The days passed, slowly but not laboriously. Knuckles stayed with Shadow in his apartment, but, despite the fact that it only had one bedroom and Knuckles and Shadow had slept together, they didn't share a bed. This was fine with both of them. Knuckles, being a loner for most of his life, preferred not to be close to people for too long in a day. Even with Rouge, when they would frequently perform sexual acts, she would be out most of the day, leaving him to himself, which had been a surprisingly pleasant experience for him.

Shadow too, preferred to not be around the echidna too often. Although he felt deep down, something growing inside him which he could only really think of as an adoration for the other male, he had never been the creature to get too close, preferring to show his love in his own little way. Luckily, Knuckles seemed to be able to catch these signs and reply to them with slight gestures himself, like a strong, lopsided grin. He still felt a little graceless around Shadow. But the hedgehog himself noticed this and decided he'd better get an explanation for Knuckles behaviour, he felt that he had done wrong.

Knuckles was out at that exact moment, gone off wondering somewhere, Shadow wasn't sure and he didn't care either. He didn't view partnership as a leash over the other creature. That was the problem with all the other couples in his opinion, once you were paired, there was no freedom. That was one of the things that Shadow cherished above all else was his freedom and with Rouge, that had been struck away from him.

It was noon when Shadow left the house to look for the echidna. He felt a twinge of loneliness deep inside his seemingly emotionless mind and knew that Knuckles company would calm that disturbance. After locking the door and shoving his shoulder into it after to make sure it was properly secure, he set of into a horizontal cyclone of speed, having to slow down occasionally to allow his eyes to catch up with the surroundings. As he travelled, occasionally up turning light objects that were either side of his path, he caught the stares of people going about there business. He ignored them. He was far too used to getting the attention of passers by simply because of his historic and dark nature. Although that day there seemed to be a small increase in the fascinated eyes that caught onto him, as well as the occasional whisper, he ignored it as usual. His goal was to find Knuckles and those idiot humans were not going to distract him.

That was, until one of the idiot humans proved Shadows view of them by jumping in front of the speeding hedgehog. Shadow barely noticed in time and skidded to a halt in front of him, barely a meter distance between the two. Behind Shadow, two large, ugly, black skid marks steamed on the pavement.

" Hey! Your that Shadow hedgehog aren't you?" The man said in gleeful incompetence, clearly not bothered about that fact that he was almost run over by the animal which he would usually run over himself. Shadow stared at him in a irritated way and folded his arms.

" What gave it away?" Shadow said sarcastically. He didn't have the patience for this human, especially with the crowd of wide eyes gathering around him while he was stationary. The man grinned at what he thought was a joke and replied eagerly

" Well I've seen you on the news! You wouldn't be looking for that handsome young echidna fella would you?". This caught Shadows attention. He raised an eyebrow and lowered his other eyelid.

" I might be. What's it to you?" He said, trying to be a little less rude this time as he had a feeling this man was going to help him. The man grinned goofily at his answer and said excitedly

" I saw him pass by a few minuets ago, he went over there" said the man happily, pointing to indicate Knuckles destination. Shadows eyes followed his hand and he smiled when he recognised to where the man pointed. It was the road that led to that seemingly enchanted glade. Shadows felt his heart warm at the memory of that kiss. He turned back to the eager male and said with as much gratitude as he could muster

" Thank you human" and he turned to go. The man laughed goofily and said in an excited voice

" No problem Shadow! Don't want you to be missing some times with your echidna!" Was the last thing Shadow heard before he sped off again. What the man said made him wonder just what the man meant and, if it was what he thought it was, how did he know in the first place?

Knuckles couldn't resist staying away from the glad any longer than he had done for the last few weeks. Early in the morning, he set of to find it, but it had taken him until past midday, it was so isolated. His smile was impossible to hide as he leant over the bridge, staring out into the water, which had some how lost it's spiritual sparkle. But it wasn't the location which made this place special, it was the event, the moment that him and Shadow had connected. It certainly was special, it drifted in is dreams at night, was on his mind for at least an hour a day. Knuckles certainly felt more suited to Shadow that Rouge, to say the least. To say the most, he would say that he felt a possibility of love in his heart for the hedgehog, but, he was so perfect and Knuckles so flawed, he felt that Shadow would never accept him.

Then, as if he very thoughts summoned the creature, Shadow skidded round the corner, sliding up to him gracefully and stopping at his side. He did no more, but then, Knuckles didn't expect a gesture of love from him, the most secretive of creatures.

" Hello Knuckles" he said coolly, his eyes fixed at the tree and river, watching them and wondering where it's beautiful, enchanting hue had vanished to.

" Hey Shadow" Knuckles replied, glad his partner of sorts had taken the time to visit him that day. For a few moments there was silence, but peaceful silence, not hard or uncomfortable. It felt right to just stand there with each other and enjoy the calm. But then Shadow remembered what he had ventured out for, apart from to spend time with Knuckles of course.

" Knuckles. I wanted to talk with you" he began. Knuckles turned to view him with slight curiosity.

" Oh yeah? What is it?" He said, and shuffled his feet a little. Shadow stared at him with his hard, red eyes. Those drilling eyes that seemed to weave there way right into Knuckles soul. The echidna shivered,

" I feel like you are holding back around me, as if there's something wrong with me, the way I act. Am I right?" Shadow said, turning his gaze away from the echidna again. Knuckles felt as if Shadow had read his mind and was shocked. But relieved to, for he wouldn't have to break the ice to Shadow about his inadequacy.

" You are" Knuckles said, his voice serious. Shadow nodded and turned his full attention back to him. The echidna took a breath and decided now was a good time to explain it all to him. " I feel" he began " Like around you, I'm second class. Like I'm a big, blundering thing next to you. You move so smoothly and..." He paused and blushed " well... your so elegant and beautiful, I feel I don't deserve you". Shadow considered this, but felt that he moved with no more grace than any other animal. He felt he had to show Knuckles that he did care for him and so decided to move his hand next to his, taking hold of it in his own. Knuckles smiled at a rare display of affection and willingly let Shadow take his other one. A blush reappeared on his cheeks as Shadow smiled at him with warm intent. He took one of Knuckles hands and allowed it to slide down his own cheek, then did the same with his own hand to Knuckles cheek.

" Don't feel like this Knuckles. If you didn't deserve me, then you wouldn't have me. Besides, not all beauty is in the flesh" said Shadow wisely, reflecting his age. Again Knuckles felt overwhelmed, but decided that if Shadows word had said he was accepted, then he would be satisfied with that. Shadow smiled again " Come here", he commanded softly. Knuckles obeyed gladly as Shadow pulled him closer. There chests touched. Shadow ran his hands up and down Knuckles arms. Knuckles grinned, feeling content again, while Shadow felt that twinge of warmth set alight again deep inside him. Both hardly noticed how close there faces were. It was a perfect moment, if Knuckles eyes hadn't rolled in his head and his eyelids closed. Shadow took this as a move for a kiss and leant forward himself. Their lips touched, but only for a moment. It didn't take Shadow long to realise something was wrong, as instead of kissing back Knuckles lips slid off of his and the echidna lounged on Shadows shoulder.

After a few seconds of shaking and calling, Shadow realised Knuckles had blacked out.

" Knuckles? Knuckles!" He called frantically, trying to wake the echidna who, up until that point, had been fine. After a few seconds of clue less and ineffective shacking and calling, Knuckles eyes slid open again. " Your all right" Shadow said with gratitude. Knuckles grinned up at him, but then realised his entire weight was being supported by Shadow and as far as he could tell, there appeared to by a small gap in his memory.

" Wha..?" Was his only response and question that he could come up with in that particular situation. Fortunately, Shadow seemed to be able to figure out the specifics of his question which he didn't manage to get out.

" You blacked out for a few seconds. I caught you. But your fine now" he explained, filling the blackened gap in the Knuckles memory road. Knuckles thought for a second, then managed to come up with a slightly clearer and better thought out reply than last time.

" That don't make sense. I didn't feel dizzy and I've been eating loads recently" he said, his eye ridges dropped a little to show his confusion.

" It's not particularly hot either" Shadow added, feeling that was the only other reasonable reason for Knuckles to suddenly pass out, yet why he so quickly recovered was more of a mystery.

Knuckles frowned, but felt he had better find his feet soon, otherwise Shadow may drop him amusingly. He put them under him and was relieved the find that he supported with weight without huge effort, providing no explanation as to why they couldn't before. " Your fine now" Shadow said, as more of a question than a statement. Knuckles nodded his head shakily. Shadow smiled slightly, though he was still worried about his mate, he did his best not to show it. " Shall we leave then? You should rest" he suggested and again Knuckles nodded, swallowing as he did so and letting go of the wall of the bridge that he had been hanging onto for support. He took his first few steps and found them easy. Shadow nodded and turned, ready to lead the way back to his dwelling. However, instead of finding his way clear and nothing but air to walk through, he found himself coming face to face with a microphone and the annoyingly, fake smiling faces of two dozen reporters.

" Mr Shadow and Mr Knuckles! We wonder if you could answer some questions for us?" The one nearest to him chimed. He didn't reply, he was in shock, wondering just where they had come from and why he hadn't sensed for heard them approach. He growled and realised it was probably his total focus concern for Knuckles which had done it and now he had to deal with these annoyances. His mate didn't look in the best shape to be dragged by the arm through the city as sound barrier breaking speeds, so he thought it best to try to be polite and talk his way out of the living barrier of news reporters.

" It depends what you want to ask us" he replied, trying not to allow his voice to become angered.

" We want to know if Knuckles was really cheating on Rouge with you" the first one said. Seconds later another urged the question

" What are Knuckles views on Rouge's pregnancy?". From the back, one shouted

" Are you having second thoughts about your actions?"

" What prompted you to cause her such pain?"

" Are you two going to be married?"

" How long have you two been secretly seeing each other?"

" Whe-...

" QUITE!" Shadow finally ordered and caused a brief cease in the fast flowing river of questions the reporters had been throwing at them. He took a quick glance at Knuckles behind him, who was steaming, his fur prickled, his eyes brazing, his canines bared in a scowl and his fist clenched tight. Shadow recognised the signs of a pre-explosion of rage and immediately grasped Knuckles wrist and took off in a bellow of flying dusk and flying water from the river. He didn't care if Knuckles wasn't at his best, a moment later and he would have ended up a lot worse. And Shadow knew why, Sonic had blabbed. How else would those ravenous news crews know of their pairing? The other thing that caught his mind was that the news crews had mentioned that Rouge was pregnant. A twinge of dread jolted through him at this news, knowing it could be either of there babies and, knowing Rouge, she could take this opportunity to land the two of them in a whole lot of trouble as revenge for there little visit to her house a month ago.

Shadow regretted that he would have to admit to Knuckles that he remembered this unfortunate thoughtless situation, but he knew not talking it through with him would be much worse.

Apon arriving at his home, Shadow barely had time to get the door open before Knuckles smashed it down. He raged around the room, talking incomprehensible nonsense. Shadow tried to calm him and, quickly it worked. However, instead of recovering to a stable emotional state, Knuckles went the other way. His cheeks flushed and his eyes lowered. He became clearly nervous, upset, even scared of Shadow's presence.

" I meant to tell you... i meant to...i just...you've got to understand Shadow! It hurt! What she did was such a blow to me..." He stuttered, smothering his face with his hands and making his words harder to hear, " I wanted to bury it and never think about it again" he explained unsteadily. Shadow nodded and made him sit, taking the distraught echidna in his arms, gently shushing him. Knuckles began to sob gently.

" Tell me ...what did she do?" Shadow urged, hoping that simply telling the tale wouldn't set Knuckles off into this deep pit of pain that he had obviously experienced all over again. He squeezed Knuckles hand for support.

" No..." Knuckles pleaded, his voice weak and unsteady, threatening to break. Shadow gripped him a little tighter and securer and said

" If you trap it inside of you, it's only going to grow stronger, and destroy you from the inside. Trust me, I know, I've been there" Shadow explained, referring to the ark. The echidna shuddered like a child in his arms and answered only after a few minuets of soothing silence.

" I...she..." He sniffed, steadied himself, then continued " We were dew to have a baby. I was so happy.. .i felt whole...but...she..." He shuddered again, his voice growing deeper " But she killed it". This time, his shiver was through rage.

" You should have told me sooner" Shadow said, surprised, but not showing it. He knew that if Rouge ever did that to him, he would be distraught. He now knew where the news casters questions came from, at least the ones originating from Rouges pregnancy. " If Rouge ever told me we were expecting a child, then wiped out of existence before it even had a change, I would have fallen apart". Knuckles eyes were shiny with tears.

" I did, but there was a difference, she never told me, I found out myself...". Shadows eyes widened and he shook his head in disbelief.

" You mean she didn't even tell you about the child before getting rid of it?" He asked, in disgusted curiosity. Knuckles nodded bitterly, hanging his head as his mind flooded with putrid thoughts. Shadow nudged him affectionately with his head to try and break Knuckles moody but well deserved silence. The echidna looked up with reddened eyes in questioning to Shadows urging, as if to ask what the hedgehog wanted. Shadow, judging Knuckles character well, knew that any further talk of Rouge would simply push him further into depression at this point. So, instead, he decided to divert Knuckles attention to something else. " How about we go to Sonic's and ask if he spilled, then punish him if he did" Shadow said, trying to add a little maliciousness to his voice to persuade Knuckles that what would really be a lift to him at that point would be to beat the crap out of Sonic.

Knuckles sniffed , controlled and held back his raging tears, then nodded again. Shadow smiled and kissed him soothingly, then pulled him to his feet softly. Knuckles glance remained firmly secured to the floor, but Shadow hoped being outside would do the echidna some good.

" Of course I kept it a secret!" Sonic claimed in as much as an innocent voice as he could muster standing in front of a demanding ultimate life form and his fuming echidna partner. Knuckles had calmed down considerably during the journey, which had to be cut short by a fresh set of leeching reporters trying to barricade them against a wall for questioning. But, it seemed all that was needed to get him back up to a simmering level of struggling anger was the overly cheerful grin and stupidly confident air of a certain supersonic hedgehog.

Shadow raised an unconvinced eyebrow at Sonic's plea of innocence, showing the blue boy that he wasn't interested in lies and all he wanted was a confession so his recently found out boyfriend could vent his frustration on the far from innocent hedgehog and then everything would be done.

Sonic easily spotted the exact meaning of Shadow's expression and spread his hands guiltily

" Ok! Ok! Ok! I told all right? But only Tails! And you know him, he's as trustworthy as me! Maybe even a little bit more!" He claimed, gesturing to another room where Tails was presumably situated. Shadow frowned and Knuckles took over the allegations.

" Well he obviously isn't as trustworthy as you think! Thanks to your flapping mouth, we've got half the news reporters in the country after us!" He steamed and Sonic looked taken aback by his claim.

" Dammit! I swear Knux, I didn't mean for that to happen! I've known Tails all my life and I was so sure he would keep it to himself" Sonic claimed, again trying his innocent hero act. Knuckles rolled his eyes and barged his way past the hedgehog, Shadow following with the intent to question the fox on just who he had told, so that maybe one day soon he and Knuckles could get to the bottom of this.

The two made there entrances clear by slamming open the door, finding Tails sitting calmly on the floor, his eyes fixated on the TV. With Knuckles mind in a state of total focus, he didn't see the TV screen and what program it was showing, perhaps if he had, he would have realised just what had happened to get the media so interested in the him and Shadow.

" I didn't tell any body" Tails quickly claimed as Knuckles opened his mouth as wide as it would go, ready to shout the house down. Tails quick response caught him of guard and he wasn't able to shout any thing at all, luckily, Shadow was able to take over from him, although he was sure he didn't need shouting to get his point across. Sonic came in last, trying to look cross with Tails but instead achieving a look that said he was rather amused by the whole thing.

" Care to tell us why the media are on our tails then? ...no pun intended" Shadow asked, adding the later bit after feeling foolish for using such a stupid word gimmick. Tails turned around and said in a calm voice that at this moment even beat Shadows normally ice cool domineer

" Just watch the TV" he said simply, then turned his attention back to the program. Silently all three of those addressed turned there eyes to watch the screen, dumbfounded by the foxes obscure answer.

They weren't for long.

To Sonic's shock, Shadows anger and Knuckles utter fury, there was a picture of Rouge, who was being interviewed and looking in a sorry state. She was crying heavily, her makeup was smeared all down her white fur and her clothes were wrinkled where they covered her. Knuckles growled lightly as he heard her words.

" So your saying Knuckles the echidna was abusive towards you?" The voice of the interviewer, unseen from behind the camera, asked. Rouge nodded weakly, then spoke with a voice that a little too viscous for someone who seemed so upset.

" Abusive, mental even. He was locked up once because he threw me against the wall and broke my arm and smashed my face in, but I still found the kindness in me to help him with his problems. I took him back in, but he kept hitting me again and again. He repeatedly asked for sex and, when I said I wasn't ready, he would explode and savagely punch and kick me, sometimes he bit me too. Then, once I finally agreed to have sex, I had no choice, I feared if I kept saying no he would kill me, he managed to get me pregnant. I told him, hoping that this would finally stop his abusive nature towards me. But it didn't, it made it worse". Rouge paused, cried a little more. After a comforting hand steadied her she managed to continue. " He threw me across the room and broke my hand, and wing, then made me swear I would get rid of our child. I told him I loved him and would raise it on my own but he wouldn't listen. He made me swear not to tell any of this to any body. Then, I found out he had been cheating on me, with an ex of mine, Shadow. It was the final blow and...and I had to tell somebody ...i just hope ...i just hope he gets to be behind bars where he belongs and that i'll be safe...safe from him..." She finished, then proceeded to break down again, sobbing into her hands. The screen changed and a number came up on the screen, a voice announcing that

" Knuckles the echidna is wanted for charges on aggravated assault, attempted murder and rape. If you see or have any information on his whereabouts or that of Shadow the hedgehog, please contact us on this number..."

There was silence in the room. Every face wearing a difference expression. Tails was one of worry, his eyebrows raised in sympathy, for he could clearly see through Rouge's fake crying. Sonic's was one of disbelief, for he had never seen Rouge so emotionally unstable and wondered if what had been said about Knuckles was actually true. Shadow felt angry at the allegations against Knuckles, as well as his link to the echidna's supposed crimes. Knuckles, on the other hand, felt a hot, white, burning fury rise up inside him, his broken heart riving in pain.

Authors notes

For something that was just done as a joke, it hasn't half helped the story along. The last chapter wasn't actually planned, just an add on that I thought was funny. Anyway, I'm sorry again for the updated, I know this probably sounds like an excuse but its not. I got conjunctavitus for staying on the pc too long and so, I couldn't go on the pc for a few days running. Im sorry for the delay and an update to Robotnics discovery is coming along soon.

You guys who review are the best! Please! If you read this, reveiw it!

Extra authors notes

Tails reminds me of the little boy in the matrix who bends the spoon in this chapter

, I have no clue why.