A/N:Here comes twenty-six :)! Now I really doubt it's going to happen, but I'm hoping that this is going to be one of the last chapters. Maybe two more after this :)? Ahh watch us end up with like fifty xP. I had some very concerned reviews… I think a lot of people are going to hate me when this is over. Gulp…

But guys, don't worry! I've got a happyish ending coming :D!...

--LA

P.S: Or… do I?!

Hina, Felix, Leah and Gabby are mine -. I read through Child's Play and AFS again… ÜBER YUCKNESS T.T!

"Come on." Knuckles breathed into Rouge's ear. She nodded her head and gave Tails a final squeeze. The fox was lay still crumpled on the table, eyes open and blank, staring at his own limp fingers, just as he had for the last hour despite Knuckles and Rouge's (mainly the latter) attempts to comfort him.

The bat and echidna left the room in a sort of mournful silence. Rouge led the way out the front door, the refreshingly cool night air greeting them.

"Poor Tails." She said softly, feeling tears of sympathy coming to her eyes.

"Come with me." Knuckles said gruffly. He grabbed her hand, but readjusted his grip and took hold of her elbow, and tugged her back to her apartment building without a word. Up the stairs they went, and down the hallway, soundless all the while.

The apartment was chilled as a result of the shattered window, and still messy from the entire affair. Rouge gave an uncertain sort of half smile, picking up the abused newspaper article off of the ground and slowly unfolding it.

"This was my partner, you know." She said quietly. Knuckles didn't speak. "I left her there because I didn't want my baby to be like me. She was so afraid to go back to jail that she kept me on a leash the entire time. But I left her."

She glanced at him and the corners of her lips cheeks twitched despite herself. Knuckles was frozen in his spot entranced by a fly perched on his right eye ridge. He smacked at it dumbly a few times before giving up and returning his attention to the bat. Perhaps other women would have been offended that he hadn't paid attention to her, but she honestly wasn't bothered.

"Sorry." He muttered. "You know, if you hadn't chucked the flower I got you through the window, you wouldn't have this infestation." He gestured grumpily around the room where no other insects were visible.

"Don't you dare trying to blame anything on me, Mr. Unemployed." She countered crossly. She grabbed his hand and pulled him down onto the couch. She had forgotten how toned his arms were. "Now before someone else dies, we're going to talk."

"Fine." Knuckles said irritably. When they sat in silence for a moment, he rapped his fist on his leg impatiently.

"Well?" He demanded. Rouge's eyes were glazed over, and she stared absently into his chest. "Hello?" he said loudly, crossing his arms. Rouge snapped back, but didn't speak, only realigned her stare into his eyes. They were the colour of grapes. The colour of the sky at dusk… the colour of…

"Look…" Knuckles growled. "If you wanna interrogate me, I'm right here. But if you're just planning on sitting there and ogling me, then I'm just going to go."

Rouge nodded her head slowly, her eyes bobbing up and down in their sockets and never leaving their target. She managed to tear herself from her trance just enough to say: "I'm never going to do it again."

Knuckles couldn't help but frown. "Well, I hope not…" he ranted on for a moment before the bat, her teal eyes ever unblinking, spoke in a quiet, mesmerized voice.

"And neither will you." With that, the entire controversy was over in her mind.

"I didn't do anything in the first place!" He argued moodily. But Rouge was not paying attention to his scathing words. She watched his lips move instead.

Completely impulsively, she pulled him towards herself. He fought at first, but soon gave in…

God bless hormones.

The light disappeared as curtains were drawn closed. Sonic, just barely awake, pried an eye open. The darkness was soothing on his tired eyes, and the sight of his favourite pink hedgehog even more so.

"Good morning, sleepy-head." She said apologetically. "I was closing the curtains so the light wouldn't wake you up."

"Sorry." He murmured, forcing himself up.

"Why did you stay so late at Tails'?" she asked, plopping down on the bed and crossing her legs intently.

"You should have seen Hina, Amy." He said, shaking his head. "She's gotten so big."

"She's a fast grower." Amy remarked.

"You have no idea."

They sat together quietly for a few minutes, each thinking about Hina.

"I wonder how Tails is going to manage." Sonic said with a chuckle, gently knuckling her arm. "I hear those tweenie-bobs can be quite the little brats."

"Who are you calling a tweenie-bop?" She asked with a defensive grin, "I'm only a year younger than you are."

"And Hina is living proof that a year can be the difference between a toddler and a tweenie-bop."

Amy crossed her arms and jumped to her feet. "Alright, then you can make your own breakfast."

Sonic, with images of sizzling eggs and bacon in his mind, followed.

"Okay, okay. Then you can be a young lady."

Amy raised an eyebrow. "I like the sound of that."

"STRANGER DANGER!" Leah shrieked, dashing from the washroom with her toothbrush clutched to her chest. She turned a sharp corner, sprinting into the kitchen.

"Leah?" said Tails uncertainly.

"Are you okay?" She asked, cocking her head. "You sound sick."

Tails was as amused as he could bring himself to feel at her short attention span. "I'm okay." He said, trying to force a pleasant expression into his voice.

Leah looked at him with her eyes narrowed slightly for a moment before blinking and letting out a little gasp.

"Tails!" she said suddenly, "There's a weird lady in the bathroom!"

The fox was feeling too exhausted to explain. The little panda, realizing that he wasn't answering, tried to make herself look so adorably curious that he could not refuse. He was unresponsive.

"I've got to go." He said quietly, standing up and leaving a disappointed-looking Leah. "Ask Gabrielle."

Tails made his way into the living room and sat beside the still sleeping Hina with a shaky breath. As gently as he could, he lifted her into his arms and stepped gingerly outside. He was happy to find her surprisingly light, as always. They looked like quite the odd pair, as Hina was now too large to be held in the crook of an elbow.

Hina's eyes fluttered open, and she looked around for a moment before understanding where she was. At first, she tried to sit up, but gave in and nuzzled into her makeshift father's fur.

"Mipro." She said softly.

It was then that Tails made a decision. He would not tell Hina about her foredoomed future. She would live however long she would live, and not be bound by the knowledge of her end.

He placed her onto her feet and stared straight into those astonishingly blue eyes.

"I don't care how big you are." He said tenderly. "You're still my baby."

She smiled. If all was well with him, than all was well with her.

"And you're still my Mipro."

A/N:That one's really short x.x :P. Personally, I do not like it :P. I've been sick this week… so my brain isn't cooperating as well as it probably should. I've been stuck at home with this yucky head cold :C! But that's okay because it gave me a whole bunch of boring time to write.

ONE MORE CHAPTER, EVERYONE:O!! I'm pumped to get it over with -!

--LA