Don't ask how long it has been but after about a few years, Christopher Thorndyke had invented the one machine that would work best for his world…and that of Sonic the Hedgehog. Now the two friends can visit each other anytime as they wished, even sometimes either of them bringing only a few guests at a time. On this stormy Summer night, Sonic brought along Knuckles and Tails for a quick visit to hear the good news: Chris was becoming a Father very soon as Helen had been pregnant for about a few months now. The foursome sat at a small table together, discussing plans.
Each of them had changed a lot. Sonic now had a few bangs over his left eye, wearing a red sweater and shiny new red sports shoes. Tails had brown goggles, along with brown gloves and a matching scarf, even had brown boots, he looked very mature. Knuckles simply had his childhood hat and a brown vest with a green shirt to go with it. Chris hadn't changed so much, his hair looked shorter and combed back a bit and wearing a long lab's coat.
"So, you thought about a name?" Sonic enquired to ask.
The young man frowned, "We're not sure yet, the doctors say it will be a boy, and we're having trouble with that."
"Name him after one of us then." Knuckles got a bonk on the head from the two-tailed Fox, "I was joking, Miles."
"Sure." Tails laughed. Chris smiled, so maybe his friends had only changed a little.
Then, the sound of squeaking wheels came into the room as Helen, with long blonde hair in a ponytail, was carrying tea for the boys in her lap as Ella, following her because of the baby, took the tray for her as she set it onto the table, "Careful, it's piping hot, boys."
"Thanks, Ella." Chris took his glass as did Sonic and Knuckles… but Tails' was suddenly empty.
They stared at the fox, whose head was down, and his ear twitched.
"…You've got a problem, don't you?" Sonic shook his head as Tails stared at him, sweating, "…Tails."
Tails' face turned bright red, "Can I at least say mine should have more cream, this is like drinking lava…" with that, he suddenly sprinted up and raced around the room, leaving a cloud of smoke behind him. Sonic and Knuckles stared dumbly but laughed hard at their friend's reaction.
"Tails, take it easy! That's not such a good idea!" Chris jumped up, trying to calm down the poor fox.
Tails rolled on the floor as if on flaming fire, "Well, who was it that forgot to add the cream; I can't feel my tongue anymore!"
"I mean, you keep this up, you'll bring out the baby too early!" Chris looked at alarm at his wife's belly, not wanting to cause anything that would damage his soon-to-be newborn son.
Tails finally stopped rolling, "Okay, I'm good."
"Bravo, Miles." Sonic patted his friend on the head like he would with a puppy, "Bravo."
Helen felt a little cringe as Chris knelt down beside her to feel her stomach. They listened… Chris was greeted with a little kick, and he smiled, "Hey, little guy. I'm your new Daddy."
"Sonic…?" Tails began to ask but Sonic quickly turned away as if to say, 'Don't ask.'
"Amy somehow heard and now she's asking for a family." He glared suspiciously as the red echidna, who stood there whistling. He seemed to have something to do with what Sonic had said.
Ella frowned with hands on her hips, "Well, I know your little friend, Amy, was quite a little helper back then with my cooking." She handed some cards to Sonic, who stuffed them into a sweater pocket, "I even have more recipes for her to try if she wishes to."
"Great, more ways to get at me." Sonic frowned.
The echidna and fox seemed to wave it off, "Score one for us." The hedgehog growled.
As Chris went over to his friends, Helen was smiling…but then she frowned and felt her tummy, rubbing it. She then turned her breathing into little gasps and, without warning, fell out of her wheelchair.
Chris jumped up, startled, "Helen!" He ran over to help his wife back up as did Ella, trying to soothe her.
"Honey… it's here…"
The young man felt pale, "You don't mean…?"
"You know what I mean." Helen replied, sheepishly.
Sonic, Tails and Knuckles just watched a little in shock as Chris was saying, almost in panic, "But Ella, you know the doctor said it would be next week!"
"Seems the baby just said now!" Ella answered back.
"I'm sure he's the one who gets to choose!" Helen let out a harsh breath.
"Okay, I'll get your bags." Chris turned to do so, but Knuckles pointed out the window at the raging storm.
"In this weather?" He asked, as lightning flashed and thunder rumbled.
Chris nodded, "Right, can't risk that. Tanaka and I will go!" He ran out of the room, "Ella, you take care of Helen! You guys can help her!"
Sonic didn't like the idea all of a sudden, "Wait, how do we do that!" But Chris already left. He frowned, "Damn it."
Some time later, as the storm is still blurring around outside the mansion, Sonic walked in slowly into the room where Helen was resting on the couch with a blanket as Ella is patting her forehead with a damp cloth. The reason he did was because of a bowl of water that steaming a little, "Okay, I got it."
"Thank you, Sonic." Ella gestured, "Just set it carefully next to her."
Sonic did so, as Tails wondered, "Anything else we can do?"
"Well, we're going to need towels." Helen answered softly, her chest rising.
"Okay," Tails ran out of the room for some.
"I can help too, Miles." Knuckles turned to leave, adding, "Just be lucky her pain has past."
Sadly, he was wrong as Helen let out a little scream as the fox ran back in with the towels, turns out he didn't need the help. Ella patted Helen's hand in hers, "You're doing good, Helen, you're doing good."
"I'm not going to be able to unsee this." Sonic groaned.
"Sonic, this is a miracle of life we're talking about! You know, Chris's son!" Tails protested.
"Or daughter." Knuckles got a strange look from his friends, "Hey, even most doctors can make that mistake too."
"Well, if Chris doesn't make it on time, then-!" Tails was interrupted.
"I can't do this anymore! I'm dying here!" Helen cried, fighting tears of pain.
The boys panicked, as Knuckles went wide eyed, "Wait, childbirth is killing isn't it?"
"It's called expression!" Sonic shouted back.
Helen let out a cry but soon went quiet, as Ella patted her face, "Helen?"
Tails squealed in alarm as Sonic waved his arms around, "Not good, not good! How do we explain this to Chris?"
"There's a 50% chance he'd go for the play-dead scene!" Knuckles added, trying not to show panic but he failed, "It always worked on Eggman!"
"This is childbirth, you idiot, not a battle!" Sonic groaned, already frustrated.
Then, Helen started slowly breathing again, as Ella smiled in relief.
"Hey, she's okay." Knuckles said.
"Maybe if you boys stopped yelling, I wouldn't find it so hard." Helen spoke, making the boys laugh nervously.
Sonic grinned a nervous grin, "See, this is why I tried explaining to Amy why I wasn't ready for a family just yet."
"Hey, Ella?" Tails felt the water in the bowl, "It suddenly got cold."
"I guess I didn't leave the hot water on long enough." The blue hedgehog placed his hands on the bowl… as a yellow light lit up and the water was steaming hot again. He smirked, "Voila!"
Knuckles frowned, "You were playing around with my Emeralds again, weren't you?"
"Sorry but I wanted to learn something." He smirked.
Helen started gasping again, even harder this time, as Ella turned her attention to her, "Helen it's okay, it's okay."
"No I feel his head!" She screamed.
The boys backed away… in three, two, one…all shrieked in alarm, as Sonic yelled, "SHE CAN FEEL ITS HEAD, WHAT'S THAT MEAN?"
"Get away from there!" Tails cried, as the view is shown outside and Chris's car is pulling up.
"I'm not touching baby stuff!" Knuckles' voice shouted in protest.
Later, after everything had finally calmed down and things were sorted out, Chris was speaking to the doctor, and Ella and Tanaka were treating some attention on Sonic, Knuckles and Tails, since they had passed out at one point but were slowly recovering. Sonic only took a little longer before they heard a new sound… soft crying. After the doctor had left, the three Mobians slowly entered the room, as Helen is humming to something cradled in her arms and Chris was there too, smiling at the infant inside the bundle. The three friends just watched quietly…
"Don't you want to see?"
They jumped as Tanaka had suddenly appeared behind them, smiling.
"Could you not do that please?" Tails asked, nervously.
Chris gestured to his animal buddies, "Hey, guys. You want to see him?"
All three of them looked at each other at first… and then nodded as they tip-toed over to see, standing by Chris. Helen slowly lifted a corner of the bundle… to reveal a young baby boy, eyes were shut tight and he was weeping. Sonic, Knuckles and Tails could only stare, at this little guy… his eyes opened, they were a bright watery-blue.
"He has your eyes." Helen smiled to her husband.
"I can see that." Chris laughed quietly.
Sonic then thought of something, "He has a name?"
"Well, I was going to let Chris decide, but if you three wanted to help…" Helen smiled handing the baby to Chris, as he rocked his newborn son gently.
"There's always Simon." Sonic said.
"Too many people have used that name." Tails frowned.
"Sam."
"Isn't that a girl's name?" Knuckles crossed his arms.
"No, boy's name too." Sonic corrected.
Chris stared at his child, sleeping in his arms, he could see little stubs of yellow hair, which was rare for a newborn and smiled as a thought came into his mind… "Thomas."
"What, Chris?" Helen asked, not hearing him the first time.
"Thomas Thorndyke." Chris repeated, "Grandpa Chuck always told me about his father, Tom, so I went for Thomas."
"Thomas, I like it." Helen smiled as she looked at her child, still sleeping away in his father's arms.
"So what does that make us?" Sonic wanted to know. He and his friends were promised by Chris to be given special parts for the child.
"I'd say…" Chris winked at his hedgehog pal, "You could be the godfather."
"Huh?" Sonic didn't understand, until his friend explained, "Well, you always taught me a lot of things from your world so I figured you can also teach Thomas, as long as it's not too risky." He shook a finger at him.
"Aw, come on. Risky? When have I ever been risky?" He glared at his two other pals, "Don't answer that."
"And us, Chris?" Tails waited eagerly, as Knuckles nodded.
"How about Uncles?"
"Hey, doesn't work for me." Knuckles frowned.
Sonic smirked, "So you'd two rather be Sisters?"
The echidna and fox looked at each other… "Actually, having a nephew sounds like fun."
"Same here." Tails quickly added.
Sonic smiled at the sleeping infant, "Welcome to your new family... Thomas Thorndyke."