Tails moaned and turned in her sleep. A stray ray of sun focused on her eyes and rudely awoke her. She shielded her eyes with a hand and awoke slowly, scooting around to get the sun out of her eyes. She noticed as soon as she saw it, that the curtains of the balcony were closed. Shadow must have closed them so she could comfortably sleep. Still, with her being almost wide awake now, she decided to lay on her back and stare at the sealing for a while. She ran a hand through her fur. A part of her hoped that yesterday was a bad dream.

It was strange being in Shadow's own residency. He didn't seem the like who appreciated guests, but apparently, he was a better host than she thought. Speaking of…

Tails sat up and looked at the door to Shadow's room. It was wide open. Empty too. Curiosity got the better of her. She shuffled out of the bed and stood up, stretched a little, then walked cautiously towards Shadow's room. Her steps were mostly silent apart from her bare feet scuffling the rug. She didn't know if he was in there still or if he left early.

"Shadow?" she called experimentally. No response. "Shadow?" She was a little louder this time. Still nothing. She entered the room and immediately her head went dizzy. Her mind screamed she wasn't supposed to be there but the rest of her was very eager to keep going. Already she could see the room was dark, the lights were off after all. The bed was neatly made and tightly tucked. It looked like it was made by a hotel maid. The closet had hardware hanging on it and keeping it open. She carefully tip toed to it and opened it a little. Not a lot was in there. Just some firearms uniforms in Shadow's size, and more hardware. Tails picked the coolest looking firearm and gave it an experimental lift. It was heavy. Maybe moving it wasn't a good idea. The rest of the weapons were lazily placed around it and some of the hardware on the ground glued it in place. Shadow could possibly be the attentive type and might know she touched it if she moved it now, so she elected to leave it alone.

She closed the closet as far as it would go, but it bounced back a little. She decided to move on to the bed, looking over and under it. There was a case beneath the bed but otherwise it was empty underneath. The bed itself was king sized. Didn't look like it was touched or laid on. Shadow knows how to make a bed. Wow. He was more opposite to Sonic than she realized. Sonic never had anything he'd call neat.

She moved on to a table and chair next to the only window in the room. The table was small and round. A lamp sat on top of it with a book, some reading glasses, and a picture frame. The picture had a plethora of images. There was one of him, Silver, and Blaze that stuck out. While they were smiling, Shadow just looked at the camera a bit brighter. There wasn't a smile, sure, but his eyes told the viewer he was happy.

Silver had always rubbed a soft spot in Shadow, it was no secret. But Blaze, Shadow respected. Even Rouge didn't get through to Shadow like she did, and they were close. Blaze just cracked a whip and he'd nod and jump through her hoop. They had an odd but platonic relationship. They just talked to each other like equals. Did favors for each other without questioning why and had this silent language only they could understand.

Tails laughed to herself. She remembered a time when everyone asked Blaze who would win in a fight. She paused for a long time. She looked absolutely lost in her head. Finally, she turned around and she had shouted to Shadow. "Shadow, who would win if we fought? You or me?" Shadow basically did the same thing she did. He was silent and lost himself in his thoughts. He even scratched his head, which was the most emotion he showed that day. Finally, he shook his head, shrugged, and continued on his own business. Blaze turned back and faced the eager crowed only to tell them, "That settles it, we have no idea."

While there was some insistence that they duke it out to find out, Blaze insisted Shadow didn't have the time. When Shadow was provoked, he insisted that as a princess she had a lot on her plate, and it would be rude to challenge her. Shadow never usually passed up such a challenge until then. Talks of making them duel had no merit. There was a wall against that conversation.

The image left of that was larger in scope but compacted to fit in the frame. It was the whole group at Sonic's birthday. Sonic and Tails were in the middle. And everyone was around them in some way. Then there was an image of Rouge, Omega, and Shadow. Rouge was the only one smiling, but the postures of all three alone made it clear they were happy with each other. There were a few more odd ball images. Shadow and Cream at the bottom left corner, Rouge and Knuckles smiling together for the first, and probably only, time. An image of Tails and Sonic with knuckles, and in the bottom right there was Shadow and Tails. Sonic surprised the two with a snapshot. Tails was working on the Tornado and Shadow had donated some schematics that would further advance the performance. He overlooked the integration while Tails worked. Of course, he still didn't smile, but he looked at the camera. It obviously meant something to him, he kept it after all. Was Shadow always so sentimental?

The next was a book. It wasn't the same one that Shadow was reading last night. This one was new. "A romance novel?" Tails scoffed, "I didn't know Shadow even read romance novels."

She turned her attention to the reading glasses and decided to put them on. "Eech, the magnification on these!" She looked down at the book. "His eyesight can't be that bad." Once she positioned the book at a specific distance, she realized what they were for. "Oh, okay… they're not prescription." She heard some key's ringing at the door. "Oh shoot!"

Tails quickly set the objects down where she found them then raced out of Shadow's room. Tails acted like she was fixing her bed when the door opened. Shadow closed the door behind him and placed a bag on the floor. "Tails I got some cloths. See if these fit you and I'll take you to the workshop."

"Awesome! Thanks, Shadow. You're a real friend," Tails complimented and picked the bag up then looked inside. "Ooh, these looks nice." She caught herself again. What am I saying! It's just cloths! Who cares if they're nice! Tails cleared her throat. "Thanks, Shadow. That's another one I owe you."

"Mm hmm," Shadow set his jacket on the bar counter then went into his bathroom. The faucet turned on and Shadow peaked out. "You can use my room to change if you need. Make it quick, Tails, Rouge will come by soon. And if you want to avoid her, you'd better hurry. She called ahead."

Tails went into Shadow's room and dug into the bag then set the articles down. "He must have gotten these at the GUN exchange. These are for mobians, but they all have GUN logos on them." There was a pair of jeans, some red and white gym shoes, a sports bra, a tank top and a jacket. A pretty nice jacket. "Heh, cool." The jacket was leather, fur-lined, and short. Why would Shadow buy something like this? Didn't matter now, she was totally wearing it.

Tails got changed and examined herself in a tall mirror, then smirked a little. "Huh, not bad…" Tails frowned. "And there I go again…" Tails rubbed her head and groaned. "I've gotta stop. Just because I look like a girl, doesn't mean I need to act like one." She was done, she needed to go now. Tails stepped out of Shadow's room and showed herself to him. "Okay so? How do I look?"

"Like a girl," Shadow replied.

"Thanks?" Tails sighed. "I have to ask. Why this jacket?"

It was Shadow's turn to sigh. "I tried buying a hoody, but a store clerk saw me with all the feminine clothes and thought I was buying for date. I tried to explain but she insisted I get the jacket and that it would go better with the rest of the clothes. And that it'd match my jacket. I was in no mood to argue and thought you didn't care what you wore, so long as it wasn't my PT uniform. So, I bought the jacket."

Tails chuckled sheepishly. "Well, I'm not fan of leather, but it does look nice. So long as I don't look like a rag, I guess I can go out like this. I mean, so long as I'm wearing nice clothes. No, just clothes in general. No, I…" Tails sighed. "Let's just leave."

Shadow tsked and agreed. "Yeah. We'll take my bike."

"Your bike?" Tails asked, "I didn't know you had a bike."

Shadow picked up his jacket and keys. "Only for recreational things. I'll never drive it on duty or during operations… I don't want to risk her."

"Her?" tails crossed her arms and bent at the waste, looking up at Shadow with a grin right before she left the room. "Sounds sentimental, Shadow."

Shadow looked away and scratched his head. "It's… a nice bike."

Tails hummed, tsked, then exited through the door, shadow behind her. The old woman from last night was just outside her room, picking up a newspaper. She looked up at Tails who looked back at her nervously and waved. "H-hey…" The neighbor only stared as Shadow locked his door.

"Let's go," Shadow bobbed his head. Tails went first down the stairs. Shadow gave a curt nod to the old lady. "Rosita." She nodded back.

Tails climbed down the stairs, case after case. And looked up at Shadow. "Why didn't we take the elevator?"

"Because I don't like elevators," He replied blankly.

Tails huffed and kept walking. "It'd be faster."

"I don't care." They made it to the second floor. Tails was about to climb another case down, but Shadow stopped her. "This door. Parking garage."

"Oh," Tails climbed back and followed Shadow through. Shadow got the bike read and Tails waited for him to set up.

While Tails stared out at the view, one that was similar albeit lower elevated than Shadow's room. She suddenly felt a hand touch her rear end. She straightened her back and froze then looked back to see Shadow. What was he doing? She hers something rip them Shadow brought to eye level the sizing sticker.

"Forget something?" He asked rhetorically.

"Oh," Tails' heart steadied, "Yeah, sorry."

"It happens to the best of them, Tails, don't apologize. Come on, let's go," He ordered.

"Right." Tails followed and got on behind Shadow then hugged him. He backed the bike up then accelerated to the lower levels of the parking garage to leave. Along the way, a hot pink sports car revved up to them and stopped. It revved twice sin stead of honked. Shadow stopped next to it. he must have known who it was. And seeing the driver, so did she.

"Well, hi stranger," Rouge smiled, "Are you trying to avoid me?"

"I'd drive passed you if I was trying to avoid you, Rouge. The room is locked, do you have your key?"

"Sure do, hun," Rouge smiled then tipped her sunglasses down to view Tails better. She tensed and nervously smiled. "Well, who's this? I thought that was tails for a second but…" She looked at the twin tails then squinted. "Wait… Shadow, is that Tails?" Rouge asked a little befuddled. It was obvious she was trying to figure out if Tails was crossdressing or if it was just another twin tailed orange fox. Come to think of it, which one was more likely? Both were outlandish.

"Rouge, this is Mila," Shadow introduced, "Mila, this is Rouge. My partner."

Tails froze in place nervously at first but eventually got her words back. "Uh…r-right! Hi Rouge, I'm Mila… mu-my brother mentioned you I think."

"Mila?" Rouge asked a smile growing. "Tails never mentioned he had such an adorable twin sister like you." Rouge smirked and leaned on her car door, removing her sunglasses, and then giving a wink. "And I thought the fox-boy was cute enough but my oh my was I wrong. This little fox might just have Cream beat. And your hanging out with such a bad boy like Shadow? The implications…"

"Rouge, not in front of the kid," Shadow sighed. "She's just lost. I found her in Doctor Pam's facility… she didn't look well."

Rouge dropped the teasing and put on a business face. "I see… how many others?"

Shadow shook his head. "Several. Some made it out, I think the recovery teams got them… But I owe Tails a few favors, taking care of her felt like I was turning one in."

Rouge smiled, a bit softer this time rather than mischievous, "You always were a big softy. Good work, Shadow. I'm going to hang around the room for a while. Probably catch my show. Take care of her, Shadow. And remember…" Rouge put her glasses on, "Wait for Tails' blessing, hmm?"

Tails laid her head on Shadow's back and tensed as eh turned her head. Rouge! Just leave! Please! Rouge took off.

Shadow sighed and dropped his head. "I apologize for that, Tails. I hoped we could avoid her."

"Thanks for not telling her, Shadow," Tails hugged."

Shadow looked back then straight forward and lifted his kickstand. "Mm hmm." He left the garage, and they were finally on their way to workshop.

Tails felt odd holding Shadow like this. Especially after Rouge's teasing. for some reason, it excited her. Like she wanted it to have a chance. She didn't, returning to normal was her priority, but… in the back of her mind, where the gremlins whispered… she had a small bit of hope that it could happen. But looking back up at Shadow, even if it was just the back of his head, she could tell that the chances were dismal.

X

The bike ride took about an hour and a half. Tails hopped off and immediately felt a cramp in her crotch. "Ow… how do you get used to that?"

Shadow eyed Tails, "What's wrong?"

Tails rubbed her bottom and around her crotch where the pressure of the seat pressed most. "My legs are sore." She walked up to her workshop and stretched out her legs. Putting in the passcode, and all other security features, Tails made her way into her workshop and took a deep breath in, held it, and let it out. "Ah… home… I've missed this place so much. And it's only been like… a day. Feels like forever though."

Shadow crossed his arms while Tails turned on the lights. "So, what do you need to get started?"

Tails hummed. "Well, I've got tons of metal. My main concern right now is understanding molecules. Who did you say it was? Doctor Pam?"

"That's right," Shadow nodded.

"Well, she took years to perfect her laser. And it still wasn't perfect. I have a feeling it's going to take me just as long… if not longer. But I have to try." Tails went to the wheeled chalkboard then started drawing. "Here's what I remember about the ray. It was structured like this… I want to visualize it so I can determine what parts might have done what. From there, I need to reinvent a molecular manipulator and then hope it matches up in some way."

"It wouldn't hurt to get some source material about molecular science. If it helps, I can go to GUN HQ and pick up what studies we have. Maybe we saved some of Pam's data."

"That would be great!" Tails exclaimed, "Thank you so much, Shadow. That's a big help."

"I'll get on it. Stay here."

"Where else would I go?" Tails smiled taking off her jacket and donning a toolbelt. "Don't make me wait too long." Shadow turned and arched a brow. Tails realized how that sounded. "Uh… I mean, take your time. Get as much as you can. But getting it as soon as possible would be great." Shadow nodded in agreement, slowly and stoically, then turned and left. He closed the door behind him then Tails started banging her head against an engine she'd been working on. "You stupid, stupid, moronic, asinine, dumb, loud-mouthed, no good, trouble making idiot! You have to focus! You have to!" Tails took a deep breath in and brought her hands to her mouth in a meditative way then let it out. "Okay, I can do this."

For some time, Tails had been scribbling her chalkboards. One of them had the machine design while the one Tails worked on had her own plans. There just wasn't enough information to borrow the previous model. She'd have to start from scratch or maybe find the original blueprints. Tails sighed and sat down in a chair. From what she understood about molecular science, the machine-made sense, but it only worked in theory. Most failures Tails had ended up with some explosive results. She had to make sure power was correctly distributed or this machine would have the same fate. Nothing could have more than it could handle.

Tails gave an exasperated sigh and leaned back in her chair. There was so much to think about, not enough data to work with. "Shadow, where are you?" She needed that data now! Her door rang. "Finally! About time." Tails looked at the screen by the door so she could see who was there. But once she did she froze in place. "Oh no…"

Amy and Cream were there. They had no idea she was missing before. Nobody probably did. Doctor Pam had just plucked her off the street. She had to do something. Hide? Run? Get out the back door? Wait, did Amy or Cream know how to get in? Usually, Tails propped the door open when she was working before the change. That way anyone could get in and visit. The door rang again.

Maybe if I just pretend I'm not here, they will go away, Tails reasoned to herself. Tails flew up and back to her chalk boards to avoid making any footsteps. She returned to work, ignoring the last two doorbells as well. Wow, are they ever going to leave? I know Amy is persistent but by now but seriously. Take a hint and leave! I'm not here! Tails tried to focus on her work when the bell started going off in a spam. She growled and slammed her chalk down. She waited, hoping that was the last of the doorbells and both of the girls left. But alas with a jump, Tails would cover her chest and begin labored breaths as she was started by loud and vicious banging at the door. "What the heck, Amy!" She growled. Tails gave in, she had to do something about her uninvited guests. The banging continued. Tails glared at the monitor. Cream and Cheese watched nervously as Amy was losing her patience at on the door. "Just… leave…!" Tails growled to herself as she watched. This was a battle of attrition. She just had to wait a little longer… just a little longer!

Five minutes. Why? Why would Amy be so obsessed with trying to track her down? The girl was calling, knocking, ringing the bell and Tails didn't answer. That's long enough to tell you someone isn't present. Admittedly, Tails was never anywhere else accept her workshop at this time. But still! Maybe today was an exception.

"Amy… what am I going to do with you?" Tails rubbed her head tiredly.

The girls started talking. Amy must have been giving up. Tails turned the audio on to listen.

"Amy, I don't think Tails is here. He's probably flying the Tornado."

"He has to be. He wasn't home, Sonic hasn't seen him, and I haven't seen the tornado anywhere! Maybe he's listening to his music too loud."

"But Amy, you've been pounding on the door for five minutes. Tails would have noticed by now if he was here."

Amy sighed and dropped her hammer. "Your probably right. Where is he though. I need him for something important."

Tails ears perked. She liked doing special projects for her friends, but she needed to devote all her energy to turning herself back. She couldn't waste time doing personal favors.

"It can wait for tomorrow, can't it, Amy?" Cream asked.

Amy moaned. "I already tried. And the day before that. And the day before that! And the day before that. And the day before that! He's just not here!"

Tails ears perked. "What?"

"It sounds like he's been gone a long time," Cream's light voice stated. She and cheese both seemed very concerned.

"I know. Sonic hasn't seen him; knuckles hasn't seen him. Blaze and Silver haven't seen him either. He just disappeared!"

Tails ran both her hands through her fur on her head. How long was she gone? It didn't feel that long. There was no way! She could have been gone for months. Maybe weeks, but her friend were well aware of her absence.

"Let's go home, Amy. We can ask mister Sonic for help and look for Tails. Hurting his workshop door won't change anything."

Amy agreed. She had finally given up. "Yeah… okay…"

Tails felt bad for leaving them in the dark like this, but she didn't have a choice. She couldn't let them see her like this. But the time of this project was disheartening. What would she do once things were normal? How would she explain? Would she be able to keep this front up long enough? Tails was becoming anxious. Even as the girls left the front door, Tails began to pace in front of it and think. "What am I going to do? This could take years! Rouge already thinks I'm my own sister! I don't even have a sister! Especially a twin sister! Oh, Shadow… Please hurry!"

As the anxiety began to build, the second became minutes to Tails. And the minutes were hours as Shadow was still not present. He had been gone for six whole hours. Tails was starting to get hungry. And there was barely any work done. Just drawing that may not do anything.

At last, the doorbell rang again. Tails heart jumped with hope. Please be Shadow; please be Shadow! Tails checked the monitor. Surely enough, it was him. He had several stacks of paper and a paper bag from a fast-food joint. Tails quickly opened the door. "What took you so long? I almost got caught! Six hours Shadow! What happened?!"

Shadow was unphased by her shouting. He closed the door behind him and raise the bag. Tails could smell the warm food inside and hostilely snatched the bag form his hand. "It takes roughly two hours to reach Westopolis from here, two more hours for the paperwork to clear me for info requests, and… I thought you'd be hungry by the time I got back."

Tails dug into the bag and unwrapped a burger then bit into it. Her mood changed almost instantly. "Well… thanks. Did you get it?"

Shadow placed the paperwork on one of the plastic tables Tails was working near. "I grabbed as much as I could without creating suspicion. I primarily gathered subject matter from the ARK projects. They would be no strangers to molecular science. Other data you may have interest in pertains to Doctor Pam's interrogations before her escape."

"Escape?" repeated Tails, "You've had her in custody before?"

Shadow nodded. "Her ramblings were hard to keep up with. But from what chroniclers could gather from recordings it's all here."

"I guess I can forgive you being gone for six hours for that," said Tails, still rather moody, but perfectly happy with Shadow's help. "…Thanks, Shadow." Shadow stood quietly but eventually gave an affirmative nod. Tails looked at the large pile of paperwork and sighed. "Where do I even begin? I'm so stressed out right now, I can't bring myself to start. I understand Chaos energy, Shadow. I've devoted my life to understanding it. But… this? This could take as much time as I've devoted to chaos. What am I going to do?" Shadow breathed in. "Without telling them!" Shadow's mouth closed and he bobbed his head in a lazy shrug. He had no other suggestions. Tails buried her head in her arms. "Amy already thinks I'm missing. I've probably been gone for a week. They'll be looking."

Shadow sat across from tails and picked up a few of the paperclip stacked pages. The pile was divided. He pushed one half and then set the other in front of him. "The best thing you can do is divide the work then. Take that half. I'll go through this one. We'll compare notes later."

Tails was surprised by the new plan. Sure, her stack seemed more manageable but there was still a lot to go through. Shadow was already busy reading. His attention was undivided. But Tails couldn't help but stare at him. His eyes kept darting back and forth across the paper in front of him. But Tails stared on.

Why was he so willing to help her? Why did he care? What was he gaining from all this? It just didn't make sense to Tails. But he was here, next to her. Working hard to give her her life back. Tails wanted to ask him everything. Just simply why at least. But now didn't feel like the time. For now, she was just glad he was here.