Chapter Three

Author's Note: Here's yet another chapter. As usual, nothing belongs to me except Sam. Enjoy! Thanks for the reviews!

The next morning, Knuckles took Sam shopping with him. Sam was surprised when Knuckles suddenly took a small detour.

"Knuckles, where are we going, this isn't the way to the store," Sam said, but Knuckles didn't respond and only led her to a dark alley.

"Knuckles?" Sam asked with a fearful tone in her voice. Knuckles was still silent, and this was beginning to worry her.

Suddenly Knuckles pushed her against a wall of the dark alley. She felt the echidna's breath at her neck, and she blushed. Sam was bewildered because this behavior was one she would expect from Shadow, not from Knuckles. A few long minutes passed, and then an hour.

Knuckles then finally decided to drag a dazed human out of the dark alley. They rushed over to the grocery store, where they spent another hour doing the shopping, and then thirty more minutes in the paying line. Then finally the two headed back home. Shadow was lying in his hammock in the front yard when they arrived. The hedgehog leader's eyes where closed, but that didn't mean he was asleep as they though he was.

"Let's go inside. Maybe he won't notice when we got back," Sam whispered to Knuckles. Her thoughts were on what had passed down in the alley.

"Won't notice? Who are you kidding?" Shadow said as he sat up in his hammock. They both froze when they heard his voice.

"We thought you were sleeping, Shadow," Sam said nervously.

"I got tired of waiting for the two of you, so I took a nap. I wasn't sleeping just now, I was just relaxing," Shadow said. "What took you so long to get some mere groceries anyway?" Shadow continued to talk, narrowing his eyes at them in suspicion.

"There was a long line to pay," Knuckles said in a half-lie.

"Something smells fishy here," Shadow wondered out loud.

"That's because we bought fish," Knuckles said. Shadow sighed and got up with a rolled-up magazine in his hand.

"That's not what I mean," he said as he whacked Knuckles on the head after every word. Knuckles rubbed his head and glared at Shadow. The furry leader took the bags from Sam and gave them to Knuckles.

"Go inside, bug-face, and put everything in its place," Shadow commanded. Knuckles nodded and stumbled his way inside to the kitchen. Sam started to follow the echidna, but a firm hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"You don't go inside," Shadow said, almost growling.

"Shadow?" she questioned fearfully. The black and red hedgehog simply chuckled humorlessly and led her to his hammock. The ill-tempered leader sat the girl down on the hammock and began to sniff her, growling at the scent that was all over her.

"Are you okay, Shadow?" she asked, more scared than concerned.

"I am just dandy, Sam," Shadow said, his voice strained. He pushed her down into a lying position and loomed menacingly over her. Sam became even more frightened, for she had had experience with something just like this in an alley not too long ago.

Shadow simply placed a kiss on her neck and then on her lips. He could tell she didn't want to be forced, so he didn't push her. She looked up at him in wonder.

"Shadow, can I ask you something?" Sam asked as the hedgehog got up from his place in the hammock.

"Go ahead," he responded softly.

"Well, theoretically, what would you do if a friend of yours forced you to do something you didn't want to do?" Sam said. She was fearful of what Shadow would do to Knuckles if she told him what the other had done.

"I would tell someone I trust about it and maybe see if they can help," Shadow said to her. "Why?"

"Because I want to tell someone this something…but…." Her voice faltered.

"But? You don't trust anyone here, right?" Shadow asked.

Sam nodded silently.

"You can always tell me anything that's bothering you, you know that. Even thought you don't trust me very much. You can always count on me to listen," Shadow said to Sam. She was silent for a few minutes, in which Shadow had picked her up bridal-style and was on his way inside.

"I'll tell you," she whispered to him. Shadow was more than eager to listen to what was bothering the girl. He set her down on his bed. Sam had never been in Shadow's room, and now that she was, she wished she wasn't. Shadow's room was very depressing, even—she couldn't understand how Shadow could sleep in here.

"What was it that you wanted to tell me?" Shadow asked as he situated himself next to her on his bed. She hesitated slightly.

Leaning closer to him, she whispered into his ear, telling him what Knuckles had done to her before they went into the store. Shadow's eyes widened at her story, and then his eyes narrowed. Sam was becoming really, really nervous now.

"Shadow…are…you…okay…?" she stammered hesitantly. A feral growl ripped from the black and red hedgehog's throat, making the girl scamper in fear to the other side of the big room. Shadow's eyes followed her movements. His eyes had a look of danger in their crimson depths. Shadow went over to her, and she cringed away from him. Her leader's arms wrapped around her.

"Don't be scared. I am not going to hurt you. You have done nothing wrong," he reassured her. Even though he wasn't going to hurt her, her blood pressure dropped so low out of fright that she fainted.

Author's Note: End of chapter three! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Stay tuned for the next one.