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Rouge scrambled around the kitchen area in a near panic state as she tired to prepare dinner. The island that divides the kitchen from the dining room made the space very small to maneuver in. As if it wasn’t already difficult, She also had her sons following her every step like baby ducklings.
“Mom, why doesn’t Uncle Sonic visit much? Why isn’t he home with Auntie Amy?” The peach coloured, 6 year old Echidna asked. “Why did we only see him at christmas?”
“He’s touring the world with his boyfriend.” Rouge answered quickly as she stirred the tomato sauce on the stove.
“Why?” the tiny Echidna asked, “Mommy what does ‘tour’ mean? and whose Sonic’s boyfriend? What’s a boyfriend?”
Before Rouge could answer, she had to save herself from tripping by grabbing another countertop. She looked down and saw her other son, a white Hedgehog with dark streaks in his quills. Tears in his eyes as she cried her name.
“Momma, hold me!” He cried.
“I can’t, I have to cook.” Rouge tried to pry him off but then the popping of her tomato sauce rang in her ears.
She waddled over to the stove to turn it down and give it a stir. The Echidna boy followed closely.
“Mommy, I can help!” He reached for the spatula but Rouge pushed it out of the way.
“No Garnet, not necessary!” Rouge said firmly before trying to pry the Hedgehog off of her.
“Radiance, you’re going to make a mommy trip!” Rouge said in her most sing-songy voice to try and coax the hedgehog off of her. It only made his grip tighter.
Giving up when he wouldn’t let go, instead hobbled over to the other countertop where she started to shred some cheese. The stress inside her rising as she attempted to shred as much cheese as possible.She was now fully dreaded even listening to Knuckles when he said he wanted Omega to get a tune up since he was so insecure about leaving the kids with him. Why did she even bother to listen to him?
“ROUGE!” The thundering voice from elsewhere in the house almost caused her to jump out of her skin. Composing herself she slammed the shredder down.
“WHAT?!”
“I CAN’T FIND MY BELT, WHERE DO YOU PUT IT?” Rouge sighed heavily, about having had it with Knuckles losing his belt.
“Too loud!” The Echidna boy shouted, covering his ears.
“I didn’t put it anywhere! It should still be on your side of the room!” Rouge yelled back.
“IT’S NOT HERE!”
Rouge was about to answer back before she heard the sounds of her water boiling over. She rushed back to the stove, almost tripping because her son was still clinging to her leg. She quickly turned it off and stirred the noodles within, feeling several stuck to the bottom of the pot. She cursed herself for leaving it for too long.
“ROUGE!”
“I don’t know where it is! just keep looking!” Rouge shouted back as she attempted to scrape the noodles off the bottom of the pot.
“Mommy!”
“Wh-” Rouge cut herself short, not wanting to yell at her son. She composed herself before speaking. “Yes, Garnet?”
“I found this, can I play with it?” The Echidna kid help up a belt. Knuckle’s belt.
Rouge bit her lip feeling frustrated over taking her.
“ROUGE!”
“Your belt is down here!” Rouge yelled back.
“WHAT?!”
“I said-”
“MOMMAAA!” cried the tiny hedgehog, Rouge’s ears folded against her head at the scream.
Just then a black hedgehog came into the kitchen area and scooped up the kids. “I’ll get Garnet and Radiance seated.” Shadow stopped, a quick glance to Rouge. “Do you need help?”
“No, it’s fine.” Rouge sighed with some relief as her other partner.
The black hedgehog gave her a linger look of ‘Are you sure?’ before he just shrugged and walked back to the table with his sons. Rouge went back to focusing on her cooking, no distractions. She managed to save some of the pasta noodles stuck at the bottom of her pan. Her tomato sauce didn't burn. She took the noodles off the stove and started straining them.
“ROUGE! MY BELT!”
“I SAID IT’S DOWN HERE YOU JERK, NOW STOP SHOUTING!” Rouge screamed.
“TOO LOUD!” Garnet cried. Shadow patted the little boy’s head as he tried to calm down an upset Radiance.
Rouge managed to finally combine the noodles and sauce in a single pot without much hassle. She sighed, finally having gotten Dinner underway, Now she just needed to bring it to the table. With pot in hand, Rouge turned-
“Mommy, can I visit Dash tomorrow?”
The sudden appearance of her son startled her, dropped the pot and Spaghetti noodles spilled everywhere. There was a hush over the room as all eyes looked to the ruined dinner, the only other sound that could be heard of heavy footsteps that ushered the arrival of a large, Echidna. He looked around the room and at the mess in the kitchen.
Knuckles groaned. “Rouge, be careful, you could have hurt Garnet!”
Rouge’s eye twitch, her hands balled into fists as her expression slowly turned from shock to rage. Garnet looked scared as his mother started to shake uncontrollably. He rushed back to his Papa. Shadow took him in his arms, quickly sensing the change in energy and took the kids out of the kitchen immediately.
Not a moment after he left the room did the Kitchen erupt with shouting from the Echidna and the Bat. Shadow quickened his pace down the hall to the children’s playroom, where he quickly shut the door behind them. It didn’t completely muffled the screaming match but that was a quick fix. Fully entering autopilot mode, Shadow Garnet was put down on the floor, pushing a few stray toys that were on the floor towards Garnet with his foot. A sniffling and whinny Radiance shifted in his arms, Shadow doubted the little Hedgehog was too affected by the screaming going on outside. He sat down on the couch, hitting the remote and turning the TV to one of the children’s favourite shows.
The volume was turned up to drown out Knuckles and Rouge. For a few moments, Garnet just sat there, not even touching the toys in front of him. Shadow didn’t seem to pay him much mind as his attention was focused all onto the little hedgehog who was starting to finally calm down.
Garnet looked to Shadow. “Papa?”
“Hm?” Shadow glanced over at his son.
Garnet put his head down, twiddling with his thumbs. “Did… did I cause the fight?”
Shadow sighed, shifting Radiance in his arms and gestured for Garnet to come to him. The little Echidna shuffled over to him where he was picked up and put onto his papa’s lap. Shadow had a single ear turned towards the kitchen, still monitoring the fight in the kitchen while he comforted his son.
“No, it wasn’t your fault.” Shadow assured the child. “Things happen.”
“But I ruined dinner.” Garnet mumbled.
“We can always order or cook some frozen chicken strips and fries.” Shadow rubbed Garnet’s back, trying his best to calm the hedgehog down.
“I just wanted to ask mommy some things.” Garnet sniffled.
Shadow was about to say something but then a loud crash can be heard, so loud it even drowned out the TV. Without wasting a single moment, Shadow placed Radiance and Garnet on the couch and got up.
“Don’t open the door.” He said before he closed the door.
That loud noise really scary Garnet, he couldn’t just sit there so he scrambled over to the door. He opened it a bit to peek into the hall which he could see the figures of his three parents. Shadow in the middle as Rouge and Knuckles continued to yell at eachother.
“It’s always ‘my fault, my fault!’” Rouge yelled.
“That’s because it is! you never watch around you for the kids, they’re small. you could hurt them!” Knuckles snapped.
“Knuckles, It’s my fault. I didn’t keep a good eye-” Shadow tried to explained but was cut off by Roue
“You should have kept a good on Garnet, You said you would take them!” Rouge turned her ire the Black hedgehog.
“Hey, don’t blame Shadow for you not paying attention!” Knuckles fired back at the White.
Rouge let out a frustrated cry and tossed her hands in the air. “That’s it! I can’t deal with this anymore.”
Garnet saw Rouge turn around and storm down the hall. Shadow and Knuckles following right behind her. Garnet felt a twinge of fear as he bolted out of the room after them.
“Where do you think you’re going?!” Knuckles yelled after her
“Anywhere but here!” Rouge grabbed her coat and opened the front door.
Garnet pushed past his dads and tried to after Rouge.
“Mommy-” Garnet cried but the door slammed shut.
Garnet stood there trembling, tears welling up in his eyes as he fell to his knees. He started to cry into his hands, calling for his mommy. Hardly believing she could just walk out like that, not even turning to check on him. Shadow and Knuckles stared down at the weeping echidna child, Shadow let out an exasperated sigh before he crouched next to his son, scooping him up in his arms. Shadow managed to catch a quick glimpse of Knuckles walking back into the Kitchen. Deciding not to pursue and instead to comfort their son. He took Garnet back into the playroom, seeing Radiance sitting on the couch watching TV. Thankful that all this seemed to not bother the little Hedgehog. Shadow took a seat next to Radiance, taking him into his lap as well.
For the next couple of hours, Shadow just sat and watched cartoons with his sons. Radiance has long since fell asleep. His little head resting on Shadow’s chest while Garnet was having a soft cry into his chest fur. He’s been nonstop weeping since Rouge stormed out of the house, Shadow tried to offer comforting words but it just made it worse. So all he could do was to rub the little Echidna’s back and kiss the top of his head.
After a while, Garnet wiped his snotty face and finally spoke. “Is mommy gone forever?”
“No. She just needs time to cool off.” Shadows assured little Garnet. “Just like your daddy.”
Garnet sniffled. “Did mommy leave because of me?”
“No, it was more of a combination of things.” Shadow sighed. “But I think it’s best from now on to maybe stay out of the kitchen when your mother or me are making dinner.”
Garnet bit his lip, nodding slowly. “I'm sorry I ran away from you and bugged mommy.”
“It’s alright, you’re just a kid.” Shadow kissed his head and held him close.
Shadow’s attention turned to the door to the playroom opening to see Knuckles coming in. Looking awkward as he rubbed the back of his neck. Shadow exchanged a look with him before Knuckles walked in further and knelt down next to the couch. Taking Garnet into his arms and giving him a hug. Garnet squeezed his daddy tightly. They embraced for sometime before Knuckles spoke.
“Sorry you had to see that.” Knuckles mumbled. “I shouldn’t have started yelling at your mother.”
Garnet Sniffled, wiping his face. “I just want mommy home…”
“...Me too.”
A sudden knock at the door stirred them all to attention. Shadow and Knuckles looked at eachother before they both got up, kids in hand and went to answer the door. Knuckles opened it and saw pizza boxes precariously stacked on one another with a small strawberry cake on the top.
“I brought home dinner.” Came a sheepish tone from Rouge, struggling to hold all the boxes.
Without a word, Knuckles put down Garnet and took the pizzas from Rouge. Three parents stared at each other in silence, Shadow giving them both a frustrated look to which Knuckles and Rouge both looked down, ashamed. Garnet wasn’t aware of the silent reprimanding his mommy and daddy were getting, his eyes were completely fixated on Rouge. Catching Garnet’s eye, Rouge bit her lip and took a step towards the little echidna, his hands outstretched as she drew near. Rouge took him in her arms and gave him a tight squeeze.
“I'm sorry, sweetie.” She whispered. “I promise not to do that again.”
Garnet just squeezed her tightly. “Don’t leave again, Mommy.”
“I won’t” She gave him a kiss on his forehead, giving a wide smile. “Now, how about some meat lover’s pizza to forget all about this?”
Garnet’s eyes lit up. “YOU GOT MY FAVOURITE PIZZA?!”
Shadow rolled his eyes but he had a hint of amusement in his eyes, Knuckles just laughed as he hauled the pizzas into the kitchen.
All 5 of them sat down and enjoyed a lovely dinner, no more fights for the rest of the night.