What's In A Name?

She slowly became aware of the slightly antiseptic smell around her. She knew she was in a hospital. She wondered why.

Then she remembered the enemy, the fight, the searing pain. Her hands immediately went to her belly. She began to shudder as she felt how flat it was. It had been a long time since she'd felt it that way. She'd become so accustomed to the firm roundness of the life their love had created, her trim figure was a distant memory.

But now it was back. She no longer carried that new life. It was too soon, she thought. It couldn't survive outside her.

The pain?!

She began to sob.

She felt the bed sag beneath a newly added weight. She felt strong arms encircle her, pulling her into a familiar warmth. Normally, those arms, this embrace, would bring with it total contentment. But not today. She could feel his hand gently stroke her hair. The whisper of his voice as he tried to comfort her.

"It's okay."

Okay? She wanted to scream. How can it be okay? We've just lost life's greatest gift, and you tell me it's okay? But her throat ached too much from her sobs for her to get the words out. Everything ached. But nothing so much as her heart.

His voice was choked with emotion when he spoke again. "There's some..."

She shook her head violently. She didn't want to hear him say it, confirm it. Her entire body was shuddering with the power of her grief. Strangely, she thought, his wasn't.

Her eyes snapped open as she heard a soft whimpering echo her own. It wasn't him. It came from across the room. As soon as it started she felt his arms slip away. The bedding shifted as his weight was lifted.

"Shhh," she heard him whisper. "I know, I don't like to hear her cry, either."

Her glassy eyes followed the sound of his voice. She let out a tiny, involuntary gasp. He was cradling something impossibly small in his arms. Humming to it, soothing it, with a surprisingly mellow and musical tone. It settled, borrowing into his chest in much the same way as she had.

He noticed her stunned expression and smiled warmly. "As I was saying," he began as he walked towards her, gazing down for a moment at the tiny bundle in his arms, his dark eyes shining, before returning his attention to her. "There's someone here who wants to meet you."

"He's okay." She whispered in awe as she reached tentatively for the bundle.

His smile deepened. "SHE'S fine." He said as he deposited the bundle in her arms. He pulled back the soft blanket to reveal a tiny face. Soft silken hair fell across her eyelids, almost tangling with her long curved lashes. A tiny contented smile curled her mouth. Her perfect little nose twitched as a frown creased her forehead. She began to sniff, nuzzling the neck of this new, yet familiar being that now held her. Content that this new being offered no threat, she snuggled in under her chin. She could feel the tears brim her eyes again, but for a totally different reason.

"Pretty amazing, huh?" He whispered.

She looked up at him. She couldn't find the words to describe how she was feeling, so she just smiled. He sat down beside her, wrapping an arm around her. She snuggled up to him as they both gazed in rapture at their daughter.

"What are we going to call her?" She asked softly when she finally found her voice. Given his family tree, she'd been so convinced they'd have a son she hadn't even thought of any girls' names.

"I've got a suggestion," he said, "if you're in agreement." Tearing her eyes from the infant sleeping peacefully in her arms, she looked at him for a moment.

"What?" She asked.

He brushed a curl from his daughter's eyes. A tiny hand wrapped itself around his finger. He chuckled as it was immediately pulled to her mouth. "I think," he said as she began to gum his finger, "it'd be nice if we named her after my mother."

She looked at the tiny face, now even more content as she slobbered all over her father's finger. By their people's tradition, a girl-child was always given a hyphenated name, sharing the suffix with her mother. She smiled as she rolled his suggestion around in her head before speaking it aloud.

"Lara-Su." She smiled. "It does have a nice ring to it."

Vector was pacing angrily back and forth. Espio, Mighty and Ray followed his movements from their seats as if watching a game of tennis. Back and forth, back and forth. "Why is this taking so long?" The crocodile demanded of no one in particular. "You think they'd tell us SOMETHING! If anything has happened to either one of them..." he grumbled.

Mighty allowed himself a small smile, exchanging a knowing glance with Espio. It still amused him to see how much the crocodile's attitude had changed. Not that long ago, he was at Julie-Su's throat, now he was one of her greatest defenders.

"They have been in there an awfully long time," Lara-Le whispered. "What if something terrible has happened to the..."

"Don't even think like that, Lara." Locke said. "They'll be fine."

He didn't want to say anything, but he'd been worrying about the child as well. He hadn't seen the condition Julie-Su had been in when his son had brought her in, but the lack of information, the number of medics that were passing by, indicated things weren't good. He was praying he was wrong.

The doors slammed open as Sonic and Sally entered.

"We got here as soon as we could..." Sally said.

"Is there any news?" Sonic asked, his brows furrowed with concern.

"They ain't told us jack." Vector growled as he leaned back against a wall, arms folded across his chest.

Sally sat down. Sensing and sharing her fear, Sonic sighed heavily and sat down beside her, pulling her close.

"We'll set up some test for the morning," The doctor said to the matron that was trailing behind him, "but right now, I think it's best if we..." He stopped as he noticed the crowded waiting room, all faces turned to him, expectantly. "Oh." He smiled. "Been waiting long?"

Locke gave him a look that clearly said 'cut the crud'.

"How is...are..." Lara-Le began, barely daring to ask.

"Father, mother and child are all doing exceptionally well." He smiled.

"Child?" Lara-Le echoed. "But...the egg...?"

"Seems our newest Guardian was in a hurry to meet us all." Locke smiled. "And Knuckles didn't stay in his egg very long either."

Sonic shook his head. "I still can't get use to the idea that you guys hatch from eggs."

"You got something against egg-laying creatures?" Espio said in a mock threatening tone.

"No." Sonic shrugged. "It's just kinda weird for mammals."

"So the kid's okay?" Vector asked.

"A little small," the doctor admitted, "but that's hardly surprising considering it's four weeks premature. Apart from that, our latest Guardian is, in a word, perfect."

"Cut to the chase, doc," Mighty smiled. "Boy or girl?"

"That's not my place to say," he smiled back. "I'll leave that up to the parents."

"Can we see them?" Lara-Le asked, more than a little anxiously.

"I'll just check to see if they're up to it."

~~~~~

"I don't get it," Knuckles said softly. "Why is it so damn fascinating just watching her sleep?"

"It's called engrossment," the doctor said from the doorway. "Happens to most parents. It's to guarantee you'll look after the little rugrat."

"Did you need something?" Julie-Su asked, managing to tear her eyes from the peacefully slumbering infant for a fraction of a second.

"No," he said. "She's amazingly healthy, considering how she came into the world. But she's got a lot of fans. We've got a waiting room full of the most bizarre collection of creatures." He smiled warmly at the new parents. "You up to some visitors?"

"I guess we have to share her sometime." Julie-Su smiled as she returned her attention to the tiny being in her arms.

~~~~~

"Okay," the doctor said as he re-entered the waiting room. "No more than four at a time." He smiled at Locke. "And I think it only fitting that the grandparents go in first."

"Oh my goodness." Lara-Le gasped as Wynmacher helped her to her feet.

"What is it?" He asked, a little concerned.

She looked at him with wide green eyes. "I'm a grandmother."

~~~~~

The first thing that Lara-Le noticed when she entered the room was her son's dangerously bare hands dangerously close to her newborn grandchild.

"Knuckles!" She chided. "How can you even think about handling that child with those...things exposed?!"

"But...Mum..." Knuckles began to protest as she began to wrap his hands with soft white bandages.

"Hush, boy." She said.

"I don't see what all the fuss is about," Knuckles grumbled. "She's got a set of her own."

"She?" Locke and Wynmacher cited together.

Locke raised a sceptical brow as he looked down at the face of his slumbering granddaughter, sleeping peacefully in her mother's arms. "I don't know how the others are going to react to this..." he said softly, not wishing to wake her. "It's been a long time since we had a sister in the Brotherhood."

"You know me," Knuckles smiled, returning to his place by Julie-Su's side, now that his mother had finished, "I always did dare to be different."

"She's such a perfect little angel." Lara-Le smiled as she gently stroked the tiny echidna's hair. "I always said you two would make a beautiful child." The puggle snuffled at her finger, wrapping a tiny hand around it. "Have you a name?"

Knuckles and Julie-Su exchanged a glance and a smile.

"If you don't mind," he looked first at his mother, then his father. "We thought we'd call her Lara-Su."

Lara-Le looked wide-eyed at her son and his partner. "Why on Mobius would I mind?"

"Indeed," Locke smiled. "It's the perfect name."

~~~~~

"Oh, yeah," Vector said as he studied Lara-Su's angelic little face. "This kid's gonna be trouble."

"Why do you say that?" Ray asked. She looked so innocent, how could she possibly be any trouble.

"With their combined DNA?" He jerked a thumb at Knuckles and Julie-Su, only to be rewarded by an extremely dirty look from the pair.

"You're gonna kick your Uncle Vector's butt, aren't you?" Mighty said to the sleeping infant in a bright playful voice.

"Just like your Mummy and Daddy." Espio added with a chuckle.

~~~~~

Sonic cocked his head to one side as he looked at the newborn echidna. "You know, Knux," he said, finally. "You lucked out. She looks like her mom."

"Oh, ha ha." Knuckles said sourly in response.

"I don't know," Sally said as she tentatively touched one of the spurs that crowned the infant's fingers with the tip of her index finger. "I think there's a fair bit of her father in her."

Sonic offered his own finger to Lara-Su, well aware of the reflex that would make her take hold of it. "Hmmm..." he mused as her tiny fingers curled around his finger, tiny claws catching in the fabric of his white glove. "She's a knucklette."

"Ah, Sonic?" Julie-Su began as the tiny fingers began to tighten their grip. "I think I should warn you..."

"Yeeoowch!" Sonic shrieked as Lara-Su took hold with a far tighter grip than he had anticipated. "Jeez," he winced as he pried his finger free. "Quite a grip she's got there." He shook his hand to start the circulation, then sucked on his finger to relieve the pain. He raised a brow at Julie-Su. "You were gonna say 'she's got her father's strength', weren't you?"

"Yep." Julie-Su smiled.

Knuckles chuckled and tickled his daughter under the chin, receiving a contented little giggle.

"That's my girl." He said.