Chapter Six:

One, Two, Take your first steps

"We... are a couple of gimps." Jessy spoke up from where she was staring at the ceiling. Thinking of the fallowing ten to twelve weeks, and knowing that her shoulder would be hurting off and on until it healed from that lovely dislocated session.

Blue ears twitched, flicked up and one rotated to aim at the woman's voice, the other angling down as best it can as Sonic split his focus to check that Sally and Lilly were still napping beside him on the floor and the really old but clean fluffy carpet. The anthro yawned widely and carefully stretched what he could of his frame without stressing his healing body. "Yeah… but it's warm." Sonic paused to consider something before adding with a pleased sigh, "And dry."

"True," The woman shifted and then resumed her professional slouching, slumped in the big red lazyboy chair. With the foot rest propped up and the back reclined she was almost swallowed by the chair as she stared with unfocused eyes at the rain of this latest winter storm out the window.

With the fireplace to her right, dimmed to low flames and coals. There was a half full bag of marshmallows on the carpet in the front of fireplace, metal camping roasting sticks were on the tiles along with half open chocolate bars, a packet of gram crackers, hotdogs, buns and a metal bowl of chili that had been placed in the coals to warm up. There was some brown sugar and a layer of shredded cheese melting on the chili too.

"Well, at least your ribs are only cracked, not broken. They should be completely fine in a few odd months. Two to, two and half at max, that's what Red said before." Jessy spoke up again, so not to think about dinner yet, she considered something and then added, "I might be able to get my hands on a few power stones that are stronger than this," The mechanic slipper her fingers under sling, shirt and a light wrappings for the cuts and scrapes to pull out a fifty cent sized and shape stone.

It was semi flat, and had a polished like shine to it. The stone was a mixed colored thing, at first Sonic thought it was reflecting the firelight, but as Jessy flipped it to him, Sonic could see that the thing was dark orange around the edges, and paling to yellow in the middle. It gave an eerie impression of a cat like eye.

For some reason Sonic couldn't explain, the stone in his fingers was familiar enough that a hazy image came to mind. Of see that 'coin' doubled, wide and frightened eyes star back at him from behind a glittering field of transparent silver...

Sonic blinked, and the odd image flickered in his mind's eye. Was that something he imagined? A daydream with bad timing thanks to the painkillers he was one?

...but no... Sonic was sure it was one of those few elusive memories from before the Roadway and the Truck.

Jessy was talking again, and Sonic let the last few seconds bleed back in to his consciousness.

"That one isn't that strong, but it powers the x-ray machine for the clinic." Jessy motioned in the general direction of the back medical rooms for the vet clinic. Sonic had been there a couple of times in the last week, though he didn't seem to mind. Or be insulted (shrugging apologies off and commenting it made sense, since he very well me the only anthro around for miles).

"Why did you have this in your sling?" Sonic asked, an ear twitching as the twins shifted in their sleep. The chance at a nap for himself gone that's to that memory-flash. Maybe he should star writing these down or something like that, given how fragile some of those snippets seamed (he remembered one that had sun and peaches, but nothing more than that even though he knew there was more...).

"It's sort of a cheap way to speed up healing. More so when you can't get to, or afford to go to a big hospital and their advanced tech. Like the tissue regrowth stuff, and bone netting over brakes to hold things together." Jessy explained, glancing to the side as she debated if getting up to get the food was worth the struggle of getting up and out of the too comfortable seat. "Power stones are all over now, something that happened in world war three. Most common are the coins, that size you got, they can power most 'little' things before needing to be recharged in the sun.

"Huh..." Sonic flipped the 'coin' around on his fingers, and then balanced it on just one, he could feel his bandages along his sides, and front moving with each careful breath. His ears flicked back for a moment remembering the 'big breath' time was coming to keep his ribcage flex able and lunges from collapsing in any way. Sonic fallow those instructions from Red very carefully, not wanting any impediments to those valuable organs. He was a Runner after all, and didn't want to think of what running would be like if his already large lunges were diminished.

He almost shuddered, not wanting to think having crippled lunges would do at his top spead.

"...hey," Jessy said after a few quiet minutes of watching the anthro stay intently focused on the coin stone he was balancing.

Sonic looked up, one ear kilted to the side, and without looking directly he flipped the coin up to catch and then tossed it back to Jessy. "Hey..." he said back.

"What is it?" The woman asked gently, picking up that there was something bothering the anthro.

"It's just…" Sonic frowned, thinking of the coin bright eyes again, and the hazy image of the feline they belonged to. "I can't remember really…anything beyond a month, maybe two ago." The hedgehog finally blurted out, "Every time I do get something, its like a flash, and completely random. And even those start to fade again like… like I can't hang onto them. It's been happening ever since I woke up after the Truck and that one place with the fruit trees and the human with the…." Sonic paused and made a motion with one hand over his face, the upper lip and down. "Whiskers?"

"Beard? Mustache?" Jessy offered.

"Right, that second one." Sonic nodded, he paused to look down at the girls, Sally snuggled against his fur in a motion of pure, sleepy innocence. Sonic melted in turn, relaxing fully again back into his peace from before.

"What happened to you Sonic?" Jessy asked, her voice still soft. Despite herself, and knowing that the anthro wasn't family, she couldn't help be feel drawn and treated Sonic just like one of her many younger brothers when they had gotten into trouble, or thought they did, and was trying to get them to admit what happened in order to help them.

"That's just it, I don't remember." Sonic half a half rumble in his chest, but it was light, not a growl or a purr. "That last thing I know for sure I was waking up on a road, I'm not sure where. There was this big truck, and then I just ran. But I can't remember anything more than that. At least not before the truck… so I named myself."

Jessy arched an eyebrow, "Named yourself?" she echoed with a smile.

"What's wrong with that?" Sonic demanded, one ear folding back the other angled to the side, "You did too, Jessy."

"Jessy instead of Jessica," the woman nodded, not disagreeing at all. She tilted her head, "So you don't remember anything?"

"Not really… There's these flashes now and then when I see or smell something," The hedgehog sunk lower for a moment then sat back up as much as he dared so not to wake the girls. "What I do get, after a while seems to fade again…" He sighed, picking at the carpet.

The anthro jumped as something bounced off his head, both ears stood up on end as he gave the pencil a look like it was about to bite him and looked up in time to just be able to catch the pad that was flying in the air at him. Sonic fumbled and stared before looking over it at the grinning Jessy. The woman was folding some of the lined papers she'd ripped out and stuffed them into the sling.

"Here, I tend to forget part numbers a lot, so I have a bunch of these booklets back home." Jessy said, then added in that same tone she used with her brothers again, "Don't force it, I don't know much about those things with the mind but I know you should never force things."

Sonic looked at the flip pad in his hand and smiled, "I was thinking of finding something to write stuff down on a little while ago."

"I'm a big sister and third oldest in my lot of siblings," Jessy grinned at Sonic, getting a smile back, "I know how to be prepared for the random stuff."

"Random stuff eh?" Sonic asked as he fiddled with the pencil.

"Ohh yeah," Jessy grinned, "You should see some of the stuff my little brothers do, they are insane to no end. Feel sorry for my little sister though, we're the only two girls in eight."

"Eight?" Baffled at the number Sonic looked up from writing a few lines of, 'Coin bright eyes behind a rainbow shine, and scared,'

"Eight?" he asked again, both ears pricked up high.

"Two sets of twins tends to rack up the numbers, if I know my mom, and I do, she wants one more girl- that's girly- to fuss over." Jessy rolled her eyes, "I think she also wants to be the next matriarch of the family, at least on the nomadic side... or both sides."

"Nomadic side?" The hedgehog blinked, then became interested as he had been very nomadic himself for the last two months. At first from no choice that he could tell, and then just liking moving around. Sonic didn't like the rain that much though.

"Yeah, I'm actually apart of the Nomadic Nations," The woman sat up more in her chair, then relaxed back after that, just shifting her bad shoulder to relive a twinge. "On my father's side, so I can actually wander to nearly any country I want."

"Have you?" Sonic tilted his head. "Gone to other countries that is."

"A few, and a few Zones over the years, but it wasn't until recently that I started to get the itch from the curse," Jessy grinned and wiggling her fingers at the anthro as he took a moment to rub an ear.

"Itch?" Sonic paused in his ear scratching as he became aware of doing it.

"Yeah," The woman chuckled at his subconscious reaction and then looked over to the side as Red was walking in from the veterinary clinic. "Hey Red, you guys got my truck?"

"Yep, and your bike in the bed," The big man smiled, catching the coin as it was tossed at him, tucking it into a pocket and then Red helped Jessy up to her feet. "And the other routes to your house are still washed out, but expect a horde of messages and constant calls."

"I expected as much, thus why I live on a hill above a flood zone so I can get some peace and quiet while," Jessy snicker, watching as Red freed Sonic of his heat leaches, putting Sally on the couch and tucking her in to finish her nap.

Sonic rose stiffly to his knees to put Lilly there as well, but had to be helped up himself. The hedgehog wheezed, but it was normal, and with the girls asleep they moved to the clinic. "Thank you Red, for everything."

"Everyone needs help." The big man said, helping support the anthro, "Besides, its family honor on the line! I would have helped you before if you had stayed instead of running off." Red smiled down at the shocked look in the wide, almost innocent green eyes.

Sonic might have rocked on his heels, but he was being held, and Jessy wasn't far behind him. "Wait... that was here?" Sonic looked back at the living room, seeing the couch, that rug in front of the fireplace... the fire place!

The man nodded, helping Sonic to lean on a wall in the clinic to fetch three small bottles, "Yes, though I didn't see you, just your tracks, but from what Sally described, and seeing you when Jessy hauled you into my pantry, I guess that was you in the rain the other week." Red helped Sonic to the front of the clinic and the waiting pick up there.

"Now you're not in the rain anymore." The woman said, Jessy grinned as she flopped a hand on Sonic's head, the on the safe place that is, right between his ears and ruffled the fur there. "I gave you my word that you can stay under my roof while you heal. I was the one you over."

"Yeah, but I was an idiot that didn't look both ways before crossing the road." Sonic looked up slightly to meet Jessy's eyes. The truthful threads but still willing to joke and tease about it...

An unspoken, but soon to be solid bond between the two started in that instant. Born of shared pain and kindness to be strengthened in healing time in a small apartment over a motorcycle repair workshop.