Chapter 37
A/N: Since Sally isn't human, I've decided to make her pregnancy last about six months.
That night, Sally made a very nice steak dinner, complete with peas and onions in cream sauce and dinner rolls. Shadow thought it was a bit elaborate but she seemed happy doing so and that was all that mattered to him. The evening continued without incident, Sally her usual, ever-so-cheerful self. And that night, when she went to bed, she didn't get up once. Shadow even stayed awake until 3 am, which was around the time she usually got up and cried. But the black hedgehog didn't hear a single peep.
The next morning, just like the previous, she was chipper and upbeat. Shadow was a little worse for wear having stayed up so late, but the knowledge that she had gotten a full nights sleep without incident made up for the lack of sleep. So, having that knowledge, he decided to stay another night. Again, she slept through the night and awoke the next morning happy so Shadow decided to stay another night. In the days that followed, she seemed to be more cheerful than the previous and after five days, decided to just stay with her. Not only for her mental health but for the baby as well. Even if she was stable mentally, she would need help with certain tasks down the line.
"So, where are you going?" Sally asked as she poured him a cup of coffee.
"Oh, Tails called me yesterday and wanted to get out of the house for a bit. He didn't say why." Shadow said, taking a sip from the cup. Perfect.
"Really?" she asked, pouring a cup of her own, then grabbing her plate. "Doesn't sound like him. Hope him and Cream aren't having problems." Sally said as she sat down at the table. "I hope not. Those two were made for each other."
"Who knows." Shadow said, sitting down at the table with her. "I don't think that's it though. Might just be he wants to get out just to get out, y'know?"
"Yeh." Sally replied, taking a bite of a sausage link. "I don't think they have many fights. In fact, I can't ever remember them fighting. Or even raising their voices at each other."
"Knowing him he probably just wants someone to go with him to get something for one of his machines and Cream won't go with him." Shadow said, taking another sip of coffee.
"Might be but from what I've heard, she's actually getting into helping him. In fact, Tails told me she's actually helped him a great deal with a few things." Sally stopped to take a bite from the cheese omelet. Cutting into it, a bit of melted cheese ran out, almost touching a dill pickle spear sitting next to it. Shadow noticed she had began craving dill pickles more every day, which meant the pregnancy cravings were beginning to come around; at least he knew that was one of the effects of pregnancy. "But if that is the case, she might be too busy to go."
"Well either way, it might be fun." Shadow said.
Sally dropped her fork and laughed. "Fun?" *heh*
"What?" Shadow asked, sipping his coffee. "I can have fun too."
Later that morning
"You sure you don't want me to go with you?" Shadow asked.
"No, it's just so Dr. Anderson can set up the prenatal visits and begin monitoring the baby's progress. Should only take about 20 minutes." Sally said, grabbing her purse. "I'll be back." she said as she shut the door behind her and climbed into her car. Shadow watched from the window as she started it, backed out of the driveway and as soon as she was down the road, Shadow sprung into action. Grabbing the phone, he dialed Tails.
"Yeah?" Tails said, the sound of something clanking against metal.
"It's me." Shadow said.
"How's it going?" Tails asked while Shadow heard another clank through the phone. "Sorry, knocked a wrench on the floor."
"So far it's been pretty good. Been five days and so far not one breakdown. She hasn't even gotten up crying at night since I got here, not counting the first night."
"So, you are going to stay then?" Tails asked, as a few quick beeps could be heard in the background.
"Yeah. I told her I'd stay as long as she needed me to. I know it was just supposed to be until she got over Sonic but that wasn't going to happen overnight. I mean, she can't be alone, not now. She needs time to heal mentally, plus, someone's going to have to stay with her while she's having the baby. No way she can take care of everything by herself, no matter how strong she is." Shadow said. "Knuckles can't because someone has to be on the island with the emerald."
"And no way she would let me and Cream stay there with her. I know her; she wouldn't go for it." Tails said. "But what are you going to do about ARK? The systems can only be left alone for more than a week at most."
Shadow let out a sigh. "I've been thinking about giving it up for good and moving down on the planet."
"You're serious?" Tails said.
"Yeah. If it means helping her, I'd do it." Shadow said.
There was a silence for a minute as Tails processed what he had just heard and he wasn't exactly sure he heard it right. "If that's what you want to do, then that's what you want to do. I know Sonic would appreciate it."
"Yeah." Shadow said, his voice solemn. They talked for a few more minutes and Tails agreed to relay it to the others; it would only be a formality as staying was the only logical thing to do. After Shadow hung up the phone, he headed outback and into the field behind the house. The air was cool and clouds hung in the air, sparsely decorating the sky while the black hedgehog thought about the prospect of leaving the station he had called home for so long. In any other situation he wouldn't even be considering it but this was due to special circumstances and considering who it was, it didn't take long for him to come to the decision to stay. Not only would it ensure that Sonic's last request would be fulfilled, he truly cared about Sally and if staying meant she would be able to get over Sonic's passing he was more than willing to do it.
"Shadow?" A voice called out from inside the house. It was Sally and immediately a smile formed on his lips and at that exact moment, he knew he'd made the right decision. "There you are. What're you doing out here?" she asked as she walked over to where he was standing.
"Oh nothing. Just... thinking." he said. "So what did the Doctor say?" he asked as they headed back to the house.
"Nothing special. Just set up future appointments like I said. Giving me an idea what to expect as time goes on, things I should do to prepare, scheduling the first ultrasound; should be in a month."
"So what can you expect?" Shadow asked.
"Well," Sally began as she went over to the fridge. "I told him about the cravings I've had for pickles and he said that was normal. I already knew that but I asked him if it would get any worse and he said that was highly likely, but didn't know what those cravings would be; varies from person to person." she said, grabbing a bottle of water and the jar of pickles from the fridge. "Pretty much the standard pregnancy things, mood swings, morning sickness, things like that." Sally said, opening the pickles and pulling out one of the spears; Shadow noticed the jar was almost empty.
"They already started, but he said they were going to get worse sometime within the next couple weeks." she stopped briefly to take a bite from the pickle spear. "But he said they were tame by what I told him about. According to him they should really kick in by the second month, so from what I figure, that would be sometime next month so that should be fun." Sally finished off the spear and cracked open the bottle of water.
"As long as you don't start eating dirt or anything like that, you should be fine." Shadow said with a laugh.
"Oh God, can you imagine?" she asked. "Just crumble a nice clod over pasta like cheese." *heh heh* she said with a laugh.
"Anyway, I was thinking on the drive back, if you wanted you could sleep in the spare bedroom if you wanted instead of that couch. I know it isn't the most comfortable thing in the world."
Shadow let out a slight chuckle. "It's not that bad." he said. "But it couldn't hurt. Thank you." he said.
"I'll change the sheets in a bit then."
Later that night
Shadow finally settled into his new room, the lights out and moonlight illuminating the room. It was fairly big. Large enough for a king size bed, a three drawer dresser, end table with lamp and a few various odds and ends. It was nice and would serve it's purpose and as a bonus, if his longing for ARK was too much, he could just look out the window on a clear night.
That was the one thing he would have trouble to get over. While he was dedicated to Sally and seeing her through the coming months, he did have a longing for the station. It had been his home all his life and he decided to up and move from it. But while it would be a small weight on his mind, there was a greater need that outweighed his homesickness.
*click* In the silence of the night, Shadow heard the sound of a door shutting. It had been a couple nights since he last heard her get up and just in case, he sat up on the edge of the bed and listened. *click* There was the sound of another door closing. Shadow waited and listened intently for the sound of sobs drifting down the hallway. 'Please be ok. Please be ok.' he pleaded. After a couple minutes, there was still silence and he began to worry. It could be she was crying but crying softly, too low for him to hear from his room. Getting up and going over to the door, he listened and still heard nothing. 'Should go out there and check to see if she's ok.' he thought but as he put his hand on the door, he heard a *whoosh*. It was the toilet flushing, followed be the click of the door shutting. He listened but still heard no sobs, only another click as she returned to her room. 'Oh, thank God.' Shadow thought as he returned to his own bed. Smiling, assured she was fine, Shadow closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
A few weeks later; Month 2
"Blergh...! Mmmmm..." Sally moaned as she dry heaved into the toilet. Shadow waited on the other side while she finished. Shadow and Tails had shut ARK down a few weeks ago after handing it over to GUN and he hadn't regretted doing so. It had already been just over a month since he had moved in to take care of her and things had been going well, but had been deteriorating recently. Like Dr. Anderson had said, morning sickness had kicked in and the last week, every morning for at least a good 30 minutes she would dry heave; but this was just the tip of the iceberg. Cravings had kicked into high gear as well. She hadn't started eating dirt like Shadow had joked about awhile back, but some combinations were interesting. Pickles were a common staple but she had started dipping them in various foods, the top being chocolate syrup, peanut butter and salmon flavored cream cheese, which actually tasted like it was bacon, not salmon.
But what hadn't been expected were the mood swings. The first sign was Sally had been folding some laundry and she dumped the box of soap on the floor. She stared at the box lying on it's side, perched on the edge of the washer. With a flash of rage, she smacked it with the back of her hand, sending it flying across the laundry room, then broke down crying. On instinct, Shadow ran in to console her and asked what had happened. With tears in her eyes, she turned to him and said, "I dropped... the laundry... soap..." she said through sobs and Shadow put an arm around her; naturally she began to calm down and in a minute it was over. Bending over, she picked up the box of soap and laughed. "*heh heh* Guess I've got the dropsies." she said with a smile. Shadow didn't know what to do, but he was grateful that it had just been pregnancy hormones and not another Sonic breakdown.
Eventually, the heaving stopped and she breathed an audible sigh of relief. Shadow heard the sound of the toilet flushing then she called out to him. "Shadow?" she said, a slight strain coming from inside. "I can't get up. *heh*" she said with a laugh. Shadow opened the door and saw her on her knees, trying to push herself up off the floor but straining to do so. "Sure. You know the drill." he said. Getting behind her, he slipped his arms under hers and braced himself. "Ready?" he asked and she nodded. "One... two... three *grunt*" he said, lifting up on her and got her on her feet. "Thank you. I'll go ahead and get ready." she said. "Same here." Shadow said. He walked off and headed down to his room, noticing she had begun putting on weight. He would never say anything about it to her but he figured she'd put on a good ten to fifteen pounds. On top of that, she was beginning to show, much more than the last month. This time though, it was noticeable through her clothes and she had to go out and buy a new wardrobe to wear.
Meanwhile, Shadow had changed into a fresh set of clothes and was waiting for her in the living room. Five minutes passed, then ten, then twenty with no word from Sally. He got up and walked up to the door to her bedroom and he heard crying again. 'Oh, what now?' he wondered as he lightly knocked on the door. "Sally? You ok?" he asked; nothing. "It's almost ten."
"I know!" she yelled through sobs. "I just have nothing to wear!"
Shadow backed away from the door a step in shock. It was the first time she had ever raised her voice to him. "It doesn't matter." Shadow said. "You look good in anything." he replied, hoping he could soothe her anger. But his words only fueled her rage. Suddenly, he heard the pound of footsteps and the door flung open, Sally glaring at him angrily. "Oh, I look good in anything?!" she growled through clenched teeth. "Then you get in here and you pick something out!" she huffed, stomping over to the bed and ploped herself down.
Shadow's heart was pounding and for the first time in his life, he was scared but forced himself to enter the room. "O-okay." he said nervously, going over to the closet; Sally didn't respond and just glared at him.
Reaching up, he browsed through her clothes and picked out a yellow blouse and white pants. "How bout this?" he offered, holding up the outfit for her inspection. "No!" she growled and he put it back. "This?" he asked, holding up one of her newer shirts and a pair of dark blue pants. "No!" she shook her head. Shadow picked out two more, each receiving a no.
Suddenly, Sally got up and stormed over to the closet, grabbing a shirt from the rack. "No. Nothing's right! It's not right! It's not..." she trailed off and began crying, dropping the shirt on the floor. Turning to Shadow, she buried her head into his chest, crying deeply. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry..." she pleaded his forgiveness. Shadow wrapped his arms around her.
"Shh... shh, shh, shh. It's alright." he said, gently rubbing her back. "You don't need to apologize."
"No, I do." she said, pulling away and looking at him. "You didn't deserve that. It's just that lately, nothing's gone right and I just..." she trailed off, again burying her head in his chest. After a minute, she felt better, had a smile on her face and grabbed yellow blouse and white pants Shadow offered at first. "I think I'll wear this." she said. Shadow nodded. "I'll be out there when you're ready to go." he said and left so she could get ready.
Later
"Hi Sally. How're you doing?" Dr. Anderson asked as she sat down on the exam bed while Shadow took a chair in the corner. He felt weird being in the room with her but she wanted him with her and he couldn't say no.
"Ok." she replied. "Been having some morning sickness but other than that, no problems."
Dr. Anderson nodded and looked over her chart. "Have they been bad?"
"Depends. Sometimes it goes for 20 to 30 minutes but usually it's around ten. They're not so bad then."
"I can get you some pills that should counter the effects of the nausea somewhat; make them easier on you. It won't stop them but they'll help. Anything else?"
"*heh* Mood swings." she said. "The other day, I uh... knocked over a box of soap and cried for a few minutes."
Dr. Anderson nodded. "Well, that's normal too, but unfortunately there's nothing I can give you for those. Just have to tough them out." he said. Looking over a few other things, he set the chart down. "Well are you ready to begin the ultrasound?"
"Yes." she replied.
Dr. Anderson stood up and laid the exam bed flat. "Go ahead and lay down and I'll get the machine. Be right back." he said and left the room. Sally pulled her shirt up just below her breasts and Shadow could immediately feel his cheeks flush but he kept a level head.
A nurse accompanying Dr. Anderson wheeled in a large machine resembling a large computer, setting it next to the bed. Slipping on a pair of gloves, Dr. Anderson grabbed the wand and the bottle of gel, squirting some on the end. Sally prepared herself for the gel's cold touch and Dr. Anderson laughed. "Don't worry." he said, turning on the machine and getting it set up. "This has a bottle warmer so it's not cold."
The screen came to life, displaying a bunch of random numbers, Sally's name and in the middle of the screen, a large cone that would display the image of the baby. "Ready?" Dr. Anderson asked.
Sally nodded and he placed the wand on her belly and the cone went from displaying grey fuzz to white fuzz with dark shadows. "Would you like to know the sex of the baby?" Dr. Anderson asked.
"Uh..." Sally stammered, looking over at Shadow who had no response or clue what to do. "No." she replied, surprisingly quicker than Shadow or Dr. Anderson anticipated. "Ok." he replied and began.
Moving the wand around her belly, all three stared at the monitor intently as nothing but white fuzz and shadows danced across. Several minutes passed and suddenly Dr. Anderson stopped. "There we go." he said as a shadow, about the size and shape of a small watermelon popped up on screen. "Is that it?" she asked. "Yeah." Dr. Anderson said, tapping a few buttons and rolling a trackball on the console. Upon that, the image cleared up and although it was fuzzy, Sally could make out the tell-tale signs of a baby hedgehog on screen and she began to cry, a few tears falling down her cheeks.
"Well," Dr. Anderson began a minute later. "Baby seems to be doing fine. No problems from what I can see." he said, capturing an image of the baby. "Let's take a listen to it's heart." he said, tapping a few more buttons.
"You can do that?" Shadow asked. "Isn't it a little early to pick that up?"
"No, not at all." Dr. Anderson replied. "In fact, it should be pretty noticeable by now going on how much it's grown." he said. Suddenly, the machine began making a high pitched whooshing sound, ten whooshes every five seconds. "Hear that?" he asked. "That's it's heart. From the sound of it, it's beating healthy and strong too from the sound of it."
"But is is supposed to be that fast?" Sally asked, wiping the tears from her face.
"Yeah, that's normal. The fetus' heart beats twice as fast as ours does; it's normal and nothing to worry about." Dr. Anderson said.
After that, the exam went quickly and Sally and Shadow left. Sitting in her car, she stuck the key in the ignition but didn't turn it. "Shadow, about this morning..." she began.
Shadow stopped her before she could continue. "It's alright." he said. "There's no need to apologize."
"No. I have to." she said. "That's not me and you were only trying to help. I'm sorry I got so angry."
Shadow nodded. "It's ok. But it's odd." he said, shaking his head. "I don't remember you getting angry at all." he said with a smile.
"You know what I'm talking about." she said.
Shadow let out a sigh and buckled his seatbelt, then turned back to her. "Ok. I'll forgive you if you do something for me." he said.
"What... is it?" she asked, unsure how to take that statement.
"I want you to stop apologizing for things like that." he said, giving her that soft smile. "It's not you. I know that's not the kind of person you are."
Sally nodded and started the car and gave him a smile of her own. "Thank you."