#making space sequel

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“So,” Tom began, “we wanted to talk to all of you about some things that are going to be happening around here.” He focused on Tails when he said, “do you remember when we ran into Judge Ramirez, about a month ago?” 

The fox kit nodded. “Sure, she was real nice. Intense, but nice.” He laughed lightly, then his eyes widened. “How come you’re- she was talking about a-a-what was the word?” He looked at Sonic.

The hedgehog smiled. “Adoption.”

“That’s the one! It means being officially part of the family, right?”

Knuckles looked up from gnawing on his crust. “We are a part of the family.”

“You are,” Maddie said, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder. “But, if we can, we’d like to make it so the whole world knows it.”

“If you can?” Tails echoed, ears dropping.

“Yeah, that’s what we wanted to talk about.” Tom slid down a step so he was at eye-level with the boy. “Because we’ve started the process, but it’s not a guaranteed thing.”

“But you did it once already! With Sonic.”

“And when we were at this stage with Sonic, we kept it a secret.” Tom stretched one leg out down the steps. “We didn’t want to get his hopes up, in case things didn’t go our way.”

“So why-?”

“Because Sonic got the mail today,” Maddie said, plucking wet wipes from a plastic pack and coming closer to start wiping down fingers and faces. “And he’s not the best at keeping secrets.”

“Hey! I could’ve been a secret agent in another life I’ll have you know,” Sonic insisted.

“Sure you could, baby.” 

“But then you just told us,” Tails said. 

“Oh. Forget I said that.”

“Ha!” Knuckles crowed. “You are a feeble secret keeper! Right Mother?” He looked up at Maddie, who was watching him almost sadly. “Mother?”

“It’s probably better this way,” Tom said, quickly. “Because things are a little more… sticky than they were with Sonic.”

The hedgehog’s ears pricked up. “What? Why?”

“Because the government that gets to make the final call is the same government that G.U.N. is a branch of,” Tom answered. “And they're chomping at the bit for a P.R. win.”

Sonic frowned. “After all that bullsh-” Maddie gave him a look and he corrected, “baloney they pulled back in Hawaii, you’d think this would be a golden opportunity for them! Make right with the kids they tased, right?”

“And you’re right, baby,” Maddie said, reaching out to brush his face where, just a few weeks ago, she could still feel the scabs from where the tasers had reached below fur onto skin. “You’re right. They can’t touch us over the kids they attacked. But… but that’s where we’re having a problem.”

“What! They- they want to taze us again just so the whole thing’s easier?” Sonic’s eyes slotted. “I don’t care what they’ll do, Mom. If they come near us again-”

“No, sweetheart, that’s not it. It’s-”

“It is me.”