Chapter Text
There was a first for everything, or so the saying went. Maddie liked to think she handled a lot of her weirder firsts pretty dang well; first alien she'd seen she'd taken like a champ. Her husband being accused of terrorism? Yeah, she’d handled that just fine. First time going through a dimensional portal? A breeze, try again next time.
Her first time performing surgery on an alien had been a bit trickier but with her team of vets at her side they'd pulled it off flawlessly, if she did say so herself. With Shadow now carefully tucked into a kennel that was at arms level for easy access, one of the doors left open, Maddie finally let out the breath she felt like she'd been holding since the house.
The poor thing had had some really screwed up ribs that needed bracing and a bad break in his left femur. Some decent internal bleeding that had needed dealing with, with punctures in his lungs. A severely crunched up wrist that was halfway healed- Maddies least favorite of the injuries as they'd had to rebreak the healing bones to set them right.
She'd picked out red and yellow for his casts, one for his wrist and the other bundling up his leg and partially around his hip. It was perhaps a touch of overkill but she didn't exactly trust this kid to not immediately try and run off if something wasn't stopping him. Hopefully the giant chunk of plaster would keep him still. It certainly would keep him from getting up.
After piling up three freshly laundered dog beds in the kennel and making sure that his IV wasn't going to get snagged, she'd sat down at the table in the post open room and buried her face in her hands and not come out for a long long time.
There was a lot to unpack. There was too much to unpack, Maddie would have liked to throw the whole suitcase out if she was being honest. This hedgehog had nearly killed her husband- she couldn’t stop thinking about Tom laying in his hospital room. Or about Shadow apparently trying to kill Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, and the entire world.
But the kid she saw now didn’t seem like he’d kill the whole world. He just looked small and fragile and sad. Sonic had sat there and explained to her at length that Gerald Robotnik had kinda sorta manipulated Shadow into thinking that the world-destroying-plot was a great idea. That he’d lost his family and been put under cryosleep, and woken up with no one and no idea how to cope.
There was some sort of rage in Maddie on Shadow’s behalf. From what Sonic had told her, he hadn’t been treated like the kid he was. He’d been treated like an experiment, a lab rat. And when they’d gotten overwhelmed with him, they’d locked him away and thrown away the key.
Her heart ached. She wanted to fight someone about it, but there was no one to fight. Just one very busted up hedgehog under her care.
If Maddie was being honest, she hadn't intended to emerge from her little balled up position until she heard Shadow stir, but a knock on the door had her looking up. She cleared her throat. “Yeah?”
Sonic peeked in, his green eyes wide. “Nora said it went good,” he said timidly. “Can I come in?”
Maddie glanced at Shadow, who was still sleeping soundly. She prayed he'd stay that way for a bit longer, but he was doped up on morphine and that would keep his pain under control even if he did wake up soon. It wasn’t like he was going anywhere. “Yeah, come in,” she said, beckoning Sonic in. “Don't be too loud, he's sleeping.”
Sonic grinned and slipped inside, closing the door carefully so it wouldn't make too much noise. Maddie was already standing up and pulling a chair over so Sonic could climb up and see. He made a face at Shadows accomidations. “You put him in a kennel,” he said flatly. “You're just like Tom.”
Maddie tapped the open door with a light chuckle. “He’s not trapped. It’s the best place to put him for now, Blue,” she replied. “Better than the floor, safer than the table, and I can keep a close eye on him. When we get him home he'll take the guest room.”
Sonic rolled his eyes. “I guess that makes sense,” he muttered. He pulled out his phone to show Maddie his latest texts from Tails. “He got the schematics for Shadows rings. They didn't have any for him. Tails said that it should be ready by tonight.”
Maddie raised an eyebrow. “That fast?” she asked, scrolling through the texts. Tails had said something about the tech being ancient, and being easy enough to fabricate. She smiled fondly. That was her little genius. She worried her bottom lip a bit, scrolling along and seeing that apparently G.U.N. was having “a conniption” in Tails’ words.
She wasn’t sure she wanted to know what that meant but being the only adult in the family that wasn’t currently on pain medication meant it was her problem.
Sonic watched Shadow quietly for another minute before he predictably got bored and hopped off the chair. “Cool if I go help him? Knuckles can stay and keep Mr. Dark and Brooding in check,” he said, dusting off his hands. “He's gonna be okay, right?”
Maddie knelt down and ruffled Sonic's ears a bit. “He's fine. I doubt he'll be any trouble like this, he's super drugged,” she told him. “But yes. I'll keep Knuckles just in case. You go make sure Tom didn't burn the house down.”
Sonic saluted, grinning. “You read my mind,” he chirped. “Just call if you need me, I'll be back in a flash.”
And just like that, her middle child was gone, leaving only a gust of wind and scattered papers in his wake. Maddie deflated again, slumping into the chair she'd pulled up next to the kennel. Today was weird.
This whole month had been weird.
Maybe after this they'd finally catch a break.
About 43 minutes of mindless scrolling through whatever social media held her attention later, she finally heard Shadow make a tiny noise. Not quite a whimper, just a tiny grumbled sound that eked out of him slowly and quietly. Maddie set her phone aside and stood up, watching Shadow’s muzzle scrunch and his ears flicking. “Hey, you're okay,” Maddie began softly. “Can you hear me?”
His brow furrowed and a twitch of his ear let her know he could in fact hear her. “Don’t move too much, alright?”
“Mhm,” Shadow grumbled back, shifting incrementally and trying to get more comfortable. His eyes fluttered open and he squinted up at Maddie, his gaze unfocused and very much drugged. “Where’s Maria…?” he croaked, sounding small and confused.
Maddie was once again proud of her ability to keep any freak outs internal. She smiled gently and helped him get settled again, fussing his blanket back into place. He stopped moving at that, apparently made comfortable again. “She can’t see you right now,” she lied. “Just focus on resting right now, alright? Does anything hurt?”
Shadow stared at her, his pupils blown wide. “No, I’m great,” he drawled, his tone a bit weird and halting. “Don’t… usually get pain stuff, what… is this?”
Maddie bit her lip. “Morphine,” she answered neutrally, turning away a bit to cover the horror she felt at that statement. Could one alien show up in her life without bringing horrible trauma? Apparently not. “I’ll keep on top of it, it seems like it's working well. That’s good. You’re comfortable?”
Shadow nodded, his eyelids already falling closed again. He hummed softly. “Feel heavy,” he mumbled. “But… s’nice.”
Maddie reached into the kennel and rubbed the spot between his ears, the way she did for Sonic. Just like with Sonic, the effect was immediate. The little guy practically melted, any remaining tension in his body bleeding out as a tiny smile tugged at his lips. “Good,” she said. “That’s good, sweetie. You’re gonna be okay, just go back to sleep…”
Shadow made another tiny sound as he did exactly that, going still and breathing steadily again. Maddie kept rubbing his head for a while longer before taking her hand away and stepping back to gather up her phone. She opened up the family group chat.
Maddie: Everyone still alive at home?
Sonic: Yep, all good! Almost done with new inhibitor 4 him.
Maddie glanced at Shadow again and stepped into the hall to get Knuckles. They’d take Shadow home tonight, but for now Knuckles could keep an eye on him while Maddie tried to figure out how to tell the poor kid that Maria was dead.
That was not a conversation she was looking forward to. The concept put a pit of dread in her stomach.
But she’d at least wait until he was coherent enough to understand it. She didn’t want to have that talk more than once.