Chapter 14

I own Amara, the name Shadykins, and this story. The Sonic Crew belongs to Sega.

Amara's P.O.V.

"Thank you Mrs. Bindor." I say after signing in.

"Your welcome dear." The possum receptionist smiles at me.

It's 10 a.m. Monday. One more day before Shadow is discharged and I don't have to visit here anymore. I step out of the elevator and onto the floor Shadow is on, when Cody suddenly rounds the corner and spots me.

"Good morning Amara." He greets once he walks over to me.

"Good morning Cody." I smile.

"So, you pretty happy Shadow gets out tomorrow?"

"Yeah, making all these trips can get pretty old."

"I bet." His smile becomes nervous and his fingers start to tap on his clipboard. "Hey, if you are not doing anything Thursday night, I was wondering if you would like to go to dinner with me?"

"Oh." I say, surprised. I guess he does like me, for Thursday is Valentines Day.

"It's okay if you don't want to go though. I understand." Disappointment already starts to show on his face. He begins to turn away.

"Wait." He turns back to me. Cody is a nice guy. I'd love to get to know him more, and, regardless of him being almost five years older than me, he is actually pretty cute too. What the heck, why not? "I'm free. So yes, I would love to go to dinner." His face brightens.

"Great!" I give him my number and my address. "I'll pick you up at 7 o'clock?"

"Sounds great." I smile. We part and I go to Shadow's room. This will be my first official date. This realization brings a giddy smile to my face as I open Shadow's door.

"-when I get back home!" Shadow growls at the scared nurse.

"I-I'm sorry b-but I can't let you do that." She meekly says. My smile falls. Here we go.

"Do what?" I ask, stepping through the door.

"They are trying to make me take a bath again." Shadow spits out. "I leave tomorrow, I will wash when I get home!" He directs the last part again at the nurse. Now I see why he's upset. He hates that they have to help him take his baths. He knows he needs it, but he'll never admit it.

"We have rules, and taking a bath after two days is one of them. We need to prevent illnesses being spread around, and taking baths do just that." The nurse says, gaining a little more confidence. Probably because she thinks he won't kill her if I'm here to witness.

"She's just doing her job Shadow." I try to ease him. "You can complain to Dr. Davis afterwards. And besides, the baths are not so bad. You still get to keep your boxers on." I smirk at him. He glares at me. Then a flash of triumph crosses his eyes.

"Okay. I will take a bath only if YOU help me."

My eyes widen in surprise. "Me?" He nods and smirks.

"But if you do not want to, then I will not take a bath." That's why he looks so smug. If I didn't have my father's stubbornness, I'd let Shadow win. But I do.

"Fine." Shock shows on his face. "I'll get the water running." I turn to the nurse. "This is the best you're going to get out of him."

"Oh that's okay! He just needs to take one." She says, extremely relieved, and she quickly leaves the room. I go to the bathroom to start the bath. I can't believe I'm doing this.

XXXXX

So... that was pretty awkward. It wasn't so bad at first, neither of us spoke while he bathed, and I had to only help him with his quills and back. I could see how uncomfortable he was. I was tempted to point out that he could have told me no, but I knew what he would've said: I am a man of my word. So, I let him be. It was after he was dressed and back in bed that got really awkward. It has been silent for a good ten minutes now and he's obviously not going to break it.

"So... What's Amy up to?" I ask.

"Helping Faker get settled." He answers monotoned. Oh yeah, he got discharged today. I bet he's thrilled.

"That's nice of her." I say, knowing it's a little more than her being nice. I will give her credit though, she really is making an effort to lose feelings for Sonic, but also maintain a friendship. She just slips up every now and then.

"Sure." Shadow states indifferently.

"Hey, she stayed with you most of yesterday." I point out. "She could have spent most of the day with Sonic instead."

"I know that," He snaps at me, finally snapping out of whatever funk he was in. "but she should keep some distance from him if she wants it to be easier for her to lose interest in him."

"It's not that easy. You can't just stop seeing someone that you see almost everyday cold turkey. It won't do you any good. Easing off the person is the best way to lose the feelings and keep a friendship."

"How would you know that? You said you never had a boyfriend."

"I haven't. But that doesn't mean I've never had interests though."

"Hmph." Suddenly the door flings open and the pink female herself bursts in.

"I came as soon as I heard!" She pants.

"Heard what?" Shadow asks her. Amy sends an accusing glare at me.

"Why didn't you tell me you made a date for Valentines night?!" How'd she know?

"I... uh..." I shrug, not sure what to say.

"Wait, what?" Shadow asks, bewilderment in his eyes.

"I was on my way back here from Sonic's, when Cody stopped me and asked me where I thought he should take her for their date Thursday evening!" Amy exclaims. A couple tendrils dissolves into Shadow.

"That guy? You are going to dinner with him?" He sneers. At least Rouge isn't here to add to this mess.

"I'm here!" Rouge now enters the room, panting. What is this? "Now I just want to know why I wasn't informed by Amara herself now."

I throw up my arms. "Would you guys stop it?! It's just dinner! It's not like he asked me to marry him!"

"Could you imagine? Amara Phillips." I groan loudly and bury my face in my hands as Rouge and Amy giggle. Maybe this was a bad idea.

"Don't worry Amara, we'll help you get ready." Rouge says. My head shoots up.

"No! Just let me handle this on my own." Hurt flashes across both their faces. Aww, jeez. "I'm sorry," I say guiltily. "but you guys are blowing this WAY out of proportion. It's just a simple dinner. That's it."

"We're sorry too." Amy grins sheepishly. "We're just so excited for you though! This is the first time you've shown any interest in a guy!"

"We'll back off, but we are still going to help you get ready." Rouge states stubbornly.

"Fine." I sigh and cover my face with my right hand. Friends, what can you do?

"Oh! We should buy her a dress!" Amy squeals. Rouge's face brightens. Oh lord.

"How about you guys pick it for me? It'll be a nice surprise." I plaster a smile on my face, really hoping I don't have to go. Luckily, their excitement sweeps them away.

"Ooo, great idea! We should go now! And we can get her some shoes and jewelry-" Amy checks the time. "We should get started now before all the good stores close!" Rouge and Amy are out the door a second later. It's only 11 a.m. How much time do could they possibly need to shop for an outfit?!

"Oh boy." I groan to myself. I remember Shadow is in the room as well. I look up at his scowling face.

"I am guessing that is why you walked in here with that girly smile of yours earlier." He says coldly.

"Yeah." I'm so over this. "And I know, I know: you don't like him, why am I choosing to go to dinner with him, ect. Well, he's a nice guy, and I'm not going to take your attitude right now. Incase you haven't noticed, I just sent Rouge and Amy to pick my outfit." I bury my face back in my hands. "And it'll be my first date. I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to do!" A few moments of silence pass.

"Treat it like you said: just dinner." Shadow says, softer.

I keep my face buried. "Knowing me, I'll probably screw it up."

"You will be fine. You can handle many things others would definitely struggle with." He says. Feeling a little better, I slightly lift my face from my hands and look at him. "That being said, I have something I need you to do."

I raise my head. "What is it?"

"It is not safe keeping both of these emeralds in my quills like this. I need you to go to Tails's garage and put one in the safe. I will keep the other incase something should come up. When you enter the garage, in the far left corner, a trap door is in the floor. Open it and you will see the vault we keep the emeralds in. Enter the code 26204 and put it n." Oh, wow. This is a big responsibility, especially when it comes from Shadow.

"Okay." He hands me the yellow emerald.

"Be careful." He warns. I nod. I put the emerald in my purse and I check my phone. I see I have a text message from Tails. What is it with mentioning people and them popping up in some way right after the conversation today? I look at the message.

"Tails says the whole gang is getting together for lunch tomorrow to celebrate everyone being out of the hospital." I inform Shadow.

"Of course they are." He grumbles. I smirk.

"See you later Shadykins." I turn and waste no time getting to Tails's.

XXXXX

Shadow's P.O.V.

"Look who's out of the hospital!" Faker shouts from the restaurant table as Rose and I approach, Rose wheeling me in my wheel chair. I have to be in this thing for a week, but I will take that, over being in that hospital longer, any day.

"You?" I arch an eyebrow. Rose giggles.

Faker rolls his eyes. "Nice to see you too Shads." I glare at him.

"Well, everyone's here. Now, let's order. I'm starving!" Silver opens his menu. Amara chuckles, then she stops, realizing it drew attention to herself.

"So, you excited for your date tomorrow night?" Rouge leans forward expectantly. My mood sours. Of all the guys she could have chosen...

"Uh, sure? He's a nice guy."

"Not the reaction I'm looking for girl." Rouge shakes her head disappointed. "It's valentines day tomorrow and you have a date! Not all of use get so lucky." She sighs dramatically.

"Wait until you see what we got you though!" Rose claps excitedly.

Amara smiles appreciatively. "I'm sure it'll be-"

"Oh no!" Tails suddenly shoots up, looking at his wrist device, horrified.

"What is it?" Faker is on his feet as well, taking a fighting stance.

"The vault! Someone just accessed it and took out all the emeralds!"

"Let's go check it out then!" Faker says. Before he can zoom off though, Bokkun comes flying in the restaurant.

"Message for ya from the Doctor!" He pulls out the infamous screen and plays it.

"Ho ho ho! Don't bother in looking for those emeralds! They are mine now." The Doctor grins triumphantly.

"How did you find them?" Tails asks him, surprised that the doctor was able to find and open the vault.

"Ah, the perks of having a spy." Spy? "But now that I have what I need, you can come back to the base Amara. Your presence there is no longer needed." ...What?

Amara's eyes widen in shock. "Oh, did I blow your cover?" He grins evilly. "You poor rodents. How devastating it must be to be betrayed by one of your own! Ho ho ho!" The screen goes black.

"Self destruct in 3...2...1" Frozen in shock, none of us move as black smoke engulfs us. A spy?

"I told her the code yesterday..." I whisper, anger beginning to boil inside me.

"I'm not his spy!" Amara looks around at us frantically, her gaze met only with hurt and hard glares. "I swear!"

"Why would he tell you to go back to the base then?" Knuckles growls.

"I don't know!" Her eyes begin to water. "But he's lying!"

"You did good." I say in the most threatening voice I can muster. "You gained all our trust, even mine. If you expect to escape my wrath though, I suggest you start now."

"Shadow, please! I-" Some of the Doctor's robots enter the restaurant.

"The Doctor isn't a patient guy. We need to go, now." Bokkun says impatiently. One of the robots grab Amara and throws her over its shoulder.

"No! Please! I'm not lying! Please believe me!" She shouts out to us, tears falling down her face as the robots take her away. Disgusted, I turn away.

"Humans." I growl. "They are all the same: cruel, liars, and heartless."

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