Not Alone - Foxy's Return

Chapter Nine

༻Law Troubles༺

"Oh, my little Niki!"

The woman started jogging forward, and Foxy glanced down when he felt Niki shuffle slightly behind him, watching the woman with slight fear in her eyes.
"Did you all find her?" The woman asked as she stopped in front of the animatronics.
Tess stepped forward with a small nod.

"Foxy here did. He kept her safe until you returned, or at least that's what they all claim."
The woman glanced from Tess, to Foxy, to Niki and then back to Tess.
"I don't remember this one," she said, gesturing to Foxy. "I only remember those four." She pointed to the main band, and Tess gave an awkward nod.
"Yes well... That's a long story. What matters is that you're here, and Niki is safe, so this can finally end and you all can go home at last."
The woman gave a nod, kneeling down to look at Niki.

(A/N: TW: Mentions of child ab*se and harming. I'll put a notice when the TW is over if you want to skip this part.)

And that's when the little girl did something that surprised them all.
"No! I don't want to go! You'll just hit me again!" Niki protested, clinging onto Foxy's paw as if for dear life.
Slowly, the woman's expression changed from one of kindness, to one of apparent innocence. For a brief moment, Foxy was sure he saw a flash of anger in her eyes, but she looked away, back at Tess, who was looking at her in confusion.

"Now, Niki," the woman said slowly. "You know I don't do that. I'm just being a mom." With a glance at Tess she added, "She's probably just being rebellious, you know, kids these days."
But Niki shook her head. "No, you're lying! You do hit me! You hit me after the second day I went to see Foxy! That's why I didn't come back!"
Tess looked unsure of the situation, but then her expression turned to one of relief when she saw two cops-The same from before-emerging from the utility tunnel entrance downstairs. When they saw the group, they jogged up the stairs.

"Officers the girl doesn't wanna go. Says her mother... Hits her or something." Tess explained, and Niki gave a helpful little nod of confirmation. The lead cop blinked in surprise.
"Is this true?" He asked the woman, who quickly shook her head and gave an innocent face.
"Me? Never! Why would I hurt my little Niki?"

Niki's eyes were brimmed with tears as she took a brave step forward, still clinging onto Foxy's paw.
"Because I'm not yours!" She exclaimed. "You made the system pick for you and you didn't like me because you wanted a younger kid! So you took it out on me!"
She stopped when the tears started spilling uncontrollably, and Foxy wrapped a comforting arm around her form as she retreated beside him again.

The cops were turning to the woman, who wore a mixture of anger and resignation on her face. "Mrs Hannah, is all of this true? You said before that you picked her."
Hannah gave a quick nod. "Oh-oh yeah! I meant that like... I'd decided to go through with the adoption after that. You know. Instead of going for another one."
The cops glanced at one another, then at Niki.
"Ms, tell us, what exactly does she do?"
Foxy kneeled to Niki's level, giving her an encouraging look. She turned up to the cops, and began to speak.

"The day I went to see Foxy again, when I came back to her, she acted really nice at first, when we were around other people. When we got in our car, she became really angry. She was really loud and said she wished she'd never adopted me. She said I should be more like my sister. Then when we got home, she grabbed me really hard, here." She lifted her little sleeve, to expose some faint red lines, presumably scratch marks, on her arm. "Then she hit me, hard. And she didn't give me any dinner or breakfast. And she said that I wasn't going to ever see the outside unless we had to go somewhere with my sister. When we did come back again, it was because she wanted to take my sister. She said I had to stay in her sights again or I'd get hit again when we got home. So that's why I ran away, to stay with Foxy. Because he's nice to me!"