.

"The last night with Springtrap I almost killed Spring. I knew I was doing it but Michael had just hurt Hedy. I couldn't risk him hurting anyone else." She paused. "Fear comes in different types. I certainly got a good dose of it last week to remind me what it was like. I'm never really afraid for myself. But I am afraid for others. Hedy dealt with both. She was afraid of Michael getting her again and she was afraid of one of the Toys or you getting hurt. She made a call. It might not have been the right call but ones made in a panic rarely are." She hesitated again. "I almost gave up. During the night with your Nightmare version. He was very good at... finding the buttons that hurt the most. I almost made a decision in a moment of panic to just give up. Timmy was the only reason I didn't." She stared at the floor. "Fear does strange things to a person," she whispered. "You can't hold something against a person when they did it out of panic and fear."

Puppet didn't believe he deserved to relate to that assessment, so he quickly pushed the self-pitying thoughts away before they had a voice. He also set aside his complicated feelings about Timmy finally showing himself. Goldy hadn't asked, but Puppet knew she was hurting. He was too. When he heard Ruby speaking to someone months ago, he panicked, thinking there had been yet another child he couldn't save from Michael. But he had never considered Timmy of all people. He thought back to those terrible first few months after his…Damn, could he even call Timmy his little brother? Whatever the case, after they were finally told Timmy hadn't made it home from the hospital, Puppet had desperately called to empty rooms hoping for an answer for months. For some odd reason, Puppet had always "known" ghosts were real, even having never seen one at that point, fucking thankfully. It must have been the building messing with his senses of perception. Michael had made fun of him for believing in ghosts growing up, ironically. He had quietly called Timmy's name to an empty room and never received a response while he split his time between that and comforting Spring and Goldy (especially) with whatever he had left of his already broken "heart." He didn't think he would have been able to survive losing another child he was so close to, but he'd be damned if he let Goldy give up like he had. And now? He set aside the ashamed thoughts about why Tim never revealed himself over the years.

"Perhaps she needs to hear that from..." He hesitated. "You. Another human. She'll take anything Fitzg-Jeremy says as an older brother just trying to comfort her. And that...idiot of a man that decided it was a good idea to stay because he had a damn conscience is practically a stranger." He shrugged a little. "I don't think a single one of us hasn't tried to assure her, but she ignores it and continues to mope. During your nap yesterday, I believe Goldy refused to let her out of a hug until she said something along the lines of 'it's not my fault'. Or perhaps Goldy made Spring do it. I wasn't present. Chi was in one of her speedy moods as she blabbered while I stocked the shelves."

Ruby pulled a face. "I just had a heavy emotional talk with her the other night," she whined. "I'm not ready for another." She slumped down and immediately flinched as that movement made everything ache. She sighed.

"And getting her to sit still for another talk is going to be a nightmare with her in frantic work mode."

"Hm. Yes. Mangle and the others have been hiding to avoid her overworking. I think she's started to notice."

"I have..." a quiet voice said from the door and Puppet was irritated to admit he startled.

Ruby's presence let him put his guard down and that mixed with the exhaustion and relief that he had a little time to not be looking over his or anyone else's shoulder. No one would have been able to sneak up on him last week, but his damaged wirings were still ready for fight or flight.

Hedy noticed. Her gaze was low and the front she had put up for everyone else collapsed. She looked miserable.

It was a bit more surprising that Ruby startled as well. She jerked hard enough to smack the back of her head into the wall.

"Ow dammit ouch," she muttered, clutching her head.

Hedy stiffened, immediately coming over and taking Ruby's arm. She was much more tactile these days but Puppet wondered if he was imagining the mechanic's hesitant flinches. It was almost like Ruby was a pot that she couldn't tell would burn her or not.

"Ruby! I'm sorry. You okay?"

"When did you become a ninja?" Ruby grumbled, deflecting like she always did when dragged out of her comfort zone. She rubbed at her head a couple of times. "How long were you there?" Her voice was tense and wary.

"I heard what Puppet told you." Hedy looked a little guilty. " I noticed you were gone and got worried. I..." She glanced away with a lump in her throat. "I can sense where you are now."

Ruby clenched her jaw, looking away from her. "That's going to suck during hide and seek," she muttered.

Hedy cracked a weak smile. "Well, we can make a 'ghost anti-tattle pact' before a game if you want. Maybe just don't tempt me into snitching. I have standards as for what bribes I'll take from the others."

Ruby didn't take the easy way out offered by the joke. Her lips pressed together in an unhappy line.

"This week sucked huh?"

Hedy's smile wavered and they could both see her try to hold back glistening eyes. "Yeah..." she sounded small and her voice cracked.

Ruby finally looked up at her, meeting her eyes.

"I don't blame you for what you did."

"None of us do," Puppet said, feeling like he could truly speak for the other animatronics for the first time in years.

"I do," Hedy said, her tone dipping into irritation, likely over the fact that there was concern for her when she thought everyone else needed the attention. She looked at Puppet. "I thought I could never hurt you, but I did. Mike even asked me if it was really safe and I lied that it would be okay."

Ruby cocked her head. "Do you blame me for what happened the last night with Springtrap?" She asked calmly.

Hedy huffed and looked away. She didn't want to be having this conversation. "Of course not. It's...different. I was careless with everyone's lives."

"I was careless with Spring's," Ruby pushed forward relentlessly. "It's the same. We both made calls influenced by fear of some kind and it wasn't the best choice."

Hedy seemed insistent on making Ruby angry with her.

Puppet couldn't relate.

"How much thought did you put into it!?" She covered her mouth and still wouldn't look at them, so close to tears. "I decided I was going to short them out by noon that day. I had all day to think of something else and I didn't and I was stupid. So stupid. I knew what could happen. I did the calculations, and I still went through with it. I knew what could happen if I messed up, but I ignored it anyway. And that's what happened. I messed up. The only one who didn't get hurt by me was Goldy but I still kept her and Ginny in the poster till morning."

She finally looked at Ruby with a glare. "How many times have you said you'd hurt anyone who hurt the bots? How many times have you frightened the manager or stupid customers into submission when they tried to mess with them?" She snarled through her tears. "Those tapes we made-that I made everyone help me with. How many times did we tell whoever would listen not to hurt our bots?"

"It's different Hedy," Ruby insisted. "It's different because you didn't want to hurt them. Intent is important. And it hurt you to hurt them. Look at yourself. Even I can tell how much pain you're putting yourself through over this, and I'm as cold a bitch as they come."

Hedy shook her head. "This isn't even supposed to be about me," she muttered, rubbing her eyes. "You...you actually died, Ruby. And we're here talking about how I feel like it matters anymore. I'll...Maybe I'll get over this eventually. But...Ruby, you feel like the kids and Goldy to me." She paused and huffed.

"When you walked in, there was a second where I wasn't even sure if you were a ghost or not. I thought you were dead. I thought about if we had to keep going against the possessions. How long until I slipped up again and someone else actually died. I thought Felix was about to kill Mike and Fredrick had Jeremy and I just..." Hedy lowered her head and a sob escaped before she could control it. "I thought I had already just lost everyone. You were first and I was about to lose my brother, then a new friend, then I would eventually lose all the bots if Michael didn't kill me first." She wasn't sure what she was trying to explain, just that she was so tired. "Then you were fine! You weren't a ghost. I shoved that second of doubt away because it was ridiculous. You were alive and I had no idea you were…" she gestured at Ruby frantically. "Until you yelled at the kids. Then…you opened up and I could feel…you."

Ruby scrambled up, ignoring how her body screamed in protest.

"Hey Hedy it's okay. I'm fine. Everyone else will be fine. It's okay." Her voice dropped to a soothing tone that they didn't hear often as she hugged the mechanic.

Hedy hiccuped and sobbed as she held onto Ruby like the teen was going to slip through her fingers if she didn't. "I couldn't even touch you, Ruby...!" she cried.

Puppet immediately knew there was more to that statement. He came beside Hedy and leaned over, putting a hand on her shoulder with probably the most affection he had shown any adult in years. Or anyone, really. He hugged Goldy weeks ago, but no one else saw it. "What do you mean?"

Ruby looked puzzled as well as she let Hedy cling to her. What did she mean she couldn't touch her?

"Hedy?" she prompted, voice still unusually gentle.

Hedy looked at Ruby through watery eyes, holding her best friend so tightly she was afraid she'd leave bruises but she couldn't figure out how to loosen her grip.

"I couldn't stand touching you," Hedy said. She hiccuped. "It hurt. So much. I think...I think whatever injuries you had, I could feel. The first night , when I saw you in the morning... I touched you and it felt like I was stabbed in my hand." She bowed her head. "It was horrible. It hurt all day. I couldn't use my hand all day. But there wasn't any injury. I think it numbed when I entered the building but I wasn't paying attention then." She gently rubbed Ruby's hand as she held onto it and cried.

A few emotions flickered across Ruby's face, shock, disbelief, guilt, before she covered it all up quickly.

"That must have sucked," she murmured. The idea of Hedy feeling what she'd gone through was horrifying.

Hedy nodded weakly. "And the next night I tried again. I...passed out. I thought I was dying. I thought we were dying. I tasted blood but there wasn't any in my mouth. I don't know how long I was laying there in the hospital. Alice and Clint a-and Ricky found me. He looked so scared, Ruby..."

The teen looked away, not really sure what to say to that. She wouldn't want anyone to feel what she felt during that week.

She felt a flare of hatred towards Nightmare. He'd hurt more than just her with this stunt.

"You never told us," Puppet said.

Hedy shook her head and didn't respond to him. "I couldn't...after that I couldn't do it anymore. I was too scared to even touch you. I knew something was happening. I knew you were in pain and I...I left you alone." She sobbed. "It occurred to me that maybe...I could possibly take some of the pain for you, somehow, but I just couldn't...I know now it probably wouldn't have done anything but I didn't know that. I abandoned you, Ruby. I was a coward."

"I wouldn't have wanted you to do that," Ruby immediately argued. "I never want someone else in pain because of me. You know that Hedy. And you didn't abandon me." she looked embarrassed suddenly. "You're the only reason I didn't give up in the end. Timmy told me you kept visiting the hospital."

Hedy looked a little surprised at that. She hadn't noticed Timmy watching her.

Puppet shifted and stood up. "You should have said something, Hedy..."

"I didn't need to be adding a stressor," she retorted. "You and the others were lucky enough not to be seeing her lying in a hospital bed. Don't tell me it wouldn't have broken Bonnie..."

Ruby flinched at that comment but straightened after a moment.

"Aren't you the one always telling me not to take on everything alone and to lean on others?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Hedy frowned. "I needed help. I'm handicapped. I know that. I let the Toys and Puppet help. And Mike when he refused to leave."

"You didn't 'let' us do anything," Puppet retorted. "I wasn't about to 'let' Michael get near you." He cringed in discomfort at admitting that straight to them and hoped neither would bring this up later.

Ruby rolled her eyes. "I'm talking about emotionally Hedy. You know, that squishy thing I hate talking about? The thing that let Nightmare get his hands on me?" she suppressed a shiver at mentioning the creature.

"I didn't have time, alright?" Hedy said exhaustedly. She looked away at the half lie.

Mike had been there to talk to her in the mornings. She appreciated that, even if she felt he couldn't quite understand everything. He didn't have to, but he admitted he knew she didn't want to dump what she was feeling on the bots when they were already just as stressed as she was.

"Bullshit," Ruby called her out. "You could have spoken to them during the maintenance sessions. You always talk when you work."

Hedy didn't have an honest response. "What am I supposed to say, Ruby? There was just...too much going on. It took me five nights before we finally figured out something that worked where we weren't running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Yeah, everything went to shit the night after because the kids were..." she hissed a little. "Idiots. But for the most part, we were struggling to find that groove even if we did in the end. Sort of."

"You need to stop putting yourself below everything else in your priority list," Ruby told her softly.

Hedy glared at her. "You're as much a hypocrite as me."

"I know," Ruby shrugged. "And I'm working on it. So I need a good role model to teach me," she gave Hedy the puppy dog eyes that really shouldn't work so well.

Puppet watched Hedy's grief and stubbornness collapse under her.

Ruby destroyed her with that argument and it was obvious, not to mention fascinating to watch as Hedy tried to be angry but couldn't.

"Resorting to flattery?"

"Are you flattered to be her role model?" Puppet asked, smirking with his voice as Hedy's glare went his way.

"I am a delight," Ruby huffed. Then she turned a little serious. "So take better care of yourself Hedy."

Hedy almost wanted to say she didn't want to, but she knew how immature that sounded.

"Yeah..." she mumbled, wiping her eyes.

Ruby hugged her again. Then she winced and pulled back.

Stupid leftover aches.

Hedy's frown sharpened and she looked at Ruby oddly. "I can feel what you're thinking more clearly when we touch, by the way. If I concentrate, I can anyway. But with contact it's very clear with you."

Ruby scowled and it was like a door suddenly slammed shut on Hedy, cutting off the contact.

Hedy gave her a look and Puppet didn't dare say anything, guessing what happened.

Ruby tilted her chin up slightly in defiance. It was a simple look that she'd pulled a thousand times before.

But dammit Hedy missed it during this week.

When someone suggested something was impossible and the teen scoffed and did it anyway. The way she seemed to adapt to whatever life threw at her and took it as a challenge to come out on top.

It was just a fact at the pizzeria. They'd survived their week.

But Ruby thrived in her weeks. This place and it's games was where she was in her element. The place just wasn't the same without her.

Ruby stared at Hedy for another moment before pulling her into another, much tighter, hug.

Hedy cracked out a laugh and rolled her eyes. "Ruby, I do need to breathe."

"Shut up."

Hedy huffed and glanced at Puppet as he slipped out the door without a sound, leaving them to their moment now. She frowned, this time in deep pity for him.

"Are you guys going to stop being weird now?" Ruby grumbled.

Hedy instinctively kissed the top of Ruby's head like she did with Marcus and Mercedes. "Never," she mumbled into Ruby's hair. "We don't have the paperwork for it, but Jeremy and I have adopted you."

The teen let out a dramatic groan.

They'd be fine.