Author's Note: The next chapter will be the start of the Sister Location arc. Hope you all enjoy this one!

Chapter 176

Memories

Things were in a bit of a sad mood for a while after. Hedy knew it was her fault. But no one was letting her pretend like everything was fine and her outburst never happened, no matter how much she tried to ignore it. Every day, at least two bots asked her how she was doing, some more subtle than others. Unfortunately, it made her feel more guilty. She would be okay. She just needed to work and keep going and hope they would eventually go back to normal before she accidentally snapped at someone.

The Toys were mostly their usual (not asshole-ish pre-Ruby) selves. Maybe they were a tad more affectionate. Hedy was getting quite a few random hugs from Toby of all bots and she wasn't sure what to think of it just yet. She almost didn't notice at first. Mangle and Chi hugged her pretty often, especially as a goodbye in the mornings, but now Toby was slipping in immediately after the girls with such confidence that Hedy was barely aware of what happened before he was gone and getting ready for the day.

BB hadn't touched her battery operated tools in a while. Ironically, she was more annoyed that she bought her weekly supply of batteries unnecessarily. It wouldn't last. They would get used eventually. BB could only hold off for so long.

Teddy had been helping clean her work area when he thought she wasn't looking.

Puppet didn't ask how she was, unlike the younger bots. But Hedy noticed how he was staying out of his box more these days. He still stayed by himself mostly. But he was there, sitting on the stage or in a chair halfway across the room with a book. Always somewhere where he could see everyone and Ruby couldn't easily sneak up on him. Sometimes he stole Hedy's laptop and looked silly typing with his ridiculously long three-fingered hands. He refused to give details about what he was doing. "Reading," he'd say before showing some random Wikipedia page.

Spring told Hedy that Puppet was just "catching up." He was fifteen years behind on human stuff and news and such, and he was the only bot that was actually concerned with those things.

Hedy actually made Puppet his own user on her laptop and changed her password. She didn't want him snooping through her files if he was going to be using it all the time. Otherwise, she didn't mind so long as she didn't need it for school or work some nights. Still, she made his profile picture a screenshot of No-Face from Spirited Away and he had yet to figure out how to change it. She suspected sharing something with her and just being in proximity was his way of trying to show he cared. She wasn't sure.

The most…well "disturbing" was not the right word...but she was probably most unsettled by the Originals. They had never been really mean to her, ever. Just afraid and a bit cold when she first came with the Toys, understandably. They could be called friends now. But they just weren't as close. Ruby was theirs. She was the Toys. That's just how it was. Now, at least.

She didn't want to think about how close she had been with the Originals all those years ago. She couldn't remember it. She still couldn't remember much at all, just those few sharp and painful memories dragged out by the video tapes and drowning out anything that might have been good.

So she was a little weirded out by Goldy casually mentioning Hedy's childhood. Little things. She mentioned to Spring that Hedy had a cat when she was five. Sparkles. The two of them laughed at a story about the cat that Hedy had apparently told the bots as a child, though she couldn't remember doing so. Then they moved on to argue whether Kitty was getting overweight or just growing. Spring argued the latter. He was very careful not to overfeed his kitten.

Chica's current hobby was trying to figure out food that Hedy and Ruby could eat. It was more of a challenge than expected leaving salt out of everything. She and Chi were currently dealing with cakes. Chica asked Hedy if confetti cake was still her favorite. Hedy had racked her brain for at least a few minutes trying to remember when she ever mentioned that before admitting that she liked pumpkin spice or lemon the most. Chica just nodded happily and went back to the kitchen.

Freddy had taken an interest in asking her what music she listened to. He was like Puppet in that sense, interested in things he missed being "busy" but more niche about it. Music was that niche. To be fair, he asked all the humans. Mike and Hedy both liked weird indie bands, but Hedy also liked Electroswing and Jazz (which was not a good take after they watched the Bee Movie one night. If she heard 'ya like jazz?' one more time she was going to lose it). Ruby's favorite genre was actually American Country Western. Shockingly, it was Mike who liked Heavy Metal Rock and the irony wasn't lost on anyone. Freddy hadn't been surprised by Hedy's like of "dancing" music.

It was funny watching Bonnie switching chords on his guitar as he tried to figure out the different styles in between guiding a still somewhat out of practice Toby.

It took Hedy a few weeks to notice if Foxy was doing anything "strange." He was calling her Lass more. It was a nickname usually reserved for Ruby and little girls during the daytime. She wasn't sure when he had shifted from "Mechanic". He still called her that. It was about half and half which one he went with. He still never called her by her name. That was for special occasions, apparently.

Hedy had mixed feelings about the entire thing. Guilt. Some irritation. Fear? She didn't want them acting differently around her. It was just another reminder of something she had lost. But at the same time, the odd little bits of affection (she wasn't sure what else to call it) were helping. She didn't want to admit it.

Mike wasn't letting her ignore it either. He kissed or hugged her more often at work. Always sweetly, sometimes the lips but sometimes her temple or even her hand like a freaking dork. When she complained about PDA in front of the bots and Ruby he said that if there was any place she needed the reminder that he loved her, no matter the mess, then it was at the pizzeria. But he said he would stop if she said so. She didn't tell him to stop.

She was still hurting. That wasn't going away anytime soon. But everyone being strange at least pulled her out of her own head.

Except for Michael and the ghost kids. Michael had been notably absent lately, but Hedy wasn't about to complain. She expected he didn't have a choice in the matter. The kids stayed away. She wasn't sure why or who was threatening/bribing them but besides that explosions of reaction about their parents she had sensed, they had been strangely quiet. She still sensed them and they occasionally wandered into the main room, but they hadn't tried to get close to her in a while.

Ruby was the same as ever. Where it counted, at least. She never did anything differently. She never asked Hedy how she was feeling.

Hedy wasn't sure whether that was just Ruby not knowing how to deal with other people's feelings, or if Ruby had decided that Hedy needed someone to play the part of the one pretending everything is fine so that Hedy noticed the things the others were doing. Maybe Ruby didn't feel the need to do something. She already knew what Hedy was feeling all the time. Subconsciously. But still.

Stupid ghost bullshit.

Ruby was being weird in a different way tonight. Both Hedy and Jeremy had noticed it along with Goldy and Foxy. She'd shown up to shift with a cardboard box taped shut with yellowing tape and hadn't mentioned it or opened it yet. She kept looking at it like it was a bomb about to go off and she never wandered far from it.

So suffice to say they were concerned. Hedy could tell the building was curious so it didn't know what was going on either.

Eventually the teen stalked back to the box and glared at it.

Mike was the brave, stupid one who finally asked.

"What's in the box?" he asked, sticking his hands in his pockets as he sidled up to the teen.

Hedy noticed that despite his bravery, he still stood just out of immediate Betty reach.

Ruby let out a growl that had him edging a little further away but didn't send him running at least.

"I don't know," she snapped, turning her attention back to the box.

She still looked like she expected it to blow up.

"I never opened it."

Mike hesitated but ignored the look Hedy was shooting at him, a look that silently warned that it was probably safer if she asked rather than him.

Ruby liked Mike, but he wasn't Hedy.

"Why not? What is it?"

You're so nosy, Hedy fretted silently in fond exasperation.

It wasn't that she wouldn't be asking the exact same things, but Mike was like a geiger counter for when someone was upset. He actually cared about people in general while Hedy had to put a conscious commitment to the emotional effort.

People came a bit more naturally to Mike compared to literally all the rest of them, obviously more than Ruby and her, and even more than Jeremy. Didn't stop him from being a social disaster to normal people, but it worked here.

But it did sometimes put him on a list of "Might Get Punched" if he got too close.

She was honestly worried about that being a possibility as Ruby's eye twitched. Something about this box had the teen wound up tighter than Hedy had ever seen her.

"I don't know," she grit out. "I never opened it."

And she was missing the point of Mike's question on purpose.

"I mean, where did it come from and why do you have it if you don't know what's in it?" Mike pressed, catching her avoidance and being very brave. He was concerned for Ruby now. And he was somewhat sure that she wouldn't hit him too hard if she snapped.

Yeah, he knew it would be safer to let Hedy handle it but he was already in this now. He was committed.

Even Jeremy raised his eyebrows, half wondering if they would get a show of Mike regretting his decisions. He didn't want to engage yet. Not until he knew exactly what Ruby was doing.

Hedy had been Jeremy's main concern lately. He made it a point to visit every weekend for at least one night ever since he had been informed about what happened, no matter how insanely busy he was. Someone had told him about the kids' parents showing up. They also told him about Hedy's breakdown, although he had refused to name the snitch.

Ruby turned her head to glare at him and the Toys all took a step back. Even Puppet suppressed a shudder. He always knew Mike was an idiot.

Hedy wondered if she might need to intervene to stop Mike ending up in the hospital.

There was a long moment where Ruby seemed to be channeling movie villains in her glare before she looked back at the box.

To Mike's credit, he didn't faint.

"It's my parents' stuff," Ruby muttered, almost inaudibly.

"Oh," was Mike's response.

"Ruby?" Hedy asked in concern when the silence stretched too long.

Ruby didn't look away from the box. "The personal stuff that didn't go into storage for when I'm eighteen. I never opened it."

Her gaze flickered to Jeremy and back to the box.

"...why bring it up here now?" Jeremy decided to answer after a beat of silence.

Ruby grit her teeth and clenched her fists. "Cause I can't open it and there might be something in there for you," she admitted. "If the lawyers never got in touch with you then the stuff my...my dad had that mentioned you is probably in there."

She didn't look at Hedy but she had to have seen the older girl stiffen out the corner of her eye.

Jeremy regarded Ruby for a few seconds and no one interrupted his thought process. He didn't hesitate for long. He stood up and walked to the table.

There was no drama or fanfare. He simply pulled out his pocket knife and slit the old tape holding the contents inside before Ruby could even react to the trauma of her parents' stuff disturbed, either backing out or freaking out. It was probably the best approach but he had guts to do it without fear of being attacked by Betty.

Ruby physically flinched and bit her lip, looking unsure which was a very rare expression for her. She stared at the now open box for a long moment before hesitantly stepping closer.

The first thing they saw was a photo frame, but it wasn't a photo in it.

"They actually packed that framed essay of yours. Hedy you have to read this. He researched whether chocolate or vanilla is better. And chose vanilla."

"I disown you," Hedy said to Jeremy lightly, while subconsciously staying a respectful distance away. It didn't feel right looking at the things in the box. She wasn't involved with the Stones' past after all. Not anymore.

"I panicked..." Jeremy defended as he stared. He hadn't really expected to see anything of his in the box. It wasn't like he was actually family. Whoever packed the box must have been confused and just picked it because of the framing.

Ruby snickered as she snatched it up before he could.

"He even included results from surveys he did," she seemed better now that she was distracted. She never passed up a chance to poke fun at Jeremy.

"Surveys?" Mike asked incredulously. "And he still came up with vanilla? What kind of monsters did you ask?"

"People who, in hindsight, were messing with me," Jeremy said dryly, but they could tell he was still amused. And embarrassed all at once.

It was good to see Ruby smiling again as she handed the framed essay over to Hedy to look at.

"Please don't..." Jeremy begged as Hedy mumbled pieces of it to herself as she pulled out her glasses.

"It's cute," Hedy said as Foxy and Mike read it over her shoulder.

Ruby snickered at Foxy's expression.

"We don't even have taste buds and we know chocolate wins," he muttered.

Puppet made a so-so hum. They got to taste it at least when they were borrowing the Day Shift's bodies. He hadn't been as impressed.

Goldy was still horrified by his ambivalence.

"All right already!" Jeremy said.

"We're just trying to understand your flawed thought process," Hedy said in awe as she read. "How did you even get to this point?"

"It's impressive really," Mike said.

"Are those actual statistics?" Goldy asked.

Ruby had turned back to the box, her smile dimming. With the large frame out of the box, she could see what was underneath. The first thing she saw was a couple of albums. She recognised those...

Jeremy noticed her change in demeanor. He was expecting it though. She could only distract herself for so long. He lowered his voice and let the others continue reading that dumb essay.

"Ruby?"

The teen crossed her arms tightly and looked away. "Photo albums. Mom took a lot of photos."

Jeremy let out a breath and nodded. "Can I see?"

He wasn't about to force her to go through all this, but if he did he figured she would follow along.

She was quiet for a long moment again before giving a small shrug. That was as good of a yes as he was getting.

Jeremy nodded, carefully lifting out one of the large books.

Ruby stared at the box, refusing to even glance at those memories as Jeremy cracked the album open. A flash of blue she hadn't noticed before caught her eyes, and she didn't even hear Spring, very politely, comment on how cute she was as Hedy demanded her brother show them the photos. Jeremy was intentionally holding it out of reach in retaliation for the essay mocking.

Ruby forced herself a couple steps closer, gripping the box as she tugged on the blanket. A couple items clattered, and she winced, pulling it out more carefully. She'd seen this before. Recently.

She shoved away those unpleasant memories of Nightmare messing with her head and focused on her mother's stitching. This blanket was completed, unlike the one she had seen her mom knitting in the memory.

"Is that your baby blanket?" Hedy asked naively, taking a curious interest in the embroidery of ballet figures, flowers, and ice skating dancer silhouettes. The images reminded her of the better parts of her childhoods she could remember, particularly ice skating.

Ruby stared at it blankly, rubbing a thumb over the name stitched into the soft material. This was what she had been looking for…even if she didn't know it when she decided to pull the box out. She had definitely hoped for something. But she was expecting a photograph or two.

Her mom…

Mom took a lot of photos. Her mom didn't belong to the Building. It couldn't have done anything if her mom happened to snap a few pictures during those days… but this…

"Not mine." She looked up at Hedy, an odd expression on her face. She held the blanket up and they could clearly see 'Hedwig' stitched into the material.

It got very quiet.

"What?" Hedy murmured, confused. It didn't register for a moment.

Jeremy blinked. "That's not ours," he mused quietly.

Ruby kept staring at them. "It's my mom's work. I can tell. Why did she..."

Jeremy sucked in a breath. He had been holding it together up to that point. He glanced at Hedy.

She met his eyes questioningly, still not quite understanding.

"Rose and Derrick were always trying to meet you properly…or…see you again," he swallowed. He wasn't sure how much they remembered, but Derrick had known about Hedy. Had helped through that time. He might have just wanted the girls to meet and possibly become friends, unaware it would be a repeat. "But Dad never let them after..."

Hedy froze. Weakly, she held her hand out toward Ruby, brushing her fingers against the careful stitching of her name. She had no mementos of her childhood. No baby blankets that didn't come from a sterile hospital or an impersonal store. No baby toys or plushies that her dad hadn't gotten rid of after she would cry for hours in their presence. She had a pet cat, and that was her comfort until Sparkles passed away. That and the little puzzles her dad would make or the devices she stole to take apart and put back together again. She didn't have many soft things she was attached to.

"I think I remember her making that," Ruby admitted softly.

Hedy's eyes shot up.

Ruby never went out of her way to bring up old memories before bringing this box. And she had looked just as surprised to see the blanket as the rest of them, perhaps even more.

The teenager wasn't looking at her though. Her eyes were stubbornly locked on the wall.

Recently, she only shut down that way when Nightmare was brought up.

Foxy scowled at the implication. Ruby had been vague, but she still mentioned the odd clarity of those memories.

"Can I...?" Hedy held her hand out for the blanket hesitantly. It was Rose's work. Ruby deserved to keep her mother's knitting. Hedy just…wanted to hold it for a moment.

Ruby blinked back to herself at the question and after a moment handed the blanket over.

Hedy gently smoothed the folded blanket over her knees, tracing the embroidery. She wondered if her own mother would have made or bought something similar. Maybe she had but it was lost in the shuffle of her dad's grief.

"She must have spent months on this..."

Jeremy looked on for a moment. "Neither of them mentioned this to me."

"Maybe it was...supposed to be a surprise," Spring suggested quietly.

Ruby was tense, eyes averted again. They couldn't read her at all.

Jeremy nudged her, lifting the picture album slightly. "Is this when you got into the lion enclosure at the zoo?"

"She what?" Spring asked in alarm, not having heard that story.

It successfully distracted Ruby though and she smirked down at the photo of Derrick losing his mind yelling at some poor zoo employee while gesturing to the enclosure. Rose must have been calmly taking photos the entire time.

The one of little Ruby on the lion's back was a little heart attack inducing. The animal seemed incredibly unbothered and tame, basically ignoring the human child, but that's how accidents with animals in captivity sometimes start.

Foxy moaned. "I'm not looking."

"I am," Goldy said.

Foxy refused along with Bonnie while Goldy cooed over the images.

Rose had taken a lot of photos. Mostly focused on her daughter. There were some of Ruby at barely a few months old and others of her as a toddler.

And she was always smiling in the photos.

Well except that one that showed what looked like a birthday party that had been hit by a natural disaster.

There was a clown partially hidden under a table in the background while Ruby scowled at the camera.

It was terrifying and yet adorable.

Hedy snickered, still absently running her fingers over the embroidery on the blanket.

Ruby's scowl when she saw the photo exactly matched her one back then.

"Stupid clown," she muttered.

"Poor guy was probably just doing his job," Hedy sighed. "What a trade-off. You get a fear of clowns, he gets a fear of small children."

"He was fine after therapy," she paused. "Well, besides the occasional minor breakdown."

"Nice of you to keep tabs," Jeremy deadpanned, while Foxy laughed.

"I know where every clown in the city is," she replied ominously.

"Well, that's horrifying," Puppet said. It might have been the first thing he said since the box appeared.

"Are you horrified in general or horrified because you're a clown?" Spring asked without missing a beat.

Goldy snorted in surprised glee at Spring. That almost sounded like something he might have said years ago.

"I am not a clown!"

"Eh." Ruby made a so-so motion.

Puppet made a derisive scoffing noise and was about to argue before Spring interrupted him with a laugh.

"Hey it's Bonnie!" the yellow rabbit said, pointing to a picture closer to the back of the album.

Ruby was a little older and watching Bonnie with wide eyes as he played his guitar. She looked completely awestruck.

"Pfft. That's a fangirl look," Hedy joked as she strained to see, smoothing the blanket so she wouldn't drop it.

"I dunno," Mike argued. "It's not as crazed."

"That's because crazed is her normal face."

Bonnie smiled at the photo but it was half a grimace at his past self. "Hm. My guitar needs a cleaning..."

Ruby huffed, a faint blush dusting her cheeks. "It was the first time I saw anyone playing the guitar live," she defended herself.

"I have to take you to an actual concert some time," Jeremy muttered out loud accidentally as he flipped through the more recent pictures. It wasn't all Freddy's, surprisingly, but they did take up the majority.

There were pictures of the family at the park, at the beach, just around their house. There were also photos from visits to the police station with Ruby running around with an oversized police jacket on.

Black featured in some of those.

Jeremy felt his throat close up a little if his gaze lingered on those too much.

He couldn't even look at Ruby's reaction for a moment as he stared at one photo with Ruby on Black's shoulders as Derrick and Rose laughed off to the side. It seemed to be at a department Christmas party.

The little girl looked delighted and was laughing.

When he finally managed to tear his eyes away he found Ruby looking... sad. Just sad. The anger wasn't present at the moment and all she had now was grief. Grief over something else she'd lost.

Hedy reached over and turned the page for him.

Jeremy actually handed the album off to her and looked back in the box.

"Tapes?" he murmured.

Ruby frowned and moved over to look in the box as well.

"Oh fuck," she muttered. "I forgot about those..."

Was the teen... blushing?

Hedy had a visceral reaction as she forgot about the album for a moment. She recoiled and looked haunted, the previous video tapes they watched still fresh on her mind, especially since the kids' parents had visited. That was weeks ago but still. She shook her head. There was no reason to think anything horrible was on those tapes.

Just Ruby's happy childhood and her loving parents.

Puppet gave into a niggling of curiosity and took the album from a distracted Hedy while Jeremy busied himself putting the tapes in order based on the dates scribbled on the labels. He flipped through the pages, finding a few Jeremy had missed in the initial perusal.

He turned to pages closer to the middle, careful as the pages slightly stuck together before releasing with the creaking pop of dried glue. There were a few like that, as if the glue behind some photos had leaked out a little over the years in storage. More pictures of Ruby, now uncomfortably familiar. He turned a page and suddenly locked up in shock, his fingers tightening and threatening to dent the cover of the book.

Spring first noticed. "Puppet?"

Puppet didn't respond.

"Puppet," Spring said, a little more alarmed and getting the other's attention.

Goldy floated to look over Puppet's shoulder and gasped.

That startled Puppet to move and he silently turned the album around so the others could see.

It was a whole spread of toddler Ruby, like usual, but this time she was accompanied by others. Notably Hedy, Puppet. The Toys.

There was one image that made some of the Originals hitch a sound like a breath. That was Scott, covered in purple slime beside a morose looking and equally messy Puppet as they held Hedy and Ruby who waved at the camera with smiles. It must have been taken immediately after that particular video of the girls falling out of the vent during their prank.

Someone else must have taken it because Rose and Derrick were both beside the small group, making playful grimaces as they gestured at their proud daughter. Joseph was in the background looking stressed and exasperated but he still cracked a weak smile.

Goldy studied it, ecstatic, although her smile was bittersweet. They didn't have any other photos of Scott. He was always camera shy. It meant a lot that he had been willing to pose for the picture. She mildly wondered if Michael had been the one to take the picture but shoved the thought away. It was likely, but she didn't want his presence to spoil the precious artifact.

There was another, more candid photograph. It was in the old Prize Corner. Puppet was holding an excited toddler Ruby up behind the counter so she could reach a toy on a high shelf. Hedy was sitting on the counter beside them, reading a picture book to BB with intense concentration as a lollipop stuck out the side of her mouth. It looked like the same picture book she had brought to Spring when she met Ruby. BB was leaning against the counter and looking up at Hedy as he patiently listened to her practice reading.

Hedy stared, stunned. The building couldn't erase everything. Derrick and Rose didn't belong to it and neither did their photographs. Maybe they didn't remember her. Maybe the building made sure they didn't question why Ruby never mentioned Hedy again. Maybe they didn't connect Hedy as Jeremy's sister to the other girl in a lot of their daughter's photos, but that seemed to be the extent of the meddling.

Mangle leaned so close she looked like she might fall over. There was a picture of her, Chi, and Puppet playing with the girls. They seemed to be making jewelry with bright colourful beads from a craft box. Well Chi was more running the activity. Hedy and Ruby looked to be trying to help Mangle with the beads she didn't have the dexterity to pick up. Puppet seemed more like he was supervising as he noticed the camera and politely waved to the photographer, presumably Rose. There was something oddly more…real about the photographs compared to the video tapes. It was such a strange feeling.

There were so many pictures. That's how the rest of the night went, just the whole lot of them pouring over photos that felt like so long ago. Like another life. Sure, things may have already been bad for the bots. It was after Charlotte was lost and the human side of the Aftons had already fallen apart, after all. But it was definitely easier to make good memories in the midst of their messy, strange existence when there were two little girls standing out from the hundreds of other children they cared for. They cared a great deal for all the kids that they worked with, but of course there was something different with Ruby and Hedy.

The Originals (and Spring) weren't even upset by their lack of presence in the oldest restaurant photographs. Instead of a reminder that they were hidden in some back room in various states of disrepair at the time, they were happy with the new stories they were gleaning from the comments Rose had written beside some of the pictures. Timmy joined them, probably sensing the happiness and curiosity mixed with shock. He was surprised and excited to see the pictures as well. He added context to some of them. Apparently he followed the bots and the girls around a lot in those days. He was actually slightly surprised there wasn't even a faint glimpse of him in the pictures. It took him a while to realize he could sometimes show up on cameras even while invisible if he wasn't careful. Scott never caught him and Timmy made sure it stayed that way after he learned it was possible.

Ruby glanced at Hedy discreetly. Her mechanic was smiling. She even laughed. It had been a little too long since they heard a genuine one from Hedy that wasn't tinted by panicked relief, cynicism, or karmic retribution (her amusement at Michael's misery coming to mind). There was a bittersweet twist in the pit of Ruby's stomach at each image she couldn't help but look at, but she could put up with it for Hedy's sake. She could put up with a lot for Hedy's sake, Ruby decided. She watched Hedy drink up the stories captured by snapshots with something akin to peace in her eyes. Just enough of it at least.

Hedy was taking that blanket home with her. Ruby already knew how she was going to sneak it in Hedy's bag if the mechanic attempted to give it back. Or she'd make Mike take it. The man was hanging in the back, looking at the memories but happy with fading out of focus.

Bringing the box had been a gamble but it paid off in the end. Hedy needed memories of a happier time and Ruby was glad that she'd been right about her parents catching photos of them both in those albums. The blanket had been a pleasant surprise.

And while it always hurt to look at stuff like this, Ruby did feel a bit nostalgic for the happy little girl she'd been. Maybe a glance at the past now and then wasn't such a bad idea.