(See Part 1 for Disclaimer and Warning).
~What It Truly Means to be Loved Finale~
A week after the surgery to fix his arm, Kit was moved over to the psychiatric wing of the hospital and was kept on suicide watch during his stay. He wasn't going to hurt himself again, but he understood why he needed to monitored.
It wasn't that bad as Surge came to visit him once week, on the weekends. She would bring him snacks, toys or comics, and she would stay in his room for hours talking to him and keeping him company.
All the while, Shadow had gone back to family court to petition for legal guardianship for Kit. The fact that the young fox had tried to take his own life while he was in his home didn't make things easy, but the lawyers understood that Shadow wasn't at fault for that.
There really was no way of knowing that Kit was going to that, and Shadow assured them that he was going to take safety measures to prevent another incident from occurring.
After obtaining guardianship for Kit, Shadow had went about child proofing his entire house: he put locks on the cutlery drawers, he put away the only pair of scissors he had in a place only he knew how to get into, he kept the garage door locked at all times and he insisted that if Kit goes to the bathroom, Surge should follow him and wait outside the door so she could hear him if he needs help.
And for good measure, he replaced the bathroom doorknob so it didn't have a lock, so Kit couldn't lock himself in the bathroom and drown in the tub.
After that, Shadow went ahead and bought another twin sized bed and put it into the guest bedroom so now Kit had a place to sleep as well. Surge's therapist had agreed to also take Kit on as a patient as well, giving him some much needed therapy from his own trauma.
During one of her visits, Surge had told Kit about her baby girl Sparkplug, who was adopted by a nice, loving couple. As promised, Shadow got Surge her own cellphone and gave her Ramon and Yasmin's phone numbers so she could video chat with them.
So, she called them up one day while visiting Kit.
"Hello?", asked Surge.
"Oh? Oh hi, hello there! Honey, its Surge! She's calling to say hello", said Yasmin.
Ramon then came on screen, holding Sparkplug in his arms. She was wearing a cute little pink onesie and her quills were tied up with a little red bow. The little baby bear looked at the screen and started cooing and giggling at the sight of Surge.
Surge, herself, had to hold back tears because she assumed that Sparkplug's reaction showed that she remembered her biological mother and was happy to see her. "Hey, there's someone I want to introduce you guys to. This is my little brother, Kit. He's got his own brand of trauma too, so he's been here in the hospital", she said.
"Oh I'm sorry to hear that. Are you doing okay, sweetie?", asked Yasmin.
Kit smiled, "Yeah. I'm doing alright, the doctors say that I'm getting better by the day but I still need to talk to a therapist. Surge told me she had a baby, and now that I see her, I think she's really cute. Take good care of her, please", he said.
Ramon and Yasmin smiled, "We will, son. We need to go now, we're going to the park today. Call us whenever you want to say hello to the baby. Goodbye", said Ramon.
"Bye!", said Surge and Kit.
After they hung up, Shadow walked into the room. Before he brought Surge to the hospital to visit Kit, the two had gone grocery shopping and also bought Kit some clothes for him to wear. "Kit, I finished filling out the paperwork. So soon, a nurse will come in to help take the I.V. out and help you get dress in the clothes in this bag", he said as he gestured to the bag in his hands.
Kit was surprised by this, "Wait...I'm leaving the hospital?", he asked.
"Yes. While you still need to go to therapy with Surge, you're being discharged from the hospital since your wounds are nearly completely healed. I have to bring you back in a month to remove the stitches but you can come home now. Surge and I will wait for you in the waiting room", explained Shadow.
He and Surge then left the room just as a nurse came in to help Kit get ready to leave. After he got his clothes on, he walked outside to the waiting room where Shadow and Surge were waiting for him. Soon, they made it back to Shadow's house, "You two sit here while make dinner", said Shadow.
As he walked towards the kitchen, Surge and Kit sat on couch. "How are you feeling, Kit? How's your arm doing?", asked Surge.
Kit held up his right arm and flinched, "Its alright, still hurts a bit though. I'm so--"
He was cut off when Surge flicked him on the nose, "I thought I told you to stop with apologies, Drippy! None of what happened to either of us is your fault, so quit apologizing, okay? Plus, I'm not mad at you", she said.
Kit nodded and then let out a small laugh, "Yeah...I guess it's just a habit of mine, hopefully the therapy will help with that. I'm just glad that we're together again and away from Starline", he said which prompted Surge to smile back at him.
"Surge! Kit! Come to the kitchen, dinner is ready!", Shadow called out.
The two young Mobians got up from the couch and walked over to the kitchen, they sat down at the table just as Shadow set down their meals. "Here you go, baked chicken leg quarters with white rice and baked beans", said Shadow.
"Thank you", said Surge and Kit as they picked up their forks and began eating. Their eyes lit up from delicious taste of the well prepared meal.
"Mmm, this is so good!", said Kit.
"You know, you cook really good for a guy who doesn't need to eat much", said Surge.
Shadow laughed as he poured them glasses of water, "Well because I'm the Ultimate Lifeform, I actually don't need to eat or sleep as much as the average Mobian. I only do it to replenish my energy but that's only if I don't have a Chaos Emerald on hand.
"Plus, I do enjoy cooking. My friends have thrown parties and I was asked to prepare something for everyone to eat, so I got into cooking more and more. Now, because I've become your legal guardian, I need to know how to cook to feed you. I could just order out but it's much healthier, especially for Mobians as young as you two, to eat home cooked meals rather than eating out", he explained.
"Has anyone ever told you that you're really smart? Like, you sound even smarter than Starline!", said Kit.
Shadow had a prideful smile on his face, he definitely enjoyed being called smarter than that miserable fool Starline. "Well, I'm much older than he is and I have more life experience. Plus, he claims to be a genius but honestly, I think Eggman is more of a genius than that duck billed buffoon!", he said.
Surge and Kit laughed as they continued eating their meals; when they were finished, Shadow picked up their dirty dishes. "Alright, now both of you get ready to take a bath. Surge, you can bathe by yourself but Kit, you're going to wait so that I can supervise you. It's not that I don't trust you to be left alone in the bathtub, it's just that I've been mandated to supervise you until you've passed your psychiatric evaluation", he said.
The two young Mobians nodded in understanding as they went upstairs to do as he instructed. Shadow washed the dishes, cleaned the table and then went upstairs; Surge was in the bathroom showering while Kit sat on his bed, waiting for her to finish. Shadow went over to sit next to him.
"How is your arm doing? Does it hurt at all?", asked Shadow.
"Its a little sore, but otherwise okay. I'm sorry--ah, dang it! There I go again, apologizing. Surge told me to stop doing that since nothing was my fault, but I just have this compulsive desire to take responsibility for everything that happened", said Kit.
Shadow gently patted him on the back, "Its gonna be alright, Kit. This compulsive behavior is clearly the result of Starline's brainwashing, but the therapy will help with that. It will definitely take some time to undo his conditioning, but you'll get better. And in the meantime, you won't be alone", he said.
Kit smiled as tears formed in his eyes, he threw his arms around Shadow in a grateful hug, "Thank you so much for helping me and Surge, I don't know what either of us would've done without you and your friends", he said. Shadow wrapped an arm around the little fennec as he rubbed his back.
Just then, Surge walked into the room, completely clean and wearing a set of dark green pajamas. She was using a towel to dry her drooping quills, "I'm all done now, Shadow", she said. Shadow nodded as he helped Kit up over to the bathroom, he gave Kit his privacy by standing outside of the bathroom door, but kept it partly open to make sure he could hear him.
After Kit finished, Shadow led him back to the bedroom where Surge laid on the bed watching TV. "Okay, now that you two have had your dinner and a bath, you can relax here in your room. Don't stay up too late, though. You can watch TV until 10:30, after that go to sleep, alright?", said Shadow.
Surge and Kit nodded as Shadow gently closed the door as he left the room. Then Surge turned towards Kit, "You wanna watch cartoons?", she asked.
"I don't know what cartoons are but they sound interesting, so okay then", said Kit.
[Time Skip]
"Those damn...stupid brats!"
Starline screamed as he punched into his desk, he had regained consciousness a few hours after Kit had attacked him, but then he realized that Kit had disappeared as well.
It had became obvious to him that both of his wards had turned against him and ran off on their own, which only served to anger Starline even more. "After all I've done for them, they decided to be ungrateful little sh*ts! Well, if none of the Badniks can find them, then I'll do it myself! And when I get them back, screw brainwashing! I'm gonna lobotomize them, let's see if they'll disobey me when they no longer have the capacity to think!", he shouted.
Arming himself with a laser gun, a net launcher and his hypnotic gear, Starline left the base in search of his creations.
[Time Skip]
Shadow walked out of the therapist's office with Surge and Kit in tow, the two just finished having another session with their psychiatrist. She told Shadow after session was over that they were improving, Kit would need more time sense his trauma was deeply rooted into his mind so it would take more time to undo Starline's conditioning.
Surge, on the other hand, was improving and was now allowed to have visits with her daughter and her adopted family, but Shadow would still need to supervise her as it was still unclear whether or not she could be trusted being alone.
"Well, we still have a whole day left. What do you two want to do now?", asked Shadow.
"Oh, can we go get ice cream?", asked Surge.
"I want some ice cream too", said Kit.
"Alright then, there's an ice cream parlor in the city. Let's go there so we can get you two a well deserved treat for how well you did during your therapy session today", said Shadow. Surge and Kit smiled back at him.
A few minutes later, they were at the ice cream parlor, standing in line. Soon it was their turn as they approached the counter, "What can I get you folks today?", asked the man standing behind the counter. "I'll just have a single scoop chocolate ice cream cone. Okay, now you two can order whatever you want", said Shadow.
Surge and Kit looked through the glass of the display counter at all the different ice cream flavors, noticing that there was at least thirty one flavors.
"Can we get one of each?", asked Surge.
"No. Even though I could afford it, I don't need you wasting all that ice cream because you got a stomachache and couldn't finish it. Just pick one flavor, you have all the time in the world to try the other flavors", said Shadow.
Surge then turned back towards the display counter, staring at the ice cream.
"Hey, what's this brown ice cream with these lighter brown bits in it?", Kit asked the man behind the counter.
"That's almond fudge", the ice cream man said.
"I'll have that then", said Kit.
"And what's this one white ice cream with these dark brown and light brown bits in it?", asked Surge.
"That's chocolate chip cookie dough", said the ice cream man.
"I'll have that one", said Surge.
"Would you like the ice cream in a bowl or on a cone?", asked the ice cream man.
"We're gonna sit outside on a park bench, so give them ice cream cones", said Shadow.
The man nodded as he went to prepare the ice cream, Shadow pulled out his wallet and took out some money. He placed it on the counter just as the man came back with the ice cream, he gave it to them and took the money.
"Keep the change", said Shadow as he led Surge and Kit out of the ice cream parlor. The three sat on a bench outside as they ate their ice cream.
"Hey, Shadow. I've been thinking about something...", said Kit.
"What is it, Kit?", asked Shadow.
"Your backyard is nice but it seems so barren and empty. Can we start a garden in the backyard?", said Kit.
Shadow thought about about it for a bit, he had been considering taking up a few hobbies in the past. Starting a garden didn't seem like a bad idea, "Okay then. Do you want to plant a vegetable garden or do you want a regular garden with flowers?", he said.
"Why not both? We can plant nice flowers around the yard, and we can also plant vegetables in the middle of the garden. When they're ripe, we can pick them and you can make stew and all kinds of food with them", said Surge.
Shadow smirked as he let out a small laugh, "Well then its settled, we'll go tomorrow to the home goods store and buy some gardening tools and seeds. I've also been feeling that the backyard was too barren and boring. Say, are you two interested in other hobbies?", he said.
"I...do wanna learn painting. I saw some really pretty watercolor paints in a store one time, so I wanna paint watercolor artwork", said Kit.
Surge laughed, "Cause of your water abilities, Drippy? Sounds cool. As for me, I wanna go into martial arts. Like, maybe karate? I had tried to defend myself before and failed, so I wanna learn self defense", she said.
Shadow nodded as he gave them napkins to clean their hands after they finished their ice cream, "Okay. I'll look into martial arts schools in the city, I'm sure there's a few looking for new students. In the meantime, we can get Kit some canvases, paintbrushes and watercolor paints so he can start painting", he said.
The two smiled and nodded in agreement, they stood up to throw out their used napkins.
"We don't have to go home right away, do you kids want to go see a movie or something?", asked Shadow.
"Yeah!", said Surge and Kit.
[Time Skip]
The next morning, Shadow was preparing a breakfast of pancakes with scrambled eggs and bacon for Surge and Kit, only this time they were helping out by setting the table. Just as Shadow set their meals down on the table, there was a knock on the door.
"You kids can go ahead and start eating, I'll go see who's there", said Shadow.
He walked over to the front door and answered it, revealing Sonic.
"Hey Shadow, long time no see! How's Surge and Kit doing?", said Sonic.
"Hello, Sonic. They're doing fine, we were actually gonna go out after breakfast. They want to take up painting and martial arts, so I was gonna take them into the city", said Shadow.
Sonic laughed before giving Shadow a friendly smile, "Wow, Shads! You've done such a good job taking care of those two, and you care about them so much...its almost like you're their Dad", he said.
Shadow would've argued back but he couldn't because he was beginning to believe that himself, he was taking good care of Surge and Kit. He also really cared a lot about them, but they didn't see him as a father...did they?
"Anyways, Shadow, I came by to ask if you wanted to hang out but since you're going out with Surge and Kit, can I tag along too?", asked Sonic.
"Sure, why not?", said Shadow.
Sonic walked into the house to wait until it was time to go, Surge and Kit went to sit in the living room and wait for Shadow to finish washing the dishes.
"Hey Sonic, how's it going?", asked Surge.
"Everything's going great. How are you kids doing? How's your arm, Kit?", said Sonic.
"Its doing much better now. In two weeks, I have to go back to the hospital and have my stitches removed", said Kit.
Sonic gave him a thumbs up, "Good to hear, little buddy. Oh, by the way, Tails told me to ask if you wanna hang out some time. He says he thinks your little hydro pack is cool and he wants to talk Tech with you", he said.
Kit smiled, "Really? Okay then, I'll ask Da-- I mean, Shadow, if I could go over to your house this weekend. I don't know if we'll have time since we're gonna start a garden in the backyard, but I'll ask him", he said.
Soon, Shadow came into the living room. "Alright then, I'm all set. Let's get going now", he said. Then they left the house with Sonic tagging along.
[Time Skip]
Since it was a particularly bright and sunny day out, Shadow thought that he could take Surge and Kit to the park to play for a while before taking them to get art supplies, gardening supplies and sign up for martial arts classes.
Shadow sat on a bench with Sonic as he watched Surge hang upside down on the monkey bars and Kit playing on the swings.
"They seem to be doing a lot better lately, huh?", said Sonic.
"Yes. Their therapist said they're improving, although Kit needs more time. I'm just glad that they've both stopped being suicidal, though. Mobians their age shouldn't be thinking like that", said Shadow.
Sonic watched the two kids playing, "Yeah...oh, by the way, how's Surge's baby doing? Is she getting along great with her adopted parents?", he said.
"We have video calls every now and then, the baby is doing very well. Her new parents take good care of her and she's growing up strong and happy every day. Soon, Surge will be cleared for supervised visits. She's pretty happy knowing she'll get to see Sparkplug in person soon", said Shadow.
"Sparkplug? Is that what Surge named her? That's pretty cute, I'm happy for her. And so is everyone else", said Sonic.
"That...reminds me. Have you guys got word about Starline yet?", asked Shadow.
Sonic shrugged, "No. We haven't given up searching, but the guy really isn't making it easy for us to find him. But don't you think it's strange, though? Both Surge and Kit turned against him and came to our side, shouldn't he have tried looking for them himself?", he said.
Shadow pondered what Sonic said for a moment and realized that he had a good point. If Starline had lost his two "minions", his most important tools for his plans, why hasn't he come looking for them? Did he give up on his evil plans?
Just then, Surge came up to the two hedgehogs.
"Huh? What is it, Surge?", asked Shadow.
"I'm hungry. Can I get some money to but a hotdog from the stand over there?", asked Surge as she gestured to the hotdog stand near the park.
Shadow took out a ten dollar bill, "Go on ahead, use this", he said.
"Might I recommend the chilidog? I guarantee you'll love it!", said Sonic.
Shadow rolled his eyes as Surge took the money and ran off, "Don't suggest she eat that junk food you like, I only feed her and Kit healthy meals", he said.
You really are turning into a Dad, Sonic thought.
Meanwhile, Surge walked over to the hotdog stand. There was a Mobian deer running the stand, "Hey there, kiddo. What can I get ya?", he asked.
Surge looked at the menu on the side of the stand, trying to decide what to get. This one hotdog caught her eye the most: it was a hotdog with guacamole, tomatoes, jalapenos, and sriracha mayo sauce on a sesame seed bun. It sounded very tasty and just the description alone was enough to make Surge drool.
"I'll take this Jalapeno Guacamole Dog, please!", she said as she handed the deer the money.
"Okay, give me a minute and I'll have that ready for you", he said.
As Surge waited for her order to be done, a net suddenly flew in out of nowhere and trapped her inside it. Surge let out a startled shout, which scared the hotdog stand owner, alerting him to what was going on.
"Hey--"
He was cut off when he was suddenly zapped by a laser blast, knocking him down and rendering him unconscious. Surge looked up in fear and her heart stopped when she saw the absolute last person she wanted to see at that moment.
"St-st-st--", she stammered.
"Hello, my dear. You've been a very bad girl and you need to be punished!"
At that moment, Surge let out a bloodcurdling scream of terror. This alerted Sonic, Shadow and Kit, and they quickly ran over to the hotdog stand; there, they saw the stand owner unconscious on the ground and Surge being held in a net by Starline.
"Starline?!", shouted Sonic and Shadow. Kit shrieked in fear at the sight of Starline and hid behind Sonic.
"Well well, if it isn't the fools who stole my creations from me! Well, not this time! Surge, Kit, I'm taking you back to the base and this time, I'm gonna make sure you two don't ever turn against me again! Maybe you'll be more obedient after I tie you down and lobotomize you!", Starline shouted.
Surge couldn't help herself, she immediately started crying and screaming for help.
"Sh-Shadow...Dad! Help me!", she screamed.
Shadow gasped when he heard what Surge called him, but it didn't really matter to him because at that moment, something inside him snapped. He looked at Starline, who was shaking the net and shouting at Surge to shut up and stop sniveling like a child, and could feel his blood boiling over.
"Let...go...OF MY DAUGHTER!", Shadow screamed as he leapt into the air and roundhouse kicked Starline in the stomach. The platypus went skidding across the grass, getting covered in dirt and twigs. He had dropped his laser gun, which Shadow immediately stepped on, breaking it into pieces.
Then, he ripped open the net, freeing Surge. "Dad!", she sobbed as she threw her arms around Shadow in a tight embrace. Shadow held her close as he tried to soothed her and calm her down, "Shh...it's okay, you're okay. Everything is gonna alright now, I won't let that bastard hurt you", he said.
Starline groaned as he sat up, he looked at Sonic and Shadow, the latter looked like he wanted to murder the platypus while the former stood protectively over Kit. "You come any closer and I'll spin-dash you into next Tuesday!", said Sonic.
Starline stared at Surge and Kit, who hid behind Sonic and Shadow, and glared angrily at them. "How could you two do this to me?! After everything I did for two, you would betray me and side with my enemies?!", he shouted.
Now it was Shadow's turn to glare angrily, "What did you do for them? You took two innocent children and experimented on them, then you brainwashed them to believe what you wanted, and then you subjected them to harsh training exercises that almost killed them!
"What you've done to Surge and Kit is borderline child abuse! In fact, that brings up an important question: where did you find them? Kit couldn't find any information in your video logs, so who were they before you meddled with their lives? Huh? Tell me!", he shouted as he aimed a Chaos Spear at Starline.
Realizing he had no way out of this situation, Starline just sighed. "Alright! You really wanna know? Then fine! Ever wondered why no friends or family ever came looking for them? That's because they were both poor orphans living on the streets, so they seemed perfect for my plans. No one would miss them if they were gone, so I took them!
"My plan was supposed to be perfect! I would've gotten rid of Sonic and Tails, and I would prove to Eggman that he needs my genius to succeed! But then Surge had to run away, and then Kit too! What the Hell were you even doing all this time, Surge?! You don't know the trouble you caused me!", he shouted.
Shadow gently pushed Surge towards Sonic before stomping over towards Starline, he then grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and punched him in the face.
"You bastard! You have no idea what she went through, what you caused to happen to her because you refuse to properly educate her! You wanna know what happened? She was kidnapped, beaten, raped and impregnated by some scumbag who took advantage of the fact that she had no idea what she was even doing!
"She was just a poor, innocent children who was used and abused by absolute monsters like you and the bear who kidnapped her! And then wanna know what else? She was forced to have her baby in a bathtub in a dingy apartment, and then when she finally escaped, she gave up all hope and tried to abandon her baby and commit suicide!
"She would be dead if Sonic and I hadn't spotted her in time! Also, guess what Kit did when he escaped from you and found out what happened to Surge? He tried to commit suicide as well by slashing his arm because thanks to your incessant brainwashing, he was convinced that it was his fault!
"And you did all this just to prove to that asshole Eggman that you're better than him? I should beat you until you can no longer walk, but Surge and Kit have been psychologically scarred enough and they're getting better thanks to therapy, so I guess we'll just have to lock you up instead", said Shadow.
He dropped Starline on his tail and turned to Sonic, who was on his cellphone. "You calling the others?", he asked.
"Yup, I also called the police to get Starline and an ambulance for that poor hotdog stand owner", said Sonic.
As Shadow nodded, Starline slowly stood up and pulled out a taser from his back pocket. Surge and Kit noticed as he slowly stalked up behind Shadow, taser raised high in the air.
"NO!", they screamed as they lunged forward.
Shadow jumped out of the way in shock as Surge and Kit fired a combined electric and water attack at Starline, Kit launched one of his hydro coil tails at Starline while Surge fired electricity out from her hands. The water and electricity connected together and blasted Starline, instantly electrocuting him.
Starline let out a short scream before he was completely silenced, his body convulsing wildly. When Surge and Kit finally stopped, Starline's singed and lifeless corpse collapsed to the ground.
The two young Mobians didn't look to see what they had done, they just turned around and threw themselves at Shadow, embracing him tightly.
"Dad...can we go home?", Surge muttered.
"I wanna leave! Please Daddy, I just wanna go home!", Kit sobbed.
Shadow held closely in his arms as he lifted them up and carried them, "Sonic, I need to take them home now. Can you handle everything here?", he said.
"Yes, of course. I got this, Shadow. You get your kids home pronto, they don't need to be here for this", said Sonic.
With that said, Shadow used Chaos Control to get back to his house faster. Once he was inside, he sat down on the couch to comfort and console the two crying kids.
"Dad...", muttered Surge.
"Papa...", muttered Kit.
At this point, Shadow didn't care that they were calling him "Dad" instead of "Big Brother" like they did a week ago. In fact, he didn't have an issue with it, he felt flattered. And the affection he felt for Surge and Kit began to grow the more they called him their father.
"Shhh...it's gonna be alright, you two are safe with me. Starline won't hurt you anymore, no one will hurt you anymore. As long as I have breath within me, you two will be safe. You never have to be afraid again, I will always protect you", said Shadow.
He rocked Surge and Kit gently as whispered reassuring things to them, calming them down and soothing them as they slowly fell asleep in his arms.
[Epilogue: One year later...]
"Alright, students. That's enough practice for today, have a safe trip home!"
Surge sighed as she changed in the locker room of the martial arts studio she was in, taking a sip from her water bottle.
It had been a whole year since she and Kit was taken in by Shadow, and much had change in that time.
After she and Kit had killed Starline in self defense, Sonic and the others had gotten in touch with some morticians to take care of the body. Starline was buried in an unarmed grave in an empty plot of the nearby cemetery.
A month after that, the trial of Surge the Tenrec vs. Trevor the Bear was held. Surge had been deem mentally capable by her therapist to stand trial and she herself felt ready to stand against the scumbag who abused her. Trevor was initially surprised to hear that Surge had the baby and put it up for adoption, he tried to argue that he should be in the baby's life and that it was Surge who first initiated the sex.
However, due to all the evidence of rape and domestic abuse, Trevor was found guilty and sentenced to seven years in prison with the possibility of parole. On top of that, a restraining order was issued against by Shadow and Sparkplug's adopted parents, stating that after he was eventually released from prison, he was to stay at least fifteen feet away from Surge and his biological daughter.
If he violated the restraining order, he would be sent back to jail.
After that, Surge and Kit were able to move on with their lives. As Shadow promised, he signed Surge up for martial arts classes and he even signed Kit up for art classes at the community rec center, so they could spend time doing the hobbies they wanted.
They helped Shadow start that garden in his backyard and now he was growing all sorts of flowers and vegetables in the backyard, the latter of which he would pick and used to make meals for his children.
Yes, at this point, Shadow had accepted his new role as Surge and Kit's father. He did feel more like a big brother to them at first, considering that older brothers did take care of their younger siblings from time to time, but an older sibling wasn't what they needed. They needed a parent, the reason Starline was able to kidnapped them and experiment on them was because they didn't have a family to protect them.
Now they had Shadow, who swore to protect them with his life. He promised that nothing would ever happen to them again.
"Hey Surge, wanna join us for lunch?"
Surge turned around to see two other Mobians, a female rabbit and a male white tiger. Their names were Yuki the Rabbit and Alex the Tiger, they were also in the same martial arts class as Surge, and they were also her new friends.
They would always hang after class, Surge loved having friends and being able to do what she wanted. Every Saturday after class, she'd spend the afternoon with her friends, except for times when she'd hang out with her family.
As for Kit, he made some friends at his art classes as well. He met a pair of twin arctic foxes named Joey and Dylan, they got along really well with Kit as they bonded over their shared love of watercolor artwork.
Surge and Kit still had to attend weekly therapy sessions but things were slowly getting better for them. Kit was slowly but surely breaking through the conditioning Starline inflicted on him, and Surge was finally allowed to visit her daughter without supervision but she still wanted Shadow to accompany her regardless.
They also got along great Sonic and the others. Sonic thought Surge all about moving fast and she liked hanging with Amy and Cream from time to time, and Kit loved hanging out with Tails and talking about tech. Tails even modified Kit's hydro pack for him, so now he didn't have to recharge it too much.
"Guys, don't you remember? It's my birthday today. Dad and his friends are throwing a party at the park today, but you guys can come", said Surge. Yuki and Alex nodded as they tagged along with Surge to the park.
After going over the footage of Starline's video logs and doing a lot of math, Tails was able to calculate when Surge and Kit's birthdays were so they could celebrate them. It was Surge's sixteenth birthday that day and thus, she was gonna celebrate with her friends and family.
When they got to the park, Surge was happy to Shadow, Kit, Sonic and his friends, Kit's friends and even her daughter Sparkplug and her adopted parents. Sparkplug was a year old now and she already knew how to walk, she had just started learning how to talk too and she was happy to see her second mother.
"Happy birthday, Surge. We prepared a cake for you, come so you can blow out the candles", said Shadow as he led her over to the table. Surge smiled as she stood by the table, surrounded by the people she loved while looking down at the red velvet cake that sat on the table.
As she stood there, Surge thought back to a year ago, before all this happened. She wondered what would've happened to her, to Kit, of she didn't run away that day. Would things be different? Would she have ever reconciled with Kit and become friends with Sonic? Would she even have a father like Shadow in her life? Would she have gotten involved with Trevor and had Sparkplug?
Kit walked over to her and held her hand, "Come on, Surge! Blow out the candles and make a wish!", he said.
Surge looked down and smiled at him, "I don't need to, all my wishes have already come true", she said but she blew the candles out anyway. She decided to stop dwelling on the past, what could've or should've happened didn't matter to her anymore.
All that mattered was that it happened and it's in the past, all Surge could do was move on with her life. Starline was gone and Trevor was going to stay away from her forever, she rekindled her relationship with Kit and now she got a chance at a new life.
I don't care about the past anymore...I'm just gonna enjoy the present and look forward to what the future holds for us, she thought.
Surge smiled as she sat down next to Kit and Yasmin, who was holding Sparkplug and feeding her cake. Kit looked up at her with a smile, "Was life everything you thought it would and more?", he asked.
Surge smiled and patted her little brother on the head, "Nope...its even better than I could've imagined, and I wouldn't have it any other way!", she said. She then pulled Kit into hug, embracing them as they laughed happily.
Yup, life couldn't have been better for the young tenrec and fennec fox. If Surge did wish for one thing, it was for this newfound happiness to last forever.
[The End]