Chapter two

"N-No!" Defended Knuckles. Rouge just smiled and laughed.

"Yes you did!" She giggled gently nudging him to the diving board's edge. Knuckles just moved out of the way and Rouge fell in instead. Knuckes just grabbed her hands and held onto them. Incase she was just kidding when she said that she could swim. Rouge dangled there, though more than half of her was under the water.Her feet swished under the water as she kept what little bit of her was above water. Rouge began to feel light headed again. Too much movement...

With that, she passed out again. Her lack of contiousness made her let Knuckle's hands go and fall into the water. Knuckles panicked and dove in after her. Just to catch her in his arms as she fell to the bottom of the deep end of the pool. Knuckles held her close as he kept his hands away from her breasts. He swam back to the top, which was high up. Once he got there. Rouge was fast asleep. He only smiled and swam to the side. That is where Sonic and Chris met them. Chris took Rouge from Knuckles's grip and lied her on the pavement beside the pool. Sonic helped Knuckles out as well.

Once Knuckles was out, he thanked Sonic and knelt down beisde Rouge.

"What happend?" Chris asked. Knuckles just stayed silent.

"She was going to leave, she fell out the balcony, I went after her once sonic woke me up, I found her on the diving board, then she tried to push me in just for fun, then she fell in herself, and Then after I grabbed her hands, she passed out and I went after her..." Knuckles said sadly. Had he let Rouge down? Or had he done the right thing? He just proped her up with his hand and staired down at her. He loved the way she looked, the way she acted. He knew that he liked her. But how much did he like her?

"Chris, I think we should leave them alone for a bit. Lets go foil Egg-man's plot to take over the earth, again okay?" Sonic offerd. Knowing that his friend Knuckles liked Rouge and he wanted to be alone with her. Chris nodded suspiciously and they left. Knuckles was able to stair at Rouge with his purple eyes. Unable to see Rouge's because she was sleeping. So he picked her up and took her inside the mansion. Lieing her on the bed, he pulled the blankets over Rouge and then blushed. She was so pretty. He got on the bed with her and lied down.He didnt close his eyes, but the summer breaze made him sleepy. He fell asleep next to Rouge once more. This time though. Gently holding onto her.

When Rouge woke up, it was near dusk and she was fully rested. She would have a hard time getting to sleep that night. Though when she woke up, she saw Knuckles's face stairing back at her. Though it was asleep. She blushed. No one was around them, so she just lied there in his grip. He was her affection, though she would not admit it. She was a year older than he was, but that didnt matter to her. But, why can't there eyes ever meet at the same time? Rouge just shut her eyes, incase he woke up or Sonic came in. That was a habit lately. But she had told herself when she fell asleep that first night, that she wouldnt stay too long. So she just got off the bed and snuck out. She was re-charged, and yet, she was in pain from the migrain that had never left her. She had made it about a yard away from the house before the throbbing pain got worse. She sat down on a stump for a second, The pain just throbbed in her head, It hurt so much. She held her hand to her head as she moaned in pain.

Knuckles woke up after all that had happend. Finding that Rouge wasnt beside him anymore, he ran around the mansion looking for her. He got the entire house worried about her. That they all left the house to search for her.

Oh Rouge...Knuckles the Enchida(sp?) Thought sadly. Why do you keep leaving? I guess that chasing you around like this is a bit fun. Though I wish you would just lie down and not leave the house so much...

He searched everywhere for Rouge. He just couldnt find her. The wind around him grew stronger, abnormally strong... he looked around and saw a helocopter, with Rouge and Topaz on it. Knuckles panicked. Rouge was in pain, he could see that, she shouldnt be in a helocopter! So he did what his heart told him. He climbed a tree and jumped at the latter that was dangling. Grabbing it with his knuckles, he climbed up it, the feirce winds threatning to throw him back down. But he still kept a tight grip on the rope. Climbing up with all of his might. Once he was up there, Rouge just staired at him. Amazed.

"Rouge what the hell are you doing up here? Why can't you ever just stay at the house? god damnit!" Knuckles shouted over the whirling of the blades.

"Im sorry Knuckles! But I have to do my job! My policy is 'job comes first!'" Rouge told him, also yelling. Though the sounds were killing her head.

"But you have a headache! You shouldnt be up here! You should be at Chris's mansion sleeping or taking asprine!" Shouted Knuckles. Rouge stayed silent. But before she could say anything. The copter began to shake. Making everyone fall over. Knuckles made his way over to Rouge and held onto her as this took place. All he did was hold onto Rouge as he walked back to the door of the helocopter. Thrusting the door open and seeing how far up they were.

"What the hell are you----ouch!" Rouge asked, then she got a migraine and that was why she said 'ouch'

"Just trust me!" Knuckles demanded. He shut his eyes and held Rouge close. But was stopped by Topaz.

"You Can't take her! Let alone jump off an Helocopter 400 ft above ground!"

"then what the hell do you suggest! You got her into this mess!" Shouted Knuckles, not letting Rouge go.

"Let her finish her assinment and then you can take her back!" Topaz pleaded. Knuckles looked at Topaz, then at Rouge, but he didnt let her go.

"I'll do Rouge's assinment. She is in no condition to be doing this." Knuckles said, holding Rouge tighter to him. Holding onto her. She was blushing as he did this. Remembering, how he saved her, when she and him faught. Now, he held onto her, for dear life. Though her head throbbed in pain. She still was awair of what was happening.

"Knuckles...dont...doing my assinment...could mean..." Rouge told him. Feeling light headed again. "Just...dont...I...I...I..can..." but before she finished. Her eyes closed. Her breathing became heavy and she could only keep contiousness for so long.

"Rouge...Rouge...Im going to do it...no matter what It means..." Knuckles the Echinda told her.Holding her. But when he said that, she was already asleep. "Topaz. Let me take her back to the mansion, then I'll do what she does."

"You can't! Rouge is professional! You can't!" Topaz argued.

"Im going. No matter what you say." Knuckles snapped.