Author's Note:

Sorry the chapter is a day late. I had a vicious headache most of yesterday so it needed to be delayed. Hope you enjoy. Next chapter should be on Monday again like usual.

Chapter 98

Spring's Friend

It was a peaceful day at Freddy's. Most of the staff were suspicious of that fact. The bots were a lot more relaxed and the Toys and Originals were actually being civil now.

So yeah, they were all suspicious.

Jerry didn't notice Henry sneaking up on him as he focused on cleaning up the mess around the host's station.

"Why the hell didn't you warn me?!" Henry snapped, startling a shout out of the other man.

Jerry looked at him like he was crazy as he paused in his sweeping. "What?"

"About the freaky new rabbit! I just saw the thing wandering the hallways. What the hell is it doing?!"

"I guess Hedy finished with him."

"What's it doing out?"

"How the heck should I know? Were any of the other bots off-stage?"

"The big chicken."

"I-I guess Chica's in the kitchen..." Jerry said with a shrug.

Henry glared at him. "It's supposed to stay in the horror side of the building. It's just going to freak out the brat-the kids. Why do we even have a horror attraction now?"

"No freaking clue," Jerry admitted. "And I'm not brave enough to get on the Manager's bad side by asking. I think it's cool though. Could be fun for the older kids when we can open it."

Henry rolled his eyes. "Whatever. It's going to freak them out if it's wandering out here though."

Jerry gave Henry a look. He stopped and considered something. "Maybe he doesn't know that...Let's go introduce ourselves."

The employees still weren't "friends" with the bots but Jerry had been practicing starting conversations with them. Him and a couple of the others. Not Henry obviously.

Some of the bots were easier to talk to than others. Foxy surprisingly was the easiest. Followed by Freddy and Teddy. Mangle was nice and boy did she talk since Hedy fixed her voice.

Henry avoided her since she'd had some scathing insults for him. He was probably thinking of a few of them right at that moment as his face twisted in distaste and horror at the suggestion. "What? What the hell is wrong with you?"

Jerry didn't get a chance to retort as Olivia suddenly ran toward them.

"Guys!" she hissed as she stopped to catch her breath, wincing as she twitched. "I need a box."

"What?" Jerry asked.

"A box!" Olivia insisted. "Like...like uh. something. And your jacket." She pointed at Henry's sweatshirt.

"What?" Henry deadpanned.

"Um we have boxes in the kitchen. There was a delivery of food and I don't think they threw the boxes away yet," Jerry told him.

"What the hell do you need a box for?" Henry said. "And my sweater?"

"Language," Olivia admonished. "My kid found something out back."

"I'll drop-kid your son if it was a hundred-dollar bill," Henry deadpanned.

"He'd kick your ass," Olivia retorted easily. "And no. Shush." She looked around and lowered her voice, making sure the Manager wasn't nearby. She discreetly opened her security guard uniform that she was holding around her chest weird.

Jerry immediately cooed at the sight of a tiny bundle of wet fur leaving muddy stains on Olivia's shirt.

The tiny kitten blinked at the sudden lights once and then spat and hissed, scratching Olivia.

"OW! Shhhh," Olivia freaked as she covered it up again, but that didn't stop the yowls, just muffled them. She winced as it scratched at her.

"What are you doing?" Jerry asked.

"Shut up. My kid was upset and wouldn't let me leave it in the dumpster," Olivia said. "I need to keep it alive long enough for me to get off work and take it to the vet."

"Are you kidding me..." Henry said in dismay. "We're a restaurant. You can't just bring a dirty animal inside a place where we serve food."

"Exactly, which is why I need your help to hide it. I can't take care of it all day. The Manager will notice."

"I think you missed my point," Henry said.

"He'll notice if any of us are off the floor too long. He's been grumpy since Ruby made him sign off on the parts for the bots' repairs," Jerry pointed out.

"What the fuck do I do then?!" Olivia snapped as the lump under her uniform shifted.

He looked torn. "Maybe...maybe one of the bots could help? They don't like the manager so they wouldn't tell him..."

"They'd kill it," Henry hissed.

"Oh shush," Olivia snapped back. She huffed. "They're children's entertainers. They know how to play with kids without hurting them. I actually bet they could handle a kitten."

Henry gave her an incredulous look. "Without hurting them?" he scoffed. "Oh, that's right. You're new. You haven't heard."

"About what?"

"The Bite of '87."

"That's a rumour," Jerry insisted as Olivia paled and looked confused for a moment. "No one knows if that actually happened or if Henry's just being an ass..."

"I didn-!"

"Chica!" Jerry suddenly stage-whispered as the chicken passed by an adjacent hallway, waving to further get her attention. "We need your guys' help."

The chicken paused and tilted her head.

"With what?" She was always polite to them.

"Can one of you guys get away with watching something without drawing attention to it?" Jerry asked.

Chica looked a little dubious, "You're being really vague, Jerry."

Jerry shuffled a bit. "Plausible deniability if you can't help?" he tried.

Chica snorted. That sounded like something Ruby would say. "I don't know. We're in the middle of a rush." She looked thoughtful. Normally she wouldn't suggest Spring but Goldy was with him when he was alone so... "What is it? Spring might be able to help. He's not working today and he's supposed to still be taking it easy."

Henry immediately made a face before he could think to hide it in front of Chica.

She squinted at him. "Seriously though. What is it?"

Olivia hesitated before opening her uniform. "I brought George today and he found her in the dumpster out back."

Chica gasped and squealed a little. "Oh my gosh is that real? It's so tiny!"

"Mew..." the kitten said quietly. It oddly didn't look very bothered about the giant animatronic, too busy being angry at everything else.

Chica blinked and looked up at Olivia in surprise. "George?"

"My son," Olivia shifted a little. She was used to the looks she got sometimes, being so young with a five-year-old son already.

Chica didn't even seem to notice that part. She brightened. "Aw! I didn't know you had a son!" she suddenly frowned. "What was he doing in the dumpster?"

Olivia looked a little sheepish. "Uh...we were looking for some cardboard for a school project of his. Also, he really wanted to see what the inside of a dumpster looked like."

"Your kid's kinda weird," Jerry deadpanned. "Cute. But weird."

"Eh," Chica tilted her hand in a so-so motion. "Ruby pretended to be a raccoon one night and inhabited the dumpster for an hour."

They...weren't even really surprised by that...

Things were very strange. Half the time Spring wasn't even sure of his own opinions about things so "strange" seemed as good an assessment as anything.

Hedy was very kind. As was Goldy. Even Puppet felt okay to be around.

Ruby was nice, though Spring worried about her avoiding him sometimes. He felt terrible about the guilt she obviously had. He may not have known much, in general, but he could still see the discomfort she had as Hedy continued to work on him, though she hid it frighteningly well.

The Originals were trying to reach out to him but also give him space, not wanting to smother him. The Toys just didn't seem to know what to do around him.

At least they weren't fighting so much all the time...

He still wasn't entirely sure he believed Goldy's insistence that it wasn't all his fault.

Spring sighed quietly as he cautiously shifted through the halls that weren't so busy. He could hear children elsewhere in the building. They were rather loud and there was something itching that made him want to follow the voices.

But he resisted. He didn't want to scare any of the children.

No matter what Goldy said, he shouldn't be around children.

It wasn't safe.

So he forced himself to ignore the programming that drew him to their voices. It was easy enough.

The employees didn't stray far from the kids so he hadn't run into any of them yet, besides one guy that had turned on his heel the moment he laid eyes on him. He'd seen the Originals a couple of times but they were usually busy during the day.

He didn't exactly want to hang out in his part of the building alone though. It freaked him out and Goldy was busy spying on someone.

She said she'd be back in a minute but...it was too quiet.

He was fine with a little exploring on his own.

He couldn't hide forever anyway. He needed to start getting back to normal.

Whatever normal was...

He froze at the sound of crashing and hushed yelling and instinctively backed up to go another way before he realized they weren't children's voices. He thought he heard Chica's voice too.

"Jerry! What the fuck man?! I told you to block that side."

"I didn't understand what you meant!"

"Would you stop yelling? The Manager's going to hear and you're scaring her."

"Scaring her? Crazy thing is scaring me," Henry retorted in irritation. "Why do I let you drag me into this bullshit...?"

Spring hesitantly edged closer to the noises. Should he get someone?

He peeked into the room.

Several employees were crouched and trying to corner something in one of the spare rooms nearest the kitchen while Chica stood off to the side stock still like she was afraid to help due to her size.

Spring caught a glimpse of Frank, the head cook(Maybe?) looking concerned and slightly irritated as he held a broom poised to block something from running out the door. He hadn't noticed Spring behind him.

Spring stood awkwardly, not wanting to startle them.

He terrified himself looking in the mirror...

What were they even doing here? Why was Frank out of the kitchen? Why were the others away from the kids?

"Olivia, I swear next time your weird kid goes dumpster diving, leave whatever he finds outside!"

"Oh shut up Henry. I wasn't going to leave the poor little thing outside to die," Olivia retorted. "She's too little to be alone!"

Spring's questions were answered as something darted between the safety of a stack of chairs to under a table in the corner, veering away from Chica as she squeaked in worried fright.

"Is that a cat?!"

The humans startled at his unfamiliar voice and looked to the door to see the ratty-looking horror rabbit animatronic staring at them, his glowing white eyes very wide.

Frank screamed.

He nearly swung at Spring. The old soldier's instincts were not his best friend.

Spring jerked away, ears dropping back. "Sorry," he mumbled, taking a few steps backwards.

All the employees in the room startled at the new bot.

Henry stiffened as he stared while Jerry and Olivia mostly jumped at Frank's scream first before startling at the bot's appearance.

The cat seemed to sense it had an opening and scrambled for the doorway.

Frank snapped out of it long enough to not think straight and tried to grab it with his hands, forgetting his dropped broom.

"Ow! Shit!"

Spring flinched at the sight of bright red dripping down the man's finger.

Spring wasn't even thinking as he scooped the kitten up just as she was out the door and about to get past him.

Every breath of the kitten was an angry hiss as her growls took on the hateful quality of "I'm going to use your intestines as jump rope".

Good thing Spring didn't have intestines. The cat's scratches didn't do anything except give him a few new cuts in his already ratty suit.

His ears were still back as he looked at the employees with wide eyes and the angry little cat in his arms.

"I'm sorry. I- I didn't mean to startle you..." he stammered out an apology in a weak voice as he awkwardly glanced down at the kitten and back up.

"I was just going to come looking for you," Chica said relieved. She looked at the humans. "This is Spring!"

"Hi," he said cautiously. He looked at the kitten again.

She hissed.

"She's so cute!" he cooed, startling them. "Hello sweetie! Chica, look at her nose. It's so tiny!" He made little kissy noises that honestly didn't sound quite right to human ears and disturbed them a tiny bit.

Even Chica looked mildly surprised. This was the most energy she had seen from him since he woke up.

Jerry was the first to snap out of his shock. "Um, no problem. Spring?"

Ruby had cornered every single employee in the pizzeria at some point and made it clear that "Springtrap" wasn't an acceptable name for the bot.

Spring shyly nodded, not sure what else to say.

"I thought it was Springtrap."

Spring's ears folded tighter and he stiffened with a flinch and wilted.

Well, Henry wasn't the smartest when Ruby wasn't there to stare ominously at him.

Chica narrowed her eyes on Henry, making him flinch. "It's a nasty name some jerk came up with. Spring doesn't like it," she said firmly.

Spring looked down at the cat as it stopped hissing and resigned itself to a squeaky tired rumble of a growl.

She was so cute.

Spring hesitantly lifted his hands to slightly present the cat to Olivia. "Is...is she yours?"

Olivia had a pleasant and sheepish smile as she took the cat back with a hold on the scruff. "Hi. I'm Olivia. And, uh, no my son and I found her out back a couple hours ago. We had her in a box in the kitchen but Frank here let her loose."

Frank bristled a little. "This is still a restaurant, Olivia," he said tiredly. "We can't have a cat inside. Besides..." he shifted a little and glanced away. "She was crying and the Manager could have heard. I thought a little food would quiet her down."

Jerry smirked at the hardened old man's soft side.

"So you open the box and zip! She's gone."

Frank pursed his lips.

"If the manager sees her then our jobs will be gone just as fast," he snapped, rubbing his face.

Jerry didn't have a retort to that.

Olivia quickly changed the topic.

"You hold on to it for a minute, Spring," she said when the cat started hissing and scratched her hand. She had a high pain tolerance but she was more bothered by how depressed the rabbit suddenly looked. It was heartbreaking, despite how spooky he looked, and she kind of wanted to punch Henry.

Jerry had no idea that the name was that much of an issue beforehand but still glared at Henry for messing up the rabbit's adorable cooing.

Spring's ear and a half perked up. "Really?" he sounded nearly hopeful.

Chica smiled slightly. "I forgot you liked animals," she admitted.

"I do?" Spring asked, confusing the humans.

Olivia held the kitten back out to Spring as she stared at him. He held out his hands before Chica answered and let Olivia set the wet, muddy, and somewhat stinky furball in his half-finished hands that were already a bit muddy from his first holding attempt.

"Sorry I'm kinda cold," he apologized to the cat as it shivered, stressed at passing between hands too many times. He gently petted its nose and between the ears.

Oh god that's so fucking cute. Jerry thought in dismay, wishing he had his phone on him. He'd use the picture as human-animatronic relations propaganda.

Chica smiled softly at him. "Yeah, you really loved animals."

Henry was still eyeing them both with distrust but Chica ignored him.

"I don't even remember what a cat is," Spring said. "But I guess I know that this is a cat somehow. Oh she's so dirty. And she's shivering. Chica do you have hot water bottles in the kitchen?"

"Staffroom," Chica told him. "After the last time Ruby got sick Hedy put a couple there to help with the chills."

Spring shifted as Olivia eyed them.

"You're not working are you Spring?" Olivia asked.

The rabbit startled a little at being addressed. "Um, no. Hedy told me not to until she's finished, uh, fixing me."

He wasn't even supposed to be wandering around like this much. His leg wasn't the most stable still. Hedy thought he might always walk with a slight limp and he could tell that Ruby felt awful about that. She shouldn't. He'd prefer losing his leg entirely if he could get rid of Michael.

The kitten suddenly seemed to sense he was distracted and violently squirmed to get free, hissing several times and trying to scratch him.

Spring adjusted his grip without hurting her. "Shh...shh..." he murmured, getting some odd looks from the humans. But he didn't really notice. "Spicy little one. Oh, you're so dirty," he said to the kitten, "You're hungry too aren't you. Hungry and spicy."

"Spicy?" Frank asked in amusement.

Spring looked up a little sheepish. "That's what you call kittens that are really upset don't you?"

"I've never heard that," Jerry chuckled with Olivia as they shared a glance.

Spring deflated a little. "Oh..." He was so sure about that. What a strange bit of info to remember without any personal memory to connect to it.

"It's cute!" Olivia said. She smiled and glanced at Jerry. "Hey, you think you can watch the kitten for me? Just until my shift ends. Chica said you might be able to."

Spring blinked in surprise. "What?"

"Are you kidding me?" Henry spat while Chica glared at him.

"The manager will notice if we're gone too long," Olivia explained as Jerry nodded. "And I don't want George watching her." She sighed a little and shook her head.

Spring looked down at the grumbling kitten. "Are...are you sure?" he looked so uncertain. It was very different from talking to the other bots.

"I think she likes you," Jerry said.

Olivia nodded. "Yeah. If you want to, that is?"

Chica tried to hide her sad smile. She could tell Spring wanted to.

"But...she needs a bath and I...Hedy would be mad if I shorted anything..." Spring tried, but there wasn't a ton of protest in his voice.

It was obvious the bot wanted to accept but he was very nervous about it and uncertain.

"I don't want to hurt her by accident." She looked so tiny in his hands...

Chica cracked a little smile. "We could take one of the sinks and someone could help give her a bath on their break," she suggested.

Henry cut in. "You better not let the Manager see that thing in the kitchen sink," he scoffed.

Chica frowned at him. "Of course not. Besides, it's not like he even goes into the kitchen often."

He essentially stayed in his office or showed his face in the main room for a few moments.

Jerry looked a little concerned about the risk though.

"He still peeks in sometimes. What if you took a bucket of warm water somewhere?"

"He never goes into Fazbear's Fright," Chica admitted.

Ruby had terrified the man enough to ensure that.

She glanced at Spring, silently asking if that was okay.

He stiffened slightly, before nodding.

It was his...wasn't it?

The others had all told him that that part of the building felt different since Ruby got Michael out of him. It felt safer.

So it should be his now...And Goldy could help out there maybe.

"Would you like a bath?" he cooed at the cat softly.

She hissed.

"Aw, that's a yes," he decided as Chica snorted in amusement and the humans looked close to the same.

"Doesn't water make you short?" Jerry reminded.

"Maybe someone could help me with the bath part?" Spring suggested shyly.

"We need to get back on the floor before the Manager notices," Jerry admitted.

"Oh Andrew's break is coming up! I'll send him to your...attraction thing," Olivia said. "When we switch off. He'll help."

"I don't want to take his break away," Spring fretted.

"It'll be fine!" Olivia insisted, checking her watch. "Oops. It's about time to switch off anyway. I'll send him your way okay?"

"But..." Spring tried.

"Have fun with the fluff ball!"

Spring watched her rush away helplessly. He couldn't exactly stop her.

Chica cracked a little smile. "Come on, Spring. Let's go find you a bucket for a bath."

Spring looked nervous but nodded. Goldy would probably be keeping an eye on things while Andrew was there even if she couldn't physically show herself.

"We should...uh..." Jerry said. "We should get back to work. Are you going to be okay?"

Henry squinted suspiciously at them. Weirdly enough, he looked like he wanted to snatch the kitten away.

"We'll keep an eye on the manager for you," Jerry added.

Spring paused. "What would the manager do if he found her?"

"Well...he'd probably want us to...uh...get rid of it," Jerry said hesitantly, glancing away.

Spring couldn't help the way he automatically shielded the grumpy cat in his hands, looking horrified.

Chica began to gently tug him away.

Henry was always more blunt.

"He'd tell us to kill it or something," he snapped.

Jerry glared at him. "Dude."

"What? Saying it like it is. Just for the record, I'm not chill with killing kittens." He squinted at Spring and Chica a little.

Spring had the cat right up against his chest. He looked heartbroken at the thought.

"That man is sick," Chica muttered. "Spring can you keep it in your side of the building? Don't let her out of your sight."

Spring nodded.

Chica didn't like seeing Spring so anxious. It was his default expression lately but it still hurt to see.

The hosts left and she got a bucket of water (with Frank's help) and carried it to Fazbear's Fright for Spring.

She set it on the desk in the office, pushing the old creaky chair out of the way.

Spring knew Michael was still somewhere here, preferring to stick around to haunt what might have been "his" space but he hadn't shown himself to Spring just yet.

Probably because Goldy was almost always around.

Chica looked at Spring in concern then down at the kitten. "You okay? I gotta go. Freddy, Bonnie, and I have another song coming up."

Spring nodded, keeping his eyes on the kitten.

"I'm sticking around Chica," they heard Goldy whisper. "You can head back."

Chica nodded, already having figured Goldy was around. She cooed at the wobbly kitten as Spring set it down on the desk and pet it a little before forcing herself to leave.

Spring crouched next to the desk looking eye to eye with the little thing.

She batted his nose.

Goldy giggled at the sight. It was adorable.

"She's fluffy," Spring said. "I think she's hungry too. Do we have cat food?"

"No," Goldy said. She paused. "We could get Hedy or Ruby to bring some?"

"Would they?"

"They come to the day shift all the time and they'd bring anything if we asked. Well...Hedy would say no if it was too weird and we didn't explain."

Spring cracked a smile.

"The weirder it is the better the chance of Ruby bringing it just out of pure curiosity," Goldy continued. "One of the employees might run out during their lunch break to get it though."

Spring shifted, not comfortable in making the decision himself.

The kitten meowed pathetically, rubbing up against Spring's face.

"She was all alone..." he murmured, poking her side gently.

"How do you know it's a girl?"

"I just checked." Spring froze. "I guess I remember how to tell...Did we use to have a cat?"

Goldy looked a little amused. "No. But you certainly tried. Several times. You brought a raccoon in one day."

"...How did that go over?" Spring asked casually, trying not to sound as interested as he was.

Goldy snorted. "Like a lead balloon. They took the raccoon to a shelter."

Spring looked disappointed. He looked back at the kitten as she toddled around squeaking out her meows, too tired to be very angry.

"You think we can keep her?" Spring asked hopefully.

"Olivia mentioned taking her to the vet. She and her son might be wanting to keep it."

Spring deflated a bit at that. She really wished she could tell him that they could keep her, that he could keep something that made him happy. She didn't want to give him false hope though.

"I probably shouldn't name her then," Spring joked weakly.

Goldy sighed as she fell silent when Andrew walked in. She wished she could give Spring something that made him happy... He deserved to be happy.