"So, the idea is to go buy those meds without drawing attention to little miss sunshine right here?"
Toriel nodded, focused on the little human she was cradling as much as she could to calm her down. Her cries were ear-splitting, but still weakened by tiredness.
"No offence but… That's impossible."
Toriel did feel a little bit offended but just sighed. "I know that. But…"
"But you are lucky today. I've had my share of impossible things." He interrupted her with a spark in his eyes.
"Was that… A joke?"
"More or less." He shrugged. "It mostly means I have an idea."
Toriel listened eagerly, which made the little skeleton smile.
"We're going to take Frisk to my place."
"What?" Toriel exclaimed, startled. "But how? What about your brother…"
"Oh, no need to worry about Papyrus. He must be on his beat, right now, complaining about me not doing my job. He won't come home before he found me, which is highly unlikely since I'll be there, with the kid, while you'll go do your shopping. Easy as pie!"
Toriel bit her lip, worried. Was leaving Frisk alone with Sans actually a good idea? But she had to face the fact that she didn't have a choice, there was no other way. "This doesn't tell us how we'll arrive to Snowdin town without drawing the royal guard's attention."
"Don't worry about this." Said Sans with a little wink. "I know a shortcut."
In one word, the skeleton brother's home was cozy. The living room was clean and spacious, in spite of the presence of a sock next to the television and a rock on the table. The blue and pink zigzag patterned carpet was so thick it made you feel like taking a nap on the floor. And it was warm, so warm Toriel almost felt dizzy when the snug home replaced the icy forest inside of which she was following Sans. The heat seemed to also please Frisk whose cries calmed down briefly. The goat woman turned around, wondering how she got there, but Sans didn't leave her time to speculate.
"Come in, Toriel. Don't worry, the neighbors won't hear anything."
"But how did we get here…" wondered aloud the former queen. She looked through a window near the stairs and realized that they were, indeed, in Snowdin town. Furry children were playing in the snow near a decorated tree, a few feet from there. A pair of monsters were complaining about life, sitting under a porch.
"Nice shortcut, huh?" Sans bragged as he let himself fall on the couch. He sighed and stretched, looking tired. He needed a few seconds to sit up straight. "I think you should go, you might need to search Miss Keeper's shelves for a while before you find what you're looking for."
"I'm worried. Maybe you could go? You'd know what to do."
"Too much work." He breathed, embarrassed for some reason. "And I'm not exactly sure about what you want either. Besides, it'd be weird for a skeleton to get something to make him throw up. Nah, it's best if you go."
"What if people question me?"
"Nah. Unless you stay still and look busy, no one will come talk to you."
Toriel thought this was a strange logic, but didn't add anything. Frisk was whining pitifully and she had so much trouble to let her down in Sans's bony arms. The blanket she was wrapped in was slipping a little bit. Sans smiled reassuringly at her with his eyes. "You just have to turn right when you leave. The shop is at the end of the street, before the sign."
"Take good care of Frisk." Replied Toriel, worried.
Sans rolled his eye sockets. "Everything will be fine, Toriel. What could go wrong?"
Toriel hesitated a little bit more but resolved to go, leaving Frisk alone with her makeshift babysitter. The little girl's cries had weakened quickly with the house's warmth, and was now just whining and gasping. She was still hurt but, at least, she wasn't cold anymore.
Sans was watching her with interest, lazily cradling her once in a while. He didn't have much to do, he just had to stay there and watch over the kid until Toriel came back. And he was alright with that. "Hey, kiddo!" he said. Frisk opened her eyes, without stopping to whine. "Do you want to hear a joke?" He took her lack of reaction for a yes. "Why do skeletons hate winter?" Frisk cried for a few more seconds before he gave the answer with a big smile. "Because the wind just goes right through them!"
Too bad for him, Frisk didn't seem in the mood for jokes, and didn't understand what he was saying anyway. Sans didn't take offence, he was used to laugh alone.
Before long, tiredness seemed to calm down the little girl's cries. Sans soon noticed her whines getting weaker and weaker, as well as her repeated yawns. "You're tired, baby bones?" he said. "I wouldn't say no to a nap either." Frisk didn't answer. Her eyes closed and her whines became the product of feverish dreams.
At first, Sans didn't dare let himself fall asleep as well, but this didn't last. His eye sockets closed gradually, the couch suddenly seemed more comfortable than a cloud and the pile of blanket he was holding was soft like a lamb.
It wasn't his fault if he fell asleep anywhere and anytime, after all. He didn't choose to be like this.
A little rest wouldn't hurt anybody.
Just a little bit of sleep.
A tiny bit.
"SANS! GET UP, YOU LAZY BONES!"
The yell woke him up so suddenly he fell from the couch. The small skeleton felt like he had closed his eyes for only a few seconds but several details proved him wrong. The fact his brother just came back home and was scolding him for not coming to work, for example.
As well as the fact he was now holding, in his arms, an empty blanket.