Goodbye

"Beauregard..." The dead quietness of her voice stopped his advance. Her back was to the counter, russet eyes transmuting into nearly liquid. The dinner Vanilla had made for herself lay still on the table, cold and forgotten.

A heavy sigh emptied out from Beauregard's lips as the male Mobian tried once more to placate his wife...but to no avail. "Vanilla...I know this looks bad."

Beau regretted those words as soon as he blurted them out.

Immediately, Vanilla fixed him with wide eyes and mouth agape as if she'd just been slapped.

"Bad...Bad...?" Vanilla no longer looked stricken; her face held plain outrage!

"Beauregard Lee Rabbot, you know very well this is more than just 'bad'!" she hissed venomously. "This is—this is..." Her voice halted more and more until her rage drowned in perpetual sorrow. The whole situation...

'No...I...this is not happening. This shouldn't be happening!'

It was too much...all of this was just too much...

Her vision soon blurred, rendering the view of her Legionized husband into a liquefied image; as a result, she couldn't see his left hand—the organic one—reach out to her. She still heard his words of comfort, though, however little that comfort might've rectified.

"Oh darlin', please don't cry."

Beauregard's plea fell on deaf ears as his wife, face ridden with rivulets of saltwater, vehemently and violently shook her head in abysmal denial. "I honestly thought I'd lost you after the roboticization! Now you come back..."

With a trembling hand, Vanilla, after wiping her tears away to focus on her husband once more, reached out to his right arm...the part of him that she could no longer recognize. The flinching that had occurred the moment her hand touched the cool, steel "skin" of the robotic limb sent involuntary shivers down Beau's spine.

"...like this..."

The male rabbit nodded solemnly, empathic to his spouse's distress. The poor woman had every right to be in deep despair. However, she was failing to completely understand the situation as well. She needed to view the big picture...

'This whole problem ain't as clear-cut as she thinks,' Beau reasoned internally as he placed his flesh hand on her left shoulder. At least this way she wouldn't fall into near seizures just because of his touch.

"We were driven away. Ah tried findin' someone who knew the area...but the way back home was just too far, an' the only means of transport was in Sand Blast City. Ah couldn't risk bringin' everybody back there! Not there...!"

This time, Vanilla was the one to nod in understanding. Ever since the Eggman's attack on Sand Blast City over 10 years ago, she had heard numerous rumors of how the citizens of Sand Blast City had gone to unspeakable measures to protect themselves...even after the Robians, Beauregard included, had been miraculously though mysteriously returned to normal just last year and attempted to rejoin their brethren. She still found the reality that the heathens running that blasted city were Freedom Fighters hard to grasp, much less swallow.

Vanilla's voice finally came, nearly inaudible as it was. "I see. So you had no choice but to go to Eggman for help."

Her spouse nodded, both relieved and grateful for her full comprehension. "And I have to go back, too. This ol' cony's lucky enough that the boss gave 'im 'til the crack uh dawn. If I stay here, then that means our child will hafta—"

Beau allowed his voice to trail off...

The idea of a Legionized son or daughter did not bode well with the male rabbit...or rabbot—as much as he hated the Kingdom of Acorn, the aging rabbit's own flesh and blood meant far more than regionalist pride; so did Vanilla's opinion...speaking of which...

"NO, NO, NO," the distraught female began ranting to the highest heavens, "I WON'T LET YOU DRAG OUR CHILD INTO THIS! IF YOU DO...I-I...I..."

A smooth pair of lips clasping on her own and a pair of strong, firm hands—one warm and organic, the other cool and metallic—grasping her own silenced her heartbroken cries.

But the heartbrokenness itself still lingered—in the sudden kiss, in the embrace, and in the tears spilling down Vanilla's peach fur to merge with Beau's.

Breaking that kiss went beyond pain.

Brown seeped smoothly into brown as this man and this woman each tried their hardest to obtain as much of their full of each other as possible, the latter no longer caring if her hands were being touched by Eggman's "influence."

"That's why I hafta leave. The little un' can't live uh happy life with a Legionnaire for uh father, much less uh father that's Grandmaster. Now do you see, Van? Ah love the two of you...far—too—much...to let upon you what befell me."

For the first time since her husband's disappearance, Vanilla slowly yet surely developed an honest-to-gods smile, never having felt more loved in her life than ever before.

'Beau...'

"I'll miss you."

Beauregard reciprocated her expression, albeit his being a tad bittersweet more than hers. "And I'll miss you, darlin'."

The enamored mammals sealed their eyes closed and nuzzled each other nasally in pure affection. Eventually, Beauregard brought his furry lips to whisper dotingly in Vanilla's ear.

"But first...there's sumthin' I'd like for the two uh us to do before I leave."

Soft eyes shot open! Vanilla froze as if ice had replaced her bones. 'H-He can't mean...'

With a great degree of effort, she slowly turned her head to look her husband in the eye. The fur beneath his eyelids was still frazzled from the dried tears.

"B-Beau...we can't just...I mean..."

A thick, golden finger landed softly upon her lips, halting her mind and her words.

"Mm-mm, don' 'can't' me, Nilly." His new tone of voice permitted no room for argument. The towering lapine shook his head resolutely—his mind had been made up a long time ago. "Think of it...as a promise...no, an oath, binding us together as living proof that we gonna be alright and in each otha's arms again."

Such a promise...touched Vanilla...yet it also frightened her...but not for her or Beau's sake—for the sake of their offspring's...for a tiny, defenseless soul not even alive yet...

"If people found out—"

She found herself hushed in mid-sentence.

"Nobody's gotta find out. Besides, the little un' won' be all by his or her lonesome. Don't forget about all the chao we have here. "

He spoke the truth. The moment the two lapines had married, they'd gone straight to the ancestral home of Beauregard's family: a gorgeous, stately mansion, complete with its very own Chao Garden. Having both loved the adorable cherub creatures since childhood, Beau and Vanilla showed no hesitation in taking up residence in the elegant abode.

If only the lady Mobian had known how far-off their hopes had been...at least most of them...

"But best of all..." The lean but strong rabbit nuzzled his wife's neck before once more breathing soothingly into her ear.

"Our child won't be parentless." Vanilla gasped lightly at that final point. As much as she hated to accept the crushing reality of the situation...she had to agree with her husband. Right from the get-go, the pastel-colored rabbit already made clear more than once her desire for children.

Another of her failed aspirations...All the willpower the lady rabbit possessed prevented her from breaking apart right then and there in her husband's arms...and even still her struggle for self-control seemed in vain. Her moistened eyes served as flagrant testimony.

Beau bore his warm gaze deeper into his love's dazzling irises as his thumbs began to rub circles on the back of her hands.

"Even before we married, you always told me of fantasies of how you could just hear them tiny pitter-patta' of baby bunny feet bumpin' up n' down the floor. The war's already ruined one of your hopes. Ah won't let it crush this one neither."

Words practically failed Vanilla at this point; in fact, the world, for all the lady lapine cared, contained only her and her precious Beau. The rest of the world—and its god-forsaken war—were miles away tonight as far as she was concerned.

"Ah still wanna make you happy...no matter what...This is 'bout the best way I could think of so far," Beau shrugged innocently with a mild blush, behavior not at all unlike that of a schoolboy about to have his first kiss, "...if you'll still have me for this night, that is..."

Silence...Beau waited in spite of anxiety eating at his insides. Then at last, the southern fellow's dear maiden spoke...her voice emerged smooth as silk...

"Beau..." Her head came to rest on the man's chest...her gloved hands gripped his waist...

"Yeah, sweetie pie...?" His embrace enveloped and tightened on her.

Then came four, simple, sweet, little words...

"Please take me upstairs..."

Without a sound, Beau released his hold then offered the crook of his organic arm to his wife; he resisted the urge to shiver passionately at her firm but gentle hold.

And he made sure to keep her on the side opposite of his robotic arm throughout the rest of the night.