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As soon as he heard the door creak open, Asgore turned around, a huge smile on his face and a bowl in his hands. "Look what I made for you, my little Nanny-Goat! Egg fried rice with hot honey pickled peppers!"
"Oh..." The smile she gave him was so wan it chilled him to the core. "My favourite. How... nice."
Asgore bit the insides of his cheeks. "Um, is everything okay?"
She flopped down to the couch. "Yes. No. Well. It is better now that I have a snack." Then she gestured towards him.
Obedient husband that he was, Asgore approached and placed the bowl in front of her, then went to grab a fork from the kitchen; when he returned, his lips thinned to a line at the forlorn look on her face.
He knelt.
"Oh, honey, what's the matter?" He gathered up her newly-puffy hands in his, and was surprised by how clammy she felt. "Did you have a fight with Carol?"
His wife's greenish face turned a little more sallow.
"Golly." An arm thrown over her shoulder, and Asgore pulled her into an embrace. "You can tell me anything you want, Tori. I know I'm not exactly a neutral party since she hates me to Heckfire and back, but---"
"You are not the only one she hates."
His head swiveled around. "I beg your pardon?"
Toriel sighed and closed her eyes. "Gorey, I just found out she despises me."
Although he opened his mouth to protest, she continued: "In fact, I think I can pinpoint the exact moment..."
***
"Oh! I almost forgot. I need to return those tapes you loaned me. I finally got caught up on 'The Youthful and Wandering'."
"Really?" She sipped her tea. "What did you think of season three?"
Toriel pursed her lips. "Would you like me to be honest?"
"Of course."
"It was not my favourite season," she said carefully, eyeing the wallpaper instead of her friend. "The cheating subplot was plausible, but... oh, what is that term? 'Hopped the whale'?"
Carol tittered. "Jumped the shark."
"Oh yes, of course." She placed her spoon on top of the lemon slice, and gently pushed it into the remnants of her muddied tea. "I thought they jumped the shark with the 'long lost twin' plot twist."
To her great relief, Carol burst out laughing. "THANK you! I thought I was the only one who saw it that way!"
She smiled warmly. "I do hope they pay that actor twice as much for playing two roles."
The clock chimed.
"Yes. Well. This has been nice, but I have some reports I should take a look at before the afternoon's over." Her ice-blue eyes darted up to Toriel's for just a moment. The message was clear.
Toriel nodded as she rose. "Of course. Thank you for the tea..."
The hesitation lingered; tilting her head in suspicion, her neighbour prodded "...But?"
"Hm. Well. You see..." She handed her cup and saucer back. "I am saying this with love. As a friend." Placing her paws on the padded shoulders of Carol's powder-pink blouse, she squeezed lightly. Even under that tender touch, she could feel ropes of tension coiled in the reindeer's muscles. "My dear, if you do not take a break soon, I fear you will work yourself to death."
Predictably, she bristled. "Well someone's got to keep this town running. Besides, I have a husband, a child, and a therapist to support!"
Toriel tugged her a bit closer. "The world can turn without you for one weekend."
"Noted."
With a sigh, Toriel added "Or at least an afternoon. Will you come with me to the spa sometime? They give wonderful hot stone massages."
"That does sound tempting... Hm. Let me think about it." Carol's gaze flicked to the side, her smile pulling into a smirk. "Would you like to say hello to Houdini before you go?"
Toriel gasped in delight when she saw the little naked doe toddling up to her. "My goodness, child! How did you get out of your crib?"
"And your diaper, for that matter!" her mother laughed. "I swear I could hire bodyguards and the little escape artist would find a way past them."
"Ooh, be careful! One day she might pull a vanishing act!"
Dess made it all the way across the carpet before stumbling, but caught herself by grabbing Toriel's skirts; turning her head upwards, she flashed her gummy two-toothed grin and chirped "Uppies!"
A gurgle from within her, and Toriel chuckled, patting her bloated belly. "Well, I kind of forgot how to bend over..."
"No!" Dess bounced excitedly, still staring right up at her. "Uppies, Mommy!"
There was absolute dead silence.
Toriel didn't dare look over to her friend. She just felt all cold and horrified inside. "Er... no, my chil--- my dear," she quickly corrected herself, "I am Auntie Toriel. Your Mommy is right beside me."
The toddler glanced between the two women, then settled her cheek on Toriel's shin. "Hee. No. Silly Mommy."
It took a bit of shuffling, moving her feet apart, then a deeply uncomfortable squat, but despite the surging heartburn Toriel managed to crouch down to the child's level. "That is a no-no, Dess. I am not your Mommy."
She scooped her up and handed her to Carol. Dear Angel, if looks could kill...
"I-I should be going," she stammered.
With a voice like chipping frost, Carol said "How did you teach her to say that?"
"I didn't!" Toriel cried as she threw her paws over her mouth. "I swear I---"
"You babysat her," she hissed through that little gap between her teeth. Her spit was bubbling. "I let you babysit."
"Carol---"
"My milk wasn't coming in!" she went on, seemingly oblivious to the baby's increasing distress. "I let you breastfeed her---you said you were doing me a favour! That's how you got to her, wasn't it?!"
Toriel felt about as sturdy as the soaked nursing pads sagging in her bra. "Er, well, um, p-plenty of women wet-nurse for their friends..."
"You're no friend of mine." Carol huffed and clutched her daughter protectively against her side. Then her eyes narrowed with what looked like hatred: "Wait. I know what this is about! You're afraid this pregnancy's going to end like all the others, aren't you? That's why you're trying to steal MY baby!"
That felt like a syringe of icewater straight to the marrow of her bones. "Now you crossed a line," she whispered numbly.
Dess reached her chubby little hands out to Toriel. "Mommy!"
Then she squeaked in terror when her mother slammed a fist into the wall, knocking a framed picture off its hook. "OUT!" Carol screamed as the glass shattered on the floor. "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! OUT!!!"
***
"Hey."
Asgore gently flicked a claw against her shoulder, and his wife snapped back to reality; when she turned to look at that familiar, care-worn smile, the mistiness in her eyes faded a bit.
He rested his chin on his fist. "Where did you go there?"
"Oh... nothing."
"You don't really think she hates you, do you?"
Toriel smiled. This wasn't her first long-term relationship, but marriage was a different beast entirely... there were truths, shared things, and then sacred boundaries. "No," she murmured, "Of course not."
"Of course not," her husband repeated, with an odd look of both comprehension and confusion.
"I hope she still accepts little..." She looked at her belly, then up at her husband, her eyebrows arched. "Asgortore?"
"No! That sounds like a videogame boss!"
"Rielre?"
"That's even worse."
Toriel rolled her eyes. "Well we have to decide on something soon. And don't you dare suggest Jason or Michael. Every boy this year has been named that!"
With a chuckle, he leaned over and rubbed her swollen midsection. It was amazing---he'd felt the kicks, the hiccups, the somersaults; and right now he could still sort of feel the light fluttering of the fetus as it slept. "How about Asriel?"
She jolted.
He grinned.
So did she.
"That's it!" Toriel exclaimed. "That is perfect!"
"We can call him Azzy for short."
"Oof." She rose and placed a paw on the small of her back. "Tea in the third trimester was a bad idea."
"I beg your pardon?"
But she was already scooting away. "Nature calls!"
"Again?!"
"Never get pregnant, Gorey!"
He chuckled. "Wasn't planning on it."
As the bathroom door slammed behind her, Asgore rubbed his neck and looked at the still-unpackaged baby carrier beside the couch. "Three more weeks," he murmured.