Disclaimer: I don't own the characters.

Chapter 3

When the Tornado landed on Angel Island, Knuckles was waiting. He hopped down from the plane and walked over to the unhappy echidna.

"What do you need now Tails?" he asked.

"Shadow needs your help. Someone broke into his house and he isn't sure why."

"So you want me to use the Master Emerald to find out?" Knuckles shook his head. "I don't think it works that way."

"Can't you at least try?"

Knuckles looked at the ground before answering Tails.

"Why didn't Shadow come see me himself?" Waving for Tails to follow, he moved back toward the Master Emerald's shrine. "He has got a Chaos Emerald, after all."

"He can't right now. So he... asked me... to... do... it?" Tails' ears lowered as he spoke. He'd never been able to lie very well. Especially to his friends. Purple eyes stared at him. Disbelief filled them.

"Tails, you know you suck at lying."

Tails hung his head in defeat. He'd tried to keep Shadow's secret, but lying convincingly was simply impossible for him.

"Shadow's got some weird alien thing going on. Some people broke into his house and he's being paranoid again. He wants to know why they were there."

Knuckles nodded as they continued walking. That made sense to him. He'd certainly want to know why someone broke into his house if it ever happened. Of course, he'd need a house first.

"What kind of alien problem?" Knuckles climbed the stairs to the shrine with Tails right behind him.

"Well..." Tails wasn't sure how to put it. Knuckles knew about some weird stuff, but people swapping gender is a story all to itself. "He's not exactly a 'he' anymore."

"So, Shadow's a woman?" Knuckles chuckled. "You sure it wasn't an attempt a rape?"

"That's not funny, Knuckles." Tails was explaining before his mind realized it should tell him to shut up. "Shadow's not only a woman now. He's also pregnant and can't use much of his Chaos Energy."

That news took all the humor from Knuckles' expression.

"Well, in that case, I should hurry up. Wait there."

Tails sat as Knuckles began talking to the Master Emerald. With the powers it had, surely they'd be able to learn something helpful.

-Tails' Workshop-

"You really like cooking, don't you?"

Sonic sat at the table in the kitchen, stuffing his cheeks full of cake Shadow had cooked. Shadow didn't answer for a few moments, too busy pouring more cake batter into a Christmas pan.

"It gives me something to do when there's nothing else to do."

Sonic nodded and looked back at the cake he was in the process of devouring. Shadow usually told him not to eat the entire thing on his own. The fact that the other hadn't said a word meant she either didn't mind this time, or was preoccupied. Either way, Sonic didn't mind. More cake for him at least. A heavy sigh came from Shadow's direction as soon as he lifted the next piece of cake. Green eyes looked over to see Shadow leaning onto the table. Her face was in her hands and her shoulders were slumped forward. He may not have been Amy, but it was painfully obvious something was on Shadow's mind. Standing, he went over and laid a hand on her back.

"We'll figure this out," he said. His cheery voice countered Shadow's mood. "Tails, Knuckles and I can handle this. And we won't tell anyone you don't want finding out."

"I don't want you guys to take care of me." Her voice was partially muffled due to her face being in her hands. "I want to be able to take care of myself. This is so damn humiliating."

Sonic rubbed her back.

"Oh, come on. You can take care of yourself. You've been caring for yourself." Sonic tried to look at her face, but couldn't get the proper angle. "There's nothing humiliating about being a pregnant woman."

"I'm not supposed to be a woman," she snapped. "I'm supposed to be the Ultimate Life Form. A weapon to be used when humanity can't fend for itself. A cure for incurable diseases. I can't do that if I'm a woman."

"Plenty of women do amazing things, Shadow." Sonic looked around the room. None of the pictures on the wall helped him. "Bunnie's a pretty awesome fighter, isn't she?" Shadow nodded. "She could be considered a weapon as well as a woman."

"I meant literally."

Sonic laughed. He knew he shouldn't, but he never saw any point to holding it in.

"I think you surrendered that aspect of yourself the moment you fell in love with me." Red eyes glared at him. "Come on, Shads. Weapons don't fall in love. I'm sure Gerald only intended for you to cure Maria. Using you as a weapon to destroy the planet was just... Utilizing the other things you gained from Black Doom's blood."

Shadow sighed. She knew Sonic was right. Gerald hadn't created Shadow for the sole purpose of killing people. It was Black Doom that made him capable of being a living weapon. She moved and planted a kiss on Sonic's smiling lips. When she pulled away, he was still grinning like a fool.

"Kissing me just makes all your worries take flight, doesn't it?"

"Don't flatter yourself."

Shadow pushed herself off the table and turned. One hand grabbed the full cake pan as she did so. Once it was safely in the oven, she went into the workshop again. Tails ran in through the door just as she was taking a seat.

"Knuckles couldn't see much." The words were spoken as he shut the door. "The Master Emerald refused to show him much of anything. For being the most powerful thing on Mobius, it sure can be useless sometimes. Hey, Shadow. Feeling any better?"

"I'll feel better when I don't have this thing growing inside me," she responded.

"Shadina's just grumpy." Sonic came into the room as he spoke. In his hands was a piece of cake. It was obvious he'd torn it off in a hurry. "What did Knuckles see?"

"A building." Tails took the cake Sonic held out to him. "Just a big building. Like the one G.U.N.'s got." Tails took a bite and sighed. "Thanks, I was hungry. G.U.N.'s logo wasn't anywhere to be seen, so I don't think it was them. Eggman's face wasn't plastered everywhere, either."

"So, we have nothing." Shadow leaned into the back of the couch. "So much for that plan."

"Knuckles suggested that maybe someone just wanted to rape you."

"He all ready did," Shadow said. She didn't have to look at him for Sonic to know she was referring to him.

"I wouldn't consider that rape." Sonic wrapped his arms around Shadow as he spoke. She just allowed him to, even moving a little into his arms on her own. Pulling her into his lap, Sonic took a seat on the couch.

"Do you have to?" Tails asked. "It was bad enough when you were both male."

"We're in love Tails. It's not my fault you can't find yourself someone to be with."

"Oh, I could if I saw the point in it." Tails sat on the edge of one of his tables. "After seeing your experience, I don't see any." Tails fiddled with a contraption lying next to his leg. "What are we going to do next? We can't just wait for them to come again."

Shadow's phone rang and she pulled it out. Looking at the Caller ID, she tossed it to Sonic.

"See what they want," she said.

"Hello. Shadow's phone," Sonic said as soon as he'd flipped it open. "No, he's still not feeling too well." He was silent, looking over at Shadow. "Rouge? No, I haven't seen her. Why?"

Red eyes stared at him expectantly. Sonic shrugged.

"I'm helping him out," Sonic said. "Yes, it's really that bad... I don't know, officer. If something else comes up, I'll be sure to tell you."

Sonic hung up the phone and returned it to Shadow.

"They were wondering where Rouge was," Sonic explained. "They just sorta dropped it and asked why I was with you after that. Don't know why. I'm a world-famous hero. Helping people is what I do best. I don't think they quite caught my excuse though."

"I can't get sick, genius." Shadow was unimpressed with Sonic's quick excuse. "They know that. They've read every file in existence on me."

"Well then they can just assume it's a mental thing and you're worried what'll happen when you come into work."

Shadow continued to be unimpressed.

"What else did you want me to say?" Sonic asked. "Usually when you need to come up with an excuse for someone, you say they're sick. It never occurred to me that they'd remember you can't get sick."

"You could say he is sick," Tails interrupted. When the both of them looked at him, he looked sheepish. "Pregnancy does that to people, doesn't it?"

Tails was half certain he'd said the wrong thing. Pregnancy was a miracle when it happened. Something to be celebrated regardless of the how and why it happened. Not used as an excuse to say someone was sick.

"He's right." Shadow leaned his head onto Sonic's shoulder. "I could be classified as sick."

Sonic rubbed his hand on Shadow's back. Being a pregnant half-alien life form wasn't something he felt she should be ashamed about. It was bound to happen eventually. Tails averted his eyes from the scene playing out on his couch. It was their moment, not his. A scent from the kitchen gave him the perfect excuse to leave the room.

"I'll just check Shadow's cake," he said. tails hopped down from where he'd seated himself and hurried from the room. He wasn't sure he liked seeing the other sides of people. Especially people like Shadow. He'd always been so though and strong. Not exactly the definition of docile, which she seemed to be now. The urge to help her severely outweighed all other feelings Tails was currently having on the matter. Ignoring his emotions, he checked on the cake baking in the oven.

Back in the workshop, Shadow was falling asleep. It was easier than normal for her now that she'd gotten pregnant. Whether or not that was normal wasn't something Shadow particularly cared about. All she cared about was napping on her boyfriend. Unfortunately, Chaos had other plans. The door slammed open just then and Knuckles came in.

"Is Shadow all right?" he asked. An intake of breath was all Sonic heard from the pregnant hedgehog. "Wow. She doesn't look pregnant."

Knuckles came to stand in front of the couch and leaned over. Staring at Shadow's abdomen didn't do anything to change the image. Sonic laughed at his comment.

"It's only been a few days, Knuckles. Of course it isn't showing yet."

Knuckles' muzzle matched his fur color. He straightened before sitting beside them.

"So who's after him?"

Sonic looked at him over the top of Shadow's head.

"Don't know." His hand continued it's up and down motion as Shadow felt herself once again drifting off to sleep. "Tails said the building didn't have anything worrisome on it."

"Doesn't mean you shouldn't be worried," Knuckles said. He crossed his arms. "Plenty of people go after aliens of whatever sort they can get their hands on. Maybe they found out about his heritage and came after him."

Sonic pulled Shadow closer to his body. She wriggled in his arms, uncomfortable for a moment. Knuckles could easily tell that the woman was Shadow. The features were exclusive to him, female or not.

"She's beautiful," he said. Sonic smacked him on the side of the arm. "I'm just commenting. No need to get all physical. You know I'd beat you anyway."

"Oh really?" Sonic raised a ridge at the echidna. That was a challenge if he'd ever heard one.

"Not now," Shadow muttered. Her breath washed over Sonic's chest and he looked down. Eyes closed, she was trying to use him as a pillow. "You're not fighting over the fact that Knuckles thinks I'm beautiful."

Sonic kissed the top of her head. They wouldn't really fight over her. There was no point when you knew which the woman would choose before it even started. Cuddling her into his chest, Sonic grinned at Knuckles.

"So, you gonna help us out?"

"Why not?" Knuckles asked. "You're one of my few friends. Just don't let it take too long, all right? I've got to look after the Master Emerald."

Sonic nodded. Despite repeated failures, the echidna had great loyalty to his duty. It was only a matter of time before Eggman realized the guardian wasn't on Angel Island. He always had some way of finding out. Sonic nuzzled the top of Shadow's head. Her soft breathing blew across his chest as she snored. For Shadow's sake, he half-hoped Knuckles was right about someone wanting to rape Shadow. A horrible thing to wish, but it was better than people wanting to experiment on her. At least, in Sonic's mind. They could solve that easily. Some people wanting to capture her for some reason was harder. It would involve finding out exactly who they are, why they want her, and then getting rid of the threat. Fingers ran through Shadow's quills as he thought. It would make sense to ask G.U.N. if they could find out anything. Rouge would have to help then. She was the only expert he knew on gathering information like that.

"I have no idea what to do," he told Knuckles. "This situation isn't one I ever planned on falling into."

"Should've thought of that before having sex with her," Knuckles said. Sonic glared at him. "Come on. I know she's still Shadow, but you knew women could get pregnant."

"I meant having no idea what to do. I'm the hero. I'm supposed to have a plan, to be able to save and protect the people I care about. With her in this condition, I can't-"

"Just take care of her," Knuckles interrupted. "Tails and I can handle it. We've been with you on plenty of these before. It's not like we don't know the drill. Shadow may be strong, but he needs you right now more than we do."

"Shadow's still Shadow. She doesn't want me waiting on her hand and foot. She still wants to do things on her own. Until she gets far enough along that she'll hurt herself, I just have to go with it."

"Don't let him go overboard." Knuckles stood and stretched. "I'm going to get something to eat."

He left the room, leaving the two on the couch. Sonic leaned into the back of the couch. For now, he was going to rest. He'd figure out what to do once they'd both woken up.