For the most part, Sans had stopped caring how many times he had done this.

He still kept as best track as he could in the notebook, but, in the end, that didn't really matter. Because regardless of what he did, time would still reset or not reset. He would do the same thing, or he would not. It didn't matter in the end.

So, disregarding the sense of familiarity that seemed to follow him everywhere now, he left his sentry station. He did this occasionally, went for a walk in the woods. He had found a big old door out there a week and some so many resets ago. At first he had just knocked on it out of curiosity, to see if anyone would answer. But no one did, and he felt kinda foolish just standing there waiting for an answer that wasn't coming, so he had covered it up with a knock-knock joke. Of course, you can't just do one knock knock joke then leave, so he had done another. And another. And realized that, the more he did, for just a few minutes, he felt a little less tired, a little less done. So he kept going back.

He kept walking, crossed the bridge over the small gorge. Papyrus was thinking about building a gate over that bridge, in case a human ever fell. But then Papyrus came to the conflict of how would someone else get through

He walked slowly, kicking up little puffs of snow. A few days and however many resets ago, he had stopped wearing sneakers in favor of fluffy pink slippers. They were more comfortable, and, considering the amount of strain on him, every little thing helped.

Eventually, he came to the door. Walked up to it, sat down, leaning against it.

For a moment, he just sat there, breathing. Then he raised a hand, and rapped his knuckles against it. "knock knock."

Then he paused for a second, as if waiting for a response.

Of course, no one answered.

Sans continued, though, as of someone had answered. "canoe."

Still no response.

Now for the punchline. "canoe at least give me a little applause?"

And he laughed, laughed alone at his own joke. Not a lot, just for a few seconds.

It helped.

Then he knocked again. "knock knock."

Again, no response.

"theodore."

Nothing.

"theodore wasn't open, so i knocked!"

And again he laughed, longer this time, the echoes bouncing back to him.

"knock knock."

. . .

"nana."

.  .  .

"nana your business!"

He laughed again, and if he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine the quiet echoes were someone else, laughing alongside him.

He kept this up for an hour or so, just relaxing. Not worrying about timelines or resets or the machine, just... sitting there. Cracking jokes. Closing his eyes, and pretending there was a friend beside him, who saw the desperation in his eyes, heard the exhaustion his voice, and didn't try to tell him it was alright when it wasn't, didn't try to get him to hope when he couldn't. Someone who was just there, who understood his misery, and said it's okay to be tired, sometimes.

Sans loved his brother immensely, with all his Soul, but Papyrus was simply too innocent, too naive to help how Sans needed.

But this... this pretending...

This helped.

And then...

"knock knock."

"... Who is there?"

Sans froze. Had he really heard--?! Had someone really just--?!

He realized he had yet to respond. It had been a good five seconds of silence. So...

"... dishes."

Again, came the voice. "Dishes who?" It was soft, and feminine, and curious, and eager.

"dishes a very bad joke!"

And then there was laughter, and it wasn't Sans'. It was loud and generous, as if the laugher genuinely disagreed with the statement of Sans' punchline. It was happy, as if Sans had just said something amazing.

After a couple seconds, the woman's laughter started to calm down.

"hey." Sans lifted his hand and knocked again. "hey, knock knock."

"Wh-who," the lady said between her still-fading chuckles. "Who is there?"

"butter."

"Butter who?"

"this joke isn't any butter than the last!"

And there it was again, that loud, wild, wonderful laugh.

And Sans knocked again. "knock knock!"

"Who is there?" Came the eager response, breathless from laughing.

"cereal."

"Cereal who?"

"cereal pleasure to meet you!"

And again! Sans realized he was grinning more widely than he had in a long time.

He kept the jokes coming. He wanted to hear it more, hear her voice, hear her laugh. It was... it was amazing. The best audience he'd ever had.

Her laugh was loud and true, as if she were having the time of her life. And she had this funny little snort at the end, as she struggled to keep breathing between the laughs. And with every joke, she laughed harder, and Sans grinned wider.

"knock knock!"

"Who's there?"

"beats."

"Beats who?"

"beats me!"

And she laughed, her voice echoing through the woods, chasing Sans' sorrow away.

When she had started to calm down a little, Sans lifted his hand to knock.

"Wait, wait!" Implored the voice. "I have one!"

Sans lowered his hand, silent.

"Knock knock!" Her voice was light with happiness.

"who's there?" Sans grinned.

"Old lady!"

Sans' grin widened. "old lady who?"

"Oh!" Came a soft, surprised gasp. "I did not know you could yodel!"

Sans threw back his head and laughed. He laughed as loud as she, hard and long, hugging his arms around himself, eyesockets tightly shut.

And she told another one, and Sans felt something warm and wet trailing down his face as he howled with laughter, and he could hear her laughing with him, and then he was lifting his hand again, knocking on the door, cracking another joke, and it just went on, their laughter filling the air, chasing away every negative thought. Sans was grinning and laughing, his Soul light, the world forgotten, happier than he had ever been since Dad had been wiped from existence.

For how long he stayed there, he didn't know. Time seemed to pass them by unnoticed, finally letting the small skeleton catch a break with his mysterious new companion behind the door.

And then, between jokes, as they laughed, Sans' phone rang.

"oh, hang on a sec." He said, still laughing a bit. "my brother's on the phone." He answered. "hey, bro. whassup?"

"Sans!" The relief in Papyrus's voice could not be muffled by any phone. "Oh, thank goodness!! I was worried something had happened to you!"

"worried?" Sans asked. "why?"

"Because it's getting late, and you've never been out this late before!"

Sans looked around, and realized it was indeed quite dark.

"So you need to come home soon!" Papyrus continued.

"yeah, i will. kay? you don't need to worry."

"Just... don't-... hurt yourself. Okay?"

"heh. 'course not. see ya, pap."

"See you, Sans. Love you."

"love you too. bye." Sans ended the call, sighing a little.

"Is something wrong?" The lady asked, concern in her voice.

Sans laughed a little. "heh. no, my brother just... i don't normally stay out this late, and, uh, he gets a little cranky without a bedtime story."

The lady laughed a little. "Oh! I had children who were the same way... So I will not keep you here any longer. Come visit again, though, will you not?"

Sans' grin widened. "lady, today was one of the best days i've had in a long, long time. i'd love to come back. i'll come back tomorrow!"

More soft laughter. "I look forward to it!"

After a little more conversation, and goodbyes, Sans went home.

It wasn't until later that night that he realized she had used past tense when she spoke of her children.

~o0o~

The next morning, Sans went immediately for the door. When he knocked, though, there was no answer.

He wondered quietly if there had been a reset, and the door was one of the moments he remembered better.

Well. Regardless. He kept turning out jokes.

After about ten minutes, she came. Swapped a few jokes with him.

Then, "So, my friend, I hope I did not keep you too late last night! Did you have time to give your brother a bedtime story?"

Sans felt a spark of hope. There hadn't been a reset! She remembered!

Smiling, he responded. "yeah. he wasn't really upset at all, just worried about me."

She laughed a little. "It sounds like you have a very nice brother!"

"he's the greatest." Sans closed his eyes, leaning back against the door. "he takes good care of me."

"Oh, so is he older than you?"

Sans chuckled. "nah. younger by almost fifteen years. i actually had to raise him mostly myself. but then he got older, and... and i guess i just kinda..." He trailed off.

There was a softness in the lady's voice. "I understand."

Sans blinked a little. He could tell in her voice, she really did understand.

Then he smiled a bit. "but it's okay, because papyrus does the best he can. i don't doubt that if i were on the brink of death, no hope of survival, then he would find a way to save me anyway!"

There was a soft chuckle, but Sans could hear a touch of sorrow in it. "It is good that you have that kind of relationship with your family."

Again, Sans blinked a little. Did... Did she not have that kind of relationship with her family?

Well. If she wasn't volunteering that information... He didn't want to pry. Actually, he didn't want to think about that at all. It was... sad, and he had enough of that everywhere else.

"yeah. he's the best. 'xcept when it comes to cooking."

The lady laughed. Sans continued.

"he likes to 'cook' spaghetti, but i think what he makes is a spaghetti impasta. and no amount of paprika could make it taste better."

There were some small giggles.

"it takes some sage wisdom to know how to cook, and for all my brother's greatness, he hasn't yet had quite enough thyme to figure it out."

The giggles got louder.

"but my bro is so great, i have no doubt that, somewhere, there's a peppering of his greatness in his cooking skill! chive been waitin' for so long for that to happen, though, when it does happen, it'll definitely be a big dill!"

The giggles turned into full-on laughs. And then, through her laughs, she replied, expanding on the food puns. "I cannoli imagine what that must be like! If you would like, I can give you the recipe for something batter. Although, it is true that muffin will improve his skill more than practice!"

And so it continued. Sans told the lady all about his cool brother, and they swapped puns back and forth.

Eventually, he had to leave. But she invited him back again.

And, even through the resets, when he would repeat a day full of jokes, it was okay. Because for a few hours every day, he could just sit back, relax. Forget about all his troubles in favor of puns, and help the lady do the same.

And never did they even ask each other's name.

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