Many, many years ago…

Fear.

Bitterness.

Laughter.

Fear pulsed through Henry's tiny frame as he knelt by the blocked door. Bitter tears blinded him, and he thanked God for that. His tears prevented him from seeing the monstrous thing that sat mere inches away in a terrifyingly clear manner.

And laughter, the sadistic laughter of Lucas and his friends, pounded at his ears as he pounded on the door.

"Let me out!" he wailed, releasing a sob so harshly that he choked. He lay down, grabbing his chest and coughing roughly.

"Please…" he cried, sobbing and coughing and listening to the monstrous sound of his big brother's laugher. He squeezed is eyes shut so that he wouldn't have to look at the horrifying empty suit, the murder machine, which sat gawking at him only a foot away. The smell of blood and the sound of James' dying gags…it all came back to him as he glanced at the spare Spring-Suit parts.

He wailed and outside of the storage closet, Lucas and the gang were giggling cheerfully. It was all in good fun. They weren't really hurting the brat, after all, just giving him a little spook.

"Hey, maybe this'll be good for him," suggested Ethan. "Scare some courage into the coward!"

"Yeah right! Nothing could make my brother brave, he's such a baby!" laughed Lucas. Jonathan chuckled, but at that moment he heard something (Jonathan had always had the keenest ears out of the four of them).

Footsteps. Loud footsteps. Adult footsteps.

"I hear someone comin'!" he whispered.

"Damn, must be Dad," said Lucas. "C'mon, let's go!"

"What about your brother?" asked Jonathan.

"What about 'im? Dad'll get 'im out…he would'a just left me in there, but he'll get him out for sure."

The bitterness in his friend's tone made Jonathan squirm. They all knew full well that Lucas' father was a favoritist to the forth degree, and even though Lucas pretended like he didn't care most of the time, the pain he felt for being the less-loved one, the least favorite, occasionally surfaced.

Especially where it concerned his little brother. They all usually let it go unmentioned since none of them really had what one might consider attentive, loving parents. However, there was something particularly cruel about Lucas' situation: it wasn't that his father was just generally neglectful, it was that he was specifically neglectful to him. At least Jonathan was an only child and didn't have to watch as his parents showered affection onto somebody else while he could only stand by, loveless.

He shot a glare at the door to the storage room, where he could still hear Henry's pitiful weeping. On his friend's behalf, he cursed the child within, the favorite one, before he scurried after his fleeing friends, leaving Henry locked in the closet.

It had not been Michael's footsteps that Jonathan had heard. Rather, it had been Mark's. Michael had asked him to go get the spare Spring-Suit from the closet (since his usual suit still had a few stubborn scarlet stains left on it from when James had been crushed-unfortunately Mark's costume had been right next to him at the time and had thus received its fair share of bloodstains which bleach could not hide without destroying the suit).

As Mark approached the closet, however, he heard someone crying inside and was quickly able to deduce what had happened. Before he opened the closet, he yelled for Michael to come over. The child, he knew, would need immediate parental comfort once he was rescued from his predicament.

Michael arrived at the door in a flash once he was made aware that Henry was having another breakdown. He cursed his eldest son as he opened the closet door and scooped the sobbing boy into his arms.

"Hey, little buddy, it's all right," he said in the most comforting voice he could muster. Henry would have none of it, though. He clung to his father's purple uniform, weeping in terror and burying his tear-stained face into his dad's shoulder. It was clear that he wasn't going to let go anytime soon and it was even clearer that he needed to get out of the restaurant.

Michael's weary eyes traveled to his co-worker. "Hey, Mark, hold the fort for me, will 'ya?"

"Got 'ya covered, pal," said Mark with an understanding smile, giving his friend a reassuring pat on the shoulder and pushing him towards the door. "Come back when the kid's smiling."

Michael sighed at that. Given the current condition of Henry's emotional state, that would be hard.

It had been almost three weeks since James had managed to get himself killed. While Michael wasn't exactly happy he was gone (he had never been fond of James; they had never been as close as he and Mark), he did feel somewhat bad. He had told the idiots that owned this company that the suits were dangerous, but they were convinced that the suits would somehow hold out.

Of course, the Fazbear company could only share so much of the blame. It had been James' stubborn stupidity that had, ultimately, gotten him killed. Hence why the establishment managed to avoid a lawsuit, keep their precious Spring-Suits, and keep the incident under wraps.

Henry was probably the only child that even knew somebody had died in the restaurant, and seeing the Spring-Suit kill a man that he had known, that he had shaken hands with seconds before the springs locked up and crushed him…well, suffice to say the child hadn't been sleeping well for the last three weeks.

He hadn't been acting well while he was awake either, constantly crying (even more than usual, and Henry had always been the sort of child who wasn't embarrassed to let out his fear and woe through tears) and always seeming so scared. Especially when he had to enter his father's workplace.

And especially when his brother and those blasted friends of his decided to torment the poor little boy. They had taken full advantage of Henry's newfound fear and had used the Fazbear characters to spook the child at every opportunity. He would have to keep them away from the Party.

He exhaled as he carried Henry out the backdoor, glancing a tad uneasily at the large picture of Fredbear that graced the walls of the establishment. He had scheduled the Party over a month ago. His bosses had decided that if they weren't going to give him an engineer's pay they had to give him some sort of present. Once they had learned that he had a small son, they had offered to throw a party for Henry on his birthday for only a third of the normal price-they would even include the cake. It had actually seemed like a wonderful gift at the time: a nice, inexpensive party that Henry could enjoy with classmates. Maybe the child could even make some friends.

Of course, now the Party situation was a bit problematic. Michael couldn't cancel at this point since everything was all scheduled and he would be penalized if he made the establishment waste time and money. Henry was going to have a birthday party at Fredbear's Family Diner whether he liked it or not.

He knew the boy was dreading it, but he hoped that if Lucas and his friends could stay at bay…perhaps this would be the perfect opportunity to let Henry fall in love with Fredbear's again. He could have some fun, play some games, make some friends, eat some cake, be happy…then he wouldn't be afraid of the place anymore. The whole bloody incident with James would be banished from his innocent little brain and he could once again rush into Fredbear's after school with a smile on his face instead of tears staining his cheeks.

Of course, the Party wasn't until tomorrow. Right now, he had to make his son stop crying.

Fortunately their house was only a brisk walk from Fazbear's. Michael entered the house and, after confirming that Lucas wasn't home, carried the child into his room.

His room. It always felt odd to refer to the pink-clad room as his instead of his and Scarlett's room.

He sat down on the pink comforter, cradling the boy and somberly thinking of the child's mother. Scarlett.

What an argument they had had when they'd first moved in together! She had always been one for bright colors-reds and purples and oranges and especially pinks. She had begged him to let her decorate their room pink and even though he had resisted initially…well, Scarlett had batted those lovely eyes and he hadn't been able to refuse.

How an optimist like Scarlett had allowed herself to fall in love with a cynical man like Michael had been a mystery even to the lucky groom, but Scarlett hadn't seen anything wrong with it. She always said they were like Yin and Yang, opposites that attracted and fit together like two pieces of a puzzle, and he had been all too happy to accept her reasoning. He could use a touch of hope in his life, after all. Even when he had a horrible day, Scarlett would always find a bright spot. And if she couldn't find a bright spot, she would smile tenderly and proclaim that 'Tomorrow is another day."

That was her favorite phrase, from the film Gone with the Wind, her all-time favorite movie since she was named after the protagonist. He had spent so long watching that movie with Scarlett, blissfully holding her and paying no attention to the boring film itself. Tomorrow is another day was the optimistic last line of that movie, and Scarlett had used it so often that even he, unconsciously, used it when he was having a particularly bad day. He had even, one or twice, comforted Henry with the phrase when the boy had a miserable day and Michael didn't know what else to say to comfort his son.

He glanced at the picture of the pink flower on the wall and sighed. Even though Scarlett had been dead for many years-she had gotten very sick shortly after Henry's birth and had passed before Henry even had a chance to call her 'Mommy'-he still hadn't been able to bring himself to remove her precious décor. Removing the pink would be like removing her, and he just couldn't do that.

Being in his father's room always did wonders in terms of getting Henry to stop crying (perhaps something about the pink unconsciously reminded him of his mother). Within five minutes, Henry's wails were reduced to sniffles, then teary silence.

"Better?' asked Michael. The boy was still crying, but he wasn't a wreck now.

Henry rubbed his eyes and shrugged. "Lucas locked me in the closet," he confessed quietly. "I was scared."

"That's what I thought," said Michael, clenching his teeth angrily. "Don't worry, Lucas is going to be in big trouble."

Henry didn't seem entirely happy about this fact. He merely looked down and his tear-filled eyes found a tiny model of Toy-Foxy that was in pieces on the floor. He slipped off his father's lap and onto the floor, picking up the broken toy and fiddling with it curiously.

"What's this?" asked the child, as if desiring to change the subject.

"Oh, that," said Michael with a slight smile. "I'm trying to help design a new set of animatronics."

"For…our restaurant?"

"No, there's another big restaurant opening soon. They're gonna have all new animatronics, but they're gonna have plastic instead of fake fur. Easier to clean that way. We're calling them 'Toy' models, because they're gonna be like toys."

"Oh," said Henry, peering closely at the Toy-Foxy. "Which is this gonna be? It looks like Foxy."

"Good eye, Henry. It is Foxy, Toy-Foxy."

"But Foxy's a boy," Henry pointed out, gazing at the makeup-clad and eyepatch-free Toy model. "And he's a pirate too."

"Well, this is a different Foxy," explained Michael, "My bosses thought the one we have now is too scary…"

"He is scary!" squeaked Henry.

"Well, there you go. So we're making Foxy pretty instead of scary now."

Henry fiddled with the head of the toy Toy-Foxy and said in a slightly brighter tone, "I think I like Foxy better when he…erg…she is pretty."

He played with the model, pulling out its limbs and experimenting with where the parts could go and how he could make the mangled Toy look better. Michael watched with a small smile, relieved that the boy was calm and somewhat content once more.

"Maybe you can be an engineer someday and make cute and pretty animatronics instead of scary ones," Michael suggested. "Y'know, I went to engineering school."

"But Daddy, you're a policeman," said Henry, gesturing to his father's purple uniform. Michael chuckled at that.

"I'm a security guard, Henry, not a policeman. Policemen catch criminals, I just keep the restaurant safe. But I also did a lot of work with machines. That's why I help Mark get into the Spring-Suit and help fix the animatronics when they're broken."

"Why are you a security guard instead of a mechanic then, Daddy?"

"Some things came up and I wasn't able to finish school," explained Michael vaguely, neglecting to mention that the 'thing that came up' which had prevented him from finishing his education was actually Lucas. He might have forgiven his eldest for this if the boy wasn't such a brat.

"That's why they can't hire me as a mechanic," he continued. "I don't have enough official qualifications."

"What's a quaff-il-qua-" mumbled Henry, stumbling sweetly over the pronunciation and causing Michael to laugh.

"Something you need before you can get certain jobs...qual-if-i-ca-ti-ions."

"Quaaaal-ifi-ca-tions," said Henry slowly.

"Good job!"

"Do I need qualifications?" asked Henry with a hint of worry. Michael shook his head.

"No, Henry, not until you're older."

"I'm older tomorrow," pointed out Henry.

"You're six tomorrow, Henry," chuckled Michael. "You don't need qualifications until you're much older than that. Don't worry about it. You've got plenty of time to get all of the qualifications you need. For now, just focus on having fun."

Henry nodded and went back to playing with the model while Michael watched. Tears were still staining Henry's cheeks, but Michael knew that they would eventually dry off. For now, his son was scared and sad most of the time, but it was a temporary state of affairs. Someday, perhaps even on his birthday, Henry would be happy. And that was all Michael could really ask for.

Holy shit.

Let me tell you all a little story. We shall call it "One Month at Dum-Dum's".

Idiot Author: There we go! Chapter 10 of my FNAF Fanfiction is done and done! Hmmmm…maybe I should back up what I have of the next chapter…nah!

(Computer bursts into flames.)

Idiot Author: Eeek! Well, that was bad luck. I'm about two weeks behind on my Fanfic now. Oh well! It's almost Thanksgiving Break, I'll have plenty of time to re-write what I lost and post it as a Thanksgiving gift to my awesome readers!

(Has an allergic reaction to something her aunt made and ends up coughing up blood).

Idiot Author: That was a fun experience. Well, now that the inside of my throat is no longer having its time of the month, I can get back to…

Teachers: NOPE!

Idiot Author: Oh, right, finals. Well, after that…

(Breaks wrist).

Idiot Author: Oh, come on!

And here we are. Good Lord, I am sorry, folks. I can only hope that this extra long chapter will make it so that you forgive me and don't abandon me and don't come over to my Bio page with torches and pitchforks. I'm a bit more settled now and I'm still writing as much as I can. Thanks to everyone for being so patient!

And a special thanks to:

Guest Number 1

Sonicxjones: Ask and ye shall receive

UnimportantDude: You're very important tome :)

Darkmegatron

Jeyhellix

Fabro de Verbis

Shippings

KuraiFriend (Yep, you got it!) For those of you who don't know, the song Jack sung to Bonnie in the last chapter was from the FNAF Musical Part 1, starring the always awesome Markiplier. Go give it a watch if you haven't already!

Secret

RuetheFox

You are all awesome for leaving reviews and I wish I'd been able to thank you with another chapter sooner!

As it were, we're past 60 reviews guys! Can't thank you enough, you're all amazing!

Next update will hopefully happen soon (provided I don't get crushed by a Spring-Suit or something in the meantime.) Be sure to check my profile page, I usually say when the next update will be there!

Thanks again for reading, guys! I'll be back (hopefully without a hiatus).