Getting Fired Was the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me. Eventually.

MaturePopcorn

Description:

Shadow despises his job and everything about it. Though a hard alcoholic for many years, his drinking has significantly picked up recently. Once fired for drinking on the job, the heavy alcoholism continues, somehow even stronger, ultimately leading to trouble. Through his journey of recovery, he changes his outlook on life and incredible things begin to happen. Drama and angst, this is the most mature fanfiction I've ever written, about the struggles of alcoholism and recovery; it is meant for older viewers.

Warning:

Not much, really, just a voluntary 51-50 and some other small stuff.

Author's Note I:

Double-digit chapters and 50,000 words… *Whistles* I never thought any story of mine would ever make it this far. Thank you all for your continued support; though I thank you nearly every chapter, it isn't enough to describe how I truly feel about you all. I am so, so, so very grateful for this community and for my new friends, and I hope to see you not only in more chapters to come, but in more stories to come. I love you all.

P.S. Shout out to my Grandma who, bless her heart, has found the time to read this entire story so far. I'm sorry it's so dark and graphic, and I'm sorry for the gay sex, but I hope you're enjoying seeing your granddaughter's most proud work of her life to date. I love you tons!

~Hannah~

Chapter 010

Silence filled the car as Tails pulled into the parking lot of Westopolis' eastern police station and jail; the town was so large it had two. The hedgehog and fox got out of the car, deadly quiet, as if scared to make any noise and disturb the fragile woman in the backseat. After a few moments, during which Shadow lit another cigarette, Hannah stepped out of the Mercedes and staggered a few steps before sitting on the curb. She breathed deeply, attempting to sober herself as much as possible; the police might not allow her to see her only child if she was visibly inebriated.

Tails grimaced and shivered, though not from cold. The last time he had been to a police station was to gather an escort on the way to Knuckles' house to inform the echidna and hedgehog of Espio's passing. The last time before that, he had gotten a restraining order. Needless to say, the fox was a little anxious and, sensing this, Shadow took a step towards him and put an arm around his shoulder. Comforted by his boyfriend, Tails leaned into the hedgehog and sighed deeply, taking in the scent of cigarette and faint trace of white wine.

Standing finally, Hannah spoke in a hushed tone, "Thank you for driving me. That AA meeting was a little rough, wasn't it?" She laughed despite the situation; it was devoid of humor, however, and came out coldly.

Shadow took a puff of his smoke and snorted, "I thought Nate was going to have a heart attack when we called him," attempting to lighten the mood.

Though this comment upset Hannah slightly, she made no sign of it and chuckled back. The three stood in silence again until the hedgehog finished his cigarette and turned, glancing back at his companions. They both nodded, and they all walked in together.

Tails blinked hard as he entered the building; he found it to have a familiar smell, and buried his face in his boyfriends' coat for comfort again. Allowing this, Shadow paused and Hannah continued alone, finding the first officer she could and beginning to explain the situation.

The officer looked familiar to Shadow. He couldn't place it at first, and as he followed Hannah and the man back through the police station and into the jail, he walked ahead until he caught up to the officer. Glancing sideways at the nametag, he froze in shock and fear.

His identification had read, "Mr. Coorssen".

Sensing the hedgehog stop in his tracks, Mr. Coorssen glanced back warily. "Everything alright, sir?"

Shadow found himself spilling the truth against his better judgment. "About eleven years ago, you handled a DUI car crash that killed three teenagers when a white Nissan hit a red truck." The officer nodded slowly, and Shadow continued, "I was the fourth passenger that fled."

Everyone in the group stiffened. Tails shot a glance of fear and concern, and Hannah looked confused in her mildly drunken state. As the implications dawned on her a moment later, she shot the same glance at her employee and friend, and Mr. Coorssen drew a long, deep breath, responding, "Technically, the statute of limitations for that case expired long ago. But I thank and commend you for coming forward." His tone was formal and cool, and he added the question, "Why did you run?"

Voice trembling slightly, Shadow responded shortly, "Sir, I was 15 and scared for my life."

The man nodded in understanding. Continuing his walk down the hall, he commented, "I didn't see you at any of their funerals, either," before flashing his badge to an electronic door lock. Swinging a thick metal door open, he added, "Though I can understand why you wouldn't want to come."

Shadow nodded, though the man's face was turned, and they all filed into the holding room. Hannah stiffened, body tense, as she spotted her still bloody son in the corner of the cell, asleep. She had little control over her emotions by now, and practically shouted, "You people couldn't even clean him up or bandage him?!"

As Robert woke suddenly to the sound of his mother's voice, a second officer whose badge read "Mrs. Bumgardner" said in a stern voice, "He wouldn't let us. He's been coming off meth all night, and was dangerous to touch. We had to give him his own cell, and it's been straining our capacity." The woman was blunt, not really caring for the mother's feelings, and she snorted as she finished her statement before typing something into her computer.

Hannah walked over to the cell and gripped the bars tightly. "Robert…" she choked, her voice a high-pitched whisper. Her body was wracked with still more sobs, and she turned to the male officer, anger and determination flashing in her eyes. "I'm paying the bail."

Tails gasped, and Robert's eyes lit up; Shadow knew the boy had been expecting this and could tell from personal experience the boy was scheming something; he immediately lost all respect he thought he would have gained for the boy. He grabbed Hannah's arm a little forcefully and said, in a hushed voice so as not to alert the officer, "Hannah, no. You're drunk, and now is not the time to be making these decisions. You're smarter than this; he'll just run off," he said, blunter than the female officer.

Hannah growled, "No, he won't." Turning to her son, she continue, "He's learned his lesson this time, he has to have." Dropping her voice to a whisper, she added, "You killed a young father of two."

Robert blinked, eyes displaying little emotion. This was news to him, as the police had told him little in his meth-addled state, but he didn't really care. Feigning despair, he whispered back, "No…" before allowing crocodile tears to fall from his eyes. Shadow knew immediately what was happening. Robert was a clinical sociopath.

The boy continued quietly, "What was his name?"

Hannah answered back, "Ryan. I think he was 35. He had two beautiful sons, they were in the backseat and they reminded me so much of you at their ages, and I just…" She then trailed off, sobbing violently. "They were both so young; they didn't understand what was happening. What you had done..."

Robert sat down, burying his face in his lap. His eyes were red from drug use, though to his mother it appeared as though he had been crying. She turned to Officer Coorssen and requested firmly, voice trembling, "Let me in the cell."

"Absolutely not," came both officers and Shadow at the same time.

Hannah continued angrily, "You don't understand, he's changed! Let me see my son!" She began to shake the bars aggressively, and Tails grabbed her shoulders tightly, taking a deep breath. Hannah did the same. Coming to her senses at last, she glanced at the boy and said, "No, you're right. Now isn't the right time. I'll be back tomorrow to pay bail." She turned to the fox and hedgehog, adding, "Please, allow me some alone time with my son."

Shadow opened his mouth to protest but was cut off by Tails who assertively answered, "Fine, but I'm informing the officers right now that you're quite drunk and in no position to be making long-term decisions."

Hannah gasped angrily, and Officer Bumgardner typed quickly on her keyboard. She whispered at the fox, "How dare you," before Officer Coorssen responded to the fox, "Thank you for the information. She's allowed to stay and visit, as long as she's civil. Why don't you two step out into the lobby? I'll escort you. Mrs. Bumgardner," he added, exchanging an awkward glance of unknown origin with his co-worker, "This goes without saying, but don't allow her to post bail at this time."

"Absolutely not," came a curt reply.

Shadow and Tails, both in a daze, followed the man back down the hallway and into the foyer of the station. They made their way to a coffee stand and poured themselves a cup each, the fox grabbing a doughnut. Sitting on one of the many couches, the hedgehog glanced around and quickly realized they were quite alone in the building save a single receptionist.

He sighed, and Tails took a bite of the pastry. "In all the time I've known her…" he breathed shakily, "I've never seen Hannah like that…" Tails nodded sadly, swallowing.

"From what I've heard, she's a pretty level-headed person. Usually. I can't imagine that behavior will last, and she'll come to her senses soon."

As if on cue, the woman in question stumbled through the hallway door, followed by a new, third officer. It was evident very quickly that she had not remained civil as requested, and had been escorted out. Forcefully.

Shadow gave her a long, hard look, eyes full of sadness and pity. He couldn't begin to imagine what she was going through as a person, let alone as a parent, and he stood, ready to comfort her. Instead of accepting his open arms, however, she slammed her body into the glass doors of the building and staggered wildly outside. Hannah took three steps, fell to her knees, and vomited white wine and sushi all over the sidewalk.

Tails gritted his teeth and scratched his head in second-hand embarrassment. He exchanged a knowing look with Shadow, then glanced at the new officer who scowled as though he would personally have to clean up the mess.

Noticing the hedgehog and fox, he walked towards them and asked, "Are you with her?" When they both nodded, he continued, "My name is Officer Wilsey. Please, take her home and let her rest before she does any more damage to our jail cell."

Tails groaned for at least ten seconds while Shadow asked, "What did she do?"

"Oh, y'know, just punched a hole in Officer Bumgardner's computer." He paused for this to sink in, then said, "We know her address quite well by now and will bill her for the damage later. We aren't pressing charges due to the circumstances; hopefully she finds this well when she sobers up."

Shadow whistled despite the severity of the situation as Hannah groaned from outside. "Jesus Christ, Hannah…"

The two anthropomorphic animals picked Hannah up by her arms and dragged her to her feet; finding the ability to walk, she allowed them to guide her back to the car in silence. Tails started the engine and Shadow rolled the roof of the convertible down, saying, "I'm gonna smoke if you don't mind."

Tails snorted, "Given the circumstances, I don't."

Hannah lay across the back seat, half-moaning and half-crying, and they drove her home. Upon arriving, the sun had already set behind the distant high-rise buildings, and they carried her to her bed where they put her under the covers as best they could, still fully dressed. Tails set about cleaning up the room, removing the broken lamp and organizing the dressers and shelves with the various knickknacks and photo frames strewn about on the floor, while Shadow wrote a note that he left on the nightstand. It simply read, "Call me first thing in the morning, Shadow" He didn't feel the need to say or do much more; with no gun, no alcohol, and no pills, Hannah was relatively safe. The two made their way to the car and got in, drove home, and stayed up late watching TV; neither were able to sleep much that night.

Shadow woke up suddenly to the sound of his phone ringing loudly. Upon picking it up, he noticed both the time, 4:42am, and the source of the caller; it was Hannah. Tails shifted in his sleep next to him, and he answered the call, quietly getting out of bed and exiting the bedroom, entering the living room.

Sitting on the couch, he finally said, "Hello?" and was greeted with a few long moments of silence before a quiet, somber voice came to him from the other end.

"Hello, Shadow. It's Hannah."

Sighing in relief, he answered back, "Hey, how are you holding up?"

His boss snorted loudly. "Not well, as you can imagine, but I'm sober now. Thank you for taking care of me, and thank you for…" she paused, lowering her voice as though someone could hear her, then continued, "for taking away my gun. I looked for it this morning and regretted it shortly after."

Shadow closed his eyes. He wasn't totally shocked, but he was deeply saddened by these words and a little scared; even without a gun, suicide was always possible. He hesitated before requesting, "Why don't you come into work today? Don't necessarily do anything work-related; just sit in your office and talk to us. I don't want you to be alone today." When Hannah said nothing for a moment, he added, "You do so much for us, allow us to do this little bit back."

Hannah sighed shakily before responding, "Yeah, maybe I will."

Shadow breathed in relief yet again. Another thought crossed his mind. He voiced his concern before he could hesitate a moment longer, "Or rather, should you be 51-50'd again?"

Hannah hesitated, thinking. She responded, slowly and methodically, "It might be the wisest choice, but with everything going on, I'd really rather not… Between work and court and everything else in my life, a 51-50 would only stress me out more... I haven't been to a psych ward for myself since I was 19. I can promise you I won't do anything rash; I'll come into work, and I'll talk with everyone openly."

Shadow grimaced. "Okay, if that's what you think is best…" he answered back. In truth, he debated calling 911 anyway; he knew she would thank him in the end. Deciding against it, he noticed his boyfriend standing bleary eyed in the hallway, concerned. He asked, "Would you like to speak to Tails?"

He received more hesitation, followed by an eventual, "Yes, I think I would." The hedgehog stood and walked over to the fox, handed the phone off, then walked over and sat back down.

"Hello? Yes, it's nice to hear you doing better." Silence. "It's okay, I totally understand, there's nothing to apologize for…" More silence. "Yes, I understand. I will." Even more silence. "No need to apologize, it's okay. Friends help friends." He walked to the couch and handed the phone back to Shadow, mouthing, "Get dressed," before turning and walking back to the bedroom.

Shadow breathed, "Hello?" and got back a shaky sob. Hannah had apparently begun crying again while talking to the fox, and he blinked, startled.

"I've changed my mind, Shadow. I'd like to be 51-50'd."

He bolted up from his seat, nearly dropping the phone, and ran to the bedroom to get dressed, responding, "Okay, sure. Stay on the phone until we get there, alright?"

Hannah agreed, and the hedgehog and fox both changed from practically nothing to full day clothes. They rushed out of the building, stumbling with exhaustion, and got in Tails' older, bulkier car. They drove the 30 minutes to Hannah's house, neither party hanging up the entire time, and when they arrived the sun had just begun to rise above the rolling hills to the east. Opening the front door as they pulled up, Hannah locked up her house and, walking slowly down her front steps with a large suitcase in hand, got in the car.

Tails inquired gently, "What's with the suitcase?"

Hannah laughed, "I've been in the hospital so many times, I know exactly what to bring. Clothes, books, toiletries…" She sighed in exhaustion, slowly blinking her eyes shut. The fox nodded in understanding and drove to the hospital, chatting with Shadow about the details of a 51-50 the way there.

When they arrived and entered the building, the first person Shadow noticed was a familiar face. He smiled weakly and called, "Kelly!" before making his way over to the nurse, who was getting a cup of coffee.

Kelly beamed. "Oh, Shadow, it's been so long! How have you been?"

Shadow sighed, "Been better, been worse; been sober eight months. I'm here to drop off a friend, for the psych ward."

"Oh, well I'm actually on my way out for my weekend, but here," she said cheerfully, reaching into her back pocket, producing a business card. "Call me sometime and we'll catch up!" she added.

Shadow nodded, "I'd like that."

The two parted ways again, and he walked over to his boss and boyfriend. The 51-50 process had begun, voluntarily, and Hannah was escorted by a nurse to a back room. A second nurse looked at them both, compassion in his eyes. "Thank you for taking her in. Here's a list of visiting hours," he said, sliding a paper with hours and days listed on it across the desk before continuing, "I would recommend giving her a couple days before you come and visit her; she'll need to settle in."

The duo nodded, and they left the building without another word. On the way back to the car, Shadow blacked out of consciousness for a moment and hit the pavement hard, face first. Now bleeding, he came back to reality, dazed, to the sound of his boyfriend yelling in shock, and he shook his head and stood on unsteady legs. "W-wha-?"

Tails grabbed Shadow's hand and practically dragged him back up to the hospital, informing the receptionist what had just transpired. He was placed, against his will, in a hospital bed and Tails sat on the chair next to it, staring at his boyfriend concerned. It was an identical layout to the one he had been in after his motorcycle crash, and he stared at the wall with narrowed eyes. "Tails…" he began.

The fox cut him off. "I don't want to hear it. You're probably just exhausted, I am too; but you're here just in case. Plus, your nose might be broken."

A nurse came in, and Shadow groaned; before the man could speak a word, the hedgehog snapped indignantly, "Look, I'm just tired, alright? Just do a couple quick scans and let me go home."

The nurse chuckled. "Well, you certainly sound tired. Why don't you tell me about your sleep schedule these last few days?" Shadow filled him in on what had transpired over the last week or so, and the man nodded. As the hedgehog finished his story, he said, "Yes, that sounds like exhaustion to me. You likely lost consciousness briefly as your body literally shut down from stress. Let me take your pulse and blood pressure…"

The nurse completed his tests, and within an hour the hedgehog was discharged. His advice was to get some sleep, but he tried to refuse, saying to his boyfriend that he simply had to go to work. Tails grew furious at this.

"Shadow the Hedgehog, you are coming home this instant and climbing into bed next to me. I'm not letting you leave our apartment until you've slept at least 12 hours."

Shadow looked at the roof of the car he was in with a mixture of annoyance and humor. "Tails, that would put as at 8pm; that doesn't even make sense. I'd be up all night."

"No, you wouldn't," the fox shot back. "You're so damn tired you'll sleep all day and all night, and I'll let you go to work tomorrow."

"Tails, are you sure you aren't delirious yourself?"

"I probably am."

Laughing, the hedgehog caved. As they pulled up to their apartment building, he followed his boyfriend up the elevator and down the hall, into their unit. They made their way to the bedroom, undressed to barely underwear, and crawled into bed. They fell asleep holding each other within five minutes. They stayed asleep for 16 hours each.

Shadow rolled into the bank a solid 30 minutes before work started the next day; showing up this early was becoming a pattern he was quite proud of. He turned on his computer and left the cubicle, grabbing a cup of coffee before returning. When he did so, the computer was on, and he had too many emails and too much work to do. Missing one day, the work had piled on as though he had missed ten. Sighing, he started his day.

Lunch finally rolled around, and he got up from his computer, stretching. He had made considerable progress, though hadn't'd completely caught up to where he was "supposed" to be, but he didn't mind; he had more important things to do. He walked over to Keeta's cubicle and knocked softly on the walls.

"Hey, would you like to join me? I'm visiting Hannah in the hospital."

Keeta stood at once. "Of course, I'll come." She grabbed her purse and shut down her desktop, then followed the hedgehog towards the elevator. Along the way, four more employees added themselves to the line, and in the elevator, another two joined. The eight total people piled themselves onto the first bus that came to the stop outside the bank, and they took the 45 minute ride to the hospital, all chatting noisily about their lives, their boss, and work.

The caravan of workers filed into the psych ward of the hospital to a surprised yet professionally indifferent staff, who checked them all in before leading them to a room at the end of a long, bland hallway. Shadow realized this hospital smelled the same as the one in Empire City; he wondered if they all did. As they reached the back room, a large living area with a plastic-enclosed TV set to cable news, Keeta was the first to spot the woman, her niece, writing something in a notebook at a table with nobody around her. The notebook itself looked old and worn, and the page she was currently on was filled to the brim with small, messy scrawl with lines through sentences and corrections made in different colored pens.

Jogging over, the older woman hugged her niece from behind, and Hannah tensed, unsure of who it was. Recognizing her by her perfume, she relaxed and let out a sigh of relief, turning in her chair and hugging her back. Tears formed in her eyes as she noticed the decently-sized group of workers behind her. Feeling grateful, she stood and hugged them one by one, ending with Shadow, who she whispered plainly but sweetly in the hedgehogs' ear, "Thank you for everything. I owe you my life."

Shadow found himself unexpectedly emotional at this and whispered back simply, "You'd do the same for me." Pausing, he allowed a teardrop to fall from his cheek before adding, "You have, in fact."

Nodding, his boss uncoupled and smiled. The nine people visited for an hour and a half before eventually being kicked out by hospital staff when visitation hours ended. Towards the end of their stay, Shadow found a moment where Hannah was alone in conversation and pulled her aside, asking, "What's the notebook about?"

She laughed, retrieving it from the table and opening for the hedgehog. "Oh, this? It's a notebook I got from a rehab years ago; I started writing a book then." Shadow blinked but said nothing, allowing the woman to continue with a sigh, "But with a wedding, adopting a kid, work, and finally…" Choking, she whispered, "My husband's funeral, I never had time to finish it." She smiled softly. "Sometimes I work on it here and there."

"What's it about?" the hedgehog inquired gently?

She only giggled in response, holding a finger to her lips. "You'll have to wait until it's published. Well, I'll let you read it before then, but you'll have to wait until it's complete."

Shadow sighed in mock defeat, rolling his eyes at his employer. In truth, he was very curious about the contents of the story, but held his tongue; Hannah had been through enough already without his badgering.

As they left the hospital and returned to the bank after an extremely long lunch, Shadow received a call from an unknown number on his cell phone. Figuring it might be Hannah calling from the hospital phone, he picked up, and felt an uneasy feeling in his stomach as he did so.

Shadow warily began, "Hello?" before being greeted with silence. Then, the line suddenly went blank as the person on the other end hung up. Frowning, he shook his head and tried to ignore the feeling of overwhelming anxiety creeping from inside himself, instead returning to his work for the day.

It would not be the last time he received a call like this.

*Three Hours Earlier*

Officer Coorssen let out a long exhale as he opened the large metal door to the holding cell, allowing three men in their early 20's to enter against his better judgment. Robert noticed them at once and perked up, walking over to the bars and cheerfully shouting, "Aye, 'sup?"

"Fucking meth head," one boy, a Hispanic kid barely 20 with tattoos covering his face and neck, sneered. Mockingly, he continued, "You're pretty little mom post bail yet?"

Robert's demeanor immediately shifted to a hardened, angered state as he responded through gritted teeth, "No. I told you that shit through the phone, Carlos, the fucking hedgehogs' faggot boyfriend convinced her not to; the fucking fox." Chuckling coldly, he added, "Bitch of a mom is locked up in a psych ward about now though, so I hear. Though I'm surprised these people," he gestured to the police officers, who both looked at him warily as he went on, "tell me anything anymore."

Another boy spoke quietly from the back of the group, asking, "You see the kids of that guy you kill? News said he was a pastor."

Robert dropped his shoulders, answering rudely, "Yeah, James, I fucking cried all night. NO I didn't see the fucking kids, do I look like I give a shit?" he paused, craning his mouth through the bars of the cell and eyeing the cops before whispering at the third boy, the tallest and most stoic, "Hey, Juan. Listen here, fucker. I gave you guys a shit ton of money over the years." He paused, thinking, before continuing, "Now that my dead-to-me mother ain't paying my bail, I ain't gettin' out of here anytime soon; that much is clearly the foxes fault. Figure something out about it, and we'll call it even on the cash."

The police officers seemed not to have heard this remark, and the boy silently nodded, understanding his task. Though he hated the bankers' son, he had slowly given them upwards of $25,000 over the years, and they owed him big time. Juan hated owing people, even if they were in prison. One little clean up wasn't too big of a deal for three people to handle…

Author's Note II:

Admittedly not one of my best works, but looking back before I publish it, I can confirm it's alright. It's certainly plot heavy towards the end, and uh, I'm really tired. Anyway I pushed it out because I got a great idea for a new direction to take the story in, and I won't be able to post for a week, so I wanted to leave y'all with something rather than nothing.

*Spoiler Alert* there may be future relapse.