Author Notes

Sorry, its a short chapter. I'm studying for a test so been a busy week. Night 4 up on Sunday though and things get interesting.

I know there's a couple of PMs that I haven't answered yet but please give me time. I will get to all of them.

And I saw this in a couple of reviews so I'll answer it here. I'm taking this story through all the games so FNAF 3 and 4 will come in time.

Chapter 26

Downtime

"I'm not getting up." Ruby muttered into her pillow. "I'm not. I don't care if they want me to come into work for the day shift. I'm not getting up."

Days of only a few hours of sleep had finally hit her and she was lying face first on her bed. Talking to herself apparently.

"I feel like roadkill." She mumbled.

"Well, then you should ease up on this overtime." Alice chuckled as she came in with some water. "And hydrate. You drink too much coffee."

Ruby groaned and rolled over, blindly reaching for the water.

"I'm just a dedicated worker." She mumbled after draining the bottle.

Alice laughed softly. "That's for sure. But maybe they need a break from you sometimes too."

Ruby sniffed haughtily. "I'm an absolute pleasure to be around."

Alice laughed harder at that.

"Hey!" Ruby whined, peeling an eye open. "As my caretaker you should support me!"

Alice patted her leg.

"Sorry honey. I don't support delusions." She snickered a bit.

Ruby threw a pillow at her.

"Don't tease the exhausted and sleep-deprived." She mumbled.

Alice sat on the bed, still giggling a little.

"Weren't you going out?" Ruby asked after a moment, peeking at the guardian.

Alice shrugged. "Changed my plans. Emily is sick so I'm staying home today. You were walking into walls at breakfast so I thought I'd give you a break from babysitting duty."

Ruby frowned.

"Thought the walking into walls was a dream." She muttered.

Alice shook her head. "Nope. Entertained the kids though."

Ruby groaned even louder.

"Great. I'm the entertainment now."

Alice put the pillow she had thrown earlier back on the bed and stood up.

"Get some sleep Ruby. You've been working too hard."

The girl mumbled something but it looked like she was already falling asleep. Coffee and sugar could only keep you going for so long after all.

She rolled over and was soon out cold.

Alice hummed to herself as she closed Ruby's door and went to check on the other children. She was glad that the teenager was finally taking a break. Her schedule had grown hectic between school, her job and the extra shifts she kept taking.

She needed a day to herself. Maybe she could convince Ruby to take a day off soon…Maybe.

Things were a lot calmer at Freddy's without their infamous night guard making an unexpected visit. Freddy took a moment to relax during a lull in customers.

"Hey Freddy." Chica came up to him.
"Chica?" he noticed that she looked concerned. "Is something wrong?"

The chicken fidgeted with her hands.

"I just…It's about Ruby. I can't help but worry about her and the Toys. She was tired when she left last night."

Freddy nodded in understanding. "She was. But you know she'd never listen to us. And what advice could we give? She's determined to see this through to the end."

Chica sighed miserably.

"I know. She's just the first one to accept us so easily and I'm…scared to lose her." She looked away. "Not just because of the deal with the ghosts. I'm worried for her."

Freddy's ears drooped a little. "We all are Chica. She's got a way of worming her way into your heart no matter what it seems."

He rubbed his face.

He knew the gang wouldn't be the same without Ruby. In such a short amount of time she had managed to make herself an integral part of their weird little family.

"The others feel the same." He sighed.

They were pretty easy to read, no matter how they tried to hide it.

Foxy was becoming her best friend and prank planner, which was not really good news for the employees sanity. Bonnie was taking on a role similar to a little brother for her. He was also a dangerous prank partner. Goldy was becoming a very good friend too. Ruby often went to her for advice if she didn't go to Freddy.

How she had gotten so involved in their lives so easily…

She may have been slightly crazy but she was impossible to not like after getting to know her it seemed.

Or, at least for most people.

Bonnie walked over to them, ears drooped and a depressed look on his face.

"Bonnie?" Chica asked in concern.

He looked up in surprise. He hadn't even noticed they were there it seemed.

"You okay?" she asked.

He nodded but it wasn't very convincing. Freddy had a pretty good idea on what the problem was.

"Toy Bonnie giving you grief again?" he asked gently.

Bonnie's flinch was all the answer he needed.

The Toy took great pleasure in bringing up all of Bonnie's painful memories when he was alone with him. They tried not to let him get to Bonnie but he always managed to get through when they weren't looking.

"Just ignore him." Chica patted his arm but it was easier said than done.

Out of all of them, Bonnie had the worst time remembering the period the Toys were active. He'd had a nightmare of a time and still struggled with the memories.

"We'll just set Ruby on him tonight." Foxy growled from beside them.

The fox was glaring at the blue rabbit across the room. He turned his attention to Bonnie.

"She's going to be furious."

That got a bit of a smile out of the 'bot but he was still far from his normal boisterous self.

Foxy pulled the rabbit off to try and distract him while Freddy sighed. Working with the Toys… It seemed that a confrontation was coming, and quickly.

Hedy glared at Toy Bonnie for the fifth time.

"Toby!" she finally snapped, using the nickname that he pretty much despised. "Sit still while I'm doing your check up!"

Toy Bonnie glared at her but knew better than to answer back when she had tools in her hands.

He complied grumpily while Toy Chica snickered off to the side.

The Toys were getting their weekly check-up before the night started and, as usual, were being difficult about it.

The originals had disappeared off to the stage room and Hedy wasn't about to go ask them if they wanted a check-up too since they'd probably bite her head off. Even though they fell under her job description too.

She let out a quiet sigh as she finished on Toy Bonnie who shot into motion, hating being forced to sit still for any length of time.

"You're a child." Hedy muttered to him as she waved Toy Freddy over.

At least he was cooperative. Toy Bonnie wouldn't sit still, Toy Chica complained all the time, Puppet was a grumpy little brat about it and BB…

"Have you still not found BB?" she asked.

"Nope." Toy Chica said from her seat on a nearby table.

She didn't sound very concerned.

"Aren't you maybe worried about him?" she asked.

"Nope." Toy Bonnie and Toy Chica answered simultaneously.

Toy Freddy mimicked her sigh.

Puppet muttered something about him turning up at some point.

"Ruby could have put him anywhere." Hedy said as she got started on Toy Freddy. "I wonder how she even caught him."

"Who knows with that crazy chic." Toy Bonnie muttered, expression turning dark.

Hedy mentally face-palmed. Why did she mention the night guard around them? It just made them annoyed.

As Toy Bonnie and Toy Chica launched into a tirade about why Ruby was awful, Hedy tuned them out.

Yes she was friends with them but boy could they get annoying sometimes.

"You hanging in there?" Toy Freddy asked her after a moment.

She shrugged.

"Yeah. Things have just been crazy so my head will catch up with all of this later probably." She rolled her eyes.

He chuckled. "Yeah, it has."

Hedy was extremely glad for the fact that Toy Freddy was a good friend. Besides the Puppet, he was the only one who could control the chicken and rabbit sometimes, so he made her life a lot easier.

"Toby, you throw that cup at any of the 'bot in the next room and I'm muting you for a week. Again." She said without looking up.

Toy Bonnie groaned but put the cup down and slumped in the chair.

"I'm bored." He whined.

"I'm working." Hedy shot back.

Toy Freddy gave the rabbit a mild glare and he pouted.

Mangle looked over from where she was sitting reading a book Hedy had brought her and made a questioning static noise.

"Almost finished Mags." Hedy smiled at the 'bot. "I'll come look at your arm in a moment okay?"

The fox nodded and went back to her book. One of her arms was giving her trouble again so she'd asked Hedy to fix it via whiteboard earlier that day.

"I'm bored!" Toy Bonnie said again and groaned dramatically.

Hedy responded by throwing a wrench at him.

Even her patience had its limits.

The rabbit muttered something under his breath but behaved after that. Generally when Hedy started throwing things, she was very low on patience and she really would mute him…

Again…

Meanwhile, somewhere in the building a round robot re-evaluated the consequences of EVER going near the night guard again. That is, if he ever got out of the small, battery-less environment he was currently trapped in.