"WE GOTTA CASE!"
Vector burst into the room, his tail knocking things over as he moved.
"Woohoo!" Charmy, who had been playing with toys, punched the air.
"Oh? Who hired us?" Espio looked up from the book he was reading.
Vector took a second to compose himself. "Miss Vanilla. Said she lost her weddin' ring."
"I thought she was a single parent," Espio remarked.
"Nah, she is, but she kept her late husband's ring with her all these years. Sentimental value and whatnot. Kinda sweet if ya ask me," the crocodile replied. Espio detected a faint blush on his scaled cheeks.
"When do we start?" Charmy asked.
"Right now! C'mon you two, Follow me!"
The Chaotix followed Vector to Vanilla's house, knocking on the door when they got there. Cream answered the door.
"Oh, hi Charmy," she said shyly. Tilting her head around, Cream yelled behind her. "Mommy! Mr. Vector and Mr. Espio are here!"
"Let them in, dear!" came a feminine shout from the other room.
In a moment the rabbit's mother met them in the gleaming kitchen, her long dress billowing. The house was so tidy, it almost looked like it had never been lived in. "Welcome, you three. Thank you for coming on such short notice.
"Aw, don't worry about it, miss. We're happy to help!" Vector blushed more obviously this time.
Espio sighed inwardly. "Agreed. So what is the problem exactly?"
Vanilla frowned. "This morning, while cleaning the house, I noticed my wedding ring was missing. It was given to me by my late husband, and I can't bear to be without it." She sighed. "I've moved on, for the most part, since then... but I never wanted to lose that."
"Do you know where it was supposed to be last, Miss Vanilla?" Charmy said.
"Yes. I normally keep it in a box in the top of my closet. I'll show you." Vanilla motioned for them to follow. "Cream, would you be a dear and go play in your room quietly?"
"Yes, Mommy." The small rabbit curtseyed and walked out of the room.
"She's such a wonderful daughter. I don't know what I'd do without her," Vanilla said, watching her little girl leave the room. The four of them went upstairs to Vanilla's bedroom, which was torn apart, no doubt in search of the wedding ring. Normally, they imagined, it would be as spotless and organized as the rest of the house.
"I'm sorry for the mess," Vanilla blushed, embarassed.
"S'okay, yeh should see the state of our place," Vector replied, grinning.
Vanilla chuckled quietly and walked over to the closet. "It was right here." She pointed at the top shelf.
"Let me take a look." Espio strode to the closet... but realized he was too short to even reach the shelf. He stood there for a moment, his scales changing to red. "Vector?"
The crocodilian laughed and walked over to Espio.
"Can you look-" Espio began, but was unable to finish his sentence; instead of the next word, he said "Whoa!" as his oversized friend suddenly grabbed him and lifted him up, putting him on eye level with the top shelf of the closet. "Good thing I'm already red..." the chameleon reflected.
"See anythin'?" Vector enquired, appearing not to find Espio a challenge to hold up in the slightest.
"Unfortunately, no," replied the blushing chameleon. Vector put him down.
"There must be some evidence somewhere," Charmy said.
"So, Miss, what have you been upta lately?" Espio heard Vector say.
"That crocodile is just interested in her," Espio thought to himself, crestfallen. He continued to examine the room, trying to ignore Vector awkwardly flirting with Vanilla. It was then that he found a clue.
"Charmy, come here," Espio beckoned. He ignored Vector, feeling somewhat jealous of Vanilla at the moment, who was happily chatting it up with the tall crocodilian.
Charmy Bee flew over. "What's up, Espio?"
"Look at the carpet."
Right next to the window, there were some footprints in the carpet, faint black marks indicative of the grimy streets outside. "It rained last night, so the thief's shoes would probably be quite dirty," remarked Espio. "Now, look at the little empty space in the middle of the footprint. It looks like whoever left these prints was wearing high heels." Espio crossed his arms. "Who do we know that wears high heels?"
"Well, Miss Vanilla wears them," said Charmy, looking confused. "Did she steal her own ring?"
Espio shook his head. "Let's rule Vanilla out for the moment. Who else wears them?"
Charmy thought for a second. "Rouge!"
Espio nodded. "Bingo. Add this to the fact that she's a notorious thief, and I think the answer is pretty obvious." The duo walked up to Vector.
"Vector, Espio figured out who did it!" Charmy tugged at Vector.
"Huh? Oh, that's great, good work Espio," the crocodilian replied absentmindedly.
"Come on, Vector, we need to go find the culprit," said an annoyed Espio.
"Erm, yeh better let me stay here with Miss Vanilla. Ya never know if they could come back and harass her, so I'll stay here and protect her..." Vector blushed, ignoring his friends.
Espio screamed on the inside. It was bad enough that Vector was flirting with Vanilla, but now, he wasn't even helping. He was leaving all the work to them so that he could continue spending time with the rabbit. Fine, thought Espio, I don't need that idiot's help. Beckoning to Charmy, he left the room and walked out of the house.
"Vector sure seems to like spending time with Miss Vanilla," Charmy remarked.
"So much so, that he's leaving all of the work for us," Espio said bitterly. Then he felt bad, both for criticizing Vector and for doing so in front of little Charmy. "Er, I'm sure he has a good reason, though." Espio quickly added.
"How are we gonna find Rouge?" Charmy enquired.
"We'll hang out by the pawn shop. If she's going to sell a ring, she'd go there."
The duo headed for the pawn shop and waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, when they were about to give up, they noticed an attractive figure coming toward them.
Rouge's high heeled boots clicked against the pavement, her shapely figure approaching the pawn shop. "Oh, look, it's Espio! What are you doing here?"
"Save it. We know what you're up to," Espio said, leaning against the brick wall outside of the shop, his arms crossed.
"What?" the bat replied, with mock surprise.
"Give Miss Vanilla back her ring!" Charmy shouted.
"Drat," Rouge said. "I guess you figured it out, huh?"
"Why'd you do it, Rouge?" Espio said. "This is small-time thievery for you. You should be after the Chaos Emeralds or something. And besides, aren't you friends with Vanilla?"
Rouge averted her gaze. She sighed. "That woman was living in the past. Her husband's been gone for years, yet she's still holding on to this thing." Rouge pulled the ring out of her pocket. "I tried to convince her to sell it, many times. She could have used the money for something nice. And besides, holding onto old memories like that isn't a good idea. She'd never move on!"
"That's not for you to decide," Espio interrupted.
"Maybe it's none of my business, but I'm just thinking of her best interests!" Rouge defended herself.
Espio sighed. "Sometimes, what you think are someone's 'best interests' are a totally different thing than what they have in mind." The chameleon's eyes seemed a bit cloudier than before. "Look, Rouge, I know you had the best of intentions, but I really think you should give us the ring so we can give it back to her. The woman is distraught without it. What's the use of money if she's miserable?"
Rouge looked disappointed. "Fine, you win, Espio. Have it." The bat tossed the ring over, and Espio caught it with ease. "I guess a thief like me just has no idea about affairs of the heart."
"Most of us don't," remarked Espio.
"Am I going to have to start running now?" Rouge said.
"No."
"We're not gonna turn her in?" Charmy said, surprised.
Espio shook his head. "Rouge, you were just trying to help Vanilla... in your own twisted sort of way. But you were trying. Just pretend this never happened. I'll tell Vanilla it was some random burglar."
"You would do that for me?" Rouge said, her eyes lighting up.
"We all make mistakes," Espio replied.
Rouge stepped closer to the chameleon. "You're a decent guy, Espio. Too decent for me." She kissed him on the cheek.
Espio felt nothing.
"Well, I'd better get going... give my regards to that gigantic friend of yours, wherever he is." Rouge winked and turned around, striding off into the city.
Espio sighed.
"What was that all about?" Charmy asked. "And why did she kiss you?"
"I don't know, Charmy. Sometimes I don't even understand that woman." Espio began walking back to Vanilla's home, followed by Charmy.
When they got back, they saw Vector and Vanilla sitting at the kitchen table, chatting up a storm. Vector seemed to be blushing.
"Ahem." Espio walked into the room.
"Ah, yer back! Find anythin' interestin'?"
"Does this qualify as 'interesting'?" Espio slid the ring across the kitchen table to Vanilla.
"Oh my... you actually found it..." Vanilla's eyes glistened with tears. "Thank you so much, Espio. You have no idea how much this means to me." Getting up from her seat, she stepped over to the chameleon.
Suddenly, she kissed him gently, on the same cheek that Rouge had pecked not too long ago. "Again, thank you."
Again, nothing.
Espio casually glanced at Vector, who suddenly looked a little jealous. His smile had certainly gotten smaller.
"Really, it was nothing. Just some random crook who wanted to pawn it," Espio replied.
"Y-yeah! Random crook! Never saw 'em before!" Charmy said.
"I wonder why they would take just my ring and nothing else... and how they knew where it was," Vanilla pondered.
"I wouldn't worry about it," Espio said. "We scared him off, so you won't have to worry about him coming back."
Vanilla smiled. "I appreciate this. I don't know how to repay you." The kind woman walked over to her oven, and opened a drawer in the bottom where pots and pans were kept. Pulling out a small bag, she removed some cash from it. "This is where I keep my rainy day money. I hope it's enough."
Vector suddenly spoke again. "Aw, miss, don't worry about payin' us. We just wanted to help ya!"
"'We'?" Espio muttered.
"Please, take it, it's not much but you deserve it." The rabbit pushed the money into Espio's hands.
"Thank you, Miss," Espio said politely. He was worried for a moment that he wouldn't even be compensated, thanks to Vector. "We'd better get going now; it's beginning to get late and we wouldn't want to impose."
"I'd love to have you stay for coffee, but you're all probably very tired. Go home and have a nice rest - you've certainly earned it."
Vector, Espio and Charmy left, saying their goodbyes.
On the way home, Charmy suddenly said, "Wow, Espio, you got kissed twice in one night by two different girls! What gives?"
"WHAAAA-?" Vector bounced backward. "Who's the other girl!?"
"Rouge! She was the real thief! She wanted to sell the ring to get Miss Vanilla some money!" Charmy said, much to Espio's annoyance.
Vector considered for a moment. "Wow, Esp, I never knew yeh were such a stud!" He slapped the chameleon on the back.
Espio looked up at Vector. He couldn't read the crocodile's expression. It certainly didn't look joyful, however. "I guess you could say that," was all the chameleon said in return.
The trio walked the rest of the way home in silence.
Eep, angsty chapter this time D: Stay tuned for more Vector x Espio goodness!