CHAPTER 10
LITTLE FAITH
Hannah's eyes slowly opened and she soon found herself in a soft comfortable white bed. She looked around the white room a bit until she saw some kind of bloody tools setting on a small table beside her. Her eyes widened at the sight and was now full of panic. 'What is this place?' She thought. She then felt a warm hand touch hers. She turned and saw a black hedgehog standing next to her. "Shadow? Wh-where am I?"
He took his hand from hers, "You're in the hospital."
"The hospital? But what about all those strange people who kidnaped me?"
"Taken care of. Don't worry, you're safe now."
She placed her hands on her stomach lightly, "What about my wounds?"
"Appex only threw you around. Nothing major."
"No, I mean the ones you made. When you hit me."
His eyes widened with panic as she asked. He looked away from her face and focused on her stomach. "Hannah..." he said in a broken voice. "I'm sorry. I really am."
"What? What happened to me, Shadow? Tell me."
He tightly clenched both of fists. He was stressed and upset. "The doctor said that the impact was so bad, it affected your uterus. So bad, you will never have children. Never." He then saw her tears hitting her pillow. "Hannah, I'm so sorry. It's okay if you hate me. It was all my fault."
She shook her head slightly, "No Shadow, I could never hate you. I shouldn't have made you upset. Then none of this would never had happened. I have an idea. Lets just pretend that this never happened okay?"
"What? Hannah, I..."
"It's fine really. Besides I like you a lot, Shadow. I want us to be friends not enemies."
Shadow felt tears swelling in his eyes but he tried to hold them back. "For a human, you're really strong."
She made a small smile at him.
Then they both heard the door open slowly. They turned and saw the rest of the group appear in the room. Judging by their faces, they all looked worried especially Charmy.
The bee flew up to her trying to put on a small smile to comfort her. "Hannah, are you all right? I heard that the Street Punks tried to hurt you."
"Yeah, but I'm fine now. Thanks for your concern, Charmy."
Shadow stood away from Hannah and stood next to Rouge.
Rouge noticed him looking a bit depressed. "I know you must be shocked about Hannah's inability to have children. We all are. Appex did this to her remember? So there's no reason to blame yourself for that. It couldn't be helped."
"You just don't understand."
Rouge then watched Shadow leave out of the room. She was confused about Shadow's behavior. Wondering why he was blaming all of this on himself. She then decided to quickly follow him while the others were still comforting Hannah.
Outside of the hospital, Rouge found Shadow leaning against the building facing in another direction. She saw him shaking a bit so she figured he was either cold or crying. She slowly walked up to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Shadow?" Even though she called his name, he still didn't face her. She then wrapped her arms around him and embraced him in a hug from behind. "Shadow, is there something you would like to tell me? Whatever it is, I won't tell anyone I swear. I'm always there for you Shad, you know that." She placed her hand on his cheek and made him face her.
Once he faced her, his face was wet and his eyes were full of tears. He looked so full of sadness. "Rouge", he said in a low voice. "Can you do me a favor?"
She made a nod, "Sure, what is it?"
"Can Hannah stay with you?"
"Why?"
He made a sniffle, "I just want you to take care of her for me. I don't think I can handle her. I just can't." His memories had traveled back to when he started to hit Hannah before. The more he thought about it the more he felt like crying again. "Please, Rouge! You must do this!" He was then pulled into a hug with his face setting on her chest.
"Don't worry", she said. "I will."