Authors note: *Awkwardly smiles and acts like I haven't been updating since October* New chapter! :-)

Chapter Thirty: The Torment Continues

Inside of the spacious office, surrounded by various documents and offices supplies, was a frazzled Shadow. The ebony hedgehog had been busy all day from taking phone calls, having meetings after meeting, and of course being bothered by his co-workers. He wasn't in the best of moods as of late. He recently witnessed his friends fiance cheating on him with her friend and husband, and he had his own drama going on with Raven.

She's been very persistent with their on going issue.

She's emailed her ex countless times. So many times that Shadow just started to delete the messages without even opening them. It's been over a week since the end of the vacation and when she emailed him that angry message. As much as Shadow tries to think of other things, his mind will find a way to go back to the issue at hand.

Sage. His supposed son.

Day in and day out, Shadow finds himself wondering if he could really be the father. Of course, the crimson striped hedgehog always wanted children of his own, but not under these circumstances.

It's still all a big mystery. 'He looks like a mixture of both of us but it still can't be true. Who know's how long she's been cheating on me. I'm not even entirely sure if it was just one guy she was messing around with.'

Shadow rubbed his forehead as he once again got lost in his deep thoughts. He desperately needed this day to be done with so he can finally go home and sleep his troubles away. Suddenly the phone rang. He deeply sighed as he lazily extended his arm and answered the office phone.

"Shadow speaking," he said in a monotone voice.

"So I guess waiting on hold and going through multiple lines was the only way to get a hold of you, huh?"

Red eyes instantly became alert. Shadow sat straight up as he held the phone tighter and closer to his ear.

"Raven?!"

He could here her snort and wouldn't doubt that she rolled her eyes. "Of course it's me. I realized you weren't answering my emails, so I went ahead and decide to give you a call. Thought you heard the last from me, didn't you?"

Shadow snapped back to reality, his eyes narrowing as a scowl formed on his muzzle. "What do you want now? You can't be calling me at work expecting to chit chat."

"Well clearly this is the only way to get a hold of you!" the feline snapped. "I'm not letting this go, Shadow. You know damn well that you're the father, and it's time to start acting like one!"

"I would act like a father if i knew he was mine," Shadow snapped back as he kept his voice low but sharp. He didn't need the whole building knowing his business.

Raven laughed with a hint of venom in her voice. "I don't know why you keep trying to run away from the truth. Own up to it."

"How about you own up to the fact that I'm not really the father!" he exclaimed. Shadow knew he was near his breaking point, and with a few more insults flown his way, he would really explode on the spot. All he could hear now was the angry yelling that was coming from his ex-lover.

Before Shadow could say anything else, there was a knock at his door. One of his co-workers was mouthing to the ebony hedgehog that there was another meeting being held. Shadow nodded his head as the employee left his office.

"As much as I love arguing with you," he said with heavy sarcasm, "I need to get back to work."

"This isn't over, Shadow." With that, she hung up.

Shadow was relieved, but not completely. He already knew this wasn't over. Not by a long shot.

Inside of a fabulous and large house was Rouge and Amy. The bat and hedgehog duo were busy fixing up the home, cleaning up any dusty areas and laying brochures with info on the house. Amy needed to get this home off of her hands, so Rouge volunteered to help. The pink hedgehog was currently out side on the phone while Rouge floated around the living room making sure everything was in place.

"If I had the money, I would certainly buy this for myself," Rouge said to herself as she gazed at her surroundings. "Just needs a bit more dramatic flare to it."

As the bat conversed with herself with all the ideas in her mind, Amy came walking back inside looking a bit bothered.

"Something on your mind, hon?" questioned Rouge as she glanced at her friend.

Amy leaned against the wall and crossed her arms. "I just got off the phone with Shadow. He told me that Raven called him at work today."

"And the saga continues," the ivory bat muttered. "Let me guess. It's about the baby right?" Amy numbly nodded her head. Rouge walked closer to her friend, giving her full attention. "Listen, don't worry about this. This chick is still clearly hung up on Shadow and is doing everything she can to get him back."

"But what if it is his kid?" Amy asked with a look of defeat. "It would make things so complicated."

Rouge placed a hand on Amy's shoulders. "Even if he was the father, which I'm sure he's not, he wouldn't leave you because of that. He would be a fool if he did! Besides, I'm sure all the feelings that he ever had for her are completely gone by now, don't you think?"

Amy weakly laughed, earning a small smile from Rouge. "How about this," the bat started. "We have a double date tonight. I'll make reservations later for me, you, Shadow, and Knuckles. I'm sure it'll help both to get your minds off of it for a little while."

The pink hedgehog nodded her head to the idea. It would be nice to go out tonight. "That sounds great! I'll let Shadow know."

"So how have things been for you lately?"

"Things been a bit better. I mean, I'm still pretty down in the dumps, but I guess things could be worse, right?"

Sonic has been in constant contact with Mina for over a week now. Mina didn't mind at all. She herself knew what the pain that Sonic is going felt.

"Have you talked to any of your other friends lately?"

Sonic made a noise of indifference and shrugged his shoulders, even though the mongoose couldn't see him through the phone.

"Not really, to be honest with you. I mean, I've talked with the guys a bit and the girls would text me to check up on me, but I guess I'm just trying to distance myself from them till I'm back to my old self."

"Well you don't want to be away from them too long. You don't want them thinking that anything else is wrong." Mina was quiet until a thought cam to mind. "Is there anything else wrong?"

The blue hedgehog frowned and sighed. "I guess I'm just afraid for any of them to rub it in my face. They all weren't the biggest fans of Sally, so I wouldn't be surprised it that were to happen."

"Sonic, I'm sure none of them would do anything like that. They all clearly care about you and are just worried for your well being. Trust me, this pain that you're going though is only going to feel worse if you do it alone. You should really see them at some point."

Sonic knew that Mina was right. Hiding from his friends wasn't helping him at all, only making him feel tens times worse than he already did. He felt guilty for not seeing them for days.

"You're right Mina. I guess they probably think I've gone missing or something," he joked, earning a giggle from the woman on the phone. "Thanks for the talk Mina, I really needed it."

"Anytime, Sonic. You can always call me if there's something wrong." The sound of crying could be heard, followed by Mina sighing. "Well I gotta go tend to some mommy duties now. I'll talk to you later!"

After saying their goodbyes, Sonic placed his phone back in his pocket as he took a long look around his home. His siblings and his mother had finished up the job of cleaning out the entire two story house that had anything to do with his ex-fiance.

In a way, it did feel like there was a huge weight lifted off his shoulders. Without anything that reminded him of Sally, it was a bit easier for him not to think of her as much. He knew that it could take a long while for him to be completely over her, but this was a start.

He also knew that he needed to see his friends, since it has been nearly two weeks. He decided to have them come over. He needed company and he knew that his friends would be happy to see him again.

Amy was freshly showered, smelling of sweet strawberries, and was currently fixing up her hair and makeup. She's been looking forward for this double date all day. She knew that Shadow was still stressed about Raven, and it clearly showed on him. Not only did he always look exhausted, but she knew that he was mentally drained from it all. She could only hope that this date would distract him.

Just as the pinkette was putting on some mascara, her phone started to ring. She looked down at her phone to see Rouge's face showing on the screen. She slid her finger across the small screen and set the phone call to speaker phone.

"Hey Rouge," Amy greeted casually as she continued with her makeup routine.

"Change of plans, pinky." the bat on the line said. "We're still going out, but this time it's going to be the whole gang."

"Oh? Where are we going then?"

"Sonic's house."

Amy stopped her makeup and looked down at her phone, a little surprised by the announcement. She hasn't seen her ex beau in days and was wondering if he was dong okay.

"Really? How did that come about? Did one of the guys force their way into his house or something?"

"Actually, much to my surprise, he texted the guys for everybody to go to his house. He probably had enough 'me time' and wants to be around us again."

"That's understandable," the pink hedgehog said as she ran her fingers through her hair. "It's a good thing you told me now before I got all dressed up."

"I know," the bat said as she giggled. "Anyway, we're all meeting there in about an hour. I'll see you there!"

Amy quickly finished up her makeup and styled her long pink locks into a hair ponytail. She rushed over to her closet, picking up her tight fitted baby blue dress that was about to change into. She hanged the dress back in the closet and traded it for a simple grey sweater and dark blue skinny jeans and black sandals.

"This is differently more comfortable than what I was about to put on," she said to herself as she sprayed on some perfume. A few more minutes passed as Amy was doing some finishing touches when her doorbell rang. She knew that it was Shadow, so she grabbed her phone and quickly ran down the stairs to greet her boyfriend.

She opened her front door to see her beau dressed down in a simple white t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers.

"Still so handsome even in the most simple outfit," the pink hedgehog said with a smile. She went up on her tip toes and sweetly kissed her lover.

Shadow smiled as he walked with her back to his car. He opened the passenger door for her as she went to go sit. "You don't look half bad yourself." After she was seated, Shadow sat down on the passenger side and started up the car. "By the way, I would of told you about the change of plans myself if Rouge wasn't so quick."

Amy laughed as she shook her head. "Don't worry. It'll be more relaxing to be at Sonic's house than a restaurant anyway."

The car ride to Sonic's house was peacefully quiet. Amy glanced over at her boyfriend, whose ruby red eyes were focused on the road. She notice he looked a little agitated as his mouth was in a scowl. She knew exactly what was bothering him but didn't want to bring attention to it. She remembered how annoyed he sounded on the phone, and wasn't in the mood to hear it again. Without a word, she reached out and placed a hand on top of his. Shadow looked to his left to see his girlfriend smiling sweetly and she squeezed his hand reassuringly.

"I love you," he said quietly as he looked at her from the corner of his eyes. Shadow knew he was grateful to have a girlfriend like Amy. She was understanding and completely patient with him, especially since he was going through a sticky situation that nobody would want to be apart of. He definitely didn't take her for granted.

Amy leaned and kissed his cheek. "I love you, too."

Soon enough the hedgehog couple made it to their destination. Other cars were parked in the driveway and in front of the house, signaling that everybody else were already inside. After opening the door for his girlfriend, the two walked hand in hand to the front door and knocked, waiting for someone to answer.

The door opened to a very cheery blue hedgehog. "Hey guys! Glad you two could make it, come in!"

'He seems to be feeling a whole lot better', Amy thought to herself as she walked into the house. 'It has been awhile since we've last seen him. I guess he did need some time to himself.'

The three hedgehogs walked into the living where the whole gang including Sonia and Manic were. Amy immediately made her way to the group of women on the other end of the room.

"Well someone seems extremely happy," Amy stated as she looked back at Sonic. "He's acting like himself again."

"Thats true," Sonia agreed. "Our mom is already talking about him moving on and to start dating again."

"Yeah, but it's not always good to start dating right away," stated Blaze. "You start comparing that person your dating to your ex and then you'll just be thinking about them even more. It's best for him to not do anything serious, you know?"

Rouge was eyeing the blue hedgehog the whole time, smiling to herself as she watched him talk and goof around with the guys. "So basically he should go back to his player ways is what you're saying."

"If it means getting our old annoying Sonic back, then yes," joked Amy as she and the rest of them laughed.

On the other end of the room was the guys. They were all seated on the large couch as they socialized while watching sports with cold beers in their hands.

"Soooo," started Silver as he looked over at Sonic, "how have things been since we've last seen you?"

"A whole lot better than before, I can tell you that much." Sonic kicked up his feet on the foot rest as he reclined the sofa. "I don't constantly feel stressed anymore, I don't have anybody wasting my money, and I can do what the fuck I want."

"What about Sally?" asked Shadow as he focused on his friend. "Anything from her?"

Sonic shrugged his shoulders and leaned further back into his seat. "Nope. Besides, I have her blocked and basically everything so that way I don't even have to worry about that." He sighed deeply with a content smile on his face as he placed his arms behind his head. "I am officially single and ready to mingle."

"Mingle as in ready to bang any female with a five mile radius," Manic stated lazily as he opened his beer bottle. He looked over at his brother, who looked at him with a bored expression. "I state nothing but facts my dear brother."

Sonic rolled his eyes at his brother. "Trust me guys, I honestly feel a whole lot better than I did before."

"So I guess you're gonna put yourself back out there, huh?" asked Silver.

"Hell yeah he can," exclaimed Knuckles. "You know one of the cheer coaches have had her eyes on you since she started working at the school."

Sonic chuckled and ran his hand through his blue quills. "What can I say? The ladies love me."

"Well let's not get ahead of ourselves," Shadow said casually as he watched a football game, causing the laughs to laugh while Sonic looked at him with a scowl.

The gang continued to have a great reuniting with their blue friend. They played a few drinking games, played other games when they all had too much to drink, and watched some more sports on tv in the living room.

Rouge was outside on the patio with the rest of the girls when she realized her wine glass was empty. She excused herself from the group and walked back inside, ignoring the loud drunken yells coming from the living room. She walked into the kitchen to see a brooding Shadow. He had a beer bottle in his hand as he leaned against the island counter, blankly staring out the window. He had a serious expression on his face, and looked to be in a very deep thought.

The bat carefully approached him, trying not to startle him. "Hey handsome, are you okay?"

Shadow snapped out of his intense and looked at Rouge. "Yeah I'm fine. Just thinking."

"Are you thinking what I think you're thinking about?" she asked knowingly. The black hedgehog numbly nodded his head, earning a sigh from the curvaceous bat. "You think he's yours, don't you?"

Shadow deeply sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Sometimes I think it could be a strong possibility. Every time I see pictures of him, I see some of myself in him. But others times I don't see myself cause then all I see is forever being annoyed by Raven."

Rouge could tell Shadow was extremely stressed. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Not being father meant not having to deal with his ex. Being the father, however, would mean having to be around Raven constantly. Then suddenly, an idea came to her.

"How about I suggest something?" The ebony hedgehog gave her his full attention, willing to hear anything the ivory bat had to say. "Why don't you just take a paternity test? If she's so confident and really sure that your the father, then she shouldn't have a problem with it. Besides, I'm sure I'm not the first one to suggest this to you. You probably thought about doing that yourself, haven't you?"

Shadow nodded his head as he sighed heavily. "Trust me, I've been thinking about it. Even my father talked to me about it. I just know for sure that if I even mention that, Raven will be more of a pain in my ass that she is now. I'll have to mention it again when she least expects it."

"You don't have to rush and tell her right now," said Rouge as she went and poured herself a drink. "Take a few days if need be and do what you have to do. Knowing her, she'll probably be surprised that your feeding into this nonsense."

Shadow knew that he needed to speak with his ex lover as soon as possible,but even the thought of doing it was making him feel mentally exhausted. Just as Rouge patted him on the shoulder and left to return to the girls, Sonic walked into the kitchen.

"There you are!" the buzzed blue hedgehog exclaimed. "I was wondering where you wandered off to."

"Just needed to get another beer is all," Shadow said with a shrug of his shoulders. He didn't bother mentioning what was on his mind at the moment considering it would bring down Sonic's drunken mood.

Sonic quickly chugged down what was left of his beer and grabbed himself another cold bottle. Sonic walked up to his friend and placed a hand on his shoulder, guiding him back to the living room.

"Come on buddy, let's go drink till we can't feel our feelings anymore."

Dear diary,

So after what felt like so many weeks, the gang finally reunited with Sonic. I was actually a bit anxious to see him. None of us haven't really seen Sonic every since that extremely awkward incident.

The whole gang showed up at Sonic's house. Even Sonia and Manic were there. Sonic seemed to be in much higher spirits. He was clearly happy to see everybody again, and it felt really good to see him smiling and fooling around again.

I was a little worried about Shadow for a bit. I know he's super stressed about Raven and all. It showed on his face when he was driving us to Sonic's house. I hate to see him so distracted and gloomy.

Although, he did seem to have fun while we were at Sonic's house. He and the guys played drinking games and watch sports while the girls and I enjoyed talking on the patio.

After a few hours, Shadow and I deiced to go. I was super tired and unfortunately we both have work in the morning. When Shadow took me home, he told me that he was going to do a paternity test to truly see if he is the father of Sage. I can't say that I was surprised. I would want to know if I was father if I were him, and I know that the whole situation has made Shadow pretty paranoid. It doesn't help that Raven is constantly on his back about this. I'm sure Raven would gladly go ahead and go along with the test since she's so sure that Shadow is the father. And if he is, it wouldn't bother me at all. Sage would be lucky to have a father like Shadow. Raven just needs to keep her hands off my man if she thinks she's going to get him back.

I should get to bed now. Gotta longgg day of work tomorrow!

Sincerely,

Amy

Authors note: I know it's been 84 years since I last updated this, but please don't kill me :-) School, work, and stuff like that distracted for a long while PLUS I've been outlining how the next chapters for this story should play out. I know this chapter is crappy but I promise to do my best for the next one! I'm starting on the nest one right now so hopefully it won't take me another hundred years for me to post the next chapter.

But hopefully you liked that I finally updated! :-)

Thanks for reading!