Mable: I'm so sorry that this is a day late, but here's hoping the extra time helped the chapter in the long run! Enjoy!

Going Home in a Box

Chapter Seventeen

All things considered, there should've been some relief in the fact that they had gotten out of Fairyland Park without getting caught. Yet an uncomfortable mood had taken over inside of the van.

Baby had continued acting strange up until her request for Ennard to shut her down for the ride, which she made only once they were out on the highway and the coast seemed clear. She was in the back now slouched in a dormant slumber.

Ennard on the other hand had decided to take the risk and move into the passenger's seat. Normally this would've been especially dangerous, but it was very late by now. Plus, he had his seat tilted back and was slid far into it. Normally budding with energy at the beginning of a trip, he kept quiet and let the dull hum of the radio instead fill the space. He could tell Scott was feeling antsy.

He could also tell that Scott wasn't antsy about almost being caught, nor the incident with the animatronic, but the way Baby had acted after. He was concerned about it too. It wasn't even her silence or her briskness when blowing off their questions that was concerning, but the shakiness her voice took. That wasn't like her at all. Something must've happened, but he didn't know what.

Though she was asleep right now, so the only one Ennard could fuss on was Scott. "You look tired."

"That's ironic. I feel tired," Scott lightly joked. He was trying at least.

"We could stop at a motel. I know of this nice little one just beside the dump," Ennard coyly answered with a sharp grin. The other played along with a chuckle, but then they fell back into that thick silence.

The music droning out of the radio was weird. Staticky and without lyrics, just off-beat partial techno that sounded more like it belonged in a strip mall than on broadcast. It only succeeded in increasing the awkward feeling. Eventually even Scott couldn't take it anymore.

"What happened back there?" he asked with weary desperation. "With Baby, I mean."

"She saw the other Baby and got upset… A lot more upset than we were expecting," Ennard finished quietly.

"I don't know. The timing doesn't add up. She was upset after she saw it, yeah, but she wasn't the same kind of upset as she was after it fell over… and I don't think it was her knocking it over that did it. Something happened."

"What could've happened? We were right there," the clown pointed up. He noticed the man's worried frown. "Don't you dare start beating yourself up about this."

"I'm not…"

"I'm looking right at you and I know you are," Ennard affirmed. He leaned over between the seats. "It's got to be a scary thing, you know. To see this identity you've put yourself in for so long suddenly slapped on another body. I can't say I know what that feels like since I sort of chose this," he said, gesturing over himself. "Might've just taken a few minutes to kick in."

It almost took Scott off-guard for Ennard to be the one to bring this up, to see this deeply into the concept. He knew the other's façade of ignorance and ditz was just that, but that was an amount of existentialism that even he wasn't thinking of, and now that he was, he wasn't feeling great about it. At least Ennard had gone ahead and volunteered that he didn't feel that way. That stopped more budding concern before it could grow.

"Maybe. I can't even begin to put myself in her shoes…" Scott tightened his mouth. "…But I don't know. I just had this feeling…" He trailed off unsurely, which Ennard noticed.

"Hey, if we're going by gut feelings here, I definitely trust yours! We're never gonna know unless Baby tells us," he said. He rested on that note for a minute before adding, "We'll see how she's doing when we wake her up."

"Right. Maybe it's nothing. Maybe… Maybe she'll be feeling better once we get home," Scott offered. Ennard gave a overly confident 'yeah!' and they fell back into silence backed by the uneasy music. The driver watched a few signs passed as he stared out into the darkness beyond his headlights. Then he took a deep breath and added, "Since she can't hear us, and we won't get a chance to talk about it later… Did you get a good look at that Baby?"

"Are we trash talking scarecrow Baby? Because if we are, YES!" Ennard exclaimed. He held his arms out in disbelief. "What the heck was with the neck and the arms? And did you look at the way it was dressed? Children's performer my left eye!"

"Yeeeeaaah." Scott inhaled through his teeth. "William's designs always sort of feel in the off-putting category. Especially whenever he tried to do one that looked more human. If you looked closely, you could see the similarities to Ballora. The top of the head, the cheeks, the… let's say overly mature facial build. Not sure why it's designed like Baby though. I never saw a Baby design that looked that, uh… we'll say mature again."

He noticed that Ennard was staring at him and did a slight double-take. "…Too much? You know, by mature I meant that she looked like an adult. Most animatronics lean more on the cutesy side."

"Nah, you're good…" Ennard said thoughtfully. He straightened up slowly, still leaning on his arm. "I was just noticing how you were talking about that weird looking wannababy like it was a real Afton original."

"Let's call it a hunch. You know someone long enough and you pick up their quirks, their design philosophies. A lot of it comes to the similarities to Ballora, but just as much comes from what I used to see of old design documents and early sketches… A lot of the cute and cuddly animatronics were designed by Henry. Will's artistic style was a little more… You could call it deranged."

"I could call him deranged too," Ennard cheekily added. Though he still seemed curious. "I'm pretty sure I know why you didn't say that back there."

"I didn't really plan on saying it now either. Longer I go without sleep, the easier these things slip out," Scott admitted with a sheepish grin. "You know though, I'm surprised you didn't notice."

"I noticed she was pretty sturdy. Pretty glossy, similar plating, standing up on its own even with those lanky little limbs, meaning she wasn't just some slapped together low-budget job… I think I was in denial, ha ha," Ennard answered. His expression looked tight as he thought back to it. At the time he had just put it off as a really impressive duplicate, but there was no denying it. "…That pink one though, that thing came straight out of Franky Fazboar's Pizza Planet."

Scott chuckled a little and reached over, to which Ennard quickly caught his hand and laced their fingers. Even with the new gloves, his hands were warm and comforting. A less uncomfortable moment passed by.

"…But you were sure she wasn't alive right?"

"I'm betting our freedom on it!"

It was a while before they finally made it home and by then Scott was tired enough that Ennard reoffered the motel idea twice more. This time not as a joke but out of concern, but Scott was determined and managed to make it home. Ennard woke Baby once the van was backed into the garage. He was crossing his fingers that she would be feeling better as he woke her up.

"Up and at 'em, Baby! We're home free," he greeted as she snapped awake. She was initially silent, which wasn't too uncommon while she collected her bearings.

"Home again, home again," Scott added in wearily before getting out of the driver's side door.

"Jiggity jig… Hey, wait a second. You don't think that pink thing was a pig, do you? It had a weird sort of nose," Ennard called out. Scott gave a sort of nondescript answer.

"He's exhausted," Baby murmured. Her voice was quiet but no longer wavering like earlier. "What time is it?"

"Late. Don't worry, I'll toss him into bed," Ennard assured. He took her arm to try to help guide her out when she noticed the thin necklace chain dangling from her fingers. "What's that you've got there?"

Baby suddenly snapped her wrist back. He looked up at her face to see her shaking her head, silently asking with her eyes for him to let it drop.

Ennard had noticed that the other Baby was wearing a necklace. It was noticeable considering that animatronics didn't tend to wear jewelry. Seeing it in Baby's hand, he assumed that she had been looking at it when she accidently knocked it over, then picked it up before they left. He decided to let it go with a wink. It wasn't like the other Baby was going to miss it and being on an animatronic meant it was probably costume jewelry anyways.

He could tell Scott tomorrow when he was a little more conscious. For now, he helped Baby out of the back of the van. Then reminded Scott that he had to get back in the van and move it up so they could shut the garage door.

In the time it took them to do that, Baby finally yanked the necklace free of her fingers and tossed it under her pillow. Scott didn't notice anything amiss when he came in to wish Baby a good night, Ennard didn't ask her further questions about it yet, so soon she found herself alone in the garage. It was a mixed blessing; she didn't want to be alone with her thoughts, but she also didn't want to be with anyone else.

The necklace wasn't the only thing on her bed. She had left her new hat in here as well while boarding into the van. She took it in hand as she sat down on the bed and looked at it longer, turning it over and trailing her eyes over it.

Scott didn't give her gifts to apologize. He gave her gifts because he wanted to and gave gifts that he thought she would like.

…And even though she knew this, she could still feel doubt creeping in. If her own father couldn't love her, then how was someone not even of blood supposed to feel that role? Rationality was present but didn't speak as loudly, so she heard those doubts regardless. How funny it was that she finds herself almost over one problem and something much worse cropped up behind it.

Baby sat in silence until she was ready for the day to be done, and then she slept once more.

It didn't take long for Scott and Ennard to realize that the peculiar behavior the day before had spread into the next. At first Scott had thought it was a depression brought on by seeing the other Baby, but it became obvious that it was something more than that, or that it was worse than he imagined it to be.

Baby stayed in her room for a large portion of the day. Eventually she was dragged out on Scott suggestion and came to see the cats and even watched a little television with Ennard, but she seemed distant, lost in thought. Sometimes he would speak her name and her head would jump and look over, as though snapped out of a daydream.

The most concerning thing was, surprisingly was the tone her voice had taken. It was softer than usual. Almost faint, almost timid. Baby always kept a hushed, controlled sort of tone to her speech, but in never sounded weak like it did now. She also was noticeably less apt to speak than usual. It was definitely a cause for alarm, and worse it was going on for hours. Still, Scott gave her space, not wanting to upset her further.

Until that evening when Ennard suddenly popped up behind him while he was opening up cans of wet food for the cats circling his feet.

"I've got an idea," he announced. Scott hummed questioning and looked back at him. The clown held up the box for Clue and shook it. The man raised his brows before nodding and giving a thumbs up.

Ennard returned it and made his way over to the garage. While Scott was filling the cat food bowls, he slid a little further down the counter so he could listen in on the conversation inside the next room.

"Hey, Baby! You, me, and Scott solving a murder. What do you say?" the male clown offered. He gently shook the box again with an eager smile showing in his eyes.

Baby was sitting on her bed with a magazine opened in her lap. She was staring at it with the same lidded glazed look that she raised to aim at him. She seemed totally deflated even before he asked.

"I don't feel like it," she said, barely holding in a sigh. Seeing in his eyes that he was about to ask, she averted her gaze back to her magazine and tacked on a further excuse. "I'm busy with this."

"Oh, but it'll be fun! That magazine's not going anywhere. Let's play a quick game, the three of us," Ennard continued to coax. She sent him a look and he returned with that sharp, needle-teeth smile. "It's way better with three people. Heck, I think it's a three-player minimum unless I read it wrong."

Normally Baby would've just agreed upfront. On a typical quiet night, a game was a nice escape from the boredom of a magazine she knew she looked over once before. Though that wasn't nearly as easy to go along with when she felt like this, when her head was filled with unwanted thoughts that she couldn't get to let up. Maybe a distraction would be a good thing- just as long as they didn't notice she was acting strangely, which they likely already did.

Ennard's persistence in the matter wasn't that unusual, but the tightness of his jaw and grin seemed to suggest otherwise.

"Alright, fine. If you insist," Baby sighed. She set the magazine on the bed beside her. "But no stretching out the game. I can tell when you do, and it takes the fun out of it."

Ennard brightened up excitedly and with it she noticed the slip of his façade and the relief it was trying to cover. "Ha ha, great! I'll go get it all set up!" he chirped. He hurried out before she could change her mind.

She sighed and dragged herself off the bed. This was probably for the best. She enjoyed Clue, and she admittedly enjoyed playing games with Ennard, even if he acted half his age when he got into one. This perhaps would make her feel better.

She came out of the garage to find Ennard hastily setting up Clue at the dining room table while. The cats were crowded at the back of the kitchen past him, so she knew they had just been fed. So, she found it a little odd when Scott came through the front door a few moments afterwards, locking the door and hanging up his coat.

"Where were you?" Baby asked.

"Putting some cat food out around back. I think we've got another stray under the house," Scott said. He seemed more upbeat than earlier, probably because she was tempted from her room.

"And how long until it becomes another pet in the house?" Ennard chimed up.

"I think he might be a little too feral for that. I heard him under there, but I couldn't get him to come out. Even when I walked back around the corner. At least he's getting a good meal."

Scott came to join the two in the dining room and soon the game was set up on the table. Baby played Miss Scarlet, as usual, while Ennard and Scott chose Mr. Green and Professor Plum respectively. The cards were dealt and the game began. Though almost as soon as they got into the game, Baby's mind started to drift. She wasn't surprised, just a little disappointed at the lack of focus.

Not that Clue was a particularly demanding game. She won plenty and when she didn't, she never felt cheated- except for that time someone knocked on the door and Ennard blurted out a guess before running off into the garage. A guess which managed to be correct, much to Baby's chagrin.

Clue wasn't the only game they played, but it was definitely the one that Baby had the most fondness for. It didn't last too long and involved more brainpower than rolling a die. Not like Monopoly, which Baby never seemed to get good dice rolls on, or that horrifically lopsided Freddy board game Marionette made her, Foxy, and Michael play. It made sense at the time why they were playing it, but if there was ever another family game night, she was pushing Clue instead.

She wondered if Marionette remembered when they used to play games just the two of them. Children's board games, the kind that were especially easy and definitely decided winners on card pulls or dice. Where little tokens hopped spaces on a colorful board patterned with smiling characters. A simpler time with simpler games.

Sometimes Gabe would join in, but he wasn't nearly as eager as he was during their recent game. Back then, he would have to be poked and prodded into playing and stayed a poor sport through the whole thing, sometimes even downright cheating where anyone could see it. Once he got frustrated enough to smack over a bunch of pieces or something like that. She couldn't even remember the argument leading up to it.

She had been so angry after that though and she remembered… She remembered calling for their father and telling him what Gabe had done. Gabe hadn't defended himself hard, just calling it a 'baby game' or whatever he did until their father got him into the other room so that he could… punish him, she supposed. As a little girl she always thought he got what he was coming to him, but never wondered what exactly that was.

Never cared, really. Always too busy in her own little world to notice or care about her mean big brother. Nobody else seemed to notice or care either. Not when his cheek was swollen, when there was a dark mark here or there.

The idea that she might've aimed their father's wrath towards Gabe was jarring enough, let alone the realization that she had never really cared. Their father had grabbed and slung her around and she was the favorite, so she knew he wouldn't have been nearly as merciful to Gabe. He hadn't been though. He had killed Gabe. He set up the means for her death, but he murdered Gabe outright.

All over a board game. She had set such horrible things in motion over a board game, and the was the first time she thought about it long enough to realize how awful it really was.

"Baby?"

Baby's head snapped up to see Scott and Ennard both look at her.

"Of course. Drift off for one second and I miss something," she thought. A relatively calm thought over the growing panic that they could somehow hear her thoughts. "…My turn?"

"Right… Is everything okay?" Scott offered. "You look a little upset about something."

"Probably about me breaking this case wide open," Ennard cheekily remarked. He was covering for her, she realized, and she covered herself with a roll of the eyes, feigning normalcy.

"I'm fine. Just thinking about yesterday, got lost in it," she denied. Though her voice betrayed that shakiness. She tightened her claw and chest and tried to forcibly even it out.

"That's okay. Well, if you want to talk about it, we can. There's no reason we can't," Scott offered. Though it was clear from how quickly Baby went to rolling that she wasn't planning on it. She returned to paying full attention to the game.

But that was only because she was trying her hardest to not think of anything else.

It didn't help her win the game, but she was unbothered by the loss. Instead trying to keep a normal face and voice once the distraction of it was gone, watching as Ennard packed the game back up.

"Okay, so I won, so I get to choose the next one, right?" Ennard tried. Pushing his luck, she thought with a scoff. Trying to snare her into another game… Perhaps not a bad idea. She didn't really want to sit alone in her room again.

"Sounds good! If that's alright with Baby," Scott said, looking to check with her. She nodded and he offered, "Maybe we should finally empty out the closet and see if the Parcheesi's in there. Better late than never."

"While you two are figuring it out," Baby began as she rose from the chair, "can I use the computer? I need to check something online."

"Sure! No problem!" he answered. The breath and tight pause afterwards gave away that he was about to ask something and caught himself. Not wanting him to get worried- and paranoid he might try to sneak to find answers- Baby spun up a quick excuse.

"I just want to see if there's anything online about what happened last night. If anyone noticed we broke in, anything at all," she explained. He seemed to buy this, maybe even seemed relieved by this.

"That's probably a good idea. I thought about doing it earlier but didn't end up checking. I guess I'm a little afraid of what I might find."

"'Hurricane Clown Strikes Again!'" Ennard proclaimed.

"Hurricane Clown strikes again," Scott agreed. He then get a funny look and turned towards him. "…What exactly goes on when you go out at night? I'm starting to see a pattern with this and the dump story."

Ennard tensed and then laughed it off and chattered off an apology that Baby missed as she headed down to and slipped through the office door. She shut it behind her with hopes that they wouldn't hear, then locked it after consideration.

What she told Scott was a lie, but it wouldn't be for long. She would go on the computer right afterwards and look it up, barely interested but wanting to feel like she kept her word. Though before that she rolled to the corkboard and let her eyes drift over the pinned numbers before falling onto one of them.

She began to have second thoughts the second she saw it. Her chest tightened up and she felt the same weighed down feeling from earlier. Ironically, that was what sealed her fate as she turned and picked up the phone, dialing the number. There were a few rings before there was an answer on the other side.

"Ahoy, matey! Thank ye for calling Foxy's Pirate Cove! We've already shoved off fer the night, be if ya leave yer name and number, we'll get back to ya in a jiff!"

Baby was both relieved and slightly disappointed. "It's me… We need to talk."

"Baby? Huh. Didn't expect you'd be callin'."

Baby was usually quick on catching if someone was faking a voice, so she must've been more out of sorts than she thought when she realized that hadn't been a recording.

"…Do you always answer the phone like that?" she asked, trying to cover her embarrassment.

"After hours? Aye," Foxy replied. His voice grew lower, "This be about the Pizzaplex?"

"…No, it's not." There was no point in getting this far and backing down now. "I just…" Her voice wavered with unsureness as her fingers tightened and scratched along the plastic of the phone. "I just called to tell you… that… I love you."

"…What?" Foxy sounded so befuddled. She might've expected a similar reaction if she would've blurted out about the scarecrow-looking Baby at the funfair.

"I love you. I know it may be hard to believe, I know that we are… very distant, but I do," Baby said. She paused and awaited an answer, but after a few seconds she still hadn't gotten one. "…Is it really that hard to believe?" she quietly asked.

"Huh? Err, no! No. Ya just… sorta sprung it on me is all. Caught me off-guard with that one, lass," Foxy answered, sounding flustered.

There was a silent beat as she awaited something further. She really hoped there was something further after she had effectively poured her heart out over the phone. She had so easily given him a weak spot, but she got her answer.

"I love ya too, Ba-… Eh…" He hesitated a long moment before correcting. "I love ya too, Lizzie."

"Gabe…" she quietly answered. She wasn't sure what she was feeling. Relieved perhaps, but also sad, and she didn't know why it still hurt.

Foxy gave a discontent hum on the other side. There was movement as he readjusted himself before asking in a tone gentle and unlike him, "What's the matter, Lizzie?"

"I don't know," Baby confessed. She was self-conscious of the inflection of her voice and whether she would be heard, so she lowered it to a whisper. "…We were playing a board game and I started thinking about us; you, Marion, Michael, and I. How we played together down in that basement underneath the warehouse… Amongst other things."

"Other things?"

She was suddenly hit by a strange sensation. It was like a creeping panic that slowly spread across her body, starting weirdly in her feet and climbing her legs before branching out across the rest. She felt like she was being watched and glanced to the window, there was nothing, and then the door, still nothing.

"I don't want to talk about it…" Baby denied. It didn't halt that uneasy feeling.

"If it's about that forsaken Freddy game, I don't blame ya."

That got a slight titter despite the tenseness of the conversation and the room. He chuckled too and for the first time in ages it felt like they were on the same page. Though it was abrupt, Baby thought that might be a good place to leave it.

"I have to go now… and find what's left of my dignity."

"If ya find mine, ring me back," Foxy quipped. "…And I stay up pretty late iff'n ya ever want to call back."

"I think I may do that," Baby agreed. "Take care, Gabe."

Foxy seemed reluctant to say goodbye, but he did and allowed the call to end. Now she was alone in the office, feeling at least a little better about his situation and yet still feeling that weird sensation from before. She chalked it up to something between guilt and self-consciousness and turned on the computer but got too uncomfortable to stay and left immediately after looking up the Pizzaplex again.

Apparently, Scott didn't find whatever he was looking for because Ennard was shuffling a deck of cards in his hands. Upon noticing Baby had returned, he shot her a grin and lifted the cards to her.

"How about this? An endless amount of games in fifty-one cards! You just have to pick your poison," he offered.

She tried not to look so obviously disinterested. "I thought it was fifty-two."

"Yeah, not in this deck. So, whaddya say?"

Baby had considered returning to her room after the phone call but didn't entirely want to. Though she equally didn't want to need to focus on juggling a handful of cards.

"Hmm… I might just watch you two play. If you don't mind. I've never been one for cards," she answered.

"Well, we can play something else," Ennard kindly offered, springing the cards from one hand to another. "We've got Monopoly.~"

"You're about to talk me out of staying."

He laughed as though she wasn't completely serious.

Baby couldn't sleep.

It was a peculiar problem since entering sleep mode was usually such a simple process. At least it had been since she had grown accustomed to having a safe, comfortable room surrounding her. Even if it was a half-converted garage, there was something comfortable and familiar about the room. It made it easier to trust that she would remain untouched until she roused again.

Except that didn't seem to help the foreboding feeling she kept waking up to. It had happened at least three times by now and she knew they were in close intervals. Suddenly dragged out of a dreamless sleep with a jolt like something had shaken her awake, humming in the back of her head, only to look at the garage door and around the room and know she was safe and alone.

She couldn't tell what time it was, but it felt like these jolts were all happening within moments of each other. By the last time, Baby felt so bizarrely wrong that she couldn't ignore it anymore. She decided to get back up and go find something else to do. It wouldn't be the first time she got up to watch tv in the middle of the night.

Or that was what she was thinking until she opened the door to see that Scott was still awake and realize it was much earlier than she thought. Though it was still a bit later than he usually stayed up. Ennard was nowhere to be seen, unexpectedly, and Scott was sitting on the couch watching a sitcom while Cleo took up his entire lap.

He looked over and sent her a smile. "Hey! I didn't wake you up, did I?"

"No, that would imply I slept," Baby mumbled. She slowly rolled to the couch before sitting down on the other side, resting her claw in her lap and her hand on it. "This is late for you."

"Not as late as last night," Scott reminded. He seemed more amused than begrudging of it. "I might've overslept a little later than I should've, but it gives me an excuse to catch up with some old friends," he said, referring to the show.

Baby hummed in understanding. They sat there for a few minutes together just watching the tv. Half-watching in Baby's case. She didn't mind the show- she wasn't paying enough attention to mind- but she was slipping back into her thought again. Scott noticed after a little while and had the urge to say something. It wasn't until Cleo got up and went over to hide in the kitty condo that he decided to go ahead and speak up.

"You know, umm…" Scott trailed off after that and was quiet for a rather long time. Long enough for Baby to think he might've forgotten what he had to say, or suddenly decided not to say at the last minute. That was sort of the case. Scott wasn't entirely sure if he was pushing his boundaries, but he decided to go ahead and finish. "I don't want to sound like a broken record, but I noticed that you weren't really… you were a little down today."

Baby's claw tightened a little. Thankfully, regular oiling kept it from squeaking and giving away the motion.

"And that's okay! I don't want it coming off like you can't show your feelings or I'll get on you about them, but uh… I just think you should know that you don't have to deal with it alone." Scott considered leaving it there, but in the last moment ended up racing out. "If it's about that necklace, it's no big deal. I'm sure nobody noticed."

"It's not the necklace…" Baby sighed. Then her head snapped up and over. "He told you about the necklace?! The one thing- I could kill him," she huffed.

"He was worried," he said with an apologetic smile.

She huffed again. Of course he was, and of course he would tell Scott about it. The type of person who could hide behind a persona for years and then spill it all to Scott. She wasn't nearly as fortunate and while she appreciated the concern-.

…

…Maybe she did want to talk about it.

She didn't want to think about it, she didn't want to admit to it, but she couldn't shake the feeling of pressure whenever it crept back up on her. Like an overinflated balloon, the thoughts were all-consuming, leaving her airheaded and useless. While she didn't want to appear weak, she did want something- maybe that was someone to listen other than herself.

It wasn't something she could've talked to with Ennard or Gabe. Gabe would've been too uncomfortable and while Ennard was plenty caring, there were some things he couldn't understand. He didn't know her father, he was only really a second-hand victim of him. Scott had been controlled physically and emotionally just as she had, and he had faced fewer consequences of her own actions. He fit the role of a listener like a glove, and she trusted him to listen and understand.

"…I will tell you," Baby said quietly. She turned away, preferring to look off at the table by the door instead of him, and this angle totally cut him out. "Last night when we were in that trailer, I remembered some things that I had previously forgotten… Memories of my father I had somehow suppressed."

"Oh, Baby…"

"I remember him manhandling me," Baby hissed. The bitterness resurging and hissing on her voice like acid.

"What?!" Scott choked.

"Pathetic thing. Him, not me. Yanking around a little girl like she was a toy. All I was to him, I suppose, but all he was to me was just a provider. Nothing more. Daddy dearest could've easily been replaced," Baby muttered in a sour ramble. She could feel that borderline overwhelming anger starting to creep up on her, but it didn't have the strength it had the day before. Even when she could still remember the memories clearly.

Scott looked positively horrified by the confession. Though he wasn't naïve enough to be surprised, he hadn't thought she had been treated like that. He had been given the impression that she was the child who had been spared.

"Did he… How often was he like that with you?" he carefully asked.

"Frequently. I can't believe I ignored it for so long… But I guess I've done that before. Ignored the truth to keep myself blissfully aware. Every time I think I'm over it, I find more hiding somewhere. Like an endless game of make-believe, except I'm playing it with myself and giving up at the most inopportune time," Baby quietly vented. She made a noise like a sigh and finally dared a look back. Scott's face was filled with dismay. "I'm sorry. I know this must upset you."

"You didn't upset me- and don't be sorry about it! I care about you, that's why I'm upset," Scott insisted. He scooted closer and reached to take her hand off her claw and into both of his. "Baby… Elizabeth." It was the second time someone said her real name tonight and it effected her just as intensely as it did then. "I'm… I'm so sorry you had to remember all that. I wish you didn't have to, but since you are I want you to know that nothing that happened to you was your fault."

"I know it wasn't. I know it was his," she said. Though the listlessness in her voice wasn't convincing.

"I can't begin to imagine what you went through, and I know what I went through is totally different, but… but when I was in that situation, I thought that it was my fault. I thought that it was my decisions that led me up to it. Like… Like it was a punishment from God for something I did. It took me years to realize that's not it. That you can just get drawn in by these people… You had even less of a choice in the matter than I did. He was your dad; he was supposed to take care of you."

She nodded stiffly and he patted her hand, trying to give what comfort he could and knowing there was so little he could do. At least now he knew what was bothering her, but it was just as complicated as he had feared.

"Now I'm not about to give you a sermon, but Arthur was talking just the other day about how God has this plan for all of us. I don't know what I think about that. Sometimes it's hard to look back at everything and think that there's a reason that some of us hurt and some of us don't, but I started think that maybe…"

Scott trailed off at a dull sliding noise coming from the kitchen. He turned his head to listen and furrowed his brows. It sounded like someone opening the kitchen window.

Baby gave a huff. "And here comes Ennard at the worst possible time," she lamented.

Scott leaned upright to look over the back of the couch.

"That's not him. He's in the-."

His voice caught with a sharp clench of his throat as he recognized what was climbing in through the kitchen window. Already half in with its long arms bent spider-like over the sink and its long neck arched forward to dangle its heavy head.

For a split second he thought he had to be asleep or hallucinating, because what he was seeing couldn't be real. They had left that deformed Baby back in the trailer at Fairyland Park, and here it was climbing through their window.

He let out a cry that turned into a string of panicked words that sounded something like, "WHAT?! NO! THAT'S THE-!" That was enough to get Baby up off the couch and she looked back just in time to see skirt and legs as it slid in and crashed onto the kitchen floor with a loud clatter.

"Is that the thing from last night?!" she gasped. She rolled to the side of the couch to see past and found its crumpled body on the floor. The sight of it filled her with disgust and dread.

The elongated Baby pushed itself up off the floor with its arms, which wobbled and teetered like the legs of a newborn fawn. Its casing was caked in dirt and damaged in a few places, such as a sprig of wires coming out from around the base of her long neck. They sparked when she lifted her head up, it wobbling and twisting around to stare more at the ceiling than at either of them.

Its mouth opened like that of a puppet's and a crackling noise came from inside, one that ended in what sounded like an audible yawn.

"Is it showtime already?" the doll asked. It rolled its head further until it was nearly upside down and Baby watched its eyes slide back and forth in a jittery motion, almost like it was scanning an audience that didn't exist. Then they slid into a corner. "Oh wow, look at all the friendly faces! Rosie, why didn't you tell me we had guests? I would've brushed my hair-ir-ir-r-r-rha-ha!"

Its hinged mouth flapped vaguely in line with the voice before hanging open. Its molded lips stretched far open, and its eyes rolled back as they were gave it a ghoulish expression. Less like a broken toy and more like a body. An illusion only worsened when it drew up onto its knees and then onto its legs. Its feet broken and detached at the ankles, hanging on only by wiring as it stood on the end of its calves.

"-Oh, Foxy! Don't listen to him, folks. We would love to sing a song for you! What ssshhhzzzld we siing?"

As it moved Baby could feel that creeping sensation over her plating and sinking into it. It was that same feeling as before but much more intense, like an aura of discomfort and creeping panic coming from the animatronic doll. It was the feeling Baby had felt in the office, in her bedroom, had been caused by this thing. How long had it been circling the house? Had it been under the house? Was this what Scott thought he heard when he discovered the 'stray cat' in the crawlspace.

Seeing that Baby was just staring at the other animatronic, Scott managed to pull himself together enough to realize that they had to get out of the room. His spare taser and Ennard were both in the bedroom and while he couldn't yet tell if it was aggressive, he wasn't taking any chances. It wasn't acting right. Even the recording spilling from its chest was fuzzy and empty, a hollow recording.

Speaking of the recording, the doll had begun to sing. Or at least, began to play a poor-quality recording of a song. There was more than one voice calling out from her now, singing together in a chorus of 'Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows'. The recording skipping and breaking with every crack of her moving body. Thoroughly horrified, Scott pulled Baby's arm and got her to roll with him, but she couldn't stop staring.

They were just past the other end of the couch when the doll had gotten up onto its legs. It straightened its back and its head popped up like it was on a spring. It swiveled just enough to turn its eyes towards Baby, their only warning before it suddenly started to stagger towards her. Its arms bent at the elbow and frozen at its sides, knees wobbling and hyperextending as it moved, dragging its feet across the carpet as it quickly shuffled towards them.

Scott yelped and Baby yanked her claw out of his arm just in time to smack it back away. A searing heat pulsed through her claw where she had touched it, causing her to gasp and pull it back to her chest. It still easily knocked the other Baby aside, who ended up taking out the lamp beside the armchair as it fell to the floor. It laid there only a moment, its recording skipping and its body twitching.

Baby wouldn't get any closer. She didn't trust it, pushing Scott back with her hand as she rolled back towards the bedroom door. This turned out to be the right decision as it suddenly turned it head to stare at them. The recording dissolved into something akin to a drawn-out squeal before it suddenly started to crawl towards them, grabbing at the carpet with its dirtied fingers to propel itself across the floor, its eyes never leaving hers.

Its stare made her sick. Baby panicked, shoving Scott back through the door and following to slam it in the doll's face. She could hear its fingers dragging over the door as though trying to still propel itself towards her, like the door wasn't there.

As soon as she and Scott had come barging in, Ennard, who had been in bed at the time, shot up in bed with a rather startled, "What the hey?!"

"That Baby- the other baby, the one from the park- it j-just- it just climbed through the window! It's right there! Right outside the door!" Scott hastily explained. He then promptly spun around, threw the bathroom door shut, and locked it.

"…I'm waiting for you to tell me you're joking," Ennard said, staring at him in blank shock. He only waited a few seconds before he got his answer from the renewed babbling outside the door. The sound of the other Baby continuing its one-sided conversation with itself. He threw off the blankets and sprung out of the bed before snatching up and yanking on his jacket, not wearing any of his suit.

"I thought you said it wasn't alive!" Baby cried, turning on him.

"It wasn't! I was sure of it!"

"Well, it followed us home and climbed into our house!"

It was clear from the pitch alone that she was frightened, and it took Ennard by surprise. They had faced some nasty animatronics in the past and terrifying situations, near death experiences, old friends turned enemies, and it took a lot to get her so frantic. He wasn't sure if he had ever heard her like this. Though instead of making him more fearful it did quite the opposite.

He squared up and gave a resolute, "I'll take care of it."

Now it was Scott who was surprised by his tone. Baby simply pulled her arms close and looked around the floor for the cats. Hopefully they were hiding under the bed and not somewhere else in the house. Scott was worried too, but at this point he was sure that they were the ones the thing had its attention on, and soon Ennard too.

"H-How exactly are you going to 'take care of it'?" he asked. Ennard lifted up his hands and made sparks crackle at his fingertips. "Oh, yeah, that's- that's actually a good plan… But you're going to have to get close…"

"Ha ha, I KNOW," Ennard said through tight teeth.

"Be careful. Don't touch it any longer than you have to," Baby warned. They both looked to her for clarification. "When I touched her, she burned me-."

"BABY!" Scott's warning tipped her off to the danger before she even noticed the squeak of the door behind her.

Her head snapped back to see the doll leaning into the slowly opening doorway. Its painted face all the more garish when bathed in the overhead light; eyes rolling and dancing, mouth flapping open to the beat of the hazy song from its chest.

"It's myy party, and I'll cry if I want to. Cryyy if I want to. Cry if I-.~" interrupted just as easily as Baby was by said clown throwing herself against the door and trying to force it closed. Most of it was shoved out, but its arm was still jammed in the doorway. Baby didn't want to touch it, but it didn't matter how hard she shoved, the door wasn't enough to break it off. "Y-Yooou would cry too if it ha-appened to you!~"

"Help me!" Baby called back to Ennard. She was so close now that she could feel that aura washing over her. She felt hopeless and angry, feeling something trying to yank control from her.

Before control was literally yanked from her as Ennard suddenly pulled her aside. She barely had a moment to recover, and the other Baby only got that moment to start pushing at the door, before Ennard took his turn shoulder ramming the door. Something cracked in the doorway. The music caught on a note and hung on it, but the doll gave no indication that it felt anything at all.

"Did you lock the door?!" Scott asked. The panic was back, especially now that the face in the doorway was angled at him.

"I- I must have- I mustn't have…" Baby sputtered.

Ennard had his weight fully against the door and raised a hand in preparation to tase, trying to think of the best way to go about this. As much as he hated it, he realized from the plating alone that his best bet would involve him having to get up close and personal if he wanted to overload it. As uncomfortable as he felt, he was willing to do that.

Then the other Baby's arm suddenly twisted back at an obscene angle and dug its fingers into his jacket sleeve and the wires beneath. Even with the protection of the jacket, the touch stung, and he quickly swatted it back, metal clattering against the material of her plating. It felt more like ceramic than plastic. The doll made a whirring sort of noise as it fumbled through a few voice lines, with only the last one being clear enough to understand.

"I'm s-s-soooorrrrrry D-DAADddy."

Baby audibly and shortly shrieked at that, clasping her hand over her mouth.

"That's it, I'm going for it!" Ennard forewarned the others. "Three… Two… One…"

Suddenly he stepped back and yanked open the door. The other Baby started to fall in, but Ennard quickly stepped forward, catching her by the neck, and took her back down to the carpet. Crouching over her, he pinned her down to the floor and after briefly adjusting his hold delivered the full jolt. She shuddered and shook, recording scrambling and popping before going limp as the volts stopped.

There was a second of silence as Ennard watched to make sure that it didn't start trying to fight again. It didn't, it had been successfully overloaded and promptly shut down. He then yanked his hand back and shook it out with a hiss.

"You weren't kidding about that whole burning thing," he remarked. Scott cautiously came up into the doorway to peek down at it.

"Do you think it's, uh… Well, not dead, but y'know, down for the count?"

"If this thing gets up anytime soon, we've got a huge problem. I must've fried something, if it wasn't already fried with how much heat's coming off of it."

"I think we're already looking at a huge problem, Enn. If it's here, then that means… That must mean that it walked all the way from the park. That's miles away, and somehow i-it still found our house," Scott said. Ennard looked back at him, and they shared similar looks of unapologetic horror. A horror that didn't care whether the thing was down, just that it had gotten here in the first place. After a moment, Scott pointed towards the office. "I-I have to make a call."

As he turned towards the bathroom to avoid stepping over the other Baby, he stole a glance towards the real Baby. She still had her hand over her mouth, frozen in a look of fear that he had never saw from her before. He understood it though and went to step through the door.

He froze mid-step as he suddenly remembered what the doll's final words had been. He stood there a moment and remembered the conversation from earlier and looked back to Baby again. She hadn't moved, but the way she had screamed…

He couldn't dwell on it now, not yet. Scott continued on through the bathroom, around the downed animatronic, and towards the office. He stole one last look back at Ennard and the other Baby. Its head was angled up enough that it looked like it was watching him go.

So much for sleeping tonight.