Expect the Unexpected Chapter 200, a five nights at freddy´s fanfic

Author's notes: It's the 'official' 200th chapter! Thank you everyone for sticking around this long and thanks to Ghost and Panda for their help with this arc of the story. Hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 200
Nurse Mike

William Afton was unfortunately getting used to the lost and out of place feeling that he'd been experiencing since the first time he met Ms Fitzgerald and Ms Stone. They'd stepped into his somewhat settled–albeit guilt and anxiety ridden–life and upended it entirely. And the general confusion that they brought him didn't help. It followed them around like a cloud. It was neither good nor bad. It just was. But despite everything, despite the shock and grief, he was adjusting. Slowly, and feeling like he was playing catch up, but he was getting there.

It wasn't like any of the new people he'd met made that hard. They were alarmingly nice and inclusive in a way he hadn't experienced in quite a while. He'd be the first to admit he wasn't a very sociable man and was very out of practice at meeting new people, so his comparison was probably skewed. Regardless, he appreciated the kindness.

He watched Mr Sm- Mike and Jeremy–they all insisted he use their first names and he really needed to get into the habit of it–do their level best to move Fred and Bon Bon. The sight was completely bizarre considering Mike was still covered in a rainbow of paint and glitter and Jeremy had managed to get some on him just by helping the younger man. Bon Bon had reached out to poke at Mike early on and was delighted by the paint now staining her hand while Vixen shot her a scolding look. Baby looked on in amusement as they watched the men struggle.

After everything he'd seen in that hell, he'd never imagined that the Funtimes could return to something so similar to how he remembered them. This quickly, at least. He knew it was the people around them that were making it happen and he wasn't talking about the bots. While he wasn't surprised in the least to see the Originals (strange name for the group) and Goldy fussing over the Funtimes like they were, he was a bit surprised to see that the Toys were so resentful. It worried him, but the older bots only rolled their eyes over it and seemed neither shocked nor concerned.

No, it was the humans who were making the difference, even if the animatronics hadn't realised it. Hedy and Ruby's sheer determination to bring them home had left a mark on the Funtimes, whether they were fully conscious of it or not, and it had coloured how they were reacting to their new situation. Because neither girl was scared of them. Despite everything, they didn't shy away from the bots no matter what they said or did.

He remembered Hedy's cries of grief and Ruby's far off stare. They would haunt his nightmares for years to come. One would think the state of Alex and Andre's bodies would do that, but unfortunately, he was an old hat at dealing with those kinds of horrors. The utter pain in Ruby and Hedy's reaction had struck something deep in his soul. And yet here they were, laughing with the Funtimes at the men as if there was nothing wrong. Maybe the Funtimes were aware of the girls' effect and simply didn't know how to address it, much like him.

While the Funtimes weren't sure how to interact with them, and Vixen was likely a bit afraid of Ruby to an extent (the girl could be impressively feral and reminded him of Foxy the first time Bonnie got hurt when they were young), they were still unconsciously feeling safer around the girls. And then they met Mike and Jeremy who both watched them in different ways but still followed Hedy and Ruby's leads and accepted them. Mike was more focused on trying to make them feel comfortable and reaching out to make connections while Jeremy was the protector.

Jeremy knew they were dangerous, acknowledged it and watched out for it, but didn't hold it against them.

Will knew Baby had noticed that aspect the most.

She'd always been so observant, and he didn't doubt that she appreciated the caution. It was saddening for him to see.

They were far too afraid of hurting anyone and it made Will's heart ache to watch.

Will found himself drawn to watching Jeremy as he remembered the little boy who was so different from the man he grew into. Will remembered a lighthearted child who went along with whoever he could please, desperately trying to make friends. Now that boy held himself like a man who wouldn't hesitate to stand up for himself or those he cared for. Will wondered how much Jeremy remembered of the first location. Was he even there that day? Will had pushed those memories so far away that he wasn't sure.

"You going to throw your back out, old man?" Ruby teased the cop, not helping in the least (mostly because Foxy was making sure she didn't reinjure her shoulder) and generally being a pain to both of the men as she watched them struggle with the heavy bot. The Funtimes were admittedly on the heavier side and Will wasn't sure how to suggest that a forklift might be a better option.

"Shut up," Jeremy rolled his eyes, cursing to himself as he almost lost his hold on Fred. "I'm not that old, Ruby."

"Yeah, you are. You're the second oldest in the room now. You're older than all the bots. Even grumpy, old man clown. And he's ready to start yelling at adults to get off his pizzeria lawn already."

"We can do it, you know," Vixen pointed out. "You don't need to carry them."

"You're damaged," both Marionette and Hedy said firmly at the same time, earning a few chuckles.

"Not a chance," Foxy added, shooting Vixen a familiar look. "Don't you go pushing yourself."

Vixen glanced down at the massive dent in her torso. She wasn't leaking anymore, although some of her plating still had dark streaks of oil. The little bots had pinched off any leaking oil tubes and wires but the plating would need more work. Will watched her think for a moment. "It doesn't hurt anymore. I'm fine."

The group watched the two men struggle for another minute, deciding to ignore Vixen's stubbornness for the time being. Everyone was used to the foxes tending to just be like that..

"Mike's gonna trip," Ruby said after a moment. "It's inevitable and happens every time he carries something heavy or breakable. This is a dumb idea."

"You asked the building to keep all its tiles completely flat," Goldy told her in amusement, snitching on her happily. She was getting better at being able to tell when the girls asked for something from the building and what it was.

Mike snorted and grunted as he adjusted his hold.

Ruby scowled at Goldy in annoyance while Spring muttered "Snitch" under his breath where only Hedy could hear him.

"Hey, quick question," Mike spoke up. "Why exactly are we not asking Goldy to just teleport them into the other room?"

Jeremy paused, almost causing Mike to trip like Ruby predicted, despite the supernaturally flat tiles and the building's best efforts. "...actually, yeah. Why didn't we?"

"What I want to know is why didn't you ask one of the bots to do it instead?" Ruby added. "Foxy, Bonnie or Freddy would have been able to solve this in, like, five minutes. Chica's just not allowed to cause her wrist is acting up."

Thankfully something Hedy already knew about so she didn't get upset with the chicken. They were waiting on some specific parts to fix the problem general wear and tear had caused.

"Yeah," Bonnie said, holding back his laughter. "We carried them around all the time back then. You really think Afton did it on his own?"

Jeremy and Mike shared a glance.

"Why'd you let us get this far in the first place!" Jeremy demanded.

"Aww, you just looked so happy to help!" Mangle cackled.

"Watching you struggle amuses me," Ruby admitted shamelessly.

Jeremy immediately put down the legs he was holding, not quite dropping Fred, but it was fast enough to startle Mike who got no warning.

Will had to smile to himself as he hung back and watched them interact. While he couldn't say he liked the feeling of being distant or out of place, he was happy to see that his bots still had this. The bickering was… familiar. They were a family. They had people that cared about them and made life interesting and fulfilling. And they were doing their best to make the Funtimes feel welcome in the new dynamic. Most of them at least.

"Why are they so heavy?" Toby asked as they watched Bonnie and Freddy switch with the tired and annoyed looking men.

"Rude," Chica muttered in exasperation, shooting the youngest rabbit a look.

"Lots of cakes and pies," Baby said without missing a beat. "Watch what you eat kiddos. You can't have pizza all the time. Really puts on the pounds." She lightly smacked her belly, making a loud clang that startled a few of them..

"But we don't…" Toby looked confused as it took him a second to process the joke. "—oh."

"Who says you can't live off pizza!?" Ruby challenged Baby with a grin. "I'm pretty sure a person can live off of pizza and coffee alone."

"No," Foxy and Hedy said at the same time and in the same bland and exasperated tone.

"Hedwig, you have no room to speak," Marionette said as he came to stand beside her, not so subtly inspecting her cast and the doodles Ruby had added. He still kept others between Will and him as much as possible. "Mike has informed me you once went an entire week eating nothing but cup noodles."

"Are you defending Ruby?"

"No, I'm pointing out your hypocrisy."

"He doesn't need to call Ruby out. The moment anyone put ice cream in front of Ruby, she'd crumble like an old biscuit," Spring added in amusement, getting an offended look from the teenager. "You, on the other hand, will still try and only eat noodles when no one's watching and your roommates are out."

"I'm busy! I don't have time to cook and no one wants me to anyway!"

"There are healthier options for instant meals, Wiggy."

"I don't like that you side with the wannabe mime so often," Ruby huffed, crossing her arms and pouting at Spring. "You're Hedy's bot and I'm her pseudo sister, therefore you should like me more than your grouchy colour allergic brother."

"That's not how it works," Goldy snickered. "But it's cute that you tried. Spring has always sided with Puppet when he wants to avoid getting in trouble."

"Ooh that's good to know," Spring said casually with a grin.

Ruby snorted, her pout switching to amusement. She looked over at Hedy after a moment and rolled her eyes. "If you make sure you have groceries, I can make you a few meals that you'll only need to warm up in the microwave."

Chica perked up. "Oh, Chi and I made you some stuff for the next few days, Hedy. We ran out of the groceries Frank got us so we didn't get as far as we planned."

"Between me and the chickens, we'll keep her fed for a bit," Ruby said to Mike.

"I feel like a pet," Hedy whined. Regardless, she was grateful and they knew it.

"The hypocrisy when you were just talking about living off of coffee and pizza," Puppet muttered.

"As I say to the children, do as I say and not as I do if you want to avoid getting grounded," Ruby rolled her eyes. "It's not like you're much better Mr 'Everything's lovely and I don't want to strangle all the adults around me for coming into my prize corner' when there's kids present. You snap at Henry if he puts a toe on your carpet."

Will couldn't help his startled reaction at the name before remembering that it was a common one. He believed they were talking about the slightly grumpy man that had been with the host Jerry. They seemed like very competent employees and spoke with the bots easily, from what little he had witnessed that day.

"Henry does it on purpose to bother me now that he knows I won't..." Marionette trailed off with a quick glance at Will before looking back at Ruby. "The staff are too comfortable with us."

"And I've told you to just throw something at him and he'll cut it out," she hissed back. "You get Henry in the head with one of those dumb Toy action figures and he'll hightail it out of there. You overcompensate now and act too nice."

Will was even more amused to watch Ruby and Puppet dissolve into a heated, whispered argument over the topic and he couldn't hear the rest. He hadn't missed the look his eldest bot had shot him, but he was aware that was a topic for which he had to wait for an explanation.

Strangely enough, Marionette seemed the most like his younger self when bickering with the young night guard, swatting at her hand when she started poking at his mask, smearing some of the paint still on it. The two did get a few odd glances from the bots but Goldy and Foxy didn't seem particularly surprised and Spring looked pleased.

"Can I help with some of the cooking?" Mike asked. "I try, but the most I make is usually spaghetti or boxed stuff. I want to learn so that there's at least one of us between Hedy and me that doesn't burn water."

"That was one time," Hedy insisted.

"Four. You've done it four times since we've met," Mike retorted. "Three of those while we were officially dating."

Hedy groaned but gave up.

Chica didn't look sure and eyed him suspiciously. "If you burn anything in my kitchen then I'm kicking you out," she warned him.

Mike looked mildly disappointed, not having a lot of confidence in his ability to not do that, but he nodded. He perked up. "Is that a yes?"

"He's the lesser of the two cooking evils," Ruby pointed out to Chica, ignoring Hedy's offended expression. "Let him watch first before giving him the little things to work up from. And keep the fire extinguisher handy. The building restocks them every time I use one."

That brought a few of them up short as they suddenly wondered how many things got replaced by the building and no one ever noticed. Not the lightbulbs, that was for sure. Mike spent an upsetting amount of time fixing those. Maybe that was on purpose, like the building's idea of enrichment for a pet.

Freddy and Bonnie returned from placing Bon Bon and Fred in the next room over. "Mr. Afton," Freddy said coldly while Bonnie went to stand next to Foxy without a word.

Will flinched at the name, a very clear indication of where his relationship with Freddy was, and therefore most of the rest of them. Goldy and Jeremy were the only ones who really seemed comfortable calling him Will. And Spring as well after their conversation the previous night. Everyone else was either 'Mr Afton' or Ruby's plain 'Afton'. He didn't think it was a distancing method for the teenager though. She just didn't care about traditionally respectful titles. He might have been more uptight about it years ago but now he couldn't bring himself to really care.

"Bon Bon is asking for you," Freddy continued.

"Oh, of course, excuse me," Will said quickly, trying to hide his disappointment. While he wanted to help Bon Bon and Fred, he was sad he couldn't watch the others' entertaining dynamic any longer.

Ruby looked over at the words and a strange expression crossed her face, kicking off parental instincts he'd long thought dormant. That was the face of a child who just had an idea. She darted around Marionette, ignoring his glare, and ran over to Foxy to whisper something to him. Will couldn't focus for long since the matter at hand drew his attention again, but he was relieved to note that Jeremy seemed to have noticed it too and was watching her suspiciously.

"Is it safe for you to be alone with them when Fred wakes up?" Hedy asked, looking at Baby despite the question being directed to Will.

"No, actually," Baby admitted. "Bon Bon is right that too many of us in the room isn't good for him. I'd rather her wake him up alone…" She sounded a little guilty. "But she wants Will there." The disapproval of the idea was clear in her tone.

There was a general air of disapproval from most of the bots aside from Spring and Goldy and it did make Will wonder if this was the right decision at all.

"It'll be fine," Ruby piped up. "The building will keep an eye on things. It's been a great building lately and it's getting much better at figuring out when people are actually in danger."

"You gave it a crash course," Chica said. "It's had to intervene an alarming amount of times so you didn't blow yourself up."

Hedy glanced at Alex out of the corner of her eye as her friend shifted. She was aware the ghost was probably wondering why the building didn't intervene on her behalf. Hedy knew it was partly because the building wasn't present enough at that place, but part of her was guiltily aware that it might not have mattered. The building didn't have reason to care about Alex. Not really. Hedy was pretty sure it still didn't fully understand what death was.

"I am a living test of reflexes, patience and tolerance of bullshit," Ruby said proudly. "Now can we all disperse? Hanging around is only going to make Bon Bon nervous. The Funtimes and Goldy are the only ones who really need to stay close. The rest of you might need a clean."

Her smirk was pure wicked little sibling energy as she glanced at the mess she'd caused.

"I'm telling you," Hedy said. "One of these days you're going to go too far and the cleaners are going to finally quit."

Ruby crossed her arms and scoffed. "Not with the benefits I secured them. They're living comfortably and they've got to put up with my nonsense in return. Fair's fair. Which reminds me, did you draw up the new budget you need yet? You still technically need the manager's signature although we both know he won't actually say no. Not if he's learnt anything since the coma incident."

"Not yet. I still need to work them in," Hedy said, nodding toward the present Funtimes. "My estimates were way off."

Baby blinked. Estimates? When had Hedy had any time to work on a budget? Surely she hadn't done that before coming to get them. If she had, it was evidence that Ruby and Hedy had always intended to bring them home. It… felt strange to think the girls had decided they cared that much, even before seeing the hell they were rescuing the Funtimes from.

"Well, let me know when you do. I know someone who might be able to give us a discount. And yes Jeremy, this one's legal. Mostly."

"Stop telling me about that stuff," Jeremy grumbled.

Ruby rolled her eyes and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "stick up his ass" to Foxy who snickered.

That seemed to be enough to send everyone slowly moving away, most glancing back in worry. The Toys trailed after Hedy who had been fully distracted by the reminder of the budget and how annoying it would be to work on her laptop with one hand while the Originals headed to get cleaned up. They fully expected the Toys to leave it too long and scramble to clean up at the last minute with crusty paint and dried glitter glue gumming up their gears.

Ruby and Foxy disappeared out of another doorway and Jeremy shot them another suspicious look before apparently deciding to just ignore it.

Goldy looked like she wanted to give Will a hug, but resisted the urge to smear paint on the man as she and Spring bullied Puppet toward somewhere private to clean up (and probably look at his hands). It was uncertain whether he was aware of their ulterior motive.

Pretty soon, the only one left was Mike.

"Do you need anything?" the young man asked.

"Oh, no I'm sure I can handle it," Will said.

Mike nodded but didn't give any indication he was going anywhere else as Will left the room and went next door.

"Bon Bon?" The man asked, knocking lightly on the door. "May I come in?"

Bon Bon giggled. "Of course, silly."

It made him smile to hear her sounding like he remembered, if only for a moment. He expected the anxiety all of the Funtimes carried to make a reappearance soon enough and he just wanted to enjoy hearing one of them sound at least a little happy for a moment.

Opening the door, he headed inside. They'd put Fred back together aside from the power module that lay nearby. Bon Bon was watching the bear, her worry getting the better of her as she hesitated.

She stared at Will, clearly wanting to say something but not quite having the nerve, so Will sat next to her and Fred and went about sorting his tools to pass the time until she said something or signalled that he could start. She probably thought he was confident. Calm. In reality he was a wreck as the last few days started rattling around in his head in the quiet.

"... You shouldn't be sitting down next to us… you might need to move fast when Fred wakes up…" Bon Bon said softly.

Will thought for a moment. It would hurt if he crouched too long. But he nodded anyway. He'd rather do everything he could to help ease her clear worry. Some aches would be worth it.

"Sorry…" Bon Bon said and his heart just about broke, again. There was the insecurity he had sadly been expecting eventually.

"It's not your fault, dear," he said. He wouldn't dismiss her warnings. From what he understood, Fred perhaps had the equivalent of brain damage. Not for the first time in his life he reminded himself that there wasn't always a human equivalent to the sort of health issues his animatronics hypothetically could suffer. He used to be fascinated with it all. Yes he was concerned too, but that curiosity was always guiltily present. But now he just felt guilty that he brought these beings into the world recklessly and he hadn't even stuck around to help them navigate it. He didn't regret making them, he regretted his carelessness. Excitement at what he could do got in the way of… humanity.

"This could go really badly," Bon Bon told him softly, no doubt in her voice as she dragged him out of his unhealthy thoughts. She was convinced that this could be very dangerous for him.

Will nodded again, nearly flinching at the frustrated look that twisted her little features.

"Will, please! Take this seriously."

Did she really think he wasn't? "Bon Bon," he said and she shut her mouth sharply. "I understand you're concerned but I think I'll be okay. I'm assuming Goldy is here and will pull me away if something bad happens."

Bon Bon's eyes widened and she looked around.

"Goldy?" Will asked the air softly. Even now, he always had a knack for knowing when one of his oldests was lingering around. She'd always liked to snoop and didn't like not knowing what was happening.

After a long awkward second, Goldy appeared above them, looking very embarrassed. Even expecting her, Will jumped a little. This was still a very big adjustment from worrying about her eavesdropping through doors.

"...Sorry. I know you wanted to be alone, Bon Bon. But… uh… after what you said I just thought…" She wrung her hands apologetically. She looked at Fred's body with wary sadness. "Better safe than sorry?"

Bon Bon sagged a little. "O-Okay. No, that's probably a good idea. I was stupid wanting Will alone." She kept talking before they could reassure her. "I wasn't thinking. I just. Just… um… c-could you stay invisible?" There were several layers of questions in there. No one had really explained to any of the new bots what was going on with Goldy. They were taking it with stride though, better than Will was anyway.

Goldy didn't question why and blinked out of sight again.

Will stared at the spot for a minute, as if searching for a faint outline or some waver in the light or air where she had been and probably still was. He couldn't see anything though and he didn't know if that was better or worse.

He looked down and picked up the power module when he was sure his hands wouldn't shake. "Ready?"

"Just a minute," Bon Bon said, her voice wavering in a way that alarmed Will and made him freeze. "Can I have a hug?"

He blinked.

She must have thought he was confused because she explained quickly. "When Fred's awake, I can't leave him alone. I gotta watch him all the time. I can't detach for long or anything or go far. Nobody can get too close to us–" Her words cut off with a sob even she hadn't been expecting.

Will pulled the touch-starved little metal rabbit into his arms. It might have looked awkward with her attached to Fred's arm but that didn't even occur to him as he moved to hug her closer.

He fought his own tears. He had wanted to hug all his animatronics (and his human–ghost– children despite the mixed feelings on that matter), but wouldn't dare unless they initiated it. He didn't deserve to ask. It hurt that she'd been so hesitant to ask at all. From anyone. Even the other Funtimes. Did they know or had she kept it hidden too well? Bon Bon had always been good at hiding when something upset her, far better than Bonnie and definitely better than Toy–Toby later on.

She sagged into his arms and sobbed loudly, her long ears pinned back and her voicebox glitching at the high pitches. The tension leaving her body felt very human, despite the hard edges that pressed into him at odd angles.

He might have heard Goldy bite back her own sob, but they both got the sense Bon Bon wanted to pretend that Goldy wasn't there. The bear kept completely invisible and silent like she understood the need more than he expected. She was usually so quick to comfort…

Bon Bon's tiny fingers were going to leave little bruises in his arm but he didn't mind at all as he rocked her as much as her tether to Fred would allow. He just soothed her the best he could while she mumbled little rambles that he couldn't understand through her crying. He heard "sorry" in there too many times.

Outside in the hall and out of sight, the human and fox animatronic, who had discreetly snuck back when Mr. Afton had already gone into the room, stayed completely silent. They hadn't said a word to each other, an understanding between them. If something went wrong, Foxy and Ruby (wherever she was hiding) would handle Fred while Mike made sure Afton got away in the unlikely event something got in Goldy's way. For the moment though, they didn't say anything.

Mike was blatantly staring at Foxy as the bot clearly struggled with hearing Bon Bon's wails and Mr. Afton's voice softly cooing. The fox looked so tense and Mike wondered if there was a bit of guilt there. He briefly wondered how the others were reacting. It would be faint but it was possible they could hear. The room wasn't soundproof unless someone specifically asked the building for it.

Eventually the crying subsided and they heard Bon Bon quietly give Afton instructions for how to open Fred's casing.

"Where's Ruby," Mike signed at Foxy. "I thought you were sticking together."

"She's around," he signed back. "She can't do anything out in the hall. If anything happens, she needs to get into the room quickly."

When Mike looked confused, Foxy rolled his eyes.

"The vents. She's in the vents."

Mike looked shockingly unimpressed, which made Foxy smirk. The man had been around Hedy far too much.

"She's going to rip those stitches again," Mike signed, his fingers moving sharply. He was getting very good at sign language, even getting tone in there.

"She's in the vents, 'carefully'." The fact that Foxy wasn't worried did help a little. It meant he'd probably given her his own lecture on the matter and she was much less likely to do anything if Foxy already put his bare metal foot down.

"Step back, Will," they heard Bon Bon say within the room, followed by a tense pause while they shut up to pay attention, Mike hovering his hand over the doorknob.

He choked on a yelp as Foxy snagged him by the back of his shirt and pulled him back like Puppet scruffing Kitty. If something went wrong, he was just breaking the door and going in first and he didn't want Mike getting hurt by being in the way.

Mike wondered if he should bring up the fact that the fox's protective instincts were coming out in full force and it was Afton in possible danger. Foxy would probably heatedly deny it if he did though. And be a pain in the ass to Mike for at least a week. Everyone was angry at the man and the bots got so damn stubborn when angry.

He watched Foxy straighten at the sound of a new (to Mike) voice.

"M-mm-Orning Bon Bon!" Fred said happily. The glitchy tone made both Mike and Foxy wince for different reasons, Mike because he knew Hedy would be stressed by something else she couldn't do anything to fix yet, and Foxy because he was distinctly reminded of Mangle years ago when her voice box was actively wearing out days before she lost it completely.

"Morning Fred!" Bon Bon sweetly. There was clear stress in her voice but she still seemed genuinely relieved and happy that her best friend was awake. It was stressful anytime a bot was down and out. Not being able to wake up on their own was frightening.

"B-Aby? Lora?"

"They're okay! Everyone's okay. The game's over. Ennard… um… Ennard said we did such a good job we… we don't need to play anymore." Her voice turned a bit uncertain as she said the words and they couldn't help but wonder if she didn't really believe it yet. "We… we won, Fred."

"No… more f-ffriends?"

"No," Bon Bon said firmly while Foxy and Mike wondered where Mr. Afton was during this. Was he just standing there? Fred didn't seem to have acknowledged him. "We can make new friends. But new friends don't… don't get hugs…" She trailed off and Fred didn't respond. "Sorry. That's too confusing right now. No more friends. But we got more family. You remember the rules with family, right Fred?" Her voice was patient despite how stressed she must be.

"No touching," Fred said and they could hear a startling amount of excitement in his voice. "Bon Bon… a-are we h-hhhome?"

Bon Bon was stunned and stammered for a second. "Y-you know we're home?" she sounded about to cry again.

"W-Will is home," Fred said, his tone firm despite the glitching.

Foxy looked stunned and Mike could imagine those in the room had mirroring expressions. They might have underestimated the bear a bit, it turned out.

Bon Bon squeaked in glee. "You remember? You remember?! Y-you remember Will? You remember Pops?!" There was the light clank which had to be Bon Bon excitedly hugging Fred's face.

"Fred," Afton said, keeping his voice calm as best he could. "You know who I am?"

"You're our… Home," Fred said. He made some noises like he was struggling to say something else. "Safe. Will? Is everything going to bbb-be okay now?"

"Y-yes. Yes, I think so, Fred," Afton said over Bon Bon's happy sobbing.

Mike stepped back and headed back down the hallway while Foxy lingered a moment longer. Mr. Afton would be fine and he didn't want to listen in on a private reunion. They had only been willing to slightly disrespect Bon Bon's wishes for privacy because there was risk involved. But things were fine.

Foxy caught up with him a few seconds later, knowing that scene wasn't for him either. He had a vaguely pained look on his face.

Ruby startled them a little when she spoke from behind Mike. "That was one of the saddest and sweetest things I've ever seen."

Foxy turned towards her while Mike dramatically clutched his heart. "Everything good?"

"Yeah. No aggressive body language at all. He's just happy, that's all. Seems like a real sweetheart too."

She rubbed her face tiredly.

"He had the least dramatic reunion so far. I don't think we need to worry about him. So far the biggest threat I've seen are the mini bowling balls."

Foxy scowled at the reminder of them. He was still angry with the brats. They weren't allowed to get away with hurting one of his girls. Granted, Hedy didn't have as strong a relationship with the Originals, him specifically, as Ruby did. Calling her one of his girls might be overstepping, but that wouldn't stop him from making sure the Bidybabs were disciplined if it ever came to that again and Baby didn't do it first. Honestly, as he thought about it, he might have done the same for Mike even without ever having known the man as a child. He didn't think he'd have as strong as a reaction to Jeremy getting hurt, unfortunately, although he'd still stick up for the man if the situation called for it. Maybe it had something to do with how young Hedy and Mike still looked. They were barely past their teenage years while Jeremy was starting to get a few lines around his eyes. Foxy's instincts might be influenced by coding, but the anger for Hedy's sake was truly all him. Ruby had been so upset. She was shaking as he calmed her down. Raw terror at the prospect of losing her sister had sent his kid spiraling and he was silently grateful Puppet had shouted at them to leave when they did.

Mike couldn't know what Foxy was thinking but he found the scowl endearing. It occurred to him Hedy was unaware of how angry the bot had been for her sake. She always seemed to identify the Originals as Ruby's bots, ignoring the past and the fact that they cared about her too. "They'll learn," Mike said with a slight shrug.

"Where in the world do you get that optimism?" Foxy snarked at Mike incredulously.

"You can't seriously expect me to believe you haven't dealt with kids somewhat like them," Mike shot back. Even regular human not-dead children could be vicious. His bullying through elementary school proved that.

"Yeah, Felix," Foxy grumbled.

"He's getting better," Mike said.

"Doesn't change what happened," Foxy snapped, but there wasn't much heat. Everyone knew that the Originals were slowly working through their trauma with the kids. Felix wasn't making it easy exactly, but it was still happening. Really slowly.

Ruby was entirely staying out of it too so her presence didn't make anyone feel pressured. It was a surprisingly mature decision from the usually impatient and hard-headed teen.

"I think I'm going to make that little rabbit a paint sniper rifle. I think it would suit her," Ruby mused.

Mike hummed thoughtfully. Hedy mentioned a mini wheelchair for the hand puppet and that gave him an idea. He'd have to save up for it though. He didn't dare bring it up to Ruby yet. Getting Bon Bon a little drone to fly around could go wrong in probably a million ways. Hedy would probably be upset she didn't think of it first. He'd blame the pain meds. He really expected her to at least bring up a remote controlled car.

"How's the stitches?" Foxy asked, deciding to ignore the clear planning Ruby was already doing.

Ruby scowled at him. "They're fine, Foxy. I was careful." She looked her age for a moment as she glared like a petulant teenager.

Mike bit his tongue. He wanted to tease her but it was too risky. He was already on thin ice for the height comment that set off the whole paint war. Luckily, it seemed like Ruby had forgotten about that in her excitement about Spring joining. He'd rather not remind her.

"You should get some sleep, Lass. Don't you have school?" Foxy said, obviously trying to prompt Ruby.

Was it really Monday already?

She rolled her eyes with a groan. "What put you in mother hen mode today?" she whined.

They all knew Foxy would win this despite her complaining considering the teen looked visibly exhausted. She was not hiding it very well.

"We need to make sure the Funtimes' room is locked up and none of the staff get any ideas," she reminded him.

"I got it," Mike said.

They both stared at him and he felt a little miffed. "I still have a copy of the keys. AND the building does actually listen to me if I'm polite and clear." And if he basically guilt-tripped the building into doing things for the sake of not upsetting Hedy. He was a little too proud of himself after he figured out he could do that. He didn't need to mention that part.

Foxy snorted. "Really?"

"Being Hedy's boyfriend has a lot of perks," he smiled a little too widely.

Foxy stared blankly for a second before his yellow eyes narrowed sharply and glowed slightly brighter.

Ruby only noticed when Foxy let out a small growl at Mike with his shit-eating grin.

Mike ignored the disgusted grimace as if he hadn't instigated the discomfort on purpose. He thought it hilarious how Foxy reacted to this topic with the others versus when he was the only target. "I think it's some weird psychic thing, like the building knows how much Hedy trusts me. Or maybe it's like a cat or dog and I 'smell' like Hedy enough that it occasionally listens."

Ruby was looking a bit spacey, as if she wasn't really paying attention to the conversation any more. It was possible Mike's jokes were going over her head. She yawned, not even bothering to cover her mouth.

"Ruby, go home," Foxy said, refusing to encourage Mike any further.

"Fine! I'm going I'm going!" She threw her hands up in annoyed defeat and Mike would forever marvel at how Foxy and Hedy could get the cranky teenager to do what they wanted so often.

She turned on her heel and stalked away, grumbling under her breath. She was definitely going to crash hard when she got home.

Mike didn't follow since he had basically volunteered to make sure everything was safe for the day.

"Ol' Captain Foxy has to go make things ship shape," Foxy said as he walked away, slipping into his pirate accent for work. "Ah'll take barnacles over paint any day," he said although they both knew that was a lie. He eyed Mike, "Unless the Cabin Boy wants ta end his shore leave."

"I need a better title than Cabin Boy," Mike scoffed. "You're on your own. I haven't slept in over seventy hours!"

"Well.. don't tell yer lady," Foxy said seriously as he disappeared, presumably to drag Mangle into helping him get the rest of the paint off his ship before opening.

After checking on a frustrated and exhausted Hedy and making sure Jeremy took her home to rest, Mike guided all the Funtimes into one of the larger party rooms that only had one vent entrance and showed them that the door could lock. That seemed to give them a little relief.

Fred and Bon Bon wandered in while Mike was demonstrating how to ask the building to lock the door for them, Mr. Afton trailing behind and listening to the explanation with interest.

"You've got to be clear," he stressed. "Clear and simple. The building doesn't think like us and it can't read our minds as well as it does with the girls. It cares about intention more than words. Words confuse it sometimes with all the subtext we throw into them. Stay simple."

He paused and gave his attention to Fred as he smiled.

Fred mostly ignored Mike when he introduced himself, except for a slightly spacey smile. He didn't come toward Mike or try hugging him so that was good news.

"Well it's nice to meet you," Mike said with a smile as he noticed a cleaned up but slightly damp Freddy arriving out the corner of his eye.

"HI!" Fred said, a bit too loud. He waved at Mike, then Freddy.

Bon Bon looked so relieved that things were going well with Fred. It was some welcome good news that they all needed.

Baby, Vixen, and Ballora were all surprised at how docile Fred was being. Hopefully it meant he understood what was happening, which was a bit of a shock. The little bots were keeping their distance, likely cautious because of past incidents.

"Hello Fred," Freddy said. If he was disturbed by Fred's behaviour, he didn't show it. He looked at the others, eyes skipping over Mr. Afton a little obviously. "We'll check on you throughout the day. Make sure you tell us if you need anything." It was almost an order with how serious he said it. "The staff should leave you alone." He cast Mike a questioning look.

"I'll take care of it," Mike assured.

Freddy nodded and eyed the vent with a frown.

"I was going to board it up but the little bots are already looking a little stir crazy," Mike said. He didn't really want to ask where Ennard was, although he doubted Freddy knew. Everyone was still carefully skirting around the topic and neither Ruby or Puppet had really spoken about what happened. He had no clue where she was.

"They're already exploring," Ballora said sheepishly. "I told them they aren't allowed to leave the building but it's going to be impossible to get them all back in here." They had scattered the first chance they got, along with the still sour Bidybabs. "Is that… okay?" She seemed worried about her or her little bots getting in trouble for breaking rules she hadn't quite figured out yet. The anxiety was depressing and not for the first time made Mike fear what exactly Ennard had done to them over the years. It made him angry too.

"Of course. But can you tell them to stay in the vent system?" Mike asked, carefully about his tone. "The other staff don't know about you guys and might get startled if they just wander around. And we don't want a kid confusing them for a toy and taking them home."

The Funtimes looked alarmed at the idea and nodded.

Ballora turned toward a minireena that had been quietly sitting on a table not far away. "Do you understand?"

She tilted her little head. "No?"

Ballora sighed while Baby bit back a snicker as she shot a look at the Bidybabs who hadn't left. At least they were listening to Mike despite the toddler-like scowling etched on their faces.

"I'll make sure they understand," Ballora promised Mike a little nervously.

"Thank you," Mike said as he tried to remember what else he had to mention. "Oh, do you guys want some entertainment? We have a TV in the break room on a rolling cart and Puppet and Goldy have books. Just don't ask Goldy for her Harry Potter books. You'll get the lecture of a lifetime on proper book etiquette and she still won't let you borrow them."

They shared a glance.

"What's wrong?" Freddy prompted.

"We'll be fine," Baby said dismissively. "Where's Hedy and Ruby?"

They were using names. That was good!

"Hedy went home. To her house. Jeremy took her. Ruby is probably getting ready for school right now. You might see them this afternoon."

The Funtimes startled a little at the reminder that the night guard still went to school. Because she was a minor. She was a kid.

Mike could practically see the realisation hitting them again and waited patiently for it to pass. It still caught the Toys off guard sometimes when she was doing homework on shift.

"Does she often come in the afternoon?" Baby decided to ask.

Mr. Afton looked concerned at the idea, wondering when the girl slept if she was at the pizzeria so much.

"Not always," Freddy answered. "But she likely will for the next few days. Or weeks." He frowned, not really happy about that.

"Then when does she sleep?" Ballora asked, a little alarmed.

"When she crashes or Foxy scolds her," Mike shrugged. "Ruby isn't exactly the type of person you can… tell what to do. She'll do the exact opposite out of spite if you try."

Freddy and him both grimaced, each having their own example of that.

"There's only a handful of people who she'll listen to. Hedy, Foxy and sometimes Jeremy. And even with them it's not always a guarantee. She likes being… otherwise."

"You're edging onto that list too," Freddy pointed out. "The rest of us Originals can make suggestions only, which she usually ignores."

Mike jolted, clearly not having realised that until it was pointed out.

Mr. Afton almost laughed at the man's expression of shock.

"She's a stubborn teenager with trauma," Freddy sighed. "It's best to just let her do what she wants. She generally follows the limits Foxy set down after her first couple of weeks here. Sometimes she just sleeps on shift."

"Where exactly did Foxy get those limits?" Mr. Afton asked, genuinely confused. "He was always the worst about the rules and his health when you were young."

Freddy stiffened and carefully didn't look at him. "Not from you."

Mr. Afton flinched a little while Baby frowned at Freddy.

Bon Bon didn't bother hiding her glare at the bear, crossing her little arms and about to snap at him.

Mike looked between them frantically. "Uh, probably from all the years watching parents," he said hurriedly, trying to awkwardly cover the moment. "Plus he took care of Ruby a lot when she came here as a kid. She's his kid."

Mr. Afton looked confused but wisely didn't ask. He might ask Mike what he meant later.

Vixen frowned a little. "She was a customer then?"

"Loved the place," Mike chuckled. "She was a proper terror from the stories they tell too. There's a wall in Foxy's room with some pictures if you want to look tonight." He looked at Freddy, hopeful that the topic would defrost him a little.

"She was," he admitted with a sigh. "She always stuck out a little more than any of the other kids." Even when they didn't remember how close she had been to the restaurant before. But it was probably best not to bring that up just yet. "Broke two bones on the premises."

"Sounds like she gave Foxy a run for his money," Baby said in amusement while Vixen fell quiet. "And what about Hedy?"

Mike and Freddy shared a glance, a little surprised it hadn't come up before.

"She's Scott's niece," Mr. Afton said when they hesitated. "Joseph's daughter. Do you remember Joseph?"

"Mr. Joey," Vixen said with a little frown when she noticed Freddy's expression.

Mike realised that this topic probably wasn't going to help Freddy's mood all that much actually. Joseph was still a very touchy subject with the Originals. Even the Toys didn't bring him up anymore. Learning empathy was a wonderful thing.

Mr. Afton nodded. "However, I don't know how often she was around through the years." He looked at Mike for help.

Freddy was quiet for a moment. "Michael tried to kill her when she was little. There's a lot to that story and we should probably tell you the rest later. But she had a hard time growing up. She's only come back into our lives recently."

Mike was a little relieved Freddy took over there. It was a pretty clear way to put it without just ignoring the topic.

The Funtimes were clearly still disturbed and upset about the topic of Michael being a murderer, Vixen flinching and Baby had a distant frown while Ballora looked suddenly depressed at the reminder.

"I know you met Jeremy at some point though," Freddy continued.

"Once," Ballora said. "Scott brought him by and introduced him to us. He was very shy and didn't say much…"

Freddy snorted a little. "Well he's grown out of that."

"Now he's paranoid," Mike added cheerfully. "And overprotective. He's better now though."

"Because Hedy finally got it through his thick skull," Freddy muttered under his breath. He still sometimes wondered how the mechanic had done that. Jeremy had been a frantic mess in the pizzeria in the beginning, rightfully so of course. Puppet and the Toys hadn't helped with their still-mostly-murderous attitudes…

"Well, I wouldn't blame him," Baby said dryly. "You did try to kill him after all."

She said it casually and the other Funtimes didn't seem to hear immediately. A second later Ballora startled and Vixen looked at Freddy in worry.

Freddy froze and Mr. Afton stiffened in alarm. "Who… told you?"

"Bonnie. While you were busy. I bullied it out of him." She had no shame about it, so she probably wasn't mean to the rabbit in her demand for an explanation.

Freddy resisted the urge to be annoyed about that. Bonnie would be the weak link.

"In the Original's defence," Mike piped up. "It wasn't really willing on their part." He felt like that needed to be said. The group still carried around a lot of guilt, which was why he tried to make light of his own week a lot of the time to get across the point that he was fine now. "Besides, every bot except BB tried to kill someone at some point. So it's a level playing field?" The joke fell a little flat, but he tried at least.

Mr. Afton was staring blankly at a wall with wide eyes and Mike felt pretty bad for the man. He knew they hadn't really been able to dump the entire story on him. There was just too much. But Afton definitely had bits and pieces by now.

Mike sighed as the silence stretched. "Um, if it makes you feel better, Vixen, Ruby's also beat up every bot in the building, including BB. The past's the past and we just try to move forward now. There's not really any grudges around the place regarding any attempted murder, aside from at Michael." They still flinched at that. He figured they still had positive memories of the man since they were gone before they really knew what he was. "And the other ghost kids, but that's a different story."

"Ruby likes games, like… Lizzy did," Freddy said quietly. "She's won all of them so far, but the games themselves get a bit… messy." He didn't think he'd ever forget seeing her hurt, but alive, when their night six had come to an end.

Baby nodded; however, it seemed like she was aware they didn't have a lot of time. It might have been the chime for 7 am going off in the background. "I'll have questions tonight," she warned.

"You should ask Ruby sometime," Mike suggested. "She won't mind explaining the whole story behind her experiences with the bots. And she's got some funny stories too. You should hear about Bonnie and the closet."

Freddy groaned, knowing exactly what other "funny stories" Mike was thinking of.

"She's also got photos," Mike added with a grin at the bear. "Ask to see one of her scrapbooks. She's got one for each sets' first week."

Baby's eyes lit up and she smiled, looking at Freddy pointedly. "Please."

He scowled.

Ballora chuckled while Vixen smirked a little. It made Mike wonder if Mr. Afton had any scrapbooks of his own from the bots' younger years lying around in storage somewhere. They seemed far too pleased about the idea. He knew Goldy liked scrapbooking too.

"Do you all need anything else?" Mike asked. "I'll probably stay here all day," he admitted. "I mean, I'm not technically working but I was going to crash in the staff room on a cot so I'm around if you need anything. Just send one of the others for me. Or one of the little bots if they're okay with that. I have to go make sure the building lets the cleaners in right now though."

"We're fine," Baby said.

Mike nodded, relieved. He shot Freddy a warning look with a glance at Afton before leaving.

Will decided to follow after giving the Funtimes a gentle pat on their arms (he wasn't sure if offering a hug to anyone other than Bon Bon would be welcomed and she made it clear he wasn't allowed if she was attached to a conscious Fred). "I'll be back," he promised.

"He's nice," Baby decided as Freddy lingered for a second to glare at Will as he left.

"Mike? Yes. Too nice. We argue about whether there's something wrong with him."

That got a couple weak laughs before Freddy left the Funtimes in their temporary room. He checked that the door was locked before heading back to the main room. He knew Mike would walk by to check again before opening.

Mike just about passed out before his head even hit the pillow. It was one of the nice ones that Hedy had hid in a staff room cabinet with several fresh pillow cases. The rule was that whoever used a pillow had to take the pillow case home to wash and then return it. The pillows and the army cot hidden in a closet were only for emergency naps, not pillow fights as Hedy had stressed to Ruby.

Harrison had actually set the cot up for Mike the second the younger man mentioned sleeping in the staff room that day. Mike tried to argue that he could do it, but Harrison mumbled something about setting up enough of those things during boot camp or something. He also took Mike's keys and gave them to Olivia for good measure.

Mike didn't even care about the rest of Day Shift coming in and out of the room all morning, some of them talking about him right there and asking questions. Why was he there? Where was Ruby? Hedy? Why was there a room closed off again? What's with the little creepy mannequins and dolls running around? They weren't exactly alarmed by that last part. They were mostly confused.

He did wake up long enough to say not to worry about those and to leave them alone and that the Minireenas were sweet but the Bidybabs might be a little bitchy. He wasn't even sure who he was talking to. He passed out again after that.

He vaguely remembered the Manager coming in to attempt to wake him up and demand some answers but someone else on staff must have forced the man out without making too much noise.

It was after noon when Mike finally woke up. He hadn't caught up on sleep but he wasn't so tired he couldn't function. That was going to have to do. He wanted to check in on everyone before the night shift so that he could mostly focus on Hedy. It might have been played up a bit as a joke, but Hedy was going to be an absolute nightmare while her hand was injured and it was probably only really going to hit her tonight.

Jeremy, for all the attention he put on Hedy, was not very aware of how much work she really did with the bots. Mike knew she didn't exactly let Ruby or the bots know how busy she was either. They were mostly only aware of their own repairs or within their set, like how Foxy and Bonnie sometimes helped out with each other during check ups. And Ruby liked to ignore maintenance sessions entirely, aside from making sure Hedy had what she needed. However, Mike had a better idea of things. So he decided he needed to get a clearer picture of things before Hedy got too stressed.

This was not going to be easy. Most of the bots were pretty private about their issues and he didn't put it past most of them to downplay things in a misguided attempt to be helpful.

Mike stopped by the men's bathroom to splash some water on his face, checking the bags under his eyes. With a sigh he headed out, deciding to check on Foxy and Mangle first. Then maybe the Toys? Eh, he'd figure it out as he went. He'd just check them off on his list so he didn't miss any. They could get sneaky sometimes.

Foxy was entertaining a group of kiddos with a naval battle, kids throwing "cannonballs" at each other while the captain barked out orders that half the kids probably didn't understand. They were definitely having fun though. He had to dodge a few stray shots as he skirted around the edge of the room. A few parents that were hanging out to supervise eyed him but he had snagged his nametag lanyard that he wore during dayshift so that they were at ease, despite him not wearing a traditional uniform.

Mangle was finishing up a story and waved to him as she said goodbye while mothers collected their toddlers.

Mike occasionally wondered if Mangle ever thought about getting her own room as opposed to sharing with Foxy. Having a quiet storytime corner for younger and less rowdy kids in the same room as quite literally the most rowdy older kids seemed like a recipe for disaster. He was shocked there was never an incident of one of Foxy's kids running over one of Mangle's. On occasion, he'd even seen kids napping in Mangle's area despite a full out war going on across the room. He had to chalk it up to the building ultimately, which was starting to feel like an overused excuse. She had never complained, but then again, no one had ever asked her thoughts on the matter.

"The heck are you still doing here?" she asked in a quiet tone and a practised smile.

Mike studied her for a second. "Just checking some things for Hedy before tonight. Was she working on any particular maintenance tasks for you? Or Foxy, if you know about that."

Mangle casually shrugged. Maybe a little too casually. "Just some joint things. I'm fine. I can wait until Hedy is better!"

Mike frowned. "You're very chipper." Something just felt off.

"I'm working," she said with an eye roll that took him straight back to his sisters' teenage years. Specifically, when they were trying to hide something.

Mike stared for a second before reaching up and shoving the animatronic lightly by her shoulder.

She wasn't expecting it and stumbled back as she lost her balance on one leg, hissing in pain.

Mike stared Mangle down as he grabbed her arm to steady her, although they both knew if she was really going down, he wouldn't be able to catch her. "What happened?" he asked firmly, although still not raising his voice.

But she was stubborn and pulled her plastic arm away, ears pinning back despite her attempts to keep up that smile for the children as she played off the stumble. "I'm fine," she insisted while glancing around to make sure kids didn't actually see her. She was damn lucky Foxy hadn't seen her or he would already be over here.

"Bullshit."

"Language," she spat sourly. As much as she wanted the ability in the right company, she still didn't approve of bad language in front of small children.

"Go to Parts and Services," Mike said. "I'll meet you there in a little bit."

Mangle scoffed at him. "You're not the boss of me. And you're not Hedy."

"I just want to look," Mike said. "To make sure you're not cutting any wires. If you don't go there on your own, I'll tell Foxy."

"You wouldn't."

"You'd prefer Ruby?"

Mangle's eyes widened slightly although neither of them knew which one would actually be worse. "...fine…" she grumbled, glaring at him, then away at a wall.

"Good," Mike said. His tone softened. "I'm sorry, Mangle. I just know Hedy wouldn't want you waiting for her to get better while you're in pain." Maybe the guilting was a little unfair but he needed her to understand that hiding anything was such a bad idea.

"It doesn't hurt that bad," she continued to grumble, eyeing Foxy who had noticed from across the room that they had been talking a little too long.

Mike wasn't sure whether the suspicious look was aimed at him or Mangle. "Hedy said you have a really high pain tolerance," he retorted. He sighed and pulled out the scrap of paper he had (cautiously) grabbed from the Guard Office to take his notes.

"Don't let anyone see that," Mangle said, a tiny bit panicked as she saw him write down 'M's leg'.

"I'm talking to everyone," Mike said. "Something tells me you are not going to be the only problem patient. Speaking of, is Foxy hiding anything? Anything painful. Anything that isn't something basic like scrubbing the joint rust?"

Mangle got an odd expression on her face like she desperately wanted there to be something to snitch about but couldn't quite think of anything. "Nothing new that I noticed," she finally said. "But he's better at hiding it. All the Originals are..." There was a note of guilt in her voice.

"Would Bonnie notice?" he asked, not totally confident he would be successful in convincing the Originals to snitch on each other. They were a lot more protective of each other when it came to maintenance than the Toys. The Toys tended to take glee in setting Hedy on each other.

Mangle nodded. "Oh yeah."

"Good. What about the other Toys? Was Hedy working on anything?"

Mangle looked a little more pleased as she thought. "BB's connection for his helium tank is still rusted."

"I thought Hedy fixed that months ago."

"The fitting wasn't the right size and kept leaking. She also wanted to check on Teddy's eyes to make sure they're still aligned. Er. Also Chi's beak. Hedy wanted to replace the latches so it stopped falling off. Toby hasn't said anything but I think his wrist is bothering him. That's the only thing that's actually an injury, I think. Everyone else's stuff can probably wait."

"What are ye two land-lubbers yappin about?" Foxy asked, making Mike jump as he walked up, curiosity getting the best of him. There were still kids running around but they were amusing themselves for a moment.

"Can you guys please not give me heart attacks," Mike asked, dramatically clutching his shirt and making Foxy roll his eyes.

"I'm snitching on the others. Mike is poking at us about repairs," Mangle said shamelessly.

"Oh, did ya tell him about ya gimpy leg?"

Mangle's eyes widened and she sputtered a bit.

"I saw that fall last night," Foxy said, unimpressed. He narrowed his eyes. "Was hopin' you'd bring it up first. Yer lucky the mechanic was distracted. Y'really wanna stress 'er out right now?"

"It's not like anyone can do anything about it!" Mangle said defensively. She froze and sharply narrowed her eyes. "I'm not letting Afton touch me." She practically snarled the name.

Foxy studied her for a moment. "I wasn't gonna suggest him," he said, surprisingly calm considering his feelings about the man. "But you're ignoring the other option."

Mangle stared blankly for a moment. Then frowned. "No. Not a chance."

"And you're gonna have to give that same answer to the mechanic when she finds out about your leg," he pointed out. "Good luck with that."

"Puppet tore me apart."

"He didn't do it himself."

"Same thing!"

"And he'd be supervised too, if you wanted."

Mike hummed in thought. "I know it's not ideal but the alternative is worse. Letting you just deal with that for two months?"

Foxy shrugged and gave her a look as he spoke to Mike. "Like I said, she's gonna have to tell Hedy 'no' when there are options. Cause the mechanic is gonna blame herself if you don't get fixed, Mangle."

"Stop trying to guilt me," Mangle complained. "I know. I'm not stupid."

"I'm not guilting ye. I'm stating' facts. They're not nice, but it's what we've got t' deal with." He grimaced. "You think I haven't realised that some kind of maintenance is gonna have t' happen at some point? Two months. We're all gonna have to deal with it at some point."

Mike sensed that Mangle was getting a little too worked up and Foxy perhaps mildly panicked the longer he thought about the inevitable maintenance. "I'll figure something out, okay? But we need to talk about this tonight." He ran his hand through his hair and sighed. "You guys just focus on work today. After I get a look at that leg, Mangle. I didn't forget. But there are options. Hedy's been showing me some stuff. At the very least I got it handled if there are dangerous electrical issues. Gears and other metal stuff are not my specialty. I'm not saying I'll take over for Hedy! I'm just saying there are options."

Foxy shifted. He was just getting used to letting Hedy take care of him. He wasn't sure if he could handle anyone else poking at him, even Mike. But he wanted to set a good example for Mangle and maybe even Bonnie, so he wasn't going to say anything. He'd do his best, at least.

After making Mangle promise to head to Parts and Services, Mike continued on his rounds.

BB was surprisingly very helpful. It was creepy. He was even honest about his own issues, including the bad valve fitting for his helium tank. There wasn't even any battery bribing, which was weird.

Mike had to make sure that BB would allow him to use Hedy's tools for when it eventually came up.

The small bot wasn't totally happy about it, but begrudgingly agreed after Mike explained he didn't have the money to buy a bunch of new tools just for him to use. Tools were expensive. Afton had been a little too casual about the sets he had bought for himself and the little bots. Hedy also had some specialty tools, some she seemed to have fabricated herself.

Within a few hours, Mike had pockets full of notes that he had pulled out to lay across Hedy's work table in Parts and Services.

He also had her notes on everyone laid out in the form of the large binders she had made to document her work after the notebooks she started with filled up too quickly.

Hedy definitely earned the wages Ruby had bullied out of the manager. No wonder the Originals had been in such crummy condition when she started working, if previous mechanics had been dealing with the pay she started with. He might not have put that much effort into his work either. Well, it would have been different if he knew the houses he was wiring were alive or something, but still, he understood. Still didn't excuse the initial poor condition of the bots though. Hedy had done so much… and the bots were still far from what she'd call 'optimum condition.'

He groaned and ran his hand down his face as he spoke to an empty room. "I bet half of you would fall apart if the building wasn't holding you together with hopes and dreams."

Mangle hadn't shown up to let him see her leg either, which he was definitely bringing up that night. She probably had some excuse of being busy with kids, which wouldn't necessarily be a lie, but he was still going to call her out on it. At the moment he was too tired to make due on his threat to involve Foxy, or worse, Ruby. Foxy might bite his head off if he even tried to call Ruby right now anyway. She'd leave school without hesitation.

Foxy hadn't dragged Mangle in so she was probably avoiding him too. It was an attempt doomed from the start since there were more people in this building likely to snitch on her than to hide her. Including the actual building. She couldn't avoid him forever.

Someone knocked on the door and he perked up.

It wasn't Mangle having miraculously changed her mind though.

Olivia poked her head into the room. "Uh hey, someone said I would find you here." She lifted her hand and jangled his car keys. "You want your keys back?"

Mike patted his pockets, having forgotten they were taken away in the first place. "Oh yeah. Thanks."

Olivia came further into the room to hand them over, glancing at Hedy's notebooks in interest but pretending she didn't. The day staff rarely asked what was going on on the night shift, mostly because the answers were usually too weird. The body swap incident probably scarred a few of them more than they cared to admit.

"Don't know if you heard, but Hedy's out of work for a while," Mike said when Olivia didn't immediately leave.

"Wow, you were really sleep deprived," Olivia chucked. "You called me yesterday."

"Sorry. I called a lot of people."

"You should have started with Izzy. She would have filled the rest of us in."

"I don't think I had any energy to spare for thinking logically," he said with a weary smile. "It's been a hectic few days."

"So I've heard. Word of advice, you night shift people need to let us in on the drama. Or at least warn us. Some of the staff are getting anxious about that locked room. Gossip is stirring. Oh and Henry thinks those new little doll bots are out to get him."

"He thinks they're all out to get him. Each one on a different day of the week," Mike chuckled. "The little ones are mostly curious. And I'm pretty sure they're technically kids–"

Olivia's eyebrows raised.

" —so, you know, be patient with them but keep good boundaries…" He kept going despite Olivia's confused and shocked expression. "But you're right, we do need to fill at least a few of the day shift in about what's going on. Eventually. Things are just not very settled right now."

"Anything any of us can do to help?" Olivia asked. "I know Hedy does a lot around the pizzeria. You don't have to do it on your own."

"I'm not sure," Mike admitted. "I'm sure I'll think of something eventually. Right now I'm just trying to figure out how to take care of the bots."

"Are they okay?"

Mike made a so-so motion. "Emotionally? Probably not great. Physically? I don't know how Hedy keeps up with it all. Mangle hurt herself last night and she's being stubborn about it."

Olivia let out a quiet huff. "You know, I don't overstep because I know the bots are really only comfortable with Hedy's work, but I'm always here to help if I can. Hedy's never asked me for help, although I hope I made it clear I would if she did. And if the bots are okay with it, of course. I think she might have forgotten I was even an option."

Mike was confused now. "An option for what?"

Olivia blinked. Then she laughed. "Dude. I'm a mechanic too."

"You are?!"

"Hm. Slightly offended no one told you. I would have thought Hedy would have at least mentioned it. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised. We've never worked together. I don't get the pay Hedy does but on the payroll I get a little more than what McStingy gives me for guard work. Basically free money so I never point out I haven't even done the job. I wasn't able to finish my degree but I got all the foundations Hedy does."

Mike was trying not to get too excited. "Are you kidding? This is great news. Hell yeah we need your help."

Olivia frowned, a bit surprised at his enthusiasm. "Would any of the bots even let me touch them? You know how long it took the Originals to warm up to Hedy, right? She was talking a couple weeks ago about Bonnie still not letting her touch his face."

"Well, you don't need to do that," Mike said, "But given the circumstances, I think I can convince them to make an exception for things that just can't wait. Or Hedy can. Ruby might even help us with that actually."

"Ruby?" Olivia looked sceptical. "The person most overprotective of the bots?"

"I didn't say it wouldn't take a little bit of convincing," Mike said, eyeing the notebooks on the table, specifically the red binder Hedy made for Foxy subtly labelled "Dumbass #2" in big black permanent marker across the front (Puppet was Dumbass #1). It was a little thicker than most of the others. Mike suspected some of that might be Hedy venting about what a terrible patient he was.

"Well, if you can promise that I'm not getting the hell pranked out of me in retribution, then I don't mind helping out. I'm not at Hedy's level though. I'm not familiar with their systems either."

"Oh these might help then," Mike said, turning to pull some of the dusty manuals off the shelves and shoving them, plus Hedy's notebooks a bit toward Olivia. "I know you're busy right now, but do you have any time today to help me go through some of these? I don't understand all of it."

"Actually, I just clocked out," Olivia said. "I have to go pick up my kid in about an hour but I can help you glance through a little before I go."

"Anything helps," Mike said, feeling a bit more hopeful about this whole thing with some back up.

The Funtimes were not expecting the dour looking Mangle to poke her head into their room, the sounds of a busy restaurant coming in through the door behind her.

"Any problems?" the fox asked, directing her question toward Ballora. She didn't even look at Baby or Vixen. They couldn't really blame her.

"We're fine."

"Cool," Mangle said before closing the door.

"... I don't think she likes us," Baby said, turning her attention back to amusing a few of the less adventurous Bidybabs.

"Baby," Ballora admonished.

"I'm not being mean. It just makes sense. I ate their mom's fingers. Remember?"

"Stop saying it like that!" Vixen snapped, exasperated and distressed. "I'm serious. How many days in a row are you going to make the same joke?"

"It makes Ballora and Bon Bon smile. And they weren't here to hear it last night."

"It does not," Ballora quietly gasped while Bon Bon snickered.

"It makes me laugh! Fred thinks it's funny too," Bon Bon said. "Doncha Fred?"

"Uh huh."

"You're outvoted Vixy!" the rabbit giggled.

"That's not fair. Fred always agrees with you."

"Well he's got very discerning tastes."

"Do fingies taste yummy?" Fred asked.

"We can't taste, Fred," Baby sighed.

"Oh… "

"Oh boooo, Baby! You made him sad now!"

"No I didn't! Are you sad, Fred?"

"A little."

"HA!"

"Stop it or I'm detaching you."

"Try it, bitch," Bon Bon said with the biggest, happiest grin.

They startled at the door opening again, this time Mike greeting them.

"Hey! Do you guys mind if I invite someone who's basically a stranger to the night shift? Well, stranger to you, not us. I don't think you met her. She's one of the day guards. But she's also a mechanic and I'm going to try and convince the others to let her check them out."

It was a very straightforward explanation from the man.

"Is Hedy really your only technician?" Baby asked, baffled. There were so many bots here and only one to handle maintenance? Even Will hired extra hands to help him out all those years ago, especially while Michael was busy with school and couldn't be dragged into helping.

"Pretty much. Olivia, the person I invited, is a mechanic but the other bots are picky about who works on them. She hasn't done that part of her job before."

"I don't mind, if she can help," Baby said. She looked at the others who shrugged or nodded, taking her lead.

"Ok I just thought I'd check. I don't think we want to overwhelm you guys with too many new people. She has a son too. Cute kid. He's going to be 9 next month." Mike looked sympathetic as they stiffened in a bit of panic. "She asked if he could come but I told her no. We're not going to let any of our usual night time kids visit for a while. I assume that's what you'd prefer?"

Baby nodded mutely.

"Ok, well I'll need to leave for a few hours but you can ask any of the staff for help. By the way, has Mangle stopped by at all?"

They shared a glance.

"Why?" Baby asked cautiously.

"She hurt herself last night. I asked her to meet me in Parts and Service to look at it but she's been avoiding me. The bots are supposed to be taking turns checking on you. It was Mangle's turn a bit ago so I was hoping to catch her."

"Oh, yeah she was here right before you."

"Thanks."

He'd just have to out-stubborn that fox tonight.

"You look upset," Hedy said to Ruby, mildly amused as Jeremy shut the car door for her. Everything was slightly amusing to her thanks to the pain medication.

Ruby scowled as she opened the front doors for Hedy. "I think it's dumb. If the bots don't want maintenance, they'll be fine for a couple months."

Hedy frowned a little but didn't really want to argue at the moment. She didn't mention how tentatively relieved she was when Mike brought up his plan, although he didn't have it all figured out at the time he called her that afternoon. He hadn't even come back to the house. It stressed her out more than she expected. After being apart for a week and then everything happening, she found herself missing her boyfriend a little bit. Not that she wasn't grateful for the chance to hang out with her big brother watching movies all day while he fussed.

Mike warned her that Olivia would be there that night, although she most likely wasn't staying the whole shift. He very sheepishly asked Hedy to break the news to Ruby so the teen wouldn't accidentally attack the other guard. Or him.

Ruby must have actually been paying attention to Hedy's body language for once because she slightly backtracked in her own Ruby way. "I don't want anyone touching them that they aren't comfortable with. Especially Bonnie and Foxy. And they don't want Afton doing it." Just you, was the unspoken statement.

"I know," Hedy said, unsure how to argue that.

"I'd say trusting your doctor is important," Jeremy said, a little caution in his tone as he watched Hedy's reaction to his words. She always seemed cold when he brought up doctors. Cecil was a welcome exception but he remembered years of fighting her when it came to appointments. "But I still take the twins to the dentist or doctor when they need it, even if they don't like it. The paediatrician is great at getting kids to calm down but it doesn't always go smoothly. Their health and safety is more of a priority than comfort sometimes."

Hedy might have twitched but didn't argue. She'd had to take the twins to a doctor once when she was watching them for a week while Amelia and Jeremy were on vacation. They had fevers. She knew it was important.

"And they're kids," Ruby pointed out sharply. "You're their guardian. The bots are all technically adults, so it's a different situation." She let out an explosive sigh. "I'm not saying I think this is a bad idea. I just want everyone to remember that the bots get to make that decision themselves. If I end up in the hospital, Alice and Clint make most of the decisions. If Mike ends up in the hospital, he can overrule anything his parents would decide. Different situations. The bots have to say yes, whether through their own logic or someone's persuasion. Or guilt trips. Guilt trips work."

Hedy didn't like seeing Ruby upset and forcibly shoved down her guilt about the situation.

"Aren't the Toys younger than you?" Jeremy pointed out.

"We've already discussed that they're closer to adults with how fast they develop mentally," Ruby retorted with a bored tone. She didn't like repeating anything she said, including old topics.

"You were calling them teenagers less than a year ago," Hedy added.

"And they've grown since then," Ruby said firmly. "You can't sit there and deny that."

"Well I sure as hell can't stand and deny it," Hedy joked. The other two looked at her in varying ranges of horror.

"You hang out with Mike too much," Jeremy grumbled as they continued.

"He is my boyfriend," Hedy said with a silly smile as Jeremy twitched.

"Ugh. Too many pain meds for you," Ruby complained as she walked ahead of them.

Once inside, they were treated to the sight of all the bots sitting around in the main room vaguely arranged like a classroom while Mike was busy setting up an easel and taping what looked like a chart to the wall. A big stack of familiar binders sat on the table beside him looking seconds from toppling and sending them all over the floor.

Olivia stood off to the side looking out of place and blatantly staring at an equally nervous Alex who lingered in the far doorway. It was odd to see the day guard out of the uniform the Manager made her wear. The purple that Ruby refused to wear would have made her stick out even more.

"Your boyfriend is a nerd," Ruby predictably told Hedy the moment she saw the set up. "Is he wearing glasses?!"

"We both wear glasses, Ruby," Hedy deadpanned, surprised the teen never noticed before. "I'm farsighted. He's nearsighted."

"I was wearing my contact lenses too long," Mike defended. "They were drying my eyes out!"

"Old people. Both of you. Old nerds at that."

Jeremy didn't say anything, not wanting her to start poking fun at his age again. He hoped karma hit her one day and she had to wear glasses when she was older too. Then again, he didn't think either of her parents had needed reading glasses. Watch her end up with twenty twenty vision her whole life and be unbearably smug about it constantly.

"I think it makes you look very distinguished, Mike," Chica said.

"Thank you."

"And like a nerd."

"HA!" Bonnie laughed. Brave for a guy who needed animatronic sized glasses if Hedy never got around to fixing his eyes.

Mike glared at them all as they got settled.

"Will you be starting this meeting anytime soon now that everyone is here?" Puppet prompted.

Afton wasn't there but Puppet most certainly didn't care.

Mike pulled on his most serious expression to try and convey that there wasn't going to be any joking when it came to the topic of the night. It was very effective with the glasses and most of them settled down.

Hedy thought it was very attractive but didn't dare comment.

"Okay, here's how it's going to work," Mike said, firmly dropping the stack of Hedy's maintenance binders down on a second table he put in front of him like a podium. He dropped the stack hard enough for a party hat to comically fall off. He made eye contact with every bot, making sure no one was ignoring him. It took a couple minutes with how many there were.

Most of the bots were looking at him in amusement, thinking he looked a little silly setting up an easel and presentation board for this.

Hedy, despite not being very happy about the situation, was paying close attention to him.

Jeremy looked curious. He didn't know much about the bots when it came to maintenance. He was honestly just there as emotional support/babysitting duties for Hedy.

Mike pointed at the board he made with the calendar and sticky notes. "This is your appointment schedule. You are to follow this exactly! If you want to change your appointment, you gotta ask me. Not Hedy. Not Ruby, because she's going to let the foxes get out of it. Me. Or if you can't find me, then Olivia."

Mangle squinted at the board from across the room. "Why do I have an 'appointment' with Puppet?" she accused.

Mike narrowed his gaze at her. "Because you fucked up your leg–"

Mangle flinched and refused to look at Hedy's expression, missing that Hedy looked more worried than angry. Ruby raised an eyebrow in surprise at both the swear and how blunt Mike was being. She was slouched down in a seat near the Originals and actually listening without fiddling with her phone for once.

"Language."

"And your choices are Olivia, me, Puppet, Alex when Ruby is available, or Mr. Afton."

There was a round of displeased noises that slightly bothered the Funtimes. There was a reason Mike insisted this little meeting took place before the time Mr. Afton said he would arrive.

Mike impressively continued over the whining. "Olivia and I are like nurses. We know basic stuff, like cleaning rust and oily gunk, basic wiring. Maintenance and upkeep. Although Olivia has way more basic knowledge with mechanical things and will take on more as she gets used to your systems."

Olivia waved awkwardly.

"Her experience and what she does is going to grow," Mike said. "And I'm hoping you guys will let her be a backup even after Hedy's better so Hedy doesn't have to push herself so hard or leave class in the middle of the day to help you."

Some of them shared looks. Did Hedy do that often? She never complained. Hopefully she didn't get in trouble with her school over them.

Hedy had mixed feelings about the idea but she had to admit it would be nice if she didn't have to rush over if something happened while she was busy during the day. She hadn't expected Mike to already be thinking that far ahead.

"Puppet's like the grumpy army doctor with a terrible bedside manner," Mike continued. "And Alex is like the broke med student working part time."

Alex thought the metaphor was pretty accurate and snorted.

"That makes Mr. Afton the chief of surgery. But I know you guys hate his guts right now so–" Mike slapped a sticky note with "AFTON" written on it at the top of the board in a corner, the sharp noise making some of them jump. "He's going to be more of a supervisor, especially to Olivia, Alex, and I to make sure we don't… kill you guys… or something…" He trailed off awkwardly, surprised Ruby didn't get prickly about him even unseriously bringing up the concern. She was watching him intently though which just made him worry about potential future revenge pranks. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen her passively listen this long to someone who wasn't the bots or Hedy.

"Why include him at all?" Chica asked, her tone carefully even.

Mike blinked at them. "Uh. I hate to tell you, but the man made you guys. You really think I'm just going to ignore a resource?"

"Wait." Olivia's eyes widened. "Th-that guy made you all?!" Seems no one had really explained to her who exactly Afton was.

Mike winced. He knew he forgot something. "Oh yeah. Uh. Who did you think Mr. Afton was?"

"How was I supposed to know?! You guys tell the day shift jack shit," Olivia said.

"Language."

"Sorry," she said to Freddy automatically. "Are you serious? I figured he was like the CEO or something but I thought you guys came from… I-I don't know… a cursed factory?!"

"A cursed factory," Puppet stated dryly.

"Hey! I got body swapped with a ghost bear! Do not stand there and judge me as if that's any more crazy! Sorry. Done ranting. Just needed to get that out of my system." She paused, clearly not actually done.

The rest of them waited patiently for a beat, Spring quietly snickering as the woman turned the concept around in her head.

"One guy made all of you? By himself?"

"Should we be offended?" Spring asked.

"I have no clue," Goldy snickered, feeling a little bad for Olivia as she processed the news.

Mike awkwardly patted Olivia's shoulder at Hedy's prompting. "Er. We can try to explain more later."

"Oh yeah. Sorry. Moving on. Ignore me."

"Okay, so back to this—" Mike gestured wildly at the thing he had made. "No one besides the Funtimes have Afton scheduled for them, but he's staying on as a possible for everyone. For emergencies."

"You suck at this pep talk thing, Mike," Bonnie interjected.

"BECAUSE! If there's a serious emergency, like, I dunno… the… ceiling falls on Puppet and snaps him like the toothpick he is because he insulted the building… then Mr. Afton steps in. And don't make those faces. You guys are not in a position to argue about this." He pointedly gestured at Hedy who just scowled with a hateful glance at her cast.

Mike kept talking before anyone got too mad at him. "However," his tone softened. "Ultimately, no one can force you to do something you don't want to. And I know it's going to be tough on some of you. The only thing I really want to insist on is that you give a genuine attempt at this. If you honestly can't do it, then that's okay. We will figure something out. My focus is making sure no one does something stupid that causes permanent damage. And that includes Hedy."

"Excuse me?" Hedy narrowed her eyes a bit, which gave Mike pause but he kept going anyway.

"Hedy's not going to listen to us or any doctor telling her to go slow and take it easy the second they cut that cast off," Mike said firmly, looking a defiant Hedy in the eye while most of the room winced. Including Jeremy. "She's going to hurt herself, maybe permanently, if she dives back into working with a backlog of a hundred things we've decided to put off until she got better. We aren't like you guys. That hand might take an entire year or more to fully heal and might be more fragile for the rest of her life. Her hand isn't going to magically go back to the way it was in two months. Taking the cast off just means the doctors will want her to start getting movement back so nerves and muscles don't waste away. I think that's how it works anyway. I'm not a doctor."

The Toys, including a guilty feeling Mangle, were starting to look a little panicked as Mike continued to drive the point home.

Hedy was a bit irritated. He didn't need to scare them. And the lack of trust in her ability to take care of herself was plenty insulting. Especially since it was coming from everyone in her life.

"She's going to immediately overwork herself if we don't do something to prevent that now. And if that means temporarily letting some of the rest of us have a look at you, which I understand will be hard especially if we need to get Afton involved, then I really need you to try your honest best. Can you do that?"

There was a round of sullen nods, some more frantic than others. (Chi looked like she was about to cry.)

"Goldy, you too," Mike said when he noticed not everyone had nodded.

Goldy blinked in surprise. "Sorry. I just figured any tear in my suit isn't really a major issue. I was going to ask Amelia for help if something like that happened."

Mike nodded. "Puppet?"

Puppet didn't move. "No," he said, his tone reserved. He pointedly didn't look at Hedy and Goldy wondered if the others could hear the slight guilt in that word. It was unlikely though. "I will be fine," he assured. At Mike's silence, he begrudgingly added. "I can handle my own repairs. If the ceiling falls on me, I suppose I won't have much choice in the matter anyway." The sarcasm was strong and maybe a little too forced.

"That's the most you're going to get out of him," Spring sighed.

Ruby surprisingly nodded absently in agreement with him. She looked deep in thought about something.

Mike huffed out a harsh breath. "Fine. Moving on then. Everyone say hi to Olivia."

"Hi Olivia!" the whole group chorused like a group of children, some of them ending on giggles because they were fully aware of what they sounded like.

"Uh, hi," Olivia said. "So, yeah. Mike covered it. I have almost the same education as Hedy. I just never finished my last semester of university or an internship–"

Alex had been staying quiet, but her eyes widened as she suddenly gasped. "You!"

Olivia paused. "Me?"

Alex regretted her blurting immediately. "Uh.. I… er I thought you looked familiar. You were our TA in Engineering Calculus when we were first years." She would probably be blushing if she could as everyone stared at her. Why were they staring?

Hedy was thinking hard. "Really?"

"I was a teaching assistant about four years ago," Olivia said with a shrug. "That was before I dropped out. I remember you two."

Alex groaned as Hedy blinked. "You never said anything."

Olivia smirked and crossed her arms, looking very pleased about the opportunity to surprise them for once. "Hedy, you barely seemed aware that other people existed when you were in class." Her tone was very patient.

Spring snorted and affectionately ruffled Hedy's hair, to her irritation.

"Do I even want to know why you remember me?" Alex mumbled, head in her hands as she thought back to first year.

Olivia stared at her levelly. "You told the professor to get fucked when he made a rude comment about Hedy's wheelchair not working right when she was late to class. In front of a lecture hall of 200 people."

Alex blinked, having totally forgotten about that incident. "Oh. That's okay then."

Hedy looked confused. She didn't even remember that, which she felt a bit guilty about. Had that happened when she was out of the room? She vaguely remembered a few dirty looks when she sometimes blocked an aisle in a lecture hall or two that wasn't built to accommodate her chair, but had a professor really made a comment to her face? Then again, a lot of interactions tended to go over her head when she was a freshman. She didn't notice passive aggressive comments all the time. The longer she thought about it, she did recall an incident during her first week where a professor that had a no-tardiness policy asked her to leave when she was ten minutes late, despite her explaining that the elevator in that building had been out and that was her reason for being late. At the time, she had just left, dejected and humiliated, but ultimately accepting that the professor was holding her to the same rules as everyone else. Looking back at it now… she met Alex right after that. She never had a problem in that class for the rest of the semester, despite a few more occasions of running late. Huh…

Olivia frowned a little, trying to imagine what Alex must have been thinking about, then decided she didn't want to know and turned back to Hedy.

"When you showed up as the head mechanic here I was too nervous about getting the job to bring it up. Honestly, after that it just never seemed very important. Refocusing on the topic at hand though, what sort of issues do you have with this current schedule?"

There was a pause as everyone looked the large board over.

Afton was only working on the Funtimes, thankfully, and they didn't have any problem with that. Puppet had a few check ups with the new bots as well.

For the rest, it seemed like a cycle of weekly checkups with Olivia and Mike, with proper appointments for serious maintenance tasks (marked in red) assigned to either Puppet, Alex, Olivia, or Mike depending on the severity from worst to least.

Bonnie tried to swallow down the anxiety at seeing the note of "Bonnie's eyes?" written off to the side with a question mark. He had actually promised Hedy he'd try to let her take a look at his face when she came back from the Funtime's location, partially as an anxiety riddled attempt to make sure they both returned safely. Mike must have known about it, but with Hedy out of commission, the job was set off to the side.

Mangle let out a quiet rattling growl. "I don't want Puppet."

Puppet was neutrally quiet and didn't argue.

"It's either him or Afton, Mags," Mike sighed, expecting this. "Olivia and I aren't comfortable enough with something like fixing a whole leg yet."

"Ruby can do it."

Ruby looked at her sharply, broken out of her thoughts. She snorted. "No I can't."

"I know Hedy's been showing you stuff!" Mangle said.

"First aid sort of things," Hedy pointed out. And Ruby was a very reluctant student.

Mangle pouted while Ruby glared at her for trying to drag her into things.

Puppet cleared his throat, earning a sharp look from Mangle. "The Night Guard can supervise me if you prefer."

A few of them looked a little stunned that it was Puppet suggesting that. He was pointedly not looking at Ruby as he spoke. "Or Hedwig," he continued. "But it probably is not a good idea to give her too much temptation."

"I'm still going to supervise!" Hedy said heatedly, daring anyone to argue.

"Yes and if you attempt to touch a tool, you are getting kicked out," Puppet deadpanned.

"I second that," Spring said.

Hedy scowled at both of them.

Ruby was staring at the ceiling and looking a little ill as she remembered a few of the maintenance sessions she'd accidentally walked in on. She surprisingly didn't argue with Puppet though.

"Is that settled then?" Mike asked, really hoping Mangle wouldn't be so much of a problem all the time.

Mangle still clearly wasn't happy but she knew when it was time to drop her pride. She wouldn't give up happily though. "Fine…" she said, glaring at Puppet warningly. "You try anything, and I'm ripping you out of your suit again."

"Of course," Puppet said, still deadpanned, while Baby let out a startled laugh.

"This is going to go so badly," BB whispered to Toby. "And you're not even going to be the problem this time."

Toby looked offended but surprisingly didn't argue. "Who do you think is gonna be worse? Foxy or Mangle?" he whispered.

"Mangle," BB said without hesitation. "Foxy's going to at least try. Mangle's going to be as difficult as she can be so that they give up. Five batteries says that she's gonna make Mike pull out his hair."

Toby wished he could take that bet but honestly he and BB both knew Mangle very well and it was true. Years of being in a constant state of brokenness meant she had both a high pain tolerance and an extraordinary amount of patience when it came to outlasting someone else's frustration.

"Do you think Ruby's gonna throw up?" the small bot asked Toby after a beat. "Maybe we should put a trash can nearby."

Toby grimaced, shooting a quick glance at the night guard. He hated dealing with puke. "You go get it."

BB sighed and kicked at the floor. "Tonight is gonna suck."

After some awkward discussion, during which Mr. Afton appeared, Foxy ended up volunteering for Puppet's "demonstration."

Olivia and Mike didn't know how to work around the suits and the manuals were not very helpful. Since Hedy clearly couldn't teach them herself and the tension in the room was understandably scaring Afton off, that left Puppet who surprisingly didn't put up much of a fight.

However, Alex didn't really need to be told that her work was over before it began when she saw the look on Ruby's face as Foxy let Mike cautiously remove whatever remained of his suit around his pelvis/top of his legs at Puppet's instruction.

The teenager abruptly looked deathly pale.

"Undo the latch first," Puppet said calmly, ignoring Foxy's twitching. "And watch your fingers."

Mike nodded and lifted the piece after doing as he was told, Olivia and Alex watching closely from the side.

"Dude," Mike deadpanned as he frowned at the rust that the suit had been covering up.

Foxy shifted awkwardly. "I was going to let the mechanic look after she fixed that thing in Bonnie's neck," he defended sullenly.

Bonnie made a face. "Hey, don't drag me into this right now!"

"You do know that rust is quite literally one of those things that actively gets worse if you don't deal with it?" Mike said.

He could feel Hedy glaring daggers at the group as she struggled to keep quiet. She was probably itching to jump in and help. Or just take over. Or yell at Foxy.

She was trying not to make a scene or stress the bots out any more than necessary as they all watched. She was switching between scratching at the cast and twisting her hair around a finger threatening to rip it out.

The audience aspect of this check up had a very awkward vibe to it. None of the bots really liked seeing another's endoskeleton. It was weird.

The Toys were busy trying to distract themselves with a silent card game, Mangle the only one really watching.

Will kept his mouth shut. The man was standing quietly in the back looking mildly panicked the entire time. Goldy filled him in on what was happening at least.

"Alright already!" Foxy snapped. "Just get this over with." Under his breath he muttered, "Never volunteering to go first ever again."

Bonnie snorted, looking a little less fidgety but still nervous as hell. He knew Foxy was doing this partly for his sake in the hope seeing Foxy let Olivia and Mike (and Puppet) work might calm Bonnie for when it was his turn.

Mike ignored the snappish Foxy to look over Hedy's written instructions for how to clean the rust. Olivia stood silently, waiting to be told what her task was.

Alex however, was focused on Ruby.

Foxy was too, keeping a careful eye on his kid as she stared blankly at the removed suit, hand covering her mouth now.

"Is this really necessary?" Foxy grumbled at Puppet. He was practically naked at this point, only the suit of his arms and his face still on.

"We should get this over with all at once," Puppet said, glancing at Ruby out the corner of his eye cautiously. The teenager hadn't actually looked away from the suit pieces and at the actual Foxy yet.

"Face next?" Mike asked, trying not to shudder as he removed one arm piece and let Olivia do the other with a silent ask from Foxy for permission, which he nervously gave with a nod.

Foxy groaned.

Puppet hesitated. "There are latches underneath Foxy's jaw. You have to undo those first before the ones under the back of the suit head."

"Can I just take it off myself?" Foxy asked, his voice getting a pitch higher.

Vixen resisted the urge to snicker, knowing that there was probably a trauma reason for the anxiety. Still, Foxy sounding freaked out was so weird that it was almost funny.

Puppet shifted. "You can, but I think it would be good for them to practice."

Olivia was silent and just staring at the endoskeleton and exposed wiring and circuitry in fascination.

Alex was too but Ruby kept drawing her attention.

Mike sucked in a breath and after a few more steps, lifted Foxy's mask off his endoskeleton head. "Hm. Wow. You're ugly."

That got a round of awkward laughs from the bots as Mike did his best to reduce the tension and discomfort.

Jeremy was staring too, looking very uncomfortable.

"Oi. You try not to look like a freak without your skin!" Foxy complained, the skull-like metal jaws not quite moving in time with his words properly as Mike held the fox face and carefully set it down on the table besides the sitting endoskeleton. The clicking of Foxy's internal ears and eyes shifting was more noticeable without the mask.

"I don't think I'd be worried about that. Or anything. Because I would probably be dead."

"Smart ass," Foxy hissed.

"Language," Freddy sighed, tone defeated.

Afton standing in the corner was likely the only one not really bothered by the sight. Hedy too, but even she wasn't used to it, not in the habit of asking any of the bots to fully remove their suits.

"Yeah, nope, not happening," Ruby suddenly blurted out before turning on her heel and leaving at almost a run, taking Alex's hope of helping with repairs with her.

She tried her best not to sag in disappointment and frustration. She was now, once again, effectively useless. Olivia was craning her neck a little to see, so Alex stepped back out of the way and tried not to let her emotions show on her face as Olivia glanced at her briefly and then stepped in to fill her spot.

Hedy stared out the door Ruby had escaped through looking worried but ultimately didn't go after her. No one did, although they all seemed to understand what had happened.

Even Afton looked like he considered going after the teen but thought better of it, likely following everyone else's lead.

"What's her problem?" Alex asked, cringing immediately. She hadn't meant to sound so irritated. She expected to be snapped at for at.

Surprisingly, Foxy wasn't offended on Ruby's behalf and after a quick glance at each other, Mike went back to reading Hedy's notes and let Foxy deal with it.

"The Lass doesn't like to see us looking 'wrong'," he said patiently. "Broken. Out of our suits. Anything like that."

Alex had to admit it was very creepy looking, just talking to someone who was essentially a big metal skeleton at the moment. Very Terminator-like.

"I'd call it a phobia by now," Bonnie said sadly. "She's not usually around for any big maintenance sessions. It's not that she doesn't want to help. She just… it's not her fault. Something… happened. It was pretty bad."

"You should see her when my beak comes off," Chi joked weakly. "She calls me a demon chicken."

Will cracked out a startled laugh from the back that he barely managed to stifle.

A light flashed slightly but no one besides an uncomfortable Olivia seemed to notice it. (Actually, they all did but they could all guess what caused it.) "Then…" Alex tried to take a breath to calm down as her throat tightened. No air entered her lungs and that just about tipped her over the edge. "Then what… am I supposed to do if she can't…"

In the back of her mind, she knew it was stupid. She knew she was being a little selfish. It wasn't a big deal, really. But Alex had been so looking forward to getting to help. Getting to be useful again, not just getting in the way and attracting pitying stares. This was all she could do, her list of possible distractions in the pizzeria limited. And getting to touch, to feel things, it kept her grounded. And now she couldn't even have that.

"She'll come around," Foxy assured. How could he know that?! He flinched as Mike scratched at the rust to see how deep it was.

"Sorry," Mike said.

Foxy forced himself to relax. "She… she… the Lass will make herself adjust. She'll tell herself it's for us and the Mechanic's sake. She just needs a little time. I don't think she was expecting such a full, uh, tutorial." His voice went up slightly in pitch as Mike gently began brushing rust away with a brush and some kind of solution he had grabbed from Parts and Services.

"Be careful, Mike," Hedy couldn't help speaking up in a rush.

Mike paused, glancing at Alex briefly before addressing Foxy. "Does that hurt?"

"Anything metal has feeling," Foxy said shortly. He squeaked out a high pitch giggle that had Bonnie staring at him. "Heh, you know if you look at this a certain way, I'm basically naked right now. In front of… everyone…"

"Oh don't make it weird," Chica sighed.

"It's already weird!"

Mike took Foxy's frantic snap in stride. "But does it hurt?"

"Yeah," Bonnie spoke for Foxy when the pirate wouldn't, his claws digging silently into the table's edge. "Hedy's pretty good at being gentle but there's only so much, you know?"

Mike scowled. "Tell me when something hurts. I can use the solution to get as much off with a rag first."

"If you–."Afton spoke up to suggest something but shut his mouth at the glares immediately directed his way. "N-nevermind."

Hedy looked exasperated with those who glared at the man. "Let the solution sit for about a minute before trying to wipe it off with a cloth. And use that old toothbrush, not the metal brush. That's only for very bad spots. It hurts a lot." She kept an eye on Alex in concern, feeling really bad about seemingly ignoring her emotional turmoil.

Alex backed toward the door. They didn't need her here. She was useless and being emotional on top of that. They didn't need that.

But she had to pass Olivia to get to the door.

"Um," the woman said hesitantly. "Do you… need me to get you something?" She glanced at Mike for help but he looked just as clueless about what to do.

That tightness was back in Alex's throat. Hedy did not need to see her like this. All her feelings felt like they were under the thinnest layer of glass and once that shattered, she'd be cut into a million little pieces.

Olivia panicked a little at the lack of a response. "You're probably more experienced than me," she said. "I could really use your help if you want to… uh… point things out to me. I'm pretty rusty with robotics stuff. I haven't been in school in a few years."

Alex knew she meant well. This woman who very well might be the same age as her was being kind, but it was the pity that made something inside Alex crack. Pity. Because she was dead. And a ghost. And was useless without Ruby's weird ability. Olivia was looking at her in that way because she didn't know how to interact with a dead person.

She was dead. Olivia was looking at her in pity because Alex was dead and how else are you supposed to react when someone was fucking dead?!

"No thanks," she mumbled before just turning. In her desire to get away, she didn't realise she walked through the closed door like it wasn't there. She wasn't even sure if any of them tried to stop her.

"Alex?" She heard Hedy's soft voice and just reacted.

"Leave me the hell alone," she blurted out in a rush to get away. From what? Not from Hedy, at least, she didn't think so.

She felt Hedy recoil slightly and the guilt…

It was crushing.

She couldn't think through it, having no clue if it was her guilt or Hedy's. She should haven't snapped like that. She should… She just ran and Hedy didn't follow. Even that presence that she had figured out was either Hedy or the "building" backed off, left behind down the hall as she just kept walking, trying to find somewhere that gave her some sense of privacy.

Privacy. She didn't even have that anymore.

Nowhere did she feel alone. She wandered, frantically looking for some corner that didn't feel like it was being watched.

"Leave me alone," she asked nobody, whispering. "Please please please just leave me alone leave me along leave me—" she repeated those words until they didn't have meaning.

"Miss Alex?"

"Fuck off!" she snapped at a very confused looking Andre, not staying long enough to see his expression turning from mild irritation to concern at her lashing out. She felt it though and that was so much worse. She couldn't even apologise to him as she walked faster. The man was just another reminder of a harsh reality he wasn't even fully aware of. Would he ever realize what she had? Why couldn't she be so deep in denial that she wasn't aware of being dead? Why wasn't she like him?

Eventually she collapsed in the dusty space between two cabinet games in the back of the dark arcade. She didn't fully remember how she got there but she really didn't care. She buried her head in her arms, tucking to her knees as she brought them up.

"Breathe," she tried to tell herself. "J-just breathe. Deep breaths. It's okay. It's—" Then she laughed hysterically.

BREATHE?! Fucking breathe? Was that the only thing she knew how to do?!

The laughter turned into sobs as everything began to sink in. Actually, it had been sinking in for the last two days but she hadn't given it the time. There was always something to distract her. So why the fuck did a look from one person turn her into a mess?

Can you even have a panic attack when you no longer breathe? Alex didn't know but this was probably as close as she could get. She just felt so… empty. Her heart wasn't even beating. She could tell how cold she was. Like a corpse in cold storage. It was so wrong. So wrong.

She tried to dig her fingernails into the dingy carpet. Her fingers searched for dust bunnies. Dead roaches. The power cords for the games. Anything to prove that she wasn't dead, she was fine, everything was fine.

But it wasn't fine, and her scrambling fingers phased through every little thing every single time. She felt nothing. She'd rip out her own fingernails to feel ANYTHING.

Everything was not fine. This was the ultimate definition of NOT FINE.

But everyone else was fine. She was the crazy one. She was the one that didn't feel right. Hedy wasn't breaking down like this. In fact, she seemed to be handling Alex's death just fine all things considering! She was used to this shit! Did Hedy even grasp death anymore when the concept of it being the END wasn't even really true anymore?!

Alex surged to her feet and began frantically pacing. At least she could pretend to feel the floor as she walked. She paced despite the terror that she'd fall through the earth at any moment.

What if she was stuck here forever? Alex didn't consider herself religious, but as she continued to pace around the room that felt like it was getting smaller the more she walked, she couldn't help but wonder if this was some kind of purgatory.

She was so scared.

And the worst of it was that this was all so normal to them. The cleaners, the other staff, Mike, Jeremy, Ruby, Hedy. Olivia, who barely looked older than she was as she stared at Alex like there was just something wrong with her. This was just part of life to them.

The paint night had been fun, it had distracted her. She could hold the bombs, get covered in paint, forget about everything. She couldn't forget at the moment.

She finally stopped pacing and slid down the wall again, hiding her face in her knees. Again. She didn't want to be stuck here forever.

She wanted to go home.

She wanted to see her Mom. She wanted to see Lisa. Fuck. She never even got the chance to introduce Lisa to her mom.

Please let me go home? She asked, having no clue who that plea got to, if anyone at all. But the building didn't understand what "home" was to her. So it didn't do anything.

Her thoughts spiralled as the panic and fear inside of her got bigger, and in her pain she forgot that her thoughts weren't just hers. She was never alone anymore. She just wanted to scream but she couldn't do that right? What if she broke something? What if she caused a storm like Ruby had?! She was stuck here, she didn't want them hating her.

Even as she thought that she knew it was stupid. Well how was she supposed to know?! She didn't know anything about this.

And whose fault is that?

Hedy's.

No, it wasn't. It wasn't. It wasn't her fault. It was mine. I was stupid. Hedy tried to warn me.

Did she really?

NO you can't say that. You can't think that! It's not true. Don't think like that. She's the only friend you have left!

She's… the only friend I have left. All the others? They didn't leave me. I'm the one who left. I left mom. I left…

Alex cried.

"You get used to it."

She might have had a heart attack if hers was still working at the sudden voice. She looked up, eyes wide and frantic.

"Stay away from me," she blurted out, Hedy's stories screaming at the front of her mind compounding with the panic.

The murderer stared at her for a second as he leaned on the doorframe, the illusion of solidness throwing her off. She wasn't sure why it bothered her so much.

"Wish I could tell you it gets better. It didn't for me, but hey, you aren't me. Lucky you," he laughed a little derisively but it wasn't really directed at her.

"Go away," Alex said, her voice cracking from strain. "I don't want to talk to you."

Michael Afton shrugged and her panic ticked up a notch when he didn't move. Leave me alone leave me alone.

One little thought cut through the noise. Please don't hurt me.

Michael snorted. "I'm not good at this 'touchy-feely' ghost brain crap but even I heard that. Relax. I'm not going to hurt you. Not like I can do much anyway. Probably not much else that can be done to someone who kicked the bucket as a robot's chew toy anyway."

It was such a cruel thing to say that it stunned her thoughts into silence for a second. The swirl of panicked thoughts ceased, for just a second.

"There you go," he said casually. "Good job, kid. Now try to focus on something else. Literally anything else. That shit drawing of Freddy on the arcade game next to you. That's a good choice."

All she could think about was his words at the moment so she did as he suggested before the rest of her could even process it. She looked at the faded artwork littering the sides of the arcade games, which were just reskinned knockoffs of classics.

Calming down felt so alien. There was no blood pounding in her ears except for the vague memory that was supposed to happen. But the tightness in her chest lessoned. She didn't feel like she was choking on a breath she couldn't let out.

Then she realised that she was alone in a dark room with the man who had murdered children. She looked up, some latent (useless at this point) survival instinct reminding her she shouldn't take her eyes off him.

He hadn't moved. He wasn't smiling but he wasn't glaring at her either. He just stared down at her with a neutral if somewhat curious look.

He suddenly made a face. "Look, if you want me to go get Wiggy for you, you can forget it. Not in the mood to get my head bashed in, which is what usually happens if I'm not careful and show my face in a hundred foot range of the little bitch with a Napoleon complex." He sounded a little amused despite the rudeness.

"What do you want?" she asked, trying to sound brave and utterly failing.

He rolled his eyes. "I was here first. And I don't want to have to pick another room to chill in for the rest of the night. So you can go find your own pity hole." He glanced at the arcade games lining the walls. He looked about to say something then thought better of it.

"That's it?" Alex asked. "You just… want me to leave." Why the fuck was she questioning him? Get the hell out!

"Yeah," Michael said, taking a step closer and making her press against the wall to regain some distance.

He pretended not to notice as he offered a hand. "So get up and take your whining somewhere else."

She stared at his hand for a moment as if not able to recognize that it was a hand.

He sighed in irritation and stepped closer to grab her arm and haul her up, well aware touching the new ghost probably meant he was going to get shoved in that 2D hell Goldy called a poster (or her bedroom if she was being funny.) But he weighed the pros and cons already and decided he'd take the risk.

He didn't really get the chance to though.

"Leave her alone!"

Alex started at the yellow sundress suddenly blocking her vision.

Cheryl glared up at Michael defiantly. Her little fists were tightly clenched and trembling.

Michael slightly pulled the hand he was offering back and blinked at the small child ghost.

"L-leave her alone!" Cheryl shouted, her voice cracking with tears at the corner of her eyes. But she refused to look away from him. "You… you don't get to h-hurt any more of Hedy's friends!" She could barely get the words out. She was shaking so much.

It was deathly silent for a second.

Alex didn't know what the fuck she was supposed to do. Fight or flight had checked out and all that was left was Freeze. Distantly, she was aware she was supposed to get this little child as far away from this monster as fucking possible.

Another second and both Cheryl and Alex startled at Michael's little laugh.

It threw Alex off and based on the way Cheryl jumped, her too.

He moved too fast and smoothly for Cheryl to react. It was a very calm movement and shockingly gentle.

"Cute," he praised, patting and ruffling Cheryl's hair and smirking as she violently threw herself away from the deceptively young man with a panicked gasp. She tripped over Alex's feet and clumsily fell into her arms.

Michael walked out of the room without looking back but Alex could have sworn she heard him snickering.

Alex didn't even know the kid that well but she hugged the terrified little girl tightly as Cheryl broke down into shaking sobs as she frantically ran her hands over her hair as if to claw Michael's touch off of her.

Alex felt like shit. Her little tantrum felt like nothing compared to the visceral terror and disgust she felt coming off the kid, every feeling heightened to frightening levels by their contact. "Hey… He… he's gone. He's gone…"

Cheryl wailed, babbling words Alex could only barely catch. She startled tugging on a few strands of hair as if compelled to yank them out. But they wouldn't budge despite the obvious effort and pain Cheryl was putting into it, even as Alex struggled with the girl's hands to stop her. Cheryl continued to sob but it wasn't all fear and sadness, there was an abundance of anger and revulsion as well. She was just hurting.

"S-stop," Alex said in a panic. "Please. It's okay. He's gone. He…" Saying he was gone was not helping. It occurred to her that of course it was an empty comfort. He was never gone. They were in the same building. And that psychopath probably had a dozen ways to remind the non-human residents of his presence.

Alex couldn't see Ruby or Hedy allowing that but no one had exactly filled her in on the protocol for interacting with the murderer.

"Let's… let's go get, Hedy," Alex said, mostly to herself.

Cheryl grabbed her shirt and sobbed out a frantic refusal. "N-No no. Don't… don't tell Wiggy she…" she trailed off into sniffles.

"O-Okay," Alex said, unsure about anything.

"Just… c-can I just… just sit here?" Cheryl pleaded, her eyes riddled with fear.

"Sure?" Alex said with some uncertainty. She ended up holding the girl for almost ten minutes until the crying had subsided.

"I'm sorry," Cheryl said meekly, still not moving from the position where she had accidentally begun cuddling the new ghost. She shifted but didn't sit up. "I… he…" She shuddered and her voice broke in a sob. "He touched me…"

"I'm sorry. I… I should have stopped him," Alex said guiltily.

Cheryl sniffled and seemed to shrink in on herself a little. "Not your fault…"

It was quiet for a few minutes.

"That was super brave of you. Thank you so much." It seemed like what Hedy would say to a kid. It felt clumsy coming out of her mouth.

"I think he wants to hurt you," Cheryl whispered. "He… he really hates Hedy. He'll hurt you because you're her friend."

That didn't really seem to match his odd behaviour. He really didn't seem to care that much. But Alex wasn't about to voice those doubts.

"Don't… don't trust him," Cheryl said through her sniffles with a serious stare into Alex's eyes. She was desperate for Alex to listen to her. "He's… tricky."

"I won't," Alex appeased. "Don't worry. He didn't do anything. He just wanted me to leave."

Cheryl shook her head. "Don't trust him," she repeated, whispering as she sunk into Alex's arms with a sob.

They were quiet for a couple awkward minutes before Cheryl pulled away and scooted back across the floor, wiping her eyes.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay…" Alex said, feeling even more lost than before. But at least she felt a little more sane. She told herself it wasn't that man's distraction that helped.

He'd just surprised her. That was all.

Mike was a little surprised when Ruby slipped back into the room only twenty minutes later. Unfortunately Alex hadn't returned yet and he hadn't expected to see either of them for a while. Mike thought Alex would be back long before the teenager though. Hedy looked anxious, continuously glancing at the doors Alex and Ruby had left through. Mike had debated whether to ask Hedy if he should go look for Alex, but then Ruby returned and derailed that plan.

The teen grabbed Foxy's file from the pile on the table near the door and sat down against the wall as she started to page through it. She still looked pale but she was back, just like Foxy predicted.

Mike wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing though. Foxy's anxiety had escalated rapidly and Puppet was showing an astonishing amount of patience as the fox had snapped at him several times already. Verbally and literally.

Hedy had mixed feelings when she noticed that Mike had put painter's tape over what she had written on Foxy's file. On one hand, she thought it was sweet how Mike was considerate about Ruby's touchiness when it came to any insults thrown Foxy's way. On the other hand, Hedy didn't really give a shit about Ruby's opinion when it came to her expert opinion on whether Foxy was a dumbass.

Some of the bots really did seem to be trying their best to help, at least. Chica and Chi were attempting to stay positive and the Funtimes were the good kids right now, apparently, because they were just watching the train wreck from the corner. Vixen looked torn between amusement and worry as she watched Foxy while Ballora was just plain concerned, occasionally whispering to Baby to ask what was going on.

Goldy had tried to be calm about things but ended up snapping at Mangle who was doing her level best to irritate and piss off everyone. Mike knew that it was her attempt to get out of this again but it was really causing more trouble than anyone needed right now. She wasn't helping Foxy's anxiety either. She was actually actively trying to make it worse.

Was this what having kids was like? Especially when they hit their bratty teenage phase?

The moment Mangle realised Ruby was back, she tried a different tactic. Mike wasn't sure if her biggest problem was with Puppet or Afton right now but she was determined that neither of them should touch any of the bots, not just her.

He'd never wanted to actually strangle any of the bots before (as useless as that would be) but the urge was definitely hitting him now.

"Ruby," Mangle said, drawing attention to the teenager who was grimacing at whatever she was reading in the file. Ruby quirked an eyebrow at the sound of her name but didn't look up. "Foxy's upset. This isn't fair to make him sit here when he's about to panic."

"Butt out!" Foxy snapped, well aware of what Mangle was doing but not calm enough to prove her wrong. "I'm fine. Puppet! If you touch that wire one more time, I'll bite yer head off!"

"Try me," Puppet said, perfectly calm as he continued showing a wary Mike and Olivia how to twist the ends of a wire out of the way. Mike was pointedly staying just out of Foxy's reach while Puppet clearly didn't care while he explained that some wires were more the equivalent to nerves and should only be touched as a last resort while others were more like veins in terms of sensitivity. Unfortunately, they all looked the same usually…

"Mangle," Toby muttered. "Leave it. You're making things worse."

Afton was showing an awful lot of self control not saying anything, aware his voice would also make things worse.

Freddy was rubbing his face and Spring was quiet but staying close to Hedy for his own comfort now. The tension in the air was getting to him pretty badly. He still didn't like it when the others were upset.

"Seriously, can you stop?" Goldy growled, pressing her hands to her temples. She never growled.

"Just saying," Mangle said with a shrug. "We're basically being forced into this. You don't make humans go to a doctor against their will. Not like we're kids."

Hedy huffed and wondered if Mangle had overheard Jeremy, Ruby, and her discussion before they walked in that night. She was honestly too stressed to tell Mangle to be quiet.

Ruby twitched at the argument and her fingers tightened on the file. She closed it after a beat and leaned her forehead on the front for a moment as she took a deep breath.

Then she threw the thing straight at Mangle who yelped in surprise and tried to duck. It bounced harmlessly off her shoulder and the papers spilled out all over the floor.

Hedy rubbed her eyes and let out a slow breath. It took her hours to put that stupid thing together and it would take more hours to put it back together.

One of the Minireenas began collecting the papers with a happy hum, prompted by a little nudge from Ballora.

"Alright, you want me involved, Mags? Then I'm involved," Ruby said, pushing herself to her feet and advancing towards the fox. "You see these papers? These are the reasons that I'm not stepping in. These are the reasons that Foxy volunteered to do this. These are Hedy's notes. And she knows a hell of a lot more than the rest of us, doesn't she?"

She crossed her arms and glared at the youngest fox.

"You're right. Outside of any life-threatening problems, we can't force you to be here or to go along with this. So if you want to leave, then get the fuck out. We don't need your temper tantrum causing everyone else problems."

Foxy jerked when Puppet moved unexpectedly, but before he could slap the smaller bot away with claws the teenager whipped around and pinned him with a glare.

"Sit your ass down, Foxy!"

Mangle jumped, remembering a second later that wasn't her name anymore. Ruby's tone was just… hard to ignore. She never spoke to Foxy like that. That particular tone was reserved for misbehaving children. And Toby.

Foxy froze.

"Puppet isn't doing anything to hurt you, your brother is one of the most experienced people here so take a breath, pick a wall tile to stare at and focus on anything but what he's doing."

It was quiet for a second.

"The correct response is 'Yes Ma'am'," Spring suggested cheekily.

"Not callin m'kid Ma'am," Foxy ground out, still staring at Ruby wide-eyed.

She planted her hands on her hips and glared at him in a way that was usually reserved for anyone that wasn't a fox. Even Mangle had never got that particular expression directed at her.

"You move an inch and I am painting the ship purple."

"You wouldn't," Foxy squeaked out a gasp while Bonnie whistled.

"Try me," she dared. "Piss me off enough and I'll even let Shit Ghost pick the shade!"

There were several shocked gasps around the room and Teddy dropped his cards as they completely forgot their game.

Hedy's eyes were wide. That seemed a little far. Ruby really wasn't playing around right now. She couldn't tell if that was a bluff or not.

Will winced, knowing his eldest would be far too pleased with the chance and would hold it over Foxy for years.

Puppet didn't say anything but Mike noticed through his shock that the lanky bot kept working while Foxy was very effectively distracted by Ruby. To be fair, everyone was. None of them had seen her take the 'tough love' approach with him before. She was always softer with the foxes. They got away with a lot more than anyone else did.

Ruby maintained eye contact with him for a moment longer before turning back to a stunned Mangle.

"Quit acting like a spoiled brat and either sit down and shut up, or do everyone a favour and get out. Are you going to disappoint me and everyone else even more tonight? Or are you done?"

Mangle scowled and glanced at Hedy.

Hedy did not back her up, honestly looking too tired too. She looked sad though.

Mangle looked away quickly before the guilt sunk in too much. She didn't… mean to make things more difficult for Hedy. She just… she just didn't trust that anyone but Hedy wouldn't… do something.

She knew it was a little silly. But then again, she never thought Puppet would go out of his way to hurt her. She never thought Will would abandon them. Hedy was the only one who would never…

"I get your issues with the situation," Ruby's voice softened a tiny bit. "But you're making it everyone else's problem now. You're using Foxy's phobia against him. He's very aware that he can leave if he wants to. He can end it anytime. But he's being mature and practical about things and biting the bullet since he knows he needs to. You making things worse for him is fucking cruel."

She took a deep breath before forcing herself to be a bit calmer when she spoke again. "No one wants to be here. Olivia is working overtime to help out. She'd rather be at home with her kid. Mike would much rather be fussing over his girlfriend than wrangling a bunch of robotic toddlers into acting their age. The Funtimes definitely don't want to be here for all this drama-"

"Yep," Baby interjected. "This isn't even entertaining drama." Ballora smacked her arm while Vixen closed her eyes in exasperation.

"-and I sure as hell do not want to be here! I just threw up in the bathroom because of suit pieces! But I'm here. And so is everyone else. Suck it up, make your decision and leave everyone else alone Mags. No one's out to get you or some bullshit. Puppet's not plotting some long term scheme and Afton has been giving you all the space you need. So please just stop making this more difficult than it already is."

Mangle shifted on her feet and stared at the floor.

Done with her lecture, Ruby visibly braced herself before turning and marching over to Foxy. She stood in front of him and maintained eye contact.

"Purple pirate ship," she warned. "Don't make me go through with that Captain. I really don't want to."

"Nearly done," Puppet promised. "Schmidt. Olivia. Can you two finish the rewiring in his hand while I replace the oil?"

Ruby snapped her fingers in Foxy's face before he could look in Puppet's direction. "Eyes on me. Fuck, why couldn't Afton give you a fox shaped metal head?"

"...Do you actually want an answer?" Afton sheepishly asked from across the room.

"No," several voices replied.

"Yes!" BB declared.

"Sit down, shut up," Ruby bit out without looking away from Foxy.

The smallest bot did as ordered immediately, everyone else looking a bit surprised with how quickly he complied.

"Older sister Ruby is out," Chica whispered to Freddy.

"You have a problem with the appointments, you put it in writing. Essay form; intro, body and conclusion. And then you can hand it in to Mike. Don't pull me into your arguments. Don't pull Hedy into it. Don't pull Jeremy into it. Mike is right. He's in charge right now. So stop complaining," Ruby ground out.

Foxy seemed too afraid to actually break eye contact with her and hadn't shifted an inch since she'd started speaking. His facial expressions were much harder to read at the moment.

"Someone pinch me," Mike said, looking up from his work. "Did Ruby just say I was right?'

Olivia reached across Foxy and pinched Mike's arm.

"Ow."

"Sorry. You asked. And yes, she did."

Mangle hadn't moved from where Ruby had left her standing, staring at the floor. She flinched as Hedy scooted to her side best she could with one hand (and maybe a little assistance from Spring).

"Mags," Hedy said quietly. "I'm sorry I can't do anything to help you right now. But it's very important that you let someone fix that leg. I'll sit right next to you if you want. But I really need you to pick someone to work on you. For me. Please."

Mangle hesitantly nodded. She looked up. "Alex? You… can tell her how, right? Coach her?"

Hedy nodded slightly. "We can ask. But… Alex might not be able to help you much. Be prepared for her to say no."

Mangle glanced at Vixen, then immediately away as she noticed the other fox was staring at her. Yeah, it would make sense if Alex didn't want anything to do with her, given how similar she and Vixen looked.

Hedy huffed. "Speaking of Alex, I'm a little worried about her. Can you take someone with you and go look for her? Just… give yourself a little bit to cool off. But don't push your leg. I need you to decide what we're going to do about it when you get back."

"...Fine," Mangle said, turning to leave and a little grateful for the excuse.

"Take someone with you," Hedy reminded.

Mangle groaned. "BB!"

"No way. Watching Foxy squirm is more fun."

Bonnie fidgeted. "I'll come," he said, standing up and carefully patting Foxy on a bare shoulder.

Bonnie caught up with Mangle and looked down at her. "I needed to get out of there too," he said with a shudder.

Mangle huffed. "I don't need a babysitter."

"Of course not," Bonnie agreed as they went searching for a ghost probably having a panic attack. He hoped Alex wouldn't mind that they came looking. They'd given her space at first but he wasn't sure if that's really what she needed or not.

He was pretty sure they were all screwing up when it came to their latest ghost. He felt really bad for her, but it was so hard to know what to do. They didn't know her and Hedy looked just as lost, or even more so, despite being the closest to Alex. It… it just really sucked.

Mike put his things down to join Olivia in the rewiring. He was looking forward to having one of the most difficult (unintentionally, the fox really was trying) patients out of the way. Foxy didn't react well to having more people crowding him and he snapped at them with a growl, making Olivia jump back in fright.

"If you bite me," Mike warned as he jerked back, "I will ask the building to hide all your Pirates of Caribbean movies for a month." He wondered if Foxy had ever almost bit Hedy and they just kept it between them. She looked shockingly unsurprised by the fox's almost animalistic behaviour.

Foxy actually looked apologetic, which made Mike fully believe the little attack was unintentional.

"Sorry…" he muttered, despite the growl still in his voice. He sounded shockingly pathetic.

Ruby bent her head and covered her eyes for a moment before straightening up again. "It's okay," she sighed with a grimace. "Fine. I'll do it. Gimme the tools. And a trash can."

"What?!" The shocked outburst came from most of the audience but Ruby ignored them.

She grabbed Foxy's hand before leaning in close and giving him a sweet smile. "Cause you don't want to give me any more cool scars, so you're not going to bite me."

"That's not fair," Foxy whined, glaring at her. "I can't help it," he said with gritted (endoskeleton) teeth.

Ruby ignored his complaint. "And if you move while I'm working, we're not having any sword fights for as long as Mike hides those movies."

Mike looked at Hedy to make sure this was okay but she just waved her not-fucked-up hand.

"She'll be fine," their mechanic said. "I let her practice on the cupcake. And the extra endo parts."

"You're lucky Cupcake's not really alive," Chica said dryly. "And when were you guys doing this anyway? I thought Ruby was still avoiding everything related to maintenance. She's only ever stuck around for Spring's for long."

"While we were getting ready for this… trip," Hedy said, nodding towards the Funtimes. "I figured if the story for Afton was that Ruby was my assistant, she should know something."

Afton just hummed. He honestly hadn't even questioned it.

Ruby pushed Foxy's hand down firmly before jumping up on the table to basically sit on his arm, knocking some (thankfully not important) things off onto the floor. She grabbed the tools and got to work while Foxy was still protesting. Puppet didn't say anything, only moving slightly so his own work wasn't interrupted. He was taking the opportunity to replace as many decaying oiling tubes as he could, knowing it was one of the tasks Hedy had put off for Foxy's comfort since it wasn't urgent, although important. Taking off the entire suit was necessary for such a job and it was unlikely Foxy would allow this again for a very long time.

BB was standing nearby now with a trashcan as they all watched the teenager lose several shades as she got started. Despite how queasy she looked, her hands didn't shake as she worked with surprising efficiency.

Hedy looked very pleased and proud of the teenager as she got close enough to watch but still didn't intervene.

Foxy was so distracted by Ruby that he didn't even notice anything Puppet was doing. He also didn't move an inch with the threats still hanging over his head. It wasn't long before Ruby was finished, not having had to ask for help before she dropped the tools and sat back.

"Hedy," she said shortly, waving at the fox's hand for confirmation. She still wanted someone to make sure she did it right despite her usual pride. She pressed a hand over her mouth as she waited.

Hedy came closer. She resisted the urge to point out a few placement "mistakes" that were literally just her compulsive preferences and not actually wrong at all. "Looks good. Just tighten the screws to lock it in and you're done."

Ruby followed the instruction with quick, controlled movements before almost falling off Foxy's arm in her rush to get to the trashcan. Unfortunately, she didn't quite make it and tripped. The trashcan got knocked out of BB's hands and the vomit landed on the poor bot instead.

"GET IT OFF! IT'S LEAKING THROUGH MY PLATING!" BB wailed as he bolted out the room, other bots diving out of the way.

There was a pause before a quiet laugh broke the silence from the back of the room, Afton really struggling to maintain his composure and he covered his face and shook..

Ruby accepted the cloth Toby awkwardly offered and wiped at her mouth miserably. "Wires are like veins," she whimpered. "How do you people do this?"

She curled in on herself as she tried to pull herself together again. Thankfully, there were no ghostly effects to the room so she was keeping her emotions fairly well controlled despite her rebellious stomach.

Baby watched for a second before nudging Vixen and whispering something to her with a subtle gesture at Foxy.

Vixen looked confused for a second but did whatever Baby asked. She cleared her throat and got the other's attention. "Question. What happened to your tail?" Vixen asked.

Mike froze and looked at Foxy, who scowled while Bonnie, Freddy, and Chica laughed. "You had a tail?" he asked while grabbing Foxy's suit at Puppet's prompting.

Ruby peered over her arm but quickly ducked back down. She'd wait until her fox was looking like himself again.

The Toys were staring at Foxy, squinting as they tried to think back to their very short time knowing the Originals before they got half-scrapped.

"Huh. Forgot you had one… " Teddy admitted.

"That wasn't in the manuals," Hedy said in confusion. She was pretty sure she'd have noticed something like that.

Afton snerked before he could stop himself, despite the glares shot his way every time he made the slightest noise. "Did you… uh… was there another incident after I left?"

Vixen's eyes narrowed. "Don't tell me you lost a fight with a door again?!" Her own tail lashed a little in exasperation. Or maybe she was mocking the other fox.

"No!" Foxy snapped desperately, crossing his arms until Mike lightly smacked them so he could put the arm pieces of the suit on.

"Yes," Bonnie said with a smirk. "It was a very epic battle. There was an orchestral accompaniment and everything."

"Shut. It," Foxy growled.

"It was unsalvageable."

"Bonnie. Shut up."

"It was very sad. Scott had a funeral for it. I think it's still buried out back at the last location."

Foxy groaned.

Baby snickered.

"Done," Puppet said as he clicked the last latch into place after slipping Foxy's face on with Mike's help. They got the suit on in record time through the distraction.

Puppet had barely gotten the word out when Ruby launched herself at the bot from her curled up position a few feet away. The Funtimes were left wondering how a human went from a standstill to that damn fast that quickly. She hit the fox hard enough that she was going to bruise. Puppet barely dodged a boot to the face as she clung to Foxy like a limpet.

"I'm sooooooooorryyyyyy!" the teenager wailed. "I was so mean!" The guilt was practically dripping from her voice and completely genuine. The number of times they'd heard Ruby like this could be counted on one hand.

Most of the bots were left completely speechless at the abrupt about face she did.

"The blatant favouritism…" Teddy whispered in disbelief as Ruby all but cried while she apologised to Foxy.

Ballora especially found it very amusing while the other Funtimes were similarly both entertained and confused by the switch in behaviour. Ruby sometimes moved too quickly for them. It was nice to see that most of the others were still scrambling to catch up as well this time though.

"Weird," Baby muttered as Ruby continued to cling to Foxy as he rolled his eyes and patted her head. For the bot she knew to be the most likely to hold grudges, he'd clearly already moved past everything the teenager had said and done. Forgiven before she even asked for it.

"I don't think you're gross without your suit, you're the best fox ever and I'm sorry I threw up on BB after working on your hand!"

"Why are you apologising to Foxy for throwing up on ME!?" BB complained, still wiping off in the corner of the room despite Hedy's scold to get some more antibacterial wipes from the kitchen. His voice sounded like he wanted to cry.

"I don't want Foxy to think it's 'cause of him!" Ruby sniffled into the fox's chest, sounding truly pathetic. "Don't be mad at me Foxyyyyyy."

"I'm not mad, Lass," Foxy said, trying not to laugh but still grumpy about the tail topic. He was clearly affected by her distress though. It reminded him of long past memories of Ruby getting into trouble as a little kid. Proper apology tears were rare back then and pretty much reserved for him if her parents weren't involved. He'd much prefer that she didn't start crying right now though. That would throw everyone into a panic and someone would pick a fight over something.

The Originals were protective. They couldn't help it. Ruby didn't need protection, but it wouldn't stop them from getting angry if she was upset.

Vixen squinted at the sight. How did the 'feral rage gremlin' suddenly turn all 'frantically upset child' so quickly? She really didn't understand the girl. Or her close friendship with Foxy…

"Promise?" Ruby asked hopefully.

"Promise," he said fondly.

She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. "Best fox. I would never paint your ship purple. That was a bluff. And I'd never ever let Shit Ghost get involved. That was the worst lie I've ever told. How did any of you even believe me? I'm not a monster."

"You're very convincing and it was a shock you'd even bluff that," Hedy said.

"I didn't even sound believable! I completely screwed up the tone and delivery," Ruby complained, face still smushed against Foxy's suit.

"I knew she was bluffing," Jeremy chuckled quietly.

"You're a detective, Jeremy," Hedy deadpanned.

"None of the rest of us are getting apologies like that," Chi deadpanned. "Ever. This really isn't fair. I don't think she's ever apologised to anyone like that before!"

Mike rubbed his face tiredly. Well, that could have gone worse. Ruby really had come through and helped them. And Foxy was mostly sorted for the moment. He looked up when Mangle, Bonnie and Alex arrived back in the room. They all looked bewildered by the sight they found.

"What happened?" Mangle asked in confusion.

"Favouritism," Bonnie guessed with a shrug.

"What?" Alex looked lost.

Ruby's head snapped up and around at the sound of Alex's voice.

"Oh thank fuck you're back!" she slumped in relief. She almost slipped right off of Foxy who had to scramble to catch her before she fell. He didn't seem very annoyed though. His own stress from earlier had vanished completely now as he tried to calm his kid down.

Alex blinked, expecting a reprimand instead of that reaction. Then she looked a little ashamed. "Oh. Uh. Yeah. Sorry about that. I just…" she trailed off, unsure what sort of explanation worked best. She had a hard time looking at Hedy. "Sorry…"

"You okay?" Hedy asked.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine," Alex gave Hedy and the rest of them a very unconvincing smile.

Cheryl suddenly popped up behind Alex's shoulder, floating. "Michael was a dick to her! But we're fine."

Ruby sat bolt upright, attitude changing sharply again. "What did he do? Do I need to deal with him again?" she asked darkly.

The Funtimes were thrown entirely by how quickly she changed again. Baby rubbed her temples, convinced that this was going to start giving her a headache unless she figured out how the weird teenager worked.

"Nothing!" Alex said quickly. "Literally nothing. Creepy guy just got annoyed about me uh… crying… in his space."

Vixen was desperately looking anywhere but the ghost, wide-eyed as she decided the floor was very interesting.

Ruby eyed her suspiciously and glanced at Cheryl. "It's never 'nothing' with that guy." She didn't push it though and climbed off of Foxy at last.

"I'm going to get you a new Pirates of the Caribbean poster for being so mean," she told Foxy after a moment. "A big one. Do you want a new hat?"

"I can't keep up with this girl," Baby muttered.

"He's her bot," Freddy sighed, shrugging. "She's his kid. He's always going to get special treatment from her and vice versa. Same way that Hedy folds when Spring gives her a sad look. You'll get used to it."

"Go rinse your mouth," Foxy fussed as he started to shoo Ruby out of the room, already in his own motherhen mode. "And drink some water. You've thrown up twice now. Maybe you should take something to settle your stomach, lass."

"Okay," Ruby said easily enough, slowing as they got closer to the door. "But what was that about a tail?"

"No," Foxy said.

"Please?" she asked sweetly, looking up at him with the puppy dog eyes she rarely used. They'd lose their potency if she did.

Bonnie called after them, latching on Foxy's hesitancy before they got too far. "He'll fold eventually, Ruby! He misses it!"

"Shut up."

"He named it!"

"Bonnie! Shut up!" Foxy shouted over his shoulder as he ushered Ruby to the bathrooms. He glared daggers at the rabbit.

"He named it?!" Ruby asked, twisting to look at Bonnie while Foxy kept her moving at the same pace.

"Cool," BB complained. "I'm going to go take a bath in the sink and short myself out, thanks."

Ruby didn't apologise out loud like she had to Foxy, but she did hold a handful of BB's favourite brand of batteries out on her way out the room. She didn't really do verbal apologies (Foxy was one of the only exceptions) but they all knew what the gesture meant. BB accepted it pretty happily too. His forgiveness was easily bought and he could probably get a favour from the teenager later as well. She usually let her actions apologise for her rather than her words.

Vixen waited for Foxy and his kid to get out of hearing range for a second. "A moment of silence for Mr. Fluffles."

"HA!" Baby laughed explosively while Ballora and the other Originals cracked up and the Toys looked awed, except for Mangle who felt like she was missing out. Toby quietly filled her in and her eyes widened as she snickered.

"Incredible," Jeremy said with an almost vindictive smile.

Faintly they heard Foxy shout from down the hall. "VIXEN YOU BETTER NOT HAVE TOLD THEM!"

Vixen smirked.

They all knew Ruby was going to be nagging at them for the information later.

Mike watched them for a moment. He didn't doubt that Ruby was going to stick around both to help Alex and to shut down any more temper tantrums. As dramatic as her methods were, they were also usually very effective. He considered his option before he leaned over to speak to Puppet who was cleaning up the mess Ruby made when she knocked everything off the table.

"You and Alex are going to do all your appointments together."

Puppet frowned. "Very well."

"Wow. Just like that. Not even a token argument?"

Puppet shot him a look and Mike put up his hands to back off. He'd take the win. Puppet had taken Ruby's interference in stride and Mike was pretty sure if the two worked together they'd be able to handle most of the more reluctant bots. They'd been pretty damn civil to each other lately, which was weird. So he was hopeful about the idea.

Puppet sighed as he pointed out something unpleasant. "We're going to have to go through another… tutorial for Ms. Alex's sake."

Alex looked horrified. "Shit. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to… I'm sorry."

"It's hardly your fault," Puppet said neutrally. "You can hardly be expected to have very stable emotions right now. So long as no one is harmed by your outbursts, express yourself however you need to. I'm sure the others and myself would much rather you not bottle up any negative emotions. It causes more troubles than it might temporarily solve. Frankly, walking out is very mild compared to what some of us expected from you."

"O-oh… " Alex said quietly.

Puppet got a few surprised stares, not expecting him to willingly offer an adult like Alex compassion, in his own way, by validating her feelings.

"Well, maybe we don't have to entirely take off someone else's suit," Hedy suggested. "And we can do it while Foxy keeps Ruby distracted for the moment."

"Any volunteers?" Puppet asked, really not expecting anyone else to jump at the chance given how near-disastrous Foxy's checkup was.

The bots all looked at each other uneasily.

"Well… our suits are a little different," Teddy said hesitantly, looking almost like he wanted to slap himself for even speaking up in the first place.

Everyone stared at him like he'd just volunteered for the Hunger Games.

Hedy glanced at Mangle, silently checking if she was going to behave this time.

The younger fox wouldn't look her in the eye but didn't say anything.

Taking off Teddy's suit was far less of an ordeal. The discomfort still pervaded the room but watching Foxy freak out had warmed everyone up so they were far less bothered this time. Teddy was one of the least problematic with Hedy when it came to maintenance so he was in far better shape, really just needing a few motors adjusted and some screws tightened down.

Olivia and Alex both did a terrible job of curbing their fascination to levels that didn't creep out the animatronics. The Toys were a little more mechanically and electronically complicated, with far more wires and visible circuitry. And far more suit pieces. Puppet's explanations were curt but clear and by the time Ruby and Foxy got back, Teddy was already finished.

The attention turned to Mike afterwards for the inevitable appointments schedule.

He didn't say anything for a couple of minutes as he stared at his board/calendar before decisively rearranging a few things. For the most part, the timing remained the same but Ruby's task of assisting Alex was compounded with Puppet's appointments. On the board, he just put Alex and Puppet's appointments together but everyone understood that Ruby was implied there.

There were mixed feelings on the change. Mangle wasn't thrilled that Puppet would be there with Alex now but she didn't complain out loud. Some of the others were also worried about Ruby and Puppet being stuck together for so long in a situation that was likely going to be high stress. They were concerned that Mike was being too optimistic in that decision.

Alex honestly would have preferred to work on her own (with Ruby helping her touch things of course) but she also knew she wasn't in a position to suggest that. It wasn't the Puppet's fault she thought he looked a little creepy. She also knew she most certainly did not have the experience the animatronic had. She couldn't quite shake the feeling that he'd judge her ineptitude the entire time. Part of her was a little disappointed that Mike hadn't put Hedy on the schedule whatsoever, even as a supervisor.

BB groaned as he noticed his name on the board. He didn't smell like vomit anymore at least. "How come I have an appointment tonight?!" He looked at the clock, immediately annoyed to see it would be hours before the end of the shift.

"Because Hedy was already planning on working on you tonight, before all of this happened," Mike said casually. "And I don't want to screw up her routine too much."

"Thanks," Hedy said with a sigh. With the stress reducing, it was easier to tell how upset she really was about this.

Spring wondered if she was just as possessive about her job as Ruby was. She hadn't directly spoken against the idea of letting others take over for her.

Those that weren't involved in the last appointments of the day scattered to find some peace. Foxy didn't let Mangle run off though and told her that she was taking it easy until her maintenance happened. She was going to be stuck being pretty stationary until then since they didn't want her to make it worse. Goldy had already agreed to keep an eye on her considering she did a runner earlier and didn't show up for the check up with Mike.

She was going to have a couple of babysitters for a while…

Hedy was itching to ask who was going to look at Mangle that night but she had to trust it would happen. No one had broached the topic of asking Alex if she'd be willing to look at that leg. It was hard to tell if Alex had a problem with Mangle. She clearly didn't like looking at Vixen, but her reaction to Mangle's presence seemed fairly neutral, although not intensely interested like how Alex looked at all the other bots.

Mike waited for others to get situated, then went with BB to the room where the bot's appointment would be. Mike was actually playing escort and the little bot sulked but wasn't really complaining. He'd already forgiven Ruby for the vomit after he got the batteries. He'd never really been able to hold a grudge against the teenager for long despite some of her antics.

"Hedy is sulking," BB said once they were out of hearing range of the main room.

"Well, she'll just have to deal with it," Mike said with a sigh.

BB still scowled. "Why can't we do this later? I haven't made balloons in years. Two months isn't gonna make a difference."

Mike didn't answer because they arrived at the side room Puppet, Ruby, and Alex had claimed for a little more privacy while they worked (and also so Hedy wouldn't hover).

Puppet seemed to be fine and was really showing some impressive patience tonight. Alex and Ruby were busy figuring out how to position themselves so that the young woman could work easily without the teenager needing to see much of it. She was still a bit pale but the shakiness was gone.

"BB here for his check up!" Mike said cheekily as he ushered BB into the room. "You guys ready?"

"Just about," Puppet said as he finished sorting through the box of BB's spare parts.

"Uh. Sure," Alex said. "Is Hedy really okay with me using her stuff?"

"Of course," Mike said, glancing at BB to make sure he wasn't going to be overprotective. It seemed he was mostly still defensive about the Bidybabs touching Hedy's tools and wasn't too bothered by anyone else needing them.

Puppet clucked at a messy spool of wire and began winding it back up.

"You going to be okay, Ruby?" Mike checked. She was stubborn but he felt like he needed to. They all knew that her issues with seeing the bots during maintenance wasn't just 'dramatics' like the Funtimes probably assumed.

"I'm fine," the teenager muttered, pulling out her phone with one hand. "I'll keep myself distracted while those two do their thing."

She and Alex were standing back to back, Ruby leaning on Alex to provide contact. It looked odd and a little funny since the teen wasn't usually touchy but Ruby had both her hands free to distract herself with her phone this way.

Alex was testing out her tactility, picking up tools and tossing them between her hands. She looked pretty happy, even with the inconvenience of keeping some kind of contact with Ruby. "You could probably pull a chair over and sit with your foot on my back or something. If that's easier."

"Careful. If Ruby leaves a boot print, Hedy is going to think she beat you up," Mike joked.

Alex cracked a weak smile, appreciating Mike's attempt to put her at ease.

Mike just hoped it actually worked and she wasn't just being polite.

"Welp, I'll leave you guys to it," he said. "BB. Behave or Hedy will ask the building to chuck your batteries in the dumpster."

The bot pouted at him as Mike left. At least the drama seemed to be over for the night. He stopped in to check on the other mechanic pair just in case but Afton and Olivia seemed to be getting along pretty well so far.

Hedy actually had insisted on sticking around with the pair, promising she just wanted to watch and learn since she wasn't knowledgeable about the Funtimes and didn't want to be behind (whatever "behind" meant to her) when she could finally get back to work. Goldy was babysitting to make sure she didn't do anything stupid. Mike walked in on the latest threat.

"-and if you even try to touch anything," Goldy said sternly. "I'm teleporting you all the way to Fright and you can spend the last hour of shift nauseous and watching YouTube with Kitty."

Hedy rolled her eyes. "Goldy, I'm not stupid."

"You aren't, but you're going to hurt yourself on accident because you just can't help it," Goldy said, looking up to glance at Mike. "Hi Mike."

Afton and Olivia greeted him too, although Afton immediately went back to looking over Ballora with a small flashlight. The two were doing a good job of ignoring the lecture Hedy was getting.

Mike nudged Hedy's shoulder gently. "Hey, you okay?"

Hedy grunted. "Just wishing everyone would stop treating me like glass."

"Only because you're the one who's going to hurt yourself," Goldy said patiently.

"Alright already! I get it. No touching anything," Hedy said.

Mike sympathised with her, he really did. But he knew this was necessary. He refused to let Hedy permanently injure herself. If the price was her being mad at him for a while, he'd pay it in a heartbeat.

Afton and Olivia continued to work for the next hour or so and the energy lulled while Olivia asked her questions, with both Afton and Ballora occasionally answering. Hedy asked questions too but always seemed to be biting her tongue. The calm was a welcome wind down from the 'tutorials'.

Peace never lasted long in this place though. They were all back in the main room when it was next upended. Mike had just sat down, feeling like he had been on his feet for two days straight.

"POPS!" the sudden wail gave them all a fright as BB barged into the room and beelined for Afton, latching onto his leg. "Please do my maintenance appointments! Please!"

They all stared at him in stunned bafflement. He looked fine, actually better than before. He'd been cleaned up completely as well. He was completely distressed despite that.

Afton sputtered a moment, completely caught off guard by the name. "P-pardon?"

"They're so mean," BB whimpered.

"...Surely Marionette can't be any worse than he ever was before."

"No! You don't understand!" He clung to Afton's pant leg desperately, which prompted Afton to pat his head and back in confusion. "Puppet and Ruby together are awful!"

"Did they fight?" Mike asked in concern. He'd been hoping they could put aside their usual hostility for this.

"Worse!" BB sniffled. "They worked together! It was horrible!"

Afton was relieved to see he wasn't the only one confused.

"You're being overdramatic," Ruby huffed from the doorway. She was still paler than usual and had some oil splattered on her hands, but she wasn't as shaky as they were expecting.

Alex was behind her and watching the teenager warily. She looked up at Hedy and mouthed 'they're terrifying' behind Ruby's back.

Puppet, however, saw the action and elected not to comment or call her out for it as he passed her. Really these entire few days he seemed far more quiet and reserved than usual. Mike suspected it actually wasn't a good thing or Puppet just being more agreeable. There was something deeper here and strangely enough, he suspected that Ruby knew more than anyone else.

BB shuffled so that he was hiding behind Afton as they came into the room.

"You're such a baby," Ruby rolled her eyes. "It was fine. I didn't even yell."

"That's what was so scary," BB whispered to Afton. "She used this soft scary voice and Puppet was just as bad! I never want to go to them again! They worked together and didn't even fight once!"

"There's no glitter or paint," Mike noted to Hedy. "No glue and there weren't explosions. No new dents either. What the hell scared BB that much?"

"You're just upset because we called you out on all the acid damage from the batteries," Puppet said, crossing his arms, "I believe it qualifies as an addiction at this point."

"I'm actually worried about it," Ruby agreed, making Goldy frown. Ruby and Puppet never just agreed like that. There was no reluctance or grudging tone, and there wasn't even a single dirty look from either of them. "We might need to revisit the whole battery collection thing."

"Who are you and what have you done with Puppet?" Goldy joked, getting an annoyed look from the bot.

Ruby snagged a cloth to wipe her hands off with and then tossed it to Puppet. "Oil on your face." She dropped down to sit next to Hedy on the floor with a tired sigh. "I'm definitely having nightmares for a week after tonight."

The mechanic studied BB for a long moment before she realised something. "Did you two actually get BB to sit still for an oil change?!"

BB despised changing his oil with a burning passion and not even batteries got his cooperation.

"He was in dire need of one," Puppet shrugged as he wiped his mask. "It was in your notes."

"We got everything you said he needed done," Alex told her. "It was, uh, an experience." She leaned down to whisper to Hedy. "I thought you said those two don't like each other?"

"They don't," Hedy said, not bothering to lower her voice as she stared at the two in question. "Or at least they pretend. Puppet is very tsundere."

Mangle cracked up laughing against her will while some of the other bots looked confused about the word and Puppet glared at Hedy.

"I don't believe that's the appropriate use of that term," Puppet said sourly.

"Hey, we can be civil when necessary," Ruby complained since they were still getting multiple strange looks.

Mike raised an eyebrow but said nothing. 'Civil' was different from actively working together without a problem.

"Well, at least BB doesn't need another appointment if you got everything done," he said cheerfully.

"Never again," the little bot swore fervently and Ruby rolled her eyes again.

BB looked at Mangle after a moment. "Good luck," he told her sincerely, no joke in his tone. "Are you sure you don't want Pops to look at you? They're worse, I promise. So much worse…"

"I'm starting to get offended," Ruby said dryly.

Mangle glared at BB. "I'm not changing." Her gaze shifted to Afton defiantly.

"You're so stubborn it hurts," Mike said.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," BB muttered, an almost sorrowful note to his voice.

Quite a few of them wished they could have seen exactly what happened during that appointment. Mike was regretting leaving now. Then again, he was also feeling pretty done with all the drama. Maybe it was better not to know.

But back to the matter at hand, Afton hadn't exactly given BB an answer. If anything, the man looked even more lost.

BB rolled his eyes and harshly tugged a trouser leg. "Pops!"

"Eh? What?" Afton stammered a little, still caught off guard by the name.

The other animatronics, besides maybe Goldy and Spring, were pretending like they didn't hear anything.

"You're working on me," BB said firmly, scowling at Ruby and Puppet.

Afton blinked once. Twice. "If that's… what you want… But if they were thorough, you won't need another check for a while…"

"Such a baby," Ruby muttered under her breath.

Puppet handed Hedy the folder on BB so that she could check exactly what had been done. She appreciated the fact that he was making the effort to keep her included even if she couldn't work on anyone herself. It would make things easier on her later too.

"Will can work on me too," Spring said casually, pointedly addressing Mike and ignoring the way Puppet stiffened.

Puppet wasn't the only one looking a little shocked and maybe alarmed. BB was one thing. He had made it clear even before Hedy and Ruby returned that he was going to be contrarian about their attitudes towards Will.

"No," Foxy, Freddy, and Puppet all said at once, then proceeded to all look very awkward as they shared a glance. At least Freddy and Foxy looked awkward. Puppet just looked irritated.

"Aw!" Spring said with a laugh while Goldy squealed a little and the Toys looked weirded out while the others were amused. "The protectiveness is cute, but no. You guys don't really get a say in who I want to work on me." His voice was surprisingly firm.

Goldy smiled slightly.

"I would just like to say," Ruby spoke up. "I love Spring with everything in me, but I will not work on him. So this works great. We both have, uh, something like PTSD regarding each other and… mechanical matters."

It was a very diplomatic way to say that Ruby had done a fair amount of the damage that caused the issues needing fixing and she still felt guilty about it.

"That doesn't bother me," Spring said, waving his hand (the one that Ruby had crushed), "But if Ruby isn't okay with it, then I'd rather not force her." He looked at Hedy. "That okay, Wiggy?"

Puppet stared, trying to decode why he felt so bothered that Spring wanted Hedwig's permission and not his. He shoved the thoughts away. It was Spring's choice ultimately, regardless of how little Puppet trusted Afton with Spring's currently still-delicate systems.

Hedy nodded, actually looking a little bit relieved. "I'll probably have to supervise for a while…" Her tone seemed a little uncertain. "Given all the new parts." She glanced at Will, almost anxiously, but only Ruby, Mike, and Spring actually caught it. Jeremy was busy having a silent staring contest with a mildly pissed off Puppet.

Will looked about to ask what she meant by "new parts" but thought better of it after Spring gave him a little smile. It didn't really abate his anxiety about the entire situation. He thought about refusing Spring's request, just for the sake of not angering the rest, but couldn't bring himself to speak. Maybe he was still a little stunned by Balloon Boy's request. The concept that any of his animatronics wanted him to touch them felt almost unreal. He was surprised it was a nonissue with the Funtimes. They didn't seem to have much of a sense of abandonment like the others. Part of him was sure that would catch up with them eventually.

"PTSD?" Baby asked with a frown into the tense atmosphere.

"We'll tell you when you're older," Goldy told her with a nervous chuckle. "Don't worry about it."

"Percussive maintenance," Spring joked cheerfully and Ruby dropped her head onto her knees with a groan, bracing herself for his next words. "Ruby beat Michael out of me!"

Goldy glared at him, a frightening sight because she never glared at Spring. "Spring!" Her tone even made Puppet jump, which was a bizarre sight for the Toys at least.

Spring looked mostly apologetic, ears flicking back.

Afton looked ill again.

"I was aiming at Michael!" Ruby complained. "He hurt Hedy and I was mad. I apologised to Spring after…" she trailed off into incoherent grumbling.

"This is how I feel every time you bring up the scars on your back," Foxy added to Ruby, getting a pout from her.

"And I don't even remember most of it!" Spring added cheerfully.

Hedy blinked. "Most?" she squeaked.

Spring froze. Then laughed a little nervously. "Uh…"

"You talked yourself into this," the teenager said to Spring when the silence stretched. She'd already known that he remembered at least some of it, even if he wouldn't admit to it.

"Most?" Hedy asked again, her voice shaking slightly. In anger? In tears? It was impossible to tell.

"Hey, it's okay! I'm fine. I was cheering Ruby on," Spring said to comfort Hedy who was looking a little sick. "Plus, it worked."

Goldy looked like she was considering strangling the yellow rabbit. Just a little bit.

"Okay, we're going to put a pin in that talk for another night," Mike interrupted. "Spring, stop scaring your kid and your dad."

"Wiggy usually likes the morbid humour," Spring sighed, gently brushing hair out of Hedy's face while she glared at him.

"Well, she's a bit high on pain meds right now," Mike pointed out.

"I'm not that high," Hedy muttered.

"Anyway," Mike said louder before another argument could start. "It's been a successful night, I'd say."

"Speak for yourself," BB whined softly.

"We can continue with the appointments for the rest of the week now. No changing anything at the last minute so if anyone has a problem we haven't already discussed, now's the time," Mike continued over his complaints.

There were some grumbles but none of the other bots spoke up as Mike readjusted the appointment board to include having Ruby, Alex, and Puppet's appointments together, and moving BB's weekly checkups and Spring's continued repair sessions from Puppet to Afton. He did write Hedy down as supervisor for Spring, which seemed to make her relax a little. His and Olivia's duties were mostly spread out as general maintenance during the day shifts or right after closing since Olivia couldn't sacrifice her nights with a kid at home. She'd get paid overtime if she did stay later for any reason though.

Puppet surprisingly didn't complain and Ruby only muttered something that was probably a swear under her breath.

The Funtimes were to be worked on pretty frequently until they were at 100%, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sunday nights.

Afton cleared his throat. "Mr. Schmidt."

"Mike." the younger man said calmly.

"Mike. Um. Would you mind shifting my sessions with the Funtimes to Monday nights? Or Saturday?"

"Hm. Well, Monday's are usually movie nights," Mike said as he studied his work. "I figured we wouldn't want to exclude the Funtimes from that."

"We appreciate it," Ballora said sincerely. She was the most optimistic about spending time with everyone again while the others were still a bit nervous or wary.

"And Saturdays tend to be the busiest days for the bots…" Mike hummed.

"I usually don't work on Saturdays to give them a break from being prodded," Hedy explained.

Not every bot was aware of that given some of their looks. Yes, Saturdays tended to be when there were the most reserved birthday parties and the most children visiting but some of them hadn't really thought to notice that Hedy purposely avoided work those nights after.

Goldy was eyeing Will, hoping he was confident enough to explain his request. All the bots knew why but she didn't think anyone else would care enough to respect the tradition in their anger at the man.

Will simply nodded. "I see. That's quite alright. It was just a personal preference."

Baby looked expectantly at Will and frowned before looking back at Mike. "It's not like we're going to be busy with the others on Saturday anyway," she pointed out. "Put us with Will on Saturday nights."

Mike decided not to question it. "Okay." After another couple of minutes the board was finished, barring any more edits. He'd have to clean it up a little, but it was clear enough for the time being. "This is going to be hanging in Hedy's office," he said, putting the marker cap on and his hands on his hips. "If anyone tries to change it, I'll know." He pulled out his phone and took a picture to make a point.

"If anyone tries I hope the building makes the marker backfire in their face," Ruby muttered spitefully. She was very much in a bad mood after everything and probably needed sleep.

"Ooh that's a good idea," Mike said with a smile.

There was a little rumble through the room, making Hedy surprised and confused.

"HA!" Mike crowed triumphantly as he pointed at Foxy. "Told you it was going to listen to me!"

"Technically it listened to Ruby," Foxy huffed. "You just jumped on the bandwagon."

"Let me have this!" Mike complained.

"Can I sleep yet?" Ruby mumbled into her arms, listing to the side quite a bit.

"Can I go home yet?" Olivia asked in the same tone. "As interesting as it is to see how you lovely weirdos act at night, I do have to get home. I had to pay my usual babysitter extra to stay at my apartment overnight."

"You'll get paid full overtime," Mike assured her. "We already got it, uh, approved with the manager."

"Meaning you blackmailed and/or threatened him."

"Shh. We're not supposed to admit to it."

The bots snickered while Ruby smiled innocently. Will wasn't sure what they meant but no one seemed upset about the topic. Goldy in particular looked a bit smug.

"Riiight," Olivia frowned at the board. "Hold on. You didn't get everyone."

"Oh, the Minireena's and Bidybaby's are supposed to be checked with Ballora and Baby respectively," Mike explained.

"I mean Ennard," Olivia said. She looked confused when everyone tensed.

A couple of the little bots flinched and ducked behind their caretakers.

"... When did you run into Ennard?" Mike asked quickly before Ruby could. The teenager had tensed up but otherwise hadn't reacted.

"Uh… when I went to the bathroom like an hour ago…?" Olivia said nervously, feeling like she did something she wasn't supposed to. "She just said hi and asked my name. She's uh… kinda creepy, no offence." She glanced at Will.

"I didn't design… her," Will said quietly, his voice cracking in a way that just hurt to hear, even for those angry with him and Olivia who didn't understand the context.

It was awkwardly quiet for a second.

"Olivia counts as night shift when she's working after midnight," Puppet deadpanned, figuring out the loophole immediately. "She's not on day shift right now."

Ruby let out a sharp sigh but the tension left her when she glanced at him. "Right. Just, be careful around her," she said, rubbing her face. "She's… she's a different case."

The teenager was being alarmingly diplomatic whenever Ennard came up lately. It was odd. Also, Ruby had just believed Puppet without arguing or even taking a moment to think about his logic. Just how tired was she?

Olivia looked very uncertain. "You guys… uh… ever going to fill us normies in?" she asked, crossing her arms with a pointed glance at Alex who immediately looked down at the tiles.

"We'll let you know when we've finished processing it ourselves," the teenager said shortly.

"... Okay," Olivia accepted Ruby's answer, not that Ruby would have given her a choice in the matter, and Mike had to marvel at the fact it was a much better answer than he was expecting from the teen. Not an immediate shut down at least. "Well, I'm out of here," Olivia continued, "I'll probably be coming in for the afternoon shift. Some of us can't function on four hours of sleep a night."

They watched her grab her bag and head out. It was quiet for a bit, no one wanted to bring up Ennard approaching the "new" mechanic when they weren't paying attention, but some of them felt like they should.

Goldy was watching Puppet warily. He'd been very cold and his body language harder to read the last few days, but he seemed to go completely "blank" when Ennard was brought up. She didn't like it. But Ruby speaking up distracted her.

"It's six. Can I go home yet? I'm not pulling overtime today guys."

"Please don't," Foxy said. "Go sleep."

"Are any of you going to need me any time soon?" Jeremy asked, rubbing his eyes. "I've taken off so much time for work, my boss is threatening to fire me."

Hedy looked concerned.

"He won't," Jeremy assured. "But I'm probably not getting a Christmas bonus this year." He looked at his sister seriously. "If I go home, are you actually going to let Mike take care of you? I don't need to stay on your couch for the next six weeks?"

"Could you please shut the FUCK up about my hand!"

Jeremy stepped back and blinked while Ruby almost overbalanced when she jerked in shock.

Mike sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth and winced. He was expecting the snap eventually.

Hedy glared at him and everyone else, daring them to add to the topic. She spoke softly, her voice raising with every frustrated word. "The. Next. Person… To talk to me like an I'm an idiot… who doesn't understand how important it is that I DON'T DO THE ONE FUCKING THING I'M GOOD AT is getting stuck in the ball bit for the rest of the day!"

Everyone wisely listened to her.

Ruby stood up after the silence stretched for a long, awkward moment. "Well, I'm leaving," she said definitively. "And Hedy, don't be a dumbass. You're good at a ton of things, including being an insufferably annoying mechanic." She eyed Hedy just before she left the room. "And you might need sleep more than me for once. Don't mess with the ball pit, Pirate Cove is mine bitch."

She gave Hedy the middle finger before disappearing from view.

Mike noticed how worried Alex looked, not used to Ruby's offbeat way of showing care. She seemed to relax when Hedy rolled her eyes and scoffed out an irritated laugh instead of looking angry with the no-longer present teen.

"Hey," he said, nudging his girlfriend. "Say bye. She's right. We should go home and you do need more sleep."

Hedy nodded but didn't apologise for snapping as she mumbled her farewells to the bots and Mike pushed her out to the parking lot.

The Toys meekly waved and mumbled out their goodbyes while the Originals had made themselves scarce the moment they'd realised Hedy was genuinely pissed off with all of them. She could be scary when she was actually mad.

The Funtimes lingered, eyeing Jeremy who stood there for a minute looking a little stunned by Hedy yelling at him. Sure, she had gotten annoyed at him before over the years. Snapped even, especially when he was pestering her about her health. But something about the pain and frustration in her voice this time made him pause.

Will didn't say a word.

"Don't you have an actual job to get to?" Puppet prompted the man.

Jeremy blinked. "Uh. Yeah."

"We'll keep you updated," Spring promised him. He was a lot less thrown off by Hedy's outburst, partly expecting it, but he was still shaken by it.

Jeremy nodded and glanced at Afton.

The man cleared his throat. "I'll… uh… assist the Funtimes with getting settled for the day."

Baby rolled her eyes. They didn't need help locking themselves in their new room anymore after adjusting to the concept of the building. It was obvious Will was just looking for an excuse to stick around longer. She gathered he really didn't have anywhere to go for the day and she knew the others were aware of that too.

Puppet eyed Will but surprisingly didn't comment, which Goldy was thankful for. Small blessings.

Outside, Mike noticed Jeremy leaving out the front doors while they pulled out of the parking lot. He took his eyes off the road for a second to glance at Hedy.

"They're just worried," he said softly.

Hedy didn't answer and continued to stare out the window. "I know…"

Mike tapped on the steering wheel for a second. "They're not saying you're, like, weak or anything. They just know how stubborn you can be."

Hedy scoffed.

"And how you tend to punish yourself…"

Hedy jumped slightly and glanced at him, but he kept his eyes on the road.

"When we met…" Mike said cautiously. "That night where everyone got electrocuted–"

Hedy stiffened and looked back out the window. "You mean when I electrocuted everyone," she muttered.

Mike paused. "...I noticed that you didn't look like you slept much for weeks after, even after Ruby returned. You worked really hard on repairs."

"There was a lot of work to do. The bots were hurt," Hedy said. "Ruby was recovering. Everyone was recovering."

"Well… yeah, but I didn't realise at the time that you could have spread it out a little more," Mike said. "Everyone was recovering… except for you. Have you ever taken a break? Just… told the bots that you're not working for a week?"

"A week?" Hedy looked at him like he was crazy. "Mike, I take breaks."

"Saturday's don't count," he said firmly, cutting off her argument. "Even when you give the bots breaks, you're sitting on your computer researching something or working on microchips. You never stop, Hedy. Maybe… maybe this will be good for you."

Hedy grit her teeth and still wouldn't look at him. "There's so much to do. All the time."

"But you're not alone now. Really, you could have asked for help long before this—"

"The bots—"

"Would have been okay with it if they knew how much you were burning out. So why didn't you ever ask Olivia to do her job?"

"Ruby wouldn't have let her."

"Again, it might have taken time to warm the bots up to Olivia, but I bet Ruby would have adjusted to the idea if she knew how hard you were working."

"You don't need to read so much into my notes," Hedy said with an eye roll. "Can we just drop it please?"

Mike hesitated. "Okay. Just… you know I'm here when you want to talk. I'm always here, Hedy."

Hedy didn't respond, focused on the passing trees.

"I love you," Mike prompted.

It was quiet for a few beats before Hedy mumbled out, "I love you too…"

They drove the rest of the way in silence.

Mike wish he knew what Hedy was thinking.