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Chapter 172

Understanding

"Ruuuuuuubyyyyyyyy!"

The teenager looked skywards for a beat before dropping her eyes to the ten-year-old that had attached himself to her leg.

"Ricky, I've got to get to work."
"You're always working lately," he huffed.

Ruby winced. That was true. She was taking day shifts too to avoid the reporters that were following her around.

"Ricky, I've still got to go to work."
"Take me with you!"

She stared down at him in frustration.

"It's Saturday tomorrow, so staying up isn't a problem," he insisted. "It can be like a sleepover!"
Ruby sighed. It wasn't like it would be a problem. The bots would take care of Ricky for her in a heartbeat so she could fix the issues with the cameras in Fright. They needed the security there upgraded before they could open the attraction.

And it wasn't like Ricky would freak out about the weirdness. He knew about Goldy. And he'd crowed with triumph when she confirmed that ghosts were real. He was such a paranormal junkie.

"If I take you with me," she started and he perked up hopefully. "Then your math homework has to be done before we get back. And done to my standards."
Ricky grimaced. Ruby might not care about her own schoolwork, but she was a tyrant when it came to making sure the kids did theirs properly. If someone was being difficult about theirs with Alice, she usually called Ruby in and the situation was solved very quickly.

The boy chewed on his lip as he thought it over.

"Okay, deal," he agreed.

Ruby narrowed her eyes at him. "You are so lucky that we weren't in the pizzeria when you said that," she muttered. "New rule, no making deals."

He looked at her in confusion, but accepted the rule easily enough. She never made them for no reason.

"Pack your stuff. I'm leaving in ten minutes."
"Yay!"

She shook her head fondly as she went to finish packing her tools. The cameras were her responsibility so she was glad she knew how to fix them already.

She still judged Mike's electrician skills as dubious when paired with a ladder. She wasn't going to risk his clumsiness taking down her entire security network…

He was off that night anyway.

Ricky was practically buzzing when they got to the pizzeria. Or maybe that was Ruby projecting. She did have a lot of coffee after all. And two energy drinks.

She had expected him to be a little tired after the long walk, but he hadn't seemed to mind.

He was more interested in how scary the town seemed in the middle of the night without the dull roar of traffic or the chattering of passersby. It was dark and still and creepy. But he wasn't very afraid of bad people running into them.

Ruby walked like she had places to be and would kill anyone who tried to stop her. Betty helped. Ricky always felt safe with her.

It was kind of amusing how Ricky tried to imitate her 'mess with me, I dare you expression' and just ended up looking funny. Ruby pretended not to notice though.

"Remember," Ruby said with a touch of scolding. "You promised to get that math homework done while you were here."

Ricky grimaced at the reminder. "I will!"

Ruby nodded and shoved the door open with a hip and Ricky didn't miss the sharp little delighted smile she made upon taking a step inside the building.

The bots and Ms. Fitzgerald apparently heard the door.

"Ruby!" Hedy called. "Don't you dare come in here and throw something with liquid or glitter around! I'm doing circuitry!"

Ricky came in alongside Ruby, looking a bit weighed down by his school bag and a small duffle practically bursting with a sleeping bag.

He waved at the bots and greeted Hedy first, not because she was his favourite, but because she was an adult and it was polite.

"Hi Ms. Fitzgerald!" he called, waving at her.

Hedy looked a little taken aback and Goldy immediately laughed at her expression.

"Hi, Ricky," she said, flashing him a smile after she got over her surprise. "I'm just Hedy, remember?"

Ricky shifted a bit uncomfortably. He was always told to call adults by titles and last names. It felt too weird to call her just Hedy, even though she asked. Maybe he could manage 'Ms. Hedy?' If not, he'd stick with Ms. Fitzgerald unless she got really offended, which she probably wouldn't.

He dumped his backpack and gave all the bots greetings before meandering over to see what a small group was doing.

Meanwhile, Ruby sidled up to Hedy as the mechanic decided to put away the circuit boards for a moment. "I'm doing my own maintenance today. The cameras in Fright are fucked."
She ducked Goldy's smack as she hissed at her for her language.

"He's heard worse," she shot back, dodging another swipe and hiding behind Hedy.

"I expected better of you!" Goldy snapped.

"Join the club," Ruby said cheekily. "It's fine. He knows not to repeat anything I say," she nodded over at Ricky who was now talking to some of the bots.

"Want to play Go Fish with us?" Chi asked automatically after the boy greeted them.

She, Toby, Chica, and Freddy seemed to be almost at the end of a game, but of course, they'd still offer to him.

"Not really. Do you guys know how to play poker?"

"Ah..." Toby sounded unsure.

"They're not allowed to play that one. They don't know how," Freddy explained calmly.

"How do you even know how to play poker?" Chica asked with narrowed eyes before looking at Ruby.

The teen smiled innocently back where she was avoiding Goldy's grabs effortlessly. Even the teleports didn't catch her. Bonus that came with the whole 'ghost senses' thing.

"It's an essential life lesson."

"Ruby!"

Ricky seemed to miss the problem, or just ignored it. "I can teach you," he said happily.

"No," Toby rejected immediately.

"No, thanks," Chi said sweetly, shooting Toby a look. With Ruby's brother there, they still had to act like it was a day shift, which meant being super nice to kids.

"Yes!" Mangle cried, sliding into the group like a ninja and excitedly patting the seat next to her.

Chi blinked as Ricky sat down happily. Mangle didn't seem to be having problems with deciding to act like it was night shift as usual.

"Ruby!" Chica yelled, sounding scandalised while the night guard just laughed.

"That's my little brother! Corrupt them all!" she shouted before running out of the room, dodging a final swipe of Goldy's.

"That girl," she growled. She loved Ruby, but really? She normally didn't swear in front of kids!

"She is such a bad influence," Freddy sighed despairingly.

"We need stuff to bet with," Ricky said, "I got potato chips. Freddy, do you want to play?"

"I'll just...watch, Ricky."

"Okay. Foxy, how about you? Cards are a pirate thing too, you know."

"You got me there, lad," Foxy chuckled and sat down as Mangle grinned and Freddy gave him a look.

That rolled right off the fox. Like usual.

Chica stayed, for supervision, but she didn't seem pleased even as she picked up the cards Ricky gave her.

"Ms. Fitzgerald?"

Hedy chuckled and poked around in her bag. She'd smoke them all. "Deal me in the next game, okay?" There were a lot of things and bots she should work on, like Spring of course, but he was acting like he needed a break.

"Anyone need me to look at something?" she asked the room.

There was a general muttering of 'no' throughout the room in response. She let them have it. She trusted the Toys at least to be truthful and the Originals had a checkup scheduled that week anyway. Some of the arcade games were out of order and keeping those working was her job too so it wasn't like she'd be twiddling her thumbs all night.

"Ruby says I'm pretty good at this," Ricky told them as they started the game. "I've never beat her before though. She's not allowed to play outside of the orphanage anymore. She almost got arrested once."

He sounded so cheerful as he said it.

"She tricked some biker gang into playing something called strip poker? I don't really know how that one works. But she won and the other guys weren't really happy about it."

Foxy was bent over, silently laughing to himself while most of the other bots looked completely horrified.

Hedy dropped one of her socket wrenches she was trying to organise and cracked up laughing.

She was so thankful Mike wasn't there because he'd make some (completely joking) comment about how they should play that version, with the bots losing pieces of their suit of course. He'd get kicked out. Probably by Ruby. She still got twitchy when the bots didn't look fully 'themselves'.

Ricky grinned, clearly happy at having made Hedy laugh.

"She's really proud of winning that game. And she came home with a really cool motorbike, but Alice and Clint locked it up in the garage." he pouted.

"And she hasn't broken in to get it yet?" Toby asked in surprise, picking up his cards.

"There are two people Ruby doesn't cross," Foxy said. "The mechanic and her guardian. Alice, right?"

Ricky nodded and shuddered while Hedy looked pleased with herself

She suddenly frowned, which scared Ricky for a second. Did he do something wrong? But Hedy glanced off to the side as a little girl appeared out of thin air.

"What was so funny?" Ginny asked, popping in and looking around for whatever had made Hedy laugh so hard that the rest of the ghosts felt it.

Hedy's humour immediately dropped as she stared at the ghost in annoyance.

"Did Toby hit himself again?" Fredrick asked in a bored tone as he walked in through a wall.

Benji just faded into existence sitting cross-legged on the table next to Hedy. But not too close…

He eyed her cautiously.

Hedy didn't say a word. She just grit her teeth and looked at them.

Ginny flinched at Hedy's blank stare and looked away.

The bots tensed, watching Ricky's reaction. They weren't sure how much Ricky knew about everything that happened here.

Ricky didn't look alarmed so Ruby must have warned him. Actually he looked pretty excited to see the 'younger' kids.

"You're the kids that made Ruby blow a hole in the backyard a few months ago aren't you?" he asked curiously. "A little bit after she got out of the hospital? She was super mad at you. I've never seen her that mad. Not even when that one guy tried to break into the orphanage."

The kids already looked pretty pale and deathly, but they somehow paled a bit more at the reminder.

"How big of a hole?" Hedy asked, curious-mostly about the hole but also because of how nonchalant Ricky was about the ghosts. She also wanted something else to talk about so she could ignore the kids.

Fredrick studied Ricky for a minute. He or Ginny were usually the bravest, not counting Felix who was brave but also kinda dumb sometimes.

Ginny was staring, unintentionally creepy, but Hedy knew it was just because they didn't have much practice with new children, especially one a few years older.

Marcus and Mercy were an odd exception but they were too young to understand what ghosts were and even that meeting wasn't normal.

Benji was staring at his shoes, not making eye contact, which was odd for him.

Felix was glaring, already deciding he didn't like Ricky, but that was just because of Ruby. He didn't have a real reason and even he knew that.

Cheryl was mostly shy, hiding behind Ginny and pretending the boy wasn't there.

"About the size of a small swimming pool," Ricky answered cheerfully, causing a few bots to make startled noises. "Alice was mad that she got hold of dynamite again."

It was said so casually...he really was used to Ruby's antics.

"Did Clint fill it in or do you have a new swimming pool now?" Hedy asked, clearly more amused than concerned. Oh, how times have changed. About a year ago she would have freaked out. But she knew Ruby wouldn't hurt anyone and it wasn't Hedy's backyard getting blown up so... she laughed about it.

"How do you guys even have neighbours? If I was them I probably would have moved away years ago."

"Clint filled it in," Ricky pouted again. "And the neighbours on the left don't really care. They like Ruby. And they've soundproofed their house. The neighbours on the right change every month or so. One guy even managed to last two!"

They listened as Ricky told them a few more stories of Ruby at home in between explaining the rules of poker.

Eventually, they were in the middle of a game and a couple of the ghosts wandered closer to watch.

"How old are you?" Fredrick asked randomly.

Freddy eyed him, but didn't tell the boy to leave.

"Ten. How about you?" Ricky said automatically, forgetting the other kid was a ghost for a second.

"Six. And..." Fredrick glanced at Hedy.

"Twenty-two," she answered coldly

"Oh...right," Ricky said, wincing.

Fredrick hesitated. "You go to school, right?"

"Yeah," Ricky made a face. "I suck at maths."

"You have a lot of friends?"

"I think so. I get picked on sometimes but they get scared off by Ruby. The good ones stick around."

The bots smiled slightly at the thought of Ruby chasing off bullies.

"Ruby's actually super popular with a lot of the younger kids at school so I'm friends with them too," Ricky added.

They could believe that.

Fredrick hesitated. He didn't want to ask this in front of everyone but the night was going by and he doubted he could get Ricky alone.

"A-are you good with names? Like...um...Do you...know anyone with the last name Manilo?" he shifted awkwardly and refused to look at anyone.

Felix looked up from the cartoon he was watching and frowned. The laptop had been set up by someone and was playing Scooby-Doo again. Definitely not by Hedy but he didn't want to consider who else might have done it for them.

The bots looked both suspicious and curious.

Ricky frowned as he thought. "Um, I think so. Not in my school but I stayed over at a friend's house once and their neighbours had that surname. There's a kid my age who lives there and he came and played with us for a while."

"What was he like?" Fredrick asked quietly.

The bots were still confused over why he was asking about a random kid.

Hedy meanwhile had frozen and was listening. Still she didn't feel like warning him.

"I just..." he said. "I'm just curious."

Ricky tilted his head, a lot like Ruby sometimes did. "He was pretty nice. I'm not great with names when I meet people but I remember his. It was super cool sounding. Asier. His nickname was Azzy. With two zeds!"

Fredrick looked a little startled. "Oh. That's a ...good name."

"I thought it sounded like a wizard name," Ricky said, picking up another card from the stack. "You'd like him, Goldy. He likes Harry Potter too. We played tag and had some water guns. Oh, and my friend has a trampoline too so that was fun."

"Does he have any brothers or sisters?" Fredrick asked cautiously.

"Nah. He said he had a big brother but he's never met him. He died before he was born. How come?"

The bots stilled a bit as they realised, though Foxy still picked up his next card calmly.

Fredrick shook his head a bit. "I was just curious."

"Do you know him?"

"No...I heard about him. I just didn't think his name was going to be Asier."

"Why not?" Ricky looked really interested now.

Fredrick debated saying for a minute. "It's my middle name."

"That's cool," Ricky said. He thought for a minute. "You're the big brother aren't you?"

Fredrick nodded slightly.

Ruby was leaning against the doorframe in the background, watching the conversation with unreadable eyes but not interrupting.

"I'm sorry," Ricky told Frederick genuinely. "He was really nice."

Ruby silently entered the room and stopped by Hedy. None of the other occupants noticed her yet.

"I didn't know if it would make things worse or not," she whispered to the mechanic, pressing a folder into her hands..

Opening the folder revealed photographs. Old and new. Family photos and school photos. The sight brought a lump to Hedy's throat as she stared at the pictures of the kids' parents, some more recent than others. They were each labelled carefully as well.

Of course that stubborn teenager would go and do this and then sit there stressing over whether it would help or not.

She traced her fingers over the edges of some of the pictures, trying not to cry before closing the folder while blinking away tears. She had conflicting feelings now. She wasn't sure Ruby completely understood how much this would mean to them. To all of them.

"Wanna play?" Ricky asked Fredrick and Benji, the only two who seemed really interested in the game. Ginny was standing close by too, but her arms were crossed and she was scowling at Ricky a little.

"We can't hold the cards," Benji pointed out.

"Well, you didn't say no! I can hold your deck for you, and I promise not to look," he pointed at Benji, "And someone else can hold..."

"Fredrick."

"Fredrick's cards."

Freddy gave Fredrick a hard look when Ricky held Fredrick's cards out to him.

Fredrick glared back, though he was clearly still too distracted about his little brother to be openly hostile.

Ricky's hopeful expression easily got Freddy to cave though.

Foxy just sighed and took Benji's cards without argument. He looked fondly at Ricky.

This kid was around Ruby regularly. He was bound to be stubborn.

Goldy floated over to Hedy and Ruby. "You alright?"

Hedy frowned and silently showed Goldy the folder.

"Did you know anything about this?"

Goldy looked shocked and shook her head. "Ruby?" she asked.

Ruby shrugged.

"That's why you were asking me about their parents' names a couple of months ago."

Hedy frowned more. Months? How long had Ruby been working on this? She shoved the folder back into the teen's hands.

Ruby blinked at her, lips pursed questioningly.

"You have to give it to them," Hedy hissed, without looking at Ruby or Goldy. "I…I can't do it."

Ruby stared at her for a moment before sighing sharply out of her nose. She went into the hallway again, taking the folder with her without argument.

Goldy stared, looking at Hedy in concern. "Hedy…" she glanced over at the ghost kids. "You have every right to be angry with them. But even we can see something is changing. Baby steps."

Hedy scoffed. She glanced in the direction Ruby went. "I didn't think she would go this far out of her way for them," she admitted, slightly changing the subject. "I thought she'd be more mad about the coma week."

Goldy was quiet for a moment. "That's the thing about Ruby. She can be blindingly furious with you but she'll still try and do things like this." She subtly gestured at the kids. "Because if she forgot what her parents looked like, she knows it would devastate her."

Hedy nodded. "They need this," she said and hesitated. "Maybe I need this. Some of them...I hadn't seen in so long." Hedy didn't want to admit that it stung how Ruby was successful in talking to all of the families about this when some of them had flat out cut her off and out of their life when she needed them most. That is, if Ruby got the photos with permission. She shook her head. It wasn't fair to be upset about it. She understood, now, how much it hurt them to interact with her. Still, she'd always wished Ginny's mom would just...say hello. She looked so happy in the recent picture Ruby brought.

Goldy reached out and hugged her, giving silent support.

Hedy let her. She wasn't ready to forgive the kids, but she wasn't so cruel as to take away the gift Ruby brought.

By the end of the night, everyone was treated to seeing Ruby in full big sister mode as she poked a half-asleep Ricky into moving while cleaning up his scattered things.

The ghosts were still there, insisting on finishing the episode of the show Ruby had set up.

Ricky was shuffling behind Ruby, both already halfway to the door with Fredrick spoke up.

"Thanks for coming...Ricky," he said while Ginny looked at him like he was crazy.

Ricky blinked sleepily at him. "It was fun," he yawned. "It was nice to meet you Frederick."

"Right. Yeah. You too. It was...nice...to hear about my...my brother," Fredrick said awkwardly. He hesitated as he looked at Ruby. "Thanks for bringing Ricky, Night Guard." The words felt thick on his tongue.

Freddy blinked, genuinely surprised by the words even if they were stiff and the boy still didn't say Ruby's name.

Ruby also blinked in surprise before shrugging. "No problem, ghost brat."

Baby steps between them. Baby steps.

Hedy shook her head. She was slow to pack up her things tonight.

Ruby eyed her. "Hey. You mind dropping Ricky off at the orphanage for me? He's too tired to walk."

Hedy jerked in surprise. Ruby never casually asked her for favours. She eyed the folder Ruby had pulled out of her bag. "Sure…"

"Noooo…" Ricky whined sleepily. "I can walk with you, Ruuubby."

Ruby snorted. "No way." She grabbed his shoulders and guided the sleepy boy outside, Hedy following. She grimaced as she helped him into the truck and shuddered as she closed the vehicle door, telling him to put his seatbelt on.
"You okay?" Hedy asked.
Ruby wiped her hands on her pants. "I'm not getting in a death machine but I'm not going to force everyone else not to. I trust you not to drive like an idiot."

Hedy nodded. She glanced at the folder. "Let me know how it goes…" she mumbled before getting in her truck and leaving.

Ruby watched them leave before going back inside.

The bots had gone to rest and the ghost kids had wandered out of the main room, comfortable to stay visible and walk instead of fading and floating away. Keeping feet on solid ground was very difficult so they sometimes treated it like a game. Benji liked to think it was what walking on the moon was like.

They stiffened at the feeling of someone watching them. They'd thought that they were alone now. Like usual.

Felix spun around to snap at Ruby. "What do you want?!"

"Didn't you leave already?" Frederick asked, boredly. Although he did look behind her to see if Ricky was still there.

They knew Hedy was gone already. They sensed whenever her presence left the building.

Ruby stared at them, her arms crossed and expression unreadable. "I got something for you." She didn't elaborate, instead walking past them and down the hall. She turned toward Parts and Services without glancing back..

They didn't follow for a minute, distrusting and too prideful.

Eventually, Benji moved, ignoring some of the glares he got.

They found Ruby leaning against what everyone commonly called Hedy's desk. She was playing absently with a folder in her hands, expression still unreadable.
"What do you want?" Ginny asked aggressively.

Frederick had his arms crossed while Felix was glaring at her. Cheryl was a few steps back, looking nervous.

Benji, on the other hand, took a couple of steps forward before stopping. She looked at him at his movement and something in her expression softened.

She tapped the folder with her finger to draw their attention to it and maintained eye contact with Benji.

"This is for you," she murmured, setting it down and opening it.

She took a moment to sort out the photos that spread out before stepping back and out of the way.

Goldy's presence vanished to give them all some privacy.

They stood there for a moment before Ginny was the one who jumped up in the air to float. She took a look at what Ruby brought and jerked back with a gasp.
"What?" Benji asked, floating up himself. He froze at the sight of the picture of him and his mother. It was an old photo, unlike most of the others, but it was still her face smiling up at him. "W-wait," Benji said. "That's me?! And that's..." his finger moved to point at the woman holding him in the photo he was looking at.

The others also came to the realisation of what they were looking at.

Cheryl immediately burst into tears at the sight of her older brother. Chris looked so grown up…

Felix was speechless for once, mouth opening and closing but no words coming out as his eyes were glued to the photos.

It was just his mother. She looked older than he remembered. He fought back tears and glared at the Night Guard. What a sick joke. He knew his mother was dead. What was the point of this?

Ruby ignored the glare, keeping a blank expression in place as the other kids reacted.

Frederick didn't say a word as he stared at a family portrait. A mother, a father, and a little boy. But the little boy wasn't him. It was like he never existed.

She stayed to the side, out of the way as they crowded the desk, some reaching for photos that their hands passed right through. She didn't need Hedy's connection to the building to know that the room was flooded with complicated emotions. She could see it in their briefly unguarded expressions.

She stepped back to leave. She'd have to come back later to put the pictures somewhere out of Hedy's way, but for now the kids probably didn't want her watching them cry.

Ruby turned to open the door, stiffening at the shock of cold as someone grabbed her. She looked down as Cheryl hid her face against Ruby's hip and sobbed into her trousers, hands bunching up the fabric as she gripped Ruby's shirt with all the misty strength she could muster.

The little girl tried to say something but was crying too hard.

The teen was frozen for a long moment before she slowly moved her hand away from the door handle to lightly rest on Cheryl's back. She didn't say anything, just looked down at the girl with some sad but otherwise unidentifiable emotion in her eyes. They couldn't say that Ruby looked soft in this moment.

But she looked like she understood.

Cheryl didn't move for a few long minutes, just sobbing. Eventually, Ginny tugged the other girl's sleeve.

"The night guard has to leave…" Ginny mumbled, quietly to hide her cracking voice and refusing to look Ruby in the eye. "She's got school, Cherry…"

Cheryl let go and turned away, wiping her eyes and taking gaspy breaths as she let Ginny pull her away.

Ginny shot Ruby a token glare but there wasn't a lot of heat in it for once. She took one more pained glance at the photos before blinking away with Cheryl.

Ruby eyed the boys, Frederick and Felix were still looking through the photos, drinking up every detail they could.

They didn't seem to notice the girls had left.

Benji, however, was looking at her. He had conflicting feelings. He hadn't realised he almost forgot what his Mommy looked like, but then again, it was another reminder of what Michael tormented him with. That his mom was dead. Like him, but not.

Ruby waited a moment for him to say something.

"Why?" Benji asked, his voice small and sad.

She met his gaze, a faint frown the only sign that she was uncomfortable at all.

"No kid should forget what their parents look like. Memories are precious, but fallible. Sometimes… you need something concrete and objective." She looked away to study the folder from a distance. "Every kid should have a photo of their family."

"Even if we don't deserve it?" Benji asked, just a bit of coldness in his hesitant tone.

Ruby looked back at him. "It's not about whether you deserve it. This isn't a privilege, Benji. This is a right. Memories of your family shouldn't be something taken in punishment. We might not get along, but I'd never deny you this."
She turned to go again, pausing just inside the doorframe.

"I know how terrifying it is to realise one day that you can't remember the exact shade of your dad's hair or what your mom sounded like. I have photos to hold onto. To rely on. To remember. You deserved the same. I'll get Goldy to help me put them up somewhere for you."

She glanced at the other two before leaving, closing the door quietly behind her.

"Thank you," Frederick whispered a moment later, when she was gone.

Felix glanced at him but didn't say anything for once.

They knew that she'd left this time. She'd done what she'd needed to and now they were left alone to stare at the photos carefully laid out so that each one was visible.

Even Goldy stayed away.

The building was the only one who watched five lost souls remember and mourn.