Given that the royal retreat was so removed from rest of civilization, the royal family had become fond of picking a handful of close friends and family to join them on vacation. As their friends paired off and considered starting families, it became easier for all involved; the children had other children, the parents got a break, and the lovers had time to be alone together. They all packed into a high-security jet early one morning and flew off into the mountains, where a fabulous resort awaited them at one of the summits.
"I can't believe how big our group's gotten," Elias told his wife, as they disembarked. "Remember when it was just us and Alexis?"
"That was too small, though. It was boring!" Megan waited with him as their guests stepped down single-file, looking for her daughter. She eventually spotted the tiny chipmunk, in her little blue play clothes, on Geoffrey's shoulders, getting a piggyback ride.
It was difficult to resist all of the people who wanted to join them at the resort, but it was supposed to be relaxing for the royal family, and if the entourage got too unwieldy, the retreat would be counter-productive. For example, Elias, Megan, and Sally chiefly decided who joined them. Of course Sally would invite Sonic, and all of them enjoyed Bunnie and Antoine's company. But just because Sonic would want Tails and Rotor to come along, didn't mean that anyone else had an interest in entertaining them. Sally felt better with Geoffrey and Hershey joining them, and Alexis was typically on her best behavior around Geoffrey.
The guests never ceased to be amazed by the grandeur of the royal retreat. Blue and purple mountains could be seen for miles and miles. Snowmelt fed the crystal clear swimming hole, and deep, lush green made up the pelt of the mountain in the needles of thousands of conifers. The playground was all wood, with a miniature set for the youngest children and a standard set for the ones big enough to climb and swing. The building behind them had a log cabin facade, with brick steps and chimney, pouring out sweet, balsam smoke.
Inside, the guests eagerly took their seats at the large table by the fire. Alexis was proud that she was officially a big girl- she had graduated from high chair to booster seat. Menus were passed around, and an excited chatter filled the room. Antoine and Bunnie's son, a coyo toddler named Lucien, was very fussy until he was finally granted access to his mother's breast. Bunnie smiled apologetically.
"Don't worry!" Megan laughed. "We've all been there."
"Or we'll be there someday," Sally murmured, elbowing her boyfriend gently.
"Mm…"
The coffee and orange juice arrived at the same time. Geoffrey caught Alexis reaching for the hot coffee just in time to prevent a nasty burn and a turbo-charged three year old. "No love, that's grown-up juice, sorry!" He poured her a glass of juice, but she just glared and pouted.
"But I'm a big girl!"
"You're a big girl to Lucien, because he's just a baby," he told her, whispering conspiratorially. "But to me you're just a little child, so no coffee for you!"
"I'm not a little child," Alexis declared. "I'm three!"
"Oh?" Geoffrey raised an eyebrow. "Well, you want to guess how old I am?"
Alexis grinned mischievously and giggled. "I dunno!"
"Anybody got anything small that I can count out for her?"
"Uh, tic tacs?" Sonic tossed them across the table. Sally wasn't thrilled with his table manners, but Geoffrey was grateful. He poured the little cinnamon tic tacs straight onto the white tablecloth. First, he separated three.
"This is how many years you've got, love." Then he separated all the remaining tic tacs into little groups of three. "How many groups are there?"
Alexis counted aloud, and then declared, "Ten!"
"Right, exactly. We've got ten times three. Now pay attention, love. One times three is one, two, three. Two times three is four, five, six…"
While they were riveted by counting tic tacs, Hershey smirked, saying ironically, "My husband, the brilliant special ops captain, felled by single calorie mints."
Sally laughed, Sonic just shaking his head, half-seriously, "I wish I knew he was just gonna empty the whole box!"
Elias wished he had seated himself and his family closer to Antoine and Bunnie. They were frequently the egg whites of their social recipes; they bonded easily to anyone and everyone, and could talk about a variety of subjects in any class context. For this reason, however, the D'coolettes often found themselves sandwiched between two guests who traditionally didn't get along, such as Geoffrey and Sonic. Elias and Antoine were in very similar scenarios: two men of reasonable power and wealth trying to guarantee themselves at least one healthy heir. Of course, Elias loved his adopted daughter, but if he was going to remain king, he had to produce a biological child with Megan. Now that Lucien was almost old enough to be weaned, he knew that Bunnie would soon be able to consider having another child. The couple had had no difficulty conceiving their first child, and Elias had hoped that they might have some advice for someone who had yet to try.
Soon, Alexis had counted all thirty tic tacs, and she cheered for herself with pride. She looked up at the tall skunk with large eyes. "You're really old!" She declared, with no intention of hurting his feelings. It was so innocent, Hershey couldn't help but laugh. Alexis found herself in Geoffrey's lap for most of the waiting period, rearranging the tic tacs in different groups and inadvertently learning her times tables. When the server came around, she was suddenly very shy, and hid in the crook of Geoffrey's arm. He chuckled, patting her on her tiny back. "The pancake with the smiley face," he told the server. "You know? With fruit and whipped cream? I think that's what she wanted."
To Sonic's dismay, children became a big topic at the breakfast table once food was ordered. Megan and Elias wanted to give Alexis a sibling, not to mention a legal heir, and Antoine and Bunnie talked about how they wanted to have a large brood, so they didn't want their children to be too far apart in age. Geoffrey and Hershey were trying and had been trying to conceive their first child for about eight months. Before anyone could ask Sonic and Sally about having kids, Alexis blurted out, "What does 'conceive' mean?"
Elias gestured towards Geoffrey. "Well, you're so good at explaining things…"
Geoffrey deferred politely. "Yes, but you're her father…"
"It means to make babies, Shugah," Bunnie called from her end of the table. Sally was signaling 'no' with her shaking head, but it was already too late.
"How do you make babies?"
"I wouldn't know! We're not very good at it!" Hershey joked, and she and her husband thought she was very funny.
Megan was trying to present a calm, approachable front for her daughter, although the panic was starting to seep through in her tone. She wasn't expecting this question so early! "Two grown ups make babies, honey. A man and a woman. They do a special dance, and sometimes, that dance makes a baby. It grows in the mommy's belly until it's ready to be born."
Alexis was fascinated, at least until her happy pancake arrived, along with everyone else's breakfast. Everyone could then breathe a deep sigh of relief. Hershey gave Sonic a wink when she had his attention. "Don't worry too much about keeping up with your peer group. You're twenty-five and twenty-six; there's no reason for you guys to even starting thinking about this for two or three more years."
"I get that. It's just overwhelming sometimes, you know?"
"Of course I do. But think about it. We're all at least four years older than you guys. We took our sweet time. There's no sense rushing through life to keep up with us, because we'll always be four years older than you."
"We do eventually need to make babies though," Sally interrupted flatly.
"For christ's sake, Sal!"
Hershey laughed. "I had just about put him at ease!"
When breakfast was over, Antoine took Lucien to change him, and Bunnie checked into their room for a much-needed nap. Alexis and her parents decided that it was time to explore the playground, leaving the two childless couples to their own devices. Together they took over the swimming hole, and discovered, to their delight, that it was heated.
Sonic couldn't help but feel like the situation was engineered to make him look bad. He was the only adult present who didn't look forward to having (more) children. His girlfriend and his long-time rival's wife were very sexy in their own ways, Sally a narrow, kind of top-heavy figure eight, and Hershey a trim, athletic, girlish build. Geoffrey was… big. Jacked. Swole. Sonic felt as inadequate as he felt vulnerable to a rogue boner in his clingy swim trunks.
"You guys seem excited," Sally began, as she slipped into the swimming hole. "Are you sitting on a secret?"
Geoffrey and Hershey exchanged looks before answering, a sure tell. "We don't know yet," Geoffrey answered, Hershey grinning at his side.
"I haven't gotten my period in about six weeks, so we're hopeful!"
Sonic rolled his eyes to himself. Anything else, he pleaded in his mind. Could we please just talk about anything else?
"Any preference, boy or girl?"
They answered at the same time, each of them saying they'd prefer their child to be the opposite sex. They laughed again, and Geoffrey apologized. "I'm so sorry, we've made a lot of this about us. What have you two been up to? We haven't seen much of you with all the security brouhaha."
At this point, Sonic had submerged himself up to his nose, and was blowing bubbles quietly in the water out of boredom. Sally tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. "Mostly convincing my brother that he's not Daddy, and he can't tell me how to live me life and when to do what."
"No one will ever be your father," Geoffrey agreed, suddenly serious. He sprawled on one of the bench seats carved into the sides of the swimming hole, and Hershey curled up around him, truly a cat.
"Yeah, fuck that. You gotta do you, girl."
"Well, I try. But it's been getting easier with Elias having so much on his plate. And I don't exactly have to wrangle Sonic recently, what with the sudden lapse in speed."
"Why would you mention that?" He groaned, and Hershey purred where she sat across from them.
"Don't worry, we were notified of that when it happened. You're among friends!" Her energy and smile evaporated in the course of a minute.
"You alright, love? You look pale."
"I feel sick." She rose to get up, and stopped Geoffrey from coming with her. "No, stay here, I'll be right back."
"Let me at least come with you," Sally insisted. "I'll grab you a towel."
Sally escorted her own guard to the women's room, leaving the two rivals of many years across from each other. Geoffrey read Sonic's silence as concern, or otherwise projected his own onto him. "Don't worry, it's probably just morning sickness. I'm sure Sally's got it covered."
"Yeah, exactly." The air grew thicker, both of them just sitting in the warm pool without any common ground. Geoffrey's big scenes in life were work and family; Sonic's idea of 'work' was nontraditional at best, and was clinging to the bachelor lifestyle for as long as possible. They had almost no mutual friends. Geoffrey found himself wondering if any sport could possibly be interesting to a person with super speed.
"Do you follow football by chance?"
"Dude, football season is lightyears away."
"No, no, not American football!" Geoffrey flipped his hair in a way that quite annoyed Sonic. It was the irritation, the arrogance. Or perhaps hair-envy?
"I don't really follow sports," Sonic huffed. "I'm surprised you have time to."
"I'm just trying to make conversation. It's not like you were gonna try!"
Sonic shrugged, crossing his arms. "I don't know what to say! I don't know anything about you!"
"You think I know anything about you?" They looked across the water at each other and felt ridiculous. Geoffrey got out of his seat and took a step towards him. "Look, I might be expecting my first child. I don't want this old thing getting carried over to another generation. Why don't we bury this hatchet already?"
"You wanna start over?" Sonic joined him in the middle of the pool. The height difference struck him. Sometimes he swore the skunk was juicing.
"It'd be my pleasure." They shook on it and took seats on the same side. "So, tell me about yourself."