Meant to Bee (A Chaotix Detective Agency fanfiction)

Honey, I'm Home!

It wasn't long before the baby started crying again. Vector groaned. "What now?"

The baby's tummy gurgled. He looked up at them with wide, pitiful eyes full of tears.

"He's hungry," Espio realized. "He probably hasn't had anything to eat in a while."

"Poor little guy. I get cranky when I'm hungry too." Vector picked the baby up and bounced him gently. "We gotta find him something to eat." He walked over the fridge. "What do you feed a baby?"

Espio shrugged. "I don't know."

"Maybe we should give him some milk. That's what people feed babies, right?" Vector pulled a jug out of the fridge.

"That's expired," Espio said. "Besides, he's not a mammal."

"Neither are we?" Vector said. "But I still have milk with my cereal."

"I'm just saying that it's probably better to feed a baby something that'll give it the stuff it needs."

Vector rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Well, what did you eat as a baby?"

Espio shrugged. "Bugs, mostly."

Vector stared at him sideways and pulled the baby away. "Espio, he is a bug!"

Espio's eyes grew wide in horrified realization of what he'd just said. "Not sapient ones!"

"Well we're not feeding him that! That's just wrong!"

"I don't know what to feed a baby, alright?" Espio walked over to the computer. "Maybe there's something online." He typed in *What to feed a baby bee?* and sat in silence for a few minutes, screen light reflecting in his eyes as they flicked back and forth reading lines of text.

"What does it say?" Vector asked, coming to peer over his shoulder.

"There's lots of debate over whether baby bees should be fed solely with their own mother's honey or whether they can be supplemented with pollen and nectar. Some people even say you can feed them milk or a formula but it might not have all the right nutrients..." Espio paused and glanced at the baby. "How old would you say he is?"

"I don't know. Baby-aged." Vector bobbed the baby, trying to get him to quiet down. "You said honey, right? We can get that at the store--"

Espio shook his head, eyes back on the computer screen. "This says that store-bought honey is generally too processed for babies to get enough nutrition."

"Where are you getting all this?"

Espio typed something in and paused. "They appear to be called... 'blogs'. Parenting blogs."

Vector rubbed his forehead. "Well, where do we get the right honey for him?"

"It'd be best if we could get some local, unprocessed honey."

Vector grinned. "Heh. It'd 'bee' best?"

Espio didn't respond. Vector elbowed him, but all he got was a wilting stare. Wow. No one appreciated quality humor around here, apparently.

Espio continued, "There's a primarily Bee neighborhood on the east side of the city. I'm seeing a few local stores there, so we could probably find stuff."

That was all the way on the other side of town, and they didn't have gas money. They'd have to take the bus there. Or, one of them would have to. One of them had to stay here to look after the baby.

Vector dug a quarter out of his pocket. "Flip on who gets to stay here?"

Espio nodded. As Vector flipped up the coin, Espio said, "Heads." Vector grabbed the coin out of the air and slapped it on the back of his wrist.