Chapter 5: Sick as a Fox
It was back to business as usual in the Thorndike mansion on Monday morning after the big ski trip. Chris was already off to school. Mr. Tanaka was catching up on his usual duties that had been neglected in his absence. Chuck had been in his workshop all morning since breakfast, attempting to defrost and repair the half-frozen and mostly wrecked X-Tornado. Meanwhile, Ella was giving Amy some cooking lessons, and, judging by the delicious smells coming from the kitchen, things were going well. Sonic had returned from his customary morning jog as well, now napping on his favorite spot up on the top of the mansion's roof.
That left Cream and her mother, Vanilla, together in the mansion's living room. The television was off as the older rabbit sat next to a couple balls of yarn, crocheting a simple zigzag patterned blanket. Cream and her pet Chao, Cheese, were busy entertaining themselves with a simple board game on the room's nearby coffee table.
"Chao, Chao!" Cheese cried out triumphantly, flying over and moving his colorful token into the winner's circle on the game board.
"You won again?! No fair, Cheese! How come you always get the cards that let you move farther?" Cream crossed her arms and pouted.
Cheese just gave a proud smile as he did a little victory dance hovering over the Candy Cane Forest.
"Hmph! Well that's it! I'm done playing this game!" Cream got up in a huff and left the table with her hands clenched.
"Chao?" Cheese stopped dancing to watch his partner leave, wondering if he'd done something wrong to make her so angry. He quickly flew up to her and tugged gently on her ear. "Chao? Chao chao?"
"No, I am not playing that game again with you, Cheese," Cream stubbornly refused, still upset by her string of losses.
"What seems to be the matter, dear?" Vanilla finally put down her project for a moment to deal with the growing 'crisis'.
"Cheese keeps beating me at this game, and now I don't want to play anymore! I think he's cheating!" Cream answered with her arms crossed.
"Chao Chao!" Cheese shouted back at Cream, crossing his own arms in anger from her accusation.
"Now, now, you two..." Vanilla sighed. "Cream, I'm certain that Cheese wasn't cheating. Has he ever cheated in a game with you before?"
"Well... No," Cream's stiff stance softened a little. "At least, not that I ever noticed."
"Well then, why would you assume Cheese was cheating now if he's always played fair in the past?" Vanilla led Cream to the next step in her chain of reasoning.
"Because he's always winning! He has to be doing something to keep getting all the good cards!" Cream pleaded her case earnestly.
"Not necessarily, dear. It's called luck for a reason," Vanilla tried to explain. "Sometimes you have good luck and sometimes bad luck. It's all part of the game."
Cream didn't have an immediate reply to that argument. "But... It's not fun when you have bad luck for several games in a row," she finally stated.
"I know, dear. It's not. Perhaps you and Cheese should do something else for a while, like playing outside?" Vanilla suggested with a smile.
"I don't know, mommy... What do you think, Cheese?" Cream quickly asked her partner.
Cheese tapped his chin for a couple seconds to think, then shook his head with a bored sigh.
"Yeah, me too. We've done just about everything there is to do out there," Cream agreed despondently.
"Then what if the two of you were to play with someone you don't usually get to play with?" the clever mother responded.
"But who is that?" Cream quickly asked. "I play with you and Amy all the time. Chris is at school. All the other humans here are all busy. I guess we could ask Mr. Sonic, but he usually doesn't like to be disturbed from his naps," she quickly rattled off the whole list of subjects to choose from for playmates, all of them with reasons they couldn't be asked.
"Aren't you forgetting someone, sweetie?" Vanilla smirked as she took up her needles again to resume working on her project.
"Chao?" Cheese seemed confused, tapping his chin again.
Cream was equally stumped. Let's see, she'd named off her mother, Amy, Chris, Ella, Mr. Tanaka, Chuck, and Sonic... "Oh! Tails!" she exclaimed proudly. "Do you know what he's up to right now, mommy?"
"To be honest, no, dear," Vanilla replied. "I didn't even see him at breakfast, come to think of it. Hmm... Maybe I should check on him," she worried a bit. This wasn't like Tails at all. He was usually an early riser and would be busy helping Chuck with the X-Tornado repairs. Although, she did figure that his injuries from the fight with Eggman might be forcing the fox to take things slow today.
"Oh! We can do that for you, mommy!" Cream's ears perked up slightly as she realized she finally had something interesting to do.
"That's very nice of you to offer, sweetie," Vanilla had already put her project back down when her daughter made the offer. She was just about to stand up and insist that she do it herself anyway, but then the adult Mobian reconsidered. "Yes, why don't you and Cheese go check on Tails for me?" she finally nodded her consent.
"Okay! Come on, Cheese, let's go!" Cream rushed off in excitement, her Chao friend following right behind her.
They hurried out of the living room and into the big front hall of the manor. Here Cream paused at the foot of the stairs to the second floor. So nobody had seen Tails at breakfast this morning? Maybe that meant he was still in bed? It seemed unlikely, but Cream decided to start her search there. She happily skipped up the steps and down the hall to where she knew Sonic and Tails shared a room. Cream had always wondered why, honestly. It's not like Chris's house had a shortage of bedrooms so they were forced to share one. There was more than enough rooms for everyone to have their own. Apparently Sonic and Tails just liked sharing a small room.
When she lightly knocked on the door, it surprisingly swung open a crack. Apparently the last person to come out of the room hadn't pulled it all the way shut till it latched. Cream imagined that was probably Sonic given his natural impatience. Well, if no one was answering and the door was already a bit open...
Cream pushed the door the rest of the way open and stepped into the room quietly. It was dark inside, but she thought she could make out a figure in the second bed. Two white-tipped tails sticking out from the covers on the side closest to her gave her the positive identification she was looking for. Tails really was still asleep? Cream frowned in concern at this unusual behavior as she approached the bed quietly.
Tails seemed restless in his sleep as he stirred under the covers. Was he having a bad dream, Cream wondered? If so, maybe she should wake him up? He'd certainly slept long enough already... "Okay, Cheese. Let's wake Tails up really nicely so he'll want to play with us," Cream softly whispered to her companion.
Cheese nodded and flew over to the other side of the bed, right in front of the sleeping fox's face. He prodded Tails' muzzle once. After no response, he placed both hands on the fox's cheek and shook him a little bit. Still nothing. Frustrated, Cheese inhaled sharply and... "CHAAAAAOOO!"
"WAAAAHH!" Tails screamed in surprise as the loud yell jolted him awake. Fast as lightning, he sat bolt upright in bed. That was a mistake. "Aaah! Ow, ow, ow!" Tails winced in pain as both hands shot up to hold his aching head.
"Oh no! Tails, are you all right?" Cream quickly gasped at seeing the still bandaged fox in pain.
"Ooo... Yeah, I'm fine, Cream. I just got up too quick," Tails responded after a minute when the throbbing in his skull mostly faded. "I guess my head's still hurting from the crash. Wait, what are you two doing waking me up so early?" he now asked in curiosity.
"Early?" Cream giggled along with Cheese. "Tails, it's almost noon! You slept in all morning!"
"What?!" Tails' eyes went wide in shock. He couldn't believe what she was telling him. He never slept in this late! "Cream, are you sure?" he asked before covering his mouth to cough.
"Of course I am, silly! Chris left for school hours ago after we all had breakfast, and Cheese and I have been playing together all morning since then," Cream reported with a satisfied grin.
"Really? Wow, I just can't believe it," Tails muttered. "I guess my body just needed some extra rest to heal then," he reasoned as he tried to stretch his arms, but had to quickly snap one back to his face to cover another couple coughs. He realized now that he still felt really achy all over. Tails expected to feel a lot better than this after such a long rest.
"So, umm... Tails?" Cream folded her hands in front of her and gave her best puppy dog eyes. "Cheese and I were wondering... Would you please come play with us? Pretty please?"
Tails chuckled at the cute request. How could anyone say no to that? "Sure, Cream. Just give me a moment to..." Tails broke off as he started coughing again, this time finally realizing something wasn't right.
Cream and Cheese quickly realized the same thing as they watched. "Tails? Are you sure you're feeling all right?" Cream showed clear concern in her voice.
"Don't worry, Cream. I feel fi-i-aa-aaaAAHHH-CHOOO!" Tails sneezed loudly, barely managing to turn his head away as Cheese flew for cover behind Cream.
"Chao! Chao Chao, Chao!" Cheese exclaimed in fright as the Chao peeked out from behind Cream's ears.
"Sorry, Cheese," Tails sniffled, wiping his nose on the back of his gloved hand as the only thing currently handy.
"Tails, maybe you shouldn't play with us right now. I think you might be getting sick," Cream finally stated the obvious.
"Sick? Me?" Tails responded in denial. "Cream, I don't think I've ever been sick a day of my life since I was really little. So why would I be...?" but, again, Tails had his words cut off by his own coughing.
"Well, there is one thing that my mommy does to see if I'm really sick or not," Cream thought out loud. A bit nervously, she raised her hand up towards Tails' head.
"Cream? What are you...?"
"Sshh, relax, Tails. I'm just checking your forehead, okay? My mommy does this to me when I'm sick to see if I'm running a fever," Cream explained what she was trying to do.
Tails decided not to complain, sniffling his nose as he let the back of her hand touch his forehead. It only took a moment for Cream to notice how burning hot it was, pulling her hand away quickly with a worried expression. "Oh no, Cheese! It's really hot! I... I need to go get mommy!" Cream quickly decided. Tails had no mother to care for him right now, but she firmly decided that he needed one.
"Wait, Cream! There's no need to concern Mrs. Vanilla or anyone else! I'll be fine in just a m-AAAAH-CHOO!" Tails tried to stop the young bunny and Chao from spreading the news, but he was already too late. Even as he stretched his hand out to stop them, the two had already dashed out of the room and back down the stairs to fetch her mother.
The small rabbit skidded around the corner as she came racing off the bottom of the staircase, Cheese in hot pursuit with his wings beating rapidly to keep up. "Mooooommy! Mommy!" Cream shouted as she ran to the living room where she'd last seen her mother.
Alarmed by the commotion, Mrs. Vanilla quickly hurried out into the hall to intercept her shouting daughter. "Cream, dear! What's the matter?" she asked in great concern as both Cream and Cheese barely came to a stop before they collided with the older rabbit.
"It's... It's Tails!" Cream panted a bit, an extremely worried expression in her eyes. "I went to check on him like you asked, and he was coughing and sneezing and his forehead felt really hot! I think Tails is sick!" she reported frantically.
"Calm down, dear," Mrs. Vanilla put a hand on her daughter's shoulder as she leaned down closer. "This is troubling news, yes, but not a life or death emergency. Everyone gets sick sometimes. Although, come to think of it, I honestly never heard of Tails feeling unwell before."
"But mommy..." Cream looked up at her mother with big, caring eyes. "Whenever I'm sick, you always take care of me until I feel better. Who's going to do that for Tails?" the bunny shared her real concern.
Vanilla smiled down at her kind-hearted child. "I will, sweetie. Like you said, if Tails is sick, he's going to need someone to care for him. And you can help me if Tails needs you too, right?"
"Of course! Tails and I are friends!" Cream nodded with a smile.
"Chao, Chaooo!" Cheese also agreed with a similar expression.
"Good," Vanilla returned the radiant smiles with her own for a moment. "Now, please go tell the others what's going on, but calmly," she commanded gently as she stood back up.
"Okay, mom! Come on, Cheese!" Cream obeyed immediately, dashing off towards the kitchen where she knew Ella and Amy would still be.
Vanilla watched her daughter run off with a proud smile. She could only hope Cream's caring, innocent heart would remain this way forever. It reassured her that she was being raised correctly when Vanilla had these moments with her daughter. She'd often wondered if the risk of letting Cream be around Sonic, Amy and the others was borderline reckless endangerment from all the times her daughter ended up in harm's way with them. It was hard as a mother to accept that level of constant peril, but she couldn't hardly argue against it when Cream was flourishing like she was. Oh, but thinking about being a caring mother... Vanilla remembered that a certain sick fox was in need of her now, turning to ascend the stairs and make her way down the hall.
She was surprised to find the door to Sonic and Tails' shared room standing open as she approached. Undoubtedly Cream and Cheese had raced off to come find her in such a hurry that they left it open. Oh well, that just meant she wouldn't have to knock first as Vanilla turned to enter the room.
"Tails, deary? How are you feel...?" her words were cut off as her nose picked up a strong, awful odor coming from inside the room. It didn't take Vanilla long to locate the source, either. Tails was sitting up in bed with one hand on his stomach and the other on the desk he used for a nightstand to steady himself. On the sheets of the bed and the carpeted floor beside it, a putrid liquid slurry was slowly soaking into the different fabrics. Vanilla couldn't help but cover her mouth and nose for a moment against the oppressive stench.
"Ooooghh... Mrs. Vanilla, I'm... so sorry!" Tails looked about ready to burst into tears at what he'd done. "After Cream left, I started to feel sick to my stomach. So I sat up to try and keep it down, but then it just...!"
"Shhh, it's okay, dear," Vanilla quickly consoled the distraught fox. "It was just an accident. These things happen. Let's just get you out of that soiled bed and cleaned up," she ignored her own disgust and approached the bedside boldly to extend a hand towards Tails.
"I'm still sorry, Mrs. Vanilla. This is so gross," the fox complained as he took her hand and slowly got up from his bed, coughing several times as the mother rabbit gently guided him away from the mess.
"It's all right, Tails," the motherly rabbit pretended not to even notice the stench as she brought him in close to herself. "You couldn't have known it would happen so fast. It's not your fault. Ella will clean up the mess while we find you somewhere else to rest," she comforted him.
As if on cue, there was an exclamation as Ella arrived at the door. "Oh my! Such a mess!" the Hispanic maid fretted as she hurried in to examine the damage done to the sheets and the carpet. "Oh dear! Sweet little Cream came in to tell me and Amy that you weren't feeling well, Tails, but I never imagined that I would find this!"
"Sorry, Ella," Tails sniffled his nose as Vanilla used a handkerchief to wipe off the few small spots of vomit on his muzzle and chest.
"No, no, dear! Don't be upset like your stomach! Messes like this are the reason I keep my job," Ella turned to Tails with a proud expression. "Besides, Mr. Thorndike asked me if I would try out a new carpet cleaner his company just designed, and this is the perfect mess to give it a real workout! Mrs. Vanilla, if you please, could you take Tails up to Chris's room to rest?"
"Chris's room?" Tails sounded puzzled at the choice. "But, Ella, aren't there other guest bedrooms in the house that aren't even being used right now?"
"Of course there are, dear!" Ella replied without missing a beat, starting to gather up the soiled sheets. "But Chris's room is much nicer. There's more room, and a view from the balcony to let you get a little sunshine or a fresh breeze, plus a television to watch."
"And Chris won't be using it anytime soon because he's away at school right now," Mrs. Vanilla also added as she agreed with Ella's decision.
"Exactly! By the time he comes home, I'll have this room so clean that Sonic might think we were moving him out!" Ella laughed despite the odious task she was performing at the same time.
"Oh, I get it. I'm just moving to Chris's room long enough to clean this one again," Tails understood. "I guess that sounds okay... But what if I get sick again in Chris's bed, too?" he quickly worried.
"Don't worry, sweetie! I'll bring you a new trash can to sit by the bed," Ella again had an immediate solution for the problem. "If you feel like it's going to happen again, you can just make sure that it all goes in there instead of all over the bed or the floor. Now please get going before everything stains!" Ella commanded, since she needed the two Mobians out of the room so she could work freely.
"Come along, Tails," Mrs. Vanilla gave him a comforting smile as she took his hand and escorted the coughing fox out of the room and back down to the other end of the upstairs hallway.
A few hours later, and Tails was laying in Chris's nice, large bed, holding up a TV remote in one hand as he idly flicked through channel after channel of boring, uninteresting shows. Soap opera... soap opera... shopping channel... news channel that repeats the same stories every hour... the ten millionth prescription drug commercial he'd seen today... Honestly, did the TV broadcast companies just assume that anyone watching television in the early afternoon instead of being at work or at school probably didn't have anything better to do with their life and likely had some kind of condition that kept them at home in the first place? Tails groaned as he gave up and just left it on a channel showing some sort of nature documentary with a really monotonous narrator that made the somewhat interesting visuals on the screen seem as boring as reading a textbook. Maybe if he was lucky the voice would lull him to sleep eventually.
Thankfully, there was a knock on the door to distract him. "Come in!" Tails had to fight to get his voice loud enough for the person on the other side of the door to hear. The sore throat was a new symptom that he'd noticed in the last couple of hours, making it painful to talk or swallow, as if his fever and aches weren't enough torture already. At least his stomach had calmed down for now, Tails thought.
At his invitation, the door swung open to reveal an interesting sight; Sonic carrying a large tray of food and a drink for Tails. "Heya, bro! How ya feelin'?" Sonic asked with a smirk, knowing that Tails would be surprised to find the blue hedgehog being the one to deliver him a meal.
"Sonic?!" Tails was indeed astonished as he sat up, expecting Mrs. Vanilla or Ella or just about anyone else to be the one coming in with the care package. Not that Tails doubted that the blue hedgehog cared enough to do something nice for him, but this kind of servitude just wasn't Sonic's usual style.
"Surprised to see me?" Sonic chuckled. "I figured I gotta take care of my little bro somehow, right? You've had it pretty rough lately with that crash and now being sick on top of it all."
"Ugh, tell me about it," Tails groaned as he laid back in bed. "You could fry an egg on my forehead right now, Sonic. And my body feels like one of Eggman's robots used me for target practice. Is it always this terrible when someone feels sick?"
"Yeah, pretty much," Sonic laughed a bit again. "Not that I have a lot of experience, either, to tell you the truth. But, hey, at least you get to watch as much TV as you want."
"No thanks," Tails just moaned again. "I'd much rather be working on fixing up the X-Tornado, but Chuck won't let me help! He says I just need to rest. But I've tried that, and I always feel so terrible that I just can't get to sleep! Nothing on the TV is any good to watch right now, either! So I'm just laying here feeling horrible with nothing to do to distract me! And even if I had something to do, I'd probably feel too lousy to actually do it!"
Sonic took a sympathetic look at his closest buddy. He'd never seen Tails this miserable and grouchy before. Normally he could always count on his little bro to have an optimistic smile on his face, but not right now. Sonic almost wondered if this was how he himself might act if someone forced him to stay in bed for a whole day. "Cheer up, bud. Ella says this soup she made should start to make ya feel better in no time!" Sonic tried his best to sound reassuring.
"I guess it has been a while since I ate anything," Tails muttered as he accepted the tray and placed it on his lap. Tails wondered, when was the last time he actually ate? He slept through breakfast this morning, and yesterday he'd only eaten a small snack on the ride home from the ski resort because he was too injured and tired to feel like eating his dinner following the plane crash. The more he thought about it, the more Tails realized he was actually starving.
He eagerly took the lid off the round tray and was greeted by a soothing aroma from the still steaming soup underneath. "Mmmm! Chicken noodle!" Tails actually grinned for the first time all day as he smelled the almost therapeutic scent. He wasted no time grabbing a spoonful of the soup and putting it in his mouth. Ooooh yes! It was just as delicious as it smelled! The chicken bits and noodles were soft enough to hardly require any chewing, and the warm broth felt great on his throat as Tails swallowed the first bite.
"Delicious! Tell Ella thanks a million, Sonic!" Tails smiled broadly as he went for another bite. "Finally, something about being sick that's not aaa-AAAAH-CHOOO!" the fox unexpectedly let out a violent sneeze. During the sneeze, he accidentally knocked over the tray in his lap, his wonderful soup and drink immediately spilling out onto the floor beside Chris's bed.
"NO! No no no!" Tails shouted as he realized his mistake, but it was too late. The contents of the bowl were scattered all over the carpet now with the bowl itself upside down near the bedside. "Oh, COME ON! How can this day get any worse?!" Tails growled in frustration, his sudden activity causing him to go into a short coughing fit.
"Hey, cool down, bro," Sonic offered a sympathetic hand on the coughing fox's shoulder to try and calm him. "Come on, you're giving an all new meaning to being 'hot headed' right now."
Tails rolled his eyes as his coughing finally subsided. "This isn't a time for jokes, Sonic," he replied angrily.
"Sure it is, bud," Sonic flashed his best grin. "Look, at least you didn't get any on you or the bed, right? So I'll just step right back downstairs and tell Ella what happened, and she'll fix you up a new bowl of soup and clean this mess in no time."
"Another mess?" a new voice made both Sonic and Tails turn towards the door where Vanilla was just walking in. "Oh dear, were you sick to your stomach again, Tails? I'm sorry if I'm interrupting, but I heard Tails shout and didn't know someone was in here with him."
"It's all right, Mrs. Vanilla," Tails looked a bit sheepish now. He hadn't intended for his outburst of annoyance to be overheard by anyone other than Sonic, much less cause any more concern. "I just spilled my soup is all."
"Oh you poor dear... Did it burn you?" Vanilla hurried over to Tails' bedside to check on him.
"No, no! Like Sonic was just saying, I'm lucky that it all missed me," Tails quickly put her fears to rest.
But Vanilla's concern wasn't just for the soup as she placed a hand on the fox's forehead gingerly. "Oh my! Are you sure, Tails? Because if this isn't because of a burn, then it can only mean your fever is getting worse," the mother replied. It was fairly obvious to her without even a thermometer that Tails was hotter than this morning, and his damp, sweaty fur now all but proved it.
"Well, now that you mention it, Mrs. Vanilla, I do feel a bit more lousy than earlier," Tails admitted with a frown.
"Not to mention more irritable," Sonic pointed out in a teasing manner, earning a sharp glare from Tails. But before Tails could come back with any sort of comment, Chuck hurried into the room.
"Hey, Tails! I just wanted to stop by and see how you were do..." Chuck paused as he saw the tray and all its contents spilled out on the floor. "Oh, doing a bit of redecorating while you're here?" he chuckled at Tails.
"That's not funny, Chuck!" Tails shouted as he crossed his arms angrily.
This made the older man do a double take in shock. Had Tails just shouted at him? Tails? Angry? "Whoa there! Sorry, Tails, I didn't mean anything by it!" Chuck quickly apologized even though Tails' shouting clearly shook him up a bit.
"Don't take it too personal, Chuck," Sonic explained with a shrug. "He's just not feeling up to bein' too polite right now."
Tails balled his fists and growled, about to have another outburst at the way Sonic decided to word his explanation, but he was thankfully interrupted by Mrs. Vanilla gently pushing him back down into a reclining position.
"You need to rest now, Tails," Vanilla spoke firmly, but nicely. As upset as Tails might have felt towards either Chuck or Sonic at the moment, he couldn't possibly bring himself to project that anger on the kind-hearted mother, so the fox reluctantly laid down obediently. "I will go get you a nice, cool towel for your head," she offered, quickly hurrying from the room once the fox was tucked back in.
"Gee, Tails, you really do look miserable," Chuck mentioned as Vanilla left on her quick errand. Tails was coughing as he rolled and tossed under the covers, trying to find any position that felt reasonably comfy. From the looks of things, that wasn't working out for him very well, either.
"Thanks for noticing," Tails simply groaned back, a bit of snarkiness in his voice as he closed his eyes and tried to rest as best he could.
This got a short chuckle from both Sonic and Chuck before the elderly man remembered the other reason he'd come. "Well, at least I have good news for you, Tails. The doctors with the government that I've been in contact with all seem to agree that your Mobian physiology has enough similarities to humans that our pharmaceutical drugs should also be reasonably effective for your kind as well."
"Wait, Tails' what is similar to who-the-what?" Sonic scratched his head in confusion.
"He means that I should be able to take human medicine safely, Sonic," Tails interpreted.
"Right, and given that the most likely diagnosis of your condition, Tails, is still probably some minor infection or cold of some sort, they went ahead and authorized a broad spectrum prescription antibiotic," Chuck continued, showing a piece of paper he was holding.
"Wait, you just said Tails had something minor, but that other stuff sounds pretty bad!" Sonic worried.
"No, Sonic. He's just talking about the medicine," Tails groaned again. Normally he didn't mind being smarter than his adopted older brother, but right now he just didn't feel like explaining everything like he normally did. "They aren't sure what to give me because we're different than humans, so they wanted to try something common that covers a lot of things first," Tails went ahead and continued his explanation anyway. It wasn't like he had anything better to do other than just laying there in bed feeling like an egg on a frying pan.
"Well why didn't ya just say that, Chuck?" Sonic tapped his foot at the older man, a bit peeved that he was purposefully choosing vocabulary that he knew Sonic might not understand.
"Huh? Well, because I was mostly talking to Tails, not... Oh never mind," Chuck groaned, handing the paper over to Sonic. "Look, Sonic. Just take this prescription downtown to the drugstore at this address on the top, and they should give you some medicine that will hopefully get Tails feeling better," Chuck gave out the simple, easy to follow instructions.
"Now that's more my speed!" Sonic smirked with a big thumbs up. "Don't worry, bud. I'll be back with that medicine before you can even sneeze!"
"Thanks, Son..." Tails started to croak out a reply, but it was already too late as a blue streak sped out of the room, onto the balcony, leapt off onto the Thorndike's lawn and kept going like an arrow towards the city.
"Don't worry, Tails. We'll get you feeling better in no time," Chuck smiled as he patted Tails' hand. "You rest now. I've got to get back to work on the X-Tornado."
"Ugh... I really wish I felt up to helping you, Chuck," Tails grumbled miserably.
"I know, Tails. I know. But right now the best thing for you is to rest, okay?" Chuck gave a sympathetic grin.
"Yeah... okay," Tails mumbled, adjusting himself under the covers again to try and get into a position so he could sleep.
About that time when Chuck had just left the room, passing Mrs. Vanilla as she was returning with the cold towel, the television that Tails had forgotten about leaving on suddenly sounded with a loud alert tone. Intrigued, Tails immediately rolled back over to watch whatever sort of urgent news was happening.
"This is Scarlet Garcia reporting for Station Square's Live Action News. Citizens are being urged to immediately evacuate the downtown area of the city due to another giant robot attack led by the nefarious Dr. Eggman. As usual, the unprovoked attack seems to be an attempt by Dr. Eggman to take over the government, whose forces are proving ineffective yet again in combating the threat. There are no eyewitness reports of spotting famed hero Sonic the Hedgehog at this time. Stay tuned as we keep you up to date on developments as they occur in this latest crisis..."
Tails shut the TV off as he tossed away the bedsheets and quickly sat up at the edge of the bed. He was already trying to put his trademark red and white sneakers on when Vanilla caught what the fox was doing.
"Tails, deary, you're not thinking about going to fight Eggman like this, are you?" she worried.
"I have to Mrs. Vanilla! The last time Eggman attacked me and Sonic, he would have gotten frozen solid without my help!" Tails recalled.
"But, you're in no condition to fight! And I don't know if Chuck has had enough time yet to get the X-Tornado fully repaired," Vanilla tried to gently talk Tails out of his plan.
"I'm sure it's fixed up enough to fly by now. I just have to... whoa..." Tails' hand shot out to grab Vanilla's dress as he suddenly felt very dizzy after standing up.
Vanilla was now even more alarmed as Tails nearly fell over, clutching her long skirt as support to keep himself upright. That did it. She couldn't allow Tails' fears for Sonic's safety get in the way of the fox's own needs at the moment. "Enough, Tails! You can't even stand up on your own right now, dear. Sonic will just have to do without you this time," Vanilla put her foot down as she scooped up the protesting fox in her surprisingly strong arms.
"No! Mrs. Vanilla, let me go! I have to...!" Tails shouted as he tried to squirm out of her iron grip.
"The only thing you have to do right now is rest, Tails," She refused to listen to any of his pleas, placing the upset kit back in the bed despite his protests.
"But, Mrs. Va...!"
"No buts, young man!" Vanilla finally gave the struggling fox a glare that froze him instantly. "Tails, you are too sick to be of any help to Sonic this time. He has fought Eggman many times without you and won, hasn't he?" she tried reasoning with the distraught patient.
"Well, yeah, sure, lots of times, actually," Tails was forced to admit reluctantly. "But what if this time he gets into trouble again and needs me to...?"
"You're just going to have to have faith in Sonic, Tails," Vanilla smiled in understanding. "I know you worry about him just like he worries about you, but he'll be fine. He's not going to let Eggman slow him down because he knows he has to get your medicine back to you."
"But...!"
All Vanilla had to do to hush Tails' final protest was to give him a stern sideways glance out the corner of her eye, and, with that, all further discussion was closed. She reached over to grab the remote, turning the television back on so the two of them could watch the inevitable clash between Sonic and Dr. Eggman. Tails slumped back onto his pillows with a groan, coughing again as Vanilla finally placed the cool, wet rag on his forehead. Oh well, at the very least, Tails thought, now there was something decent on TV to watch.
"Remind me why I'm hanging around this place again, girl?" the bored agent spoke into an earpiece in a hushed tone, tucked into the shadows underneath the balcony Sonic had just leapt from moments earlier.
"Because as soon as the President's aids learned that a Mobian had gotten sick in our world, everyone was afraid of some sort of outbreak or epidemic that could be unlike anything we've ever seen before," Topaz's voice could be heard through the communicator.
"Oh yeah, a reeeeal doozy, this one. The whole world might be sick in bed for a day," Rouge rolled her eyes at the typical overreaction of these silly humans. "Honestly, as a Mobian myself, don't I have the most risk of catching little foxy's cold than anyone else in G.U.N.?"
"Not if you stay a good distance away and just observe like you were ordered to do," Topaz came back with an annoyed tone. "We really shouldn't even be using this channel to just talk, you know. Regulations state that..."
"Ah, regulations, regulations... Always by the book with you," Rouge smirked. She knew Topaz couldn't actually see anything she was doing right now from inside the inconspicuous parked van a block away, but the smile felt natural regardless. She stretched her wings and yawned, finally deciding that this was enough boredom for one day. "Well how's this for your precious regulations, sweetheart? I'm out," Rouge reported as she allowed herself to drop from the balcony and take off in an effortless glide away from the mansion.
"What?! Rouge, you can't just choose to leave whenever you want to! This is an important mission!" Topaz's voice screamed back over the earpiece in shock.
"Forget it, girl. I'm through playing babysitter and waiting around to report back every time that fox blows his nose," Rouge refused to listen to her partner as she continued flying. "If the President has a real job for me, then you know how to find me. Usual time, usual place."
"Rouge, this is serious! This is dereliction of duty! Get back there right now and...!"
"Sorry, you're breaking up," Rouge chimed in with a singsong voice. Without even a hint of static, she just casually reached up to her ear and turned off the device with a single flick of her finger. "Ah, much better. It's so nice to get off work early for a change," she spoke to herself while sporting a Cheshire grin. "Maybe with my extra time I'll head back to the city and see if I'm not too late to catch the show." Watching Sonic trash one of Eggman's robots was always great entertainment, after all, so that's what she decided to do.
