A/N: So I have a lot of excuses and stuff, but no one wants to here that. You guys wanted Sans POV so I struggled through this. If anyone wants, I could use a beta reader for the Sans dialogue and general grammar. Please PM me or leave a comment if you're interested.

Constructive criticism and Flames are helpful.

Four years ago, Frisk had caused a state of emergency in the brand new monster country. Shops and homes had been frantically abandoned in the search for the missing child. Everyone searched for the Royal family's adopted daughter, and no one searched farther or longer than Frisk's closest group of friends. Undyne had scoured the whole mountain, Asgore lead search parties at the outskirts of the capital, Alphys and Mettaton had been been the central hub of information, monitoring communications and broadcasts in neighboring countries and doing their best to track Frisk's cellphone. On his show Mettaton announced progress with the search while simultaneously promoting himself and encouraged everyone to stay hopeful. Sans and Papyrus were asked to visit nearby cities to ask residents if Frisk had passed by. Toriel was distraught and would not be comforted. She locked herself in her house and refused to come out.

He should have been more careful.

6 years ago, Frisk had made an unaccompanied trip to the ocean for a week. Frisk had told everyone they were going to some teen conference to listen to many speakers talk about leadership. Everyone had assumed Frisk was going with someone from the group, though she never specified who she was traveling with. By the third day, everyone was driving around calling Frisk's name through the city, until Frisk had told Toriel she was at a beach motel. Sans had come to pick her up, and they drove home in silence. When they were nearly home, he turned to her.

"really scared everyone ya know."

". . . I know."

"why'd ya do it?"

". . . Dunno." Unfortunately she had picked up his habit to cryptically answer questions. He wasn't going to yell at her, she would get enough of a scolding from Toriel and everyone else. He just wanted to know the reasoning behind the sudden trip and the lies. More than anything else, the lies hurt the most. Like she couldn't trust them.

"welp. good luck then." He decided to drop the subject. Toriel would find out. She had perfected the 'mom stare' years ago, and now she got her way with everything.

Later that night, Sans was sitting in Toriel's kitchen while she put a pie in the oven. Baking helped calm her frazzled nerves after a stressful three days. After a tearful reunion, Frisk had gotten a severe scolding from Toriel, an eardrum bursting speech from Undyne, a rib crushing hug from Papyrus, a guilt trip from Alphys, a heavy pat on the head from Asgore, a bad pun from Sans and was sent to bed early. They were grounded for a month, and were to have mandatory adult supervision at all times. Frisk had taken it all, head hung low in regret, without a word of protest. Everyone was exhausted from searching and had left quickly afterwards to catch up on lost sleep. Sans had come back an hour later to talk with Toriel. She sat down at the kitchen table, took off her oven mitts, and sighed.

"This has been a long day. I'm glad Frisk is finally home, safe in their bed."

"yeah . . ." He waited a second before getting straight to the point. He didn't want to waste any of her time, she looked like she needed all the sleep she could get. "did Frisk tell you why she left? heh, i know sometimes a body just wants a break, but she didn't hafta lie if she just wanted to visit beach."

Toriel frowned, "I confess, I was wondering the same, but Frisk said nothing about the reason for her spontaneous trip. I'm so confused and worried, Sans. What if something like this happens again? Does she feel smothered? Is that why she left? Am I not giving her enough space? Do I need to let go? " She rested her head in the hands, hiding the tears slowly slipping from the sides of her eyes.

"of course not Tori. you're a wonderful mother and i'm sure this had nothing to do with you"

She sniffed, "I'm sorry. I'm so tired."

"eh, don't sweat it. everyone was shocked." He patted Toriel's arm before standing up. "better get going. pap can't sleep without a bedtime story, no matter how tired he is from runnin' round all day. get some sleep yourself, okay?" He quickly stepped back and warped home without waiting to hear her response.

He thought about Frisk's peculiar behavior. Frisk's silence was nothing new, she was never the chatty type, but usually she logically thought out situations, weighing consequences and benefits, before making any decision, big or small. But this time, she chose not to share her reasons. Was she unhappy? Was she tired of their company? Did she feel cramped in an all monster city?

As these thoughts ran around his skull, Sans read Papyrus a bedtime story, turned off the lights and tried to get some sleep.

Now an adult, the monsters had a much harder time finding Frisk. The rest of the world considered her a fully capable person who could make decisions for themselves, even though to monsters she was still a kid. Sans and Papyrus visited each building, showing hotel managers, shopkeepers, receptionists and pedestrians a picture of Frisk, asking if they had seen her. They all shook their heads, until one old man behind the desk at a gloomy motel squinted at it, tilted his head to the right, paused and shook his head. He searched for his glasses and eventually found them on his head. He slid them down his face, but once he focused on the picture, he nodded decisively.

"Yup. Saw her here couple days ago. Checked out yesterday. Asked her where she was headin' and she said somethin' 'bout goin' to Knoll, meetin' someone named Nicholai. Sounded really excited, but that's how young people are."

"thanks." He sped out the door, faster than he had ever bothered to move before, towing Papyrus by the wrist to his car. He quickly dialed Alphys and told Pap to speed home.

"we have a lead."

Story also on Archive of Our Own under the same title and username.