Sonic woke to find himself no longer in that tinier check-up room, or the waiting room on the bench. Instead, he was in a bed, in a dark room barely illuminated by the early morning sun. He blinked a few times, getting his bearings. His mind felt hazy, unable to remember much of last night. He looked around, eyeing the plain walls and beige curtains. When he moved his right arm, it felt sore. He looked down, spotting a needle poked into it. The needle was attached to a tube, which was attached to a bag on a stand. He lifted his other arm, and it felt even more sore. He turned around and saw a band-aid on the upper part of his left arm.
He remembered that he was sleeping in his own bed, dreaming, when he suddenly felt hot and itchy; so itchy that it was painful to even think of scratching. He remembered voices and faces, stinging pain, moving around, something sharp… then nothing.
He wasn't at Tails' workshop anymore; THAT much he could tell. So where were they? And how did he get here? He glanced across the bed, spotting three figures sleeping in a small chair sat in the corner. A golden retriever was curled up on one of the arms of the chair. Below them was an orange fox snuggling a gray Aussie pup.
That's when he remembered.
Oh yeah. My stupid Hives came back.
He inwardly punched himself for not dealing with them sooner.
Why didn't I just listen to Amy and Knux?
He remembered that Jake had come running in. Then he called Tails and Duke. They had taken him to the hospital. He remembered hearing the scratchy voice of his old Archie co-worker Doctor Quack.
Right… the old doc stabbed me with something… and then the pain stopped…
He turned his head towards the window, wishing the curtains could be opened. He noticed bright sunlight trying to flash its way through.
"Guess I fell asleep at some point," he muttered, letting out a congested cough.
He was surprised by how hoarse his voice was. He looked around, but didn't find any sign of a nearby drink.
Too bad… I could use some water.
A dry sigh escaped his throat as he settled back down. As he laid there, he realized that he felt better. MUCH better. Better than he had been all week.
"...Sonic…?"
The hedgehog perked up at the groggy sound of his little brother's voice. The little fox rubbed his eyes as he stared at his older brother in stunned silence.
Sonic couldn't help but smile.
"Hey bud…"
Tails quickly and carefully removed himself from Duke's side and ran over to the side of the bed, hugging Sonic.
"I'm so glad you're awake…" he whispered.
Sonic felt tears well up as he hugged them back.
"Yeah… me too."
They stayed like that for a long time, neither speaking or pulling away from the hug.
When Jake and Duke had woken up, they immediately hugged their dad, being mindful of his arms.
"Never get Hives again!" Jake exclaimed tearfully, "you gave me a heart attack!"
Sonic chuckled, and then coughed.
"I'm sorry, kid…" he replied hoarsely, letting the pup dig his face into the crook of his neck.
"Daddy's so sorry he gave you all a scare."
Duke didn't say anything, but hugged him tighter.
An hour later, Doctor Quack had come in to check up on Sonic, bringing him a glass of water to help his dry throat and cough. As they talked, there was a light knock at the door. A second later it was forcefully kicked open, almost flying off its hinges. Everyone jumped and turned to face the door, ready for an attack, but calmed a little when they saw Shadow, Rouge, Omega, Evie, and Raven.
The latter turned to mist and zoomed across the room, reforming in front of Sonic's face with her paws cupped around his cheeks.
"HIVES!? YOU GOT HIVES!? ARE YOU OKAY!? WHAT HAPPENED!? HOW DID YOU GET HIVES!? WHY IS THERE A NEEDLE IN YOUR ARM!? ARE YOU THAT SICK!? CAN YOU SEE ME!? WHAT COLOR ARE MY EYES!?"
Evie snuck in and hugged him on the side, minding the needle.
"You're awake!" she breathed, nuzzling him, "What a relief!"
"Dammit girls! Come down from there!" Shadow scolded sharply, marching over to the bed to pry Raven off of Sonic's body.
"Give your father room to breathe."
He set the stiff cat down on the floor, giving her a long head rub before turning back to Sonic. Jake came over and led her aside, embracing the she-cat with a long kiss and hug.
"Hey Firecracker," he whispered.
"...Hey," she whispered back.
Evie sighed and let go, but gave Sonic a quick kiss on the cheek before leaping down and joining Duke. The two embraced with purrs and nuzzles. Once the kids were more calmed and settled, Sonic let out a relieved sigh and slumped back down.
"Thanks dude…" he said, giving the Ultimate Lifeform a grateful glance.
"You're welcome," he nodded, "Now…"
Sonic was suddenly grabbed by the neck and thrusted closer to Shadow's now enraged face.
"HOW THE FUCK DID YOU GET HIVES!?"
"Shadow!" Rouge and Tails shrieked.
"And you guys chastise ME for losing my temper," Raven huffed, but looked alarmed at her dad's sudden action.
"MY APARTMENT JUST BURNT DOWN AND NOW I HEAR THAT YOU'VE BEEN HOSPITALIZED!? JUST WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING!? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!? HOW DID YOU GET SO SICK!?"
To Sonic's credit, he just sat there, staring at Shadow with a silent, stunned expression as he continued to rant in his face.
"If you all would STOP SHAKING THE PATIENT I might be able to give you an answer!" Doctor Quack yelled, getting everyone's attention.
Shadow paused, whipping his head towards the doctor while still holding Sonic in place.
Doctor Quack pinched the bridge in between his eyes; he'd forgotten what a rowdy bunch Sonic and his friends were.
"Okay," he sighed, "the results from the blood test came in."
"When did you give me a blood test?" Sonic asked.
"Shortly after you passed out," Doctor Quack replied.
"YOU PASSED OUT!?" Evie, Raven, and Shadow cried.
"Is this true?" Rouge asked, turning towards Tails. Her worry seemed more under control than the others.'
The fox nodded in response.
"I gave Sonic an epipen to handle the Hives," Doctor Quack explained before Shadow could strangle Sonic, "he passed out when I gave it to him, presumably from both exhaustion and the fever he'd been fighting."
Shadow gave the blue hedgehog a quick glare before turning back to the doctor.
"One of my nurses drew a bit of blood and sent it to the lab for an examination. Apparently you were so worn out you didn't even flinch during the whole process."
Sonic rubbed the back of his neck.
"Heh. Guess I was pretty tired…"
He froze when Shadow's glare turned on him again. From behind, Raven was looking at him in alarm, her fur fluffing out.
"Easy…" Jake soothed, petting her head.
"So what were the results?" Evie asked, "do you know why he got them?"
"That's just it," Doctor Quack told her, "We don't know."
"WHAT!?" Everyone cried.
Sonic winced as he felt Shadow's grip on his neck tighten.
"JUST WHAT KIND OF HOSPITAL ARE YOU RUNNING!?" Raven screeched, grabbing the duck by the collar of his coat.
"RAVEN!" Jake cried, dashing over and doing his best to pry her off the doctor.
Omega readied his cannons and aimed them at Doctor Quack's face.
"How could your results be inconclusive?" he demanded.
"You be quiet!" Rouge snapped in his direction, "you're still grounded young man! No firing of your cannons!"
Omega visibly slumped, reluctantly lowering his arm cannons.
"If you would all just calm down…!" Doctor Quack stuttered, "I'll explain!"
Raven held onto his coat for a moment longer before finally letting go and jumping down.
"Talk fast," she growled, standing on her hind legs with her arms crossed and wings fluffed out. Her left foot tapped impatient.
The doctor had to pause briefly, finding her stance to be similar to Sonic's, and glare similar to Shadow. He remembered seeing hints of it in the other two.
They really are their kids…
He cleared his throat and straightened his coat as he began.
"Look, sometimes people get sick and we just don't know why. We are exposed to thousands of different chemicals and germs a day; any one of them could be the cause, but we just wouldn't know. And it's impossible for us to test for every single kind of germ. It'd be ludicrous if we even tried."
He walked over to Sonic's bed, patting the hedgehog on the shoulder despite still being locked in Shadow's iron grip.
"In Sonic's case, my best guess is that it was some kind of glitch in his immune system combined with large amounts of stress."
"What do you mean by 'glitch' in his immune system?" Raven asked, her anger melting away and being replaced by curiosity.
"Depending on what he did in the last month or so, you could've been exposed to microorganisms or any other substances that might have confused your immune system. It didn't know what to attack until it was too late."
"That… does make sense," Tails muttered thoughtfully, glancing at Sonic.
"You're always on the move, going from one place to another. And we did just come back from a game event in Japan."
"...And I have been feeling a little stressed out lately," Sonic admitted, glancing off to the side.
"Stressed?" Shadow inquired, looking at him confusedly, "From what?"
"Agh," Sonic lowered his ears, "it's nothing too big. I'm just… excited over our new game's release… and stressed because… the closer we get to the release date, the crazier things tend to get."
Tails looked at his big brother in concern.
"Why didn't you say something sooner?" he asked.
"Yeah," Jake agreed, "you coulda asked for a day off or something to recharge."
Sonic shrugged meekly within Shadow's grasp.
"We had a schedule. They were counting on me."
"That's no excuse for neglecting your health, Faker," Shadow growled, pulling him closer, "you're no use to anyone if you end up like this, or worse."
"...I just didn't want to let anyone down again…" he muttered.
The rooms went quiet for a moment after that.
"You never let us down," Evie said softly, padding up to the bed.
She placed her front paws on the edge of the bed and touched her nose to her father's face.
"You never have. And you never will."
Sonic looked at his daughter and smiled, carefully maneuvering his hand to scratch her cheek.
"Thanks Evie."
"If you're thinking what I think you are Faker, do me a favor?"
He looked up at Shadow.
"Stop it. Stop it and wipe it from your memory. Now."
Sonic couldn't help but smirk.
"Alright," he replied warmly, glancing both at him and the rest of his friends and family.
"I can do that."
In a flash, all four kids were around the blue hedgehog, nuzzling him with loud purrs. In the back, Rouge and Tails smiled.
"Good to hear Blue," Rouge said, "can't have you of all people being down in the dumps."
"What is this 'dump' you speak of?" Omega asked curiously.
Rouge growled. Through gritted teeth, she snarled, "figure of speech, Omega. And you're still not permitted to speak."
"...Yes ma'am," Omega said dejectedly.
"Sooo, that's it?" Duke asked, pulling away from the group hug and jumped down to the floor.
"Stress and a glitch?"
Doctor Quack nodded. He had wanted to stay quiet to give the family time together, and so he could observe them.
"Like I said, we don't know for certain what caused your Hives, but an immune system glitch and stress is my best guess. What I can say for certain is that whatever that medication was that you took, you had a severe allergic reaction to it. Hence the fever and the Hives getting worse."
"What medicine did you use anyway?" Raven asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I don't know, something long and fancy with too many words," Sonic grumbled.
"That sounds like a good majority of medicine out there," Jake said.
"You're not wrong," Doctor Quack chuckled, smirking at the young pup.
He took out a piece of paper and wrote a few things down. He handed the paper to Tails.
"I want to keep Sonic here under supervision for the rest of the morning. Give him time to regain more of his strength before I send him home."
Tails looked down at the paper he was given.
"That's a list of medications I want you to give Sonic for the next two weeks," he explained, "they'll help strengthen his immune system."
The fox nodded as he read over the list. He recognized benadryl; they once used that and melatonin on Zoey and Raven to help them sleep. The others were Zyrtec and Claritin.
"What's Claritin?" Duke asked, having been leaning on Tails' schedule this whole time, reading over the list.
Tails only slightly jumped; he'd gotten used to the kids popping in and out of nowhere at will.
"It's an antihistamine," Doctor Quack replied, "it will relieve the itchiness of hives for your father."
"A what?"
"Searching-" Omega began before the doctor cut him off.
"In simpler terms, it's a steroid."
"..."
"...YOU WANT TO GIVE OUR SUPERSONIC HYPERACTIVE DADDY STEROIDS?" Raven blurted out, sounding on the verge of shouting.
"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR GODDAMN MIND?" Duke asked bluntly.
Doctor Quack couldn't help but chuckle.
"Jury's out on that one kid," he replied with a smirk, "Claritin is an oral steroid. It'll help strengthen your father's immune system while he recovers."
"Is it safe?" Evie asked, a hint of concern in her voice.
"As a prescription and assuming he doesn't become addicted to it, yes," the duck nodded.
"Thanks doc," Sonic said, "I owe you."
"You can pay me back when I send you the bill."
Sonic chuckled dryly.
"Really? After everything I've been through, you're gonna bill me?"
"Hey, I have to keep the lights on somehow," the doctor replied with a wry chuckle, "And you weren't the only one not having a fun night."
"Yeah… I guess not," he turned towards Raven, "what's this I hear about an apartment being burnt down?"
"Long story. Tell you later," Raven said, waving the matter off.
Now that she knew her dad was going to be okay, she was in better spirits. And so was Jake, who was wagging his tail right beside her.
"Okay. Oh, and Shads?"
"Hm?" the hedgehog asked.
"Can you let go of my neck now? It's starting to hurt."
Shadow looked down, realizing that his hands were still locked around Sonic's neck.
"...Tell me sooner next time," the black hedgehog muttered, letting go and turning away.
"It felt like you needed to relieve some stress yourself," Sonic replied wryly.