The Space Colony Ark was back in operations thanks to an investment by young Chris Thorndyke, who had purchased the station several years ago. It now hosted a full staff of scientists and researchers, picking up on whatever government projects it had that were now declassified. The Eclipse Cannon was a missing feature from the refurbished space station, but that was a minor consideration. Its residential sections, however, were open to the public for a price, except for one small cluster of rooms reserved for close friends...and one particular hedgehog who had lived there once long ago.

Without daylight, Shadow's insomnia didn't seem as large an issue as it did on Earth. The bed he and Sara lay on had a solid gray polymer for a base, though its corners were well rounded and smooth. While the mattress seemed fairly thin, the material had to be some sort of memory foam that gave them more than enough support. He lightly nuzzled against his mate's ears, the girl sleeping curled up next to him contentedly.

He would've liked to have spent more time observing her sleep habits, but a small moving form was trying to pull herself up onto the bed. Shadow reached over Sara and offered an arm to the child, who held on fast. "Up you go..." he said softly and hoisted her onto the bed.

The hedgehog child was almost a carbon copy of Shadow, having his red marks, black body, and white fluffy chest. Even her eyes were the same blood red. Where they differed was gender and the fact that the girl had a white plume of fur on her forehead where her mother had brown bangs. "I'm hungry," she said simply and shook Sara's shoulder.

The sky blue and brown hedgehog opened her deep brown eyes, her blurred vision quickly clearing to reveal her youngest daughter. She smiled a bit. "Morning already?"

"Hardly. It's almost 6 PM," Shadow replied idly.

"W-what?!" Sara suddenly sat bolt upright, nearly knocking Ayame off the bed and forcing Shadow to adjust the arm he had around her moments ago. "No wonder she's hungry! Oh baby, I didn't realize…."

"I took her to breakfast while you were asleep," Shadow commented idly. "...And lunch."

Sara gave him a doubtful look, but when he sat next to her, the bed hardly shifted at all. Combining the bed's high tech mattress with Shadow's slippery nature made two trips out of bed suddenly seem plausible. "Oh…okay." She sighed. "Why did you let me sleep like that?"

"You looked peaceful." Shadow set Ayame on the floor, and the child quickly placed her arms around his right leg. He lightly patted her head and ruffled her white bangs. They were the same cotton texture as her chest fur, another difference from the silky bangs her mother had. Shadow sighed a bit at that; he really would have liked his genes to be less dominant. Their last, it seemed, would be most like him.

"Okay. I'll buy that." Sara smoothed her own quills, then ran her fingers through Ayame's quills, smoothing them down. She separated her small hands from around Shadow's leg and picked her up. "I love you, sweety."

"Now you see why I have odd sleeping hours?" Shadow said as he stretched a bit, ready to face the day--or evening. He'd been away from his sleeping beauty quite a bit that day, and not just for Ayame's stomach.

The three year old had demonstrated her Chaos abilities at the tender age of one by using Chaos Control to seek out her milk source, landing her on their bed on more than one occasion. After that, he'd had a limiter made for her small wrist, but it wasn't enough. As she entered those "terrible twos," she was using it to teleport herself into a number of dangerous spots, including the roof top, up trees, and the top of one of the power lines not long ago... A second limiter was made, but the fact was, she knew she was doing it.

For that reason, Shadow had seen fit to begin training her in her powers, just so she would be able to control them and avoid accidents. The dangerous side of Chaos Control was definitely the weapons side of things, Chaos Wind, Chaos Spears, however it manifested itself, and Ayame had also shown a little bit of a temper when she "accidentally" blew up the DVD player one night because she wanted to watch something else. He'd managed to convince Sara it had to be replaced for other reasons, since she'd been out with Amy that evening. Still, it was just another reason to teach her better...

The Ark was still ahead of the rest of the world where it came to Chaos Emerald studies and had facilities designed to block or dampen Chaos energies. It was an ideal setting for Shadow to teach Ayame without endangering another DVD player, or worse, Sara's computer. High One forbid he have to talk his way out of that one again. If he did his job right, he felt he could keep Sara from ever having to know the full extent of their little girl's powers. Training her had occupied a good chunk of the afternoon, and he only hoped she wouldn't probe him about it too much once she did find out they were "play fighting." 'Girl is going to be the death of me...' he thought as he turned his attention back on his mate.

"Dinner for you two, breakfast for me." Sara shrugged. She headed for the door with Ayame resting on her right hip. "I think I'd like pancakes..."

In the balmy Hawaiian climate, a new amusement park had opened recently: Eggman Land. The doctor had truly given up on World Domination, so he now sought to dominate the theme park industry. With his genius, and his few robot workers, the whole place was assembled and open and ready for business in months rather than years. Despite its name, Eggman had also seen fit to capitalize on his tenuous relationship, more adequately called a rivalry, with Sonic the hedgehog.

It was hard for the scientist to just step aside out of the light, but now that he was getting on in years, he had no choice but to slow down. In his mind, he'd thought of ways to use his theme park to brainwash the masses, but never implemented said plans. He found that his bumbling robots such as Decoe and Bocoe were rather entertaining to the kids, and something happened being around such happiness day in and day out.

At first it sickened and repulsed him that a man of his criteria should be reduced to this. It also sickened him because he hated kids. Cloning was so much easier... But the more the money rolled in and his position became respected rather than feared, he wondered what would happen to it all after he was gone. By it, he largely meant the robots to which he had sentimental attachment, though he would never admit it.

To the untrained eye, even a robotic one, Eggman hadn't changed a bit. He still kept largely to himself, appeared to despise the masses, and even treated his machines abusively. Yet, there was a certain level of attention he gave each new machine that he previously hadn't given. The defanged version of Metal Sonic he set loose in the park was a crowd pleaser, but somehow the doctor seemed a little sad when he looked his way.

Eggman holed himself up in his central laboratory, which was the heart of Eggman Amusements. He often did this for days on end, only allowing his robots to come and serve him, then leave him just as quickly. He had an idea he wished to implement, but still hadn't decided on it fully since his last failure.

"What's he doing?" Bocoe, a pudgy silver robot, inquired nervously of Decoe, a taller gold robot, as the two spied on their master.

"Sitting there," he replied drolly.

"I know that!" Bocoe managed a slightly exasperated tone. "But what is he doing sitting there?"

"Looks like he's watching something on the monitor," Bokkun said, flying in and landing on Bocoe's head in a sitting position. The small blackish robot had a round face, wide eyes, and blue tongue. He was often Eggman's messenger, and he loved to deliver bombs. Lately he flew around the park setting off fireworks or tossing poppers at the children, which did seem to delight him more or less. He loved surprises.

"We know that..." Decoe strained, "but what is Master interested in? Is he making another robot?"

"Oh that could be bad! What if he replaces us?" Bocoe fretted.

"W-ww-what!?" Bokkun practically jumped and flew around the two robots in a dizzying way. "No he ca-ACK!"

Decoe grabbed the small robot and covered his mouth. "Shh! We do not wish to anger the master!"

"Hey!" Bocoe shot up, the two robots then glaring at him as Eggman shifted in his chair. "Sorry...umm...well, Bokkun can fly so...maybe he could...see what the master's up to?"

That actually sounded like a good idea. After a little bit of pointless squabbling, the small robot flew over Eggman and took a look at the monitor. Instead of plans for a new robot, the screen displayed a double helix of DNA. But whose? And why?

"Hello...is this Biotech Labs?" Eggman asked as he reached someone on the phone. "Yes...I need to speak with Dr. Ovi."

Something strange had happened to Shadow, being back on the Ark. It was like, whatever had bound his heart and weighed him down on Earth had suddenly loosed. Sara found him to be more relaxed, walking the long, pristine corridors and gazing at the stars out the window. She even thought she saw him smile a few times.

Their first steps on the Ark several days ago were interesting...Shadow had just told her to close her eyes, and after inducing Chaos Control, there they were. He didn't let her open her eyes until he took her to an open picture-window grand enough for his tastes. That meant he'd guided her with one arm around her, and holding hands with little Ayame on the other side. He must have looked strange doing that! But it was well worth it; the view was just breathtaking. Ayame found the automatic doors opening far more entertaining than the star gazing, which both Sara and Shadow laughed at. It was just...the room they stayed in.

Of course, it had been Maria's. Shadow's entire demeanor changed when he walked into that room; Sara saw it firsthand. The way his breathing would slow, the distance that would grow in his eyes, the tilt of his ears, the way he walked. His movements became deliberate and respectful, as if completely conscious of what he was doing. 'He's thinking of her,' Sara thought.

There wasn't much to get into in Maria's room. It came with a closet, a window, a polymer bed, some shelving, a dresser, and a rug with some emblem on it, which was probably the logo for the Ark. Still, Ayame found the one fragile item in the room, a glass sphere, which Shadow quickly pulled out of her hands.

"Waaaaaaa!" Ayame had cried, quickly drawing Sara's attention.

"You shouldn't play with that!" Shadow scolded with a growl.

Sara knelt by their little one and drew her into her arms, then glanced over at Shadow. "What is that?"

Shadow snorted and remained quiet as he returned the sphere to a pedestal made for it. There was some movement in the sphere. "It's an ecosphere," he said simply. Tiny shrimp were swimming around in it, and there was a piece of coral inside. There was more to it than that, but that was about all they could see. "It's a self-maintaining ecosystem locked in a glass orb." He paused. "It's fragile."

"Did it belong to Maria?" Sara asked, standing and glancing at the orb on the mantle.

"She had one; I don't know if this was it." Shadow shrugged, suddenly indifferent.

One change to Maria's quarters was a door joining it to another room that was slightly smaller, which would be where Ayame slept. It was when the couple had settled for their first night in Maria's room that things felt strange. Just for starters, Shadow seemed a little out of it as he climbed into bed.

"Not used to having a place to sleep here?" Sara asked softly as she climbed in next to him.

"Well, I had a place...it wasn't this nice though," he'd replied.

"Project Shadow?" Sara found the memory foam a strange new experience. It sort of sucked you in, like an old worn couch, but was somehow firm and supportive.

Shadow grimaced a little bit; they hardly ever talked about him as a test subject, but that was...part of his purpose. "Yeah. I had a nice fish bowl with a view." He rolled his eyes and then lay back on the bed, soon finding Sara half laid on him, brushing her fingers through his chest fur.

When their eyes locked, Sara felt suddenly shy and put her head down on his chest, an ear offered toward him. "Umm..."

"Sorry..." Shadow sighed a bit, though he wrapped his arms around her and impressed his scent on the back of her ear with his tongue.

"It's because it's her room, isn't it?" She slipped her arms around him in a hug, though she knew there wouldn't be more than cuddling at best tonight. The heavy sigh that left her love was answer enough. "It's okay."

"...Sorry," he apologized again and closed his eyes.

Sara lifted herself up a bit and let her lips press softly against his. She held the tender kiss as long as he would allow before slipping back to her cottony pillow. "I love you."

The edges of the dark hedgehog's lips curled up slightly as he held her. He felt a little guilty about not being able to indulge her tonight, but at least she understood. He stroked his fingers through her quills lightly, recalling nights when a young human girl had done the same to him. 'Maria….'