Second chapter to No Longer Lonely. Shadows first word! Somebody get the baby book!

*Disclaimer:Still own nothing...

First Word and Step

"Doctor...Gerald...anything?" had been trying to get Shadow to talk for the past three weeks, but could not get him to even try!

Shadow merely looked up with a bored expression and made a scoffing sound.

"Come on, Shadow! I've got a bet standing with Maria you'll say my name first." He exclaimed pointing to a picture of Maria.

Shadow smiled, flashing his baby fangs, as her looked at the photograph."Mmmm-aaaa-rrrr-"

"Oh no you don't!" Gerald quickly picked up something shiney to distract Shadow.

Shadow quickly grabbed for the keychain and promptly put it in his mouth. Nomming the plastic character at the end. Gerald sighed in defeat as the blue eyed blond walked in the room, a knowing expression on her face. She put her hands on her hips and smoothed the wrinkles out of her baby blue dress.

"He was about to say my name and you stopped him. That is cheating." She said giving him a kiss on the cheek and scooped Shadow up.

"You never said we couldn't stop him from saying something."

"Yeah, shame on me. I have to give him a bath and put him down for a nap."

She turned on her heel and took him into the bathroom. She sat him in a little seat like tub about the size of a large mixing bowl. She filled it with warm water and poured a little on his head. He didn't like it very much and squirmed uncomfortably.

He shook his head. "Mar-mar-"

Maria smiled as he tried to say her name. She quickly washed him off, getting wet herself in the process, and wrapped him in a fluffy towel. He clung to her as he glared at the acursed tub. He would never understand why she felt the need to make him take the stupid thing called a 'bath'.

She went into her room and sat him down on her bed."Shadow, can you say 'Maria'?"

"...Mar...Mar..." Shadow looked up at her with his attempt at frustration.

The baby hedgehog couldn't fathom why the word wouldn't form. He crossed his arms and made a quiet 'humph' noise. Maria laughed as he made an 'angery' face that came out more like a pout. She sighed as he made a squeeky sounding yawn and resumed his mad expression. The blond smoothed back his quills and patted his back.

"It's okay you'll get it." She put the little hedgie in his crib and sat in a chair in the corner to watch him.

'Now, how am I going to get you to talk?' She thought to herself.

He slept soundly occasionaly reaching out to Maria in his sleep. She would always go over and stroke his cheek or rub his back, touch seemed to calm him. Shadow obviously had exciting dreams becouse he kicked...alot. They had to replace the bars on his crib on more then one occasion.

When he woke up he looked around. "Mar...Mar...?"

"I'm right here, Shadow." She said coming into the room.

Shadow held his arms out to her, begging to be picked up. He bounced with impatiants when he thought she took too long getting to his crib. She picked him up and cuddled him for a moment. He greatfully accepted the attention snuggling into her neck and hidding in the seemingly endless ocean of gold. She forced herself to pull away from the warmth of his tiny body and place him in the playpin.

After watching Shadow discover his tail and promptly try and catch it for about two hours Maria had not come up with an idea to get her little spikey bundle of joy to speak. What did he like?... What was his favorite activity?...What kind of noises did he find calming? She came up with the same basic answer all three times: Maria, playing with Maria, Maria's singing.

Then an idea came to her. "Shadow. I need to go get something, see you in a bit."

She walked out of the room and hid behind the doorframe. Shadow had never been left on his own before, mainly becouse Maria said she'd kill whoever left him unsupervised. Shadow seemed dumbfounded for a moment then crawled a few inches. His baby glare set on the door where he'd last seen Maria.

"Mar-Mar?" He got no answer. "Mar-Mar!"

He gave his famous little 'humph' and tried to get to his feet. He fell at first, but his determination to get his Maria back in that room was unweavering. He clutched to the sides of the pin to steady himself and stood up and took a wobbley first step. It took everything Maria had to keep from running to hug him and gush about his first step. The black and red stripped creature inhaled deeply and Maria covered her ears, knowing the next thing to come out of his mouth was not going to be his inside voice.

"MARIA!" Shadow yelled, stomping his little feet.

Said blond ran into the room and excitedly hugged him. "You did it, Shadow! You said your first complete word! And took your first step! I'm so proud of you! Grandfather! Get in here!"

The scientist sulked in, rubbing his ear. "I heard him. actually I think the everybody in the galaxy heard him."

"And he took his first step!" Maria kissed Shadow on his tan cheek and bounced him up and down on her hip.

"Great now he'll be even harder to catch up with, he can already crawl faster then I can walk."

Shadow giggled and then teleported onto Maria's dresser!

"Grandfather?"

"He has the power of chaos control...Oh dear God." Robotink then fainted with the thought of catching a speed demon hedgehog with chaos powers in his mind.

"Grandfather?" She nudged him with her foot as Shadow teleported into her arms. "Oh dear."

*Au Note/: It is done! Thanks again to shadowluvr13 for requesting the story. R&R and remember to be safe on the internet.(There are some real creeps out there)