"Do you, uh?" Sans gestured to her tummy. "You know what that is? I mean?" He was snapping his bony fingers. "You know, do you know where that came from? Mind filling us in?"

Farrah looked toward her tummy again.

"It's skeleton," Papyrus insisted. "I can tell it is skeleton," he said excitedly. "I just can't remember anything else. My brain feels so fuzzy."

Sans moved closer to it. Both him and his brother.

"That-that flower!" Papyrus yelled.

"Right Bro." That flower was to blame for whatever happened. "Where did it go?"

"Sorry."

Everyone turned around. Asriel was waiting in the doorway.

"At the time, it seemed perfect," Asriel said from the doorway. "You needed a chance to get to her after all."

"What did you do?" Sans demanded.

"Last time I was this way, it was because I stole every monster's soul. Do you remember that?" He asked her. "Well, even all those monster souls shouldn't have added up to that much power. I didn't understand, until I started to spy on you as Flowey. There's nothing stronger than a soul that has been thrown into another dimension."

He pinched his paw together. "Just a little soul mix of Sans and Papyrus did the trick."

"You snagged some of mine?" Sans said, a little in shock.

"You wanted to stay with Farrah long enough to figure out a solution. Change the soul, and it was accomplished for you and Papyrus." Asriel backed off. "3% and 3% isn't much, please? I am a lot more helpful in this form."

"I don't have memories of them connecting to me," Farrah insisted. "What happened?"

"I don't know that one. I just changed them so they could get to you." Asriel looked at her stomach. "I don't know what or whose that is. As Flowey . . . I didn't expect any of you to come back really."

"More helpful in that form? Not seeing it so far," Sans pointed out. "You don't know anything more than us, how can you be helpful?"

"I am the only one who'll be able to explain this without wrath from Queen Toriel," he pointed out. "How else will she understand that Farrah doesn't know the father of that little skeleton? You can't tell her the truth."

"Even you really don't know?" Sans asked.

"I can say that once I stole some of your souls, you were able to flow with Farrah," Asriel said to Farrah. "In that time, you got pregnant. I don't know in which way. I don't know if it's even skeleton, but Sans and Papyrus seem to know."

Farrah looked toward Papyrus and Sans. Confusion. Longing.

"You're not in any pain," Sans said to her. "Huh. Uh? Well, skeletons are already formed like hours after. I figured it was worth a shot." He was looking at her carefully.

"No pain means it isn't a weapon," Papyrus explained to her. "You weren't just grabbed and voila."

"Not necessarily, Pap," Sans corrected him. "Could be a strengthened little skeleton. We are going to need an x-ray."

"Oh yes, strengthened, that could be it too," Papyrus agreed.

Lost. Farrah looked so lost.

"That means it might be a weak skeleton that's being forced to change into a normal skeleton," Sans answered. "If somehow Papyrus had succeeded when he tried for a weak skeleton on the roof, we would have wanted to strengthen it as much as possible so it would live longer."

"It would be years instead of weeks," Papyrus agreed. "I'm sorry about that, Farrah. I'm sorry about so so much."

She nodded. "You never have to seek forgiveness from me. You've no idea what I've done."

Guilt. Sans remembered that he'd been fighting her the first time he joined her. "You would have some bone loss, but us strengthening it would change it. Daily." He tried to get her mind off of that.

"We must find out right away whose it is," Asriel said. "Can either of you feel anything else?"

"It's relation," Sans admitted. "I can feel that." As much as I try, Farrah, I can't get any more than that. That's why I took all three of us down. I don't know if I'm Uncle Sans or not.

She simply nodded.

"Twisting in timelines, soul changes, and body changes may have influenced your memories," Asriel reasoned. "Maybe later you'll retrieve them?"

Or maybe not. Sans approached her even closer. Hey. Farrah. Nothing that happened there was your fault.

I killed your brother multiple times. I killed Toriel. Everyone. Even you. My soul itself trembles for the horror ending, I cannot take in anything else right now.

She broke free from a hell. The pregnancy wasn't even really on her mind yet.

Thank you for freeing me! I don't know how you did it, but I'll gladly take care of your relation without any fuss. I won't hurt them or you or anyone.

Take care without fuss? Her expression. Her guilt. Her experiences betrayed her feelings. She might not even realize hardly any time passed there. Not even a whole day passed here. This kiddo will free the monsters. But? Besides that, yo, I don't care what happened. It wasn't you.

It was parts of me.

That isn't you. Just 'cause parts of you were in control, it didn't mean it was you. Wait a minute.

Wait a minute. Was that? That's how you feel about Stephan, isn't it?

That reasoning feels so old. Yet. I eventually . . .

Of course. Farrah never would want to hurt everyone. Even Stephan. Even though she had no plan, she still saw a chance to end well.

And? After all the hell he put her through. I don't know how to fix the souls in Stephan. But, I'll . . .

Farrah interrupted him with a hug. "Thank you!"

"No promises. I'll look into it. This whole mess isn't just yours." Sans felt the presence in her tummy as she hugged him. His child or nephew?

What happened over there?

Okay, so Asriel did turn out to be useful. Anyone besides Toriel's own son sharing the truth would not be treated so well. Only because her son was involved, would she help them out.

"Another dimension," Toriel said to Sans. "A different kind of soul, experimenting with . . ."

The core situation. "Hey, I would have said something if it was safe."

"You and Papyrus should not be here," she insisted.

"Neither do I," Asriel said. "I have a bit of their souls. A tiny bit, but it keeps me alive to be here again. Without them, you will have to kill me I guess."

"I would never," Toriel said to him. "But? But what am I supposed to do about this?" She approached Farrah and looked at her stomach. "How am I supposed to take this?"

"Well? You know, everyone thinks Farrah loves both of them. So, either it was one after the other, or together," Asriel insisted. "We can test it after it is born."

"Hang on, hang on," Sans interrupted. "I can go ahead and go with Farrah couldn't decide who to spend her life with? I don't buy she was doing . . ." No way. "She isn't like that and everybody knows it."

"No one knows the father. If we just say a name, and it's wrong, that'll look even worse on her," Toriel said. "I am sorry, but what else do you want?"

"It's true. At least she isn't squealing about the other dimension," Asriel defended his mother. "Timelines is one thing, but a whole other dimension?"

"However it must be conveyed," Farrah said. "I don't care what people think of me."

But I do! Call it selfish, no one is gonna think badly of you and Papyrus. Hadn't they all been through enough? Sans knew Farrah liked him, and he felt a little similar. There was way more chemistry there. "I accept it."

"Accept what?" Toriel asked.

"If I'm wrong, I'm wrong," Sans said to Papyrus. "We're going to dig and find out the truth before we announce anything, but if we don't have an answer-"

"You'll say it was you?" Not just finishing Sans' sentence, a clear plea in all ways. "Maybe?"

It was skeleton. Sans could feel that. He had at least some chemistry with her, while Papyrus didn't. It made sense that . . . hang on? What the heck? He was starting to walk around more, but noticed something felt odd in his bones. Something's missing?

He didn't want to alarm anyone. "I think it's best if I go look at Farrah with an x-ray first. Some poking and prodding, see what's up?"

He grabbed Farrah and Papyrus, taking him with him.

Hidden Lab

Farrah found herself being sat down, stood back up, had something on her finger, and then a screen was scooted out toward her.

With a triumphant smile on Sans so big, even being a skeleton, someone could tell he was happy. On that screen, was a projection of a human figure, and something flipping inside of it. "Even I impress myself! Don't know how I did it, or why, but there it is."

Papyrus came over closer to it too. "Her X-ray appears to have . . . Sans, is that a bone?"

"Yep, a bone somersaulting like a happy dog," Sans said. He looked toward her. "We must have changed your soul enough with this bone to stop the timeline adventuring, which pulled us all back. Not only that? But this is just what we need I bet." He reached into his lab coat he'd apparently put on in the rush, and shined something straight at her. "We done got a winner here."

"We can open up the barrier with it!" Papyrus shouted excitedly. "We'll be free."

The project Sans had been trying to do before she had been whisked away. It's over. It's all over. The timelines, the running, the imprisonment, it's all over.

"That's great news, Sans," Papyrus said, "but why is it in her tummy?"

"Yeah. I don't know," Sans admitted. "Trying to figure that one out."

"It looked like she was pregnant with a skeleton," Papyrus said. "She even felt like it."

"Yeah, that she did," Sans said as he kept looking at the X-ray. "We gave that impression to Asriel and even Queen Toriel too, didn't we?"

Sans and Papyrus continued to stare at the X-ray projection. They both seemed lost, as to why Sans did it that way. "Maybe being in the stomach, somehow, meant I didn't have to lose my arm?" Farrah asked.

"No. I mean? I don't know." Sans shined his little gadget again at her. "I don't get how it's working. It says that the bone will connect with that barrier, and that bone is mine." He lifted his pant leg. "One of my leg parts, so I'm going to need that back after this if you don't mind?"

"Your bone is inside her, like a weapon though," Papyrus said, gesturing to the X-ray. "Except it's clearly not a weapon. It's a strange bone flipping up and down in her. Does this mean it will need to be born like a-"

"Like a weapon," Sans interrupted. "I mean, like a babybones, I get it!" He chuckled. "Yeah, I guess my other self I can't seem to remember had time to figure things out. Everybody in the Underground knows you need to have a babybones to open that barrier, Farrah. Everyone but us three."

Right. "You somehow stuck your bone in my stomach, so everyone would assume I was pregnant?" she asked. She watched Sans turn a little blue in the cheeks. She must have said something a little dirty to him again.

"Makes perfect sense. The barrier would just open up at it's touch, monsters would certainly question it," Papyrus agreed with Sans.

"Yeah, and sneaking off and doing anything by that barrier is tricky. Monsters are up at any hour," Sans said to her. "When it's about to be born, we'll have the excuse of curtains and everything. No one will be able to tell the difference.

"I'm going to have a bone?" Frisk asked. "Will I have to ACT somehow?"

"Ah, no," Sans assured her. "You humans are flexible but you're birthing a bone the same way you birth a baby. You'll definitely be in enough pain. Not as much as losing an arm, but it'll be a decent amount. I'll be there to give you some relief though."

How? How did she have such terrible memories, feel such tremendous guilt, and yet? End up this lucky. To be able to be a good person, and to help the monsters? Again?

"Sans, she's crying," Papyrus said uncomfortably. "Do something."

There wasn't much he could do for Farrah. Sans could see her, hear her being overwhelmed by it all. Her hell, wherever she was at, she saw it that way. Unable to stop or remember, just memories of what happened. Hell.

There wasn't much, but one thing."I'll even him out." Sans knew what he needed to do now. He knew Farrah well enough. Looking at her, she was about his age now. All that time, looping through timelines. Yep. He owed her this. "Hey Papyrus?" He called to his brother. "I'm going to even him out."

"What?" Papyrus asked.

"I'm going to even him out."

"Even who out?"

"You know, the one guy?"

"What one guy?" Papyrus was starting to get angry.

"You know. The guy that started all this?"

"Even out Asriel?"

"Nah. Just the guy. I'm gonna even the guy."

"For goodness sakes, Sans! Even what guy?"

"Stephan."

"Even Stephan?"

"Yep, fair is fair. I bet a farrah amount that we can play even steven with Stephan." Sans watched Farrah start to finally smile, and holding a hand against her mouth, she was trying not to crack from laughter.

"Sans!" Papyrus was of course not a fan of getting bamboozled to say 'even steven' or giving Sans another crack at a Farrah joke, and his coloration of anger in his bony cheeks only helped the joke out more. "This is a serious matter, it was not a time for jokes."

"Time flies so fast, I forgot when a time for jokes was."

"Sans! Farrask is going through a very difficult time right now. Look at her, she's crying!" Papyrus gestured toward her. "Oh? Oh. Perhaps she's feeling better now."

"A farrah amount better. Pretty even."

"Sans."

"Even stephan. No wait, that's the guy."

Perfect ticket. If Sans had ears they probably would have perked up when he heard the sound of Farrah's laughter. It poured out of her like she'd kept it back for some time.

Now? Toriel could spread the rumor. It turned out okay in the end. Great, 'cause father Sans it? It just wouldn't work out. Papyrus would be great, not me. Although, had that X-ray had a different outcome.

Maybe for just a few seconds. Sans kind of imagined a future with Farrah and kids. A few seconds. Maybe later. Maybe when the whole world settled down and the three of them were free and on their own. Just like he promised before.

Sans looked toward Farrah. It was a good thing he could only read her thoughts, and not the other way around. "Well? That was a pretty eventful day. Probably years having fun with Farrah, slaying on and off, and now she's got a bone in her. Different audience, I could make a totally different joke right about now."

"I think I'd get the joke," Farrah warned him. Still, it was a playful warning. "Thank you, Sans, for whatever you did. You're a real hero."

"Hey, hey? Save that for Papyrus," Sans warned her. "Everybody's going to see you like that for three weeks. Incubation is short for skeletons and weapons. I'll take the rap as the brother who wanted to protect his little brother too much. That'll correct the weird reputation we all got from the dating two brother bit."

Farrah nodded. "After the bone is out of me, I do have to ACT a little, don't I?"

"Nope. Too soon after that whole ordeal to pull that out. I am going to knock you out, and then I'll say that you just couldn't take the bitter end of it." Natural. Sounded too natural. "Papyrus and I will handle the rest while you're out."

"Handle what?" Farrask asked.

"Well, everyone will think there was a terrible loss, and you've played ACTing more than enough," Papyrus said.

"You'll be holed up at home," Sans said, "and by the time you want to see anyone, you will have dealt with the grief enough. Shouldn't keep popping up after that, and it's not like we'll be staying with the Monster Kingdom. Freedom is just around the corner. More than from the barrier."

"Right. You'll be free to live in the world." A solid promise.

"Yep, and while we find that place, I'll . . . still have to stay down here anyhow for a bit," Sans admitted. "I have got to move my entire lab into a new place, if I've got any chance to figure out how to play even stephan. But? You don't have to anymore," Sans revealed. "That microchip broke free of you when you went timeline skipping."

Real freedom for her too. Wonderful. "Are we really all going to stay together still?" She questioned. "It's been awhile. Things might have changed."

"Only for you," Sans said to her. "You look like someone that's . . . uh, a little older."

"We could say it's some kind of strange side-effect between a human and a monster?" Papyrus said encouragingly.

"Actually, there are side effects to birthing between monster and human," Sans agreed with Papyrus. "But not that. One of them is brightness tolerance, which will really help out. We can hide Farrah's face up in a hoodie and some shades when someone comes to see her, and we can claim the lighted areas are too bright for her."

Farrah felt a small tingle run through her. A hoodie. It was one of the first clothes she managed to collect as an adult. There never was much to wear. She wore that hoodie for years. For some reason, she was wearing a nice red dress though, with red shoes that fit perfectly too. Not her hoodie. "So. Three weeks." She tried to get off that subject. "I'm pretty big. Should I be this big?"

"Yeah. Skeletons are all formed physically within a few hours. The rest of the gestation it's building up it's magic," Sans said. "It fits as the perfect excuse."

Perfect. Farrah tried to smile, but a part of her? A part of her. It still couldn't understand why she could remember all of the events that happened, except for when Papyrus and Sans truly arrived to save her? Was it quick, figured out in a day? Was it long? Were they skipping timelines with her?

And where did that red dress come from that she was wearing?