Author's Note:

Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 91

Ghost Chat

Amelia and Jeremy (who had gotten a ride back from the station) both seemed to like the idea of her taking the kids to the pizzeria. At least Amelia did. Jeremy was busy sitting at the kitchen table pouring over a bunch of papers and case files. Hedy was tempted to look at them herself but Jeremy waved her away with a distracted mumble. The dork probably didn't even hear her.

Mercy and Marcus were ecstatic about going to Freddy's and seeing the bots again and practically got into the car seats themselves. Then, of course, they didn't wait for their Aunt to get out of the truck before they raced to the door.

"Wait!" Hedy called, but it was too late.

Puppet was by the entrance, watching the twins run to the bots in the main room. He looked at Hedy, waiting for her to get inside before going back to the prize corner without a word, which was in full view of the front door when it's door was open.

Hedy didn't say hello since she knew he wouldn't respond, though she did shoot him a smile.

Puppet was weird sometimes.

Hedy had a feeling he wasn't initially made to hand out prizes. He was always watching the door if he could. She could ask him how many children were in the building and he could say exactly, right off the top of his head. He also kept track of each adult and could tell anyone which kid went with which parent. She didn't think it was just down to his distrust of adults.

He sometimes annoyed the staff because he would ask whoever was the greeter when customers had come or gone while he was away.

He hated when people distracted him during work hours or blocked his view of the front door while he was working the counter. And anyone who tried to pull him away to another room during rush hours would need divine intervention to survive.

The employees were surprised to see her. She wasn't around during the day shift as much as Ruby was. Most of them waved and called out greetings though.

The Toys were excited when they spotted her although they were all too busy to say hi at that moment. She could briefly sense Goldy around for a moment before the bear moved on, probably to eavesdrop or find where the drama was happening today.

Chi popped over to the table Hedy settled at toward the back, still in view of the room but further from the other customers.

"Hi, Hedy! I thought you sleep all day," Chi asked, tilting her head. "Want some pizza?"

"Sure," Hedy shrugged, eyeing Marcus who was following Bonnie around and pointing at his guitar. "A whole one. Do the half and half thing. Mercy likes pepperoni and Marcus likes cheese with olives."

The chicken nodded enthusiastically and ran off. A moment later she yelled faintly, "Mangle! Hedy's here!"

Hedy rolled her eyes and snorted. She put her elbows on the table and quietly watched everyone work. It was sweet how they acted with children during the day, with no concern for their own issues and past.

She sensed Goldy pop in again, floating above her but invisible. Must be a boring day in the gossip department. "Hi Hedy."

"Hi Goldy," she answered softly enough that no one else would hear.

"What are you doing here?"

"I couldn't sleep and I figured the twins would like a visit before they went back home..." she debated telling Goldy what was on her mind but wasn't sure how to broach the subject about the stalker.

"Do you ever get sad that you're not working?" Hedy asked cautiously, without raising her eyes and chin resting in her hands as she watched Chica play tag with a group. She blinked. The question had kind of spilled out.

Goldy was silent for a long moment.

"Sometimes. I get jealous when I watch them," her quiet voice admitted.

Hedy matched her quietness. Eventually, she said, "There's got to be something we can do with you."

"The others tried for a long time to think of something." Goldy sighed. "Don't worry Hedy. I'm used to it. At least I get to see the kids and keep an eye on them. I tell the others if there's trouble."

Hedy leaned back, not entirely accepting of the resignation in Goldy's voice. "That's something you and Puppet both do..." she noted. She was so tired that her thoughts tended to bounce around a bit. "He's always watching."

"That was his original job," Goldy answered. "Security."

Hedy sometimes forgot that Goldy had worked with Puppet.

Hedy blinked. "What? Really?" Her eyes searched for the lanky bot but he wasn't in the room anymore.

"Yup. His box used to be right by the door and he'd give the kids colour coded bracelets to help." Goldy lowered slightly so that she was just barely hovering above Hedy's shoulder.

Hedy looked a little lost for a moment. "So...you could say he's a... security guard?" She raised her eyebrows a bit. "That makes his hatred of any and all guards a bit ironic."

"If you told him that he'd throw a fit," Goldy deadpanned.

Hedy chuckled, not noticing some parents glance at the young woman talking to herself. Either that or she didn't care. "That would be a treat." She thought for a second and sobered. "Why doesn't anyone seem to know that's what he's made for? The management just has him as the Prize Puppet. If Puppet moved his box to the entrance and gave an employee the job of working the Prize Counter, I'm sure the manager wouldn't argue." Her eyes narrowed a bit. "He wouldn't dare." She was still a bit salty about being pronounced dead without anyone checking.

Goldy was silent for a long moment. "They blamed him for a little girl's death," she answered so softly Hedy almost didn't hear. "He blamed himself too."

Hedy stiffened. When she spoke she sounded withdrawn. "Was it Michael?" Some part of her doubted it, but she desperately hoped all the awfulness could be traced back to one maniac.

She heard Goldy sigh.

"No. This was when Michael was still a kid too. He was actually friends with her. Timmy was really, really small. It was just some random guy we didn't know. They caught him and he was sent to prison. But Puppet still blamed himself for Charlotte's death. She was one of his favourites."

"Charlotte..." Hedy tested the name on her tongue, looking in Puppet's unseen direction. "Puppet's made questionable moral choices, and he's not excused from that...but he's more broken than I thought."

"Yeah..." Goldy whispered. "He really loved her. She was a sweet little girl. Please don't mention her around him. It'll just upset him."

Hedy nodded. She suddenly frowned. "Speaking of upset little sociopaths, have you noticed anything off with Ruby lately?"

"Ruby?" Goldy sounded surprised. "What do you mean by 'off'?" there was a slight hesitation in her voice. So she had noticed something.

Hedy squinted at her a bit. "Off," she repeated. "She seemed tired when I came back from the hospital. No one seemed concerned though so I brushed it off. But have you seen her check her phone a lot?"

Goldy was silent for a while and even though she couldn't see her, Hedy knew she was fidgeting with her hands as she debated answering.

"She's been checking and then ignoring it a lot. And she's always careful to not draw attention to it around the others. So they wouldn't notice," she spoke carefully and then hesitated. "She's been more jumpy than usual. Flinches when someone is unexpectedly close. I can't figure out why though."

"Has anyone strange shown up at the pizzeria during the day shift without kids or siblings?" Hedy asked.

Goldy fell silent again as she thought. "Not that I've noticed. Puppet hasn't said anything either and he always mentions someone suspicious so I can keep an eye on them."

Hedy hummed and nodded. "Just keep an eye out. Someone's harassing Ruby and I'm hoping they don't know where she works."

"Uh, practically everyone knows where Ruby works except the police," Goldy told her. "For some reason the police always miss her here and I know she never mentioned it to them."

Hedy's mild frown twisted into a scowl, probably concerning customers and staff who didn't know she was talking to a ghost bear.

"Um, something wrong?" Goldy asked. "You're starting to freak people out."

Hedy blinked and straightened, letting herself relax on purpose until it didn't look like she was about to strangle someone.

"There's this girl..." Hedy said calmly. "Her parents and baby brother died in the other car when Ruby's parents died. Ruby's guardians said this woman attacked her with a knife and Ruby didn't do anything to stop her."

Goldy inhaled sharply.

"Have you told any of the others yet?" she asked after a moment, sounding worried now.

"No. I just talked to Clint and Alice this morning. Nice people."

"Hmm. Are you going to tell the others?" Goldy asked.

They both knew how protective Foxy and Bonnie were of Ruby.

"No," Hedy said decisively. "Unless she shows up here. Ruby needs the others, particularly Foxy and Bonnie, to just act like normal and distract her. I've noticed they aren't the best at that if they're worried about her. She'll pick up on it and make it all about making them feel better. I want to tell Freddy though."

Goldy sighed. "You're right. They'll be mad you didn't tell them. But I won't say anything. Want me to tell Freddy you need to talk to him?"

"When he isn't busy," Hedy said and glanced up as a waiter brought the pizza.

"Uh hey Hedy. Everything okay?" he asked and Hedy immediately felt guilty that she didn't remember his name.

"I'm fine, thanks," she said. She smiled at him, "Just talking to myself."

He actually cracked an amused smile. "Ruby really sending you insane?"

Goldy let out a faint giggle that caused the man to look around for a moment before shrugging it off, thinking it must have been a kid.

Hedy felt Goldy leave, probably to tell Freddy to go talk to her when he had time.

Hedy called Marcus and Mercy over and watched Freddy pick up her nephew who was still a bit sniffly from being sick. She frowned. Maybe she shouldn't have brought him. She had almost forgotten about that but he was pretty much completely recovered.

Freddy came over with the little boy in his arms and set him down as Mercy scrambled up into her seat and practically attacked the pizza.

"Heard you wanted to talk to me?" he asked softly so the other employees wouldn't overhear them.

Hedy nodded, absentmindedly reaching for a piece of pizza as she opened her mouth to tell Freddy about Ruby's issue. Her fingers barely brushed the crust and she yelped, dropping it in shock. It wasn't hot. She forgot about the salt. She glared at the pizza in betrayal and a bit of disappointment. She was hungry, or at least she was when she arrived, but it looked like she didn't have a choice in the matter.

Freddy gave her a sympathetic look, guessing what had happened.

Hedy muttered. "Stupid ghost cr..." She cut herself off and looked at Freddy. "Loves, cover your ears for a minute."

"Are you going to say a bad word?" Mercy asked while Marcus did as he was told.

"Yes," Hedy said and waited until the kids weren't listening before speaking to Freddy. "Keep an eye on Ruby or any strange women who comes in." She didn't know how old the harasser was but she was assuming around her age. She quickly explained the situation to Freddy, mentioning the phone call she picked up.

Freddy definitely looked worried now.

"Right, I'll keep an eye on things," he promised her.

"Just don't tell the Toys, Foxy, or Bonnie," she said, giving him her reasoning. "You decide if Chica should know. I might tell Puppet but he still claims to hate Ruby so..." She shrugged.

"Right." Freddy sighed. "Good luck with him if you do. An employee tried to move his box, so he's annoyed."

Hedy stayed about an hour, going to Parts and Services to check Spring once. It had been nearly a week, and he still hadn't woken up and it was really worrying her. Then again, it could have been the damage like she told everyone. She needed those damn parts! Ruby said she knew a guy, but they hadn't talked about what Hedy needed.

She worked on him for a few minutes, scrubbing rust and sticking a bag of baking soda she took from the kitchen into his chest, hoping that would absorb some of the smell. How on Earth was she going to properly clean the inside of the suit? The outside looked much better; dirt, dried blood that looked like dirt, stains from Ruby that Michael hadn't completely cleaned off; all cleaned up. Hedy made a mental note to thank whoever did the job. She was probably going to need their help when she had Spring's insides at a point where it was safe to work around.

A knock on the door distracted her.

Hedy glanced up at Mangle as the fox slipped into the room and closed the door behind her.

"Hi Mags. How's work today?"

Mangle smiled and gave her a thumbs up. She looked at Spring and came closer frowning at the body.

"It's going to take a while."

Mangle scowled a little, startling Hedy.

"Mags?"

'How do we know he's...' Mangle struggled to pick the right word, her hands hanging in the air uselessly. 'Good. Nice.'

Hedy blinked. "He didn't mean for any of this to happen. Michael stole his body and Spring didn't have a choice."

'You don't know that. You don't remember him.'

Hedy looked at Mangle sympathetically. "Do you?"

Mangle signed slowly, looking at Spring. 'We didn't talk to the older models very much. We knew he was there and we met him when we first arrived at the old place, but I didn't talk to him later.'

"Do you really believe Spring just let Michael use him to do all those horrible things?"

Mangle hesitated and looked away, 'Maybe he could have fought harder. Maybe he could have released his springlocks and killed Michael before you and the kids got hurt.'

Hedy blinked, surprised Mangle had the same conclusion as Goldy and her. Then again, Mangle had watched Hedy very closely while she was cleaning out Michael and saw the damage for what it was.

"I think it takes a lot to kill someone when you understand how bad of a thing it is." Hedy watched Mangle look away in shame, "I don't blame Spring for not wanting to kill Michael, even in the moments Michael was murdering my friends. I can imagine Spring was panicking and didn't know what to do or even what he could."

Mangle didn't answer for a long moment.

'It's almost closing,' she signed. 'The little ones are looking tired.'

Hedy nodded as Mangle left, following after a few minutes.

She found Puppet on her way out, Marcus curled up on her lap asleep while Mercy was so tired she was yawning and could barely stand up. It was still chaos with a birthday party wrapping up so Puppet was busy handing out prizes. When it seemed he had a minute she went up to the counter.

"Mari..."

"No."

"You don't even know what I was going to say," Hedy retorted.

"You want me to do something. No. I'm busy."

"Not too busy that you can't take a moment to listen to me."

"Oh really?" he said a bit snappishly as he quickly picked up a bunch of toys that had fallen due to careless children.

"I just need you to..."

"If you need something, tell the staff to not touch my box," he hissed and shot a glare out the door.

Hedy huffed, knowing he'd just keep interrupting her if she kept trying. He was particularly difficult if he was in a bad mood. "Fine. See you tonight, Mari."

Puppet grunted and didn't look her way as she left.

Hedy didn't need to look to know he still glanced at them to make sure Marcus and Mercy were with her when she left.