Disclaimer: The only characters that belong to me are CJ the Cheetah and Jessie the Cat. As for the others, Simone the Squirrel and Ant the Titch belongs to my friend Ant the Titch. Mony the Echidna belongs to Mony the Echidna. The rest of the characters belong to SEGA.

Miracles

"She's what?" Sonic gasped, his hand shooting to his mouth in disbelief.

"Pregnant Sonic," Shadow said in a dark tone, "You know, that's what happens when women carry babies around in their tummies."

"I know that," Sonic whined in slight offence, "But you and Blaze are completely different species!"

Shadow snarled, "I know that. It wasn't intentional."

"Are you saying you'd prefer her to be food poisoned by you than carrying your destructive kid?" Sonic teased, ending in Shadow hitting Sonic on the arm.

"Shut up hedgehog or I'll end up doing something we'll both regret…" Shadow growled in slight anger. Sonic backed away waving his hands muttering 'sorry' over and over again.

A long silence followed, and it was unnerving for the hedgehogs. The only sounds heard was booming music and Vector staggering around singing terribly, while Vanilla had given up trying to sort him out and slumped down in a nearby seat. Vector stumbled over to Vanilla and gently took her hand, "Wanna dance?"

The adult doe blushed and allowed the crocodile to guide her over to a free space to dance. Sonic watched her happily dancing with Vector, not noticing that he almost wished Amy was here so he could do that with her, nor did he notice that Shadow's eyes were watching him intently.

"Missing your girlfriend?" Shadow jibed, noticing Sonic clench his fists in his lap, a look of anger suggesting he was going to smack him one. Eventually Sonic thought better of it and released them a little.

"Amy's not my girlfriend," Sonic grumbled in a disappointed tone.

"Well who else could it be, CJ?" Shadow sniggered, "Or is it a guy… Tails?"

Sonic was very tempted to beat Shadow to a pulp for jibing him, but Sonic didn't really fancy starting a fight on his leaving night, what would everyone think of him? So the blue hedgehog tried to keep his cool, "First off, I don't even like CJ in that way, she likes me and that's it. Tails is my best friend, nothing more, and need I remind you that he lost Cosmo, so I would shut up about him if I were you."

Shadow was very shocked at Sonic's calm, cool response and upon realization he remembered how upset Tails was lately about Cosmo's death and how he himself wasn't Tails' favourite person at the moment, considering he believed it best to kill Cosmo himself that one time. But Shadow couldn't deny that he knew how Tails felt; Maria, Molly… neither of them deserved it and at the end of the day, neither did Cosmo.

Shadow sighed in a guilty way, "Sorry, got carried away…"

Sonic was tempted to stay angry but managed to force the anger out of him and he weakly smiled, "Its okay…"

Shadow leant closer to Sonic a little, "But do you like Amy… I mean really?"

Sonic paused at the suddenness of this question and said nothing at first, but managed to say, "She's cool. She's done so much for me these past two weeks, and I know she still likes me. Whether or not it's more than that, I have no idea. I don't know if I like her in the way you're implying, but I wouldn't mind finding out."

Shadow looked at Sonic darkly, "You'd better hurry up and find out then. You don't exactly have a lot of time before you leave."

Sonic knew Shadow was right.

XXX

Manic was searching for a time to get a word in to talk to Sally, who was in deep conversation with Bunnie and Mina and looked vaguely interested in Bunnie's tale of SWATbot-busting. Manic was left in the company of Antoine and Ash, who were so busy whispering to each other (probably about Sonic, Manic mused) that Manic was easily irritated and part of him wanted to hit them.

Eventually, Manic had enough, and walked over to the three girls; one a chipmunk/squirrel hybrid, one a rabbit with everything from the waist down metal and one a bright, cheery mongoose. Manic gently grabbed Sally's arm and whispered into her ear, "Can we talk? Alone?"

Sally nodded and told the two other girls she'd be back in a moment before following the green hedgehog out into a secluded area. Manic could've sworn that Bunnie had winked at him.

Manic sighed and tried to think of a way to say how sorry he was, but his brain felt like it had turned to mush, "I-I… sorry for being mean to ya lately Sal…"

Sally said nothing, but tried to think of a way to say she understood how Manic felt, "You hurt me Manic… but I understand. I know how it feels to lose someone you really care for."

Manic blinked, "Your dad?" he guessed.

Sally nodded weakly, "Yes."

"That's no excuse," Manic told her, "I shouldn't have treated you so badly."

"All's forgiven," Sally smiled at her fiancé, "Don't worry."

Manic smiled weakly at her and kissed her cheek, "I love you Sal, never forget that."

"Same here," Sally smiled, "I'll be there for you through thick and thin. All you need to do is call."

XXX

Knuckles pondered for the perfect moment to ask Rouge his important question, but none of the moments when they were left alone together seemed right. He did want to propose to Rouge but he couldn't find the right time to. He certainly didn't fancy getting an earful from Rouge about it later on, so pondered silently. The echidna wanted to do it right here, in front of everyone, to show Rouge he cared, despite the sniggers he knew would follow from Sonic. But he waited, watching Rouge grab a beer and sidle over, settling next to Knuckles looking relatively cheerful for once.

"Hey Knuckie," Rouge teased, her drink firmly in her hand, "Enjoying yourself?"

Knuckles nodded dumbly, "Yeah, I guess, if you can count Sonic's moping because Amy's not here…"

Rouge shrugged, "Normally he'd count that as a blessing, but I haven't seen him moping at all."

Rouge took off to speak to Blaze, who appeared to be sitting alone looking very pale leaving Knuckles alone again. The echidna hit himself and groaned, "I had the perfect chance then!"

Rouge was never around him for long at the party, and it led the red echidna to be very curious of her behaviour as well as upset at the fact that he couldn't seem to get a word in edgeways. The poor guy couldn't find the right time to get down on bended knee, and was awfully flustered, as well as beginning to lose his patience.

"Hey Knuckie," Knuckles groaned as Sonic sidled over, drink in hand, imitating Rouge, "Enjoying yourself?"

Knuckles clenched his fists tightly, before a smirk crossed his face, "Without counting the fact that you're continuously moping because your girlfriend hasn't turned up yet, I'm fine."

Sonic went pink in the cheeks, a look of anger slowly crossing his face and his hands clenching into tight fists. Sensing the danger, Knuckles raised his hands, "Calm down, I was only joking. Don't you have a sense of humour?"

"Yes," Sonic said stiffly, "But that was uncalled for."

Knuckles frowned, "Don't imitate Rouge then, it doesn't suit you."

The two remained in silence, the danger of Sonic pummelling Knuckles into a pancake reduced as the two sat there, saying nothing to each other. Knuckles was quite relieved that Sonic hadn't mentioned his proposal tactic yet, but he knew that it was only a matter of time until Sonic brought it up.

Bring it up he did, "How's the proposal thing going?"

Knuckles said nothing, trying to think of an answer suggesting that everything was under control, so then Sonic wouldn't have a reason to laugh at him, but nothing came to mind. Knuckles hoped that if he said nothing, Sonic would back off the subject but instead the echidna saw the hedgehog smirking, "It's not going well, is it?"

Knuckles glared at Sonic, a look of fury on his face, "Firstly, is it any of your business? Secondly, no, it's not, but I'm working on it. And lastly, wipe that ridiculous smirk off of your face or else I'll do it for you!"

Sonic's smirk was instantly wiped off his face and the hedgehog took to frowning instead, "Jesus man, a guy can't even make a joke around here without you threatening to use them as a punching bag!"

Knuckles folded his arms, "Shut up."

Sonic's smirk returned to his face, a new idea hatching in his brain. If getting Knuckles and Rouge engaged would put the echidna in a lighter mood, he'd do it. No doubt he was putting dampeners on the party mood.

"Be right back," Sonic muttered, taking off between the party crowds, leaving Knuckles alone again to ponder his situation. He didn't remain alone for long though, when he caught sight of a tall, slim brown-grey squirrel. Knuckles groaned at the sight of Simone; of all the people he had to put up with, it had to be her. Simone was well-known for her big mouth and competitive nature, and even worst for her continuous flirting with Knuckles.

"Hey Knuxie," Simone whispered in a sensual voice, "How's it going?"

Knuckles scowled, his arms crossed, "Everything was fine until you turned up."

"Aw, mister grumpy?" Simone murmured to him as if she were talking to a pet of hers, "Do you need Simone to cheer you up?"

"I'd cheer up," Knuckles began in an irritated voice, "If you just left me alone."

"But I can't do that Knuxie," Simone whispered again, "I can't leave you alone. I want you."

Knuckles felt truly awkward, much like he always felt when he was victim of Simone's evil flirting. It was always the same, she'd irritate him by talking to him like he was some kind of pet belonging to her, then she'd go all sensual and sexy towards him, before touching him and trying to feel him up. In Knuckles' eyes, Simone was nothing but a tart.

"Come on Knuxie, you know you and me can be happy together," Simone whispered, sure enough allowing her hands to gently stray his shoulders, "Let's go, right now. Back to your island."

"No, just leave me alone," Knuckles growled, not sensually, but angrily.

Simone smiled sexily, "I told you I cannot do that Knuxie."

Before Knuckles knew it, Simone had leant in closer towards him. The echidna could have counted her eyelashes for how close she was. She was getting closer and closer. Knuckles wanted to stop, but his animal instincts were taking over…

XXX

"Can I borrow this Vector?" Sonic asked quickly pointing at the microphone for the karaoke machine, not sounding at all tired for someone who had just run across the room, but then again, he was Sonic. Vector nodded drunkenly and allowed Vanilla to lead him away as Sonic held the microphone in his hand, "Here goes nothing…"

Making sure the microphone was switched on, Sonic began speaking into it; "Can everybody hear me?"

Everyone shuffled towards Sonic's direction and the hedgehog saw this as a sign to continue, "I've just been speaking to a good friend of mine, and he has a proposal for the girl he loves. Because he's too scared to make the proposal on his own," Sonic prepared for Knuckles to come charging up to the stage and beat him to a pulp, "I thought we'd help him. Go ahead Knuckie."

Everyone looked around to try and find Knuckles. Rouge scanned the crowds, almost hoping that it was she Knuckles wanted to propose to, and the sight that met her when she found him was hideous.

Knuckles was pinned up against the wall, being kissed rather passionately by Simone the Squirrel. Tears came into Rouge's eyes, realizing that maybe Knuckles wasn't worth it after all. No, it wasn't just him…

Fire sprang to life in Rouge's eyes and the bat stalked towards Simone, pulling her off of Knuckles harshly and dealing a hard slap to the squirrel's face. Simone didn't take that lying down, and aimed a blow towards Rouge's head, Rouge catching the fist with ease, "I thought you knew martial arts, Simone?"

Simone's cheeks went red with anger and she lunged at Rouge again, her fists tightly clenched. Every sissy swing she lunged at Rouge, Rouge dealt with easily, eventually pinning Simone to the floor, grabbing her hair, which Simone yelped at and complained that her hair appointments cost her lots of money. Rouge leant close to Simone's face, so much that Simone could smell Rouge's breath, "You slut… stay away from Knuckles…"

Knuckles moved forward, "Rouge I-"

Knuckles was dealt a sharp slap to the face much like Simone had received by Rouge, who had tears falling down her face, "I thought it would be you and me, I thought, after what Sonic was saying, you were going to propose to me, but no, you simply had to choose that slut didn't you?"

"Rouge I would never choose anyone over you!" Knuckles argued desperately; the woman he loved was on the line here, and all because of his stupid animal instincts, "I love you!"

"Funny thing to say to someone after you've just snogged another girl!" Rouge snapped, her arms folded.

"Guys…" Tails timidly appeared in the hallway, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else but there, "Can you take it someplace else please?"

"Don't worry, Tails!" Rouge shouted angrily, "I'm leaving! I cannot spend another second with this cheating scumbag!"

With that, Rouge turned on her heel and stalked out of the house without a word to anybody. She threw a hard kick into Simone's shins on the way out.