OH MY GOD GUYS! I JUST HAD THE BEST GEEKGASM OF MY LIFE!

So I totally ordered pizza from Dominos and in the instructions I asked them who their favorite Undertale character was and they should write it on the box. As soon as we got the Pizza I ran into the kitchen and opened the lid of the box. Inside they had written: "Anyone other than Toriel is the WRONG ANSWER #Goatmomforlife"

I swear to god I squeed in my kitchen for a good ten minutes!

For the LOVE

Chapter 5: Believe in the light

[Friday]

It had only taken a few days for me to unpack once we had finally moved in and I was feeling more at home than I ever had. I had chosen Papyrus' old room next to Sans and Liz had taken the room across the hall, over top of the kitchen.

We all fell into a routine pretty quickly. Liz and I would wake early enough for our jobs, make a decent breakfast for us all and Sans would eventually join us to grab a cup of coffee in a tumbler and then disappear to wherever he worked during the day.

I was able to walk down through town to a nice building Asgore had purchased as his new headquarters. No longer we're we stuck in the middle of the city, fighting traffic and having to deal with the less friendly humans. Instead we were able to grab muffins at Muffet's Bakery in the morning and chat on the small roof top longue he had designed. We would still have to take the occasional trip to the city for a live meeting when required, but most preferred video conferences with the King of Monsters.

Asgore had made a nice reception area to great guests in the front of the building, with a chest high counter that hid my computer and phone behind it. The room felt modern with metal work and wood accents but we had added large photos of various monsters and their lives on the walls with fresh flowers in large vases in any corner of the room.

It had been a slow Friday morning as Asgore sat in his office contemplating paperwork and I was making arrangements for a meeting with the head of the Anti-Monster Coalition when Sans walked in the door. He hadn't noticed me behind my desk as he walked in so I took the time to study his appearance. He was dressed in his favorite blue hoodie, dark jeans and a pair of beat up tennis shoes but he had a long white lab coat on as well. His face said he was less than pleased, his permanent smile downturned as he sighed.

When he finally noticed me, he began to smile again. I smiled back as I motioned for him the give me a second to get off the phone.

"I have it set for that Monday morning, ten am at the Ebott Luxury Hotel, Penthouse Suites… Would you like for us to make the arrangements? … Yes sir. See you then. Thank you." I hung up the phone and stood up.

"Good morning Sans! What brings you here?" I leaned forward and placed my elbows on the counter separating us.

"more like afternoon now, Lauren. it's almost twelve-thirty," he chuckled as he mirrored me on the other side.

"Damn…. I lost track of time… That tends to happen when I'm dealing with the Dragon Lady and her minions," I laughed. "Can I help you with something? Asgore should be having a video conference right about now."

"actually, i was hoping to talk to gore about some stuff but if he's busy do you want to grab something to eat?" he smirked. "i have a feeling you haven't had anything but grillby's breakfast menu yet…"

"I would love that. Let me just tell Asgore that I'm heading out," turned to the wooden door behind me. We had had the place sound proofed so no one could overhear anything Asgore would be talking about so I had to knock on the door.

"Come in!" I heard Asgore call from behind the door.

I leaned in the cozy office, keeping most of my body outside and balancing on the door frame so I wouldn't be spotted by the camera placed on the wall opposite his desk, projecting his picture to a local delegate.

"I'm headed out for lunch but I'll lock the door behind me ok?" I whispered.

He mouthed a thank you as I shut the door, the sound of the local politician droning on from the speakers on his desk.

Sans was waiting by my desk, looking at the picture frame I kept of Liz and me from our younger days. He didn't say anything, just placed the photo back on the desk, and placed his hands in the pockets of his hoodie.

"ready?" He asked holding his left elbow out as he turned toward the door.

"Ready. Are we walking?" I asked as I threaded my arm though his. "I have to lock the front door on the way out ok?"

"sure, but don't worry, I know a shortcut," he said as we walked out first set of double doors. He waited as I locked them behind me and stored the key back on a small keychain on my wrist. Waving his right hand in front of the next door, we stepped through his dark portal into Grillby's.

[Lunch at Grillby's]

They walked into Grillby's arms linked and Sans lead her to his favorite seat at the edge of the bar. He watched as she slid onto her barstool, careful to keep her skirt down. She was wearing a blue, ruffled, long sleeve button down, tucked into a black pencil skirt that hugged her slim thighs and a pair of black high heels. Any other time he would have considered them "fuck me" shoes, but with her hair down and a light bit of makeup on her face he figured it was a total "fuck me" outfit.

He had completely forgotten that she was Asgore's assistant when he had walked in to talk to the King. He hadn't seen much of her that week as things at the Lab had been keeping him out longer than normal so the women had already been asleep when he would arrive home. He couldn't complain though, they had been leaving him home cooked meals in the fridge with little notes but he figured those had been from Lauren.

Liz hadn't been exactly warm to him but she hadn't been nasty either in their interactions since moving in. He hadn't had time to ask Lauren anything about it and it didn't seem like the time on their impromptu lunch date. It had surprised him how much he was enjoying this already.

Grillby came by to take their order, she had decided on a burger and he duplicated the order asking for a bottle of ketchup as well.

"This early in the day?" she teased as she leaned on the bar facing him.

"can't pass on gillbz ketchup…" he leaned forward on the counter.

"So…." She started, leaning back. "What brought you to Asgore today?"

"eh… just some stuff, but that is all work related. we're on a break, right? how are you doing with the house?" he countered. It was more personal than work related but he didn't want to give that away just yet.

"Well, I got everything unpacked and I figured out how to use the washing machine in the basement. If you ever need us to run a load for you, just let me know. I mean I hate laundry but it's not so bad now that I don't have to go down four flights of stairs to change it out of the wash," she smiled.

He had been there with Papyrus to help them move their belongings into the house from their apartment and knew what a pain going up any of those stairs had been. By the end he had just been teleporting boxes to the house directly.

"that's good to know…" he hated laundry as well and had always waited for Pap to do it for him when the need arose.

A comfortable silence fell upon them as she stared at the light wood paneled bar. He hands were fidgeting in her lap now, a small blush spreading on her cheeks.

"I was thinking… Liz has a date tonight and I was going to stay up and watch some movies… When you get off from your job would you like to join me?" She kept her eyes down as she asked.

"…sure… i've got nothin' better planned. what kind of movies we talkin'?" he shrugged. He figured if he got in to talk to Gore after lunch and finished his work with Alphys, he could make it home before Lauren and set everything up beforehand.

"I hadn't decided yet…"she pondered.

Grillby came back with their food and they made small talk about movie choices as they devoured the burgers. Grillby signed that he would put the meal on his tab when they had finished and Sans hopped off his stool to walk Lauren back to the office.

He used the back door this time and opened another dimension door to the building where she worked, arms linked again as she unlocked the inner doors.

"mind if i pop in to talk to gore?" he said as they neared her desk.

"Sure, let me just check that it's clear first," she knocked and leaned in the door again.

He watched her stretch in the doorframe, watching her backside like he had earlier.

'damn, this day needs to go by quicker…' he thought as she leaned back and gave him the all clear.

Walking into the small office he hoped that maybe he would be able to get her comfortable enough with him that she wouldn't mind playing out a few of his fantasies tonight.

[Sans' House]

Work had wrapped up later than I had hoped. I peeled off my heels as I walked in the door, my feet sore after I had had to entertain a surprise meeting from a Senator right as we had been locking up for the day. I leaned against the door as it closed and sighed. I had hoped I had time to shower before Sans got home but as I looked at the TV, I could see he had beaten me to the punch.

"long day kid?" he called from the couch. I walked around towards the stairs, taking my shoes up with me.

"Yeah… Let me go change into something more comfortable and I'll be right back down…" I sighed as I trudged upstairs.

It only took a few minutes for me to swap out my work apparel for a pair of yoga pants, long sleeve tee and pull my hair up. I came back down, looking at Sans lounging in his usual attire, now without his lab coat.

"I meant to ask you at lunch, but where do you work exactly?" I plopped into the opposite side of the couch, moaning as it sucked me into its depths. I was internally thankful that we had decided to dump our old couch in favor of the one Sans' already had. I lifted my head to look at the coffee table we had kept, noticing that he had covered it in snacks and bottles of ketchup for our movies.

"i work at a lab with alph, working on alternative forms of energy. government funded kind of stuff…" he said, taking a gulp from his bottle of ketchup.

I realized this was the first time we had been alone together since the night of the dinner. Someone had always been in the house or we had been out in public with our friends each time before that.

"That's actually pretty cool!" I said as I got up from the couch. I headed towards the kitchen, and began searching the fridge. I knew Liz and I had bought some wine the last time we had been out so I grabbed the bottle when I found it and began the process of uncorking it.

Wine in hand, I came back to the couch, sinking back into my side of the couch. He had found some old reruns of live stand ups and we watched in silence for a few minutes before I decided on what I wanted from the night. I knew almost nothing about him, and we had so many questions that we still hadn't answered so what the heck…

"Alright," I stated as I placed my glass on an empty space in the coffee table. "We are now alone. Both of us are comfy, right? Why don't we ask questions? I know next to nothing about you and we've got things to figure out and…." I turned toward him, bringing my feet under me. "Let's trade?"

He seemed to think for a minute before he sat up to face me.

"…sure. Let's do that," he turned the volume down on the TV and grabbed another bottle of ketchup.

"Well, I went first with the question about your job so…. It's your turn. Shoot." I lifted my head up and looked back towards him.

"…alright… easy one first. what is your last name?" he tilted the rim of the bottle in my direction as he finished.

"My full legal name is Lauren Azelia Wolfstien, but to be honest I've never felt like it fit me," I shrugged.

He nodded, knocking back his bottle. "your turn…"

"Ok…" I grabbed my glass of wine again. We could make this into a drinking game if he wanted. "What is YOUR last name?"

"cheat. it's skeleton." He lifted his brow bone, imitating lifting his eyebrows.

I took a sip of my wine in response. "Your turn."

"why is your hair so long?" he mused.

We were being honest so I decided to give him the actual answer and not the line I had fed everyone else.

"When I woke up in the hospital it was kinda in a short bob but when I looked in the mirror, I didn't recognize myself so I started to grow it out. I told myself that when I remembered everything, I would cut it again" I watched as he took his next drink. "Do you have any other family besides Papyrus?"

It took him a minute, he busied himself peeling the label from the bottle as he thought.

"i had a dad at one time but he's not with us any longer. i don't think we ever had a mom…"

His answer gave me more questions but I took my drink as our silent rules dictated.

"ok… a bit harder this time… you said you had a bad relationship in the past. what was this guy like?"

"Heh… Mike was your average guy. He had been in the Army and had a way with words when he wanted to. I met him in a bar when Liz had dragged me with her on a double blind date. I was at a weird point in my life, trying to fix other people while I ignored my own problems so when I found a guy who seemed to worship the ground I walked on, I grabbed on tight. Liz saw the signs before I did... He was different when we were alone but out in public he treated me like trash. I thought I could deal with it as long as he was nice to me when it was just the two of us but he started to change even when we were alone. It wasn't until he broke my arm one night that I really woke up." I smiled in self-deprecation. "I wasn't the smartest cookie and kind of swore off dating for a while."

He drank his ketchup after I finished, swapping it out for a fresh one when he was done.

"Um… next one…. Oh! How do monsters make babies?" I had been curious since Alphys had said something about wanting children when we had been at brunch last Sunday.

He had to blink a couple of times before he answered, a blush coating his cheeks.

"uh… well, damn. I haven't had to have this talk since paps was much younger… um, ok," He crossed his legs under him, placing his hands on his thighs. "well, when two monsters love each other… they call it finding their soulmate. there is usually only one soulmate per monster but usually they can find each other no matter the circumstances. they go through a bonding ceremony, similar to a human marriage but with magic that intertwines their souls together so they can share their magic when needed. since monsters are made of magic, the partners must physically combine their souls together, hoping that they can use their combined magic and love to make a new soul that will plant itself in the receiving partner's body. as i said, it takes a lot of magic and probably a few tries to get it right but eventually they will create a new soul. this soul will use the magic in the host to create a body for itself, as the partner gives their magic through their link to keep the other healthy. we call these links heartstrings and you can have heartstrings for all your bonds, but only a soulmate will become gold and unbreakable after the lifebinding. then it's like a regular pregnancy… the mate carries the child for about nine months and when the kid is ready to be born a magical midwife will help the couple deliver."

I took a gulp of my wine at this, feeling it rush to my head as the new information settled.

"ok… my turn…" he leaned back into the arm of the couch and crossed his arms, his eyes losing their lights.

"::how do you know wingdings?::"

I blushed, thinking of the choice phrase I had chosen to yell when Papyrus had spooked me.

"Well, and this may seem silly but I swear it's true, I had an imaginary friend when I was a kid." He raised a skeptical eye-bone at this. "I swear it's true. You'll have to ask Liz… When I first woke up in the hospital, it was all I would speak. At first everyone thought I had lost the ability to form words but after a while it was like a switch flipped in my head. I just started speaking English again and everyone dismissed it. When I tried to tell the nurses about my friend they all laughed saying I was too old to be having imaginary friends at my age. Sometimes he would come to school with me and we would have conversations together but the other kids would tease me about it. I tired teaching it to Liz but I guess it's a skill that many don't have so I quit. After a while, I stopped seeing my friend, though I drew him a few times while I was in college and I only tend to use it when I need to curse or have had a REALLY bad nightmare." I had been looking at my hands as I spoke and finally glanced up to look at Sans.

He quickly knocked back his drink and gestured for my next question. The lights in his eyes had not returned but he seemed less stiff after my answer.

"Ok… Um… Oh! What kind of magic do you have? I mean I've seen you teleport and stuff but that's about it…" I shrugged as I leaned back into couch.

He smirked as his left eye started to glow, casting an eerie light on the couch. Behind him a large skull appeared and his left hand began to glow in blue flames. The skull reminded me of a wolves but more angular and missing the proper nasal cavity. It also had glowing blue eyes and seemed to growl as it floated over his shoulder.

"I'm gonna break our rule a little bit… Can I pet them? Please?" I put my wine glass down, too excited to keep it in my hands.

He laughed, throwing his head back and bending backwards over the couch.

"sure! but don't say I didn't warn you!" he flicked his left hand forward and the skull glided through the air towards me.

I lifted my hands to touch the skull and lightly pet in between it's eye sockets.

"Does it have a name?"

"a gasterbalster doesn't need a name…" he laughed even harder.

It seemed to take offense at that and swung to growl at him before turning back to me for more or my stroking. It seemed to nuzzle into my chest before it drifted back behind Sans' shoulder.

"down boy…" he patted it's muzzle before he closed his eyes and the Blaster disappeared.

"Anything else?" I smiled.

"hey, that's like three now… but yes. you've seen my shortcuts but I can also teleport but I prefer to do that without anyone else. too many variables. i think i also stopped time once… oh and i can do this…" his eye lit back up as he snapped his fingers and I felt his magic wrap around me and lift me into the air. I had to push my shirt down as he spin me upside down a few feet from the ceiling.

"Ok this is too cool but you have to put me back down…"

"fear of heights?"

"Not exactly… Just a fear of falling. I don't mind being up high once I'm there but I hate the sensation of falling," I tried to keep the slight panic out of my voice as I slowly spin in the air.

He stretched out of the now empty couch and drifted me to float above him, still held tight by his magic. With a snap of his fingers it was gone and I fell the last few inches, landing on top of him.

"don't worry kid… i'll always catch you," he placed his hands on my hips as I kept my weight on my hands.

Maybe it was the wine, but I felt the warmth in my chest spread to my face.

"You keep calling me 'kid'. How old are you anyways?" I pouted with my blush.

"i think i hit one-ninety this year…" he gazed at the ceiling in thought. "anyways… my turn."

Neither of us moved as he stared at me.

"how did you know you could heal me that night?"

I looked away as I thought back to my initial panic after the crash. I had been woken up on the ceiling of the limo, Asgore groaning softly next to me. I had kicked the limo door open and dragged him out fearing the car would catch fire. When I had run back for Sans I had found him pinned at an awkward angle leaning against the solid part of the divider. My chest had tightened as I looked at his leg, bent at an impossible angle near the remainder of the bench and I pulled him out praying he wasn't dead. I had placed him on the asphalt and ripped the leg of his suit, shaking the entire time trying to assess the damage. His tibia had been broken in half but the break was clean so I had worked quickly to reset it, hoping that he had a super monster healing but I knew in my heart he didn't. Instead I zoned out and placed both hands around the break and pulled the warmth from my chest willing it to heal.

I came back from my memories as Sans began stroking up my back under my shirt. He had pulled me down on top of his chest as I shook and continued running his hands up and down my spine.

"I had no idea…" I croaked form a lump in my throat. "I was so worried that you were dead, I just kind of zoned out. When I realized what I was doing, and the fact that it was working, I was just so amazed that you were alive I didn't even question it."

I didn't understand why the thought of him dead made my chest ache until he spoke.

"… we're soul mates kid… that's why," he whispered into my hair as I realized I had voiced my thoughts.

"How can you know that Sans…. We've only known each other for about a month…"

"i'll show you…" he slid his hands down my back once more, using his right to pull me into the crook of his arm and the back of the couch.

Using his left hand, he tapped his breast bone through his shirt, and pulled it up wards like he was holing a string in between his fingers. Slowly a blue, glowing heart followed the string. He placed his hand under it, moving his right arm around my head so he could point to the tiny pieces of wire that seemed to rise out of it. They were only about three inches long but each one had its own hue. He tapped a thin golden one, rising out of the dead center of the heart. It had the thickness of piano wire and looked like it would break of he touched it. He turned his head to look at me as I pushed myself to my elbow.

"How do you know it's me?" I asked as I looked him in the eyes.

He smiled softly and looked back at the wire, pinching it between two fingers and tugging it backwards toward the center.

An answering glow came from my chest and I placed my hand on my chest. Slowly he moved his hands away and his soul slid back in his shirt, once again hidden.

I laid back down as he moved his arm back behind me, placing my right hand on where his soul had come from.

"I had a dream the first night we were here on this couch. The first one I've ever had…" I mumbled still awestruck.

"what about?"

"Us… At first I was so sure it was a dream but when I had seen your room the next morning… Well, now I'm not so sure…"

We laid there in silence, both lost in our own heads, and the light from the TV shifted and moved.

"there's a baby shower for tori next weekend. i was gonna host it here if that's ok…"

I smiled into his chest. Mundane things were a safe topic.

"It's your house Sans but now I have to go get a present!" I laughed.

"i would get two of them. i'm pretty sure she has twins. alph was excited after the last checkup tori had but it's supposed to be a gender reveal thing… so tori and gore have no idea…"

"Awww… That's super cute…"

Again we let the silence drift between us but I had seen something funny so I started to move across Sans to grab the remote. Realizing our height differences and the couch structure I scooted my body over his so we were still lying side by side but he was behind me.

Slowly he moved, leaning on his left elbow and placing his chest to my back. I leaned backwards, grabbing his right hand and placing it around my middle, while I rested my head on the inside of my arm.

The warmth in my chest had doubled and I could feel a similar heat at my back as we watched as some girl strip off her tights and began yelling at the crowd about her thighs touching.

The rest of my questions could wait till later. Right now, I was going to bask in the warmth of the skeleton I was falling in love with.