Maria sat on the living room floor with a bunch of colored paper scattered around her. Also amongst the clutter were jars of different colored glitters and sequins, crayons, markers, a box of uncooked macaroni noodles, and Elmer's School Glue. She busied herself with a particular piece of cardboard, which was folded in half.
Nearby, Shadow was busy hanging streamers up around the apartment. The paper ribbon was rainbow colored, changing from one color to another. The dark hedgehog grinned a bit while he set up the streamers, thinking how he'd considered Sara's bright rainbow preference nauseating a few years ago. "Does this look okay, Maria?" he asked as he held a paper banner up in the center of the ribbons.
The little girl turned around sharply and looked at it with a smile on her face. "Uh huh!"
"She better appreciate this..." Shadow muttered softly as he stapled the sign in place. Soon after there was a knock at the door. "It's open!" he called while in the kitchen this time. He was standing up on a chair trying to pull some stuff down from one of the top shelves.
"I can't, my hands are full!" a female voice replied.
Shadow grumbled a bit and stepped down from the chair to get the door. Shadow's semi-cold gaze relaxed when he saw the fudge-covered chocolate cake she was carrying. "Thanks for bringing that, Amy." He stepped aside so she could enter the apartment.
"Not a problem! I know what a sweet tooth she has." The pink hedgehog grinned. Amy was clad in a sleeveless lavender dress made of a silky material. It had white flowers sewn into it and had a faintly Chinese design to it. The sandals she wore were a bit ornate and matched her dress, being a shiny lavender with a small rose on the center of each.
"So why isn't Sonic holding the door for you?" he asked and headed back to the kitchen. He finally managed to snag the bag of odds and ends he'd been trying to reach. It was filled with birthday candles, food coloring, birthday picks, rings, Mother's Day signs, and various little used baking utensils. It also had last year's Christmas sprinkles spilled on the inside. Why she bothers to save this stuff when we never reuse it is beyond me….
"He's busy getting Rift and Blitz ready," Amy said, setting the cake down on the kitchen counter. She glanced back at Maria, who'd looked up at the mention of her friends' names. "They'll be here soon, sweetness!"
"He was supposed to help me with the decorating." Shadow heaved a sigh and sorted through the bag of decorating items.
"Well, looks like you didn't need it. You did a good job! It's nice and bright." She smiled warmly.
"... Thanks." He opened his mouth to say something more, but changed his mind. He drew out a couple of number candles that had been used on Maria's first and second birthdays and inspected them. There was only a little melting at the top, and the candles themselves didn't have any cracks in them. He then looked at the chocolate fudge cake on the counter. It had teal and pink roses on it and sprinkles, and of course the writing, wishing Sara a happy birthday. He then sank the 2 and the 1 into it where he felt there was enough space for them.
Another knock came at the door and this time Amy answered "Come on in!"
The door opened and two purple hedgehogs walked in, followed by their blue father, who was carrying an arm full of packages. "Didn't start the party without me, did ya?" the Blue Blur smirked.
"Of course not, Sara's not here yet." Amy wrinkled her nose.
Blitz and Rift made their way over to Maria, and the older of the two spoke first. "Whatcha doin'?"
"Making a card for Mommy," she replied, sticking macaroni on the front of it.
"It's a mess," he said after looking at the sticky mess of macaroni letters and glitter. "You got too much glue on it, it'll never dry."
Maria made a face. "Mommy will like it...and it will too dry!" she said indignantly.
"Yeah, in a bajillion years." He rolled his eyes and received a handful of macaroni flung at him. "Hey! It's true!"
Maria stuck her tongue out at him. "Meanie!"
"It looks nice to me." Rift said, looking at the messy birthday card.
"When can we have cake?" Blitz asked, turning to his parents.
"When the party starts," Amy chuckled. "Sara should be home soon. Why don't you kids go play Brawl while you wait?" The group nodded and gladly started beating each other up in the fighter game.
Mina had come from Mobius for the birthday party, as had Tiara. To keep Sara busy while things were set up, she was out with her dad, who treated her to a Japanese restaurant for her birthday. She enjoyed going out with her dad, and even though he lived in Station Square now as well, he was usually busy with his own restaurant and had little time to spend with her. The two of them returned to the apartment around 5 PM and were greeted with a loud round of "Happy birthday!" Though Shadow was the quietest of those cheering, he couldn't help but smile.
"Aww! Thank you guys so much!" She smiled and looked over at her mate with twinkling eyes. "Your doing?"
"Eh...I asked Amy about it when you said you didn't want a party this year. I keep telling you you're a bad liar." He shrugged.
Sara put her arms around his neck in a tight embrace, "Thank you, honey! I know you don't like parties," she whispered the last part.
"Amy made a chocolate fudge cake," he replied, giving her a loose hug in return. Her eyes brightened considerably at that.
"Oh man! Thank you!" she beamed.
"Soitenly!" Sonic chuckled.
The party went over well, even though Shadow tried to be a wall flower as much as possible. Sara absolutely gushed about the card Maria made her, even though the glue hadn't quite set, it was by far the largest card on the stack. That gave her little girl's ego plenty of bragging rights when she got back to playing with Blitz. Mina had given her a prerelease of her latest CD and a new rainbow t-shirt. Tiara had opted for a less personal gift card to GAP Mammals. A new bento lunch box was well received from her father, and a beautiful silk outfit from Amy and Sonic. Shadow had decided to cater to her gaming instincts by buying her a new Dance Dance Revolution game.
From that point on, the living room thundered with footsteps as the coffee table was moved aside in favor of two dance pads. Sara and Amy were the first two to test their skills, scoring high on the first song they chose. Sonic and Amy went next, followed by Mina and Maria, then Blitz and Rift. Shadow made up some excuse about having two left feet.
After everyone was worn out, cake and ice cream was served and the party lowered to a dull roar. Sara's favorite anime tunes were playing in the background and there was a warm atmosphere in the apartment. "Ahh...I really appreciate this!" she beamed, digging into the cake excitedly. "Mmm...this is wonderful!"
Amy laughed, "I gotta admit, Shadow knows your tastes."
He attempted to look casual about it as he poked at his slice of cake. "I never will understand what it is about chocolate…." He wrinkled his nose as if it offended him. Truthfully, he enjoyed chocolate too, but the way Sara went nuts over it never ceased to amaze him.
"Did you know about this too?" the sky blue hedgehog asked her graying father with a smile.
"Oh yes…. You enjoyed eating at the Sakura, right?" he said in reference to the Japanese steakhouse they'd visited.
"Oh yes, the food there is excellent! Ahh! We have to go there sometime, you girls!" she said to her two Mobian friends. "You're only here for the party, right?"
"Yeah, but I have a concert here in a month, I could get you guys tickets if you want?" Mina said, and then enjoyed a few bites of her cake.
"Absolutely! Maria's never been to a concert." She smiled over at her little girl.
"You should visit Mobius more often. And you should bring Maria. She should be with more of her own kind, don't you think?" Tiara, the other hedgehog guest, put in. Shadow made a face at that.
"Actually, there are quite a few Mobians here in Station Square now," Charles replied; he then went on to talk about the specific statistical climb in travel through the world gates and the dispersion of differing species. "Of the Mobians in Station Square, about six percent are hedgehogs. About eighty percent of them live between the Regal and Emerald Coast areas."
"Okay okay! I give!" Tiara replied to laughter.
Tiara and Mina were the first guests to leave when the party wound down. After giving the birthday girl a kiss on the cheek, Chuck headed for home, leaving the two hedgehog families in the apartment watching the kids. Blitz and Maria had finally settled down and were playing Team battles in Smash Brothers while Rift had fallen asleep on Amy's lap.
"Mmm...I'd hate to disturb him," Amy said gently, stroking her little boy's quills.
"Yeah, I know how you feel." Sara smiled at the pair.
"That was really sweet of you, Shadow," Sonic put in after a minute.
"Eh?" The black and red hedgehog gave him a blank expression.
"Throwin' a party and inviting her friends from Mobius." He smirked. "Didn't think you had party organizing skills like that."
"Shows what you know." He rolled his eyes.
Sara shifted so she leaned on Shadow as they sat there on the couch, and pulled one of his arms around her. "It was sweet. And that was Sonic giving you a compliment, so you'd better take it while it lasts." She chuckled softly.
"And ruin my reputation as a badass?" he said coolly, trying hard not to smother her with affection as though the couple watching them weren't there.
"Ha, that got ruined long ago, Shadow." Amy smiled softly. "You and Sara make too cute of a couple."
"And you ruined Sonic's reputation as a loner," Sara said with a chuckle.
"Aww... Let's face it, Shadow, women ruined us!" Sonic laughed.
"Maybe…." Shadow shrugged.
"Mmmnnn…. Uhg, I think I ate too much cake," Sara commented, "I feel a lil' queasy."
Shadow glanced at her with mild concern; she hadn't really eaten that much. He assumed it was because she'd just gotten through eating with her dad, though. "You sure? You usually pack away twice that amount of cake."
"Yeah...umm...excuse me," the birthday girl said and headed off to the bathroom.
Shadow's sharp ears detected a familiar sound he hadn't heard in quite some time, followed by a toilet flush. "...Sounds like the party food didn't agree with her."
"Ouch…. Sorry, man," Sonic offered.
Amy gently set Rift aside next to her and then headed to the bathroom when Sara didn't come out after the flush. "Sara? Are you okay?"
"...Nnn... Oh that came on suddenly. I think I'll be okay!" she replied from within.
"Sara...? Hold on a second!" Shadow got up and headed to the bathroom. He pushed his way past Amy and made his way inside after Sara cracked the door to come out.
"...No!" Sara's voice carried through the door.
"..Yes! Now do it," Shadow's voice came in reply.
"...You're crazy! It's just indigestion!" Sara's voice carried out the door again.
Shadow exited the bathroom and closed the door behind him. He then leaned against the door. "I'm not letting you out 'til you do!"
"...Uhg! I hate you!" Sara slammed her fist against the door from the other side, and Shadow winced slightly.
"...What the hell are you doing?" Amy blinked at Shadow.
"Just wait," he replied calmly.
For several minutes, there was silence. Amy rejoined Sonic and her son on the couch and the two of them exchanged looks between them before watching the kids play. Rift looked up at Amy mildly before taking over her lap again and settling down for a nap. The other kids seemed a bit distracted; Shadow and Sara rarely yelled like that. He just waited outside the door patiently, and nobody could tell quite what he was thinking.
Finally, the bathroom door creaked open, and Shadow turned to the shaky female hedgehog leaving its confines. "...Well?"
She looked at Shadow with wide brown eyes in shock. "I...I'm pregnant!"
"Ehhh?! Did I hear that correctly?" Amy's head darted to the open bathroom door and the sky blue hedgehog who'd just exited.
"I...I am!" She held a small plastic item in her hand and then held it out. "I got two lines so...it's it's positive! See?!"
"Oh great, now Shadow's got more braggin' rights... Way to give him a big head, Cuz!" Sonic chuckled.
Shadow smiled proudly and pulled her into his arms. "...Happy birthday, honey."
Sara smiled a bit and then her expression sank, "Oh crap! I can't have any more of that cake!"