Chapter 2.

Be Alright.

"You stay here with Tails for the night. We'll go back to Cody's place."

Amy hugged Sonic as she said those words. Sonic returned the hug. Currently, the blue hedgehog was back in the waiting area. He had told her, Knuckles, and Sticks about Tails' situation. They said they understood. They really hoped that their young friend would survive through the night. Sonic gave Knuckles and Sticks each a hug and told them that he would let them know if anything changed with Tails' condition. As the three of them, plus Chad left, Sonic saw that Amy had tears in her eyes. Sonic walked over to her and gave her another hug.

"You tell him… that if he doesn't pull through… I'll make him…" Amy cried.

Sonic weakly smiled. "Sure."

Amy soon let him go. As she turned around and joined her friends, she turned her head and glanced at Sonic. Both hedgehogs waved at each other.

"He'll be fine Ames."

Sonic turned around and picked up the blanket and pillow that Chad had provided him. He walked out of the waiting area and headed for Tails' room. As soon as he walked in, he felt a little overwhelming peace; like as in everything was going to be alright. He placed what he had on the couch that was installed in the room, then he placed himself in the chair that was next to the medical bed. Sonic immediately lowered his head down on the pillow next to Tails' and silently wept bitterly. The hedgehog could hear the fox's breathing, it was now calm and shallow. Every once in a while, the kid would inhale sharply as if he was struggling to stay alive, but then, his breathing would go back to being calm and shallow. Sonic placed a hand on the fox's forehead and rubbed it. The hedgehog watched as Tails' chest rose and fell with each breath underneath the blanket. Sonic finally stopped crying. He gently lifted Tails' head off the pillow and fluffed the pillow so that he would feel comfortable. Then Sonic wrapped up something around the fox's forehead. It was none other than the kid's goggles. Then Sonic gently lowered Tails' head down on the pillow.

"Get well buddy." Sonic whispered, then he placed a brotherly kiss on the boy's cheek.

Sonic sat next to his friend for the next thirty minutes or so before heading off to sleep on the couch. As he got settled in, Sonic suddenly heard Tails moan a little. Then it stopped. The hedgehog got off the couch and placed himself back in the chair. He placed a hand on Tails' hand. Sonic thought that Tails said something, he began squeezing the kid's hand.

"You're okay bud, I'm right here. I'm not leaving you. It's okay."

Suddenly, Sonic felt his hand being squeezed. The hedgehog looked down, only to see that one of the young fox's eyes were barely open. Sonic immediately was overjoyed to see that his friend was, well, kind of awake. But if the fox cub had at least, one eye open, this sure was a good sign that the young fox was doing everything he could to stay alive.

"Tails. It's okay. I'm right here." Sonic reassured the fox.

The kid slightly rolled his head on the pillow to the right and saw that Sonic was looking right at him. Almost immediately, Tails opened the other eye and weakly smiled.

"... S-Sonic?" Tails gasped.

Sonic immediately placed his forehead against Tails' and nuzzled it softly. The kid only chuckled weakly.

"...what… happened..?" Tails whispered, his voice barely audible.

Sonic immediately sat back up in the chair and explained to Tails everything that had took place and what had became of him. Tails weakly smiled again. Sonic took this as a sign that Tails understood what had happened before.

"...t-that… would… explain… w-why.. m-m-my… c-chest.. h-h-hurts…" Tails whispered.

Sonic caressed the kid's face.

"You're gonna just be alright, you hear me buddy? You have no permission to die on me."

Tails weakly smiled a third time.

"W-where's Amy… Knuckles… and S-Sticks?"

Sonic only smiled. "It's okay, they're back at your cousin's place."

Tails suddenly flattened one of his ears and coughed a little, then he slowly straightened his head on the pillow and closed his eyes. He grabbed one of Sonic's hands and squeezed it tight.

"...d-don't… leave me.."

Sonic immediately squeezed the kid's hand. "I'll be back in a few seconds, I'm just gonna get the doctor."

The hedgehog felt the fox slowly lossen his grip on his hand. Sonic watched as Tails let his hand fall to the bed. The hedgehog then got out of his chair and headed for the doorway. As soon as he was out of the room, Sonic saw a nurse and flagged her down. She came running to him. He immediately smiled when he realized that the nurse was Kim.

"You need something?" Kim asked.

"Yeah, it's my friend. He's sorta awake, he talked with me a little."

Kim nodded her head and told him that she would get Doctor Ram. A minute later, Sonic saw her and the doctor walk in the room. Sonic wanted to go in, but Kim stopped him.

"Sorry, but as part of hospital procedure, we ask that our visitors stay out of the patient's room while the doctor's checking up on them."

Sonic only nodded his head in understanding what she meant. When Doctor Ram got done checking up on Tails' health, he came out and looked at the hedgehog.

"Your friend is doing a little well, but he's not out of the woods yet. He's got a 101.9 degree fever, but despite that, I think he will definitely survive. I just wanted to let you know."

Sonic only nodded his head again. As as the doctor and Kim got done talking with him, he returned to the room and closed the door behind him. The first thing he did was sit back in the chair and take a hold of Tails' hand. Tails' eyes were closed, his bangs still an unkempt mess. Tiny white beads formed at one end of the kid's mouth. Sonic placed a hand on the fox's face, it definitely felt warm. Sonic then noticed that Tails' goggles were replaced with a wet washcloth, to help contain his fever. Sonic felt the washcloth, it was extremely cold. Now Sonic understood why Tails had his tongue sticking out his mouth. Then Sonic noticed that Tails' left arm was bandaged up all the way from his shoulder down to where his elbow was. Sonic immediately laid his head next to Tails' and closed his eyes. Pretty soon, both hedgehog and fox were asleep.

The next morning…

Amy woke up to the sun shining through the curtains that were installed in the guest room that she was sleeping in. The first thing that came to her mind was Tails. She immediately remembered what had taken place last night. She remembered him not responding when they, or more like, Knuckles found him. Amy remembered coddling the injured fox in her arms. She remembered rocking him back and forth in her lap. She remembered the way Tails' breathing was, it sounded erratic. She remembered him moaning. But most important of all, Amy remembered the peaceful, calm look that Tails had on his face. It was like, he almost had a smile on his face. Amy found herself in tears when she came out of her thoughts. She really hoped that the young fox had made it through the night. Amy quietly leapt off the bed and grabbed her clothes. She quickly ran out of the room and headed for the bathroom downstairs. As soon as she was down the stairs, she could hear someone talking in the dining room area. She figured it was Knuckles and Tauren talking with each other about motorcycles once again. Ever since they had came to Acadia Island over a year ago when Tails found out he still had family, Knuckles had been obsessed with motorcycles. And it didn't help with the fact that both Cody and Tauren owned some, especially Tauren. The wolf had a bunch of them stored away in an underground garage. By the time she came back to reality, Amy had bumped into someone. She looked up and immediately blushed, the hedgehog wasn't expecting it to be Cody that she had bumped into.

"Eh… so sorry about that." Amy said nervously.

Cody only smiled. "Nah, it's alright."

Amy chuckled nervously as she headed for the bathroom when she noticed the black colored fox dressed up in a fancy blue colored uniform.

"You like… eh, really nice in that uniform."

Cody lost the smile on his face. "Well, don't get used to it. This is something I wear when I have meetings with the GC."

Amy cocked her head. "GC?"

Cody cleared his throat. "Galen Creed."

"Oh, okay. You got me there."

Amy watched as Cody headed out the door. She wondered why he was in a cranky mood. As soon as she got done getting dressed in the bathroom, Amy immediately went to the kitchen where Fara and Sticks were currently helping each other fix breakfast. Amy didn't expect Sticks to be awake by now, but that's what she got for sleeping in a little late. Amy immediately helped Fara when the hedgehog saw her about fall to the floor.

"You okay there Fara?" Amy asked.

"Yeah I'm good, my brother's kitchen floor is so slick," she answered Amy.

"Not being nosy here, but speaking of your brother, what's the deal with him?" Amy asked Fara.

Fara immediately eyed her. "You mean with his snarky attitude? I have no clue why he's that way this morning, but I think it's gotta do something with what went down last night. I asked him what happened, but he didn't tell me."

Sticks cleared her throat. "Maybe, it's got to do with him, Khol and Chrome. Maybe the bounty hunter got executed for what he did to-"

The badger stopped herself as she thought about her fox friend. Yeah, both her and Tails have had disagreed with each other about certain things plenty of times, but in the end, she remembered that they would always make amends with each other. And that's what she loved about him. Tails was a compassionate kid with a loving heart, and she should of respected that. The badger wiped a tear away from one eye when she thought about Tails when they had found him last night. Sticks immediately felt Amy place a hand on her shoulder.

"Why him? It's not fair. He's just a kid with a loving heart and a kid full of compassion, even towards his enemies. I swear if he dies, I'll never be the same." Sticks wailed.

Amy placed both arms around her best friend and hugged her tightly.

"First of all; Tails won't die. And second of all; we don't know why he ended up the way he did, but there's has to be a purpose as if to why it happened to him in the first place."

By the time they both got done comforting each other, Fara was in tears. Amy and Sticks saw her in her condition.

"You okay?" Amy asked.

Fara looked up at her. "Yeah I'm fine. It's just the onions."

Amy just nodded her head, but she knew the real reason why Fara was crying. And she was crying about Tails, but Amy wasn't going to judge her for that. The hedgehog understood the pain Fara was going through. Just as Amy was going to leave the kitchen, Esmer walked right on in, still dressed in his nightgown.

"I got a call from Doctor Ram's nurse, Kim. And she said that visiting hours are on, and that we could go if we wanted to. She told me that Miles is now responsive, and that he's gonna be alright, he woke up earlier this morning and talked with Sonic some, but there's a catch."

"And what's the catch Es?" Fara asked.

Esmer took a drink of water, then spoke.

"The catch is that the kid is still extremely tired and exhausted."

Amy and Sticks immediately rejoiced from the inside, but from the outside, both were silently crying while they were hugging each other. They let go of each other and ran out of the kitchen to let Knuckles know about the news that Tails was going to be alright.

An hour later…

Knuckles, Amy, and Sticks were headed to the hospital to see Sonic and Tails, and with them were Fara and Chad. Once they got there, they saw Sonic waiting for them in the waiting area. He immediately got up from where he was sitting and greeted them. Soon enough, Kim walked into the waiting area and told them that it was okay to visit Tails. The crew followed the nurse until she reached the hospital room that the young fox was in. When they walked in, Sonic told them not to be too loud, because Tails was resting. The hedgehog immediately sat down in the chair and whispered to his friend that the rest of the gang, plus Fara and Chad were here. Amy looked at Tails. The fox's eyes were closed, his chest rose and fell with each calm, shallow breath. She noticed that Tails' left arm was bandaged up. Suddenly, the fox moaned softly, then his eyes flickered. Tails was finally able to barely open them, then he smiled as he ahead at the ceiling.

"...Knux?... Amy?... Sticks?"

Amy, Sticks, and Fara were overjoyed to be seeing and hearing Tails. Fara softly walked over to the bedside and lowered her head until her forehead touched Tails' forehead, then she nuzzled it as she took a hold of Tails' left hand.

Tails smiled. "Fara…?"

Fara was in tears as she tried to contain herself from sobbing out loud.

"It's okay Miles," she said, using Tails' real name.

Tails weakly smiled. "Is… Chad… here?"

Chad immediately cleared his throat. "Yup, it's me, here."

Tails smiled a little bigger. Then he slowly closed his eyes as he managed to barely set himself up in the bed, then the fox's head hit the pillow as he reopened his eyes.

".. what… happened?... Why am… I… here?"

Amy told him everything that had happened to him and why he was here. With each sentence, Tails seemed to stir a little bit more. The kid then closed his eyes and smiled weakly. Tiny white beads formed at one end of Tails' mouth. Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

"Did anyone ever tell you Tails that you look cute wearing your goggles on your forehead while laying in bed?" Fara asked.

Tails barely lifted his eyelids and smiled. "Yeah, I know."

Then Amy, Knuckles and Sticks saw that the fox was dressed in a navy blue colored hospital gown. Tails suddenly squeezed Fara's hand tightly, closing his sky-blue eyes in the process.

"You okay there Tails?" Sonic asked, immediately concerned about Tails' health.

Tails didn't respond.

"Tails?"

Still, the fox didn't respond.

"Tails, you're beginning to scare us." Amy said.

Tails suddenly smiled. "Love you guys."

Then the fox lossened his grip on Fara's hand as slipped away into dreamland. They all watched as Tails' hand fell to the bed and across his stomach area. The young fox's head sunk into the pillow a little. His head was straightened out, and Tails' tongue was barely sticking out his mouth again, a sign that the fox was panting. They all watched as the little fox's chest rose and fell with each calm, shallow breath, a sure sign that he was recovering from his injury.

Sorry if this chapter took forever, I was just trying to think of ways to officially end it, of which I found the ending for it as you can see it. If you like this chapter, let me know what you liked about it in your review. Thanks again. You all are my anchoring support! God bless!

JalcoFox.