Summer had been in full swing when Knuckles and Tails had first joined the Wachowski family, and even though it was beginning to wind down, school hadn't started yet, and the hot weather had yet to cool down. So, in an attempt to find something fun and together to do on a free weekend that both Tom and Maddie had off work, they decided to take the kids to the local pool for the entirety of Saturday.

When they'd called their trio together and announced the weekend plan, Tails had gotten excited and started cheering, saying things like "I saw kids go there for so long, it looks so fun, thank you guys so much!"

Knuckles had seemed interested, not excited per se, but interested in going. He'd smiled at his youngest brother's eager anticipation and decided that it would be beneficial to their bond as a tribe (which was what he'd taken to calling their family).

Meanwhile, Sonic had just stood there, silent for once, his eyes wide and . . . troubled?

As Tails flew back up the stairs, still happily rambling, Tom had knelt down beside the hedgehog. "Is everything okay, bud? You don't seem all that excited at all for this."

Sonic had tried to brush it off, insisting he was fine, that he'd just spaced out and was distracted by homework. He'd made it clear he didn't want to talk about whatever was bothering him, so Tom hadn't pushed too hard, but he privately informed Maddie about the odd situation later and asked her to help him keep an eye on their middle child.

Sonic was a good kid, a great kid. But he did have a lot of troubles from his past, troubles that were sometimes impossible to get him to talk about and help him with. And since they didn't want to force him into uncomfortable, possibly triggering conversations, they just let him know they were there for him and that he could come to them with any problem he had.

So here they were, 10 a.m. on a hot Saturday morning, pulling into the parking lot of the public pool. The boys didn't technically need swimming trunks, but they'd thought they looked cool, so they each had gotten their own pair. "Group of five, please," Tom informed the guy at the front. "All three under age 17. We'll be here till 4."

The guy glanced at the three alien boys, the younger two of which were bickering over whether or not zombies still biologically counted as humans, and chuckled. "I believe it."

While Tom paid for their visit, Maddie reached back and flicked both Sonic's and Tails's ears playfully. "Come on, guys, it's not that important. Don't argue."

"It's very important!" Sonic insisted. "What if we ended up in a zombie apocalypse one day? We'd have to know so that Tails could possibly make a cure! But like, if they're not human, then I don't think that'll work. Because . . . that would be like giving cold medicine to a . . . giraffe. Wait— do you think cold medicine would work on me and Tails? And Knuckles? What if—"

"We're in, boys!" Tom called back, cutting off Sonic's ramblings. "Let's-a go!"

Knuckles sighed. "Mother, he is copying the Italian construction worker again."

Maddie snickered, then nudged him and his brothers through the gate to the shower room for the men. "I'll see you guys on the other side."

Once they were all on said other side, Tails immediately made a beeline for the nearest bit of pool and jumped in with a whoop of glee. Knuckles smiled and followed him, calling, "I will make sure you stay safe, little fox!"

Maddie headed for the beach chairs, wanting to heat up in the direct sunlight before getting in the water. Tom was just about to follow his two newer boys in when he realized Sonic was still lingering back by the door, his arms pressed up to his chest, eyeing the water with a glint of . . . was that . . . fear in his eyes?

With a concerned frown, Tom stepped back out of the water and headed back to his kid. "You coming in, Sonic?"

The little hedgehog jumped at the sound of his name, his eyes somehow growing wider. "I— n-no . . . I'm . . . just gonna go sit with Mom, if that's okay," he mumbled, slinking uneasily along the side of the pool to where Maddie was reclining.

Tom watched him go, remembering the kid's first reaction to the pool announcement. For a kid who talked almost nonstop, getting to really know Sonic the way any parent should know their child was unbelievably hard. Basically, they only knew what he told them and what they managed to catch through observations. Tom tried to think back through all the time they'd had him, trying to find a clue to why he so obviously didn't want to be here. Had he said he didn't like the pool? Or didn't like swimming—

The memory hit him like a brick over the head, making him wonder why he hadn't thought of it before.

"I can't swim!!"

Gasping words, flailing limbs, when he'd once fallen asleep on a fishing trip and tipped out of their rowboat.

That was why he didn't want to join them. He couldn't.

But . . . they could teach him. Didn't he know he was safe with them? That they would never let him drown on their watch?

Maybe there was more to it than that.

Tom considered getting out and going to talk to Sonic about it, but he could see Maddie sitting up slightly, saying something to him. And based on Sonic's body language— knees tucked to his chest, half curled into his spiky ball, the position he got into whenever he didn't feel safe and the threat wasn't Robotnik— they weren't just discussing the weather.

So he decided to trust his wife to handle it, and went to join his other two boys.

-

"You're sure you don't wanna get in, hon? You look a little overheated. Especially with all your fur."

"I'm sure." Sonic's response was mumbled, almost grouchy sounding, and he wouldn't look at Maddie.

She studied him. Tom had told her a couple days prior that he'd seemed uncomfortable with the idea of the pool day, but refused to talk about it. They'd come anyway because Tails and Knuckles had wanted to do it, and Sonic hadn't asked them not to.

But now . . . he looked so miserable, and it broke Maddie's heart. With the longing way he stared at his brothers and father laughing and splashing in the water, it seemed he did want to. But for some reason he thought he couldn't.

She tried to start small and gentle with questions. "Have you ever gone swimming before? Like this, for fun?"

". . . No." His voice was muffled, words spoken into his arms and knees.

"So . . . do you know how to swim?"

He didn't say anything aloud this time, but his silence was enough of an answer.

"Because," Maddie ventured carefully, "if you don't know how, we could always teach you . . ."

"I can't—!" Sonic broke off quickly, but he'd already said enough, although Maddie wasn't sure why he thought he couldn't learn.

They sat in silence for the next minute, until she finally added, "We're not gonna force you to do anything you don't want to. We just want to help. We don't want you to be upset when everyone else is having a good time."

Again, Sonic didn't answer for a while. But after another few minutes of people-watching, he said quietly, "I don't like water."

"Yeah?"

"I really don't like water."

"Alright." He was building up to telling her something, she could tell, but she didn't ask more questions. She would let him open up in his own, comfortable timing.

"I mean, you can't run in water. Can't breathe in water."

"You're not wrong."

"And water could kill you, too. I should kno—" Again he broke off quickly, lowering his head and almost curling up completely, while Maddie slowly sat up straight.

"Hold on, sweetheart, back up." Her heart pounded in her chest, ringing in her ears in sudden anxiety. "Does that mean— have you . . . you almost drowned once?"

This round of waiting in silence was significantly more agonizing than the previous ones had been, and the fear only heightened when he finally muttered in response, "Maybe."

"W-What happened? When?" If only he knew how hard she was fighting to keep her voice calm.

At this point in the conversation, Sonic was almost completely curled into a ball, with only his nose and eyes poking out, and he was staring at nothing. His ears were flat, and his breathing sounded just a little too fast as he replied quietly, "Actually twice. Didn't make it across the ocean to the Master Emerald island. Robotnik took the Emerald and the maze collapsed. Water came in. Knuckles got pinned underwater. Tried to save him. Blacked out."

"Were you— how did you get out?"

"Knuckles."

It was . . . unlike him to be talking in such short, stunted sentences, and in such a quiet voice. It was worrying, especially when she realized he was ever so slightly trembling.

Then the worry got a whole lot worse when electric sparks started flying from his quills, and his troubled eyes started to flicker blue.

"Hey, hey, hey, honey it's okay." Maddie quickly moved just a little closer, reaching a hand towards him. "If you don't want to talk about this anymore, that's okay!"

Having noticed what was going on, Tom had scrambled to get out of the water and was hurrying towards them.

"Hey bud, what's going on?" He was trying not to sound too worried, but Maddie could hear the undertones in his voice. "Buddy? Can you talk to me?"

"I'm sorry," the boy mumbled, starting to take deep, soothing breaths the way Maddie had taught him. "I'm trying."

"We can drop the conversation, honey," Maddie reassured him. "You don't have to go in if you don't want to."

Some of the stress left Sonic's eyes as she spoke, but sparks were still flying.

"What else do you wanna talk about? Oh! Would you think vampires would count as humans?"

A tiny snort escaped him at her attempt of more fun conversation, and they counted that as a small win. "Maybe. Don't they have fangs and different blood though? Would that change them enough?"

Good, it was working. "I don't know," she laughed. "Would that mean they'd need a shot for medicine instead?"

"Probably." The blue in his eyes began to fade back to green as he relaxed. "Me and Tails should write a research paper about it later."

"Do my ears deceive me?" Tom pretended to gasp in shock. "You're saying you want to write a paper?!"

Sonic giggled a little at his father's exaggerated tone. "It'd be a fun topic. I still don't want to write papers about some politician from the 1800s who had a boring life."

"Fair." Maddie laughed, inwardly heaving a sigh of relief as the last of the sparks on him vanished.

They sat in more comfortable silence, although she was still trying to calm her racing heart at the thought of her little boy nearly drowning, not once, but twice, and not telling either of them.

Then again, that was just like him. He'd never liked to talk about the more painful parts of his life. He much preferred to live in the present, which was good and fine. They just didn't want him to be running away from his traumas instead of getting help with them.

So it was a bit of a surprise when he actually the broke the silence again a few minutes later with "How deep is the shallow part of water here?"

"It's about three feet, assuming you're not talking about the baby pool," Tom told him, and Sonic made a face at the latter half of the sentence.

"So just a little shorter than you," Maddie added.

"How can water be short?"

"Would you rather me say 'shallower than you'?"

"Ah. Yeah, no."

"Uh huh."

A pause. "So . . . maybe I could . . . try. A little."

Hope lit in Maddie's chest. At the very least she'd expected him to possibly suggest learning next time they went swimming, so it wouldn't be too fast and too much at once. It was an encouragement that he was willing to try.

Again, that was just him, the way he was. He was willing to face his fears. Just like he must've done before.

"Of course," Tom replied brightly. "Try not to worry too much. We won't let anything happen to you."

Sonic smiled sheepishly. "I know."

-

The lessons went fairly well, even though they ended up taking up the entirety of their time there. Tails and Knuckles, much to their parents' pride and relief, were thrilled to see him edging into the water and spent most of the lessons cheering him on (in their own individual ways). It wasn't that Sonic was afraid to touch the water, it was more the feeling of being submerged that made him nervous. He hesitated after wading in to about his knees, but with a constant barrage of encouragement from his parents and brothers (plus the close presence of both Tom and Maddie on either side of him) helped him take the remaining steps until he was standing on the bottom of the shallow end.

From there, they showed him how to use his hands as scoops and paddles for propelling, how to balance that with kicking, and how to float on his back (which he actually picked up really quickly). He still panicked every now and then, mainly when he slipped underwater, but Tom or Maddie were always there to pull him back up.

As they drove home that evening, Maddie nudged Tom's arm as she heard the boys talking in the backseats.

"Did ya have fun?" Tails was asking, presumably Sonic.

Smiles crossed both of their faces as he replied with breathless excitement, "Actually, yeah! I mean, it was a little scary—" He lowered his voice for that part, although both parents still heard— "but I'm actually looking forward to next time so I can learn some more. Hey, maybe we could try swimming in the lake!"

"But there's fish," Tails argued. "Plus, that water can't be sanitary."

"It's swimming, not taking a bath. It doesn't have to be sanitary."

"Eww."

"The hedgehog is right!" Knuckles' voice piped up cheerfully. "Swimming is meant to be unsanitary! Like the fun, like you told me about the mud puddles last week!"

"Hey, shush!" Sonic's voice hissed, and Maddie snorted.

"Guess we found the culprit of the muddy footprints on the back door carpet," Tom called to the back, and the three boys collectively groaned.

"It was Tails' idea," Sonic complained.

"It was not!"

"But it was the fun!"

"You mean 'it was fun.' No 'the.'"

"C'mon, Tails, don't be the grammar police. I like his funky way of talking."

"I do not speak funky!"

Tom leaned over slightly. "Successful trip, I'd say?"

Maddie nodded, smiling. "Success for sure. No one got electrocuted, and we finally got him starting swimming lessons."

And hearing the word "funky" come from Knuckles' mouth had the rest of them laughing and giggling for the remainder of the trip home.