Grilby exited the kitchen after hearing the door in the hallway click shut. Gerson sat quietly on the couch, a sad yet thoughtful expression on his face. At some point the tortoise monster noticed Grilby and smiled.
"Well that could have gone bettered." Grilby crackled.
"Wa Ha Ha! What do ya mean? That went about as well as I expected." The bartender raised a theoretical brow at Gerson, his flames flickering faster. How could he be laughing about this? The tortoise noticed the fire monster's reaction and grinned up at him.
"Oh come now Grilby, he's a teenager trying to raise a child by himself, and you didn't expect him to be a nervous wreck after that child nearly died?" The two of them were silent for a moment. Grilby knew the tortoise monster was right. Sans would talk about his cool baby brother a lot when he stopped by. Pretty much everything the skeleton did seemed to be for the benefit of his little brother, and now he's probably blaming himself for all of this.
"Welp, the bar is yours again Grilby, but I'll leave the skeletons under your care for now. I'll be at the Inn if ya need me." The old monster stood up and headed towards the back door before Grilby realized what was said and flared up in response.
"What do you mean the Inn?! I thought you couldn't do stairs?" The Guard Captain grinned at his flustered friend.
"And leave the half-dead kid in the hands of a panicked 18 year old who's too worried to even take care of himself?" The old monster's grin widened. "Besides, back during the war I remember your troops referin' to ya as the "Biggest Mom in the Army," right behind the queen. You're the perfect monster to handle this!" Gerson couldn't help laughing as Grilby crossed his arms in embarassment, his face turning a little pink. "Wa Ha Ha! I'll stop by in the mornin'!" Gerson waved and shut the door behind him.
Grilby leaned on the wall, hands rubbing his temples. The old bastard had planned this all along, and what does he know about his leadership skills! Back as a war general, sure he would always stop to talk to his troops, but that was to make sure moral was alright and they had someone to vent their worries and problems too! And maybe he would stop by the cooking tent more often then he should to help prepare good nutritious meals, that was because he liked cooking! So what if he was constantly worried that everyone was eating properly, sleeping alright... Stars maybe he was like a mom?
Still working through his existential crisis, the sounds of muffled sobbing from down the hallway pulled the bartender from his thoughts. His flames dimmed as the weight of the situation set in. That's right, there's still two kids here with no parental guidance, no one to help them get through this. Sans probably has no clue how to handle a child this sick, much less an amputee. The poor guy was already overwhelmed before this mess. Grilby was also pretty sure he was the only real friend Sans had in Snowdin, it's unlikely anyone else would step in to help him…
After a moment of silence, Grilby sighed and rubbed his face with his hands.
'Well, if I'm taking care of these kids, I should probably close the bar tomorrow. I should also clean out the bathroom, see what type of medicine I have. Maybe dig out one of Fuku's old coats to replace Papyrus'…'
The flame monster stood up straighter and went to grab his cleaning supplies and waterproof gloves. He needed to make the living area at least slightly more appropriate for non-fire monsters. As he opened up the door to the bathroom, several clumsily placed boxes fell into the hallway spilling their content. Grilby only stared at the new mess with a blank expression, before facepalming at the sheer insanity of it all.
'Oh stars, what have I gotten myself into?'
