This is another pretty calm chapter.

Hope ya'll enjoy!

|chapter five: the line of logical vs. illogical|

Amy was surprisingly in a good mood as she waited for Sonic to come home. She sat on the couch, crocheting, of all things. She was never going to let many people know that she enjoyed "old people" hobbies. But she didn't care if Sonic wanted to make fun of her for it - she knew he appreciated the socks she made for him each year.

Still, he expected to walk back into the house with a seething Amy. He had gotten her text, and decided not to respond back. It was completely out of character for him.

"I thought you might've died."

Sonic jumped a little as he hung up his coat. She sat in the living room of the open floor plan, a few feet away and only lit by one floor lamp behind her. Its yellow light was tricking him into thinking she was happy. Or maybe she was? He couldn't tell.

"H-Heya, Ames."

She squinted for a second. "Are you drunk?"

"...No?"

"Okay. So, where were you really?"

Sonic took off his shoes and meandered to the couch, sitting to her right as she claimed the only armchair as usual. "Why aren't you in the guest house?"

"Answer my question first." Amy met his gaze. "I didn't tell Manic you ruined his car."

"I didn't ruin his car," Sonic rolled his eyes as he unbuttoned his shirt. Thankfully, he was wearing a white tank top below it. "It'll be fine tomorrow. Although you're gonna have to leave early with me tomorrow."

She glared ever so slightly, to which he responded with a shit-eating grin.

"Oopsy?" He gave a nonchalant shrug. "So, did Shadow take you home?"

"How is it that you're always five steps ahead of me?" Amy raised an eyebrow. "And you didn't answer my question to begin with. I know you were lying about visiting your mom. I texted her what she was up to just for fun and she's out with your father on a yacht. In the ocean."

"Yeah," Sonic wiped under his nose as he looked away. "I was, uh, out with Sarah."

"Really?" Amy perked up, interested. "What'd you two do?"

"It was sort of an accident. I didn't plan on anything, I swear. I figured you and Shadow needed some excuse to talk to one another, and Blaze said she had to leave to grab her things, so I thought it was a perfect opportunity to help my friend, Amy, out."

"And help out you did. I got a date."

"Really?" he grinned back at her. No wonder she was in a good mood. "Good for you, Ames. I'm proud of ya."

"Granted, he was a little awkward at first, but that's to be expected," Amy responded. "So, you didn't plan to go out with Sarah? She seemed in a rush to leave."

"She was frustrated with Shadow," Sonic waved her off as he looked at the TV's black screen. He saw his own reflection and Amy's. He figured Manic was asleep, thankfully. Tikal knows where his sister was - whether it be in the house or with her new boy toy. "I stopped to get gas at the gas station, and she pulled up next to me and asked me out. Then she got back in her car and was about to leave - pretty clear she was upset about something but whatever it was had given her some extra umph of courage, I guess," Sonic shrugged. He wasn't entirely sure, and Sarah couldn't explain it during dinner. "So, I stopped her before she left, and we went to Westwood together."

"Where'd you go?"

"Carnagahn's."

"Typical," she snorted and rolled her eyes. "You jocks."

"What? It's a fun bar and restaurant. We played pool, drank some beer. Honestly, it was more fun than I expected. I didn't think she got out much. Did you know she's in a bowling league?"

"Bowling?"

"Yeah."

"Wow. You went from cheerleaders to dancers to soccer players to bowlers."

"Hey, don't hate on her. I decided to put her skills to the test," Sonic twisted around with his arm up on the couch. He wasn't entirely settled into the position because he planned on going to bed shortly, but he guessed that Amy would want to talk more anyway. She had stopped crocheting to talk, and if that wasn't an indicator to him that she was ready to chat for a while, then he didn't know what was.

"Oh? And? Did she kick your ass?" Amy grinned, and it only got bigger with the following silence from the blue blur. "She totally kicked your ass!"

"She did. She did - I don't know what I was expecting. I guess I've never seen an actual bowler before that bowled for the sport and not for the social fun of it, but I was thoroughly impressed." Sonic gave in quickly. "No, we had fun, Ames. She suggested a double date with you and Shadow, sometime," he gave her a sly wink. "Guess we can now that you actually have a date with the poor bastard finally."

"Hey! I'm a catch!"

"Catch and release, sure."

A pillow hit him and he wasn't surprised. He didn't even try to stop it, even though he could have. Sonic could only laugh along with the pink hedgehog. "No, seriously. I'm glad."

"We should totally do a double date. That way if things go south for the both of us, we can shit on them later in the future together and understand each other completely -"

Sonic was already halfway up the stairs to his room. "Night, Ames!"

"-Oh, c'mon! Didn't you just love that one chick - what was her name, Lily?! And that guy I went out with, Jack?!"

"GOODNIGHT, AMY!"

"They were the worst double date ever!" Amy laughed mostly to herself as she heard his door shut. She put her yarn down as she cuddled into the armchair more. She would have to walk to the guest house in the complete dark soon to go to bed - where Sonia would be waiting. Amy liked to share the guest house with her so she wasn't completely alone. Sonia didn't mind sharing the bed, and she didn't want Amy to get scared being by herself.

She slumped into the chair a little. "Of course they started making out with each other halfway through the date, but honestly I don't blame them."

A part of her sincerely didn't see the same unfortunate date happening twice, especially with Shadow and Sarah. If anything, she was even more excited than before.

She was practically skipping and hopping all the way to the guest house.

~.~

The next day was uneventful compared to the night before - at least to Amy. For everyone else, even the night had been quiet.

Amy tried to get more details on Sonic and Sarah's last minute date from the sage hedgehog herself, but Sarah wasn't going to kiss and tell. If anything, Sarah put Amy to work more than Blaze did. The pink hedgehog didn't understand why she was confined to the office for the day.

"Is Blaze okay?"

"She's fine. She's out at Copperhead and Birch Pass today working on something," Sarah worked as she spoke, not really paying attention to Amy so long as the intern kept busy. "Since the places she wanted to hit up are so far apart from one another, she didn't want you to slow her down - no offense. She also wasn't sure if she'd be back by five-thirty anyway, so she thought it best if you stay here. Granted, you could join Shadow and Sonic up at the tower if you want. You showed up with Sonic early enough anyway."

"Yeah…" Amy was regretting not going. The office was boring - she was seeing why Sonic hated desk jobs so much. "I don't think I can find my way by myself."

"Probably a good call." She knew that if Amy really had wanted to go, Sarah probably wouldn't have let her anyway - the thought crossed her mind shortly and she figured the rose hedgehog would be the one most likely to get lost between the two interns.

"Did anything else come in last night on the cameras?"

It was only ten in the morning. Sarah couldn't wait for lunch - where she was already planning on locking herself in the break room or her car. Not that she didn't like Amy - but by Tikal, she was tired from last night. She didn't drink usually, and beer only made her exhausted. She had gotten home fine, but she was a light sleeper enough that she still woke up about every hour. And with her heart racing after her and Sonic's date, she found herself too excited to really fall asleep to begin with. In short, she was tired and not in the mood to talk. Plus, it was still morning to her.

She wasn't available to openly talk to until one in the afternoon - that was her unspoken rule that no one followed. Sarah couldn't blame them though. The world didn't work like that.

"No. Blaze said all was quiet."

"Shadow?"

"He slept like a rock apparently. Blaze had knocked over the fan he used to sleep to, and he never flinched. Thought the guy had insomnia," Sarah snorted to herself. "Insomnia my ass," she muttered in the last part. Granted, Shadow worked himself physically way more than Sarah did. It was natural for Shadow to be exhausted easier to the point where he slept like a baby. "So, he never heard a thing."

They had filled Sarah in on the fact that she clearly didn't even read the report the campers wrote down. The female didn't know how to respond to them when they had cornered her at five in the morning about the report. She hadn't thought much about it. The campers that walked into the station seemed to be calm and totally apologetic. She filled out her part of the report and they filled out theirs. Of course, when she explained that to Shadow, she got an earful.

Once she read the report for herself, she figured out why pretty quickly.

Whatever it was sounds fucking creepy. The thing looks insane. Wolf or not - I don't wanna see it or be anywhere near it.

Some better instinct in her told her to never go outside in the woods at night. She wasn't particularly spiritual, but she figured she was more so than the other rangers. Well, maybe Silver was more religious than her, but she didn't know. She'd peg him as the religious type. But her mother was a firm believer in Tikal and all that Chaos stuff - and she drilled it into Sarah's skull at a young age that there are sometimes things out there in the world that can't be explained because they didn't fit into their daily "normal." Sarah didn't understand what her mother had meant - she'd been like five. But she figured out quickly that sometimes, the things that go bump in the night existed.

She wasn't spiritual, but she also wasn't going to fuck with a ouija board. She certainly wasn't to going to fuck with whatever the creature in the photo was, either. It looked too creepy - too human-like. It was aware of the camera. And even no matter how much Shadow wanted to claim the camera's perspective might've skewed its actual height, Sarah was convinced that it was abnormally tall. Blaze and Shadow had also talked about it in the morning as if it were standing on all fours in the picture, but Sarah was almost 100% convinced that it was hunched over. All of its awkward weight looked to be balancing on its hind legs. Of course, she couldn't get any words or thoughts out before Shadow hushed her on the situation and gave her a short synopsis that whatever this thing was had Blaze bugged out. Guess she couldn't explain her semi-spiritual explanation.

Or maybe it's my overactive imagination. I mean, I love supernatural stories. All that paranormal shit. This thing looks creepy as hell and could totally fit into a thread online about cryptids, I bet. Sarah pondered the thought about potentially uploading it online just for fun, but decided against it.

Whatever they discussed about last night, going over the report and whatnot, apparently had Blaze on edge so much that it's concerned Shadow. He didn't even want her to go alone today, but she didn't want to worry Amy. Maybe they saw something yesterday on their hike?

Sarah turned to the rose hedgehog. "How was your hike yesterday with Blaze? Anything cool or unusual?" she tried to be nonchalant about it.

"It was fine. Ridge Trail was pretty muddy - glad you called when you did. I don't think I would have survived all the way to Black River Flats. Then Blaze took me up to the tower using an old trail that apparently connected Ridge Trail to the tower at some point. It took forever, but we eventually got there. The tower is way bigger than I thought it was going to be!"

Sarah's eyes drooped as she began to realize that Amy probably wasn't completely aware of her surroundings like Blaze was when they hiked. Blaze would've been the one to see something way before Amy.

"And then Shadow of course put us to work - although Blaze walked around the area to see if she could find anything near the tower that might link to the visiting animal you guys all saw on the cameras. But she didn't find anything - so she helped us with some of the work until it was time to go. And then we walked back to the station - "

"I didn't mean like a play-by-play."

"Well," Amy stopped short and glanced back at her. "You asked."

"Sorry. I meant more along the lines of the animal. Tracks or smells?"

"Nothing." Amy shook her head. "You could've led with that."

"Sorry," Sarah apologized again. "It just seemed like Shadow wanted to keep things quiet for now. I wasn't sure if y'all found something. Blaze is…kind of on edge. She knows more about this stuff than we would, but she's not super experienced in big game. We just don't have them around here," she tried to explain herself to ease any tension. She knew her bluntness could deter many. Amy seemed like the usual person that would be put off by it. And Sarah did not need Amy to hate her when she was best friends with Sonic. "So…I wondered. Sorry."

"Oh, I get it," Amy sat down beside her. "Blaze is worried? You think she's out there trying to track it then?"

"That's what I assume," Sarah said. "Trust me - I know about as much as you. Blaze and Shadow sort of handle this with Silver. No doubt when he gets back, the three will go full force into figuring out if it's something we should be concerned about. Shadow has his hands busy with the tower, and Blaze might feel overwhelmed with the campers as is already, much less a potential danger to the park. Silver's a good balance to the team."

"You think it's something dangerous?"

She didn't want to alarm Amy, but she also didn't see any point in keeping the intern in the dark about the situation. "I genuinely don't know. But we think it's just a wolf? Like a lone wolf? Shadow has a guess that it's from the north park and traveled down south into our park - and it's getting too curious with campers. The missing campers that you and Blaze were looking for yesterday filled out a report that mentioned it."

"Oh, so if it gets too curious, we'll have to call in specialists to deal with the situation? Maybe relocate the wolf?" Amy sounded more excited than scared, but Sarah had to remind herself that Amy hadn't seen the photo, and she certainly wasn't going to show the volunteer that. Sarah had her own fears about the damn thing - and she knew the last thing Shadow needed was her illogical beliefs to drive Blaze insane. She certainly didn't need to fill Amy's head with anything other than what Shadow believed. He was their supervisor for a reason, and Sarah would just have to take his judgment on this one as gospel, even if there was something in the back of her head telling her 'what if.'

"Yeah. Something like that. I've never seen a relocation like that in person, but it'd probably be cool to witness," Sarah decided to just be friendly and wipe the image of the grinning wolf from her memory. "I've seen videos of wildlife management relocating bears - there was that famous sow from the park northwest of here with three cubs. You remember hearing about that one?" she tried to derail the conversation away from the wolf.

"Yeah! We heard about that," Amy nodded. "She got relocated with her cubs after not leaving a town for almost a whole week. There was a big riot and everything to save her and the cubs."

Thankfully, a pair of hikers walked in with giant backpacks. Sarah could only guess campers checking in for a parking lot pass. She wouldn't have to keep up the charade with Amy. With a breath of relief, Sarah stood and greeted the hikers. Amy automatically made herself busy.

The image of the wolf was becoming a distant memory now to Sarah. She could only hope it stayed that way. She didn't need any 'what-ifs' in her imagination to convince her of the opposite of everything Shadow was saying. She wouldn't.

It was illogical. It wasn't real.

~.~

The rest of the day was uneventful for everyone, and maybe that was a good thing. Sonic focused on his work with occasional thoughts of Sarah. He didn't pester Shadow about knowing anything about Amy and Shadow's date. He didn't even think about the visiting wolf, despite the fact that his mentor was on high alert at the tower.

Shadow had greeted Amy that morning - glad to see her so cheery. He knew she was obviously a cheerful, bubbly person in general, but he liked to think that her morning smile was because of him. He was a little disappointed when she didn't come with Sonic and him to the tower - although he figured later that he could've just asked her, but he thought maybe Sarah needed help with the campers.

Blaze had been silent on the radio.

She didn't want to disturb the boys at the tower, and she didn't want to cause concern at the station. Overall, she scouted the perimeter of Copperhead campgrounds thoroughly. No reports from campers of any nearby wolf, odd smells, or coyote screams. She asked just about anyone she saw on her way to Birch Pass, and it was the same story. She was empty-handed by the time she scouted that area, too. No tracks, no smells, no witnesses that saw anything - it was almost as if the wolf never existed, and Timothy and Martha had made up their encounter. But Blaze knew better. She came back later that day to the station to see everyone had left except Shadow - as expected. She even saw the car Amy drove was gone.

I guess she got it fixed. Sonic said it was 'tricky' but Shadow suggested early this morning that Sonic probably did something to it on purpose so Shadow would have to take Amy home. He had thought Sonic had nowhere of importance to be. Of course, I can't blame Shadow for missing Sarah's obvious stammering - he is a man, after all.

She rolled her eyes, guessing the blue hedgehog and receptionist had at least run into each other the night before. Once she walked into the station, she was pleased to see a to-go box from Jericho's, the diner, again. Shadow was already seated at Sarah's desk, eating.

"Anything happen today?" Blaze walked gracefully yet tiredly up to the desk, grabbing her to-go box of food from the higher counter. It was still warm. He must've just gotten back.

He ate hungrily, pausing only momentarily to respond, "Not of the strange sort. We've completely cleared out about a twenty-foot radius around the tower. I need to clear up some of the debris below it, and then I can talk to my contact about a schedule for the summer."

She wanted to frown as she sat down beside him in her chair, rolling closer as they ate. Blaze almost hoped that Shadow had seen something or heard something. Just anything to help pinpoint her in a direction, but there were no tracks to even know where to start except that lone wolf print that was probably gone by now on Ridge Trail. "I'm almost disappointed."

"I thought you didn't want to track it?" Shadow was relieved to see she had calmed down - it appeared that being out in the field all day had brought Blaze some sort of level headedness that he needed back on his crew.

"I-" She stopped short, staring at her food. She was starving, but it was unwelcoming all the same. "I don't know. Something about the…wolf, just doesn't seem right." She didn't even want to call it a wolf, truly. "I want to track it, like I want to monitor any big game that walks into our park. It's exciting and can be educational to the guests. But, there's something that's telling me it's different this time."

Shadow glanced at her curiously. "Like what?"

Amber eyes met red. "Instinct."

~.~

If Blaze hadn't felt disappointed before, she certainly did the next day.

"Nothing," Sarah murmured as she scoured over the camera footage. "Not even Henry or Matilda."

The cat leaned over Sarah, standing behind her. It was, again, five-thirty in the morning. Shadow was sipping on his coffee in the chair beside Sarah to her left, half awake. Blaze was completely alert, staring at the screen for any movement, but she knew the answer already. She had watched the cameras two nights in a row like a hawk, and had produced nothing to help explain the wolf's appearance.

"I don't get it," Blaze gritted her teeth. She was confused at the start of things, then scared, then absolutely terrified, then determined while out on the trails, and now she was absolutely livid. How could something like this thing just disappear? It had a distinct smell that no hiker or camper had reported, and that smell was beginning to be her only clue of where to possibly find the wolf. If it didn't leave obvious prints, then she'd have to rely on the smell of it.

Or maybe the smell is from a carcass it had, like Shadow suggested, from up north. And now its smell was gone in the wind. The purple cat didn't want to admit defeat so easily.

"How can it just disappear?"

"Because it's no longer in the park," Shadow droned. His body language told the girls that he was exhausted, but both knew that Shadow would never admit that. If his body needed rest from all the heavy-lifting and back-breaking work it was enduring, then it would just have to wait until Christmas. "I told you, Blaze, it's probably moved on to try and find other wolves. But I did get one of Richwells' contacts from the park up north, and they contacted a warden to come down and check it out."

"And?"

"And they won't have someone available until two weeks from now."

Blaze's tail twitched angrily. "It'll be long gone by then," she figured.

"If it's not already long gone by now."

Sarah had remained quiet as the two spoke. She was somewhat relieved to see that nothing had happened two nights in a row. It was just two days and the wolf was gone - maybe Shadow was right. Maybe it was just a starving, traveling lone wolf. It wasn't something else. She wasn't even going to entertain the thought out loud - she knew what the other two would do and say. They'd laugh her off or give her weird looks. And if it turned out to be just a regular wolf, they'd surely make fun of her for the rest of their lives.

You're insane, Sarah. She decided to say it for them, but just to herself.

"Ok." Blaze put her hands on her hips and closed her eyes in thought. "Silver called last night - he's coming back tomorrow morning - "

"Early?" Shadow raised an eyebrow, slightly opening one eye to look at her as he leaned back in the chair. How the coffee wasn't slipping out of his hands, they didn't know.

"Yes. His family matters have been resolved for now," Blaze didn't want to go into detail. "So, he'll be back tomorrow morning. I'll remain one more night, just in case. Amy and I can go up around to Half Point and back down, check out some other campsites that I didn't hit yesterday, and we'll see if we find anything. If nothing, maybe we call off the warden's visit."

"He's visiting whether we like it or not," Shadow shrugged and paused before speaking, as if what he was about to say next was something he wasn't sure if he should share, "I told Richwells last night at Jericho's on the phone about the situation."

"You what?"

"You were panicked, Blaze. I was worried. Although I'm glad to see you're better now, I also made a judgment call. I needed advice, and he had a contact for the park up north - which had the warden's contact."

"And he's making sure we have the warden visit now, wolf or no wolf," Blaze muttered as she crossed her arms, looking out the window into the dark morning - wondering if something was looking back.

"Yes. So, Sarah?"

"Tidy up the place - got it."

"Yeah." Shadow stood suddenly. The three watched as Sonic pulled into the parking lot alone.

"He's early," Blaze looked at the clock. She met Shadow's gaze. "You two trying to hurry up for the schedule? Have you given it to your contact yet?" Despite the fact that she knew the contact was Knuckles, Shadow still just called the echidna a 'contact' when it came to the fire watch tower business.

"No. I said last night I had to clear some final debris. Sonic wanted to clear out some more to the back of the tower, but now we're dealing with all of the roots up in the ground. There's also a thorn bush causing some trouble," Shadow hummed. "I figure I'll be fighting that for most of the day today. I'll get a schedule soon for my contact, but it looks like I might need to ask a favor of you, Blaze."

"Anything."

"If you're going up to Half Point today, can you see if anyone's camping there? Normally the snow is gone by now at that point, but I want to make sure. I figured Sonic and I would camp up there."

"Camp?" Sonic's voice cut through into the conversation, and it was clearly excited about the thought of camping overnight, even if it was just for work. His ears perked up.

"Morning," Sarah softly said, a gentle look in her eyes.

Blaze and Shadow paused merely for that moment - surprised to see the sage hedgehog so welcoming to someone this early in the morning. They looked at Sonic, somewhat impressed. The cadet grinned back at her as he leaned over the counter, "Good morning," his voice went from excited to low yet alluring.

Shadow gave Blaze a side look who returned it with a smirk. Sonic cleared his throat as he glanced up at the two rangers. "Overnight? Camping?" he repeated.

"Yes. We don't have all the time I thought we would for preparing the tower," Shadow put his hands on his hip, minding his belt he'd put on in advance. The radio and gun were always the first thing to jump out at anyone. "Half Point is where we'll be staying, if we do."

"I'm ready!" Sonic put a thumbs up.

"Hmmm, yes. We'll see," Shadow murmured as he left to put his empty cup away. He gave the slightest of motions for Blaze to follow - he was sure Sonic hadn't caught on. The feline gingerly grabbed her own cup of coffee, thankfully nearly empty, and wandered to the break room with Shadow. She casually shut the door behind her, giving Shadow a curious look.

"I don't know if I want Sonic going."

"I thought you just said - "

"I know. You're checking around the area to make sure there's no tracks and no smell - nothing to indicate the wolf is still in the area. The warden will visit in two weeks. I'm running behind on the tower at this rate - the area around it is fine. If you say Silver is coming back tomorrow, I might just ask him to come instead. It'll be Saturday, anyway. We can stay up Sunday night - give Sonic and Amy a half day on Saturday and let them enjoy the weekend."

"Are you sure?" Blaze wasn't sure if Silver would enjoy the news of the possible wolf and the sudden search for it. She was sure he'd be concerned and thrown into ranger mode where he'd want to close the park entirely. "Sonic seems like he'd like to go."

"He's been working hard," Shadow whispered, despite the closed door. Blaze refilled her coffee cup as Shadow had set his cup down in the empty sink. "He's smart and prepared, but I still don't know if I want him out there with me if there's a wolf out there too."

"You know what I think?" Blaze teased suddenly, catching him off guard. His face flattened. "I think you're trying to get out of having a cadet with you. You don't like newbies overnighting with you - you barely and only handle Silver."

"Yeah. Which is reasonable, should something happen," Shadow didn't want her to see through him or call his bluff, but she was doing a damn good job at it.

"Okay, Shadow." She patted at his flannel shirt near his shoulder. "Keep telling yourself that."

With a humorous purr, she left the room, leaving the door open. Sonic's loud laugh ripped through the quiet as he and Sarah spoke about something. Shadow sighed in defeat.

Maybe bringing him won't be so bad - still, I don't have the best of luck with bringing newbies onto overnighters. He knew he shouldn't have ever gotten Sonic's hopes up to begin with, but he didn't know that Silver would be coming back early until ten minutes ago. And he'd choose Silver any day.

Besides, if he did decide to take Silver instead, what cadet was going to say no to a weekend off?

~.~

"Well, I'm pleased to admit that Sonic is the most competent cadet I've ever had," Shadow said as he flipped through one of Blaze's boring magazines.

It was only boring to him. To her, it was fascinating educational advances in botany. Shadow maybe knew what a few of the plants listed in some stories were. Overall, he thumbed through it mindlessly.

"I could say the same about Amy," Blaze sounded more pleased than Shadow seemed. She was busy looking through her own magazine after having read the one Shadow was on. She thought ahead and brought stuff to do during their night watch. Shadow seemed to have nothing to do in his spare time, and it made Blaze wonder if he had any hobbies.

"How was Half Point?" Shadow stared at a picture of a fig, trying to place it but still make conversation. It was only eleven-thirty at night after all. Blaze had stayed up until about one or one-thirty the first night, and then nearly three the night before. How did he know? Because he refused to go to bed until the cat did or else he knew she would never go to bed.

"Empty, surprisingly. No snow," Blaze mentioned. "Seems good for camping right now if it's just for one night. I'm sure Sonic will enjoy it…"

"Right." Shadow's ears flipped back as he put the magazine down. "If I could complain about one thing it would be how excited he spoke about it today. He wouldn't let up once he heard about it - and I hate to disappoint him."

"Do you, though?" Blaze glimpsed over at him.

"No, not really." He opened the magazine back up at the picture of the fig. "I'd really prefer Silver. I wish I hadn't said anything to Sonic about it when he started. I thought Silver would still be out until Monday."

"Yeah, I thought Sunday, but Silver said when he left that he wasn't sure," Blaze responded. She was curled up in the chair, no foot touching the ground, as her tail wrapped around her legs. It was her typical way to sit in the chair, despite looking weird and uncomfortable as usual to Shadow. "You didn't crush Sonic's hopes and dreams today?"

"No…" The ebony hedgehog decided he didn't want to know what the damn plant in the magazine was, so he tossed it to the counter near Blaze's pile. He leaned back in his chair, testing its breaking point every day. "What if Silver doesn't come back tomorrow morning? Then I'd have to tell Sonic yes after telling him no."

"You could've just told him that it wasn't a definite decision if he'd go - that it would depend on whether or not Silver comes back tomorrow," Blaze glanced at the clock.

A few more hours and she'd get to see Silver. She would've never admitted it nearly three years ago - when having a romantic relationship was the last thing on her mind. But now, she knew what it meant to have Silver by her side as an equal, as a friend, and as a romantic partner. The feline Mobian missed him anytime he was away, which wasn't often as the two had become inseparable - outside of work that is.

And the gym.

Silver could go to the gym by himself and Blaze would only ever wish him luck from the warmth of their bed at home, she decided.

Shadow sighed, bringing her back to reality. "I guess that probably would have been the better way to go about it. I guess now it won't matter to tell him to hold on - we'll know by morning if he's going or not." He hoped that Silver would come back tomorrow morning, and he wasn't afraid to think so selfishly.

"You know, surprisingly, he's been quiet. For the past two days, actually. No teasing about Amy, no questions about Sarah or the possible wolf roaming around."

At the mention of it, Blaze automatically looked at the cameras. The world was quiet outside of the station. No raccoons. No visiting wolf. Not even a puff of wind as the small flag outside near the front of the door, barely in camera view at the front, wasn't moving.

If she had been outside, she probably would have noticed immediately how nothing was stirring - not even crickets chirping or frogs ribbiting as usual. She certainly would have noticed a slight movement to the left side of the building - caught in the tail corner of the camera as soon as she looked back at Shadow.

"So, if Silver comes back tomorrow, and you two go out on an overnighter, are you coming back Sunday for your date with Amy? Or Monday?"

Shadow deflated a little in the chair as he remembered that Blaze knew. He had, after all, told her everything that had happened during their first night watch. She nearly gave him advice, but the cat liked to watch Shadow sweat over the little things. "I…Don't know? Whenever she's free, I suppose."

"What are you two going to do?"

He hadn't thought that far ahead either. He had sort of placed it all in the back of his mind these past two days, except any time Amy greeted him. Now, he was left to think.

What was there to do? They couldn't go hiking - they did that for their job. She probably didn't want to go camping in the park either, they barely knew each other. Shadow thought for a moment before it hit him, "Oh. She said she'd show me Westwood."

"You've never been?" Blaze was more surprised at that fact rather than the fact that Shadow had clearly forgotten that Amy had plans for their date to begin with, just not a specific time or day. "It's the nearest big town, though. Where do you get groceries?"

"The…local market?" Shadow tilted his head a little, suddenly feeling like he was entering a lion's den.

"Shadow," Blaze reprimanded him like his mother would. "You're paying twice as much for the same eggs? Just go into Westwood."

"It's an hour away."

"It's almost an hour away. And plus there's so much more variety of food there besides here. We have the market, the gas station, and Jericho's," Blaze rattled off. Her tail twitched in amusement. "Why haven't you ever been?"

"I don't know? I didn't move there specifically. I moved here. Glace."

"You know for someone who likes to explore, you don't get out much." Blaze found her new entertainment for the evening: teasing Shadow.

The dark hedgehog ruffled his quills up a little as he didn't seem to like the way her eyes lit up at her own joke. "I like the outdoors. Westwood is a city."

"You lived in Kage. That's an even bigger city."

"And it was Hell."

"Oh, come on," Blaze rolled her eyes, curling up into herself more as she put her magazine down. "You never went out in Kage?"

"Sure. I did date someone there, after all. I just don't enjoy the party scene. Or the college scene," Shadow glanced to the left. He knew he was different - he knew he was a loner, and that more often than not, it made him socially behind, but a part of him didn't care about that part. He was okay being by himself. "I like my solitude."

"There's fun stuff to do in Westwood," Blaze decided to stray away from Kage. Shadow never talked about his college years to his college co-workers. She was a quick study, and figured that it had to do with an ex. Or the fact that Shadow truly did hate cities. "You could suggest the ice skating rink to her. There's a good sushi restaurant Silver and I go to every Thursday during college classes. We also like the on-campus bakery, but you have to have a college student ID. Maybe Amy could get you some scones - they're delicious. And there's Carnagahn's - a little bar that most of the sports teams from college go to. You'll find a lot of football boys there to play pool, it's a nice atmosphere, believe it or not, but Silver and I prefer Madden's Bar down a few blocks - "

She was starting to spiral off into destinations and places, all that she and Silver would go to together. It made Shadow's chest hurt a little for some reason. He remembered what it was like to go do things with someone like that, and he remembered the feelings that followed. It was all a new world to him then, but it was addicting. To suddenly be out and making friends, and always have one person that would be there to hang out with. Until suddenly, she wasn't. And neither were the friends, as they were hers to begin with. The almost full year of a new routine for him was ripped out underneath him like a rug - and he was back to living in solitude, and he had for nearly five years. He remembered avoiding places in Kage that they had gone to just to make sure that he avoided her.

He didn't want that with Amy.

Blaze seemed to see his sudden change in emotion. She tilted her head a little, stopping her list of places to go visit. "Hey? You okay?"

"I almost forgot what it was like to have someone to go do things with. Friendly or romantically. Just…anyone in general."

It was a surprising statement to hear from him, and she figured that he had just poured out his heart in such a short fragment of words and yet he didn't realize it. The female Mobian cleared her throat a little. "Well…I never wanted to be with someone - when I was younger, just starting college, I had a goal in mind. I knew what I wanted to do with myself career-wise, but when it came to relationships, I thought I just…didn't want anyone. Until I met Silver, and I don't want anyone else," she shook her head a little before meeting Shadow's gaze. "But I didn't know until I tried. At least you said yes to Amy on the first try - it took Silver a few tries, if I'm being honest, before I said yes to a date."

"I thought persistence wasn't attractive."

"It's not," Blaze agreed. "But I didn't realize he was even asking until he was blunt with it."

"Hm…"

She looked at the tile ground, listening to the fan as it whirred along. "I thought you hung out with Knuckles and Rouge quite a bit? They visit the park every summer."

"Yeah. Rouge's always been a constant," Shadow responded. He was grateful for the bat, and even eventually for Knuckles. The echidna was good company. "Knuckles and I really only go to the gym outside of Westwood - not even touching the city. For the most part, we hang out at the bar here or at my place. They like the lake."

"Ah," Blaze nodded her head in understanding. She had met the couple a handful of times - they seemed friendly enough, but they were both older than her, closer to Shadow's age. She didn't really know what they did for a living, besides Knuckles who worked in construction and was Shadow's contact for the fire watch tower's restoration. "Wait."

Shadow didn't want to meet her gaze because it also occurred to him when he spoke.

"You go to Westwood basically for the gym - "

"Outside of Westwood - "

"- It's like five minutes away, Shadow. You go out of your way to go to the gym, at least once a week there with Knuckles, but you won't go the rest of the five minutes into Westwood for better groceries?" Blaze had caught him.

He didn't mean to let it slip. Shadow coughed. "Well, to be fair…Five minutes is a long time."

"No. Your logic doesn't make sense there - "

"Hear me out, once you get five minutes in - "

"No, absolutely no logic there - "

"- Five minutes in and the highway becomes a jumbled mess of people -"

"Are you, Shadow the Hedgehog, scared of traffic?"

"No, absolutely not. It's just tough to navigate Westwood."

Blaze shook her head as the hedgehog sheepishly tried to get out of the conversation by rolling away in his chair, taking the magazine from the desk with him. "No logic. No logic at all there, Shadow, your argument is invalid. You know what? You know what you and Amy should do for your date?"

"Let me guess -"

"Go get groceries."

"Go get groceries."

They stared at each other as they spoke in sync, Blaze with a smile on her muzzle. Shadow gave her a small smirk of defeat as he put a hand up. "Fine, fine. I'll have her show me the best grocery store, then. I'll report back to you when we've gone."

"Good. I want a full list of what you got, too."

"Okay, I'll get you a receipt."

Blaze laughed at the thought of Amy trying to show Shadow around Westwood's grocery stores. She would probably take him to some health nut's choice grocery store, which honestly wouldn't be a bad choice for the hedgehog. "Alright, I'll hold you to it."

"Okay - Fine. You're on."