PART 2: RED VS RED

Knuckles walked down the street, glaring down at his shoes. Who does Shadow think he is, telling me to stay away from my own kid! he yelled in his head. He slammed his fist against a nearby lamp-post and sat down at a bench next to it. His hands rubbed his head as he remembered that night when he accidentally got Rouge pregnant:

One year ago...

Knuckles was sitting under a nearby tree, sleeping, until he heard screams. He saw an alligator, a black wolf, and an orange coyote chasing a snow-white bat down the street. It was obvious that it was female since it was curvaceous and had attractive looks. Then, Knuckles noticed who it was. "ROUGE!" he loudly said. He shot right up and ran after the gang of criminals and Rouge. They had her cornered in a dead-ended ally. He wrapped his palms around the wolf and slammed the wolf into the alligator and coyote. "GET OUT OF HERE!" he shouted at them as they ran away from Rouge. She was cowarding in the corner and she looked as if she were crying. Knuckles patted her back gently and smoothed her head. He then noticed that she wasn't moving. She was breathing, but Knuckles guessed that she was unconcious. He gently picked her up and carried her to her apartment. Once there, he put her down on her bed and went to go get a damp cloth to put on her head. As he dabbed it, Rouge began to wake up. "H-huh? Knuckles?" she groaned. She sat right up on her bed and pulled her right ear behind. Knuckles smoothed his thumb on her left arm. "Calm down." he said. Knuckles couldn't remember anything else, but the next morning, he woke up in a bed. He seemed to have felt extra weight on him. It was clinging onto him as if it were tied to him. Knuckle turned his head over for his nose to press against another nose. It was Rouge! He slid out of her arms and sat up on the bed, gripping his head. It was easy to tell that she was wearing nothing. Nothing at all. Knuckles found his shoes and socks on the ground and just stared at the floor for a while. He then looked over to the clock that said 3:35 in the morning. Still tired, Knuckles went back to sleep. At 6:03 in the morning, he heard running foot steps and Rouge groaning and coughing. Worried, Knuckles quietly peeked through the bathroom door to see Rouge wearing a robe and her head bowing down on the toilet. Knuckles' heart began to beat extremely fast as he knew what that meant. He quickly, but silently, threw on his socks and snuck out of the room and once he was in the living room, he got on his shoes and snuck out of the apartment. Knuckles had heard of morning sickness a lot and it would only mean one thing and it was his fault. Knuckles began to feel guilty. He messed up Rouge's life and worse of all, she was going to hate him and she was going to be hated by Shadow. Knuckles pretty much knew that Shadow and Rouge were intamite and Shadow really liked Rouge. Once Shadow would find out that Rouge was carrying Knuckles' child, he was going to be dead and Rouge would have to be forced to raise a baby all by herself since Shadow would be too upset to help and Knuckles had to keep his distance from her and the child or Shadow would kill him and Rouge. A few days later on Angel Island, Amy ran towards Knuckles with "good news". She was squealing of joy and bouncing non-stop. "Amy! Calm down!" Knuckles shouted. Once Amy calmed down, she was shaking and grinning. "ROUGE IS PREGNANT! SHE'S GONNA BE A MOMMY!" she yelled of happiness. While Amy and others (except Shadow, who was away) were completely excited, Knuckles was heart-broken and couldn't go see Rouge, who was then at the mid-point of her pregnancy at the time he was keeping his distance even more from her. Tails one day sent pictures to Knuckles. Tons of them had pictures of Rouge with a large stomach. All of the pictures had something to do with her baby. Ultra-sound pictures, baby showers pictures, etc. Then...on the day of October 1, Knuckles heard the news he was waiting for: Rouge was in labor. Knuckles had to go to the hospital Rouge was at to see how it went. But he hid in the hospital. At 2:22 A.M., Knuckles left. At 7:30 A.M. at Angel Island, Tails gave him news that Rouge had a baby girl. There were a few pictures of Rouge sent by Cream that showed Rouge, Sonic, Amy, Tails, and Cream herself holding the baby. Over time, Knuckles did a pretty good job staying away from Rouge and the baby. When Shadow came and beaten up Knuckles, he kept lying to Shadow that he didn't know Rouge was pregnant and had a baby (HA! That's right! I tricked you! I made it look as if Knuckles had no idea!:D).

Present...

Every single of the pictures he had seen of Rouge being pregnant and being with the baby haunted him. He ditched his own kid and the woman that he had really liked for a long time. His heart began to beat fast, he began to clutch his hand on his knee hard, and he gritted his teeth together. "THAT'S IT! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" he shouted. At that, he shot right up and rushed down the street.

LATER...

Rouge peacefully slept in her bed, one hand on the left pillow and the other under her head. Then, a crash of thunder was heard and Mary's cries echoed down the hall. "Hang on Mary, I'm coming!" Rouge quietly shouted to Mary, getting out of bed and putting on a robe. On her way to Mary's room, Rouge then heard Mary's crying stop. Odd. Rouge opened Mary's door a bit and she nearly had a heart attack right on the spot. Mary was out of her crib and Knuckles, Mary's father, was holding her, smoothing her ears gently. Rouge also noticed that Knuckles was...smiling. Even though she was blind, Mary was grinning, too and one of her small hands was on Knuckles' half-moon shaped birth-mark. For once, her grey, dull eyes were glowing with happiness. Knuckles' plum eyes looked over at Rouge at that moment. "Hi." he greeted. When Rouge walked into the room, Knuckles handed her Mary. "Isn't she sweet?" she said, cradling Mary in her arms. "Yep." he answered, stroking a thumb on Mary's soft, silky fur. A large smile appeared on Mary's face and her eyes began to sparkle from the love from her mother and the love she wanted from her father. Rouge lightly put Mary back in her crib and the little baby was soon fast asleep. "Say, why'd you leave?" Rouge then asked. Knuckles stood frozen at his spot and he clinched his fists. "Well, it's just that I thought that if Shadow found out, he'd hate you and he'd hurt you since the baby isn't even his. And if I got involved, it would just get worse for you." he explained. Rouge's arms wrapped around Knuckles' neck and she kissed his cheek. "Oh, your so sweet." she said. "I just got really worry about what would happen to you and the baby." he said. Soon, Knuckles found himself kissing Rouge and Mary was in her room, hearing noises that she could NOT understand at all.

MORNING...

Shadow walked into Rouge's apartment, holding an abundance of red roses. "Rouge?" he silently called out. He then walked up the small hallway to Rouge's room. He lightly knocked on her door and whispered for her name. "Rouge, it's me, Shadow." he said. Nothing. Shadow opened the door to only see the last thing he'd ever want to see. In Rouge's bed, was Rouge wearing only her undergarments and lying next to her was a red echidna. "ROUGE!" he yelled, dropping the flowers. Rouge covered her chest up with the blankets and Knuckles buried his face into his palms. "Shadow!" she exclaimed. Knuckles quickly got out of the bed and pushed Shadow away as he ran out of the room. Shadow then got back up and chased Knuckles. "GET BACK HERE, TRAITOR!" he screamed.