Mable: This took a little longer than expected, but I managed to get the length that I wanted and fit in the content that I wanted, so that's something! I hope you Enjoy!

Can't Go Home Again

Chapter Sixty-Three

Scott never felt safe around the animatronics, so when a golden face was suddenly in front of his when he looked upwards, he couldn't help but jump back. "Gah!" He clutched onto the desk for a moment and stared at the golden rabbit animatronic. Though it was easy to see that it currently wasn't an animatronic, but a suit being toted around.

"Where in the hell is Johnson?" His voice never rose above the lowest of a whisper, but it was intense. He was furious and, perhaps, for a good reason. Henry had said he was going to get suited and head out to the main room, but had yet to show. In any other case this would've been concerning, but Henry wasn't above getting distracted and pushing off duties for later. He was the master of spontaneous procrastination, even when the restaurant was so dear to him. Now it was Scott dealing with the second, clearly furious owner.

"I-I don't know? I'm not sure. Maybe-… Maybe his office?" Of course, Scott understood it. Being a single entertainer performing for countless children was rough. Especially when you were playing the less popular character and had to deal with everyone asking where the star was. His boss was fed up and here he was on the prowl for Henry, still fully dressed as Bonnie. "I'll check his office."

"And put on your costume. I'll need you out there on the floor." This got a choke out of Scott, but he managed to reach into the desk and pull out a flimsy looking bear mask.

"Sir, to be entirely honest- I'm still going to do it, I wouldn't say no- but I don't actually think any kids are going to believe this," Scott quietly suggested. Then he fit on the uncomfortable mask and a pair of overly plush, but still unconvincing gloves. Then he stood from the desk and headed back towards the office. The suited man followed along behind him.

"Mr. Johnson, Sir?" Scott called in with a knock at the door. "Sir, there's uh- there's a lot of kids out here, and Mr. Afton's going to make me put on a suit if you don't come out… Sir?" He turned the knob and peered into the office. It was empty of anyone. "He's not here. Maybe he's getting suited?" Without a word of agreement or disagreement, the suited man turned and started towards the safe room. Unwilling to get stuck tending to the children, Scott followed right behind him.

The saferoom was fit with double doors so that animatronic entertainers could be moved in and out easily. This was necessary for the golden bear animatronic and suit, as it had a much wider girth than its Bonnie counterpart. Regardless, only one of the doors was opened, and the suited man stepped into the dark room.

"What did I say about turning off the lights-?" The scolding towards whoever was cut off rather abruptly. In a sudden moment, the suited man stepped on something slick, and Bonnie's feet slipped. Years of wandering around gave them little traction and all it took was fluid and a tiled floor to cause the slip. Somehow, just barely, he was able to grab onto the table beside the door with both arms. Then, halfway suspended, he went entirely still. Scott could only gasped and watched with the same baited breath.

In retrospect, it was sheer luck that William had been able to stop his fall. It was even more fortunate that the jolt of the action didn't immediately cause the springlocks inside the suit to trigger.

"Are you okay?!" Scott blurted out. "Here, let me- Can I touch you? Will I set them off?!" He couldn't see any part of man's face, but he knew he was just as stunned. Just from the slow movements and what clearly sounded like him holding his breath. That could've easily ended in death. They had been horribly close to somebody dying.

"I'm fine," the man eventually spoke. He struggled to push the bulky suit upwards. "Help me up." Scott was behind him in a second, helping leverage him to his feet. "What did I slip on?"

Scott looked down at the floor…

…His head was killing him.

Scott's headache was intense enough to wake him out of what was a dead sleep. Not to mention that something about his body simply felt wrong. Maybe it was the position he was lying in; one of his arms was folded underneath him while the other was dangling off the… Armchair. He was on the chair, not on his bed, and his eyes shot open and he was rewarded with a blur of light. He wasn't used to keeping the overhead light on, but it was the directness that briefly blinded him. He raised a hand to cover his eyes from the onslaught.

It was only once his eyes were covered and that he could think straight that the events of the night before returned. Though the memories ended abruptly; he had remembered feeling very strange, rather lightheaded, and then suddenly losing consciousness. His best guess was that he fainted and somehow was now in his chair. He uncovered his eyes and looked around frantically at the living room. However, he couldn't immediately see the endoskeleton being that had cornered him the night before.

For a split second, he wondered if it had all been a crazy dream. Perhaps it was out of denial, but he realized quickly that it had to of happened. If it was a dream then he would still be in bed, instead of randomly propped in his chair with his body in an awkward position. Scott slowly pushed off of the armchair and almost immediately fell back again.

It had touched his leg. It had to, because his leg wasn't positioned right, and he had wobbled on it immediately. Just knowing that it touched his skin and looked at his scars… It made him feel violated in a strange way. Though not as much as the dream had.

Knowing what he did now about William Afton, it was hard thinking back and remembering their time together. Especially that memory; he couldn't imagine anything worse than walking in to find a body stuck in a suit. Except maybe remembering his accident, or that moment when he realized at the hospital that he lost his leg in the first place. Almost all his memories were tainted by these revelations later on, even Baby's own first impression.

Speaking of which, he needed to check and make sure that it was truly was back in the garage. He fixed himself and headed over to the garage door. "Just open it and look inside. It won't be that bad. It can't be that bad." Scott cracked open the door and stared into the garage. There was Baby standing in the center of the room with all her panels back in place. As though nothing had happened at all. It was almost worse that way. Part of his mind betrayed him again and wondered if he had a night terror and imagined the entire event.

"You slept a long time."

Baby's voice brought Scott out of his brief reverie. "I… Yeah."

"I was afraid you wouldn't wake up at all," 'Baby' admitted as it turned towards him. Those blue eyes locked onto him and stared him down. "You fell so hard… I know I scared you. That wasn't my intention." The sound of shifting wires could be heard underneath her exterior. He was starting to regret coming in here. "Fritz called to see if you were okay, so I answered for you. I said you were okay, but I didn't say what happened."

"Uh… Thanks?" It had answered and Fritz hadn't been immediately suspicious? That was certainly odd.

"I would prefer if Fritz didn't know. He would want to… See me… Without my body," it quietly explained. "And if he did then he would take me back underground. I don't want to return to that darkness again. It's so cold down there… For now… I am asking you to keep my secret and to refer to me as 'Baby' if he asks… And he will ask."

"S-Sure. Whatever you say." Just go along with it, he told himself, and it would be over soon. He had to move; he had to do something. "I-I need to get in the kitchen and bottle- and feed my kitten." The kitten needed its bottle and he needed an acceptable excuse to get away from the garage.

"Okay." It responded with a simple answer.

"And I… I need- I need to make my calls for work. I'll be in my office …"

"Okay," it answered again. It made no attempt to stop him. He echoed the word and started to step back out when it spoke again. "Will you be done by tonight?"

"I'm… Not sure, why?" Scott haltingly asked.

"Just wondering." It was lying and he knew it. There was something thoughtful in its voice, as though it was planning something.

Scott made sure to lock the garage door behind him.

Mike felt half dead. It was hard to explain, but everything felt so sluggish and uncomfortable. Which was strange, because he had plenty of nights where he barely slept. Something about last night stood out as particularly tiring. He had gone through the motions, drank coffee, got dressed, drank more coffee, and was still nursing a mug of coffee while driving towards the Pizzeria. In his fogged state, he just gave up on anything fitting travel and just toted another mug around with him, one with a snowman printed on the side. It was all inappropriate.

And Marionette was extremely clingy. It didn't bother Mike, but it did feel weird having the Puppet grab at his sleeve as he drove down the road. Everything had been shaken up by last night, and possibly Baby, if Baby really was the trigger for the frantic spell of 'rescuing'. As he pulled up beside the Freddy van in the back of the restaurant, Mike felt less than hopeful in the day at hand.

"Well, let's get this over with," Mike muttered as he drank more of the mostly cold coffee and opened his driver's door. He then made his way to the unlocked back door, only to suddenly have Marionette appear and open it for him. "Thanks," Mike quickly thanked as he quickly straightened his uniform.

"It comes with the job," Marionette remarked playfully. He obviously wanted to lighten the mood a little bit. "Opening doors is only one of the many important things that I do at Freddy's. You could call me a Jack of all trades." He chimed as the final comment.

"A Jack-in-the-box of all trades, maybe," Mike added in. Then he looked away from his tie and glanced over. "I hope that was intentional, because if it wasn't then you missed out on a great opportunity."

"It was, don't worry," the Puppet chimed back as he watched the guard enter. As soon as Mike stepped into the Pizzeria, Marionette vanished, and he could only suspect that he teleported to the Prize Corner.

Still half-asleep, Mike fumbled his way into the main room, and was immediately confronted by Fritz.

"There you are!... You look terrible," Fritz pointed out, his face scrunching in confusion.

"I didn't sleep more than a couple of hours," Mike admitted. "One hell of a night, but I'll spare you the details."

"And I thank you for that. I think I'd prefer not knowing what happens at your house between Midnight and six." Naturally, there was a very slight smirk, but he seemed too disturbed to truly enjoy his remark. "But we've got bigger problems to deal with. Long story short, Baby's with Phone Guy."

"Why even- Never mind, I don't care." He was too tired to even think of the why behind it. "What's the problem?"

"It's Phone Guy. Something… Weird was going on. He left me a couple of unnerving messages this morning, frantic about something Baby was doing. I called this morning and he sounded fine, but… I don't know. He just said he had a nightmare and freaked out, but something about it is really strange." He sent a glance over at the nearby birthday party before whispering to the security guard. "You don't think this is a Mari situation, do you?"

"Nah, he was with me all night… Oh, wait." He was way too slow today. "I don't know. I don't remember Baby faking voices. Did he sound 'off'?"

"He sounded… Tired, mostly… It's consistent, but it also could be a faked voice. It's really hard to tell," Fritz admitted.

"It's a damn sham you didn't get the voice on tape. Mari would've told you. He's the best at faking voices; he'd be able to tell if it's another fake," Mike pointed out.

"It would've been great if he could've heard it, but he was too busy keeping you awake all night." There was smugness in there somewhere. "I should've headed over there this morning, but I was running late, and after he said it was nothing… I don't know. I'm regretting it now."

"Well, I'm here," Mike pointed out. "You can go drive over there, or we could go together after work. Either way, we'll go see Phone Guy face to face." Then he tiredly rubbed his face. "I'm really wishing that the week was over. I've never felt more like I could sleep through thirty hours."

"Tell me about it," a new voice invaded in. Suddenly there was an older woman standing beside them, looking about as exhausted as Mike and with this largely uncaring look. Mike just stared at her blankly, not reacting right away. "I heard I could get a job here."

"From who?" Fritz inquired in confusion, furrowing his brows. The woman was entirely unfazed by his question. Then again, she had just appeared out of nowhere and walked directly into their conversation. She didn't seem like the type to be effected by something as basic as inquiry. "We have spots, but we don't have a help wanted out…"

"Louise, I'm her mother," the woman replied. "She said there might be a job opening. I've been working over at Barnaby's, but if I don't get further away from my immediate family, it's all going to be over." It was only now that Mike realized he remembered her from the diner. It had been the same woman that he frequently saw passing in and out of the kitchen; a thin woman in her forties with short cut hair and the look of someone who was exhausted with life in general.

"Wait, yeah, I've seen you," Mike agreed. He ran a hand though his hair. "Sorry, rough night. Mike Schmidt." He offered his hand and she took it.

"Rough decade. Tabitha Morris; call me Tabby. No ma'am stuff; I get enough of that at home," the woman quickly introduced. Between her frazzled hair and the continued look of 'I don't care where I am' pasted on her face, Tabby was leaving something of an impression. Nothing like Louise; it was strange how unalike they were. "I worked as a cook at Barnaby's for five years too long."

"We need a cook," Fritz admitted. "As it is now, we're rotating kitchen duty between four people who weren't hired for pizza making skills. However, this isn't a normal restaurant."

"Yeah, I know the drill," Tabby began. Then she dropped a very odd comment, "I worked for a couple of weeks at Hickory Dickory's before they shut down their kitchen." This was a name that had never been dropped by anyone previously. Through his exhausted delirium, Mike latched onto it.

"Hickory Dickory's? What in- is that supposed to be?" Mike asked further. Though he already had a suspicious what it was. "And thus, returns the Freddy Fazbear knock-offs."

"It's some sort of arcade play area thing out in Nevada. Out in the middle of the desert- it's like this place. One of those ones with robot animals and food and stuff. Then they scrapped the food and I was back in the family business," Tabby lamented dryly. "Those were the dark days." Mike and Fritz shot looks at each other in questioning.

"Have you heard of Hickory Dickory's?" Mike more mouthed than spoke. Fritz gave a slight shake of the head in response. This got a weary exhale out of Mike. "That's what we need; more competition," he bitterly remarked.

"I wouldn't call Hickory Dickory's competition," Tabby broke in. Almost immediately, Mike's head snapped to her. Something about the shift in tone, from uncaring to something low and suspicious, rang a bit too close to the chime of the old Freddy's. "I don't know anything about the place- except they promised me a job and then never gave it to me- but the place isn't as nice as this. Way bigger, but the robots are a lot more uncanny valley, if you get what I mean."

"Sort of," Fritz agreed. "You wouldn't happen to have any… Paperwork or anything from there?"

"If you're asking for a reference, I didn't even get a decent paycheck, so no," Tabby responded. She seemed to lose interest in the location, not realizing why the two men were truly so interested. "Do I get the job? I'll work dirt cheap and am willing to cook anything. Anything to get out of where I am now."

"We'll think about it. We need to talk it over with the others," Fritz answered. "If you could come back after closing, we'll give you a proper answer."

"I'll just go sit over there until you're ready. I've got nowhere else to be," the woman remarked as she stood, wandered to the furthest table, and slouched down in a chair.

"She's, uh… Not what I was expecting, I'll be honest. Then again, I wasn't expecting anyone to walk over and ask for a job," Fritz admitted. "We need a cook, but it's a risk. Anyone who doesn't know about the animatronic situation is a risk."

"It's not like we have much of a choice in that regard. Besides, I like her," Mike pointed out. "You've got to respect a woman whose pitch for hiring is 'so I don't have to spend time with my family'. That's like the default requirement for working here." Or, at least, it helped to not have a heavily involved family when dealing with possibly aggressive animatronics. Not that Marionette nor Foxy would be threats to someone who was a non-threat. "Doesn't seem like the type that's going to ask questions."

"I hope not, because I'd rather not have to answer any questions that might incriminate us," Fritz pointed out. Then he gave a slow exhale. "Keep an eye out on everything for a minute. I'm going to go check the computer and see if I can find anything on Hickory Dickory's."

"Got it," Mike agreed and Fritz headed towards the office. Even though they had unfinished business, Mike was glad that Fritz was taking the first step to figuring out what this restaurant was. Especially if there was a possibility that it related to Freddy's; considering the connections that had already been made between Freddy's, Chipper's, and Afton's. For now, he had a cooling mug of coffee to tend to and a room filled with children to watch.

Foxy was tending to what may have been the smallest birthday party group they had ever gotten. It was only two boys and one girl, with the birthday boy being a young, glasses wearing child. Amusingly, he reminded Foxy of a small Jeremy with darker hair, and he seemed just shy enough to fit the bill. The captain was always careful to dote on the shy ones and this time he was obligated to do it.

That was, until all three kids scurried away from him and rushed to Marionette, who had gotten ahold of a plate of cupcakes. Foxy mockingly shook his hook, "Yar, ye be stealin' my crew! I oughta make ya scrub the deck!" The Puppet retorted with some sort of sing-song sounding chime. It was a decoy alone to play along; there wasn't words hidden in a higher pitch this time. "How dare ya sass Captain Foxy, ya smiling ladlover!"

That was an accident slip of words, but it got a small choke and an outburst of amused chiming from Marionette. Foxy couldn't even tell whose expense they were laughing at now and covered it quickly. "But can he give ya treasure?" Foxy reached out onto the table for an abandoned basket of tokens, probably left by Marionette. He then knelt and offered them. "First mate Danny gets the first game," Foxy promised and said birthday boy grabbed a handful of tokens. Everything was going great.

"Captain Foxy," one girl asked, "where's Baby?"

It was so sudden that Foxy almost dropped the basket. Even more so considering that it was a child who walked up randomly that asked. The hope was that nobody would ask or even remember to ask, and yet someone had been her yesterday and was now here asking. Foxy looked upwards at Marionette, who stared back with his constant smile. He knew that he was just as shocked about the question. However, Foxy was captain, he was the older brother, and it was his job to concoct a believable answer.

"Baby decided to follow her dream an' join the circus," Foxy lied. "She loved singin' so much that she wanted to open her own circus to do it. So she ain't gonna be here anymore… But she'll come visit ol' Foxy when she wants a taste 'o the pirate life." This second lie was even more of a lie than the first one, but he had a feeling it would buy off the children better. Now they would be satisfied and later they would forget that Baby had ever been there. Thankfully, there hadn't been any merchandise or posters made yet.

"Yar, let's set sails for Sit 'n Survive! One of you rapscallions gonna take on Foxy's challenge?" The kids already forgot about Baby and followed along with the animatronic to the arcade. Marionette stayed behind, keeping his image intact for a few more moments. Then he turned, plainly as day, and took towards the kitchen. He moved fast enough that it raised a red flag to Mike, who had seen everything play out. The Puppet released his strings and quickly slipped into the kitchen.

Mike followed Marionette into the room. "Are you okay?" the question was an immediate response to Marionette's frantic movements. He didn't usually flee into the kitchen of all places and even Natalie, who was cutting a pizza, seemed surprised. As soon as the door shut, Marionette dropped his head into one hand while the other crossed his chest. He hadn't handled the mention of Baby well at all, regardless of how his reaction had looked compared to Foxy's. He had looked fine out there, but it was much different back here.

"I need a moment," Marionette excused in a rather somber and particularly quiet tone. Mike approached and reached to lay his hands on the Puppet's shoulders. He squeezed at the warm fabric.

"Hey, small steps," Mike encouraged in a soothing tone. "It's still sore. It's okay to still hurt." If Marionette tried to say something, it was muffled by out of place chimes- not of amusement, but of despair. Seeing him fading fast and not wanting to have him deteriorate into tears, Mike continued trying to suggest options. "We could just go home. We'd put on a movie, get out a tub of icing, and count today as a loss." He patted his back and hoped that he would take the offer.

"I can't…" Marionette admitted with a sigh. "This is my job. Even if- Even if I cannot get fired, I need to do it. The children need me. Foxy needs me."

"Foxy's just about ready to close too. The only party of the day and there's only three kids. What even-?" It was now that Mike noticed Natalie staring. She wasn't just slightly staring either, but blatantly watching with this unreadable look. He didn't know how to describe it; it wasn't a surprise, but more like a mixture of knowing something and observing it. He didn't even know if it was worth calling it out when the Puppet had become so distraught so quickly. So, instead, Mike angled his head the other way and pretended that Natalie wasn't even there.

"Every day is important," Marionette stubbornly assured. Then he started to calm down, gave a tired exhale, and started to look back. "We should go back to work." This time it was Mike's clinginess that stopped him.

"Come on, Mari, let me take care of you," Mike spoke in a much lower tone to avoid Natalie hearing. Marionette fought back the warble that wanted to form in his chest; this is always what happened to him when Mike played with his voice. "You don't need to put yourself through this."

"As much as I would love that-…" Marionette forced everything to stay normal, even as he laid a hand on Mike's own. "We… have obligations."

"My obligation is to you first and foremost," Mike reassured. "The pizzeria will live." As soon as he finished saying this, the kitchen door swung open. Surprisingly, it was Foxy who stepped into the kitchen, having left the kids. The captain took a moment to take in the scene and noticed the other animatronic was alright, so he covered himself with an excuse

"Just lookin' fer the cake," Foxy excused and looked to Natalie expectantly. She went to collect it and, while they were distracted, Marionette lowered his voice to assure Mike.

"Maybe I'm not holding as well as I thought. I'm willing to compromise by returning to the Prize Corner; it'll be much less stressful if I can let my guard down," Marionette tried to suggest. "But only if you escort me." He offered his hand, unconcerned about the consequences- Foxy would be in here and the children wouldn't care, so it was virtually safe. Mike answered by taking his hand, allowing fabric and flesh to touch once more.

"I'll go out first so you can get 'back on track'," Mike suggested, getting a small chime out of Marionette. This was enough for now. As far as he was concerned, Mike could always replace Baby. They left the room together.

Foxy, turned his head, checked to see that they had left, and looked back to Natalie. He nudged her with his hook. "See? What did I tell ya? That's all the evidence ye need."

"Yeah, that's… That's peculiar," Natalie responded as she topped the cake. She had a feeling that her face was as red as his fur.

The rest of the day shuffled by. Being that they had already came in late, it wasn't as though it felt like a full day. Plenty of children, plenty of pizza, but a thankfully shorter day. Which was perfect considering the situation. Baby had been a massive setback for the animatronics' confidence, but they managed to make due. Which was good, because they all had a decision to make. They met in the kitchen under the guise of cleaning the animatronics and instead spoke on the woman still sitting out in the party room.

"She's an odd one," Fritz admitted. "She hasn't left in like five hours. It's weird that she wants a job that bad… I don't know. I'm starting to think she has ulterior motives." He had seemed a little disturbed ever since he returned from the office. Mike decided to point this out.

"You've just been spending too much time reading about competitive pizza chains," Mike remarked. Though his tone quickly shifted. "Anything on Hickory Dickory's that we should know about?" Confusion passed between Jeremy and Natalie. The animatronics didn't show the confusion, but their silence showed that they were listening.

"What's Hickory Dickory's?" Jeremy dared to ask.

"Hickory Dickory's- Which I found out is actually Hickory, Dickory, and Doc's Funcade- is another animatronic arcade. If what Tabby said is true, they stopped serving food and are now just a large- a very large- arcade and activity center for kids… Which means that it's very strange that we've never seen or heard anything about it until now," the technician explained.

The look on Marionette's face briefly shifted and Mike noticed a briefly thoughtful look passing his face. He was inquisitive, but he continued to say nothing.

"And if we continued what Tabby said, they aren't competition, which could mean anything. Since she mentioned the animatronics directly… I'm guessing that there's a problem with the animatronics. Basically, they're either haunted, they could be Afton's, or they could be like Chipper's." Fritz added with a shrug. "Personally, it's probably not a Chipper situation. I saw some of their pictures and their animatronics look fine."

"You saw them?" Jeremy asked, nervousness returning in his voice. "What were they like? Bears, more bears?"

"Their headlining three are three blind mice ones. They're going with a nursery rhyme theme."

It was at this point that Mike suddenly remembered something that unnerved him direly. He looked amongst the others and considered his options. Normally he would clam up and keep it to himself, he wanted to, but he knew that he couldn't. "It's an Afton situation," he remarked, quieter than he anticipated. Though everyone still looked over to him like he yelled it at the top of his lungs. He glanced over the lot of them before finishing. "I saw mice animatronics when I was looking through the files at Afton's. This can't be a coincidence."

While everyone was a little surprised, only Marionette and Fritz seemed to really understand the gravity of the comment. Marionette's expression betrayed his surprise while Fritz's grimace was perfectly visible.

"I was worried about that… Of course it's that," Fritz choked out.

It was now that Foxy finally broke in. "I want to see these mice. Competition 'er Afton's 'er not, I need to see what we're lookin' at."

"Which means that we need to deal with Tabby before she starts asking questions," Mike finished with assertion. "Look, I don't know if I can trust anyone, but we need a chef and Tabby's story checks out so far. She's not the type to ask questions, she's not a gossip, and even now she's willing to sit here for hours for virtually no pay. She fits all the criteria."

"But she might find out about Foxy and Marionette. It's not that hard; we're not as careful as we could be," Natalie pointed out. Then she got a playful smile, "One innocent hospital visit later and my view on realty is shaken forever." Then she returned to seriousness, "We should think about whether we should tell her or not." The three humans gave a resounding chorus of versions of 'no'. The animatronics stayed quiet on the matter. "Well, if we do hire her, there's a good chance she'll eventually figure it out."

"Only once we have blackmail material. It makes all the difference," Mike remarked as he started to stand. "So, I'm about to go out there and give her the job. Any protests?" There wasn't any disagreement, though Jeremy looked skeptical and Fritz looked unsure, rubbing the back of his neck. "I've got a good feeling about this, and I only get a good feeling every decade or so. Once she's gone, we'll deal with Hickory's and Phone Guy."

Suddenly Fritz's head snapped upwards. "I forgot all about him. We've got to get over there, uh… Jeremy? Take Foxy to read the Chipper's webpage once Tabby's gone." He then looked to Mike, "I'll come with you. We'll forgo the paperwork and tour for tomorrow, give a quick interview, and head over to Phone Guy's." While he vocally sounded like he had everything together, Fritz looked like he was flustered, and Mike understood why. It was a lot to put with at once; especially the growing issues with the animatronics.

Mike was troubled more by Hickory Dickory's reveal than he was about Tabby or Phone Guy. He was now wishing that he would've paid more attention to the list hidden inside the computer at Afton's. Though he pushed it into the back of his mind long enough to address Tabby.

Most of what Tabby said earlier was repeated, but she did give out more of her past work history. Mostly it was uninteresting; a slew of random restaurants, both fast food and casual dining, and then a long period of being stuck at the diner. Between this and he continued lack of interest in the pizzeria's backstory, she seemed like a good candidate. She simply didn't care if the pizzeria had a past and didn't have much interest in anything beyond the kitchen. They could use this to their advantage. She was sent out with instructions to come back the next morning before opening.

With this over and done with, Mike and Fritz headed towards Phone Guy's home. Neither really wanted to see Baby again so soon, but they had to check in on the man. There were too many uncomfortable questions left after the strange messages. However, they were both slightly surprised and slightly unsurprised when Phone Guy answered the front door.

"Fritz! You came!" the older man blurted out. It was as though he had expected them to eventually come. "And Mike, it's good to see you. You maybe found a place for Baby?" There was a brief flicker of something in his gaze and on his voice. Mike recognized half of it from his training tapes; this was true fear.

"Not yet," Fritz answered as he tried to glance past the ex-night guard. "You wouldn't mind if we came in?"

"Huh? Oh, no, sure. Mike, you could see the kittens. You mentioned you might want them. They're too young right now, but you can get a glimpse of what they look like this young." There came the babbling. Phone Guy shifted out of the way and let them inside the house, which looked relatively normal. Other than the odd behavior, everything seemed relatively fine.

"We just came by to make sure that Baby wasn't wearing you as a suit or something," Mike bluntly stated. Fritz raised a brow at him, but he continued. "Fritz mentioned that you had a rough night last night."

"Y-Yeah, it wasn't what I expected at all," he vaguely explained. "I didn't really sleep… Here, the kittens." As he guided Mike towards his bedroom, Fritz hesitated by the garage door.

"I'm going to check on Baby, alright?" Fritz asked and Phone Guy eagerly nodded. Before he could continue off, Fritz noticed something peculiar. "You locked your garage door?"

"Force of habit," Phone Guy responded rather quickly. Then he continued into the bedroom and guided Mike to the cat bed in the corner. He decided not to crouch down; between his leg and the soreness from last night, it would look much too awkward. "They're all looking for good homes. Uh, except the runt… He's staying with me. I feed him enough; we've bonded."

Mike knelt down and looked at the kittens. They were the strangest blend of kittens that he had ever seen. They didn't necessarily look like Sphinxes or Maine Coons, weren't quite bald but didn't really have fur, though one of the kittens did have a suspiciously large paw. "What do you think?"

"They're something," Mike answered with little description. He wasn't sure what else he could call them. Instead, he turned his attention to Phone Guy, all while watching the kittens. "What really happened last night? Fritz said that you said you had a nightmare?" There was a heavy silence.

"…He said that?" Phone Guy quietly asked. His breath hitched at the thought. "Fritz said that… I said that?"

"He did. If that's the case, there's nothing to be ashamed of… You probably already know this, but we all get them. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night thinking that I fell asleep at my desk." Mike didn't want to say that, but it slipped out before he could control it. Then again, Phone Guy was the source of many of his nightmares- before he realized that he was alive. "At least if I was sleeping at my desk I'd get paid."

Yet Phone Guy said nothing and when Mike looked back, he could see this strange look on the man's face. He raised a brow in questioning.

"Uh… Yeah… Sorry, I'm out of it after last night," Phone Guy excused without much explaining. "You-uh… You couldn't take in Baby, why?"

"Let's just say that she and Marionette had a falling out, and Marionette's the one that makes my coffee," Mike quipped back. Technically, it wasn't a lie. Shortly after this he stood and soon they headed out into the living room. Both could hear Fritz and Baby's conversation in the other room.

"I know he's scared of me, but I would never, ever hurt him! I promise!" Baby could be heard pleading. "Please, you know that I wouldn't. He's so nice!" A few moments later, Fritz somehow freed himself from the conversation and crossed over to the two of them.

"It's your choice," Fritz directed to the Phone Guy. "We can move her to the warehouse if you'd be more comfortable."

After last night, Scott wanted to say yes. He wanted to get Baby out of his house… But when Fritz said 'warehouse', his mind went straight to Afton's. Baby would get stuck in Afton's and, while everything from the night before was terribly haunting, he didn't want to send her back to that building. He couldn't condemn anyone to live the life that William laid out for them… In the end, it was guilt that made him blind. Maybe, perhaps, she would stay in her body now, and he could just keep the door locked to keep her in the garage.

"…No… No, it's okay. She can stay. Just… Try to figure out a better place for her soon, okay?"

"Will do. It's on the list," Mike agreed. "But in the meantime, ever heard of a place called Hickory Dickory's?" Both other men stared at him with lacking expressions.

"You could've chose a worse time," Fritz flatly scolded the younger man. Seeing Phone Guy's confusion, the technician waved him off. "Don't worry about it. It's not important." They started to head out the front door yet again, preparing to return to the pizzeria. "You're welcome to come back to Foxy's with us, if you want."

"Thanks, but I need to get some work done. I have some calls to make," Phone Guy quietly excused.

"Why am I not surprised that you make a living making phone calls?" Mike asked in a joking manner. It got a light chuckle out of the older male. "We'll figure something out about Baby. Just take care for a couple more days…" He waited until Fritz got into the driver's seat before adding in. "Just keep the door locked and it'll be fine, alright? She'll be fine out in the garage by herself. Just keep her out there."

"That's the plan. Thanks for coming by…" Scott watched them leave and was already regretting his decision. After all, it had become clear on how Baby 'answered' the phone call. He didn't feel safe enough to question Baby; he didn't feel safe enough to do anything beyond locking the garage door again. He didn't want to keep it in the house, but guilt forced him to. After all, Baby was just a child trapped in a suit.

A child who had been killed by the man he had once admired.

If this was what he had to do to make up for that, if his was his sacrifice to fix his inactivity in the past, then so be it. He would just keep the door locked and keep communication minimum. He could deal with it.

"Scott, I don't want to find you in one of those suits."

They were both such poor liars.

Mable: Here's where I make a comment about Scott's recent announcement about FNAF… But I don't really have a comment to make, actually. XD So, there's one of the elephants in the room addressed; I got nothing. On a completely different topic, I'm going to have a poll on Nursery Rhymes that you might want to answer. A completely innocent question, I assure you. I hope you enjoyed!