A MONTH LATER

" Please, not blue, anything but blue!" Said Amy to herself. She readied herself, took an overly deep breath, and rolled the little stick over in her hands.

She hadn't thought about it when she missed her cycle and often became sick in the mornings. Nor did she really dwell on the fact that she seemed to be eating more lately. But when her usual red dress had started to become tighter and tighter, she begun to worry. She thought about when she had came of the pill without telling Sonic and decided it wasn't a good idea, soon after rushing back to the pharmacy and getting the pills straight back. But she had been overly relaxed about the situation and allowed Sonic to lure her into the bed, where they then did the thing that married couples do in beds. Nothing had happened for two months and Amy had thought nothing of it, but then these strange symptoms had been mentioned by Sonic, who was getting annoyed with her tacking so much time up in the bathroom.

Her eyes looked down and focussed on the result. For the first time she could remember, she felt sadness and joy swimming around inside her all at once. Things had just become extremely complicated.

AT SIBERIA'S APARTMENT

There was a ring at the door, which Siberia got up to answer, while Rouge sat patiently on the sofa. Rouge was around Siberia's house for a visit while Knuckles watched Seth, Draco was currently at the nursery and Shadow had gone out, leaving Siberia alone to talk with Rouge.
Siberia opened the door, expecting Shadow back from his run or the nursery dropping off Draco. But instead she saw
" Amy?" she said in surprise. It was indeed Sonic's wife, standing by the door way panting and hanging onto the door egde for support. Confused the black hedgehog let her in, where she promptly thumped down on the sofa and leaning back, let out a huge sigh.
" Amy! What are you doing here?" Asked Rouge curiously. The exhausted looking Hedgehog brung her head forward, it looked as if she hadn't slept for a while.
" Oh Rouge, your here too. Good" she mumbled half to herself. The bat raised and eyebrow and said
" What's going on?" In a suspicious voice. Amy's face took on an uncomfortable look as Siberia sat down again.
" Well, this is kinda hard for me to say..." She began, glancing nervously from Rouge to Siberia. The understanding black hedgehog smiled reassuringly at Amy, just as she had done with Rouge before.
" It's ok, i'm sure whatever it is there is a solution" she said, sounding like a therapist. Rouge wondered what Amy could possibly want with both of them.
Amy looked uncertainly at the other hedgehog, seeming very worried and confused about something. She opened her mouth, then hesitated.
" The thing is, I" she said , stopping again.
" What?" Said Siberia, leaning forward. The pink hedgehog swallowed and said

" I...we" she cursed and thumped the side of the sofa. Rouge and Siberia watched in suspicion. Suddenly she burst out " Sonic doesn't want children! But i'm...". Siberia nodded, finally understanding.

" Your pregnant arn't you? "she said, softly in an understanding tone. The statement, one that Siberia didn't seem to be surprised at, caught Rouge a little off guard. She had never thought of Amy having a baby, especially with Sonic. Amy sighed and slouched, lowering her face and murmuring

" What do I do?". Siberia shrugged and said

" There is only one thing too do, tell him". Amy's head shot up and her eyes widened

" No! I can't tell him I did it on purpose! I'm aborting and then he'll never have to know", a tear escaped her eye " But I really don't want to abort". Rouge decided it was time to intervene and although her and Amy had never exactly been friends, she felt sorry for the hedgehog that was in her exact possession 11 months ago.

" Listen Amy, your being completely stupid!" Said Rouge, in a harsh tone that shocked Amy because it contrasted heavily with the one Siberia had been using " You HAVE to ask Sonic before you abort, its his right! It's his child too! If he married you he must love you and he would kill you if you destroyed his child! So go over to his place and TELL him". Amy started at her for a few seconds, looking shocked. Even Siberia had a look of mild surprise on her face. Rouge held her hard gave at Amy, who eventually got up of of the sofa.

" Rouge is right!" She said, seeming more confident " I'm gonna tell him what's going on! And if he thinks he doesn't want this child-" she pulled out her hammer " Then he's gonna get hammer full!"

" Not in you condition!" Joked Siberia, but Amy had already began to make her way out. Apon leaving she shouted through the door

" Thanks Rouge! Thanks Siberia!" And left.

" Great, another screaming kid" said Rouge, stretching her neck and shifting on the sofa to get more comfortable.

" Speaking of kids" said Siberia, getting off and heading into her kitchen. Rouge wondered what she was doing and leaned over her shoulder to see what her friend was getting up to. The hedgehog came back with a small package in her hands, a pregnancy test. " Better find out sooner or later" she said, her voice seemed to be shacking. Her hands less than sturdy as they gripped the object of terror. Rouges eyebrows curved into a sympathetic position, she had been through this as well. It was almost like a roll reversal, with Rouge even sitting on the opposite sofa than she had last time, when she had gone to Siberia to find out if she was expecting.

Rouge sat , her head rested atop her palmed out hand. Siberia was obviously staying in the bathroom with the test, wanting to see the result as soon as it came. The hedgehog had asked for Rouges help to find out, but , from Rouges point of view, there wasn't really much she could do. The bat guess that Siberia wanted her there for emotional support , and she would be there to give it, just like the hedgehog had helped her. She wonder how her friend was feeling about all this. She loved Draco, everyone could see that much, and loved being a mother, so if she did have another child, Rouge didn't think she would be totally upset. But then there was the fact that Draco was still very young, and very much needed both their attentions to take care of him. Another child, or even Siberia being pregnant, would surely effect his development and almost exclude him from the family...

Rouge shook her head. She was beginning to sound like some sort of therapist! She cleared her head of all the professional style thoughts and instead focussed her attention on wondering how Knuckles was doing, alone with the baby.

But then the hedgehog came back a few minuets later. Rouge, forgetting to keep calm, rose sharply to her feet and looked Siberia directly in the face.

" Well?" Asked Rouge, her anticipation building through in her voice. Siberia sighed and gave a weak smile. Her eyes were downcast at the carpet, her ears dropping slightly. Rouge wasn't sure whether she was upset about not being pregnant, or worried because she was. Siberia looked up into Rouge eyes, holding her gaze for a few seconds.

" Here we go again" she said sarcastically, Rouge caught her meaning and let out a huge grin.

" This is great news!" Exclaimed Rouge, who although not normally excited at the prospect of other peoples children, liked to see that her friend was getting another little baby, as she had a feeling that is what both Siberia and Shadow wanted. Siberia gave a happy sigh and said

" I was just getting used to sleeping again". Rouge grinned and said

" Guess your gonna have to get used to the morning sickness again, and the bump" she said patting Siberia's offending area with the grin still etched firmly in her face. Siberia straightened up and said with a determined look now painted on her face

" Guess I should tell Shadow". Rouge smirked and said

" Yeah, daddy's gonna wanna know he's getting a new arrival". Suddenly , the door burst open and Shadow and Knuckles rushed in, finally arriving back from the chaotix detective agency, where Vector and Seringhetti had been taking care of Seth and Draco, since they didn't want to send the children to an actual nursery. The press would soon find out from someone working at the nursery that one of there guests wasn't ' normal' and following a news broadcast that suggested that there was in fact a crossbreed about to be born, Knuckles and Rouge wanted to be as cautious as possible. Seth and Draco were in their arms as they giggling away. In a rush to get into the door first, the two males tried to squeeze in together, and got stuck. The two shuffled around for a while before eventually bursting in together, falling over on the floor in the process.

" What are you doing Shadow?" said Siberia in a confused voice, her eyebrow raising. Rouge wasn't so gentle in her approach.

" What the hell is wrong with you?" She half shouted, making the echidna scramble to his feet and give a guilty grin. Shadow put Draco down on a chair and said in a almost childish voice

" It was his idea" he said, pointing an accusing finger at Knuckles. Rouge rolled her eyes and said

" What was?". Knuckles raised his hand like some kind of pre-schooler and yelled out

" A race!". Rouge rolled her eyes and stormed up to Knuckles in an angry posture. The echidna even backed away a little in fear. But the bat kept up her rampage and soon Knuckles was backed against a wall. He gulped and looked around for any means of escape. Suddenly, he remembered something Shadow had pointed out earlier and triumphantly held Seth in the air in front of Rouge and yelled happily

" Seth's got his first tooth!". This stopped Rouge in her tracks, or at least the fact that Seth was now a barrier between her and her object of anger. But it didn't take long for her facial expression to change. It quickly morphed to one of joy.

" Seth has his first tooth? Where! I want to see!". Knuckles, grinning, pulled up Seth's top lip, bringing into view the tiny canine that was just pushing it's way through the pink gum. Rouge smiled with pride and ripped her baby from Knuckles arms, showing him with praise even though he didn't understand any of it. Knuckles glanced at Shadow. The black hedgehog was smiling and Knuckles shrugged, grinning too and glancing in Siberia's direction, expecting her to be smiling warmly too, in the light mood she always seemed to be in. However, she looked as if she was a world of her own. Knuckles didn't know she was thinking about how Shadow would react when he heard the news. But after Rouge had finished making a fuss over Seth, she noticed her friends expression and concluded that she needed some time alone with Shadow, the hedgehog obviously needed to know something. She gave Siberia a smile of encouragement and dragged Knuckles out of the door with one arm. The echidna didn't like being forced to go back to angel island so early, as he enjoyed the change of scenery. But he knew better than to challenge his wife's temper and after only a few minuets of grumbling, decided to let Rouge get her own way and excited the house. On their way out, Siberia turned to Shadow and said " How on earth did he tie with you?". Shadow shrugged and pointed to his feet, which for once lacked their jet powered shoes.

" Had to make it fair".

Once outside Knuckles proceeded to complete the usual ritual of making sure the coast was clear before Rouge walked out, carrying Seth. They had to do this to ensure no-one noticed there baby's differences.

It was becoming harder to hide Seth from the prying eyes of the public. People would often recognise at least one of the two grown ups, as they had become recognisable celebrities after saving mobios so many times. So when a livid fan rushed up and saw Seth in there arms, the squealing they made would often alert everyone within the region, all of them curious as to why they had a baby and why it looked so different. Knuckles wished it was as easy as it used to be. When Rouge was pregnant, people would still show interest( who wouldn't show interest if their favourite celebrity was expecting), but it wasn't exactly out of the ordinary. No-one would assume it was Knuckles baby, as little of them knew of the emeralds great power. But now that Seth was out in the real world, everyone could see in full light his strange appearance and people had begun to question it.

" There! There they are!" came an extremely loud and screechy voice from behind them. Knuckles turned his head to see an extremely thin and lanky looking cat rushing up to them. A camera man and speaker operator followed behind, dressed in what was close to rags and huffing in an effort to keep up with the hyperactive looking cat. The lady rushed up to them, before they could even make an attempt to run away, swiped Knuckles hand and began to shake it violently.

" I'm Marisha and im like your biggest ever fan! I even gave up my job to follow you and seek out the truth about the rumours that were flying around that you had a kid!" She almost screamed at him while he felt his hand numb over. She stopped, took an extremely deep breath and continued " I've dedicated my life to getting rid of all these nasty rumours following you, I knew you wouldn't dabble in genetic science just to get a kid, I mean, that is so totally wrong! Even my brothers agreed to help me! Oh, sorry, this is prowler" she gestured to the taller and scruffier of the male cats, who was fiddling with his camera with a brain dead stare. At her achnolegment he simply gave a small nod and went back to his equipment. Marisha pointed to her other brother, a completely black cat who looked as if he had tried to gel his hair with his own spit " And this is Kai, he's been the most supportive, supplying me with all this equipment"

" Steeling it you mean" he said, is voice so slippery and oily that Knuckles swore his tongue would slid out of his mouth. Kai gave a wobbly sneer at his own comment and started picking his teeth with a pick produced from his tattered coat pocket. After the quick introductions, Marisha quickly turned her attention to Knuckles again, who was looking rather shocked out of his skin by the whole event. The cat produced a tatter notepad from a back pocket and flipped it frantically to find a blank page. When one had been found, she verbally pounced on Knuckles and asked in her typical quick voice

" So Mr. Knuckles, do you have any idea where these ridiculous allegation of a kid from you two could have possibly come from?" She said, rolling her eyes with the word ' ridiculous' and fluttering her eye lashes. Knuckles backed away and stared at her in a speechless manner. But it was that moment that she spotted Rouge in the background, trying to hide Seth from her prowling eyes. Her silted pupils focussed on the bachidna nestled snuggle in Rouge arms, and she stopped breathing...

" Er , Let's go Rouge" said Knuckles nervously, as he saw the cats gave from amazement to a look that could almost be described as lust. The bat silently agreered and they started edging away, Rouge getting ready to take to the air.

" OH MY GOD!" Screamed Mirisha, her high pitched voice attracting unwanted attention. As quick as Sonic she twisted round to her brothers, ordering them to start the equipment so this ' historic moment' could be captured for all too see. She snatched the microphone from his small bag and jumped in front of the camera. " This just in. THE RUMOUR IS TRUE! THE RUMOUR IS TRUE! KNUCKLES AND ROUGE HAD A CHILD! QUICK! FILM THEM! FILM THEM!" She squealed in a hyper active frenzy. Her two brothers struggled with the equipment they didn't really know how to use and just managed to get a clip of Rouge flying away, carrying Knuckles as he held Seth. " More as we get it!" she finished, her tone strangely back to normal, or her kind of normal anyway. When the camera had been stopped, she dropped her camera friendly smile and let out a lustful grin.

" Our money crisis is over!" Slivered Kai with slippery joy. Prowler nodded and purred heavily

" I don't have to eat from garbage no more!" He exclaimed in a slow and heavy voice. Marisha rubbed her paws together and said

" At last! I can prove my theory is true!"

AUTHORS NOTES

oh no, the press return with a vengence! is this story better or worse than the prequal? please tell me! and i'd like to take any suggesttions people may have.