Chapter Text
When Maddie had finally told her parents that she and Tom were adding a second grandchild to the family, they had been ecstatic. Hearing that there was also a third and fourth had sent them into raptures. It didn't matter that the children were adopted. Or teenagers. Or aliens! Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails had been embraced by their new grandparents, and that included the customary shower of gifts.
Granted, it took a few tries for Maddie’s parents to land on developmentally appropriate gifts, but the spirit was there, and the Mobian trio had been thankful no matter what was delivered. (Although the large bag of freeze-dried mealworms was a bit horrifying to all but the veterinarian, who was glad for treats for her more exotic patients.)
When Maddie came home from work with a large green plastic turtle and several 50lb bags of fine-ground sand in the back of her car, Tom had to wonder if his wife had also inherited her parents' penchant for unsuitable presents.
"I don't think they're gonna be interested in sandcastles or dump trucks, Hon." He considered a moment. "Well, maybe Knuckles."
Maddie laughed, patting Tom patronizingly on the head. "Just trust me, and go bring the wheelbarrow."
Well, Tom did trust his wife, and he supposed the worst case scenario would be a sandbox full of cat poop. So he obeyed orders, helping Maddie haul the bright turtle and more bags than his back appreciated around to the rear of the house. Maddie brought out the dust masks and safety goggles before they cut into the sandbags. The plume of dust that puffed up as the bags were emptied proved her wise.
When all the dust had literally settled, Maddie stood back and admired their work. She clapped her hands, rubbing them together eagerly. "This is gonna be good."
"I don't see how," Tom groaned, rubbing his back. He'd need a double-dose of Tylenol tonight. "You didn't even get them shovels or buckets."
"Truuuust me," Maddie crooned. Taking out her phone, she typed up a quick message to the family chat.
That last message was, indeed, received just as the sender arrived. Sonic’s backdraft brought with it a good layer of leaves for the grass, along with the scent of pine and humus. He, as usual, felt little need to explain where he’d been (hopefully within the state, or at least the country), instead focusing entirely on the promise of Maddie’s message, zipping about as he searched the backyard.
"Yo, what's up, what did you do, gasp!” Sonic paused in his search, grabbing onto the hem of Maddie’s shirt, going on tiptoes as he asked, “Is it a surpriiiiiise?"
Before the woman had a chance to reply, their little blue ball of energy was once more on the move, searching for something suitably exciting, passing over the sandbox turtle several times.
Tom felt vindicated. In that smug but foreboding way that partners do: he was right...but at what cost?
Smaller backdrafts and shouting announced the arrival of their cute yellow puffball and red wrecking ball children, who offered even briefer greetings to their adoptive parents before they joined Sonic in searching for the anomaly. Really, the search seemed to be half the fun, as the Mobians scoured all corners of the backyard, and at least a few yards into the woods beyond.
It was Tails who figured it out. The kit skidded to a halt and stood before the turtle, ears drooping. "Oh," he said, "uh...a sandbox. From your parents?" He looked to Maddie, managing to force on a smile.
Sonic and Knuckles, catching on, halted at Tails's side, examining the unnaturally happy reptile. Sonic's ears flattened, but both boys also managed to plaster on smiles when they turned to the adults.
"Wow," Sonic said, giving them a thumbs up. "Cool. A sandbox."
"Yes," Knuckles agreed, arms crossed over his broad chest, chin held high. "The perfect spot to store our sand!"
"It's not a sandbox," Maddie laughed, her enthusiasm undiminished. "Just get in there, you goobers. Gloves and shoes off." When the boys didn't move, she waved her hands, shooing them towards the playground equipment, repeating the day's mantra: "Trust me!"
The trio shot one-another disgruntled looks, but, without voicing their rancour, they followed orders. Shoes and gloves were set just outside the turtle and the Mobians, gingerly, stepped into the sandbox and sat down.
After some silent moments, they looked back to Tom and Maddie, smiles descending as the effort involved became unsustainable.
"See?" Tom muttered, leaning towards his wife so the kids couldn't hear. "They're not four year olds, Mads."
"Give it a second," Maddie insisted, still with that confident smile on her face.
Sighing, Tails scratched performatively at the sand with one long-clawed hand.
The fox's ears pricked forward. He scratched again, fingers flexing, exposing more of his normally-covered talons.
"Goggles," Maddie advised, pulling hers down from her forehead.
"Oh, really?" Tom snorted. "Getting OSHA involved for—bleh! Pluh! Ptoo!"
Sand. Sand in his mouth, in his teeth, under his tongue.
Kindly Maddie, most perfect of wives, reached over and smacked Tom upside the head, purely to knock his safety goggles back in place.
Tails was clawing at the sand, digging down to plastic, tails lashing. His eyes were wide, pupils blown. Hands soon weren't enough, and he flopped chest-down in the sand, corkscrewing, sending up a plume of dust. He made a sound Tom hadn't heard from him before, a scratchy "keh keh keh!" which had his brothers staring.
Alarmed, Sonic reached out to Tails, but as he did, the sand shifted under his body...and he, too, paused.
Quills rose high. Tentative, the hedgehog leaned forward and worked his hands under the sand, stilling once they were fully buried.
His little tail began to lash.
A heartbeat later, Sonic was also twisting and writhing, his sounds more squeaks and chirps, remarkably high-pitched. A stationary spin sent sand high in the air, prompting Maddie and Tom to step a bit further back from the fallout zone.
Knuckles watched his brothers. Perplexed. Alarmed. Disgusted. Suspiciously, he looked down at the sand and, not liking what he saw, the echidna rose to his feet. He stepped backward with great care, soon standing halfway in and half out of the dangerous turtle.
A dreadful mistake. A twig, snapped underfoot. The red brawler winced.
Sonic and Tails stopped whirling. Their chests heaved, mouths opened to pant. As one, their attention zeroed in on the escaping echidna.
"Oh...no," Knuckles whimpered.
His brothers lunged.
Knuckles shrieked, turning to make a break for it, but a yellow paw caught his right ankle, a blue his left. Back, back he was dragged. Down, down into the murky depths of the cheerful turtle sandbox.
A tragic silence fell over the yard.
"...oh.” Knuckles sat up, shaking his head, sending sand flying. “It is...not unpleasant." Speculative, Knuckles scooped up a handful of sand, examining it calmly as his brothers resumed their wriggling around him. After some moments, he upended the sand onto one leg, rubbing it in. “Hmmm.” He nodded, lips pursed.
The guardian looked to Maddie and grinned. "Delightful!"
"Why thank you," Maddie returned, jeering sideways at her husband.
Tom stared as his two youngest continued what he, as a long-time dog owner, could only describe as "the zoomies," while the red eldest proceeded in a more methodical fashion, rubbing sand into his fur one area at a time, humming all the while. "How did you...?"
"I had a new client today," Maddie said, rocking back on her heels. "A chinchilla, cutest thing you’ve ever seen, so soft . His owner talked my ear off about his enclosure, and she mentioned," Maddie waved at the sandbox, "a dust bath."
Tom looked his wife up and down, lips quirking. "A dust bath?"
"Mmmhmm," she affirmed. "Lots of animals like dust baths. Especially..." Maddie glanced at Sonic and Knuckles before continuing in a whisper, "the smaller mammals."
Chuckling, Tom reached out, wrapping one arm about Maddie's waist, pulling her in. "Absolutely brilliant."
"As always," Maddie agreed.
Leaning down, their safety goggles tapping, Tom kissed his clever wife.
Maddie lurched back in his embrace, bringing an arm up to wipe at her tongue. "Oh, blech! Ptoo! Sand!"
"Yeah, sorry," Tom rubbed at his gritty mouth. "I'll go brush real quick. And how about I bring dinner out here?"
"Good plan. Unless you want to get those three to take water baths before eating."
"Not a chance."
The kids left the sandbox soon enough, once food was placed on the backyard table, and none of them seemed particularly inclined to return after eating, despite their little episode. By the time dinner was fully hoovered up, the sun was nearly gone below the treeline, and the boys were directed inside for actual baths before bed. Tom had some concerns for their plumbing, but the kids each shook themselves off with enough force that his new concern was for the impromptu sanding inflicted on the exterior paint.
Maddie was scheduled to open the clinic come early morning, so Tom likewise ushered her off for her own bath and early bedtime, while he stayed downstairs to settle the house for the night.
Soon, the showers turned off and all was relatively silent, but for the hum of the dishwasher. Tom set the pots out to drip-dry and began a final sanitizing and wipe-down of the counters. It was quiet enough that he could hear his towel squeaking across the formica.
Thus, Tom was perfectly able to catch a scratching, digging sound beyond the kitchen’s backyard door.
"Oh, come on," Tom muttered. He'd told the kids to put the lid on the turtle, but it sounded like all three had forgotten, and now some pet or pest had come to leave their first "gift." And who was going to have to clean that up? Well, not him, not this time!
Tom crashed out the back door, spinning the towel above his head. He stomped on the stair landing, hissing "Scat! Tsss! Bad kitty!"
Down below, the intruder halted its nefarious work. But it did not flee.
A low rumble of displeasure rolled out across the yard.
A...very low rumble.
Tom paused. He'd only made it a single step outside, some instinct stopping him from starting down the staircase. At his back, the single light left on in the kitchen sent out a glow entirely insufficient to expose the digging creature.
That was...that was a big housecat.
The growl grew louder. The animal turned, its bulk becoming more understandable, but no less alarming.
Tom's entire body tensed up as he took in the massive housecat.
No, not housecat. Bobcat!
The bobcat’s ears flattened back on its head. It rose up. Larger. Larger.
Oh shit shit shit, cougar?!
Larger it grew, once more, but no. Not larger. Taller.
Tom took a step back, bracing his hands on the door frame. His heart shuddered, threatening to stop.
Up the creature rose, not on four paws. On back legs.
Nothing about the beast was particularly dense or muscly. It almost seemed malnourished, but Tom well knew that its lithe shape had no bearing on the threat it posed. This monster was powerful.
Pointed ears twitched, listening to Tom's harsh breaths, his chaotically beating heart.
The creature turned, and in the moonlight, gold glinted on both of its rear feet and one wrist. Sand whispered off its back, deadly spikes flexing to shed the last of the dust.
The moon was at its back, but when the creature looked Tom in his eyes, directly in his eyes, its own eyes lit up red.
Tom shivered. If he yelled, could any of the boys reach him before this monster did?
The thing tilted its head, considering the human. Quite possibly it also considered what interference it might face.
Its teeth flashed in a smug grin.
"Meow," it said, in a voice raspy and low and very, very amused.
Tom...took a step back. Back inside the house. Gently, he closed the door and turned the lock. Silently, Tom left the kitchen, climbed upstairs, and slid into bed with his peacefully sleeping wife. He did not sleep.
Come morning, the lid was back on the turtle sandbox.
Tom never spoke of what he saw.
To anyone.
Ever.