After a while of reading, Connie got slower and started to take increasingly long pauses. When Chara looked up at her to see what's up, they noticed that she was having a hard time keeping her eyes open, every few seconds closing her eyes for ten seconds, much longer than an actual blink. More like she was trying, and failing, to stay awake. After a bit, they didn't open again and she stopped outright in her reading, sinking further back into the couch. Apparently having finally failed in staying awake.

Chara sighed, reminded of when Azzy use to doze off next to her, and carefully extricated herself from Connie's side and gently laid her down on the couch, taking the book from her hands and putting it on the side table. Then she got the blankets that were nominally for them to use, and tucked her in, putting a pillow under her head. She then sat down on the other couch and began passing the time messing with the phone, Alphys a number of games on there like Tetris, and decided to wait on continuing the book for when Chara wakes back up.

After a while of them playing on the phone they heard the distinctive creak of the stairs as Mrs. Maheswaran came down them, having come home earlier at night before Connie came down. She appeared in the doorway, thanks to the fact that's where the stairs put her, already clad in her doctor's attire. Half-surprised Chara checked the time on the phone and sure enough it was the morning already. Mrs. Maheswaran looked into the room where they were, a small smile as she looked at them then a look of surprise as she noticed Connie sleeping on the couch. She raised a brow before quietly walking into the room up to them, then asked, "What is Connie doing down here?"

Chara handed control back to Frisk, they were better at this sort of thing. "Fell asleep reading to me." They said, gesturing towards the book beside them.

Mrs. Maheswaran's eyes followed their gesture and she slightly frowned. "She was asleep upstairs when I came home."

Frisk shrugged. "Woke up." She nodded and walked back towards the kitchen, pausing by Connie's sleeping form and tugging the blanket further up. Then she moved back into the kitchen. With that interaction done, Frisk went back to their game of Tetris, deliberately ignoring the slowly climbing Unread Message count at the top of the screen. Better to not string them along incase they don't end up coming back.

After several more minutes of playing Tetris they could hear the distinct sizzling of eggs in the kitchen. Smell it too, Connie evidently smelling it too, judging by the groan coming from her. They looked over to her as she started to wake up, then suddenly flailing off her blanket in a bit of panic, looking around wildly for a few moments before settling her eyes on them. She breathed a sigh of relief, "I thought you left for a minute."

Frisk frowned sadly at that. "We wouldn't after you stopped us."

She sat up and rubbed at her eyes, not having seen their frown. "Why didn't you," Yawn. "wake me up?"

"You were tired." They replied simply.

She frowned herself at that, standing up after untangling herself from the blanket. "I was supposed to stay up with you." She then took a sniff of the air and looked towards the kitchen.

They shrugged. "Sleep is good for you. I got my phone."

She shook her head, yawning again, muttering, "What about you?" Then she said more clearly, "I'm going to see what's for breakfast if you don't need something?" Frisk shook their head in response. She trudged off towards the kitchen, obviously tired despite what her complaints she might have had. Again they shifted their focus back to their game of Tetris, they were about to beat their high score. After a few more minutes, and new high level gained, they paused it again for they needed to go to the bathroom. They stood up and started to make their way to the stairs, but paused by the doorway to the kitchen when they overheard a whispered conversation Connie and Dr Maheswaran were apparently having.

"-might need to call the police." Dr. Maheswaran's voice seemed to whisper from the kitchen.

'Why would she need to call the police?' Frisk wondered, as they leaned against the wall beside the doorway.

"What, why?" Connie asked in surprise.

Dr. Maheswaran explained matter of factly."Your father told me that Frisk was distinctly uncomfortable about talking about home." Then she seemed to sound a bit concerned. "Which led me to believe something might have happened." Frisk felt guilty about apparently implicating that about their new family, they wouldn't ever do anything.

"No Frisk is fine at home. Just…" Connie paused, seeming to think of what to say. "wants to be by Steven's side while he's getting better."

"...Okay. How about their parents, do they know that Frisk is here?"

"Well I saw Frisk talking to their Mom a few days ago. With their phone." Connie stated.

"The same one that apparently stores gold?" Dr. Maheswaran asked skeptically.

"Yeah."

"...Why does Frisk have gold? And from where?" She asked curiously.

"I have no idea."

"Then not understanding the concept of free things? Your father said he had to argue with them about having to pay for staying here." Dr. Maheswaran asked questioningly, seeming to find all sorts of questions about them.

"Err… I haven't figured that out either."

"Mmhmm. How much longer will Frisk be staying?"

"I guess until Steven is let out. That's okay right?"

"If I can talk to the parents first. I don't like the fact I haven't heard from them at all yet. About not leaving until Steven gets out, Mr. Universe told me that they seemed to look… guilty when they were talking to Steven earlier. Do you have any idea as to why?"

"No."

"Alright. Well what does our guest want for breakfast?"

"Just a second." Connie said, footsteps rapidly approaching them. Hearing that, Frisk froze up, not knowing what to do to not get caught eavesdropping. While they furiously tried to think of something, they ran out of time as Connie walked out of the doorway, and saw them standing there.

She blinked at them and her eyes darted back to the kitchen. "Uh… so what do you want for breakfast?" She asked seeming to ignore the fact they were eavesdropping.

Frisk couldn't meet her eyes, embarrassed over being caught eavesdropping, and instead their gaze went towards their shoes. After a moment, they answered "Anything's fine."

They could hear her silent sigh. "Come on Frisk, Mom won't take that as an answer. We have plenty of stuff to eat."

They were quiet for a while more, not feeling right asking for stuff from the Maheswarams, and when they worked up the courage they shyly asked "Eggs?"

Connie turned away and walked a bit back into the kitchen. "Frisk would like some eggs. Need anything else Mom?" They didn't hear anything from Dr. Maheswaran but Connie walked back next to them. :"So… sorry about that."

"About what?" Frisk asked looking up, honestly confused what she had to be sorry about.

She frowned and left the entryway of the kitchen. "Mom asking what's going on with you and you overhearing it. I tried not to say anything much."

"Nothing else you could have done." Frisk replied.

"Yeah well still you guys didn't want me to say much." She paused. "Want to continue reading or something?" She asked with a smile.

"Bathroom." Frisk said simply before heading off in that direction, it being the reason they got up in the first place.

"Ah, well remember you can wear some of my old clothes if you want to take a shower." She said behind them as they were walking up the stairs.

[hr][/hr]

Dr. and Mr. Maheswaran were silently eating their breakfast of eggs, Connie having fallen asleep on the couch again despite the smell of the food having woken her up earlier. Dr, Maheswaran seemed to be thinking, glancing towards them every few seconds with furrowed brows.

Frisk for their part quietly, though happily, ate their serving of eggs in silence, trying to not draw any more attention to themselves than they are already getting, just by being there. It has been a while since they had eggs, and they were as good as they remembered.

After a bit longer Dr. Maheswaran cleared her throat and said, "Frisk you're wanting to stay here until Steven is better correct?" Frisk nodded in response. "Well If you'd like to stay here I want to talk with your parents, check to see everything is fine." Mr. Maheswaran seemed to look on in interest to see what they would say.

Frisk froze up, they were hoping she'd wait longer before asking, so they could have time to come up with an excuse. Cause currently, they had nothing. Chara had no idea either, beyond flat refusing, but that would come with it's own problems. Dr. Maheswaran raised a eyebrow questioningly but didn't say anything as they kept thinking. Swallowing, and deciding it would be best to bother Toriel than make the Maheswarans upset, they got out their phone and went into their contacts, barely pushing aside the guilt at all the missed messages from her.

But before they could hit call, the screen turned yellow with a black warning symbol, and a alarm played loudly causing them to drop it in surprise, causing it to skid across the floor to the middle of the kitchen. Dr. and Mr. Maheswaran both jumped a bit in surprise, a shriek sounding from the living room as it seemed to wake up Connie. After a few seconds the alarm cut out, and was replaced by Alphys's voice saying "H-Hey, uh, Frisk? If you can hear this, please step away from the phone, we're going to open a portal."

The Maheswarans stood up from their seats, chair falling to the ground behind Dr. Maheswaran. The sound of feet slapping against the floor to their side alerted them to Connie running up into the kitchen followed shortly by her yelling, "What's going on?"

"Frisk?" Dr. Maheswaran questioned haltingly.

Frisk didn't answer, too intent on watching the phone. And after a few seconds, a beam of light shot out of the top of it towards the ceiling, and with a resounding boom opened wide into what looked like a cascading tunnel of light. After that, nothing happened for a few seconds besides a constant low thrumming from the portal, till out of the tunnel of light a figure emerged, clad in armor, long red hair flowing down her head and mouth wide in a confident grin.

The Heroine has appeared.

Her eyes instantly snapped to Frisk, and she spoke. "There you are Frisk, you had us worried. I know you said you had to do this yourself, but I wanted to make sure you know that whatever it is, we are more than willing to have your back." Undyne strode forwards the few steps of space between them and dropped to her knee, putting her hand on their shoulder. "You don't have to do everything yourself, not anymore, you got it? You can-" She was interrupted when Frisk's eyes began to water, and they started to shake. "Woah, hey, you alright?" She asked completely caught off guard, and Frisk just lunged forward, wrapped their arms around her neck, burying their face in the crook of her neck and began crying.

First it was Connie and Steven promising that they were no longer on their own, but now Undyne too? Here she was, claiming she, and everyone else, would stand by them no matter what. And what did Frisk do to them to deserve this? Ignore their messages and calls, trying to block them out. They felt so guilty, and relieved, and scared, that they couldn't process anything else, and they just cried. They felt themselves being picked up and cradled in the nook of Undyne's arm, but they didn't care. All they could focus on at the moment was the vague hope that their life might actually become better, and letting out all the stress that hope had released.