"Doctor Alphys, happy birthday."

"Thank you, Doctor Gaster. I'm surprised you remembered."

"Why would I forget dear girl? One hundred and five is a special occasion. It only happens once."

"Sir, all birthdays only happen once."

"Regardless, you should celebrate."

"Doctor, this is the first birthday away from my family and the first one trapped underground. I don't exactly feel like celebrating."

Dr. Alphys was the last Lizard Monster alive. Her family, while large with many brothers and sisters and her two parents, were a part of a unit in the war that was supposed to collect intel on the humans. The humans and mages ambushed them and they were all slaughtered. Their dust was scattered across the surface, leaving Alphys to mourn her family and dedicate her life to her work.

"My dear, I know you miss your family. However, I doubt they'd like to see you wasting your life away like this. Here, take this gold as my gift to you and stop by the new bar in Snowdin. It's run by an old friend of mine, Grillby."

"General Grillby? Of the Elemental Resistance?"

All the elementals formed their own unit called the Elemental Resistance and put General Grillby as their unit leader. He and Alphys had a mutual understanding, being in the same boat as the final members of their species. They never really interacted much, but they were companionable.

"The very same. He's a very good friend of mine, an old flame if you will. I think you would really benefit from a little outing. You've been cooped up in the lab for weeks. You need fresh air and to get more familiar with your surroundings."

"If I go, you'd better stop talking about me being a hermit. Don't touch my stuff while I'm gone."

Alphys took the jingling coin pouch from her superior and bundled up before leaving the lab. River Person was more than happy to ferry her to Snowdin with nothing more than a Tra La La. Now happy that she bundled for the weather, Snowdin really lived up to its namesake. Snow was everywhere and was even fluttering down from Toby Fox knew where. Little Temmies' were promoting the new Temmie Village in Waterfall, a Rabbit Monster was opening her new general goods shop, and Grillby's Bar & Grill stood proudly in the center of the town. She shuffled into the bar and was greeted by the quietest, and cutest thing ever.

"hi, i'm sans! sans da skelton! pease have menu!"

A tiny Skeleton monster wearing a little waiter's uniform with slippers instead of shoes greeted her as soon as she walked into the bar. He handed her a clearly handcrafted menu. They pulled the bottom of her dress to make her follow them. The little skeleton led her to a booth and gave her the brightest smile ever.

"sans is redy to take order now!"

They spoke in broken sentences, but they were still young and learning. And it was absolutely adorable anyway.

"Thank you Sans. I'll take the fish and chips and a salad, and why don't you pick a drink for me, hm?"

"um...sans rec-o-mens da cho-co-mil and the juse!"

"I see. Well than, I guess I'll get both."

"tank you mam! sans gets yous nummies now!"

The little skeleton ran toward the counter where Grillby lifted them onto his hip and carried them into the kitchen. Alphys took out her notebook to finished the notes she started on before Gaster kicked her out.

"happy birfdae!"

Alphys was startled from her notes by the delicious smelling food, drinks, and two slices of chocolate cake, one with candle in it.

"Gaster called me and explained it was your birthday. I wasn't gonna make ya celebrate it, but this little guy got so excited I just couldn't say no. Happy birthday Doctor Alphys."

"Thank you General."

"Just Grillby. I ain't a general no more. No need to address me as one now. Sans, star light, you ready for your break?"

"break with ally?"

Alphys felt her cold-blooded heart melt.

"Yes star light. You can take your break with Alphys if you ask her real nicely."

"ally, can sans sit with you, pease?"

"Yes sweetheart, you can sit with me."

Sans excitedly sat next to Alphys and started eating the slice of cake without the candle. Sans reminded her of her younger sibling when they were around his age. Impressionable, polite, excitable...It pained her that she didn't have them in her life anymore. She ate the fish on her plate remembering the way her mother would prepare it for her birthday every year for the past one hundred years. Her mother didn't start making it until she was five and could eat most solid foods. It became tradition to make and eat it for each birthday in their family and was a shared favorite.

"why ally crying? does ally have boo boos?"

"N-no sweetheart. I'm not hurt or anything. I just m-miss my fam-family."

"why not go see dem?"

"Well, um, my family uh -"

"Ally's family are away and won't be back for a while."

Red Bird came to Alphys's rescue, giving her a subtle nod.

"oh, okie den."

Sans was a joy to be around between his bubbly toddler personality and his broken yet endearing speech. During his extended break, he was drawing and coloring on a piece of paper with a variety of old broken crayons.

It was an adorable drawing of him, Alphys and Grillby. She hid her smile through her drink. They were all stick figures and she had a beak for some reason. He was very proud of his picture so she flagged Grillby to her table.

"I want to order another Choco-Milk for Sans."

"All purchases for Sans are on the house, so don't worry about payment. I'll be right back with your order."

Sans was excited for a second chocolate milk. He gave his drawing to Alphys with a bright grin.

"Great work Sans, you capture my likeness very well."

"thank you ally!"

Soon, Sans was sipping away on a sippy cup while nodding off. Grillby ended up taking the little skeleton through the Fire Door. Alphys tucked the picture in her jacket pocket and left the entire bag of gold on the counter with a note.

"Take what you will for my tab and Sans will take the rest as a tip for excellent service."

When she arrived back in the lab later that night, Doctor Gaster was smirking at her.

"How was your dinner, Doctor Alphys?"

"I concede to your point. I had a great time and even met a skeleton toddler working at the bar."

"Yes. The child is of my own creation. It's name is Sans."

"I'm aware of his name. I must get back to work now. Have a good night Doctor Gaster."

"And to you Miss Alphys."

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This chapter is dedicated to onyxjay for their Harry Potter book "Eagle's Flight". I'm a huge sucker for Ravenclaw Harry fics, and an even bigger one for the extremely rare ship of Harry x Fred and they managed to do both in the book. Now, the book is discontinued, but it is still a fantabulous read if you have time for the 80 chapter book. 

Note, the picture in this chapter is made by yours truly. I CANNOT ART, I want to stress that now, so don't come at me. It's made by a baby skeleton so it's supposed to look like that lol.