Well, here we are again. Hehe…. Did a lil brainstorming, and decided to start writing, 'cause I have an idea of what I wanna do with this chapter now. So, here we go.

Chapter 3

A Scare

Shadow awoke to the sound of Omega working in the kitchen. He got off the couch a little stiff, but had had a pleasantly dream-free sleep. "Omega." The robot looked up to see the black hedgehog in the doorway.

"GOOD MORNING, PROJECT:SHADOW. I TRUST YOUR SLEEP CYCLES WERE PLEASANT." The robot was wearing the same pink, frilly apron as the evening before whilst working on making pancakes ten at a time, using both hands. He seemed to favor the stove over the rather disused looking microwave and toaster on the counter; they both seemed to be very dusty. Shadow gave a little nod and the robot continued to watch the warming pancakes diligently. Suddenly Shadow realized something was missing.

"Omega, where is Rouge?"

"I APOLOGIZE; MY MEMORY BANKS MUST NOT BE FUNCTIONING PROPERLY. ROUGE LEFT EARLY THIS MORNING. SHE LEFT A MESSAGE FOR YOU. ACCESSING…."

"Hey Shadow." Omega had apparently recorded the message, because it was in Rouge's voice. "I got called in to work this morning before you woke up. I should be back later. You be good now!" This was followed by a giggle, and Shadow could practically hear her wink, like he knew she would.

"Thank you, Omega. Did she say exactly when she would be back?"

"NEGATIVE." The pancakes were starting to get a tiny bit overcooked on one side.

"Then when did she leave?" Shadow began eyeing the pancakes that had started to smell slightly burnt.

"IF MY MEMORY BANKS ARE NO LONGER MALFUNCTIONING, I BELIEVE THE TIME WAS ABOUT 6:50 A.M. THE CURRENT TIME IS 9:56 A.M." The pancakes were really brown now.

"Omega…."

"YES?"

"The pancakes are burning."

111About an Hour and Many Burnt Pancakes Later111

"QUERY: SHADOW, WERE THE PANCAKES TO YOUR SATISFACTION?" asked Omega as he picked up the now completely empty plates and put them in the dishwasher. Omega considered himself far more efficient than the dishwasher, but for today, he had other things to do than wash dishes.

"A little burnt, but other than that, they were fine." Shadow was making an attempt to be polite; they had been more than a little burnt.

"I AM GLAD." The apron that the robot had been wearing before was hung on one of the five pegs that were attached to the wall near the doorway to the living room. The poor thing was stretched out so far that looked big enough to be a rather small bed sheet. On the peg next to it was a similar apron; it, too, was pink and frilly, but had 'Kiss the Cook' written on it. Since it was not stretched out, Shadow assumed it to Rouge's. The other three pegs were empty.

"Say, Omega, when do you think Rouge will be back?"

"I ESTIMATE HER RETURN TIME TO BE SOME TIME IN THE LATE EVENING. QUERY: WHY DO YOU WANT TO KNOW?" Omega's voice sounded slightly suspicious.

"No reason."

"SENSORS INDICATE ELEVATED WARMTH IN LIFEFORM SHADOW'S FACIAL REGION. QUERY: ARE YOU EXPERIENCING THE EMOTION THAT IS REFERRED TO AS 'EMBARASSMENT'?"

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Shadow, lacking anything better to do, had decided to help Omega sort through and prepare Rouge's precious gems for moving from the spare room. They all had to be carefully packaged so that none of them would be scratched. This meant, of course, that they would need to be individually wrapped, and there were certainly a lot of them. When they had come in, Shadow had been forced to shield his eyes at the sheer shininess of them all. Now, hours later, the room was considerably less blinding, but they were not even half finished. By now, Shadow's stomach was growling, and Omega decided it was time for them both to have dinner; steak for Shadow, a refueling for himself.

By the time dinner was over, Shadow was getting a bit anxious. "QUERY: SHADOW, WHY ARE YOU TAPPING YOUR FINGERS ON THE TABLE WITH SO MUCH FORCE?"

"Hm? Oh." Shadow stopped the tapping, only to resume it in a few moments. "Omega, what time is it?"

"THE CURRENT TIME IS 10:53 P.M. PERHAPS MY ESTIMATION OF ROUGE'S ARRIVAL TIME WAS INCORRECT."

"I think I'm going to go look for her." Shadow could not help but do so; he had a bad feeling about this.

11111

Things had been going well for Rouge. She had successfully completed a mission and received a hefty pay check, not to mention getting off work early. She had cashed the check and was hoping to make it home in time for dinner when her sensitive ears picked up some odd footsteps. She couldn't quite place what was odd about them, only that something wasn't right and that they seemed to be following her. Silently cursing the fact that the streets were pretty much empty at the moment, most people being in the middle of dinner at the moment, she picked up her pace. The footsteps followed, but their owner was always out of sight.

Finally giving up on walking, Rouge took off into the air and landed on top of a building above. She looked down at the ground, but could not see anyone. She flew back down and continued her walking, reassured. But the second she turned the corner, she could hear the footsteps again. Getting slightly panicked, she began to walk faster and then break into a run. Not looking where she was going, she accidentally turned down a dead end alley. "Great…." She turned to go, but stopped. She saw a shadow on the ground, cast by something standing near the opening of the alley. He gaze followed the shadow to its source, but saw nothing except the flickering street lamp that allowed whatever it was to cast the shadow. Whatever it was seemed to be advancing and she took off into the air, flying over its head and down the street a ways, scared out of her wits.

When she finally landed, she was almost back to her apartment. She looked both ways and then breathed a sigh of relief. Then she turned the corner and screamed as she bumped into someone. "Rouge…!" said the someone as he grabbed her arms.

Rouge stopped her scream and blinked. "Shadow!" To his surprise, she hugged him. This, of course, made his cheeks turn bright red. Realizing what she was doing, Rouge cleared her throat and let him go.

Shadow cleared his throat as well and tried to suppress the blush. "What was that for?"

Rouge was embarrassed, to say the least, but decided to cover it up. "Just happy to see you, that's all." She winked at him, and he found it harder to hold down the blush.

"I thought you'd be happy to be hugged by a gorgeous woman like me. Now let's get inside before we both freeze to death."

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Well…. I think this is a good place to end the chapter! Heh…. This one was a quarter of the way decent size. Meh, I need to work on making these chapters longer. Oh well. See you next chapter!