The pups munched on dog treats as Sans and Gerson caught up, the former telling the latter how he had ended up with the litter and where he had been since. "i recently moved back into the snowdin house and moved most of papyrus' stuff out so the pups could have a room to sleep." Sans was saying to Gerson. The old tortoise stroked his beard as he listened, occasionally taking a sip of tea. "Well, I can't say I blame ya for running and hiding, considering what you'd been through and what you were trying to do..." They both seemed to have the same idea to check on the litter. One of them had found a tug rope laying around somewhere, and now all three of them were pulling at it. It amused Sans to no end to see one of them getting dragged around because they refused to let go. "just be careful not knock anything over, guys!" With a chorus of 'We won'ts', Sans and Gerson went back to their conversation. "Those are some well-behaved kids, Sans. Good job with them... but you aren't one to stop by without a reason. What's on your mind, boy?"

🐕🐕🐕

Well, there was never hiding anything from Gerson. Sans really needed to start visiting just for the sake of it. "there's... someone is after me... for what i did in the past. i need to ensure a safe environment for the p-u-p-s if something were to... you know..." He ran a finger across his neck. Gerson frowned. "I can't lose you too, Sans. I can always dust off my old hammer and-" Sand cut him off, shaking his skull. "this isn't a physical enemy, at least not yet. i don't know how you can help other than by keeping them safe if it gets me." Gerson sighed and leaned back, taking a big puff of his pipe. "Fine. I will do this if you promise to come back alive. I am old, Sans, I can not continue to raise orphans. Especially orphans that end up dying before me." Sans chuckled humorlessly. "i don't plan on dying. i promise." He just felt better having a backup plan like this one. "Good man!" Gerson finished his tea with one more heady gulp. "I suppose this means you are leaving soon?" Sans shrugged. "only if you kick us out."

🐕🐕🐕

Four cots were set out for Sans and the pups to spend the night. Dinner was some potato soup, and dessert was crab apple pie. Naturally, Gerson went to bed first, tucking his head into his shell. Sans put the pups to bed an hour later, reading them a bedtime story that Gerson had left out. Once they were fast asleep, he allowed himself to rest... it didn't last. The darkness was familiar, and Sans knew he was in danger again. Icey fingers dug into Sans' shoulders as Gaster leaned into Sans' face, smile twisted and even more fearsome than before. "✋︎ 🙵■︎□︎⬥︎ ⬥︎♏︎ ♒︎♋︎❖︎♏︎ ♒︎♋︎♎︎ □︎◆︎❒︎ ♑︎❒︎♓︎♏︎❖︎♋︎■︎♍︎♏︎⬧︎ ♓︎■︎ ⧫︎♒︎♏︎ ◻︎♋︎⬧︎⧫︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ ♌︎◆︎⧫︎ ■︎□︎⬥︎ ♓︎⬧︎ ⧫︎♒︎♏︎ ⧫︎♓︎❍︎♏︎ ⍓︎□︎◆︎ ◻︎❒︎□︎❖︎♏︎ ⍓︎□︎◆︎❒︎ ⬥︎□︎❒︎⧫︎♒︎📪︎ ♌︎□︎⍓︎📬︎ ✋︎ ♋︎❍︎ ♒︎♏︎❒︎♏︎📬︎" Sans' breath hitched, and his sockets widened as he finally realized what the doctor wanted.