(Well, here we go! The tooth achingly adorable chapter I've been dying to write. I know there's been a distinct lack of Boo, but this chapter is literally all Boo, Randall, Emma, and of course our two favorite monsters. In later chapters I'm gonna try including Celia a bit more. I know I neglected her. This is possibly the last chapter for two weeks as I'll be on vacation. It's likely I'll have wifi, but...you know, vacation. XD And thank you all for the reviews. Please don't be discouraged if I don't respond. Eventually I probably will, just very busy. There's a few that really, really touched me and I WILL respond to those as soon as I can.

This is dedicated to my beloved floridas_firefly (owner of a soon to be very significant character in this fic, Silver), blue-with-purple-polka-dots, and thatdoodlebug.

Enjoy! (don't be afraid to point out mistakes. I edited it, but it is three in the morning, and I don't have a professional editor XD)

Follow this fic's tumblr at thescalypurplemonster

Next chapter synopsis: When no one can look after Boo, Randall finds himself with her as he visits with his mother for the first time in years.)

Randall instinctively flickered out of sight at the sudden, harsh thud of a leather bag into a chair leg as Mike angrily stormed into the dorm room.

Even with the day he had, and the rage brimming through him at a certain arrogant, blue jock, Mike had to smirk somewhat teasingly at the empty space. "Oh great, Randy. Right when I need you, you vanish. How typical."

The gawky lizard guiltily flashed back into sight, his scales having turned an embarrassed pink. "Sorry about that, Pal. Others jump at loud noises, and I guess I disappear. So is it anything a cherry pie might help?"

"Pie?" the green monster snickered. "Well what happened to the cupcakes? Aren't they your specialty?"

"Well they are, but my mom taught me a lot about different kinds of baking. Gotta mix it up now and then!"

"I guess I could drown my sorrows in food. Maybe save a slice of pie to throw into Sullivan's face. You won't believe what he did to me today. I left my homework on my desk for a MINUTE when I went to sharpen my pencil, and I come back to find it scribbled and doodled on—most bad pictures of me—right when the teacher went to collect it!"

Randall winced. "Ouch." He inched comfortingly closer to Mike, and wrapped him up in a side ways, cheer up, buddy-buddy hug.

"Uhhh, Randy," Mike began awkwardly as he tried to push him away with his fork. "I think we need to go over the concept of personal space again."

Nothing good... Fireflies were so difficult to catch in your hand, and it made it even worse for a camera. They were just little glowing dots that dipped in and out of the night, and a camera could never pin-point their location until they were out of range of the shot.

Darn it... Emma huffed as she flung several failed photos to the ground in annoyance. She was hoping to add the photos to her collection of nighttime creature shots, but no such luck.

"Why do they have to blink? Why can't the light just be constant?" she mumbled in annoyance. "It'd be so much easier to get a photo." Emma winced when she heard her older sister call to her.

"Emma, come on! We're not here to play with fireflies and take pictures of them! We're here to play soccer!"

The nine year old snorted. "No, you're here to play soccer. I came out here to get some shots of bugs and frogs." Her eyes brightened. "And maybe an owl!" Her eyes scanned the area eagerly, recalling her father had mentioned something about a horned owl 'scaring the ba-jeebers out of him' when he sat on the porch the other night.

"Emma, get over here! I'm not doing this lesson for me, I'm doing it for you!"

Emma scowled as she finally trudged over to where her sister was (showing off) kicking a soccer ball rapidly up and down from the toe of her shoe. "I never asked for a lesson though, Tina."

Oblivious to the younger's genuine bitterness and resentment, Tina gave a teasing grin. "Well if I don't teach you how to kick right you'll never make the soccer team."

"I wasn't trying out for it!" Emma snapped back, her fists balling in frustration, per the norm dealing with her sister. "And the way I kick is just fine. Ask the jerk that called me a name the other day. If I can kick a person I can kick a ball!"

"Hey, I'm not saying you can't kick!" Tina laughed, holding up her hands in defense. "But I've seen the way you kick a soccer ball, and you always get the ball on the side of your shoe. You need to kick it directly with the toe of your shoe."

Emma's freckled face scrunched up in anger as she glared at the innocent soccer ball just perched there in the grass. She reeled back her leg and focused all her anger to her sister out on the ball. Her aim barely missed as the ball skewed sideways, pelted a tree, and then came back at her face.

Tina gasped and bolted over to help her sister up. The dazed Emma grunted as she was helped to her feet. She cried out as she saw what had clattered to the ground.

"My camera!" Wrenching out of her sister's grip, Emma fell to the grass and hurriedly brushed the dirt off her camera. "Oh no, what if the lens cracked?"

Tina heaved a tired and exasperated sigh. "Seriously, Emma? I'm sure it's just fine. Come on, stop worrying about the camera, we have to practice for soccer try outs! Don't you want to be like me?"

It was then the girl rose to glare at her sister, inches away from her face, eyes smouldering.

Tina spoke in a gentler, concerned sound of voice. "You aren't gonna get very far with that camera right now. You should be focused on more important stuff."

It was clear by the fire in the girl's eyes that the wrong thing was said. "My camera IS important to me! Just because what I do isn't as interesting as your stupid soccer, or your dumb drama club, or gymnastics, or everything else you do doesn't mean I don't have important things to!"

"Emma-"

"Just leave me alone!" Emma turned, gathered her camera and dashed from the backyard as her hurt sister looked on. Bitter tears lined her eyes. She could already imagine the conversation with her parents.

"Emma, you can't keep up with this awful attitude. Your sister is just trying to help you."

"All Tina wants is the best for you. She just wants to be a good role model to you."

"Why can't you be more like your sister?"

Emma slammed her bedroom door and flung her camera onto the soft mattress with an angry cry. The conversation had played out so many times she could already imagine what would happen. Her parents would speak to her in a pacifying tone to 'soothe' her anger, tell her to grow up, and then most likely punish her after she lashed out from being told to be more like her sister.

That's all Emma heard. Why can't you be more like Tina? Tina doesn't do the kind of things you do. No because Tina was perfect; the one with perfect grades, perfect friends, and perfect behavior. While Emma was left forever to lay in her sister's shadow.

The girl lay flat on her back for the longest time and watched the star patterns from her lamp bounce off the ceiling and walls. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and frowned curiously at her closet. There was light pouring in from the crack under her door, and she didn't even have a light in her closet.

Confused and definitely intrigued, Emma made her way towards the door and reluctantly opened it.

Monsters were everywhere. Emma gaped at them all. Multi-limbed and colored creatures slithered over the floor. They all reminded her of Funny Face, even though many of them appeared to be different species. Actually, she didn't see one that resembled Funny Face.

Most of the monsters were at a series of doors, and pressing a few buttons as the doors suddenly shot up to the ceiling, and went along some sort of track until they disappeared from sight. "Whoa..."

Emma ducked behind the frame of her door as a monster carting a load of different costumes rolled by. They all seemed to be in a hurry, she noticed. Many of them waved to each other at the door, or shouted good-byes across the room. The lights were dimming.

"You seem a little bit worried there, Pal."

"I am not worried," the voice snorted back, as if it was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. "Why would I be worried? I don't know everything about the kid's schedule, she might be at a relative's or something, like when Sullivan's shrimp goes to visit her grandmother."

He was terrible at disguising what he really felt, he was always see-through somehow. And with these past few weeks growing accustomed to spending time with the brat night by night, he couldn't help by feel a little...unsettled by her not being there.

"Funny Face?" Emma whispered. She pulled out from behind the door, enough to spot a purple, serpentine form, a large blue fuzzy mass, and what looked like a talking booger. "Funny Face!"

Mike, being composed of a large eye and little else, was obviously the first to spot the child. He yelped, nudging his companions and pointing to the kid. "You left the door unlocked, Randall!"

"Wha-?" Randall turned, frills standing on end in embarrassment as he saw the girl. "Oh, shoot. Shrimp!" he growled, immediately slithering over to her, multiple hands on his sides. "Get back in that room, pronto! I don't need another mark on my record because of you! Especially not in front of those two!" A frantic point to Sully and Mike, who merely blinked and looked at each other.

"So that's little Emma," Mike mused, leaning against the table. He certainly never thought his reaction at seeing another human child in front of his eyes would ever be so lax, but then again, he never imagined he and Sulley would practically care for a kid almost every day-night. "She's a lot taller than you, Boo."

Emma, ignoring her annoyed monster completely, smiled as she looked at Boo. "I would be, I'm nine. You must be the one-eyed pea, or are you the one eyed cretin?" she asked innocently, not realizing both names applied to him. She glanced at Sulley. "And I guess you're the big dumb brute!"

"Hehe! Yes, I'm Mike, the one-eyed cretin," Mike snickered at Sulley's unamused face. "And this is indeed the big dumb brute."

"Sullivan," the large monster answered, though he was mainly glancing at Randall (who was currently pretending to read a clipboard). "James Sullivan. But you can call me Sulley. This is Boo," he held up his tail, a large paw catching the little girl as she let go of it to cuddle into his arm.

"Oh you're Boo!" Emma grinned as she crouched down to the girl's level. Boo grinned brightly back at her. "I figured you all had real names. I mean, Funny Face mostly refers to you as the big brute, or buffoon, or idiot, and you," she said, pointing to Mike. "Well, you're a lot of things."

She looked back over at Randall, who was trying to hide in his clipboard apparently.

"Funny Face, huh?" Mike slowly sauntered to Randall's side, snatching the clipboard out of the lizard's hands to grin at his glare. The monster immediately shifted, disappearing. The one-eyed monster thought little of it, shaking his head/body. "Gee, I didn't think Randall was such a sweet-talker when we weren't around."

"Yeah," Sulley grunted, grinning as he wriggled his paw in front of Boo, letting her bat at it. "Usually he just calls us one or two names and that's it. Must be really growing attached to us."

The empty spot of air snorted. "Yeah, I worship the ground you two incompetents try to walk on."

"That's good, Randall! Accepting is the first step."

"Shut your mouth you blabbering olive, before I dunk you into a glass."

Emma immediately started laughing and slapped her knee. "Wow, you guys are three regular peas in a pod, huh?"

"Oh yeah, can't you tell? Randall snorted sardonically. "It's a friendship to be. Now get back to your room before I drag you there by your feet!"

The girl blinked. "What room?"

Randall's many fists clenched in annoyance as he set to act on his threat and grab the girl's feet. The moment he turned though, he did a double take at seeing an empty spot where the kid's door used to be. A spiked, red monster was lumbering away from the door, and Randall frantically ran up to him, his body growing to tower over the monster. "What are you doing?"

"It's quitting time, sir, we had to get the doors all cleared." He patted the monster's arm sympathetically. "Don't worry, you can try tomorrow."

Randall hissed and was about to turn the creature upside down to shake the door card off him, until he saw another monster leave with the cart of files through the door. "Wait, wait!" he shouted, rushing after the monster. "I need that!" The doors shut, his protests ignored.

"So this where you all practice your comedy stuff?" Emma asked the CEO. She watched the canisters of laughter be hauled off. "What do you do with those?"

Sulley clicked his tongue. "Well..." Even with protocol being as flexible as a rubber band, he knew he couldn't disclose too much information about their way of life. Then again, the girl was right in the middle of the factory and could see everything anyway. "It's our source of power, like the humans have electricity."

"Okay, runt!" Randall grumped as he stormed back over. "Time to go back to your room."

"Already?" Emma whined, tugging on his arm. "You aren't even gonna show me around?"

"I'm not a tour bus, squirt," he grumbled, yanking his hand out of her grasp. "You gotta get back into your room before I get some kind of negligence mark on my record and I gotta spend another seminar learning about 'proper protocol' with Fungus!"

Undeterred, she merely crossed her arms. She knew he was hard to persuade. "Oh, okay..." she heaved a large sigh, head hanging as she pretended to head to her room-only to bolt forward instead, down the hall. "But you gotta catch me first!"

Boo shrieked in delight and followed, while the other two monsters laughed at Randall, who face palmed.

"Squirt! You-!" Randall growled, launching forward and skittering after the young girl. "Get back here right now!" He swerved from one of the wheeling bins, leaping and crawling on the walls-sending bulletins scattering as he tried to catch her.

Emma only burst out laughing as she ran, with Boo shrieking in delight and trying to keep up on her chubby legs. The nine year old was having the time of her life, rough night be damned.

Randall skidded to a stop just to see a wooden, rounded sword playfully being pointed at him, Emma playfully tilting her head. "Arg! Boo, vanquish the foul beast!"

An eager three year old, dressed in a bunch of beaded necklaces and holding several objects that ranged from rubber hammers to swords happily toddled toward him. It was clear both kids had found the costume rack. "Arggg!"

"Wait, wait," he stammered, holding up his hands in surrender as the little demons approached him. "Get back, you brats!"

The demons were about to leap on him, and the other monsters (if they even cared) weren't around to stop them. Randall hissed, his frills flattening back as he prepared to make a beeline for the door. He would have too, if it didn't swing open at that precise second.

Randall's scales lightened a few purples when he saw who it was. Roz. That was the last monster you wanted to see when the factory was infested with kids. He shoved the girls behind him, knowing full well that if she saw them, he'd never see them again.

And why do you care? His mind prattled insistently, but he didn't have time to listen to it as he, Mike and Sulley (the idiots by now having seen Roz) herded the children away from the room.

"She must have forgotten something here, or maybe she wants to collect some...paper work or something." He didn't know how much she kept up with that now that her position as the CDA was more open. "We need to get out of here!"

"But the brats' doors are gone!"

"That doesn't matter, we need to MOVE!"

Sulley hoisted a child under each arm as the three of them burst through the back exit of the factory doors, and turned into an alley, panting to catch their breath.

"Okay, Sullivan, we escaped from Roz. Now how are we supposed to get these kids out of here without anyone else spotting them?" They all knew the likelihood of there being any sort of panic was slim, that wasn't what they feared. It was if some monster tattled to the CDA, that's what they worried about.

Sulley scanned the area for some sort of disguise, but the closest he could find in an alley was a plastic bag with holes. At last his eyes settled on a large cardboard box. He gazed from kids to box. Kids, to box.

"Oh, brilliant, Sullivan," Randall sneered as he watched the monster literally drop the two children into the box. "You certainly didn't become CEO for your intellect."

"Well," Mike mused, kicking aside many of the toys they bought for Boo as the children were dumped out of the box. "Can't say we weren't prepared for tonight, anyway."

"Yeah, uh, sorry about that, kids," Sulley chuckled awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his head. "It was quick thinking on the box thing. It's all I really had."

Boo babbled and blew a raspberry at the sheepish monster, but Emma was too busy checking the place out to hear him.

"Wow, neat apartment! But I thought your home would be...I don't know, more monster-y. Like I thought more things would be...alive, or your walls would have teeth and eyes or something."

Randall shuddered at the thought of going to sleep at night with wall-eyes glaring down at him. "No kid, our home isn't much different from yours. Well, we have monsters instead of humans. That's it. Even our diets are pretty similar." Save for the monsters that guzzled garbage, and the ones at factories that did away with toxic waste by eating it.

"Really?" Emma grinned, oh-so politely making her way through the kitchen and examining every drawer and cabinet. "You don't have, like, eyeball cookies, or hairy toast with blood jam? No ice cream with toenail toppings?"

Mike was thankful for his skin tone to disguise the fact he had turned green. "I think I'm gonna throw up."

"Nope, we just have normal food here," Sulley chuckled. "Boo doesn't really have...an eye for eyeball cookies." He snickered at his own joke, while Randall rolled his eyes.

"That part of your bit, Sullivan? Because I wouldn't go with it."

"No, it just...fit the moment. Sorry," Sulley muttered, ashamed of his joke.

"Awww, lighten up, Funny Face!" Emma grinned. "You don't have to be so serious all the time, and if you're trying to go into the comedy business, you can't be!"

Randall gave a dog yelp as the brat somehow deemed it appropriate to pounce into his tail like a kitten, and wrestle with it until she slipped into a sitting position on it.

"What are you doing?"

"Wow cool, it's like riding a horse, except smaller and...not a horse!"

"Get off!" he snapped.

"Or maybe a dino-"

It was then the lizard whipped his head around to glare and snap right in the nine year old's face, a dark scowl rippling his face. "I said GET. OFF!"

Even Boo was quiet now, staring up from her drawing to the steamed lizard and the little girl. Emma's grin had fallen completely, and slowly, she let her hands slip from his tail and climbed off. Randall turned his head, glaring at the floor with frustration and turmoil as she closed Sulley's door.

"...Geez, Randall," Mike snorted in the silence.

"Shut your face, Wazowski! What did she expect, jumping on my tail like that?"

"You still didn't have to bite her head off—er, figuratively. But you threatened to literally for a moment!"

Randall growled and returned to glaring at the floor. He shouldn't feel bad, but he...did, in some way. Maybe it was out of line, but was that new for him anyway? He glanced coldly at the door.

"You know, Randall," Sulley began quietly. "Maybe instead of yelling at this kid every chance you get, you should use tonight to...get to know her?"

He growled. "She's been my practice kid for almost three weeks now, I know enough, and all I want to know. Tonight wasn't supposed to be some bonding experience, it was just a mistake!"

Sulley shrugged. "That may be, but...I don't see why it can't turn into that, starting with apologizing to the kid."

The monster's glare, if anything, deepened and his face grew harder—if just to disguise how he was really feeling. Eventually, the glare faded, and instead he looked defeated and confused. "...I don't know how," he finally, softly growled in frustration. "I don't know how to do...any of this stuff!"

"It's not that hard, actually. When you're ready...it just kind of comes. And they'll be here all night, so you may as well try."

Randall was silent.

"You've got nothing to lose."

My pride and dignity. At least, whatever is left of it. You really didn't have much in this profession.

He looked briefly over at Boo, and she looked back at him with a smile and waved. He didn't wave back, still staring at the door. Finally, not even sure if he was the one making the movements, he walked to the door.

He thought he'd find the girl face down in bed and crying like any kid would be—Boo certianly would be. Instead she was on her back, bouncing Boo's ball off the wall of the blue monster's room.

Sullivan's room... It looked different than Randall thought it would, but the lizard always thought there'd be more of his trophies and awards hung so he could boast to friends when they came over. He snapped away from the unpleasant thoughts and looked down at Emma, who was staring silently back with green eyes.

"I...uhh..."

Gods...

"...Sorry."

As awkward and dull as the apology had sounded it must have meant something to the girl because she looked at him hopefully. "Really?"

"Yeah. I just..." He shrugged. "I hate when anyone touches me."

"I do too," Emma admitted. "I mean—my parents try to hug me, but I don't really let them. I haven't in a while, for a few years at least. ...But they don't try to hug me very often anyway. Why don't you like it?"

Memories flashed of the cold, stinging pain of a shovel, the stab of a tranquilizer, and the punches and kicks of another multi-limbed monster. It had been so long since anyone had ever voluntarily touched him when they weren't trying to hurt him. "Uh...it's nothing," he finally said, and turned to leave.

"Will you play with me?"

He winced at the question and turned back to the girl. She was on the edge of the bed and leaned in eagerly, even though she already knew the answer. Instinct told him to snap at the girl, but recalling what Sullivan had said (and not wanting to go through anymore lecture of 'bonding with children'), he sighed. "Play what?"

The girl gasped loudly, and the way her eyes suddenly sparkled was incredible. "I don't know, ball? Tag? Twister? HIDE AND SEEK!"

"Slow down, slow down!" he yelped. "Hide and seek?"

"Yeah, let's get Boo to play too!"

He couldn't help but whine. "She has to?"

"Sure! It's fun with more than one person!" And with that, the nine year old dashed out of the room. "Count!" she shouted back at the slightly blindsided monster. Randall growled to himself and started unenthusiastically counting to ten and covering his eyes as he walked out of the room.

Sulley raised an eyebrow at the monster, and the two girls that scrambled to hide. "What are you doing?"

Randall poked an eye out from under a set of hands to glare at the monster. "What does it look, like, Sullivan?" he snapped grumpily. "I'm playing hide and seek, do you mind?" Sulley snickered.

"You aren't prepared for that, buddy," Mike warned, "You need some training from professionals like us to find Boo." He bit back a laugh as the monster whirled to him, highly affronted.

"Excuse me? Apparently you don't know who you're talking to, cretin. I'm the master of this kind of survival skill, so this game should be a cinch." And hopefully, with his level of skill, it'd be over soon as well.

Hiding under a chair, Emma grinned as she watched Randal's feet walk about through the living room. She peered out from under the curtain folds of the chair, watching with amazement as the serpentine monster somehow crawled up the walls. She stifled a laugh along with Mike and Sulley as a mischievous Boo skittered from one spot to the other when Randall wasn't looking.

With each passing minute, as he checked the area, Randall was growing more and more confused when he couldn't find Boo. It hadn't dawned on him a three year old would have the smarts to repetitively switch spots. "Where the heck is that twerp?"

Emma, meanwhile knew she'd only stay hidden under the chair for so long, and decided to try Boo's technique out. Sliding out from under the armchair, she made a beeline to the curtain, but her heavy feet alerted the monster.

"Gotcha!" Randall cackled out as he spun towards the nine year old. She pouted up at him, but the monster only cockily smirked back. "What'd I tell you? Easy as pie."

"Yeah, don't get too confident there, Funny Face," Mike advised with a knowing smirk (which became amused as Randall glared at the 'Funny Face' comment). "You still need to find Boo."

Sent to rot in prison and beaten by some southern inbreeds—not to mention a surprisingly gutsy little two year old, Randall never thought any defeat could be more humiliating.

But when he, a species of monsters adept to hiding and blending and being the master of hide and seek found himself losing that same game to a three year old, he found out how wrong he was.

"Clocking in on forty five minutes, Funny Face," Emma helpfully reminded from behind Sulley's chair, her freckled face grinning smugly at him.

"Shut it runt, no one asked for your input." He could have sworn he had checked every nook, cranny, and curtain at least twice (but he continued to remain oblivious to the way the stealthy toddler switched her spot every time he looked).

"Aw cheer up Randall, it could be worse," Sulley snickered, biting a laugh as he watched Boo silently skitter out behind the lizard. "Actually I don't know how it could be."

"I said shut—" He was cut off as he heard a small thump, the little girl's luck finally running out as she tripped in the middle of plain sight. Randall smirked eagerly and practically leaped on the kid, pointing a finger triumphantly at her. "Ah-HA! Got you, you little mouse!"

Boo squealed and clapped her hands to her face, smiling a smile that melted anyone's hearts. Even Randall felt his sneer fade off as he stared down at the child, something inside him being tugged.

"…Uh…"

Luckily, before anything could come of that strange moment, Emma got his attention. "Okay Funny Face, now it's your turn to hide!" Mike and Sulley exchanged skeptical looks, but Randall gave a dark, devious smirk.

"Oh kid, I almost feel bad for you."

"Yeah, yeah, you're all confident about your seeking abilities, despite how much you sucked, but how confident are you in your hiding abilities?"

He practically giggled with glee there. "Oh, we'll just say my confidence isn't very low. How about that, eh?"

Emma raised an eyebrow, but she merely shrugged. She was a better seeker than she was a hider, but not even she was prepared for the way the reptile abruptly vanished from sight—literally. "What the—how?!" She stared. "Whoa, that is so cool!" Then her excitement gave off to annoyance. "Cheater! You're a cheater, you can't do that!"

For the first time in...a long time, he genuinely laughed. "We didn't set any rules, squirt. Sorry."

"That's still dirty play!" But the girl found herself laughing, and Boo giggled as well as the two attempted to scout around the room for the monster. Randall smirked, flattening himself against the wall. He briefly flickered, long enough to pop up in front of the startled girls' faces.

"Too slow!" And was gone again before they could reach him, repeating the process again and again as the kids shrieked with surprise and delight and laughed.

Sulley and Mike observed silently from a far chair as the two children and monsters played. This was the closest to happy they had ever seen Randall, at without it being at the expense of others misfortune anyway. What struck Sulley the most was seeing how happy and comfortable both kids were, especially Boo.

The clock struck eight; Boo's bedtime, but Sulley decided to let them play for just a while longer.

Randall was at the door and watching as two sleeping children were gently tucked under the covers of a bed absurdly large for just two little girls.

Their play had finally ended when he had made the mistake of appearing too close to Boo, who had promptly tugged his tail and startled him off the wall. Being twenty minutes over her usual bed time, Boo dropped the moment the game ended, and Emma followed soon after. Sulley thought it would be beneficial for Randall if he took Emma to the bedroom, but the lizard still balked at the idea.

Sulley bent down to gently brush Boo's straight bangs away from her forehead to give it a kiss. He then ran a tender paw once down Emma's blond hair and stepped away from the bed, flicking on a small, dim light on the wall.

"It's deja vu again," the polka-dotted monster found himself muttering in fondness.

"How so?"

"Well, every time I see Boo in this bed, I remember last year, the first time she slept on it. I thought I'd have to burn my sheets after it. She hasn't really slept in it since because we usually doze off in my chair. She loves sleeping in my arms."

"...How do you do it?"

"Huh?"

"This," Randall gestured all around him, "All of...this. Making them laugh is one thing, it's part of the job now, but how do you do this? How are you...this way with her? Why is it so easy for you?"

Sulley shrugged blissfully and beamed at the sleeping three year old. "It's just love, I guess. And maybe one day, all of this will be just as easy for you too." He left that open ended as he exited the room, but Randall easily understood what his rival was implying.

The thought made him want to scoff, but as he gazed at the serene, innocent faces of the sleeping children, especially Emma, he found himself leaning against the door frame, deep in thought. Conflicting expressions crossed his face, and finally, he turned to leave the room.

Sulley was busy cleaning up after the kids and Mike (who had fallen dead asleep in a chair), and he glanced up in confusion when he saw Randall make his way to the door. "Where are you going?"

He snorted. "To get groceries.. I'm going to the factory, Sullivan, where else would I go at this hour?"

"...How? It's locked, and it's ten at night. You're always getting sick in the basement anyway. Just stay here for tonight, we've got a couch."

Randall snorted dubiously. "And you actually trust me?"

"Well you haven't tried strangling either of us yet and you've been beside us quite a few times." He shrugged light heartedly. "Guess I'll take my chances. Besides, we removed your probation cuff the other day anyway. And Emma and Boo would probably prefer it if you stayed."

He looked repulsed initially at the idea of staying with them for the night...but he did have a point. The basement got freezing at night, he couldn't afford to always feel sick (nor did he want to deal with Fungus's mother-hen-ness). "...For tonight. Just for tonight." He didn't feel like slithering his way back to the factory in the dark anyway.

"Yeah, for tonight," Sulley agreed, and flicked off most of the lights-save for one in case Randall needed to get up later through the night.

It was impossible to sleep with Mike's snoring, and the plethora of questions and thoughts racing through his head. Randall hadn't even laid down yet when a tiny form sleepily pattered over to his couch. Hazy brown eyes blinked at him through the darkness.

"What are you doing up? Did Wazowski's snoring wake you too?" Both his and the brute's snoring combined could wake a house of dead people.

"Mike Wazowski," Boo babbled out, rubbing her tired eyes. She wormed her way up onto the couch, and Randall was still too tired and confused to protest, or care.

"This isn't how things were supposed to be if I ever got back," Randall began, most likely not lucid enough to realize he was talking to a three year old. "For starters, I wasn't supposed to be turned into one of Sullivan's little clowns. I couldn't imagine the company being this way-ever. But then, I guess I never heard a kid laugh before. It's...different than screams."

It was more...welcoming. Almost strangely comforting.

"And I guess I should probably thank you for even being back here at all, huh?" He glanced down at the toddler, and he wasn't surprised to find she had fallen fast asleep at the end of the couch. He thought about getting the girl back to her room, or kicking her off the cushion, but both required effort he was too exhausted to give.

His thoughts still jumbled and uncertain, Randall hesitantly laid his head down on the cushion and tried all night not to dream of the laughter of the two children.