THE NEXT DAY

" Come on Knuckles! We'll be late for Espio's and Aquariuns wedding!" Yelled Rouge from the other room.
" Are you sure it's a good idea to bring Seth along?" Knuckles called into from the bedroom where he was trying to dress his squirming son, who seemed to prefer to remain unclothed like his father. Rouge walked in, dressed in a formal clothing, a long silky dress which now fitted her again, thanks to the fact that Seth wasn't inside her anymore.
" Of course, he's a good boy and everyone will want to see him" Rouge replied, taking hold of Seth and putting on his little gloves with joined fingers.
" He,he, just like mine" Knuckles commented, examining his gloves next to his sons.
" Come on Knuckles! There'll be time for that later!" Were late!" Said Rouge, picking up Seth and flying out of the door. Knuckles sighed and followed, taking tacking a huge leap into air and stretching his arms out so his dreadlocks caught the breeze. It would take them a long time to arrive form angel island.

AT THE CHURCH

" Hey look! There's Siberia, Shadow and Draco!" Said Rouge, noticing the other family in their young group. Little Draco was 3 months older than Seth and slightly more developed. His little fluffy tuft on his chest had grown more thick and his quills were shaping themselves out better. His large eyes were fully open and staring around in amazement at the strange surroundings. He sat quietly on Siberia's lap, chewing his entire hand and drooling onto Siberia's dress. Rouge noticed that Siberia didn't look nearly as fat she used to thanks to her pregnancy and now had her slim, well shaped figure back. Rouge sighed as she thought of how she still looked terribly fat, only loosing a little portion of the weight she had put on when she was carrying.

Knuckles glanced over to Sonic, who was currently being held in a strangle hold by Amy. But , unlike before he had married Amy, he seemed to be enjoying it and was laughing as Amy cuddeled/ strangled him. They certainly looked very happy with each other, Knuckles wondered why.

Vector sat with wife, Seringhetti. He was wearing a huge, cherry grin and kept shouting out things like

" My pals finally got hitched!", much to the disapprovement of the vicar. He was obviously excited that one of his best friends was getting married. Charmy hovered above, his sketching pad in his hand and his new girlfriend, Gem, watching over his shoulder. He was getting very good at portraits and decided to do one of Espio and Aquariunn getting married. Cream and her boyfriend Neo were sitting near the back, looking slightly out of place, While an assortment of Dragons filled most of the left side and strangely, one bewildered looking fox, who Knuckles guess was some kind of family friend.

" Hey Knuckles! Rouge!" Came a voice from behind them. They turned to see Tails standing their, in an uncomfortable looking tux. His fringe growing long and falling in his face, making him look almost like a hippy. Talim had turned 21 as he had turned 17 and Tails seemed to have changed with the age growth, becoming more mature but also more arrogant.

" Wow is that Seth?" He said, approaching the baby in Rouge's arms. Rouge nodded and smiled " He's chanced so much" the fox commented, who had only seen him when he was born.

" Aw! Look at his little gloves!" Said Talim, commenting on the babies little fingerless gloves. She moved her finger next to Seth's hand and he grabbed it, waving his hand around and giggling. " Hello there!" She said, in a voice most adults use when talking to babies and young children.

The two couples took their seats, Rouge settling Seth down on her lap. The little bachidna even fell asleep, as he had been keeping his parents up for most of the previous night.

Then , the moment arrived. Everyone hushed into silence as the music started playing from the old organ in the background, ringing out across the church. Charmy excitedly got his sketch book ready and Vector leaned forward to view the expression on Espio's face.

The chameleon didn't look happy. He looked absolutely petrified. His eyes were wide and kept glancing from the doors to the vicar, who stood waiting patiently. Knuckles grinned when he saw Aquariun come into view, a long silky dress covering her normally bare body and trailing on the ground behind her. Espio looked like he was about to faint right their, his hands were visibly shaking.
His new bride approached, another Dragon leading her on, his bluish green tint telling them that he was in fact her father. Espio looked amazed by his wife's appearance, although to Knuckles didn't really find her very attractive, probably because she was such a different species to him. But then, he had fallen for Rouge, which he supposed was slightly similar. He glanced at their little child, who was fast asleep in Rouge arms. She rocked him gently, Knuckles couldn't help but smile.

Aquariun reached the alter and stood beside Espio, who was finally starting to look happy. His face had a small, warm smiled spread across it, which was normal for Espio, his never did let out a full grin.

The when the vicar had finished with his speech, Espio reached for his hands and pulled his left glove of revealing a ring in his hand underneath, he gently slid the ring onto Aquariuns finger and she did the same for his, smiling all the time. When the rings were safely applied Espio took Aquariun in a kiss, which surprised everyone because no one had ever seen the two kiss before, as they were very secretive. But here they were now, showing their love in the open and declaring it true. Soon the couple were littered with confetti and other assorted things, being crowded by all the friend and family that had gathered. Espio looked slightly worried when the crowd became too much, with all the dragons shouting blessings, Vector loudly singing ' congratulations and celebrations' rather badly and Charmy buzzing overhead trying to stuff his newly completed drawing in their faces. Espio gave his bride a fearful look, who smiled and grabbed his hands, flapping her large wings and hoisting both herself and Espio into the air, flying over their heads and landing outside the tightly compacted circle of guessed that had surrounded them.

Afterwards that made their way to a club place, having a good meal and talking about things. For the first time since she had given birth to Seth, Rouge was able to talk to her friend Siberia.

" How have you been coping Rouge?" She asked, watching Seth who was awake and being quiet. The bat gave a tired grin and answered

" I honestly don't know! It seems every time I start to dose off Seth here starts making a noise "she said, gently bumping Seth up and down in her arms, who looked slightly perplexed by the feeling but nothing more.

" It was the same with Draco, he never seemed to stop crying, Shadow even had to blow up a plant once just to make him stop. But he's ok now, in fact he's been a very good boy today" she said, looking down at her son and tickling his nose.

One of the people carrying around wine came to the two, offering them a glass. Siberia refused but Rouge eagerly took one, as she had just been through a nine month ban period and didn't particularly enjoy it. The hedgehog watched in concern. " Rouge, you do know that alcohol can be passed onto the baby through your milk" she said, talking like she was reading from a textbook. Rouge turned a burning shade of red and hastily said

" That's ok, I feed him using bottled milk" and took a sip from her glass. Siberia gave her a slight disapproving look and said

" It's much healthier to feed him naturally". Rouge looked a little ashamed and said

" No way, never" her dislike for the subject coming through in her words. The hedgehog smiled and said in an understanding way

" You don't have to do it in public, not even I do that!"

" Yeah I know but..." said Rouge, still feeling embarrassed by the conversation that Siberia seemed to insist continuing.

" Give it a try, just once and if you find it truly horrible, don't do it anymore. You might be surprised and it will help Seth grow up better" Siberia said. " If you don't like it . Try using a bottle". Rouge looked confused for a second and said

" How?". Siberia looked slightly embarrassed for once and leaned over to Rouge whispering in her ear. We she pulled back, grinning from embarrassment, Rouge stared at her blankly.

" Like that?" She said, creeped out. Still blushing, Siberia nodded and Rouge burst out laughing, the hedgehog joining in afterwards.

After a while of chatting and general gossip. Rouge and Siberia decided they had enough of the babies and handed them to their fathers to look after, while they had something to eat. Knuckles reluctantly took the fidgeting Seth and Shadow winced in disgust as Draco drooled down his front.

" Urgh, yuck. Messy guy" said Shadow, wiping away the drool with the table cloth when no one was looking. Knuckles grinned but then realised Seth was trying to make a break for freedom, wriggling in his arms. He held him against his shoulder, hoping that the little boy would stop squirming and settle down to sleep. However instead he started waving his arms around, whacking Knuckles across the nose before stabbing him in the eye with his own little spikes.

" Ow crap!" The echidna yelled, accidentally letting go of the baby which rolled down his leg. Shadow spotted this just in time and leant forward, catching Seth with one hand while clinging onto Draco with the other. With a little effort he heaved up the bachidna, clutching onto the back of his top. The hedgehog attempted to hold both babies at the same time, but they soon began to wriggle and cry. Draco's spines poked Seth in the face and this started off the most annoying sound in the world.
Knuckles jumped up and struggled to take the baby off of Shadow, who was having trouble holding onto his own son. The echidna took hold of Seth, rocking him and attempting to cease the crying.

" Oh. Where's Rouge when you need her?" Said Knuckles, as Draco began crying as well from the sound of the other baby. Shadow got out the dummy and stuffed it into Draco's little mouth, making his crying cease for the time being. Knuckles rocked Seth slightly, trying to do the same as Rouge did. For a while it didn't work and Knuckles was beginning to get irritated and embarrassed at the same time, as many of the people around him had begun to stare.

Then she made her way over, attracted by the ear piercing noise that shot across the hall. She gently took the baby out of Knuckles arms and rocked him gently, singing under her breath to it. Her methods worked and Seth crying lessened. Knuckles watched in amazement as his little son was soon quite as a rock. He looked up at her.

" Thanks Amy " he said, half in shock and half in gratitude. The cheery hedgehog winked and said

" Hey! No problem!". Knuckles took his son back and laid him against his shoulder, trying to be as gentle as possible so as to not wake him up.

" Since when did you get so good with children?" Asked Shadow, who had been watching the whole display from next to them. Amy looked shocked for a second before regained her smiling personality and saying

" Well you have to be prepared! Never know when you might-" she cut herself off.

" Might what?" said Knuckles, curios to what the end of her sentence might be.

" Nothing!" Said the hedgehog, rushing off to talk to Cream.

" Well that was weird" said Shadow. Draco made a little squeak sound, as if to agree with his father.

Meanwhile , Siberia had dragged Rouge away to the cornered had started whispering to her.

" Rouge, can you promise to keep this a secret, until I'm sure and ready to tell everyone?" She said, sounding tense . Rouge raised an eyebrow and said

" Sure". After she had said this, Siberia took a deep breath. Rouge stared at her, feeling a bit puzzled. The hedgehog opened her mouth and said

" After Draco was born, I went back on the pill. Me and Shadow decided we didn't want anymore children, Draco wasn't even planned. But I forgot to take the pill one night ". Rouge nodded. She had a feeling she knew where this was going. " Anyway" said Siberia, continuing " Lately I've been feeling a bit strange lately and I was wondering whether I could be... ya know". Rouge , unable to contain herself, burst out with

" That's great!". Siberia shushed her and Rouge smiled foolishly. " Sorry" she added.
" So anyway, I was wondering if you could help me find out" finished Siberia, looking slightly worried and muddled. Rouge smiled and said

" Of course! I guess your worried about what Shadow will say right?" Said Rouge. Siberia looked down , her face shadowing and said

" Yeah, like I said, he didn't want anymore. But now I don't want to abort, so I don't know what to do". Rouge put her hand on Siberia's shoulder

" Don't worry about it, I know Shadow won't get mad. Unlike Knucklehead over there, if I ever got pregnant again he'd probably blow a gadget!" Answered Rouge, gesturing towards Knuckles was trying to help Shadow wipe the drool of Draco.

OVER WITH KNUCKLES AND SHADOW

" I think, in the future I mean, that I'd like more of these things. But Rouge doesn't seem to keen on the idea when I hint it. What do I do?" Said Knuckles, who had taken to opportunity to talk to Shadow while Rouge was away. Shadow didn't answer right away, he was busy wiping another layer of droll from Draco's mouth.

" He's teething" said the hedgehog, using his sons glove to wipe away the mess. " Anyway, you say you want more children? And Rouge is saying no?" Shadow thought for a moment. " I guess you should wait, it's still too early for me and Siberia to think about more children, so I suggest you forget about it and concentrate on Seth". The echidna sighed in defeat and said

" I guess". Shadow looked up from Draco and said

" Ur Knuckles, I think you should concentrate on him a little more. Like right now!". Knuckles caught the meaning and looked at his shoulder, where Seth was chewing one of his dreadlocks.

" Gross"

AUTHORS NOTES

Hey all! Sorry for the lack of updating. I'm pretty buisy lately becuase I have my exams and my boyfreind to deal with, but have no fear! I'll keep going with this story as long as I get enough reviews. Anyway please don't think this is going to be just the same as the pequal, im planning some differences. Please review!