Gaster eventually woke up, to the sound of Babybones, crying. It had been a few days since he had become a Father, and they were still in quarantine. He was not exposing his newborn children, to the world outside of the lab, that they had been born in, until they were a week old, and had adapted to being out of the cocoon, that they had been born in.

Gaster also needed time to recover from the birth.

Despite it not being a normal pregnancy, looking back upon it, it had displayed many symptoms that resembled the toil that it took on a body,

Cravings, being sick in the morning, being unable to keep some types of food down, wanting to eat things that he hated...

That was only the top of the iceberg...

Gaster sat up, getting out of the pile of blankets, that he had been sleeping in, and he stumbled over to where he kept the formula for his Babybones.

Sticking two bottles, in the nearest heat producing device, to warm up, he stumbled to the crib, and he picked up the source of the crying.

It was the quiet one.

Gaster sighed.

In the few days that he had spent with his newborn children, he had learned a few things about their developing personalities.

The younger one was the quiet one, and he was the one that gave him the least amount of trouble. He was sweet,and he could be reasoned with. Gaster saw a lot of kindness, in his faint eyelights, telling him that his youngest had a gentle Soul, and that he would defend others from a fight, instead of starting one.

But, when he was hungry, or cranky, he was loud.

Gaster had also noticed that he got louder, when he spent too much time away from his twin.

But most of the time, he was a quiet child, with a gentle Soul.

Unlike his twin...

The older twin was very energetic, Gaster had lost track of how many times he had to remove a fist, or a foot, from an eyesockets or the space between his ribs. He was a small ball of chaos, and Gaster knew, that the moment, that his oldest could walk, there would be non-stop chaos, everywhere...

But just like his brother, he could be sweet too.

But only towards his brother, and Gaster, sometimes, but to everyone else, Gaster had a theory that his oldest wouldn't be so nice...

"Your brother's going to be trouble." He told the quiet one, as he made his way back to the warm formula, checking it's temperature, before he started to feed the quiet one.

"And I still have to name you..." Gaster whispered. "Both of you, but what should I call you? I didn't even think that this could happen to me... How am I supposed to be a father, when I never had one..."

Gaster sighed, he was stuck in this mess, and he had no clue where to go from here... He did not regret having the twins, but he wished that he hadn't been thrown into the deep end, when it came to caring for them...

Once the quiet one was fed, it was time to feed the energetic one.

Gaster felt like he was preparing for war, as he added a layer of padding, to his ribs, and he covered his eyesockets with goggles.

"Alright, you little terror..." He held the bottle of formula, like it was a weapon. "Let's do this!"

The energetic one giggled.

----

Gaster winced, as he peeled the layer of padding, off of his ribs.

His oldest was only a week old, but he kicked like a goat. The kind that humans kept for food, and materials.

The Babybones were sound asleep now, and Gaster was looking forward to taking a longer than required shower, in the decontamination room.

He was still trying to figure out just how he was going to explain this, to everyone. Everyone knew that he was basically sterile, thanks to being the only skeleton that they knew, and the knowledge of how Skeletons reproduced, had been lost, long before they were sealed underground.

Gaster sighed. The King would adore them, Grillby would claim 'Uncle' status...

But the Queen?

That Monster would try to get his children adopted out, to her supporters, and she would try to get him back to work, fixing fertility issues, and doing his duties as a Royal Scientist, or rather, the 'Deck'.

He was named that, because of his potential to be a part of the three remaining 'decks", as a high ranked member of a family.

The 'decks', were the three Royal families of Monster kind.

There used to be four, but about the time that most of Skeleton kind, was wiped out, the fourth Royal family was killed.

The only death not to be confirmed, was the child of their last king, their dust had never been found, even after the humans had been driven back, and the land had been combed for survivors.

After that, there were three Royal families left.

The Red Hearts, the Yellow Diamond, and the Blue Spades.

Gaster remembered being questioned, and examined, extensively, for any sign that he was connected to the Green Clovers, or any of their vassal families. Those exams eventually stopped, as the war went on, and they didn't find what they were looking for.

He wasn't that surprised that he had been put through the wringer back then, knowing what he did now, but at that time, he had just escaped, after being kept as a 'human's pet', for most of his life...

How was he supposed to have known that his kind, had been the missing Royal family, and most of their vassals?

----

Gaster was half way out of the shower, when he heard the alarm for his lab's door bell, going off.

Cursing, he finished coming out of the shower, and he grabbed the nearest towel, wrapping it around his ribcage, as he ran to the cameras, to see who was at his front door.

He breathed a sigh of relief, when he saw that it was just Asgore.

This wouldn't be the first time that the King saw him half naked, and it wouldn't be the last.

Heading to the front door, he prayed that his twins would stay asleep, long enough for him to chase the King away.

He trusted Asgore, but he didn't trust the court.

And he wasn't ready to share his babies with them.

"Hello Gaster." The King cheerfully greeted him, carrying a basket with him, and Gaster froze, mentally counting just how long, he had locked himself, away.

"I assume that this is another visit, to remind me to eat." The Scientist slumped.

Asgore laughed. "It's that, and I wanted to get away from the Court, they are trying to make me and Toriel, have a child, again."

Gaster sighed.

Asgore's marriage... was complicated.

Originally, before he was born, he had been loosely engaged to marry a member of a vassal's family, if any was born close to his due date, that was the only way for the arranged marriage to have the green light, as the humans would say.

But close to the time that Asgore would be born, that family did something that didn't just get them in a lot of trouble, it was serious enough for them to be stripped of their vassal status, and with the lost of their status, the wedding contract was annulled, and the family was forbidden from being a part of the Court, and any marriage contracts, until they had redeemed their name, or if one of them had done a service to the kingdom, that was so important, that would counteract the shame, that had been created by their family. That would allow that member of the family, to enter the court, and prove that they deserved to be given, a second chance...

It was complicated, and Gaster barely understood any of it, but in the end, it boiled down to the fact that they were banned from the Court, until they had proven themselves worthy, of being given a second chance.

After that, once he had been born, Asgore had been loosely engaged to the missing Clover heir, and that engagement was still active, despite the fact that the Clover heir had never been found.

Asgore had fond, but faint, memories of visiting the Clover Royal family, and playing with their heir. The child had been young enough that, even if they had lived through the massacre, it was very unlikely that they could remember where they came from, and any memories that they did have, would be very faint.

What made the Court angry, was that Asgore was still bound by a marriage contract, that could not be broken, without proof of death.

And that meant that there was no guaranteed heir to the throne, for when Asgore ascended to it, and he became King.

And while some contracts could be called off, if someone was a no show, his current marriage contract, didn't have this clause.

And since most of Clover was dead, or missing, feared to be dead... It made it impossible to cancel the contract, because of misconduct.

This left everyone in a tricky, legal loophole.

Asgore either needed to marry the Clover heir, if they were still alive, and complete the marriage contract, or he had to cheat on his Intended, by taking a mistress, if he wanted to sire an heir.

It was Gaster... Anti social, bitey, and stubborn, Gaster, that fixed the problem.

----

"Can you stop bitching about who marries Asgore, and just funking decide on who pretends to be his spouse, during ceremonies, and for political shit?!"

Every member of the Heart Court, turned to look at Gaster. The Skeleton Monster had been nursing a migraine, in a dark corner of the meeting room. He was only there, because of the war meeting, that had happened before this one.

The Prince had noticed that his friend was coming down with a migraine, so he had helped him, to walk to a dark corner, and he allowed him to rest, under his cape.

Gaster had been trying to take a nap, when the noise from the debate on who the Prince would marry, got too loud, and it woke him up, resulting in the half asleep Monster, making the comment that got everyone's attention.

"Is that allowed?" One advisor asked, and everyone's looked at the King, who blinked, and he started to look through the marriage contract...

"Actually... It is." He eventually said. "Clovers have a history of not being the best in social interactions, due to not having the best bedside manner, being unable to read social cues, having bad social skills, having ADHD, Autism, or Dyslexia, or a mixture of all of this... There's a clause in the contract that actually requires us to have someone, that can take in being the social aspects of being the Queen, if the Clover either can't attend the meeting, or doesn't have the best social skills... And while it seems to be so that the Clover can give any children from the Union, their complete attention, our current situation actually qualifies as a reason for us, to use this clause."

"So, the question is, who will it be?" One advisor asked, ready to put his daughter's name into the pot.

"Don't I get a say in this?" Asgore asked, and the King looked at him.

"Speak, my son, what do you wish to say?"

"I know that only one candidate will be picked, and if I know my luck, it will be the one that, personally, I do not get along with." Asgore almost shivered.

Toriel... Was an acquired taste... Tolerable, and almost pleasant to be around, for short periods of time, but she was someone, that he could not live with, long term.

"Therefore, I wish to make a compromise. I will accept having someone carrying out the duties of the Queen, for ceremonies, and political duties, but all of the qualified candidates, will take turns."

Everyone stared at Asgore.

The King was confused. "Can you explain your decision, my son?"

"Of course Father." Asgore smiled. "I do not wish to show favouritism to one candidate, and risk offending some of the higher ranked Nobles, of my court. I also do not wish to blind myself, to the knowledge that would come, with having the candidates either take turns, or having them spilt up the duties, between them.

If I was meeting with the merchants, then having the candidates that have experience being merchants, or have connections to those families, would be more beneficial for everyone.

It also means that if what happened to the Clovers, happens again, we would still be able to keep going, and we would not have to worry about having to do this again."

"Do you have theories about what happened to the Clovers, my son?" The King asked.

"I know that the humans killed them." Asgore said. "But I find the timing to be suspicious... Attacking right before the heir would come into their full name, according to their customs... That, to me, speaks of someone spying for the humans, or using them, to get rid of the Clovers.

At least, with the compromise, everyone here, has something to lose, if they try to step out of line."

Everyone froze, and Gaster smirked. They all seemed to forget that Asgore was more than a pretty face, and the future king.

"But what about an heir?" Someone asked.

"We'll cross that bridge, when we get to it."

-----

Gaster leaned to one side, and he let Asgore into his lab, smiling, as the King put the basket down.

The Scientist shut the door to his lab, and he locked it, praying that his children didn wake up, and choose this moment in time, to want affection, attention, or food, from him.

He really wasn't ready to share his children.

Especially with the court.

He was still miffed at the idiot that had put his name, into the pot of who would take on the duties of a Queen, and he had gotten the job of doing the Queen's duties, when Asgore had meetings with the scientists, and he had to attend science based ceremonies.

Over time, the other candidates had either died, or they had to retire from their roles, due to a variety of different reasons.

At this point in time, Gaster, Toriel, and a few others, were the only ones left. The duties had been split up, between those that were left, with most of them going towards Toriel, and the others, with Gaster taking over the rest of the science based duties, and ceremonies.

The exhausted Scientist collapsed in the nearest chair, and Asgore looked at him, frowning, and then, going pale, when he noticed that something was wrong. "Gaster... What..."

At that moment, loud crying erupted, and Gaster groaned.

Asgore walked over, to where the crying was coming from, and he gasped, when he saw the twin Babybones, in the crib.

He looked at Gaster, and the Scientist groaned, again. "It's a long story."

---

Idiot that put Gaster's name in the pot, for the sciences: I mainly did that, to watch him out grump the other scientists, and put them back in line... Because even if he's not a Clover, from what I have heard about them, he would have been adopted, five seconds after he bit one of us.