A/N: Happy Holidays to everyone! 'Tis the season for Christmas fics, and this is no exception! Chapters a tad long, and it might not even seem Christmassy at some points, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. :) Merry Christmas, all! Note: This was only rated T because of some questionable themes; nothing really dark or violent.
Rouge pulled on her boots and gloves, and then chose a heavy red winter coat to wear. She laid it out on the bed, admiring the color and style of the winter coat. Next, she went to the vanity mirror and checked her pink lipstick—for the fifth time. Somehow, after four applications, it just didn't look even enough. So she applied it once again and rubbed her lips together to make it absolutely perfect. The bat set down the lipstick and puckered her lips, complimenting herself on how she looked.
"I have never seen you get so dressed up for a G.U.N presentation," came a voice suddenly from the doorway. Startled, Rouge nearly tripped over the chair after getting up.
"Shadow, if you pull that on me one more time, I swear . . ."
"You'll mess me up only as a lady can," Shadow finished drily, "I believe we've been through this before."
"Hmph. Well, you know I would," Rouge retorted, pulling her arms through the sleeves of the thick red coat.
"Noted. Anyway, like I said, I've never seen you dress up so fancy for a G.U.N conference."
Rouge strutted towards the door and smirked at the black and red hedgehog.
"Ha! Neither have I," she scoffed.
Shadow raised an eyebrow.
"You are coming this time, right?"
Rouge stopped and tapped her chin sarcastically.
"Gee, I wonder? Take a guess, genius."
Shadow pushed Rouge onto her bed and slammed the door shut behind him. "Hey! What gives?" Rouge yelled, glancing at the clock, "I'm gonna be late!"
Shadow rolled his eyes and groaned.
"If the guys find out you aren't there again, they're going to be furious. And they'll give me and Omega hell for it."
"Hey, I haven't missed that many!" Rouge protested, "Look, I'll go to the next one."
Shadow sneered and crossed his arms.
"Rouge, this is the sixth one this month that you're skipping. And that's-" Shadow proceeded to fake counting on his fingers, "oh, I don't know, all of them."
Rouge crossed her own arms and went back to the vanity mirror to see if the conversation had affected her makeup at all.
"Well, they can't expect me to be at all of the meetings. Besides, they're boring."
Shadow kicked a hairbrush across the floor nonchalantly. Upon doing so, he came to a realization.
"You're going out with that red cretin tonight, aren't you?" he asked.
Rouge scowled at Shadow as she finished aligning her eye liner.
"Call him that one more time, you son of a-"
"Watch it, Rouge. I'm dead serious, here. These conferences are important, and part of your responsibilities as an agent."
"Don't you dare lecture me, hedgehog. I'm not a little kid, nor am I your little kid."
"You made the decision to be a G.U.N agent, and if you don't fulfill your duties, then you'll be suspended. You have other commitments, Rouge. It's time you start respecting them, and the G.U.N guys."
Rouge paused and stared at the ground, annoyed. She couldn't deny it; there were other responsibilities looming over her. Paying attention to them, however, was a different story.
"I'm late. See you later," she mumbled, shoving past him and down the stairs.
"Rouge!" Shadow yelled desperately. It was too late, though. She had already bolted out the front door and past a very confused Omega.
"She's impossible!" Shadow screamed as he went down the stairs, not bothering to chase after her. "I swear, she's so difficult and stubborn!"
Omega, completely lost, stared unblinkingly at the frustrated hedgehog.
"You both have your moments," he said shortly.
Shadow pursed his lips and looked up at the robot's red eyes with his own.
"If we weren't late for this meeting, I'd smash your metal head in," he growled.
"If we weren't late, I should very much like to see you attempt that," the robot retorted.
Shadow, knowing this was a poor time for bickering, bit his tongue to keep a curse in his mouth.
"Come on, big guy. We gotta go. You're okay in snow, right?"
"Yes. Do not forget your scarf, Shadow," Omega replied.
Shadow raised an eyebrow and snorted.
"Yes, mother," he chuckled, grabbing a red scarf from the closet.
Rouge walked down the street, still grumbling to herself about Shadow's lecture. She succeeded in convincing herself that Shadow was right and she'd become more responsible later, and then dropped the subject as she looked at the snowy street. Boy, was it pretty. She definitely preferred seeing the beautiful city streets over watching some guy in a suit giving a lecture. Though it was a busy street with Mobians bustling up and down through the puffy snowflakes, Rouge could see that the snow falling was still a wonder, even through the skyscrapers and smoke being emitted from the buildings. It'd be much easier to fly, but the bat didn't want the unpleasant feeling of the biting wind freezing her wings. Now, where did Knuckles tell me to meet him? she thought, making a right on a busy intersection. Directly to her left was a tiny cafe called, "Angelique's Corner". Ah, here we go!
Shivering, Rouge opened the door of the cafe and brushed the snow from her coat. She hoped her makeup wasn't too smeared from the walk in the snow, so just to be safe, she pulled a tiny compact mirror from her pocket and analyzed each part of her face: eyes, cheeks, and mouth. When she approved of the appearance of her face, she put away the mirror and scanned the area for Knuckles. While she looked, someone bumped her from behind after opening the door and letting in a strong breeze.
"Hey, watch it," she said before turning to see who it was. To her mild surprise, it was Blaze and Silver. "Oh, sorry, I didn't know it was you guys."
"That's all right, Rouge," Blaze said, greeting the bat with a warm smile, "how are you on this beautiful day?"
"Oh, just peachy," Rouge replied, "I guess I can't complain. How are you two?"
Silver stomped his boots on the wet rug to rid them of stubborn snow and ice flecks.
"We're doing pretty good," he said, "Blaze and I have decided to walk through the city to see what we can do for fun. This little place seemed cozy, so we decided to stop in for a hot drink."
Blaze nodded.
"That's right. It's awfully cold outside, you know," she said.
"Yes, I've noticed," Rouge responded with a glance out the window. They paused for a moment, and then Blaze asked Rouge a question.
"Well, Rouge, what brings you here? Are you doing the same as we are?"
"I'm going to be, just as soon as Knuckles shows up."
"Oh, how nice! That sounds like fun!"
Silver stepped in line behind a small trail of Mobians who were waiting for their own hot beverages to temporarily escape the cold.
"Blaze, what do you want?" he asked.
Blaze looked at the menu above the counter, scrutinizing each item carefully.
"Oh, my, let me see now . . ." she mumbled, "uhh . . . get me a green tea latte, please. Mmm, that sounds good." Blaze turned to Rouge. "Would you like something, Rouge?"
Rouge looked over the menu and stuck out her bottom lip in thought.
"Well, I dunno . . . I wouldn't want you guys to buy me anything," she said, trying to be uncharacteristically polite.
"Oh, nonsense!" Blaze exclaimed, "We'd be happy to buy you something on this cold day. Go on; pick something!"
Rouge raised her eyebrows, surprised by Blaze's kindness.
"Well, all right, then," she replied without arguing. Rouge turned her eyes to the "coffee" section of the menu. "I'll have . . . let's see, now. I'll have a caramel mocha, please."
"Gotcha," Silver said, giving Rouge a thumbs-up. Rouge nodded and thanked him and Blaze.
"Oh, no trouble," Blaze said as Silver recounted their order to the lady behind the counter. In a few silent moments, all three of them were sitting at their table; Rouge in a chair, and Silver and Blaze in a booth against the wall. They took the first few minutes at the table to enjoy their drinks and sip them quietly . . . well, except Silver.
"Try not to slurp, Silver," Blaze said gently. Silver sighed.
"I'll try," he mumbled. Rouge smiled at his childish response and continued to sip her own drink.
"Rouge, didn't you say Knuckles was coming here?" Blaze asked as Rouge was caught in mid-sip. She quickly licked her lips and cleared her throat to reply.
"Yes, he's supposed to meet me here soon," Rouge said, glancing at the clock, "about fifteen more minutes or so."
"Oh, you're early, then," Blaze said, raising her eyebrows as she stepped on Silver's foot under the table, causing him to choke slightly on his drink.
"Ow!" he gasped, "Are you crazy?"
"Stop . . . slurping," Blaze repeated slowly. Silver grinned mischievously.
"Fine."
Rouge chuckled, amused by the exchange between the mature Blaze and the naïve Silver. She never did get much of a chance to see them talking to each other, considering her constant G.U.N involvement. Maybe that's the reason she wasn't going to recent meetings—she felt overworked. Yeah, that was it. This was just a little break. Though a slight feeling of guilt tugged at her mind, Rouge tried to push it away and enjoy the time she had. However, anyone would agree that freedom invaded by guilt isn't freedom at all. This, be that it may, was not Rouge's current mindset.
"Rouge?"
"Huh . . . what?"
Silver poked at Rouge's motionless arm with a wrapped straw while Blaze called her name. After breaking her daze, the two stared at the bat curiously.
"You all right?" Silver asked cautiously.
"Oh . . . yeah, I'm fine." Rouge chuckled and sipped her drink again.
Blaze and Silver shrugged off the strange moment and dropped the subject, replacing it with awkward silence and the sound of sipping straws. Eventually, the drinks became cold as they decreased with every sip. Blaze sighed and glanced over at Silver, who was using his psychokinesis to balance his cup upside-down on the straw.
"Silver . . ." she said warningly. The hedgehog, startled by Blaze's warning, dropped the cup noisily and watched as it fell to the floor. Cringing, Silver meekly picked up his empty cup and smiled sheepishly at his companion.
"Sorry . . ." he apologized.
Blaze chuckled and sighed again.
"So, Rouge, would you like us to stay here with you while you wait for Knuckles? We'd be more than happy to keep you company."
Rouge pondered for a moment. She did enjoy being in Silver and Blaze's company, but she felt a need to be alone at the same time. At least, before Knuckles could show up.
"Nah, you guys can go ahead. The ol' treasure-keeper will probably be late anyway, and I wouldn't want you to waste your time."
"Well, if you insist," Blaze said uneasily, "Silver, would you stop that?"
Silver looked with wide eyes at Blaze again, who caught him red-handed as he slid an old green gecko's coffee mug on a different table back and forth with his mind and chuckled as the gecko tried to grab it, confused. Silver ended up accidentally sliding the cup of coffee off the table, thus shattering it and causing it to splatter all over the floor.
"Oh, shoot . . ." Silver shut his eyes and winced under Blaze's firey glare. "I'll take care of that . . ."
Rouge laughed as she watched Silver humbly offer to pick up the pieces of the glass. Blaze pursed her lips and scowled as the hedgehog gingerly removed the shattered mug from the ground and put them in the garbage can. The elderly gecko, rather than assuming that Silver was to blame, simply smiled and claimed that accidents happen.
"Can't take that little maniac anywhere, can you?" Rouge teased, nudging Blaze in the shoulder.
"No, unfortunately not," Blaze exhaled, "he ought to be locked up."
"Gotta do the same for Rouge," said a deep voice behind the two girls. Rouge gasped and pivoted around, seeing a massive red figure standing there.
"Geez, you're just as bad as Shadow!" she exclaimed. "And hello to you too, sweetie."
"Okay, I'm all set!" Silver said, running back to Blaze's side. "That guy was pretty cool about the whole thing. Hi, Knuckles."
"Hey, Silver. Hey, Blaze," Knuckles greeted them shortly. "You headed out, too?"
"Yes, we were going to, and then Silver decided to play games with elderly reptiles."
"Sorr-yy!" Silver whined, "I'm sorry, I couldn't help it!"
"Anyway, we're gonna go now," Blaze said in attempt to avoid Silver's childish whining. She nodded at Rouge and Knuckles. "I hope you guys have a good rest of the day, and stay warm!"
"Thanks, Blaze. You, too! Thanks for the mocha," Rouge said with a wave.
"No problem!"
Blaze and the shameful-looking Silver stepped out into the cold street again. Rouge sighed and turned to Knuckles.
"So, hon, you wanna get something hot to drink?"