Rouge The Bat: Mature Goddess

Rouge and Tom have been married for twenty three years and eleven months
as of this chapter.

---------------------------------------------------------


Knuckles rarely visited Club Rouge, but today was the day for the
fathers to talk. Their children were to be married. "Teal might move
out... I don't know how Rouge will take that," Tom said.

"Slate's got his own house now, so... don't worry, if Teal moves to the
island with us, she'll be fine." Knuckles sighed. "But..."

"But what?" Tom asked, wondering why Knuckles seemed to be elsewhere.

He said, "Slate might move off the island. Your daughter's in GUN,
he might want to live close to where she works... or even join up.
Our island doesn't have infinite space and the population's been going
up. Some of the echidnas are going to start leaving."

"We need to support them no matter what they choose." Taking a bite
of his burger, Tom said, "we met with the doc at the fertility
clinic yesterday."

"Yeah? What'd they say?" Knuckles was worried about whether or not
children were possible.

"Said that tests on echidna genetics are still new. Since that island
was only discovered so recently they don't have decades of research.
Speaking strictly, bats and echidnas aren't related too well and might
have a low chance. Although..."

Knuckles hung on, waiting to hear the rest. "... with Teal being half
human, it may increase the chances." Thomas paused. "Or ruin the
chances of a genetic compatibility. They don't know."

Knuckles placed his head on the table. "I used to guard the Master
Emerald. Now, it's guarded by a titanium box, six inches thick.
I have a family and I worry more about them than I ever did about
the Master Emerald..."

At another table, they heard a customer ranting. "...you seen the owner
of this place? Not bad, but gettin' old. What her husband outta do is
treat her like money! You know, change her for two twenties! Heh!"

Tom wasn't amused. "Excuse me," he said, standing from the table,
striding to the man's table and delivering a hard smack to the back
of his head. "You just said something bad about my wife!"

The man rolled over, somewhat dazed. "Hey, I know you... Giovanni
Adriani's boy. The loser who killed off a great wine business! Your
father would be disappointed in you!" Tom recognized the man, older now
but he'd been one of the old family friends, a butt-kisser who
sucked up to his family in the past. Rich elitist snob.

"I was always disappointed in my father, so it makes us even. SECURITY!"

The man wasn't having this. "You little punk! You don't even respect your
own family name! You don't deserve their fortune or-" Swiftly,
Tom sent his fist forward, into the man's kidney. Knuckles was in awe,
watching from his seat.

Three old 102-series robots walked forward, Tom ordering, "throw this
bum out onto the sidewalk. If he causes trouble, deal with him as you
see necessary!"

"Order received," the lead robot said, grabbing the rude customer to
haul him out of the casino. Returning to the table, Thomas sat down,
picking up his cheeseburger.

"WHOA! You beat the crap outta that guy!"

"He'll pee red for a week. I don't need his crap. I don't need my father
being dragged into this. Old fool was a joke. I buried the old family
business where it belongs." He was proud.

Knuckles spoke, "wow, you really didn't like your father, did you?"

"You still look up to your old tribe, don't you?" he asked.

Knuckles responded, "a bit, yeah."

"And the others on the island, they look down on the old tribe, don't
they?"

Saddened, Knuckles replied, "yeah. They do. Most of them, anyway."

"Just because someone came before you, laid the foundation," Tom
mused, "doesn't mean they were always right."


---------------------------------------------------------

Rouge curled up by her husband on the couch. The old apartment above
the casino was their private hideout. "How'd it go with Knuckles?"
she asked.

"Went well," Tom replied, "no problems."

"Heard you got security to throw some guy out."

"That was nothing," he said.

She took his hand, wedding rings rubbing together. "Tom... with Teal's
wedding coming up..." She looked him in the eyes. "We're getting older.
Would it be asking too much to renew our wedding vows?"

"Of course not," he replied, squeezing her hand. "You mean a new
ceremony, right? It'll cost money..."

"We have money," Rouge noted.


"Okay," he said, "why not? How do you want it? Big, elaborate? That'll
take time to set up... or we could get something smaller together..."

She said cheerfully, "our anniversary is next month. I think it'd be
a good day to have it."

"Good. I'll make the calls tomorrow then."

"Tom..." She nuzzled tight. "I heard the details. How that customer
you threw out said you should dump me for a younger woman, and how
you punched him out... I'm proud of you."

"Thanks. Come on, I want to get home. We DO have two other daughters
to spend time with, still!"

"Right..." Rouge stood, grabbing her purse. "June's with them but they
probably miss us..."


---------------------------------------------------------

The twins were crying. Teal knew why. The little girls were teething
but they refused their teething rings. Come on, these will make you
feel better!"

Violette screamed out, "I want mommy!"

"I'm here, sweetie," Rouge said, running into the living room. Jumping
up, the girls flew into their mother's arms, clinging tight. "Teal,
hand me their teething rings." Opening the cooler, she pulled out the
two yellow objects, giving them over. "Okay, one of you needs to sit
down," Rouge said, Rose jumping to the couch as she put the cold ring
into Violette's mouth. The child, content, joined her sister as
Rouge placed the second teething ting into Rose's mouth.

"I really shouldn't have been gone so long," Rouge said, sitting beside
her babies.

"They weren't too bad," Teal responded, "not until their gums started
hurting." The twins calmed down, the plastic teething devices just cold
enough to help numb their mouths from the pain of their teeth growing
through. She asked, "so, how'd it go?"

"Your father and I are going to renew our wedding vows. Next month on
our anniversary!"

"Whoa! Cool, mom! Probably not a bad idea anyway, I tried on your old
dress but it doesn't really fit me. At least someone can still wear it."

Cuddling her babies, she asked, "where's June? I thought she'd still
be here."

"They went off shopping," Teal explained, "they want to throw me some
big party."

"No male strippers, okay?" Teal turned to find her father.

"Dad, no... they know I'd kick their butts if they did that. Besides,
not like they'd want a guy there taking his pants off."

Rouge kept the next question on her tongue. It finally slipped, "Teal,
what will you and Slate be doing when you're married?"

Their daughter understood the question. "Mom, dad, I... I'll have to move
out. At least for a bit. Slate and I are gonna want time alone...
after that, well..."

"You can move back in here later if you want to. We do have a larger room
that can be set up for you two," Tom said. "But we'll understand if you
don't want to."

"Daddy... it's too far off to know. I know you thought I'd always be
here but..."

Standing, Rouge hugged the girl. "I know. My child has wings and she
must fly someday."

Ready to cry, Teal responded, "I'll never fly too far from you."