Amy, 19

Knuckles, 23

Rouge, 22

Tails, 16

One Year Later…

Amy pulled the pillow off of her head. She stretched, letting a squeak escape her lips. Looking out the window across the room, she sat up in her bed, rubbing her tired eyes. The pink hedgehog dropped her fist on the alarm sitting on her nightstand, silencing it. She flopped back down in bed, throwing her arm over her eyes.

"Ugh, why am I so tired?" She thought aloud. "I got a full night of sleep, and so did…" her eyes widened, and snapping up and out of bed, she threw her door open, throwing her head in the doorway of the nursery across the hall from her own room. "The baby!"

She scrambled down the stairs, nearly tripping over her own feet. She looked around frantically in each room, searching and listening for any sign of…

"C'mon, sweetie, open up. Your mother loves strawberries, I'm sure you would too." Amy whipped her head towards the voice coming from the kitchen.

"If she's anything like her father, she's gonna be difficult and make it a game." She peeked around the corner with a relieved sigh, and saw a nicely dressed Rouge holding a spoon full of red goop in a spoon in front of the fussy hoglet, turning her head away from the food. Behind her stood Knuckles, leaning against the fridge with his arms crossed.

"Yes, well, she certainly is stubborn." Amy spoke, revealing herself at the door. Both turned their heads to see an exhausted mother, with bags under her eyes and one heck of a bed head. Knuckles snorted as Rouge stood straight, walking up to her and presenting the jar of baby food and spoon.

"Amy, dear… Your baby is not being very cooperative with her Auntie Rouge this morning… and Chaos, you're looking rough." Amy rolled her eyes and gave a small smile.

"Thanks, Rouge. You always know what to say." She took the baby food and presented it to her daughter. She swatted her hand at the spoon, sending it flying to the floor and threw her head back, with a tiny scream in protest. Amy let out a heavy sigh. "Oh, Nikki…"

"This is why I stick to wardrobe duty." The bat sat, placing all her weight on one leg, resting a hand on her hip.

"And even that's questionable sometimes." Knuckles muttered, reminding others of his presence.

"Morning, Amy." Rouge scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"Oh please, you put your socks on her on Tuesday."

"Her feet were cold, and I couldn't get her tiny socks on those tiny feet! It was like playing with Cream's dolls back when she was six!"

"Her birthday is coming up, y'know." Amy said, rinsing off the dirty spoon she'd picked up off the floor.

"I know. I can't believe it. Almost ten years old."

"She's turning fourteen, Knuckles." Rouge corrected dryly.

"What?! Fourteen?!" Amy, leaning over the high chair's surface in front of her, looked back at him over her shoulder, nodding, with a look that said "I know, I can't believe it either."

"At least she's out of her pretend-tea-party phase. Those got pretty awkward." Knuckles chuckled.

"You're not finished yet. Cream already promised me she'd take 'Tea Party Duty' with the little lady." Amy said, booping her little one on the nose with the now clean spoon. "Alright, take two."

"More like take seven." Rouge said.

"Take cover, everyone." Knuckles warned, hiding behind Rouge. He laughed at the dirty look he got from her as Nikki fought once more. Amy pulled the spoon back before it made another trip to the ground.

"I don't understand why she's being cranky. She slept all night, no problem. She's gotta be hungry." She lifted the container to her eye level, reading the label. She giggled, tossing it in the trash and reached in the pantry, pulling out a jar of strawberry baby food. She twisted the lid off, and scooped a small amount out, and with one "Here comes the airplane" later, no fuss, no muss. Nikki happily ate her breakfast.

"What the…?" Knuckles began.

"Airplane?" She's been spending some time with Tails the baby whisperer, huh?" Rouge joked. "That's all it took?" Amy wiped the remaining food off of the child's face and lifted her out of the high chair.

"Who grabbed the jar?" Amy asked, holding messy hedgehog on her hip. Rouge pointed to Knuckles, who had his hand raised. Amy laughed. "Those weren't strawberries. They were beets." Rouge slapped Knuckles up the back of his head. Amy smiled, shaking her head and bringing her to the changing table.

"Hey!" He said, rubbing the back of his head.

"It was in the back of the shelf for a reason!"

"Well how was I supposed to know?"

"She's going to hate me now, thinking that I tried to feed her beets." She pouted, crossing her arms. Amy came back, throwing a dirty diaper in the trash, landing next to the beets.

"You jumped at the opportunity to feed her, but didn't mind leaving diaper duty to me?"

"Sorry, hun. But I've got to draw the line somewhere, and that line is at getting poop stuck under my nails. And I just got a fresh manicure." She said, showing her rhinestone nails off for her to see. Nikki reached out to inspect them. Amy looked over to Knuckles.

"Nope. Not even sorry." He said with a smirk.

"It's probably for the best. She'd either lose her diaper in two minutes or lose circulation in her legs." The man growled as Rouge smirked, kissing him on the cheek.

"Don't worry, Knuckie. You'll get your turn with our children."

"Don't hold your breath." Knuckles said, failing at hiding the heat coming to his face.

"He's right, Rouge." Amy said, handing the baby to her. "I mean, he only proposed after three years of you two dating."

"Chaos knows how long until he actually starts helping me plan the wedding." The woman muttered. "But that's okay. Because the longer Uncle Knuckles waits, the more expensive our wedding is going to be. Isn't that right, my pink little topaz?" She said to Nikki. She only responded with a drip of drool. Amy quickly wiped it away before heading upstairs.

"I'm gonna go clean myself up real quick. Knuckles, what time are we supposed to be at Tails' shop?"

"Uhh…" Knuckles checked his phone. "Thirty two minutes ago."

"Crap." Amy replied in a mutter as she ran up the stairs, before a loud thump echoed down the stairway. "Damn it!" And the door to the bathroom closed.

The couple sat on the living room floor, playing with their God-Daughter. Knuckles let a low laugh escape his lips. Rouge turned her head to him, raising an eyebrow.

"What's so funny?"

"I was thinking maybe you could bedazzle a helmet for this one." He said, tickling the hoglet's feet.

"What?" She was completely lost.

"I'm just saying, if this kid's gonna have her mom's footing and her dad's speed…" Realization hit her in the face.

"...Maybe some matching knee and elbow pads. Just in case."

"Tails?" Amy called, peeking her head under the garage door. Knuckles grabbed the bottom of it

and pulled it up enough for them to walk through.

"We're here, man. Where you at?"

"I'm over here!" His voice traveled through the shop, no telling where "over here" was. The two looked around, stepping over wires and around machines.

"Down here!"

"Where's 'here'?" Amy asked. A head popped out from under the Tornado. The fox removed his goggles and looked up at his friends.

"Hey, guys!" He pushed himself out and off of his swivel board, wiping his hands off on a rag, and dusting himself off.

"Why were you under the Tornado?" Knuckles asked.

"Where else would I be?" Tails laughed, patting the side of his plane. "You know she's my pride and joy."

"It's creepy that you refer to it as 'she'." Knuckles said, giving him a weirded out look.

"And it's weird that you refer to the Master Emerald as your friend. Moving on." He retorted, setting his goggles in bis tool box. He hopped up and sat on the edge of his work table. "So, how's Little Miss Nikki?"

"Oh, she's good. I'm finally getting full nights of sleep again."

"That's good to hear. Congratulations." He laughed, leaning back. "The reason I'm asking is because…" He reached back and pulled a nicely wrapped box out from behind him.

"You finally finished it, huh?" Knuckles teased.

"It only took me a couple of months." Tails said, rolling his eyes. "You have no room to talk, Mr. Takes-Too-Long-To-Pull-A-Ring-Out-Of-A-Box." Amy snorted, spitting her tea out and Knuckles balling up his fists.

"That is all I have heard about for the last six months! I did it, that's all that matters. Just drop it already!" Amy and Tails ceased their laughter and shifted their eyes back to the gift in Amy's lap.

"So… what is it?" Amy asked, inspecting the box, weighing it.

"You're gonna have to open it up and find out!" Tails said. "C'mon, hurry up!"

"Tear it up, Amy!" Knuckles encouraged. "Like Nikki and her strawberries." Amy laughed as she peeled the rest of the paper off, and lifted the lid off. She pulled the tissue paper off the top and found a blue surface, in the middle a string with a hook at the end. Lifting it by the hook, she removed the whole thing from the box, setting it on the floor as she inspected her surprise.

"Oh, Tails, it's beautiful!" She said. It was a mobile. A royal blue surface with a circle of gold rings hung from it, and in the center, an accurate sized model of a green chaos emerald. "I love it!"

"We're gonna need to tell Rouge that's a fake." Knuckles laughed.

"She actually saw it while we were working on it." Tails said, admiring his work. "She knows it's a fake."

"She's got an eye for anything sparkly. Probably won't stop her." Amy teased. Tails laughed.

"Yeah, that's what Sonic said." He slowed his laughing down, and all fell silent. Amy's smile had faded away, and Knuckles set a hand on her shoulder. "...Amy, Sonic helped with this. He actually helped design it." Tails' eyes met with Amy's wet, sparkling eyes. "He never got to see the finished project, but…" he took a deep breath, his own being a little shaky. "He'd be proud of the outcome. And you." Amy blinked out a single tear, and nodded her head, forcing a smile.

"He'd be proud of all of us. I know it."

"I can't believe it's about to be a year," Knuckles spoke up. "It doesn't feel like that long ago."

"It really doesn't." Tails replied, before the room fell silent. The air felt heavy, and as much as they all didn't like it, it was hard to not think about him throughout the day. For all of them, he was the first thing they thought about in the morning, and the last thing before they fell asleep.

"I miss him." Amy said, fighting her emotions. Tails hopped down and kneeled at her side, and the two boys hugged her from both sides. Leaning her head on Knuckles and resting her hand on Tails' hand, they all stayed silent, mourning their friend, their brother, their husband. Tails took a deep breath and stepped away, coming back zipping up his coat.

"What are you doing?" Amy asked, wiping a tear away, watching the kitsune prepare to face the cold winter outside.

"I think it's time we pay Sonic another visit. It's been a while." Tails said, placing his earmuffs on.

"Let's go get some lunch."

Amy looked over at Knuckles. "I actually do need to go get Cream a birthday gift," Amy said, setting the mobile back in the box, sliding it securely under his workspace. Knuckles nodded his head, with a smile.

"I don't think Rouge would mind some extra time with Nikki." Knuckles said. "Probably use the advantage to make up for feeding her beets." Amy giggled.

"Rouge got Nikki to eat beets?" Tails said surprised, opening the door and letting the others out first. Both shook their head, laughing.

"I'll explain on the way." Amy said, as she tossed her scarf around her neck. Tails looked over his shop, and closed the door behind him.