Chapter 2

Tails was alert and active for more than three hours as Rouge tried to give birth to her and Knuckles' baby. There were many complications- Knuckles and Sonic hadn't returned with the equipment he needed, for example. Tails had gotten Shadow up on a bed, knowing that the only way to help Shadow was to help Rouge, given the reasons for Shadow's pain was through their Chaos Emeralds.

Tails picked up a phone and called his house number, glad to have Knuckles answer.

"Knuckles! You're still there! I need you to get something else for me while you're there- My laptop. It is linked with an X-ray scanner and I need it to check if shadow and Rouge are okay."

Knuckles responded quickly. "Okay, I've already got it, thinking you'd need it. But we have some technicalities. We can't find your heart rate monitor."

"It's in my closet, behind the foldable table."

"Got it!" Tails heard Sonic shout.

"We'll meet you back soon!" Knuckles said. He hung up.

Tails hung up, too, and returned to checking Rouge as best he could without machinery.

"Hang in there, Rouge, Knuckles is on his way." Tails reassured. He checked Rouge's forehead again- still hot. Tails bit his lip. Without the tools and medicine he needed, he could lose Rouge and Shadow.

Finally, Knuckles and Sonic returned with the equipment in a wagon they found at Tails' house. Tails quickly helped unload and almost immediately hooked Rouge and Shadow to their Heart Rate monitors. Soon, they showed the incredibly sped up heart rates of the bat and hedgehog.

Tails scanned Shadow's body after telling Sonic and Knuckles to wait outside. He checked every inch of Shadow's body, and then found something terrible- internal bleeding. He had ruptured a blood vessel, found inferior to the heart on the anterior side. Now, Tails had to operate on the ten-minute old injury and make sure Rouge delivered the baby safely.

Tails got on his operation gear and quickly gave Shadow a sleep gas and an anesthesia. He quickly, but precisely, cut open Shadow's chest and instantly found the blood vessel. After thirty minutes, Tails had stitched the blood vessel, sewn Shadow up and placed an IV in his arm.

Tails went back to Rouge as soon as possible. She was worn out and tired, but still wouldn't give up. Tails checked Rouge to make sure she didn't have anything wrong with her. Then, he found out something startling- She was going to give birth to not only one baby, but FOUR babies. How come Knuckles hadn't told him? Or did he know? He mustn't have, since he never really went to anyone to see the deal with his wife.

Tails was really worried now, as he checked Rouge all over to make sure she didn't have any internal injuries. None.

Suddenly, he heard one, long solitary BEEP! Rouge's heart had stopped! Tails instantly reached for the paddles, but hesitated. If he were to use the paddles, he might end up doing something to one of the babies. So, Tails decided to do CPR. He'd only used it once, when Sonic choked on some nachos.

Tails performed CPR right away, and after a few minutes, got Rouge back to Earth.

"Rouge? Rouge, wake up!" Tails called. "You've got one message for you- YOU NEED TO DELIVER YOUR CHILDREN!"

Rouge managed to wake up a little. "Tails… The pain…I-I don't know if I can make it."

"You can, YOU CAN!" Tails reassured. "Here's the situation- you've been in labor with four children for four hours. Think you can make it? I know you're strong enough!"

Rouge's bloodshot eyes widened. "F- f- f-four children?"

"Yes. Four."

"I knew it didn't feel like one child!" the pain increased even more, and Rouge let out a cry.

"Don't worry, you can make it!" Tails took Rouge's hand in his hands.

"I'll try…"

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Twenty-six hours in labor. Died for five minutes, brought back to life. Four children, two boys, two girls. One patient had a ruptured blood vessel. Fixed in thirty minutes. Both patients are asleep, now, and well. Tails walked out of the room, large bags under his bloodshot eyes. Yet, he had a large smile on his face. He looked at his white coat, stained by the blood from Rouge's insides.

Knuckles and Sonic were asleep on two of three chairs outside the room. Tails sat down next to the snoring red Echidna, and heaved a long, loud sigh, purposely waking Knuckles up.

"Ah…What? Tails? Is everything okay?" Knuckles asked.

"Knuckles," Tails started, "You are now a father to four children. But don't go in yet; I still need to clean up."

Knuckles was stunned. He shook Sonic awake and repeated the news to him.

Tails smiled, and went back into the room. He gazed at the worn-out and sleeping bat, with her four children all asleep next to her. The first was a female Echidna, fur colored dirty red, like a dark crimson. The second was a boy, a gray bat. The third was a boy too, an orange Echidna. Finally came a female white bat, the spitting image of Rouge.

Shadow was breathing more calmly now, both he and Rouge relieved of their pain. Tails had checked him one last time, making sure he had no more unknown injury.

Tails cleaned up the room, first the blood and fluids from Rouge's body, and then the machinery. He carefully packed up the Heart Rate monitor, then the empty IV's and the rest of his machines. He gave the wagon to Sonic, who raced them back to Tails' house.

Knuckles smiled when Rouge woke at the sound of his footsteps on the floor.

"Hey, Knucklehead." Rouge said weakly.

Knuckles replied softly, "Feeling good, Batgirl?"

The two laughed quietly with each other.

"Harumph!" Tails cleared his throat. "Why don't you two name the babies? I can get official birth certificates."

Rouge nodded weakly. Knuckles agreed. "Okay then, let's start with her." He picked up the crimson Echidna. "Hmm, she looks like a 'Feisty,' don't you think, Rouge?"

Rouge nodded again. "And this little guy over here…" the male bat, "looks like a 'Streak.'"

"Uh huh. And this other guy looks like a 'Courage.'" Knuckles named the orange Echidna.

"Yep. And she looks like an 'Ivory.'" Rouge said.

"Alright then, we have 'Feisty,' 'Streak,' 'Courage,' and 'Ivory.'" Tails said. "Okay! The birth certificates will be made authentically and sent to you within one day."

Rouge smiled, before falling asleep. Knuckles patted her back before leaving with Tails.

Knuckles stopped before they reached the door. "How is Shadow?"

Tails looked at the ebony Hedgehog. "He's made a full recovery, if I should say."

"Wonderful."

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Author's note: Please note that this isn't called "Extreme Injury" for nothing! There will be EXTREME INJURY coming up soon. Stick tight!