Author's Chapter Notes:

As previously stated, I do not own the rights to Sonic the Hedgehog or anything Sonic related. That is owned by SEGA and I do not own that, either.

By the time Shadow made it back to his apartment, it was getting dark. He went inside, laid the still snoozing Sonic on the couch with the sleeping Amy, and quietly, if not gently, escorted his landlady out of his apartment.

Then he went right back to his kitchen and started another look for the phone.

Although he had been mildly pleased with Amy when he had left, all such thoughts flew out the window when he saw that apparently, she had woken up while he was out and had found the phone. It was nestled in her right paw while she was sleeping, giving out a busy signal.

Shadow was not looking forward to his phone bill this month.

Nevertheless, he took the phone from the sleeping hedgehog and dialed Tails' number.

"Hello?" came Tails' voice from the other end of the line.

"Tails, tell me you have a cure."

"S-Shadow?" Shadow distinctively heard Tails gulp. That didn't do anything to make him feel better.

"Tails," Shadow growled warningly.

"Uh, well, there was a uh, there was a slight problem…"

"What kind of problem?"

"Err, um…"

Tails' Flashback

"Ok, now I mix two these two chemicals together, and then the formula will be ready for the final stage of testing." Tails monologued to himself the way many scientists in books or TV shows have a habit of doing.

Combining the two ingredients, the small kitsune rubbed his hands together. "With a little luck, I'll have Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy back to normal before dinner time!"

Suddenly, a little frog hopped across the table, knocking over Tails' formula and spilling it all over the floor.

"What the scallop is—"

We will never know just what it was Tails intended to say, for at that moment, a giant purple cat burst into the room, screaming "FROGGGGGGGYYYY!" and knocking over yet more of Tail's formulas and inventions, mixing everything together in such a way that the two-tailed fox would probably never get it completely sorted out.

Tails instantly recognized his intruder. "Big!" he yelled as the cat continued to destroy his beloved lab, trying to grab his wayward frog. "What do you think you're doing!?"

Finally, Big the Cat grabbed Froggy around his middle and yelled, "There you are, Froggy! You shouldn't run off like that. It isn't nice."

Then Big carted his frog friend out of Tails' workshop, leaving the poor genius to survey the damage on his own.

The kitsune sighed. "Or, maybe it might take a few extra days…"

End Tails' Flashback

"Well, it's not important," Tails finally stated. "The important thing is that I uh…I need some more time…"

"How much time?" Shadow asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Um…well…" he gulped and blurted out, "Two or three days!"

"Days?" Shadow gasped. "Are you insane? I can't take care of these three for days!"

"I'm sorry, I'm trying!" Tails cried, hanging up on Shadow.

Shadow numbly listened to the beeping noise on his phone for a long second, then he turned the phone off and put it inside the cookie jar in a daze.

He remained in that daze for the rest of the night, even when he went to bed and fell asleep.

Shadow awoke to a strange noise, his body instantly alert and tensed to attack.

"Attow?"

Shadow forced his body to relax as he recognized the little child looking at him, wide-eyed, his Master Cantaloupe being tightly hugged in his little red arms.

"What is it, Knuckles?"

"Um…is darky," Knuckles explained, hugging his cantaloupe tighter and looking uncertain of himself.

"Yes, it is usually is dark at night," Shadow explained, wanting to go back to sleep.

Knuckles shifted his weight nervously. "Um…da Massa Emered no wike darky," he said, his eyes looking down at the ground, his foot shuffling around.

"What do I care what the Master Cantaloupe likes?" Shadow asked, yawning.

"Emered!" Knuckles snapped, stomping his little foot. Then he regained his composure. "Da Massa Emered mebbe getted stealies in darky. Massa Emered stay hewe night-night?"

"Why do you think I would want to sleep with a piece of fruit?" Shadow asked, glaring. "Protecting the stupid cantaloupe is your job, not mine."

Knuckles didn't even bother to correct Shadow this time. Instead, his eyes teared up, and he sniffled. "But…pwease wet Massa Emered stay," he whimpered. "And…I stay too?"

At that, he looked up and his eyes caught Shadow's. He gave him the smallest, most pathetic smile a baby Echidna could muster and asked, "Pwease, Attow?"

Not even Shadow was cold enough to look that small face in the eyes and tell him 'no.' Instead, he sighed loudly and motioned for Knuckles to hop on the bed.

The Echidna squealed with delight and clapped his paws together, scrambling to get atop Shadow's bed. Once there, he gently laid the Master Cantaloupe on the edge of Shadow's pillow and tucked it in.

"Night-night, Massa Emered. Night-night, Attow," Knuckles said, rubbing his eyes and yawning tiredly. "Attow, I go sweepies now."

"Good." Shadow muttered, looking over to where Knuckles had lain. The echidna was already asleep, one arm draped protectively over the Master Cantaloupe a small, pleased smile on his muzzle.

Shadow sighed again and tucked the blanket around Knuckles' body. Then he lay back down and closed his own eyes.

In their own way, each of the children were slowly inching their way into his heart. Even so, he didn't think he could stand having to spend two or three more days with them.