"Ow, Shads!" whined Sonic as he felt bony elbows in hie side and dark paws shaking him awake.
Sonic mumbled as he got up and found the light switch
"I know that I said wake me up for anything but jeez".
When white light filled the room, the azure hedgehog turned to see what the fuss was about and saw his lover crying and clutching his stomach, and had evidently done all he could from having to wake Sonic up.
" I, I don't know what to do Sonic, it hurts so much!" he whimpered, his fur wet from tears, and the bed wet from what Sonic was pretty damn sure weren't tears, no-one cried that much.
"Oh shit Shads, I think you've gone into labour!!"
"Labour? But you said I had to rest, how can I labour?"
A sapphire blur whizzed around the room trying to sort his head out.
"Shadow, honey, how often do you get the tummy aches?"
Shadow's tears quietened for a moment.
"Erm I've had them about every half an hour for 10 minutes maybe?"
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!"
Sonic dashed to the phone and rung Tails, nervously waiting fro the dial, realizing he would have to wake him up as it was half 4 in the morning.
"Hello?" said a wide-awake voice from the end of the line.
"Tails, oh god I'm so sorry I woke you up."
"It's ok I was awake anyway, I was..."
"I really need your help, Shadow's gone into labour and we need to get him into hospital, We'd use chaos control but I don't know if it would harm the baby".
"I'll be there right away!" said an eager Tails and put the phone down.
Sonic rushed back to the bedroom to Shadows side and tried to help him off the bed.
"Tails is coming to get you in the X Tornado and we're going to go to the hospital, you'll be fine I promise".
The sapphire hedgehog smiled at Shadow and put his hands on his loved ones face.
"We're gonna be parents Shads!!, Your gonna be a mama!!"
"Look you, just coz I'm in pain I will beat yo arse"
Shadows eyes squeezed shut in pain and Sonic took the black paws into his own.
"We have to move you outside honey ok?"
The black and red hedgehog gulped and nodded, slowly edging off the bed and taking small steps with Sonic through the living room and out the front door, the early morning air refreshing and chilling at the same time, the distant sound of the X Tornado in the background.
Seconds later the magnificent machine landed in front of them, and Tails and Knuckles exited.
"I thought you might need some help getting Shads into the plane and you need someone to look after your house" said the red echidna approaching Sonic and Shadow tasking one of Shadows arms and not earning so much as a protest in return.
"Thank you Knux" smiled Sonic, grateful that he had such good friends, he wondered if he would have thought of it in a situation similar.
"Ah well, Shadow wont want to clean when he gets back and your no housewife Sonic"
A shared grin between the best friends and they helped the pregnant hedgehog into the seat of the plane, Sonic wriggling in behind him.
"See you soon then I guess!!" waved Knuckles as the X Tornado lifted off of the ground and sped off into the darkness.
In a matter of minutes they arrived at the nearest hospital with Tails and Sonic jogging along side a stretcher as Shads was wheeled into the nearest private room, his contraction times getting shorter in length.
The human nurses and doctor came into the room, gloves on tray ready.
Sonic however wasn't having any.
"Erm, Doctor?"
"Wilson son, call me Wilson"
"Wilson, isn't he supposed to be in an operating theater??"
A nurse mopped the sweat from Shadows brow while another stood by with gas and air.
"Usually yes, this is only the second genuine male pregnancy I've heard of and certainly the first in this country, unfortunately there are no operating theaters available so we are going to do this, well, erm, differently"
Now Sonic knew Shadows anatomy fairly well but could see know way that babies could come out of a dude with know baby outing facility, so that could only mean that they where going to perform an operation here.
"Nurse anesthetic please"
Wilson gave Shadow an apologetic smile "Only Local I'm afraid"
The blue hand found the black as Sonic stood next to his lover, tears now streaming down his face.
"Hey, faker, don't cry on me yeah?" muttered Shad's next to him as the local anesthetic was given and took effect.
The lights around Shadow went very bright, he could hear talking and see brilliant white light, he could smell disinfectant and Sonics just got out of bed scent, but could feel nothing.
:FLASHBACK:
Maria smiled at Shadow, her blonde curls dancing around her shoulders as she sat on the floor at their favorite spot next to the window.
"You'll find someone one day Shadow, you can't stay with me forever"
"But I don't wanna go"
"You'll want to see me, and I'd like to meet her but when you fall in love I'm sure they'll make you more happy then I ever could".
Shadow sat and thought.
"Maybe"...
:END OF FLASHBACK:
Shadow came back from his thoughts to the sound of Sonic quietly singing to himself, his second favorite way of dealing with anxiety next to running, and it was their song he sung.
"Lights will guide you home, and ignite your bones, and I will try, to fix you..."
"OKKKKKKK!!!!"
Shadow and Sonic both looked round to see what was causing doctor Wilson's exclamation.
"Congratulations you two you are parents to two beautiful baby hedgehogs!!"
And in his arms were two tiny squealing babies which he brought over as the nurse rapidly cleaned up (having had children herself she knew how much nicer it would be if everything was nice and clean, natural birth or not the job was messy and Shadow would have more to focus on than stitches and blood, though why have that distraction at all if it wasn't necessary??)
Shadow took into his arms, a small blue bundle in a fluffy white towel, with two spines that stuck sideways like his but the rest like sonics, and his crimson eyes as well as his leg and arm stripes, the black and blue making the fur a darker blue than Sonic, and this was his first...boy.
Sonic had a black girlie hedgehog who looked exactly like Shadow save for no arm or leg stripes and her patterns were blue not red.
The new parents exchanged a long and meaningful kiss and the four were united, a family.
TBC.