Chapter 4.

Homesick.

Two days later…

Tails had been out of it again since he last talked with Amy two days ago. And ever since then, the fox had been resting; and as a result, the kid was actually recovering quite well… physically, that is. Emotionally… not quite as well. Ever since he had been abducted and gravely wounded, Tails had been silently putting all the blame on himself. Sure, he was glad that Alex Vaughn was okay now, but that didn't stop him from being so angry with himself. Tails didn't know if he would ever forgive himself for what had happened to him; after all, he had almost got himself killed. Whenever Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, Sticks and his cousins would visit him, Tails would pretend to be alright; but deep down inside of him, the young fox knew that he wasn't okay. He didn't want anybody visiting him, but then again, he didn't want to feel lonely. Currently, Tails was sitting up in the medical bed looking out the window of the medical room. His chest was no longer hurting; but every once in a while whenever he breathed in deep, he felt a sharp tightness in his chest, it didn't hurt or anything, but he knew that it was not right. As he was looking out the window, the fox was deep in thought…

'How could I be so stupid to get myself shot again? I've could've died. No, wait… I should be dead. What if I did? What would happen to my friends? What about Sonic? Especially Sonic? I've should've just left those papers back in Senator Vaughn's office. But this is what I deserve. I'm just an idiot. Are am I? At least now, uncle Jed will be able to prove that he did win the Election fair and square. But then again, the people would actually back him up, even if it meant civil war. And from what Sonic, Knuckles, Amy and Sticks told me about the Senate being on lockdown, I think there's a civil war that's about to take place. Hopefully we can go home before it sparks. As if already, most of the corrupt Senators are already being tried for their evil deeds… I just want to go home…'

Tails was interrupted from his thoughts when he heard the door open. He whipped his head towards the doorway and saw that Kim -the nurse that had been assigned to him- had walked in. Tails weakly smiled.

"Well, I'm glad to see you awake. You feeling okay sweetie?" Kim asked.

Tails' smile disappeared from his face when his ears dropped.

"Whenever I breathe in deep, there's a tightness in my chest; it doesn't hurt, but is it supposed to be there?"

Kim looked at him. "It's normal, especially if you've been hit with a laser, like in your case. It's just healing up, you're be fine."

The nurse then studied his vitals and heart rate; then she wrote them down on a clipboard, unaware that Tails had slid down the bed limply until his head hit the pillow. As soon as she got done checking boxes on the clipboard, Kim took a look at Tails and realized that the fox was rolling his head on the pillow rather limply. The kid's eyes were closed, and his breathing was erratic. Kim immediately took a hold of Tails' head and stopped it from rolling on the pillow. Tails moaned, barely lifting his eyelids, the fox looked up at her.

"Ma'am.. I don't feel… right…"

Tails immediately rolled his eyes into the back of his head and closed them. Kim immediately let go of the kid's head and ran out of the room to get Doctor Ram. Tails' head sunk in a little deeper into the pillow. He barely opened his eyes and stared ahead at the ceiling. His throat felt sore all of a sudden. He blinked several times, only to close his eyes and reopen them, staring ahead at the ceiling. Tails immediately moaned as the room started feeling warmer. Then all of a sudden, Tails felt someone place a hand on his forehead. He knew who it was right away. He weakly smiled as he saw that it was none other than Doctor Ram. The anthropomorphic goat then took his hand off of Tails' forehead and placed a thermometer in the kid's mouth. About thirty seconds later, Doctor Ram took the medical device out of the fox's mouth and showed the reading to Kim, who immediately wrote it down on her clipboard. Tails blinked several times again, then he slowly closed his eyes. He heard the two of them leave the room, but he knew that they had not gone far. Tails could hear only bits and pieces of Ram and Kim's conversation outside the medical room…

"... wait, like as in, he's wanting to just go home?"

Doctor Ram looked at Kim.

"Yes. Prower's homesick. His temperature is perfectly fine. His wound's not infected or anything in the likes. It's his body's reaction to wanting to go home. Listen, how would you feel if you were gone for three to four months like Miles was? The kid just wants to be home. And I'm sure that his friends want to be also. Heck, if one of them were wounded and recovering here, they would also feel homesick. He's going to be alright."

Kim immediately sighed in relief.

"I really thought he was relapsing. So that's why I came and got you."

Doctor Ram only smiled, his eyes shining through the glasses he wore.

"He will be fine. Just give him this."

The doctor gave Kim a little pill and placed it in her hand.

"It's ibuprofen."

As soon as they got done talking, Doctor Ram walked off to attend to other patients. Kim immediately went back into the room where she found Tails laying on the bed, looking at the ceiling with a blank look on his face. Tails then barely turned his head and looked at her.

"So what's wrong?" The fox asked with a raspy voice.

"You're going to be alright. Doc said that you're just a little tired of being here."

Tails opened his eyes the rest of the way. "Huh?"

Kim only smiled as she sat down in a chair.

"Listen; have you been thinking about going back home with your friends?"

Tails only nodded his head.

"That's the reason why you're feeling out of sorts kid. You're homesick."

That thought never crossed Tails' mind before until now. He never felt the way he was until now. Homesick. That's why he thought he didn't feel right. His mind was playing tricks on him. Kim then placed the ibuprofen in one of Tails' hands. Tails barely sat up in the medical bed and poured himself a small glass of water, then he took the pill and swallowed it down. Afterwards, Tails slid down the bed and placed his head on the pillow and closed his eyes. Kim immediately got off the bed and walked out of the room, but not before she heard the young fox say something…

"I just wanna go home." Tails whispered softly.