k so Fear is Shadow's sister. She had a boyfriend at one time, but he died after they had a kid. Fear thought that she would never love again, but her friends think otherwise.

-Catriona

Fear's Date

Fear sat in front of the TV watching some violent and gory movie not really paying attention to the world around her.

"All I need is my TV. My TV and my daughter. I pity those who don't have a TV and have to spend all their time with a man. Wait… no I don't." She thought, laughing silently to herself.

Meanwhile, Rouge, Blaze, and Amy were discussing Fear's behavior in hushed tones…

"She must be so sad." Amy said, looking at Fear, Fear and her TV.

"Yeah, I don't know anyone who would be happy with the TV as their only friend. She needs a man in her life." Blaze commented.

"Yeah, but who?" Amy asked.

"I know just the guy." Rouge replied with a devious smile.

"You're in my way." Fear declared as Rouge, Blaze, and Amy walked right in front of her amazing horror movie.

"You need to get out more." Rouge stated, completely ignoring the fact that Fear was trying to watch her movie.

"Get out more?" Fear replied, a hint of disbelief in her voice.

"Yeah, like with a guy." Amy said, almost exploding with excitement.

"A guy?" she questioned, her disbelief more obvious.

"Yeah, and we know just the man." Blaze said with a huge smile.

"Knuckles." They proclaimed in unison.

"The echidna? Are you out of your minds? There is no way I'm going out with him." Fear declared, her decision made.

"He'll be here in one hour to pick you up." Rouge announced proudly.

"No, you cannot make me…" she was cut off by a flurry of hands pulling at her quills and trying to do her make up.

An hour later she looked like a make up store exploded and all their products had fallen on her. She was wearing a bunch of things she didn't know the name of and her "friends" had put on more eye liner and mascara than she normally used. And the dress, oh the dress was the best part. She was wearing a black dress (she had finally convinced Rouge that a pink dress with hearts was not her style) that was floor length and sleeveless. If it weren't for the fact that Fear refused to look in a mirror, she would have passed out at how slutty it was. It came down in the center almost as far as the bottom of the sleeveless bra she had to wear and showed more cleavage than she knew she had. And it was all Rouges fault. Rouge is the one who picked out the dress. (figures)

"He's here!" someone called just as the doorbell started to ring.

Fear groaned and opened the door. She was faced with a very good looking Knuckles holding out a bouquet of roses for her. Blood-red, her favorite color. Ignoring his smile and offering she said, "If you try anything, you will die a slow and painful death." She spoke slowly in a deep voice and even though she spoke quietly, he heard every word perfectly.

Rouge practically shoved her out of the house and onto the street. As the "couple" was walking away, she shouted into the wind, "The date doesn't end till midnight! Don't come home before that or I'll lock you out and destroy you in the morning!" Fear rolled her eyes knowing that a locked door wouldn't stop her and that she could take anything Rouge dished out (and repay her ten fold).

Knuckles took her to a nice restaurant for dinner and they decided to go to the park when they finished. Fear didn't tell knuckles that she was starving and food sounded great to her. All through dinner Fear stared/glared at knuckles, even after the food was set down. And she didn't eat her food. She poked at it with her fork and continued to stare at knuckles.

Knuckles fidgeted uncomfortably, not knowing what to do. As soon as knuckles decided to say something, Fear opened her mouth to speak, "You remind me of my brother." A hopeful smile started to appear on Knuckles's face only to be sent running with Fear's next words, "I hate my brother."

Her words dashed his hopes against the rocks and Knuckles knew that Fear was not going to have her opinions altered.

In the park…

There was a bug buzzing around Fear's head, but she was too out of it to notice. However, Knuckles was not oblivious to the noise and it was driving him insane. By the time the bug came around to where he could see it, he had reached his limit. He pulled back his fist, clenched his fist, and slugged Fear right behind her ear. Not expecting the sudden impact, Fear fell to the ground, eyes wide. Knuckles, realizing his mistake for the first time, stepped back.

Fear gave him a warning glace out of narrowed eyes. He stayed where he was and the saying "if looks could kill…" ran through his head. Fear suddenly pushed herself up and crushed his jaw with her fist. He, of course, wouldn't be bested by a girl and retaliated. It went on like this for who knows how long until one mistake sent Fear running in embarrassment…

Knuckles lashed out at Fear once more… and missed. Fear jumped out of the way just in time, spinning as she went. But she didn't get completely out of the way in time. Knuckles's claws grazed the back of her dress from the very top to the very bottom. Fear's dress ripped all the way down. Before Fear could do anything, her dress was on the ground and she was there complete in bra and underwear.

She didn't have time to think and ran for the nearest tree, nearly trampling a baby cat in her haste. She hid behind the tree and threw three Chaos Spears at Knuckles. On hit his left arm, one hit his right arm, and one hit his right leg. She turned around, pressed her back to the rough bark of the tree, and slid down into a sitting position with her legs pulled tightly to her chest. She rapped her arms around her legs and started to think about how she was starting to like the one she had hated at the beginning of the day. Yes, Fear the hedgehog was starting to like Knuckles the echidna.

Meanwhile…

"Sorry, can you go get that?" A certain red and black father said to his daughter who was already starting to run after the soccer ball he had kicked a little too hard. As she ran, he started to think of his sister. He watched the couples walk through the park and thought about how she was still single. He thought about how it would be cool if she were to walk up now with a man by her side. And then…

"Fear?" His voice rang out in genuine surprise.

"What! Get out of here!" She snapped at him. But Shadow, his brotherly instincts kicking in at the time they were most unwanted, couldn't help but search for the cause of her distress and… lack of clothing. It was then that he first noticed the red lump not far away from her.

"You!" He screamed, "It was YOU who did this to her!"

"No, let me explain!" A frantic Knuckles screamed between the kicks and punches being rained down on him. Then, they stopped. Opening his eyes for the first time since being spotted, he realized that there was a black figure inches away from him, and dang that figure was smokin. It took all his concentration not to reach up and grab her. Then he realized that she had her arms spread out to stop the attack coming from her brother.

"Not cool!" She said to him.

"Are you kidding me! He freakin tore off your clothes! Don't you think he deserves to be destroyed!" Every word stung Fear, but she kept her composure.

Fear gave Shadow a glare worth a thousand words. The main message however only included twenty-two: If you touch him, I will rip you apart limb from limb, hang your head on my wall, and burn your body.

Shadow pretty much figured out that she didn't want Knuckles touched. He sighed heavily, letting his shoulders drop and marched over to where Fear's dress lay. He picked it up and flung it at her. "At least cover yourself. You look like a prostitute."

Fear smirked and wrapped the ruined dress around her. She always won. And she had found a way to show knuckles that she didn't hate him without looking like an over-affectionate idiot.

Back at Rouge's house…

"Do you think they're having fun?" Amy asked.

"I don't know, Fear seemed reluctant, and did you see how she answered the door?" Blaze replied.

"Of course she's having fun! There's no one better for her. And she's not home yet and it's already 1 o'clock. I told her she had to be home by 12 and she still isn't—"

She was cut off by the sound of the door opening and a very ticked Shadow screaming, "Don't you ever let that idiot near my sister again!"

"Why? What happened?" she said flying to the door. She gasped when she saw Fear, battered and encrusted with dried blood. "What did you do to your dress!" She screeched. "I paid 150 bucks for that!"

"I decided that Knuckles isn't that bad." Fear announced proudly.

"You did!" all the girls squealed in excitement. Fear noticed for the first time that they had all walked in. Hmm. She must be completely out of it to have not noticed their heavy footfalls. She must really like this guy.

"Yes. And he is such a gentleman." She proceeded to tell them about how the date went, leaving out all the glares of hatred she gave him of course, and how she was going to call him later that night. What none of the girls noticed is that Shadow and Crystal (Fear's Daughter) were over in the corner, discussing how to get rid of him in hushed tones.