Author Notes

So there's going to be some bonding chapters before FNAF 2 starts. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 14

Again?

Ruby rolled over and immediately groaned. Everything hurt. She'd pushed every single muscle past their limit Saturday night and had still run around crazily last night.

Not that it hadn't been fun, but…just…ow.

She glanced at the clock, noting that it was afternoon before she climbed out of bed. Some movement was needed and she probably needed to check the injuries she had gotten during the night. Those ghost brats had some serious issues.

After finishing up in the bathroom and getting dressed she headed down the stairs.

"Afternoon lazy!" Ricky called and ran up for a hug.

She ignored the twinge of pain that raced down her back and hugged him back enthusiastically.

"Everyone else already out?" she asked looking around at the empty sitting room.

Ricky nodded as he went back to his program.

"Want to watch with me?" he asked hopefully.

She smiled slightly. She hadn't been spending near enough time with him lately. Well she was on babysitting duty today so what was stopping her?

They got comfortable as the kiddie movie played in bright colours and bright noises. Ruby found her mind drifting though. She couldn't help it. She was so very curious about the animatronics that she had grown up with. What did they like to do in their off time? Did they have hobbies? Bonnie clearly had a talent for pranking.

She chuckled softly as she remembered the events of last night. When the 'bots weren't being forced into night guard murder sprees they were a ton of fun to be around.

Just like she remembered.

She's just started to dream up some new things to do with them when her phone went off loudly. She checked caller-Id and frowned when she saw it was her boss.

Stepping away from the couch she answered.

"Hello, night guard Ruby here, how may I help you?" she smirked as he began spluttering at her cheerful greeting.

"Uh-uh-hi-R-R-Ruby." He greeted nervously.

"Can I help you boss?" she asked, hiding a snicker.

"Ah yes. S-sorry for calling you but the day guard just threw a fit and left in the middle of his shift." The man stumbled over his words.

Ruby frowned. That wasn't very professional.

"So-ah-I was h-hoping that you might be able to come in and cover the rest? The other day guards c-can't." he asked a little desperately.

Ruby bit her lip as she thought about it. "Um I'm babysitting my brother at the moment…"

She glanced over at Ricky who was watching her curiously.

"You can bring him with. Complimentary meal." The manager offered hastily.

"Gimme a second." Ruby covered the phone and looked back at Ricky.

"They want me to cover a flaky employee's shift, wanna come? You get pizza." She asked.

"PIZZA!" Ricky cried out excitedly as he jumped around.

Ruby chuckled as she told the manager that she would be there in twenty minutes. He thanked her hurriedly before he hung up and she told Ricky to get ready.

Twenty minutes later the two were entering the building to a few barely suppressed groans. Ruby smirked while Ricky rolled his eyes.

"You never give them a break do you sis?" he asked.

"Nope." Her smirk widened before she turned around to face him. "Alright so you know the rules. No talking to strangers, stay near the group, if you need me wave at one of the cameras and if something happens run to one of the 'bots okay?"

Ricky nodded. "Are you getting along better with them?" he asked.

"Yup, a lot better." Her smile softened somewhat and he grinned happily. "Now go have fun. I'll go tell someone to get you a pizza."
She watched him run to a group of kids and integrate immediately. Ricky was just like that, able to get along with just about anyone. She watched him for a moment before she donned her improvised cap and sauntered off to find the manager.

Bonnie was the first one to spot her.

He paused and leaned over to get the other animatronics' attention and pointed.

"Day shift again?" Foxy asked.

"The day guard had his little temper tantrum earlier remember." Freddy reminded them as he sent some kids to go play in a group.

The others nodded but felt unsure about what to do. Usually they avoided the night guard during the day with overflowing hostility but…well…it was different now.

Then again they could just imagine the skittish employees' reactions to the night guard being buddies with the robots. This was uncharted territory so they decided in the end to let Ruby make the first move.

It certainly didn't take her long.

She ended up in the room with all four of them when they were doing a show together on stage while she was handing a pizza box to her brother. As the show was coming to an end she looked up and grinned at them, the glint in her eye promising some form of drama soon.

They sighed and resigned themselves to the inevitable.

After they were back among the crowd with the wary employees nervously looking between Ruby and the 'bots, she moved forward. People held their breath, wondering what the crazy girl was up to now. Sure the 'bots had never done anything in public before but they were dangerous.

Jerry hung around nearby with a few others trying to keep their panic in.

She sauntered right up to Bonnie and tapped him on the shoulder, standing on her tip-toes to reach. The rabbit glanced over at her but instead of glaring like everyone who was bordering on fainting expected him to he just tilted an ear forward and leaned down slightly to catch what she was saying. The absolutely wicked grin that appeared on his face didn't help their stress levels though.

None of them could hear what was being said but they were shocked when Ruby pulled the animatronic over to the group of kids that her brother was playing with.

Freddy and Chica watched on suspiciously, wondering what the two were cooking up. Foxy took one look before he ducked into Pirate Cove where it was safe.

"What's going on?" one employee asked.

They were all confused by the general lack of killer intent they were feeling from the 'bots.

"Hey, kids!" Ricky and his group turned around to see Ruby wearing her signature smirk with Bonnie in tow. "You up for some fun?"

The answering cheer was enough of an answer.

"We are locking the crafts box from now on." The manager announced while he surveyed the damage.

Ruby had brought a bunch of glue guns with her to work and armed the kids and Bonnie along with the contents of the crafts box. The room (and Freddy, Chica and most of the employees) now resembled a grade one arts and crafts project.

Foxy had been roped in as well and the entire group was currently hiding out in Pirate Cove.

Strangely enough there were also random gemstones all over the place, like the kind that came from a bedazzler.

"You should just fire her." Henry, currently more sparkly than a disco ball, snarled.

The manager looked at him in disbelief. "She survived the week. As the night guard. She may be crazy but she's great at her job."

The parents had been spared and actually found the impromptu war entertaining.

Eventually the war ended when Freddy managed to snag Ruby by the jacket and drag her away from her forces.

He pulled her up to eye level and glared at her. The other workers panicked, thinking that the bear was about to kill her right there. However Ruby just smiled sheepishly and held up her glue gun in surrender. The bear shook his head and let her go after confiscating the weapon.

Without their leader the others did lose interest and gradually things went back to (a slightly more sticky and glittery version of) normal.

Ruby dusted herself down, got a high five from Bonnie and then headed off to do her rounds again. Before she was out of the room though one of the employees asked her why the animatronics weren't trying to kill her (in a very roundabout way) and if she had tampered with their settings.

She looked at them in confusion.

"No. I just annoyed them until they gave up. We're cool now."

She left the workers staring at her in disbelief, greeting Foxy on the way.

As the day wound down and they started closing, Ruby did one last round.

"I'm glad to see that you're, uh, settling in fine." The manager said when she bumped into him near his office.

"Yeah." She grinned. "This job's pretty awesome."

He debated asking her about the animatronics when Foxy turned the corner and headed in their direction. The man tensed up, not comfortable around the 'bots when there weren't any kids around. The other workers around them did the same.

Foxy didn't even seem to notice as he grinned at Ruby.

"You're a menace, you know that lass?" he chuckled, holding up some table cloths that used to be white and now were covered in paint.

Ruby shrugged and grinned. "Well when I found out there was a crafts box I just couldn't resist."

The fox shook his head, still chuckling while everyone stared at them in shock. The ease with which she spoke to him was unheard of.

"So you still coming for your shift tonight?" Bonnie asked suddenly.

Everyone jumped in fright. They had been too focused on Foxy to notice the rabbit.

She nodded. "Of course. Might need to take it easy tonight though. Unless you want another night of dealing with a sugar high me."

Their frantic head shaking had her laughing again. But they both looked happy that she was coming for her night shift as well.

"Well I'd better get Ricky home. Looks like he's about to fall asleep." Said boy stumbled over to her tiredly.

"Really don't know where you get all that energy from sis." He yawned.

She just laughed and ruffled his hair.

"See ya." She waved at them before heading out, an arm around Ricky. "Oh and, sorry about the peanut butter incident in the bathroom. Wasn't supposed to splatter that much."

The humans all shuddered as they remembered the state of their bathroom earlier. Her new peanut butter bombs were leaving sticky messes everywhere.

Ruby skipped through the door at five to twelve and ran for the office. By the time twelve chimed she was back in the main dining room with the tablet.

"Hey everyone!" she yelled, her voice echoing. "C'mere. Got something to show you."

The 'bots came over to her only slightly suspicious. Goldy materialised out of curiosity as well.

"What is it?" Chica asked.

"Movie night!" Ruby sang.

They stared at her blankly while she pulled out her laptop and a projector.

"Well, I thought we could relax tonight while I educate you all on awesome movies." She grinned.

"What do you have in mind?" Freddy asked, curious.

The 'bots heard about them from kids and parents but they didn't actually get to watch them themselves.

"To start off," she spun around excitedly. "Harry Potter marathon!"

She urged them all to sit down while she got the movie started.

They were hooked half an hour into the first one.

"We should do this often." Ruby suggested at some point. "Don't want you all getting burned out with the games and all."

It was only at about that point that the 'bots realised that Ruby had done this because she was worried. They worked all day with kids and ran after night guards all night. They didn't really get any relaxing time. And to be honest, it did get to them. They did feel burned out.

She was lying on her stomach between Bonnie and Foxy with her chin propped up in her hand so she didn't see the thankful looks being directed at her.

"Yeah. We should." Bonnie murmured.

Freddy sighed softly to himself. Who would have thought that a night guard was the solution to all their problems?

Foxy reached over and ruffled Ruby's hair. "Thanks lass."

She turned her head and grinned. "No problem. Can't have anything happening to my fave 'bots now can I? I'd be heartbroken."

"How often did you come anyway?" Bonnie asked as his face scrunched up, trying to place her in his memories. "You mentioned you came here as a kid."

Before Ruby could say anything Foxy snorted. "She's the kid that broke her arm falling off the mast of my ship."

It took them all of five seconds.

"You're that little girl?!" Freddy, Bonnie and Chica cried out in surprise.

"Am I really that different?" Ruby asked thoughtfully.

"No." Foxy answered, deadpan. "You're still a little hellion."

She smiled sweetly at that. "Why thank you."

"Explains a lot." Freddy was nodding his head slowly.

They all had many memories with her. Even if she did spend a lot of her time with Foxy as a kid she still played with all of them.

"Hey, didn't you make me play my guitar a lot?" Bonnie suddenly asked, remembering.

Ruby actually blushed and laughed. "Uh yeah. Actually you're the one who made me want to learn to play."

So Ruby got embarrassed too. Good to know there was some normalcy there.

Bonnie stared at her in shock. "You play?"

She nodded. "Got a guitar for my tenth birthday and started taking lessons."

The blush was still on her cheeks. Seemed like something she was a bit shy about.

"I play for Ricky sometimes but I haven't had much time to practice lately." She waved at the building in general instead of explaining.

"Why'd you take this job anyway?" Chica asked curiously.

Ruby grinned at her. "I was bored."

They all rolled their eyes at her. Bored, so she took a life threatening job. Right.

She just laughed at them and went back to watching the movie which Goldy was still entranced by. Ruby didn't think the bear had heard even a word they said.

She giggled a little at her intense focus before Bonnie caught her attention again.

"Hey Ruby." The rabbit was looking slightly to the side.

She looked over at him, tilting her head in silent question.

"Thanks. For taking the job."

She blinked in surprise while the others nodded.

"We really do appreciate what you did." Freddy murmured softly, glancing at Goldy who would never have been able to relax like this previously.

Ruby gave them one of her rarer, gentler smiles.

"Anytime guys." She turned back to the movie when it seemed like they were growing a little flustered, hiding a smile.

Things were going to be fun from now on, she had a feeling.

"Hey, by the way. Why did the day guard throw a fit?" she asked.

Bonnie and Foxy doubled over, snickering while Freddy levelled a stare at Ruby,

"Something about a glitter mine pile under his chair." He explained evenly.

"Oh. I wondered where I left them." She nodded slowly before breaking out into a fit of giggles as well.

Author Notes

Thanks to everyone who reads this story. I really can't believe the positive response I've gotten. Next chapter out on Wednesday and things only get weirder and wackier from here on. Just because they're friends now doesn't mean Ruby won't continue to drive them nuts. ;)