Chapter Six.
Harmless Fun, It Begins A Surprise!
Tails woke to the sound of a baby crying. It scared her briefly because in her half asleep daze she had forgotten about the other beings that now occupied her house. The crying continued to the point where she decided to get up and do something about. Tails sleepily made her way out of her room to find that Hayden's door was already open and she couldnt see him inside the room in the darkness.
She walked over to the baby's room to see if she could quiet him down so she could go back to bed. Sometimes she hated Hayden for talking her into looking after the baby clone with him until they could find a more permanent solution to his parentless plight. She saw the the door was slightly cracked open and the light was on, she quietly pushed the door open a little more to find Hayden standing in the middle of the room, bouncing the baby in his arms as he fed him a bottle of formula.
"Shhh. If you get too loud, you'll wake Tails. And trust me little guy, even if you're super cute. She will throw you for interrupting her beauty sleep." Hayden whispered as he tried to quiet the child down.
Tails smiled and quickly-yet silently-ran back to her room and grabbed her phone. She returned to find Hayden now holding a sleeping Seelkadoom. He was gazing down at the sleeping baby with soft eyes. Tails quickly snaped a picture of the two with her phone and saved it to her gallery before sending the picture to Sonic.
She then went back to her room and laid back down. She fell into a peaceful sleep quickly.
Maybe, just maybe. She didn't hate Hayden for talking her into taking care of the baby clone.
~One Week Later~
Tails smiled at her friend. He was just absolutely taken with the kid. It had been three weeks since Sonic and Hayden had liberated the tiny clone from the Ice Cap Base and he had stayed with Hayden and Tails since then. At the moment Tails was watching Hayden as he danced around the living room with Seelkadoom in his arms while listening to Bon Jovi's "It's My Life" which, if Tails was being entirely honest, Was super adorable. She looked down at the paper she had been writing on and sighed.
On the paper were multiple crossed out names. Tails was trying to think of a name to give the toddler so that they didn't have to call him "Seelkadoom". And she was just drawing blanks. She didn't like anything that she came up with at all. Tails slammed her head down on the table and groaned. Why was naming a kid so much harder than naming an -inator? Tails didn't notice that the noise her head had made when it connected with the dining room table had drawn the attention of both Hayden and the baby in his arms.
Hayden paused the music and called out to her:
"Tails? You okay over there?"
She looked up at him and gave a tense smile.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Ah, ah, ah. Lying, is counterproductive!" He said while using Seelkadoom as a puppet, making the toddler wave his arm at her.
Tails laughed at this and decided to come clean:
"Alright. You caught me. I've been trying to think of something that we could call him" Tails said while pointing at the baby in Hayden's arms.
Hayden nodded and walked over to her. He placed Seelkadoom in the high-chair that Sonic had bought them before sitting down next to her.
"Well, what have ya got so far?" He asked.
Tails slid the page over to him and slumped back down onto the table. Seelkadoom gave off a happy gurgle and giggled at Tails' suffering. At least, that's what she thought he was doing. Hayden began to tap the pen she had been using on the table to the beat of Maroon 5's 'Animals'. He then poked her ear to get her attention.
Tails looked up at her friend with a saddened face. She didn't understand why this was making her so upset, but it was. He smiled and pointed at the page. He then said:
"That one."
"What one?" She asked as she looked at the paper.
On the bottom of the page was a name that she didn't even remember writing down.
"Damian? When did I write that one?"
He shrugged. "I'm not sure, but I like it!"
She looked over to the toddler that they were naming. He looked so harmless. It was hard to imagine that he was meant to kill anyone, let alone Sonic and Shadow. The toddler smiled and reached out to her. Clearly not to happy with being confined to the high-chair. Tails smiled at the boy and pulled him out of the chair, he giggled at her as she held him. Hayden smiled at the two happily.
She raised her eyebrow at him.
"What's with that look?" She asked.
"It's just...I think you'd be a great mom." He said with a smile.
"What makes you say that? I'm just doing what comes naturally."
Hayden stood and walked over to them.
"Well, some people are natural parents. Others are Shadow."
She chuckled at this.
"I don't think Shadow would be to happy if he heard you say that."
Hayden laughed at her statement before taking the toddler from her. He smiled at the baby and asked:
"What do you think little guy? You wanna be called Damian?"
Seelkadoom giggled and placed his hand over Hayden's face, covering his nose.
"I'm gonna take that as a yes." Hayden said with a weird voice as the baby's hand was holding his nose.
Tails laughed at this. It had been like this since about a week ago. Its still kinda funny to her how quickly Hayden's life had become about the child. Tails pulled out her phone and took a picture. She then sent the photo to Sonic with a smile. She knew that Sonic most likely getting annoyed with all of the pictures. But she just couldn't resist! She had a small collection of pictures saved on her phone in their own gallery. One of her favorites had to be the first one she took.
It had been roughly a week into the two of them taking care of Seelkadoom and what she saw was just to cute to not take a picture of. She had walked into the dining room early one morning to see a very sleepy Hayden trying to feed an equally sleepy Seelkadoom some baby food. It was to cute. Hayden had his coffee cup pressed to his lips while he was glaring at the toddler, Seelkadoom was giving his caretaker a similar glare that just screamed 'I am NOT eating that!' And it was just so cute to her.
A few others involved either her or Hayden dealing with something involving the toddler. Hayden's favorite one was when one of Seelkadoom's diapers exploded right as she went to change him. Needless to say, it scared all three of them. Hayden had remarked that the child would definitely be a speedster with the lungs that he had.
Tails was happy to have finally come up with something that seemed to fit. Even if she had no idea when she wrote it down. She was about to talk to Hayden about something important to the both of them when her phone went off.
Sonic: Hey sis, how many of these are you gonna spam me with? Lol. I get it, he's cute.
Tails was still getting used to Sonic knowing about her being a girl. But he had been extremely supportive and accepting. Far more then she initially thought he'd be.
Tails: It's not my fault! I wanna remember these moments!
Sonic: And judging by the pictures you keep send me, you want me to remember as well xD anyway, I was about to text you, I'm headed to the store, is there anything that the two of you need?
Tails stared at her phone blankly before asking:
"Do we need anything? Like diapers or something?"
Hayden looked over to her with a puzzled look.
"Sonic's heading to the store and wants to know." She clarified.
"I think we need some more diapers, may be running low, and I know we need more baby food and formula." He stated.
Tails nodded and shot Sonic a text:
Tails: Some more diapers, baby food and formula would be much appreciated.
Almost instantly Sonic replied.
Sonic: Okie dokie. I'll get those for ya while I'm getting the food and drinks for the cook out today. You guys are still gonna make it right?
Tails: Yeah, we'll be there. Might take us longer to get there. Hayden doesn't want to run with him yet. Not till he's older anyway. And you know what type of diapers to get right?
Sonic: Alrighty, well. I'll see you when y'all get here. And how hard can it be? They're just diapers.
After finishing her conversation with Sonic, Tails told Hayden that they needed to get ready if they wanted to catch the train to Station Square. Hayden nodded and passed Seelkadoom-now renamed Damian- to her and walked off. Tails stood there in the dining room holding the child when she realized.
"Neither of these two are leaving any time soon are they?" She thought to herself.
She then looked at Damian and smiled.
"That's fine. Having the company isn't half bad."
Hayden came back with a diaper bag slung over his shoulder and a stroller underneath his arm. He told her that he got everything they'll need for today's activities. Tails nodded and the two left the house, ready to spend the day with friends and family. She briefly worried about how everyone would react to Damian. And if they'd bring up her gender or not.
She shrugged it off. She'd cross that road when she got to it.
~Scene Change~
Sonic stood in a spot he didn't think he'd be standing for at least another two to three years. The diaper section of the baby section of Wal-Mart. He was utterly confused at the different brands and sizes. Last time he bought diapers, Tails was with him. She wanted Luvs right? Sonic couldn't remember. So he just got the ones he thought they had gotten last time.
He had already gotten the things that they needed for the cook out. He then headed to the checkout section. He inwardly laughed at the odd assortment of things in his cart, ranging from booze to bratwursts to baby food. He had it all. He thought about what he and Hayden had talked about a few weeks ago. It won't be long until buying diapers is a routine thing for him and his siblings to do. He made a promise all those years ago to always stand by Tails' side. He wasn't gonna break it now.
Sonic got to the front of his line pretty quick. There he saw this nice looking cat with black hair. She began to run his things through the line, and while doing this she said:
"You've got quite a few things here mister. Planning something big?"
Sonic smiled.
"Today is mine and my twins birthday. We're throwing a big barbeque to celebrate."
"Well, happy birthday!" She said happily. She then got to the baby items.
"Oh? Are you expecting?" She asked as she ran them through the machine.
"Nah, those are for my little sister, she hasn't gotten around to getting more yet. So I thought I'd help her out. We're all kinda getting used to the fact that, here soon this'll be a normal thing for everyone..." He said truthfully.
"How thoughtful of you. How far along is she?"
"Not far, but her and her roommate are taking care of a four month old at the moment. He's pretty excited about it. The kid's already got the poor sap wrapped around his tiny finger." Sonic said while smiling.
"I got a few pictures if you'd like to see them."
"I'd love to!" She said as she got to the formula
Sonic smiled and pulled out his phone, he then pulled up the texts that Tails had been sending him and showed the cashier his personal favorite picture out of the bunch. It was a picture that one of Tails' drones had taken for her. It showed her and Hayden talking on the front porch. Little Damian was playing with some toys that Hayden had bought one day and all three looked pretty happy.
The cashier gasped at the photo. This was not the reaction Sonic was expecting.
"Oh! I know those two! They came through here a few weeks ago. They bought a few strange items. But if they have a kid it makes more sense!" She exclaimed.
"Although, the fox told me she was a male at the time" she said confused.
Sonic just laughed awkwardly. Completely aware of how the lady felt.
"She was afraid to say it at the time. A lot of people made fun of her when we were kids, so she try's to look like a guy sometimes." Sonic lied.
"But thankfully our old friend came home after four years overseas and made her change her mind. But he didn't come home alone. He brought little Damian there with him" Sonic fed the lie.
"No wonder the guy looked so ready to leave. Must have been missing his son." She said with a nod.
"Yeah. Must've been."
Sonic was nearly sweating bullets by the time the lady was done. Once she finished, Sonic paid the price he owed and got out of there. Sonic quickly ran the groceries back to his place. Now, Sonic didn't live in some amazing house. Actually, he did own one. But he gave that to Tails. It was repayment from Station Square for stopping Perfect Chaos from destroying literally everything. Sonic instead lived in a nice four bedroom apartment. It was a decent place and his neighbors were a nice old married couple.
Sonic unpacked his stuff and geared everything up for his large amount of guests. He was setting out solo cups of every color and laying out the drinks and snacks when he got a text from Tails.
Tails: Gonna be a bit later than we thought. Hayden got gifts for you and Manic but forgot to get one for Sonia, so we gotta head to Wal-Mart so Hayden can get her something. We'll get there roughly 10 minutes late. Sorry D:
Sonic chuckled at this. Hayden was always forgetful of one of them on their birthday. At this point, Sonic thought it was a game to him.
Sonic: That's fine, I'm still setting up here, so you still got time. And here's a tip. Get anything Fallout Boy related and he'll be spared.
Sonic shot the text to his adopted sibling with a grin. Hayden owed him for dropping a hint for him.
Tails: Will do. Thanks for the hint! - Hayden.
Sonic went back to setting things up for the party. He had shoed His twins away so he could set everything up perfectly. He sent Manic over to Club Rouge to annoy Shadow and sent Sonia to hang out with her girl friends. He felt they would just get in his way while he was setting up. So he removed them from the situation entirely. He was almost done when he got a text from his brother.
Manic: Hey bro. On my way back. Shadow kicked me out. :D
Sonic knew that was gonna happen eventually. Before he could respond he got a text from Sonia.
Sonia: I'm heading back, got the girls with me. How are things going with the set up?
Sonic smiled and sent a quick dual text to both of his siblings.
Sonic: Almost done here. Setting up the grill atm.
With a smile, Sonic finished setting up for the party by pulling the grill out of the garage and setting it in the front yard. Hayden had volunteered to grill for everyone. So today was going to fun one way or another.
Just as Sonic finished setting up for the party Sonia and Manic walked up to the yard. Along with Sonia were Sally, Amy and Blaze. Manic had Mighty and Vector with him. The two groups joined up and all of them walked up to Sonic. Manic smiled at his brother and whistled at the decorations.
"Damn bro, you are petty efficient when you wanna be." Manic joked.
Sonic rolled his eyes at his brothers remark.
"Anyway, we're all set up. So now all we're waiting on is for everyone else to show and then we can start the party." Sonic stated.
Those that were there nodded to him and smiled to each other. Today's gonna be great!
~Scene Change~
Hayden held up Tails' phone and said:
"Trade ya?"
Tails laughed at him. He had been dying to push the cart since they got into the store. She was one hundred percent certain it was because the cart currently held a very excited Damian. She just couldn't believe that this kid had him wrapped around his finger so quick. She then remembered that he had always said that he wanted a family of his own. And if that's the case, if Damian's the son and Hayden's the father. Wouldn't that make her the...
"Nope. Not going there." She thought quickly.
Tails quickly took the phone from her friend and tried to hide the blush that was forming on her face due to the thought that just raced through her head. She side stepped away from the cart and Hayden took her place almost instantly. She lagged behind a little so that he couldn't see her face until she was certain that the blush was gone. She was so focused on ignoring him that she didn't notice that he was talking to her. Until moments into his dialogue.
"...and I can't wait to see all of their faces. I think Blue is gonna like his gift the most. You could not guess how much Soap Shoes cost nowadays." Hayden said. Completely oblivious to the fact that Tails had only just started paying attention.
Quickly thinking of a way to make it seem like she understood what they were talking about she said:
"Yeah. Anyway, any idea's about what you wanna get Sonia?"
Hayden looked being him while lightly tapping his chin. He the flicked Tails' forehead, and with a click of his younger he said:
"You only heard half of what I just said didn't you?"
"Uhhh...No?" She lied.
"Liar." Hayden said while deadpanning.
"Okay, I was a bit distracted. Mind sharing it with me again?" She begged while batting her eyes at him.
He groaned at her in a childlike fashion and said:
"I said I was gonna get her that new album that came out recently. But Aleena may have gotten that for her. So I'm getting her a Fallout Boy T-shirt AND the album to compensate just in case." He clarified.
Tails lightly punched his shoulder.
"See? That wasn't so hard now was it?" She asked playfully.
"It was excruciating! I almost died!" He exclaimed while placing his hand on his chest in an over exaggerated manner.
Tails laughed at this. He was just too extra sometimes. But he was her friend either way.
An elderly couple was walking passed them when she heard the wife say to the husband:
"Aww, look at that Han, Young love. They even already got a kid! If only our little Ben could find someone like that."
The husband smiled at his wife and responded with:
"Just give him some time Leia. He'll find someone."
Han nodded to Hayden and told him:
"Hold her tight boy, you look like you could use an anchor."
Hayden smiled at the man.
"I plan too sir. She's the best thing that's ever happened to me!"
Tails hid her face in her hands and let out a muffled scream. Hayden laughed at this reaction and said:
"Sorry, couldn't resist. Now, let's go find that shirt!" Hayden declared.
Tails' only response was to start smacking Hayden on the back as he walked ahead. He was laughing the entire time.
~Scene Change~
By the time the two of them got to the party, everyone else had shown up. The party had begun and everyone was chatting and having a good time. Hayden smiled at the large group that stood on the front yard. This was his family. They had all been through so much together. He silently sighed. Remembering the ones that weren't here now. Ray, Bean, his parents, hell even Scourge!
All had fallen for one reason or another, but he missed them all the same.
Sonic caught Hayden's eye and shouted:
"Hey guys! The cook's here!"
Hayden's face fell into one of horror and he quickly handed Damian to Tails.
"Shit, Manic is gonna attack me! Take the kid, I gotta start cooking before he kills me!"
Tails laughed as Hayden quickly ran over to the waiting grill. She shook her head at him. He was so focused on running to the grill, that he forgot to take the diaper bag off of his shoulder. She saw Knuckles talking to the Chaotix, so she walked over to them to see what they were talking about.
"Hey guys, what's up?" She asked as she got closer.
All five of the men standing before her stopped talking and looked at her.
"...Why do you have a child in you're arms?" Mighty asked.
Vector laughed a little before saying:
"She comes out as a woman, and no less than six weeks later, she's got a kid."
Tails froze at this remark. She had completely forgot that no one else knew about Damian. She laughed awkwardly, what did she say.
It was Knuckles who saved her:
"The kid ain't hers. Look at it. It looks like a failed Shadic."
Tails looked over to Hayden to see if he could help her, only to find him getting mauled by Manic to make the food already.
Looks like he isn't going to helping her out of this any time soon.
She then realized that Knuckles was referring to Daimain as a It. For some reason this upset her a bit. She gave a smile with a twitching eyebrow she said:
"His name is Damian. And he is not a failed Shadic." In a tone that asked him to challenge her.
Knuckles got the hint quick and apologized. Tails walked away from them with a huff, her voice stating that she was done speaking with them for the time being. She saw Espio smack Knuckles upside the head and Charmy facepalming from the corner of her eye. With a smile she walked up to Sally, Amy, Bunnie and Blaze.
Amy and Bunnie gave off little squeals once they saw Damian in her arms. She readjusted the baby as she got closer to them.
"Hey there Tails." Sally said with a nod.
"Oh my God! Who is this!" Amy squealed as she tried to take the baby from Tails.
Bunnie stopped her from taking the kid. "Amy, shuga. Don't you should ask before trying to snatch a kid from someone?"
Amy chuckled awkwardly.
"Yeah... I'm sorry about that." Amy said as she pulled back from Tails.
Tails smiled at her friend. "If you want to hold him, you can." She said while holding the baby out to her friend.
Amy eagerly took the child from her long-time friend. "So, what's his name?" She asked as she booped his nose.
"We named him Damian. It just came to me at some point." Tails informed the girls.
Blaze picked up on what Tails had said a little faster then the others. "We?" She asked.
Tails smiled a,d looked to the grill. There stood Hayden, trying desperately to get Manic to let go of his leg. She saw that both Shadow and Silver had one of his legs each and were pulling to try and get the man to let of their friend. She laughed at the tears that were streaming down Manic's face as he begged Hayden to make him some food.
"Hayden picked it out of a bunch of different names. Damian was just the best fit." She said while laughing at Hayden's misfortune.
All of the girls looked towards the group by the grill with smiles. This was the first time that they had all been together in a long time. Sonic walked over to them with a smile. The first thing that he said to them was:
"God, I've missed this"
Tails laughed at her best friends comment before agreeing with him. She missed this as well. Suddenly, she wasn't feeling to good. She quickly excused herself and ran inside. Sally, being a little worried for her friend, followed her inside.
"It may be my birthday, but I got Hayden a gift. I think he's gonna love it." Sonic told them.
"What makes you say that shuga-hog?" Bunnie asked.
"Just got that feeling. Any way. I'm gonna go inside and get it." Sonic told Bunnie.
"While you're in there check on Tails wouldja?" Bunnie asked in a worried tone. Sonic just raised a thumbs-up in response.
~Inside~
Tails was so focused on running to the bathroom that she didn't notice the two people who were sitting on Sonic's couch. Sally quickly followed after her. She briefly waved to the two, but said nothing to them. She was more focused on Tails.
Sonic walked into the room. Shortly after the first two ran into the bathroom.
"Are you two almost ready?" He asked the pair on the couch.
Looking at the two one could see that they were an older hedgehog woman and older wolf man. The wolf had on a brown leather jacket with synthetic fur lining and a pair of blue jeans. He had bright green eyes that were sitting behind a pair of glasses. His fur was a dark brown that faded to gray. He wore a pair of fingerless gloves and had on a pair of black buckled running shoes. On his hand was a golden wedding band.
The female hedgehog wore a similar jacket to the male, just fur-less. She wore a mint green plaid skirt and a pair of black leggings underneath. She also had on fingerless gloves and had the same wedding band on the hand opposite to the male, she wore a pair of black combat boots her fur and quills were a lighter shade of purple, but weren't quite pink. She had hazel colored eyes and had brown quills mixed in with the light purple. Both of them were gazing after the two women who ran off.
"John, Martha. Hello?" Sonic tried to get their attention
"Just a minute. I need to check on something." Martha stated before getting up and walking out of the living room.
John chuckled at his wife as she left. He then looked at Sonic and said;
"Before we get going, because I think we're gonna be waiting for a bit. Tell me, what all has happened since we've been gone? And what the hell took you so damn long?"
Martha pushed the bathroom door open and saw Tails leaning over toilet puking with Sally patting her on the back. Martha walked over to them and leaned down next to Sally. She silently told Sally to let her in. Sally stopped patting Tails on the back and stepped back. Martha quickly took her place and began to rub circles into her back.
Tails continued to dry heave for a bit after she finished puking. Once she regained control she looked up to find it was Martha, not Sally sitting next to her. Tails blinked a few times. That puke must have killed her. Because there was absolutely no way that Hayden's dead mother was here. Unless she died. Martha gave her young friend a smile before saying:
"Heya kiddo. You okay after that? That was pretty bad."
"M-Martha!?" Tails stuttered out.
"Yes dear?" Martha replied.
"Am...am I dead?" Tails asked honestly.
"No dear." Martha answered.
Tails gave the older woman a look. The asked very seriously:
"Are you a robot sent by Eggman to mess with Hayden's head?"
Martha's response to that one was to pull a small knife out of her purse and cut her hand open. Blood poured from the wound as she answered:
"I am not a robot."
Tails stared at the woman with a 'what the fuck' face before saying:
"Then how are you here!?"
"Chaos Control" was Martha's response.
"Sonic brought you back?" She asked.
"Yup. Managed to pull John out of the Speed-Force as well." Martha explained
"John's here too!" Tails exclaimed
Martha just laughed. Both her and John had died six years ago while helping evacuate one of the city's that were under attack by Eggman when he had the Phantom Ruby and Infinite. She had been killed by Infinite himself while John had been trapped in the Speed-Force after losing a race with the young jackal. And then suddenly, she's standing in Sonic's living room on the blue hedgehog's birthday, six years later.
She and John were talking about what all had changed since they died when Tails rushed through with Sally. Martha wasn't blind, she knew a 'Puke Pack' when she saw one. Which could only mean one thing.
"Who knocked you up?" She asked.
Tails face went pale, as if she just realized something horrible.
"K-knocked u-up!?" She asked in fear.
Martha sighed. Seems she'd have to do this the old fashioned way. She quickly slapped Tails across the face.
This knocked her out of the rut she had been thrown into.
"...I-I don't know..." Was all she said.
Martha looked at the younger woman on shock. She went straight into "Mom-Mode" and grabbed her by the ear.
"You better not be telling me you had a drunken one night stand because if you are, I'll slap you silly child!" Martha demanded with her accent showing heavily.
Sonic's voice came from the door:
"I can answer both of those questions."
All three women in the bathroom turned to find Sonic and John standing in the doorway.
Tails, however, wasn't hearing anything that they were saying. She was going into shock. She was knocked up? Knocked up is usually a term for a woman who is pregnant. Which means... Which means...
"OH GOD! I'M PREGNANT!" Tails suddenly yelled.
Unbeknownst to everyone else. Hayden and Manic-who was still attached to Hayden's leg- had come inside to see what all of the commotion was about and to change Daimain's diaper. They all heard the sound of a bag hitting the floor and turned around.
There Hayden stood with Daimian in one arm and the other was still loosely holding onto the diaper bag. Manic had stood to get a better view of the event in the bathroom.
"M-Mom...D-Dad...How...?"
To Be Continued...