Work Text:
Amy…can’t believe it. The proof before her is indisputable, but it’s hard to believe. Two stripes stare back at her. They’re like a slap in the face with how much of a shock they are, though she’s in the numb aftermath of that analogy. Despite them both being hedgehogs, Shadow thought himself infertile due to being half Black Arms. It made sense to Amy. After all, hybrid sterility is a common phenomenon in the wild.
And if she is honest with herself, she didn’t mind the possibility of a baby. She can already imagine how cute they would be, with such a handsome father and a beautiful mother (others may call her conceited, but Amy thinks she’s just self confident).
Well, now she has to tell Shadow about this. She bites the nail of her exposed claw. They had never really discussed children before, other than his aforementioned, and now clearly flawed, assumption. Based on the little interactions they had about the topic, he didn’t exactly seem thrilled about the prospect of being a father.
She looks at her stomach, holding it securely as though she were already far enough to feel a difference. As much as the prospect of motherhood intrigues her, Amy doesn’t want to do it without Shadow. She sighs as she considers the options. Calling a house meeting out of the blue might send him into an unnecessary panic. Maybe she should just wait to bring it up at dinner? It would give him enough time to decompress from work.
She nods. That’s what she’ll do. She doesn’t want to wait any longer than necessary, so tonight will be perfect. Well, it will be after she prepares for it. Amy called off work in order to confirm her suspicions, so she uses her excess time to start cooking Shadow’s favorite meal: a slurry of well-processed, nutritional food that always takes forever to bake the base ingredients of. The end product never fails to raise her eyebrows, but she accepts it only because it reminds him of the ARK. He only accepts it if she follows the old recipe to the exact letter, memorialized on a yellowed, torn out paper which she preserved in a plastic sleeve.
While the vegetables and meat cook in the slow cooker, Amy looks up how to break the news of pregnancy to a partner. She recognizes the traditional methods of a bun in the oven, or gifting him baby clothes. She rejects them because due to his limited upbringing on the ARK, he probably won’t get it, and will instead be confused why she gifted him way too small clothes, or why there’s a piece of bread in their oven when they have a perfectly good toaster. Amy doesn’t want to confuse him before dropping this bombshell on him.
She stares into the mirror and practices her lines. “Shadow, I’m pregnant.” She ignores the way the words make the corners of her lips turn up into a glorious smile. The words are much simpler to say than she expected. Has Amy already accepted this truth?
Oh, right, the pregnancy test. She takes it off the bathroom counter, seals it in a plastic bag, and puts it in her pocket. He can’t see this until she’s ready to break the news. That could have been a disaster, she thinks nervously.
Eventually, after occupying herself for a few more hours, her ears flick back to the sound of the door unlocking. Shadow sniffs as he steps through the door and hangs his coat on the coat hanger. A soft smile crosses his face as he places the scent. “ARK soup?”
Amy smiles back at him. “You bet!”
The black hedgehog shakes his head with a frown as he walks over to her. “Wait, don’t you have work? How did you have enough time to make this?”
“I had to take the day off.” She gives him a peck on the lips. “Don’t worry too much about it.”
Shadow frowns, but doesn’t press. “Alright then. I’m going to take my shower.”
He disappears, leaving her to finish the last touches of the dinner. She scoops the soup perfectly so nothing dribbles on the sides of the bowls. Amy goes ahead and fills up their glasses too, both with water. No wine for them tonight, or for as long as the baby stays in her stomach. Butterflies flap haphazardly in her stomach. Why is she feeling nervous now? It’s just three words, two if she’s feeling especially blunt. Besides, he loves her, she loves him, and they’re married for Gaia’s sake. He wouldn’t hate her or divorce her or any other bad partner pregnancy horror story that she may have fallen down a rabbit hole for while waiting. For better or for worse, he promised. And Shadow never breaks a promise.
Shadow comes out of the shower, fur entirely dry and dressed in comfortable sweatpants. He never likes to stay in GUN’s stuffy uniform for longer than necessary. Amy supposes it’s better he stay comfortable for what’s about to happen.
His spoon fishes through the soup as though searching for chunks, though she made sure to leave none. The immersion blender really is her best friend in the kitchen. She’s so glad she finally found the missing blade last week.
“Tastes good,” Shadow compliments.
She smiles nervously in response, unable to say anything except for the three words except she’s not ready to say those yet. Based on his calm demeanor, work seems to have gone fine, so she won’t be adding another stressor on his plate.
Amy waits until he’s around halfway done with his bowl before saying, “Shadow, I have to tell you something.”
Her words instantly put him on guard. “Is everything okay?” He asks, searching her green eyes. “Does it have to do with why you took off work?”
“Yes, but it’s not a bad thing. At least, I don’t think it’s a bad thing, but that’s why we’re going to discuss it.” Amy takes in a deep breath, subtly covering her stomach with her hands. The action is hidden under the table.
She places the pregnancy test on the table. “Shadow, I’m pregnant.” Her words come out just as she practiced it.
Shadow drops his spoon into his bowl. His ruby eyes are wide.
Oh Gaia, he’s not saying anything. She scrambles to fill in the silence. “I know we both thought you were infertile, so we haven’t really had the chance to talk about children before. I want us to both be on board with this, so I can understand if you don’t want to keep it. But I thought you should know I-”
“We can’t keep it,” Shadow blurts.
Amy’s eyes widen, then her ears flatten. “Oh. I understand.” She knows she said she would be understanding, but she can’t keep the blues out of her voice. However, there was something strange about his reaction. His eyes are owlish, past the point of shock and more akin to fear? Combine that with his rigid stance, quick breaths, and alert ears, the hybrid looks like he’s panicking.
Amy frowns and places a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay?”
His eyes flicker from her hand back to her face. “I just - I never - shit, Ames.” All of a sudden, his eyes are watering and Amy has no idea what to do. “If I’d known, I-I would’ve worn protection, o-or something.”
“Woah, woah, woah.” Out of all the reactions, she hadn’t expected tears. She hoped for tears of happiness maybe, but these are decidedly not that. Amy suppresses her hurt to search for answers. “Why are you so against it?”
Shadow breaks into tears. “Because I don’t want to lose you!”
“...What?”
~~~~~~
Shadow grew up on the ARK, though he didn’t really belong. He was the only one of his kind there, and was only there to be studied, but it was all he ever knew. At least, until Maria died, he was put in stasis, and awoke fifty years later. And after a whole bunch of shit, including another loss of his memories, he met his dad.
Shadow knew he wasn’t a normal mobian, but he still could hardly believe that Black Doom was his father. They just looked so...different. They didn’t exactly spend much time together, but he did get a few answers that went unanswered for the majority of his life. Namely, one burning question in particular: “Do I have a mom?”
Practically everyone he knew had a mom. Until Black Doom, he didn’t have a single parent, and though it was selfish, he couldn’t help but hope for more.
Black Doom just shrugged. “I mean, you used to. Until you ate your way out of the womb and she died. Why else do you think the humans kept such a close eye on you?”
“What?” Shadow asked, horrified. “You mean I…” He looked at his own gloved hands, suddenly sickened by himself. He killed his own mother? He was really so bloodthirsty at such a young age? He couldn’t even remember the act!
“D-Do all Black Arms do that?”
“Oh, yeah, all the time.” Black Doom’s voice was disinterested, though Shadow mistook it as simply being used to it. Shadow meant, they already feast on humans. Cannibalizing their own mothers wasn’t exactly a big leap in logic.
So if Shadow was half Black Arms, that means that any of his spawn would rip its way through Amy. He thought that being a hybrid would make reproduction impossible, but he was clearly wrong. Now, he has to rectify his mistake by getting an abortion to save Amy’s life.
“I can’t lose you,” Shadow repeats. He’s already lost so many people in his life that he can’t bear to lose another so soon. The thought is so unbearable that he doesn’t care about the tears dripping down his cheeks.
Her eyebrows furrow, but her smile is comforting, albeit a little confused. “Shadow, why would you lose me? My family doesn’t have a history of birthing complications, and I’m quite healthy.”
Shadow explains the terrible origins of his birth, and what he fears will happen to his wife. The words struggle to leave his mouth. He doesn’t want her to be any more disgusted with his alien DNA than she must already be, but can’t keep the truth from her now that it’s come to light.
Only she laughs. That was the reaction he expected the least, and his face flames at it.
“Shadow, Shadow, hey, I’m sorry. Look at me, please.” She guides his ducking head back to her. “Shadow, there aren’t any female Black Arms. It’s just Black Doom and his larvae.”
“But I’m a hybrid. Surely my birth was different than all theirs.”
“Why don’t you call Black Doom and see?”
Shadow softly growls at the idea of calling his estranged father, but he does it for Amy. After a few rings, the phone picks up.
“Hello, who is this?”
The black hedgehog groans in annoyance. “It’s Shadow. Clearly you didn’t save my phone number.” Amy places a comforting paw on his free one.
“Oh, right, hi Shadow, my favorite son! I was beginning to think you forgot about little ole me. Why do you never visit anymore, or at least call?”
Shadow grits his teeth. “Listen, I just need to ask you a question. When you told me about how I was born, were you telling the truth?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You - agh.” He struggles not to overexert his strength and shatter the phone in his hand. “You told me I ate my way through my mother’s stomach.”
“Oh, that? To be honest, I wasn’t really paying attention, so I just made up some stuff. Why, did you think I was serious?” Cackles echo through the other end. “Oh, Shadow, you’re so naive. It’s a wonder I didn’t convince you to join the Black Arms.”
Shadow’s jaw hangs open. All this time, he was so terrified about the idea of being a father that he never even considered it. He could’ve had a child with Amy already if it weren’t for this goddamned lie from his asshole father.
He hangs up and stares at Amy. “You were right,” he whispers.
She smiles and gives a reassuring squeeze to his hand. “Are you okay?”
Shadow blinks. “I need more time to think about it,” he says slowly, “but I am more…amenable to the idea.”
The smile on her face is radiant. “Thank you, Shadow.” She wraps him in a big hug. He returns it before remembering the baby growing in Amy’s belly.
“I don’t want to crush them.”
She laughs. “Come on, it’s not like you have a death grip. Besides, no baby of ours is that delicate."
"Hmmf."