Fever

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Right, sorry for the long wait. This is not my favourite one, and honestly, I'll probably come back and rewrite the ending. Anyways, enjoy.

Sonic sneezed.
Shadow looked down at him.
They were in the kitchen. Shadow was heating up some leftover spaghetti for supper and Sonic was on the floor playing with his toy cars, rolling them around and making engine noises.
Shadow got down on one knee and raised Sonic's chin.
He hadn't noticed the blurry eyes or the stuffy nose before. They'd been home for a few hours now, he hadn't thought a fever could be so fast-acting.
Stupid. He cursed himself. He scooped the kid up and sat him in the counter. 
Sonic didn't seem to care, he rubbed at his eyes vacantly.
Putting a hand to the little forehead, Shadow drew back.
Sonic was burning up!
Food forgotten, Shadow picked him up and took him upstairs. He put him in his little race car bed.
Sonic protested a little, but didn't move to run away. "Mmh. Shadow, I don't feel good." He mumbled.
"You've got a fever." Shadow told him.
Sonic's eyebrows furrowed. "What's that?"
"It's a kind of sickness." He told him, pulling the blanket up to his chin.
From the look on the little hedgies face, he didn't have a lot of experience with sickness... Neither did Shadow come to think of it.
"Wait here." He told the little guy and raced down the stairs. It took about two seconds to ransack the place for any medicine, or useful things that might help. But he already knew there wouldn't be. Options, options, in desperate need of options. The thought of leaving Sonic alone was one that he immediately dismissed. Even if he'd only be gone a few minutes, tops, there was no telling what kind of mischief the little hedgehog could get into while he was gone.  Ok then, option number two was take him to the store with him. He didn't like that one either. Shadow didn't know much about fevers, never having had one his entire life, but he would really rather Sonic stay in bed. The final option was...disagreeable, but more practical then the other options.
He went to the phone and dialled a number, then waited impatiently as the phone on the other end rang once, twice, three times.
Then, "Hello?"
"Rouge, I need your help." Shadow cringed at his own words. Asking for help was not something the ultimate life form excelled at.
"Shadow?" She sounded very surprised. "You need my help?"
Shadow almost bit his tongue off, really, really not wanting to voice the next bit. "Look, can you come over here? I'll explain when you get here."
"Uh, sure, Shadz. But this isn't anything weird is it?" She asked, guarded.
Depends on your definition of weird. Shadow thought. "Just get over here." He snapped, then hung up. Not tactful, but the best he could do under the circumstances. Besides, she wasn't really worried, she just liked getting a rise out of him.
About 10 minutes later, Rouge arrived, wearing one of her red winter coats and giving him a weird look as she came through the front door without knocking.
"Ok, I can explain." Shadow held up his hands as if to placate her.
Which wasn't all that necessary a gesture since she looked more amused then angry. "Do tell." The bat crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently.
Shadow visibly cringed, which confused Rouge to no end considering he never ever showed any emotion other then rage. For a long time she'd wondered if he even had any other emotions.
A red blush crept over his muzzle.
"Just, follow me and don't ask any questions." He grumbled, motioning her to follow.
Rouge shrugged her shoulders and trotted after him. "Ok but don't try anything sneaky, Shadz." She said in a teasing voice.
Shadow just rolled his eyes.
He took her upstairs and paused outside a closed door. He put a hand on the doorknob and pointed a finger at her. "I mean it. No questions. And no loud girlish exclamations."
What exactly that meant, Rouge couldn't guess. "And just what exactly do you expect us to do in this-" she cut herself off when Shadow opened the door.
Sonic blinked sleepily at the two adults, pushing himself up.
"Squeeeeeeeeeee!" Rouge launched herself into the room. "Oh my gosh! What's his name?! Who's is he?! Is he yours?! Why didn't you tell me?!"
Shadow rolled his eyes and walked in after her.
She knelt beside the bed. "Hi sweetheart. I'm Rouge, Shadow's friend."
Sonic looked from Rouge to Shadow uncertainly.
Shadow gave him a close-lipped smile and nodded once.
Sonic looked at Rouge again and smiled nervously.
Rouge beamed.
"Rouge, this is Sonic. He's my- erm..." Shadow scratched at his neck. "Adoptive son."
Rouge froze. Then a goofy smile spread over her face. "Oh Shadzy, I had no idea you had a soft spot for kids!" She giggled in a most annoying way.
Sonic coughed.
Rouge registered for the first time that the little hedgie didn't look so good. "Oh, is he sick?" She placed a hand on his forehead.
"Small fever." Shadow told her. "I need you to watch him for a little while while I go out for medication."
"Oh. Oh! Sure yeah! I'd love to." She beamed down at the little hedgehog.
Sonic's eyes widened. "B-but Shadow,"
Shadow crossed over to the bed and put a comforting hand on the little guys head, rubbing his quills softly. "You'll be fine. I'll be right back."
When Shadow left, Sonic ducked under the covers.
Rouge held back a giggle and lifted the blanket off the little hedgehogs head. "Hey, Shadow said he would be right back. It'll be fine. Do you like movies?"
Sonic's ears perked up, interested.

Shadow grumbled to himself as he made his way home. He'd had no clue it could take so flipping long to navigate a drugstore. Plus the unhelpful clerks, plus the fact that it was snowing now, plus the fact that now that he thought about it, Rouge was perhaps the worst babysitter he possibly could have gotten, master thief as she was. It was just not a good day.
When he walked through the door, practically an hour later, he found Rouge, with Sonic curled up in her lap, both snoring in front of the tv.
Huh, go figure.

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