Shadow streaked across the village of Knothole as continued to perform the tasks' that were given to him by his brother-in-law, Elias; he knew that he was still bitter about the circumstance that befell his sister-him and everyone else in his family-but that didn't bother him. The black hedgehog was determined not to fall prey to his brother-in-law's traps and look on the bright side of things: he was still married (not by formal standards) to the chipmunk who gave him a reason to keep living, and he was going to be a father in the next two months-everything was going pretty well so far for him.
The black hedgehog continued to rush past the ongoing civilians that he didn't even notice that one of them was calling his name.
"Shadow!"
The black hedgehog immediately stopped to locate where the voice was coming from. He looked to his left and saw a female cat with black and white and green eyes looking cheerfully in his direction and a black and white skunk with blue eyes looking nonchalant in his direction; Shadow darted toward the couple, just to be polite.
"Geoffrey and Hershey St. John." Shadow bowed his head formally; he could hear the sound of the cat chuckling.
"There's no need for that, Shadow," she spoke politely. "We're all friends, are we not?"
Shadow blushed a bit and St. John simply scoffed at the idea. For that, he received a scolding look from his wife.
The black hedgehog examined the older skunk's face a bit more to notice the horizontal gash that ran across his head. He laughed at the thought of St. John still bitter over the "gentlemen's challenge" they both had some time ago. As the hedgehog lifted his head to speak, he spotted another mobian looking directly at him: his blue eyes looked innocently at the ultimate life form. His cloud-colored bangs slanted over toward his left eyes, his stripeless black tail was wrapped around his waist, and a green hankercheif was dangling from his neck. Shadow gave the child a slight nod, but instead, he sunk farther behind his father's tail.
"Now, Now," St. John spoke calmly to his son. "No need to be afraid, little tyke."
The child looked like he was sulking at this point. "Don't call me a type, yah ol' gazbag!"
Hershey responded by slapping, both her son and husband, in the back of their ears.
"Don't you two start!"
"Sorry..." they both grumbled.
Minutes began to pass as he continued to watch the chaotic event that befell the family. And although the thought of this happening to him someday made him smile, he was still in a hurry and had to get going.
"I apologize for the rush," Shadow said urgently. "But I'm in bit of a hurry."
Shadow was about to make a sprint, but Hershey gently latched her grip onto his shoulder. The black hedgehog cast an annoyed glare at the cat, but surprisingly, she remained calm and cheerful.
"Sally wanted us to tell you that she's already at the hospital and she's waiting for you."
Shadow almost looked surprised, but he tried not to show it.
"That's all she said. "Hershey then turned her attention toward her husband and son and they began to leave. "Come now, Geoffrey. Gawaine, say goodbye to Mr. Shadow-we have a lot to do."
The young toddler nervously stood in front of the black hedgehog as he waved his hand at him and whispered to him. "Goodbye..."
Normally, the black hedgehog would've smirked at the comment, but for some odd reason, he decided to take a more direct approach: he dropped onto his knees until he was face-to-face with the young skunk and their eyes had made contact with eachother; Shadow could already sense fear mingling with the skunk's big blue eyes and the uneasiness drawing off his parents. A smile soon appeared on the ebony-colored hedgehog's face as he patted Gawaine's head-bewildering, both him and his father.
"Thank you," Shadow spoke. "You be a good kid now."
And just like that, Shadow was already dashing toward the hospital where his wife was waiting for him. As he made his onto the road, a sly smile appeared across his face at the thought of what John had told him before he left: 'Be sure to take care of the princess, hedgehog!' he shouted.
"Like he expects me to do anything else?"
The brown chipmunk sat patiently on her assigned bed as she waited for her check-up to begin. Unlike other women, who would be feeling down-right nervous about this, Sally felt pleased about herself; she was going to be a mother and Shadow was going the father of their child. The princess soon let out an exhausted sigh as she began reminiscing over the times she and Shadow had gone through. After the discovery over her pregnancy,, many Mobians began to look down at her with pity and disgust-espicially with her own father. Eventually though, everyone got used to the fact and decided to just be happy for her. They were even more pleased when Shadow remained by her side-did they expect anything else. A smile crossed the chipmunk's face as she heard a knock on the door.
"Greetings, princess," Dr. Quack smiled.
"Hello." Sally responded sheepishly.
The Mobian duck walked toward his patient who lied comfortably on the bed, placing her hand on her swollen abdomen.
"You're not nervous, are you?" he said.
"I have no need to." she stated.
Dr. Quack let out an amused laugh. "It would seem you've gained some of your husband's cockiness."
Sally pouted playfully, but she couldn't help but giggle at the comment.
The laughing soon discenerated as Sally noticed the concern look in the yellow duck's working eye.
He coughed for a bit, and Sally could already feel that something was about to happen. "So, how is your family taking this?" Sally didn't say anything. Instead, she turned her attention toward the ground and just gazed at the tiles; the doctor noticed it. "You both could've come to me." he said at last. The chipmunk turned her attention back toward him. "It is my job to see to all my patients-no matter the circumstance."
The princess was speechless for a bit, but quickly regained her senses.
"I already got too many people involved-I didn't want to keeping adding up the tally."
Dr. Quack didn't press on after that. He began hooking devices up to Sallly while she sat there, pondering on in thought.
"So," Dr. Quack spoke. "Where's your husband."
As if on que, the ebony-colored hedgehog with red streaks walked though the door with the same snarling look on his muzzle; the older Mobian almost looked shocked, but Sally looked calm and happy to be seeing her husband.
"Hello, honey." Sally spoke lovingly.
Shadow said nothing, but smiled in response to his wife.
"What are these contraptions for?"
"These contraptions are what we're going to use to see the baby." the yellow Moibian.
It took only a minute for Dr. Quack to get the sonogram set up and by then, Shadow was already growing impatient. After the machine was set up, he began explaining to them on how it would work, what we would see, etc. He finally came to a stop and went back to the machine once he saw the black hedgehog casting him an annoyed glare. After another a minute had passed, the couple finally got a chance to see their child, but when they did they were left speechless...
"W-what are those?" Shadow asked, almost too stunned to speak.
Dr. Quack turned to see two huge fetues' spiraling close together with their eyes closed. With further observation the doctor turned his attention back toward the couple: Shadow's mouth was left hanging and a look of bewilderment was plastered onto his face. Sally looked equally shocked but also calm and completely overjoyed as tears began to streak down her muzzle.
"Congratulations," Dr. Quack said at last. "You both are not going to be having one, but two twin baby girls."
Twins...girls...
The ultimate life form and the princess made there way toward their cavern home as they continued to walk around the lake-area. The sun had already gone down and the stars were already appearing. As the pair walked silently in the dark, Sally smiled at the thought of raising not one-but two-baby girls to call her own; Shadow on the other hand, looked a bit nervous and disappointed.
Shadow could feel her sapphire-colored eyes gazing at him and mentally cursed himself for not hiding his feelings so well.
"I can tell you were hoping for a son." Sally spoke softly.
Shadow was cut off guard by his wife's comment-his cheeks were already turning cherry red.
"Wha-?"
Sally looked at him as if he was just plaining foolish.
" Our offsprings, rocks' for brain."
"Oh, right." Shadow said slowly; Sally wasn't buying it.
"Is something troubling you?" she pressed on.
"It's nothing," Shadow reassured her. "I'm just nervous, is all."
The princess smirked at her husband playfully. "You have not right to be upset: Thanks to you, I'm now caring two kids, and losing the remain of my womanly figure!"
The black hedgehog burst out laughing.
"What's so funny?"
"If I had a choice betwwen either the old you and the pregnant you," Shadow whiped a tear from the corners of his eyes. " I think I'd choose the new you-aah!"
Shadow clasped his hand over injured shoulder where Sally punched him; her eyes were blazing ice cold fury and her cheeks were purked up.
"It was suppose to be a joke." Shadow insisted.
"Try again." Sally spoke flatly.
When the pair made it toward home, Sally's temper had already subsided and she happily laced her arms around the black hedgehog, to which was a bit surprising to the him.
"How do you think the others will react?" Shadow spoke softly before entering their cavern home.
Sally got so close to his muzzle that he could feel the green fabric of her dress on top of him-along with her stomach.
"Lets find out tomorrow." she purred softly.
The lights flashed on and the pair were greeted by a loud awakening.
"Surprise!"
Sally let out a surprised gasp and Shadow instinctively pulled out his M9 Pistol and had it locked onto the base of Sonic the Hedgehog's face.
"Woah! Woah!" the azure-colored hedgehog waved his hands rapidly in front of his other half. "Hang on a sec, faker!"
Shadow paused for a moment. His crimson eyes traveled through all the terrified gaze that were staring at him until they made their way toward a number of unusual items: Beautifully wrapped presents, decorations scattered across the walls and ceilings, as well as a limited amount of sweets and beverages piled on top of a four-foot and eleven-inch tall robot with red and black scheming.
Shadow and Sally were down-right speechless.
"What in the world is this?" Shadow voice sounded more shocked than angry.
No one spoke.
"It's called a "baby shower"."
A brown-colored chipmunk with green eyes and chestnut hair walked directly toward the couple with a smile on her face; she wore a orange and yellow dress and her hair was tied in a braid.
"Meg?" Sally asked.
"Hello, Sally." Meg spoke cheerfully.
Shadow stared confusingly at his brother-in-law's wife; she noticed and refused to meet his gaze-instead, she kept her eyes directly linked toward her sister-in-law.
"You set all this up?" Sally asked, equally confused.
"Megan shook her head. "No," she said. "I simply came up with the idea-the others came did all the work."
As if on command, three girls came forward and stood beside the queen: Amy Rose, Bunnie Rabbot D'Coolette, and NICOLE.
"You all did this..." Sally whispered. "For me?"
"Course, sugah!" Bunnie exclaimed.
It was Amy's turn to speak up. "You thought we didn't notice how miserable who both were?"
["Despite what has happened,"] NICOLE spoke in her digitized voice, ["You are still our friend, Sally-always have, always will be."]
Sally looked completely speechless at the encouragement her friends were giving her; the ultimate life form could make out fresh tears trying desperately to climb from her eyes, but she forced them back and continue to gaze at the crowd that stood in front of her.
"I...don't know what to say," Sally studdered. "Except that Shadow and I are thankful for what you all did, right Shadow?"
All eyes turned back toward the black hedgehog. Nerves began to eat at him as he stared blankly at the crowd. After what felt like a minute, the hedgehog took in a long breath and spoke.
"I am utterly grateful that you all would take your time and bother to offer your support to us-thank you."
A long sigh was heard as the crowd began to ease up for a bit. Sally smiled lovingly toward Shadow, which made him almost lose his grip on the gun he was still holding.
"Uhh...Shadow," Shadow saw sweat run down the face of Sonic as he realized that the weapon was still pointing directly toward his face. "Mind putting the gun away?"
Shadow looked around to notice that some of the guest were slowly moving farther away from him and that Sally gave an embarrassed look.
"Sorry-my bad," Shadow held his free hand up and withdrew the gun. "Instincts took over."
The baby shower soon went on without any distractions: Sally was given advice and encouragemnt from the female mobians that had already had children, and Shadow received congratulations from the males. The black hedgehog later found out that Rouge, who was also attending the shower, was the one who informed everyone about the news of him having twins; that explained why Amy and Bunnie were extra cheerful than they usually were. Shadow and Sally were also surspised to see so many gifts that were addressed from them-especially from Rogue. But what really brightened the black hedgehog's day was the hand-made crib he received from Tristan and Gawiane, St. John and Antoine's children-they later told him that they were the ones who did most of the hard parts.
The ultimate life form made his way toward the outer cliff of his cavern home as he finished a long, but tiring conversation with Omega, who was explaining, in detail, as to how well his relationship was going with NICOLE. After finishing the cup of tea, Shadow stared into the silver moon. He heard footsteps approach him and was a bit surprised to see Megan standing before him.
"Mind if I watched with you?" she asked politely.
Shadow shook his head.
"Thank you."
As the two stood apart from each other, Shadow turned his attention toward the female chipmunk.
"Your husband wasn't here." Shadow stated flatly. "Sally was very disappointed by that."
"I'm sorry." she whispered.
Shadow let out a snort.
"You should know," Meg went on. "Elias doesn't really hate you both-it's just that he thinks that he has to act like his father sometimes, and he felt hurt that Sally couldn't be truthful to him-"
"That's funny," Shadow cut Meg off. "Because when Sally was standing right there asking for her parent's blessings, Elias was the one who strongly objected!
Meg couldn't see them, but she was positive that his eyes were blazing with rage. "He probably won't consider the twins as his family either; considering me and Sally weren't "married" properly."
"You're wrong, Shadow!" Meg shouted defiantly.
The black hedgehog turned toward the chipmunk to see her eyes blazing green as she courageously walked toward him.
"It doesn't matter whether or not you two were properly married or not," she went on. "Elias and I will always love them, just as much as you two will love them."
Meg could see the bewilderment that was flowing through her brotheer-in-law's crimson eyes and she regained her composure. Once she gained control over herself, she ignored the black hedgehog's confused gaze and turned back to facing the moon.
"Did you know," Meg spoke at last. "Alexis was considered an illegitimate child before I ever met Elias?"
Shadow was surprised at the question his sister-in-law had asked-espicially when it sounded out of the blue.
"Before I met Elias, there was this other chipmunk I was with: he was everything to me and I had hoped that we would be together forever. One day, I discovered that I was pregnant with Alexis, and I was truly happy about that-despite the fact that I wasn't married yet."
"Who was the name of this chipmunk?" Shadow asked.
The hedgehog could hear a hint of sorrow as Meg began speak "It doesn't matter. The next day, he was gone. I was truly heartbroken by that experience. Then I met Elias: he loved me, cherished me, and cared about me even though my child wasn't his."
Shadow continued to listen, but refused to say anything.
"Finally, when Alexis was born, Elias treated her like she was his own; he loved her like any other father would love its child.
A child is a blessing-whether or not the parents are married-they create a sense of bonding that every member of the family want to be a part of. So Shadow," she turned her emerald irises toward the black hedgehog. "Never forget: Elias and I will always cherish them, just as you and Sally will do so."
It was a long silent for the two as they continued to stare patiently at the moon which hovered above them. Shadow was impressed by the chipmunk's words; he barely knew that much about her, but he could tell that she was very courageous and had a strong sense of belief in what she thought was right. Shadow slowly looked toward her and could see a small cut appearing from her neck-but in reality, it was the same gash that ran down her back-the same one he had given her when he was under the control of Black Doom! Guilt began to strike at the hedgehog's heart as he adverted his gaze back toward the moon.
Blessings, huh? Shadow thought to himself as a smirk appeared on his face. Megan Acorn, you're truly something.
"Shadow?" Megan turned her attention toward the hedgehog. "Is something the matter?"
Shadow turned his crimson gaze in the direction of the chipmunk.
"Megan," Shadow began. "Sorry...for what I did all those years ago."
Meg placed her hand on the place where the gash ran down her back; she could see the regret that swirled in his crimson eyes as they fell toward the ground.
"It's okay, Shadow," Meg smiled. "It wasn't your fault."
Shadow smiled back.
From behind them, the sound of approaching footsteps could be heard. When the two turned around, Sally was standing there with a concern look on her face. Shadow looked back toward Meg and she simply encouraged him to go toward him. As Shadow and Sally walked back down toward the party, she cast her husband a look of confusion.
"What was that all about?" she asked.
"Nothing." Shadow stated as he gingerly rubbed his hand on Sally's stomach. "Nothing at all..."