"DT, ENTRY NUMBER ONE.

TO MAKE THINGS SIMPLER I'VE DECIDED TO NOW REFER TO DETERMINATION AS DT.

DT IS WHAT KEEPS HUMAN SOULS FROM BREAKING ONCE THE HUMAN IS DECEASED.

BUT WHEN INJECTED INTO A MONSTER SOUL THE EFFECTS ARE...

NOT GOOD.

SANS'S SOUL IS GETTING WORSE.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT'LL HAPPEN TO HIM BUT I CAN'T WAIT AROUND TO SEE."

Gaster looked over from his desk to his sleeping son, Sans really seemed to sleep a lot. Asgore had assured him it was normal for newborns to sleep a lot but Gaster couldn't help but feel like Sans was sleeping too much. He only ever seemed cry when he was hungry and while he did seem rather observant when he was awake, he was asleep about 90 percent of the time.

Gaster tried not to worry.

Gaster hoped it was the DT and that removing it would make Sans more active.

Gaster hoped it wasn't his low stats.

He turned back to his desk and began to run tests on the DT.

"DT, ENTRY NUMBER TWO.

DT IS TRULY FASCINATING.

I WOULD BE LYING IF I SAID I DIDN'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT IT'D DO TO A MONSTER IF I LEFT IT.

BUT I WON'T BE DOING THAT.

SANS IS NOT AN EXPERIMENT OR A TOOL.

I HAVE A HYPOTHESIS, HOWEVER;

IT'LL MELT THE WHOLE BODY.

MAY EVEN LEAD TO DEATH IF THE SOUL MELTS TOO MUCH.

I REALLY CAN'T WASTE TIME."

Sans was three weeks old. Asgore was beginning to nag Gaster about taking that holiday, after all Sans was doing fine...

Sans was not doing fine, Gaster just didn't want Asgore to worry so he didn't tell him about the DT problem. Asgore thought Gaster was simply looking into DT to open the barrier.

Sans seemed to be getting weaker and Gaster noticed that his right eye was starting to droop. His body was starting to melt, slowly. Gaster knew that he had to hurry so he skipped the testing of his machine's prototype. If he waited much longer it'd be too late. The DT Extractor prototype was pretty small. If he planned to use it on other things he'd have to make the next one bigger but for now he had no choice. He didn't like using an untested prototype on his son but he was scared and didn't want to lose him.

Sans was awake and staring at the machine, he didn't look scared but Gaster didn't know how he'd react once it was attached to him and switched on. He wished Sans was still asleep, then he might not be aware of what was happening to him. Gaster took at deep breath and touched his son's skull, lightly stroking it, his skull felt sticky, he really was slowly melting. Gaster was just glad he'd only used a drop, without a doubt if he'd used more then the melting process would be much faster.

"PLEASE, DON'T BE SCARED SANS, I'M DOING THIS TO SAVE YOU, NOT TO HURT YOU..." Gaster said to his child, he doubted he could really understand him but maybe his voice would be calming for him. He attached the DT extractor to Sans's soul and strapped down his arms to stop him from pulling it out. He did it as quickly as he could. Sans looked up at him as he did so, now with fear in his eyes but he didn't cry, however, his eyes began to glow, flashing between blue and yellow.

"IT'S ALRIGHT, THIS WILL HELP YOU," Gaster tried to sound as calm and as gentle as he could, he pet his son's head once again before walking over to the controls on the other side of the room.

It was when he switched the machine on Sans started to cry, much louder than he had before. The crying broke Gaster's heart, his son was scared and possibly hurting. It was almost enough to make him shut the machine off. Almost. He couldn't, it was better that Sans be scared for a little bit, than dead, he just hoped it wasn't hurting him. Gaster wished he could be closer to Sans so he could try to comfort him but he had to stay a certain distance away for his own safety.

It was working, slowly but it was working. He saw the DT begin to fill the test tube and his son's eye began to slowly move back into it's proper shape. Sans was still crying, sounding more and more fearful each second. His eyes glowing brighter, if he was old enough to use magic then he'd probably be attacking the extractor.

Gaster saw that no more DT was coming out of the machine, the sample that came out looked to be pure so it didn't take any of Sans's magic and Sans looked normal again. He turned off the machine and went running to his son's side, removing him from the DT Extractor and checking his soul before picking him up and hugging him. He was alright, his soul was a normal shape and his HP hadn't dropped. He was still crying but Gaster held him close and rocked him, doing everything to calm him down.

"I'M SORRY, I'M SO SORRY, SANS. I'LL NEVER DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT AGAIN, I SWEAR IT. YOU'RE OKAY, YOU ARE OKAY. I'VE GOT YOU."

Gaster let out the tears now that his son was alright again. Sans would be alright, he'd grow up like a normal kid and Gaster would do anything to keep him safe. He could relax now, knowing that Sans wasn't going to dust and leave him alone again.

One of his tears fell from his face and dripped down onto Sans's. Sans opened his eyes, the glow fading and stopped crying with a sniff as he looked up and saw his father was now crying. Sans didn't want his father to be sad. He reached up with both arms, Gaster was holding Sans's rather close to his face so Sans managed to grab his glasses and pull them off.

"H-HEY!" Gaster sniffed and looked down at his son who was waving his glasses around.

"gah!" Sans called out followed by more babbling. Gaster couldn't help but laugh a little.

"OH, SANS, WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH YOU?"

Seeing as how Sans had stopped crying, Gaster put him back down and gently pried his glasses out of Sans's hands before he broke them and he put them back on. Luckily this didn't cause Sans to start crying again. Gaster smiled at Sans, wiped his eyes and turned back to his desk.

"DT, ENTRY NUMBER THREE.

THE DT EXTRACTOR PROTOTYPE WAS A HUGE SUCCESS.

ALL DT WAS TAKEN OUT OF SANS, HE WILL BE ALRIGHT.

I'LL WAIT A COUPLE OF DAYS TO MAKE SURE HIS HP IS STABLE, THEN I'LL TAKE A MUCH NEEDED HOLIDAY.

I'LL WORK ON IMPROVING THE DT EXTRACTOR WHEN I'M BACK.

THEN I'LL BE ABLE TO GAIN MUCH MORE DT TO EXPERIMENT WITH.

I'LL HAVE TO BE CAREFUL NOT TO TAKE TOO MUCH FROM THE HUMAN SOULS.

AFTER ALL DT IS WHAT KEEPS THEM FROM BREAKING."

Gaster spun and rolled his seat over to Sans, too tired to actually stand and walk over. He looked down at Sans who was still awake and staring up at him, he reached up to Gaster again once he was closer and with a sigh Gaster reached in and gave Sans his finger, who grabbed it with both hands and just held on. Gaster smiled down at Sans, he was happy, everything was alright. Now he needed to take his holiday. Using his magic hands Gaster brought his phone over to him and he called Asgore.

"HELLO, SIRE."

"Howdy, Gaster! I do hope you're calling to say you are finally taking that holiday!"

"I AM, STARTING MONDAY, I'LL TAKE THE HOLIDAY."

"Good to hear, now you are not allowed to come to the lab for at least three weeks!"

"...YOU SAID TWO BEFORE..."

"I've changed my mind, Gaster you need to relax a bit and spend time with your son. Grillby and I have already gotten everything set up in your house. You should just relax."

Gaster didn't like it and he would've argued but he knew that now he had Sans he really couldn't skip out on breaks, he had to do what was best for his son.

"VERY WELL. STARTING MONDAY, I'LL TAKE THREE WEEKS."

"Excellent! How is Sans doing anyway?"

Gaster smiled down at Sans who was falling asleep once again but still held his father's finger tightly. "HE'S DOING GREAT, STILL SLEEPING A LOT BUT HE SEEMS HAPPY."

"That's wonderful. I'll come visit you two at your home in Snowdin on Monday."

"...YOU DON'T HAVE TO."

"I want to."

Gaster knew he did, he was surprised Asgore hadn't shown up a lot more but he was the King and therefore very busy but he knew that Asgore was going to be a big part of Sans's life... He wondered briefly if Sans would grow up calling the King 'Uncle Asgore' much like how Asriel had called him 'Uncle Gaster.'

"WELL, I GUESS I'LL SEE YOU THEN," Gaster told his friend. "I REALLY NEED TO GO NOW YOUR MAJESTY, I HAVE LOTS TO DO BEFORE I GO ON HOLIDAY. EXPERIMENTS TO FINISH UP, A TO DO LIST FOR MY FOLLOWERS."

"Of course, I also need to get going. I have a meeting in half an hour. Take care of yourself, don't stress too much now."

"I WON'T, TALK TO YOU LATER."

"Yes, bye."

They hung up. Gaster looked around his lab, he needed to tidy up.

Sunday came all too fast. Gaster didn't want to leave on holiday yet, there was still so much to do but there was always so much to do so once he finished up fixing some code for The Core and handing his reports and to do lists to his Followers, he left early. It was a long walk to Snowdin after all and Gaster had to carry his infant son all the way there.

He made sure to pack everything he needed to take with him, mainly food and blankets for Sans. He'd already bought another crib for his home, he'd ordered it online and Grillby had set it up for him once his bar was closed for the night. He'd also bought a lot of other things for his home as well so almost everything Asgore had given him could stay in the lab, after all if Gaster was going to bring Sans to work with him then he'd need that stuff and he didn't want to carry it all back and fourth.

He was a little worried about taking Sans to Snowdin as the temperatures of Hotland and Snowdin were vastly different and Sans had never left Hotland. He hoped that it would not be too cold for him but he figured he'd be fine after all he was a skeleton, he didn't have skin or organs so the huge difference in temperature wouldn't do him any harm. Although it might be a little uncomfortable for him.

He walked as fast as he could, he wanted to get home quickly and it wasn't long before he was in Waterfall from here it'd only get colder so he stopped to wrap Sans in another blanket.

Sans had been sleeping when Gaster had left but he woke up while they were still in Hotland. Gaster had thought that he'd fall asleep again but he didn't. He seemed very interested in his new surroundings after all it was very different inside the lab and Sans seemed to be even more interested in his surroundings the more Gaster walked.

It all seemed new and exciting to Sans, who had only ever known the inside of the labs for the whole month he'd been living. Gaster was happy that his son was finally being a little more active, he was looking around happily and occasionally babbling. Gaster really couldn't wait until Sans was old enough to talk and explore, he really wanted to teach his son. He felt it would be easy; after all he was a genius and therefore his son must be one to and Sans really did seem to absorb everything around him, he was keen to learn.

Before long they were in Snowdin, Gaster had added another blanket but Sans still shivered slightly so Gaster rushed into his house and turned on the heating, hoping to keep Sans comfortable.

Going into his own room, Gaster found the crib, he had told Grillby to put it in the spare room since he had baby monitors now, Sans could have his own room but Gaster was too tired to move it now. He placed Sans down in the crib, he didn't seem to want to sleep and was still looking around with interest. Gaster had no idea how to put a baby to sleep after all he had no trouble with him, in fact it was more of a pain to get him to do something.

He figured it wasn't a problem, Sans may be wide awake but he wasn't making any noise and seemed happy enough where he was so Gaster left him and changed quickly into his pajamas, it was still fairly early in the evening but Gaster was really really tired. All the work and stress seemed to have caught up to him now that he was home and in his own room. He partially face planted into his bed and was asleep in seconds.

The next few days went by quickly, Gaster didn't really know just how busy he'd be when he took the holiday but there was so much to do. He started by baby proofing the house that was easy enough and didn't take him too long since his friends had done most of it. His next job was a little trickier, finding a babysitter for when he, Asgore or Grillby couldn't watch Sans after all, all three men were busy people.

That job was difficult, he had to find someone he could trust. After all Sans was so fragile, he wasn't going to just let anyone look after him but he was beginning to think that maybe his standards were too high. He was offering a lot of money for the job, he was the Royal Scientist so therefore he was rich. He figured that if he wanted the job done right he'd have to pay a lot so there was incentive for them to actually watch Sans and not to sit around and watch TV. But the work wasn't regular, maybe that was what was putting people off... He should offer more money! That was sure to help the lack of regular hours.

People were just put off by the pressure of watching the Royal Scientist's delicate son. If something were to happen to him, well not only would they have the Royal Scientist's anger to deal with but also a ruined reputation, they'd never get work again.

Eventually Gaster found someone who would be perfect, a sweat old bunny lady. She was retired and bored so wasn't really afraid of a potentially ruined reputation and lack of hours, plus she had a lot of experience in dealing with kids.

That was out of the way and Gaster was happy about that, it'd been quite stressful, especially with all his neighbours, Asgore, Grillby and some other monsters Gaster kind of knew coming to visit. Gaster had liked his popularity, he was a great person and he knew it and he loved it when people told him so. He was bringing hope to the people and they loved him for it but for once it was all a little overwhelming. So many of his friends and fans wanted to meet Sans and congratulate him in person. It was good to feel loved by so many people but he really did just want some time to himself. Still he didn't turn people away, he did like the praise and he didn't want people to think he was an asshole and they would think that if he just slammed the door in their faces like he was tempted to do. So he invited them in with a forced smile, hoping they'd leave quickly.

After the first week things slowed down and Gaster had less visitors. He was happy to finally have some time to relax, however he quickly found himself bored. Sans was a very easy kid to look after, he slept most of the time and the only times he cried was when he was hungry. Although he seemed very curious he never really seemed to have the desire to investigate or do anything at all, he seemed more than happy to just stare at whatever caught his interest until he worked it out, then he'd find something else to stare at or fall asleep.

Gaster was glad Sans was so easy to care for, at first he was worried about his lack of activity but he eventually figured he was just lazy. That was fine with him, as long as he didn't just laze his life away and stayed healthy. After all, if he did nothing but lay around, he couldn't get hurt.

Unlike his son, Gaster liked to do things, just laying around the house watching TV was so boring to him, he wanted to go back to work, he wanted to make himself useful but he'd promised the King he'd take a full three weeks and he was only half way though that. He didn't want Asgore to worry about him or nag him so he had no choice but to find something else to do that wasn't work.

But he just didn't know what to do. Normally when Asgore pushed him into taking a holiday he was only away for a couple of days, a week at most and he spent his time at Grillby's, which ended up with one very drunk Gaster. He couldn't do that with a child to watch. There really was nothing the skeleton wanted to do, he needed a hobby.

He eventually got way too bored sitting at home, two weeks weren't even up yet. He had to find a way to entertain himself so he decided to go for a walk. He made sure to wrap Sans up with enough blankets and he took some food for them both since he didn't know how long they'd be out for.

Sans was once again wide awake and looking around intensely once Gaster left Snowdin Town, it was the first time he'd seen Snowdin Forest after all. Gaster couldn't help but find the look of intense concentration on his baby's face to be adorable. He could already tell that his son was smart.

Gaster found getting out of the house to be rather relaxing, he let himself get lost in his own mind as he watched what little nature that there was in the Underground. He missed the surface, with the wind and the rain and the sun and the stars, he wanted Sans to see it, he'd probably be very interested in seeing it too. That thought just made him want to work harder, he had to show Sans the surface one day. He wanted to show him his old home even if it was just rubble now or more likely humans had built on top of it. He wondered if there was anything at all left of his people, he doubted it, any items were probably burned. Every skeleton was killed so he didn't see why anything would be saved, anything left of his culture was probably burned to ash. That really hurt but losing his family hurt more, they didn't even get a funeral...

He shook his head, that line of thought was only making him more and more depressed. There was still hope to get out; Asgore would get seven souls. There was still hope for his kind; he had Sans. There was hope.

Gaster kept walking though the forest, he didn't really think about where he was going, it didn't really matter, he wouldn't get lost and he liked the peacefulness, although there was the Dog Squad and a couple of sentries patrolling for humans. None of them stopped to talk to him for more than a, "Hello, Doctor!" or some very small, small talk.

Eventually Gaster found himself approaching The Ruins, he hadn't been there since Asriel was little. He knew however that this was were the three fallen humans had come from so it probably wasn't the safest place to bring his six week old son but he knew the chances of there being a human were low and he was confident in his ability to fight and kill a human even while carrying Sans in his arms, although, he probably should try to place him somewhere safe before engaging.

He stood in front of the door, he knew it was locked and could only be opened from the inside so he didn't expect to get in but he still just stared at the door, as did Sans.

He didn't know why but Toriel suddenly popped into his mind, he missed her as well. He truly didn't know what had happened to her, she just disappeared. There were of course rumours that she had taken her own life but Gaster didn't believe them for a second, she was distraught by the deaths for her children and her ex-husband's actions but she wouldn't kill herself. She was most likely hiding in the ruins, trying to protect any fallen humans.

Gaster sighed, there was no way he'd be able to see her, that was just a dumb fantasy. He knew that no matter how much he wanted to tell her about his child, he couldn't, he'd never see her again.

Sans yawned and Gaster looked down at him. He did look really tired, Gaster figured that he should go home and let Sans sleep so with one last look at the door he turned to leave.

Then he heard something.

It wasn't loud but it sounded like a sigh and a thud of someone sitting down on a hard floor. The sounds had come from the other side of the door. Gaster didn't really think as he turned around and walked closer to it and let go of Sans with one arm, making sure he still had a good hold of him. He knocked on the door and spoke as clearly as he could, "HELLO? IS ANYONE THERE?" He knew that whoever was there couldn't understand him unless they could see him sign and he couldn't get his magic to show through the door but it was worth a shot. If it was the ex-Queen then she'd recognise his voice and maybe let him in.

He heard a gasp from the other side, a woman's voice.

"...TORIEL? IS THAT YOU?"

There was no reply. Even if it was Toriel, Gaster figured she wouldn't come out since she had no way to know if Asgore was with him or not. Besides Gaster didn't even know if she'd want to see him, he had sided more with Asgore than he had Toriel despite his best efforts to stay neutral in their fight.

The silence was deafening. Gaster slowly shook his head, he got his hopes up for nothing. Just as he was about to leave for real this time, Sans called out, "goo!"

Another gasp was heard from the other side of the door.

Sans began to babble. Gaster had no idea why, maybe he didn't like the silence or wanted to know what was going on but he continued making sounds.

"Gaster?"

He jumped slightly at the sound of Toriel's voice but that didn't stop Sans's babbling, he seemed unaware.

"Is that a baby?"

Gaster couldn't answer the question without a way to sign to her but he still answered hoping that she had picked up some of his font. "YES."

The door opened and Toriel stood looking down at the child in Gaster's arms. He looked up at her and gave an awkward laugh, "UM... THIS IS SANS..." He said as he signed with his magic hands.