Silver remained silent for the rest of the walk home, seemingly content to just toddle along after Tom and the dogs. He became somewhat nervous as they entered the outskirts of town, clinging close to Tom as the elder hedgehog led him through his quiet neighbourhood.

Soon enough the pair found themselves walking up the driveway to the Wachowski household, Tom fishing in his utility belt for his keys.

"Okay kiddo," Tom said, swinging the door open and allowing the dogs to charge inside, "home sweet home." Tom paused, noting Silver's hesitance to enter the house. "You coming in buddy?"

Silver's big amber eyes scanned the interior of the home, before he gave a little nod and followed Tom inside.

"Make yourself at home," Tom said, gesturing about the place. He figured he'd give the kid a few minutes to settle in before he started quizzing him. "You hungry?"

"Yes!" Silver's voice squeaked, suddenly excited at the prospect of food. The little hedgehog looked about the place like he couldn't believe his eyes. "Is this your house?"

Tom nodded. "Sure is. Lived here fifteen years." Tom grabbed a stool from the corner and dragged it over to the fridge, opening the door and climbing up to investigate. He searched around, realised he really needed to go grocery shopping, before he ignored the cans of beer and gathered some bits and pieces to cobble together a sandwich. Tom hopped from the stool, food in his arms, and turned to find a fascinated Silver gently petting at two slobbery dogs. "See?" Tom grinned, elbowing the fridge door shut, "told you they're friendly!"

Silver gaped wide-eyed at the big gentle hounds, the dogs happily sniffing and nudging the boy with their noses before flopping to the ground and waiting for belly rubs. Silver looked up to Tom, amber eyes huge. "What are they?"

Tom cocked his head at the question. He hadn't expected that. "They're... dogs. Animals. Pets. I take care of them, and they keep me company, y'see?"

Silver bent down and curiously scratched at Bill's tummy, the retriever slowly craning his head to offer a lazy lick before flopping back to the kitchen floor. "I've never seen dogs that look like this before..." the hedgehog whispered.

Tom frowned. He understood that mobians, like humans, kept animals. He'd seen the local wildlife back on Bygone Island during their crazy vacation. Still, it was kinda weird remembering how different the Earth equivalents were to their Mobius counterparts. Earth hedgehogs sure didn't walk and talk and have opposable thumbs.

Tom shrugged, turning and hopping back onto his stool to make Silver's sandwich. He had no idea what Silver liked to eat. He'd known the kid for a half hour or so. But he might as well keep the little hedgehog fed and watered while he figured out what to do with him. Soon enough, Tom slapped a big ham, cheese and lettuce sandwich onto a plate, grabbed a glass of water and ice, and carefully lowered himself from the stool. "Okay kiddo, get yerself sat down. Grub up."

Silver's eyes went massive as he climbed into the too-big chair and beheld the enormous sandwich before him. "Is this for me?" The little hedgehog said, beyond belief.

Tom nodded, quills bobbing with the motion. "Yup. Hey, greedy guts! Out." Tom collected the dogs and sent them outside, where they would sniff hungrily at the crack beneath the door until being let back in. He climbed steadily into his own chair, watching Silver begin happily demolishing his sandwich. He decided to wait until Silver had finished his food before plying him with any questions. Fortunately, that took all of two minutes, the sandwich evaporating into the ether and leaving a small grey hedgehog with mayonnaise running down his chin. "That was great!" Silver said, beaming as he wiped a skinny forearm across his muzzle, "can I have another one?"

"Later," Tom said, watching Silver's ears droop sadly. "I just wanna ask you a few questions first, okay?"

Silver shrank back, eyes darting around as though searching for means of escape. "Am I in trouble?"

"What? No!" Tom raised his hands calmly, "I just... need to ask you about a couple of things, that's all! Like... are you aware that you're on another planet right now?"

Silver's ears flattened a little and the kid shifted in his chair. "I think so? I'm not sure."

Tom released a breath. Well. That was unexpected. "Okay, good. And... where are you from? Where do you live?"

Silver fidgeted, a pained look twisting his features. "I don't remember..." the small voice answered. "I just... woke up here one day... I tried to find other people but there were all those big things everywhere and they got scared of me when I tried to talk to them..."

Big things. Humans, he guessed. Tom wasn't sure how much of this he was willing to believe but he decided he wouldn't pressure the kid too much. "Okay... okay..." Tom racked his brains, wondering what he should do. If the kid really didn't know where he was from, or even was just unwilling to divulge that information, there wasn't much Tom could do. "Do you have anywhere else to go? Anywhere safe?" The grey quills shook. No. Tom chewed his lip. "Do you have any rings on you? Warp Rings I mean." He asked, wondering if the mobian form of interstellar travel may lead to clues of Silver's origin. It was worth a shot.

Silver cocked his head, seemingly confused. "What's Warp Rings?"

Okay. That answered that. Tom apparently had a very lost, quite confused alien hedgehog in his house that had nowhere else to go and no information to share regarding where he came from. The brown hedgehog licked his lips. He had one thing left he had to ask. "Silver? Do you have... anyone? Family? Friends? Who might be looking for you?" The look on Silver's face said it all, and he said in the quietest voice imaginable "...no." Yeah. He wasn't going to be going anywhere for the time being.

"Okay kiddo, you did great!" Tom said, giving Silver a patient smile. The kid fidgeted with his hands, the quizzing having seemingly unnerved the poor little guy. Tom fished around in his belt pocket, searching for his phone.

Silver cocked his head. "Can I have some more food please?"

Tom couldn't help but smirk despite himself, one padded thumb tapping at his cell phone. "Sure. I got some ice cream in the freezer. You know what that is?" The grey quills nodded again. "Don't worry about it, you'll love it. Tom stood from his chair and his send, his message beaming out into the world. He gathered Silver's plate and reached up to set it next to the sink. Plans began to form in his head, but Tom kept his cool. It wasn't the first time he'd dealt with a lost space hedgehog after all. "You like chocolate?"

...

Wade had been having a pretty normal day. Nothing out of the ordinary, just a regular boring old shift as sheriff of a quiet town. He'd handed out two whole speeding tickets on the highway today, so that was a little bit of excitement at least.

Wade Whipple was now Sheriff of Green Hills. After Tom's recent retirement, Wade had been the obvious choice for successor. He'd put the time in, worked as deputy for years, and there were only two other cops in town. Doyle and Merry.

But being Sheriff of such a small, boring town... usually meant that Wade spent more time scrolling through pages of his favourite fan fictions than doing police work. Which was what Sheriff Whipple had been doing, when he got the text.

'Hey Wade. Need 2 talk 2 u. urgent. Come 2 mine asap'

Well. That was cryptic. So Wade had left the station in the capable(ish) hands of Deputy Doyle, half a donut hanging from his mouth, and driven his truck to his friend's house. Soon enough, he was stood outside the front door, waiting out in the evening.

The latch unlocked. The door creaked open, and Wade found himself met with a pair of worried blue eyes.

It was still weird, remembering that the tatty brown hedgehog with the messy quills was his best friend since elementary school.

"Hey Wade..." Tom said, opening the door and standing aside, "I guess you better come in."

"What's going on?" Wade asked, following his hedgehog friend into the home. The door closed behind them, and Tom sheepishly ran a hand through his raggy quills. "You said this was urgent."

"Yeah, kinda..." Tom said, leading Wade through the house. "I dunno how to explain, but... just follow me." Wade did as instructed, trailing after Tom as he stuck his head into the living room. "Silver? I have somebody who wants to talk to you..."

Wade scanned the seemingly empty living room, the tv quietly playing in the background. He wondered who Tom was talking to... and then was met by two large, cautious amber eyes. A small grey creatures tentatively peered from behind the sofa, looking uncertainly between Tom and Wade.

"Silver, this is Sheriff Whipple." Tom said gently, gesturing to the small hedgehog over to him, "he just wanted to meet you, okay buddy?"

Silver nervously approached, shoving himself into Tom's side. His amber eyes fearfully looked up at the much bigger human before him. "I haven't been this close to a human before..."

Wade glanced questioningly at Tom, who gave him a look. "Hey there... Silver..." Wade lowered himself into a chair, so that he wouldn't tower over the kid, doing his best to wear a friendly smile. "And where did you come from, huh?"

Silver nervously fidgeted with his hands, refusing to leave Tom's side. "Hey kiddo," the brown hedgehog said, scratching at Silver between his ears, "Wade is the sheriff of this town. That means he keeps people safe. And he's my best friend. He's not going to hurt you, okay?"

Silver gave a tiny nod.

"Awesome! Now then..." Tom set one hand on hip, an exasperated grimace plastering his muzzle. "Do you wanna stay and talk with us, or do you want to go back to your game?"

Silver gave Wade a nervous little, before leaning on his tiptoes and whispering something to Tom. The adult hedgehog's ear flicked. "Okay bud, you go have fun." Silver pattered away, head down and ears flat as though expecting Wade to try kicking him or something. When he was gone, Wade gave Tom a look of disbelief.

"Jeez, Tom... another one? Where'd you find him?"

Tom spread his arms in a wide shrug. "The woods, walking the dogs. What was I supposed to do, leave him out there?"

Wade released a breath. "Okay... where's he from? Same planet as your two?"

"No idea," Tom replied, hopping into the sofa and wiggling as he adjusted his tail, "he apparently doesn't know, or remember, or maybe he doesn't want to tell me. Either way, I don't think he knows about Rings so I have no idea how he got here."

"Well... he's one lucky little guy," Wade said, peering at the closed door where Silver had left, "winding up in the only place on Earth where other hedgehogs live." Wade paced the living room and sat down beside his friend on the sofa. Tom bounced with the motion, placing a hand on the arm of the sofa to steady himself. Wade chuckled. "What are the chances?"

"You tell me buddy..." Tom shrugged, sighing as he stared down at his boots.

"So what are you gonna do with him?"

"I guess I'll keep him here for now," Tom said resignedly, "I mean, I have no idea where he's from. I can't just chuck Rings about and visit every planet in the freaking galaxy going 'hey! Anybody lost a hedgehog?'" Tom ran a hand down his face and sighed. "I mean if somebody comes looking for him that's one thing. But he told me he doesn't have any family. Well, he thinks."

"Damn. Are all space-animal-aliens orphans? Tough break."

"Yeah..." Tom raised a hand and gestured hopelessly. "I just figured you should... y'know. Know the situation. If he's gonna be around for a while, might has well warm him up to the locals."

"Humans." Wade nodded, then frowned. He suddenly noticed an absence of family photographs in the living room. "Does he... know about you?"

Tom scoffed. "Not a clue. And I'd rather keep it that way for now. Don't need to confuse the little guy." Tom shrugged and tilted his head. "I guess it's my destiny to be the Ultimate Hedgehog Dad, huh?"

"Well. Good luck, Hedgehog Dad..." Wade chuckled, before wearing a serious expression. "What about Maddie? And the kids?"

Tom remained in silence for a moment, staring through the floor. "I'll tell them. Eventually. Don't wanna move too fast for Silver."

Wade wasn't sure that was a good idea, and he didn't like the sudden bitter tone in Tom's voice... but he decided to leave it for now. It was late. He had work to do. "Okay buddy, I'd better hit the road..." Wade left the couch, Tom again being bounced like a kid on an inflatable castle as his larger friend released his weight. Tom hopped up, moving to see his friend out. "Take care, okay?" Wade said, "And call me if you need anything. I'm serious."

"Sure thing Wade," Tom looked tiredly up at his best friend, thumbs tucking into their positions at his hips. "Have a good one."

...

Wherever Silver was from, they apparently had access to computer technology. Silver remained perched where Tom had left him, an old Nintendo controller clutched in his little hands, happily guiding Mario around the screen collecting coins. Tom had dug the thing out of Sonic and Tails' old room, figuring that the kid would need something to keep him occupied while he figured things out, and it hadn't taken long for an excited little hedgehog to learn the basics of moving a fat cartoon plumber around a tv screen. "Hey buddy!" Tom wore his least-tired grin as he entered Miles Wachowski's old bedroom, the space now bare and unused now the adult fox had moved out. "You winning?"

"Tom look!" Silver bounced on the bed, one finger jabbing excitedly toward the screen, "look what I can do!"

Tom complied, watching incredulously as Mario jumped on top of a box. "Yeah, awesome." The adult hedgehog frowned, watching the tiny grey kid mash buttons with glee. "Hey, Silver? I just need to talk to you a sec."

Silver's ears pinned to his head and the excitement vanished, replaced now by nerves. "Have I done something wrong?"

"No kiddo, I just need to talk to you some more..." Tom sighed, moving and climbing onto the bed to sit beside the kid. Silver fidgeted into a cross-legged position, amber eyes beaming up at Tom. The adult sighed. "Silver? I just need you to be honest with me. Can you do that?" Silver's little head nodded timidly. "Do you really have nowhere to go? Nobody to come looking for you? Please kiddo, I need to know this."

Silver looked away, his eyes staring into the floor of the room. He shook his head, a little choking noise sounding in his throat. Tom gently turned the kid's head to face him, Silver trying to avoid eye contact. "Are you sure?"

The look in Silver's amber eyes told Tom everything he needed to know. The kid, whether he was keeping information to himself or not, was telling the truth here.

"Okay..." Tom sighed, setting one hand on Silver's shoulder. "Sorry, little buddy. I just need to make sure you're telling me the truth."

"Why?" Silver's voice cracked. He seemed on the verge of tears.

"Because..." Tom gestured around the small bedroom, with its old books and shelves of old knick-knacks scattered about. "You're gonna need somewhere to stay. If you want to, you can stay here. For as long as you need."

Silver's eyes went wide. "Really?"

Tom nodded. "Yup."

Silver beamed, tears entering his eyes, before he grabbed hold of Tom and shoved his face into the adult's ratty brown fur. "Thank you..."

Tom paused, before releasing a sigh and accepting his fate. He should probably tell Maddie sooner rather than later, he knew. But somehow that didn't seem so important right now. He knew what he was doing. He was the Ultimate Hedgehog Dad, after all.