Baby was lying in her bed staring up at the ceiling as her head was finally still. Free of all the awful thoughts, and was now just empty. She blinked, taking deep steady breaths as she didn't move. It had been an hour since she had told Caleb everything that had happened, and he let her have some peace to just empty everything.

After they shared a hot chocolate, of course.

But now she was just alone with her thoughts, her empty hot chocolate mug on her night stand. She sighed and rolled over, looking over as a few picture frames that must've been set up while she was gone. It was pictures of her from when she spent her time in the Capital, with everyone having fun and together like they should be.

Baby frowned a bit and sat up, rubbing her face with her hand. She then looked down at her claw, and began to wonder what was going to happen now? Was Lefty going to Cassidy what happened? Were Molten and NightBon going to be ridiculed because of her? Was she going to be cast out?

Honestly, she wouldn't be entirely against that last one. Gives her the biggest excuse to never go back to the pizzaria, and finally be happy forever. Or at least just happy enough. She knew with life came sadness, anger, fear, all of that. But those just made the happiness all the more stronger in the end. And she wanted that.

With a groan, she sat up from the bed and shook her head, getting off the mattress and heading over to her personal bathroom. One of the upsides she loved with this place was everyone had their own bathroom, no need to share and you got total privacy.

Baby opened the cabinet above the sink, and looked over everything there was. She grabbed the polish and the respective brush, and closed the cabinet to get to work. As she dabbed the brush in the polish, she looked around her bathroom, absorbing everything it had.

It was decently sized, enough to give her plenty of legroom. The walls were styled off of, not the pizzaria, but instead her own interests. AKA… Rock, punk and metal, with a bit of pop in there. She took up a love for the genres ever since she was welcomed into Caleb's life, and made her realise she was even less like Elizabeth.

As Baby started to apply polish to her face, looking in the mirror to make sure she didn't miss any spots, she really thought hard about how she and Elizabeth were different. Baby was assertive and honest, Elizabeth was cold and manipulative. Baby was a bit reckless, Elizabeth was orderly. Baby loved her family because they were just themselves, Elizabeth only loved people if they gave her attention and acted as her slaves.

They couldn't be more different, and it made Baby even more angry at Lefty for all those accusations. How the black bear just decided to take Charlie's word for it was beyond her, especially considering how biassed it was. All just to demean and put Baby down, just so she played her part.

The clawed animatronic closed her eyes and took a deep breath, not wanting to lose her mind about something that didn't matter right now. So she just returned to polishing herself up, making sure she was completely clean and tidy. She made sure her hold face was polished up, and then peeked inside the cabinet and took out a small electric buffer. Curious, she turned it on, pressed it against her porcelain face to rub in the polish…

And sighed as she felt how relaxing it was. It was so cathartic and nice that she nearly fell onto the floor. When she realised what was happening, she gasped, straightened up, and looked at her reflection with wide-eyes. And Embarrassed blush glee from her bright red cheeks, and she went back to buffing herself, trying her best to ignore the feeling.

When that was done, she used a towel to wipe away all the excess polish, then she went to update her lipstick. Looking at the stick she had in her cabinet, it was swirling between blue and orange, and looked to just be a heavily modified paint brush of some kind.

She used it to paint up her lips, and like magic the right colours ended up in the right spots. She smiled, and moved on to the rest of her makeup. When she was done, she looked herself over in the mirror and smiled. She looked new, clean, shiny…

Like herself.

This was who Scrap Baby was now, and she was proud of it and wanted to stay like this forever.

She left the bathroom and headed over to the closet that was the source of a lot of her curiosity when she was done venting to Caleb. So, somewhat cautiously, she swung the doors open, and nearly collapsed in shock at the sight of the hallway length closet that impossibly stretched where the actual hallway would be.

Shaking her head out of her stupor, she skated into the closet and looked over all the clothes. They all looked amazing, tapping into the exact kind of fashion she was so enamoured by when she went shopping at the mall that week-ish long time ago. She remembered back to when Star explained it as punk, similar to the music she was getting into.

Baby grabbed one outfit that really enticed her, and she headed over to a nearby mirror to see how it looked. Holding the outfit in front of her, the velvet red jacket and skirt was complemented with a blue ascot and bows for her pigtails. There was even a pair of matching skates and knee pads that were mainly red and accented with blue.

Baby tilted her head and pulled the outfit back a bit, looking at the logo on the back of the jacket in shock. It wasn't related to the pizzeria at all, but rather reflected her personality with a crazed looking clown head surrounded by flames. Only the clown head was modified to look like her a bit, which made her smile.

She quickly got changed and looked herself over in the mirror, turning around a bit to fully see her new appearance. She looked beautiful, and also liked how the jacket took into consideration her stomach fan. It made her look like a rock star.

Doing one final spin, she skated out of the closet and closed the door behind her, and headed out of her bedroom. As she smoothly entered the hallway, adjusting her bow a bit, she stopped when she lightly bumped something. Looking down, she saw Maple the Wasabi Whip looking up at her in curiosity.

"Hey there, Maple", Baby said gently as she knelt down. She stroked the plant on the cheek with her hand, and he smiled and leaned into the touch. "You like my new look?"

Maple nodded and quickly crawled up Baby's arm onto her shoulder, nuzzling against her cheek affectionately. The animatronic giggled and headed down the hall towards the Rec Room, passing by some carpenters who were seemingly helping with the redecorating effort. She greeted them politely as she passed, the crew members returning with polite greetings of their own. As she headed down the hall, she ran into a familiar face.

"Jeremy!" Baby said happily.

The guard captain looked over from his task, and smiled at the robot as she approached. "Baby! It's great to see you here, how're you liking it so far?"

"I love it", Baby said in a daydreamy like tone. "This is amazing. My room is the most comfortable I've been in years… Was it Caleb that got me all the clothes?"

Jeremy gave off a jolly laugh. "That boy, as soon as you all left, went crazy. Not only did he get started on all of this", he gestured to the hallway, "by calling a bunch of contractors, but he went wild with his new connection to the castle's bank account. He bought all of you a bunch of new clothes, redecorated your rooms and bathrooms, all of that."

Baby found herself in silent shock as Jeremy continued, his jovial tone becoming a bit more subdued. "He loves all you so much, and he wanted to make this place so perfect that he wanted you all to never want to leave again. He knows he can't do that, but… By damn he's trying."

Baby let out a quiet laugh, looking around at the location. "It is incredible…"

Jeremy nodded, then his smile faded completely. "Listen, Baby… Caleb told me what you told him…" Baby looked at the guard sadly. "And I will say that you can come over whenever you want, okay? Never feel like you can't come, because if you do I won't be surprised Caleb would go over there and drag you here himself."

Baby looked at him blankly for a while, only answering after Maple lightly poked her. She looked at the plant with a pinched look, then nodded at the guard with a light smile. "You got it, Jer…"

Jeremy smiled and walked off, joining some of the contractors in painting a particularly detailed part of the planned wall's new painting, leaving the robot and plant there on their own. With a sigh Baby headed down the hall a bit more and entered the Rec Room. Looking around, it hadn't changed much when she was last here.

Looking over to a nearby table, she saw Caleb was playing cards with Jenny and Marco. The trio looked over, and they waved her over. She smiled and approached, sitting down on the last available chair as Maple leaned against her head.

"Nice to see you up and about, Babs!" Caleb said happily. "And it looks like you found your closet…"

Baby looked down at her outfit, smiling. "Yeah, it… It was so nice. I loved all the bathroom stuff, and all the clothes, and… Gosh, it was wonderful."

"So he got you a buffer too, huh?" Jenny said with a teasing smirk. "Yeah, those things are amazing. I used mine when I had a nice hot oil bath earlier, and I think I figured out what heaven is…"

Marco chuckled. "Well, while you ladies have been busy doing that, I found out we have full access to the kitchen in our personal cafe, and I got to make my world famous nachos."

Caleb beamed, looking over all his friends. "I'm so glad you guys are liking it here. I want to make it basically be this one and only kind of stop for you guys. Where anything you could ever want is here."

Jenny smiled, adjusting the collar of the sweater she was wearing before ruffling the boy's hair. "Trust me, CC. With all of this, I don't have much of a reason to go anywhere else…" She trailed off when Maple climbed off of Baby's shoulder and then used the teenage robot as a bridge to get onto Caleb's shoulder. "So this place will basically be my second home for… forever."

"Same, and I know Star is the same", Marco said.

Baby nodded as she was dealt a few cards, silently accepting she was being included in the game. "Yeah… Yeah this is perfect."

"Caleb told us about what happened… Earlier", Marco said, his smile falling into a look of concern. "Are… Are you okay?"

She sighed. "I honestly don't know. Even though Phantom BB said more people are on my side, that's just because of the night shift and stuff… Not because of me and my friends…"

Jenny pat her shoulder reassuringly. "Trust me, Baby, no matter what happens you'll always have us. And I know Molten and Bonnie will back you up."

"Yeah… Yeah…"

Caleb raised his eyebrow at Baby's weird response, and he smirked as he took a sip of his drink. "You know, when you were talking to me… You seemed a bit… Off when you told me about NightBon…"

Baby's eyes widened a bit in horror as the other three there slowed down, paused, then looked at Baby with unreadable expressions. "W-We're just friends!" She defended.

"Uh huh… But do friends usually call each other 'attractive'?"

"I-I mean of course!" Baby said, her voice raising a bit, which only made her defence less believable. "D-Don't you guys?"

"Not the way you did~"

Now Baby was full on blushing, looking down in embarrassment as all her friends were giving her smug looks. "S-S-So? So what I l-like him?"

"You're being as obvious as Manolo and Maria…" Jenny teased. "So if you like him, you can just admit it, Baby."

Baby was silent as she buried her face in her hand and claw, blushing brightly and looking so adorably shy. Eventually, she spoke. "I do like him…" She whispered. "I like him a lot, and Molten caught on really quickly. But… I don't know how to tell Bonnie. Especially after my argument with Lefty…"

"I'm sure he'll listen regardless", Caleb said reassuringly. "Because trust me, if Molten noticed, he noticed too, and I have a feeling he'd want to talk about this, because sometimes true love is just something you know, sometimes even right after meeting someone."

The others looked at him curiously. "Where'd you learn that, dude?" Marco asked.

"Hotel Transylvania. The main thing is that two of the lead characters looked into each other's eyes the moment they first met, and like that", Caleb snapped his fingers, "plus with a little sparkle effect, the two of them are in love." He looked back at Baby with a smile. "So trust me, Babs. If he didn't feel the same way, he wouldn't have been as close with you as he is now."

Baby remained silent as she mulled over everything she was told. She felt her mechanical heart beat a bit faster, and thus her body started making this buzzing sound. Based on the others' growing smirks, she was very loud.

She sighed and pushed the chair back, standing up. "Okay… I'll go talk to him… And Molten… They're probably worried sick about me running off anyway."

"Keep in touch, Babs", Caled said happily. "If you ever need a shoulder to cry on, me, Kat and Gladdy will always be here."

Baby nodded and said goodbye to her friends. She left the room and headed back to the balcony, closing her eyes as she walked out into the cool mid-summer breeze. It danced over her body and made her skirt wave like a flag dancing elegantly in the sky. She rolled up to the railing and leaned against it, opening her eyes so she could take in the majesty and beauty of her favourite place ever.

When her nerves were settled enough, she turned and headed towards the gateway, pulling her phone out of her coat pocket, and was about to open a portal. But she paused when she looked down at her body, and she took a deep breath. When she was done, she opened the portal and stepped through.

~X~

As soon as she made it back to the pizzeria, the portal closed behind her right where she last was, and Baby looked around in thought. She rolled forward a bit, putting her phone away, and stopped when she was in front of the tent. Before she decided she needed to find Molten and NightBon, she felt a presence behind her. She turned around, and saw her two friends looking at her in shock.

"Babydoll?" Molten said, slithering out of the tent. "What… Where have you been? Why do you look like… That?"

Baby tilted her head to the side. "What are you talking about Molten, I'm-" She froze when she felt her face, and realised she was still fixed. Looking down at herself, she saw she was still wearing the new outfit.

She was still her.

"Oh… this?" She said in sudden embarrassment. "Just some clothes I found lying around, that's it…" She could tell Molten wasn't buying it, while Bonnie looked… flustered. Baby blushed. "Okay, yeah… I guess I need to explain everything to the two of you…"

She gently nudged them back inside the tent, and when she sat down on one of the couches she gripped her locket and sighed. "So… I have a lot that I need to tell you two…"

"Take your time, Baby…" Bonnie reassured, looking her new appearance over. "There isn't any rush, we'll listen no matter what…"

Baby nodded, took a deep breath, and started to explain everything that had happened. Starting with how she fell through the floor of Henry's trap and found herself on a blue box spinning through a loud and bright tunnel of sorts. How she woke up after blacking out in a forest, not that far from the people she had stowaway with.

She popped open her locket and pointed at each person in the photo, saying their name. The other two animatronics looked at the photo, and went bug-eyed at how many there were.

When she closed the locket, she explained how she came to learn about Camp Lakebottom, and how she couldn't resist the urge to slaughter the kids all there. When she looked away in shame, pausing, Bonnie and Molten frowned. She then continued, explaining how she was able to take over the camp across the lake. How she chased Caleb around until he subdued her with a powerful electric shock.

"So… You tried to kill all of these kids?" Molten asked.

Baby nodded sombrely. "I'm not proud of it, but even then Caleb still decided to give me a chance."

Bonnie looked at her inquisitively. "How so?"

"Well, Zomboss, Dry Bowser, Flowey, Galacta… they all antagonised him at some point before we met, and so he knew how to talk to me. He told me some things I really needed to hear, and it killed what was left of Elizabeth inside me.

"We then went to this beautiful flower field, and just… Talked. We just talked about life and stuff, and I felt happier than I had in years. Gladius offered some life advice, and I started to grow… Attached to him. To all of them. It helped Laney, Gretchen and a few of the others took me to Zomboss to get", she gestured to her whole face, "Fixed up…"

Molten looked a bit touched, and Bonnie was in awe. As Baby continued to spin the story, things took a dark turn when she got to the point when the group made it to the Convergence Universe. As she told her friends about the constructs that chased them, they shared a horrified look.

"Wait… Those things that came for you were Cass, Liz and Charlie?" Molten said in shock. "No… No wonder you can't stand them…"

"Were you hurt at all", Bonnie asked in a sudden panic. He cleared his throat and claimed down. "Sorry. Just… All of this is so much to take in…"

Baby nodded. "I know, and I was fine. Physically…" The other two looked at her in worry, and she tensed up. "When we escaped the constructs, we holed up in an abandoned office, but one of the rooms had the mangled and twisted corpses of guards sent there to make sure nothing was left behind. How… How awful it was to see.

"I didn't say anything because we all were already completely broken at that point, so I felt like saying anything would just make it worse…" She looked off to the side. "Afterwards, we were able to come up with a plan and were able to get into the Hub, and had a chance to recoup and recover…"

She continued to go one for the rest of the major events, from exploring the abandoned centrepiece, to getting the generator back on, their second run in with the constructs, how she completely obliterated one to save the others, and their final stand before the portal was finally opened.

She then capped the story off with her time in the Capital, all the way to when she finally arrived back in Henry's trap and wanting to go back right away. She took a deep breath, and looked at her friends. Both of them had looks of complete shock on their faces, but there wasn't anything else. Aside from maybe a bit of awe.

"So… So you actually did all of that?" Molten asked.

Baby nodded and pulled out her phone. "This was given to me because Rainbow, Caleb's adoptive mom, said we were all worthy of returning, so we were all basically turned into his knights. Which means we're…"

"Family…" Bonnie finished when Baby trailed off, the clawed animatronic nodding absentmindedly.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys, mainly the full truth for you Molten", Baby said with a frown. "It's just… I was the last person to join the group, so even though I barely have a lot to tell, it was still so unbelievable… I was scared to chase you guys off with my insane story."

"Well, considering you look like you just came back from a beauty salon", Molten said as he moved over as sat beside Baby. "It's hard to say you're lying at all. But I can't get over the fact that your lips are moving, like a human's."

"Whoever this Zomboss is…" Bonnie said as he returned to his usual visiage. "I'd like to see how he did what he did, to maybe see if he could give me a face lift."

Baby snorted and laughed, which made Bonnie look at her with a gentle look. "Maybe, I don't want to throw you guys in right away. It's a lot to take in with what else I've seen, so we can just… wait."

"Wait for what?" Molten asked, tilting his head in curiosity.

Baby shrugged. "Don't know…"

The trio fell silent after that, and Molten stretched. "Well, I'm gonna run off and see how things are doing. Bon, you stay here and tell Baby what happened while she was gone getting a mani pedi. I'll be back." The rabbit and clown watch the bear leave, and teased when they saw him flash them one last smug smirk before vanishing.

Now that they were alone, they faced each other. "So… I think it's pretty obvious why he left us alone…" Bonnie said, his sophisticated tone wavering a bit."

Baby swallowed nervously. "Y-Yeah… Bonnie, I-" Baby was silenced when NightBon held up a hand.

"I… I have to be honest, Baby. I have been enjoying your company, and… And you and Molten were the only ones I could really handle being around. And whatever happened at the arcade that made you run off… I…" He groaned, his ears drooping. "I don't know how to describe this feeling…"

Baby was silent, watching him as her internals started to heat up. "Did… Did you like it?"

"I can't fully describe it, but I know what love is and how it feels…" The rabbit said quietly. "I just… Don't know how to explain it to you. We've only known each other for about a week at this point, and I don't know what to… fully think…"

He trailed off when Baby stood up and moved to his couch, sitting next to him. "Caleb told me how, sometimes, you just know when you like someone. Something about how you just have this… Feeling, that you found your 'one'."

Bonnie looked to the side in thought. "He said that?"

"He loves me like a sister, and just wants me happy…" She looked down into her lap. "And I know he'd love to meet you so badly."

The rabbit chuckled. "That boy seems far smarter than I would've thought. Because he… He's right. He is very much right."

"Really?" Baby said in growing excitement and hope. "You'd want to be… Together?"

Bonnie blinked at her, then chuckled. "Yes, I do. But if we are to commit to this, I'd like to take things slow."

Baby smiled, and gently held Bonnie's hand. "I'm okay with that…" She smiled wider when she felt him squeeze back. "I want this to work out."

Bonnie smiled, then flexed the shoulder connected to his free arm. "I suppose I should tell you what happened after you left, just so Molten doesn't get any ideas when he comes back."

"Oh I'm sure he isn't far", Baby said with a teasing smirk, looking at the exit of the tent. There was a gasp outside, and Molten fell inside. The duo laughed as he huffed.

"Way to ruin the fin, Babydoll", he muttered bitterly.

"I know you all too well, Molten. Now get over here and tell me what I missed out on."

The wire amalgam smiled and slithered over, the bear and rabbit tag teaming the explanation about what Baby missed. She smiled as they spun their story, leaning a bit more into Bonnie as her body relaxed. Even if she had to stay here…

She was glad it was with them.

~X~

Bada Boom, chapter 7 is out! Not only does that mean we're halfway-ish through the story, but we also had a new major development: Baby and NightBon are together! I will say, this was not in my original plans at all, but I started liking the idea the more I thought about it and eventually I was just like "You know what? Screw it!"

So yeah, now not only do Molten and NightBon know more about the Capital, but now the rabbit and clown are together! Such a fun chapter.

And let's not undersell the first half either! I had a lot of fun just showing off Baby's room, her and Jeremy talking, and the little moment shared in the Rec Room. It was a lot of fun to do this, so hopefully I landed with this chapter. This story, while being the shortest, still does have a lot going on.

Anyway, hope you guys are looking forward to the next one! It'll be a very chill chapter…

Maybe…

Up next: More days pass by, and while Baby's ideology is starting to be shared with a lot more animatronics after every night shift, she feels they're getting too friendly with her. There has to be an ulterior motive…

~Caleb~