Chapter 7.

The Healing Begins.

Three months later…

It had been three months since they finally left Acadia Island. And now, they were just glad to finally be back home. Ever since then, Tails have had nightmares about what had happened to him when he was being held hostage back on Acadia Island. And the poor fox also begun having PTSD episodes of when he was severely injured when he got abducted by bounty hunters. But Sonic and his friends were there for the little guy whenever he needed them. But the thing was… Tails was hiding his real feelings away from them. And the rest had discovered this the hard way. One evening, Amy had found a nearly dazed Tails in his workshop, nearly passed out on the floor of the shop. Everybody else had came by that night and discovered that Tails had tried commiting suicide by dehydration. Eventually, Sonic, and Amy -with help from Chad and Fara- had tried to convince him that therapy would help, but he downright refused doing so. Then came Sticks having found Tails in the jungle, carrying a rope. When the little fox got caught by the badger, he told her that he needed the rope for a little 'project' that he was working on. But she downright knew it was a complete lie, and Chad had just happened to be working in the jungle that day. Sticks told him what she had caught Tails doing, Chad told her to go get the others while he stayed with Tails. Soon enough, Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy came and took care of the situation. Amy stayed the night with Tails at his place that evening, just to make sure that he didn't try anything stupid. Then came Tails getting abruptly rude and nasty with his teammates; one time, while defending Hedgehog Village from Doctor Eggman, Tails had been abruptly snarky with the girls. Sonic did not at all like his friend's attitude towards Amy and Sticks. Sonic talked with Tails about it that evening, and the discussion ended with Tails jumping Sonic and slugging him. Knuckles and Amy came over to the fox's place only to hear things crash around in the workshop. They immediately checked it out and found out that both Sonic and Tails have had come to blows with each other. Knuckles and Amy immediately stopped it. Tails immediately stormed off for his house and had locked up the door and did not at all come back outside that evening. Before heading home for the night, Amy had heard Tails thrashing things around in his house. Amy immediately went over to investigate, but she stopped mid track. She did not like Tails' attitude towards everyone recently, but at the same time, she felt really sorry for the little fox. Amy knew that the little guy needed help, both emotionally and mentally, before he did something really stupid. She heard him thrash things around, and she also heard him screaming and crying as he threw things in his house. The young fox really needed help, and he needed it fast! Amy turned around and headed for her place, leaving an angry Tails alone all night.

Then came the moment when Tails finally opened up to everyone. One night, while having dinner with Chad and Fara, Tails completely broke down and started crying and bawling. Everyone else knew earlier that day that Tails wasn't saying much about anything, Amy knew that he was getting himself ready to open up to them, and he had done just that…

Sonic and the team -with the exception of Tails- had showed up at Fara's place. She was hosting dinner that night, since she and Chad absolutely hated the 'tasteless' food at Meh Burger. Amy helped Fara with the preparations for dinner while Sticks just watched them. Sonic, Knuckles, and Chad helped around every so often. Soon, the food, a venison roast, was in the oven and the vegetables were slowly boiling in a pot of water on the stove. Everyone was soon relaxing, waiting for the food to be done. They had just started to turn on the television when Tails finally showed up. Everyone greeted him and soon, the fox found himself comfortable enough to sit. Sonic and Amy noticed right away that Tails had been crying about something, but they weren't going to bother him about it. Pretty soon, dinner was done. Everyone, soon enough, found themselves around the dinner table. Soon, they were talking about random things that had happened around town earlier that day. Amy glanced up and saw that Tails had not even touched a ounce of his food.

"You okay there?" Amy asked him.

Tails only looked up at her. "Not… not really…"

The kid sounded like he was about to have a nervous breakdown and cry. Everyone else stopped talking and glanced at Amy, then at Tails.

Fara placed a hand on his shoulder. "You don't like the food?"

"It's not… that.." Tails said in a low voice.

"Somebody hurt your feelings?" Chad asked.

Tails only shook his head.

Sonic immediately looked at him. "Somebody teased you, didn't they? Eggman?"

Tails shook his head again.

"Oh… it's about what happened to you, isn't it?" Chad asked him.

At this point, Tails didn't say anything as a tear escaped one eye and rolled down his face. Then he slowly, but surely started speaking.

"I-I-I-I'm… I-I-I'm…" Tails stammered, trying his best not to cry. Fara only rubbed his shoulder, which only made him want to just sit there and cry all the more.

"I-I-I-I'm… j-just… sick of.. it…" Tails stammered in a low voice.

"Sick of what?" Fara whispered. "It's okay. You can tell us."

"I'm just sick of acting like everything is okay when I know that it's not. I'm sick of acting like I'm okay… when I'm really not… I'm just sick of myself acting… acting like everything's fine… I'm tired of this!"

Tails immediately slammed a fist on the table, and right there, right then, the little fox broke down and started crying hysterically. Fara immediately squeezed his shoulder. Sonic immediately wrapped an arm around the fox, hugging him as tight as he could. Tails soon fell out of his chair and onto the floor where he ended up curling up into a fetal position and continued crying. Soon, Tails started wailing loudly. Chad got up and walked over to the other side of the dining table and kneeling down to his knees, he gently scooped Tails up onto his lap and coddled the poor fox. Tails' cries were muffled when Chad took a hold of it and buried it into his shoulder. At this point, everyone else was pretty much helpless. They all were brokenhearted at the sight of Tails sobbing. Chad started rocking the little fox back and forth in his lap. Fara suddenly smiled. She silently motioned for Amy to come and help her with something. Chad, meanwhile, comforted Tails.

"It's okay buddy, I'm right here. We're right here. It's okay." Chad whispered.

Tails unburied his head from Chad's shoulder and looked at him, tears running down his face.

"I'm… I'm ready for… for therapy…"

Chad immediately placed his forehead on Tails' and gently picked himself, plus Tails up and walked over to the couch. Chad gently placed the little fox on there, then he sat right next to him and wrapped an arm around the little fox and pulled him in closer to him.

"I'm real proud of you Tails. Proud of you for admitting that you didn't really have it all together. And I'm proud of you for wanting help for yourself. I think… no, let me rephrase that, I know that you will feel better once you start therapy." Chad whispered into the little fox's ear.

And for the first time since he staring crying, Tails smiled. Then he looked at Sonic and the others.

"I know that you all don't have to, and if you don't, I can see why, but will you all please forgive me for being such a jerk? I'm really sorry. Will you all forgive… me?"

Sonic, Knuckles, and Sticks all said that they forgave him. Tails buried his head into Chad's shoulder and wept again. Soon, however, Amy and Fara returned, and with a big mug of chocolate chunk flavored hot chocolate. And it had a extra dallop of whipping cream in it. Fara gently sat down next to her husband and cousin. She placed a hand on Tails' shoulder and got his attention. Tails looked up and saw that Amy was holding a mug of hot cocoa in her hands. Tails immediately smiled and gently took it out of Amy's hands and took a small sip of it. Soon, he was smiling again, despite having some tears fall down his face. Pretty much afterwards, he finally was able to eat his food, and to his dismay, Tails found out how hungry he was. The rest of the evening went well. Amy told Tails that she forgave him, he only smiled. Pretty soon, it was time for everyone to head back to their places for the night. When everyone else had left, both Chad and Fara noticed that Tails had not left. Soon enough, they found him, cuddled up and asleep on the couch. Fara grabbed a couple covers and gently laid each one on the sleeping little fox. Chad gently lifted Tails' head up while Fara placed a pillow underneath his head. Tails immediately woke up and saw that Chad and Fara were looking at him.

"Where's everyone else at?" Tails asked sleepily.

"They all left. It's okay, you can sleep here tonight." Fara replied.

Chad immediately elbowed Fara. She immediately got the message from her husband.

"Hey, I have something to tell you about."

"Oh?" Tails asked her.

"Yeah, you wanna know?" Fara asked him.

Tails sleepily nodded his head.

"I'm pregnant," she told him.

"Huh? You're what?" Tails asked sleepily.

"She's pregnant. Fara's pregnant." Chad said.

Tails immediately gasped, then squealed joyfully. He immediately gave both Chad and Fara a big hug.

"Awww, I'm so happy for you all." Tails whispered...

And ever since that evening, Tails had started going to his therapy sessions. And he found out just how much he was improving by going to his sessions. His emotions were doing a lot better, but he still had times when he would cry. But overall, Tails' attitude towards his friends was improving quite well also. He mentally thanked Chad for all of this. And the best thing of all was that the relationship between he and Sonic was actually doing a whole lot better than before. He had begun telling Sonic things that he never thought he would be able to. One night, while Tails was stargazing, Amy had came out and joined him in the fun. They talked about what could be possibly be up there. And pretty soon, and to his dismay, Tails had told Amy something that he never thought that he would be able to get out. As soon as he got done telling her, he broke down and started crying. He told her that she would never love him the same again. Amy immediately told him that he was right and wrong in saying that she would never love him the same again; Amy told Tails that, in fact, she loved him even more than before. But now, Tails was just living his life; doing fun things with his friends, defending the village from Eggman.