Author Notes
First, I need to apologise for the late chapter. Unfortunately a deadline for my course clashed with a visit to my doctor so yesterday and today were complete chaos. I do want to say thank you to nyjoshua and RicoRodriguez2018 who were patient and defended my late update. It really did help my stress levels when I saw that. The updates may occasionally be late by a day or so when life just gets in the way of writing or posting but I'm not gong to disappear for months again. Thanks for sticking around everyone and enjoy the chapter.
Second, I did have to delete that 'find the m' review. It messed up the review page. Please keep reviews focused on the story or writing in general.
Thanks to Corona again for her help writing!
Chapter 82
Delivery
The bots didn't really know what to do with themselves that night. The Toys were lost with Hedy back at the hospital and Jeremy had the uncomfortable job of assuring them that Hedy was fine. He also had the uncomfortable job of being the ghost kids' babysitter since they now demanded cartoons from him instead.
The one time they tried with Ruby she threw salt at them.
The Originals were periodically checking on Spring in Parts and Services and Goldy was still missing despite Ruby sensing her at the staff meeting.
After such a hectic week Ruby was just plain bored. And anxious over Spring. And guilty over Spring. And Hedy. She groaned quietly to herself. It didn't help that Amelia had decided that she was coming with Jeremy to ensure that this job was suitable for a teenager. That woman was irritating her and Hedy wasn't around to calm her again.
When did she start relying on the mechanic to keep her in check? She'd already hit Toby once today and felt a bit bad. He hadn't really deserved it. She was just used to Hedy stopping her if he didn't deserve it.
A knock on the door had her perking up and checking the tablet. Nearby bots looked over in concern but she waved them off. She recognised the regular night delivery guy. He'd dropped stuff off for them before. Pretty nice guy and completely immune to any strange noises he heard from the building now.
"Heya Tom. What you got for me today?" she asked as she opened the door.
"Hey Ruby. Think they're parts. It's for Hedy so that's what I'm guessing anyway."
"She's not at work today so I'll sign." the night guard chatted with him as she checked the form (Hedy was scary if she didn't take the bots' part deliveries seriously). After seeing that everything was in order she signed and took the box. "See you next time!"
"Stop ordering the heavy stuff!" he answered with a laugh.
Ruby briefly wondered if she should warn him about Spring's upcoming parts but decided not to. It was more fun that way.
"Of course Hedy's delivery arrives when she's not here." she put the box down next to Jeremy. "I don't even know what this batch was for."
"Huh. I wouldn't know," Jeremy said as he used a key to cut the tape. He peeked inside the box, noting the protective foam, but careful not to touch anything. "Amelia?" Jeremy gently nudged his wife, who had dozed off beside him. "Would you call Hedy? My phone is almost dead."
"She should be asleep," Amelia said warningly as she rubbed her eyes, but still got her phone out.
"If she's asleep, I'm Freddy. She's nocturnal at this point," Jeremy snorted.
"She'd be mad if we didn't tell her when this got here." Ruby added, her glare daring Amelia to argue that point. The tension between them was getting pretty bad. It wasn't even that bad between her and Jeremy. She was still angry with him but not as much as in the beginning. Every time Amelia did something though, Ruby seemed offended by it. They were starting to think that she liked Puppet more than Jeremy's wife.
"What was the last thing she ordered?" Teddy murmured to himself as he tried to remember before the week of hell.
"We're about to find out," Jeremy said as he called Hedy. It rang barely three times before Hedy's voice came through.
"Jeremy? What's wrong?"
"Wow. The place isn't going to spontaneously combust without you," Jeremy groaned as Amelia chuckled slightly.
"Could have fooled me," Toby muttered, shooting Ruby a glare. "Hi Hedy!" he called.
"Hi everyone. How are you doing, Toby? Are you behaving?"
"I haven't done anything!" Toby complained as a few of the others laughed.
Hedy snickered, "I'm teasing. Hi Mangle." Hedy seemed to have a sixth sense for when Mangle was around the phone.
Mangle rattled as she leaned over Jeremy's shoulder.
"Hey Hedy, what was the last thing you ordered? Tom just dropped off a package. Your stupid brother opened it, no nobody touched anything." Ruby called out. That seemed to be her normal name for Jeremy now. A couple of bots snickered.
She didn't mention that she'd hit Toby for 'breathing too loudly' even though the bots didn't breathe. She was just high strung. And had nobody around to hold her back...crap she hoped Hedy got discharged before she actually damaged someone.
"Where's it from?"
Jeremy poked the box to turn it around until he could see the label. "Um...Audio-FX Systems Refurbishings...?"
It was quiet for a few seconds, which made Jeremy think he accidentally hung up. "Hedy?"
"Very carefully," Hedy said with a very strange tone of voice, "Look inside and tell me what it is."
"You sure?"
"Just DON'T touch the actual thing," Hedy warned.
Jeremy shivered at her deadly tone and carefully took off the top piece of foam. "It looks like a...tube thingy, with a red and green computer chip, and...wires. Like really tiny wires."
"OH MY GOD!" Hedy suddenly screamed and Jeremy jerked the phone away with a yelp. "Oh my God! That son of a bitch actually found it!"
Her shout actually startled Ruby enough to jump out of her seat which told her she was more high strung than she thought.
"What the hell Hedy!?" she snapped, ignoring the looks she got from the bots and Amelia for her language.
"What is it?" Teddy asked curiously.
"It's a frequency modulator chip and concatenative splicer computer!" Hedy cried out in excited glee, probably annoying others at the hospital. "I didn't know they still..."
"Hedy..." Jeremy snapped, pinching the bridge of his nose. He had a headache. "Nobody else has any idea what on earth that is. Why are you so excited about it?"
"MANGLE'S VOICE!" Hedy shrieked into the phone. "Mangle your voice! I can fix your voice box!"
Mangle stilled, eyes popping wide as she looked at the unassuming box in shock. She abruptly sat down on the floor.
Ruby's reaction was just as funny since her expression went from frustrated annoyance to stunned shock.
"I am so glad I didn't just drop that box." She muttered to herself as all the bots suddenly started talking excitedly at once. She paused and then groaned. "Of course it arrives when she's not here."
Chi squealed and tackled Mangle on the floor, hugging the fox around her neck. "Your voice, Mangle!" She sounded like she was going to cry.
Hedy seemed to share Ruby's sentiments. "I need to get out of this freaking hospital. Why the heck didn't it come two weeks ago. Or next week. Or anytime I'm there!" she sounded so frustrated.
Amelia took the phone from Jeremy. "Talk to your doctor, Hedy. You might be well enough. Don't you dare try sneaking out again."
Ruby's expression twisted into a scowl at Amelia's words but she didn't comment since they weren't aimed at her. The Originals were also congratulating Mangle enthusiastically.
The night guard looked down at her phone as it went off and frowned. She rarely got phone calls at night. Slipping out of the room for a moment while everyone was distracted she answered.
"Hello?" She stiffened suddenly and her mouth pressed into a thin line. "I'm not doing this again. Quit calling me." She muttered, gaze darting back into the room to check that no one was listening. She hung up quickly and put the phone on silent before taking a deep breath. She really didn't need this right now. She returned to the room before anyone noticed she was gone and shoved her phone in her bag so she wouldn't see it.
Several days later at the hospital, Jeremy drove Hedy's truck up to the pick-up entrance.
There were a couple of people waiting for him inside the door, namely Hedy and her doctor.
"Hi." Hedy looked much better. There was color in her face, and though she still looked tired she grinned at him, clearly more than willing to get out of there.
"Dr. Cecil," Jeremy greeted, shaking the woman's hand.
"Mr. Fitzgerald," she said, giving him a look. "Get your sister out of here."
Hedy sheepishly shrugged. She was a much better patient than Ruby, but her insistent use of her computer and phone, and her staying up late into the night talking to someone drove the night shift nurses crazy.
A few were grateful for her company if they were being honest though. Then again she beat out the whole floor of nurses and three surgeons at poker...
She even took the paneling off her heart rate monitor out of boredom one night and the doctors had to give her a lecture about damaging hospital property, even though she was careful.
"I am sorry about that," Hedy said, clearly a bit embarrassed as she knew what Cecil was upset about.
Cecil sighed. She handed Hedy a paper. "Here a prescription for your medicine. Only take the pain killers when you need to and make sure you finish all the antibiotics." She turned to Jeremy, "She has a checkup next week. Make sure she remembers."
Jeremy nodded.
"Alright. Can I please leave now?" Hedy said, anxiety bleeding into her voice.
The Doctor sighed in exasperation and nodded. "You and Ruby will be the death of me. Honestly." She muttered as she headed back inside. "At least Ruby doesn't touch the machinery."
Hedy had the decency to look at least a little apologetic.
She got in the truck and put the new wheelchair up in its place. "Is your car at the pizzeria?"
"With Amelia," Jeremy said as Hedy drove them away from the hospital. "Ready to get back, you weirdo?"
"Absolutely."
"You're still going to be careful right? Maybe I should stick around a couple more days," Jeremy offered, unsure.
"I'm fine. Michael can't do anything and he's too scared of Ruby to try, I bet."
"I wasn't talking about him. But thanks for the reminder. I meant you. You push yourself too much."
"I said I'm fine. I just want to get home and get Mangle's voice fixed, then get started on Spring," Hedy said. Her grin grew to a wide smile as she thought of Mangle. "I wish I was there. How did she react to the parts?"
Jeremy laughed, deciding not to comment on Hedy calling the pizzeria 'home'. "Once the shock wore off she was so happy she started crying. Then she was like a little child having Christmas for the first time. She took the box and hid it in the Parts and Services. She keeps checking on it every couple of hours like she's afraid it's going to disappear. Freddy mentioned she did it when she was supposed to be working too. She's very protective of it. It's still weird to me. It's hard to think she almost killed me so many times."
Hedy looked at him sympathetically. "She's sorry about that. They all are."
"I know," Jeremy said with a little shrug.
They got to the pizzeria when it was already really late so it was closed and Ruby was definitely already there. They knew Jeremy was picking her up, but not exactly when because of all the back and forth between her, the doctors, and her insurance company.
Hedy opened the doors and slipped through as Jeremy held them open. She made sure she was well inside and at the top of her voice shouted, "HONEY! I'M HOOOOOME!"
Toby and Chi came shooting through the door, narrowly beaten by Mangle who clung to Hedy in a hug.
"Thank goodness. Ruby was about to murder one of them." Teddy sighed, pointing to Toby and Chi who were impatiently waiting their turn to hug her.
"We were too!" Foxy yelled through the doorway.
Every few minutes the two of them would ask if Hedy was on her way yet. They even stretched Freddy and Chica's patience.
Puppet was out of his box for once and watched the reunion from a distance.
"I missed you, Hedy," Chi said as Hedy hugged her then gestured for Toby.
"What took you so long?" Toby complained when it was his turn.
Hedy flicked his ear. "You know, for a bunch of robots who work with children, you're incredibly clingy and impatient. Teddy, come here."
Teddy groaned but otherwise didn't protest as Hedy forced a hug out of him too.
BB, having heard the commotion, found his way to the front room too. "Hedy!"
"And you get a hug too of course," Hedy said. She smiled and slipped BB some batteries she stole from a nurses station. Nothing special or from any important machine.
BB squealed, "Batteries!" And darted away like a cat with prey it didn't want to share.
Jeremy frowned. He still found BB the weirdest. Sometimes the bot was irredeemably annoying, sometimes he was a child, sometimes he was like a puppy, other times he acted in a way that made them question just how self-aware he really was. It was weird.
Hedy squinted at Puppet. With a knowing wicked smile, she opened her arms. "Mari."
Puppet rolled his eyes and scoffed as he turned on his "heel" and went back to the main room.
"Yep," Hedy sighed as she entered the main room behind him, able to move by herself with most of the pain gone, "Still an antisocial prick. Just checking."