Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Babbysitter Affair ❯ Stress and Unrelaxation ( Chapter 2 )

A/N: -_- Don’t ask. Its way overdue.      The Babysitter Affair: Chapter two..     Driving on the beltway, Knuckles had to constantly change the radio stations in order to calm his nerves and keep his focus. Still, he couldn’t keep his pressured thoughts at bay for too long, and growled when they engulfed him. He was lucky he came to a stoplight. “Dammit…” he groused lowly. Shutting his eyes, he ran a shaky hand through his dreads and sighed. No matter how much he tried to gather his thoughts and control them, the constant remembrance of Rouge’s harsh words replayed in his mind. ‘Knuckles, are you seeing someone else…? ‘ …You’re lying! ‘…Our marriage was already on the brink of going downhill, and you just gave it one more good push…’ “Dammit, Rouge!!” he yelled, pounding on the steering wheel with both his fists, then forced himself back in his seat. With a heavy sigh, he roughly rubbed his temples. “Why won’t she believe me…?” he thought out-loud “Why can’t she understand?!” His thoughts were instantly torn to pieces from the sound of a honking horn behind him. Caught off guard, Knuckles nearly jumped in his seat and quickly stuck his head out the window of his Acura. Looking to the car behind him with wild and threatening eyes, Knuckles stared straight at the driver and flipped him off. He then settled himself in the car, and continued driving. “...This is NOT turning out to be a good day for me… “ he growled, tightly gripping the steering wheel in disgust and turning right into an exit. On the highway again, he traveled a little ways before getting back on the beltway. “Finally…I’m halfway there.” He murmured, immediately having to weave in front of three cars to cross over into the lane on the far left. In a hurry to get to Sonic’s place, Knuckles floored the gas and weaved between four more cars before crossing over into the furthest most lane again, and ended up tailgating the driver in front of him. “Come on!” he yelled to the driver in front of him, honking his horn. “This is the fast lane, you idiot!! Speed up!!” When the driver didn’t respond, Knuckles muttered a curse, then tried to weave in front of him, and almost rammed into another car in his blind spot. “Great…”he muttered, leaning back in the seat and running a hand through his hair. “…Well…it could always be worse…” he sighed sarcastically with a fake smile. And as fate would have it, the car in front of him stopped suddenly, and caused him to slam on the breaks, and cracked the taillights on the car in front of him. “Dammit!” he growled and stuck his head out the window. “What’s the hold up!!” Then it hit him. He found himself stuck in heavy traffic, backed up miles and miles in front of him. In denial, he shook his head and got out of the car. “This can’t be happening…” he mumbled. Dismayed, his eyes feverishly fleeted around to check his surroundings, and he saw that the exit to Sonic’s place was a walking distance away. “Finally…” he muttered, almost thankful---that is until he realized that he was in the furthest left lane, and couldn’t make it over to the exit in time, because of the traffic. With a loud curse, Knuckles opened the door to get back in the car when the sirens of a police car blared in front of him and got him to nearly trip over the door. Eyeing the car in front of him intently, Knuckles’ breath got caught in his throat as his eyes followed the driver of the car until he stepped out in full uniform and flashed Knuckles his badge. Feeling the building anger inside him nearly reach its boiling point, Knuckles narrowed his eyes and slowly shook his head.  “Someone in heaven sure loves playing games with me…” __   “Okay kids, are you two ready?” Rouge asked, opening the sliding doors to the car. Akai scoffed and rubbed his nose. “I’m not a kid!” he retaliated. Amethyst looked his brother and nudged him. “Yes you are! Mommy always says so!” “Then you are too!” “Nuh-uh! Just you! You kid!” “I’m not a kid! I’m 2 and uh half!” “So? I’m two and uh half too!” “Then you’re a kid too!” Akai pressed, trying to push his brother. “I am not!” Amethyst cried, pushing him back. “Okay, boys, that’s enough!” Rouge announced, snatching them by the wrists and tossing them into the back seats. “It’s bad enough that you two look like your father…” she trailed off while buckling their seat belts. “…You don’t have to act like him too…” she whispered to herself, then closed the sliding door. With a sigh, Rouge leaned her back against the door and looked up to the sky. Seeing the clouds float by so lush and free, Rouge narrowed her eyes. For a moment, and only for a moment, did she envy them. Her mind drifted back to her days of freedom, far before she met Knuckles and committed herself to him. Before then, she followed her own heart and went by her own rules. She even told herself, convincingly, that she would never settle down. She couldn’t even imagine seeing herself as a mother those few years ago. ‘And now look at me…’ she thought sadly and closed her eyes. “…why did you do it, Knuckles…?” she uttered softly to the near-still wind. “I gave up my freedom for you…and the boys. I gave up my dreams…and this is how you repay me? By leaving me for another---” she trailed off as the memories of their earlier argument and her finding the band flashed through her mind and shook her head, as if doing so would send them away. ‘I can’t take this’ she whispered to herself. Feeling a distinct chill jolt through her, she hesitantly folded her arms across her chest and hugged herself, shivering lightly. The exact moment warm tears began to conceive in her eyes, two quick taps on the SUV’s back window made her jump and quickly wipe her eyes. “Mommy?” Amethyst’s small voice called from the backseat. “Are you all wight?” Akai added, wondering why their mother had her back to them outside the car. Letting a brief sniffle pass, Rouge forced a maternal smile and turned to them in the car and waved reassuringly. “Yeah.” She spoke, clearing her throat and lightly straightening her hair with her fingers. “Mommy’s fine. “ she replied and swiftly jogged around the vehicle to the driver’s side and hopped in. As the engine roared to life, Rouge sighed inwardly to herself and started to pull away from the curb. “Yep. Mommy is just fine you two. “ she continued, mainly directing her words to herself more than her children. The smallish echidnas curiously eyed their mother to find the truth in her words, but they found none. A tad confused, Akai inched closer to his brother and motioned for him to come closer. “I think mommy’s not feeling vewy well.” Akai whispered to his brother, who nodded, but had a comment of his own. “Yeah, but I don’t know. If mommy says so, it must be true. So I’m gonna believe her.” Akai wrinkled his nose at his brother and shook his head. “Just because mommy says it, doesn’t mean that it’s always gonna be true. Remembuh when she said there was a fishbowl in daddy’s chair one time?” Amethyst looked up in thought and giggled. “Yeah, but she was telling the truth..” “It was only a picture of a fishbowl. She played a trick on us!” “Yeah so? It was still a fishbowl!” Amethyst retaliated, nudging his brother. “Ahh Don’t hit me!” Akai shouted, nearly pushing his brother out his seatbelt. “Stop it! I didn’t hit you!” he cried, flailing his little arms in a futile attempt to keep his brother’s hands away from him. “Moooooommmyyyy!!!!” “Mommy’s not here right now” she exhaled. “ In her place, this lovely bat with two very active and hyper children, is going to be taking over until mommy feels like dealing with you boys.” She ranted in a half sarcastic and overly saccharine tone as she took off down the street.       ~~ Sorry about the wait. Had writer’s block several times for this. I had to go in one story with these characters and write about them, then go to another and fill them in a lot better and so on and so forth >_< I have to get more into these guys again. Their personas keep changing with each next gen game. (Has anyone noticed how long Rouge’s arms have gotten now? In Heroes they were pretty long and she kind of looked like Omega with them at her sides and in Shadow’s game, her elbows nearly pass her knees. Its sickening to look at, so I picture her as her SA2 self with NORMAL arms. >_< I may have to go back to SA2 to get a feel for all the chars again. ^^ But I’ll give and present results!   See ya   -Mel