((Author's Note: Hey, everyone! I'm sorry for the long wait, but getting back to this has been a bit of a struggle. Personally, just this section of the story is a bit hard for me to get through, since I don't want its events to feel too rushed, but there's also been the introduction of "Monsters at Work" into the lore. Sadly, unlike what I try to do with most of my stories, I just don't see how I can incorporate much of the newer canon into it—not without diverging some, if not strongly, from those events. It'll be hard to introduce too many new characters, like Tyler, and then there's just how different Randall himself would be. With that noted, I hope you still enjoy the story. Thank you!))

"Kendall Clawsdale graduated a year after I did. Not a bad scarer, but not the brightest bulb in the bedroom either. We should be able to slip past him with no problems."

Back in the van at the dump, they began to go over the finer details of their plan. Sadly, neither of them had much information to bring to the table—Randall stayed away from many of his would-be peers and Tani stayed away from most humans—but it was enough to plot their next course of action: Finding the kid's house and a way to break in without alert either its parents or the scarer entering from the other side of the door.

Tani sat across from her with her legs folded under her. "Back to the Big City, huh?" she mused aloud, her gaze a million miles away. "This is all really happening…"

He didn't dare claim to understand how she felt, but Randall knew where she was coming from. Hardly more than a week had passed since he'd been thrown into the human world. Even for that short amount of time, all of this hiding and running through the shadows was wearing on his nerves. Tani had put up with this nightmare for ten years. Alone. He had no idea how anyone could stay sane after that long, much less if there was any guarantee that she'd successfully readjust.

She didn't seem to know either. She continued to stare into space for a long time. Not knowing how to comfort her, Randall slipped the tip of his tail around hers in a loose hold. "Not too much has changed," he tried to reassure her, "You won't have to take it in all at once either. We'll figure it out."

She smiled softly at him, but then his body slumped forward as a bolt of pain shot through his head. Really, he'd done too much for one day. He still hadn't fully recovered from his injuries. Tani reached out to catch him by the shoulders, but he waved her back. Soon enough, the moment passed.

The worried look on her face stayed, "Tamira's the kid's name, right? You let me figure out where the little tyke lives. I know this town. There's not much ground to cover."

"You can't camouflage yourself like I can."

"Let's worry about that when we have to sneak through the door," she countered, "I can get us through this part."

Although Randall still had his doubts, he eventually relented. After all, back in college, she always had a way of surprising him by her out-of-the-box means of solving a problem. If she was this confident that she could manage the task, then as much as it concerned him, he'd have to believe her.

The pair then fell into a long silence. Tani looked around the walls of the fan, her eyes clouded with both hurt and nostalgia. Soon enough, she would say goodbye to it all. She plucked at her fingers anxiously. "I feel like I need to start packing. Not that there's much here to pack, I know, but… I might as well." Arms held out at her sides, she looked down at herself, then pointed to the stain on her tank with a somewhat awkward laugh, "I can least find something a little nicer to wear, right? Better make a good first impression on my first day back!"

Randall said nothing, he just watched her as she turned around and began rummaging through the mess of cloth piled in one corner of the vehicle. While monsters didn't think much of being "naked" like humans did, nevertheless, the purple reptile wasn't as prepared as he thought he was when Tani removed her tank and began sorting through her small collection of shirts. He wasn't used to the tiny, dark stripes that followed the path of her spine; the lighter scales on her underbelly; or the dips in her frame. He caught himself staring.

To be truthful, he wasn't as inexperienced with women as he felt right then. Whether it was a girl his family tricked him into seeing or a fan of his from being a top scarer, he'd dated plenty. However, none of those relationships were the most meaningful. His relationships were either quick flings or ways of getting his brother and parents off of his back. After that first year of college, he didn't need anyone muddying his life.

At that moment, he was reminded yet again of just how much he missed her.

"How did you do it?" he asked suddenly, not really knowing what kind of answer he wanted to hear, "Get through the loneliness?"

Tani blinked at him, then looked away more, hesitant to say anything at first. She settled on a large, navy t-shirt and pulled it over her head. "I didn't get through it at first. Not really," she admitted, patting down some of the obvious wrinkles, "I thought I might run into another banished monster at some point, but no luck. You're the first person I've seen from back home. Still…"

She continued to pick at her clothes. Whatever it was, she clearly didn't feel comfortable revealing it too him. He pressed her on it, "Still…?"

She took another second to think being speaking, "You know how easy it is for us monsters to end up as local legends in the human world, right? Let's just say I think I've shown up in one or two of my own stories around here. A couple of the kids though? They think I'm some kind of imaginary friend."

"Imaginary friend…" Randall echoed in a low voice, not liking where this was going.

Her cheeks flushed, "It all started because of this one, little troublemaker, ok? He'd ran away from home and straight into the junkyard one night. I never let him see me, but I managed to talk some sense into the brat to get him to leave."

She paused, focusing her energy on sorting through the rest of the clothes. Most of them were in no state to wear regularly—or even at all. She opened one of the front doors and began chucking the worst ones into the nearby swamp.

"After that, it just kind of became a thing, you know?" she mumbled, "If it got too lonely, I'd talk to the kids. On a roof, in a tree, out of sight… Just a voice that vented and that they could vent back to."

At first, Randall didn't say anything. A rock-like feeling formed in his gut. It wasn't exactly the same, but that was how it started for Sullivan too: Getting used to kids.

He had to give the walking carpet credit for one thing as a scarer: Like himself, Sullivan was a professional. He never blinked twice at whatever children he had to scare. No matter the number, no matter the type, no matter the age. Every child from Bigfoot fans to bedwetters was fair game. The old Sullivan never would've protected a human child. If the circumstances had been different, Randall may have even directly approached Sullivan about getting the kid back.

It was clear to Randall though that, during those few days of chaos hunting the little girl down, something had changed. The furball had fancied himself the kid's protector. He was no longer able to keep up that wall between a scarer and their target, monster and human.

What if Tani was the same? He already had a guess of how she'd react to all the things he'd done, but what if she'd started to care for them too? It wouldn't just be about Mike or Sullivan or unethical work practices: In her eyes, he'd have done the unforgiveable.

"You could say something!" she pouted, snapping him out of his daze, "I know it's stupid!"

He recovered well. "It's just dangerous," he told her, "Toxic or not, you don't know what they could do to you."

His worries were genuine. From monsters being mistaken for aliens, cryptids, or even just dangerous animals—as was his own case—there was no shortage of risk that came from interacting with humans. It was truly what made a scarer's profession so dangerous. Kids were harmless, as they both had learned in their own time. However, adults were not. All it took was a protective parent with a shotgun to put an end to both their career and their life.

She was lucky she'd never been caught.

"If you're going to investigate, promise me you won't get that close to them." He wouldn't let her go by herself otherwise.

"I shouldn't have to," she sighed, glad to wrap up the conversation there, "I'll be careful."

For Randall though, it wasn't over. More than likely, he was going home a wanted man. It wasn't a matter of if Tani would find out about his and Waternoose's crimes, but when. Even if they both had to go into hiding, even if he successfully kept the truth from her, she was naturally good at reading people. At some point, he'd have to face her as the monster he was now.

He thought of going ahead and ripping off that band-aid; getting everything out in the open here and now. At least they'd both be prepared for whatever might await them back in Monstropolis. Besides, she was just as, if not even more, desperate to get back to the monster world than he was. They had to work together on this, so she wouldn't push him away.

No, no she absolutely would. This is Tani we're talking about… Her openly stubborn morals were the reason she got tossed back into the human world in the first place. In the very least, he had to put off telling her until they made it back to Monstropolis. Even if that meant parting ways, Randall thought that he could accept it as long as he knew that Tani was still safe somewhere.

She'd been out of his life for a decade and he never expected to get her back. This was something he'd already gone through. It would be nothing to see her walk away from him a second time.

At last, Tani noticed how deep he'd gone into his own thoughts, "Randall?"

For now, he would at least give her a chance to prepare herself.

"Just so you know, I'm not the same kid I was back in college," he began, not really able to meet her eyes any better than she could his just a moment ago. "I've… racked up a lot of attention back home."

"I get it, Mr. Top Scarer—"

"From dangerous people, Tani," he cut her off quick. The lump in his stomach rose to his throat as she stared at him hard, waiting for him to explain, "I got into a lot of trouble. I didn't tell you before, and I don't think I can tell you everything now, but there'll probably be someone after me too when we make it back."

And that was all he could say. That same lump blocked him from saying anything more. It was hard to tell how she took the news. Neither of them spoke or moved for a long time before she eventually scooted closer to him.

"Did you blow up half the city?"

He balked at her. The ridiculous guess was enough to knock the lump straight out. "What…? No!"

"Sabotage the energy grid?"

"No…"

"Murder someone?"

"No!"

Well… that last one, he tried, but it wasn't technically a lie: He didn't have any blood on his hands yet.

He felt her fingers link between his own. Stunned, he looked down to find her hand in his, giving it a small squeeze.

"Then I'll wait," Tani said calmly, "I can't promise that I won't be mad or anything, but I can do that much."

Again, Randall went silent.

He hadn't lied to her about Monstroplis. Although she was bound to notice some differences, there hadn't been much change. Monsters Inc. and Fear Co. were still the top two energy companies. People still collected cards of their favorite scarers like sports stars. The streets were the same. Even that ice cream stand where they'd essentially become friends for the first time was still there. If there was anything that had changed in all these years, it was him. Yet even then, Randall found that feelings toward Tani never had.