*I am so sorry you guys! I didn't expect it to take me this long to write this chapter, and a lot of stuff delayed me this week. Long story short I go to school in a different city than I live, and since I'm done for the summer I had to move back home. That happened on Saturday. Getting ready kept me occupied, which is why this is so late! But hey, it still got out on April 25th for me, so yay? I'm super sorry!

The next chapter will (probably) be out on May 2nd, but I'm warning you now, I can't make any promises. Once again I find myself coming into a very busy week, so I may have to delay the chapters release. Sorry again!

Enjoy!*

To say your sleep was unrestful would be the understatement of the year. Despite dosing off, you slept fitfully and uncomfortably. The couch may have played a part in it, as did you're still stinging cheek, but the majority of the restless sleep was credited to your over active thoughts. If you were awake, you were thinking about what had happened, and if you were actually asleep you were having nightmares about it. In some you were running from a shadowing figure, in others Mitchell was transforming from the smiling figure of your past, to the cruel man you knew hid under the mask.

The most recent of your dreams though was you, sitting alone in the cold. This time though, Sans wasn't the one who found you. Instead, you found yourself surrounded by faceless fans, swarming towards you and around you. They pulled you up, they pushed you around, but they were heedless to your cries of pain and fear. You tried to fend them off as they tugged at your hair and ripped your clothes, but they were too strong. Lights flashed, blinding you and scaring you, making you unable to see the faces of those surrounding you. Suddenly, the crowd was gone, leaving you alone and sobbing brokenly in the snow. Then, someone was there again. They grabbed your hair roughly, pulling hard so you were forced to your knees. Then they leaned down and hissed in your ear, "You think you can get away? You think you're safe?" Fear clutched your heart as you sobbed, knowing that Mitchell had found you again. You felt cold hands snaking around your neck and squeezing.

Then you woke up with a panicked gasp. You bolted up, clenching the blanket spread over your lap tightly and panting hard. Tears streamed down your cheeks, dripping silently into the darkness around you. It was just a dream. You thought to yourself, tried to convince yourself. It was only a dream. Your safe.

Only, you couldn't quite believe it.

Shivering, you tucked yourself into a ball and pulled the blanket tightly around yourself, trying to keep warm and trying to calm down. Your heart continued to pound in your chest though, and your breaths remained shallow and raspy. Was this to be your fate now? To be afraid of everywhere you went, and everyone you encountered? Even you fans? You didn't know, but you hoped not. But you couldn't help but add that to your long list of worries and fears.

After about five minutes of trying to recover from that chilling dream, you breathing finally evened out, and your heart rate finally slowed. You were still far from being calm though, and still felt the claws of panic digging into your heart. You didn't know how to get rid of the feeling, and you doubted it was going away on it's own anytime soon. Even though you knew you were safe, and you knew you weren't alone, but you couldn't shake the chaotic emotions and thoughts swirling through you. You still felt lost and confused, and honestly you didn't know what to do with yourself anymore. You were confused about your relationships, felt upset about losing all your belongings, and didn't know what to do about work. You're whole life had fallen apart, and you wondered if you were having an existential crisis. You might be, as you felt like you didn't know anything anymore.

Suddenly, startled cry sounded upstairs, breaking you from your worries. The cry was followed by a loud thump, then an audible curse, and from the voice you knew that the noise was coming from Sans' room. You wondered what had happened. Maybe he fell out of bed? Without warning, you felt as if you didn't want to be alone anymore. You wanted comfort, and a friend. You... well, you wanted Sans. He'd found you before, and maybe he'd be able to find you again, and pull you from your confused state of mind. You wanted to be near him right now. Even if he wasn't up, or wouldn't let you in his room, maybe just sitting outside his door would help ease your anxieties. Maybe I should check to see if he's okay? You thought hesitantly, giving yourself a reason to go up there. Standing up on shaky legs you started towards the stairs and headed up, dragging one of the blankets along behind you with one hand, just in case. You didn't hear anything else from Sans' room, and you hoped he was up. A you reached the top of the stairs, Papyrus pulled open the door to his room, startling you.

"OH (y/n), YOU'RE UP! DID SANS WAKE YOU?" He asked in his whisper-yell, yawning and rubbing an eye socket sleepily at the same time. He sounded quieter than normal, probably because he was tired.

"Um, kind of..." You replied, not wanting to worry him. You knew he would if he knew you had barely slept at all so far.

Papyrus nodded in understanding. "HE HASN'T HAD A NIGHTMARE IN A WHILE, I WONDER WHAT'S WRONG? YOU CAN GO BACK TO SLEEP WHILE I GO CHECK ON HIM."

"Oh, um, I can check on him if you like." You offered with a small smile.

"REALLY? THANK YOU! I TOLD UNDYNE I'D WAKE UP EARLY TO CHECK IN WITH HER ANYWAY SO I SHOULD GET AS MUCH REST AS I CAN. GOODNIGHT!"

"Night." You nodded, waiting for him to turn back and close the door to his room. Once the latch clicked into place, you let out a breath and continued towards Sans' door, thinking. Did he normally have nightmares? He hadn't seemed to have any while at Toriel's, at least, none that woke him up in the middle of the night with the same kind of outcry. You paused in front of his door, hesitating. What if he'd gone right back to sleep? You shook your head. No, it'd be okay, since Papyrus had been planning to check on him again anyway. Taking a steadying breath you knocked gently on the door three times, not wanting to wake him up again if he was already asleep yet not wanting him not to hear if he wasn't still awake.

"i'm fine Pap, go back to bed." His muffled reply came immediately, signaling he was still up. Had he not heard Papyrus and you talking not five feet away from his door? You guessed not, since he assumed Papyrus was the one knocking.

"Um, I'm not Papyrus, and are you sure? There was a pretty loud crash..." You replied, twisting the blanket in your hands. Sans was silent on the other side of the door for a moment. You worried that he didn't want to talk to you, when you heard him speak again.

"i'm sure, sorry for waking you up, kitten. you can go back downstairs."

"Oh, um. Okay. You didn't really wake me up, but I thought I'd check on you anyway. Goodnight, I guess." You didn't really know what else to say, other than that. You wanted to stay, but you doubted Sans was letting you in his room. You kind of hoped he would open the door of his own volition, since you didn't really want to ask all of a sudden. You turned to leave, dejected, when you heard approaching footsteps and the lock being thrown open.

"you were up anyway?" Sans asked, opening his door open with his head tilted to the side in worry. "what's wrong?"

"Oh, um..." Where had your confidence gone? You hesitated to tell him that you were having trouble sleeping, but sighed when you realized your insomnia wasn't getting any better on your own. You came up here to find a friend, and Sans was right in front of you. "I've been having trouble getting to sleep, and staying asleep... because of nightmares."

"because of what happened?" He asked tentatively, leaning against the door frame. You nodded once, quickly, and Sans eyes softened in understanding. "want to talk about it?"

"I... don't know. I just don't want to be alone."

Sans looked at you for a second, curiosity clear in his body language, but he kindly bit back whatever questions he wanted to ask and moved back a bit into his room, holding the door open and gesturing you inside. You started forwards hesitantly, giving Sans a thankful smile for not just turning you away. Once inside the dimly lit space, Sans closed his door most of the way, leaving it open just a crack, as you cast your gaze around the space. His room was decorated a little... oddly, but it fit him somehow. In one corner there was a mattress sitting on the floor, a pillow thrown haphazardly on it and the blanket hanging off the edge, probably dragged off by Sans when he fell. There was also a dresser, a treadmill sitting in the middle of the room with a note on it, and a pile of socks strewn on the floor in the lower left corner. The oddest thing though was a silent, mini tornado that spun seemingly self sustained in the lower right corner of the room. You wondered how that was even possible, and how it was accomplished.

"you can sit on the bed if you want." Sans offered, pushing his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants and scuffing his foot on the floor a few times. You nodded, and headed over, sitting on the very edge at first. Sans joined you after a second, but instead of sitting on the edge he scooted back so he could lean against the wall, legs stretched out in front of him and hands clasped behind his head. After a moment you scooched back as well, tucking your knees up against your chest and wrapping half the blanket around you. You shared the other half with Sans, throwing it over his legs haphazardly before resting your chin on your knees. The two of you settled into a comfortable silence, Sans thinking to himself and you taking comfort in his presence. He had the uncanny ability to do that, you realized. Relax you even in the most stressful of situations. Finally you were able to calm down completely. You didn't feel the need to say anything either, though you wondered if you should. You did just barge into his room practically after claiming you couldn't sleep because of what had happened. But he didn't ask, so you didn't mention it again.

"so nightmares, huh?" Sans said, breaking the silence. You took a deep breath, and sighed heavily.

"Yeah, nightmares." Was all you said in response.

"do you get them often?"

"Not really. I don't remember having any for years... until now."

"because of what happened."

You nodded. "Because of what happened."

"it might help to talk about it, you know."

"Does that help you? With nightmares I mean." You tilted your head so you could look at him, while he continued to look straight ahead. He didn't say anything though, so you turned your gaze forwards again. "Papyrus said you've had nightmares before, thats why I was wondering."

He sighed, grabbing the blanket draped over the two of you and rearranging it on his lap. "yeah, i used to get them frequently. and yeah, i usually tell Frisk about them. if i don't the same dream reoccurs."

You wondered for a second why he told Frisk and not Papyrus, but then realized that the two of them seemed to have a special kind of bond. Frisk was also just a really easy person to talk to. "So if you talk to her, then the dreams go away?"

"for a while, at least." He nodded, glancing over at you. You sat silently, weighing the pros and cons of telling him. Honestly you couldn't really think of any cons. Sans wasn't the judging type, and even if he was, would he really think any less of you? You knew you weren't in the wrong. And you just knew you'd feel better to get the weight that the memories pressed onto your shoulders off. The only way to do that, you also knew, was to be to share them with someone else. Even though you knew all this, you still hesitated telling him. Something made the decision a lot harder than it needed to be. Seeming to sense your indecision Sans tilted his head further towards you and asked again, "so what did happen? what's been giving you nightmares?"

You sighed deeply once more, closing your eyes and forcing yourself to remember. You struggled not to let them overwhelm you, and slowly started retelling what happened. "The nightmares are because of what happened after... after Mitchell got back, I guess." You waited for Sans to say something, but he didn't, so you continued. "He wasn't home when I got there, but came a few hours later. When he came through the door I knew something was wrong. He seemed angry, for some reason. In hindsight I should have known to just leave, but I didn't. I stuck around."

"why?" Sans finally asked.

"Because I trusted him? I never thought he'd do... what he did."

"he's never gotten violent before?"

"Not really. I mean, he's always had a bit of a temper, but I thought I could help him work past it. Now that I think about it sometimes he got angry enough to break something, but he never hit me."

"you knew this, yet you stuck around?" He asked, astonished. You winced, and wished you could burry your head under a pillow. Maybe later.

"Yes. But I was wrong. I didn't think I could provoke him past the point of breaking. I didn't think..." You trailed off again, remembering how angry he got. You shook your head, banishing the fear that trailed after the memory of his anger. 

"didn't think?"

"Didn't think he hated monster so much." You admitted.

"hates a strong word." Sans frowned.

"Thats the only way I can describe it. I always knew he disliked monsters, but I thought it was just because he didn't know any. But the anger and disgust in his eyes... I can only call it pure hatred." You paused again, lifting your eyes to look at the ceiling as you spoke after a moment of silence. "When he got back to the apartment, he was so angry. I didn't know why, so I tried to find out. He had pictures. He hired someone to follow me, to take pictures of me. Pictures of me with you guys. It was proof that I didn't listen to him, that I ignored his order to hang out with Mettaton's friends. That's why he came back early, and why he was so mad at me."

"he ordered you not to meet us? you're an adult, right? you can make your own decisions."

"That exactly what I thought." You nodded, now looking at the floor, feeling the pressure behind your eyes that signaled impending tears. "Then I made the stupid decision to confront him, to try to get him to understand that you guys were my friends. That monsters aren't the humans enemies. But he wouldn't listen to me. He just because so furious with me, with what I was saying. His raged stemmed from the fact that I didn't listen to him, and it eventually came back when I continued to ignore what he was telling me to do. At first I just wanted to get him to see things my way, to try to understand, or at least to compromise. But he just wouldn't listen to me. He just kept getting angrier and angrier. His anger at the you guys turned back towards me in full. He lashed out, and that when he hit me." Now you couldn't keep the tears from welling in your eyes. You refused to let them fall though. You'd shed enough tears over Mitchell.

"what the hell? he hit you because of that?"

"Yes, and that's not all." You tried to keep your voice steady, but it wavered anyway. It was all or nothing, you figured. Honestly, talking was making you feel better, like the load was steadily lightening. "After he slapped me I just locked up. I didn't know how to react or what to do. I'd never seen him like that before. Then he grabbed my hair and tried to slam my head to the wall. I managed to stop him, and I had to bite his wrist to get him to let go. Then I just ran. I was just so afraid of him, and what he might do. I couldn't think of anything else I could do. Thats why I left everything behind. You found me a little while later, and the rest is history I guess. Or at least, I wish I could say that. I guess I just can't stop thinking about what happened, and my nightmare probably came from that. In my dream he found me instead of you, and I just got so scared. And I keep wondering if there was anything I could have said or done to stop him or to keep things from escalating as they did."

"don't. there was nothing you could have done. it wasn't your fault. okay?"

"Wasn't it though?" You asked, voicing your greatest fear. "I was the one who didn't listen, and I was the one who argued with him about what happened. I should have just left before the fight happened, or tried to calm him down first, or..."

"kitten, stop." Sans commanded, moving suddenly so he was on his knees in front of you, tilting your chin up with his hands. "none of what happened was you're fault. you were right to defend yourself and what you thought was right. he doesn't control you. he can't control you. you're strong, independent, and smart. you don't need someone to tell you what to do, especially someone like that because you're right. as someone who knows the former king of monsters I can confidently say we mean no harm. that jerks the one in the wrong. so don't beat yourself up about what you could of done because you weren't in the wrong."

"But how can you know that? You weren't there." You whispered.

"doesn't matter because i know you." He grinned, swiping away a stray tear that slipped down your cheek. You couldn't have asked for a better outcome. He believed you, and thought you were in the right even though he wasn't even there. Even when you doubted yourself, he didn't doubt you for a second, which made you happier then you could express. The nearly crushing weight that had settled on your shoulders since the fight lifted, and you only regretted not telling him sooner. Without thinking much anymore, you threw yourself at him, nearly knocking him off the bed again, wrapping him in a tight hug. He let out a light but confused chuckle, hugging you back equally as tightly.

"Thank you." You whispered after a moment.

"for what?"

"Listening. And understanding."

"heh, you're welcome, kitten."

You stayed that way for quite a while, not quite wanting to let go but knowing you had to eventually. Sans didn't make any move away either, so you assumed it was okay. It didn't feel awkward hugging him for so long, just comfortable and safe. You'd think hugging a skeleton would be uncomfortable, but it wasn't. Eventually you let out a huge yawn, exhausted again now that everything was off your chest. Sans chuckled again, then slowly pulled away. "we should get you off to bed again, kitten. come on, i'll walk you downstairs."

"Can I stay here?" You asked suddenly. Sans looked a little surprised, reflecting how you felt, but his smile returned hesitantly.

"what, you want to take over my bed?"

"No! I didn't mean that. I just.. um..." How did you explain that you wanted to stay with him, without it being weird? You were partly worried that the fears and nightmares would come back, but you also just wanted to stay with him.

"it's fine kitten, i'll sleep on the couch." He moved to get up, but you snagged the hem of his shirt, once again startling him and you.

"Stay. Please?" You whispered tentatively, ducking your head while looking up at him. If you weren't mistaken he blushed lightly, but it was hard to tell in the dim light. That cause heat to rise to your cheeks as well, and you hoped he couldn't seen either. After a second of regarding you with an unreadable expression for a second before smiling lopsidedly in an adorable manner.

"need someone to fight of the nightmares?" He asked, teasing you.

"Maybe just a little." You answered, smiling yourself. Sans' expression softened, and he motioned for you to scooted over. You slid closer to the wall, and Sans grabbed the pillow, plopping it on the bed closer to you, then climbed back on and pulled his blanket towards you. You slid down as he did, laying your head on his pillow and waiting as he reached over and turned off his desk light. You kind of thought it'd be weird to share a bed with a guy, but it wasn't. It might have been if it was anyone other than Sans, but with him you just felt sleepy and calm.

"night, kitten." He murmured, and you caught him smiling as he watched you in the dark.

"Goodnight, Sans." You answered, smiling once more before you closed your eyes again. Somehow you knew that you weren't going to have nightmares anymore, and that you'd sleep soundly until the morning. You were glad you told Sans, and knew it'd now be easier to tell the others. You knew that they'd believe you too, and even if it was hard to tell so many people, you believed Sans would support and help you. You couldn't explain how you knew, you just did. As easily as he believed you, you believed he'd support you no matter what. With those calming thoughts, you reached out and felt Sans hand wrap around yours, finally lulling you into a peaceful sleep.

*There! It's done! I'm sorry it's so late. I hope you guys like the chapter, even though I had to rush to get it done. Sorry if there are mistakes, and sorry if it's rushed and weird. But hey, at least it's done? Next time I'll try to get it out on time, or at least give you lovely readers more warning!

Next update is (tentatively) May 2nd~

Author out!*