Espio woke up with something heavy on his side 9/3/2024

 9/3/2024

Espio woke up with something heavy on his side. Charmy. He thought in his hazy brain. Odd that it was so quiet. The young bee normally spoke a mile a minute. He shifted his head and cracked open an eye to see if the bee was sleeping. 

It was a child. 

Check on detective skills. 

However, it was not Charmy. The child was a similar size to the bee. Curled up and sleeping peacefully leaning on the ninja's side. They were a pale color based on how the limited light bounced off their body. 

He shifted slowly, attempting not to wake the child. He replaced his body with a pillow for the child. There was a slight chirp of annoyance before they settled down into snoozing again. Espio checked the room for an entrance. The windows were closed. Plus his room was on the second story.  His door wasn't open. 

Did someone bring the child into his room?

He slowly and carefully went to the door. He sucked in a breath. Every door here creaked so loudly. He gave the knob a slow turn, hoping for once the door wouldn't be so loud this time. Unfortunately, it was as loud as ever. He frowned as he turned back to see the child stir. 

Maybe they'll go back to sleep? 

“Yo Espio.” Vector’s voice boomed as he came up the stairs. “Odd for you to sleep in.”

Espio frowned as the child began to loudly cry. 

“What's that?” Vector jumped at the sound.

“A child…” Espio groaned. “You don't know where it came from, do you?”

Say what you will about the croc, but he wasn't one to wake a sleeping child on purpose. 

“No…” Vector walked into chameleon’s room and plucked the fussy thing off the bed. He immediately went into care taker mode, muttering words of comfort and rocking the child. He walked back out of the room. 

In the light, the child had soft lilac fur. They cooed at Vector as they curled into his chest. They never opened their eyes so they couldn't tell the child’s eye color. 

“How'd a kid get in your room?” Vector looked at the windows.

“That's what I'd like to know.” Espio shook his head. “I'm on the second floor.”

They walked down stairs to find Charmy coloring at Vector's desk. 

“Charmy, you know anything about a mystery baby being in Espio's room?” Vector asked as he gestured to the kid in his arms. 

Charmy looked up, tilting his head. “Storks bring babies, right?” 

The two stood still for a moment. Neither wanted to correct the young bee. 

“Congrats on becoming a dad Espio.” Charmy beamed. 

“I'm not the dad.” Espio grumbled.

“Do storks make mistakes?” Charmy asked as he flew to look at the child.

Vector stood still as he contemplated how to answer that.

A knock at the door caught their attention. The baby squirmed as Vector attempted to soothe them again. A fussy baby made things harder. 

Charmy flew to the door with the ninja. Espio opened the door to arch a brow at the sight before them. 

It was obviously Tails and Silver. But they were a lot older than the Chaotix was used to. Tails was taller than Espio. He was a few inches shy of Vector's height. Silver was in a wheelchair and looking like he just came out of a horrible fight. 

“What's going on?” Espio asked. 

“Time travel shenanigans,” Tails shrugged. “You guys?” 

“The stork visited Espio last night!” Charmy happily told him. 

Tails smiled. “Really?” He leaned down. “Well the stork visited Silver in my timeline. However, they can time travel like him and I tracked them to here. So is it possible that Silver's baby came here?”

Espio's eyes darted to the very tired and possibly drugged white hedgehog then back to Tails. “What's wrong with Silver?”

“C sections suck.” Tails stated. “However, he insisted on getting his kid.”

Silver grumbled something unitelleliable.

“I know. Just stay calm.” Tails rubber his shoulder. 

“This them?” Vector brought the baby over. 

“Yep!” Tails swiftly took the child and placed them in Silver's arms. “He's been a not fun trip.” He whispered. “Oh, don't tell the Silver that time travels here about this. I don't feel like dealing with paradoxes.”

Silver’s quills flatten some as he held the child close. The child simply cooed and giggled in their sleep. The Chaotix all nodded as they were slightly confused by Silver's quiet demeanor. 

“Alrighty,” Tails waved at them as he grabbed a hold of the wheelchair. “You have a good day, the me in this time will see you later.” He leaned into Silver. “Time to get back to my time, okay, Silver.”

The grey hedgehog nodded without taking his eyes off the child. They walked away from the house as Silver opened a time portal without much thought. 

“What's a C section?” Charmy asked. 

“A surgery.” Vector answered as Espio closed the door. “I'll explain the rest when you're 14.”

“Okay!” Charmy flew back to coloring like nothing had happened. 

Several days later, Silver was visiting and sleeping over. The questions kept swirling in Espio's head. As Silver laid down in the spare bed in his room, Espio turned off the light before getting into his bed. 

“Is something on your mind?” Silver asked, the markings on his wrists providing a soft glow. 

Espio took in a deep breath. Silver could be perceptive at the worst moments. “Do you know what C Sections are?” He asked plainly. 

“Yeah, it's when they cut the baby out of the stomach if you can give birth naturally.” Silver answered. “Most guys in my timeline get c sections.”

“Most guys?” Espio arched a brow. 

“Yeah.” Silver nodded. “Any one can carry a child in my timeline.” There was a pause. “Ooohhh…” Silver rolled in the bed. “I forgot that's not the case in this time is it?”