Mable: Hey! I've got a special Christmas gift for you today. I'm not saying what it is, but you'll find out soon enough. ;D Enjoy!

Going Home in a Box

Chapter Four

It was kind of funny. All day Scott had been dreading a call and then he found himself woken up by one ten times worse than what he had been expecting. This was the last thing he ever thought was going to happen. Ennard calling with an emergency was always a fear, but from what he heard of the conversation when Baby came barging in, that Ennard was breaking down from the cold, was never something he had considered.

Animatronics tended to be kept in cool environments in storage facilities, and he knew it was heat that could force them out of their bodies. So, the fact that it was the cold that was a threat felt like it came totally out of left field.

That was, until he got on the road and saw the weather conditions. Now he was even more thankful he had the weighted van with its newer tires because his car would've slid all over the road. Not that he was feeling any better about the situation. The frigid climate was small peanuts compared to the fact that Ennard was out somewhere in this.

Baby wasn't making the situation any better. He could hear her muttering from the back.

"I knew it. I knew it was taking too long. 'One hour, it'll feel like five minutes'- what was he thinking? How can he put us through this?!" But it was clear from Baby's frustrated tone and how she spat her words that she was afraid.

In the moments directly after he had hung up the phone, she had become unusually quiet and helpless looking, watching as Scott frantically pulled on whatever and blew out of the house to get the van backed up. It was the closest Baby ever got to being timid and it was just a tribute to how alarming this whole ordeal was for them both.

"It's okay. We'll find him," Scott said. He said it a few times during the drive, almost like a mantra, but he wasn't sure if even he believed it. He was too focused on not crashing the car to think about the alternative.

It was then that they pulled up to the Gas and Go, or whatever the actual name of the gas station was. Seeing that it was open made Scott more than a little uneasy.

"This is it," he said.

"He said he's behind it," Baby said from the back. He nodded and turned to drive around back.

And that's where he found him.

It didn't take any effort, Ennard was just lying face down at the edge of the alley. Only the littlest amount of snow dusted his raincoat, so he hadn't been laying there long, not that it changed anything for Scott. Without a word, he stopped the van, grabbed the blanket he brought out of the passenger's seat, and tore out of the driver's side.

"Ennard?!" Scott called. He kept his voice semi-low as to not draw attention, but his fear was evident and only growing when the amalgam didn't move. He hurried up and almost dropped the blanket at the same time his stomach dropped.

It was much worse than he was expecting. Ennard wasn't passed out like he assumed, because his eyes weren't closed, or tilted in the way that would make them look closed. His eyes were still open with his pupils shrunk as far as they could go. He wasn't moving even the slightest bit. If he was a human, he would've looked dead.

"This isn't good," Scott mumbled. He dropped down beside him and tried to rouse him, half draping the blanket over him so he could shake him. "Ennard? Can you hear me? I'm here- we're here, you're going to be okay."

That fear was growing as Ennard failed to respond. His body felt abnormally heavy, adding credence to the fact that absolutely nothing was moving. "Baby, I need your help!"

Baby was already in the process of opening the back of the van when she was called. Upon hearing it thought, she hastily hopped out of the back. Her skates immediately lost traction on a patch of slush and skidded right out from underneath her. She gave a short scream before crashing onto the icy pavement.

Scott's head snapped over. "Baby?! Are you okay?!" She was already scrambling to her feet, too humiliated to answer.

He looked back down and started to lift Ennard's upper half off the cold ground. His body was as cold as could be, lacking any of the familiar warmth his wires usually held. The skin of his palms almost stuck to them.

"What if he froze to death? No, he couldn't. He- He's so cold. He's never been this cold," Scott thought in panic. He tried to wrap the blanket around the clown's shoulders. "It's- It's okay. We'll get you home, get you warmed up. You'll be fine!"

"Until I get to him. So help me, Ennard-," Baby threatened as she came over. She looked down at the other clown for a long moment, noticing how still he was, save for Scott's manipulating. "…He's not moving," she said. Her frustration replaced with a hollowness, a breathy sounding worry. "…Scott?"

"We got to get him home. Can you help me?"

He didn't have to say a word more. Baby skated forward and dropped down at Ennard's side on one knee. She took ahold of him, taking care not to clamp down with her claw, and pulled him onto her back in a fireman's carry. It wasn't easy with him being completely limp, but she could handle his weight, and Scott tried to help while tucking the blanket back in. He held her as she stood back up, to help her keep her balance, before hurrying over to the van.

Scott tried to kick some of the slush away from the back of the van as Baby cautiously rolled over. She then crawled into the back of the van before letting Ennard roll off her back and onto the rug laid out on the floor of the van. She hastily nudged the blanket back in around him as Scott shut the doors and ran around the van, sliding outside the door, and barely catching himself to hop back inside. The van was still on, so he shut the door and pulled out.

He sent a glance over at the open gas station and felt a foreboding feeling in his stomach but ignored it as he turned off and began to carefully drive back home.

The van was significantly warmer than outside. The heater had been on since it was started and the blanket, while not being much, seemed to be better than nothing. Baby sat kneeled beside him with her hand and claw resting in her lap. She watched him like a hawk, looking for any sign of movement as they slowly made it towards home.

Until suddenly, Ennard's body jerked and his shrunken pupils, staring up at the ceiling, suddenly swelled with consciousness. Baby made a noise akin to a gasp and almost told Scott.

She didn't even have a chance.

Suddenly Ennard started thrashing. His arms flopped and his chest lifted, his head turning violently and his eyes swirling around unable to focus. He seemed confused, and he probably was if he had just woken from a shut down, but she couldn't let him hurt himself. She dropped forward onto him, grabbing him around the middle and forcing him down to the van floor. He made a garbled, skipping sound from his chest.

Scott stopped the van without skidding and spun around to look in the back. "What's going on?!"

"He's fighting. I think he's confused," Baby answered curtly. She grunted when he heaved upwards enough to actually lift her- she had almost forgotten how strong he was. "We need him to calm down before he hurts himself… Put on some music. That might help."

"…I don't think that's going to work, but we can try," Scott agreed. He was just relieved that Ennard was moving at all honestly. He fumbled around with the stereo before turning on his tape of relaxation music. It was mostly pan flute melodies.

"Calming music, not funeral music," Baby corrected.

Scott, more than a little confused at that comment, started flipping through the radio stations. The only thing he could find was polka music. As ridiculous as it was, Ennard would probably like it.

Putting his fear aside, Scott continued to drive back towards the house. While he was in the process of backing up to the garage, which had been left open, Ennard finally started to calm down. Though Baby wasn't convinced that he was doing it out of his volition. His body was still frigid even to her touch and his eyes were still rolling around.

She forced his arms down and wrapped the blanket tightly around him before pulling him back onto her shoulders and crawling back out of the van. Scott helped guide her back out of the van safely.

"It's too cold in here," Baby realized. Any heat that had been left in the garage having leaked out through the open garage. "Your room?"

"Please. On- On the bed if you can. I'm just going to get this door shut and the van turned off and I'll be right there," Scott said. He sounded flustered, probably worried out of his mind. Baby nodded and slowly carried Ennard inside.

By time they reached the bedroom, Ennard's state had changed again. She rolled him onto the side of the bed and watched him twitch and writhe in the blanket cocoon before finally getting an arm free. He was making more garbled noises.

"H-Ha… Huuuuh…"

"Ennard?" Baby snapped to attention at what sounded like a word. She rolled him over to face her and watched his hand tighten and shake. "Can you hear me? You're home now," she said, cradling his head with her hand.

"Mmmph urgggh…"

He sounded like he was in pain but pressed further into her hands. She also noticed now that his eyes were actually closed. It must've happened sometime when she was carrying him in. As she was watching them, they opened a thin crack.

At this moment, Scott came into the bedroom and Baby raised her head to look at him.

"He's coming around. He's not making any sense, but his eyes aren't rolling around and his pupils look normal," she said. The kneejerk reaction was shock, not knowing about the eyes rolling uncontrollably, but he recovered quickly.

"That's good! He, uh… This was a close one," Scott admitted. He came over to the bed and she removed her hand and rolled back so he could take her place. "Ennard? You're safe, we got you. Just need you to look at me. Can you do that?"

Ennard's eyes flickered up momentarily before rolling back down with a wince. He curled into himself with his wires twitching and tightening, a dead giveaway that he was in pain.

"What hurts?" he gently asked. Ennard bent his free arm and gestured to his head with clenching fingers. "Your head? I guess you could've hit it on the way down. Or it could be because of you, uh… It looks like you might've powered down and… passed out in the snow. Can you remember that, or anything? Anything that happened tonight."

Ennard groaned and cracked his eyes again, one more than the other. Scott was glad to see his eyes were returning to normal, even if his entirely busted voice was marginally concerning. That was when his voice started to contort.

"S-s-s-ssss…" Like he was trying to say something.

"Yes?" Scott leaned in closer to listen, assuming he was trying to say his name. "I'm here. What is it?"

"Ssssss-ss-s-so... St-St-Sttshshhhuuuppid."

So stupid.

The corner of Scott's mouth twitched up with a small smile. "It was a little stupid. I'll give you that."

"Stupid is an understatement," Baby hissed. She rolled forward to look down past Scott, her eyes zeroed in and showing her frustration. "You are never leaving this house again. Not as long as I'm around."

"S-s-s… Mmngh… Ssssor-r-r-ry."

Baby huffed and crossed her arms with a clatter while turning her head away. It looked like she was pouting, but it was clear that it was more than this. Ennard was alert enough now to notice. He looked over at her before looking down at the bedding with shame. Scott sympathized with him, knowing he was hurting, but he wasn't going to disagree with Baby's harshness. Maybe just soften it up.

"I've never seen you get like that. Not even that time you completely unraveled, you never got to the point where you were… gone." Scott's throat tightened when he said that. Like his body was unconsciously rejecting the word. Ennard looked up with sad, but alert yellow and blue eyes. "That was too close… Way, way too close. You should've stopped or- or something. That woman who works for Mike lives out there, she could've- if you knew where she lived…"

"Or just stayed with Michael. That's where you were, weren't you? With Michael?" Baby needled, slowly turning her head to look down. Ennard nodded stiffly.

"T-T-Tooold meee not-t-t-t t-t-t-ooo go," he admitted.

"I'm sure he did," Baby muttered.

"Haaa-a-av-v-ve to c-c-crchtzz-aaal himmm." Ennard started trying to push himself up, starting to feel a little better. That didn't last long. As he pulled up onto his elbow, he felt a tingling pain spreading along the wires shifted during the movement. They were all still cold and as feeling crept back into them he felt this resisting pain. Ironically, this was the closest thing to feeling like he had a human body that entire ordeal.

Scott caught him by the shoulder to try and stop him only to notice he was still wearing the raincoat.

"I'll call him, but we've got to get you warmed up first. Let's start by getting this coat off," Scott said. He gently peeled back the blanket and pulled apart the snaps on the coat.

Ennard gave a fuzzy hiss as he turned himself to cooperate with the motion. The fabric irritated his wires as it was slowly peeled off. Getting a second wind, and just wanting it off, he forced himself upright and started to twist until it was sliding off with Scott's help. As soon as it was pulled off, and his wires exposed once more, Scott quickly tossed it aside and brought the blanket back up to wrap around him. Ennard shuddered at the contact.

"Does this hurt too?" Scott asked worriedly. Ennard nodded stiffly. "Maybe it's just because you're warming back up. You've never felt this cold before."

"Feeeeeeeelinng c-c-com-ming b-bacck," the clown answered in explanation. Which it was. Oh boy, was it ever. Unfortunately, the kneejerk reaction to the opposite of going numb was having every pain sensor shoot off at once. Though Ennard could remember few instances of pain while being a human, especially full body pain, this prickling sensation seemed familiar.

Baby didn't like any of this. She didn't like Ennard being in pain, she didn't like Ennard almost dying, she didn't like how Scott wasn't harsher, and she especially didn't like how pitiful Ennard was being because it was keeping her from cracking down harder. He was infuriating, as usual, and she was left feeling useless.

Baby finally turned herself away.

"I'll call Michael," she finally said. Scott looked to her in surprise.

"Are you sure? I can do it."

"I should be able to. After all, we are family," she pointed out. She slowly rolled to the door. "I'll be back as soon as I can hang up the phone."

"Okay, thanks. His number's on the corkboard. It's under 'Michael', not Mike," Scott said. She gave a nod and coasted out of the room.

Ennard watched her leave with remorse. He really, really wished that she hadn't been the one to answer the phone. Scott was used to hearing him as a mess, but not Baby. Or at least, not to this degree. He could barely remember what he said.

"You had her worried. Both of us worried, I mean, but you know I worry about everything. She's a lot harder to shake," Scott pointed out. Ennard winced both from hearing that and at the touch of the blanket on his sensitive wires. Though he was sure that was the point, to gently remind him that his actions had consequences and that this had been a huge mistake.

But Scott always followed it up with assurances. Such as now when he pulled Ennard somewhat into his arms and held him securely. They were still slightly shaking from the adrenaline that had already passed. He must've been truly scared.

Ennard had been, part of him still was. He wouldn't have been so careless if he had though cold could do that. He knew he got numb on the way over there, but he didn't expect a total shutdown. Even now there was a hazy period before collapsing and waking in the back of the van that he just couldn't remember. That was terrifying. How close he was to having no control of his body was terrifying. How close he had gotten to being seen-.

That was the moment that Ennard remember the gas station attendant and suddenly the panic set in. The man hadn't seen him, he thought, maybe, he wasn't sure, but he definitely heard him. Though maybe he couldn't identify the voice well. Maybe he didn't hear the metallic tone or static on the back- maybe it was a partially deaf and largely ignorant witness- and he thought he was just some kind of mutant straight out of a "Hallow's Eve Cleaver" movie.

"Ennard? You're tensing up, is the pain getting worse?" Scott asked. Which yes, the pain was getting worse from his wires tightening, but that wasn't the cause of said tightening.

"Ssssomeb-bod-dy hrrrrd mee."

"Somebody- Oh… Oh, that's not good. That's pretty bad, actually." Scott took the admittedly frightening news in stride. His pulse shot up again, but otherwise he kept his outward reaction suppressed. "Did, uh… Did they see you?"

"No." He was certain of that at least and that alleviated Scott's worries slightly.

"Good! That's good. We can work with that," he reaffirmed. He wasn't sure if he was trying to assure Ennard or himself, but this was definitely not the time for either to lose their head.

Ennard hugged onto him, pressing his mask into the winter jacket he was still wearing and somehow trying to absorb the heat from it. It was so strange, the warming up hurt and yet his body craved it, and his forced himself through it desperately hoping it would eventually lighten up. All the while Scott patted his back and held him close.

"Just a little scare. We're all good now," he assured him. "…But would you please call me next time? Before you pass out in an alley." Ennard nodded against him. "Good, because it's either that or I'm putting a tracking anklet on you."

"Wh-Wh-What ammm I? S-Some kkkind of f-ferrral dog?" Ennard asked playfully. Finally, his voice started to lighten back into the Funtime Freddy mimic, with only an amount of glitching remaining.

"No, you're under house arrest," Scott quipped. This got a soft, staticky chuckle. Scott withheld the urge to wince at how painful it sounded. "But I'm serious, Ennard. You've been being so careful. How could this happen?"

Ennard didn't know what to tell him. Worse still, anything he could say he knew would come out chopping and difficult anyways, even if there was an excuse. Which there wasn't any that would make up for such a mistake.

"Whehhen we wer-r-r-e t-t-talllking, I g-got thhiis wei-eirrrd v-vibe frrrom M-Mich-al," Ennard confessed. His jaw hurt from how tight it was and he struggled to relax the joints. "Callled t-t-tonnighht and he-e-e diiin't a-a-aannnswwer. Thhough-t hee leeffft, wenttt-t-to ccchhhchchzzzeck. Diiidn't th-nk it-t-t wazzzzzzat c-col-ld," Ennard said. He groaned and pressed tighter into Scott. "B-Bad caalll."

So that was why he went. Scott had noticed that sometimes Ennard's visits to Springtrap weren't just friendly visits, but house calls to make sure he hadn't disappeared. Ennard had a very rational fear that one day Springtrap would up and leave, a possibility that Scott himself had considered. He didn't have a great track record from what they knew, and this new Freddy's could've tipped the scales.

Scott held Ennard a little more protectively against his chest and pet the wires on the back of his neck.

"Yeah, it was, but I get it. You just can't make another call like that," Scott agreed. "…Speaking of calls. Again, call me next time."

In the other room, Baby had found the phone number and just dialed it before raising the phone to her head. Doing it all with one hand and listening as it rang a few times before there was an answer.

"Hello?"

"It's me," Baby answered.

"Liz-… Baby. I didn't expect to hear from you… Wait, did Ennard get home?" There came the paranoia and that instant feeling that something was horribly wrong. Good to know that they were already on the same page.

"No, I would say that he didn't. He has now, now that Scott and I went and found him half-frozen to death in a filthy alley behind a gas station. By time we found him he had completely shut down," Baby said. She paused to give him a moment and listened to him swear on the other side of the phone. "Save some of that for when you speak to him next. Scott's a soft touch."

"I knew this was going to happen. Goddammit, I knew something was going to happen if I let him walk out and I still did! Sleet pouring down like hell itself froze over and I decide now to not put my foot down!? What was I thinking?!"

"What were youthinking? Letting him go like that, you could've made him stay," Baby snapped back. "And what was he even doing over there?"

"Watching soap operas," Springtrap muttered with exasperation. It sounded like his face was covered or his head was down. "I… I fought with him on it, but just as usual he convinced me to go against my better judgement."

"He does that," Baby admitted with a faux sigh. She too had fallen into the same trap. Ennard's confidence could be very convincing. "…But don't let it happen again."

"I won't. Mark my words, Baby"

"I will," Baby answered. She paused for a beat before humming, "Hmm…"

"What?"

"I thought once or twice you called me 'Lizzie'."

Springtrap was a little taken aback by the bluntness. Enough so that he fumbled his words, "I thought that it bothered you…"

"I don't remember saying that," she tsked. He didn't reply to that right away, which didn't surprise her much.

It was strange. When they were in a life-or-death situation, Baby and Springtrap could act like an effective unit. Seldom tripped up and with their focus on the task at hand. Here on the phone, the two could barely make it through a conversation without her feeling something weird in the back of her head. She blamed it on his voice but took it back when she decided she didn't like the implications that brought.

She waited for him to say something and eventually he did so.

"Well then… Lizzie… May I speak to him?"

"Thank you, and I'm afraid not yet. Either he's still warming up or he permanently destroyed his voice," Baby finished with a sigh. "But I'll tell him to once he's more… stable."

"But he's awake. Is he confused?"

"No more than usual. He's remorseful now, but only because he got caught."

"Go easy on him." Baby scoffed at the comment, especially after hearing virtually the same thing from Scott. Though Springtrap's context was different. "I want to give him a piece of my mind and I can't do that if he's acting like a kicked puppy."

"…Well, I'm sure he would take it harder coming from you. I'll hold what restraint I can," Baby agreed. "I suppose I should go see him."

"Alright. Take care, Lizzie."

"You too… Michael."

Baby twitched at how uncomfortable that was and hung up the phone quickly. As determined as she was to mend these familial bridges, it always came off so saccharine to her. Even when she and them meant every word it came off feeling phony and unbelievable. She could only hope that it was all in her head, if only because it would be less embarrassing.

She headed out of the office and started to return to the master bedroom, only to hesitate. She really didn't feel like going back in just yet. She didn't feel like sleeping either. Whether it be paranoia or her body too riled to be shut down, she didn't know. Instead, she went into the living room and turned the television on with its volume low.

Now, Baby did not like childish things. Reminiscing over childhood objects was alright, but actually indulging in things for kids made her feel ridiculous- even when willingly doing so. Yet for some reason that even she couldn't defend, here she was watching cartoons at the crack of dawn. Old ones that looked like they were made years ago and brought about a weird sense of familiarity to her. She watched befuddled as a rabbit and duck attempted to maim each other.

Right as the sky was just starting to slightly get color outside, she heard movement in the other room and turned back to see who it was. If it was Ennard getting up to mess around, she was about ready to cut him down and send him back in.

But it wasn't, it was Scott. His hair was fluffed, and he was still wearing his outside jacket, so he must've fallen asleep. Though she expected as much when hours passed without seeing him. He slid off his jacket and folded up on the back of the couch before looking past and noticing her. He definitely looked only half awake.

"Hey. I think I fell asleep," he said with a smile.

"Oh. I didn't notice," Baby replied. Her tone was more matter of fact than of snark. "What about him?"

"Still sleeping. It probably took a lot out of him… I know it took a lot out of me," Scott mumbled. He rubbed at his eyes and blinked, trying to wake himself up. "How was Michael?"

"Upset. He said he told him not to go, just like Ennard said."

"I should probably call him back. I've got to feed the kitties anyway, so it gives me something to do. Not that you didn't do a good job, but I feel like I owe it to him."

"No, I understand," Baby said. He nodded and made his way into the kitchen where he got himself a drink. She stayed there kneeling for a moment before starting to get up and was standing by time he came back. "I'll go keep an eye on Ennard," she offered.

"Really? Thank you. You don't have to, but… I guess I'd feel better if he didn't wake up alone," Scott said. She gave a simple nod and headed into the bedroom.

She stood at the foot of the bed and saw the blanket lump that was probably Ennard. He looked out like a light, which was probably a good thing. Scott came in behind her and scooped up the cat bed. The kittens began mewing as his carried them out. She longed to follow and watch them paw at their bottles, but she was here for a reason.

Which turned out to pay off, because as soon as Scott was gone, Baby heard rustling underneath the blankets.

"B- Baby…" Ennard called quietly from his cocoon of blankets. "Ba-aby."

"What?" Baby asked grumpily.

"Baby."

"What?" she asked again, turning to look. He slowly reached out his arm in her direction, it shaking like it was barely staying up. She looked away with a sigh and rolled over to the side of the bed. "What is it?"

"C-Come c-c-closer…"

She rolled a little closer. He beckoned her with his hand. She rolled her eyes upwards before leaning over on the bed and propping herself up on her arms. "Is this-?"

Before she could finish the question, Ennard's frail and weak looking arm suddenly snatched her around the shoulders and yanked her down. She gasped and almost lost her balance for the second time, feet turning awkwardly to stop sliding as her face was only a few inches from the bed. He snatched her with his other arm and pressed his mask to the top of her head with a kissing sound. His nose squeaking against her.

"Mwah! That's for being my guardian angel! My knight in shining armor! My patient and precious protector-!"

"That's enough," Baby interrupted. She grabbed his shoulder with her hand like she was going to push him back to stop the onslaught, but then after a short pause she changed her mind and instead pulled him closer. She huffed again and said, "You're unbelievable. Do you know that? Unbelievable."

"I know, I know," Ennard said with a giggle. Though that humor left his voice quickly as he rested his head on hers. "I don't even believe it sometimes, ha ha. How I can make such a bad move… I owe you big, Babydoll. If you didn't answer-."

"You don't need to say it. We both know where you would've been… In the garbage," Baby interrupted, voice growing quieter at the end. Her hand began to move until she was slowly petting his shoulder. His arms wrapped tighter around her.

"Never gonna make another mistake like that again, I promise. I'm gonna be more careful, more prepared, I… I- I'm sorry." His voice began to crackle with emotion and Baby knew he was being honest. She wasn't sure if he would keep this promise, she could only hope that this was enough of a wake-up call to make him think twice. From the way he sounded, maybe it had scared him straight. He was almost shaking against her.

"Ennard," Baby began softly, soothingly, almost in a coo. "Do you know some animals eat their young?"

"…What?... Err- Yeah, I've heard that!... Why?" He was trying to look over her towards the cat bed, and she rolled her eyes again and poked him in the chest with her claw.

"Because if you wander off like a little kid again, I'm going to eat you."

This got a snicker out of Ennard. While this wouldn't normally been the undesired response, this was the exact one Baby was banking on.

Meanwhile, Scott had settled into his office chair with the kittens and the prepared bottles. He fed, stimulated, and cleaned them before doing anything else. Waiting until they were content to call Springtrap.

Springtrap, on the other hand, had managed to fall asleep. By some small mercy, he reacted to stress of this nature with exhaustion, so he laid on the couch in the glow of the television before the world faded into darkness. It only lasted until his phone rang. His phone which he had kept plugged in expecting an eventual call from Ennard. He shot up, hastily thumped to the phone, and snatched it up before letting loose.

"Before you say anything, I want you to know that if it wasn't below zero outside, I would be over there right now giving you a piece of my mind. Because goddammit, I TOLD you to stay. I TOLD you to let Scott come and get you in the morning, but as always, and even though I know you know better, you didn't listen to me- and worse, you were so stubborn to stick to it that you didn't just turn around and come back! now you could have serious temperature damage, Scott's gone through twice the stress, and I come out looking like the instigator when I would've told you to stay home! Christ, Ben, you have your entire circuitry system exposed to the elements! You KNOW you're fragile!"

Springtrap caught himself for a second to give a moment of rest, but he was already raring to go. Just waiting for Ennard to say something so that he could pounce. Except, he didn't. There was silence on the other end.

"…And this is Scott, isn't it?" he asked.

"Well, yeah."

Springtrap gave a frustrated growl and dropped his head forward. He was unsure what was more disappointing, that he just humiliated himself or that he wasted it on the wrong target.

"Good evening… or morning, Scott. I assume you realize that wasn't for you."

"I had a hunch," Scott said with a nervous sounding chuckle. "So, uh… You holding up over there?"

"Barely."

"Same. Well, so… So, I think we're through the worst of it. His voice has straightened out and he's not in as much pain as when he first woke up. I've never seen this before. I didn't know animatronics could get too cold- well, I mean, I guess it makes sense. The sensitivity to heat, I guess it goes the other way too… But yeah, he's doing a lot better."

As relieved as Springtrap should've been, it did little to ease the mix of disappointment and frustration, which only revealed itself in a low groan. Scott heard it and was sympathetic, but he didn't know what to say.

"It just infuriates me," Springtrap began. A metallic growl grinding at the back of his words before dying with the next ones. "How little I can do."

"What? Michael, no. It's just the season. You were right, Ennard shouldn't be out there."

"It's not just the weather. It's being confined in this office, in this warehouse. Even if there were better conditions outside, I have a much higher chance than him of getting caught on the street. Unless the problem comes to me, I'm useless."

"Don't say that," Scott said a little more firmly. "I know… I know things haven't been great, but they are getting better. You can't start thinking like that or you're just going to get stuck in it. Just… stuck in that feeling of being trapped."

Springtrap knew that of all people Scott would probably know this best, but he couldn't shake the thought that he really didn't know. He was trapped in his home by fear, not because of what he was. Springtrap silently looked down at his hand.

"It's normal, y'know? To start thinking like this when we have a scare like this. I'm sure that Baby didn't spare any of the details. And to be honest, I'm upset too, but I know there's a part of this that's my fault."

"You can't stop him from making bad decisions no more than I can," Springtrap murmured.

"Maybe not… but I can do more to prepare for them. Like what you said about Ennard's exposed wires. Maybe it's time I did something about them… Or at least bought him a jumpsuit or something. Think he'd wear one?"

"Only if you buy it in the gaudiest blend of lemon lime green and yellow that you can buy," he answered. Though after a second, he gave a noise like a sigh. "But that might help if he is willing to wear it. It would at least be a disguise."

"I think you're right. Heh, worst case scenario he's too embarrassed to wear it and stays home more."

Right then, Scott heard footsteps coming from the bedroom and knew it was the clown in question. He could distinctly notice a slight limp in his gait but as he walked past his posture was more slouched with fatigue than rigid in pain. It was unexpected that he didn't come in, but Scott had a hunch to where he was going.

"I think Ennard's about to come on."

"He's awake?" He was answered by the recognizable click of a third party getting on the line.

"Heeey. Guess who?" Ennard sounded a little crunchy but mostly normal compared to earlier. Still evidently weak from how lowkey his tone and volume were, but that hardly changed that he was awake and talking.

Springtrap was dead silent on his end of the phone, to which Scott got the message and cleared his throat.

"I'm going to let you two talk. Night, Michael."

"Sounds good. Love ya, Scottie," Ennard cooed. One the phone clicked and signaled that they were alone, he turned his attention to the other. "So, how's it- how's it going…?"

"There's something I need to get off my chest," Springtrap answered, tone too vague to read.

"Lay it on me, bunny buddy. I want to hear it."

He sounded at the least remorseful. A good sign, maybe he would think twice next time. Though he could never be too certain, so he knew what had to be done. Springtrap took a deep breath to steady himself and then began.

"Before you say anything else, I want you to know that if it wasn't below zero outside, I would be over there right now giving you a piece of my mind-!"

Meanwhile, Scott was left sitting in his office. This time he gave them their privacy, knowing that Ennard was going to get an earful and also knowing he probably deserved it. In the meantime, he thought about what they had talked about.

Ennard tended to lie low after scares like this, but eventually he would go out again. The thing was that Scott couldn't blame Ennard for needing to go out. He knew he had started to go stir crazy with this weather, and the stress of the Freddy's situation didn't help. While this scare might've fixed that for now, it was just postponing the issue until another day. The issue that Ennard would inevitably be at the mercy of the elements.

…But maybe he didn't have to be.

Scott yanked open one of his file cabinets and searched the back for an old notebook that looked like it had seen better days. Like Freddy's never lost his number, Scott kept ahold of some of the contacts he had made over the years, just like he had held onto all of those tapes lined up on the shelves and shoved in boxes behind him.

He couldn't stop Ennard from leaving. It wasn't humane to keep him trapped in the house when he knew he could be careful. Maybe there was another solution, and thankfully he now had the time to find it.

"The call came in this morning from the Gas 'n Go. Sometime around two or three, I'll double check. The young man on duty reported that he heard strange noises from behind the building and went to investigate, during which he heard a strange voice that- from his own statement- asked for spare change. Wouldn't seem too out of the ordinary, but he said that the voice sounded 'monstrous' and 'robotic', and that he felt threatened. He said he didn't see what it was."

He lowered the paper and finished with, "All things considered, I think we might've gotten another clown call."

The dreaded clown call. A mass hoax sweeping Hurricane in which people would either be pranked and call in with their concerns or call in with fake stories of their encounters with the rumored Clown of Hurricane, a local horror story that had only just been created and gained popularity. There had been numerous fake clown calls or pranks resembling this alleged clown, but only a handful were real sightings.

Though he was the only one who could tell the difference. When it came to the officers and detectives working in Hurricane, they were under the assumption that all of them were fake. Because the idea of a clown running amuck terrorizing the city, at times, was too baffling for anyone to take seriously.

Except for Clay Burke, who took what might've been a real sighting very seriously. He gestured for the police report.

"Leave it to me. I'll take care of it."

"Sure thing, Chief."

Clay was aware that the Hurricane Police Department didn't have a great track record, especially when it came to mysterious circumstances. Their previous police chief had a habit of sweeping things under the rug to keep the peace in the community and this led to a lot of criminals walking. A lot of monsters too. Now that he had been raised into the position, Clay had vowed that he wouldn't fall into these same traps.

But sometimes protecting everyone meant covering up some things, and unfortunately that thing just happened to be an increasingly brazen clown who kept popping up around the city. Something Clay would've put a stop to immediately if he wasn't aware of the full situation. Not to say he was condoning this behavior, but he wasn't about to stir everyone up into a frenzy over a clown hunt.

He would wait a few hours before he called Scott. Knowing what he did, he had probably been up most of the night. He wanted him nice and lucid before he lit that fire under him.