FicWad

Manic and Surge, who had been married for a year, now owned Aleena’s home since she had moved into the duplex connected to Sonic and Sally’s duplex several months ago.
Aleena had given it to them as soon as Sonic, Sonia, and Manic’s band started to get some success in the self-publishing field and they could quit their regular jobs.
Manic got out of bed and glanced at the empty side of his and Surge’s bed. He shrugged.
It wasn’t unusual for Surge to get up early on occasion if she happened to wake up before him and listen to music while drinking coffee.
Manic walked out of the room and stopped by the bathroom door, which was closed. He knocked on the door. “Babe, you in there?”
“…Yeah.” Surge replied.
Manic raised an eyebrow. “Well, can I come in?” He asked. “Are you okay?”
“Come in.” Surge replied.
Manic opened the door.
Surge was sitting on the floor.
Manic walked over and sat down beside Surge. “What’s wrong?”
Surge reached over and picked something up.
Manic noticed she was holding a positive pregnancy test and ran his hand through his spines. “How accurate are those things?”
Surge shrugged. “I don't know.”
Manic sighed. “Okay… so… we did want kids and maybe the mutations won’t affect the baby.”
Surge pulled her knees to her chest. “But the mutations could cause problems.” She replied. “I don’t have a clue on how to take care of a baby anyway.”
Manic hugged Surge. “It’s okay; don’t panic.” He said. “My fam will help us, we have plenty of friends. I know how to take care of babies and I can teach you. You’re not doing this alone. Tails is a genius, I’m sure he can figure out what to do if something is wrong with either of us or our baby. At least GUN won’t get their hands on him or her.”
Surge hugged Manic. “Thanks, Babe.”
Manic rubbed Surge’s back. “You’re welcome.” He replied. He let go of Surge. “Do you want me to text Tails and ask him to check you out? It’ll take a few days to get you an appointment anywhere and I figure you’d want answers now.”
“Go ahead and text Tails.” Surge said.
Manic got up. “I’ll get my phone and some coff- you know, we probably should skip coffee.” He said. “I’ll text Tails and get some water. Meet you in the kitchen.”
*
Surge and Manic walked into Tails’ lab (which was still in the guest house behind Manic and Surge’s house).
Sonic, Sonia, and Shadow were already there. Sonic was sitting on the coffee table and holding an ice pack to his ankle while Sonia and Shadow sat on the couch.
Sonia was leaning against Shadow’s chest.
Shadow was rubbing Sonia’s arm.
“G’morning.” Tails said, walking out of his kitchen. “Eh, sorry about this. They showed up and needed me too.”
“It’s cool.” Manic replied. He looked at Sonia and Shadow. “So what’re you two doing here?”
“We may be having a baby.” Sonia said.
“Us too.” Manic replied.
Sonic snickered. “Did you all have a pact or something?”
“Coincidence.” Shadow said. “Keep running your mouth, and Tails is going to be prying my shoe out of you.”
“Alright, sorry.” Sonic said. “Anyway, I sprained my ankle while on my morning run. Didn’t see the pothole until it was too late.”
“Okay, let’s get started.” Tails said.
*
Tails pulled out some medical equipment out of compartments on the wall.
Surge looked at the set up. “How’d you make this?”
“I didn’t make the compartments, Knuckles made this.” Tails replied. “Okay, just get comfortable while I get the machine ready again.”
Sonia got off the couch to let Surge sit down.
Manic sat down beside the couch and held Surge’s hand.
Sonia and Shadow leaned against the wall.
Sonic, with his ankle wrapped in bandages, was sitting on a beanbag chair.
“The gel’s really cold.” Tails said. “Please try not to kick me like Sonic does.”
“Promise.” Surge replied.
“Hey, I don’t mean to.” Sonic said.
“I didn’t say you did, big bro.” Tails replied. He gently placed the wand on Surge’s stomach.
Surge flinched, then looked at Manic. “Your brother is such a wimp.”
Manic laughed.
“Hey.” Sonic protested.
Tails looked at the screen. “Yeah, you’re having twins.”
Manic and Surge exchanged uneasy glances.
Sonic dropped his soda can.
Sonia stepped over to Surge and knelt down beside the couch. “Manic, Sonic, and I had helped Mother take care of Tails when she adopted him.” She said, “Manic’s great with kids. We’re happy to teach you and Shadow. He’s a little apprehensive about being a first time parent too.”
Shadow shook his head. “We agreed we wouldn’t mention that.”
Manic looked at Tails. “So are the babies okay?”
“They’re healthy.” Tails said.
“That’s a relief.” Manic replied. “But we’re worried we’ll pass our powers onto them. How’s that gonna affect them?”
“We’re worried about that too.” Shadow said, walking over to Sonia.
Tails shrugged. “The babies should be fine.” He replied. “I think the effects will probably be along the lines of Sonic’s super form with your twins.”
“Thanks, Tails.” Manic and Sonia replied.
“Thanks.” Surge said.
“I’m gonna make inhibitor rings just in case.” Tails said. “It’ll help them keep the power in check if it’s too much for them.”
“Someone might want to experiment on them.” Sonic said.
“Well, your mom’s a nurse and Bunnie is a doctor.” Tails replied. “They can keep the findings related to the experiments quiet and off medical records while I keep a record of it in my files.”
“That won’t work.” Surge said. “We’re all known for exposing the experiments and that we were test subjects. We’d be spotted at the hospital and they’d just subject us to an ungodly amount of tests.”
Sonic nodded. “The whole reason we got this mini emergency room set up is because the hospital wanted to do a ridiculous amount of tests every time I had to go to the hospital.” He said. “Imagine how many tests they’d subject the babies to.”
“Has anyone started keeping records on Mobians?” Shadow asked. “Or is there still very loose record keeping?”
“Pretty much the latter.” Tails replied. “You’d have to get the babies their birth certificates, but if they’re born outside of a hospital, there won’t be as much oversight.”
“Fine with me.” Surge said. “I hate hospitals.”
Manic and Shadow nodded.
Sonia shook her head. “I’m not.”
Surge looked at Sonia. “You weren’t poked, prodded, and routinely injected among other things in a lab.” She replied. “Oh, and how about being shoved in a cage to mate with a random guy?”
Sonic furrowed his brow. “But she married you.” He mouthed to Manic.
Manic shrugged.
“Remember when that hospital scene in that movie we watched last week, Sonia?” Tails asked. “They all had panic attacks and nightmares.”
Surge motioned to Manic. “He had a nightmare last night and woke me up crying.”
Manic shuddered. “It was brutal.”
“Do you really want to retraumatize Shadow for that, sis?” Sonic asked.
“I’ll be fine.” Shadow replied. “But if they try to run one test related to the experiments on our baby, they’re dead.”
Sonia grimaced. “Okay, I don’t want you to go to prison.”
Manic checked his watch. “Ma said you’re mentioned in an old news clip, Surge.” He said. “She sent the video to me.”
Manic pulled the video up and sat down.
Everyone gathered around the phone.
A fennec fox named Kit was being interviewed.
“He looks familiar.” Surge said.
“Yes, ma’am, my big sister was kidnapped from the park.” Kit said, wiping his eyes. “We were eating ice cream, she headed to the bathroom, and she didn’t come back. I found her backpack on the ground, but she was gone.”
Surge pulled her phone out and started searching online for Kit.
“If anyone has info, please call.” Kit begged.
Surge found one of Kit’s social media accounts. “Okay, I’m video calling him.”
Manic shut his phone off.
Kit answered. “Surge?” He asked. He started crying. “I’ve been searching for years. Where have you been?”
“I had been kidnapped by GUN and I lost a lot of my memory.” Surge replied. “I’m sorry I didn’t call. I guess you didn’t see the video.”
“That was you?” Kit asked. “Your spines are longer now.”
Surge nodded. “Yeah, let me give you my address.”
Manic leaned in. “You can come by now if you want.” He said. “We’ll have breakfast.”
“Who are you?” Kit asked.
“Manic, I’ll explain when you get here.” Surge said. “So we’re at ninety-eight Hanging Gardens road.”
*
Kit sighed. “You’re married and are having twins?”
“Yeah, that last part was quite a shock to us too.” Surge said.
Manic nodded.
“I’ve tried to find you for years and nothing was being done.” Kit replied. “We were… well, you were ten or eleven and I was eight or nine.”
“The same thing happened to me.” Manic said. “Ma said that she, Sonic, and Sonia couldn’t get answers either. My little bro Tails had even hacked into GUN’s database and couldn’t get any info beyond the project names.”
Kit nodded. “Well, I’m glad you’re safe and happy.” He said. “I brought your things. We didn’t own much, so I thought I’d bring it along.”
“Where’s it at?” Surge asked.
“It’s in the side car of my scooter, I’ll get it.” Kit replied. He headed outside and came back a few minutes later with a backpack and a tote bag full of clothes. He handed the bags to Surge. “That’s all you owned.”
Manic looked at the handful of faded clothes. “Where did you two live?”
Kit sat down. “Sanctuary homeless camp.”
Manic furrowed his brow. “Homeless camp?”
Kit nodded. “Well, the laws are still pretty murky about Mobian orphans and all.”
Manic nodded. “I can imagine.” He said. “Ma adopted Tails just by letting him move into our guest house and signing a paper.”
“Are you still out there?” Surge replied.
Kit shrugged. “I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”
“You can live with us.” Manic said. “Tails has an extra bunk. I’m sure he won’t mind.”
“At least text him and ask.” Surge replied.
Tails stepped into the living room. “Hey, would you like me to make the grocery run today?”
“Sure.” Manic said. “Oh, this is Kit.”
Tails walked in and shook Kit’s hand. “Nice to meet- hey, are you from the Sanctuary homeless camp?”
“Oh, you’re the tutor that comes in.” Kit replied. “Yeah, I live there.”
Tails frowned. “Why don’t you come live in the guest house?” He asked. “You’re Surge’s little brother, so you’re family.”
Manic and Surge exchanged glances, then shrugged.
“Thanks.” Kit said.
*
Surge helped Kit move his clothes (which was all he owned) into one side of the guest room.
“Thank you.” Kit said.
“Don’t thank me, thank Tails.” Surge replied. “This is like his little apartment.”
“I will.” Kit said, sitting down on his new bed. “So… you really like Manic? I mean, he looks like a guy you’d be interested in and you haven’t changed a whole lot. I guess I was asking because of what GUN did.”
Surge sat down in the computer chair. “Yeah, in spite of GUN trying to force us together.”
“As long as you’re happy, I’m happy for you.” Kit replied. “I’m just glad you’re safe.”