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Pathetic sniffles filled the attic as the room’s only occupant snuggled deeper into his blanket.
“Sonic! Rachel is coming over today! I really hope you didn’t forget and you cleaned your room!” Maddie’s voice traveled upstairs. Sonic’s ear twitched as he decided to continue lying in bed.
His ear flicked towards the noise of the stairs unfolding to allow Maddie into the attic. “Guh, Sonic,” she groaned, “I told you to clean your room, kiddo. What am I going to do with you?”
Sonic only continued to lay still.
“Hey, kid. It’s time to wake up, m’kay?” Maddie prodded gently, sitting on the end of Sonic’s bed and gently nudging his shoulder. Sonic moaned into his pillow without grace or cadence. “C’mon, pal. We don’t have all day.”
Sonic slowly pulled his blanket down and sat up shakily. His bloodshot eyes and eye bags were Maddie’s first indication of something being wrong. “Woah, buddy. What’s goin’ on, huh?” she asked gently as she pressed the back of her hand above his eyes. She frowned as she pulled it away. “Mmh,” Sonic grunted, not inclined to do much else, and promptly planted his face into Maddie’s side, where she proceeded to massage between his ears. “Hm. You’re warm,” Maddie muttered plaintively. “You okay?” The kid just buried his head into her side. Maddie sighed. She had no choice but to give in.
She picked him up tenderly, wrapping her arms around him. “C’mon, let’s go get some medicine. I wanna check your temperature.”
As she descended the stairs, she could hear the sound of the other two kids playing on the video game console in the living room. Gently, she sat Sonic down onto the counter, and under the light, she got a better look at him. He looked absolutely exhausted. He had a faraway look in his eyes, and the skin under his short fur seemed to have undertaken pallor; that is, to say, he looked terrible. His nose was runny and his breathing was labored—not to mention the bags under his bright red eyes. Maddie stuck a thermometer under his tongue while she pressed the back of her hand to his forehead. “Oh, honey, you’re burning up.”
The blue hedgehog simply blinked slowly back at her. His fever was running higher than average. Then came the cough. It was a horrible, rattling sound, and it broke Maddie’s heart when she heard it. After it started, though, it just kept coming. Maddie panicked and moved to pat her kid on the back. “Breathe, baby, breathe.” She attempted to soothe him, but the coughing continued. Luckily, it seemed to die out quickly, but it was still cause for concern.
Maddie ran to the medicine cabinets, nearly throwing them open, but forced herself to stay calm. She forced herself to think. At best? The flu or something. But this wasn’t flu season, and as far as she was aware, the virus didn’t just attack at random. At worst?
Dying
don’t think like that.
Logically, he probably had some sort of bacterial pneumonia. Everything that happened with he-who-must-not-be-named-for-legal-reasons-and-also-if-you-say-it-you-are-grounded was a week ago, and the torn-up walls in the house had been completely redone quickly. Sonic had mentioned nearly drowning (a thought that made her sick) and how he had felt drained after he rescinded the power of the emerald(s? She wasn’t sure. One minute there were, like, seven, and the next there was one.) and gone back to his regular self. She had also heard him coughing for the week the family had been recovering from the whole aforementioned ordeal, but brushed it off as stray dust or something.
Damn, she wished she had seen this coming. In hindsight, the kid had gone to bed earlier than normal last night. Well, it was too late now, and because luck was definitely in Maddie’s favor, she had no antibiotics for this. She turned to look at her kid, who looked like he was falling asleep sitting there on the counter. She swore under her breath. “Heard that, Pretz’l Lady,” Sonic scolded tiredly. God, his voice sounded like hell.
“Hey, sweetie, I’m gonna go run to the store real quick to get you some medicine. I know how you feel about it, but you’re pretty sick, okay?”
Sonic nodded weakly. Maddie hefted him into her arms again, noting his slight weight loss (not that he was very heavy to begin with). She carried him into the living room, where she laid him on the couch and pulled a blanket over his shoulders.
“Tails? Knux?” she called softly. Her other kids were so invested in their video game that they didn’t hear her. She stepped around them and turned down the volume on the TV. “Hey, I need to run to the store to grab some medicine. Sonic is sick, but since Tom is at work and I’ll be out, I’m keeping him down here. You don’t need to do anything,” she added quickly when she saw Tails move to stand, “but you do need to be quiet and gentle around him, okay? If Rachel shows up while I’m gone, tell her I’m at the store. You both have my number if you need anything. Make sure Sonic is drinking lots of water, okay?”
She knelt down as Knuckles paused the game, and opened her arms. Tails was immediately within her reach, but Knuckles was a bit more hesitant. He hadn’t exactly been keen on physical contact, but he was getting better the more his family taught him, so nevertheless, he joined. They shared a brief hug before Maddie stood and turned to them once more. “Also, make sure Ozzy doesn’t get into the garbage.” She grabbed her keys and exited the house.
Tails and Knuckles heard her speed away and another car pull into the driveway not too long after. Tails put a hand on Knuckles’ shoulder when he bristled. Ozzy jumped up and trotted to the door, where he stood waiting, tail wagging happily. The door opened, and a boisterous woman walked in. “Maddie! Where’s my lovely sister and her mediocre husband?” she called out loudly.
Knuckles looked at Sonic, whose ears flattened against his head at the noise. Tails hurried over to the door. The woman flinched upon seeing Tails, but the fox ignored it. “Uhh, sorry, um, Ms. Rachel, but Maddie left. She said she was going to the store to get medicine,” he explained. Rachel looked at him for a moment, an unreadable expression crossing her face. “Oh,” she finally uttered. “I guess I’ll just head into the living room then.”
Upon entry with Tails at her side, she stopped suddenly and her eyes went wide. “Oh my lord Jesus there are three of them,” she mumbled under her breath. She looked at Sonic and Tails, then at Knuckles. “Okay, I know these two. Who are you…?” she asked hesitantly while she pointed at the echidna playing video games. He paused his game and stood up to greet the woman.
“I am Knuckles the Echidna. Lady of Pretzel has told us to watch over the hedgehog as he has fallen ill,” Knuckles stated. He held out a fisted hand, which Rachel realized was just what his hand looked like. She slowly placed hers into his. He barely held it as they shook. As he pulled away, he looked at her with intrigue, asking, “Your hand is… uninjured?”
Rachel cocked an eyebrow at him. She looked at her hand. It looked fine. “Yes…” she said, though her response sounded like as much a question as his. She sat down slowly on the couch and watched Tails and Knuckles join each other in sitting on the floor. They each picked up controllers and continued the game they were playing.
There was a horrible, rattling cough, and Rachel glanced to her side. The first… alien thing she had met (Sonic, she was pretty sure his name was) was curled into a blanket and looked worse for wear. She leaned back into the couch, unsure of what to do.
She saw Sonic look at her, eyes barely open. “… mom…?” he asked quietly, squinting. Any reluctance around him melted as soon as she heard that scratchy voice. Blue alien space hedgehog, animal, extra-terr-whatever… that didn’t matter. He was a sick kid, and as a mother herself, she immediately felt for him. Since Jojo was on a trip with Randall, she felt an empty space where her kid usually filled. Frowning, Rachel scooted over and patted the couch next to her.
Sonic rotated himself to have his head near her and closed his eyes. They weren’t touching, but he was close enough for her to reach him with her hand. Rachel hesitantly laid a hand on his head and, upon feeling his fur where she expected to feel spikes, began gently stroking his head. The kid seemed to thrive on that, and snuggled closer, head nearly touching her thigh. He moaned under the touch, clearly feeling some reprieve from his ailment.
“Baby, you’re overheating,” Rachel mumbled to herself. “Mmng,” Sonic groaned. “C’mere, sweetheart.”
Rachel practically lifted Sonic to lean into her. He accepted this fully and pushed himself into her side. His head rested on her upper leg and his body scooted closer towards her.
Rachel supposed she could see the appeal of these… kids.
She watched the other two turn around to look at her. “The hedgehog enjoys your company,” Knuckles whispered. Rachel looked down to see that Sonic had fallen asleep on her. She almost let out a loud “aww,” but before she could, Tails and Knuckles joined her on the couch. “Do you… mind if we… lay here, too?”
Oh my god, Rachel thought. The fox was so adorable she nearly burst. “Sure, honey. Besides, you are my n…” she stopped on the word. Oh, god, they really were Maddie’s and Tom’s kids. Her-
“…nephews.”
Tails immediately cuddled up into her opposite side while Knuckles merely scooted close enough to have his shoulder bump her hand.
They’re… not so bad. Maybe I could get used to this… Rachel thought.
…
Maddie burst in the door, bags of pill bottles in hand, and rushed to the living room, nearly tripping over a snoozing Ozzy in the process.
When she reached the living room, she found her sister with not one, but three of her children snuggled up to her, fast asleep.
“What… happened?” Maddie asked, though she was unable to stop the smile growing on her face. Rachel looked back at her with a genuine grin.
“I’m a sucker for my favorite nephews.”