Note: Alright, you know how I said this fic starts awful and works its way towards a fluffy ending? No? Well… I thought I said that. Anyway! We're still in the awful bit. Things will get better soon, but uh… the characters are still casually calloused and dismissive of suicide. And a generally bad attitude towards disabilities. Technically they always will be, but soon they won't actively be talking about it. Also apologies for the way Red talks, he'll be switched back to a much more readable slur soon. Just needs to recover a little first.

It was around the middle of the next day that Sans finally woke with some coherency. Gaster had thought it was merely the usual confusion and pained lethargy Sans was responding to when he woke and stuttering asked, "wha'… where…?" without actually asking any real questions.

Gaster picked up a snail and deftly plucked it from its shell, offering it up to Sans, "HERE, EAT THIS."

"wazzit? who're…?" Sans attempted to turn his head away, which really just meant it kind of flopped over on the table.

Gaster gently cupped the back of Sans's skull and turned him to face up again, keeping the snail right at his teeth. "COME NOW, IT'S JUST A SNAIL, THE SAME AS THE LAST TIME. EAT IT."

Sans's lone pip rolled around in his orbit before pointing at Gaster, so fuzzy and diffuse Gaster wasn't even sure how much he could actually see. "yer tha' guy… ya wuz s'possss… wha'? why'm i here?"

"I BROUGHT YOU BACK HOME WITH ME, WE'RE IN THE SICKBAY RIGHT NOW. YOU NEED TO EAT NOW, DON'T MAKE ME FORCE YOU."

Sans's relatively good hand scrabbled weakly at the table below him, "'m s'pposed t' be dead!"

Gaster huffed and leaned back to glare down at his patient, one hand poised to sign sharply along with his words, "YOU WERE CERTAINLY WELL ON YOUR WAY. IT'S QUITE THE FEAT, ACTUALLY, THE WAY I KEPT YOUR SORRY TAIL ALIVE!" Gaster cringed internally at that, perhaps not best to bring up Sans's mangled tail so casually. "AND I INTEND TO KEEP YOU ALIVE FOR A LONG WHILE YET AND SO HELP ME IF I HAVE TO TIE YOU DOWN AND FORCE FEED YOU I WILL!"

Sans grumbled, then started struggling to sit up.

Gaster rolled his eye pips, then put a gentle but firm hand on the less injured shoulder. "STAY DOWN, YOU'LL ONLY AGGRAVATE YOUR INJURIES."

"i c'n feed m'self."

"NOT HARDLY."

"i'm not a baby bones," Sans snapped.

"NO, YOU'RE A BADLY INJURED ADULT, WHICH ARE ALWAYS WORSE THAN ACTUAL BABY BONES." He held the snail up to Sans's teeth again, "NOW EAT."

Sans resisted, still trying to sit up before giving up and letting Gaster feed him. While Sans worked on absorbing the first snail Gaster grabbed another and plucked it from its shell before immediately putting it against Sans's teeth. Fortunately he didn't fight it this time and allowed himself to be fed, though he had an impressive glare on his face.

"yer not gonna keep this up, are ya?"

"OF COURSE NOT, I HAVE NO DESIRE TO HAND FEED YOU. THIS IS ONLY UNTIL YOU'VE REGAINED ENOUGH STRENGTH TO FEED YOURSELF."

"good, 'cause 'm not some baby bones."

"LESS TALKING, MORE EATING."

Sans angrily ate three more snails, glaring at Gaster the whole time. Gaster couldn't help smiling, that was the most snails he'd managed to get Sans to eat in one sitting since he'd brought him here. the anger was a good sign too, an angry monster was one that still had a lot of fight left in them.

"s'jus' tempery…" Sans slurred as Gaster tried to coax him to eat just one more snail before the medicines and his own lethargy dragged him back under. "i c'n… i c'n feed m'self…"

"OF COURSE, OF COURSE. I DON'T HAVE ANY DESIRE TO HAND FEED YOU. ONCE YOU'RE RECOVERED I WILL NEVER HAND FEED YOU AGAIN." Unless Sans managed to get himself injured to the point of needing to be hand fed. After all, he had managed to do it once already.

Sans mumbled something else Gaster didn't quite catch before drifting back off, reserves glutted enough from his recent meal for his body to focus on healing again. Which was the perfect time for Gaster to eat his own lunch before getting back to his usual work.

Gaster was attending to a patient who'd had a tooth knocked out (which had fortunately been found and preserved before turning to foam) when Sans woke again. The sound of bone scraping over stone and muffled grunts were all the warning he had of Sans waking. Lucky for Gaster the fact his hands were in his patient's mouth kept the patient from prattling on about nothing while he worked and could thus hear the tiny sounds of Sans's waking.

"ONE MOMENT, SANS, I'M WITH ANOTHER PATIENT AT THE MOMENT."

"Whaugh?" The patient asked, a rather idiotic thing to do with Gaster's hands in their mouth.

"patient?" Sans asked, voice almost too soft to hear. "right… sickbay…" He trailed off, though there were more scraping sounds. Likely Sans being a stubborn fool and continuing to try to move despite Gaster warning him not too just a couple hours ago.

Gaster quickly finished reattaching the tooth, using a generous amount of magic to fix it into place and keep it there until the ley lines reconnected. Then he pulled back to give himself enough space to sign at the patient, "WILL BE FRAGILE UNTIL IT HEALS. MONSTER FOOD ONLY. NO FIGHTING. COME BACK IN TWO DAYS."

"Yeah, sure, thanks doc."

Gaster frowned, "THOSE ARE THE CARELESS WORDS OF SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T LISTEN AND WILL EAT TOUGH FOODS AND GET PUNCHED IN THE FACE. AGAIN."

"Huh?"

Gaster sighed, then shooed the patient out. Once they were gone he grabbed the bowl of snails and hovered over Sans, who was indeed struggling to sit up. Gaster pushed him back down, "YOUR WOUNDS WERE QUITE EXTENSIVE, IT'LL BE A WHILE YET BEFORE YOU HAVE THE STRENGTH TO SPARE FOR ANYTHING OTHER THAN RECOVERING."

"exten-" Sans started to ask before laughing bitterly, "i'm s'posed to be dead!"

"ONLY BECAUSE YOU STUBBORNLY TRIED TO DIE." He had plucked a snail from its shell and held it up to Sans. "NOW EAT, YOUR RESERVES WERE DANGEROUSLY LOW WHEN I FOUND YOU."

Sans turned his head away and snarled, "why the fuck didja even bother savin' me? it's a waste-a time an' effort an' hard earned s'plies that can go to a monster that ain't a fuckin' cripple!"

Gaster thinks he's starting to understand. While painful, none of Sans's injuries were severe enough to actually be life threatening before they were terribly neglected. He had been slowly starving to death while in constant pain from injuries that were festering rather than healing. He was trying to die in the slowest way possible.

"what use could i possibly have?" Sans continued in a more subdued tone. Oops, had Gaster been caught in his own thoughts too long? "the fuck wouldja need a cripple 'round fer? what could be worth all this food an' meds, huh?" Sans's voice was building back up, "what am i gonna do when I'm healed? stand guard? babysit the fingerlings too young to out swim a monster that can't fuckin' swim?! or am i supposed to live the rest of my life leachin' offa yer generosity?" He sneered the last word like it left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Gaster leaned back, withdrawing the snail for the moment. He would need to tread carefully if he didn't want Sans to slide into self destructive behavior as a poor coping mechanism. He held up his hands to sign along with his words, then shook his head and dropped them when he remembered Sans didn't need them. "DON'T BE RIDICULOUS, WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT PURELY FOR ALTRUISM? I CERTAINLY WOULDN'T, I HAVE A USE FOR YOU AND IT'S FAR MORE IMPORTANT THAN SOMETHING ANY JELLYFISH BRAINED OAF CAN DO WHILE PICKING THEIR NOSE."

"yeah?" Sans seemed to deflate, his eye sockets lowering to half mast. As Gaster suspected he didn't have the energy to spare to be angry for long.

"YES, THIS ISN'T OUT OF PITY OR OBLIGATION OR ANY OTHER SEA SLUG REASON YOU OR ANY OTHER IMBECILE CAN COME UP WITH. NOW EAT, YOU WERE HALF STARVED WHEN I FOUND YOU, YOU WON'T BE IN ANY CONDITION FOR SERIOUS CONVERSATIONS FOR A LITTLE LONGER." He held the snail up to Sans's teeth again.

"but you'll explain yer shit?"

"WHEN YOU CAN STAY AWAKE FOR LONGER THAN A HANDFUL OF MINUTES AT A TIME I WILL EXPLAIN EVERYTHING TO YOU. NOW EAT."

"i'll hold ya to it," Sans grumbled before finally eating the snail. He was sluggish as he quietly accepted the rest of the snails Gaster was quickly trying to stuff into his mouth before he drifted back to sleep. The last one was torn up and half absorbed when Sans started snoring gently.

Gaster sighed before digging the half eaten snail out of Sans's mouth and tossing it at the scraps pail. "BETTER TO NOT LET HIM CHOKE ON IT."

It was evening when Sans woke with some coherency again, as Gaster was alternating popping a crab apple slice into Sans's mouth and eating one himself. Gaster honestly expected him to be out for a bit longer and was surprised when the absorption of the latest slice caused Sans to snort and flail weakly.

"what? what? ya tryna fight?!" Sans weakly struggled to sit up, pip rolling wildly around his orbit.

Gaster looked down at him curiously from where he'd darted out of range. "IT WAS JUST DINNER, NO NEED TO BE SO HOSTILE."

"ya were feedin' me… while i was sleepin'?!"

"YES! AS I STATED EARLIER," Gaster leaned hard on those words while glaring down at Sans, "YOU WERE HALF STARVED WHEN I FOUND YOU. A HANDFUL OF SNAILS A FEW TIMES A DAY ARE NOT GOING TO BE ENOUGH."

"at least it weren't more snails," Sans sneered.

"OF COURSE NOT, SNAILS AREN'T MONSTER FOOD. IF YOU'RE AWAKE I DO HAVE A FEW MORE SNAILS RIGHT HERE."

"don't ya got any real food?"

"SNAILS ARE REAL FOOD," Gaster said in confusion as he drifted back down and picked up the bowl of snails.

"yeah, fer baby bones. don't ya got any fish or crabs or anything but more snails?"

"I SUPPOSE THE FLAVOR WOULD GET MONOTONOUS AFTER A WHILE, BUT THEY ARE ALSO HIGHLY NUTRITIOUS AND EASY TO ABSORB. SO NO, I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING ELSE BESIDES THE CRAB APPLES YOU INTERRUPTED ME FEEDING YOU."

"fine, anything's better 'n snails right now." Sans started trying to sit up. Again.

Gaster pushed him back down. Again. "APPLE SLICES IT IS, SO LAY BACK."

"i can feed myself!"

"PERHAPS TOMORROW." Gaster put down the bowl and picked the plate of sliced crab apples back up. "DO YOU NOT LISTEN? IF YOU INSIST ON DEFYING YOUR DOCTOR'S ORDERS I'LL GIVE YOU SNAILS INSTEAD."

"pushy, ain'tcha?" Sans made a dismissive sound, but relaxed back onto the table.

"YOU'RE QUITE THE PROVOKING MONSTER."

"heh, maybe so. or maybe yer just bossy." Sans laughed at that, then looked sad. Gaster ignored that in favor of trying to shove crab apple slices into his mouth. "so… what's yer name?" Sans asked between slices.

Gaster paused at that, had he really not introduced himself yet? "WINGDINGS GASTER, LOCAL APOTHECARY. THOUGH MOST PEOPLE JUST CALL ME GASTER."

Sans nodded, letting himself be fed quietly after that. He actually ate the entirety of the rest of the crab apple slices, leaving nothing for the rest of Gaster's dinner. ah well, it was more important to get Sans's reserves topped back up, he could always stop by the mess for dinner.

"THAT WAS THE LAST SLICE, ALL I HAVE LEFT ARE SNAILS."

"man, fuck snails," Sans slurred tiredly.

"I WOULD RATHER NOT."

Sans barked a laugh at that.

"i'll hold ya to it," Sans mumbled, words fading as his orbits drooped.

Gaster waited a moment, watching as Sans's breaths evened out. Once sure he was asleep, he went and found a guard to watch him again. A different one, so he had to painstakingly give the instructions all over again along with the warning Sans might refuse the snails but if he's awake he needs to eat.

Then Gaster finally, finally got to head to the mess hall and get himself a proper meal. And just his luck, after getting his dinner he spotted Marina, the midwife, lounging at one of the tables. He quickly went over to join her.

"MARINA, HELLO. IT'S BEEN QUITE A WHILE." He couldn't sign with his hands full, he spoke more to get her attention than anything as he settled down.

"Gaster, so good to see you. How've you been?" she sat up straighter as he settled in across from her, her tentacles shifting into more comfortable positions.

"I HAVE BEEN WELL," Gaster signed. "YOU?"

"A bit busy, quite a few babies were just born and they've kept me rushing about." Marina laughed, bringing out all the lines around her large eyes. "What about you? How's your special patient?" She winked, clearly she'd heard all the rumors.

"RECOVERING. HE ACTUALLY SPOKE TODAY."

"That's some good news, what's he like?"

"GROUCHY."

Marina laughed, "Aren't they all? Tell me all about it."

End notes: Red is full of piss and vinegar, as they say. XD It's a good sign, he's a fighter and isn't going to let himself Fall Down anytime soon. And Marina is an… uh… octomaid? Octotaur? Merocto? She's an octopus monster. She and Gaster get along because they both commiserate about their patients and he makes potions for her. One might even consider them… friends?