Surprise!

DISCLAIMER- I DONT OWN THEM, I DO OWN SIBERIA, AQUARIUN, SERINGHETY AND TALIM

Knuckles sat, atop the emerlad shrine, guarding it for what felt like years. 'I had to come back to this life' he told himself ' It's not as if I have anything else to care for'. He sighed, the familier feeling of regret, stupidness and sadness washed over him like it had so many over times that week. He shook his head. Why had he so suddenly jumped to conclusions? Why did he have to be so untrusting? He thought of the image in his head again. The little unborn child that he had used the emerald to see. The picture was so murky, the form of the baby almost melting into the darkness around it. He had seen wings and had automatically thought it was a bat. However, after chasing off Rouge and regretting it for many sleepless nights, Knuckles had time to think it over. It was true that the fuzzy image mostly represented a bat, but it was so unclear that , to be honest, it could resemble any animal baby, Knuckles was even sure he'd get away with describing it as a dragon! There was still a chance, no matter how slight, that it was his after all. And he had driven away all hope of ever seeing it again.
" Hey Knux, what's up?" Asked a familer and annoying voice. Knuckles jumped a little when he heard it but soon relaxed when he saw Sonics trademark spiky head coming into view. He watched him approached and mumbled unhappily
" Nothing". Sonic raised and eyebrow and sat down beside him, casully asking
" So, seen Rouge lately?". Knuckles became visably uncomfertable at this statement and he looked around aimlessly.
" Well , she , er..." He said, trying to think up a reasonable excuse, then it came to him " She's in the lake! Having a bath! So er, you better not go near her" he said, trying not to sound as if he just told the worst lie ever. Sonic nodded and leaned back, whistling a little before saying casually
" Well that's funny, coz last time I checked she was sleeping in our living room with a sofa for a bed". Knuckles looked away in shame.
" It... It wasn't my fault"he said, sounding uncomfertable. Sonic actually laughed and said
" Yeah right and I can fly". Knuckles growled and said
" You wouldn't understand! Your fine with Amy, a nice hegdehog just like you, if she did ever have a child you would know it was yours". Sonic turned visably redder and said hastily
" Yeah well, what's the problem? Rouge said it was yours, can't you just accept the fact that may for once something good had happened to you?". Knuckles stared at him. You could tell just by looking at his face that he had regretted what he did.
" You don't get it Sonic, the problem isn't weither it's mine or not , it's-"
" What's the problem then?"said Sonic, interupting. Knuckles growled and yelled so that Sonic's spikes were blown back
" WILL YOU LET ME FINISH?". Sonic nodded and grinned stupidly. The echidna sighed and said " Like I was saying, it's not wether it's mine or not, it's the fact that Rouge probably want's nothing to do with me now, our relationship wasn't always the smoothest one and I don't know it she is going to forgive me this time". Sonic listened and nodded, Rouge had the exact same problem that Knuckles had, she couldn't build up the courage to face him after what he did. However, now that Sonic knew that Knuckles regretted what he did, all he needed to do was get the two together and hopefully, all will be forgiven. Well , that was his plan anyway.
" Hey Knux" he said soon after the plan had been formed in his mind. Knuckles grunted but didn't lift his head. Sonic took that as an invatation to continue " You gonna be going to Vector's little wedding thing? Rouge is gonna be there" he said trying to tempt Knuckles.
" Rouge hates me" he said, his head now in his hands. Sonic grinned and said
" Naw, she's just a little shocked that's all, I think she is missing you just as much as you are missing her". Knuckles looked up
" Really?"
" Apsolutly" replied Sonic. After that Knuckles appeared to be think for a moment. He stared at the ground while Sonic, somewhat impatiently, waited.
" No" said Knuckles forcefully. Sonic was taken aback.
" No?" Sonic said, surprised " Why not?". Knuckles sighed and his face took a look of grief.
" I don't see Rouge forgiving me this time and even if she does, what if it's not mine? What am I gonna do when a bat is born and I have to explain to everyone why, I don't think I could take that" he said, his words heavy. Sonic sighed and rolled his eyes
" Sheesh it doesn't take a lot to discourage you does it? Your supposed to be the big tough echidna and you can't even face you own wife!". Knuckles looked up again and his grief turned to anger.
" Hey! Do you think this is easy for me? I've been on my own for most of my life! How do you expect me to make up with Rouge if she probably isn't even going to listen?" He yelled, his fists raising for a fight. Sonic stepped back and said in a matter of factly tone
" Well your going to have to echidna". Knuckles lowered his fists and instead raised and eyebrow
" How are you going to make me?"he said, sounding suspisios. Sonic didn't reply and instead grinned and zipped behind him. Knuckles wirled round to see Sonic had already gone, along with the master emerald. When Knuckles skidded round again, he saw Sonic standing far of, near the egde of the foresty island, holding the emerald over the egde with one hand.
" LIKE THIS!" He yelled from far off. Knuckles brimmed with rage. He knew Sonic would drop it without a moments hestitation if he even made an attempt to get it off of him and he didn't feel like collecting all of the emerald peices again, two times was enough. Sonic cupped his hands again and yelled
" LISTEN, YOU GO AND MAKE UP WITH ROUGE AND I GIVE YOU THE EMERALD BACK, DEAL?". Knuckles sighed, realising it was the only way.
" Deal" he muttered, far too quite for Sonic to hear
" WHAT!" Came Sonic annoying voice again. Knuckles sighed and yelled
" I SAID DEAL!". Suddenly , the emerald and Sonic vanished and Knuckles turned back to the shrine, seeing the master emerlad saftly back on it's stand and Sonic standing ontop of it, grinning emensly.
" See ya there Knux!" He said cheerfully and ran off the edge of the island. How he got up there in the first place, Knuckles had never known. But that didn't matter, right now, all he cared about was making up with Rouge, one way or another.

Rouge sighed. It had been a difficult two weeks for her. Most of it was spent wishing she had Knuckles back. She had literally spent most of the first and second day crying and the next to feeling sorry for herself. Her sadness had made her indulge in comfort food and she was getting really worried about the weight she was putting on. The bat hated asking for so much food off of Sonic and Amy, who, although they said didn't mind, did seem a bit shocked by the amount of food she got through. There was also the fact that Amy seemed to be at her side almost constantly, questioning every little thing that happened to Rouge, as though feeling tired meant something important
" I just need a nap Amy, it's nothing trust me" she said , as Amy had begun offering help and asking if it meant she needed a check up or food. Rouge rolled her eyes and asked " Why are you so interested anyway? Don't you have better things to do rather than ask me how I feel every three seconds?". Amy , failing to see the hint that she should make herself scarse, remained smiling and said
" Oh no reason, I'm just interested that's all, I find it fasinating that there is a little child in there" she saidm reaching over to touch Rouges middle. However , her hand never got their as Rouge pushed it away.
" It's not that interesting Amy, infact, it's a pain sometimes" she said in an anoyed voice. She didn't feel comfertable with Amy touching her there and held her own hand over her stoumuch to keep her from touching it.
" That's another thing Rouge, why do you hold it like that? Is it too heavy to support itself?" She asked, still fasinated. Rouge rolled her eyes and took her hand away.
" No, it's just something I so automatically. Now please Amy can you leave me alone?" She said, her voice almost rejucing to a wine. Amy's smile didn't faulter and she said
" Ok! In your condition you need your rest" and with that she left. Rouge sighed and flopped down on the pillows. She didn't feel like being treated specially just becuase she was pregnant, it was still her, her personality hadn't changed, she had just put on some weight, wow.
She also hated the way Amy described her pregancy as a 'condition'. It made her seem as if she was ill or had some kind of cancer. Knuckles never did that. He never touched her unless she put his hand on her stoumuch. He didn't suddenly start acting all stupid around her like Amy was and he didn't crowd her either, he let her have her own space.
Thinking about this made her sad all over again. She really did miss him so much.

The day came for Vectors wedding anniversary and Rouge had been dragged along with Amy while Sonic had dissapeared, saying he would be here in there in time to see everyone. When Rouge and Amy arrived at the party, almost everyone was there.
Espio talked with Vector who was laughing ungraciosly and drinking from a can. Aquariun was at the Camilions side, hanging onto his arm affectionatly and the crocodiles wife made the accational comment in their conversation. Espio had only resently returned from his visit to Aquriun's home and he was thinking of moving there for good, which Vector wasn't too happy about as he was sick of doing the workload up at chaotix that Espio usually took care of.

Tails was sitting in the corner with Talim. Everyone avoided them as they looked pretty buisy with each others lips. It seemed the two foxes had worked out there differences and were now completly happy again. Rouge wondered wether Tails had finnaly said yes.
" Hey Rouge!" Said Vector loudly as she entered. He grinned at her and the bat managed a strained smile, although inside she felt horrible. She was hoping that Knuckles would turn up and that she could get a chance to explain to him that it was his child. But she was nervous too, she had already tried to tell him and he had ignored it completly and that, coupled with the fact that it was a pure bat, probably meant that even if he did come he wouldn't listen to her excuses.
Meanwhile, on Angel island, Sonic arrived , pilloting Tails tornado, which was origenally his plane anyway. He quickly ran up to Knuckles, saying as he slowed down
" Ready to go Knux?". Knuckles gave him a sour look and reponded with a flat
" Whatever"
" Alrighty then!" He said, gearing up the tornado as Knuckles took his seat behind Sonic. All the while they were flying Knuckles didn't say a word. Sonic caught on to this.
" So Knuckles, how far along is she?"he asked. Knuckles snapped out of his thoughts and said confused
" Er...what?"
" Rouge, how far along is she?"asked Sonic again, this time slower. Knuckles looked at the back of Sonic's seat.
" Well, it's gotta be about six months now" he answered flatly. Sonic nodded and said
" It's gone quick hasn't it?". At this Knuckles actually smiled, which Sonic was relived to see.
" Yeah, I can't believe that just a year ago, we wern't even married, now we're having a baby, or at least I think we are" the echidna said, his face darkening, still not sure if he was going to be a father or not.
" Hey Knux, you ok?" Said Sonic in concern. The echidna jumped a little bit and said hastily
" Oh yeah, sure". In truth he was nervous. He hadn't seen Rouge for two weeks and was worried about how she might react to him. He hoped against hope she would at least let him talk to her. He missed her company so much that without her he felt sick and lonly.
When they had finnaly arrived at the club that Vector had booked for their party, everyone was there, including Rouge. Knuckles felt his stoumuch get peirced with nervousness and avoided her eye, instead sulking away in the corner. ' I can't do this' he thought to himself ' it's just to much'. Meanwhile , Rouge was watching from the other side of the room, she wanted to go and talk to him, she really did. But remembering the harsh tone he used before kept her back. She lowered her ears when he glanced in her direction and hastily turned away when their eyes met.
" Rouge?" Asked a familair voice. The bat jumped and glanced around, seeing Siberia sitting next to her on one of the purple, squashy sofa's and given her a questioning look.
" Huh? What?"she said, pulling her gaze away from her husband.
" I asked you how you were" replied the hedgehog, looking concerned.
" Oh, i'm ok I guess" Rouge answered
"Why don't you talk to him?" Siberia said, noticing Rouging glancing over to Knuckles. Rouge played dumb and said
" Who?". Siberia rolled her eyes and sighed. Rouge and Knuckles were being awfully stuborn about all of this and everyone could see that they wanted to be with each other again, they were just to hestitant to admit it. Rouge was just about to change the subject when Siberia suddenly fliched. Rouge raised an eyebrow and said
" Hey Siberia, are you alright?" She asked, while the hedghog calmed down. She smiled and said
" Yeah, it's been happening a lot lately though" . Rouge however , still looked concerned. "Don't worry, it's nothing, trust me" Siberia added, noticing that Rouge still looked worried.
Just then, Shadow walked over an sat with Siberia, taking her im his arms. Rouge hastily looked away, she was sure Shadow remembered what had happened between the two two weeks ago and, although he didn't concerned, Rouge was incredbaly embarrissed about it, espicially with Siberia sitting right there.
But despite her embarrisment, Rouge stayed with Siberia and Shadow, feeling better talking to them than taking her chance with Knuckles or being annalysed by Amy. However , a while latter, Siberia flinched again, this time putting her hand to her middle. Shadow noticed she had stopped talking and said
" Siberia? Is everything all right?". For an answer, Siberia gave him a worried glance and reached up to whisper in his ear. When she pulled away he looked momentarily surprised. This didn't last long as his worried look turned to one of buissness. He stood up and said
" We're leaving"
" What! Why!"said Rouge in alarm. Siberia gave Shadow worried look and replied, looking a little flustered
" We, have to go. Sorry Rouge "he said, picking up Siberia. However , when he was just about to speed off, Siberia let out a small scream of pain. Shadow stopped and looked down at her in concern. With his eyes narrowed and a confused look on his face he said
" Are you all right Siberia?". Siberia who was breathing rapidly in mild panic, slowly calmed down again and said
" Yeah, you probably just disturbed the baby when you picked it me up so fast, don't worry i'll be ok" she smiled reassuringly at shadow, even though inside she was still panicing. What was the jolt she felt through her abdoman? What ever it was it was painful. Sighing to herslef she held on as Shadow got ready to run again. He was about to start once more when Siberia felt another jolt in her middle, this time it was more powerful. She screamed slightly and everyone gasped and looked around , shocked. Siberia paniced as she felt the simptoms of labor. How could this be? The dew date was in two weeks! But this didn't change the fact that the baby seemed to want to be born now. Siberia screamed for Shadow to get to the hospital as she felt her water break. For the first time in a while Shadow looked utterly shocked.
He began running, Sonic holding onto Amy'sand Tails hands while Espio took Knuckles and Aquariuns, trying to keep up with the speeding Shadow. All the way they heard Siberia screaming and Shadow quickened his pace, determined to get there in time. His speed was so fast that all of the creatures not being helped along by Sonic and Espio soon feel behind. Rouge came to halt when she couldn't run anymore. Breathing heavily she took to the skies, her flying more or less still functional with the extra weight. When she arrived with Vector and Seringetti not far behind, she collasped, exausted , in the hospital chair. She glanced over to Knuckles, who was still avoiding her eye. The rest of the gang waited patiently outside. Siberia's screames had calmed down and they now all wondered around, waiting for any news. Tails had detached himself from Talim and was now waiting with the rest of them, while Sonic paced at an extremly fast rate.
Rouge waiting patiently, hoping that she would be ok after all that flying and running . She walked over to the waiting area chairs and went to sit down, however as she did so she felt the baby move inside of her. Usual this wouldn't really have hurt, but for some reason this time it did and Rouge started to panic.
She waited anciosly for any other symptoms to happen but, fortunatly for her, they didn't. After a while of uneventful waiting however, Rouge felt her middle contract and winced. She saw Knuckles watching her from the other side of the room. He looked as if he wanted to go over, but didn't make a move. Rouge got angry and screamed his name when she felt her stoumuch contract again.
" What is it Rouge?" Knuckles asked in concern when he came over. Rouge didn't awnser, but starting brething very slowly. She reached towards her middle, which suddenly felt very heavy. Suddenly , a huge jolt of pain shot through her own stoumuch and she collasped in shock. " ROUGE!" Yelled Knuckles, who sat down next to her. Rouge began to calm as she felt pain ease. She shock her head. She thought she was in labour! At six months! Laughing at her foolishness Rouge let Knuckles help her up and sat back down on the chair. They kept waiting for a while with no disturbance until Rouge felt something again, this time sharper and with worse pain. She screamed and Knuckles caught her just in time as she fell to the ground again. She began breathing through her teeth as the pains intensified and became constant.
" KNUCKLES HELP ME!" She screamed, becoming desperate as she felt the pain not stopping. At least it didn't seem to be getting anyworse. He looked around, his eyes flashing in panic and his mind confused
" What! Err? How?" He then saw a nurse standing ,watching what was happening , he grew angry and bellowed " HELP HER!". Suddenly the nurse snapped into attention. As Rouges groans and moans grew louder the whole crew began wondering what had happened. Espio looked over and said in concern
" Is she alright?" . Knuckles shock his head and said in a desperate voice
"I don't know! I don't know!". Everyone watched as the nurse checked what was happening. Even Shadow peered out of the door way to see what the disturbance was. When he saw Rouge laying on the floor and screaming, he rushed over as well, worried about his freind. The nurse looked up and said anciosly to the whole group
" Where is the father?" She looked around at each of them
" Here!" Said Knuckles, doing a weird wave out of panic. The nurse stared at him, confused
" You can't be, your not a bat!". Knuckles began to growl and said while panicing beyond belief and shacking his fists
" I AM!", although in his mind he felt dought, he still didn't know if he was. The nurse, deciding she didn't want to waste time arguing, got straight to the point.
" Your wifes in labour"

Authors notes

Oh. cliffhanger...