Scott's PoV

Of course he would flash that smile at me. The one he knew got me all flustered. Damn him, I thought, sighing outwardly. He walked out of the Cove and over to a couple of kids.

One kid tugged on my hand, tears streaming down their cheeks. Rubbing their eye with their free hand, they sobbed to me about losing their stuffed animal. I smiled softly, allowing them to show me where they'd last seen it. Following the kid, I glanced around. Dyl had disappeared, but that wasn't uncommon. He tended to sit in the Cove when he got overwhelmed.

Soon after the kid found their stuffed animal (it was tucked away in some obscure corner), a mother came over, obviously in a panic.

"My kids are missing! I can't find them," she said, words slurring together in a single breath. I asked her which ones they were, and she described the kids I saw Dylin talking to earlier. A younger blonde girl and red-headed boy. My eyebrows furrowed slightly, and I chewed on my lip as I listened to the woman.

A hand was placed on my shoulder, and I jumped slightly, glancing over my shoulder to look at whoever had touched me. Boss stood there, fedora tipped to hide his eyes in shadows, but I could see them clearly.

"Scott, I need you to work the night shift tonight. Maybe get those recordings done, like we talked about before, yeah?" I nodded slightly. "Great. Go home, get some rest before tonight, then." His gaze shifted to the woman in front of me. "How may I help you?" He asked. I stepped away, headed toward the front of the building. I opened the door, walking out. I walked over to my truck, clambering in, noting that Dyl's Fury was gone. I shrugged it off, driving home.

I saw Dylin's car in the garage, and I pulled my truck up behind it, getting out and walking inside.

"Dyl? I'm home," I called out, kicking my shoes off. He came practically barreling out of the living room.

"Hey, Butterscotch," he said, wrapping his arms around me tightly.

"What sounds good for dinner?"

"Fazoli's?" I nodded.

"Okay." Rubbing my eye, I made my way to the bedroom. "I'm gonna take a quick nap. I've got night shift tonight." He quirked his head to the side.

"Night shift?"

"Yeah. Boss wants me to crank out some recordings for new night guards. What better time to record calls for night guards than during the night shift?"

"Night shift is tough." I nodded in agreement. As a precaution, Boss has all day guards work the night shift at least once. And since Dyl and I have worked with Boss for years, we've worked our fair share of night shifts.

"I'm gonna get all the recordings done tonight. One for each night."

"It's Friday," he pointed out. I nodded again.

"I know. But I've worked Fridays a lot before and never got caught. Even distracted." I looked at him pointedly. Boss didn't let us work night shifts together anymore after a close call with Chica. "I'm gonna go take a nap now, Dyl. Wake me up at around, oh, six?" He nodded, kissing me gently. I reciprocated before pulling back and walking into the bedroom.

∞-X-∞

I sat in the swivel chair, setting the tape recorder Boss gave me on the desk. We had a new guard coming in Monday night and Boss wanted to have the recordings done for them. Schmidt, I think the last name was. I didn't quite catch the first name. I turned on the tablet, looking at my watch. 23:58. Two minutes to showtime. I clicked on the tape recorder, starting to talk as the clock flipped to midnight.

∞-X-∞

I was working on the fourth tape when I slipped up. I was already short on power, and it was making me anxious. I'd started stuttering as I gave instructions, letting out a short, "oh, no," as the power gave. Freddy took the opportunity and came at me, grabbing me by the shoulders. He dragged me out of the office, just as I hit the record button for my fifth tape. As Freddy dragged me backstage, I heard Bonnie's signature moaning coming from the office. Great. The fifth tape was just Bonnie.

Freddy grabbed a suit, clunking it over to me. Grabbing my right arm, he shoved it into the damn suit. I yelped in pain, waiting for him to start on the next part as the chime rang for six. I mentally congratulated myself as I eased the suit from my arm as Freddy left the room. It was awkward, since I was right handed, but I managed.

I walked out to my truck, groaning as I realized I was gonna get blood on my seats. And that I had to twist myself funky to turn the truck on. But I managed, driving home and grabbing the first aid stuff and cleaning my arm, wrapping it in bandages before crawling into bed next to Dylin.

He opened his eyes as the bed shifted, looking at me. "Hey, babe," he muttered, pressing his lips to mine.

"Hey, hon." I'd pulled my shirt off prior to getting in bed, tossing it in the trash. The sleeve was irreparably shredded. But it left my bandages exposed as I climbed into bed.

Dylin propped himself up on one elbow, furrowing his eyebrows as he looked at my arm. "What happened?"

I looked away. I knew he'd give me an 'I told you so'.

"I was recording and the power ran out. But to be fair, I don't think the generator charged properly because I didn't have full power in the first place," I explained. "But Freddy had gotten to me and stuck my arm in a suit before the alarm rang."

He nodded. "Are you okay?" I nodded. "Okay. I know how you are with blood, and if it was coming from you... I don't want you to be hurt too bad, Scott." I nodded.

"It's not too bad. Now I'm gonna go to sleep." He nodded, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me close.

"Love you," he murmured.

"Love you, too." My eyes slid shut, and I fell asleep.