Author's Notes: The Happy Rose is a local restaurant chain. I really enjoy eating there. A lot of Sara's tastes reflect my own hehe! Umm the meat roll-ups I mention I had once at the China Buffet. Don't know if they still carry them or not, but out of respect to my deceased first pets, I won't ever be having them again.
Shadow froze. This definitely wasn't the first thing he expected to see in the morning. "I...thought you weren't coming for at least another week..." he voiced in mild surprise.
Chuck gave him an unreadable look, then smiled. "Well, I got things squared away a bit faster than I expected... May I come in?"
Shadow started to say something, then stopped. He eyed the bags, knowing full well he'd have to carry them. "Yeah...I'll get those."Not my day... he sighed inwardly. He could already feel the older hedgehog's eyes on him in a very calculated and studying way. Funny thing, it was the same probing gaze Shadow often used, kind of like a cat watching a bird before it strikes.
Chuck's eyes beheld the well-lit apartment. It had a couple of windows overlooking the cityscape, two bedrooms, a kitchenette, and needed bathroom, aside a small utility closet. Chuck stroked his mustache as he took a look at what he could. At least there'd be no cobwebs to complain about, Shadow thought. "...Not bad."
"Glad you like…." Shadow said dryly. He set the suitcases down to the left of the door.
After a couple of minutes, Sara's voice carried to Shadow's and Chuck's ears, "Shadou-kun? Who is it?"
He got closer to the bathroom where her voice was coming from so he wouldn't have to yell. "It's...your father."
The door suddenly opened a bit and Sara peered out at Shadow wide-eyed. "But…."
"...I know..." he said softly. "Just get ready, okay?" He took a quick peek at his mate in spite of himself and smiled well after the door closed again. A thought occurred to him, and he hurried to start up the coffee maker before all hell broke loose. "So...uh...how long are you staying again?" he asked Charles idly. He really hated the auto-timer for the pot; he never knew if it was actually on or not.
"A while," he answered non-committably. "Ahh, I'm anxious to see my little girl." He smiled wistfully.
"Well, I know you didn't come here to see me," the words slipped off his tongue before he realized bringing up Maria was probably a better course of action. Although the "old man" said nothing, he distinctly caught an unfriendly glint in his eyes. Sigh... 'Maybe I should've listened to Tony about the "fine art"' of conversation...'
Sara came out of the bathroom a few minutes later, dressed in a long sleeve lavender-purple top and denim jeans. Shadow noted it a change from her usual tube tops and short sleeve options for around the house. Typically the outdoor weather didn't bother her when she planned on staying indoors.
"Daddy!" She smiled and rushed the older hedgehog for a hug. Shadow stayed quiet and watched.
Chuck instantly melted into a more relaxed state and even chuckled at her antics. "Heyy..." He smiled warmly and kissed his daughter on her forehead. Shadow couldn't help frowning a little bit; that was where he liked to kiss her. "Shadow treating you all right?" He mussed up her bangs and kept an arm around her.
"Of course!" At least she replied quickly and in good spirits. "Mmmm...I missed you! So much has happened...and you need to see Maria, she's so cute!" He hadn't seen her this excited since Christmas.
"I will I will..." He smiled warmly again. "Why don't you show me to her?" Sara nodded and pulled her dad off to the baby's room.
"...Coffee's done," Shadow said to a room with no one in it. Sigh.
Shadow found himself exactly where he didn't want to be with a certain blue hedgehog at his side. Exed out of the almost daily walk to the park with Sara and Maria, he was instead shopping for a new sofa, since they didn't have a spare bedroom. Thank goodness for Bed Bath and Beyond...
"...What about this one?" Shadow asked in a detached tone.
"Hnn..." Sonic hopped up onto the sofa-bed to check it out. "...I bet this is the papa bear's bed," he quipped, the joke flying way over Shadow's serious head. Grinning, Sonic hopped down. "Eh, that means we try to look for the baby bear's bed."
"What the hell are you babbling about?" he asked as they moved on to the next sofa. His main problem was the dimensions; it was large for Mobian standards, but standard for humans. There didn't seem to be much middle ground.
"A story I was readin' Blitz last night." He smiled with his hands folded behind his head.
"...The only reason I brought you is because Sara said you knew his tastes..." he snorted, stopping at a smaller sofa-bed that was made for a human child's room.
"Ditch the airplanes and it looks pretty good," Sonic commented before giving it a personal flop-test. "So you've never heard about Goldilocks and the three bears?"
"No." Shadow stepped over to the couch and tested the mattress out, then sat on the edge in a more dignified manner.
"You should tell it to Maria sometime." Sonic jiggled the frame and jumped on it in a fairly abusive way, causing Shadow to glare at him, not for the first time that day.
"I would if I knew the story, but that would mean someone would have to tell it to me." He stood up, refusing to fall after Sonic did another bounce on it, almost breaking the damn thing. He then spun in the air as he sprang off it and landed gracefully on his feet. "...You break it, you bought it."
"Hmmm... Eh, that one doesn't have enough cushioning either." Sonic shrugged and moved onto the next sofa-bed as if he hadn't even heard Shadow. He pulled out the bed part and tested this one a bit more gingerly, but as always, he had to jump on it. He was quite fortunate Shadow wasn't feeling too homicidal today. "Ahh...just right." He smiled and folded his arms behind his head again.
"Great, so let's buy it and go already." He rolled his eyes.
"So there's three bears, a mama, a papa, and a baby...and one day they make porridge."
Now he decides to tell stories? "...Come on..."
"...But it's too hot, so they decide to go out for a walk. And while they're gone--"
"Let's go!"
"...This girl with gold curly locks of hair shows up and she's hungry, so she tries their food."
"SONIC!"Shadow yelled and gave a good thump to Sonic's head.
"OW! Hey! You asked for the story!" He rubbed his head as he sat up, giving Shadow the dirtiest look in the world.
"I hate you..." he breathed. "Why couldn't Chuck stay with you guys again?"
"Because you guys have the bigger apartment?" Sonic shrugged. "Besides, I'm just the nephew; you're the son-in-law."
Reheated chicken kiev apparently was not Sara's top choice for dinner that night. Sure, it just had to be thawed and all, but after all, her father just got to town and she didn't have a chance to make anything special for him. So the whole family headed out to the Happy Rose buffet. That meant the whole family, Amy, Sonic, and Blitz included. The place was a Chinese/Japanese buffet that featured a sushi bar as well as some American dishes like fried chicken.
Sonic was having fits of laughter at the octopus salad. It was a bunch of baby octopi, and they very much appeared to be whole. He put several on his plate, along with more contemporary items that looked a whole lot more appetizing. Even Amy was giving him weird looks.
Sara had some definite likes and dislikes, passing over crab rangoon, steak, and pork in favor of muscle, several varieties of shrimp, crab, and General Tso's chicken. She also grabbed fried rice and some veggies to round out the plate, and stopped by the sushi bar for some chopsticks.
Amy turned her nose up at anything weird, fried, or greasy. That meant mushroom caps, steamed dumplings, veggies, lo mein noodles, and cooked fish was on her menu. She did wait for Sonic to return to the table before taking off, though, since she'd been in charge of watching Blitz and Maria.
Chuck picked some of the fried items and rice, being a bit leery of some of the items on the menu. Shadow rather liked seafood, so his plate was quite similar to Sara's in its build. She did catch his arm, though, when he'd reached for a couple meat-roll ups that smelled very good to him. "Ah...ahem..." She coughed lightly.
"...What?" he asked quietly, giving her a weird look.
"Ahh you might not want that..." She motioned to the tag over the dish, which told what it was.
Pork and rabbit roll ups... "...Oh..." He put down the tongs and made a mental note never to invite Cream and Vanilla here.
The group sat at a nice booth next to a big oriental painting. The place had great atmosphere, with Asian paintings, paper umbrellas hanging from the ceiling, lanterns, and more. The fish tank was endlessly amusing to both Maria and Blitz, who wanted a better view. The pair kept looking over at the tank every two minutes or so. Despite the cozy atmosphere, Shadow felt like he was on pins and needles when it came to "Grandpa Chuck."
"Sonic, what do you think you're doing?" Amy asked as he seemed to torment the dead octopus, held between two chopsticks.
"Hehe...I dare you to eat it, Amy!" he said in a singsong tone, taunting with the poor dead octopus.
Blitz gave delighted giggles as he watched Sonic fly the little tako through the air. "Ewww no way no! No no no no no!!!" She looked a bit ill.
Sara couldn't help a laugh. "Come on, Sonic...don't you think that's...a bit..." Chuck started saying.
"Aww, Unc..."
"...You're being childish, Sonic," Shadow commented.
"Yes you are!" Amy said firmly.
"I'll eat it." Sara shrugged. She plucked a baby octopus off Sonic's plate with her chopsticks and promptly ate it.
"Eww!" Amy said, and Sonic just stared blankly at her for a moment. Apparently he hadn't expected anyone to actually taste it. Chuck had his mouth open to say something, but a rather unsettling silence formed around the group.
The babies' giggling broke the silence. "...How does it taste?" Shadow finally asked. He fed a spoonful of pudding to Maria, taking time out from his now unappetizing meal.
"...Like soy sauce-flavored rubber bands." She wrinkled her nose. "So, I think I saw octopus sushi down at the bar, but I was thinking ika...squid."
Shadow nodded. "I haven't had any sushi in a while. Have you tried the eel?" While the rest of the hedgehogs seemed to pale or turn green at the discussion of raw or weird sushi items, the ice had been broken between him and his mate at least. Chuck even seemed to relax as they carried on an albeit weird but casual conversation.
The two discussed raw, cooked, and vegetarian kinds of sushi. They even talked about wasabi and pickled ginger, favorite condiments for seasoned sushi lovers. The rest of the time spent at the Happy Rose, Sara attempted to get her father to try inari sushi, which amounted to rice in a fried tofu pouch. Despite her best efforts to convince him that it wasn't raw fish and was even sweet tasting, he still equated sushi with raw fish. Shadow came away from the event feeling a bit cheered on by the fact he and Sara shared similar tastes in food, and a bit of pride that she'd shown Sonic up over the octopus salad. It wasn't a bad evening...it even made him forget, briefly, that their home life was about to change.