The ticking of a clock continued in the background. Cold, damp. That's how the room felt. Not the clock, obviously. But he imagined it might feel that way. Anything to distract him from the pounding soul in his ribcage.

The Judge glanced over the files. Amazingly made fraud files by Smile Dog. Each detailing Sally's fake past, Sans' totally real therapist visits to show his "stable" mental health, and the inspection of the house that went splendidly.

And, when Sans got the adoption papers back, he looked down at them. Sally held her breath excitedly. Her feet started to kick the underside of the table as she tried not to giggle and jump into his arms.

He was legally a guardian to Sally now.

It all happened so fast. It felt so fast. Especially walking out of the court room, holding his new daughters (should he call her daughter? Sister? Hell if he knew) hand out into the parking lot.

The little girl seemed to look around in new excitement of a possible life before her. A free one, to openly go into public without ever having to worry about murder anymore. Gone were her old clothes, too. Instead, now she was wearing a cute puffy pink dress he let her pick out from an online clothing store, and clutching a newly washed Charlie in her arms. The stuffed animal didn't seem to age either, judging by how it should practically be dust by this point in time. And, underneath her brown bangs, were several layers of bandages wrapped around her head. Her bleeding wasn't quite fast, but consistent, so Sans had learned - through trial and error - that she can go half of a day before changing her bandages.

"So, kiddo, how does it feel to be adopted now?" Sans asked.

Sally paused in her spot, anxiously tilting back and forth in her pink sneakers. "Do I have to call you... Daddy? I don' wanna."

"No, you don't, just keep calling me Sans," Sans said, patting her head. "You can think of me as whatever you want. Frisk calls me -" Realizing he almost completely fucked up, he quickly changed over. "Just think of me as your older brother, then!"

"Okay!" She beamed happily. "I've never had a brother before! Or a sibling!"

"It's actually pretty cool to have one, I love my bro, I'm sure you will love to meet him too."

"You have a brother?" Her smile quickly fell. "You already have a sibling..." She then turned, looking lost in thought.

Sans didn't notice, quickly remembering one simple, important detail that turned him to ice faster than any ice attack could.

He forgot to tell Papyrus he was even adopting her.

Fucking. Shit.

What kind of brother was he? He forgot to tell Papyrus a very important fact in his life! That was horrible! And he just simply do it over the phone, either! That'd be horrible too!

Fucking hell, he's sucked as a brother ever since he watched... the incident. He had to fix that now.

'Hey Paps, we gotta talk asap 'bout something big, meet at ur house?'

He sent that text as he helped Sally buckle into her seat, the little girl happily swinging her feet as she hummed to the radio.

"Who are you texting?" Sally asked.

"Oh, my brother! I gotta kinda... tell him about you still," Sans said, awkwardly scratching the side of his cheekbone. "I was so busy doing the adoption with you and Smile Dog that I forgot to even text him."

"Oh." She looked away and grinned wide.

"I swear I'm not that terrible of a brother usually!" Sans said quickly, thinking she was assuming she'd be abandoned. "I just, well, obviously couldn't explain me housing serial killers to him. But I need'a tell him about you. And you can meet him one day with my other friends, too!"

"I'd like to meet them!" Sally said.

"Cool, that sounds like a plan. And we can hang out later, too! I just should probably tell him in person, so I'm going to have Jeff and... well, have Smile Dog watch both you and Jeff. He can't even babysit himself."

"Okay!"

And just like that, Sans drove off.

~~~~~~

It was difficult to try and meet Papyrus without one of the Creepypasta nearby for Sans. Yet, somehow, his soul seemed just fine. A little bit stressed, obvious, and still a little paranoid, but it felt the same as if he just had Smile Dog with him. Did that mean he was getting better?

Sans felt optimistic for once as he pulled into Papyrus' driveway. His soul felt better when he got there. Maybe being around family was starting to help again.

"Sans!" He squealed when he opened the door, scooping him into a hug. "It feels like it's been forever!"

"It does, yeah!" Sans said excitedly. He laughed into his brothers usual red scarf. It felt good to see him again. "Sorry for not texting at all."

"Thank you for apologizing!" Papyrus said, "Especially since you've been struggling, you need to text me more! I'm such a busy bee I can't text you very often, so you have to pick up the slack! I'm so sorry about that! Nyeh."

"Nah, bro, I think I'm the worst one, I got something I gotta tell ya big time."

And so, Sans was inside.

Sitting on the couch, he could already smell the remains of thousands of pasta dishes from the kitchen on the other side of the house. When they first got out of the Underground, everyone tried to rotate dinners to spend time together. After one dinner at Papyrus and Sans' house, everyone quickly switched to Toriel making dinner for them once a week. Of course, Sans hasn't been attending recently because of his mental health. Should he start attending? With Smile Dog, of course, but Sans should probably pick up that again if he was finally going to start therapy. 

"I, uh, I should'a told you this immediately, and I'm sorry I didn't," Sans said, shaking his head. "I just got caught up in the busy work, but I'm making sure to try and text you all more since I feel like I'm finally getting better. Though I should have definitely told you guys this. I'm..." He took a deep breath. "I got contacted from someone about a little girl who also uh... went through some difficult mental trauma. And because of that, she can't be adopted by anyone because of her trauma. And the person said they found out I like taking care of kids, and because of the money I have, along with our shared experience, that I might be the only person capable of being their guardian."

"Sans, are you planning on adopting her?" Papyrus asked. He seemed antsy on his seat, careful in his reaction. Sans knew Papyrus really wanted to be an Uncle.

Sans nodded. "Yeah. I'm going to therapy now, and I'm getting help. And, also, the court thing was also kind of today, so it's already..." He avoided eye contact, "Official."

Papyrus said nothing. Instead, Sans felt his arms wrap around him.

"Are you sure you can?" Papyrus asked carefully, softly. "I mean, it's... you..."

"Yeah, bro," Sans said, "I'm better at taking care of other people, and she lit a fire under my butt for taking care of myself more. And I can get help too for taking care of her. She's already being babysat right now."

A moment of silence.

"I'M GOING TO BE AN UNCLE!" Papyrus squealed, hugging Sans tighter. "YES!"

"Well, she wants to think of me as a brother, since she said she'd be more comfy with that," Sans said, lightly hugging him back. "But do you guys want to meet her? She said she wants to meet you guys."

"Meet her! Of course! We can move this weekends dinner to tomorrow! I can bring my spaghetti and maybe even show her how to defend herself with Undyne like we do Frisk! And we could also..."

Sans watched his brother start a happy rant, sighing with relief. Things were good. His friends forgave him, understanding his difficulties with facing his problems. And he'd make it up to them. He was getting better. Everything was getting better.

Until the sudden easiness in his soul dropped. It felt sudden. Because, the next moment, the intense paranoia returned. And the sudden uneasiness to being even near a forest came crashing down.

Why was it happening suddenly? What was going on? He should feel somewhat fine if there was a...

Wait.

There was never any CreepyPasta nearby in the first place. So how did he even feel fine?

~~~~~~

"You really, really shouldn't have led us back here."

Jeff stared forward. He didn't mean to. He really didn't. Yet this whore of a woman was standing in the open window, an arm extended out towards him.

"What? I'm just staying here while the owners away, it's not my main hideout," He lied through his teeth. "You too scared to come in?"

He desperately hoped that was the truth. Smile Dog watched her carefully too, eyes narrowed.

"I remember I gave you a leg breaking that no human could recover from, much less a mutt." Effortlessly, she dragged up a single bundle of papers. "You do remember my new friends, Jeff?"

"The other whores?" Jeff snarled. He remembered them. Jane always used whatever she could against him. It made sense she formed a little group with other serial killers.

"My girlfriends. Don't ever taint them with descriptions that more suit you. And one of them did a nifty little search of the owner of this house." Her blank eyes glazed over the information on the paper. "Comic Sans. Twenty three years old. Had a younger brother. And, recently..." She then snapped the binder shut, "He witnessed a murderer described as a tall faceless man. I'm guessing you're helping him with the curse?"

Silence.

"This doesn't concern you," Smile Dog said.

"Oh, well, it does, actually," Jane said, leaning against the window frame. "I know you both aren't involved with the other killers as I am, but there's a little rumor going around. I think from the big man himself."

"What do the freaks want with me this time? I'm not becoming a damn proxy," Jeff growled.

"Hah!" The woman tilted her head back as she snorted. "Please, no, this has nothing to do with you. There's a rumor going around that someone's been taking in CreepyPasta in a sanctuary of sorts. We haven't heard who at all. And I thought it was a stupid lie, nothing more. Of course, until the tall man himself found out his precious little Sally Williams suddenly disappeared from her house."

Oh. Oh no.

"And, if I'm to guess, this just might be the house," She said. "Because I saw the little girl in here earlier. And, also, there's apparently another rumor going around, too. About a certain someone seeing a murder they weren't supposed to see."

Now Jeff just didn't understand. "What do you mean?"

"You aren't the only one Slenderman wants to recruit as a proxy from this house. So I've heard." She pressed a finger against her lips in a shushing manner. "Or maybe he wants something more from this man. I'm not sure. What I do know, though, is that I want to get to him first. To piss both you and Slenderman off."

"So why are you warning me?"

"Oh, this isn't a warning. It's a threat. I don't need him. I can easily kill him. So this is my threat. Don't interfere with me and my girls. Or I'll just kill him."

《》《》《》

Early post because todays Valentines Day and I didn't write a special oneshot or make a video, whoops