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Shadow had only been living with the Wachowski’s for a few weeks after Sonic had encountered him hiding out near an abandoned building, during one of his runs, shortly after their return from London.
Sonic feeling shocked hadn’t hesitated to encourage Shadow back to the Wachowski house where he was welcomed with mixed emotions.
Tom, Maddie, and Tails had accepted Shadow quickly, while Knuckles remained hesitant over the impressive hedgehog being part of their family.
Despite feeling like part of what the Wachowski’s called a ‘family’; a place that Shadow understood as somewhere warm, safe, where they could share fun times and look out for each other, something remained missing.
Shadow still felt empty.
Sure, he had experienced a time where he wasn’t just a specimen to be poked, prodded, shocked with electrodes and treated like some monstrosity from another planet.
That was the time when Maria and her grandfather, Gerald Robotnik, arrived at the lab.
Maria showed him kindness, fun times, and most of all friendship.
She didn’t judge him because he was different.
Although Shadow had repaired his anger with undoing the damage he caused with the Eclipse Canon, the pain of the loss of Maria and the continual reminder of her death remained; remained haunting him every day.
As Shadow sat on his bed in the attic in silence the memory of Maria’s death and the time, she snuck him out of the lab to see the stars played in his head.
“Maria, I miss you,” Shadow mumbled, and without thinking, his paw reached to his head quills and yanked hard.
Shadow winced at the physical pain but for some odd reason it made the emotional pain numb, even just for a moment.
Shadow looked at the black quill in his paw and placed it down on his bed before reaching back up again and yanking hard.
Shadow continued pulling out his quills for a few minutes until he had a little pile laid out on his bed; a mixture of red and black.
Shadow felt a weird pain where he had forcefully yanked his quills, he briefly patted the sore area and noticed a slight trickle of blood on his gloved paw as he brought it back out in front of him.
It had stopped the pain, the emotional pain.
The following morning, Shadow sat at the breakfast table, taking in an argument between Sonic and Knuckles over a video game contest.
“I can’t help being better than you,” Sonic retorted.
“Pfft hedgehog, you merely won by default!” Knuckles announced, clenching his large fist on the table.
“Default? I won because I am better, smarter, faster and more good-looking than you!”
“Grrr!” Knuckles growled, punching his fists together while glaring at the egotistical blue hedgehog.
Knuckles not only got frustrated by Sonic’s comments it was when it touched on the fact, he was not the smartest alien, touched a nerve.
“Boys, enough arguing at the table!” Tom ordered and placed a few cups of juice down for the four boys.
Tails immediately took a sip of his juice, feeling very thirsty as he also watched on nervously at his brothers arguing; he just hated his brothers fighting.
“He’s just a sore loser, Dad!” Sonic complained, pointing at Knuckles.
“I will show you sore, hedgehog, when I toss your weakling body into the next room!” Knuckles warned, his fur crackling some as his anger fueled.
“No need to get a hot head, Knuckles, your fur’s already red enough,” Sonic teased.
“Sonic,” Tom scolded, frowning at his middle son.
“No-one is tossing anyone anywhere, now you both heard your father, no arguing or unfair comments; otherwise, you both won’t be allowed to play video games for a week!” Maddie warned, silencing the arguing straight away.
Shadow didn’t understand why Sonic and Knuckles insisted to fight; weren’t they a family?
Although Shadow had first befriended Sonic, it wasn’t until he got to know Sonic’s quirks that he too started to become irritated at times with the blue hedgehog, and thought there was always something interesting about Knuckles and his history, as for Tails, Shadow appreciated the shyness and quietness of the fox as he often kept to himself working on his genius projects.
As the days went on, some days were better than others for Shadow and some days he just couldn’t stop the urge to pull out his quills.
Once he started getting a bit of a collection, he knew he couldn’t keep hiding them in the bedroom, so carefully he wrapped them up and placed them into the bathroom bin.
It was of course garbage day, and Tom was emptying the bin in the bathroom when he suddenly pricked his finger on something sharp.
“Ouch!” Tom yelped, pulling back and seeing the blood running down his finger.
Tom instantly scowled, and Maddie who was in the next room popped her head into the bathroom to check on her husband.
“What happened, hon?” she asked.
“I just pricked my finger on something sharp in the bin,” Tom explained, shaking his head.
“I have told Sonic a hundred times not to go putting sharp objects in unsafe places where people can get hurt!” Tom exclaimed.
They had told Sonic this many times after the blue hedgehog had broken a few things and sometimes toys and just dumped them into the bin without a care.
“Sonic!” Tom bellowed.
Within seconds, Sonic had zipped up to the bathroom in a cheerful mood.
“What’s up, Donut Lord?” he cheekily asked.
“How many more times have I got to tell you not to put sharp things into the bins without using proper safety? I have just been pricked by something in the bathroom bin!” Tom accused.
“I don’t know what you are talking about, Dad; I didn’t put anything in there,” Sonic protested.
“I don’t want you lying to me, Sonic,” Tom scolded as he continued to wash his bleeding finger.
“But Dad, I swear it wasn’t me!” Sonic argued.
“Hon, maybe Sonic’s right, maybe it was just something that fell into the bin or placed in there by mistake,” Maddie commented; thank goodness for Pretzel Lady’s save.
“Fine, but if it happens again and I do find out it’s you Sonic, you are in big trouble,” Tom warned.
“Okay, okay; geez; way to kill my happy mood,” Sonic grumbled and stomped away.
Later in the afternoon, Knuckles approached Sonic and Tails who were in the living room building some LEGO.
“I don’t understand this fascination you both have with those tiny blocks to build things,” Knuckles grumbled.
“Uh, because it’s fun, dude; duh,” Sonic replied and continued working on his part.
“It keeps the mind busy, and you can build whatever you want. You can play with us if you like,” Tails added.
“How about, no; he’ll probably smash the blocks with his fists,” Sonic teased, causing Knuckles to growl at Sonic’s comment, finding the hedgehog slightly annoying.
“No thank you, Fox. I have come to ask if either of you have noticed anything off about the new hedgehog?” Knuckles asked.
He was more perceptive than his younger brothers and always felt it his duty to protect and look out for those younger than him.
“Like what?” Tails asked.
“Like something is bothering him,” Knuckles clarified.
“He’s just being weird. I like the guy but he’s so different to any of us and doesn’t know how to lighten up,” Sonic commented.
“Not everyone is as overzealous as you hedgehog,” Knuckles said.
“What? I find that insulting! You pea-brained big oaf!” Sonic exclaimed.
“Pea-brained! I will come for you hedgehog!” Knuckles warned.
“Guys, please don’t fight,” Tails hesitantly said, trying to diffuse the tension between his heated brothers.
Knuckles huffed and relaxed his energy.
“I have no time for your petty comments, for I am concerned about the new hedgehog.”
“I noticed that he’s been really quiet. I kind of put that off as him settling in and his quills seem shorter,” Tails informed.
“Intriguing. Thank you for your information, Fox,” Knuckles said and walked out of the room.
“And I thought Shadow was weird; that guy takes the cake; a big fat weird cake!” Sonic stated, causing Tails to frown.
“It’s not nice to call others weird,” Tails reminded, looking a little sad.
“Sorry, buddy, I didn’t mean to upset you. You know you’re not weird, right?” Sonic asked, feeling guilty.
Tails nodded.
“I still don’t like it.”
“I’ll try not to say it in future,” Sonic assured, patting Tail’s on the shoulder.
Meanwhile Knuckles entered the bedroom to focus on his weight training.
Shadow too focused on his quill pulling didn’t notice Knuckles enter the attic, despite his heavy steps.
Shadow startled and quickly tried to hide his quills under his pillow.
“Ah, Impressive Hedgehog, I hope you don’t mind me keeping you company while I train in here,” Knuckles said.
Shadow didn’t say a word and he could feel a few trickles of blood down his back.
Shadow shifted on his bed, and it was then that Knuckles noticed the blood on Shadow’s back.
“Impressive Hedgehog, are you hurt?” Knuckles questioned.
“No,” Shadow was quick to answer.
“But I saw, your back is showing spots of red,” Knuckles replied.
“I just fell off my bed and hurt my back,” Shadow replied, and Knuckles frowned.
“New Hedgehog, your bed is barely off the ground, surely a fall could not do that damage?” Knuckles accused.
Shadow’s eyes glisten as he refused to cry; emotion was wrong, it was weak, and he who was the Ultimate Lifeform was not weak.
“I shall tell our Matriarch about this!” Knuckles announced and went to walk out of the attic when Shadow teleported towards him to stop him.
“You can’t! I’m fine!” Shadow panicked.
“Bleeding of any sort is not fine. In my tribe when one would come back from battle it always got seen to, and you, Impressive Hedgehog must be seen to,” Knuckles informed in a determined manner.
“I said no!” Shadow yelled and gave Knuckles a punch, sending the tough echidna flying across the attic.
Shadow instantly retreated feeling guilty, Maria never would have wanted him to react this way; that’s what he learnt after the Eclipse Canon, let alone Tom and Maddie who had kindly taken him into their home.
“Impressive Hedgehog, there is no need to use force on me. I am merely just showing the care,” Knuckles informed, raising from his position on the floor with a hefty grunt.
Shadow turned away.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t really fall off my bed,” Shadow mumbled.
“So, you dared deceive me?” Knuckles stated, causing Shadow to sigh.
“No. Well, not intentionally, it’s just…”
Knuckles then noticed some quills poking out from under Shadow’s pillow, the same colour quills as the impressive hedgehog’s.
“What is that? Did you have a bad shedding? Sonic talks about that when the quills fall out. He says that it can hurt; is that what happened to you, New Hedgehog? Though I do not understand it does not seem like the time for shedding,” Knuckles asked with a hint of confusion.
“I’m not shedding either,” Shadow admitted in a low grumble.
“Then what is causing such a bleed?” Knuckles accused.
Feeling pressured, Shadow blurted out his confession.
“I pulled them out!”
Knuckles stood stunned, still not fully comprehending Shadow’s meaning.
“Knuckles, you can’t tell anyone about this!” Shadow exclaimed, his voice in a slight begging tone.
No, he couldn’t beg – that was hateful, but he needed to keep his secret so tried a different tactic.
“I mean it, Knuckles! Do. Not. Tell. Anyone! Unless you want to feel my wrath of ultimate doom!” Shadow threatened, his red eyes sparking.
“Do not threaten me, Impressive Hedgehog! If you are so keen for me to not inform the Matriarch or Patriarch, I shall abide by your request and cease my information!” Knuckles replied, pounding his chest in a gesture of respect.
A few nights later, it was bath night and after having helped Sonic, Tails and Knuckles with their baths, Maddie was now running a fresh bath for Shadow as the hedgehog stood silent in the bathroom waiting for his washing water to be complete.
“Did you need a hand, sweetie?” Maddie asked and placed a hand on Shadow’s back, feeling the stubs where his missing quills were and felt some crusty scabbing.
Shadow flinched at Maddie’s touch.
“Shadow, what happened to your back, let me take a look,” Maddie said, pulling Shadow away from his place against the wall to examine Shadow.
“Leave me alone! I’m fine!” Shadow snapped and forcefully shoved Maddie; the vet stumbled against the sink as she stared at Shadow in shock.
Knowing she would have to talk to him about his violent behaviour, but now was not the time, he needed time to calm down then she could figure out what caused Shadow to snap and what was going on with that weird feeling on his back.
“Just finish your bath, Shadow,” Maddie ordered and left the bathroom.
Tom was on his way out the bedroom when he spotted his wife and smiled.
He was feeling tired from a circling discussion with Sonic over why he couldn’t stay up and watch movies all night, when his blue son continued to protest and ramble reasons why having an all-night movie night was super important.
“That blue blur of ours can be a handful!” Tom chuckled, rubbing his hand over his head, then noticed the shocked look on Maddie’s face.
“Hon, what’s wrong?” Tom asked.
“Shadow. I tried to look at something odd on his back and he lashed out at me; he shoved me,” Maddie replied, worry etched in her tone.
She was not mad at Shadow, just scared and concerned.
Tom frowned.
Hurting him when he was disguised was one thing but hurting his wife when she wasn’t even threatening him, was not on.
Tom stormed towards the bathroom.
“Tom, wait!” Maddie shouted, but before she could stop him, Tom had barged into the bathroom.
“Listen here, little boy! If you think you can treat my wife and…”
Tom’s yell was immediately cut off when he saw blood all over the bathroom floor and a number of quills laying around a scared and vulnerable red and black hedgehog who had his paw behind his head at the ready to give another hard yank.
Upon the sudden startlement, Shadow squeaked as he stared up at the once angry but now stunned man.
“What the? Uh, Maddie; Maddie, get in here, now!” Tom shouted.
Shadow’s heart beat faster; he was caught.
Now what would they do to him? Would they send him back to the government for testing? Drag him out far into the wood and leave him to die and be at the mercy of the wild animals?
Maddie raced around to the bathroom and gasped when she saw the same site as her husband.
“Shadow, what happened? What have you done?” Maddie stated, making Shadow feel like her shock was more of an accusation to the mess he had caused.
“Leave me alone!” Shadow bellowed.
Knuckles having alerted to Shadow’s shrieks and his parents shouts, hopped off his parents’ bed where he was sitting beside Tails and Sonic; well Sonic was more sprawled out on the bed rather than sitting, to go and investigate.
“What is with the loud noise voices?” Knuckles asked as he pushed himself in between his parents, catching site of Shadow’s injuries.
“New Hedgehog, I don’t think showing what you do was necessary to inform our Matriarch and Patriarch,” Knuckles commented.
“Wait: Knuckles did you know Shadow did this?” Tom questioned.
“Yes,” Knuckles simply said.
Maddie glared at Knuckles, clearly flabbergasted that her echidna son did not tell her or Tom that Shadow had been self-harming.
“We will discuss this later, young man,” Maddie said sternly.
“Did I say something I was not meant to? I was just honouring the New Hedgehog’s wishes,” Knuckles replied.
Shadow looked over to Knuckles, feeling a small sense of safety from the echidna warrior, especially seeing as he knew about his ‘condition’ and had not judged him, like he felt Tom and Maddie’s eyes were doing.
“Go back to the bedroom, Knuckles,” Tom ordered, not wanting any of his kids to see the violent scene they were faced with in the bathroom, let alone Shadow dealing with it.
“Shadow,” Maddie started as she looked back at Shadow.
Feeling panicked, Shadow did the only other thing he could think of and teleported away.
“Shadow!” Maddie yelled, feeling panicked now.
“Where did he go?” Tom asked, also worried.
“What do we do now? We can’t leave him, where-ever he’s gone. He’s bleeding Tom!” Maddie exclaimed.
“I know. I’m worried about him too. Let me go talk to Tails and see if his tracker can pick Shadow’s energy up,” Tom said, wrapping his arm around his wife who had a few tears now in her eyes.
“I guess, I’ll try clean up in here,” she whispered.
Tom kissed the top of Maddie’s head and went back to the bedroom.
“Patriarch, I did not mean no harm in not relaying my information,” Knuckles stated as Tom walked into the bedroom.
“I’m not here to talk about that right now Knuckles; Shadow has taken off,” Tom informed.
“Taken off where? I thought this was his home now?” Tails asked with a yawn.
“It is his home, but he’s hurt, and we need to find him. Tails do you think you could try track him down?” Tom asked.
Tails nodded and jumped off the bed to go grab his tracker.
“Maybe he went off to sulk about having to have his bath? I mean I know they can be a drag when all you want to do is watch movies all night,” Sonic commented, reiterating his argument with Tom from earlier.
Tom glared at Sonic, clearly not in the mood after the Shadow incident.
“Sonic: don’t start that again. I already told you no,” Tom said sternly.
“Be quiet, Hedgehog; this is a serious matter, and you are making a joke about it,” Knuckles scolded.
“Sheesh, you say one thing and everyone gets mad,” Sonic grumbled.
“Sonic, no-one is mad at you, we are just worried about Shadow,” Tom explained.
“I’m concerned about Shadow too. Maybe if I ran around town to see if I could find him?” Sonic said.
“I don’t need you running off this late at night, especially after your bath. Let’s just wait to see what Tails says with his tracker.”
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Shadow found himself inside a closed music store in town.
He glanced at all the instruments, laying his eyes on a familiar instrument he was once told was called ‘guitar’.
It was one Maria had, and she used to play songs for him and get him to try and sing along, much to Shadow’s disinterest.
Shadow loved the soft voice of Maria as she sung to him, it made all this pain and angst over his testings of the day go away.
Shadow blinked his eyes as he felt a wetness.
Maria loved music.
Shadow remembered being in Maria’s room and her putting on a round disc-like item onto a machine and it playing music with the turn of a button, and the placement of what Maria called the ‘sound arm’, as she made the mistake of telling Shadow it was the needle once and the hedgehog had shutdown.
In time, Shadow asked Maria if he could place the ‘sound arm’ down.
He remembered her boosting him up a little so he could reach it properly and the feel it gave as he scrapped the arm onto the black disc structure.
Maria’s favourite song was from a band called Travelling Wilburys.
Shadow had once asked her, not understanding, why berries would be travelling, and she had giggled at him before hitting him in the face with a pillow telling him he was silly.
Shadow hadn’t understood about the ‘pillow fight’ either when Maria thrust a pillow into his hands, urging him to hit her with it.
After they had thrown a few pillows, Maria had taken Shadow’s paws in her hands and danced around to the songs.
“I miss you Maria,” Shadow said, coming back to his reality of the silence of the music store.
Shadow looked down at his still bloody paws.
Thankfully he had stopped actively bleeding a while ago but his head and back hurt a little from his quill yanking.
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Back at the Wachowski house Maddie had finished cleaning up the bathroom and drained the bath water that had now gone cold anyway and made her way into the bedroom.
“How is it going?” she asked.
“I keep getting signals but then it seems to fade out, almost like his energy is weakening,” Tails mentioned.
“If his energy is weakening, we must go find him. We cannot let him go without protection,” Knuckles stated.
“My concern is even if we get to him, what if he disappears again?” Tom said.
Before they could take action, a body appeared in the doorway of the bedroom.
“Good to see you back, but gross dude; what did you roll in to be covered in blood?” Sonic blurted.
“Shadow!” Maddie exclaimed and approached the vulnerable hedgehog.
“I am sorry for hurting you.”
“Shadow, I don’t care about any of that. I care about you!” Maddie claimed, carefully reaching out to place her hands on Shadow’s arms, in which Shadow didn’t flinch this time.
“Kid, you can’t go disappearing on us like that, you worried us and that’s not including what we walked in on in the bathroom,” Tom stated.
“It is good to have you home, Impressive Hedgehog,” Knuckles added.
“Let’s just save the talking until later. Shadow, can I please check you over. I promise I won’t hurt you,” Maddie said gentle.
Shadow thought back to Maria and compared Maddie to her; they were both gentle, kind.
Maybe Maddie would be like Maria, but then what would happen if he got too close; would he forgot?
“Are you alright, hon?” Tom asked as Maddie stood up and gently held Shadow’s bloodied paw.
“I think we’ll be fine, why don’t you put the boys to bed.”
Maddie left to head towards the bathroom with Shadow to clean his wounds.
“Alright, you heard your mother; bedtime!” Tom ordered.
“Urgh, but I want to stay up!” Sonic groaned.
“Enough, Sonic; you need your rest!”
“Can I quickly take my tracker back to the garage, Dad?” Tails asked, yawning again, he was feeling very tired.
“Sure, kiddo, I’ll meet you upstairs,” Tom replied with a smile.
“Can I not stay up and check that the Impressive Hedgehog is alright?” Knuckles asked.
“Why does Knuckles get to stay up and I don’t?” Sonic argued, causing Tom to roll his eyes.
“Sonic, Knuckles is not staying up,” Tom informed and turned to Knuckles where he rested a hand on his shoulder
“Sorry, big guy. I know you want to look out for him, but your Mum has it all covered.”
“Okay, Patriarch!”
Maddie sat on the edge of the bath, gently patting and cleaning Shadow’s wounds after having bathed his paws and chest fur clean.
Maddie noticed Shadow wincing as she applied the washcloth to his wounds.
“Sorry sweetie, I need to clean these properly, so they don’t get infected,” Maddie said with a soft tone.
“It’s okay, I deserve to feel pain,” Shadow responded, making Maddie stop.
“Shadow what do you mean? No-one deserves pain. Sweetie, tell me why you did this to yourself.”
Maddie turned Shadow around to face her.
“No-one is going to be angry with you, we just want to help you; you are part of our family now Shadow,” Maddie informed.
Shadow hung his head.
“I miss her.”
“Miss who, sweetie?” Maddie asked.
“Maria, I miss her, and I can’t stop thinking about the times we had together, and it just makes me so mad, and I feel a pain inside that I just have to…” Shadow stopped and threw his paw back to grab one of his quills.
“Shadow, no!” Maddie scolded and pulled Shadow’s paw away, holding both tight in her soothing hands.
The slight scolding caused the black and red hedgehog to retreat.
“Who was Maria, Shadow?” Maddie asked.
“She…she was Professor Robotnik’s granddaughter. She was my best friend. Not once did she ever think of me as an experiment or alien lifeform. We would watch movies together, listen to music. She would sometimes tie a rope around me, and we’d skate down the halls of the lab, and she even tricked the lab workers to help me escape being probed and poked,” Shadow explained then glanced up at Maddie.
“She never treated me like a freak or a monster and then they killed her.”
Shadow’s quills and eyes flickered as he remembered that dreadful day, the day G.U.N caused the explosion.
“Calm down Shadow. Can you tell me who killed her?”
“G.U.N. That’s why when I thought Tom was Commander Walters I just acted. I was so angry at them for taking her away from me. She was the only one who ever cared about me. I didn’t mean to hurt Tom, I just didn’t know,” Shadow explained.
“Shadow, all is forgiven over the incident with Tom, we know that wasn’t your fault, as for Maria, it is very hard when you lose someone special and it sounds like Maria was very special to you. It can make you feel like your world is empty, but you live to remember the good times you shared,” Maddie explained.
“G.U.N workers always told my feelings never mattered, so when I pull my quills, it doesn’t matter as long as it takes away the bad feeling,” Shadow explained.
“I understand that, Shadow, but deliberately hurting yourself like that isn’t doing anyone any favours, most of all you. I’m sure, Maria would not have wanted you hurting yourself like this, not when she tried so hard to rescue you from being hurt at the lab,” Maddie soothed.
Shadow felt the wetness come to his eyes again then suddenly felt a weird sensation down his muzzle.
“What…what is happening to me?” Shadow asked feeling a little scared.
“Oh, sweetie, you are crying,” Maddie explained.
“Crying? But I’ve never felt like this before,” Shadow admitted.
“Crying happens when you get so emotional about something, whether that be sad or happy and it’s okay to cry sometimes,” Maddie said softly.
Maddie let Shadow cry for a few minutes, letting the hedgehog release all his built-up pain.
Once Shadow had dulled to a sniffle he glanced at Maddie.
“Are you my Mum now, like you are Knuckles, Tails and Sonic’s?” he asked, taking Maddie by surprise.
“Only if you wish and when you are ready you can refer to me as your Mum, even if that’s never. I will accept your choices.”
“What if I accept you all as my family will that mean I’ll forget Maria; I don’t ever want to forget her,” Shadow confessed.
“Shadow, no-one is ever going to replace Maria, she will always live in your heart,” Maddie reassured as she gently pointed to Shadow’s heart.
Shadow felt a warmness overcome him when he felt Maddie touch his chest, a feeling he had not had since Maria used to hold his paws or when they looked at the stars together.
“I want you to promise me that you will not hurt yourself anymore, Shadow,” Maddie said firmly, but with purpose, looking into the hedgehog’s wet eyes.
“It’s hard,” Shadow mumbled.
“I get that, Shadow, but Tom and I are here for you; even Knuckles is here for you, though him keeping quiet about you was not appropriate. My point is Shadow, you are part of our family, and we all love and care about you and want you safe,” Maddie informed.
Shadow could now feel a kindness from her soft voice.
“I will try,” Shadow mumbled.
“That’s all I ask, Shadow. Can I give you a kiss?” Maddie replied and Shadow gave a nod.
Maddie leaned in and gave a brief kiss on Shadow’s forehead.
“I guess you better get to bed, you’ve had a big day,” Maddie said.
“Okay, can we not talk about this again and not to the others? I mean Sonic knows a bit about Maria when we spoke on the Moon, but I’d rather not anyone know more about my past” Shadow asked.
“Whatever you want, and the others will only find out if you wish to tell them,” Maddie informed.
“Thank you, Mum,” Shadow replied, causing Maddie to smile.
Maddie stood up from the bath edge and took Shadow’s paw in her hand.
“How about sleeping with Tom and me tonight?” Maddie suggested.
“Um…okay; it won’t be a bother?” Shadow asked.
“Never,” Maddie smiled.
“What about Sonic; won’t he get jealous?”
“Let Tom and me deal with that. Tonight, it’s about you and making you feel safe and loved.”
Maddie walked Shadow into hers and Tom’s room and got the new family addition settled into the bed, just as Tom re-entered.
“Finally got the boys down.”
Tom smiled at Shadow.
“Hey, kid, I hope you don’t snore too loud,” Tom chuckled, causing Shadow to scowl.
“Snore?” he questioned.
“Just never mind him, Shadow,” Maddie chuckled.
“You’ll get used to it, kid,” Tom replied and hopped into his side of the bed, followed by Maddie on her side, enveloping Shadow in between.
Shadow blinked a few times before slowly closing his eyes, thinking of the happy times with Maria and his new home; Maria would definitely approve, and she’d be happy for him and so he would make it his mission to be happy.