Mable: Here we are with- I can't believe it- the first time I posted on Thursday in way too long! Hopefully this is a sign that I am finally back on schedule. (Let's go with that.) Anyway, let's begin. Enjoy!

Almost Feels Like Home

Chapter Forty-Four

Under normal circumstances, Scott would have eaten up this opportunity given to him. His brother and his wife seldom went on any sort of vacation, even if it was just for the weekend, but when they did, they looked to Scott to watch their children. Even after his accident, even when he had exhibited behavior that others would think strange, they had relied on him. For a few days Scott would turn his house into a home for his nephews and do his best to be the greatest uncle he could. He would spoil them, entertain them, delight them, and they would make him feel like a father.

But that was before Ennard had come to live with him.

Due to his brother switching jobs and business at home, Scott hadn't been asked to watch his nephews in quite some time. He had gone to visit them so he had seen them, but he hadn't had to worry about what would happen if they wanted to come by. Until now when he was blindsided by a call from his brother, who was asking him to watch his nephews while he and his wife went to a cabin up in the mountains for the weekend. It was a standard request and Scott wouldn't normally have a problem, except, again, now there was Ennard.

But Scott still felt reluctant to turn his brother down. He loved his nephews, he loved his brother, and he wanted to make them happy. After all, they were always so supportive. It was his brother who came to help him right after his accident and he would do anything to repay that. He swallowed thickly and forced a smile, as though his brother could see him through the phone. Then he gave his answer.

"Sure! Of- Of course they can come by for the weekend! This Friday?... Yeah, sure, great! Great. Everything will be ready for them, so… See you Friday? I should probably go… Get the house straightened up."

Or get rid of the animatronics in his house as fast as possible. It would be one thing if it was a small one or one who could teleport or hide, but this was Baby and Ennard. They couldn't be around children, they wouldn't hide well enough, and trying to sneak them out of the house already required a vehicle that he didn't have. He hung up the phone and gave a shaky exhale, rubbing a hand over his face. This was going to be a difficult conversation.

Scott stepped out of the office and approached the back of the couch hesitantly. Ennard was stretched out on the couch and flipping through television channels. He had no idea what was about to be dropped on him.

"So… My brother just called," Scott began almost meekly. He rubbed the back of his neck, but then stiffened as the clown looked up at him. He hesitated a few seconds before continuing. "He, uh, is going to be going on a trip for a couple of days and he asked if I could watch my nephews for the weekend… Here… At the house… And I said yes."

"Aww! That's…" Ennard trailed off as he realized the problem. "That's gonna be a problem with Baby being in the garage, ain't it?"

"Well, yeah," Scott nearly squeaked. At least he seemed to be taking it well enough. "I don't know how she's going to take it, but I'm going to have to tell her because they're going to be here on Friday… I can't really get out of this one." He didn't really want to either. Though he didn't want to upset the household, he did love his nephews and want to see them. "I'm going to just go tell her now. The sooner the better, then we can figure out what we're going to do."

Scott headed to the garage and let himself inside. It was dark, as it usually was during the day when Baby preferred to sleep, but he could see her against the back wall. She was sitting on the ground with her knees bent in front of her, her arms dropped at her side, and her head tilted forwards. She looked so serene, which was strikingly different than the air she normally carried. That being said, Baby had been a better guest this time than last time. It might've been her new face that had inspired her to be a little more patient, but she seemed less willing to vent her anger constantly.

Though now he was expecting a fight. Mostly because he knew how defensive Baby could get. No doubt she could take his concern the wrong way and it would lead to a dispute.

"Baby?" Scott tentatively roused. She gave a full body twitch before her eyes began to glow with alertness. She looked up to him attentively as he shuffled almost nervously. "Hey… We need to talk about something."

"Something happened," Baby guessed with an almost exhausted tone on her voice. "Will you turn the light on?"

"Yes, sure." With a click of the switch light filled the garage. It already made the conversation leagues more comfortable, though being watched by Baby still made it difficult. "And you're right. Something did happen. My, uh… My brother called to ask me if I would watch my nephews this weekend. I've done this before and he wants to take his wife on vacation, and it's only a few days-."

"I can't be around children," Baby firmly said. Her claw tightened at the thought, or perhaps just from the word alone. "I don't care what Fritz told you about my programming, it will not work." She turned her head away and said it almost like a stubborn child. She would've been frowning if she could've.

"I know…" Scott admitted. "…You can't really stay here."

Baby snapped her head back. He swore she looked shocked even if she could barely emote. Her eyes were back on him in disbelief, as though he was kicking her out. First Fritz and now him.

"It's only for a few days! Then you'd come back as soon as they leave. It just would be easier for all of us… And by that, I mean me and you. I don't want to keep you locked in a garage like a-… You know. I don't want to keep you locked up," Scott insisted. Her eyes lowered down as she tried to process the abruptness. "But as soon as they're gone you can come right back and it's really like nothing's changed."

"Yeah! It's just a couple of days!" Ennard chimed in. Scott had only vaguely noticed him walking up. "It'll be like a sleepover! Except you're doing it to get away from kids." He sounded so carefree about it and for a moment Scott was relieved.

"Exactly," Scott agreed. "And I can't really say no to my brother, so I really appreciate you doing this. I'll make it up to you, but it really is the best option for you than staying here." He almost thought that this was going to work. Him and Ennard could maybe assure her that it would be fine, and she hadn't started yelling or anything like that. This could work.

"And it's not like you're gonna want to hide in here with me for the whole weekend," Ennard pointed out in amusement. "Heh, we both know ya come in here to get away from me! Two or three days stuck in this room together'll kill us!"

Then the dread returned, because apparently Ennard had somehow gotten the entirely wrong idea. Scott clenched his teeth and looked more nervous than usual, which Baby noticed. Her eyes then darted over to Ennard with a tired sigh.

"I'm sorry to rain on your parade, but I don't think he meant that you were going to be staying while I left. You have the same problems I do," Baby pointed out matter-of-factly. "Does it still sound like a sleepover when you're also being pushed out the door?"

"What are you talking about? I'm not-!" Ennard looked to Scott who looked back with a pathetically guilty look. He immediately knew what that look meant, that Baby was right. "Uh…" For once, the amalgam was rendered speechless. Then he got an awkward tone. "Uh, right? I'm not- I'm not going, Scott, right? I can control myself around kids! You remember Halloween!"

"Ennard, I… This is more than just you being around kids," Scott slowly tried to explain. "This is you being in a house with two boys who are old enough to know that something weird is going on if they find out that Uncle Scott has a clown living in his garage. They're not young children, and it's going to be three days. They'd notice something." He knew immediately that his words were falling on deaf ears if that frenzied twitching was any indication.

"But- No, wait! We can make this work! Just lock me in here! I can handle a few days of that!" the amalgam protested. He clasped his hands together as though prepared to beg. "I can be as quiet as a mouse, not a peep, I swear!"

"We both know you wouldn't be happy staying out here. Eventually you'd let yourself in- No, you know you will," Scott corrected as Ennard tried to interrupt in protest, cutting off his efforts. "It's not right to ask you to lock yourself out here. How's that fair? It's not fair. You'd be miserable." It was clear that, even though beginning to falter, Ennard didn't look anywhere near done pleading his case. It almost startled Scott to see how frantic he was. He couldn't understand it; Ennard had never been so panicked over something so trivial.

But before either of them could continue the disagreement, a third voice chimed back in with her own opinion.

"Ennard, you're making a scene," Baby spoke up. Ennard looked to her attentively even as she turned to look away. His panic was still evident as she became calm. "Don't keep pretending to be ignorant just because you think you can deny your way out of this. You know that we cannot stay here. They can't see us. The longer you protest then the more comically desperate you look."

It was weird to hear Baby being the rational one. Maybe that was why it was so effective. Ennard stared at her for a few moments before giving a choked chuckle.

"You're right," the amalgam admitted with light amusement. He glanced to Scott out of the corner of his eyes. "You're right, Scott's right, you're both right. It's just a couple of days! Cut out all the reruns of the Immortal and the Restless and it's pretty much just fifty-one hours. I can do that! I can live with that!" His eyes stared forward partially unfocused, making him still look just as unstable as before. "Ha ha, I can live with anything- I survived the night shift!"

"I don't think you have much of a choice, so your optimism is a good thing. Even if it we can all see straight through it," Baby remarked. She gave another sighing noise. "…I need to call Charlie. When do we need to be gone?"

"They'll be here Friday around noon, so there's no reason to rush. We'll figure something out before then," Scott assured. He looked between them. It had been a long time since he saw Ennard so nervous, even though the clown willingly snuck out of the house whenever he felt like it. Baby, meanwhile, sounded both mentally and physically drained. Neither looked directly at him. He reached out to rub Ennard's shoulder and spoke to them both. "Look, I… I really appreciate you two going through this much trouble for me. I know how hard it is to uproot yourselves from your home-."

"This isn't my home," Baby corrected as she stood on her skates. She hesitated a moment, staring at Scott, and then added. "…But you have been courteous to me and I won't forget that. I will call Charlie and figure this out."

"Thanks. I'm going to go finish up work in the office…" Scott looked back to Ennard who had still been silent. "Are you going to be okay? I know this is sudden and I never wanted to put you into this position, but, I mean, we've talked about this. We knew eventually something like this would happen." Not these exact circumstances, but they had vaguely once discussed what would happen if they had to hide Ennard out of the house. Though then it had been a vague fantasy instead of a concrete reality. The clown perked and looked to him, and he covered quickly.

"Me? Oh yeah, I'm gonna be fine! Ha ha, Scottie you're acting like I've never left the house! I think I can handle three days, right?" Ennard hated admitting it, but Baby was right. Even he knew that wasn't convincing. Scott was only pretending that he believed it. "Go finish up quick and then we'll do something. We need to get in all the fun we can before the big day!"

The man agreed and started to head back towards the office. Baby gave another weary sort of sigh as she started to approach the door. It would be embarrassing asking Charlie for another favor, but anything was better than getting stuck relying on Fritz. She coasted to the living room phone and quickly dialed the number she knew as hers. After a few moments, Mike answered.

"Hello. I need to speak to Charlie," Baby said curtly.

"Alright, hold on." Mike pulled back from the phone and called towards the living room. "Charlie, Baby's calling for you." He then waited for her to come over, all while Baby waited on the other side of the line. She noticed that Ennard was creeping in closer, slowly, and knew he was watching her. She ignored it as Charlie's voice came onto the other line.

"Hello? Baby?" Charlie's voice was welcoming.

"Hello, Charlie." There was a long period of silence, one that Charlie almost broke, if not for Baby cutting her off by continuing. "There's been a change of plans. I need to return to the warehouse."

"What? I thought everything was going fine. What happened?" the puppet asked in surprise. She sounded worried and the clown almost liked the amount of concern, if not for her immediate belief that this was her own doing.

"Scott will be having a couple of…" Baby didn't want to say the word 'children'. It always seemed to irritate her programming and caused her mind to fill of relentless dessert thoughts. "…Brats coming to stay for the weekend. I cannot stay here while they are here. I'll have to return to the warehouse." She gave yet another sigh. This one was more for dramatic effect. "Back to that dump of a warehouse… But I will need someone to bring the van over here, and it can't be Fritz. I thought you could pull your strings and have someone else drive me."

"Of course I will, but… I don't know. Are you sure you want to go back there? There's plenty of bedrooms here and I'm sure nobody would mind you coming by," Charlie boldly offered. Of course, she only did so because she had already been told that Mike and Marionette considered inviting Baby, so it was less like she was stepping out of line in doing so. "It might be easier, and I know it would be more comfortable."

"Because I've gotten used to staying with a masked fool and his human dolly? Yes, it might be easier, but no, I would feel safer back in the warehouse…" Baby's eyes lowered with her voice as her discomfort started to raise. She shivered as a she started to imagine what the house looked like. "I would rather not step foot in that house. You would have to shut me off and wheel me there unwillingly."

"…You do realize that Scott or Ennard might be able to hear that, right?" Charlie asked flatly.

"He's standing right behind me. He would have to be deaf not to." Baby could hear a shifting of wires at being called out and was almost proud of herself. "He's also been told that he will have to leave. He's handling it as expected: barely."

"I really don't think that the warehouse is the best option, but if you insist then I'll ask and see who can come get you," Charlie said. She knew it would be a fool's errand to try and convince Baby, especially when she sounded so convinced and seemed so disturbed by the idea of visiting the house. So, Charlie's protests ended there, and her concern was minimal.

"Thank you." Baby could've just ended the call then and all would be taken care of, but suddenly she thought back to something said earlier. "Have you ever had a sleepover? Of course you have. You said you had friends. Friends have sleepovers." The comment more confused Charlie than anything else.

"I guess so?" she said quizzically. She knew Baby was leading into something, but she wasn't sure what that was. "…Do you want to have a sleepover? You could sleep here for the weekend. We could make it an event."

"No, Dummy. I meant you at the warehouse," Baby clarified. She then realized that she had lost all tact in blurting that out, but she suspected that the Security Puppet was just being difficult. She couldn't have been clearer in what she was implying. "Just think about it. I have to go," she excused as she abruptly ended the call.

All Charlie got out was a confused, "Okay?" before the call was ended. In hindsight, Baby could've handled that one differently. Now she looked desperate when she was only inviting Charlie out of boredom, not because she couldn't stay at the warehouse alone or something infantile like that. It was over now and not like she could call back.

Baby turned around and proceeded to walk straight into Ennard. She gave a staticky sound of annoyance and shoved off his chest, rolling back away from him. "We have this entire house and you still breathe down my neck."

"Hah, sorry! I just- I guess I got a little bit…" Ennard hesitated there, head tilted and eyes dropping down, and the ruse started to melt. He began to stare off distantly like he had before. Baby got her own glazed look, then raised her claw and snapped it closed a few times, making enough noise to jolt Ennard out of his daze. He then looked back to her and honestly asked, "Can I go with you to the warehouse?"

"Must you?" Baby asked. Though honestly, she didn't know why he was asking. She just assumed that he would be hauled off to the warehouse with her and that he would crowd in on any time she had, unable to entertain himself.

"Funny you should ask!" Ennard exaggerated uncomfortably. He laced his wire fingers together. "See, my backup is just going and hiding in the sewers, but I can't stay that wet for that long or I'd burn out like a soggy toaster. Not to mention that cause of me, the entire town's on the look for clowns, and if they spot a trace of me in the sewer- Oh boy- We're… Gonna have a horror movie on our hands, and the clown's always gonna die at the end. Trust me on that."

"You've been staying in the sewers. That explains some things," Baby remarked. Though her coarseness changed as she saw how uneasy he looked. "You're not pretending this. You really are scared. Of what?"

"Of what? Ha, ha! Of everything!" The amalgam grabbed at his own head. "C-Can't trust anyone in this town! Even the old guys are dangerous, and there's a lot of those leftover from Freddy's!"

"…Then fine."

"Huh?" She said it so quickly that it took him off-guard. Ennard looked to her again. "Okay? We go together?"

"Yes, but I have three rules. Follow the rules," Baby said firmly. He nodded in understanding. "Rule one: If Charlie does come, don't do that thing you do where you grab on her like you do to Scott. In fact, don't do anything you do to Scott to Charlie. Rule two: Do not draw attention to us. I do not want unexpected visitors and police. Rule three: You… We're leaving rule three open for now." She was almost surprised when he didn't argue.

It was so odd to have Ennard being honest. Most of the time he either gave partial honesty or some version of the truth, but this time he had been blunt. He was scared to be uprooted. She couldn't say she shared the sentiment, but she didn't enjoy the fact that she was being moved against her will. Maybe, even if she wouldn't admit it, she had started to become attached to this place. Maybe that was why Friday came so quickly.

It didn't help that almost every moment along the way reminded of the event. Scott had thoroughly cleaned the house, boxed the tapes and moved them into his bedroom, and bought extra groceries that were specifically for his nephews- Baby knew for a fact that Ennard was still sneaking and dipping into them. He seemed both antsy and excited, which was not shared with the animatronics. An equal feeling of finality and discomfort settled in as soon as they could hear the van backing up on the other side of the garage door. It was time for them to leave.

Scott stepped out into the garage and looked between Baby, who was standing by the garage door, and Ennard, who was pacing in the back of the room. Just looking at their behavior alone, the human was much more concerned for him than her. He approached Ennard while carrying what looked like a jacket in his arms.

"Ennard?" he gently began. The clown's head snapped to attention and Scott sent him a warm smile. "Looks like it's showtime! I uh… Here, I wanted to give you this. You know, in case you get cold one of these nights," he offered and handed it over. "And if you ever feel like it, you can call me. The boys go to bed around nine-thirty, so if you call me after that then I'll be free to talk!"

"I might take ya up on that offer," Ennard said. His voice sounded surprisingly humorless, though at least not too distraught. He eagerly slid on the jacket, which was just big enough to slide into comfortably. It smelled like fabric softener with the faintest hint of Scott's cologne. He could already tell that it would be a help. They were interrupted by a knock on the garage door.

"It's open!" Scott called over. In a few seconds, the garage door started to open. To Baby's relief, it was Jeremy instead of Fritz. Once he got the garage door open, he returned to the van to back up a little more. Scott took this time to finish up with Ennard. "Well, this is it! It's just a couple of days. It's going to fly by like nothing."

Ennard gave a noncommittal sort of mutter and pulled the jacket in tighter around him. He wouldn't make a scene, he wouldn't put up a fight, but in return he was too tired to even put on a false persona of being excited. It wasn't even as much that he was going away, but that he couldn't come back. Freddy forbid something happen to Scott's brother and he got stuck with the kids permanently. Or worse, Scott realized that life was easier without him living in the house. Scott reached up to fix his jacket and tuck in the frayed wires trying to climb out.

"There. How's that?" Scott asked. Ennard answered by taking him into a tight hug. The human returned it without a hitch, shocked when the clown didn't squeeze with all his strength. "I… I'll miss you. It won't be the same without you," Scott admitted. He bit his lip as he considered something else he could say. He knew it would help, even if only the slightest bit. "And I love you."

There came the squeeze that was more typical to Ennard. It was more of a relief than Scott could've expected.

On the other side of the garage, Jeremy started to open the back of the van. Baby didn't expect to see that Charlie was already inside, wearing her typical jacket with a bookbag resting beside her. They hadn't spoken since their phone conversation, so Baby had just expected that it would've been forgotten.

"I didn't think you'd come," Baby admitted.

"I haven't had a sleepover in years and thought this might be my last chance," Charlie answered with a smile. "And you're welcome."

Baby willingly climbed into the van alongside the puppet. It took a good deal of the pressure off the situation to have someone else there. Not counting Ennard, as she expected him to be a wreck. Charlie must've noticed it too as she spotted him climbing in and her smile faltered. The amalgam willingly closed the doors behind him before shifting against the wall, pulling into himself and pulling himself further into the jacket he was wearing.

"Is he okay?" Charlie quietly asked. Baby turned to glance over at him.

"He'll live," Baby said simply. The Security Puppet was a little less capable of brushing it off. She hadn't remembered him being this quiet, and from what the female clown had said about him this seemed to be out of character. Though she was now looking at the puppet expectantly, seemingly displeased that her attention was elsewhere.

It was now that Jeremy got into the van, started it up again, and began to drive out of the driveway. "To the warehouse we go!" the driver said. He seemed to be in a good mood, or perhaps overcompensating for nervousness. "…I've got to be honest. I don't know why you didn't just go to Mike's house. You know he has four bedrooms, right?"

"Really? You learn something new every day," Charlie joked. "No, I offered but the warehouse was too tempting." It should've been left there, but Jeremy decided to continue with his small talk.

"I get it. It's weird staying at someone else's house, but in this case- I don't know if you guys know, but the warehouse used to be super haunted. It's not anymore, but just thinking about staying the night there…" Jeremy shuddered at the thought of it. "I'd take a warm bed or a comfy couch over that anything." It was this sentence, not the haunted one, that caused Ennard to slowly raise his head.

"Unfortunately, that will not work for us. The warehouse will. It's not as bad as where we used to stay," Baby quickly excused. She was lucky to have Charlie coming as it was and couldn't afford someone else trying to talk her into going to that house. She was only more reluctant and stubborn at their persuasion. She seemed to be the only one as she noticed Ennard moving to shuffle by. "Look what you've done. You got him riled again."

"I what?" Jeremy asked in confusion. He stopped at a stop sign and turned to look into the back. He didn't expect to find Ennard looking out from between the seats and gave a startled choke. "Gah!"

"And now we're going to wreck," Baby lamented as she crossed her arms. She pouted like a child.

"Uh, I thought you were still in the back," Jeremy forced out to Ennard. He turned back to the road to keep driving. Ennard always made him uncomfortable- though he couldn't say he had really spent any time with Ennard since he dropped his Baby disguise. In fact, it might've been the fact that he pulled off the Baby disguise so well that made him so nervous.

"Ha, ha, no problem! Didn't mean to scare ya there, Jere!" Ennard chirped with his tone returning to his usual one. Baby knew instantly that this meant something less than innocent and sent a knowing glance to Charlie. "So… Mind telling me more about that warm bed? Four bedrooms, really? No exaggeration?"

"Uh, no! None at all. Foxy's got a bedroom, Mari's got one, Charlie's got one, and then there's the master. They're all pretty nice. It's a nice house," Jeremy explained. Baby made a digging motion with her claw to Charlie, who caught it after a few moments. "I've stayed over there a few times for one reason or another. Not as much anymore since I've got my Minireenas and all. You remember them, right?"

"Course I do! How could I forget? I gotta see them one of these days, ha ha!" Ennard leaned in a bit more, looking a little too excited considering his previous mood. "But first, I just got a crazy idea."

It was a typical afternoon, which meant that Mike was about two seconds away from throwing the game controller into the television. He would get Foxy one of these days for getting him hooked on this awful game again, but not today. Today he would waste his time trying to get through a game that he knew was cheating. He vaguely heard a vehicle pulling up outside but didn't realize it was someone at the house until there was a knocking at the door. Unfortunately, Marionette and Foxy were both back in the hallway, and Mike wasn't at a good place to pause.

"Hold on a second!" Mike called. The knocking began to grow steadily more panicked in response. The security guard exhaled and paused the game, knowing he was right in the position to lose a life as soon as he started it again. Still, he made his way to the front door and tried not to let his frustration show. "I'm coming, I'm coming! I'm right here."

Mike unlocked and opened the front door. Before he could even check who it was, a tarp covered figure slipped in, hunched down and letting itself by. Behind it followed Jeremy, who tried to scramble out an awkward explanation. Mike assumed that it was Charlie who just came in until the covered figure stood to full height and dropped the tarp back to reveal that it was Ennard.

No wonder Jeremy was at a loss of a real explanation and had to rely on scrambling for words.

"Well, hello again!" Ennard greeted with a delighted crackle of laughter. Mike sent a questioning look to Jeremy who gave a half smile. "It's been way too long! How are ya?"

"…Pretty confused if I'm being frank," Mike replied. He still watched Jeremy, who was still standing in the doorway looking apologetic. "What, did something happen to the warehouse?" The blond started to answer but was cut off.

"Well, apparently it was really haunted which might've been "something". Sounds like a ton of fun- glad I missed it!" Ennard said with a boisterous laugh. He then tossed the tarp past Mike and onto the back of the couch. "Ac-tu-ally, I'm here cause Jeremy said ya had a bunch of free bedrooms and nobody to stay in them! I'm just gonna get between Baby bonding time at the warehouse, so I thought: 'Hey, I'll go see how Mike and Mari are doing!' And here I am.~" He looked down at Mike eagerly. "So, whaddya think? I can stay, right?"

The security guard was at a complete loss for words. Ennard had pretty much barged into his house and chatted his way into staying at the house. Hearing all of this, he wasn't surprised that Jeremy got stuck bringing him here. He didn't get a chance to answer- though didn't try- as Marionette and Foxy heard the voices and came down the hall.

"Ennard?" the Puppet asked in obvious confusion. He looked to Mike. Mike sent him a raised brow, showing his feelings. He looked to Jeremy. Jeremy gave that same lopsided smile. Then he looked back to Ennard and looked him over. He finally said, "I like your jacket. It looks nice on you."

"Actually, it's Scott's jacket, but I like it too! Ha ha, thanks!" Ennard answered with that same excitement. "You came at just the right time! I was just asking Mike here if you and he would like some company since you got all this room and nobody filling it."

Foxy looked to Marionette abruptly, anticipating the answer as much as Ennard was. Marionette looked to Mike and Mike looked back, and it was clear that neither of them knew how to answer. Both were waiting for the other to give the answer and neither knew how to respond. Ennard followed their gazes between them while Foxy continued to stare intently at his brother. Then the Puppet answered.

"Uh, okay?" Marionette tentatively said. He more was asking Mike then answering the question.

"Yeah, sure," Mike added, going along with whatever he said.

"Oh, that's perfect!" Ennard cried in delight. "We're gonna have so much fun! And I'm not getting stuck in a haunted warehouse, which is even better!" The clown exerted excitement and exuberance, even when on the inside it was just overwhelming relief. He managed to barely avoid being shelved away like a broken animatronic.

With that, Foxy passed by Marionette and headed to the back of the couch. "Foxy?" the Puppet asked in confusion. He watched the pirate grab the tarp and put it over himself. "What are you doing?" The pirate answered by turning towards him, giving a salute, and then heading to the door. He beckoned Jeremy on the way and disappeared outside without another word.

Jeremy looked back to the others who were all still staring, gave a sort of shrug and a wave, and then followed the fox out the front door. Foxy hurried to the van and started to open the back doors.

"Before you open that-," Jeremy started to warn, but didn't get enough time before the back opened and Foxy found himself staring in at Baby and Charlie. "…We didn't get a chance to stop at the warehouse."

Foxy and Baby exchanged a blank stare. Now that she knew who he was and he knew that she knew, things were even more uncomfortable than they had been inside of the house. Though Foxy wouldn't back down and climbed in without a word as Jeremy shut the doors.

"Hey Foxy," Charlie greeted to break the tension. "Didn't expect to see you… Going to Jeremy's or coming with us?"

"Jeremy's," Foxy gruffly answered. Jeremy didn't protest to it, so it sounded like that would be the plan. It only took a few moments to start the van, but it felt like an eternity of awkward silence, and Foxy didn't handle silence well. He had to fill it. "Ennard ran me out."

The silence returned and was just as tense as ever. Both Charlie and Jeremy could feel it, though it was the former who decided to try and break the ice. She went to clear her throat, completely forgetting that this wasn't going to work until she was rewarded by a strange, squealing sort of noise. She clasped a hand over her mouth, which was already too late as Foxy's head snapped to her.

"…The bloody 'ell was that?" he bluntly asked with alarm.

"The sound of someone who just realized they agreed to go live in a warehouse," Baby said lethargically. She just continued staring off at the wall. "It's a cry for help."

Charlie almost considered defending herself, even if it didn't seem worth it, but the Foxy gave a chuckle. That was one way to get them communicating, she assumed. In fact, the fox now looked at the clown and only now noticed the difference in her face. He hadn't seen her in person for quite some time, but the change was still very evident. Her features had been softened more than he could've expected. He swallowed his pride and averted his gaze to the front.

"Ya look good, Baby," Foxy admitted. "Gotta admit, Ennard did a fine job."

"Oh… Thank you. He did," Baby agreed, not expecting the compliment. She wondered what his angle was but had her thoughts interrupted by a nudge to her arm. She looked to Charlie, "What is it?" Charlie gave a nod in Foxy's direction, as though trying to coax Baby into doing something. Her bell rung as she moved her head. "…What is it? I thanked him," Baby defended. "I'm not complimenting him. He has a successful pizzeria. He doesn't need a compliment."

"…Yeah, thanks, Baby," Foxy said with faint amusement under sarcasm. Baby hadn't intended to compliment him. The fact that he read it as a compliment only returned her to her previous pouting, crossing her arms and looking back out the back of the van. Foxy didn't know how to feel about how much she was acting like Elizabeth.

The rest of the ride was a little less uncomfortable, even if they were both obviously avoiding the elephant in the room.

After Foxy and Jeremy's abrupt departure, the remaining three at the house stared at the door for a few long moments.

"You know, I get the impression Foxy doesn't like me all that much," Ennard said, catching the attention of the other two. "But his loss! We're gonna have a blast with just the three of us!"

He then looked between the two and remembered Baby's rules. Of course, then he remembered that technically Baby wouldn't be here, so the rules didn't apply anymore. With that, he reached out and with one fell swoop ensnared Marionette, who simply gave in and accepted it. Mike was harder to catch, as he tried to duck out of the way. The couch was what pinned him in enough that Ennard got him on the second grab. He yanked him in quickly.

"This is going to be great!"

Mike and Marionette both highly doubted it and regretted everything.

Mable: Be careful who you let into your home. They might not leave willingly… Or drive you into a state of madness. That's the more likely outcome with Ennard. Mercy on their souls!