A story I came up with. I only own Rachel, Sasha, and Sparkle. Ultimate Feedback (Shocks) belongs to guestsurprise, who gave me permission to use him. All other characters belong to their respective owners.

Family's Loving Embrace

Rachel let out a deep sigh as she massaged her neck, feeling it tense up after she set the phone down. Her birth father had tried once again to guilt her and Sasha into coming back to the family, but they refused and Rachel had just gotten over a half-hour yelling fest with her birth father, telling him to leave her and Sasha alone and that they wanted nothing to do with him.

"Why can't he take a hint?" she asked out loud as she winced when a muscle spasm sprang up from her neck. She set her head down on the table for a moment before going to the fridge and pulling out a container of her favorite ice cream and putting a huge helping of it in a bowl and going to her room, sitting on her bed and eating her ice cream while watching a movie.

Shocks was currently looking for Sparkle, who was hiding somewhere in the Mansion. "Hmm, she's getting better at 'Hide-and-Seek'. I may have to put a tracker on her," he joked to himself.

Sparkle had meanwhile gone to her aunt's room and saw her watching a movie and eating a big bowl of ice cream. She wondered why her aunt was eating ice cream so early in the day. "Aunty?" she asked.

Rachel turned to her. "Oh, hey, Sparkle," she said, but her voice was a bit hoarse.

Sparkle jumped up on the bed, forgetting about the game she and her uncle were playing. "What's wrong, Aunty?" she asked.

Rachel sighed. "Auntie's just feeling a bit down," she said and handed the bowl of ice cream to Sparkle. There was about half of it left. "You can have the rest of Auntie's ice cream."

The small Conductoid eagerly ate up the rest of the ice cream and set the bowl aside, cuddling into her aunt's side as the older woman wrapped an arm around her in a gentle hug. Shocks came in a moment later.

"There you are, Sparkle," he said with a smile, but his smile faded when he saw Rachel's sad expression and saw her massage her neck with a wince. "Is everything okay?"

Sparkle turned to her uncle. "Auntie's not feeling well," she said to him, worry in her voice.

The older male Conductoid went up to Rachel and began massaging her shoulders. She hissed a little in pain, but didn't pull away, allowing Shocks to gently push her down so that she was on her stomach while he massaged her shoulders and back. Sparkle stayed snuggled by her aunt, resting her head on Rachel's arm. Soon, Rachel arched her back a little. "Thanks, Shocks," she said as she sat up and felt him pull her and Sparkle into a hug.

"You're welcome," he said. "But what had you so upset that your neck went into spasm?"

Rachel lay her head on his shoulder and didn't say anything for a moment, but then, she sighed.

"I got a call from my birth father," she said. "And it upset me because he can't seem to get it through his head that Sasha and I want nothing to do with him. He's called before and I've told him to leave us alone, but he still bothers us."

Shocks looked at her. "Why wouldn't you want anything to do with him?" he asked curiously.

Rachel then remembered he hadn't know about the situation. "He's verbally and mentally abusive," she said. "It was the reason mine and Sasha's adoptive father moved our mom and us out here in California so that we wouldn't have to be around his poisonous influence. But our birth father just can't seem to understand that and keeps pestering us, especially me since I'm the oldest."

Shocks was quite shocked. "No wonder you're upset," he said. "I would be too. Actually, I am, because I don't like it when someone like that makes my little sister upset."

As he had said that, his arm around Rachel's waist tightened a little, making her hug him back as she recognized the gesture for him feeling protective right then. She smiled a little, snuggling into his hug. "Well, I sent a text a moment ago to my uncles and they told me they'd do what they promised him they'd do the last time he called and bothered me and Sasha," she said.

"What's that?" asked the male Conductoid.

Rachel smiled and whispered it into his ear and making Shocks' eye widen as he grinned. "I think that will definitely get the message across," he said, rubbing her back as he cuddled her and Sparkle in affection and protectively.

"Hugs," said Sparkle, hugging her uncle.

"That's a good idea," said Rachel as she did the same and both of them felt the male Conductoid's strong arms hug them to him and felt him kiss their foreheads. Sparkle cutely kissed her uncle on the cheek, making him chuckle as he rubbed her head. Conductoids often rubbed their young's heads as a sign of family love.

Rachel smiled and gave Shocks a sisterly kiss on the cheek. "You are one of the best big brothers I could ask for," she said honestly.

Shocks smiled and tweaked her nose gently. "I couldn't ask for a better little sister than you and the other girls," he said honestly.

They spent the rest of the afternoon watching movies and Rachel felt better because she had a whole mansion full of brothers and sisters who she could turn to when things looked bleak.

Because that's what family did and its loving embrace was proof of that.

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GoldGuardian2418