Author's Chapter Notes:

I still do not own Sonic characters. However, any original characters in this chapter are, in fact, mine.

Shadow found a vase for Amy's flowers and came up with a good cover should his landlady ask him about the state of her garden. As he was filling the vase with water, he realized that his apartment was quiet. That, he felt, could not be a good sign.

Shadow quickly checked around his apartment. He found Knuckles in the laundry room, his Master Cantaloupe sitting atop a pile of dirty laundry and the Echidna himself sitting in front of it, looking out for any signs of evil doers. Knuckles was fine. Check.

Further search found Amy, snuggled up on Shadow's couch, sucking her thumb, struggling not to fall asleep. It was a battle that she was swiftly losing, but she was in no danger. Check.

And Sonic was…not in the corner where Shadow had sentenced him. He was not in the bathroom, not in the living room, not in the kitchen, and not in Shadow's bedroom.

Sonic was not in Shadow's apartment.

Feeling something akin to panic, Shadow checked again, looking in odd places that a two year old hedgehog's body could fit, such as the dryer and dishwasher. Perhaps Sonic was playing hide-and-go-seek?

No, that search turned up empty as well. But Shadow did notice that the back door was slightly open. His breath caught as he realized that Sonic must have gone out the back door while he was occupied with Knuckles and Amy.

But how was he supposed to go look for him? He couldn't very well leave Knuckles and Amy unattended. On the other hand, he couldn't leave Sonic out who knows where getting into all kinds of horrible trouble.

Frightening images emerged unbidden to Shadow's mind; he knew first hand that Earth was a cruel planet. Who knew what could happen to an innocent two year old, lost out there with people who thought nothing of shooting innocents to get their way…

Pushing the thoughts back into the dark recesses of his mind, Shadow forced himself to focus on the task at hand: find Sonic and ground him for the rest of eternity, even after Tails figures out a way to change him back to his original form.

First though, he would have to find someone trustworthy to watch the other two children currently in his care.

Fate seemed to step in at that very moment, for at that moment Shadow's landlady appeared at his door, trying to pound it in as she demanded to know what happened to her violets.

Shadow was on the elderly vixen in a second, escorting her in and locking the door. He wasn't sure if she would want to watch toddlers and he had no incriminating Christmas photos, so he'd locked the door as a precaution.

The poor old lady spluttered with surprise as Shadow set her down on the couch next to the already snoring Amy and explained briefly that he needed to go out and leave her here to take care of the kids.

On the way out the door, he gave her some advice, "Don't worry about Amy—she doesn't get into much trouble. But for Pete's sake don't touch Knuckles' cantaloupe!"

Then he was out the door and down the street before the bewildered lady had realized what had happened.

Once he'd made it safely away from his apartment, Shadow slowed down and started to think. If he was a hyperactive two year old Faker, where would he go if he snuck out of the house?

This reasoning really didn't do much for him; Shadow had no idea what kind of places Sonic might like to go; and he couldn't think back to places he himself would have gone because heck, when he was two, his house had been in outer space. Sneaking out really hadn't ever crossed his mind.

So Shadow figured he didn't know where Sonic would like to go, he'd have to look for Sonic would by going to every place he'd ever seen him. But even with his speed or a chaos emerald, that could take hours, and if Sonic got into trouble…

Maybe he was going at this the wrong way. After all, Sonic wasn't just the Faker who frustrated Shadow to no end anymore. No, now he was also a very small child. Wouldn't a small child like to go places that other children liked to go?

Like the park!

Hoping his guess was correct and that Sonic had indeed headed for the playground at Central City's park, Shadow zoomed off to look.

He arrived at the playground a split second later, scanning the area for any sign of cobalt blue fur. He spotted a baby blue hedgehog over by the swings and sighed with relief, allowing himself to relax. Sonic was talking to two older boys who were smirking at them in a way that Shadow wasn't entirely sure he liked.

Curious as to what was happening, Shadow quietly walked over to the threesome and realized as he did so that Sonic's eyes were full of unshed tears and his whole body was trembling. Shadow arrived in time to hear the last snippet of whatever it was Sonic was saying.

"You wier!" the toddler sniffled, wiping his arm across his nose. "He is to weal!"

One of the boys laughed and pushed Sonic so he'd fall over. "Is not, lamebrain," he teased. "Only a loser believes in a stupid fairy tale like that."

Sonic cried out as he fell and burst into tears.

"Aw, is the baby gonna cry?" teased the other boy. The both laughed at the cobalt blue hedgehog's distress.

Shadow shook his head. It never ceased to amaze him how eager the people of this planet were when it came to hurting others. In one fluid motion, Shadow was next to the two boys, grabbing them by their ears and twisting so hard they both yelped and fell to their knees.

"Ow! Let go!" yelled bully number 1#, fruitlessly trying to yank Shadow's hand away from his ear.

"Yeah, that hurts!" agreed the other one.

"That's the idea," Shadow said dryly. "Now that I have your attention, I want you both to listen very carefully." He paused for a second and twisted harder, causing them both to yelp harder. "Are you listening?" he questioned.

"Yeah, mister, we're listening! We're listening! There's no reason to pull my ear off!" said the first boy.

"What, you mean like this?" Shadow twisted again, smirking at the yelps. "Now, I'm going to let go, and you two are going to go crawl under whatever rock you came out of, and if I ever find out you decided to torment this child ever again, I guarantee you I'll hunt you both down and rip your ears right off of your head. Understood?"

He felt a grim satisfaction as he watched them scamper off like scared little roaches. He briefly wondered if he'd done any permanent damage to their twisted little heads, then dismissed the idea. He'd heard that kids were amazingly resilient in that regard, and even if they weren't, he honestly didn't really care all that much.

He turned back to Sonic, wondering if he should scold him now or when they got home, when he was tackled by a small, fuzzy, blue hedgehog who had amazingly cheered up as if he'd never been upset in the first place.

"Sadoe, you is mazing!" Sonic cheered, bubbling over with happiness. "You is supper hewo!"

It took Shadow a few seconds to realize what Sonic had said, and when he did, his jaw dropped in surprise. Of all the things people had thought of him, 'Super Hero' usually wasn't on the list.

Sonic continued, completely oblivious to Shadow's distress. "Dose meanies catchy me, dey all mean and bad, but you come save me! When I get big, bigger, I gonna be's wike Sadoe!"

Shadow moaned inwardly and closed his eyes. Sonic looking up to him as a role model, that really was the last thing this planet needed. The image it brought was…dully disturbing.

"Sonic."

The hedgehog looked up at the face of his new hero expectantly. "Yes?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I goie pway on swide," Sonic explained, his arms wrapping around Shadow's waist.

"Didn't I tell you to stand in the corner?" Shadow asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Um…" Sonic averted his gaze and shuffled his foot. "I don't member," he finally replied.

Shadow's eyes widened in surprise. "You don't remember?" he asked incredulously. "How can you not remember something that just happened twenty minutes ago?"

Sonic shrugged. "I dunno."

Shadow stared at the baby hedgehog for a while, then sighed. "Don't run off again, understand?"

Sonic nodded eagerly, raising his arms to signify that he was unwilling to walk.

Sighing loudly, Shadow picked Sonic up and headed back to his apartment.

"Sadoe?" Sonic asked after a lengthy silence.

"What is it Sonic?" Shadow asked shortly. Sonic had severely tried his patience, Shadow was barely able to control his temper as it was.

Sonic paused, trying to collect his thoughts, and finally asked, "Is Santa Cwaus weal?"

Shadow figured he should be used to childish questions and statements by now, but he was still taken by surprise. "What?"

"Santa Cwaus. Meanie boys say, he no weal. Is Santa Cwaus weal?"

"Of course not!" Shadow replied crossly. He'd had a long day, and supporting childish fantasies was not part of his job resume.

Sonic looked at him, wide green eyes filling with tears. He sniffed pitifully.

Shadow sighed, disliking the feeling of guilt he had at making Sonic even more upset. "Look," he said. "It doesn't matter that Santa Claus isn't real."

Sonic looked stunned. "Weally?" he asked. "Bu' wha' bout pwesents?"

"Exactly!" Shadow said, jumping on a point. "Santa isn't real, but you still get presents at Christmas, don't you? Know what that means?"

Sonic shook his head.

"It means that someone else put the presents there, you still get them, and that Santa Claus is just a faker. He doesn't bring you the presents, anyway. Understand?"

Sonic nodded. "Sadoe, if Santa Cwaus is a faker, who bwings pwesents?"

"Uh…" Shadow wracked his brain. "Super Heroes." He finally blurted out. Oh, great. That had to be the dumbest thing ever invented.

But luckily for him, Sonic bought it. The hedgehog nodded, as if it was so simple now that Shadow had explained it, then yawned. He laid his head down on Shadow's shoulder and fell sound asleep instantly. Shadow looked down at the sleeping form and sighed again.

"Super Heroes," he muttered disdainfully, shaking his head as he headed back towards his house. "I can't believe I said that."