Knuckles awoke early that morning, unable to go back to sleep after a strange dream, rubbed his tired eyes, and shuffled into the bathroom to take a shower. He thought, "Might as well get an early start today." Lucky for him, this was one of the best mornings he'd had recently. Some mornings he'd wake up sicker than a dog, and sometimes he'd actually vomit. The stupid bug he had lasted nearly 2 and ½ months, and Ruby was beginning to get worried. But he didn't want to tell her how awful he felt; after the news they'd just found out, he didn't want to add one more thing to her plate. It was already tear-jerking enough having to call off a baby shower because she'd had a miscarriage, he didn't want her to worry.

Knuckles closed the door behind him and yawned, as he turned on the shower and waited for it to get hot. He took off his shirt, his necklace hitting his bare chest, and suddenly he gasped.

"Whoa…" he mumbled. His stomach was bloated around the middle, making him appear bigger by about an inch-and-a-half.

"Oh my god…" he mumbled, putting a hand to his stomach. "Am I getting fat?" Confused, Knuckles paced back and forth as the bathroom began to steam up from the shower. "How is this possible?" he thought, "I haven't been eating any differently now than I have before! And I still have my daily exercise?" Knuckles looked down at himself instead of looking in the mirror, but that didn't help, he actually looked bigger that way. He moaned and lowered his eyes. "Maybe my metabolism is catching up on me?" he thought. He looked at himself, and this time, he actually smiled a little. "Heh, it's funny," he thought, "I actually kind of look like I'm pregnant," he thought. But then his thoughts were interrupted, when he felt something that he'd never felt before. It was a cramp, but a strange cramp, and it didn't really hurt that bad. In fact, it felt weird. Knuckles gasped and touched his stomach. Then he felt it again, but this time, it clearly felt different, like a push against his skin. It was like in that alien movie; there was something living inside of him, and it was pushing against his skin from the inside. Knuckles stared at himself in the mirror, beginning to pant heavily.

"Oh my god…" he muttered again.

"This couldn't be possible! It feels like I've got some living thing inside of me… like I'm pregnant or something! But that's not possible… isn't it?"

Knuckles turned off the shower and dug in the cabinets for those pregnancy testers Ruby had bought. It felt awkward taking the test, being a guy and all, but he needed to know! He nearly jumped off his seat when the results came up. He looked at the test and gasped, his eye twitching, as he stared at it in awe and disgust.

Positive? How could it be positive? He was pregnant? Knuckles dropped the pregnancy tester to the floor and stared at himself in the mirror, putting a hand to his belly. He just couldn't believe it, and he needed to know for sure. Knuckles put on a sweat shirt, to hide his stomach, and snuck out, while Ruby was still asleep, and headed to Tails' house.

Knuckles didn't want to tell Tails about this, it'd just be too humiliating, so he snuck into Tails' garage, checking to make sure Tails was still asleep before he did. Knuckles turned on the light and walked up to the ultrasound machine.

"Now let's see, how did Tails work this thing?" he mumbled to himself, and he flipped the switch. The machine whirred to life, and Knuckles grabbed a bottle of petroleum jelly sitting near it. Still standing there, he pulled up his sweatshirt and smeared it onto his belly and picked up the scanner.

"I hope I know how to do this," he mumbled, and he placed it onto his stomach, not bothering to lie down. He did what Tails had done before, and ran the scanner around the bump of his abdomen, and it didn't take long for him to see the results he didn't want to see.

"Oh no," he murmured, as he looked up at the monitor. Right there, he saw a small fetus, curled up in what appeared to be his stomach cavity. He could see its head and one of its hands. Knuckles began to pant heavily, staring up at the monitor, at the fetus. The monitor next to it showed the quiet, constant beating of the fetus' heart.

"I'm pregnant! I've got a living, breathing baby inside of me! Oh my god!"

Suddenly, Knuckles' cell phone began to ring, which startled him. But also, it was loud, and Knuckles could see a light in the far end of Tails' house turn on.

"Ho shit!" he whispered. Quickly, he turned off his phone and the machine, and wiped off the jelly. He was halfway out the door, still pulling his sweat shirt down, when he realized he'd forgotten to turn off the light in there. He knew he couldn't very well turn around and go back, so he kept running, until he was a block or so away from his house, and he couldn't run anymore.

Tails ran into his garage, to find the light on and the door open. Luckily, nothing was stolen.

"Who's there?" Tails called, but no one answered. He looked over towards the ultrasound, which happened to be not in its place, and Tails raised a brow confusedly.

Knuckles panted heavily and stared over at Tails' house, hunched over. He'd forgotten that excessive exercise when pregnant isn't good for the baby, and he let out a long sigh. He cautiously touched at his stomach again, when his phone began to ring again. This time, Knuckles did answer it; it was Ruby.

"Hello?" Knuckles answered.

"Why did you hang up on me? Where are you?" Ruby asked him. Knuckles replied, still slightly out of breath.

"I'll be home soon… and Ruby? I've got something to tell you that you're not going to believe," he said, and he hung up.