Archive of Our Own

Maddie Wachowski yawned as she clicked through a few channels. The TV cast a bright light across the otherwise dark living room, effectively blinding her to the rest of the house.

Tom was on night shift this week, which meant they would both be dragging until he returned to his usual schedule. She never slept well when her husband worked overnight, partly because it felt odd to sleep in their bed alone, and partly because she worried about what could happen after dark. Green Hills Montana may not have been a hotbed of criminal activity, but there were occasional dangerous incidents. Sometimes crazy stuff happened at night.

And sometimes being married to the town’s sheriff wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

“How can we have so many channels, plus the various streaming services, and there’s still nothing to watch?” she muttered to herself.

Camping out on the couch during his overnight shifts had become habit. She used to toss and turn in bed until midnight, at least, then give up and wander downstairs to try and bore herself to sleep watching bad movies on TV. Nowadays she didn’t even bother trying the bed.

With a sigh, she dropped the remote on the coffee table. She had been lying on her side, head propped on a pillow, but now she sat up and rubbed her eyes. “Ugh. This is gonna be a long night.”

A soft ‘thud’ from above her made her jump slightly. Judging by the location, she guessed it was from the attic stairs lowering to the floor. Not long ago this would have had her dialing her husband in a heartbeat, the fear of intruders fresh on her mind. They lived in a heavily forested area outside town, with no neighbors nearby to run to for help.

But tonight she muted the TV and merely listened. She knew who had dropped the stairs, and he was nothing to fear.

Soft footsteps padded down the upstairs hall, and the bathroom door closed. A moment later a rush of water. The call of nature, obviously.

The owner of the footsteps was a little blue alien hedgehog named Sonic. He had come into their lives a little over two months ago, when Tom had saved him from an insane government agent. It had been a crazy few days, ending with a tense battle on Main Street. Ultimately this little blue hedgehog had prevailed, thanks to some amazing powers he possessed.

Sonic was brave, powerful, and confident.

He was also scared, lonely, and sensitive.

They had never asked his age, but guessed he was about 12 or so in human terms. A boy. Who had lived by himself, in hiding, for a long time. How long, they didn’t know. He refused to say. But judging by his habit of having full conversations with himself, and how awkward—yet wanting—he seemed with affection, they guessed it had been years.

And that twisted Maddie’s heart.

After the Battle of Main Street, as it had been since dubbed, Tom kept tabs on the little hedgehog. The boy lived in a cave a few miles away, but visited daily. Maddie made sure he had plenty to eat, and Tom took him to baseball games, which he seemed to really enjoy.

About a week had passed when Tom suggested fixing up the attic for Sonic to stay.

“I’m just saying that he’s just a kid and we could, you know, keep an eye on him easier if he were closer,” he had said in his nonchalant way. “Besides, I’ve seen the cave. It’s damp and musty. Not a healthy place for a growing boy.”

Maddie had nodded, smiling. In all honesty she had also been thinking of somehow getting Sonic out of that cave. The idea of him being all alone at night made her chest feel heavy. He had been on his own for so long, and now he didn’t have to be.

So they had cleaned their attic (which was something that needed done anyway, Tom said, as though Maddie needed to be talked into it) in secret. In the evenings after Sonic had gone back to his dark home, Maddie and Tom moved junk out of the attic, cleaned, and readied it for their new friend.

On the last day, Tom had taken Sonic out for a ride-along in the squad car. Meanwhile, Maddie wrangled Wade and Not-Nearly-As-Crazy-As-Previously-Thought Carl into helping her move Sonic’s things from the cave to her attic. With a few strands of Christmas lights and some rearranging, the attic felt warm and inviting. A perfect getaway for any 12 year old boy.

Sonic had loved the surprise, and the rest, as they say, is history. He’s been living with them since, although it had been—and still was—a bit of an adjustment for all.

Maddie and Tom had never had children, so having one in the house now—an alien pre-teen, at that—felt like jumping into the deep end of a pool. Suddenly they had to adjust work schedules, figure out family dynamics, and how to interact with a child that not only had incredible speed powers, but also suffered from trauma, regular nightmares, abandonment and attachment issues, and anxiety.

Although Sonic seemed to want affection, his years of isolation left him awkward and unable to accept it easily. It was as if his ingrained instinct to hide and stay away from anyone who may hurt him warred with the side of him that yearned for a soft touch. It was truly heartbreaking to see him enjoy a gentle pat on the head only to jerk away a second later, usually with a sarcastic remark to mask his unease.

He often stayed on the sidelines in the house, as well. Watching from around doorways or furniture before approaching. As sad as it made Maddie to see him having trouble adjusting to a real home, his behavior was understandable. That had been his entire life up until now. Hiding. Watching. Studying. Learning.

He seemed more comfortable around Tom, which made sense since he had been the one who helped Sonic in his moment of need. The two had bonded during their road trip to San Francisco. Sonic’s face lit up like a beacon when he and Tom were together, which made Maddie’s heart swell. The boy had a beautiful smile.

On the other hand, while Sonic was friendly with Maddie, she never got the feeling he was completely comfortable with her. He didn’t seem afraid, or that he didn’t like her, but there was something that made him keep his distance. She guessed it had to do with something in his past. A pain that hadn’t healed. She didn’t push things. Just moved calmly and gently around him, and made herself available to him if he wanted to get closer. Ultimately it was really all she could do. Pushing too quickly would have just made him retreat further.

Maddie sighed and rubbed her eyes again. She was thinking too much. She’d never get to sleep if she continued keeping her mind this active.

Upstairs was quiet again, and she guessed Sonic must have gone back to bed. Picking up the remote, she unmuted and resumed her channel surfing.

A few channel switches later, and she dropped the remote on the table again. An old Dick Van Dyke Show rerun was on, and she sat back to watch the antics.

Movement caught her eye and she glanced to the left. Sonic stood in the archway between the living room and front hall, his blanket wrapped around him like a hooded cloak. His socks pooled around his ankles, and he rubbed his toes together, fidgeting.

“Hey kiddo,” she called quietly, offering him a kind smile. “Everything okay?”

He stood there, face unreadable. His large green eyes locked with her brown. Voice soft, he asked, “What are you doing?”

She shrugged. “Trying to bore myself into unconsciousness. I don’t sleep well when Tom works late shift.”

“Oh.”

He glanced away, pressing his lips together tightly.

Maddie muted the TV, cutting the laugh-track off in mid guffaw. “Did you have another bad dream, hon?”

He hesitated a moment, then gave a shaky nod without looking at her. The nightmares were almost nightly when he first came, which was understandable considering all the boy had been through. They had tapered off some, but were still relatively frequent. He never talked about what happened in them, but based on how he’d scream sometimes, they must have been pretty bad.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked gently. “Sometimes it can help them go away.”

He shook his head, eyes squeezed tight. Wet patches in his fur shone in the light of the TV. He was crying. It must have been a nasty one.

“It’s okay, sweetie,” she soothed, leaning forward on the couch. “We don’t have to.”

He stood with his eyes closed for a moment, then opened them once he seemed more composed. He cleared his throat. “Can I . . . uh . . . c-can I sit with you?”

Maddie raised her eyebrows slightly, a burst of warmth spreading in her chest. “Sure sweetie,” she said, readjusting herself to sit in a side-saddle position, and patting the spot next to her. “Make yourself comfortable.”

He stood where he was for a moment, before moving to the couch and climbing on. He sat next to Maddie, but made sure to leave space between them. She could feel him trembling through the cushion.

“What are you watching?”

“Just an old TV show. You might like it.”

“Okay.”

She unmuted the TV, and the two watched in silence. A few giggles floated out from under his hood, making Maddie smile.

A few minutes later, he squirmed on his couch cushion before settling back down. Maddie thought nothing of it and continued watching the show. The kid was the embodiment of speed, and sometimes had a hard time sitting still.

Two minutes later he was squirming again, and she glanced over at him. She was slightly behind him, leaning back against the couch while he sat more forward, back rigid. He wiggled slightly, inching himself closer to Maddie. She raised her eyebrows.

Another two minutes passed, and he did it again. The space between them was definitely narrowing.

The warmth in her chest flared, and she smiled. He was trying. In his shy, awkward, frightened way, he was trying to reach out for her.

Maddie resisted the urge to simply pull him into her arms in a tight hug. But oh dear lord, it was hard. Every fiber in her being was screaming to hold him, caress him, hug him tight and tell him he’s safe and they’d never let anything bad happen to him again.

But she couldn’t do that. This was his move. If she reached out before he was ready, it would set them back to square one.

So she waited. And watched.

Another squirm. Another fraction of an inch closer.

The show forgotten, sleep forgotten, Maddie watched as this innocent, frightened, lonely boy slowly inched his way closer.

The closer he got, the more pronounced his trembling became. He was obviously terrified. Of what, she wasn’t sure. Rejection? Possibly. More likely he was waging a battle within himself. A variation of fight or flight, as it were. Part of him wanted to be closer, but another part seemed to want him to keep his distance. So far the desire for closeness was winning, as they were almost touching now.

One last squirm and his side brushed against her leg. He stopped trembling immediately, and now sat still as a stone. His shoulders under the blanket raised and lowered, and she heard him breathing hard.

It was now or never.

“It’s okay,” she whispered, curling an arm around his waist. She pulled him close and nuzzled his head. “You’re okay. I’ve got you.”

For a moment, Sonic sat still, awkwardly rigid in her embrace. Then, slowly, carefully, he pushed his hands out of his blanket cloak, and curled them around the arm holding him close. He squeezed, just a little, and she responded by giving him a squeeze back.

He relaxed, leaning more into her. His makeshift cloak helped keep his quills from poking her, and she dared to pull him closer, resting her chin on the top of his head. He uttered a long sigh, his body relaxing further.

Dick Van Dyke gave way to The Monkees, and they watched together. Sonic eventually dozed off, soft snores reaching Maddie’s ears as his head tilted to the side and rested on her chest.

Her cheeks ached from smiling but she couldn’t stop.

Tom unlocked his front door, and walked in as quietly as he could. Maddie was usually sleeping on the couch when he came home from night shift, and he didn’t want to wake her.

Closing the door behind him, he headed toward the kitchen, glancing through the archway to the living room. What he saw stopped him in his tracks, his sleepiness momentarily forgotten.

Maddie was on the couch, as he’d expected. She lay on her side, one arm curled under her pillow.

Her other arm was curled around the waist of the boy who’d turned their lives upside down a few months ago. Sonic slept snuggled up against Maddie, lying almost in exactly the same position.

A smile stretched Tom’s face, and he fumbled for his phone to capture the moment.