Chapter 8.

Camping Trip.

Chad was currently working in his wood-shop, sawing away at two by fours. Being a carpenter was always his dream job. And the best thing of all was that he knew exactly where he could make a living. And now, he found himself doing exactly where he wanted to make his living at. Chad could be no happier than to be a carpenter. Currently, he found himself all alone this time; and that was because of Tails taking his therapy classes. Usually, the little fox would be working in his workshop or he would be helping his friends out, or just having fun. And sometimes, Tails would be helping Chad around with the wood that was sent in from the other islands. Currently, Chad found himself working on a baby crib. He was going to be a father soon, real soon. And he couldn't wait to see and hold that baby in his arms. Just as he got done drilling a screw into the crib, he heard the door to his wood-shop swing open and shut. He immediately placed his project underneath the workbench. The person who had just walked in was none other than Amy.

"Is there a reason why you're hiding whatever that is from my sight?"

Chad immediately chuckled nervously. "Uh… no, not really."

Amy sort of glared at him. "Really?"

Chad was beat. "Fine. But you can't tell Fara, copy?"

Then the silver colored fox pulled the unfinished wooden baby crib out from underneath his workbench and placed it on the bench for Amy to see.

"Aw, that's wonderful. Preparing yourself for fatherhood?"

Chad immediately blushed. "Yeah, something or a rather like that."

Amy only smiled. "I'm sure you'll do great with being a first time father."

"Yeah, you think so?" Chad asked.

Amy placed both elbows on the workbench and rested her chin on her hands.

"I'm just repeating what Tails told you just yesterday."

Suddenly, the wood-shop door opened and shut really hard. Chad immediately jumped as he placed his unfinished project back underneath his workbench. Amy only giggled.

"Ah! Fara sweetie? Don't take another foot in here, please!" Chad yelled nervously.

"Uh, why? Is there something you don't want me to see?" A young voice piped.

Chad immediately swiped his forehead and pulled the crib back up onto the workbench as he realized that the little voice belonged to none other than Tails.

"Come on in. You're fine, I thought you were Fara."

Tails walked in further and soon enough, he saw the unfinished baby crib out on Chad's workbench.

"Hey Amy."

"Hey Tails, what are you doing off class today?" Amy asked.

"Oh, well, nothing really. Just got told that each of us that are attending these therapy classes that we are to take a camping trip with our loved ones and write down what happened while camping." Tails replied.

"Ooh, that sounds like a good idea. Camping? That's something I never did for a long time." Chad said.

"The last time I went camping was when I was eleven. Boy, that was the best week of my life."

"Well, I better get back to packing up." Tails said.

"Oh, and by the way Chad, nice job on the baby crib."

Later on…

Fara had just packed the rest of her gear up for the camping trip that was taking place. She and everyone else were going with Tails on this trip, not because they wanted to necessarily bother him, but because he had invited them all to join him. He had already picked out that Sonic was definitely going with him. And speaking of the little fox, Tails came back inside from putting his stuff into his Dude-Mobile. He picked up what was left of Fara's gear and placed it in his vehicle. He wasn't expecting most of his cousin's stuff to be mostly food. But that was what he got, especially since she was pregnant. After getting the rest of his things in his vehicle, he hopped on in the driver's seat and pulled the door shut. Fara was helped into the passenger side of the van by Chad. Everybody else got into their vehicles and pretty soon, they found themselves following Tails to where they were going to camp at for the next two days. A couple hours later, the group arrived at their destination. And when they did, they set up their tents. After a while, after all their camping equipment was set up, Tails, Amy, and Knuckles helped Fara with setting up her tent. Pretty soon afterwards, the boys went down to a small creek and started fishing. As the ladies were prepping for dinner, they heard shouting from the creek. And soon enough, they saw Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Chad running towards them, and it looked like Tails was holding something big in his hands. With help from Chad, the young fox placed a good sized catfish onto the table.

"What the heck?" Fara said.

"That's a huge fish."

Tails' face lit up. "I know, right?"

"And he caught it all by himself." Chad said.

"Real proud of you buddy." Sonic said.

Then Tails started begging Fara if they could have it for dinner.

"Can we? Can we? Please?"

Fara only smiled. "I don't know; are you willing to gut the whole entire thing?"

Chad immediately looked at the love of his life.

"I'll tell you what; how about both he and I do it."

Fara eventually gave in. And real soon, both Tails and Chad found themselves gutting the whole catfish and soon enough, they found themselves helping the girls with frying it. Afterwards, dinner was finally done and the whole gang found themselves eating the food that Tails had caught. As they ate, they starting talking about good times that had taken place ever since Tails had first met Fara. Later on that night, nobody couldn't find Tails at all. The whole group called out his name, and he didn't come. Chad then suggested that they start a search party for him. As they started their search, Tails came running up from where the guys had fished earlier. And the young fox had an excited smile on his face, mixed with a little fear and worry. Chad almost immediately knew what was currently taking place.

"Where is she?" Chad asked Tails.

"You mean Fara?" Tails asked.

Chad prepared himself for what was coming next...

"She's down by the creek."

"And is she okay?" Sonic asked his friend.

"Eh... if giving birth is called okay?"

"What? She's giving birth?" Chad said. Tails only nodded. Soon enough, Amy found herself gathering a bucket of water while Sticks gathered a couple towels. The guys immediately rushed down towards the creek, eventually, they found her sitting down against a tree. Chad immediately kneeled low right beside his spouse. Amy and Sticks soon joined up and saw that Fara's face was scrunched in pain. As Chad placed a hand on her shoulder, she yelled.

"Just take a deep breath."

Fara immediately yelled again as she felt a kick from within her stomach. Amy knelt next to the black colored female fox and placed a towel around her shoulders. Fara yelled again as she pushed. The girls soon had the guys go to the other side of the creek and wait for the procedure to be done. The boys couldn't see them, but they heard Fara yell often. Chad began pacing back and forth. Sonic and Tails tried calming him. Then, all of of a sudden, it was over. In what felt like forever, Fara's birthing pains were finally over. Suddenly, the guys heard Amy and Sticks giggling alongside Fara. Amy then came and told them that it was now okay to come back. Once the boys did, Chad saw right away that the love of his life was holding a tiny snow-white colored anthropomorphic fox cub in her arms. Chad rushed to her and kneeled low beside her. The others looked on, smiling. Amy saw that Tails' face was all lit up. And from the way he smiled, she knew that Tails was soaking himself in the moment. Fara then looked up at her cousin and his friends, then she motioned for Tails to come forth. He slowly but surely did, and when he did, he knelt and and for the very first time, he found himself face to face with his first cousin "once removed."

"It's okay." Fara reassured the kit.

Tails soon enough found that the newest member to the Prower family was a girl.

"She have a name yet?" Tails asked, mesmerized by the whole event.

Chad only smiled. "No."

Fara cocked her head slightly. "Chad and I decided that it would be best if you got to name her."

Tails' face lit up even brighter. He couldn't believe what Fara just told him. That he got to name the baby. It just wasn't a privilege, it was an honor. He thought long and hard of what his niece's name should be. Should it be Winter or Frost? He didn't know what to call her. He definitely didn't want her to have a name that other would tease her about, especially Eggman. When he thought it through, he knew what her name was going to be.

"I has a rough estimate what her name should be."

"And what do you think her name should be?" Fara asked.

Tails cocked his head and smiled. "Clara. Clara Ingrid Taya Prower."

Fara had a tear escape one eye. "That's... a beautiful name. What do you think Chad?"

Chad only smiled. "Yeah, that's a very good name for our baby."

"Yeah Tails, such a beautiful name. Whatever that means." Knuckles choked.

Sonic smiled. "I'm so proud of you."

Tails only smiled. Not only did he have his friends and family to keep on going, but now, his niece had changed everything for him. His beautiful niece. He couldn't wait to get home and tell his class how his camping trip had gone... he just could not wait.

That pretty much wraps up Chapter 8. Hate to say this... but Chapter 9 is gonna be the final chapter of All Things New. Be on the lookout for it until then. God bless everyone!

JalcoFox.