Sorry it took me so long to update, but school interfered. I hate it when school keeps me away from my fanfiction obligations, but I'm out now for 2 weeks and ready to go to work.

Here's the next chapter. Before I start, I'd like to say that I know that I haven't done a strictly Knux/Rouge story yet. There's a BIG possibility that I might do one in the future. Although I write my stories on many characters, Knuckles is my favorite; hence the name. The reason I write stories on many characters is because I like to 'do it big'.

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It's been a week since Shadow and Mina's little incident. The weather now was freezing cold. Snow was assuredly fixing to happen. The sun had not been seen all day, and the winds were beginning to howl.

Mina has told Sally and Julie-Su everything. As soon as she had, Sally and Julie-Su were congratulating her and wishing her luck.

"I just hope that the baby doesn't end up acting like its father," said Julie-Su.

"Yeah! One Shadow the Hedgehog is enough," added Sally.

"What are you going to name it?" asked Julie-Su.

Mina was taken by their interest in the baby. This was only her second month being pregnant and her friends already started planning out the future.

"I really don't have a name yet," said Mina modestly.

"I like the name, Sara," said Sally.

"Crystal is an even better name," said Julie-Su.

"I appreciate your enthusiasm, but Shadow and I are going to name our baby together," said Mina.

"You ought to be glad that Shadow's still around. Most guys don't want anything to do with you after they impregnate you," said Sally.

"I know, but Shadow's not like that. He cares for me and lets me know it," said Mina. She sighed.

"Let's just hope he stays that way," said Julie-Su. "If he hurts you, let us know. We'll take care of him."

"Okay, (giggles) I'll be sure to do that."

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At Sonic's house, the fireplace was running, giving off a comfortable feeling of warmth. It was the type of warmth that felt like it was massaging your skin, but was not hot enough to make you sweat. We're talking about the perfect fireplace here.

Tails was not enjoying the fire, however. He had on his jacket and was inside the garage, doing heaven knows what.

Sonic and Amy were cuddled up on the couch under a quilt watching Dawson's Creek. Sonic was stretched out on the couch with Amy nuzzled up against him. After every romantic event, Amy would readjust herself to get more comfortable in his arms. Sonic bit her earlobe and whispered in her ear.

"I love you, my sweet, pink rose."

Amy giggled. Then, she turned her head around for a kiss. Just as they were in the midst of making out, a knock was heard at the door. Sonic tried to stick his tongue back in Amy's mouth, but Amy pulled away.

"I think that you better answer the door. I'll still be here when you get back," she told him.

Sonic got up from under the quilt and went to the door. He was wearing a blue t-shirt and some gray shorts. He opened the door to find a shivering bright rabbit standing there.

"Cream?"

"H-H-H-H-H-H-Hi, Sonic. M-M-M-M-May I c-c-c-c-c-c-c-come in?" asked the shivering rabbit.

Sonic opened the door wide and motioned for her to come in. Sonic looked outside to see that the weather had worsened. It was starting to get darker and darker, and the winds were howling. Also it was lightly snowing. Sonic closed the door and was thankful that he wasn't on the streets tonight.

Cream had walked inside. She was now standing in front of the fireplace, warming up. She took off her scarf and laid it on the arm of a chair. Sonic and Amy were a bit puzzled to her appearance.

"What brings you by?" asked Amy.

"I came by to visit with you, but no one was home; so I figured that you'd be over here," said Cream. She saw the blanket and Dawson's Creek playing on the television. "Am I bothering anything?"

"Oh no! We were just watching Amy's favorite TV show. That's all," said Sonic sarcastically.

"Sonic! Don't be rude," chastised Amy. "Cream, sit down. Did you walk over here?"

"Yes. It's quite a distance to walk," said Cream.

"Well, we're not going to let you walk back home. You sit down right there and get comfortable, and when the storm dies down, Sonic and I will take you home," Amy said.

"But-,"

"Is that okay with you, Sonic?"

Amy had that look in her eye that said 'nod and smile'. Sonic nodded and smiled.

"Good. Now, let's watch Dawson's Creek."

Before Sonic could make it back to couch with Amy, the doorbell rung again. Sonic reluctantly went over to answer it because he didn't want to hear Amy's lecture again. This time when he answered it, a bigger frown came on his face.

"What's up, Sonic," said Knuckles as he came into the house followed by Rouge, Tikal, and Silver. They all took off their coats and laid them on the coat rack.

"Come in," said Sonic.

Rouge and Tikal went over to where Amy and Cream were sitting down. They paid no attention to the quilt and sat down on top of it.

"Hey, Amy. Were you and Sonic in the middle of something special?" asked Tikal.

"Well, we sorta were," said Amy.

"Oh, well. You two got your whole lives to do those things. Right now, it's 'girl time'," said Rouge.

Sonic and Amy had the lights dimmed. Silver went over to the light switch and flipped it on.

Sonic was still standing at the door.

"Damn it!" he cursed under his breath.

"Hey, Sonic. Are we still watching the Patriots and Colts play tonight?" asked Knuckles.

"We sure are supposed to watch that game tonight. I had totally forgotten. We can watch it in the den," said Sonic. He motioned for Knuckles and Silver to follow him.

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Cream had snuck away to the garage where she found Tails. He was working on an engine. Tails immediately jumped up when he heard the door slam behind him.

"Hey," said Tails in a lowered voice.

"Hey. What are you working on?" asked Cream, coming up to where Tails was positioned.

"It's a new prototype engine for an airplane that I want to build one day," he explained.

"I bet that it will be a great plane," said Cream.

"Thanks."

Tails hesitated for a moment before starting back to work on the engine. He peeked at Cream out of the corner of his eye and saw that she was shivering from the cold air. Even though there was a house of warm heat right next to her, she opted to stay right outside with him.

"You know what. I think that I'm done for the day. Why don't we go back inside and join the others."

Cream's face suddenly warmed up when Tails said that. Tails took her by the hand and led her back inside to the warmth of his house.

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Back inside, Sonic, Knuckles, and Silver were watching the game in the den on TV while Rouge, Amy, and Tikal were tuned in to soap operas.

"Didn't I tell you that she was cheating on him with that doctor?" said Rouge.

"She wouldn't have gotten caught if she had just locked the door," added Amy.

"What would you do if Knuckles cheated on you?" asked Tikal.

"Nothing. I know that he would never cheat on me. I'm too much of a prize for any man to take for granted," said Rouge.

"What about you, Amy?" asked Tikal.

"If Sonic cheated on me, I'd make him angry by hooking up with his worst enemy," said Amy.

"What would you do, Tikal?" asked Rouge.

"Well, first I'd tie Silver up for he couldn't scream. Then, I'd rape him for he could see what he could have had. After that, I'd chop off his genitals and force him to eat them," said Tikal with an evil grin on her face.

The room went silent. Rouge and Amy simply stared. Tikal blushed.

"Too nasty?"

They both nodded with startled expressions upon their faces.

Suddenly, there came another knock at the door. Tails and Cream were coming through the living room so Tails went to get the door. Tails opened the door and was instantly thrown into a giant hug from a taller, purple hedgehog.

"How's my baby brother?" asked the hedgehog.

Another green hedgehog came through the door. He was carrying some heavy bags. When he reached the inside of the house, he dropped all the bags.

"Sonia, can I get a little help here?" asked the green hedgehog.

Sonia let go of Tails and went outside to gather the rest of the things. After all the things were brought inside, Sonia closed the door behind her. She immediately noticed the four girls sitting in the living room who were staring at Sonia with confusion on their faces.

"Tails, what have you and Sonic been up to since we've been away at college?" asked Sonia.

"What does it look like?" said the green hedgehog next to Sonia sarcastically.

"Shut up, Manic," she snapped.

"Sonic, a little help here," called out Tails.

"What's going on out there?" asked Sonic, coming from the den with Knuckles and Silver behind. Sonic was awestruck to find his brother and sister standing in the living room.

"Hey, guys. When did you get here?" asked Sonic with glee.

"Sonic, why do you and Tails have four girls in this house? Don't tell me that you two are going to become pimps," said Sonia.

"Relax, sis. These are our girlfriends. The bat is Knuckles' girlfriend, the echidna is Silver's, the rabbit is Tails', and this lovely pink hedgehog over here is mine," said Sonic.

"I told you that they weren't going to become pimps," said Manic.

"I see. So Knuckles, you finally got over your crush on me?" asked Sonia.

Rouge's eyebrow arched.

"Yeah, I have. Rouge is the only girl for me," said Knuckles nervously.

Rouge giggled. She knew that she had Knuckles whipped.

"Sonia, stop teasing Knuckles. You're probably just jealous that you don't have a boyfriend for yourself," said Manic.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that. Right now, I'm going to unpack. When I get back, I want to have a little girl talk with you, Amy," said Sonia.

Sonia grabbed her bags and went upstairs. Manic did the same. They went into their old rooms and began to unpack. As they unpacked, Sonic came up and entered Manic's room.

"Hey, little bro. What you need?" asked Manic as he hung up his Linkin Park poster.

"How long are you two going to be here?" asked Sonic.

"Until after New Year's. Why?" asked Manic.

"I was just curious. That's all," lied Sonic.

"If you're worried about Sonia interfering with your relationship with Amy, forget about it. I'll make sure she doesn't get too nosy," said Manic.

"Thanks, bro," said Sonic.

"Hey, we're family, aren't we?"

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Sonia changed into her Sonic Underground clothes and came down the stairs. By that time, Sonic and Manic had also come back down the stairs. Knuckles was sitting in a chair with Rouge on the arm rest, Silver and Tikal were on the love seat, and Amy, Tails, and Cream were on the couch.

"Well, I guess that we had better get going before it gets too late," said Amy.

She and Cream got up and headed for the door. Little did they realize that not only had the wind been blowing, but also snow had begun to fall. Amy opened the door and a huge gust blew in her face. She looked outside and realized that a blizzard might be forming. She closed the door, which proved to be much harder than it should have been due to the windy weather.

"I don't think that it's a good idea to leave right now," said Amy.

"If we stay here, we might be snowed in for the night," said Tikal.

"If we go out there, we might not ever see another night," said Rouge. "It's a good idea to stay put here, even if we have to stay all night."

Rouge looked around the room and saw that the vote was unanimous. It wasn't any use trying to make it home in the blizzard and end up frozen popsicles.

"Well, if you're going to stay, you're going to have to pay your stay," said Sonia. "You can start by helping me prepare dinner. I brought enough for just my brothers, but I think that we can squeeze in 7 more people," said Sonia with a wink.

Sonia had stopped by the grocery store before coming home. She knew that Sonic didn't keep much food around the house because Sonic wasn't much of a cook and neither was Tails.

"We have to cook?" asked Tikal with a look of worry on her face.

"Tikal, Tikal, Tikal," began Sonia, "how do you expect to keep a man around if you don't cook for him. The way to a man's heart is his stomach; so you better learn how to please it," said Sonia.

"This is coming from a person who probably doesn't even know what a man is," said Manic. "Let me give you a hint, Sonia. It's one of those things that you can't get."

The guys started cracking up at Manic's comment. Sonia started turning red.

"Keep it up Manic and you're going to be wearing that chicken that we're making for dinner," she said.

Manic and the guys laughed all the way to the den, leaving the girls with Sonia in the kitchen.

"Okay, girls. Here are your assignments. Rouge, I want you to make the sweet potatoes, Amy, you assist me with the chicken, Cream, check the bags I brought in the house. One of them should have some cookie dough in them that I want you to use to bake us some cookies. Tikal, you're in charge of steaming the vegetables."

Everyone started running around the kitchen and grabbing their ingredients. Tikal was standing in front of some asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. She was completely lost. She turned around to see that Cream was rolling the cookie dough into a perfect shape, Rouge had the sweet potatoes boiling in the pot, and Amy and Sonia were seasoning the bird.

"First you have to boil some water in a pot," said Cream. She saw that Tikal was lost, and was trying her very best to help her friend.

Tikal grabbed the only pot that Sonic owned and began to fill it with water. Then, she put in on the stove and turned an eye on.

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Meanwhile in the den, the guys were cracking up laughing about things.

"Tikal's father is strict. I already know that he doesn't want me around his daughter, Tikal takes care of him. One day, I laid my coat on the couch and left the room. When I came back, he was going through my pockets. I wanted to tell him off, but he's big. He already doesn't like me. If I had said something, he might have kicked my ass," said Silver.

The guys continued laughing.

"You're alright, Silver. You're alright," said Manic.

"Did Sonic tell you about the time that he left Tails at Cream's house all night?" asked Knuckles.

"I was drunk!" said Sonic. "and if I recall, so were you. They had to drag your ass to your car."

All, but Knuckles cracked up laughing.

"How's college life?" asked Tails.

"College is great. There are girls everywhere at USW (University of Southern Westopolis). There are parties every Friday, and they aren't any boring high school parties. I'm talking about major beer bashes. Girls have sex with each other while you poor beer on their nude bodies. It's hectic up there. Last week, someone took a shit on the dean's car," said Manic.

The guys all shared a huge laugh.

"Hey, where's Shadow? Last year, I remember that he had all the girls. Is he still doing that?" asked Manic.

"He was doing it for a while, but I think that Shadow has fallen in love," said Sonic.

"Shadow? No, I don't believe it," said Manic.

"It's all true, and I'm told that he got some girl pregnant," said Knuckles.

"Now that I can believe. Shadow used to hump everything he could find. Someone told me that he once fucked a lunch lady," said Manic.

The guys continued cracking up.

After another thirty seconds of laughing it up, Amy entered the room.

"Dinner is served."

All the guys, but Sonic ran out of the room in a stampede, nearly trampling Amy. Sonic was the last one out because he wanted to walk with Amy.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I am."

Sonic kissed her forehead. Then, he and Amy headed for the dining room together.

Everything went silent as they started to eating except for the sound of the wind howling outside. Sonia was the first to break the silence.

"So how do you like everything?" asked Sonia.

"It's alright, but these carrots taste a little ragged. It's almost like mud. Oof!" said Knuckles.

Rouge elbowed him in the side

"Tikal made those. I know she isn't much of a cook, but give her some encouragement," she whispered.

"These vegetables are…. Unique," said Knuckles.

Silver took a bite of asparagus. He almost choked on it as he forced it down.

"How do you like it?" asked Tikal.

Silver gave it a shaky thumbs up. He almost hurled it back up. Snickering came from Sonic and Tails. Amy and Cream poked them in the sides.

The wind howled harder outside.

"Man, it's getting worse outside," said Sonic.

"Hey, at least we still have power," said Knuckles.

Suddenly, the lights flickered a few times before finally going off.

"Knuckles, from now on, don't speak. Just shoot yourself in your voicebox," said Manic.

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Shadow looked outside his window and saw that it was very windy outside. He knew that it probably was a bad idea to ride out in a blizzard.

"It looks like I might be stuck here for a while," said Shadow.

Suddenly, two warm, soft hands crept around his waist. Then, a head rested on his back.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," said Mina.

Shadow eased his hands inside of hers.

"Neither would I."

Shadow eased her hands from around his waist and turned to face her. Then, he raised her chin with his right hand and brought her in for a sweet kiss.

Shadow caressed her cheek as they made out. Mina. Mina lightly moaned. She also felt Shadow was holding back, but she understood why.

"Will you always be here for me and our child?" asked Mina.

Shadow whispered in her ear. "Always."

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It was lucky that Sonic had a few candles around the house or else it would've been a dark night. Candles were place in the midsection of each room to provide light. It provided some light, but most of it still remained dark. Sonic also had one gas lamp, which burned in the living room.

After they finished eating, it was very late. Also, it was obvious that this was going to turn into an unexpected sleepover. With Manic and Sonia back in their old rooms, a few people were without beds, but they all worked it out. Sonic and Amy would sleep in Sonic's room, Tails and Cream would be lodged in Tails' room, Manic and Sonia had their old rooms, Silver and Tikal would sleep snugly on the couch in the living room, and Knuckles and Rouge would sleep comfortably on the couch in the den. No one really had any night wear to put on; so basically everyone slept in their undergarments, except the ones who lived there. Sonic had a few spare comforters that he gave to his friends.

Rouge laid on the couch, tucked tightly in the arms of Knuckles. It felt like she could stay there for eternity. She probably would've stay there if something didn't start poking her thigh.

"Knuckles, is that what I think it is?" asked Rouge.

"Umm, no."

Rouge felt back at what was touching her thigh.

"It is. Knuckles, you pervert."

"I have no control over some things. There is a way you can make it go down," said Knuckles with a smirk on his face.

Rouge knew where Knuckles was going with this.

"Not in Sonic's house. They might hear us," she said.

After a few minutes, Rouge felt the poking get lighter and lighter until it was gone.

"Problem solved," she said.

Knuckles mumbled something that even he didn't understand before drifting off to sleep.

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On the couch in the living room, Silver and Tikal lie. Silver was trying to go to sleep, but Tikal kept wiggling.

"Is something the matter?" he asked

"I know that you didn't like my vegetables," said Tikal.

"I did."

"Don't lie to me. I know myself that they were horrid. Everyone was trying to hide their emotions to make me feel better."

Silver put his arms around her waist.

"I wasn't lying to you. You're right. They tasted like wet grass, but that's not the reason I said I liked them. I said I liked them because YOU made them," said Silver.

"Really?"

"Yes! That's all that matters to me. Now, go to sleep, my love," said Silver.

Tikal turned her head towards Silver and placed a big kiss on his lips.

"Aww, that's so sweet," said a voice from behind.

Silver and Tikal jumped up and looked around. Standing in the midst of the light was Manic. He had an awkward smile on his face.

"Manic, what the hell are you doing?" snapped Silver.

"I came down to get a glass of water," he said innocently.

Silver sighed "Go get your water."

Manic went over to the faucet and poured himself a glass of water. He drank it loudly. Silver and Tikal heard his gulps all the way by the couch in the living room. Next, they heard him gargling water. After that, started gulping again.

Silver and Tikal were getting a headache as they listened to Manic's strange actions from the kitxhen. He finally came out and went back upstairs.

Silver and Tikal laid back down and went back to sleep with Tikal in Silver's everlasting grasp.

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Sorry it took so long, but it's getting close to Christmas. I haven't been writing as much. That's that for this one. The next one will be 'Spring Break'. Yeah!

ICY KNUCKLES