Maria hadn't been to the MRC in quite a while. She rarely got sick, a testament to the boosted immune system she'd inherited from her father. She was sitting next to her grandfather in a waiting room and was starting to grow anxious about it. To pass the time, she'd been playing Phantom Hourglass on her mom's Odnetnin SD, but as the battery light turned red, she wondered how long they'd be there.
"Grandpa? When are Mommy and Daddy coming back?" she asked after a while.
"Hmm? Well...when your mom's given birth to your baby sibling," the light blue and gray hedgehog replied. He'd been reading a thick technical journal while waiting. It had already been several hours since his daughter was admitted.
"How long will that take?" Maria asked.
"Hard to say... It could be any time now." He looked over at his granddaughter. "Worried?"
Maria nodded. "Daddy was upset and Mommy was crying and hurt...and they were all rushed and everything... Is she really okay? I never see Mommy cry..."
Charles hedgehog frowned a bit at that. "Well...having a baby's very painful...but she'll be okay."
Maria nodded. "If you say so."
Shadow had been through this before, but it still unnerved him. Sara held his hand tightly with each contraction. There were tears in her eyes from the pain, but she'd managed to control herself so she didn't scream out as she had initially.
"I would've thought you'd have gone for the pain killers this time..." Shadow commented while she was resting between the increasingly frequent contractions.
"Sorry...I don't believe in them." Sara groaned a bit.
"Stubborn like your mother..." Quack commented.
"Ahh...or like my cousin?" She smiled a moment before another contraction hit her and she doubled over in pain. "Oh please tell me I can start pushing! This is...killing me!"
Quack cleared his throat and checked on the dilation. "Ahh! Good news, you can start pushing on the next contraction!"
Both Sara and Shadow looked a bit relieved at that news. Shadow braced himself, expecting Sara's hand to clamp down on his fiercely in a few moments, and was not disappointed. From the time she was allowed to push, the whole process accelerated and soon the air was filled with a baby's cries.
"Congratulations! It's a boy!" Quack informed them as he cleaned the child and severed the umbilical cord that had bonded the baby to his mother only moments ago.
"Let's see him," Shadow said with some eagerness to his tone. He smiled warmly at the tired but relieved mother and gave her hand a gentle squeeze.
A sky blue hedgehog with black markings was placed in Sara's welcoming arms. "Aww...it's okay, sweetheart...Mommy's here." She comforted and cooed until the baby settled down.
Shadow inspected the boy, his tiny ears and nose, the wet and very short fur that covered his fuzzy little body. "Your fur, my markings," he commented.
"Sort of...kind of reversed with the black there." Sara relaxed.
"Ahh...I hate to disturb you, but we do need the afterbirth out…." Quack commented.
Sara gave a slightly disturbed look, but gave that extra push to clear things out. "Hmph... Can I rest now?"
The avian doctor gave a chuckle. "Yes yes. Just let us get you cleaned up and we'll move you to a recovery room. Have you thought of a name for the little one?"
"I have." Sara lightly stroked her baby's head. His eyes were still closed, and she wondered whose eyes he would have when they were finally opened. "I want to call him Ash. You like the name, hon?"
Shadow gently kissed her forehead. "Yeah. I do."
Soon, Grandpa and Maria had been introduced to the new addition to the family. Sara had fallen asleep by the time they were admitted in, but Shadow was holding his new son while seated in a chair next to her. Maria asked again if mommy was all right, having wanted her attention, but she was assured she was fine.
Maria found her parents' time occupied heavily with the new baby. Ash cried a lot, and she was getting tired of hearing it. She tried crawling between her parents one night in bed but was quickly sent back to her room. She wasn't used to being ignored... Well, it wasn't that they were trying to ignore her, but Ash demanded attention, and certainly he was more vocal about it.
"Mommy, you wanna play Chutes and Ladders?" she asked, holding up the board game.
"Not now, hon." Sara replied, holding Ash in her arms. "Your baby brother's hungry again," she chuckled.
Maria's expression sank. "Aww! But why? We haven't played in for-ever!"
"Because Ash needs my attention," Sara said firmly. Maria twitched an ear lightly and made a face like she'd just tasted a particularly sour lemon. "Hey, no making faces like that, okay?"
"Daddy! You wanna play Chutes and Ladders?" She decided to try Shadow, who was typing away at the computer's keyboard.
"I can't right now...I'm working on bills," he replied, checking over their bank statement for any errors.
"Fine!" Maria slammed the game down on the den floor and stormed out.
Shadow quickly turned back to the spilled puzzle pieces and looked at his shocked mate sitting on the couch nearby. Ash had begun crying at the loud clattering sound. "Maria...?!" He reached for the box but stopped and decided to go after his daughter instead. "I'll be back."
Maria was to be found in a corner of her room, having two of her unicorn ponies duel. "Just what was that about?" Shadow voiced behind her, completely unamused by her behavior.
"You guys don't like me anymore," she sulked, and clashed the two plastic ponies together harshly.
"You're being stupid." He knelt down behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. Maria rammed one of the ponies into his wrist. Shadow's eyes widened as his gold limiter bracelet unlatched. "Stupid...!" He quickly reattached the bracelet as a bit of emerald light spilled out. His next action shocked Maria more than the light as he struck her hand hard enough to knock the pony to the floor.
"...Papa!" Maria's eyes filled with tears and she began crying.
Shadow scowled and gave her a harsh look. "Maria, enough! You're too big to be whining like this. Your mom and I love you very much, but a baby takes a lot of time and attention!"
"Papa's mean!" she continued crying and held her wrist.
"When have I ever hurt you?" He took Maria's hand in spite of her complaints. "You're hurting us by being like this!" Maria continued to cry, but eventually slowed to a whimper as she looked into her father's eyes. "...Believe me, will you?"
Maria sniffed, "I'm sorry, Papa...I didn't mean to make you angry..."
Shadow sighed and kissed her forehead. "We'll play with you later okay? Just be patient..."
"Okay, Papa...sorry I hurt you." She glanced at his wrist, wondering about the light she saw.
Shadow stood and stroked her hair. "Be a good girl, Maria," he said softly and headed back to the den.
Amy came over with the boys a few days later. As expected, Maria and the boys ran off to play video games, so the two women were free to chat.
"Aww...he's adorable!" Amy commented at the bundle in Sara's arms.
"Thanks." She smiled proudly. "Want to hold him?"
"Sure, thanks." She took the little boy from Sara and gave him a closer inspection. "Wow...interesting markings. After Maria there, I'd have thought he'd at least have some red on him!"
"I didn't know what to expect...interesting that he'd have my fur and Maria's is so dark...but the black...that's definitely his dad," Sara commented. "Also has his eyes."
"Both of them, huh?" The sleepy little hedgehog yawned and blinked his lazy ruby eyes open. Realizing he wasn't in his mother's arms, he began to fuss. "Heh...I see what you mean... Ohh come on, baby, it's all right...here." She passed the baby back to her mother. "How's Maria taking it?"
"Mmm...not so good. She's jealous." Sara headed over to the living room couch and took a seat. "You didn't have that problem with Blitz, did you?"
She shook her head. "Nope... He's too young to remember being an only child. Almost an exact year apart."
"Thought so." The sky blue hedgehog shrugged and cradled her baby gently.
"Maria's always been a sweet girl, I'm sure she'll adjust," the pink one replied. "She gets along pretty well with the boys."
"Yeah." She glanced back at the den. "Should we check on them?"
"In a bit."
"Nooo! You got the last two smash balls!" Maria whined as Lucario opened up with his Final Smash, launching Princess Peach and Yoshi into oblivion.
'And the winner is...Lucario!'
"You're better than this." Blitz made a face. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing…." she said flatly. "Come on! One more!" She pushed buttons until they were on the Character Select screen again. She picked Pit this time.
"You lie bad," Blitz said and picked Ganondorf. Rift said nothing and picked Toon Link.
"It's Ash." She wrinkled her nose at saying his name and tried to focus on the fight. It didn't start out too bad, as she whirled into Toon Link, almost sending him over the edge. Ganondorf's slow movements made him an easy target for the more nimble characters, though when he got a hit in, it hurt.
"Your baby brother?" Blitz asked as he geared up a slow but powerful attack. He missed Pit and sent Toon Link flying.
"Wah... No fair!" Rift pouted.
"Yeah." Maria managed to get to the smash ball and sent a troop of angels flying after her foes. "I don't like him."
"Why?" Blitz frowned a bit at being knocked off the edge by that attack, but he still had a couple lives. "HA!" He smirked triumphantly as his foot came down hard and Pit slammed into the front of the screen. "huh? How are you throwing bombs?"
"Down and B...then throw with A," Rift replied. He then held down the B and slammed an arrow into Ganondorf, a smile growing on his face.
"Mommy pays more attention to him than she does me…Daddy too." Maria scowled, looking more like her dad on a bad day than anyone would have liked.
"Oh...but he's just a baby. Uncle Tails came over with the twins a few days ago, he said they keep him really busy," Blitz commented, grinning as Pit went flying again. "HEY! Get off of me!" he shouted as the Master Sword came down on his head.
"Make me." Rift grinned. He darted out of range of Ganondorf's attack and shot him with several arrows before Pit came down on the two of them.
"Really? I didn't think about that." Maria managed to do a grab but it was interrupted by an arrow from Toon Link.
"Yeah. He says Fiona's tired and they keep them up..." Blitz continued. "Mommy said we used to do the same, but it gets better."
"...So Ash won't just cry all the time?" Maria asked as she lost her last life to Ganondorf. "Hmph…."
"Oh you did not just throw me like that!" Blitz made a face as Ganondorf got slammed across the stage. "Nope...he'll get bigger, then you can fight with him like I do with Rift."
'And the winner is...Toon Link!'
Blitz punched Rift in the shoulder for that. "Ow! Hey! I never win!" Rift made a face.
"...Okay well...he better stop crying soon," Maria commented, "One more game?"
"You're on!" The purple hedgehog beamed.