[[ Hey guys! Brit here! Incoming, shameless self-insert in this chapter, but it's a minor role that might only pop up once or twice. Promise. Anyway, this is chapter three! I've been on a roll writing lately, and even though only one person has read so far (to my knowledge), just in case anyone else does, I wanna go ahead and say this:
Thank you, really. It means a lot that people want to read my stuff. And huge thanks to my bro, Jamie, for being so supportive and excited to read every new chapter I post. Love you, man!]]

"You sure about this, Tori?"

The Queen turned from the front door she'd just finished closing and securing to look at Sans, who had an indiscernible look on his face. She sighed, looking down at her hands as she clasped them together tightly, nervously, thumbs brushing against her soft fur. "I am hopeful," was all she said, and she could hear the skeleton sigh from behind her, falling back onto the sofa heavily. "I know that you do not think very highly of humans, Sans, but… but perhaps this time will be different." He scoffed, and she turned to give him a look, to which he shrugged his shoulders.

"I dunno, Tori, just sayin'. Wishful thinkin' can only get ya so far." The sound of a door opening down the hallway pulled their attention from the rather heavy conversation, and they both put on smiles as they saw Papyrus re-entering the living room, with Frisk sat on his shoulders.

"HUMAN FRISK HAS MADE A GIFT FOR THE HUMAN WHO RESCUED HIM!" He announced loudly, giving a hearty "nyeh" as Frisk held a piece of paper out proudly. Their eyes searched across the room and, when they did not see Lena, they frowned, signing quickly. "HMM? YES, WHERE IS THE HUMAN?"

"Ah, she had to head home…" Toriel said softly, and both she and Sans were surprised by the sudden melancholic expression the child wore on their face. She recovered quickly. "But do not fret, my child! She will be joining us for dinner tomorrow evening. Would you like that?" The question was unnecessary, as Frisk began to kick their legs and sign excitedly, practically bouncing on the massive skeleton's shoulders. Toriel couldn't help but smile at the sight.

"THEN PERHAPS I, TOO, SHALL MAKE SOMETHING TO GIVE THE HUMAN! DO YOU THINK SHE LIKES SPAGHETTI ART?" Sans raised a browbone at this and chuckled, shrugging his shoulders lazily. "I SHALL MAKE HER THE BEST MACARONI MASTERPIECE THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN! HUMAN FRISK, WILL YOU ASSIST ME?" Frisk nodded eagerly, squirming and pointing back towards their room. "NYEHEHE! THEN LET'S GO! BROTHER, WOULD YOU LIKE TO HELP?"

"Nah, bro, I think I'm gonna take a nap here until you're ready to go," Sans yawned, stretching out his legs and propping his slipper-clad feet up onto the couch cushions. His younger brother sighed, mumbling something about 'lazybones' before taking the excited Frisk back to their room. Once the door was closed, Toriel moved back over to the couch, sitting across from the sleepy skeleton.

"You did say that Frisk is an excellent judge of character. And she wants to teach at my school. Surely you can give her a chance, and not be so boneheaded." The pun brought a huff of laughter, to which she smiled. "Just give her a chance, will you not? Frisk really seems to like her." It was true, that much was painfully obvious. There wasn't anyone from his school that he seemed particularly excited about, until today, that is. Sans knew this, but he didn't quite feel like accepting it just yet.

"We'll see," he stated simply, yawning again, and feeling his grin widen as Toriel huffed a sigh at him. She couldn't expect him to suddenly like every human he came across, especially since so many have been so unkind. "Anyway, gimme a call when Paps is ready to leave." He got creakily to his feet, wincing slightly as his bones popped loudly. Toriel began to protest, but he waved her off over his shoulder, already opening the front door and escaping out into the cold. "Later, Tori." The queen sighed as she watched the skeleton disappear behind the closing door, his body fading out into nothingness as he took a 'shortcut'. 'Maybe someday he'll be able to accept that we're really free up here…' With that last thought, she set to wrapping up the pies and cleaning up, soul still thrumming with hopefulness as she thought about what to make for the dinner she was going to be hosting.

Humans were difficult.

That was the single, solitary thought that filled a particular skeleton's skull as he stepped through the rift in space he'd so effortlessly created, slippers padding softly across the carpet in his own apartment. It wasn't all that far away, just a block or two down from the one Toriel and Frisk stayed in, but he preferred not to walk if he could help it. More control over variables this way. Less chance of anything unexpected.

Unexpected, like Frisk not coming home.

He'd kept a level head, but inside, his soul had burned anxiously, panic buzzing in his bones, but he had to keep it together for Papyrus and Toriel. Even as his mind raced, filling in all of the blank spaces in his knowledge with sickeningly dark answers, 'what if's, and scenarios. He found himself wondering, terrified, if Frisk had found a way to reset again, if he was going back to Mt. Ebott to do just that, and his soul, how it had screamed within him. He could feel it dim and darken, and he'd ground his teeth and stayed by the window, leaning as casually as he could muster against the frame, the lights of his eyes focused through the glass. Waiting. Watching. Waiting…

When a vehicle had pulled up that he hadn't recognized, he'd felt his guard shoot up even further, until he saw a familiar face. Frisk. Oh, if he could put into words how relieved he'd felt, seeing them there. He'd almost shortcut his way right to him, but then he saw the other human. Unfamiliar. Not to be trusted. He'd immediately tried to look inside, to see this human's soul… but humans were more physically made, had more physical matter holding them together. It was always far more difficult to see a human's soul. Monsters were easier, usually. Frisk, however, seemed to have no trouble concentrating and seeing souls, no matter whose it was. It was a gift, and a gift that they had used well in their journey through the Underground. 'Journies,' he reminded himself, as if he needed it, and he felt his mood sour even further.

He kicked off his slippers, watching them sail across his own living room before he collapsed in a heap onto his own couch, skull falling back to rest against the back of the couch and his eyesockets closing. It had been a particularly draining day, and he was feeling it. And tomorrow, it seemed, would be yet another one. He still couldn't believe that Toriel had invited a stranger into their home so easily, as if she had no idea the cruelty humans were capable of.

"You did say that Frisk is an excellent judge of character." His ever-present smile pulled into more of a grimace and a sigh hissed between his teeth. It was the truth. With such a powerful ability to percieve and read souls, he knew that Frisk would have been the first person suspicious of the new human, and yet… he could remember how comfortable Frisk already seemed to feel with them, even going so far as to reach out to her, physically. It was a fact that, the more he looked at it, annoyed him to no end. If he were to be distrusting of the human now, it would be the same as doubting Frisk, and that… well, that was something he couldn't very well do, now, could he? Not when they had broken the barrier, freed them all. 'But for how long?' He found himself asking that every day, every time he woke up, every time he went to bed. It was getting difficult to keep up a face around anyone, especially Papyrus. The weariness was showing in dark ridges beneath his eyesockets, and even though he found himself feeling tired, constantly, he couldn't seem to sleep for more than a few hours at a time.

And even when he did, the nightmares were always there to greet him.

Sans jerked his skull upright as he felt himself beginning to nod off, sighing heavily. At least now, with Papyrus and everybody else gone, he could stop wasting energy pretending. For right now, anyway, he was allowed to be tired. Once Papyrus got home, though, he'd have to stop, because worrying his brother was something he wouldn't do. Couldn't do. He'd read Papyrus his favorite bedtime story, tuck him in, drink a few bottles of ketchup, and sit up watching mindless television for however many hours until, eventually, he'd drag his body to his room and collapse onto his filthy sheets, and drift into darkness.

"Hey, welcome home!" Lena had just barely gotten the front door open when her roommate called out to her, twisting to lean across the back of the couch with a little wave. Smiling, she waved back, kicking off her shoes by the front door and heaving a sigh. "Bad day?" She nodded, then shook her head, then shrugged her shoulders. "One of those, huh? C'mere, I'm watching a Jim Carrey flick." Lena smiled gratefully and shrugged off her jacket, hanging it on the coat rack secured next to the front door. "Aaaalrighty then!" A small laugh escaped her as her friend so flawlessly quoted the movie that she knew they'd end up watching...again. She sat on the couch and chuckled as long thin legs immediately draped lazily across her lap. Her roommate was someone she'd known for a while, the total opposite of herself. Thin, pretty- She admonished herself in her mind, eyes trailing across her friend's features. She'd recently buzzed her hair short (which was really a shame, because her long hair had been so pretty), and the only part left with any real length was right along the top. It now hung carefully over to one side, and her friend blew her bangs out from in front of her olive-green eyes. Seemingly sensing the attention, the other woman turned to her, eyebrow raised, to which Lena shook her head.

"It's nothing, Brit. Don't worry about it…" Brit shrugged and withdrew her legs, scooting over and curling up next to her side.

"So, c'mon, tell me what's wrong? Do I need to go kick some ass? Or do you need a blowjob and a beer?" She waggled her eyebrows and Lena found herself sputtering with a laugh. "But seriously, talk to me, babe. Unless you just wanna zone out mindlessly watching Jim Carrey talk through his ass." Lena rolled her eyes.

"Your love of Jim Carrey knows no bounds."

"'Course not, I grew up watching him, and I'm gonna die watching him. He gives me such a comedy boner."

"Brit! Oh my god…"

They laughed and, eventually, settled into a comfortable silence, the movie playing more in the background than anything. Lena certainly wasn't focused on it, far too busy thinking over what had happened in the past hour. Frowning, she sighed. "Humans are so terrible…" She smiled a bit at her friend's muttered interjection of "hey, tell me about it" and pressed onward. "I… Frisk. You know, Frisk?" she asked, glancing over at her friend and continuing when she got a nod. "They've been bullied a lot at school… and the teacher doesn't seem to care the least bit." This got Brit's attention, and she scowled, muttering unkind things under her breath. "Brit…"

"Geez, a kid can't even feel safe at school! What the fuck is everyone's problem?! Monster, human, whatever, kids don't deserve to have to worry about their goddamn safety at school!" Lena agreed, obviously, and felt the exact same way… just a little more quietly. And with fewer curse words. "God, if it were my kids… I can't imagine how his parents feel."

"Well, I went and told their mom… I was talking with Kathleen and she got a call as I was confronting her about Frisk, saying Frisk hadn't gotten home…" She felt her friend squirm slightly on the couch, a soft whisper of 'oh god' meeting her ears, and she shook her head quickly. "Nothing bad, nothing bad! He uh… ended up missing the bus. My guess is some kids were bullying them… ...they had bruises on their chest, that I caught a glance of." Brit hissed in a breath and Lena had to put a hand on her leg to calm her. Topics about children were always relatively sensitive with her, considering she had two of her own. "Anyway, nobody seemed to bother to look for him… I stayed so long looking that even old Mr. Dinkle left, the head janitor! They were hiding under a bush, and… God, Brit, it broke my heart. They looked so scared…" It was true. Not necessarily in her heart did it hurt, but something else, something far larger, made her entire being shudder. "I drove them home, had a nice chat with their mom, Toriel, and I-"

"You spoke to royalty?! As in, Toriel, the QUEEN of ALL monsters?" Her eyes were wide and Lena sighed, nodding. "...Was she hot?"

"Brit!"

"Sorry, sorry! I've just seen a few pictures, and she's really pretty!" It had been true, now that Lena thought about it… Not that she ever really considered how she rated goatmonster women. But there was a daintiness and a grace about her, despite being so large in size. It was admirable, and the faintest hint of regality that she carried herself with, the confidence… she was envious of it, if she were honest.

"She was beautiful. Breathtakingly so, actually… but I'm not sure your husband will be too thrilled if you start talking about wanting to bone monster royalty." She held her hands up in surrender, shrugging slightly, which Lena snickered at. "But… they were so nice, Brit. I just… I can't understand why people treat them so badly…" A hand rested on her shoulder, and she looked up to see her friend giving her a half-smile. Her mouth opened to say something, when a high-pitched shriek came from the hallway, causing them both to whirl their heads in the direction of the hallway. There came running a very wet, very naked, and very fast little boy, and Brit hauled herself over the back of the couch, catching them in her arms.

"Gotcha! Get back in that tub, you stinker!" A peal of giggles erupted from them as she took the child back to the bathroom, and Lena found herself smiling fondly, though something in her chest ached dully. She loved her friend dearly, and she loved her friend's family, very much so… but she had been finding herself thinking about wanting to get out of their hair for a while. And, after the happenings of the day, she decided that she'd start looking at housing in Taobh tonight.

Steam flowed from the open bathroom door as Lena stepped out into the hallway, already dressed in her comfiest pajamas with a towel wrapped carefully around her head. "Shower's free, Brit!" she called, though voice hushed, since the children were already in bed. A half-hearted reply was said, but she didn't really understand it, so she just shrugged and headed into her bedroom. It had been an office at one point, and the desk and computer were still set up in the corner, but a bed had been moved in,

along with a dresser to store her clothing. She didn't really have much, but she was fine with that. If it meant less space to take up that wasn't really hers, then it was all the better that way. It was this thought that solidified heavily in her mind as she pulled out her laptop, opening a browser, and began her search.

"Housing in Taobh, Mt. Ebott"

The results were, amazingly enough, easy to find, and before she'd realized the time, she had spent three hours going through possible future homes. Most of the available spaces were apartments, not very big, from the floorplans she'd pulled up, but it was just her. She didn't have a family or loved one she was bringing with her.

A knock at her door pulled her from her search, for all but half a second, and she mumbled a quiet 'come in' before turning her eyes back to the screen. Brit, taking the opportunity, quietly slipped into the room, closing the door softly behind her and making her way over to sit on the edge of the bed. She took one glance at the screen and frowned.

"Gettin' tired of living here already?" She asked, playfully, but Lena still felt like it might've hurt. She shook her head, eager to put her friend at ease, but was stopped with a chuckle and a wave. "I'm just teasing. I know how much you've been dying to work at that school… but I didn't hear anything about it being allowed human students now." Lena shook her head sadly, huffing a sigh. "Ah, so… then…?" There was brief pause, and the short-haired woman suddenly put a hand on Lena's shoulder, compelling her to look at her. "Hey. You have this funny way of putting yourself through unnecessary grief to try and help people. If you're going to try and help Frisk and Toriel, then you should really reconsider."

"...You, of all people are telling me not to put myself through unnecessary grief?" she drawled, a brow raised, and she watched as Brit scowled lightly, though good naturedly, flopping back onto the bed. "I know you're worried about me, but it just feels… right. Like it's what I'm supposed to do, y'know?" The other woman huffed and rolled onto her stomach, folding her arms and resting her chin on them. "C'mon, don't pout… You're way too old for that."

"My kids do it, so I do it. They're a bad influence," she mumbled moodily, and Lena sighed, rolling her eyes and lowering a hand from the laptop in her lap to scratch at the other woman's scalp, immediately laughing outloud at how she groaned and pressed her face into the mattress. A muffled 'cheater' came from the blankets and she sighed heavily.

"I'll be moving out as soon as possible… that okay?" All she got was a shrug of shoulders in response, and she sighed. "Come on, please don't do this. You know as much as I do that this is what I was born for. Those monsters, they just… they're people, you know? They deserve to have everything we do."

"I know I know…" she grumbled, pushing herself up on her elbows, casting a tired glance her friend's way. "Doesn't mean I like losing my girlfriend. I don't do long distance, babe." Lena chuckled and, after a moment, so did Brit, and they both laid there for a while, Lena scrolling idly through listings of Taobh apartments. There wasn't much talking, except for collaborating opinions on floorplans, a little bit of teasing here and there, talking about memories… It wasn't like they weren't ever going to see eachother again, afterall. But there's a certain sorrow in realizing that someone won't always be there, every hour of every day, anymore. By the time Brit had dragged herself out of the room to her own bed, Lena had closed down her computer and was curled in her blankets, mind whirling.

As she anxiously thought about her future move, the dinner tomorrow night, and going back to work after the long break, sleep came uneasily.