It was midnight, the falling snow sparkling through the window as it passed, the whiteness of the snow shining the machine in front of Alphys. The small lizard had been working on the object all night, and she was getting rather tired. There were bags under her eyes, and her arms were much more shaky than before. But, of course, she pushed herself forward so that she could get done with the timeline jumping mechanism. Just get it done, so that everyone else could calm down and stop giving her strange looks. Alphys hated the looks everyone had been giving her recently. In the back of her mind she knew that they didn't mean to look at her that way, but she still felt upset when they did it, and it only made her more paranoid in getting everything done. 'Just get it done' is what she told herself nowadays. Other than being anxious, that phrase was the only thing Alph thought about. It focused her mind on her work, but it made her feel sick at the same time.
The female looked up and out the window, raising her hands to rub her eyes for a moment before she slowly lowered them and continued to gaze up. It was very pretty. Pretty enough to put her mind at ease. The lizard took the time to think about Resets and everything else of the sorts. How did the Resets exactly work? Did they work like Determination? Possibly. Maybe someone with Determination could Reset, and nobody else could. But that would come up with the questions about Sans. Narrowing her eyes, Alphys thought. Sans doesn't have Determination... But! The entries didn't specify if Sans could reset or not. He just dreamed about it... Just knew. But, of course, that didn't specify anything. But it didn't stop the scientist from thinking about it some more. At least she could come up with a small connection with Determination and Resetting. It was a start to a completely different project, but it was something at least.
She was stopped when she heard someone open the door to the room she was standing in, right behind her. Turning around and adjusting her glasses anxiously, Alphys quickly figured out that Undyne was standing there; arms crossed and her head cocked to the side. "Hey, babe." Undyne mumbled, too tired to really scream just yet. Her hair was not in a pony tail like normal, and was frizzy and sticking up everywhere. The small lizard-dinosaur thing couldn't help but giggle at just how silly Undyne looked. "H-Hey." She stuttered on her own words, voice high pitched and airy sounding as her tail swished back and forth on the tile flooring. This caused Undyne to laugh. "How are you doin'? Workin' on that nerd thing?" The fish asked, wiping her nose with a hand as she entered the room. Alphys' smile drifted away as Undyne shut the door behind her. "I'm just a bit tired, that's all." The lizard shifted her gaze over to the machine. "Thinking, too. I've also been working on it." Alphys felt Undyne's hand pat the top of her head. "Is it making you overwhelmed?"
"...Yeah."
"Well, then take a break." Ah, Undyne. Coming up with answers to Alphys' problems with the snap of a claw. "Relax for a bit. It's not like anything too bad could be happening to him." Yet again, another 'Undyne Answer'. But this answer was for the fish herself. Alphys had heard Toriel talking to Asgore about how Undyne kept saying that nothing bad could be happening to Sans; like the head of the Royal Guard was trying to convince herself not to worry. Besides, Undyne had a history of being tough on the outside but not on the inside. Alphys felt her lover's chin rest on the back of her head, her neck nestled between two head spikes. The scientist reached up her arms and wrapped them behind Undyne's neck, leaning backwards and closing her eyes. "Yeah, Sans could fend for himself if he had too.." Alphys murmured, sounding a bit doubtful. "With his powers and all that..."
Then they just stood there, listing to each other's gentle breaths and feeling each other's skin on their's. Something they liked to do when they were alone.
The welcomed silence was interrupted when Alphys heard Undyne sigh, feeling her chest rise and fall in rhythm with the sigh. "Ugh, who am I kidding?" She heard Undyne growl. "I can't do anything right." Alphys opened her eyes and frowned, softly murmuring "What's so wrong with you?" The fish's grip tightened. "I keep telling myself that he's okay, when I know for sure that he's most likely not. Maybe it's because I don't want to scare Papyrus." She sighed again. "Or maybe it's because I want to hide the fact that I worry about him. Sans, I mean." Alphys let out a soft breath, leaning her arms down. "Y-You don't need to hide that, Undyne. Everyone is worrying about him. Why shouldn't you?" Un's arms moved so that her fingers were wrapped around Alph's head spikes. "I don't know. That's why I'm sad."
"Well... Maybe Papyrus needs to know the truth. Maybe you need to tell him that he's not okay. But, maybe he already does know. Maybe he's helping you by agreeing with you. So that you don't need to worry, Undyne." She felt Undyne's lips, which were against her head, turn into a smile. Then Undyne kissed Alphys on the back of the head. "Even though I don't want to admit this, your right, babe. I shouldn't mask all of my emotions like that." Her fins twitched in the moonlight. "But this doesn't stop me from still being sad, y'know." The scientist nodded in deep understanding. "Yeah, I know... We're all sad, so you don't need to feel sorry about that." Undyne seemed to pause from her listening, as if thinking. The female then snapped out of her small trance and sighed "Alphys, babe, how do you do these things to me?" Alphys was confused. "What do you mean?" She felt another smooch. "How do you make think so much?" The lizard chuckled softly. "Maybe I didn't make you think these things, but this talk in general did."
"Wow. That's deep." A surprised sounding Undyne squeaked, fins perking upwards. Alphys laughed once more. "I know it is. I am the Royal Scientist, anyway." Now it was Alphys' turn to think. "...Hey, Undyne. I'm almost done with the machine. Maybe... you could help me?"
This seemed to perk Undyne right up. "Hell yeah! Let's do this shit! I can help you! Though, I don't know that much stuff about your nerd things." A giggle escaped Alph's snout as she pulled away from the fish. "I know that someone like you wouldn't know it. Your too high class for that." She went over to retrieve some tools. She smiled to herself as she heard Undyne call "Phooey! I'm not high class, you are!" The liazrd snorted. "Maybe I just am! Probably the reason is because you don't know how to do your hair." She turned her head to see Undyne blushing furiously. Obviously flustered. "I-I-I'll go take a shower!" The head squealed, her cheeks puffed as she turned and raced away, still blushing. Alphys' smile melted away, as she was alone once more. Temporarily, yes, but alone still. The female turned her head to look over at the machine, thoughtful.
"We're almost there, Sans. Just hold on a bit longer."