Author's Note

Sorry for the late update guys! All my time is being eaten up by work and helping out with a friend's wedding. So for now we put together a quick one-shot since the next chapter is delayed until next week when I actually have time to write properly. Thanks to Corona Pax for writing a lot of this. Without her I wouldn't have got anything up for at least another week.

Hope you enjoy!

One-Shot 9

You Meet People in the Strangest Places

Jeremy had a few more things he had to wrap up for his case, and that included picking up some files and bringing them back to his precinct for other detectives to review before anyone got arrested.

"Hey Fitzgerald! Why don't you just put the transfer in now?" one of the officers greeted him as he came by. "I hear Jones is retiring."

"Fat chance," someone snapped from elsewhere.

Jeremy cracked a smile. "Nah, my guys back home are begging me to transfer too. Something tells me they're trying to get rid of me. I have an obligation to stick around and give my chief grey hair for a few more years."

That got a few laughs.

Jeremy made his way to the Police Chief's office, knocking on the door.

"These are the official copies, Jeremy," Chief Danvers said as the door closed, gesturing to two files he slid across the table. "You know, if you just wanted to see these, you could have headed down to records and taken pictures. Don't think anyone would have known."

"I'm a stickler for rules," Jeremy said with a grin. "Unless someone's in harm's way. Or they're unjust. You know the deal."

"Shit, you're really Derick's kid." The chief shook his head while Jeremy flinched and looked down, pained at the moniker. "I get these cases mean a lot to you, but you're stepping on toes requesting these."

"I know. I'm sorry, sir."

The man waved him off. "Who knows? Maybe you'll see something we missed." He glanced at one of the files, looking pained.

Already have, Jeremy wanted to say, but held his tongue. He knew the man meant the Freddy's case.

"You know... I knew your name was familiar. And I don't mean just from that essay Derick framed. " The chief gestured at one of the cases. Jeremy was distracted from asking a mildly panicked 'what essay' when the man asked his next question. "Any relations to the Fitzgeralds mentioned in there?"

"You know there are," Jeremy said.

The chief knew for a while. He knew what 'personal' meant for these cases.

The chief's hard professionalism dipped to pity. "The little girl they found. Your sister?"

Jeremy nodded.

"How is she doing these days?"

"Working on her PhD in robotics," Jeremy said with a grin, always proud of Hedy. "She's doing well."

"That's good to hear," the other man nodded. "I was a detective back then. Working a different case. My wife cried when she heard about what happened. She wouldn't take our sons anywhere for at least a couple of months." He leaned back. "Everyone was scared for their kids. A lot of businesses almost closed down. Some did. Not just Freddy's. People were scared to go anywhere. I remember less kids were allowed to walk home from school . Some families even decided to pull their kids out of school for a while."

"Hm," Jeremy said, nodding as he picked up the files and tucked them into his briefcase. "What did Derick and Rose do? With Ruby. How did they react?"

The man barked out a laugh. "Taught her to use a taser," he answered in amusement.

The mental image of Derrick teaching a tiny, toddler Ruby to hold a taser and showing her how to 'zap 'em' was kind of horrifying in an adorable way.

Jeremy was just about to head out when he overheard a couple of cops chatting.

"The hell did she do this time?" one asked, not sounding very surprised.

"Apparently, she vandalized some kid's car. Filled it with shaving cream."

Jeremy stopped as he passed them. That sounded… suspiciously familiar.

They noticed his abrupt stop and looked up.

"Ruby?" Jeremy asked, not doubting his guess for a moment.

The second cop snorted and laughed, gesturing behind her. "Just saw her down in holding."

"What?! She got arrested?"

One of the cops looked exasperated. "This is a regular thing. Ruby's got a record."

"This news to you, Fitzgerald?" the other said. "I get you're just visiting for some jurisdiction crap, but I thought you knew the Stones."

Jeremy shook his head, looking worried and ready to leave the conversation already. "I wasn't around like I should have been. Ruby's in holding? Right now?"

"She'll probably be out in a while. Charges like this get dropped pretty often. It's a civil dispute, not a criminal one. You probably can go check on her if-" The officer laughed as Jeremy didn't stick around for the rest of the sentence.

"Uh, thanks!" Jeremy called as he speed-walked away.

"She's got her own designated cell!" one of them yelled after him.

Of course she did.

Ruby perked up and hopped over to the bars. "Hi Hedy's brother, what brings you here?"

Jeremy stared down at her. "Ruby. What did you do?"

The teen pulled off a truly impressive pout. "Nothing much. This jerk was bullying Ricky and some other kids from the orphanage. He's seventeen and should really know better." Her eyes darted away, voice turning almost petulant. "His ugly red death machine deserved it."

There were no other cops in the area at the moment, so at least that didn't count as a confession on record.

The occupant of the cell across from her laughed.

"Ah Ruby, you never fail to entertain us," he said, a heavy Italian accent present in his voice.

"Did you expect anything less, Antonio?" Ruby smirked at the man covered in tattoos.

Of course, she was on a first name basis with criminals…

Jeremy groaned and banged his head on the bars. "Shit, Ruby. The guys upstairs make it sound like this is a regular thing." He lowered his voice. "You're not stuck here overnight are you? Do I have to tell Hedy?" He really hoped they weren't about to have a repeat of the coma week.

"Nah," a voice behind Jeremy made him jump. Black grinned at the two of them. "This little trouble maker will probably be out as soon as Alice gets here." The large man shuddered, then looked at Ruby reproachfully. "Ruby, hun, you're blowing through that bail allowance."

Jeremy stared at Black, unblinking. "She has a bail allowance?"

Alastair smiled and gestured between them. "You two finally met, I gather." He shook his head. "Oh wait, I forgot. You were there when that Sally girl shot at Rubes. At Freddy's?"

Jeremy shifted a little but schooled his face to not have much of a reaction. "Yeah. I was visiting with my family. Someone on security told me about a woman with a gun-" He waved his hand. "Sorry, you don't want to hear this. You probably read the report."

"Yep," Black chuckled. "You're a bit straightlaced, aren't you, Fitzgerald? Rule follower? Bet this kiddo wrapping us around her little finger looks a bit strange, eh?"

Jeremy shrugged. "Definitely leaves room for some bias." He gave Ruby a look. "But maybe it's a good thing you guys keep tabs on her." Not very well since you didn't know she was working at Freddy's, he wanted to say.

Ruby rolled her eyes at his look and stuck out her tongue, lounging casually against the bars.

Antonio cackled from his cell. "Like you guys know half the stuff that spitfire gets up to."

"Shush Ant," Ruby grumbled. "Don't go implicating me in anything. I've got enough dirt on you to bury you."

The guy chuckled but mimed zipping his mouth shut.

"No, no," Black said with a snort. "Please keep talking, both of you." He squinted a little at "Ant."

Jeremy was a little surprised by the exasperated expression Black was wearing. He was pretty sure he had a similar one every time Ruby mentioned anyone on her "I-know-a-guy" list.

Was 'Ant' on that list?

Ruby rolled her eyes and, to Jeremy's horror, gave Black the middle finger.

Black just snorted and clapped Jeremy on the shoulder, making the younger man wince, and told them both that Alice was on the way. He even stuck his hand through the bars to ruffle Ruby's hair before she made a face and pulled away from the bars.

The mention of Alice at least got a minor flinch from Ruby, mixed with annoyance at the ruffling. Her hair was unmanageable enough already.

"Why couldn't it be Clint," she complained. "Alice yells."

"Oh, does she ever," Antonio agreed. "My ears are gonna be ringing." He watched Black walk off before looking at Jeremy. "Haven't seen you here before. How do you know the town terror?"

"Tempted to say 'it's complicated,'" Jeremy said. He wasn't super enthused about giving some random criminal any personal info, especially since he didn't know what the guy was in for. It was the police holding cell and not jail or prison so it could literally be anything.

Ruby snorted. "I work with his sister," she told him freely. "This guy is so freaking overprotective he came rushing in the moment he heard about where she was working."

Antonio scoffed. "Ruby, most of the gang had a heart attack when we heard where you were working. We hear stuff about that place. Stuff the police and that creepy management can't cover up." He looked at Jeremy dryly and bravely ignored Ruby squinting at him for throwing the police in with the management. "Bet you're one of them, huh?

"What do you mean?" Jeremy asked, trying his damndest to ignore the "gang" mention.

The other man made a face. "You cops got all the explanations for that place. How many missing persons do you guys shove under the rug a year?" He frowned, "Or are you different cuz your sister's there?"

Ruby's demeanor dipped a little.

"Antonio," her tone held a note of warning.

The guy lifted his hands in surrender. "I know I know," he said. "Agree to disagree and don't diss them in front of you."

She still didn't look happy, mouth pulled into a tight line, but she didn't pursue an argument over it.

It was weird to see the criminal so quickly back down to the teen. Jeremy didn't really want to think of why.

Ruby ended up changing the subject. "How's your sister?"

Antonio grinned. "Doing great. Pregnant with her second kid."

"This guy better than the last?"

"So far yeah. He knows what'll happen if he puts his hands on her like the last one."

Jeremy frowned at the reminder of his own sister dating. He paled and shook his head to get rid of the idea of Hedy getting pregnant.

Mike was dead if…

No. Stop it, Jeremy. They're both grown, responsible adults and Hedy doesn't want kids while she's in school and Mike is a decent guy who would respect that. Shut your stupid overprotective brain up, you idiot.

He still shuddered.

Antonio took it the wrong way. "Hey what's your problem?"

Jeremy put his hand up this time. "No, sorry. I was just thinking about my sister. She's dating a new guy too."

Ruby rolled her eyes and poked Jeremy's arm through the bars. "Hey, can you do me a favor?"

Jeremy immediately was suspicious. "Ruby." Oh geez, that was the tone he used when his kids were getting up to mischief. It was the same tone he'd used on Hedy when she was younger and a lot more reckless. (He still used that tone on his sister sometimes.) When did he start using it on Ruby?

"Hey! Nothing crazy. Can you just get my stuff, pleeeease?" She shot him puppy eyes, which he frowned at. Those worked on Bonnie and Foxy more than him. Hell, they even worked on Toby better. Which freaked the poor rabbit out. "Evidence won't let me get stuff out after five and I'm at least going to be here till six." She smirked at him. "Unless you want me walking to work tonight without my phone or the homework that's due tomorrow."

Jeremy squinted suspiciously for a moment longer. "What are you playing at?"

"Nothing."

"Uh huh," he sagged after a moment. "Fine. I'll drop your stuff by your place."

"Are you coming tonight?" she asked as he moved to walk away.

"Probably.'

"See ya, 'Hedy's brother'," Antonio joked as Jeremy left.

Jeremy carefully rifled through Ruby's school bag while he headed to the door. Her books, her phone, some canisters he knew had a 50% chance of blowing up if he messed with them, and an unused can of shaving cream. He was surprised they didn't at least keep the shaving cream as evidence. Was that her taser pen?

He bumped into Alice just as he was leaving.

"Oh, hello Jeremy," she greeted pleasantly, although there was a hard look to her eyes as she glanced at the station doors. It was enough to distract Jeremy from the faint beeping he heard from Ruby's backpack the moment he stepped out the door.

"Hi, Alice," he said, offhandedly looking through the pockets for the noise, mildly concerned but not too much. "Picking up Ruby?"

Alice wasn't looking at him though. She was looking at the bag.

"Oh shi-"

"Hey Hedy, you wanna hear how Jeremy helped me break out of jail?"

"I was an UNWITTING ACCOMPLICE!"

"You were in jail?"

"Holding cell at the station. Semantics."

"Again?" Foxy asked.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN AGAIN?!" several bots yelled.

"Not important," Ruby said idly, grinning at Jeremy. "You were such an easy mark."

"What happened?" Hedy asked.

Jeremy crossed his arms and glared at Ruby.

She didn't drop the smile. "I never thought I would get a chance to use those GPS triggers or those bombs."

"You can't put bombs in a police station!" Jeremy shouted, still upset about the whole thing.

"Glitter bombs," Ruby said with a so-so motion. "And flour."

"You still used explosives!"

"Oh please, those were little itty bitty fireworks."

"The firemen were called!"

"They use my prank sites as training exercises."

"I thought we banned fireworks?" Freddy groaned.

"Inside of the pizzeria," Ruby smirked as she strolled off to do who knew what that night. "Nobody ever said anything about outside."

Jeremy yelled after her as he looked up from the incident report he had to file regarding that day. "You could have waited five minutes and Alice would have gotten you out! Five minutes, Ruby!"

"Where's the fun in that?!" she called back before taking off, maniacal laughter bouncing off the walls.

"She's got a point," Foxy mused.

Everyone looked at him.

"What?" he shrugged. "She does."

"I don't know if she's a bad influence on you, or if you're the bad influence on her," Goldy muttered.

Spring patted Jeremy comfortingly on the back. At least he was nice. The others were either yelling at him or laughing at him.

"I kinda get her point though," Spring admitted, putting Kitty on Jeremy's lap, knowing the man wasn't going to admit petting the cat calmed him down too and that Jeremy wouldn't dare argue with Spring.

Everyone's heads turned so fast that they must have suffered whiplash. Hedy looked like she wasn't sure whether to be amused or concerned.

"Hah!" Foxy crowed. "I'm not the only one!"

Kitty just nuzzled Jeremy's hand that was trying to fill out the paperwork.

What a day...