(Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of the characters, all credit goes to Sega. Please support the official release).
Chapter 3: A Father's Love
Eggman looked down at the child in his arms as he slowly made his way to the infirmary. The shivering hoglet's blubbering had now been reduced to soft crying, tears falling around her pale muzzle, whimpering and nuzzling against his chest.
The doctor could feel his heart aching in sympathy, "It's okay, it's okay. I'm here now, and everything will be alright", Eggman cooed as he rocked her gently.
"I'm...I'm so sorry", Gwen weakly whimpered as she hiccupped.
"There's no need to apologize. You're going to be fine. Just stay awake for a little longer, and then you can go to sleep, okay?", said Eggman. He received a sniffle in response, "Are you still in pain?"
"N-n-no. Everything just stings a little...", Gwen replied.
"That's just pins n' needles, my dear", said Eggman, squeezing her tighter and patting the underside of the blanket. He softly smiled in relief, it seemed as though Gwen's vitals were becoming stable again. The danger had passed, but she wasn't out of the woods yet.
"We'll just get you warmed up and you can rest now. It's safe. I'll keep watch."
With her little black nose sniffling, Gwen looked up at the doctor with a small unsure frown, "R-r-r-really? You won't leave m-m-me all alone?", she asked softly.
Eggman nodded and tenderly kissed her forehead, "Yes, just go to sleep, my little hoglet. I'll be right here", he whispered. The young hedgehog's cheeks, which were already pink, deepened in color. She gazed at the doctor with wide shiny red-rimmed purple eyes, and she shakily sighed.
Relieved that she could finally get some sleep, safe and secure in her caretaker's arms, Gwen closed her eyes, taking in the heat wrapped around her. The pain slowly faded away, and she finally began to get some feeling back in her body; Gwen wiggled closer to the doctor's chest, listening to his heartbeat, allowing it to lull her to fall asleep.
A few hours later, Gwen sighed as she woke up again, nuzzling the side of her head on a firm yet soft pillow, all the while wrapped snuggly in the blanket. Her purple eyes slowly flickered open and quickly closed at the bright lights; she opened them again, blinking rapidly so her eyes can adjust.
Her vision finally cleared up to see light grey walls. Turning her head to the other side, Gwen saw an I.V. pole standing just beside her bed; she followed the transparent tube traveling from the machine and disappearing underneath the blankets.
Curious, she wiggled her right arm out of her blanket cocoon and found a small needle attached to the tube taped to the crook of her elbow. Suddenly her ears stood to attention, picking up soft footsteps outside the door; Gwen watched as the door slid open, revealing Eggman holding a new hot water bottle.
The doctor's face brightens, seeing his charge was now awake and alert, "Gwen!", he breathed in relief, stepping up to the tiny hedgehog sitting up in the hospital bed. "How are you feeling?", he softly asked. Gwen pondered the question before answering, surprised to hear her voice come out scratchy.
"I'm okay, just a little bit woozy"
"Good good. Here, take this", said the doctor as he uncovered the small child from her blanket nest, minding the I.V., and offered the new hot water bottle. Gwen quickly switched the bottles and sighed in content, latching on to the new one. Eggman warmly smiled, patting the young hedgehog's head.
"Feeling better?", he asked. Gwen nodded happily, sitting up and shuffling back into the pillows. Her eyebrows then furrowed, realizing she didn't know how she got to the infirmary.
"Uh, Mister Eggman...what are you doing here? Didn't you leave to do something? What happened?", she asked.
The doctor caringly wrapped the blankets back around her tiny shoulders and then pulled up a chair, sitting down by the bed while looking at Gwen with concern. "What's the last thing you remember?", he asked.
The light blue hedgehog narrowed her eyes, searching the floor, thinking hard, trying to recall. "Metal...he and I went outside to play in the snow. I saw a white bunny and tried to chase it but then I got lost. Then the storm came...it was really cold, so I hid myself in a tree and tried to stay awake. But then, after a while, I started falling asleep. I remembered... singing Mama's song and then, it all went fuzzy after that", she said.
"That explained why you were outside," Eggman mumbled, handing her a cup of warm oat milk to drink. Gwen took a sip, thanking him with a still horse voice; she attempted to clear her throat before speaking again as the doctor took back the drink.
"How did you find me? I thought you were away doing chores or something?", Gwen asked.
"I was out picking up some oil and more tools when I got an alert from Metal Sonic that you had gotten lost in the forest and that he found you suffering from hypothermia. I hurried back as soon as possible to take care of you", explained Eggman.
A rumble from Gwen's stomach greeted her ears, "How long was I out?", she asked. The poor girl was now incredibly hungry.
"A little over a day. The worst is over, but you might be weak and susceptible for the next couple of weeks until your system fully recovers", said Eggman.
He then gazed at her pink cheeks and placed a hand over her forehead, feeling an unpleasant heat radiate off, "And it seems like you might be coming down with something", he said.
A thick silence fell over the two for quite some time, then Eggman spoke again. "Gwen, you mentioned your Mama's song...what did you mean by that?", he said.
"Whenever I was sad or scared, Mama would sing a song to me to help me feel better. I tried singing it to help calm me, but it just made me remember that my parents aren't alive anymore. I miss my Mama and Papa...", Gwen muttered.
Eggman sighed before he looked down at her, "Well Gwen, can I ask you something? Would you like me to be your new Papa?", he asked.
Gwen's eyes lit up, "Wha...what are you talking about?", she asked.
"I mean, do you want me to be your new Papa? You don't have any parents or any other family, you're all alone. If you want me, I will take you in and raise you as my own", said Eggman.
There was a long pause before Gwen suddenly threw herself face first into his gut, trying her best to wrap her tiny arms around the doctor as much as she could, sobbing again. Eggman gazed down at the light blue hedgehog, wondering why she was crying again.
Before he could ask, Gwen pulled her head away to look back up at him again with a large smile, "Thank you! Thank you! Yes, I want you to be my Papa, please be my Papa!", she shouted as she nuzzled her face against the doctor's gut again.
Eggman's eyes watered slightly at the sight; his heart swelled with affection and the ever-growing desire to protect and care for the little hedgehog. He would do anything to keep that bright smile on Gwen's little face. The doctor hugged her tighter, rubbing soothing circles between her quills, rocking her gently and shushing her.
They stayed like that for some time before Gwen's crying stopped. Afterwards, Eggman went to bring her some soup and crackers and more oat milk. The young hedgehog sat and ate her food in silence, once she finished, the two resumed cuddling.
"Hush, little baby, don't say a word
Papa's gonna buy you a mocking bird
And if that mocking bird don't sing
Papa's gonna buy you a diamond ring"
Gwen was surprised when he started singing a lullaby to her, but she appreciated it. It reminded her of when her own father used to sing to her as well, though his singing voice wasn't as good as her mother's.
She felt Eggman gently rocking her as he sang, he was actually a pretty good singer. His usually gravelly voice was smooth as butter and made her feel safe and secure.
The lullaby was beginning to have the desired effect on the young hedgehog, slowly her eyelids closed, and her grip on Eggman had slackened. Leaning fully on the doctor's belly, Gwen felt like she was floating on a warm cloud.
Eggman gazed lovingly at his charge, who had fallen asleep at last, her mouth open so she could still breathe despite her clogged nostrils, a little bit of drool escaped from the corner of the hoglet's mouth.
The doctor smoothly removed her tiny arms from around his waist and wrapped them back around the hot water bottle. With one hand bracing Gwen's back, Eggman laid her back down onto the pillow. Rising from the chair, he pulled the blanket up to the young hedgehog's shoulders, caressing her cheek.
Eggman smiled, watching Gwen peacefully rest, "Goodnight, my sweet little baby girl", he whispered before turning the lights off and leaving the room.
[Time Skip]
For the next few days, Eggman tended to Gwen as she had indeed come down with a very nasty cold. The poor thing was stuck on bed rest with a high fever, sore throat, and dripping nose. Eggman did everything he could to make her feel comfortable and helped her get well with plenty of hot water bottles, blankets, soup, and less than favorably tasting medicine.
He even had his robots wheel a small box TV with a VHS player into the infirmary for the sick hoglet to watch when she was awake so she wouldn't be too bored, and had given her one of the many stuffed animals he got her to keep her company.
The doctor stayed by the sick hedgehog's side as much as possible as the poor thing had become clingy and needy after the incident while she was unwell. Eggman spent this time giving Gwen lots of attention and love to make her feel safe and comfortable.
After blowing her nose for the thousandth time that day, Gwen balled up the used tissue, aiming for the nearby trash can; she tossed the paper, landing right into the can. She silently cheered before reaching for her bottle of orange juice to keep hydrated.
"Hey there, kiddo!"
Gwen looked down to see Orbot and Cubot hovering close to her bedside, "Hello there, we haven't introduced ourselves yet so we figured we come in to greet you. I'm Orbot, and this is Cubot", said Orbot.
"Hello, my name is Gwendolyn. You can just call me Gwen for short if you want, do you you guys work for my new Papa too?", said Gwen.
"Yeah, we do what he says and he whacks us in the head with a stick when we mess up. Sometimes he whacks us even when we don't mess up, just when he gets mad at something", said Cubot.
Orbot glared at him and elbowed him in the torso, Gwen didn't seem to pick up on this. Instead, she just giggled thinking it was a silly joke.
"Hey, you two! Don't bother our little patient, she needs to recover!"
They all looked up to see Eggman standing in the doorway, holding a tray with a bowl of soup. Orbot and Cubot shuffled out of the room as he walked over to give Gwen her lunch.
"How are you doing today, little one?", he asked.
Gwen picked up her spoon and slurped up some of the soup, "Yeah, I'm starting to feel better. I'm still a little stuffy and sniffly though", she said.
Eggman nodded as he walked over to a medical cabinet and pulled out a syringe, an alcohol wipe and a bandaid with smiley faces on it. He went back over to Gwen, who looked up and flinched when she saw the syringe.
"What's the needle for?", she asked fearfully.
"I'm sorry, sweetie, but I need to take a blood sample from you to make sure that you don't have any viruses. I promise this will only hurt for a second", said Eggman.
He removed the empty bowl of soup from her hands and then rolled up the sleeve on her right arm, then he brought the syringe up. Gwen immediately grabbed the stuffed giraffe on her bed with her left arm and hugged it tightly as Eggman inserted the needle into her delicate skin.
The young hedgehog flinched from the sting of the needle, shutting her eyes tightly as Eggman pulled the plunger up to withdraw some of her blood. He then pulled the needle out, wiped the area down with the alcohol wipe and placed the bandaid on.
Then he slid her sleeve down and gave her a small kiss on the forehead, "There we go, all better. That wasn't so bad, was it?", said Eggman. Gwen looked at her arm and realized that it really didn't hurt as much as she thought, so she nodded.
Eggman smiled as he helped her lie down and turned on the TV for her, getting up and leaving the room. He went downstairs to a lab he had in the basement, he took the syringe of blood and placed it into a machine.
Blood biomarkers were affected by lifestyle factors including food choices, exercise, sleep patterns, stress levels, and recovery. Blood analysis could measure biomarkers correlated with aging and disease, and could be used to compute someone's biological age.
Eggman used this machine to not only definitively determine Gwen's age, but also to see when her date of birth was. When he first asked her, she wasn't sure if she was six years old or not, and so he assumed she wouldn't even remember her own birthday.
After thirty minutes, the machine beeped and some data came up on the screen. Eggman looked at the screen and gasped at what he saw.
[Time Skip]
Two days later, Gwen had made a full recovery from her illness and was back in her bedroom. Much to the light blue hedgehog's disappointment, she wasn't allowed to play yet and had to stay in bed for a little while.
Gwen was disappointed because while she had a TV in the infirmary to entertain her, she was still bored because she wanted to play with her toys. She laid in her bed, reading one of the children's books from the shelves, wondering when she'd get to play again.
She was wondering what Eggman was doing because she hadn't really seen much of him in the past two days, it was Metal Sonic who came in to take care of her as she was recovering.
When she asked what he had been doing, Orbot and Cubot simply he was busy and that she shouldn't bother him. Gwen begrudgingly accepted that and continued her bed rest, soon she dozed off while reading.
Metal Sonic came in to check on her, noticing she was fast asleep. He walked over to take the book lying on her lap, he placed it back on the shelf and went to tuck her in before shutting off the light and leaving.
The next morning, Gwen was sleeping deeply when a hand gently shook her shoulder to wake her up, "Gwen...Gwen. It's time to wake up, baby girl", said a familiar soothing voice.
She moaned, rubbing her eyes, wondering why Eggman was waking her up so early. "But I wanna sleep, five more minutes please...", she whined.
Eggman giggled as he shook her again, "I know, but your surprise is ready and waiting for you. Don't you wanna see all your presents? I even had Metal make your favorite breakfast this morning", he said.
Gwen slowly lifted her head from the pillow at that, a look of curiosity on her face. "You mean blueberry pancakes with whipped cream and chocolate syrup? Also, what do you mean by presents?", she asked.
Eggman nodded, lightly scratching her left ear which twitched slightly. "Come with me and you'll see for yourself, I assure you that you'll love it", he said. Gwen relented, letting out a large yawn and holding her arms up. She was still a little sleepy, but now she was too interested in what he was talking about to go back to sleep.
The doctor picked her up, nuzzling her fuzzy cheek to wake her up further. He carried her down the hallway until they came upon another room in the base, the door seemed to have pink wallpaper on it for some reason. Eggman opened the door and walked inside, Gwen's eyes flickered around the room, curiously wondering what the surprise could be.
The room was decorated like the waiting room of a children's hospital, there was plastic playground equipment inside the room. There were two slides connected to a small jungle gym, a pair of swings and a seesaw. There was also a small climbing wall, a merry go round, springy horses and a small ball pit.
Eggman then placed Gwen down on the floor, facing a large pile of gift-wrapped boxes in the center of the room. The light blue hedgehog's jaw dropped, and any sleepiness in her eyes disappeared as they sparkled in childlike wonder.
She had never seen so many presents or such a fun looking place before in her entire life.
"Wow! That's a lot of presents, Mister Eggman! Who's having a birthday party?", she asked.
The doctor chuckled, sitting down in a nearby armchair so he could enjoy the show, "Why, it's your birthday. These are all for you!", he said.
Gwen's purple eyes widened in shock, "What!", she shouted pointing to herself, "M-me?!"
Eggman chuckled again, rubbing his hands together, "Yes! Remember when I had taken a sample of your blood, I used to figure out your true age since you didn't seem so sure about it yourself.
"It turned out you are actually five and a half years old, and today is actually your sixth birthday, so I decided to celebrate. I thought you were so small due to malnutrition, but it seemed you were younger than I thought", he explained.
"You...you got all of this...for me?", Gwen softly whispered as tears began shining in her eyes. She gazed at the presents then at Eggman again. She had never had her own toys before, her family was too poor and what little money they did have went to maintaining their small farm so they wouldn't starve.
Any toys Gwen had were all made out of twigs and acorns she found lying around on the ground outside her farmhouse; still, she was never upset with her parents for no getting her any toys. She knew they couldn't afford it, and she was still grateful for them using their little bit of money to make sure they always had food to eat.
The doctor nodded with a huge grin, and the young hedgehog beamed happily as she dashed up to Eggman's lap, hugging him tightly.
"Thank you! Thank you so much!", she said, gratitude pouring out of her very being. Eggman kissed her forehead and hugged her back, "Anything for you, my little hoglet. Now go on, open your gifts so you can play to your heart's content!", he said excited to watch the young hedgehog unveil the gifts.
He set Gwen on the floor, wiping away a stray tear with his thumb, and turning his precious baby back to the boxes, encouraging her with a pat on the back. The little hedgehog was overwhelmed by the number of shiny boxes in front of her, some were small while others were even bigger than she was.
She began unwrapping all the presents with the same boundless joy as a child on Christmas morning; she found crayons, coloring books and storybooks, squishy toys, a mini dollhouse, puzzles, blocks, finger paints, plastic pony dolls, more plushies and soft blankets. The amount of children's toys was endless! Gwen felt like the doctor was spoiling her but it didn't matter because she was so happy.
Then, Eggman stood up from his chair and pulled something out behind his back. "I have one last present for you", he said as he handed Gwen a bag filled with colorful streamers. The young hedgehog took the bag, placed it down and reached inside, wondering what else Eggman could have to give her.
Her hand grabbed something soft and squeezable, slowly pulling the object out. Gwen's jaw dropped as she gazed upon the gift: it was a plush white dog wearing a red and yellow outfit similar to Eggman's. It even had a fuzzy mustache, which made it look goofy.
"Gwen, I'd like you to meet Dr. Eggpup! He'll keep you company when I'm not around and Metal Sonic is preoccupied", said Eggman.
The young hedgehog stared at the plushie puppy for several unbroken minutes of silence before she looked at Eggman, her eyes watering and her lower lip trembling. Eggman became concerned upon seeing the look on her face.
"Do you not like it? I knew it was too much, I knew I should've--"
A soft whimper stopped Eggman's rambling, he looked down just in time to see the little blue hedgehog run towards him, happy tears falling from her eyes as she hugged him and the plushie tightly.
"It's so cute! I love it so much!", Gwen shouted.
Eggman stared at her in disbelief for a moment, "You do? Like, you actually do?", he asked.
"Yeah!", Gwen squealed happily, nodding her head, "I'm gonna call her Egglet!"
"Her? Egglet? Why's that?", Eggman asked scratching his bald head.
"Yeah, she's a girl puppy. Can't you tell? And she's white just like an egg and she's dressed like you, Egglet is a perfect name for her!", said Gwen.
Eggman was confused for a second but then he remembered the brand of logic most very young children operated by, and so he couldn't argue with her reasoning. Plus, he actually found it quite adorable.
"Well, I suppose that makes sense", Eggman chuckled relieved that she loved his hand-made gift. He got up, walked towards the young hedgehog and picked her up off the floor.
"Come on. Why don't we get you washed up and have breakfast before you sit down to play, eh?", he said. Gwen nodded as she dropped the plushie dog on the ground and allowed Eggman to bring her to the bathroom to give her a bath.
Once she was clean and wearing a cute pair of sheep pajamas, Eggman brought Gwen to the dining room and sitting her at the table. That was when Metal Sonic came out of the kitchen with a plate of blueberry pancakes with whipped cream and chocolate syrup.
There was a candle shaped like the number six in the center of the stack of pancakes, he placed the plate down in front of her on the table along with a fork and a plastic cup of apple juice. "Yay, pancakes!", Gwen shouted in excitement.
Before she could pick up the fork and begin eating, Eggman stopped her. "Hold on a moment, sweetie. You can't have them just yet, there's something we need to do first", he said. Gwen looked up at him with confusion, just then Orbot and Cubot came into the room.
Then, Metal Sonic generated a spark to light the candle by snapping his metallic fingers. Then, he started clapping with Eggman, Orbot and Cubot began singing.
"Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday, dear Gwendolyn
Happy birthday to you!"
Gwen smiled widely as she stood up on the chair on her tiptoes, blowing out the candle. Everyone clapped and cheered, "So what did you wish for?", asked Cubot.
"I can't tell you that, silly. Cause then it won't come true", said Gwen.
"That's okay, dear. Now go ahead and eat your pancakes, you'll need your strength and energy to play with all of your toys. In the meantime, I'll have my robots move the toys in your bedroom to the playroom because it makes more since to have them there", said Eggman.
Gwen smiled as she began to happily devour her pancakes, savoring their sweet and delicious taste. After breakfast, Eggman wiped her sticky face and brought her back to the playroom. The three robots joined her in playtime, having pretend tea parties or playing on the equipment or rolling around in the ball pit.
Orbot, Cubot and Metal Sonic enjoyed playing with Gwen and her new toys until lunchtime came, which was tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. After that and another two more hours of playtime, Eggman decided that it was nap time.
"But I don't wanna nap, I wanna play with you some more", Gwen whined before yawning and rubbing her eyes.
Eggman chuckled a bit, "We can play later, but now it's your nap time. You're a growing girl and also very small, you need your sleep if you wanna grow big and strong. Come on; I'll tuck you in", he said. He picked up the grumpy and sleepy hoglet, carrying her to her bedroom and laying her down on the bed.
Gwen yawned as she was tucked in with a soft pink blanket. Eggman picked up her plush dog and placed it under the covers beside her. Scratching behind her ear, Eggman looked down at Gwen's sleepy face.
"Goodnight, baby girl", he said. He stood up and walked over to the music player, turning it on to play soft and gentle music. As he walked out of the room and turned the light off, Eggman heard a sleepy voice call out to him.
"Night night, Papa"
Eggman gasped when he heard this, he had to fight hard to keep himself from crying upon hearing that. He quietly shut the door with a sigh.
"Hey, boss"
Eggman was startled out of his thoughts by the sudden voice, he turned around to see Orbot and Cubot standing behind him.
"Sorry to startle you, boss, but we kinda wanted to ask you a question", said Orbot.
"Yeah, we wanna know why you decided take in that cute little hedgehog kid. It doesn't seem like you, ya know", said Cubot.
Eggman sighed as he leaned against the wall, "Aside from it being beyond cruel and sadistic to leave a starving small child out in the snowy mountains to die, when she told me that it was the Zombots that saved her from a life of slavery, something clicked in my brain.
"All I could think about were the many children who must've been traumatized by what I had done...I couldn't bare to think about that. Why did I take in this girl? Guilt? Remorse? Genuine affection?
"I don't really know if I'm being honest but I do know one thing: that girl is in my care now and I will take care of her. As far as I'm concerned, she is my baby girl and I am her Papa. And nothing is going to change that", he said.
As he walked away, Orbot and Cubot looked at one another.
"Do you think this means the boss is gonna give up being evil and trying to take over the world?", asked Cubot.
"Honestly, I am not entirely sure. I do know one thing: it is going to be interesting having that little kid here with us", said Orbot.
Cubot nodded in agreement as the two hovered down the hallway, "You got that right, the little tyke really is super cute and I like playing with her. She'll definitely liven this place up!", he said.
[To be continued...]
