A/N: Thank you so much to the guest who suggested this topic. It's short, but it was fun to write :)

A Lifetime of Love

~*~PART TEN~*~

Frisk struggled to keep her eyes open as she folded towels. It was getting late enough that Grillby would be home soon. It was a good thing, too, because she didn't like being in Gaster and Grillby's house alone. It felt weird, even if it had once been like a second home to her. She had never been there without either Sans or Papyrus.

At the moment, Sans was at work with Gaster, Papyrus was undoubtedly with his new husband somewhere fancy, and Grillby was probably closing up the bar. She had taken the day off to do laundry thanks to a malfunction with the new dryer she and Sans had just gotten. She was grateful that her fathers-in-law let her use theirs as they were closer than her parents.

She felt like she'd been folding and washing and turning laundry over for ages. She vowed never again to take simple things like a washer and dryer for granted.

She looked up when the front door opened. She heard Grillby sigh and mumble to himself as he sorted mail.

"Hi, Dad," she hollered.

"Hey, Frisk. I forgot you were here. How's laundry?"

"Ugh! Boring and taking forever. I only have one more load to go in the dryer, though, so getting there."

Grillby laughed. "I hear ya. There are a few chores I don't mind doing, but laundry is not one of them. Luckily, Gaster likes it."

"I'm so glad someone's home. I was starting to talk to myself." She smiled.

"As long as you don't answer back, you're fine. Can I help fold? I don't mind that part."

Frisk didn't hesitate to shove part of the pile in front of her toward the elemental. "I would love the company."

They folded in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Frisk started to feel like her eyes couldn't stay open again.

"You guys need a TV in here or something."

Grillby smiled. "I would agree with you if I spent much time in here without Gaster. He likes to think while doing chores, so the house is usually relatively quiet. Either that, or we'll talk."

She nodded. "Talk to me, then?"

He nodded. "Sure. What would you like to talk about?"

She thought about that for a moment. "I guess…how did you and Gaster get engaged? Did you propose?"

"Good god, no," he snorted. "I'd known for a while that I wanted to spend my life with him, but I didn't really believe in the whole marriage thing back then. My parents had divorced when I was young, and I remember thinking what the point was if it ended ugly.

"The first time Gaster asked me to marry him, he'd just graduated with his first doctorate degree and thought it would be the perfect time for us to start a new chapter in our lives. Looking back, he was absolutely right, but at the time I was too scared. I told him no, and it nearly destroyed our relationship."

Frisk thought that was sad. Obviously, Gaster had changed his mind. "What happened? I mean, it worked out somehow."

Grillby sucked in a breath and smiled. "He was persistent. I begged for more time, and he promised to give it to me if I would actually consider marrying him someday. It took me a good five months to get comfortable enough with the idea that I could even talk with him about it. That was a rocky year for the both of us."

The clothes were folded, so the two put them in their respective piles. The dryer was still going. Frisk followed Grillby out to the kitchen to help him start getting dinner ready.

"It was probably a year after he first asked me that I had been able to change my thoughts about the whole institution. He had asked me why I thought we'd someday get divorced, and I tried to explain to him that I didn't think that; it was just something I was afraid of. He didn't buy it. After doing some soul searching on the subject, I realized he was right.

"I had allowed myself to believe that we would live happily ever after if we didn't get married, but that marriage would destroy us one way or another. Once I realized my hesitation, it was easy to get over. Gaster and I were meant to be together forever, and marriage would only strengthen our bond."

He shrugged and smiled at her. "He was thrilled when I told him. He took me out to the observatory where he worked at the time and showed me several stars and talked to me about how excited he was to spend his life with me. Then he asked me to marry him. I can't describe to you how good it felt to be able to say yes and be happy about it."

Frisk thought she had a pretty good idea; she could feel the warm happiness radiating from his flames. "That's amazing. How long were you married before you decided to have kids?"

He chuckled. "Only a year. It wasn't a hard decision to make, either. One day while out walking in the park, we saw these kids playing and rolling around. We looked at each other, and it was like we both just knew. We talked about it for a while, which of us would carry the baby and what we would want for names and whatnot. We decided I'd be the carrier since Gaster was getting busier at work and I wasn't working at the time. As you know, Sans was our first. Three years later, we had Papyrus."

She loved the gleam in his flames as he talked about his sons. "That's so cute. Sans and I have been talking about adopting."

Grillby nodded. "You would be fantastic parents."

"I think I'm ready to be a mom. I wish we could have kids the traditional way, but only because I'm selfish. I want a baby that's really mine and Sans'."

Grillby set the pan with dinner aside and gently pulled her back to the laundry room to fold clothes. "I think you'll be surprised by how much you love any child you adopt. It's a big decision, but I know you and Sans will make the right one."

A/N: Thanks so much for reading! I'd love to know your thoughts!