Author's Note: See Amy and the baby in another great pic from Sonic Rose! www(dot)teamartail(dot)com/oekaki/pictures/17406(dot)png

(Be sure to change each (dot) to a period!)

Chapter 10 – The Unthinkable

"Congratulations," a polite voice finally sliced through the tension from somewhere in the crowd, soon followed by many more. Multiple new conversations erupted among the guests, melding into an unintelligible racket. Knuckles' red face nearly matched his body as Sonic turned and glared at him for his brainless comment.

"…Sorry…." Knuckles muttered just above his breath. He stared at the infant, at a loss for anything else to say. Sonic could see the speculation in the echidna's eyes and smoldered with disgust.

"Here," was his only word as he roughly handed the baby over. Now you can look at it all you want. Knuckles quickly shifted his surprised hands to support the tiny hedgehog, who began to cry. Sonic didn't even twitch an ear at the sound as he walked off. He brushed past gawking onlookers, only pausing to clutch his aching chest for a moment before continuing on his way out and downstairs. Amy, who'd lain watching the exchange, frowned deeply.

"Here, Knuckles. I'll take him," she offered. He quickly came bedside and passed the baby to her, apologizing again. "It's all right," she told him, gazing into the tearful eyes of her son. She pulled the baby close and planted a gentle kiss on his tiny forehead.

Though the researchers didn't possess any biological samples from Shadow, they were well aware of his existence due to his high-profile activity a few years back. Sonic's reaction to the baby had virtually confirmed what they'd suspected upon delivery. Even those guests who were completely ignorant of the circumstances were left to wonder what was amiss. Dr. Garrett wasted no time approaching Amy.

"With your permission, we'd like to do some bloodwork on the baby and run a few tests to verify that he's in good health," he explained to her, but both knew full well that this specimen offered a wealth of exciting new data for them to analyze. She had no reason to fear they'd do him any harm, at least.

"Yeah, but could we give him a few days first?"

"Certainly. Just let us know whenever you think you can bear to turn him loose for a few minutes." He smiled. "When my first son was born, my wife wouldn't let anybody else touch him for a week." Amy smiled back for a second but quickly faulted as her thoughts returned to Sonic.

A couple of blocks down the street, Sonic was briskly walking off steam. It seemed to be doing more harm than good, however. What he really wanted to do was take off like an armed nuclear missile across the countryside, but his condition was preventing him from doing so, which only added to his frustration. The embarrassing scene stuck frozen in his mind. It wasn't that he hadn't considered the possibility that the baby could be Shadow's; in fact, he'd convinced himself that, no matter whose it was, he'd be okay with it. But now that the black-and-red-quilled reality was staring him in the face, he found that it wasn't so easy to simply accept. He didn't even want to go back to the mansion, not until the guests had left. Just the thought of having to raise that thing made him not want to go back at all.

His irate eyes fleetingly darted to his right as they detected the Jaguar rolling up alongside him, its windshield long since having been restored. Chris opened the window and yelled out.

"Dude! Not cool! Everyone's wondering where you went, and Amy's crying! This is not the time to be showin' out!"

Sonic ground to a halt. "That's easy for you to say, Chris! You're not the one stuck with a kid that belongs to someone ya hate! I'll have to look at that every day for the rest of my life!"

Chris released a sharp breath. "Get into the car. We need to talk."

"No!" Sonic jerked himself back about and resumed walking.

"Sonic! Get in the car!!" The Jaguar's front left tire climbed clumsily onto the sidewalk. "Shit…." Sonic stopped and rolled his eyes as Chris corrected his crawling vehicle.

"Maybe she's better off with him," Sonic said plainly.

Chris took an unusually sharp tone, "Maybe you should be talking to her about this," then paused to glance back at the road, "…instead of standing out here where it's frickin' freezin'!" His fingers curling around the steering wheel were red in the January air. "Come on, get in the car. Please." Sonic stood with his arms crossed, blinking in consideration, then made his way around the vehicle to the passenger side. He carefully opened the door and eased himself in, supporting his side with one hand as he pulled the door shut with the other. Chris put the car in park and gladly closed his window.

"You told me that she slept with Shadow before you two got together, so you knew this was a possibility," the young driver pointed out as he propped his left arm on the steering wheel. Sonic remained quiet and stared straight at the glove compartment. "I'm not saying this should be…easy or anything like that, but you really need to be there for her now. I mean, how do you think she feels, seeing you just dump the kid and take off?" The impact of the words softened Sonic's expression. "The most important thing you can do right now is talk to her. Communicate. Let her know how you feel."

Finally, Sonic looked over at him. "Can we go?"

Chris sighed and placed the car back in drive, mumbling under his breath. "Nice talk…."

Back at the mansion, Sonic was displeased to see that most of the guests still remained. He kept his eyes down as he slipped by them up the stairs, down the hall, and into the delivery room. Amy peered over nervously as he entered. He only made eye contact for a moment before glancing at the creature in her arms, then away, bitter. Tails shuffled over to him from the mingling crowd as he made his way around the foot of the bed to Amy's side. He stared down at a couple of spots of dried blood on the sheet.

"…Sorry I ran off," he mumbled. Amy didn't respond within the two seconds before Tails spoke.

"Hey, Sonic, we've been thinking of names for the baby." He waved Knuckles over, who hesitantly approached, Cream trailing behind. "What do you think of…Chip?"

"Chip," Sonic echoed blankly.

"Or how about Chester?" Cream chimed in. "Or maybe Ash!"

"Or Cole," Tails suggested. "Cole sounds pretty good."

"……Pepper!" Cream brought up. Amy almost giggled at that one.

"Pepper's more of a girl's name."

Tails mused. "Uhhhhhhhhh……Ebony?"

There was an extended silence, and then Knuckles spoke up.

"…Sonic Jr.?"

Sonic's face quickly grudged. "Why don't you just shut up?!"

"What??" Knuckles threw his hands out in exasperation.

"You've always got some stupid comment to make!" His shouting was quickly overlapped by Knuckles' own as they got in each other's face. It wasn't long before people were staring and the baby started crying again. Ears flattened, Tails ducked down and popped back up between the two, shoving them apart.

"Stop it!!"

Sonic and Knuckles both staggered back, only Sonic turned and doubled over with his hand on his chest, grunting. Tails slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Sonic, ohmygosh, I'm sorry! I forgot! Are you okay?"

"Sonic?" Amy's face paled.

One of the MRT reps hurried over. "Are you all right?"

"…I'm fine," he growled through his teeth, leaning against the bed.

With naming the baby having been postponed, Sonic spent the rest of the afternoon secluded in one of the mansion's guest rooms, where the literal piles of gifts he and Amy had received from friends, relatives, and complete strangers were being stored. Half of the room was already full of presents they'd received over Christmas. Of course, the majority were intended for the baby, many being custom made by companies working in conjunction with the Mobian Research Team, hoping to secure a generous niche in the rapidly expanding industry. Sonic opened several and looked over their contents. There were clothes, toys, tools, and a number of innovative accessories. He wound up a hedgehog-shaped clock and stood it atop the packages before him. It ticked loudly each second. Sonic guided its quill-like hands with his finger to the correct time.

Hours later, as the clock displayed 9:43, Sonic opened his eyes. The foyer light was out, and he could hear the baby's cries from its room next door. He rose to his feet and, stepping lightly, peeked out down the hall. A MRT rep exited the nursery and headed downstairs. He waited until the coast was clear, then slipped into the room. The baby hedgehog lay alone, wailing miserably. Sonic silently approached the crib and peered upon its appalling semblance. He reached in, sliding a single hand under it and lifting it out. He gently stroked the baby's head with his free hand, then curled his thumb under its chin and cleanly snapped its neck with a single twist of the wrist.

His chest nagged sharply as he jolted awake, still seated in the guest room. The ticks of the plastic hedgehog thundered in his ears. It showed 5:07; it hadn't even been twenty minutes since he set it there. The baby continued to cry next door. He lay his hands over his eyes and slowly slid them over his face and ears, locking his fingers comfortably behind his head.

No…of course he wouldn't do that. Too many people cared too much, and he cared about them too much to do that to them. But, the ugly truth was, he did want it to die. It. And while he wasn't willing to make that happen, his animosity quietly reminded him who was. He eased from the chair and casually stepped over to the window. It was already dark out. With a solid tug, he forced open the latch, then walked out of the room. That would do.

As he passed by the nursery on his way down the hall, he glanced in and observed three MRT reps tending to the incessantly screaming infant. He continued on and, peering in the next door, saw Amy resting in bed. Only Tails remained in the room with her, sitting sullenly on the floor with his back against the foot of the bed.

"You're still here?" Sonic spoke softly as he walked in. Tails turned his way and quickly got to his feet.

"Um, yeah……um…sorry again about pushing you earlier."

"Don't worry about it. You meant well."

Tails nodded, still showing remorse. "……I was…hoping to spend some time with you since I hardly ever get to see you anymore."

"Hmm, yeah, it's been pretty busy. Well, what do you feel like doing?"

"Uhh, well," Tails began, then hesitated a moment, "we still haven't named the baby yet." His tails swished as he looked up nervously. Sonic's expression darkened, but the append-request-to-guilt-trip tactic warded off a protest. "I really wanna help!"

"All right, then," Sonic agreed, crossing his arms. "What do you think it should be?"

Tails bit his lip as he pondered possibilities. "Uhhh…well, I still like the name Cole a lot, but I was thinking that maybe we could name him for his quills instead. They're kinda cool looking, like a reddish metal." He laughed a bit. "They remind me of a bunch of little thermometers sticking out, full of mercury. …How about Mercury?"

Amy's weary voice startled them both. "Mercury…?" She stretched her arms and pushed herself up against the headboard.

"What do you think, Amy?" Tails asked her.

She sat quietly for several seconds, blinking. "…I kinda like it."

"Mercury it is," Sonic affirmed simply, then pivoted and headed out of the room. "C'mon, Tails, let's go downstairs. I'm starving."

The remaining half of the week played out in similar fashion. Amy lavished countless hours of attention on Mercury while Sonic collectively spent less than thirty minutes a day in his presence. The rest of the time, he was nowhere to be found. She had to turn to the MRT reps whenever she needed assistance of any sort, and even Chris with his busy school schedule was there more often. Finally, she'd had enough.

"Sonic, I need to talk to you." Her voice meant business. Sonic peered over to where she sat in the guest lounge as he stepped in the front door, dread hitting his gut. He approached slowly as she continued. "I understand that things haven't turned out the way you hoped, and I've tried to be patient and give you some time to adjust to the situation, but you are never here. Are we in this together or not?" Her eyes were angry, but he could make out deep, fearful concern in them as well. He stood before her for a long time saying nothing. Her voice began to crack. "You promised you would support me, Sonic…."

He closed his eyes and nodded. "I know." He recalled Chris' words in the car urging him to tell her how he felt, but he didn't see "I wish the kid was dead" going over very well. His mouth opened and told her what she wanted to hear. "What can I do to help?"

Her voice reduced to a near whisper. "Something's wrong with Mercury. He won't stop crying. I told the researchers to go ahead and start the bloodwork, so they're doing that now. I couldn't…stand to watch…."

Sonic stared, eyes widened. Was the baby in danger of dying? Could it be that his dark wish was actually being granted? And she really named him that? He swallowed.

"I'll…go see how it's going," he offered. She followed him upstairs but remained outside the door as he went in. All of the medical staff was there, carrying on like a pack of rats as it went about its barrage of tests. Sonic could hardly see Mercury through all the devices to which he'd been hooked up, but the ear-shredding cries assured him he was there. Wow, he'd never heard him scream so loud. One of the doctors withdrew an emptied syringe, effectively explaining the distress. Sonic frowned.

"Any idea what's wrong with him?" he asked the room. Dr. Garrett squeezed his eyes shut as he removed his glasses.

"There appears to be an internal infection of some kind, but it's too soon to say for sure," he explained, massaging the bridge of his nose. "Until we get the results of the bloodwork, we've done all we can really do for him for now." He directed the staff to disconnect the monitors covering the patient. Mercury was freed of the wires and tubes and poking and prodding but continued to bawl. Hesitantly, Sonic scooped him from the crib and cradled him over his shoulder. He worked to keep his face from betraying his repulsion. A wordless glance was made at Amy as he came out and walked the baby down the hall. She watched them, silent and somber.

To everyone's frustration, the bloodwork yielded little information as to Mercury's ailment. More painful tests were conducted each day. Amy was an emotional wreck, fearing the worst, which left Sonic handling the baby between tests more frequently than her. He made a sincere effort to include himself, for he too was very interested in how it would all turn out. Fifteen days into the ordeal, Amy lay sick in bed, having succumbed to her worries. Sonic visited the nursery to check on the staff's progress.

"Let's take another blood sample and run some diagnostics to see if he's responding to the medication," he overheard Dr. Garrett direct another staff member. By now everyone had mostly become used to the constant crying, but this time Sonic found it particularly troubling.

"Actually," Sonic spoke up, "I think he's been through enough today." He paused within himself as he realized that he meant what he'd said. The two reps wore surprise as they turned to look at him.

"You'd…like to postpone further testing until morning?" Dr. Garrett inquired. Sonic nodded. "All right, we'll go ahead and let him rest for now."

As the doctors cleared out of the room, Sonic retrieved Mercury from the crib and held him in the now familiar fashion. The baby's entire face was raw from handling and wet with tears. "It's okay…" he whispered as he patted him, "no one's gonna poke you anymore today." He walked the infant tirelessly down the hall and back for hours. It seemed only right to make up for all Mercury had been through…and the terrible things he'd wished upon him. Indeed, a shift had taken place in Sonic's heart after watching him suffer day in and day out. Hate had given way to guilt and pity…and even something more.

At long last, Mercury began to show signs of improvement. The entire household breathed a sigh of relief as the crying decreased with each new day. Amy's condition was on the up and up as well, though she still spent many hours in bed. It did her heart great wonders to see Sonic cuddling the baby for the first time, and with a genuine smile. Two more weeks passed, and the fledgling family was healthy at last, both physically and in a touching emotional sense. After a particularly exhaustive evening, Sonic and Amy sat resting with Chris on the suede couch in the guest lounge.

"I'm so glad that Mercury's doing okay now," Chris shared as he leaned his head back. "It really had me worried, but I didn't want to say anything that might scare you guys."

Amy nodded thoughtfully. "Maybe it happened for a reason, like a blessing in disguise, you know? I think it actually helped bring us together as a family."

"Yeah, that's true!" Chris agreed. "You two look horrible, but you look happy!" They all laughed. "Man…I hope this doesn't sound mean or anything, but it sure is nice to have peace and quiet again." Right on cue, Mercury began to cry upstairs, causing the three to break out in laughter again. A loud thud and the sound of hard objects hitting the floor suddenly followed.

"What the heck was that??" Sonic asked, sitting rigid. Seconds later, the crying completely ceased. The three exchanged highly concerned glances, and Sonic tore up the stairs to the nursery. Dr. Garrett lay on the floor, trying to wipe the blood from his face with a shaking hand. Medical supplies littered the floor, and the crib was empty.

"What happened?!" Sonic was practically shouting.

"It was Shadow…. I tried to stop him…I'm sorry…."

Amy reached the room next, who shrieked through her hands as they slapped over her mouth. Then Chris arrived.

"Shadow?! How the hell did he get in without us hearing him??"

Sonic's heart stopped. How indeed.