Work Text:
As Susan Woodings finished her coffee, she sighed, exhausted.
Why did she ever agree to get the night shift?
“It’ll be great!” Jack had said to her. “You won’t be under any pressure, because it’ll be after hours! Nobody will be there!”
It seemed like a good idea at the time. Between paying bills, building the animatronics, and being a lesbian in a country that didn’t exactly like gay people, women, or gay women, she was always stressed.
But, as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, and up got out of her chair to get to work, she cursed herself under her breath for agreeing to get the night shift.
This would be a long night.
She had noticed the irregularities with Bon. He seemed…off.
It all started at the beginning of the day, before the party. The MECH’s elbows and knees had gotten stuck.
It was weird. Felix had gone to check them, and they were working. She didn’t understand why they had gotten stuck.
She managed to fix them by forcing the joints to move. She would’ve checked it out before the party, but the party was about to start. Felix wanted everything to go as smoothly as possible.
She carried her heavy toolbox backstage, her eyes trailing to the blue animatronic that lay against the back wall. It almost looked like it was staring at her.
First, she’d have to check the arm.
She made quick work of unscrewing the plates that covered the wiring. She opened the arm of the suit, examining the MECH.
Nothing seemed to be wrong. The wiring was in place, the joints weren’t rusted, the…
“Susan…”
She froze, looking around. “Hello?”
“Susan…disconnect the main wire…it’s rigged to kill you…”
“Mr. Walten? Where are you?” The backstage had a serious echoing problem. She couldn’t tell where the sound was coming from.
“Damn it, Susan, disconnect it!” He rasped, coughing weakly.
She reached inside and unplugged the main wire from the suit.
Well, that was anticlimactic.
As she pulled her hand out of the suit, something brushed against her fingers.
A piece of fabric.
A dress shirt.
The next minute was a blur.
She remembered grabbing her drill, attaching a screw bit to the end of it, and unscrewing the screws on the front of the suit.
There were a lot of screws, and she knew she’d be looking for them later, but she didn’t care. She tossed each screw aside, before moving to the next.
When each piece of the front was pulled off, she could hear Jack sigh in relief. But she didn’t dare stop. After all, who knew how long Jack had been in there?
Finally, she was able to pull the MECH out of the suit.
His hair was matted, and it stuck to his forehead. Sweat, dirt, and blood covered his face. He looked pale.
She looked down, and her stomach dropped as she realized why Bon’s joints had gotten stuck.
Jack’s legs and forearms were broken. They were bent at sickening angles, consistent with Bon’s joints.
Jack gasped, now able to breathe freely without the MECH crushing him.
“Mr. Walten? Can you hear me?”
Jack’s eyes fluttered half open. “Susan…” His voice was hoarse.
“Oh my god, how long…what are you…”
“What day is it?”
“June 30th.”
“Oh.” His eyes glazed over, and he looked like he was about to pass out.
“Mr. Walten, stay with me! I’ll call an ambulance!”
“Susan? Is that you?”
Rosemary.
She always showed up after hours, waiting for Jack.
Susan peered out of the curtain, her vision blurry from tears. She felt horrible. “Mrs. Walten! In here!”
By the time Rosemary entered the backstage, like Susan told her to, her missing husband was there. But she didn’t see him. Not at first.
“Jack?”
“I’m here.” He mumbled.
Rosemary’s stared at the animatronic, where her half-dead husband was, in horror. She walked over to it and crouched down to meet Jack’s eyes.
“Jack…”
“Hey, Rosie…”
Tears pricked her eyes.
He was alive. Jack was alive.
She planted a quick kiss on his forehead.
“Rosie…it hurts…”
“What hurts?”
“Everything. It hurts so bad, Rosie.”
Susan swallowed thickly. “I’m so sorry, Mrs. Walten.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Susan. Don’t apologize. But I would call an ambulance. Like, right now.”
Susan cursed and hurried down the hall to the phone.
Rosemary rushed over to the fridge, grabbing a bottle of water.
She opened it and rushed back over to Jack, putting the bottle to his cracked lips.
He drank it without hesitation, downing the entire bottle. “T-thanks.” He said, his voice shaky from adrenaline.
They were silent for a few seconds.
Jack finally broke the silence, giggling. “R-Remember when you used to tease me in college about how I should’ve worn a rabbit costume for Halloween?”
Rosemary let out a noise somewhere between a laugh and a sob. She knew that he was in shock. Otherwise he wouldn’t have been laughing. “Shut up! This isn’t funny!”
“The rabbit thing wasn’t funny either.”
The corners of her lips twitched upwards. “It was very funny. Imagine bad-boy Jack Walten wearing a pink bunny outfit.”
Jack rolled his eyes. “Don’t start with the bad-boy crap. I don’t even wear a leather jacket anymore. I like to think of myself as much more happy than I was.”
“Yes, you are an absolute ray of sunshine, Jack.”
She planted another kiss on his forehead. “I missed you.” She had started to cry again.
“I missed you too, Rosie.” He whispered, tears welling up in his own eyes.
They heard the faint sound of sirens in the distance, slowly getting louder.
Susan rushed outside to meet them, waving her arms frantically.
One police car and one ambulance pulled into the parking lot, sirens blaring at a volume that made Susan’s ears hurt.
The police car stopped in front of her. A man and a woman stepped out of the car, the former giving her a raised eyebrow.
“Ms. Woodings?”
“Yes, officer.”
“I’m Officer Davis. This is my partner, Officer Jackson.” He said, gesturing towards the woman next to him. “So, what seems to be the trouble?”
Susan gestured for them to follow her, glancing at the paramedics, who were just getting out of the ambulance.
She explained everything on her way inside. She told them how she had found Jack, and how he was injured.
Finally, they reached the backstage, where Rosemary was kneeling over her husband, tears streaming down her face.
One of the officers, Officer Jackson, pulled her outside. Paramedics pushed past them.
“What’s your name, ma’am?”
“Rosemary Walten. I’m Jack’s wife.”
“Ok. How did you find him?”
“I didn’t. Susan did. I…ever since Jack went missing, I always came here every night. I guess I hoped that he’d show up. While I was waiting, I heard Susan telling someone to stay awake. I went back there, and I found out that Jack had gotten stuck in the Bon animatronic.”
The officer nodded, scribbling something on her note pad. “Ok. Mrs. Walten, would you happen to know anyone who would be responsible for this?”
“It’s Felix!” She heard Jack yell from the other room.
She had to have heard that incorrectly.
She poked her head through the curtain, staring at Jack with wide eyes. “W-what?”
Jack teared up. “It-it was Felix. He did this.”
“Who’s Felix?”
“F-Felix Kranken. He’s Jack’s best friend. Or, w-was, I guess.”
The paramedic who was kneeling next to Jack stood up. “Okay. Mr. Walten, can you move your neck?”
“Y-yeah. It’s a bit stiff, though.”
“Good. Does your back hurt? Does it feel broken?”
“I don’t think so. It just hurts from being in this damned suit for s-so long.”
“Ok. I think we might have to lift you out of there. I’m telling you this because it’s probably going to hurt.
Jack winced. “Fine. Just get it over with.”
Two other paramedics wheeled a gurney into the room. They lowered its height so that they wouldn’t have to lift Jack as much.
The paramedics got into position, being careful
“Ok. Ready? One, two, three!”
They lifted Jack out of the suit and set him down on the gurney. His arms hung over the edges of it, bending at the parts where they had broken.
It made Rosemary sick to her stomach.
“It’s okay, Mr. Walten. It’s over.” Ryan said as he watched Jack turn pale from the pain.
A tear rolled down his face. “Rosie…”
“I’m here, Jack. I’m not going anywhere.”
He closed his eyes, his breathing becoming more relaxed.
As they walked to the ambulance, she walked over to Susan. “Can you pick up Sophie and bring her to the hospital? Tell her that Jack is injured, but he’ll be fine.”
Susan nodded. “Ok.”
Susan started walking away, but Rosemary called after her. “Oh, Susan?”
Susan looked over her shoulder.
“Thank you.” Rosemary said shakily.
Susan smiled. “Of course, Mrs. Walten.”
Then, she walked back inside to get her things.
She climbed onto the ambulance, where her husband was. His shirt had been cut off, and a needle had been placed into the crook of his elbow.
The ride to the hospital was mostly silent. She mainly spent it looking at Jack, occasionally shedding a tear or two.
Then, she heard something, very faint, but still there.
She could hear Jack mumbling to himself.
No, not mumbling.
Singing.
“ Oh, but love grows where my Rosemary goes, and nobody knows like me… ” He sang softly.
She remembered the first time they had heard that song. Jack was coming home from work, and Rosemary was making dinner.
He walked into their house with a record, grinning from ear to ear.
He had her stop what she was doing and led her to the record player in the living room. He set the record down on the
When the record started playing, Jack led her to the middle of the living room, and held a hand out to her, asking her to dance.
And they did, with Rosemary blushing more and more as she heard the lyrics of the song.
Then, she smelled smoke, and realized that her food was burning.
She was snapped out of her thoughts as the ambulance hit a speed bump.
She couldn’t help but tear up again, and she pressed her lips to Jack’s forehead.
Jack was hurt. She knew that much.
But he was alive. And that was enough for her.