"He's flipping between wanting to run to you right now and not wanting to go at all," Tom said.

It took everything in Sonic's power to stay still as he was eavesdropping on his dad's phone call with Wade. He needed to know. He wasn't sure exactly what but he needed to know that. He was so restless since he learned about the other hedgehog. The boy had barely slept. He had so many questions but his parents didn't have answers.

"At least you have any kind of feedback." Sonic heard Wade's voice coming from the phone. "Shadow doesn't talk to me and tries his best to avoid staying in the same room as me. He acts calm but it has to take a toll on him too. He had never met anyone like him before."

Sonic's muscles tensed as he heard that. He was fighting his instinct to just rush in, grab the phone and ask more questions.

"Not even when he was little?" Tom was surprised.

"Yes, as far as I know." Wade sighed. "I'm not sure how he'll react to them. So you and Maddie try to be ready for anything."

"We'll cut the visit short if it would be too much for him."

There was an awkward pause and a few noises coming from the phone. Wade started a word and stopped himself in the middle. Tom waited patiently but the expression on his dad's face grew worried.

"There is more," Wade said. "I don't know how much he'll want to share about himself but it's rough. He beats your kids kind of rough. So try to be ready for that too. He needs help and should have our support. I don't want him to be afraid to talk about it."

And with that Sonic was gone. He heard much more than he wanted. He could have waited and allowed his parents to decide when he should know about Shadow. On the flip side, he was no longer worried about meeting the new hedgehog. If what Wade was saying was true, Sonic was worried about him. The new hedgehog had a troubled past and was alone. Sonic could teach the new guy how to be a hedgehog, even if he didn't know too much about it himself. Guilt was gnawing at him. He learned something that wasn't meant for him but he could turn it into something good.

He followed the sound of laughter and the scent of cookies. Knuckles and Tails were helping mom clean up as the cookies were baking. The echidna was doing surprisingly well around the kitchen and seemed to enjoy it. He learned how to cook when he had to take care of himself. Unlike Sonic he didn't have to hide and eat things that people throw out. It also allowed Knuckles to spend more time with Maddie which he seemed to enjoy greatly. Miles was eagerly watching the cookies in the oven as his tails swayed comfortably.

"It was going to be the best welcome party ever," Sonic said confidently.

"""

It was ridiculous. Sonic had already decided that he was not nervous about meeting Shadow. He had good reasons why he shouldn't be nervous and why he wanted to make a good first impression. He needed to do his best to help the new guy as he did with his brothers. That chain of thought made him even more anxious. He bumped his head against his car seat. He hated that thing but already was used to it. But at least Tails was sharing his pain. He was annoyed that Knuckles was tall enough and heavy enough to avoid that cruel fate.

They stopped in front of Wade's house and Sonic's stomach sank. He could still run away but it would mean embarrassing his parents. And after his speech about 100% Wachowski experience, it would break Tails' heart if he would run.

Maddie looked back at her boys. "Ok, just tried to be mindful of Shadow's emotions. It's a very confusing time for him so some things might be too much for him. And if you get uncomfortable, you let us know."

"Yes, Missus Maddie" "Ok, mom" "Understood," The boys said back.

She smiled. "I'm sure that he'll be happy to have new friends in the town that he just moved into."

They exited the car. Knuckles held his head high and beamed with pride as he held a container of cookies in front of him. At first, he suggested that the hedgehog was a better fit to represent the tribe but when Maddie and Sonic insisted that it was his responsibility as the eldest of the kids, the look of wonder on his face could melt even the coldest hearts.

Tails was clinging to Maddie's side and Tom put his hand on Sonic's shoulder.

"Are you doing all right?" Tom asked.

"Yeah." Sonic waved his hand dismissively. "It's just meeting a hedgehog for the first time. You know how it's. You have some experience. It's not a big deal."

"I remember tranquilizing the first hedgehog that I met." Tom grinned. "I'm sure that you'll do better than me."

Sonic chuckled and his shoulders relaxed. "But you can't argue with the results, dad."

He gulped when his mother knocked. He heard some commotion inside and Wade opened the door. "Hello. It's nice to see you come in." He said as he ushered them inside. His voice was a little shaky.

As soon as he stepped inside, Sonic froze. There he was, standing a few feet behind Wade, Shadow the hedgehog. He had his arms folded on his chest as he observed them. His cold eyes took in every detail of them. Golden rings around his wrists and ankles shone brightly. He had a different fur pattern and color than Sonic and it made the boy wonder how many colors could hedgehogs have. The black hedgehog looked so cool.

"Everyone, this is Shadow. Shadow, these are my friends Maddie and Tom and their kids, Knuckles, Sonic, and Miles." Wade said as he pointed to each member of the Wachowski family.

"It's nice to meet you, Shadow," Maddie said with a smile.

From the corner of his eye, Sonic saw Tails turning his head towards Wade with big eyes. Knuckles didn't notice since he was so focused on his mission to represent the tribe, but Tails did. Wade called all of them Maddie's and Tom's kids. Something that they avoid doing most of the time. The other hedgehog lifted his brow but didn't say anything. Shadow was judging them.

Knuckles took the lack of response as a sign to step forward toward the hedgehog and presented the container with cookies to him.

"It is my honor to present you a gift of food from the Wachowski tribe to welcome you as a new member of the Whipple household." The echidna said in the most official tone of voice.

Shadow looked at it suspiciously but took it. "Thank you."

"We made them together." Tails said with childish joy.

Knuckles returned to their side, proud of himself.

"Would you like to hang out with the boys in the backyard?" Wade asked Shadow.

"No." The black hedgehog answered sharply and just like that the hallway was suddenly filled with awkward tension.

"If you want to get to know them first, we can have a little chat in the living room," Wade suggested.

Shadow just moved towards the living room without answering.

"He doesn't talk a lot," Wade explained awkwardly.

"We can do it at his pace." Tom gave Wade a sympathetic smile as he ushered his kids to follow the new boy.

There was something odd about the way Shadow walked. His body was tense and seemed ready to run away at any point. The feeling that Sonic could relate to. When the blue hedgehog started living with Maddie and Tom, he had a very hard time relaxing in a new home. But Shadow didn't look nervous, quite the opposite. He looked prepared and in control.

Another small thing. Shadow made sure to avoid showing them his back. Under normal circumstances, Sonic would have missed it but he had seen that behavior before. It was the way that Knuckles was behaving when he started living with them. His big brother calmed down when he made sure that they weren't a threat. But he kept doing it when he was dealing with strangers. A glance at Knuckles confirmed his suspicions. The red boy noticed it too and reacted accordingly. The pride from presenting the cookies disappeared and was replaced by measured looks and glancing at his surroundings, putting it to memory in case a fight would break out.

The black hedgehog took the chair in the corner of the room, observing them. Knuckles rushed to the chair closest to the black hedgehog while his family sat on a couch. Wade took another chat.

"Only the red one looks tough," Shadow said calmly out of nowhere.

There was something wrong. Normally, Knuckles would start talking about him being a great warrior but this time he stayed quiet and narrowed his eyes. The black hedgehog wasn't insulting them, he was just making an observation. As if he was unaware that it could be considered rude.

"Looks can be deceiving. I saw Sonic take down a mad scientist. A few weeks back all three of them defeated the same scientist when he got super powers and built a giant robot." Tom said as he hugged Sonic and Tails. "They have a lot of power in a small package. Probably just like you." Tom smiled at Shadow.

"I don't see how they would be able to help the red one." Shadow continued.

"I'm the fastest hedgehog alive and Tails is super smart," Sonic said proudly with Tom backing him up. "Knuckles did most of the punching while I was distracting Eggmen with my super speed and Tails with the holograms. We just needed to punch…"

"That is enough information, Hedgehog." Knuckles said sharply. "We will tell him more when he will earn our trust."

Shadow looked annoyed at that remark but looked at the echidna and nodded with respect. Sonic was confused. Was something happening between Knuckles and Shadow that he didn't understand? Everyone could feel the rising tension between those two boys. They should quickly change the subject. The hedgehog didn't like it when Knuckles was getting too serious.

"How old are you?" Sonic asked and Wade sat straighter in his chair and turned to Shadow with a worried look. "I'll be 14 in a few weeks, Knuckles is 16 and Tails is 8. Maybe we'll go to school together."

"You don't have to tell them if you don't want to," Wade said quickly which raised Maddie's and Tom's eyebrows.

Sonic blinked. It was supposed to be an innocent question but Wade acted as if he stepped on a landmine. Maybe Shadow didn't know his age and it was a sore subject. The black hedgehog didn't seem bothered by the question but was thinking about the answer. Shadow's posture got more relaxed and looked more confident, even smug. A smirk appeared on his face.

"I'll be four in a few weeks," Shadow said proudly.

Wade froze as his guests' eyes went wide. Maddie and Tom shared a look but didn't comment. Knuckled didn't narrow his eyes but shook his head right after and the focused look returned to his face. Tails just looked shocked.

"Four?" Sonic asked automatically.

"Yes, I'm an ultimate life form," Shadow said without hesitation. "I don't need as many years as you to grow up."

Sonic blinked. It didn't make any sense. Was it a hedgehog thing that he was unaware of? Could some of them just age quicker? Shadow looked so proud to tell them that.

"Ultimate lifeform? But you look like a hedgehog" Tails asked which raised even more questions. Tails knew about hedgehogs on their planet. If the boy genius didn't know what Shadow meant then something was off about it.

"I was made in a lab to be a perfect organism," Shadow said with a confident smile as he pointed at Sonic. "He's just a cheap imitation."

Maddie and Tom looked at Wade who gulped and nodded. Maddie's hand went to her mouth to cover it while the other one found Tom's to squeeze it for comfort. Tom mouthed to Wade: 'Humans' with a questioning look and his friend nodded again. It sent a shiver of dread down the blue hedgehog's back. The revelation seemed to go over Knuckles' head but Tails… Tails had a distant look in his eyes. Sonic could place the feeling that he was seeing. The revelation was the closest thing that he could think of.

In stunned silence, his parents' expression slowly became sadder. They tried not to show it but he knew them. The slight wrinkle around their eyes as they smiled. How they held each other and their kids. They didn't want anything like that to happen to them. Even actively protecting them from becoming lab experiments. It wasn't Shadow's fault but in a way, he was their parents' worst fears manifested. The black hedgehog could tell that something was off and his posture had become more defensive and closed off.

"So they decided to let you go?" Tom asked which earned him an angry look from his wife. But there was also a curious glance sent in Shadow's direction. She wanted to know. They all wanted to know what the government potentially planned for them.

"No." Shadow furrowed his brow not understanding what was happening. "I was in suspended animation for 50 years and when they found me the laws had changed. From what I understand, because of the stage of my development, I had to be placed in the foster care system."

"You were frozen for 50 years!" Sonic shouted in disbelief. His head turned between the adults in the room. His parents looked lost for words and Wade looked like a statue unprepared for talking about it. The things that he overheard made much more sense.

Knuckles kept his focus on the new hedgehog but he was giving tentative glances to other people in the room and the shocked and worried mood in the room started affecting him too. The echidna's expression softened.

On top of everything heartbreaking that they were learning, Tails was acting unusual. He was looking at Shadow with fascination and longing. He had seen his younger brother when he was absorbed by his projects or some new facts that he just learned. It was something different than that. His ears were dancing, switching between upright and droopy. There was some internal struggle that Sonic was not part of. The boy seemed eager to ask questions but something was holding him back. A whirlwind of emotions separated from what was happening in the room.

And then suddenly the bubble burst. It happened when Sonic was focused on Tails. The hedgehog heard a low growl followed by the sound of a wooden chair hitting the floor after Knuckles stood up and placed himself between Shadow and Wachowskis.

"Lady of Pretzels, I am uncomfortable with the amount of malice that the black hedgehog is displaying." Knuckles lifted his fists ready to defend himself.

So much had changed when Sonic looked back at Shadow. The black hedgehog was fuming with anger. His lip was slightly raised showing his teeth and looked at them with contempt.

"At least one of you has a good instinct," Shadow said. "But it isn't good enough if you think that you could stop me."

"I am a warrior. Do not disrespect my skill." Knuckles said angrily which caused Tom to stand up and place his hand on the echidna's shoulder, rubbing it gently.

"It's alright, Knuckles. Calm down." Tom said but the boy had a hard time believing it.

On the other side of the room, Wade stood up and lifted his hands to show that he was not a threat.

"Shadow it's all right. We're just getting to know each other. No one means to harm anyone." Wade said softly with a reassuring smile.

It had the exact opposite effect on Shadow. When his eyes met Wade, it made the black hedgehog growl again.

"I'm an ultimate lifeform. I don't need any of this. Don't need your pity and your fake smiles." Shadow gestured towards Wachowskis. "Don't need these fake projects, these fake soldiers, this fake hedgehog, and their fake family."

"Hey, don't talk like that about my family!" Sonic jumped off the couch as anger was building up inside him."

"It's all right, Sonic. Shadow is just upset." Maddie grabbed Sonic's hand. To his side Knuckles was also getting agitated.

"I think that everyone got a little heated up," Wade said as he looked at Shadow. "Would you like to step away for a moment to cool down?"

"Stop with your fake concern." Shadow bit back.

Sonic had enough. Who did Shadow think that he was? Wade was a good guy. Sonic remembered how happy Wade was that he would be able to help kids as a foster parent. How happy he was to babysit them and spend time with them. None of it was fake.

"Stop it! You're the only one who is the fake one here. You're a fake hedgehog. You… you…" Sonic paused as he tried to think of something clever in the heat of the moment. "Faker!"

There was a loud squeak behind him. Sonic looked behind and saw Tails with his hand over his folded ears, curled up and shivering. Maddie pulled him into her, hugging him and petting him, telling him that he was safe.

All anger disappeared from Shadow's face and looked at Sonic with a cold calculated expression.

"We're done here. I learned what I wanted. You can leave." Shadow said and there was a crackle of sparks before the Shadow disappeared.

Sonic looked dumbfounded. What just happened?

"Shadow!" Wade called with panic in his eyes.

Knuckles looked up and narrowed his. "Do not worry officer Whipple. The black hedgehog landed on the roof."

It took Wade a moment to register what was said to him before his panic subsided. He looked around the room seeing Knuckles and Sonic ready to fight while Maddie rocked Tails in her lap, cooing softly.

"I… I'm sorry. It's my fault." Wade's shoulders dropped. "I knew that he wasn't ready but I let him convince me."

Tom sighed as he gave Tails a worried look but with all Maddie's attention, he was calming down. "You weren't lying when you said that it was a lot."

Tom wrapped his arms around Sonic and Knuckles giving them both a side hug, instinctively wanting his boys close so he could protect them. "We all were underprepared for this. We'll let the boys cool down and try another time."

"I'm sorry for wasting your time," Wade said.

"Don't beat yourself up. At least now we know what we're dealing with." Maddie said when finally Tails uncurled himself and switched to just hugging Maddie. "We'll have a talk about it at home."

Sonic felt guilty. His last comment seemed to push everything over the edge. Sonic nodded softly as he watched distressed Tails. The hedgehog couldn't tell what was going through the kit's mind but he could tell that somehow he triggered it.

"""

Wade felt a little less guilty when Tails seemed to calm down. He wasn't his usual cheerful self but at that point, Wade would take the fox just saying goodbye. To say that it went poorly was an understatement. Tom and Maddie tried to play it off like it was not a big deal, just some growing pains. But the way they looked at their kids, they were worried for so many reasons. They didn't understand why Tails reacted so negatively to the argument. And they learned that the government had no problem experimenting on alien kids, at least in the past.

Should he prepare his friends for that revelation? He didn't want to break Shadow's trust and it was such a complicated situation. Did he just give Wachowski kids nightmares? There was a very big chance of that. Wade didn't expect Shadow to tell them everything. The hedgehog was barely talking to him and meeting other kids was supposed to make it easier for him to open up. To show him that he wasn't alone and there were people like him that could understand what he was going through. It was asking a little too much from Shadow to make friends with the boys so quickly. Wade didn't even know if they allowed the hedgehog to socialize at the scale colony. And on top of that, he didn't remember most of his life so those experiences could be just gone. Wade should have considered that before setting up the meeting.

Wade rubbed his eyes in frustration. He wanted to gently get Shadow to trust him so he would eventually talk to Wade about it. If Wade was honest with himself, he hoped to push that conversation as far into the future as he could. Shadow wasn't the only one who needed time to process it. But now the cat was out of the bag and they all had to deal with it.

It took him a moment to figure out on which part of the roof Shadow had landed. Wade opened the window closest to the hedgehog and watched his reaction. The boy didn't even flinch, he was just looking up at the sky with an empty expression. Wade considered scolding Shadow but it wouldn't be right. He was the one who failed the boy who needed a lot of support.

"How are you doing, buddy?" Wade asked softly and instantly regretted it. It was probably the same tone that annoyed Shadow during the meeting. He was prepared for another outburst of anger but it didn't happen. The hedgehog didn't even look at him.

Anger would be so much easier. It was some way of communication at least. Wade could deal with heated words, process them and come up with some solution. The situation with Wachowskis was a great example. It went horribly but at least he learned that Shadow saw them being concerned about him as a pity. It wasn't a great starting point. Any attempt at talking with the boy would probably irritate him even more. But on the other hand, he couldn't just leave the hedgehog alone.

There was only one logical solution. He climbed out of the window to sit on the roof with him. Wade didn't go any closer. He wasn't sure when Shadow would consider it as invading his personal space and just teleport away. He could see him perfectly fine from a few feet away.

"I'm here if you want to talk," Wade said casually trying to avoid his concerned tone. It earned him a look from the boy which was a win.

The silence between them was filled with the sound of birds and wind. Wade was happy that it was a warm day because he couldn't predict how long he would have to stay there. He tried to focus on something other than Shadow so he wouldn't annoy the hedgehog with his staring. He looked up at the clouds. It had been a while since he had a chance to do something like that. When he was a kid, he liked finding shapes in the clouds. He could occupy himself with it for some time.

"""

Minutes turned into an hour and then two hours. It had been nice to slow down for a moment but his back was starting to hurt and he should start making dinner. But he wasn't sure how Shadow would interpret him finally leaving. He didn't want to give up but at the same time, he wanted to be reasonable. Ordering something could be a good solution. They would have to go get the food when it arrives. Would Shadow see it as Wade tricking him? Probably not, he was just overthinking it.

Ding Dong

Wade had never been so happy to hear his doorbell. It was a perfect excuse. He had to leave.

"I'll check who it is," Wade said as he was getting off the roof.

He made his way down and he froze when in one of the windows he saw a very familiar black car and caught a glimpse of golden locks. It was Layla. His heart beat faster. Did she decide to do an inspection? She could visit him unannounced to see how he was doing and make sure that Shadow was safe. But he wasn't expecting anything like that for days, maybe even weeks. Maybe G.U.N. was forcing her to do it more frequently, hoping that he would slip up and they would be able to take the hedgehog away from him.

Wade looked around the house. It looked around the house to make sure that everything looked good. Shadow had a small issue but was currently behaving. The boy needed some alone time and Wade respected that. It wasn't a lie, he just wouldn't mention how the first meeting with Wachowskis went unless she asked about it. One last check in the mirror to make sure that he looked good before he opened the door.

"Hello, Layla. It's nice to…" Wade stopped.

He was right, it was Layla. She was smiling at him and was very excited. The social worker wasn't alone. Next to her, there was a girl. She was wearing white shoes, black pants, and a black t-shirt with a big pink heart on it. However, it wasn't what drew his attention. She had massive ears, white fur, and bat-like wings coming out of her back.

"So you're my new dad." The girl said cheerfully.