Hello everyone! I'm back with a new chapter!

For the people that are following my stories, you probably noticed I've been kind of absent these past two weeks (besides that random Sonic Prime fic, lol). The reason for that is that I'm doing an internship right now. And that has been eating a lot of my time, for obvious reasons. Thankfully, I'm almost done with it! So there will be more updates soon. Especially to "As your past catches up with you". I know y'all are waiting for the new chapter of that story to drop. And I'm really sorry! I didn't mean for more than a month to pass between chapters- I just got distracted with this story and I'm having some difficulties writing certains part of the next chapter. I'll release the new chapter by the end of the month, tho.

But, anyways, hope y'all enjoy this new chapter!

It was 4:00 a.m.

Tom and Maddie were sound asleep. Until constant knocking decided to disturb their slumber. Tom was the first one to wake up, with Maddie soon following behind.

"Who, in their right mind, would knock at this hour?" Tom exclaimed, getting out of bed, irritated with his and Maddie's sleep being interrupted.

"It has to be important, Thomas." Maddie began, looking at her husband, still sitting down on their bed and a bit sleepy from being woken up at such an early hour. "They wouldn't be knocking so much. Much less at these hours."

The knocks continued and increased in frequency, even making Ozzy bark. They both got dressed and, as soon as they could, rushed towards the door. No one in Green Hills would be knocking this much if it weren't an emergency.

Tom is the first one to reach for the doorknob, and...

The doorway was… empty?

They both looked around at the deserted front yard. No one was-

"D-Down here!" A voice that had to belong to a very young boy disrupted their thoughts. What was a small child doing at these hours? Was he lost?

Both looked down.

It lay in front of them—not an ordinary child, no, but a yellow… furry thing? What even was this? Maddie looked at her husband immediately, desperate for some kind of confirmation that what she was seeing was real. That her lack of sleep wasn't making her imagine things.

Tom was staring at her, mouth agape, with the same kind of shock and confusion she was feeling.

Okay… so… Both of them were seeing a thing that looked straight out of a cartoon.

Somehow?!

It was definitely not what she was expecting to see when she woke up.

She rubs her eyes- Tom does the same- and it's still there.

So, there's no way that both of them are hallucinating or imagining things. There was a yellow furry thing that wore tiny gloves and shoes and talked right at their door!

She reverts her eyes towards the... alien? (It had to be an alien- there was no other logical explanation.) Bright blue eyes stared up at her in return. The creature freezes—the same way she and Tom freeze—as if it doesn't know what to say to them.

She looks, once again, at the things' eyes, more attentively this time around.

Its eyes were filled with worry, and it seemed like it had been… crying? Could the alien even cry? Was that possible?

They kept staring at each other for a few more seconds, an awkward silence filling the space. She looked at her husband, and it seemed like he was still in the middle of processing everything. So, since the alien wouldn't say anything—and neither would Tom for a while—she decided to be the one to break the awkward silence that had arisen.

"Uh, hello-"

"Can… Can you help me?" The creature said, somewhat quietly and uncertainly, despite sounding like it was almost in panic. Its two tails now visible (the creature had two tails?). It was clearly desperate for the answer to be 'yes'.

"H-Help?" Tom asked, still very clearly taken back by… whatever this alien even was and by whatever was even happening. It seemed that the alien talking again made Tom snap out of his thoughts, at least momentarily.

It nods, clenching its small fists. "M-my dad! He's really sick. He-he tells me that in a couple weeks, it will pass and he will be fine. But I've never seen him so sick! And his head is really hot, and I know I'm not supposed to talk to humans, but you," It points to Maddie, "Pretzel Lady," Pretzel Lady?, "make animals better, and I-I guess we're kind of like the animals from this planet, and he has been coughing. Please help him. I don't know what to do if he-he-he." It- no- he starts sobbing. Maddie looks at Tom.

While she was still somewhat taken aback that aliens apparently existed! That alien needed their help urgently. He was clearly just a small child.

Tom looked back at Maddie and gave the look she knew he would give.

They were going to help him.

"Hey, it's okay." Maddie says as she and Tom squat down to the creature's level. "We'll help you."

The creature gave them a look of immense gratitude while the poor thing cleaned some of the tears that had fallen down his muzzle. "R-Really?"

"Yeah," Tom began, "Maddie is just going to grab her first aid kit, and then you can show us where your dad is, okay?"

He sniffles and nods. "T-thank you for your help."

Maddie hurriedly reentered the house and searched for her first aid kit around the cabinets in a frenzy. She didn't know how the alien knew of their existence—why she called her Pretzel Lady—but she didn't have time to dwell on that. The alien's dad was apparently very sick. Which was concerning since she, obviously, didn't have any experience with treating aliens.

After a brief search, Maddie located the kit tucked away at the back. She rushed back towards the house's door, where her husband and the alien were.

"Tails said his dad was that way." Tom said as he pointed out towards Green Hill's Forest.

Okay. The alien's name was Tails.

That name sounded like something straight out of a videogame character. Definitely not a normal name, but aliens existed, and they were living among humans for however long, so who was she to judge?

"We live in a cave by the end of the forest. I'll show you. But we have to be quick!"

And then, for the next fifteen minutes, they wandered around Green Hill's forest quite rapidly. While it was probable that Tails, being only four years old (he told them after Tom asked what exactly he was—apparently, he was an alien fox), made him think his dad was worse than he actually is. Obviously Tails and Tails' dad didn't have any kind of help, so even if it's nothing special, she's glad to help.

As they were going towards the forest and the 'aliens exist' shock was dissipating, she realized that, if the kid reflected the way his dad was, his dad probably wouldn't be a dangerous being. Or abduct them, or whatever aliens even did in their free time.

Once they reached their destination, instead of stumbling upon a crashed spaceship or a nest of alien eggs, the small yellow fox led them to a small natural cave. They had to crouch to enter the cave. But once they got in, they could stand up without any difficulty.

The cave was a bit messy, and it was filled with all sorts of things, making it look like some kind of treehouse. There was a music player, a broken washing machine, and a tall pile of various books. It also had many decorations, such as traffic signs, construction cones, and other things that only Tails' dad could have picked up. It would definitely be a good place to hang out with friends.

Tails' dad was lying down on a red and yellow beanbag put together for extra space. The darkness made it hard for both of them to see how exactly Tails' dad looked. The yellow creature released her hand and turned on a small lamp that had to be running on batteries (how did they even have batteries? Scratch that—how did they have so many things in their cave—for how long have they been on Earth?) illuminating most of the cave.

Maddie (and probably her husband, too) had to stop to process the scene right in front of them.

There was a blue alien, which certainly wasn't an alien fox. Tom and Maddie gave each other a look that screamed-

Tails was adopted.

By whatever his dad's species and name were.

"Dad! I brought you M-Pretzel Lady to make you get better! And Donut Lord is here too!"

Tails' dad was woken out of his slumber. He turned to look at Tails and then at them. Not only did he look sick, but he looked surprised by their appearance.

According to what Tails said back at their house, he wasn't supposed to talk to humans, so his dad probably didn't know they were coming or, at the very least, didn't think it would work. But that still didn't explain how Tails (and Tails' dad) seemed to know about them. Especially with those names—why was her name Pretzel Lady? And her husband's name is Donut Lord?

Those questions would eventually receive an answer, but for now, there were more important matters to attend to.

"I'm Tom, and this is my wife, Maddie," Tom said, looking at Sonic at first but, by the end, looking at her, this time around breaking the silence. "Nice to meet you, uh..."

"I'm Sonic." Tails' dad replied, now sitting down on the red beanbag, his voice filled with rasp. "Nice to properly meet you too." He finished with a cough.

Properly? What did he mean by that? And why does Sonic seem too young to be a dad? Though she doesn't know his age, Tails is four years old, and Sonic's facial features resemble those of a teenager rather than someone in their thirties or an appropriate age to be a father. He seems just too young to be a dad (at least by human standards).

Casting aside all of her confusion (a place that she has constantly found herself in since Tails appeared), Maddie said

"Tails was worried, so he knocked at our door. I brought my kit." Maddie said as she kneeled to meet Sonic's size while putting her first aid kit on the ground right by her side with some difficulty (since it was quite heavy). "It has a wet rag and some natural herbs like curcumin, chamomile, and butterbur. I have a water bottle with me, so we can mix them up and make you feel better."

"I-" Sonic began, only to be interrupted by one more cough and a sneeze. "I appreciate your help, and I'm sorry you had to wake up so early." Sonic said, his voice devoured by rasp and nasality. "But I'm not-", Sonic coughed, "that sick- I've been worse before- I can handle it!" Sonic finished confidently. However, soon after, a multitude of coughs invaded him.

Clearly, Sonic believed that her help (and her husband's too) was going to burden them. Which couldn't be further from the truth. Sure, he's an alien, but her initial shock was (mostly) gone, her husband's too, and, if anything, it showed that Sonic wasn't a threat either.

"Right." Tom replied, clearly not convinced either. Maddie looked at Tails, and he was also definitely not convinced. But that was somewhat obvious, considering he was the one who asked for help to begin with. Thankfully, Sonic doesn't seem to be on the verge of dying, so that's good. She would have to check the temperature, though.

"Could you lay down so Maddie can put the wet rag in your head and measure your temperature?" Her husband continued, seemingly reading her thoughts.

Sonic laid down on the beanbags since there were no other options. Maddie put her hand on Sonic's head.

It was hot.

But it didn't seem like it was deadly hot, which was a good sign.

Then she put the wet rag on Sonic's head and measured his temperature. Apparently Sonic knew how it worked since he had seen... movies? She and Tom were getting more and more confused. She would definitely have to ask a couple of questions later.

The thermometer registered 102.2 Fahrenheit (39ºC), which wasn't deadly hot like she had assumed, thankfully.

At least on human beings.

But Sonic didn't show signs of his fever being deadly either. So, she's assuming it's the same—not that she's going to say she's just assuming. Tails would probably become extremely worried, and, besides, she does have a plan to make sure Sonic would become alright.

"I have human medicine and animal medicine in my kit," Maddie began, looking at Sonic. Sonic did the same, moving his head towards Maddie. "But I don't know which one is adequate for you, Sonic. I have some equipment in my house that would help me decide which medicine is better for you. Can I bring you and your son to our house?" Maddie finished. Sonic took his wet rag out of his face and sat down on the beanbags in a way that seemed like he wanted to make something very clear.

"There's no need for that! You already did a lot,", Sonic coughed once again. "I'll just drink water with those herbs, or whatever they are called, and, eventually, this will pass. I don't want to waste your time. Sonic was interrupted, once again, by a cough. While Sonic, very clearly, didn't want to trouble them (which wouldn't trouble her or Tom whatsoever. Sonic still didn't understand that somehow), it seemed that, at the same time, he wanted them to stay, or rather, he wanted to be with them more times.

This cave looked like a treehouse. A treehouse for a couple of kids to hang out during the weekend, not a place to live. Sonic and Tails must've been very lonely. She has no idea how long they've been living here—she would know later—but it had to be a long while, judging by the quantity of things they had in their cave, so it's really not a surprise that Sonic, and probably Tails, want their company.

But Sonic wouldn't only be getting company, he would also get help from them. Whether he liked it or not. There was no way they were going to leave an alien to suffer for weeks when he could only suffer for a few days.

"Sonic, we came here to help you." Tom began. "And you're not wasting our time or troubling us. We want to help!" Tom finished with sincerity. Hopefully, what Tom said will convince Sonic.

"Please, dad! I can't lose you! You're the only person who ever cared about me!" Tails pleaded, rushing to his dad.

The only person that ever cared about him? His parents died when Tails was born, or did they?

Gosh! She doesn't even want to think about it! She only knew Tails for a short period of time, but he was clearly a good kid. He just wants his dad to be okay. The poor thing is literally on the verge of tears right now.

Sonic, then, looked at Tails in a way that showed the immense love and care he has for the young fox. The love and care that only a dad would have towards their child.

"Okay. I'm coming with you." Sonic said it determinedly. He changed his decision for the sake of his child. "Thank you for your help.", Sonic sneezed once again. This time, he put his arm close to his nose so it wouldn't spread. Maddie went for her kit and pulled out some wipes for Sonic to blow his nose "once again." Sonic finished and immediately blew his nose.

"Thank you, dad!" Tails said, hugging Sonic's legs tightly. Happiness, now overtaking his face.

"Anytime, kiddo." He replied, ruffling Tails' head affectionately...