When Sans wakes up again, he's been moved back to what he thinks of as his room. The first thing he does is reach underneath his pillow to look for the notebook. His fingers bump into a hard edge. It's still there. The notebook is practically the only thing he owns. He doesn't want to loose it. All the tubes are gone, and he doesn't feel so cold anymore, but Sans's body is still sore.

     He's looking around for Papyrus when the door opens up. Doctor Murphy walks in with a relieved smile on his face. He had taken over watch hours ago for Hansen. She has already told him about Doctor Gaster's new theory. She seemed pretty shaken up about it.

     "Good morning, Sans. How are you feeling?", Murphy talks out loud, but he also uses his hands to sign in something that the Monster will understand.

     "Ok", Sans signs back. He doesn't remember very much from yesterday. Everything is kinda hazy after Doctor Gaster asked him to use attack magic. Still, he really likes Doctor Murphy. He always signs everything he speaks out loud.

     "I'm glad to hear it", Murphy nods, "I'm sorry about yesterday. From now on, none of us want you using your magic without permission, alright? And you can't ever use that much again. So you promise?".

     "Ok. I promise". Sans never wants to feel that cold and empty again.

     "Good......", Murphy sighs, then continues to sign, "Alister and I are here to watch you today. Will you follow me?".

     Sans doesn't reply, but slips off the bed. He's falling into a routine of taking orders now. All of his short life, people have been telling him what to do. Doctor Murphy leads him back down the hallway. Sans recognizes the office they're heading to, and he perks up a little. He learned lots of stuff about letters the last time he was in here. He likes it a lot better then the stuff he's had to do in the gym.

Doctor Alister is waiting in the office when Murphy walks in with the artificial Monster behind him. Sans's eyes light up brighter when he sees Alister. He's never been particularly kind like Murphy is, but Alister took the time to teach him letters. He's more patient than the others, and he didn't want Sans to succeed just for progress. The Monster doesn't understand all of this now, but he does know that he likes Doctor Alister more than Gaster, user of Wing Dings.

     "Oh, it's awake!", Alister abruptly sits up in his chair, "I was sure that Sans would be unconscious for our entire shift".

      "He just woke up. I've already told him about not using his magic. Right, Sans?", Doctor Murphy signs as he speaks.

       "Yes, right", Sans is quick to sign back. He loves being part of the conversation.

     Alister watches them go back and forth, and picks up his own signing with a sigh. Murphy makes it look so easy. Alister's signs are a little slower. "Today we're going to work on your reading. You seem to learn fast. It's important that you do", he signs out.

"What reading?", Sans asks him.

"I've brought a few reading fluency books for you. They're below your age-", Alister stops with his signs for a moment. Although the Monster seems to act more and more like a ten-year-old child, they are not a human child. Alister isn't used to Sans holding a conversation, either. The Skeleton has been easily startled and unsure of itself since Gaster created it. Sans seemed have the mentality of a human child, much younger then his appearance, during those first few days. His mind is close to catching up with his body now. Doctor Alister is a little bemused at how fast Sans seems to be growing up.

"Oh, that reminds me of something", Murphy laughs at Alister's fumble and switches to signs for Sans, "Today is five days after you were created! Congratulations, Sans, it's like a small birthday". The Monster doesn't know what a birthday is, but he signs a 'thank you' back anyways.

     Alister sits Sans down at the desk again, a workbook in front of him. The Monster feels much more comfortable holding the pencil this time. He's excited to later show Papyrus what he learns. The first page of the workbook has a small paragraph in large letters on one side, and two questions on the other. Sans doesn't recognize all the words. The ones he does know are surrounded by the unfamiliars.

     "This word here is 'the'. It refers to the subject. The sentences would be wrong if it wasn't there", Alister signs out each letter in 'the'. Proper sentence structure will be the hardest to teach when Sans can't hear any sounds.

     "The....cat runs", Sans copies the signs, excited to learn more.

     It takes twenty minutes to get through the first page. Alister has to teach the Monster how to use articles. During this, the Doctor notices Sans recognizing words that he didn't teach in the last lesson. He puts it down to his own forgetfulness then anything more. Sans works through the next passage much faster. Doctor Alister lets the Monster read through five of the short stories before he switches the workbook out for a harder one.

     Doctor Murphy is writing down notes during all of this. He records how fast Sans is reading and improving on his grammar. Even when he signs, his sentences are more complete. During one of Alister's longer lectures, Doctor Murphy pulls out his own booklet to read out of boredom. This feels too much like school for his taste. It doesn't take Alister long to realize that his student's attention has shifted.

     "What is a pun?", Sans asks him, looking away from the workbook and at the cover of Doctor Murphy's book.

      "A pun?", Alister talks out loud, caught off guard by the question.

      "Puns!", Murphy sits back up in his chair, "Can I let Sans read a few of these? C'mon, Alister! It'll be a skele-TON of fun".

      "And why would I let you do that? Your ridiculous dad jokes aren't funny to anyone. Save them for your own kids", Alister snaps at him.

      "It'll be educational, I swear. Sans probably takes everything he reads and what we say as literal. He needs to learn about idioms and jokes just as much as anything else. Plus, I bet you want to read this, right Sans?", Murphy only signs his last sentence and holds out the booklet to him.

     "Yes! I want to read it", Sans grabs the booklet before signing with one hand. Alister just groans while the Monster starts to flip through. He's worked with enough children to realize that he's lost Sans's attention.

      "Oh man, G's gonna loose it when he reads this in the notes", Murphy cackles, writing down this new development.

     "Leave me out of it! I'm not getting fired for a book about puns!", Alister growls back at him.

The two humans talk back and forth, without signs, for several minutes. They only look down when Sans tugs on their coats. "Why are skulls always alone?", he signs, and then waits a moments before finishing, "Its because they have no body". Murphy and Alister stare, processing what just happened, and then they both burts out laughing. It was a horrible joke, but hearing from a literal Skeleton just broke them.

     Sans can't hear their laughter, be he can see their wide smiles. They liked his pun. That makes Sans happy. Really happy. He likes to make other people happy. When Doctor Murphy's laughter dies down, and he sits up, he gawks at the Monster. Sans ever present smile hasn't changed, but his eyes have. The small pinpricks of light grew to stars that take up almost his entire eye sockets. The left eye has a bright blue star while the right eye is still white. The stars disappear shortly after the laughter dies down.

When reading over these notes, Doctor Gaster would doubt that Sans's eyes could change shape. It would never happen in front of him. Alister and Murphy came to the conclusion that the stars appeared when Sans was really happy or excited. It only happened a handful of times in the lab.

Not long after, Doctor Alister lead Sans back his room while Murphy went home for the night. The Monster is carrying Murphy's joke book along with a few of the workbooks. He hesitated to give the first back, so Doctor Murphy just let him keep it.

     "Doctor Hansen is covering the shift after mine, so she may wake you in a few hours", Alister signs to the Monster.

     "Will you be here until she comes?", Sans asks. He has to awkwardly pin the books against his chest to sign with a spare hand.

     "Yes, I'll be here". Alister unlocks Sans's door and lets him inside. He watches the artificial Monster lay out the books on his bed and pull out the notebook from under his pillow to write in it. How peculiar. Engineering something alive is one thing. Creating something with...... a soul is another. A will. Alister leaves and locks the door behind him.

     When the door closes, Sans drops his pencil and looks around the room. It's still empty. His head drops a little in disappointment. He fiddles with the cover of a book while he waits. He's beginning to grow inpatient. Doctor Murphy told him not to talk, but Sans just wants to know where Papyrus is. Nothing bad happened until he tried to use attack magic. Papyrus doesn't know signs, so he has to talk! The Monster still feels guilty for not listening to Murphy. The magic rises up quicker this time. It makes his entire body feel warmer.

     "Papyrus? Where are you?", Sans asks out loud. The sound of his own voice is still a little jarring. "Are you here?".

     "OF COURSE I AM! I wouldn't leave without telling you. What kind of friend would I be then!?", Papyrus falls against Sans's back, his head on the Monster's hard shoulder.

     "Why don't I ever see you when other people are around? You keep disappearing".

     "They can't see me, Sans. I am...... simply too GREAT for their normal eyes to see!".

     "Oh, I guess that makes sense...", Sans pauses, "I just hope you're not too BONEly without me".

     "Oh my god that was TERRIBLE, Sans!"