"Cold cold cold cold cold!" Maddie cried as she rushed through the double doors that opened for her, letting her into the mall. A burst of warm air hit her as she breached the threshold. Her white winter outfit, consisting of a white fuzzy hat hugging her head, a white sweater with reindeer shaped in sparkly gray fabric across the sweater, blue jeans, and tan winter boots, did not help her against the chilly weather outside. A winter storm blurred the world outside as the storm howled angrily and sharply. In Maddie's arms was her youngest 'son' bundled up far more than she was. He had a big thick green hat covering the top half of his head, a big green jacket hugging his body, the padding so thick the fox boy's arms were stuck sticking out to his side, red and white mittens covering his hands, and green rubber boots with faded cartoon frogs decorating them. Though much like Sonic and Knuckles he insisted on not wearing pants for some reason, leaving his two tails swaying in the air.

"Make sense, my reading shows that this is potentially the coldest day of the year!" Tail's muffled voice rang from behind a red woolen scarf, making it so only his big blue eyes were visible in the black woman's arms. Reaching into a pocket of his jacket he pulled out what looked like a radio with a dark green screen, light green lines, and numbers flashing across the screen as Tail's eyes narrowed into thin slits. "3 degrees!" He gasped trying to tap on the screen with his mittens but nothing happened.

"F-feels like negative 15!" Tom huffed, running in, his hand in Sonic's hand. The blue hedgehog wasn't as bundled up as Tails, having only a red and white beanie on his head, a green scarf, and a blue jacket that gave him full mobility with his arms. "I was gonna freeze to death if I was out there for a second later."

"Should've gone faster Doughnut Lord," Sonic said, attempting to tug his hand out of the man's. "If we would've gone half as fast as I could have we would've been in here ten minutes ago!" The teen groaned, leaning his body back, groaning as his dad didn't let go of his hand. Looking more like a small child to get free than the teen he was.

"I don't think you could carry all of us," Tom said with an eye roll, not letting Sonic's hand go. "And chill out, you're sticking by my side. The last thing I need is for you to be super speeding in the mall filled with a thousand people and us having no way to find you." He informed Sonic, who huffed dramatically, letting his body slowly go limp, like a balloon losing air slowly.

"But do you have to hold my hand? I, the fastest thing alive, who saved the world from some evil crazy guy. Not once but tttttwice!" He reminded everyone, holding his spare hand up with two fingers in case his family needed a visual aid.

"Well it's either that or a child's leash," Tom said, making Sonic inhale sharply as he looked at Maddie, silently pleading for any help she could give.

"Or we might be able to find a stroller around here you could fit in." She said, making the teen frown.

"Ok fine I gueeeeess hand holding isn't the worst thing in the world." He sighed as he stood up straight, the automatic doors behind him opening up as the red figure of Knuckles walked into the mall.

"AH WHAT A BRACING CHILL!" The Echidna cheered, pounding his spiked fist against his chest, his white gloves and shoes the only clothing he wore, unbothered by the blizzard outside. "MAKES ONE FEEL ALIVE DOES IT NOT?!"

"Up to the point they freeze to death." Tom sighed as he moved forward, the frigid air stabbing him in the back and making him practically prance forward to get away from the door.

"Nice move D.L.," Sonic scoffed at his dad's manly maneuver to avoid the cold air, "Is that one of the movies that got Mrs. Doughnut Lord to fall for you?"

"Maybe that one and a few others." The man said, his eyes shooting to his wife before giving her a wink, making her smirk and wink back.

"Ew, ok I regret saying anything. I think I'm gonna lose my lunch. So long chili dogs, I barely knew you!" The blue teen whined, going limp once more, using his spare hand to hug his stomach.

"Ok, Mr. Dramaqueen." Tom sighed as he lifted Sonic up, but the teen's body was still limp. "You, Knuckle, and I have to do some shopping while Maddie and Tails go see Santa." He informed them all, making the fox pause his tapping on his little screen.

"Wait, what?" Tails asked, looking between the adults, "We're seeing who now?"

"Santa!" Maddie cheered, tossing the boy in the air slightly, a beaming smile on her face as her eyes glittered with excitement as she looked at the boy in her arms.

"Really? He's here?" Tails asked, trying to straighten himself as much as he could to get a better look at the area around them. But he could only see a sea of people rushing around the three-story building. Their hats make them look more like dots going around the mall. Also, a large green tree that stretched up to the second story of the mall was decorated with white lights, bulbs, and tinsel decorating it. "I figured with only a few days till Christmas I figured that he would be at the North Pole making sure that everything is ready." The boy mused, bringing a fist to his chin.

"I'm sure his elves have everything handled," Maddie assured him, "Now let's divide and conquer-." She said but as she heard a guttural laugh and Knuckles slammed a fist against his chest. "No, no conquering, poor choice of wording." Maddie winced. "Tom, take them and start shopping. You have the list, right?" She asked, her voice falling flat and sounding serious as she looked at him wide-eyed.

"Yep, got it right here," He assured her, using his other hand to pull a folded piece of paper out of his pocket. The list not only contained things that they needed for the house for the Christmas Season, but things like hot cocoa, candy canes, and some canned foods still needed for a big Christmas dinner. It also had the Christmas list of their kids, which thankfully had been easy to get. After the adventure in the attic, she had gotten the three to write down what they wanted for Christmas that year. Well two of them wrote it down, Knuckles needed to draw some rough pictures of what he wanted. The Echidna could build an iron throne out of junk and parts of her car but couldn't spell. She and Tom were gonna have to find a tutor for the red teen. But that was a problem for a different day.

"Ok we'll all meet at the food court when we finish up," Maddie said, "Let's try to get out of here before the story gets any worse."

"Yes, mam!" Sonic said, popping back to his feet and giving a salute to her. "Ok Doughnut Lord, let's go, the mall food court has a chili dog with my name on it!" He said, trying to rush forward in a brief blue blur. But thankfully his dad was prepared and stood his ground, though he did slide forward a bit.

"You're following me, remember?" Tom sighed as he moved forward muttering. "Maybe a stroller wasn't a bad idea." As Knuckles followed him.

"Ok, and then we get the easy job of just getting you to Santa," Maddie said as she carried Tails into the mall, the entire building seemed to have a golden tint as the lights bounced off the white floors and walls, Christmas music blaring through the radio, in an attempt to get through the sound of people talking and stomping through the mall. Parents held their kids like Maddie held the fox boy, or let their kids ride on their shoulders, a few let the bigger kids walk to their side, but had them hold their hand. The sound of kids crying, some laughing, and a lot of squealing could also be heard. Probably from kids looking at the toys they might be getting from Santa, and parents telling their kids they're gonna go on the naughty list if they didn't listen to what they were being told. Thankfully Maddie didn't have to deploy that last tactic with the boy in her arms since he was pretty well-behaved.

Other than him tinkering in the house and causing the occasional electrical fire, Tails didn't cause any issues. Now Sonic and Knuckles, it was a shame she couldn't use the naughty list trick on them. But Sonic was past the age of believing in Santa and his magical list. And Knuckles might not believe in Santa, she wasn't exactly sure. But she figured if she said that Santa was putting him on the naughty list the red teen would travel to the North Pole and try to fight Santa one on one to reclaim his spot on the nice list.

Thankfully, finding the line where Santa was waiting was easily spotted, as a large almost throne-like chair with a Santa sitting on it, on the 3rd floor, could be seen from the entrance of the mall. So Maddie slipped into an elevator, sighing in relief and had to fight an army of people just to get there, and put Tails on the ground. She did slip her hand into one of his but didn't hold onto it as tightly as Tom had been holding onto Sonic's hand. But having him on the ground did give her burning arms a break. But if Tails had noticed being moved he didn't show it as he switched from tapping on his screen with both hands to just the thumb of his mitten-covered hand. But Maddie didn't stop him. It wasn't like Tails was an iPad kid, obsessed with some game on it. He was probably just checking what the thermal temperature of the Earth's core was, or something like that. So it gave Maddie a chance to take a deep breath in and out as she thought of everything she had to do.

Thankfully all the desserts for the holiday were made, but tomorrow she would have to have the rest of the meal prepped for Christmas. But then there was the herculean task of getting all the presents wrapped and ready for Christmas morning? She cursed herself and her husband for waiting until the last minute to get presents for the three boys. Though to be fair this was their first Christmas with kids they had just gotten a few months prior. So it seemed like everything was hitting them all of a sudden!

"Whatcha playin'?" A soft voice said to Tails, making the boy blink. He shook his head as if coming out of a trance. Looking over there was a girl, if he had to guess, maybe six years old. She was about as tall as him, and sadly he didn't have the bulkiest form. They had a red hat with reindeer designs on it, though the reindeer had red noses for some reason. If anything it made Tails ponder why a reindeer would have a reindeer, it didn't seem like it would be a good thing for a reindeer to have. The girl was bundled almost as much as Tails was, though she had on a dark purple jacket and pink snow pants, and she had actual snow boots, unlike his hand-me-down rain boots he had gotten from one of the boxes of Tom's old clothes. The girl smiled, revealing that she was missing her bottom front teeth. But Tails didn't blink at that.

"Just a game I programmed onto my handheld, I played it a lot when I was bored in space and had nothing else." The fox said, turning his handheld to show the girl his screen. There was a ball bouncing across the screen, ramming into bricks and making them disappear, a weird line at the bottom moved as Tails moved his thumb around the bottom of the screen.

"Oh, my grandpa has a game like that on his computer!" The girl cheered, leaning over and her finger up to tap the screen. "I'm really good at it. Like really really good at it! Can I try?" She asked hopefully.

Tails, upon hearing the question, did turn the screen back to himself. Not wanting to seem selfish… but the handheld wasn't some mere toy, it was something he had spent hours tinkering on, and he didn't want to just let anyone handle it. Thankfully he didn't have to be the bearer of bad news as the elevator let off a high-pitched ding and the doors opened up. Everyone poured out of the elevator, including the girl as whoever hand she was holding yanked her forward.

"Come on bud, gotta get in line!" Maddie said, as if Tails had forgotten why they had gone to the mall.

"So wait, what exactly am I doing?" Tails asked, realizing that he had been given zero information as to what he was doing besides 'seeing Santa'. "Like I'm sure this Santa Claus fellow is a great guy, but why do I need to see him?" He asked, his frog boots squeaked as they quickly traveled the hard concrete floor.

"Well you get to tell him what you really want for Christman, they'll probably give you a candy cane, and I get to take a cute picture of you and Santa together!" His mom figure said, letting out a quiet excited squeak as she pulled her phone out and waved it in the air.

"Ok, then why did I make a list?" The young fox questioned, her eyebrows furrowing.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we all wrote a list for Santa to read right?"

"Right!"

"And the list got to him in the North Pole already, correct?"

"Rrrrright." Maddie winced, realizing what Tails was getting to. Why did the kid have to be so smart all of the time?

"So why do I need to tell him what I want if he got my letter? Seems kind of like a redundant thing to do." He pointed out, not realizing that the two were already in a line of parents with their kids.

"It does seem that way… But there's a reason for it! A really really really good reason for it!" She promised him as her eyes darted around, as if the 'really really really good reason' was gonna pop out to her. "And I'll let Santa tell you what it is. It is kind of his department after all." She said, taking her first opportunity to get out of the conversation that she could.

"Makes sense." Tails conceded, letting his shoulders bounce up and down before looking back down at his handheld again. Making Maddie, maybe the fox wasn't an iPad kid per se, but he definitely was glued to his invention like one. But at least it had stopped him from asking more questions she had no idea how to answer.

Then with him distracted it gave Maddie the chance to answer her husband's questions about the present he and their other two boys were picking up. Making sure he was getting the right colors and sizes. She doubted Knuckles wanted a 10lb weight. The echidna probably could lift a weight of that size with one finger. And when one of the items on the list specifically said a red model plane, a green one wasn't going to cut it. But fixing her husband's mistakes, and putting out fires, before they could even appear, they seemed to move closer to the front of the line at Sonic speed.

"Mam…" A teenager dressed in a typical green elf outfit with plastic ears and a pointed hat said, trying to get Maddie's attention. Though as she tried stifling a laugh at the picture of Sonic having a green child's harness with a stuffed turtle on the back of it, the teen not looking amused, she missed it. "MAM! Others need to see Santa!" He said a bit louder and firmer, making the lady jump.

"Oh, right!" Maddie yelped as her phone leapt out of her hand, making her slap her hand in the air until she managed to get the black phone. "Ok, Tails, go tell Santa what you want!" She said, ruffling the boy's covered head, getting his attention.

"My turn? Great!" The boy said, pulling his hand out of Maddie's and rushing past the Elf. He quickly got to a man in a red and white suit, small glasses that the fox doubted did much of anything for the man's vision, a fluffy white beard, and a red hat. "Hi there, Mr. Claus, I'm Tails, and I-!" The fox boy tried introducing himself, but as someone scooped him up and plopped him on the red man's lap his eyes went wide.

"Ho ho ho!" Santa laughed out loud as he looked down at Tails as if he were some sort of puzzle that needed to be solved. "Can't say that I've had the opportunity to listen to such a… unique-looking child!" He said. "But that doesn't matter. What really matters is, have you been a good boy this year?" He asked, making Tails bite his bottom lip as he thought.

In the grand scheme of things, Tails felt like he had been pretty good. He did help save the world from a crazy inventor who wanted to take control of the entire Earth. That did have to count for some good points. But then there was the whole ruining of the stove, trying to upgrade it, and that landed him on his first grounding. Was that worse or better than saving the world?

"Well, I think I've been good." Tails said with a head nod, "I did save the entire world from a whack job named Dr. Robotnic, reunited a lost Echidna warrior with his giant emerald that gives god-like powers… oh and I help bath Ozzie! He's our Golden Retriever." He tacked on with a head nod.

"Oh, well I'm glad you helped with bathing Ozzie," Santa laughed, figuring the first part was just a little kid's imagination. "Since you've been so good, what do you want for Christmas?"

"Answers!" Tails cheered, tapping on his handheld, changing the screen from his game to a list he had been typing out. "What kind of manufacturing process do you use at the North Pole to get toys, games, and game systems out for every child? Do you have the blueprints to your sleigh handy and could I look at them to see if I can use them to improve my own plane? Who makes the naughty and nice list and how trustworthy are they? And why wasn't Rudolph allowed to play in any of the Reindeer Games?"

The man's eyes went wide as he listened to the boy on his lap list off questions. He was expecting the boy to say he wanted an Xbox or a Yoyo. Not to be grilled like the fox was a safety inspector of a factory.

"My, quite the curious one aren't you?" He asked but didn't give any time for Tails to answer. "Well, those are all secret, besides the last one. But there's a movie that explains it far better than I could. How about tell me about something you'd like to find under the Christmas tree and open?" He suggested, making Tails huff and think. He had another 40 questions he wanted to ask. But of course, he was going to be hit with the 'Confidential Information' wall.

"Well I need a way to power my experiments reliably. After doing some research nuclear power seems to be the strongest as long as it's handled right. Could I get a radio-activie isotope? If I got maybe a pound of it I could use that to power most things!" He said, his eyes sparkling as he looked up at Santa.

"I'll uh… See what I can do." Santa promised as he reached to his side and pulled out a candy cane that was about half the size of Tails.

"Tails, smile!" Maddy, who was standing in front of them ,ordered, making her son and Santa look at her. She didn't waste a moment to take the picture, standing up with a beaming smile after she got it. "Ok let's go find everyone else." She said, holding her free hand out to Tails, who started to slide off Santa's lap.

"Thank you!" Tails said, minding his manners, as he waved at Santa. Though what he was thanking the man for the fox wasn't sure. None of the questions were answered and the answer to the isotope sounded more like the 'no' version of maybe and not the 'yes' version.

"No problem, little one. Merry Christmas!" Santa cheered, waving to Tails as she scampered away to Maddie.

"Well that was a bust," Tails sighed, his hand slipping back into Maddies. "I was hoping to get the inside scoop on how Mr. Claus ran his workshop. But they're top secret."

"That sounds about right." The lady confirmed as she started to walk, wondering why she couldn't have thought of that simple excuse when she was asked. "But that's part of the fun. Not knowing how it works."

"Maybe for you, but I'm an engineer. I kind of got to know how things work." He huffed looking up at her. "And then he said no to getting me any nuclear power source." He pouted, making Maddie groan on the inside. Hopefully, Tails didn't try to order that on his own somehow. The last thing she needed was for her house to become the next Chernobyl and for G.U.N to show up to relocate them.

"I'm sure you're still gonna have a good Christmas, even without any radiation poison waiting in your stocking." She promised, smiling down at him, making the boy's eyes lift up in a cheerful expression.

"Yeah of course I will, I'll be able to spend a holiday with a family. I've never gotten to do that before!" He cheered, making his mom's heart flutter as she smiled a bit wider.

"That's a good way to look at it, Tails." Maddie praised as they got closer to the food court on the top floor of the mall. She didn't need to look around for long before she saw Sonic standing beside a hot dog cart being run by a man in an elf costume, that wasn't large enough to hide his bulging belly, and a dirty chef's hat. Maddie probably would have stayed as far as she could from the man, looking like he was one chin scratch from losing what food handling license he had. But Sonic looked like he was in heaven with a chili dog in each hand, topped with every topping and condiment she could think of. "Now we just need to tear Sonic away from the Chili Dog guy. We do need to make it home tonight at some point." She sighed.

"Good luck with that." Tails scoffed, making Maddie chuckle at the response, but she knew he was right. She was gonna need a Christmas miracle to peel the teen away from the food cart.