I think it's time for a recap. The heroes have returned home. Blaze is rushed to the hospital - could it be that the baby is on the way? PS. I changed it from 2 weeks to 4 weeks until she's due. Sorry about the confusion, it pissed me off too. Now the heroes are enjoying a night of drinks. That is, until, a certain someone from the past decides to rear her squirrel-faced head...I hope I still have readers :3 Rated T for language.

"Well, shit," said Shadow.

"What?" said Rouge.

"Shit just got serious," he said, gesturing over to Sally standing over the three women. Rouge looked, vaguely impressed.

"Well, shit," she said.

They ordered another drink.
_

"Help! I'm bein' attacked!" Tails yelped as Sonic grabbed him by the scruff of the neck.

"He forfeits!" Sonic cried.

"No!"

"Another shot," Knuckles said proudly, handing one over to the struggling fox.

Grimacing, Tails downed it. "I'm too proud to get wasted." Sonic laughed. "It's not funny, Sonic, it's not my fault I'm a bit of a loser!"

"You're not a loser, Tails," said Sonic. "You just secretly love to get trashed."

"Lies!" Tails cried. The attention was then turned to Knuckles.

"Right, Knuckie," said Sonic. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare," Knuckles ordered. He had been avoiding the inevitable 'What do you really think of Rouge' all night. It was so predictable and so banal he could cry.

"I dare you to go over and hit on Rouge," said Sonic.

Crap.

"Oh, come on!" Knuckles cried. "Will you guys stop? The whole Rouge thing is getting seriously old."

"Yeah, Sonic, lay off the Rouge thing," said Tails.

"Thank you!" Knuckles sighed.

But the fox wouldn't let up that easily. "It's not his fault he's in luuuurrrrve!"

"Oh, shut up!" said Knuckles.

"Regardless," Sonic continued. "I dare you to go over there and hit on Rouge."

"And if I don't?"

"Then you have to tell us who or what you whack off to," Tails projected. "Considering that apart from Rouge and Amy, all girls you know are off-limits."

Knuckles flushed. Sonic laughed. Tails smacked his lips, settling into a comfortable, tipsy stupor.

"The Guardian of the Master Emerald...!" Knuckles began, but he found he couldn't finish that sentence.

"Even the Guardian of the Master Emerald has needs," Sonic quipped.

Knuckles groaned. "This is ridiculous."

"Make your choice, Emerald-kisser," said Sonic.

Knuckles raised a fist. "Don't tempt me, hedgehog!"

"Easy, buddy," said Sonic, taking the echidna's fist in his hand and lowering it. "It's all a game. Now, either tell us your secret porn star or show us your secret porn star!"

Knuckles grabbed a shot, downed it, and got up.

Sonic and Tails watched in fascination.

"Oh my God, he's actually gonna do it," Sonic said, stifling an amused laugh.

"This is gonna be entertaining," agreed Tails.
_

"Hey Rouge," said Knuckles.

Rouge turned, saw him, said "Oh" and turned back.

Knuckles rounded up on his target. "How you doin'?"

Barely ten seconds in and he was recoiling at himself. Who was he? Joey Tribbiani?

"Uh...okay?" said Rouge uncertainly. Shadow looked just as confused.

There was a pause in which Knuckles bought the time to remember that being the guardian of the Master Emerald ensured you to never have a social life and he was looking at the biggest fail of his entire life and desperately wishing he could put a gun to his head at that very instant.

"So...how about this place, huh?" he managed.

Rouge and Shadow swapped disconcerted looks. "Yeah, it's nice."

"So...what you drinkin'?"

"Well, I was drinking a dry martini, but thanks to your rate of perspiration, looks like nothing will breathe air again. Yay."

Knuckles self-consciously wiped his brow quickly. "Well, you look-you look great tonight."

"That's because I'm wearing a low-cut dress that accents my cleavage," Rouge said brazenly.

Knuckles found himself saying "Shyeahnowhut?" Rouge raised an eyebrow. Knuckles cleared his throat.

"No change there, of course," he said.

"Excuse me?" said Rouge.

"I-I-I mean, no change as in 'you look great', not-not, uh, the, uh, boobs..."

"Alright. Listen, darling, I don't know what you're trying to pull here, but whatever it is, you're not gonna pull me. You should know me – I don't do exes. This is your league." She traced the rim of her cocktail glass with her finger. "This is me." She pulled out the two olives on the cocktail stick, opened her mouth and exquisitely pulled them off with her teeth. It was one of those sensual sights that Knuckles was not used to and he squirmed like anything. Rouge turned back to him. "And that's just the way it always will be. I hope I make myself clear."

Knuckles was frozen to the spot. He glimpsed Shadow, who nonchalantly took a swig from his Bacardi and coke.

"Right, okay," he managed.

"Nice try," Rouge winked.

Completely mortified, Knuckles turned to leave. Then...

"You know, I can't stand you!"

"Now what?" said Rouge.

"You're vain, egocentric, completely pretentious and I'm glad we broke up!"

"Wow. Hi, kettle, you're black."

Shadow involuntarily snorted into his drink. Knuckles had become so red it was getting hard to tell where his muzzle finished and his fur began. His voice then went dangerously low.

"Do me a favour, Rouge, if you ever get a new man, gimme his number, cos I'm pretty sure that once you've finished with him, he'll want to keep in contact with me. If you treat anyone else the same way you treated me, I'm sure we'll have a lot to talk about. If you haven't already summed it up in that little self-obsessed brain of yours, the reason you hold on to your diamonds for longer than you hold on to a man is cos you just don't have it in you to love anyone more than you love yourself. They'll get sick of you just as I did and wish they'd never met you. And that's just the way it always will be. Do I make myself clear?"

Rouge was sitting with a devious pout on her face. "Are you done yet?"

Knuckles took a breath. "Yes."

"Can I say something now?"

"Yes."

Rouge threw the remainder of her drink in Knuckles' face. He cursed and stared at her, completely speechless. Rouge smiled derisively.

"Have a nice day."

Knuckles, still stunned, walked back to his table. Sonic and Tails looked like they had just stuck pins in their eyes.

"Any point in asking how it went?" Sonic asked hesitantly as Knuckles sat back down.

"Look, just..." Knuckles snapped, then calmed down. "Let's just never speak of this again."

Tails handed him a napkin to wipe away the drink. Knuckles cursed at the sting of the drink in his eyes.

"I think that task was masterfully handled," said Sonic.

"Uh, Sonic?" said Tails. Sonic ignored him.

"Few men would have the balls to tamper with something like that," he continued.

"Sonic," said Tails. Again, Sonic ignored him.

"And the fact that you did is way past impressive."

"Yeah, yeah," said Knuckles.

"Sonic," said Tails.

"What? I'm trying to make a dramatic speech."

"I know, but Princess Sally is over there with the girls."

"What?"

Sonic followed Tails' course of sight. Sure enough, Sally stood by Mina, Cream and Amy in a fur coat, holding what looked like a natural conversation with them. Mina was leaning forward, chin rested on her hands, a sweet smile playing on her face.

"What should we do?" asked Tails.

"What anyone with a brain would do," said Sonic. "Panic."

But just as Sonic and Tails got up (Tails swaying from side to side slightly), Sally left them. Guardedly, Sonic walked over to his fiancée's table. They had resumed chatting away as normal.

"Hey, sugar," he said.

"Hey," said Mina.

"What was, um...?"

"What the hell was Sally doin' here?" Tails interjected.

"Well," said Mina. "She gave us a nice drink and then came over to find out when the wedding is."

"Okay," said Sonic. "She didn't try—?"

"She's gonna crash the wedding!" Tails cried out. Cream held onto his hand for stability.

"She didn't try anything funny, did she?" asked Sonic.

"Nawh, we just had a civilised talk, funnily enough," said Mina.

"Mina did drink the vodka she sent though," said Amy.

"Really?"

"You know – just as a way of saying 'Okay, I'm game'," said Mina.

Just then, Cream's phone started ringing inside her purse. Quickly, she fished it out.

"It's Silver," she said, looking at the caller ID.

Everyone glanced at each other, confused.

Cream answered her phone. "Hello?...Yeah, hi Silver, what's up?...The hospital?" Everyone's ears pricked alarmingly at this. "Right. Is she okay?...Alright, I'm on my way." She hung up and addressed her anxious audience. "It's the baby."

"Oh my God, what's going on?" asked Mina frightfully.

"She could be going into labour."

"What's going on?" asked Knuckles, coming over.

"That's nuts!" said Tails. "She's not even supposed to have the thing for another, like, month!"

"Babies have their own rules, my darling," said Cream, gathering her things and getting up. "Now, I've drank too much to drive safely. Will I have to get a taxi?"

"I can drive," Sonic volunteered. "Only had three units at most."

"Do you want me to come with you?" asked Mina.

"No, darl, it's okay, you stay here and have fun," said Sonic. "I'll drive Cream to the hospital and then I'll come back."

"Are you sure?" asked Mina.

"Yeah, and if anything happens, I'll keep you guys updated." Sonic turned to Cream. "Cream, let's go."

"Right," she said, and the pair of them headed out.

"Oh my God," said Amy. "Blaze could be having the baby!"

"I know!" said Mina. Then the two friends turned to each other – and promptly hugged each other, squealing. It caused Knuckles to jump back slightly.

"Oh my gosh, she could be having the baby!" said Mina.

"A little baby Blaze!" Amy returned. Both were too jovial for Knuckles' liking. In his world, having a baby was scary news.

"Blaze is having the baby – now?" he asked.

"Yeah! Cream just got a call from Silver – they're at the hospital right now!"

"Well, I'll be goddamned," Knuckles mused.

"Squee, squee, squee, what are you guys getting so squeamish about?" asked Rouge who arrived on the scene.

"Blaze could be having the baby!" Mina trilled.

"Could be?" said Rouge. "You mean, there's no guarantee?"

"Well, she and Silver are at the hospital right now!"

"Oh, damn," said Rouge. "And there I was thinking you were cheering because Knuckles had finally scored with a non-precious stone being."

The buzz among the group fell, weighted down with confusion. Amy and Mina stared confusedly at Knuckles, who stood grinding his teeth and commanding all of his strength so as not to slam his fist into the side of Rouge's head.

"I need some air," said Knuckles.

Rouge kissed her teeth furtively and left him to it.