Amy and the newly padded clad hero returned to the rest of his male companions, waiting for them at the dining table. Sonic eagerly looked around for any indication of what was for dinner but didn't see a sign of Amy's cooking. He leaned back in her arms, looking at her with a questing brow; Amy giggled at him, "Don't worry, Sonic, I've got you covered, just wait here a moment."
Shadow pulled out a high chair from out of nowhere, placing it on one end of the table, "Neh! Neh!" Sonic whined like a little toddler, "No, chair! No, chair!" Shadow just ignored his complaints as Amy set him down, securing him inside with the straps along the front of his waist and diaper, then fully insured his confinement, clicking the tray table in place. The baby hedgehog angrily grabbed the sides of the tray, struggling to remove it, Shadow grabbed his little hands and moved them to his sides then returned to his seat, warning Sonic with a glare to try and attempt to escape again. He silently gulped, crossing his arms and pouted instead, hoping that food would come soon. A minute later, his nose twitched to a delicious aroma flowing in the air; he raised his head and sniffed, identifying the yummy scent. Onions, garlic, cheese, pepper, meat...chili dogs? His guess confirmed when Amy walked by with a Sonic dozen of yes...chili dogs! Sonic couldn't help but drool at the sight. He reached out, making grabbing motions with his little hands as the plate passed by him. Amy pushed the plate away from the drooling hedgie, "No, no Sonic, that's not for you." said Amy. Disappointed and confused with his ears bent down, he asked, "What?!"
"This is your dinner." Amy said, pulling out a small jar of baby food, she scooped up some of the pale goopy mess with a little plastic spoon and moved it to his mouth, "It's mashed bananas, your favorite! Now open wide for the choo choo train." She cooed. Knuckles and Shadow quietly snickered in the background enjoying their chili dog dinner. Sonic couldn't help but blush, offended by the baby talk. He leaned back; lips closed tight, shaking his head. He didn't want bananas even if it was his favorite fruit, especially since it was mashed into baby food, and he didn't want to be feed; he wanted those chili dogs! "Come on, Sonic, you love bananas." she tried encouraging him. Sonic was known as much for his speed as his stubbornness; he shook his head again. Amy stopped, and with a devious smile, she began to tickle his tiny tan feet; she knew his ticklish spots, his feet being the most sensitive, which was why he always had them covered.
Oh, curse that pink menace! Sonic thought, trying desperately to hold in his laughter. He didn't last for more than a few seconds before erupting in a fit of giggles. Before her window of opportunity closed, Amy quickly shoved in the baby food. Sonic choked for a minute, his mouth now full of mush before swallowing, he pouted at Amy for her trickery. "Sorry, Sonic, we can keep doing this the hard way, or we could do this the easy way." She held up another spoon full, letting him chose. Either way, he still had to eat the stuff. Might as well save myself from her torture. He thought, "Can you let me feed myself at least?" He wasn't going to be babied any further if he could help it; he listened for her answer as Shadow translated for him. "I don't see why not." Amy blinked, putting the jar on the tray table and turned the spoon around for him to grab. Gratefully taking the spoon, Sonic began eating. Well, tried to eat, he kept missing his mouth, hitting everywhere else on his face instead, covering himself with his dinner. Knuckles and Amy giggled while Shadow silently chuckled at his attempts. His stomach moaned again, "Spass!" Sonic growled in frustration, throwing the spoon aside and used his hands, smiling finally able to eat the rest of the sweet fruit.
Amy' tsked' and went to grab a rag from the kitchen, rinsing it in the sink, she walked back to the little hedgehog covered in banana mush and began wiping it off his face.
"Mph!" he complained. She was rough and wiped some up his nose; he sneezed and rubbed his nose, trying to get it out. "Oh Sonic, you're such a messy eater." Amy teased,
"Yeah, he's worse than me." said Knuckles with remnants of chili dog all around his mouth. Amy finished wiping his face while Shadow collected and rinsed the dishes, ending dinner. She clicked off the straps and tray table, pulling him out of the high chair. More like a prison chair. Sonic glared at the plastic furniture piece. "Whew!" Amy sniffed, "You're a messy and stinky little boy; you need a bath."
B-B-B-Bath!? Sonic felt like he was going to faint right in her arms. There was a reason why he hated and stayed far away from water. He was terrified of it! Quite ironic since he lived by the beach. On an island. Surrounded by water.
Sonic was frozen, petrified, and didn't notice Amy's humming as she walked away from the table to the kitchen, turning the faucet on warm water filling in the sink. He didn't even acknowledge her taking off the diaper, leaving him completely naked, too far gone in his thoughts of his hydrophobia. It wasn't until she lowered him down, toes touching first that he reacted, screeching to the top of his lungs failing. I'm gonna drown. I'm gonna, drown!
"Sonic! Sonic! Calm down. It's ok." Amy tried to reassure the terrified blue blur while also trying not to drop him, but he didn't stop fidgeting, his fear-filled screams increased in volume tears streaming down, and fighting her with all his might. "Whoa! What's going on?!" Knuckles rushed in, "It's Sonic's hydrophobia; I can't get him to calm down!"
"Well, first of all, stop trying to drop him in!" Shadow yelled, "I'm trying!" Amy yelled back, "Here!" Shadow pulled himself, Knuckles, and Amy together, restraining the frantic fuzz ball in the middle. The pressure of the group hug seemed to help after a few minutes, Sonic's squirming became less frantic, and his cries died down to whimpers. He stopped moving when Knuckles pet his quills again. Shadow waited a few more minutes to be sure that he was calm, "There, finally." Shadow breathed, releasing the group hug. Sonic covered his face, shaking, and heart still beating fast as Knuckles rubbed his back, "I think we need a different strategy." says Amy feeling a bit guilty for scarring Sonic so much, "Oh really, you think so?" Shadow muttered sarcastically, "Shadow! I didn't think he would freak out that much."
"No, of course, someone with almost crippling hydrophobia wouldn't react that way at all." He nodded in Sonic's direction. Amy frowned at Shadow then looked back to her blue friend with an apologetic expression. "Sonic..." she spoke lowly, placing a hand on his tiny shoulder, "I'm sorry." Sonic looked back at her with a small smile to show he had no hard feelings. Amy felt grateful for his forgiving spirit, "Thanks." she whispered.
They left Sonic alone in the living room, giving him some more time to collect himself; his friends took this time to brainstorm on how to bathe their little hydrophobic friend with as little trauma as possible. The three adults nodded in agreement, leaving Amy to put the plan in motion. She walked up to the little hedgie, "Sonic." He looked up at her caring jade eyes as she bent down onto her knees to his level, "We know you don't like water," he nodded, "And I know usually you stick to showers, but you're too little right now to have one on your own. You have to take baths now, but before you say anything!" Amy waved her hands in defense when his eyes shot up, "Knuckles, Shadow, and I have been talking, and I think we've come up with a way to make this easier for all of us and less scary for you."
Although disliking the news, he had to take baths now. His ear twitched, intrigued. "For this to work, though, we need you to trust us, ok? Do you trust us?" Without a second thought, Sonic nodded, Amy smiled, relieved that he did trust her and lifted him under his arms, "Great! So, what we're gonna do is; Knuckles is gonna hold you while I quickly get you cleaned. The minute we're finished, Shadow will be ready and waiting with a towel to take you out of the water. We'll all keep watch and make sure nothing bad happens." she explained to him, walking back to the 'bath' sink. Sonic anxiously glanced at his friends, then the sink whimpering, "Hey," Knuckles gently spoke, Sonic looked up to his giant red friend, "We'll be right here, little blue."
Sonic sucked in a deep breath. He really didn't want to do this. "Ok," he said. Amy handed him to Knuckles making sure his grip was firm yet didn't squeeze the little hedgehog to much and slowly placed him in the liquidly substance. "Close your eyes," Amy warned, he obeyed as she quickly got to work. She grabbed a cup and dumped the water over his head, squeezing out some baby soap into her hands, she scrubbed his quills and arms. Sonic whimpered again when the water hit his face. He gripped one of Knuckles' fingers to reassure himself that his lifeline was still there. He couldn't help but giggle and kick a foot in reflex when Amy started to scrub his sensitive belly. This...this isn't too bad. She's quick and whatever soap she's using smells nice. The bath wasn't as horrible as he had feared, and the lavender-scented soap helped him relax a little bit.
"Knuckles, could you lean him back a bit so I can get his legs? Thanks." Amy scrubbed Sonic's now stubby legs starting with his feet and moving up, Woah Woah Woah! Wait a sec! Sonic thought in alarm as she got closer to his crotch, startled Sonic jolted and squeaked when he felt Amy wiping down his...area, he blushed again as his teenager status went thoroughly down the drain along with the bubbles as she dumped another cup of water on him.
Everything went blurry after that. One minute he was being held by Knuckles, sopping wet the next, he was wrapped in a soft towel being rubbed dry by Shadow; he shivered at the sudden change in temperature. "We need to get him warm quickly," Shadow said, continuing to rub Sonic down. He carried him back to the nursery, Amy and Knuckles, not far behind.
"I've got it from here, Shadow." Says Amy when they enter the nursery, taking the wrapped up hedge hoglet," Knuckles, you wanna pick out some warm pj's?" He nodded, opening a drawer going through the various outfits while Amy unwrapped Sonic from his cocoon, gently pushing him down on the changing table. Sonic shivered again, now exposed to the chilly air trying to be patient (not one of his best traits) waiting for his warm clothes. Amy pulled out a new diaper and the baby powder, "Please be still, Sonic." she reminded him. Just wanting to get warm as soon as possible, Sonic resigned himself to his diapered fate and didn't fight her this time. She pulled his legs up, placing the crinkly padding underneath, poked his tail through the hole, and applied the baby powder. Sonic felt a wave of comfort wash over him when he smelled the powder; he felt like just before he passed out in that glass tube earlier today. It was nice; the soft padding on his bottom, the comforting smell of the baby powder, and even the leftover fragrance of the lavender soap from the bath made him feel very relaxed and sleepy. He cutely yawned as Amy finished tapping him up. Knuckles returned with a pair of purple footy pajamas, a sleeping sloth stitched on the front. Amy placed his feet, arms, and head into the correct holes before snapping up the crotch and patted his bottom, "There we go nice and comfy...Shadow, do you have the bottle?"
"Right here." Shadow handed her the warm milk bottle. He smirked, seeing the babyfied hero fighting the sleep in his eyes. This will knock him out. The ebony hog humorously mused. Amy cradled the blue blur to the rocking chair and set him in up her lap, "Here you go, Sonic, drink this." Sonic rubbed his eyes again, scowling at the nipple in his face, "No, thanks."
"Come on, Sonic, please, you've got to be thirsty, and this will help you sleep." Thirsty or not, he didn't want the bottle, "Don't want it." he says, shaking his head, pushing the nipple away. "Don't make me tickle you..." she warned him. He humphed at her threat but not wanting a repeat of what happened at dinner, hesitatingly opened his mouth, allowing the nipple in. He looked at the bottle in his face quizzically, wasn't something supposed to happen? Where's the milk? Amy chuckled, "You have to suck silly."
Oh, right...I knew that. He flustered and started to suckle, downing about half the bottle before he stopped falling asleep from the warm milk in his belly. "Aawww." Amy and Knuckles cooed at the sight; Shadow smiled softly as a tiny thumb unconsciously crept into the blue blur's mouth. Shadow walked to the dresser picking up a red pacifier switching it for his thumb. He sucked in content while Amy laid him into the crib, covering him up in a red blanket, and turned on the mobile, gently playing a soft lullaby. The group tiptoed out, turning off the lights before leaving the little hedgie for the night.