"No," Shadow said flatly.
"Hmmm?" Chuck looked back at his son-in-law with an unreadable expression. He took note of the scratches all over him and guessed they'd been fighting. "What was that?"
"No...I don't want you staying here anymore," Shadow said very seriously. "Go stay at Sonic's if you want to stay close, just not here."
Chuck was quiet a bit, considering. He really couldn't stay the way his project was going, and that could impact lives far beyond him and his daughter. Still, Shadow was being decidedly unfriendly or cooperative with him. He considered his options, "Perhaps...but...I'd like a few minutes with my daughter...I mean, if you don't mind."
Shadow snorted. "Fine..." You've got five minutes…. he wanted to say, but thought better of it. "I'll even help you carry your things to the Thorndykes' when you're ready."
"...Why thank you," Chuck said in an overly polite tone.
"I have to go pick up Maria's prescription anyway... Take all the time you need," Shadow said, leaving the apartment behind.
The older hedgehog went into the baby's room to check on both Sara and the baby. "Sorry about that, Sara." He took a seat on a rainbow chair, while Sara was in the rocker.
"Yeah..." She kept her gaze on Maria, rocking her gently back and forth. She'd finally stopped crying.
Chuck took a look at his daughter, a good long look. Yes, she was still a teenager, but she had grown up so fast. Too fast, maybe? "Sara..." he started. Maybe by Mobian standards she was adult enough to have a mate and all, and she looked quite comfortable in her role as a mother, but he couldn't help seeing the little girl he helped raise. She did look very much like her mother... "Sara...you know...I was young and foolish once."
"Shadow's not foolish, he just...he wants to protect me too, you know," she said quietly.
"Yeah…." He paused. "You know a lot of people said I was a bad influence on your mother?"
Her deep brown eyes caught his with interest. He rarely spoke of her mom since she passed away. "Really?"
"Mmmhmm…." He folded his hands onto his lap. "She even had second thoughts about us."
"Now why would she do that?" Once Maria was sound asleep, she went over to the crib to tuck her in properly.
"She was afraid... She was younger than me, and the first of her friends to have a mate." He shrugged, "There was another boy who really liked her. Her friends kept saying she should have had him as a mate...almost wound up dueling over her."
This was news to Sara. "Well that's stupid, you and mom made a great couple, right?"
"Eventually yes...but there was a while...where she left me," Chuck managed to say.
Sara's left ear twitched lightly. "Daddy? Why are you telling me this...?"
"I'm just saying...if things get out of hand with Shadow, you can always come to me," he replied in a warm tone.
"Nothing's out of hand." She looked at him with a slightly betrayed expression. "Didn't Amy tell you? I love him, Papa... Why would I even think of leaving him?"
"Sara...you should know as well as anyone that he's got potential to be very dangerous…."
"The same could be said of Sonic, but you're not telling Amy to leave him, are you?" She blinked and propped a hand on her hip. "Or is it just because she's not your daughter?"
Chuck looked a bit ashamed. "I'm sorry...I just don't...see what you see in him." He sighed. "I love you too...and I worry, that's all...I...wasn't the most responsible guy at his age, and he does have a temper... Those scratches all over him...did you two have a fight?"
"Daddy!" Sara's turn to look ashamed. "It wasn't like that…."
Charles stepped over to her and gave her a kiss to her forehead, and a tight embrace. "Just...think about things, will you?" He let go when she nodded. "I'll be staying at the Thorndykes' for a while, and not because of what Shadow said." He sighed a bit. "You've really grown into a beautiful lady..." He shook his head in disbelief.
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Shadow found himself sleeping on the sofa-bed that night in Charles' stead. It did put him in a position to check on Maria more frequently, however, and since he had insomnia that night, that wasn't a problem. He knew kicking Chuck out of the house wouldn't go over well with Sara, but he had to do something about the situation.
Everything was driving him nuts. Maria's crying was driving him nuts. Not having Sara to himself was driving him nuts. Having her, but having her mad at him was driving him nuts. The scratches she gave him earlier that day were driving him nuts.
This was certainly not poetry in motion. If it was, it was like an abstract painting; it made no sense. He sighed as he returned from the rainbow room for the 78th time that night. He grabbed the remote to the TV to see if there was anything interesting on. How was he supposed to read subtle poetry into things? She was anything but subtle right now... Maybe he needed to give up on the poetry.
"Oh shit..." Why did he remember the poems he printed out now? In the middle of a sleepless night?
He sneaked off to his and Sara's room, but he found she wasn't asleep either, as he cracked the door open. She was online talking to someone in an IM, fingers flying at the keys. Undoubtedly she was telling the person on the other end what a horrible bastard he was to her. Maybe he should be a horrible bastard; being patient and understanding wasn't working.
He saw the folder sitting next to her by the keyboard. She had some instant decaf next to her, so he knew it was only a matter of time before the coffee worked its way through her system and she'd be on her way to the bathroom. Patience...
He went back to the couch and pretended to be asleep, while Dirty Jobs was playing on Discovery. By the time she was ready for a bathroom break, the station was playing some infomercial about the latest Ginsu knife collection. Knowing she never spent a lot of time in the bathroom (unless she was bathing), he moved in quickly for the folder. He was about to leave when he noticed the IM conversation open on the desktop.
OrangeHedgie: So I'll be stopping by Station Square next week.
SaraHedgie: Really? Wow, I haven't seen you in years!
OrangeHedgie: Think you could show me around?
SaraHedgie: I don't know, Shadow's been a bit edgy just with my father around... I don't know how he'd take a male hedgehog being around me.
OrangeHedgie: LoL! Come on, not like I'm going to steal you for my own, right?
SaraHedgie: BrB
OrangeHedgie: ...Still have that bracelet I gave you?
The sound of the bathroom door alerted Shadow, and he flew back out of the bedroom with the folder. "Ehh..? Still awake?" Sara asked with a yawn upon exiting the bathroom.
"Yeah...Maria's been keeping me up...haven't you heard?" He shrugged, hiding the folder under a pillow.
Sara's expression softened a bit. "Ahhh... You've been good at responding to her, I haven't really heard a thing for hours." She paused. "Mmm...I'm having trouble sleeping... If you want you can come back to bed."
"..Thanks...maybe in a few," Shadow replied. He watched her go back into the bedroom, the poetry again leaving his mind. Exactly who was OrangeHedgie? How well did he know her? Was he talking about the friendship bracelet she about chewed his head off over on more than one occasion? He realized he hadn't really made an effort to find out who Sara's friends were, especially since he didn't really have that many himself. Maybe he should've paid closer attention.
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He didn't know what to do or say when he got back to bed that night. There was a certain kind of distance between him and Sara. He lay on his side of bed, awake as he'd been in the living room, just with a better view. Sara, on the other hand, had tried to bridge that gap as soon as he came to bed. She apologized about a number of things, and he'd nodded acknowledgment. She was partly curled on her side, facing toward him. He wanted to reach out and touch her, say something, but he couldn't.
With Sara having to frequently check on Maria, she had no time to make lunch for the two of them the following day. That was fine; Shadow was well resigned to having Vinnie's Pizza again. He almost hoped the place would be robbed so he could work out his aggressions that oh so worried poor Uncle…no, Grandpa Chuck. He remembered that Sonic wasn't working that day, so he was free to spar if their paths should cross.
The bell rang on the door to Vinnie's Pizza, and he was greeted enthusiastically by its owner. "Heeey, Shadow! How ya been?"
"Not so good, Tony," Shadow replied honestly for a change.
The caramel-haired human had to make sure he wasn't dreaming. "Hmm? What's the trouble, pal?"
"Lots of things...Sara's dad's been here visiting...Maria's sick...and I saw this IM she had up last night..."
"Whoa, whoa." The human came around the counter and sat down in one of the waiting room chairs. "Have a seat... So...the in-law's been giving you problems?" He saw Shadow nod. "Probably thinks you're a no-good bum out to take advantage of his lil' angel."
Shadow laughed a bit. "Yeah, that's about the size of it."
"All in-laws are like that." He grinned. "Don't worry, most of them get over it. So...next problem...the kid... Seen a doctor?"
Shadow nodded, "Yeah, doc gave us some antibiotics... Said she'll be fine."
"Okay, so that just leaves you and the missus."
Shadow's ear twitched a bit. "I love her...but it just seems so complicated...Mr. Tanaka said something about women and them like...having this subtle poetry...but I just can't see it."
Tony listened and nodded. "Poetry? He probably wasn't talking about literal poetry... Ya know, women use body language to communicate a lot."
"Body language? So how do I read it?" Shadow asked in all seriousness.
"Heh, well, it's slightly different for everyone...but..." He scratched the back of his head. "It's kind of like a dance...you learn the steps and you won't step on nobody's toes."
"Great…. Poetry, body language…dancing." Shadow rubbed his forehead.
Tony laughed. "It's not that bad. You just gotta learn what buttons to push." Shadow fixed him with a glare for adding yet one more metaphor to an already complicated picture. He threw up his hands in surrender quickly, though, laughing. "Hey hey...settle down. Look, I know you're crazy about her so..." he paused, "think about what things you do that make her happy...little things... Ya give her a kiss? Tell her she smells pretty? Give her flowers? Chocolates? Tell her you love her?"
Shadow sighed a bit. "That's the thing, I guess...I know I make her happy, but it seems like every time I do, something happens…."
"Yeah, that's life." Tony shrugged a bit. "Sometimes it'll come easy, sometimes not..." He paused a bit, looking at the serious hedgehog next to him. "Tell her you love her more often."
"Huh??" He looked up from his sulking position. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't really remember telling her he loved her all that often. He clearly remembered Sara confessing her love for him to Amy, though.
"Simplest thing in the world, really." He smiled warmly and started back toward the counter. "You love each other, so naturally, you stop sayin' it after a while. You just assume she knows, or she assumes you know...but..." He picked up the pizza order and set it on the counter for Shadow. "It's really good to hear it now and again."
"How often do you say it to your wife?" Shadow pulled a couple of bills from his glove and handed them to Tony.
"Every day." He smiled warmly as he calculated Shadow's change and handed it to him.
"Huh..." Shadow took it and the pizza. "Thanks...I mean it."
"Any time, buddy!" Tony beamed. He knew he wasn't talking about the pizza.