Sonic skidded to a stop, narrowly missing a thick tangle of some prickly bush. His way was blocked by the thorn bushes, with no way around. He sighed, turning around and heading back the way he had come to give Sally the bad news. A couple minutes later he stopped again, looking around, his brow furrowing in confusion. He had traveled all the way back to the place he had left Sally, but she was nowhere to be seen. He sighed, easily finding the indention of her footsteps in the mud. He retraced his steps until the boot prints ended, suddenly to be replaced with paw prints. There was something strangely disturbing about the imprints that moved forward just a couple steps and the circled back around only to disappear. Sonic thought for a moment, his imagination doing a fairly good job of getting in the way of any productive or realistic reasoning of what might have happened to her. He shook his head, trying to dispel paranoid thoughts of cannibalistic hyenas or giant Mobian eating plants. He huffed, dismissing the notion that Sally had rounded the corner only to accidentally stumble upon Robotnik taking a leak on the tree stump just to his right. That was ludicrous, it was impossible, but Sonic leaned closer to the stump just to be sure. It was then he saw a slight smear of mud and noticed the paw prints going down the steep embankment behind it. Relief washed over the hedgehog, but was quickly replaced with aggravation. What had possessed her to climb down the slippery hill? Why hadn't she waited on him? He had been making an awful lot of effort and even making sacrifices to insure she and the baby growing inside her were safe. He had taken her watch duties, had volunteered to work the gardens extra so she wouldn't have to. He had stopped eating chili dogs for a whole month because the smell had made her sick. He had become completely celibate and hadn't even complained about it, not once. He had gone above and beyond, all for her and it angered him that she would risk maneuvering down the muddy slop. He ran down the embankment and nearly kept running, his mind bent on finding the wayward Princess and giving her a piece of his mind. If the sun had not chosen that very moment to peek through the gray clouds above, Sonic would have never seen the little glass bottle lying in the grass. He stopped quickly, going back to where the glint had come from, bending to study the vile. He sighed, shaking his head sadly and stood, rushing forward a new fear suddenly griping his heart.

"Desiree . . . we . . . let's talk about this." Sally's voice wavered a little, her eyes sparkling with frightened tears. Desiree did not respond, her eyes focused on the slight, but noticeable curve of Sally's stomach. Sally remembered fleetingly Tails commenting only a week or so ago that she was getting a little "soft" which was a nice way of saying fat and that she ought to think about getting some exercise. He had smiled and suggested that it might do her good to go on a mission or two. She should have told him the truth then and wondered if she had if any of this would be happening now. Sonic had told her keeping the news from the kit was unwise and he had been right. Sally had simply wanted to save Tails from getting excited only to be devastated if she had a miscarriage. Almost as if her thoughts of him had stirred the boy from his stupor, Tails moaned, his head lifting. He blinked, confused by the scene before him. His mind was still thick, his thoughts sluggish and it took him a minute to understand Desiree was pointing a weapon at them. No, not him, but Aunt Sally. She was standing stiffly, her arm around Tails' waist holding him protectively against her. He could feel the slight tremble of the muscles there, the fear she was barley containing. Guilt gnawed at the pit of his stomach. This was his fault, the whole thing his doing.

With little thought and absolutely no planning the kit wrenched away from Sally, whose attention had been so totally on Desiree that she had not noticed Tails was again lucid. He flung himself at his mother, whose eyes opened wide, almost comically, in surprise. He attempted to jerk the pistol from her hands, but her grip was strong, unyielding. Time seemed to nearly stop as he struggled with Desiree, fighting for control of the gun. A life time seemed to pass as both foxes growled and grunted in effort. A shot sounded with a loud whine, hitting the ceiling, burning a hole the poorly constructed shelter. Sally shouted something Tails couldn't quite understand and a heartbeat later peach colored arms wrapped around Desiree's chest, pulling her backwards. Tails grip on the gun did not waver though and this caused another shot to fire from the barrel, this time striking something living and soft, the smell of burnt fur and flesh assaulting the boy's nose. He released the weapon, the pistol clattering to the floor. He backed away, shaking his head at the sight before him. For a moment he could almost believe what he thought he saw was some trick of his still drug affected mind. For just a moment it seemed his eyes were fooling him and the mother he had never truly known did not have a large, smoldering hole just below her left ear, but then her body fell limply to the floor, Sonic, who had tried to wrench the struggling foxes apart dropping her to land with a loud thump onto his rear, holding a hand to his left shoulder, where the shot had passed through Desiree's head and had badly burnt him. Tails stared, unmoving as Sally ran by him, dropping down first beside the injured hedgehog, checking quickly on his condition before she made her way to the dead woman, her small hands pressing at her pregnant middle, feeling for movement. With a speed that in that moment could have rivaled Sonic's she dumped the contents of her backpack, retrieving a medical pack. Tails turned away from the scene, shaking his head slowly, a strange sort of sorrow engulfing him. He had killed her. He had just killed his mother.

"Tails!" The boy did not turn to analogue Sally's call, staring at the far wall, staring though it. "Tails, I need your help!" She called, louder this time.

"She's dead!" He shouted back, his voice squeaking with emotion. "She's dead Aunt Sally! You can't help her!"

"You're right, she is dead. But the baby isn't, not yet. I need you to help me save it." Tails turned then, his stomach turning sickly when he saw that Sally was cutting deeply into the dead fox, blood pooling at her knees. "Grab Sonic's pack, there's a blanket in it." Tails moved to where Sonic sat, his head lowered in pain, but his eyes open and aware. Tails pulled the blanket from the top of the pack, bringing it back to where Sally knelt.

"Here." He tried to hand it to her, but she shook her head.

"Hold it open. I'm going to lay the baby on it."

"Aunt Sally . . . I . . .can't . . . I don't wanna . . ."

"This is your brother or sister Tails. Your family. I can't do this alone. Hold the blanket out." Her voice was firm, reassuring and Tails nodded, glancing away as Sally shoved both hands into the large incision she had just made. A minute later he felt a sudden weight against his arms and he turned back to stare wide eyed at the dark colored baby that was clearly a mix between a raccoon and fox. The baby, which was a boy, lay limply in his arms.

"Is he . . .is he . . . ?"

"Wrap the blanket around him. Rub your hands quickly over his body." Sally interrupted, not looking up from the thick fleshy cord she had tied off and was cutting through. Tails pulled the blanket over the tiny form, running his palms over the baby's chest and stomach. He firmly stroked, gasping in shock and nearly dropping the newborn kit when it began to mull softly, moving slightly in his arms.

"He's alive." He whispered softly, his eyes never leaving the squirming mass he held. "You're alive."

Three Months Later

Sally chuckled, amused and a little frustrated as she tried to situate the hungry baby Tails had named Tobi on her non-existent lap. The kit had been resting lightly upon the round fullness of her middle a moment before, but the unborn child within her had insisted on kicking upward, disturbing poor Tobi as he tried to drink his bottle. Sally stood with a grunt, giving up on finding the boy a spot to rest and instead held him in the crook of her arm, pacing around the kitchen as he finished his meal. Though it would be some time yet until they knew if Desiree's drug use or the time without oxygen in the womb had affected Tobi mentally, physically he was the picture of health. They could only hope that the little ring tailed baby had not suffered any brain damage.

Tobi finished the bottle, his bright blue eyes shimmering happily as he stared up at Sally's smiling face. He reach up as if to grab her muzzle or perhaps a firey strand of hair he couldn't hope to reach. Sally kissed the little fist and hoisted him up onto her shoulder, patting his back. Tobi let out a loud, wet burp just as Sonic entered the front door, Tails on his heels, both dirty from a trip to the city.

"Look Tobi . . . Daddy's home." Sally told the baby cheerfully as she kissed Sonic lightly. The couple had naturally taken the child on as their own and Sally had drawn up official papers, adopting both Tobi and Tails.

"I got 'im, take a load off Sal." Sonic held out his arms but Sally shook her head.

"I just bathed him and you're filthy."

"Alright, alright . . . I'll get cleaned up first, but then he's mine for the rest a' the night."

"Sounds good to me." Sally focused on Tails then, reaching out to gently stroke her fingers over the tuft of fur atop his head. "How did the mission go Honey?"

"Real good. I downloaded the information you wanted into Nicole and we got ta blow a communication tower. It was cool."

"Good, that information will come in handy."

"Yeah, I know it was the most important thing."

"No Tails, the most important thing is that everyone got home safely. In every mission that is always the most important thing, remember that."

"I will Aunt Sally."

"Why don't you go get washed up too." Tails nodded, turning away walking to the door. He stopped as he reach out for the handle and turned back around. He went back to where Sally stood, standing on the tips of his toes to kiss her cheek.

"I love you . . . Momma."