Seedlings
He shielded his eyes from the sun as he landed.
The flowers around him swayed in response to the gentle breeze, playing joyously with the bright light falling on their petals. He noticed the children frolicking and laughing a small distance ahead. He allowed himself a smile at the scene – taking in the possibly most beautiful day he could enjoy in a long, long time.
And as he saw the small form descend gracefully and land lightly beside him, he was reminded of how important it was that the day go as perfect as possible.
"So…" The little girl paused to look up at him, and he smiled encouragingly. "That's school?" She pointed at the rather old, but pleasant looking structure in front of them.
"Well, yes." He lowered himself to pat her on the head. "But it's the people that count, not the building." He said in a joking tone. He took a small backpack off his shoulders and handed it to her. "You sure it's not too heavy?" A tiny voice in his head berated him for being overprotective, but he had already become proficient at silencing it.
"It isn't, dad." She was quick to assure him. Then her eyes glazed over and she lowered her gaze to the ground. "But what if…"
"You'll do fine" He cut her off smiling and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
Distracted, she didn't notice his tails moving before they came at her, tickling mercilessly.
"S-stop it dad!" She shouted playfully, fully knowing that he wouldn't until she forgot all her worries, embraced by his warmth. He kissed her on the forehead, wiped the tears of mirth off her face, and pushed lightly towards the sound of laughter.
"Have a great time, my little blossom!"
"I will dad!" She didn't hesitate to answer.
He watched her retreating back and continued standing still long after she was gone from his sight.
He was not in a hurry, and could take his time to appreciate the moment.
X X X
Sweet noise filled his ears as the contraption whirred to life.
The wires were connected haphazardly – as usual when there wasn't anyone to discipline him – and the junctions appeared even frailer than they were in reality. All things considered, he attributed the success to chance.
But, as all his small projects, it did work. It made him happy to see that he had yet to lose his touch.
You can't help it if you're the smartest guy around…He turned the machine off and left the basement.
X X X
He simply sat there and drank his tea.
He never formulated a clear-cut plan – not one that won out against sitting in silence. But watching her happy, unassuming face washed the need for words away from him.
So he would sit, or maybe water the flowers if they needed it. He couldn't have them suffering in his own house, after all.
So he would sit, or perhaps work on something that came to his mind that exact moment. He couldn't give up on bettering their lives when he found it possible.
Now he simply sat. And after a moment he reached for the photo standing in front of him and brought it closer to his face.
"You're beautiful, you know?" He sat there and smiled.
"And so is your daughter."
Then again, sometimes he wept.
X X X
He was lying on the sofa when the knocking came.
He drew himself up, yawned deeply, and walked towards the door. He couldn't feel the carpet under his feet, which meant he had forgotten to take off his shoes once more. At least he didn't have to put them back on.
The moderate distance gave him the much needed time to prepare himself mentally. Still… it would be the first time he was faced with such a situation. Even as he steeled himself, he felt nervous and lost. Miles Prower was not used to feeling lost.
He twisted the doorknob, pushed the door open, and then hastily examined the small shape in the doorway. He noticed her head bowed lowly and the small bluish feet shuffling nervously, but didn't react. Not outwardly.
He leaned forward and took the obviously too heavy backpack off his daughter's delicate frame. He paused to give her a peck on the cheek before pulling her lightly into the house with his bushy tails.
"How was your day, little blossom?" He asked genially. She seemed to hesitate for a second, but didn't rise her head to meet his eyes.
"It was fine, dad." She replied weakly, alerting him to the fact that something was not fine at all.
"It's alright. Tell me all about it." He encouraged, escorting her to her room.
They took their time embracing each other, lying on her bed in silence. Only after what seemed like ages did the little girl gather enough courage to speak.
"It really was fun, dad." She said, uncertain, and he squeezed her tighter in response. "But the other kids… they said I was strange… and…" She fell silent, upset by the memories.
He watched her sadly. The matter had to show up sooner or later, he knew. The average member of society was far from a racist, but his daughter's plant-like appearance could hardly be overlooked. Yet up until now, she had fared better than he had expected with the questioning looks and whispers.
The bundle in his arms shook once more.
"And they said you were weird too, dad!" She yelled in apparent protest to the statement.
He was left speechless. He shouldn't have been so happy when she was sad, but her empathy touched him deeply. He smiled at her and cooed softly until she calmed.
He hadn't paid it much attention before, but moving to a place where he was not as well-known had caused many shocked reactions. He was so used to it he didn't even notice them, but his daughter wasn't.
"So they think we are strange?" He asked confidently and she looked up at him in surprise. "We'll just have to fix that" He said amicably. She stared at him in confusion.
"You could, daddy?" He changed his expression to one of mock hurt.
"Don't you believe in your dad?" He whined.
She might have tried to respond, but the tickling tails of doom gave her no chance. Soon after, the whole house was filled with laughter.
X X X
He never expected to be the first of the "world saving team" to become a parent. But he did. Not long after Rouge moved to Angel Island, with obvious intentions. And now…
"She says she's alright, but, she would say that even if she wasn't, wouldn't she?" Sonic's rushed words assaulted him from the receiver. "She doesn't want me to worry, I don't worry too much, so she hides her nervousness, yes I know it's there!
He did his best to prevent himself from groaning at his friend's antics. He reminded himself that he only had to endure a month of the madness. But for him, two weeks had already been painful enough.
"She's probably happy you're by her side Sonic, I don't think she needs anything else. Calm down a little."
After so many years, Amy the Hedgehog was expecting Sonic's child and she wasn't the distressed one.
"And, I thought about it, the responsibilities!" Sonic went on. "My head goes spinning just from trying to remember all that, there's quite a lot, you know."
He sighed. Amy was far more capable than Sonic gave her credit for. He couldn't imagine her failing at performing family duties. But seeing as Sonic was as often within his household as he was on another crazy adventure, it wasn't surprising that responsibilities would scare him. Thankfully Amy was the most patient (and stubborn) hedgehog alive.
He snapped back to attention hearing Sonic's chattering, most of which he had missed, come to an end.
"So, yeah, Tails." The hedgehog's voice seemed to transform, becoming the crazy one he had known for years. "No use wastin' your time, been there and done that, haven't ya lil' bro?" That got a chuckle out of him. "Guess all goes well by you?" The blue blur went on.
He thought back to the morning and grinned.
"So it does Sonic. So it does."
X X X
"The firefly case has yet to be resolved but, unless I'm mistaken, you've already read the reports." He nodded at Cream's image on the screen before glancing on a stack of papers resting on the table. "And it seems it is not half as serious as we thought it was."
He couldn't help but feel assured by Cream's calm behavior Her ability to upkeep morale and deal with stressful situations was unmatched; making him glad he had offered his friend a job in his company many years ago.
She had worked as his secretary at the time – when he struggled with their first large contracts with the government. He couldn't be more surprised when one especially hectic day he rushed back into his office to find the officials happily chatting with her, after being thoroughly convinced by her arguments concerning the contract.
From then on, the rabbit became the mother of the company and his most trusted companion.
"Anything else of interest?" He asked, his confidence in her ability to deal with anything that came up notwithstanding.
"Nothing else that I would dare bother you with, Tails." She responded. Her calling him by his nickname did signify that she had personal matters she would like to discuss. He noticed her bright expression become a bit forlorn, though another might have not noticed at all.
"Come on, Cream." He started. "You know you can talk to me about anything bothering you." The rabbit's eyes widened slightly in surprise before her gaze softened once again.
"I've been worrying lately" She began. "It's about Bokkun."
Bokkun – the messenger had been even more of a shock than Cream, showing up before his office door a few days after Eggman's retirement and disappearance from the face of the Earth and requesting a place to work.
Over the years, he and Eggman had come to the same bizarre understanding that the scientist and Sonic had shared since long before, but the two tailed fox still knew when something was fishy – and Eggman, retirement and the doctor's cronies on his doorstep were as fishy as it got.
He was astonished when nothing happened after a few months, then a whole year.
He decided to face the reality of Eggman's departure and gave the, by then starving and wandering the streets, Bokkun a small job.
It mostly puzzled him when, instead of the reports he requested from different branches of the company, he was given notes regarding personnel performance
It took Eggman's former minion little time to gain an office right next to Cream's, taking care of insider matters and efficency. How one who worked under Robotnik could have so much talent in seeing through others eluded his comprehension.
Right then, it already seemed perfectly normal for them to be concerned with Bokkun's well-being.
"What's up with him?" Cream seemed to be collecting her thoughts for a while before speaking.
"He's been very jumpy as of late, so much that it worries me. But he doesn't seem to want to talk to me. I might be looking too deep into it, but it almost seems as if he is evading me." He could only describe the look on her face as crestfallen. "If I could only tell what is wrong…"
He fought with the smile trying to appear on his face. Although it had momentarily eluded his thoughts when Cream first mentioned Bokkun's problem, he now recalled the long conversation he had shared with the messenger a week before. It didn't surprise him that even now, after having decided to finally take action, Bokkun was a nervous wreck around Cream.
"Don't worry Cream. He told me he trusts you the most of us all. If there's a problem he can't face he will surely come to you." The firmness of his voice smoothened the young rabbit and she immediately brightened at his words.
Bokkun owed him one.
X X X
The door opened with a slam, or maybe just a small bump magnified by his acute hearing. Either way, his nap was cut down short.
With a subconscious motion of his tails he pushed himself off the sofa and onto his feet. He hadn't even taken two steps when his little blossom hopped into the room, before swirling gently down.
When he saw those happy, sparkling eyes – the same as her mother's – the same he fell in love with, he thought his hearth stopped. But he never expected, or didn't remember, the feeling to be so exhilarating.
The next moment he found himself with his precious treasure in his lap, entranced by her innocent laughter.
He had been right to assume that if dropping her off at school with the Blue Typhoon didn't impress her friends, nothing would.
FIN
AN:
This story takes place about ten years after the events of Sonic X.
Hedgehogs are usually born in groups of 4-5, but I didn't see the anatomy to support it, so I went with the human approach, but left the pregnancy time 31-35 days.
Lastly, I would like to dedicate this story to CrystalRose727- for the great contributions to the Sonic fandom.
Any and allcomments are appreciated as always.