Hewooo! It has been quite a while, hasn't it?

In my defense, this chapter took me so long because I was finishing my other fanfic. But later than never, I suppose. Unfortunately, I'll only be able to finish writing the next chapter and publish it in June. This month is going to be absolute chaos in terms of tests. I'll only have time to write on the weekends (and even then I don't think I'll have time to write during them lol)

Still, I hope y'all enjoy this new chapter :)

It was the start of the morning. Maddie and Tom had just woken up (since it was a workday) while everyone else was sound asleep. It had been two days since Longclaw had come through their world and apparently time traveled. After everything that had happened in the last year and a half, at this point, a big alien owl coming out in the middle of the baseball field, where his son was going to have a game, was just another Saturday for Tom.

Unfortunately, at first, Sonic reacted badly to Longclaw. And Tom really couldn't blame the kid. After all, Tom and Maddie knew that Sonic had had a rough and traumatic childhood. He still vividly remembers when Sonic told them one day that he had been on earth for 10 years. Knowing that he was 13 at the time was kind of shocking, to say the least. They knew he had been young when he came, but they never thought it was that much. Imagining a 3-year-old struggling to survive, especially during the winter months, was just... something heartbreaking, especially to Maddie. Sonic didn't see it that way, or rather, didn't want to.

Finding out your supposed dead mother was actually alive and wasn't there when you needed her the most would've been very hard for… anyone, really. Apparently, though, it seemed like Longclaw had time traveled. Just the possibility had made Sonic's spirit go up significantly. Even more than Tails, Knuckles, and them, with their group hug, had.

Speaking of Knuckles and Tails, Tom and Maddie would've never guessed their family of three would become a family of five so quickly. Despite their first awkward encounter, the two immediately integrated into the Wachowski family and became Sonic's siblings. Tails was a sweet, polite, kind, but clearly somewhat traumatized little fox. Knuckles, while looking like a very rough echidna, was actually very sweet and kind, with a big sense of justice and honor and a very differentiated vocabulary, but also very much traumatized.

While Tails didn't feel comfortable talking about what traumatized him (they knew it was something related to his two tails, though), Knuckles was surprisingly very open and honest about it, perhaps too much...

And because of all the clear trauma their boys had gone through, Maddie suggested therapy for their three alien sons. Tom had agreed to look for someone who would agree to help their kids. He just hoped that therapy for three alien kids wasn't very different from that for three human kids. However, now that Longclaw is in the picture, they will have to postpone those plans. After all, Longclaw was also Sonic's mother, like Maddie was. Which meant that Longclaw would also have a say in Sonic's well-being. Once Longclaw woke up and they told everything (besides the 'Blue Justice' thing, Eggman is more than enough!), they would talk about the rules in the house and everything Sonic-related, of course. But that's for later. Right now, as Tom was heading to the kitchen, the owl was still sleeping right beside Sonic, who was snoring slightly.

'He looks so cute when he's asleep.' Tom thought.

While Maddie got dressed, Tom started making breakfast as quietly as possible, so he didn't wake Sonic up.

Sonic hadn't been sleeping in the attic these past two days, instead sleeping right beside Longclaw in his sleeping bag. His kid really missed her. And as Sonic had said, if Longclaw woke up in the middle of the night, she wouldn't be freaked out.

As Tom and Maddie (when she finished getting dressed) were making eggs and bacon for everyone to eat, a persistent but quiet knock on the door was heard.

"I wonder who it could be at this hour." Tom said.

"I'll see who it is." Maddie replied, getting out of their kitchen and reaching towards their door.

Maddie opens the door and sees Crazy Carl holding... a bag?

"Sorry for knocking so early in the morning, but I have something for the owl." Carl finished, reaching his hand with the bag towards Maddie.

Maddie, still in her not-caffeinated mind, was struggling to think of what Carl would want to give to Longclaw, so she opened the bag and saw a bunch of mice… right, she remembers why Carl is here now. Her children could eat human food, so she and Tom had assumed Longclaw could as well. But Sonic wasn't so sure. Her son had told them she could eat mice, so they asked Carl if he could capture some mice for Longclaw.

"It's not a problem at all, Carl. And thank you for the mice. We appreciate it." Maddie finished, giving a grateful smile.

"No need to thank me. The owl needs somethin' to eat once she wakes up."

Before Maddie could respond, Tom came right behind her.

"Hey, Carl." Tom said, looking directly at Carl, or, as the town calls him, Crazy Carl. "You brought us mice!" Tom continued, as he noticed the bag filled with mice Maddie was holding, "Thanks. When Longclaw wakes up, we'll have something that for sure isn't going to potion her or something."

"You already did so much for me and for everyone in this town. It's the least I could do." Carl replied. "And how is our Sonic doing?" Carl continued, before Tom could have a chance to answer, "It has been quite a lot for him, hasn't it?"

After Longclaw (unintentionally) interrupted Sonic's baseball game before it even started, Tom had to ask Doctor Jess for her truck. His truck could only take his three alien sons, not a giant owl. However, Doctor Jess, besides thinking everything is a police matter, has a truck that can actually carry a giant owl pretty decently.

As they (Sonic, Tails, Maddie, Knuckles, and some Greenhill residents) brought (well, more like dragged) Longclaw to Doctor Jess' truck, all of them definitely noticed Sonic was rather... unwell. They had all asked Sonic about it, especially once Sonic told them it was Longclaw. Even other people noticed it, including Carl. Sonic denied it all with smiles too big to be real. Tom would've pressed on it more, but a life was on the line, after all. And besides, as Maddie had told him,

Let him come to us.

Which Sonic eventually did, of course.

"He's doing better now", Maddie answered, "It was just... a lot for him. He was afraid Longclaw would make him leave Earth, especially since Knuckles' kind were the owl's enemies."

After all of them helped Sonic feel better, Tom and Maddie had a small talk with Knuckles about why he should treat Longclaw respectfully, no matter what, and Maddie finished treating Longclaw's wounds, Maddie went to the kitchen to make dinner. He noticed his phone had died during the whole 'bringing Longclaw to their house' thing, so he hooked it up to the charger. What he didn't expect was for his phone to start buzzing incessantly, moving closer to the edge of the counter with each new vibration. Tom rushed to grab his phone and glance at the screen, almost knocking his chair over in the process.

He had received a bunch of text messages and voicemails from… pretty much everyone on Green Hill in the last few hours. Maddie raced upstairs and came down with her phone, which she had forgotten to charge too, similarly blowing up. Sonic's phone also buzzed with notifications from his two friends, Matthew and Gabriel, whom he had made during his first eight months as an official Green Hill resident, with concerned messages.

The word of a giant owl appearing in the middle of the baseball field had spread fast, and the word of an unwell-looking Sonic had spread just as fast. Everyone was really concerned about why Sonic seemed to be so upset, with Longclaw being only briefly mentioned.

So everyone knew everything except Carl (until now), who only knew Sonic was alright and nothing else, since he believed technology was a way for the government to control them or something like that.

"She's enemies with the echidnas?" Carl asked, somewhat perplexed.

"Yup." Tom replied, putting his hand on his neck and rubbing it slightly, "Our Knuckles is the last Echidna, but since Longclaw probably time traveled, she doesn't even know that." Tom replied.

"That's really… complicated." Carl replied, unable to find the right words to express everything he thought and felt.

"Yeah", Tom replied, holding Maddie's hand, "but with Madz, we'll get through it. It won't be easy, but it will be worth it."

"I'm sure it will." Carl said, smiling slightly. "And if you need help with the owl, just tell me. I'm going to set some more traps to catch Mothman. I'm certain he's somewhere around here!" Carl finished, showing his conspiracy theorist side that everyone knows so well.

It took all of Tom's willpower not to roll his eyes.

Both of them said goodbye to Carl and headed back to the kitchen. Tom had already finished making breakfast and was going to wake Tails and Knuckles up, while Maddie woke Sonic up and put the bag of mice on their refrigerator right beside where the Master Emerald was.

Tom and Maddie were getting everything ready, when they heard someone—someone who wasn't any of their sons. Someone with more of a feminine voice…

Longclaw had woken up…

Sorry this chapter is slightly shorter than the last ones, but this chapter was originally going to be a lot longer. Originally, this wasn't going to end on this cliffhanger but on another. In fact, I've already written half of what happens after Longclaw wakes up. It's just that, as I mentioned before, school is going to be kicking my butt immensely until June, so instead of having one big chapter published in June I decided to separate it into two chapters.

Also, I'm in love with cliffhangers :) (in case you couldn't tell lol)