Want

by Missy the Cat

Amy Rose wanted to become pregnant, now she met Shadow and Sonic and started to develop romantic feelings for them.

6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6.

Please Review.

Flames.

---

Most people in their usual outfits.

...

5 Months Later.

Forest Hill.

Day Time.

"So this is it: Our cabin in the woods!" Shadow said while holding a camera in his hands, zooming in on the log lodge in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a dense forest where they would spend the next 2 weeks.

Then Shadow zoomed in on the pretty redhead, just getting out of Amy's car.

"And this is her: Rose, my lovely sister-in-law. She is a beauty, isn't she?" Shadow questioned.

The pink hedgehog, wearing a temporary outfit, a light blue jeans shorts with dark pink lace applications, a dark pink tank top which had the word 'red rose' printed in white letters across her enlarged breasts, laughed as she rolled her eyes.

"Careful, brother, she is officially mine now!" Sonic said.

Shadow immediately turned the camera towards his younger brother, who had just opened the door on the passenger side of Amy's car, trying to scowl, but failing miserably. Sonic had always been too cheerful to look sinister.

At this moment, another car arrived and while Shadow was filming how the driver blocked their car in the driveway, Sonic finally got out of Amy's car and opened the door to the backseat, whereas his wife inspected their surroundings.

The driver of the other car was Amy's brother, Scourge, a gorgeous looking, tall young man with short spiky green quills, sparkling blue eyes, and an impish smile which accentuated his muzzle. As soon as Scourge got out of the car, he started posing for Shadow's camera, laughing as if he had the time of his life.

"Yeah, give it to me, baby." Shadow said joking, which earned him a growl from his younger cousin, Silver, who happened to be Scourge's boyfriend and had just gotten out of the passenger seat of the blond's car. Shadow laughed, now filming his cousin's scowl in a close up.

"Peace, Silver." Shadow said.

The white quilled young male hedgehog was raising his right middle finger at him.

Shadow gasped in mock shock. "This is a family home video! Now I have to cut out your vulgar gesture." he said.

Silver ignored Shadow as he walked up to his boyfriend, pulling his face down with both hands for a heated kiss. Shadow averted the camera, filming the grass instead.

"Disgusting!" Shadow said.

"Well, you didn't have problems to film Amy and me kissing at our wedding yesterday." Sonic said, walking past his older brother.

Sonic carefully balancing 2 infant carriers with both hands, one in apple red and the other in sapphire blue because Amy had objected Sonic's suggestion to buy a berry pink one for Coral and a river blue one for Eclipse with their peacefully sleeping 8 week old babies.

This time, it was Shadow who rolled his eyes. "Well, none of your kisses were as passionate as this one. Honestly, it looks as if they will be screwing each other any minute now!" he said.

There was the sound of another car arriving, car doors opening and carefree laughter. Shadow zoomed in on the blue minivan. The laughter belonged to their other cousin, Knuckles and his fiancé, Blaze.

"Well, it would be good if they got a room then and if I'm correct, there is a whole cabin in front of us! Why don't we go inside, take a look at it and decide who gets which bedroom?" Sonic asked.

"Sounds great." Blaze said, carrying a 6 pack of beer with both hands.

Everyone had purchased at a local petrol station on their way here.

"Fair enough." Shadow said.

"Amy and I have dibs on the honeymoon suite!" Sonic said.

The others groaned.

"Well, if the honeymoon suite is a secluded bedroom at the other end of the cabin then, yeah, you 2 can totally have it. We definitely don't need to hear what you are doing when you are alone." Scourge said.

"Or to hear Coral and Eclipse crying at an ungodly hour in the middle of the night because they need to be fed or their diapers to be changed." Silver said.

Shadow had to admit that he had a point and as much as he loved the little boy and girl hoglets, caring for such young children was really exhausting. Shadow knew this from experience especially since he as his younger brother's best man and maybe father to at least 1 of the little ones. Shadow was convinced that the dark red quilled, crimson red Eclipse was his had volunteered to babysit them the previous night all by himself so that Sonic and Amy could enjoy their wedding night which meant that they were calling him every 2 hours in order to make sure that everything was alright, which was actually more exhausting than caring for the children, especially when he was woken up from deep sleep because his phone was ringing.

Shadow turned the camera towards the cabin again. "Alright, let's go in then. I'm ready. Who has got the keys?" he asked.

"That would be me." Amy said, pulling a key ring out of her right jean pocket with her right hand.

Shadow briefly wondered how it had fit into it since the shorts were rather tight, highlighting Amy's heavenly backside and walking over to them at a more leisurely pace.

Amy was barefooted, carrying her strappy silver sandals in her left hand.

Amy knew why it was because she loved to feel the grass and earth beneath the soles of her feet.

When Amy passed her younger husband, Sonic playfully slapped her bottom with his right hand.

Shadow couldn't blame Sonic as he also had problems to keep his hands off Amy at the moment. Amy's body had changed due to the pregnancy and while she only claimed that now she was fat, Shadow and Sonic thought that she was still slim, however the few extra pounds had endowed her with very nice curves, like broader hips and larger breasts, so that she now had the figure of a woman and not that of a girl, like before.

Amy, however, scowled at Sonic while spinning around.

"Do that again and I will have to punish you!" Amy said, looking dead serious.

Sonic, on the other hand, seemed to be still in a playful mood. "I'm looking forward to it." he said in a low voice.

It was ridiculous considering the fact that Sonic was standing between 2 infant carriers while trying to sound seductive.

Amy only rolled her eyes at Sonic then she climbed the front steps to their cabin crossing the front porch, taking a deep breath and putting the key in the key hole with her right hand. Shadow zoomed in on Amy and if the camera was focused on her perfect bum for a second, it was totally intentional.

Then Amy turned the key and pushed the door open. Shadow held his breath as he didn't know why, but he felt overexcited. The cabin's inside was too dark to see anything, though. The landlord must have closed all the window shutters to prevent the heat from invading the cabin. Automatically, Shadow also climbed the steps in order to have a better view.

"It's awesome." Amy said whispering, stepping inside.

Shadow, right behind Amy, just nodded. The front door led to a rather spacious living room with a 3 seater and a 2 seater couch in light brown, 2 crimson armchairs, a dark-brown wooden coffee table and a wooden side table of the same color, a huge, light brown dining room table made from solid wood with 8 matching chairs, several light brown wooden cupboards and dark brown wooden shelves along the walls. 2 white doors suggested that there were more rooms they had yet to explore. Amy headed for the doors then she opened the left one with her right hand. It led to a small corridor with 2 more white doors and a wooden staircase. For some reason, the corridor and stairs gave Shadow the chills.

"I assume that the staircase leads to the upper bedrooms and bathroom whereas these 2 doors here lead to the downstairs bedroom and bathroom." Amy said, again opening the left door.

According to the landlord's homepage, the cabin was made for 6 to eight people, with 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, and a living room as well as a front porch and a patio.

There really was a large bedroom behind that door, complete with an enormous 4 poster bed, a huge wardrobe, a sideboard, a vanity unit all made from mahogany, an antique looking white baby crib and a matching rocking chairs.

"Well, I guess that is your honeymoon suite, then." Shadow said.

It was secluded enough and it already contained a crib.

Amy smiled up at Shadow. "If you insist." she said. "And the bed is big enough for 3."

Shadow coughed as his throat suddenly felt really dry.

"Did she actually imply him sharing Sonic's and her bed? Even after the wedding?" Shadow thought.

Then Amy turned towards the other door. Behind it was a large bathroom with a toilet, a basin, a bathtub. The wall tiles were candy pink whereas the floor tiles were lemon-colored, the toilet, basin and bathtub as well as the shelves and the medicine cabinet were white.

Amy turned towards Shadow. "Shall we go upstairs now? Or shall we wait for the others? Honestly, I don't know why they haven't followed us by now!" she asked.

Shadow snorted. "Maybe they are afraid that there is an ax murderer hiding in here somewhere and they want to wait until we make it out alive." he said.

Amy smiled up at Shadow. "Well, in that case I refuse to go any further without backup. I have 2 little babies, after all, who would sorely miss their mother especially since I'm still breast-feeding them." she said.

Involuntarily, Shadow focused his camera on Amy's rather voluptuous cleavage then. Shadow wasn't an expert, but during her pregnancy Amy's breasts had more than doubled in size.

Amy cleared her throat and Shadow focused the camera on her pretty face again.

"Sorry, I just got distracted by your ample breasts." Shadow said.

Amy laughed her melodic laugh. "Typically. But make sure to save some of your appreciation for later, Sonic and I missed you dearly last night, he might be my husband now but you are still my lover..." she said winking at Shadow while showing the inside of her right wrist.

Yes, Shadow's name still adorned Amy's creamy skin and her name on his, reminding them of their promise all those months ago then she headed back through the door that led to the living room.

Shadow could feel his blood rushing southwards. The last time Shadow had sex with Amy was 4 months ago. Amy wasn't allowed to have sexual intercourse during the last months of her pregnancy due to the risk of premature labor yet, in the end, the twins were born too early after all and during the postpartum period she still wasn't allowed and definitely not in the mood to have sex for at least 6 to 8 weeks due to the risk of infection and injury her cervix had to close, the lochia to stop and her perineal suture to heal.

That was the reason why Sonic and Amy had set the wedding date for June. After Sonic's at least for Amy unexpected proposal in the delivery room, directly after she had given birth to Eclipse and Coral, they wanted to wait long enough so that they could have a real wedding night, but not too long.

...

Flashback.

4 months ago.

Shadow wasn't jealous that Sonic and Amy now officially belonged together. Sonic had talked to Shadow before asking Amy, explaining how strongly he felt for her, that he wanted to make their relationship official, but that it wouldn't mean he wanted to exclude his older brother from the relationship.

"If it were possible, I would ask her to marry not only me but also you but it isn't. And I want to call her my wife, not my girlfriend or lover. But if it bothers you, Shads, I will not ask her to marry me!" Sonic said.

Shadow had pulled his younger brother close, pressing their foreheads together.

"It doesn't bother me. Yet I love her as well. Maybe in a different way than you do, but still as strong. I will step back whenever necessary, but I want you to remember that I am still part of this relationship!" Shadow said to his little brother.

Sonic had smiled at Shadow and then he had pressed a quick kiss to Shadow's lips, something he hadn't done since he had been 12 years old and which had earned them a scolding from their mother then when she had been witness to it 'Sonic! It isn't proper! You are no little boy anymore and you can't kiss your almost grown-up brother on the mouth! And Shadow, don't encourage him!', so Sonic hadn't kissed him again ever since though it didn't stop him from climbing into Shadow's bed from time to time to cuddle up with him, but it was all totally innocent, nothing sexual had ever transpired between them).

Flashback Ends.

...

"Are you coming or what?" Amy asked from the living room.

"Coming!" Shadow said.

Shadow took a last shot of the bathroom and the bedroom, the gloomy corridor and stairs, then he followed his sister-in-law. When Shadow re-entered the living room, he could see that the others were also already inspecting the cabin, standing close together as if being afraid of someone or something attacking them when leaving the group. Relieved Shadow noticed that either Sonic or one of the others had placed the baby carriers with their precious cargo on the 2 seater couch.

Shadow didn't know why but suddenly he thought that maybe they should have taken their mother's and Scourge and Amy's mother's offer to look after the babies while Sonic and Amy were enjoying their honeymoon together with some friends and family members, but who cared about that detail. Somehow this idyllic cabin in the woods left Shadow with a bad feeling about what might or could happen.

Right on cue, Eclipse started crying.

Before Shadow could put his camera down and go over to his son but Sonic beat him to it.

"Shh, little prince, Daddy's here, no need to cry!" Sonic said cooing, lifting Eclipse out of his carrier, holding him gently in his arms.

For a moment, Shadow was jealous.

"Eclipse is mine!" Shadow thought possessively then he snapped out of it. "Where did that thought come from? Never before had I problems with sharing. Why now?"

When Shadow caught a glimpse at Sonic's happy face his sparkling eyes, he felt really bad. His little brother really seemed to thrive since Shadow was a father and uncle. Even though Eclipse didn't seem to calm down, despite Sonic's best efforts. In an instant, Amy was at Sonic's side.

"I think he is hungry. It's past lunchtime, after all." Amy said then took Eclipse into her arms. "I'll go over to the bedroom to feed him, there is a rocking chairs and I don't want to bother anyone because I'm breast-feeding, so..."

Amy just shrugged, heading for the doors that were leading to the corridor.

Shadow had a bad feeling, leaving Amy alone.

"Wait! I'm coming with you." Shadow said.

Amy looked at Shadow raising an eyebrow, while the others just looked surprised like Sonic, Blaze, Knuckles, and Scourge or snorted like Silver.

Shadow felt that he had to explain his motivation. "Well, Rose and I joked about an ax-murderer hiding somewhere in this house, I just want to keep her and my... our son save!" he said.

Sonic laughed. "So how do you want to defend them? Hit the attacker over the head with your camera?" he asked.

Shadow shrugged. "For example." he said.

In that moment, little Coral started to cry.

Amy sighed. "Make yourself useful then and bring Coral with you. She is also hungry and needs to be fed." she said.

Shadow nodded and did as he was told.

…

A few hours later.

Night Time.

Bathroom.

The hot, scented water felt too good. Shadow leaned back in the tub though it really was too small for 3 grown-up people, closing his eyes, sighing contentedly. Shadow could hear Sonic and Amy laughing and whispering with each other.

Then Shadow felt someone tapping his right thigh with its left hand. Opening his eyes, he could see that it was Sonic.

Shadow shot a questioning look at his younger brother, who just winked at him.

"I'll be right back!" Sonic said, exiting the tub.

When Shadow's gaze fell on Amy, he could see her shrugging then moving over to him, leaning her back against his broad chest. For some reason, this gesture touched Shadow.

When thinking back to all the other women Shadow and Sonic had shared actually it had been 6 in total, if he didn't count the one nightstands, sooner or later the girls would prefer either his or his younger brother's company. And, honestly after Sonic's confession that he wished to marry Amy and her accepting of the proposal, Shadow had already gotten used to the thought that her affection towards him might have cooled down but her behavior today hinted at something completely different.

So Shadow just wrapped his arms around Amy's waist pulling her close, kissing her neck. "Thank you." he said whispering.

Amy turned halfway towards Shadow. "For what?" she asked, her green eyes sparkling.

Shadow kissed Amy's right temple. "For being such an amazing woman and giving birth to my son." he said.

Amy, still halfway facing Shadow, raised an eyebrow. "Only your son? What about your daughter?" she asked.

Shadow understood what Amy meant as he and Sonic had refrained from DNA testing in order to find out who had fathered which child. For them especially for Sonic both Eclipse and Coral were their children. Nevertheless, since Coral had purple quills and Sonic's emerald green eyes and no one else in their direct family had emerald green eyes, neither their grandparents nor their mother or uncles, except from Sonic's biological father, Shadow was sure that Coral was completely Sonic's.

"You know what I mean."Shadow said.

Amy nodded. "Yeah, I know. And I totally agree with you. Call it a mother's intuition, but I'm sure that Eclipse is yours whereas Coral is Sonic's. But don't tell him, please." she said, begging.

"I won't." Shadow said promising, kissing Amy's right temple again.

Shadow and Amy fell silent after that exchange, just being content to be close to each other then Sonic came back.

Sonic was carrying a tablet with a bottle of pink champagne, Amy's favorite, 3 glasses and a small dark grey box with both hands.

Shadow scowled at his younger brother. "You know that she can't drink alcohol since she is breast-feeding our children!" he said.

Sonic, who was wearing a blue and grey striped bathrobe, just rolled his eyes while Amy caught Shadow's attention by slightly scratching her right nails over his left thigh.

"I've already expressed enough milk for tonight and tomorrow morning, so I'm allowed to have 1 or 2 glasses of champagne... We have something to celebrate, after all." Amy said.

Shadow would never forget Sonic's smug smile, conveying that he wasn't as immature and irresponsible as Shadow might have thought.

Shadow cleared his throat. "What do we have to celebrate, then? It isn't Rose's birthday yet, we already drank to your wedding yesterday and the birth of our little ones has been celebrated several times... So, what's the occasion?" he asked.

Shadow saw that Sonic and Amy were exchanging a look then Sonic poured champagne for each of them, handing out the glasses to Shadow and Amy with his right hand, was also holding Sonic's so that he could shed his bathrobe, grab the box and climb back into the tub with them.

When Sonic was also settled in the bathtub, he took his glass from Amy with his right while placing the box on the bathtub's rim.

"Let's drink to us and what we have!" Sonic said.

Shadow, Sonic, and Amy clinked glasses then drank. Afterwards, Sonic placed the champagne glass on the bathtub's rim, reaching for the box with his left hand. Sonic's gaze was focused on Amy the whole time as Shadow noticed then Amy nodded.

Sonic handed the box over to Shadow. "Open it." he said.

Raising an eyebrow, Shadow obeyed then he gasped. Inside the box was a ring, similar to the ones Sonic and Amy had exchanged the day before during their wedding ceremony.

"Please tell me that this is not what I think..." Shadow said but Sonic's grin and Amy's smile made him stop. It was exactly that and when Shadow checked the engraving, on the outside, it read 'And now and always, everything conquers love.' On the inside, Shadow, Sonic, and Amy's names were engraved. Shadow & Sonic & Amy, 6th December, 2019." It was the date Shadow and his younger brother had met Amy for the first time.

Shadow was at a loss for words. "Oh my, guys, you are amazing!" he said.

"It's the same engraving like in Amy's and my wedding bands, she wouldn't have it any other way..." Sonic said.

Shadow felt awful.

Since Sonic's proposal Shadow had silently accused Amy of choosing his younger brother over him, based on what he had known so far and now she was totally surprising him.

Therefore, Shadow grabbed Amy's shoulders with both hands and turned her towards him. Shadow saw the raw expression in Amy's eyes and couldn't hold back any longer, capturing her lips with his kissing her passionately.

When Shadow and Amy broke apart panting.

"I love you, Rose, more than words can express!" Shadow said.

Amy met Shadow's gaze. "Show me then!" she said.

Whatever self-restrained Shadow had was dissolved with those words. Shadow showed Amy how much he loved, how much he desired her by pulling her down onto his lap with both hands. Amy gasped and pressed her right nails into Shadow's left shoulder when he guided his cock inside of her.

"Careful brother, she is still a little bit sore from giving birth to our children and well, maybe last night. You have to treat her gently." Sonic said whispering into his right ear.

And the fact that Sonic didn't mind his older brother having his way with his wife was like an erotic to him. Although Shadow had to hold back a little bit since he didn't want to hurt Amy, he experienced pure bliss simply by joining his body with his sister-in-law's, his best friend's, his lover's, Amy's and he made sure that she was also enjoying it and he was surprised when her breasts ejected some milk due to sexual arousal and stimulation, whereas Sonic just encouraged him to taste it, like he had the previous night, as he confessed.

Afterwards, Shadow was holding Amy close, whispering sweet nothings into her right ear and she clung to him. It was as if nothing had changed, as if Amy wasn't wearing his younger brother's ring on her finger and Shadow for hers. Yet there was also another ring, a third one, waiting for him.

Shadow reached out his right hand to grab the box again, contemplating the meaning of this ring and the engraving.

"So, you want me to be a part of your marriage then?" Shadow asked Sonic and Amy.

Sonic and Amy exchanged a look for a moment.

"Well, maybe not a part of our marriage, but a part of our relationship. You said so yourself, that you are still a part of this relationship and even if you didn't say it, our tattoos would be proof to this. We are wearing each other's names on our wrists. And as I told you before, if it were possible, I would have asked her to marry you and me. But since it isn't possible..." Sonic said, just shrugging his shoulders.

"And believe me, Shadow, if it were possible, I would have married not only Sonic, but also you. But with this ring, I thought I could convey to you that you are important to me, to us!" Amy said.

"Yeah, we are not complete without you." Sonic said and he looked so lost and adorable at that moment.

Shadow just pulled Sonic close while Amy was still sitting in his lap, pressing their foreheads together as much as it was possible with Amy between them.

Then they all winced when they heard a wailing over the audio baby monitor. One of their little ones had obviously woken up and demanded attention.

Amy sighed. "Maybe it's time to leave this sanctuary and face reality." she said, supporting her weight on Shadow's shoulders lifting herself from his lap.

Amy gasped as Shadow slipped out of her.

Shadow drew his eyebrows together. "You all right?" he asked.

Amy nodded, blushing slightly. "Yeah, just sore, like Sonic said. I'm afraid I will have to refrain from such activities for the next couple of days." she said.

Amy climbed gracefully out of the tub reaching for one of the white fluffy towels, wrapping her body in it with both hands. Shadow followed Amy's retreating figure with his eyes and looking at his younger brother, he could see that he was doing the same.

Shadow cleared his throat. "Come on, Sonic, let's get out of the water as well, it's constantly cooling down and without her, it isn't as much fun." he said.

Saying that, Shadow also climbed out of the tub less gracefully than Amy, grabbed another towel and threw a third one at his younger brother who had reluctantly stood up with his left hand.

"Let's help her with our babies, Sonic." Shadow said encouragingly, wrapping the towel around his waist with both hands then left the bathroom.

When Shadow entered the bedroom, fortunately the bathroom not only had a door leading to the corridor that gave Shadow the creeps, but also a connecting door to the bedroom, Amy was sitting in the rocking chairs, little Coral in her arms, quietly singing a lullaby and Shadow recognized the melody because she had been humming it to their children several times by now, but never before had he heard the lyrics. However, Shadow couldn't understand it.

"What language is this?" Shadow asked.

Amy winced as she had obviously been so focused on her task to calm Coral down that she didn't notice Shadow entering which was strange because normally her senses were really sharp.

Understanding that it was just him, Amy sighed with relief.

"You scared me." Amy said, scolding Shadow.

Shadow smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, wasn't my intention." he said, walking over to the rocking chairs kneeling down next to Amy, looking at Coral, who seemed to have fallen asleep again.

Carefully Shadow reached out his right hand, gently stroking Amy's fine pink quills.

"So?" Shadow asked.

"So what?" Amy asked back.

Shadow smiled at Amy, looking deeply into her eyes. "That lullaby you sung for our little girl. What language is it?" he asked.

Amy smiled back at Shadow. "It's Russian. My mother used to sing that lullaby for Scourge and me when we couldn't sleep or had bad dreams or were ill. Her mother, my grandmother had sung it to her as well when she was little." she said.

Shadow raised his eyebrows. "Russian? Your mother is Russian?" he asked.

That piece of information surprised Shadow as he had already met Amy's mother on several occasions after Amy had finally told her about her pregnancy, she wanted to spend as much time as possible with her daughter.

Amy's smile widened. "Well, she was born and bred in this country, but my grand-parents immigrated when my grandmother was already 6 months pregnant with my mother." she said.

Amy stood up, carefully placing her daughter in the currently unoccupied crib actually there were 2 cribs in the bedroom now, Silver had helped Shadow to carry down the other crib from his and Scourge's bedroom then she shed the towel and started to get dressed for the night.

Shadow thought that it was a good idea and followed Amy's example actually, Sonic and Amy had insisted he put his clothes and other things in this bedroom, not one of the upstairs bedrooms of which there were 3: 1 bedroom containing another king-sized bed which was occupied by Silver and Scourge, the other one had 2 queens that was the room knuckles and Blaze took and the third just a bunk bed Shadow had thought that this would be his bedroom, but Sonic and Amy had other ideas.

When Shadow and Amy were wearing their nightclothes, dark grey boxers and a dark red t-shirt for Shadow and black yoga pants and a grey tank top for Amy, Sonic entered the bedroom as well.

"What took you so long?" Shadow asked his younger brother.

Sonic rolled his eyes. "I cleaned up the bathroom. Honestly, did you think it would do it all by itself?" he asked.

Shadow had to admit that Sonic was right, yet it was an unusual scenario to imagine his little brother doing any cleaning up without being told so. Maybe being a father really helped Sonic to grow up and take over responsibility.

"Well, thank you. I would have been too exhausted to help anyway. Actually I'm looking forward to just lie down and fall asleep, assumed that the bed is as comfortable as it looks!" Amy said while brushing out her quills she had been wearing it in a top bun while they were taking their bath, now she just let it fall down her back and over her shoulders.

Sonic chuckled. "I'm also really tired... didn't get that much sleep last night." he said, winking.

Amy, now settling down on the bed pulling the covers over her, rolled her eyes but didn't reply.

"So that was the reason why you wouldn't let me sleep? Calling every 2 hours? Some kind of revenge because I'm still a bachelor whereas you already tied the knot?" Shadow asked.

Before Sonic, who was getting dressed for the night as well, could react.

"Well, don't forget about the ring. You are bound to us." Amy said, sleepily.

Shadow remembered. Yes, Sonic and Amy had gifted him with a ring, similar to their wedding bands. And if he remembered correctly, the ring was still in the bathroom.

"Um, I think I left the ring in the bathroom." Shadow said, confessing.

Amy, who had been half asleep, suddenly opened her eyes.

"What?" Amy asked, scandalized.

Shadow blushed. "Yeah, well, I was totally overwhelmed by today's events. So, no wonder I forgot about the ring, knowing that there is a beautiful young woman waiting for me in her bedroom." he said, trying to charm Amy.

The young hedgehog woman however just snorted.

"Yeah, sure, especially since this beautiful young woman declared that there wouldn't be any sex for the next couple of days and only went to the bedroom in order to tend to her babies." Amy said.

Sonic was doubling over with laughter. "I swear it, brother, she is too clever for us!" he said.

Shadow rolled his eyes. "Well, speak for yourself, brother!" he said, heading for the connecting door to the bathroom to get his ring while he could still hear Sonic's laughter.

…

Morning.

As always, Shadow was the first one to wake up, despite the fact that the babies demanded to be fed and have their diapers changed several times during the night, which was done by the 2 hedgehog brothers because they felt that Amy needed her rest.

So Shadow disentangled himself from a sleeping Sonic and Amy to go out onto the patio where they all had a barbecue the previous evening.

Shadow lit his cigarette, smoking happily as it was his first cigarette in about 10 hours. Shadow hadn't been in the mood to go out onto the porch or the patio all by himself last night, and he didn't want to take Sonic with him because a part of him didn't want to leave Amy and the little ones alone.

Shadow took in his surroundings. The forest, which was fittingly called 'Mystic Mountain' really seemed to be like a solid mass, rather than consisting of several trees. A shiver ran down Shadow's spine.

"If I ever got lost in those woods, I would never find my way out." Shadow thought.

Luckily, the cabin itself was built on a clearing, so there was enough daylight illuminating the premises. A driveway was leading up to the house from the street and a path was leading down from the property into the forest. According to Amy, it led to a small lake and one of the many hiking trails.

Shadow took a deep breath. The morning air was fresh and fragrant, promising another warm and sunny summer day. It was not yet 8 o'clock and there were no sounds except from birds chirping in the trees and small animals scurrying around in the undergrowth. Everything seemed to be so peaceful. Shadow, Sonic, and Amy all could do with some peace and quiet after the events that happened only a couple of months ago.

Before Shadow's thoughts drifted into that direction, he was roused from his musings because somebody put their hands over his eyes from behind. Well, there were only 2 people in this world who would dare to do this and since he couldn't smell licorice and cinnamon, his brother's typical scent but vanilla and jasmine, he immediately knew who it was.

"Good morning, Amy." Shadow said.

The beautiful pink hedgehog just made a frustrated sound, taking her hands off Shadow's eyes, moving in front of him.

"How did you figure out it was me?" Amy asked.

Shadow smiled, taking another drag from his cigarette. "Your scent gave you away." he said.

Amy frowned. "Are you saying that I smell?" she asked, unbelievingly.

Shadow chuckled, shaking his head. "No. Well, at least not in the negative sense of the word. I could smell your scent, not my brother's, so I knew it was you." he said.

This answer seemed to satisfy Amy as she just nodded.

"That makes sense. You also smell differently from Sonic, you know." Amy said.

Shadow cocked an eyebrow, "Yeah? Although we are brothers?" he said.

Amy smiled up at Shadow. "Yes, definitely." she said.

Amy reached out her left hand to brush one of Shadow black and red quills and he captured her left fingers in his right hand, pressing a soft kiss to her left palm.

"I'm sorry." Shadow said.

Amy drew her eyebrows together. "Sorry for what?" she asked wanting to know, looking deeply into Shadow's eyes.

Shadow sighed. "You know, when you accepted Sonic's proposal, I thought that it happened again, that you were just another girl who preferred my brother, although we had all agreed on being in this relationship together. It wouldn't have been the first time," he confessed.

"Do you think me so fickle?" she asked breathlessly, trying to pull her hand away.

Shadow's grip on her hand only intensified, even trying to pull her closer, but she resisted and so he finally released her hand, sighing.

"No, not now at least. You proved to be cut from a different cloth than the other girls. You really surprised me last night, you know, insisting on me having a similar ring with the same engravings like Sonic's and yours, even allowing me to make love to you, although you are married to my brother." Shadow said.

Amy smiled again, taking Shadow's right hand into her left hand, entwining their fingers.

"Of course." Amy said. "Nothing has changed between us. Only that I am now sharing your family name!"

Amy was right. Although a lot of independent young women were insisting on keeping their maiden name after their wedding, she changed hers to 'The Hedgehog'. That fact led to Shadow's next question, a question he almost didn't dare to ask.

Nevertheless, Shadow cleared his throat, holding Amy's gaze. "What if I had asked you first to marry me? Would you also have agreed to my proposal?" he asked.

For a moment, the whole forest seemed to have fallen silent, waiting for her response at least it seemed like that to Shadow who couldn't perceive anything else but his own heartbeat and Amy breathing while he felt like drowning in the depths of her eyes, as wild and impenetrable as those woods surrounding them.

"Do you really want to know the answer?" Amy asked, whispering.

For a moment, Shadow was tempted to say 'yes', either receiving confirmation for his suspicion that Amy really preferred Sonic or finding out that his cowardice and chivalry were to blame for letting his opportunity slip to become the husband of the most amazing woman in the whole world then he decided against it.

"No, it wouldn't change anything now, would it? You are married to Sonic." Shadow asked.

Shadow grinded out his cigarette in the ashtray with his left hand that was still sitting on the garden table, a relic of last night's merry gathering, freeing his right hand from Amy's left hand, going back inside the cabin while he could still feel her green eyes on him.

Upon entering the kitchen, which led out onto the patio, Shadow noticed that Knuckles and Blaze had also woken up in the meantime, even started preparing breakfast. Knuckles was already properly dressed, wearing beige bermuda shorts and a dark blue t-shirt whereas Blaze was still in her nightclothes, yellow and light-blue striped sleeping shorts and a light-blue top.

"Good morning!" Shadow said.

Both of Shadow's friends turned towards him, Knuckles smiling shyly.

Blaze raising an eyebrow. "Why are you blaming Amy for her decision?" she asked.

Shadow coughed. "Does it mean that Knuckles and Blaze had been witness to me and Rose's conversation?" he thought.

"Excuse me, what?" Shadow asked.

Blaze rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, you know what I mean. You are pissed that Amy married Sonic instead of you. But let me tell you something, Mr Hesitant. If you don't show your real feelings towards a woman, she will always opt for the one who is straightforward about his intentions!" she said, storming out of the kitchen, onto the patio, certainly fraternizing with Amy.

"But is it really called fraternizing when only females are involved?" Shadow thought.

Shadow looked questioningly at Knuckles, but his younger cousin simply shrugged, smiling apologetically.

"Sorry, but we couldn't help overhearing your conversation. I don't know why Blaze is so furious about the way you are treating Amy..." Knuckles said.

Shadow interrupted Knuckles. "The way I'm treating Rose? Tell me, cousin, how am I treating her?" he asked, challenging.

Knuckles obviously started feeling uncomfortable. "I don't know... maybe as if you are blaming her for wearing Sonic's ring on her finger? She decided to become his wife, not yours, after all." he questioned.

Shadow snorted. "This is nobody else's business, but Rose's, Sonic's and mine!" he said.

Stepping closer to Knuckles, who tried to back away but couldn't because the kitchen counter was right behind him, Shadow showed him his left hand.

"Do you see that? This ring? Sonic and Rose gave it to me last night, right before I had sex with my brother's wife! And Sonic approved. I am also part of this relationship and it was Rose who wanted to make sure that I don't feel left out because she insisted on me having the same ring she and Sonic are wearing as wedding bands! So, I would be glad if you and your fiancé don't meddle in our affairs!" Shadow questioned.

Shadow turned on his heel, storming out of the kitchen towards the living room, opening the door with his right hand that led to the corridor from which he could reach their, yes, his and Amy's and Sonic's bedroom, slamming the door behind him.

The noise woke up Sonic and their babies, who immediately started crying.

"What?" Sonic asked sitting up in bed, rubbing his eyes with his right hand.

Shadow sighed. "Sorry, didn't mean to wake you up, or scare the babies." he said.

Shadow immediately turned towards the cribs. Instinctively Shadow wanted to tend to Eclipse, the child he was convinced to be his but then he turned towards little Coral, their little princess, with a combination of his younger and lover's colored quills and his younger brother's eyes. As soon as Shadow lifted Coral up and she stopped crying, looking at him with big emerald green eyes, trying to smile. Shadow had a déjà-vu, remembering another baby with the same eyes, but cobalt blue quills, reacting similar to him, although he had only been a child then.

"I swear Shads, Eclipse looks just like you." Sonic said standing next to Shadow on the right side, lifting the crying little boy out of his crib with both hands.

For some reason that comment touched Shadow deeply. Even Sonic seemed to admit that Eclipse was his son then, Sonic did something completely unexpected by pulling Shadow close, resting his forehead against his brother's, while they were holding their babies.

"You know I love you, don't you? More than anything else in this world... well, except from our children... and Amy... and our mother..." Sonic asked.

Shadow closed his eyes, smiling.

Of course Shadow knew as he felt the same, since the first time he had seen his baby brother. So Shadow had been the one to change Sonic's leg compresses every hour when his little brother had suffered from pneumonia at the age of 5, he had been the one to change his brothers bedclothes whenever he had wetted them after a nightmare at the age of 7 and was afraid to tell their mother, the one who had given everybody a bloody nose who had dared to call his little brother a momma's boy and a pansy while pushing him around in the schoolyard at the age of thirteen because in their eyes Sonic had been too lanky and too pretty although Shadow had been called to the headmaster's office for that and was suspended from school for a week, like the other boys who were involved in the brawl, but in Shadow's eyes it had been totally worth it.

"Love you too, little brother." Shadow said and that was it, everything they needed to confess to each other.

For a moment Shadow and Sonic remained like that, enjoying each other's company while they were holding their still crying babies then the door to their bedchamber opened, it was Amy.

"Are they hungry?" Amy asked.

Shadow and Sonic exchanged a look.

"Well, we don't know..." Shadow said.

Amy drew her eyebrows together. "Honestly, what kind of fathers are you?" she asked, taking both babies into her arms, going over to the rocking chairs, sitting down. "The milk is in the fridge, I can't breastfeed them now due to the champagne last night, remember? You need to warm it up."

Shadow and Sonic exchanged a look and after a slight nod from Shadow, Sonic followed Amy's instructions while Shadow walked over to Amy, sitting down on the bed, facing her.

Amy didn't acknowledge Shadow's presence, looking affectionately at her children while humming the Russian lullaby to them, rocking in the chairs. Being a mother really suited Amy and Shadow loved watching and filming her tending to their babies. Especially because Eclipse and Coral always seemed to immediately calm down as soon as Amy was holding them. Well, not this time.

Little Coral had indeed stopped crying and was looking fascinatingly at her mother's face, although she had trouble keeping her eyes open. Apparently Amy wasn't hungry, just upset because Shadow had slammed the door shut.

Little Eclipse, however, was still crying, tears streaming down his face, kicking his chubby arms and legs.

"Can you please take your son for a while, Shadow? I don't want him to unsettle Coral again. She is almost asleep." Amy asked.

"Yeah, sure." Shadow said, standing up, taking his son from Amy's arms with both hands then sitting back down on the bed. For a moment it seemed that Eclipse was calming down as soon as he was in Shadow's arms, looking curiously at his father's face, before starting crying again.

"I don't know what's wrong with him. Before yesterday, I could have sworn that Coral was less calm than Eclipse, but now..." Amy said but stopped talking, just shrugged her shoulders.

Shadow knew what Amy meant. Whereas Coral had only woken up once during the night because she was hungry and needed fresh diapers, Eclipse had woken up 4 times but only once he needed to be fed and have his diapers changed. The other times Eclipse had just demanded his fathers' attention, keeping Shadow and Sonic really busy.

Finally, Sonic had the idea to take the baby with them into their bed so that he could feel the closeness to all his parents, which fortunately calmed him down a bit.

"Maybe he doesn't like the cabin." Shadow said, cradling his son.

Amy looked at Shadow, drawing her eyebrows together.

"Why would you say that?" Amy asked.

Shadow shrugged. "It just popped into my head. But he is certainly just hungry." he said.

Amy studied Shadow for a moment then she nodded. Shadow and Amy remained silent for a while, Eclipse's wailing and the rocking chair's creaking the only sounds in the room then Coral was fast asleep and Amy got up in order to place the baby in her crib. Afterwards Amy settled down next to Shadow on the bed on the right side, reaching out her right hand to caress her son's chubby muzzle.

Shadow had the feeling that Amy wanted to say something but didn't know how to.

"What's up?" Shadow asked quietly.

Amy took a deep breath, folding both hands in her lap. "Sonic told me something about my engagement ring on our wedding night..." she said.

Amy fell silent again, playing with the white golden band, adorned by a pure white, star-shaped diamond.

Shadow could feel his heart beating faster. "Yeah?" he asked.

"Yeah." Amy said, taking another deep breath then she sighed. "Why didn't you tell me that you bought it together with him? That it was chosen and paid for by both of you?"

Shadow who shrugged. "Is that so important?" he asked.

Amy took Shadow's face between her hands, forcing him gently to look at her.

"For me it is." Amy said.

Shadow and Amy looked deeply into each other's eyes before Amy leaned towards him, kissing him softly on the lips for a moment then she stood up from the bed.

"I'll go and check what is taking Sonic so long, honestly, he just has to heat the bottle up. Poor Eclipse is going to starve before his Daddy shows up with the milk." Amy said.

Shadow chuckled about Amy's comment.

When Amy entered the kitchen, she saw Sonic talking animatedly to Silver and Scourge while Knuckles was making scrambled eggs and pancakes and was heating up 2 feeding milk bottles.

"Sonic!" Amy said in a serious tone.

Sonic froze then slowly turned into Amy's direction.

"Hey, Ames, did you miss me?" Sonic asked trying to flirt, beaming at Amy.

This time however it had no effect on Amy as she was simply standing there, on the threshold to the kitchen, her arms folded in front of her chest, scowling. Sonic swallowed and looked as if he were rather anywhere else.

"Can you tell me what you are doing?" Amy asked, demanding to know.

"Um, I went to the kitchen to heat up the milk for our babies, but then I ran into Silver and Scourge who came down for breakfast and somehow we started talking about our crazy dreams..." Sonic said, trying to defend himself.

Amy didn't want to hear Sonic's ridiculous excuses, so she raised her left hand in order to make him stop talking, and Sonic obeyed.

"Save your excuses! I was sitting in the bedroom with two crying babies and waiting for you to bring the baby bottles. Fortunately, Coral has calmed down apparently she wasn't hungry. But Eclipse is still crying because his Daddy totally forgot about him! You are my husband now. I need to be able to rely on you. And you completely left me alone!" Amy said.

Sonic was pouting. "You weren't alone. Shadow was helping you." he said.

"Yes, he was. Maybe I should have married him instead of you!" Amy said.

"Maybe. But he would've never had the guts to ask you!" Sonic said, yelling after Amy as she stormed out of the kitchen, really angry.

A part of Amy felt bad for scolding Sonic in front of their friends and family, patronizing him. Yet another part of Amy thought that Sonic deserved it if he wanted to behave like a child, she would treat him like one.

Still fuming, Amy re-entered the bedroom. Shadow, who was now cradling 2 crying babies, turned towards Amy.

"What happened?" Shadow asked.

Amy took a deep breath, flopping down on the bed. "Sonic." she said, looking yearningly at her babies.

Amy wanted to go over to Eclipse and Coral and take them into her arms because it always comforted her to smell and feel her little son and her little daughter. However, Amy was still too upset and feared that she would unsettle them, they always seemed to sense how she was feeling and reacted to it.

Shadow sighed. "Let me guess, he got distracted and forgot to heat up the feeding milk bottles." he said.

Amy nodded. "Yeah." she said.

Shadow sighed, coming over to Amy and sitting down next to her on the right side.

"He doesn't do such things on purpose, you know. When he was 9, his primary school teacher assumed that he had an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder because of his bad performance in school, his inattentiveness, his restlessness. She recommended we should talk to his pediatrician about some treatment, like behavioral therapy, medication, change of diet, but mom would have none of it. She said that Sonic was just a special child and the teacher simply didn't know him the way we did. And that was it, mom refused to believe that Sonic had ADHD and we never talked to a pediatrician or any other doctor not even Dr. Eggman about it. However, I did some research on my own and I fear I would agree with his teacher." Sonic said.

Amy was thunderstruck. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? I think I should have known about this before..." she asked.

Amy interrupted herself before she could say something that she would regret later.

"Before what?" Shadow asked.

Amy took a deep breath as she needed to be honest. "Before I decided to have his child, before I married him." she said.

Saying that Amy got up from the bed, heading for the bathroom, knowing that her babies were in good hands, she needed some time alone.

...

20 minutes later.

After taking a shower and brushing her teeth, Amy left the bathroom only wrapped in a towel. When Amy entered the bedroom she saw that it was empty, no sign of Shadow, Sonic or the babies. Amy was grateful for that.

While getting dressed, Amy couldn't help but notice how swollen and heavy her breasts were, she really should have expressed milk after getting up since she didn't breastfeed her children during the night. Amy swore that she would never drink alcohol again for as long as she was nursing her son and her daughter in order to avoid all the trouble it entailed.

Yet Amy had somehow wanted to repeat her wedding night, this time with both hedgehog brothers, showing Shadow that she still loved him, that she needed and wanted him, that Sonic was still fine with sharing her. Hence the champagne and the ring. Actually, Sonic and Amy had planned to officially put the ring on Shadow's left ring finger while in the tub, enjoying each other's company, renewing their vows from last year when Amy got her tattoos then she somehow got distracted.

Although Sonic had really tired her out on their wedding night, Amy needed to feel Shadow inside of her, needed to be connected to him in the most intimate of ways. Admittedly, Amy would have preferred it to happen in the huge 4 poster bed, not in the tub, but her need for Shadow had overwhelmed her and she had wanted him immediately, and Shadow had been grateful. Amy would have loved to go another round later, but her soreness had prevented her from even considering it.

When Amy left the bedroom and entered the corridor, she felt a shiver running down her spine. It appeared as if the corridor was several degrees colder than the other rooms. Furthermore, it always seemed to be gloomy. So Amy hurried to the living room.

Amy immediately noticed the tense atmosphere. Scourge and Blaze appeared to be calming down an agitated Silver and Knuckles, while Eclipse and Coral were peacefully sleeping in their carriers.

"Amy, finally! You really upset Sonic with your outburst. He stormed out of the cabin right into the woods, without getting properly dressed, wearing just his boxers, a t-shirt and flip-flops and he didn't take a map or any water with him, I tried to stop him, I really did, but he said he needed some time alone, to cool off!" Knuckles said to Amy.

Amy felt her heart missing a beat. "What?" she asked, completely shocked.

"Yeah, and what is worse, when Shadow learned about it, he left Coral and Eclipse in our care, told us to feed them which we did and then he ran after Sonic, also not taking anything with him." Blaze said.

Suddenly, Amy felt dizzy. Swaying, Amy needed to grab the door frame with her left hand in order to steady herself as she knew these woods. The forest were dangerous, especially when you had a bad sense of direction, like Sonic something he had inherited from his uncle, as he had confessed to Amy. Every year several people went missing in the woods, some of them were never found, others were found dead admittedly, some people were also found alive. If anything happened to Shadow and Sonic, it would be Amy's fault. Amy couldn't imagine a life without Shadow and Sonic, not anymore, not after she was the mother of their children.

"Amy? You alright?" Scourge asked, rushing to Amy's side to supporting her.

Amy nodded. "Yeah, it's just..." she said but didn't finish the sentence because she didn't really know what she actually wanted to say.

Scourge led Amy over to the couch, forcing her to sit down.

"I'll get you some water!" Amy said and left the room, only to return shortly after with a glass of water with her left hand. Amy drank automatically. "We need to do something."

"We already did. We called the rangers' station. They told us to stay here while they would patrol the hiking trails, also keeping an eye on the spinney, trying to find them, especially since we informed them that Sonic just got married and is a new dad." Knuckles said.

Amy nodded again. Amy wanted to correct Knuckles, saying, that Shadow was also a new dad, but she kept quiet. Maybe Shadow, Sonic, and Amy's relationship was too complicated for others to grasp and that was what had caused all this mess.

"So we'll just sit here and wait?" Amy asked.

"We'll just sit here and wait." Blaze said then she frowned. "Um, Amy, you have there something on your top."

When Amy looked down her front, she understood what Blaze meant. Amy still hadn't expressed the excess milk, so her breasts were leaking. Of course they were, since Amy took herbal supplements, pills and tea, and ate special foods to increase breast milk production so that she could breastfeed both babies without needing to use formula.

"Oh, no." Amy said setting the cup down and jumping up from the couch, blushing.

Amy headed for her bedroom in order to pump milk, remembering how carefully and shyly Shadow had suckled her breast last night after she had involuntarily ejected some milk during sex, completely different from Sonic who had confidently and aggressively latched on to her after the same had happened on their wedding night.

When Amy was done, she put on a fresh bra, a fresh top and her hiking boots then she grabbed her phone with her right hand and went back to her older twin brother and her friends.

"I'm going out there in order to find them." Amy said.

Knuckles and Blaze looked at Amy as if she had lost her mind, Silver frowned.

Scourge studied Amy for a moment. "I'm coming with you, just let me get my hiking boots." he said.

Amy smiled thankfully at Scourge, rushing to the kitchen in order to get 2 bottles of water as it wouldn't be the first time that she and her older twin brother went out to explore the forest. Yet it would be the first time they didn't do it for fun.

When Amy re-entered the living room, Scourge was back, crouching on the floor, lacing up his boots while Silver was arguing with him.

"Are you completely suicidal? If your crazy sister wants to go out there and look for her lost lovers, fine! It's her fault, after all, that my cousins are stumbling through the wilderness like 2 lovesick idiots!" Silver asked.

Upon hearing that, Amy gasped.

"That was how Silver thought about me? Regarding her as some kind of femme fatal who had only brought harm to Shadow and Sonic?" Amy thought.

Silver's comment, however, seemed to make Scourge furious. Standing up to his full height, Scourge was towering over the shorter, but stouter Silver, arms akimbo.

"Never say anything like that about Amy again, or I swear to god, Silver, you and me are history. By the way, it had been your devious cousins who corrupted my sweet sister!" Scourge said.

Amy had heard enough. Although Amy appreciated that Scourge defended her, she didn't like it that he and Silver were fighting. By now, they all had fought enough, snapping at each other, hurting each other. What once appeared to be a great idea, spending some time together, all of them, had turned sour by now.

So Amy cleared her throat, arousing the other's attention.

Blaze and knuckles looked uncomfortable, Silver looked pissed, Scourge sorrowful.

"Ready to go?" Amy asked her older twin brother, ignoring all the others.

Scourge nodded.

As they were heading to the front door, Blaze called after them.

"Do you think it wise to go out there, Amy? What about your babies?" Blaze asked.

For a moment, Amy stopped in her tracks, closing her eyes, but she kept her cool.

"They should be fine. They just fed, as you told me, and there are still 2 baby bottles with my milk in the fridge. If they get hungry, just heat up the bottles and feed them. I will be back later to nurse them. And I will bring Shadow and Sonic with me!" Amy said.

Without looking back, Amy left the cabin, Scourge right behind her.

…

Sonic stumbled through the undergrowth and could feel how the little thorns of the blackberry and raspberry bushes scratched his legs. Sonic didn't care and if he was honest, it didn't even hurt that much, at least not as much as Amy's words.

"Did she really regret marrying me? Just because I made one mistake? It wasn't as if I totally forgot about the milk for our babies. After Knuckles had asked me why he had come to the kitchen, I remembered and Knuckles heated up the bottles for me. So the little ones would have gotten their milk, in any case, maybe a little bit later than planned, but still..." Sonic thought.

However, Amy's scolding was uncalled for. Amy could have voiced her displeasure about Sonic's unreliability and he would have accepted that she was angry with him. However, Amy didn't need to be so mean to Sonic, telling him that she would have rather married Shadow.

Sonic could feel tears welling up in his eyes then running down his cheeks. Sonic wiped them away with the back of his right hand angrily. Yet more tears were coming, blurring Sonic's vision, making it difficult for him to find his way through the spinney. Sonic tripped several times but kept his balance until suddenly his left foot got caught in a twine and before he could catch his fall, he was hitting the ground, hard. Sonic felt something sharp piercing the skin on his left thigh, a dull pain in his left wrist.

"Great, Sonic, you are even too incompetent to properly run away." Sonic thought, trying to sit up.

It seemed to Sonic that he had sprained his left wrist and upon checking he noticed that he had ruptured his left thigh on a dried up and stone hard piece of wood. It hurt like hell and bled heavily. Sonic pressed his right hand to the wound, hoping to be able to stop the bleeding, but it didn't really work. Carefully, Sonic sat up, inspecting his surroundings. Sonic was really in the depth of the woods, far away from any hiking trail. What was worse, Sonic didn't take his phone with him. Even if he wasn't injured, it would be difficult for Sonic to find his way home to find his way back to his older brother and his wife and their babies.

Sonic started sobbing uncontrollably. "Just because I was angry, I ran into the woods and now he was going to die out here! Never again would I be able to embrace Shadow or kiss Amy or hold Coral and Eclipse!" he thought.

Sonic screwed up again, but this time, there was no Shadow to put things right because his older brother didn't even know where he was.

Sonic didn't know how long he had been sitting there crying, holding his injured left leg, when suddenly he heard a voice calling out to him. Sonic stopped his sobbing.

"Was I already hallucinating? No, there was definitely someone calling my name. But I recognize the voice, I always would, for as long as I lived. It was my brother! Shadow had come to save him!" Sonic thought.

Sonic braced himself then he stood up, trying to make out his older brother in the dim light, but couldn't see anything.

"Shadow?" Sonic asked, holding his breath afterwards, waiting for his older brother's reply then, very quietly, he could hear Shadow's voice.

Frantically, Sonic looked around, hoping to see his older brother but couldn't. "Shadow!" he said, louder this time.

"Sonic, where are you? I can hear you!" Shadow asked.

Sonic could feel his heart beating faster as his older brother was there, so sooner or later he would find him. Sonic just had to make sure that Shadow could locate his voice, so he started calling for his brother in regular intervals. Sonic was convinced that Shadow's voice was drawing nearer, heading right into his direction. Then, finally, Sonic could make out his brother's black and red quills between the tree trunks and undergrowth, his dark red t-shirt and dark grey boxers from last night.

"Shadow!" Sonic said waving his arms, stumbling towards his older brother, ignoring his wounded left thigh, feeling how the blood trickled down his left leg.

"Sonic!" Shadow said, running towards Sonic.

Finally, they met and Sonic flung his arms around his brother's neck, whereas Shadow wrapped his arms tightly around the other's waist. Shadow and Sonic just held each other tight for a while, not saying a word, Sonic was laughing and crying at the same time then they drew apart.

"I was so worried about you! Never do anything like that ever again, do you hear me? I thought I would never find you! Do you know how dangerous these woods are?" Shadow asked, scolding.

Sonic wiped his tears away with his right hand, feeling slightly embarrassed. No wonder Amy would rather be married to Shadow. Sonic had again managed to behave like a sulky child, running away into the woods because he was pissed, getting in trouble, needing his big brother to help him. Shadow's telling-off was further proof to this. Sonic was a father and a husband now and he needed to act more responsible in the future. Sonic needed to prove to Amy that marrying him hadn't been a mistake.

Shadow's features softened. "You are hurt. Come, sit down, let me have a look at it." he said.

Shadow led Sonic over to a fallen tree which was forming a natural bench.

"Oh my, it really is a deep cut, I think you might need some stitches, but I'll try to wrap it up so that you won't die of blood loss." Shadow said, trying to joke.

Sonic just rolled his eyes as he knew he screwed up then Shadow took off his t-shirt with both hands and wrapped it around Sonic's left thigh.

"That should stop the bleeding long enough until we get back to the cabin and Blaze and Rose can have a look at it." Shadow said then he stood up and reached out his right hand into Sonic's direction to draw him to his feet as well.

Sonic took it with his right hand while frowning at his older brother. "Do you know the way back?" he asked.

Shadow blushed. "Well, not really, but we don't have any other opportunity but to try, don't we?" he asked then he briefly squeezed Sonic's right hand before letting go of it. "Come on, let's go back to the others. When I left, they were really worried."

Sonic swallowed. "Even... her?" he asked, wanting to know.

Shadow sighed. "To be honest, when I left, she didn't know that you were gone, but I'm certain that the others have already informed her about our absence and, yes I believe that she must be worried sick! No matter how angry she might have been with you, she loves you, you idiot!" he said and put his right hand to Sonic's neck, pulling him close in order to press their foreheads together.

Then Shadow and Sonic started their way back. Shadow said that he somehow remembered certain prominent tree formations and thus might find their way through the thicket, but Sonic had the feeling that they were walking in circles. Sonic was thirsty and hungry, his left leg and left wrist were aching and the air in the forest was so dense, he had trouble breathing.

"Can we... can we take a break, Shads? I'm so exhausted!" Sonic asked, pleading.

Shadow stopped dead in his tracks, turning towards Sonic. "You alright?" he asked, worriedly.

Sonic licked his dry and cracked lips. "Yeah... no, I don't know. I'm feeling dizzy... I need to sit down!" he said before sinking down to the ground and sighing deeply. "We'll never get back home, Shads. We'll never see her or our babies again! We'll die out here, but at least you and I are together!"

Sonic could feel new tears welling up in his eyes.

Shadow crouched down next to Sonic on the left side. "Sonic! Don't give up! We will find back to them, to Rose and Eclipse and Coral! Maybe... maybe we should let our heart guide us. Let's just wish to get back to them I found you, after all..." he said.

Sonic wiped away his tears with his right arm, sniffing then he looked into his older brother's crimson red eyes, nodding. "Yeah, maybe you are right. Maybe we just have to close our eyes and tap our heels 3 times, thinking 'There's no place like home' and we will find back to them." he said sarcastically but actually hoping that it would work like that.

Shadow snorted. "Yeah, maybe we should try that. But first, you have to get up. Come on, Sonic!" he said then stood up and again, he helped his younger brother to his feet, this time not letting go of his right hand with his left hand while they were stumbling through the undergrowth, not thinking about how they could go back to Amy and the babies, but rather finding their way instinctively.

Sonic couldn't believe his eyes. There Amy stood, in a small clearing like a wood nymph in her dark khaki shorts and a light blue tank top, her pink quills illuminated by the sunlight, arms akimbo, looking up to Scourge who had climbed a tree in order to survey their surroundings. Unfortunately, Scourge was looking in the wrong direction and thus had missed Shadow's and Sonic's arrival.

"Amy!" Sonic said, letting go of his older brother's left hand, running towards Amy.

Sonic could see Amy squaring her shoulders, turning into his direction, her eyes widening when she saw him.

"Sonic!" Amy said, heading towards Sonic until they met, embracing tightly.

"Oh, Sonic." Amy said whispering, taking Sonic's face between her hands, kissing him passionately.

Sonic could feel tears burning in his eyes. "How could I even have assumed that she didn't love me anymore?" he thought then suddenly he felt another pair of arms wrapping around him and Amy. It was Shadow.

Amy broke her kiss with Sonic and turned towards Shadow, kissing him now as well.

"I'm so glad you 2 are back." Amy said, first pressing her forehead against Shadow's then she repeated the gesture with Sonic.

In the meantime, Scourge had climbed down from the tree and walked over to Shadow, Sonic, and Amy.

"You 2 are nothing but trouble, yet I'm glad you have returned, safe and sound." Scourge said but Sonic could see the relief in his cyan blue eyes. It was the complete opposite of Shadow's crimson red eyes, however, it reminded Sonic of roses. Amy's eyes, on the other hand, were a jade green, shiny and precious, like those priceless gems. Now those eyes looked at Sonic, soft and caring.

"You are hurt." Amy said, lowering her gaze.

For a moment, Sonic wondered how Amy could tell without looking at his left thigh then he noticed that blood was seeping through Shadow's makeshift bandage and she had probably felt it on her own thigh when they were embracing.

"Yes." Sonic said, blushing.

"He cut his thigh." Shadow said.

Amy frowned then crouched down to inspect the wound, unwrapping Shadow's t-shirt with both hands and she winced when she saw the rupture.

"I think it needs stitches and the margins of the wound already look inflamed, maybe you will also need antibiotics." Amy said.

Sonic frowned. "Maybe Blaze can take care of it she is a nurse, after all." he said.

Amy looked up at Sonic. "Yes, of course, she can clean the wound, disinfect it and professionally bandage it, but I doubt that she has antibiotics. Sonic, this is serious, I don't want to be a widow so shortly after my wedding!" she said.

"Well then, at least, you will be free to marry my brother!" Sonic said and almost instantly regretted it when he saw Amy's hurt expression and heard Shadow's startled gasp.

"You got to be kidding me, Sonic! Do you really think I would have married you if I didn't want to?" Amy asked.

Sonic pouted. "Well, you said so yourself, that maybe you should have married Shadow instead of me because he is always there when you need him, contrary to me!" he said.

Amy got up again, putting her left hand to Sonic's right cheek. "I know I said that. And I'm sorry! Of course I love you, and, of course, I love your brother. So this relationship is not easy for me, always trying to distribute my love for you equally, always trying not to exclude one of you... I accepted your proposal, Sonic because I wished to be married to you. Yet, I also wished to be married to you, Shadow. It was just a question of who asked me first." she said.

For a moment, the 2 hedgehog brothers just looked at each other then they took Amy into their arms, holding her close both of them.

"We love you, Ames." Sonic said whispering, kissing Amy's temple.

"Yeah, more than anything else in the world, except our babies and each other and our mother." Shadow said.

Shadow, Sonic, and Amy laughed.

Scourge cleared his throat. "I hate to interrupt you, guys, but I think it's time to go back!" he said.

Amy let go of Shadow and Sonic. "You are right. It's almost noon and none of us had any breakfast so far. I'm starving." she said.

Sonic frowned. "And you two know the way back? Without getting lost and stuff?" he asked.

Scourge smiled smugly at Sonic. "Of course we do. It's not the first time Amy and I went exploring these woods we almost know them like the back of our hands!" he said.

Amy just rolled her eyes. "He is exaggerating, at least to some extent. But it's true that we know how to find our way back, we're experienced hikers, after all!" she said.

Amy took Shadow's left hand and Sonic's right hand and followed Scourge who was leading the way from the clearing into the depth of the woods again. Sonic just hoped that the twins were alright and had a better sense of direction than him.

…

10 minutes later.

"Oh my god, there you 4 are finally here!" Blaze said.

Blaze, who was standing in front of the cabin, exclaimed when she saw the small group returning and she was holding a crying Coral in her arms, and although her words seemed to be directed at the 4 of them, her eyes were focused on Amy.

"What happened?" Amy asked worriedly, letting go of Shadow's left hand and Sonic's right hand, rushing towards her younger friend and her little daughter.

Blaze frowned. "Approximately 30 minutes ago, Eclipse and Coral started crying. So, Knuckles and I changed their diapers and when they wouldn't calm down after that, Silver heated up the 2 remaining bottles with your breast milk because we thought that they were hungry. Actually, Eclipse started drinking right away, but Coral refused the bottle, didn't want to drink, yet she also didn't stop crying. I've been walking around with her the whole time, while Knuckles and Silver tended to Eclipse. He finished his bottle but didn't stop crying as well. It really made us nervous, thinking that maybe something had happened to Shadow and Sonic or you!" she said.

Amy smiled at the younger cat woman and briefly embraced her while taking her daughter into her arms. "Nothing happened, we are all back, although Sonic is hurt. Can you please take a look at his thigh and his wrist?" she asked.

Blaze nodded, seeming to be glad to be rid of the responsibility to take care of little Coral.

However, as soon as Amy pressed her daughter to her chest, the baby stopped crying, opened her big emerald green eyes in order to look at her mother then pressed her little face against Amy's left breasts as if smelling the milk in it, which she actually probably did.

"Are you hungry, my precious?" Amy asked quietly and as if in response the infant girl hedgehog made a reassuring sound.

Amy smiled down at her then she pressed a kiss to Coral's forehead.

"Ouch! Honestly, are you treating all of your patients at the hospital as roughly as that, Blaze?" Sonic asked, complaining.

Amy briefly turned around, seeing Blaze kneeling in front of the cobalt blue quilled young man, unwrapping the makeshift bandage while Shadow was supporting his younger brother.

Scourge was hovering behind them. Amy remembered his fight with Silver and understood that he avoided going inside.

Yet Amy's daughter was hungry and she also wanted to look after her son, so she left the others behind because she was sure that Blaze knew what she was doing. When Amy entered the cabin, she saw Silver sitting on one of the couches in the living room, frowning at and singing to, Amy was sure it was 'Nothing Else Matters' by Metallica the little boy in his arms who was wailing and squirming while Knuckles was on the phone, pacing up and down.

"Hey, guys." Amy said, announcing her presence.

Both Knuckles and Silver looked at Amy as if she was a ghost.

"Finally." Silver said sighing, getting up from the couch and walking over to Amy.

There was a question in Silver's golden eyes and Amy knew what he tried to convey.

"Scourge is still outside with Shadow and Sonic!" Amy said.

Silver gave Amy a small nod then he stormed outside, the crying baby male hoglet still in his arms.

Knuckles just ended his phone call. "Yes, yes they have all returned now. Thank you so much for your help! Goodbye." he said then he turned towards her. "I'm glad you are all back, Amy. Um, do you need me here? Or can I go outside to my cousins?"

Amy smiled up at Knuckles. "Go to your cousins, Knuckles. Coral is hungry and I will have to feed her now." she said.

Knuckles blushed. "Oh, okay." he said and followed Silver outside.

Amy sighed as she settled down on the couch, pulling down the strap of her top with her right hand, opening her nursing bra, letting her daughter latch onto her left breast. Amy made a startled gasp as the little child drank with a strong gulp.

"Hey, Coral, if you are that hungry now, I wonder why you refused the bottle half an hour ago." Amy said while smiling fondly at the baby girl hoglet, gently stroking her chubby muzzle with her right hand.

Then there was a commotion at the door.

"And I'm telling you once again, Sonic, there is only so much I can do, please let one of us drive you to the hospital!" Blaze said angrily.

Sonic made a frustrated sound. "You are not my mother nor my wife, so you can't boss me around!" he said.

"Sonic!" Shadow asked, angrily.

Amy sighed. All Amy longed for was some peace and quiet with her daughter.

"Guys, I don't think we should burst in there like that! Amy made it clear that she wanted to breastfeed Coral." Knuckles said in a worried tone.

"So what? Do you think I haven't already seen my wife's breasts? Or that Shadow hasn't? How do you think Coral and Eclipse were made? Immaculate conception?" Sonic questioned now entering the cabin, supported by his older brother.

Knuckles and Blaze were hot on their heels whereas Silver and Scourge, the white hedgehog's left arm wrapped tightly around the cobalt blue hedgehog's waist, followed after a short while and it was Scourge who was now holding Eclipse in his arms, making funny faces at his nephew who seemed to be unimpressed by it.

Amy frowned at them, but they all didn't seem to care except from Knuckles who neglects looking at her, settling down on the couches and arm chairs. Fortunately, Coral didn't bother, just kept drinking as if she was starving and probably she actually was.

Sonic reclined next to her on the left side and Amy only now noticed that his forehead was covered in sweat.

"Shadow? Can you please check if he has a temperature?" Amy asked Shadow.

Shadow nodded, immediately putting his right hand to Sonic's forehead.

Sonic pulled a face.

"He feels hot, but actually I don't know." Shadow said.

Amy just nodded while Coral was still drinking.

Blaze growled. "I'll go get a thermometer." she said, storming out of the room.

In the meantime, Scourge had settled down on the other couch, Silver beside him on the right side, and the 2 of them tended to Eclipse as if he was their son and considering their situation, being an unmarried gay couple, Eclipse was the closest to having an own child that they probably could get at the moment).

In the end, it actually turned out that Sonic had a temperature but he remained stubborn, refusing to be driven to the hospital despite Shadow's and Amy's attempts at convincing him, only letting Blaze disinfect and sew the wound, before having a fresh bandage wrapped around it.

"I don't want to be separated from Shadow or Amy or my children." Sonic said.

Blaze rolled her eyes. "Alright. But if you aren't feeling better tomorrow morning, I will call an ambulance without your consent if you are still refusing to see a doctor." she said.

Amy silently agreed with Blaze after Coral had finished drinking, while she was closing her nursing bra, pulling up her top strap with her right hand.

…

Night Time.

Sonic woke up in the middle of the night to someone humming a lullaby and the creaking of a rocking chair. When Sonic opened his eyes he could see Amy sitting in the rocking chair in the dark, her figure only illuminated by a few stray moonbeams, highlighting her pink quills and her new grey sleep shirt.

Sonic involuntarily smiled at the picture as he loved to watch Amy interacting with their children, cuddling with them, feeding them, changing their diapers, although this task was almost always done by him or his older brother when they were home, bathing them.

Sonic thought about the things they had learned during their antenatal classes; not only how to get through the birthing process and to care for the babies, but also about the physical and mental changes with regard to the mother and about the strain that having a newborn would put on the parents' relationship. The lady who had given this course had mentioned that it was natural that the first few weeks to months after the birth a new mother would be mainly busy with tending to her child so that maybe other things were neglected. Therefore, many new fathers felt jealous of their children.

Sonic had snorted at that and exchanged a look with his older brother, and Shadow's skeptical expression had shown that he was sharing Sonic's conviction that they would never be jealous of their babies. Shadow had been right. On the contrary, Sonic felt sometimes jealous of Amy since she was the one the babies needed the most at the moment because she was breastfeeding them. Of course, on the few occasions when Amy had pumped milk and Shadow and Sonic had used baby bottles, he and his older brother had fed them but those occasions had been really rare.

Contentedly, Sonic closed his eyes, just listening to Amy humming the lullaby. Suddenly, Sonic frowned. Something was wrong with the melody, it wasn't the lullaby Amy was usually humming or singing to their babies.

"Why would she suddenly choose a different one?" Sonic thought.

"Amy?" Sonic asked.

The humming stopped for a moment then it continued.

Sonic sat up in bed. "Amy!" he said louder.

The humming stopped again then Amy started singing the lyrics.

It made Sonic's quills stand on end.

The lyrics were pretty dark and rather frightening than soothing.

"Why would she sing something like that to their babies?" Sonic thought.

"Amy!" Sonic said to Amy.

Shadow growled in his sleep, rolling onto his other side but Amy didn't react.

Sonic got up and stumbled towards Amy, his left thigh was still hurting but he had refused to see a doctor then he put his right hand on her left shoulder and she stopped singing, looking up at him instead.

Sonic felt how his heart stopped beating for a moment, a cold shiver ran down his spine. Amy's expression frightened Sonic as that wasn't his Amy.

Surprised, Sonic drew his right hand back and Amy started screaming.

Sonic stumbled backwards colliding with one of the cribs, fortunately it was Eclipse's empty crib since Amy was cradling their little boy in her arms. Yet the noise woke up Shadow completely.

Shadow sat up in bed. "What happened?" he asked as he looked between Amy and Sonic then he drew his eyebrows together looking Sonic directly in the eyes.

"What did you do?" Shadow asked his younger brother sternly, getting out of bed and rushing over to Amy.

Shadow put his left hand to Amy's left shoulder and froze.

Sonic knew immediately, that his older brother also noticed that there was something wrong with Amy.

"Amy, give me the baby, now!" Sonic said in a determined tone.

Amy didn't follow Sonic's order, quite the contrary clutching a now crying Eclipse tighter to her chest, but at least she stopped screaming.

"Not Amy!" Amy said, growling.

Sonic's eyes widened. "This wasn't real, was it?" he thought, biting his lip, he stepped forward, grabbing Shadow's right arm with his right hand.

Shadow shook him off, leaning down to Amy, now putting both of his hands on her shoulders, looking deep into her eyes.

"This is nonsense. You are Amy The Hedgehog, neé Rose, you are Sonic The Hedgehog's wife, mother of Coral and Eclipse The Hedgehog, sister to Scourge Rose and my lover! So fight against it! We all love you!" Shadow said.

For a moment, Amy's body went rigid then her expression changed and she cried.

"Shadow?" Amy asked, sadly.

Sonic let out a gasp of relief. "Yes, this was our Amy!" he thought.

Shadow sighed and took Amy into his arms, minding the baby boy hoglet she was holding.

"What happened?" Shadow asked.

Sonic could hear that Amy was crying, could see her shoulders shaking. Immediately Sonic wanted to go to Amy, to comfort her as well like Shadow then he heard a wailing from Coral's crib and he bent down to take the baby into his arms.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

"Yeah?" Sonic asked.

"Hi, um, sorry for disturbing you, but Blaze sent me down in order to ask if everything was alright. She claimed to have heard a woman screaming and thought that maybe there was something wrong with Amy... or the babies..." Knuckles said.

Shadow and Sonic exchanged a look.

"Everything's fine." Sonic said.

"I've just had a nightmare." Amy said.

Knuckles didn't seem to be pleased with that. "Can I come in, then?" he asked.

Sonic got furious. "Do they really think me or Shadow were hurting Amy or our babies?" he thought.

"Of course you can come in! What did you think we were doing?" Sonic asked angrily, exchanging a look with Shadow and Amy.

Knuckles opened the door turning on the lights with his right hand and peeking in shyly, he blushed as he noticed how short Amy's sleep shirt was, exposing all of her long, slim legs.

"I'm sorry but Blaze insisted." Knuckles said.

Amy smiled reassuringly at Knuckles while rocking the still crying Eclipse in her arms. "It's okay, Knuckles. I understand that Blaze is worried. I think I would have reacted the same if I had heard her screaming in the middle of the night!" she said.

Knuckles smiled back then he sent apologetic glanced at Shadow and Sonic. "Again, I'm sorry for disturbing you! Goodnight, everyone!" he said then closed the door with his right hand.

Shadow, Sonic, and Amy sighed with relief.

"Let's go back to bed, then." Shadow said.

Amy smiled tiredly at Shadow. "Yeah, good idea!" she said then got up from the rocking chairs, still clutching a crying Eclipse to her chest.

Shadow helped Amy to climb back into bed with both hands then joined her.

Sonic looked down at the baby in his arms. Coral seemed to have calmed down and were once again sleeping peacefully in Sonic's arms. Sonic decided to put Coral back into the crib and then to follow Shadow's and Amy's example.

Amy seemed to have other ideas. "Sonic no, I don't want her to sleep all alone in her crib. Bring her to our bed as well. I want to have her with me, like Eclipse!" she said.

Sonic nodded then walked over to the bed, his sleeping daughter in his arms. Sonic's left leg hurt like hell and he had trouble climbing into bed with his daughter in his arms but kept quiet.

Shadow seemed to have noticed that something was wrong with Sonic, frowning. "You okay, Sonic?" he asked.

That caused Amy to shoot Sonic a questioning glance while she handed Eclipse over to Shadow so that she could take Coral from her husband's arms which made it easier for him to get into bed.

"Yeah, I'm fine, it's just my leg." Sonic said and rested his head against Amy's right shoulder while reaching out his right hand to caress his daughter's silky purple quills.

"I'm worried about you, Sonic. You should have gone to the hospital! Maybe the wound is festering! Tomorrow morning let Blaze have a look at it and if she suggests again that you should see a doctor, I will drive you to the next town. Period!" Amy said.

Sonic made an indistinguishable sound which could be an affirmation or a negation.

"What was that?" Shadow asked sternly, obviously playing his big brother card.

"Yes." Sonic said grumbling, causing Shadow to chuckle.

Shadow was lying on his back holding Eclipse with both hands, who was still wailing quietly close to his chest.

"You know, I'm also worried about the babies." Amy said.

"Why?" Shadow asked quietly.

"Well, for example, Coral isn't drinking enough. And Eclipse is more crying than sleeping. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to go on holiday while they are still that young." Amy said.

"And maybe it's just a phase. Maybe they just need some time to adjust to the new environment. But speaking about being worried, Amy, I'm worried about you too." Sonic said.

Amy turned her head towards him. "About me? Why?" she asked.

Shadow snorted. "Why? Are you kidding? Did you forget about your... condition? The reason why Blaze sent Knuckles down to check if everything's alright?" he questioned.

Amy frowned. "To be honest, I don't remember a lot. I just know that I heard Eclipse crying, got out of bed and settled down with him in the rocking chairs. I thought he was hungry, so I nursed him and afterwards he was still crying. I tried to comfort him by humming the lullaby. Then, the next thing I know is you 2 standing in front of me, looking as if you had seen a ghost!" she said.

Sonic studied Amy's answer. "Maybe we did." he said, whispering.

"What was that?" Shadow asked, wanting to know.

Sonic cleared his throat. "Maybe Amy was possessed by a ghost." he said, his unsettling thoughts.

Shadow snorted again. "Yeah, sure. And we are all part of a ridiculous horror movie!" he said.

Unfortunately, Shadow didn't sound very convinced and Amy didn't say anything at all. Finally, even Eclipse calmed down and they all fell asleep.

…

Morning.

When Amy woke up the next morning, she immediately checked Sonic's temperature by brushing back his sweaty quills, pressing her left hand to his forehead. Sonic felt hot, too hot and this wasn't a good sign.

"Sonic, please wake up!" Amy said, whispering.

Sonic didn't react, so Amy shook his left shoulder with her left hand.

"Sonic!" Amy said.

Sonic groaned and tried to back away then suddenly he cried out and sat up in bed, waking Shadow as well.

"What happened?" Shadow asked and also sat up, carefully pressing a peacefully sleeping Eclipse to his chest.

"Sonic has got a temperature." Amy said while rocking a whimpering Coral.

"How's your leg, Sonic?" Shadow asked, wanting to know.

"It's okay, I think it's even better than yesterday." Sonic said but didn't sound very convincing.

Amy exchanged a look with Shadow for a moment.

"You've always been a very bad liar, Sonic." Shadow said quietly and got out of bed, walking over to the cribs, placing Eclipse in one of them then he went over to his younger brother, unceremoniously pulling back the covers with his right hand.

Amy gasped as she saw how red and raw the skin on Sonic's left thigh looked.

"Unwrap his wound, Shadow." Amy said.

Shadow tried to do as he was told, Sonic slapped his left hand away with his right hand.

"Don't touch me, Shads!" Sonic said.

"Sonic! This is not the time to be stubborn! If the wound is infected and you don't get the right treatment, you can die!" Amy said and couldn't prevent her voice from shaking. Yes, Amy was worried about her young, stubborn, and irrational husband.

Shadow's eyes widened for a moment then he grabbed his brother's leg with his right hand, starting to remove the bandage with his left hand.

"I swear, Sonic, if you slap my hand again, I will knock you unconscious to check your wound and drag you to the hospital if necessary." Shadow said.

Sonic crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I'm not a child, Shads." he said.

"Then stop acting like one." Shadow said and when the bandage was finally gone, he gasped. "Oh my, Sonic, that looks awful!"

Amy gulped.

Although Blaze had done her best to disinfect and sew the wound, it was clearly inflamed and festering, the skin an angry dark red around the suture and there was clearly pus seeping from it.

"Shadow, go get Blaze and the others. Now!" Amy said.

Shadow nodded then he got up from the floor, stumbling towards the bedroom door.

Sonic turned towards his wife.

"What is it? It's not that bad, isn't it? Blaze can clean it and then everything will be fine, right?" Sonic asked wanting to know, frowning.

Amy just looked at Sonic at his frightened expression and felt terrible because of the things she had said to him the previous day. "Oh, Sonic." she said then embracing him carefully because she was still holding their little daughter.

"Don't worry, Amy. I'm not going to die. I'm too stubborn for that! And besides, I wouldn't want to leave you all alone, my beautiful wife, my baby daughter, my big brother, and my little nephew!" Sonic said.

Amy looked up at Sonic unbelievingly. "How...? Why...?" she asked.

Amy wanted to ask Sonic how he had figured out the paternity of the twins but failed.

Sonic smiled sadly at Amy. "Oh, I'm not stupid, in spite of what you and Shadow might think!" he said.

Amy wanted to say something, but instead she just kissed Sonic, trying to convey everything she felt for him with that kiss.

Then Shadow returned, followed by a sleepy Blaze, a confused Knuckles, a grumpy Silver, and a concerned Scourge.

"Oh my God, we need to get you to the hospital, Sonic!" Blaze said.

Shadow simply nodded. "Okay, I'll take you, Sonic! Let me just get dressed!" he said.

Amy looked at the others. "I'm going with them, so I need you to look after the babies. And by looking after them, I really mean it! Don't leave them alone for a minute, okay?" she asked.

Scourge drew his eyebrows together. "Why? What's up?" he asked, wanting to know and came over to the bed to take Coral from Amy with both hands.

Amy tried to smile reassuringly at Scourge. "It's nothing, it's just that... that I had a bad dream!" she said.

Scourge shot Amy a questioning glance but remained silent.

Blaze cleared her throat. "But you don't know how long you will be gone... What if the babies get hungry?" she asked.

Amy felt herself blushing. "I'll pump some milk so that you can give them their bottles in case they get hungry!" she said.

Suddenly there were soft cries coming from Eclipse's crib and Silver automatically tended to him, lifting him up with both hands.

Amy got up from the bed, taking all the supplies she needed for expressing milk with her with both hands then heading to the bathroom.

"Hurry up." Shadow said to Amy.

Shadow was already wearing a pair of jeans and seemed to be ready to leave.

Amy just rolled her eyes. "Actually, I was going to take a bath and do a facial, wash my quills, blow dry and straighten it... but if you insist..." she said sarcastically.

Amy could hear Sonic laugh.

"I love this woman!" Sonic said.

Amy was glad that Sonic didn't lose his humor, despite his serious condition.

Amy didn't like to use the breast pump because on the one hand, it was uncomfortable, on the other, it hurt her pride. Yet there were those occasions, like today when she had to use it in order to provide her babies with breast milk when she wasn't able to breastfeed them.

While Amy was pumping, she noticed that her body didn't produce as much milk as it used to and she made a mental note to take better care of herself.

After Amy had filled 2 bottles with breast-milk, she quickly dressed herself and left the bathroom.

Sonic was still sitting on the bed while Shadow was pacing.

"Finally!" Shadow said, went over to his younger brother and helped him up.

"Sorry, but it takes some time to express milk and I don't want to take the babies with us to the hospital too many germs!" Amy said.

Amy could see Shadow rolling his eyes but remaining quiet.

While Shadow walked his younger brother to the car, Amy left some instructions for her older twin brother and Blaze concerning Eclipse's and Coral's care, kissed her babies goodbye then she followed her husband and his younger brother.

….

30 minutes later.

Julayla Memorial Hospital.

At the hospital, they didn't have to wait long because the receptionist recognized the serious condition Sonic was in, instantly sending him to one of the doctors. Sonic's wound was seriously infected and the doctor gave him some local anesthesia so that he could reopen the suture to remove the infected tissue. After the surgery, Sonic was hooked to an IV which supplied him with fluids, antibiotics, and pain killers and he needed to stay at the hospital overnight. Amy wanted to sit with Sonic for a while before driving back to the cabin, but then she received a phone call from a frantic Blaze.

"Amy, you have to come back! Coral won't take the bottle, not from me and Knuckles nor from Scourge and Silver. She was gurgling after we could force at least some milk into her." Blaze said.

Amy got angry. "You forced-fed my daughter?" she asked in a very loud voice which caused Shadow to frown and Sonic to scowl.

"What are they doing to our babies?" Sonic asked wanting to know, trying to get out of bed but was pushed back by his older brother.

"We didn't force-feed her, I just put the rubber nipple to her lips and squeezed some drops of milk into her mouth and she was swallowing it, but then..." Blaze said trying to defend herself but was cut-off by an angry Amy.

"Please put Scourge on the phone, I need to talk to my brother." Amy said.

Blaze obeyed.

"Amy, don't be angry with Blaze, she only meant well when she tried..." Scourge said.

But Amy interrupted Scourge.

"I don't care right now. I want you to take Eclipse and Coral to my bedroom, put them into their cribs and stay with them until I get back, okay?" Amy asked.

Amy could hear that Scourge was taking a deep breath.

"Yeah, fine." Scourge said.

Amy decided that she immediately needed to go back and suggested that Shadow could stay with Sonic and she would fetch him later, but the 2 hedgehog brothers had other ideas.

"No, I'm coming with you, to give you some back up, this house is creepy enough and now we also have to deal with a bunch of idiots that can't take care of 2 little babies." Shadow said.

Sonic nodded. "Yeah, he is right. I'm in good hands, but our babies aren't. I would feel better if I knew that my wife doesn't have to face those idiots alone!" he said.

Shadow briefly embraced his younger brother, pressing his forehead to Sonic's then Amy did the same, kissing him afterwards.

...

30 minutes later.

Forest Hill.

Cabin.

When they drove back to the cabin, it was without Sonic.

It turned out that Eclipse and Coral had been crying non-stop after they had left, but whereas Scourge and only Scourge could give Eclipse his bottle, Coral had flat out refused to be fed by any of them, she only drank again when Amy was nursing her.

In the end, Blaze ended up crying in the room she shared with her fiancé because there had been a small fight between her and Amy. Amy said that she would never again let Blaze take care of her babies, while Shadow filled in the others about Sonic's condition.

For the rest of the day, the atmosphere was rather tense, so they all decided to go to bed early, however, not before Scourge cautiously suggested.

"Amy, Shadow, you 2 are really exhausted, especially after all the trouble with Sonic. I think you could do with a good night's sleep. So, why don't you let Silver and me look after Coral and Eclipse tonight? We can put their cribs into our bedroom... Of course, if they won't stop crying again or refuse drinking, we will bring them immediately to you!" Scourge asked.

Amy looked unsure, but before she could refuse her older twin brother's suggestion, Shadow answered in her stead.

"I think that's a great idea, Scourge! Come, Silver, let us carry the cribs upstairs!" Shadow said.

Silver frowned but followed his older cousin.

...

40 minutes later.

Coral and Eclipse were sound asleep in Scourge and Silver's room while Shadow and Amy retreated to theirs.

The bed felt too big without Sonic in it. Maybe that was the reason why they were clinging to each other, Shadow's right arm tightly wrapped around her shoulders, Amy's head resting on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

Amy could feel Shadow's right hand stroking her back, while Amy's left hand was caressing his left thigh. At some point, Shadow and Amy got bolder, letting their hands wander underneath their clothes, touching bare skin.

Amy felt Shadow's left hand slipping into her panties, fondling her backside, whereas her right fingers were already playing with his white chest fur, his pecks, although they weren't as sensitive as Sonic's, eliciting a soft sigh from him.

In response, Shadow let his left hand wander over Amy's butt cheeks, lower and lower until she felt his fingers brushing against her already wet entrance.

"Sh-Shadow...!" Amy said, moaning.

"I want you, Rose." Shadow said whispering while he slightly pushed his left index and middle fingers inside of Amy.

"Then take me." Amy said, breathlessly.

Shadow didn't need to be told twice, flipping Amy onto her back, settling down between her legs. Amy could feel how hard Shadow already was while he crashed his lips to hers, kissing her rather aggressively. For a moment, Amy yielded to Shadow then she kissed back, fighting for dominance, yanking up his t-shirt with both hands as he was doing the same with hers, scratching her nails over his back while his hands were cupping her breasts, teasing her nipples until they ejected some milk due to arousal and stimulation.

For a moment, Shadow hesitated, then he latched onto her breasts, first the left one then the right one, tasting Amy's milk, sucking and licking the sensitive nubs, making her moan.

"I need you, Shadow, I need you inside of me!" Amy said, moaning.

Shadow let go of Amy's breasts.

Shadow and Amy quickly undressed each other after that then Amy settled down on her back again, slightly spreading her legs as Shadow knelt between them, grabbing her thighs, placing her knees onto his shoulders. Amy helped Shadow to enter her by separating her pussy while he took his cock in his right hand, positioning at her entrance, looking deeply into her eyes.

"Rose, may I?" Shadow asked.

Amy nodded and then she felt Shadow's cock stretching and filling her with one hard, deep thrust until he was buried to the hilt. Shadow and Amy both moaned, never breaking eye contact.

Then Shadow started moving, hard, fast, and deep, pressing his hands into the flesh of Amy's hips, bruising her and watching her, slightly changing the angle of penetration, brushing against that sweet spot inside of her, causing her to cry out with lust.

Amy's body was covered in sweat and she felt that she was close. Yet, when Amy let her left hand wander to her pussy to massage her clit, Shadow slapped her left hand away with his right hand.

"No, you don't need this. My cock alone will make you come!" Shadow said.

Amy only moaned in response, turned on by Shadow's words.

Shadow slightly leaned forward, and his manhood was no longer only stimulating the G-spot inside of Amy, but also rubbing against her exposed and swollen clit with every thrust, while his testicles were slapping against her womanhood.

It didn't take Amy long to climax.

"Shadow!" Amy said, screaming, raking her nails over his back until the skin broke and she was drawing blood.

When Amy's inner muscles were convulsing around him, Shadow also reached his peak, and with a shout of triumph and one last deep hard thrust, he spilled his cum inside of her, filling her with his seed.

Afterwards, Shadow collapsed on top of Amy, catching his breath while her hands were caressing his back.

"Sonic will be fine." Shadow said whispering, pressing a soft kiss to Amy's collarbone.

"I know." Amy said, burying her right hand in his wild and sweaty black and red quills.

Shadow and Amy remained like that for a while, holding each other close, caressing and kissing each other, then Shadow disentangled himself from her, rolling onto his right side of the bed. Shadow slightly winced when his back encountered the bed sheets.

"What's wrong?" Amy asked wanting to know, turning towards Shadow.

Shadow just chuckled. "I totally forgot that you turn into a wild one every time we have sex." he said.

Amy frowned. "It's about the scratching, isn't it? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you." she asked, whispering.

Shadow also turned towards Amy. "It's okay." he said then he reached out his left hand and placed it onto Amy's left hip. "I also wasn't very gentle with you." referring to her bruised flesh, bearing the imprints of his fingers.

Amy gave Shadow a small smile. "I like it when you mark me during sex." she said.

Shadow grinned at Amy. "See? And I like it when you mark me!" he asked then he spread a blanket over them with his left hand.

Shadow and Amy fell asleep soon after.

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End of Chapter 6.

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