(Note: I'm starved for wholesome Sonic Movie content, but the third movie still hasn't come out yet. So, enjoy this cute story where Penelope and Knuckles bond a bit).

~Bath Time Bonding~

Penelope hummed softly to herself as she sat in her bathtub, taking a warm and relaxing bath. She was currently six months pregnant and on maternity leave, so she was enjoying her down time at home.

Her husband, Michaelangelo, was out running errands with Sonic and Tails, while Knuckles decided to stay behind to keep her company. The three boys had come over to her house because Tom and Maddie were at work, and they were feeling bored.

As Penelope reached for the bottle of body wash on the rack next to the tub, she suddenly heard a knock on the bathroom door.

"Who's there?", she called out.

"Sister, I wish to enter"

She immediately recognized the voice as belonging to Knuckles, "Oh! Knuckles, its you! Sure, you can come in. What's up?", she called out.

The bathroom door slowly opened as the young red echidna entered the bathroom, a red and white towel clasped in one of his hands. He shut the door behind him and slowly approached the tub, a nervous and bashful look on his face.

"Um, Penelope...if it is not too much trouble, I wish to bathe with you", he said shyly.

Penelope started blushing, "What? You want to take a bath...with me? Are you sure?", she asked.

"Back in my tribe, it was customary for families to bathe together. My mother, father and I would bathe together in the hot springs. I wish to do the same with my new tribe, but I understand if you are not comfortable with that...", Knuckles explained.

Penelope could feel sympathy fill her heart, she sometimes forgot that Knuckles had lost his people and he would often try to do the things they did with his new family...to varying degrees of success. So, with a smile on her face, she gestured to the empty spot on the other side of the tub.

"Of course you can, I was just caught off guard by the question. Come in, there's plenty of space for us", she said.

With a sigh of relief, Knuckles set down the towel and began removing his gloves and shoes. Once he was undressed, he slowly stepped into the bathtub opposite of Penelope.

Penelope slowly inched closer to him and picked up one of his hands, looking curiously at the two small protrusions on the top of his hand.

"Is something wrong?", asked Knuckles.

"No, not at all. I just didn't think you had spikes on your actual hands, I thought it was just your gloves", Penelope explained as she touched one of the spikes, "They feel bony, too. Did everyone in your tribe had these two?"

Knuckles relaxed at the gentle feeling of Penelope rubbing his hand and carefully prodding his spikes, "No, only the males. The females lacked knuckle spikes, and that was because the males were the warriors.

"These spikes are for combat and self defense, so we were expected to train from a young age to learn how to fight and defend ourselves and our loved ones. The females only had the duty of being farmers and raising children, the exception being my mother who was the village healer", he said.

Penelope nodded as she let go of Knuckles' hand and went to grab the body wash, then she gestured for Knuckles to turn around. He did so, his back facing her; she squirted some of the body wash into her hands and started scrubbing his head and back.

"You told me about your mom when we first met, but you didn't say much about your dad. What was he like?", she said.

Knuckles smiled to himself, enjoying the gentle feeling of Penelope's hands scrubbing soap through his fur and dreadlocks. "My father was a strong and proud warrior, the leader of our tribe. He never backed down from a challenge, always ready to fight.

"When I came of age, he trained me everyday to ensure I would become as strong as him. Despite being his son, he never went easy on me. In fact, it was because I was his only son that he would push me to my limits during our training.

"He wanted to make sure I could protect myself and fight back. It was difficult at times, but I knew he was only hard on me out of love, especially since there were times my body would give out and he would relent. Even he knew there was only so much I could do, being so young", he said.

Penelope smiled as she used a pink ceramic cup to scoop up some water from the faucet and rinse the soap off of Knuckles' back, "Sounds like your dad wanted to make sure you could take of yourself in the future. He doesn't sound too different from my Dad", she said.

"The Lord of Donuts?", asked Knuckles, referring to Tom.

"No, I meant my birth father. You don't know him, I lost him and my birth mother long before I even met Sonic. He was the survivalist type, he loved to go camping and watch those survival TV shows.

"He was the one who showed me how to survive in the woods in case I ever got lost there, turns out it was very useful since I was able to live out there on my own for a long time", said Penelope.

As he watched the soap slide off his body, Knuckles looked off to the side and spotted a rubber ducky sitting on the rim of the bathtub. Curious, he picked it up and gave it a squeeze, eliciting a squeaking sound from the bath toy.

"What was your birth mother like?", he asked.

"I supposed she was like yours, she wasn't the "village healer", or anything like that, but she would always patch me whenever I got hurt. One time, while I was first learning to ride a bike, I ran over a rock and went flying onto the pavement.

"My head was fine because I had a helmet, but I scraped up both my knees pretty bad. I couldn't stop crying as Mom picked me up and took into the house, it didn't get better when she rubbed alcohol wipes onto my scrapes.

"But after she bandaged me up, she took me out to get ice cream. I started to feel better but I decided that was enough bike riding practice for one day, Mom was alright with that as we went home and she sat with me while I watched cartoons", said Penelope.

Knuckles continued playing around with the rubber ducky, trying to pull it underwater only for it to bob back up to the surface. "How did you lose your birth parents? What happened to them?", he asked.

Penelope sighed as she scrubbed her body with the soap and a loofah, "It was a day I wish I could forget. We had spent the whole day at the beach, we had so much fun. On the way back home, someone was driving on the wrong side of the road and crashed into our car.

"Our car flipped before landing upside down on the side of the road, I was knocked out immediately so I didn't know what was going on or what happened next. The next thing I knew, I woke up in a hospital bed with two broken legs and a concussion.

"A social worker from Child Protection Services came and told me that both my parents didn't survive the crash, my Dad had lived long enough only to call for help. I was devastated; when I recovered, I ran away because I didn't want to go into foster care.

"I had heard too many scary stories about what happens to kids in foster care or orphanages, I was afraid that I would either be stuck there my whole life until I turned eighteen and they kicked me out or I'd get adopted by a family that would mistreat me.

"I didn't want either of that, so I ran away and had been living in the forest after that. It was peaceful, but pretty lonely to be honest. It hurt not having anyone to talk to, but that didn't last too long...because then I met Sonic", she said.

Knuckles gasped quietly as he held the rubber ducky tightly, he knew that the day Penelope met Sonic was the same day his tribe went after Longclaw, resulting in Sonic being driven from his home and losing his mother figure. And also, Knuckles losing his father and his people.

Penelope noticed that he tensed up, so she decided to try and help him relax. She looked around and spotted a jar of bath bombs in the rack next to the tub, she reached out to grab it and opened it up. Penelope reached inside and pulled out two purple bath bombs.

"Hey, Knuckles. Wanna see something cool?", she said.

Knuckles turned around just in to see Penelope put the jar away and hold out the two bath bombs, he looked at them curiously.

"What are those things?", he asked.

"These are bath bombs, they're single-use, spheres that are a blend of smoothing, fragrant extracts and oils that you can toss in your tub before bath time. The primary ingredients interact with each other once dissolved in water to create a fizzing effect. Wanna see?", explained Penelope.

She then dropped both bath bombs into the water, where they immediately started fizzing, turning the water into a soft lavender color. That was when his nose caught a very familiar scent.

"I smell grapes!", he said.

"Yeah, that's right. These are grape scented bath bombs, I figured you'd like them", Penelope said with a giggle.

With a smile, Knuckles ducked under the purple tinted water and looked around underwater. That was when he caught sight of Penelope's huge and perfectly rounded belly, he then came back up to the surface, taking a deep breath of air.

"I saw your belly beneath the water, it is quite large. Are you ready to have your child yet?", he asked.

Penelope smiled, "No, not yet. I'm only six months along, we need to wait another three months before this little one is ready to join us out here", she said.

Knuckles quirked an eyebrow, "Why is that?", he asked.

"Well, human females are pregnant for nine months. How long are echidna females pregnant for?", said Penelope.

Knuckles shook his head, "I do not know, I didn't get a chance to ask my mother before she passed, and it never really crossed my mind. I was more focused on training and getting stronger, so I didn't care to know.

"Though, it is truly fascinating to know how long humans must wait to have their offspring. There's still much about this planet and it's people that I do not yet know", he said.

Penelope reached to place a hand on Knuckles' head, "Well, you have a new family now. A new tribe, and we'll work together to help you learn more about Earth. It's a really nice place, and you'll adjust in no time to living here. I believe in you", she said.

Knuckles smiled as he closed his eyes and leaned into her hand, "Thank you, Sister. I will make you proud, as I will the Lord of Donuts and the Lady of Pretzels", he said.

Penelope laughed, "You know, you can just call them Mom and Dad. You don't have to use those nicknames all the time, they're kinda mouthfuls. Anyway, the water is starting to get a little cold, so why don't we get out now?", she said.

Knuckles nodded in agreement as Penelope reached down to pull the plug in the bathtub, draining the water. She then grabbed a towel as she climbed out of the tub, drying herself off. She wrapped the towel around her body and turned around to see Knuckles covering his eyes.

"Knuckles, what are you doing?", she asked.

"You are naked, so I covered my eyes so as not to gaze upon your bare body. We are family, but it is not appropriate for me to look upon you in such a state", Knuckles explained.

Penelope let out a small laugh as she walked over and gently removed Knuckles' hands from his face, showing him that she was already covered up. She then helped him climb out of the tub and dried him off with his towel, she then left him in the bathroom as she stepped out for a moment.

Penelope came back a few minutes later, dressed in maternity pajamas and holding a clean pair of green socks and a pair of red slippers. She gave the socks and slippers to Knuckles, who had put his gloves back on; he put the clean socks and slippers on while tossing the dirty socks into the laundry basket.

The two of them then left the bathroom and went downstairs, "Feeling hungry yet, kiddo?", asked Penelope.

Knuckles nodded as they walked into the kitchen, he sat at the table while Penelope busied herself making a simple meal for the two of them. By the time she was done, she placed down two plates of spaghetti with tomato and garlic sauce on them.

Penelope then opened a bag of mini bread rolls and took out four of them, two for her and two for Knuckles. Then she poured two glasses of grape juice and sat down so they could both eat.

"I enjoyed bathing with you today, Sister. If it is alright with you, could we do that more often?", said Knuckles.

"Sure, but you should let Sonic and Tails have a turn too or else they might get jealous. In fact, the three of you can take a bath together", said Penelope.

They shared a laugh before they continued to eat in silence. After they finished, Penelope washed the dishes while Knuckles went to go sit on the couch. Once she was done, she walked over to the living room to see Knuckles turning on the electric fireplace, which her house had in place of a real fireplace to avoid potential fire hazards.

Even being electric, it gave off just as much warmth as a real fireplace. Penelope went to sit down next to Knuckles on the couch as they both basked in the warmth; soon, the red echidna let out a soft yawn, indicating that he was beginning to feel sleepy.

Penelope smiled as she realized this, she slowly laid down on the couch, her head laying on a pillow as she gently coaxed Knuckles to lay down next to her in a way that makes space for him and her protruding belly.

As Knuckles' eyelids continued to droop lower and lower, Penelope smiled as she began to softly sing to him.

"You are my sunshine

My only sunshine

You make me happy

When skies are gray

You'll never know, dear

How much I love you

Please don't take

My sunshine away"

[Time Skip]

Michaelangelo pulled up to the driveway in his car, he turned off the engine and stepped outside to let Sonic and Tails out of the backseat.

"Thanks again for helping me with the grocery shopping, boys", he said as he opened the trunk to get some of the groceries.

Sonic and Tails stepped out of the backseat holding the rest of the groceries, "No problem, Mikey! We're happy to help", said Tails.

"Especially since you're making hamburgers and chilidogs for dinner tonight, it's gonna be awesome!", Sonic said as he licked his lips.

Michaelangelo smiled as he shut and locked his car, then he walked over to the front door and took out his house keys. "I wonder how Penelope and Knuckles were doing while we were gone...", he said to himself.

He walked inside with Sonic and Tails as they headed to the kitchen to place the grocery bags down on the floor and countertops, then he walked over to the living and gasped at what he saw.

"Boys, you gotta come see this!", Michaelangelo whispered.

Sonic and Tails came over to see what had gotten him so excited, that's when they spotted Penelope and Knuckles asleep together on the couch. They were cuddling together, with Penelope draping her arm around Knuckles' body, and Knuckles having one hand placed gently on her belly.

Sonic and Tails had the hands over their mouths to keep their giggling quiet so as to not wake them up, meanwhile Michaelangelo smiled fondly at the two of them.

"Let's leave them be for. Let's go put the groceries away, and then we can go upstairs to my room to play video games", he whispered.

Sonic and Tails nodded in agreement as they went to help him put away the groceries; then as they went upstairs, Michaelangelo opened a hall closet and pulled out a blanket. He walked over to his sleeping wife and brother-in-law, and draped the blanket over them.

He walked away with a smile, leaving Penelope and Knuckles to enjoy their nap together while he went upstairs to play video games with his other two brothers-in-law.

[The End]