Author's Note: Okay, we're super close to Sister Location at last. There'll be a bit of a softer chapter and then we'll dive headfirst into the next arc.

Chapter 175

Just a Piece of Trust

They left with a time set to meet, Ruby following them out to make sure they left. Although it wasn't like they wanted to stay at the pizzeria longer than necessary anyway.

Hedy stayed in the room for a bit after they were gone.

Ruby closed the door behind her when she came back. She stared at Hedy for a long moment. "You should have let me kick them out."

It was like a dam broke as Hedy started rattling out panicked words. "What do we do about the kids?" Hedy said without taking enough breath. "Do we tell them? W-We have to, right? But if any of the kids want to see them…I can't do that to them…I can't let them see what their kids have turned into…"

Ruby tilted her head back in exasperation. "Shut up."

Hedy looked at her, startled.

Ruby pointed behind her. "I saw your friend out there." She grimaced. "You have, what? Five hours before you have to see them again? Which I still think is a dumb idea. Go try to get your head right or something before then. Get your hair done or a spa day or I don't know what the fuck college students do." She threw up her hands. "Maybe don't try to get minors drunk."

"Ruby."

"Just get out of here before Spring gets too worried about you."

That was enough to get Hedy moving.

"But…"

"I'll talk to the bots!"

Outside, Alex pulled her car up to the entrance and got out to help her friend get the chair in the boot. She wrinkled her nose. "Hedy, I love you dearly, but you are not getting into my car in that boilersuit."

Hedy rolled her eyes and used the car door for balance as she worked to peel the oily suit off, revealing her slightly sweaty and very wrinkled day clothes underneath.

"Charming," Alex remarked sarcastically, jumping back to avoid Hedy's friendly swat at her arm. "Come on, let's get going. Where to first?"

"So," Alex started, taking a sip from her smoothie. "Do you want to talk about what upset you earlier on?"

The girls were sitting in the mall's food court, a bag holding Hedy's new clothes at their feet.

Hedy glanced up. "Hmm? What?"

Alex smiled. "Earth to Hedwig. Do you want to talk about why you were crying at work?"

Hedy frowned, pausing her own sip. "Not particularly…" she said hesitantly. "I…" She trailed off. Part of her really wanted to. But she couldn't drag Alex into this. "Just…some people visited and…" Fuck how did she say anything without it being too much? "Just some grownups I used to know when I was little. I haven't seen them…all… in a long time and I just…" She ducked a bit. "Bad memories," she mumbled.

"Shit, I'm sorry," Alex said, putting her drink down. She stared across the mall for a second as she tried to think of how to comfort her friend. "I think it would be good for you to get it off your chest, if you can. You know I'm always here. I know you're busy, and you're a lot closer with the night guard than you are with me, but…" She trailed off, not sure how to put her point across.

Hedy winced, remembering some of the things she had said at her birthday "party".

"All I mean is that if you want an unbiased listening ear, I'm right here. And the offer to punt them still stands."

Hedy cracked a weak smile and looked away for a moment. "You wouldn't actually kick someone."

Alex grinned. "Well, no. But it's the thought that counts."

Hedy was quiet for a moment. Eventually she spoke, slowly. Every word was a struggle.

"When I was very little…" she whispered, her throat feeling dry. She swallowed. "I…uh…was lured into a room with some other kids…"

She couldn't look at Alex for a moment, knowing she looked horrified just from those short words.

Hedy was already regretting this. "A man murdered those other kids…" She swallowed, well aware she hadn't exactly eased into the story. It was probably a shock. "A-and I saw everything…b-but I got away before it was my turn a-and…those people who came by today were the other kids' parents." She stared at the table, unable to look up for a moment. She wrangled her panic down.

She hadn't talked to anyone new about this in forever. Anyone who wasn't already involved. Even Mike was hard to explain this too sometimes despite his patience. Despite the crash course he already got. The last time she talked to someone…outside…

She closed her eyes. She didn't want to think about the hospital. She was far away from those suffocating walls, doors she couldn't lock, clothes she was forced to wear, and people telling her she was imagining things out of trauma and not allowed to talk to her family. Of course robots can't be alive. You made up those figments to replace your friends and make sense of what you really saw. You have a very active imagination. That's a good thing, Hedwig. But you can let it get in the way of real life. You can't let it get you hurt again.

There was no response. She wasn't sure what Alex could say.

"I'm sorry…" she mumbled guiltily, her voice barely a whisper. She was terrified. She didn't think telling someone would be this scary. None of her friends–her "normal" friends–knew about this. Maybe they shouldn't. Maybe she made a mistake.

Maybe it was the stress. Maybe it was the parents showing up. Maybe if it was a normal day she wouldn't have spilled any of this and she wouldn't have ruined her nice day out with her friend. Maybe…

"Don't be," Alex said immediately, almost sharply, cutting through Hedy's thoughts.

Hedy couldn't remember what Alex was responding to for a moment. Oh right, Hedy apologized.

Alex kept talking, recognizing that she was going to lose her friend to more thoughts if she didn't keep talking. "You don't have to be sorry for feeling things." She fell silent again for a moment. "I won't lie, I wasn't expecting… that," Alex faltered, looking up at Hedy. "I don't really know what I can say to help. If there even is anything I can say to help..." She stumbled over her words, stunned. Did Sarah or–more expectantly– Rena know about this?!

Hedy shook her head. "They…the parents…of the other kids…came to check on me today. They…" she faltered. Maybe it was best not to connect the pizzeria to the story. "But I was working. So they're coming over to my house this evening to talk. I don't know what to say to them."

"Is your house really the best place for that?" Alex blurted out in immediate concern at that idea. She winced, the hesitation creeping back. Did she really have any right to suggest anything?

Fucking shit, that was way worse than anything she expected. She assumed Hedy broke up with Mike or something. She thought that would be devastating.

Hedy adored that guy.

Or that she had a massive, blow-up fight with Ruby possibly. She had ready responses of support ready to go for either scenario. Not… this.

Instead Alex just learned that her friend went through something so fucked up as a child…She couldn't even comprehend it for a moment. Those sort of things just didn't seem to happen to people. Obviously, it did and she knew that, but the worst Alex ever saw of humanity was on the news and happening to people she would likely never know. But this was Hedy, who was known for being a Doctor Who nerd and singing Lady Gaga at the top of her lungs in the bath. Horrible, gut wrenching things didn't happen to her. She didn't deserve that.

No one deserved that, but Hedwig Lamarr Fitzgerald least of all. Yes she could be a little rough around the edges sometimes but she was…kind. In her own way.

"It might be better to do it somewhere in public…" Alex's first thought was that meeting in Hedy's house would be a pretty big invasion of privacy, especially if Hedy was in this state. Shit, was there really anything she could do?

Hedy shrugged at the suggestion. She had panicked. It was the first and only place she could think of at the moment. But could she really tell them someplace else at this point? She had Richard's number.

Alex seemed to read her mind, scrambling for some way to help. "Do you have a contact for one of them? Maybe you could tell them somewhere else."

Hedy nodded weakly, glad someone was telling her what to do. Ruby would be the logical one if she wasn't also sleep deprived, which was also a problem…

Alex sipped her smoothie again, leaning toward the straw because she knew her hand would shake if she tried to pick it up. "Well…If you really, and I mean really really, want me to beat up the parents of…" she trailed off, unsure if she could pull out Hedy's weirder humour. "Dead kids. I will. But I'll feel like shit about it." Her insides twisted. That was such a horrible morbid joke. How the fuck was Hedy a functioning person?!

Was she functioning?

Her respect for Hedy was incomprehensible at the moment. Alex wasn't so sure she would have survived dealing with that level of PTSD without being fundamentally screwed up. And Hedy was just…fine? No, of course she wasn't fine. No human being would be "fine". She was just…Hedy.

Hedy looked stunned for a moment. Then she covered her face and snorted. "Holy shit, I have a friend type…" she looked mildly bothered. That said something about her.

Alex grinned, happy to get at least a small laugh out of her. She looked mock offended. "I don't know how I feel about that."

"Don't worry. You're much nicer than Ruby."

And Ginny, Hedy thought.

"That was nicer?!"

As they were heading back to Alex's car, she suggested Hedy make her phone call. She wanted to give Hedy privacy of course, but she expressed her concern whether Hedy would follow through. After a little time to adjust to the bombshell, she was more sure meeting at Hedy's house was an awful idea.

They drove to a grocery store and Alex parked away from other people and left her friend in the car while she went inside to get her sparse college student food for the week.

Hedy didn't move for a minute. She could lie. Alex wouldn't really know if she called Richard or not. She wasn't going to demand to check Hedy's phone.

She thought about her house. There were a lot of memories there. Not all of them were good.

Scott had initially been adamant that she sell the property after her dad died and she found out Joseph still owned it, leaving it to Hedy and Jeremy in his will. It sat empty for years, Scott being the one who checked it once a week to make sure no one was squatting there. He kept the grass down, checked for rot and termites, and let Jeremy and Hedy think their dad had sold it when they moved more than a decade before.

Hedy and Jeremy had been pissed. The money from selling the house would have helped pay for medical bills. Instead, the medical debt took the house she had called home for most of her life and Hedy was forced to move out. It wasn't as traumatizing as she supposed it could have been. Jeremy was already moved out with his own home and starting his family with Amelia. Hedy was on her way to college anyway so she lived with them until she had somewhere to go.

Jeremy didn't care about the old house, or so he claimed. Even though it was where he grew up. It was where he remembered Mom. But he also said Hedy should sell it. Pay for university with it and set aside some for an apartment when she graduated.

She wasn't sure why she didn't listen and just asked Scott to keep taking care of it until she could decide.

He did so for the next year without question.

Hedy wasn't fully sure why she even applied to the university in the town that most of her family ran from. Then they offered her a place in the engineering program and the idea to move back into that house came up.

Her house.

It was hers now. She owned it and the memories that came with it, especially now that she had answers to those questions that haunted her for years and drove her to hunt down a sketchy job in the first place.

But it was still next door to Ginny and her parents' old place. It didn't bother her much anymore (if she didn't think about it) but it would bother the other parents.

She scrolled through her contacts in her phone.

Alex was right. She didn't want the parents in her house. It was as if the mess of the past would stain the present she had made her home.

The phone rang for a while before Richard picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hi Mr. Carlough," she said, hating that her voice wavered for a moment.

"Hello Hedwig," he said kindly. "I'm so sorry we dropped by unannounced today. I would have called but I got a new phone and I lost your number. Thank you for calling."

Hedy hummed. "Mr. Carlough…would it be okay if we meet somewhere else this evening?"

"Of course."

Hedy got to work that night in a complicated mood. She was wearing some of her new clothes, which Chi was quick to compliment, hoping to get a smile out of her mechanic.

Everyone knew about their visitors that day, some of them more freaked out about it than others.

The Toys were trying not to be a mess. They had seen the parents that horrible day. They had been talked to in the chaos. They had seen pieces of the immediate panic that spanned several days. And it was their mechanic that was hurting.

Mangle did her job that day, but even she had been distracted, forgetting bits of her stories as she entertained kids.

Toby had been incredibly well behaved but so quiet, even to the point Bonnie tried to get a rise out of the younger rabbit if only so he would stop staring blankly at a wall in guilt.

Chi had oddly stayed in the kitchen most of the day and Chica had sent a rare threat in the Manager's direction when he even considered complaining about the other chicken not doing her real job.

Teddy pretended like nothing happened and would change the subject when one of the Toys or Originals (or Spring) tried to ask if he was okay.

Surprisingly none of the kids had shown up demanding answers after the last of the day staff left.

Ruby glanced at Hedy but went back to messing with one of her bombs. She wasn't going to prod Hedy unless Hedy really needed her to.

Hedy set her stuff down on a table like usual.

Ruby noticed Mike open his mouth and shot him a warning look that would send most people running.

Mike swallowed but ended but using his "Hedy's Boyfriend" privilege. He wasn't too scared Ruby would really hurt him since that would upset Hedy more.

He was eighty percent sure of this strategy. And he was fifty percent sure that Ruby actually did kind of like him. Probably.

"You okay?" he asked, hopping on the table beside her.

"Not particularly," Hedy admitted, not looking up..

Ruby frowned and glared at her project. It took everything in her not to crash the meeting. She wanted to protect Hedy from whatever stupid things the kids' parents might say to hurt her sister, unintentional or not. But Hedy had practically begged Ruby not to come. And not to tell Jeremy. Not yet at least.

Ruby didn't like not knowing things. She didn't like not being there when stuff happened. She was also aware that this didn't really have anything to do with her so she bit her tongue and kept out of it.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Mike asked, softly.

Hedy hummed. "Nothing bad happened." She frowned. "But now I have to convince the Jones to drop their case."

"What?" Freddy asked before he could stop.

Hedy shrugged. "We just talked," she said as if assuring the room. "They wanted to see how I was doing." She sighed heavily, a tinge of sadness in her voice before she shoved it down. "But Cheryl's…brother mentioned they had hired a private investigator to look for her."

Oh that was a depressing thought. Even Ruby flinched at that one.

"Apparently some asshole got it into their heads a few years ago that the kids were kidnapped and Cheryl could still be alive out there somewhere."

Puppet made a displeased noise, a faint burst of static from his voicebox. Chica flinched and looked away.

"They already sunk a lot of money into it…" Hedy said.

Mike didn't like the cold tone Hedy was using to get through the conversation. He was also a little concerned about Hedy saying this where the kids could hear. Did they want the kids to know about this?

Hedy seemed to guess their concerns. "The kids aren't here right now. I can tell they're in Parts and Services. They seem pretty focused on something." She shot Ruby a look.

Ruby shrugged. "Thought you would want them distracted for a bit. I put Scooby-Doo on."

"Thanks…" Hedy looked down and stared at nothing with a frown.

"What else?" Puppet asked.

"Nothing," Hedy said, a bit too quickly.

Everyone paused.

"Hedy?" Spring asked, quietly.

Hedy glared at her tools as she pulled them out and uselessly tried to reorganize them."They shouldn't have to apologize to me…" she muttered. "That's all they wanted to do. Apologize to me. I don't know why it annoyed me. I already forgave them years ago. I didn't want to keep hearing it." She sounded guilty about her own irritation.

"Maybe…" Spring started, ignoring how Mangle was shaking her head at him in warning. "Some part of you thinks they were actually justified."

Hedy's gaze snapped to him. "No one's justified blaming a seven-year-old for what happened," Hedy deadpanned.

Spring frowned, noting how she distanced herself, as if that seven-year-old wasn't her. "Agreed…Are you repeating something someone else told you or did you figure that out yourself?"

There was a flash of anger in Hedy's expression but she schooled it and didn't answer. She never was angry with Spring.

He took it in stride and just watched her with kind patience and understanding.

Puppet saw the look in Spring's eyes. The rabbit might not remember much of his life but there were still parts of him that screamed out his old personality regardless of the memory loss. "Spring, don't push," he warned, his voice uncharacteristically gentle.

Spring eyed Puppet curiously. He looked back at his kid, because she was his kid, even if neither of them could really remember it. He liked the thought, even if it made him sad and he didn't really think he was doing it right.

"Hedy, are you really okay?"

The temperature in the room dropped.

"No I'm not fucking okay!" Hedy shouted, slapping her hand on the table and startling Mike as her tools rattled from the force.

Her eyes snapped to the ceiling.

"NO! Don't you try to fucking comfort me right now!"

Mike sucked in a breath and the rest fidgeted. It was normal by now, but Hedy talking directly to the building (aloud) would probably always be strange and unsettling. Ruby had her full attention on the mechanic and wasn't even trying to hide it now.

"You don't even really understand what I'm feeling," Hedy snapped at the Building. "You are an inhuman entity that feeds on my feelings like some kind of weird emotional leech and echoes them back at me because you don't understand how to have your own!"

Goldy felt something strange from the building. Hurt she realized. "Hedy…"

"THIS IS ITS FAULT!" Hedy snapped, tears springing to her eyes in her anger. "I couldn't remember. I couldn't remember! And because of those….those stupid video tapes! Now I do! I-If today had happened and I didn't remember them I could be all 'Oh yes I'm messed up but it's okay. I forgive you because I can't even really remember those times. All my memories are just stories Jeremy and Scott told me and scraps of my doodles Dad kept. I'm not actually bothered too much by you blaming me for crawling through a damn vent with a broken arm and ribs and blood in lungs as I listen to Benji being killed as I ran away. Because, guess what?! I don't remember any of that!' But now…"

No one dared saying a word as she kept going.

"Guess what I do remember now!?" Hedy said. She felt like she wasn't quite all there. Her eyes were glassy with tears and stress and she wasn't sure she could just stop anymore. She rubbed her shaking hands, massaging her nails. "Pieces. Just enough of the worst pieces. I remember tearing my fingernails off open trying to get through a vent. I remember Puppet finding me and pulling me out and I was crying and screaming and he looked terrified and I had never seen Puppet scared before and it scared me even more!"

Puppet didn't move as she rambled through her angry sobs, watching her and just knowing there was nothing any of them could do just yet.

"Th-then he took me to the front room and there was screaming and so much blood on me and in my hair and in my mouth and Uncle Scott had to pry me away from Puppet. Then there was an ambulance and just as the door was shutting I saw Ida yelling at me asking me where Ginny was and I just cried."

She covered her face and shuddered. She couldn't look at anyone. Especially not Spring. "And I cried for Spring…Because I was confused…And scared and I didn't know if it was you or someone else but I didn't want it to be you and I wanted you to tell me what was happening."

Spring looked pained but he knew Hedy needed to get this out.

Then Hedy sneered through her hands, not at him though. Her eyes remained fixed on the floor.

"And you know what talking about living animatronics got me?!"

She didn't speak for a moment, the question no one was willing to prompt hanging in the air as she caught her breath.

"Psych evaluations and a diagnosis of delusional paranoia! Because no one bothered to let me know how…" her voice cracked into a pitiful whine. "H-how special you all were…"

She was properly crying now, her voice taking on a sickeningly sweet tone of vicious mockery as she mimicked an unknown demon from her past. "Oh Hedwig, that's just your mind protecting you. You made up your imaginary friends. Of course those robots your father worked on aren't alive." She hiccuped and whispered pathetically. "Don't be silly. Of course your father and brother aren't backing you up. They can't encourage your delusions because if they did, the court would see them as unfit and take you away forever. You'd never ever see them again. So it's best you stop insisting that you're telling the truth and take your medicine like a good girl who possibly jumped into traffic on purpose."

Her tone changed back to frustration through the tears. "So I grew up! I stopped believing in silly things like robots who could laugh with me and ghost boys and birthday wishes and things from fairy tales." She couldn't help glancing at Mike. "Then Dad got sick and left us. And he never wanted to talk, even when he was dying. I tried to ask him so many things. But he wouldn't tell me anything about my missing memories or what I knew happened but couldn't remember. He said it was better I don't remember. That I should just move on."

She still couldn't look at anyone, feeling horribly guilty for dumping this on them. This wasn't fair. She wasn't being fair. These were her feelings. Her problems. It wasn't their fault. She was a horrible friend…She was a horrible person. But she knew she had to tell them. She knew…

She had better control than this. "And I couldn't…I forgot. I still forget…" There was pain in her tone now. "I only remember the worst pieces. Nothing…none of the good things. Not even the not as bad things…"

"But I could never drop it…" she whispered, scared, though she wasn't quite sure why. "I kept asking Uncle Scott but he just…" she trailed off in hurt, thinking of the man who somehow managed to be more available from miles away than the father usually in the next room.

Things were not flying around, not like how the building reacted to Ruby. But Goldy could feel the turmoil and she dearly hoped Hedy had enough wherewithal to block the children out. She glanced to her side as Timmy appeared beside her, gripping her fur as he watched Hedy break just a little. He looked so sad and guilty.

Hedy was mumbling now. Whispering over and over. The room was freezing.

Goldy stifled a disappointed whine as she felt Hedy try to snatch the jagged scraps of her emotions and shove them down and out of the way, like something she needed to hide from them. From her and Timmy and Ruby. Hedy couldn't even think about the kids and Michael at the moment. It was painful, like she was cutting her hands on the jagged pieces in her haste. Goldy knew trying to shove those feelings out of sight was opposite of what Hedy needed to do.

"I'm sorry…" her voice was soft and weak, and embarrassed.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," their mechanic stammered out, crying into her hands and too ashamed at the outburst. "I'm so sorry. Th-these are my feelings… I-I shouldn't make you listen…" She sobbed. Her voice was so quiet. "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for…for everything." She sounded genuinely apologetic, as if she had done anything wrong.

"Hedy," Mike said gently, cautiously.

Puppet watched, a little ice in his circuits. There was something about the way Mike touched her as he pulled a chair beside her and wove his fingers in hers.

Nightmare hadn't come for Hedy about this, but the way she spoke made it sound like she was holding this all in. Denying how she felt? Based on what happened to Ruby…and Timmy, that was the trigger. The perfect storm for the demon, or whatever it was.

Hedy had to have told Mike about some of this. That was the only explanation. The young man didn't look surprised, and something about that upset Puppet. Hedy gripped Mike's hand like a lifeline. Part of Puppet still saw Mike as a stranger. Why would she tell him about this and not them? It hurt a little to some of those watching, the bots at least. But it was understandable…They were too close to the source of her pain.

"You weren't treated right. A lot of things were working against you. You were so little. People told you you were crazy. It's okay to–"

"You wouldn't be here!"

Mike was stunned enough to freeze, looking at her in confusion. "What?"

"You wouldn't know me, Mike," Hedy said, heartbroken. "Y-you shouldn't know me."

"What do you mean?"

"It's all my fault…" she said, looking away. "I-if I hadn't…" she hung her head and bit back another sob. "He was just…he didn't care about them…"

Spring perked up in alarm. Oh no.

"I went back for the others. Michael just wanted…" she choked on an involuntary gag.

"Hedwig," Puppet said sharply, desperately trying to derail where this was going. They should have addressed this more after the video tapes. Why didn't he?! Hedy had a similar breakdown then. Did they assume it was over and done with?

Hedy's eyes snapped to him, willing him to understand (as if he didn't already). "You wouldn't have been sent away…" she said pitifully.

He tried to speak over her, narrowingly his glowing eyes sternly while they seemed to brighten a little in his stress, but she ignored him.

"You and the Toys wouldn't have been sent away." Hedy interrupted. "You could have gotten to know Ruby again and that's if you needed to make that deal with her again. Michael wouldn't have possessed Spring. SCOTT WOULD BE ALIVE! Mike would not have almost died working here."

There was a pause. "Ruby's parents would be alive…" she whispered in guilt, grief, and maybe some fear, sobbing as the tears choked her. She hiccuped, a horrible resigned tone leaking into her voice. "The company could have made me disappear better if it was just me…alone…" she said, as if it was the most casual thing to compare herself to something akin to trash, like how the children's bodies had been treated. She couldn't look at Ruby, some irrational part of her scared the teen would hate her after the realization. "They wouldn't have needed to bribe Black that much. Maybe not at all. No one…"

Spring moved before Puppet did, startling the lanky bot.

Hedy blinked through tears as he knelt in front of her, both of them cringing at the creak of joints and strained gears settling in the quiet.

He put his hands over hers as they shook, anchoring them atop her knees.

"And what would have been the alternative?" Spring asked, strangely calm as he tilted his head, one ear flopping a little too loosely. "You dead instead? You a ghost and possessing me instead?"

The Originals flinched at the bluntness and the Toys looked ill.

Hedy was already pale but she looked worse for a moment.

Spring felt her try to jerk her hands back on instinct, possibly to touch the scar in her stomach. But he held them still.

"Maybe…" she whispered weakly as she cried.

"Do you really think you would have been any better than the kids?" Spring said gently, no accusation in his tone despite the horrifying scenario he described. "Do you really think you wouldn't have gone insane and gone after night guards yourself, using me?"

Hedy looked terrified and tried to frantically shake her head to argue but Spring ignored her, speaking with certainty. "Puppet would have done the exact same as he did. Maybe the others would have snapped and willingly helped. They were all much closer to you than they were to your friends. I wouldn't have wanted it, but I wouldn't have fought you as hard as I did Michael. I don't think I would have been able to say 'no' to you, even if my choice in the matter ultimately meant nothing."

Hedy wanted to argue. She wanted to say she wouldn't have hurt Spring or the others like that. But she knew…And cried harder.

Ruby had been quiet through the entire thing, perched on a table and watching Hedy. When she moved, no one saw her until she was slumping down against Hedy's side, edge of a wheel digging into her ribs.

"What ifs and maybes, they do nothing good. They make you feel like shit and mess with your head. You can think of what might have happened all you want, Hedy. But that's not going to change what did happen. Nothing will. It happened, it sucks. Survivor's guilt has you all twisted up like a pretzel now and it's irrational and doesn't make sense to anyone else. But it makes perfect sense to you right now."

She absently tugged at Hedy's new shirt.

"Survivor's guilt doesn't go away. And your therapist was shit at their job and possibly on the company's payroll. It sucks Hedy, and the what ifs don't really go away either. But you're focusing on the wrong what ifs. If you died instead? Your friends would feel the same. What if we went with her? What if we didn't leave her alone? It would have broken your dad and Jeremy. And Steve would be devastated too. It would have shattered Spring completely, and I don't know if the Toys would have recovered. What if I fought harder? What if I was watching? What if? What ifs and maybes do nothing but hurt you and other people Hedy."

The teenager finally looked up at her. She stared, willing Hedy to meet her eyes but the older girl couldn't.

"What if I didn't make that deal? What if my dad was more motivated because he knew you personally without the memories all muddled? What if we all remembered each other?"

She flicked a glance at Puppet.

He didn't look back, completely focused on Hedy. But he did flinch, just barely.

"What ifs do nothing but hurt us Hedy," she said quietly. "And they're useless. They don't help or fix anything. You've got to focus on the now. And the now isn't perfect, but it's all we have."

Hedy just cried. Their words weren't going to help immediately. But hopefully they would settle in her heart and interrupt the guilt eating away at it. Eventually.

Spring reached past Hedy's tools and grabbed a napkin off the table without looking. He gently tried to wipe her tears, afraid of scratching her with his exposed endoskeleton fingers or abrasive ratty suit.

She turned her face away and wouldn't look at him.

Spring paused, looking sad and maybe just a little hurt. He put the napkin in her hands and took them in his again, glancing at Mike and Ruby at each of Hedy's sides. Mike looked pained, the man out of his depth. He didn't know how to really help with this level of trauma except to be there for her. Ruby's words were true but she (and everyone else in the room) was a subject of this pain for Hedy.

"Mew!" Kitty interrupted the quiet and rubbed the length of her body against his hip, then Hedy's leg.

Ruby looked like she was about to sneeze but didn't move yet, even as the cat got close.

Spring liked to read stuff on Hedy's tablet while she worked on him. He read that cats could sense when humans were stressed. Given how he often found his cat hanging around whoever might be having the worst day at any given time, he thought it was true.

He picked up the still-a-kitten and deposited her on Hedy's lap.

Hedy cradled the cat, still quietly crying as Kitty headbutted her chin and purred loudly. The cat nuzzled the human's neck and licked Hedy's fingers as she pet the cat with shaking hands.

Ruby sneezed.

Spring leaned forward, trying to get Hedy to look at him but she wouldn't. "Do you still have that card Ms. Miriah gave you?"

Hedy finally glanced at him at the mention of the psychic. She frowned through her tears, confused.

"You had very bad people pretending to help you. In a mental hospital?" he asked.

Hedy looked away in shame but nodded slightly, embarrassed she admitted to being committed. Especially when it screwed her up more. It had not been a safe place to be trapped. She knew they weren't supposed to be like that and she'd never stop someone who needed it, but she'd still never fully trust those places

"Ms. Miriah was nice. And she's a therapist. And she has context while not really being involved with our past. You should call her." He kept talking as Hedy tensed. "She actually wanted to help, unlike people who tried to tell you we weren't real."

"Is that why you were weird in the Warehouse?" Mangle mumbled, accidentally aloud.

Freddy dragged his eyes from Hedy to look at the fox questioningly.

Mangle shook her head. It wasn't the time. Maybe one day they'd share all of what happened at the Warehouse. It definitely wasn't as fun as most of Ruby's nights, depending on one's definition of "fun." But some of it was amusing in hindsight. She hadn't really considered how surprised Hedy had been when she realised they were alive. It wasn't weird at the time, when even they hadn't realised who she was.

Spring continued when Hedy didn't respond. "Will you call her?"

Hedy swallowed and wouldn't answer.

"Please consider it?" Spring asked, resolving to rifle through Hedy's things to find the card himself, if only to ask the ghost hunter for possible advice. He could probably ask Ruby for help. She was pretty pro therapy.

Hedy hummed noncommittally, wiping her eyes with the hand that wasn't holding Kitty.

Goldy's look at the door to the hallway was enough warning. They all looked as one of the ghost kids stood in the entrance.

Benji was alone, looking sad and nervous. He hugged himself and wouldn't look at anyone. After a moment, he glanced at Hedy then looked down.

"Timmy told me the others' parents came today…" he said softly. "He asked me not to tell the others until you were back."

"I asked Benji to help me keep it from the others," Timmy explained quietly. "He could sort of…temporarily block the others from sensing Hedy. I can kinda block Michael." It was a little more complicated than that but the explanation would work for the moment. He didn't add why Benji was the choice.

Felix's mother hadn't visited for the same reason as Benji's, but asking that boy for this kind of help was out of the question.

Ruby sat up from where she had been leaning against Hedy, still fighting another sneeze.

"They busy with Scooby Doo still?" she asked, tone dropping to the one she'd been using more often with Benji. He hadn't been a 'ghost brat' in a while.

The boy nodded, eyes on Hedy. He looked like he was seconds from crying. He was blocking the others from sensing this but he still could. Hedy was hurting so much. But she was still angry with him. He wasn't allowed to try comforting her and that hurt. There probably wasn't anything he could say that would sound sincere to her. She shouldn't feel this way. It wasn't fair.

Hedy didn't look at the ghost, a mix of complicated feelings swirling with the guilt at the top of the pile. It was her fault the kids were so broken, but she couldn't shake the almost suffocating feeling of betrayal that had hung around her like a heavy cloud the last few months.

Ruby looked back at Hedy. "Do you want me to tell them?" she asked. "They should know but it doesn't have to be you who tells them."

"I…" Hedy swallowed another sob. "I can't…" she said, flinching in shame. "I'm sorry…"

Ruby moved close enough to flick Hedy's ear lightly. "Don't apologise. I understand. It's why I offered."

Knowing that Spring (and Mike trying his best) had Hedy, Ruby moved towards Benji who was still lingering in the doorway.

"I'm probably not the best choice for this," she said as she walked past. "But I'm what you've got right now kiddo."

Benji looked back at Hedy for a moment before turning to follow Ruby, leaving the others behind. He stared at the back of the night guard's head. It wasn't quite a glare, but it wasn't exactly a happy expression either. Not that anyone saw it at the moment.

"They're gonna scream at you," he warned, blandly.

Ginny especially. Probably Fredrick too. They would all feel like they were robbed of a one in an afterlifetime chance to see their families.

Maybe it was because he would never have that option to begin with until he moved on, but Benji understood just how horribly selfish that would be if that sort of meeting was arranged. It would just hurt their families to see the monsters they became, but the other ghosts wouldn't realize that, too caught up in missing their loved ones.

He hoped Felix would realize it too. There was a chance he would get angry just for the others' sakes.

"I know," Ruby murmured. "I expect it." She glanced over her shoulder at him. "How are you holding up, kiddo?"

He looked surprised she asked. "I miss my mom," he decided to admit bluntly after a moment of consideration.

She hummed. "I understand that at least. You're allowed to miss her. You're allowed to think that this is all unfair. It is."

They were getting closer to where the others were. He had to ask something before they could hear.

"Ruby…" he mumbled, using her name for a rare occurrence. "Be honest." There was a thread of uncomfortable bitterness directed at her under the hurt but he kept going. "If my mom was still alive. And she came to see Wiggy today with the other grownups… And she saw me and learned what I did…" He trailed off and swallowed, staring at Ruby's shoes as he walked behind her.

His voice cracked. "Do you think she'd hate me?"

He didn't think Hedy was right for blaming herself like she did, but her expectation that she should be hated for one decision affected him. He had made a lot of decisions that hurt people, intentionally.

"I'm not sure she'd want to be my mom anymore," he whispered, barely able to get the words out without completely breaking down. It hurt too much.

Ruby stopped walking and turned to face him, crouching down. "Being a parent can be really complicated Benji. But I know one thing for sure. She loves you. She won't ever not love you."

He looked at her, not quite believing it, noting the present-tense. "You can't know that," he said. His mouth twitched into a frown. "The bots hate Michael." He flinched at saying the man's name. He and the others still hadn't gotten used to knowing exactly who killed them. Michael had been Purple Guy, then Springtrap, for so long. "They're siblings. Family."

It was odd he accepted and brought up something that the bots themselves still denied fairly often.

"Ginny said Goldy and Puppet mentioned their mom. What about her? Wouldn't she hate Michael?" he scowled with mixed feelings about that.

Ruby shook her head. "You can be angry or disappointed with someone. But you can still love them," she told him. "And parents are different from siblings. Your mom loves you, she's always loved you. While she might not be happy with what you did, that doesn't mean she can't love you anymore."

Benji looked away. He was a slightly annoyed she didn't answer the question about Michael's mother but maybe she wouldn't give him that.

"As for Michael…" she sighed. "He's a bad person. But I bet that his parents still love him even if they hate what he did. Love isn't logical Benji."

"Even if he killed Timmy?" Benji asked, still looking down.

Ruby nodded. "Maybe. People are complicated, Benji. Timmy still loves his brother after all." She couldn't quite stifle the mild grimace at that. But she respected Timmy's feelings on the subject. The boy didn't make excuses for his brother's evilness.

It didn't seem like Benji had anything else to ask. After a moment Ruby turned and continued to Parts and Services, Benji lingering behind for a moment.

Sure enough, the kids did not have the best reaction to the news.

Ruby didn't flinch as spare parts from an upturned box slammed into the wall beside her head. She met Fredrick's glare as Ginny continued her tirade.

"YOU BITCH! YOU DON'T HAVE ANY RIGHT TO KEEP THEM AW—"

"Cuss me out all you want," Ruby cut in as Ginny screamed at her about how unfair it all was. "But don't fucking break the bots' parts. Hedy needs those." Especially now that she was working to replace Spring's endoskeleton.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP! I DON'T GIVE A SHIT!" Ginny screeched as more boxes flew off the shelves and the hanging lightbulb swung around.

Cheryl was sobbing loudly, heartbroken she hadn't had the chance to see her brother again and angry they hadn't let her. She might never see him or her parents again. Moving on and seeing them eventually wasn't even a consideration to her in her grief.

Felix had a quiet sort of anger, which was new.

Frederick hadn't quite figured out how to react yet but he was shaking slightly.

Ruby sighed softly while Benji partially hid, scared of them turning their anger on him.

"It wouldn't be good for them to see you," she said bluntly. "I think they'd rather remember the innocent kids they knew to the vengeful spirits you became."

It was harsh, but true.

Ginny wordlessly screamed something at her. Something along the lines of how dare Ruby decide that.

Cheryl cried harder and covered her ears, upset by Ginny too.

"Did they bring my brother?" Frederick asked blankly, his feelings easy to sense. He was just as upset as Ginny but some part of him had shut down instead. Possibly a bad habit he accidentally picked up from Freddy if they were being honest. "Asier…" He turned the stranger's mostly unfamiliar name around in his mouth. It was his middle name after all.

"They probably thought he was too little," Felix said, gripping his arms tight as he eyed the other three kids. He glanced at Benji with a squint but surprisingly didn't say anything.

"I didn't decide it, but it's the right decision," Ruby told them calmly. "Seeing you now would hurt them. Knowing that you didn't find peace? That would break them. They think you're alive somewhere or dead in heaven. This? This isn't something they should see."

It was the truth, but they didn't have the best track record with the truth.

Ginny screamed angrily and the light shattered. It was the only light source in that room besides the desk lamp Hedy had brought in. When Ruby flicked it on, Ginny was gone, her anger leaving echoes in the room. The lamp cast long, warped shadows across the walls and shelves that almost seemed to ripple in the presence of the kids.

Cheryl was still tucked in a corner on the floor, crying, but softer now. Felix hadn't moved through the news but he finally shifted and walked over to the little girl, sliding down the wall to sit with her. He shot another heated glare at Ruby but still didn't explode like expected.

Frederick was frozen, staring at the floor and clenching his fists.

Ruby sighed again. She was not the best person for this. But she was the only option they had.

"Wiggy's upset," Frederick deadpanned, finally able to notice the frantic, depressed mess faintly echoing from the direction of the Main Room. He twitched, probably sensing Hedy slamming a mental door at him.

"... she thinks your mom and dad should blame her," Benji said, partly telling the truth.

"..." Frederick took a minute. "What did they want?"

Benji swallowed, but reported anyway. "They were worried about Hedy coming to work here. They thought it was weird."

Frederick nodded. He disappeared, his few questions answered.

Ruby looked at the remaining two kids and approached carefully, like they were a wild animal of some kind.

"It sucks," she murmured. "It's not fair. I'm sorry about that, but I can't do anything to change it." She sat down in front of them. "I can just be here for you to yell at."

Felix bit his tongue and stared at her, shifting so he was more between her and Cheryl. "Fuck you."

Ruby only hummed. There was no reasoning with a child caught in grief. She knew that firsthand.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry you can't see them."

She would have given everything to see her parents again. Even if she knew how much of a bad idea it was.

Felix sneered at her. It wasn't like he would have been able to see his mom anyway. She was dead and gone. Some part of him refused to consider she might be out there as a ghost. His Mamá didn't deserve that. He glanced at Cheryl. His Mamá didn't deserve…this.

"We might not like each other. You might hate me. But I do understand how you're feeling. So I'm the best option you've got right now. It's a shitty option but it's the only option."

And that wasn't fair. But life wasn't fair.

Ruby cocked her head.

"Did you know they made a new Scooby Doo series?"

Felix glanced at her, caught off guard by the question enough to look more confused than angry. He didn't respond though.

"I can hook up the TV in the staff room to cable so we can get Cartoon Network," Ruby said casually. "Hedy isn't going to notice if I hack her account and get the cable people to move the address. She barely watches TV at her house anyway." She didn't even bother considering the housemmates. "Or I can just scare the Manager into adding a cable subscription to the budget. Either works." She hummed. "You know what? I haven't put the fear of Betty into the Manager in a while." She got up and left the room.

Benji stared as she walked out past him. He glanced back, wincing as Felix look right at him.

Felix glared for just a moment before focusing back on Cheryl. The night guard would never not be weird.

Mike took Hedy home, not trusting her to drive in her state but knowing she needed to get out of the restaurant. Ruby eventually went home too while the rest of them didn't have a choice but to go about with the day.

Spring tried to talk to Puppet but the oldest bot had brushed him off, saying to focus on Hedy.

Freddy went backstage where they kept the show things for the day. Their props. Extra technical equipment like speakers and the sound system for the stage. He needed to get his hat and microphone to get ready before opening. He walked past Bonnie and Toby's guitars, neatly set in custom stands Ruby had made during an elective shop class at school, with a little bit of Hedy's help.

He froze when he realized he wasn't alone.

Freddy and Fredrick stared at each other awkwardly.

The boy looked away and tucked his legs closer as he sat high up on a shelf. "Can I stay here today…?" he mumbled.

They didn't know where the kids went during the day or where they hid when not interacting with anyone. Did they just float around invisible?

Freddy looked at him for a long moment. "Don't let anyone see you," he warned before leaving.

The room was quiet for the rest of the day, but never empty.