I have come to learn that once you peg a man as a perverted bastard, a two-timer and all those other lovely stereotypes- your mind sets up a defense system against such men.

So- my boss was an asshole and next thing I know- Mr. "I communicate with shouting" was driving me to his house. Part of me was thinking- hey, he said that the other woman was just his editor, I'm soaking wet and have nowhere to go and here he is being a gentleman and taking me someplace dry. Now, the other part of me- the part I like to call "sane"- was setting off the alarms going, "Rouge, you idiot! He's lying about the girlfriend for a one-nighter he hopes to get with you. I'm sure he plans to join you in that shower he offered and those clothes will probably never come so, being the pervert he is, he'll offer his body heat to keep you warm!"

Being as I didn't exactly trust him or just about anyone else at the moment, I put myself on "high alert" and watched the bastard's every damn move. I am no weak woman and if he so much as laid a finger on me, there'd be hell to pay!

Then the ass did something completely and totally unnatural. That damned bastard that perverted sleaze that good for nothing two-timing asshole- went and proved me wrong.

----------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4: Speed Dial Affection

---------------------------------------------------

Setting foot inside, Rouge froze as the situation sunk in.

"Shit- that god damned bastard got me in his house. This has to have all been a big stunt just to get me alone. damn it all…"

Crossing her arms over her chest, she tugged the coat further around herself, "Hmph- he was probably enjoying the fact that my soaked clothes are sticking to my skin like this."

Knuckles paused on noticing her strange attitude. Narrowing his eyes, he spoke, "My coat is to be hung up here."

He extended a hand to retrieve it with, but Rouge just glared.

"Yeah, I'm hiding my body underneath this so of course you want me to take it off…"

She was about to retort aloud when he frowned.

"And I'd like that handkerchief back as well, so I'll have to find a proper bandage for your hand," He turned, apparently having given up on the getting the coat from her.

Pausing halfway up the stairs, Knuckles looked back down at her, "I didn't go to the trouble of allowing you here just so you could create a puddle in my main hall."

"Well excuse me for being wet!" She retorted lamely, but still felt she had to say something back.

Walking back down to her, he began to reach out. Rouge waited, eyes watching him carefully and when his hand strayed too close, she caught him by a firm grasp around his wrist, "I'd prefer if you didn't touch me," She spat out.

Knuckles frowned, "Your shoulder. It wasn't injured earlier."

She blinked, taken aback by the comment, "How did you…"

"You flinched," He let out a slight sigh of exasperation, "I suppose you'll want something for the pain."

Not waiting for her to reply, Knuckles walked past her towards the kitchen. Rouge just stared, thrown off completely by the way he was acting and how perceptive he seemed to be.

Distracting herself by looking about, she noted the adjoining rooms- a dinning room, a living room, a library and a room next to it that was assumed to be a study. What caught her attention though was not how expensive the furnishings were, but how unused they seemed.

------------------------------

In the kitchen, Knuckles opened a cabinet and pulled out a small bottle of medicine, "Troublesome woman. Not a bit of gratitude!"

His frown deepened as he pulled out a glass and waited for the faucet's water to fill it up.

"Why did I bring her here anyway?"

Mulling it over in his mind, he didn't realize that the water had begun to overflow.

Stopping it and ridding the glass of the excess he made his conclusion, "She's different… Very…different. Spiteful wench she is…" He finished, noting the white mark on his wrist from where she'd held him back.

Shrugging it off that the woman intrigued him and that it was completely normal and had no implications of any kind, whatsoever; Knuckles returned to where Rouge stood in the main hall.

-------------------------------

Seeing that he had indeed gone to get her something for pain, the white-furred bat girl felt a slight bit bad about her attitude so far, and despite the fact she wasn't sure it was the best idea, she tried to start up a conversation.

"So…you live in this huge house all alone?"

"Is there a problem with that?" He replied.

"No…I just thought you'd be…" She paused, then finished, "lonely."

His eyebrow quirked up and he looked to her as if he didn't even know the definition of such a word.

"Then again, I'd rather be alone than stuck with my boss…"

"I'm assuming he was the reason you were out in the rain trying to get yourself killed?"

"That's putting it mildly."

Handing over the bottle and the glass of water, he waited.

She studied them both, and on seeing nothing strange, took two pills and handed the bottle and glass back.

He sat it on a nearby end table and leveled her with a stern gaze.

"I'm really not fond of the puddle you are intent on creating on my floor!"

"Well- he is being nice…err…nice for him. Perhaps I can humor him on this…I am really cold…"

Leveling a glare in return, she retorted, "Okay, I get the damned point."

Pulling off the coat, she roughly held it out in his direction. After he hung it up, he once again made for the stairs.

"The towels are upstairs," He said, going up a few steps and pausing.

Figuring with the way she was shivering there wasn't another choice, she slowly followed.

"What's the girl's name?" Knuckles questioned abruptly.

"What?"

"The one you wanted to call."

"Oh Topaz…"

"Topaz…?" He paused, waiting for a last name to be filled in.

Rouge froze, she'd always just known her as Topaz and in the week she'd known the spunky girl, the issue of a last name had never come up.

"I…I don't know."

Knuckles raised an eyebrow and opened the door to one of the few rooms upstairs.

"I see," He finally replied, "We'll attend to that matter later then."

Rouge followed, pausing in the doorway, "It's his bedroom. I can't…"

Opening another door, which she concluded, was the master bath; he entered, coming back out with a towel.

Tensing, Rouge watched as he walked back over to her, and extended the towel out to her reach, "There's more in there. I'll be downstairs."

With that and not a word more, he went past her and back down the stairs.

"Well damn he's confusing…" She muttered looking down to the towel in her hands. Part of her hesitated moving but the chill that was overcoming her soaked form won out and she finally went in and entered the bathroom.

Pulling the door closed behind her, she frowned on noting the lack of a lock. Deciding the nearby clothes hamper would serve her purpose as a barricade, she placed it in front of the door and hoped it was heavy enough.

Stripping the clothes from her body, she paused on seeing her reflection in the mirror.

"Shit- I look like a drowned ghost…"

About to remark on her paled state further, a more serious expression took hold as she noticed the large bruise on her shoulder.

"Damn him…" She seethed, gently touching the bruise and flinching as she did.

With a sigh and a shake of her head, she got into the shower and turned the water on; letting its warmth and steam penetrate her chilled body.

---------------------------------

Knuckles, on the other hand, had just returned upstairs, a bundle of clothing under his arm. Reaching his door, he frowned on noting the damp area outside of it.

"How long did she stand here thinking about moving before going in?"

Shaking his head, he walked over to the bathroom door and was just about to reach for the door when the phone rang.

Retrieving the receiver from the nearby nightstand, Knuckles simply spoke, "Yes?"

"Knuckles," The voice intoned.

Recognizing it right away, the red-furred echidna replied, "Hello, Vector."

"Was I disturbing something?" He questioned, hearing the shower running in the background.

"No."

"It's not like you to be wasteful of water."

"It's not being wasted."

Vector the crocodile raised an eyebrow, "And being as both Cream and Sonic are here at the main house, might you explain how that might be?"

"Why don't you ask my idiot half-friend about what he did to my speed dial," Knuckles growled.

Looking down the hallway, the elder crocodile called out, "Sonic!"

"What Vector?" The blue hedgehog asked coming out of his room.

"What did you do to Knuckles' speed dial?"

The young hedgehog frowned, and muttered, "Well it's not like he'd actually get anything out of…"

"Sonic."

"I set it to a phone sex line as a joke. I mean, it's not like he's the type to go for anything like that," Sonic said with a shrug, crossing his arms.

Frowning, Vector began to piece things together, "Knuckles- is there a woman currently using your shower?"

Being as it was his friend, he had no choice but to reply, "You would be correct in making that assumption, Vector."

A smirk lit on the elder crocodile's face, "Vanilla," He called out, waiting until the rabbit woman came around the corner.

"Yes dear?"

"Aren't you keeping some scrapbook thing about our friends?"

"Yes, I am. Why do you ask?"

"It should be to note then, that Knuckles has finally acquired a woman in his presence."

"Is that all?" Knuckles questioned, irritation very evident in his tone.

"Just wanted to see how things went with your editor," He explained.

"They went."

Knowing that meant no progress, Vector replied, "Well perhaps this new lady friend will help you loosen up some, Knuckles. I'll call in the morning with the company report."

Not in the mood to address the situation behind why Rouge was in his house, Knuckles muttered, "Understood."

With that, he hung up the phone and went back to his prior task.

------------------------------------

Rouge was enjoying the warm water cascading down her body; simply relaxing like she rarely could at home. That's when the sound of the doorknob rattling caught her ears.

"He wouldn't dare…"

But sure enough, the door's movement continued as the hamper was slowly being pushed back.

Rouge glared at the movement; quickly snatching up the bottle of shampoo. She stood, curtain pulled to where she couldn't be seen but poised and ready to attack nonetheless. Gripping the bottle tighter, she pulled her arm back and let it fly at the sight of his red fur sticking in through the doorway.

The bottle fell to the ground, leaving a set of violet eyes glaring at her, "That really wasn't necessary!"

"And you spying on me in the shower, is?"

"If you want to stay in your wet attire- that is up to you!"

Rouge processed that and realized that he was offering dry clothes. Not about to apologize, but not wanting to make him leave her with her wet clothes, she replied, "Well, you could have at least knocked."

"And you could have been a bit more considerate!" He retorted, shutting the door.

Peeking out from behind the curtain, she noted a pile of clothes sitting atop the hamper.

"He really was… just leaving clothes…" She thought, her mind in a slight state of shock that that's all it was.

Turning off the water, she stepped out and wrapped a towel about herself. Instinctively pushing the hamper back in front of the door, she began to dry herself off. Using another towel to dry her undergarments as best as she could, she pulled those on and then reached for the clothes that Knuckles had left for her. Pausing she held them up and looked them over: red silk pajamas, a loose button up shirt and matching pants.

Almost as if Knuckles could read her thoughts from where he sat in bed protecting the emerald, he spoke up, "If you've got an aversion to silk then just get back into your own clothes. All the rest was too large for you."

Inspecting them closer, Rouge noted the embroidered "KE" on the pocket and concluded that they must have been Knuckles' when he was younger. Even though her mind protested it, she pulled them on and slowly opened the bathroom door.

She took two steps forward and paused, quietly speaking, "The beauty school is probably closed by now and I…couldn't remember the number anyway."

"I see you finally took my handkerchief off," He said, standing. Walking past her and into the bathroom, he returned with a roll of gauze, "Are you right handed?"

Rouge blinked, "Why the hell does it matter if…"

"You can't attend to a wound with your hand if that's the hand injured."

She paused, "Yes…I'm right handed."

He gestured to a nearby chair and after a moment's hesitation, she complied, still unsure what to think of him and his actions.

"The hand?" He said, waiting.

Looking to the scrapes on her legs from kicking the tree along with the injuries from Eggman, and slight blistering from the hot liquid, she sat the injured hand out on her knee.

"I see you didn't take very good care of this after the incident."

"My boss doesn't always put me in a very good mood," She said, an underlying tone of irritation that he was prying.

"So you kicked a tree then."

"How in the hell did you…" She started to panic, wondering if he'd been stalking her.

"Splinters give it away."

Looking to where he pointed, she too noticed the small splinter embedded in her leg.

"Don't move."

She started to protest, but he'd already pinched the skin and pulled the offending piece of wood out.

"Shit!" Rouge cursed.

"I'll take that as a thank you," Knuckles said with a frown as he wrapped the hand.

"Why are you doing this anyway?" She demanded.

Knuckles blinked, for a slight moment caught a bit off guard.

"I don't know," He muttered standing and returning to his bed.

Rouge looked after him, just as equally perplexed as to all that was happening.

She shakily stood, then glanced down to her hand; lifting it gently and cradling it with her other.

"Are you going to stand there all night?" Knuckles questioned from behind his emerald.

Realizing that he did intend for her to stay in his house since she had no means of contacting Topaz, she nervously tugged the pajamas closer so nothing too crucial accidentally showed. "It is all right for me to spend the night here, right?"

"Would I be lending you those if I intended for you to leave?"

She felt raw and uneasy, and her tough façade was diminished some, "I hate to impose like this… it's just after everything that happened today with my boss…. Well, I didn't feel like I could stay there any longer… and well…that damn bastard…"

He said nothing in reply and just returned his attention back to the emerald he held.

"Um…" She spoke up after a minute, "Where am I to sleep?"

"Here." He replied nonchalantly, not looking up from his emerald as he pulled back the covers next to him.

Rouge looked to him, then to the space left on the bed. Sure, it was a king sized bed and he was all the way on the other side, but who the hell did he think she was!

"Hey! Just because I got stuck with that stupid job doesn't mean I'm some easy bitch who'll just sleep with anyone!" She exclaimed crossing her arms.

Looking up from the emerald, he leveled her with a sincere glare. Well, as sincere a glare one could get from him that is.

"I only have one bed." The room fell quiet, before he continued, "Unless you expect me to sleep in the chair!" He growled.

"Uh…no…" She turned away, then slowly walked over- knowing that even the living room had no sofa that would suit her and berating herself for getting into this mess in the first place. "Damnit, here I am with a guy I barely know and he expects me to sleep in the same bed with him and trust him? What the hell does he take me for? An idiot?" Her thoughts paused, thinking back on what she knew about him, "Then again, he is the only one of my callers that just talked to me… if you could consider that talking. And he didn't try anything when we had lunch together… maybe he's not some asshole of a male after all."

Finally resigning herself to the situation, Rouge slowly walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. Lying as close to the opposing edge as she could, she closed her eyes and waited, "If he makes one move, I swear I'll kick his ass and hang him by his fur…"

A slight rustle and she couldn't help but tense. Peeking out of the corner of her eye, she could see him reaching a hand over in her direction and before he knew it, she'd snapped up and forcefully grabbed him by the wrist, leveling him with a stern glare.

"Waiting for me to let my guard down, eh? Maybe I should break your wrist for trying to trick me into this you damn..."

"I didn't know pulling up the blankets of one who was chilled was an offense punishable by death!" He retorted, glaring back.

For a few moments the two did nothing but glare at each other, until with a 'hmph' Rouge turned back and yanked the covers up over herself. "I can take care of myself. I don't need some man helping me, thank you very much!" She fumed, waiting for him to fight back.

Instead, the bedside lamp was turned off and she could hear him lying down, the room becoming silent.

With a satisfied smirk that she'd properly told him off, she pulled the blankets up a bit more when a loud firm voice caught her ears.

"If you can take care of yourself, then deal with your boss, yourself!"

Body tensing in anger, she grabbed up the pillow beneath her head and lunged in the general direction of the voice, only to feel the grip on her arm, and her fur brushing against someone else's face as the pillow was pried from her hands.

"What are you…"

"This childish behavior isn't necessary. Go to sleep." He spoke, his breath warming her still-chilled face and alerting her to how close they actually were.

"You're the one holding me." She retorted.

"And I don't see you struggling much to pull away."

"…. I hate you," Rouge muttered.

"Then why are you in my house?" He questioned.

She sighed in irritation, and began to pull away, intent on trying to sleep. Then it hit her, "You took my pillow."

"Can't have you attacking me with my own furnishings."

"Where am I supposed to lay my damn head?"

He didn't reply.

"Damn you, I have half a nerve to…to…"

"To what?" He asked, voice giving off a slight air of amusement.

Rouge smirked. He thought he was so smart, but he wouldn't expect this, "Fine, if you take my pillow… then I guess this will have to do."

She laid her head down on his chest, expecting him to move, flinch, push her away, or at least say something.

"Well?" She inquired.

"Just don't drool on me." He replied as if nothing was wrong at all.

About to fight back yet again, Rouge stopped when she felt his hand pulling the blankets up over them both.

"What's with this guy?" Her mind thought, "He's…he's not like those other assholes. He's… well, a gentleman. A hotheaded, underhandedly arrogant, smug gentleman, but…a gentleman nonetheless." She paused, and added, "An attractive gentleman too." And with those thoughts sorted out, she fell asleep.

-------------------------------------------

Preview for next Chapter :

It's bad enough that Rouge has a huge bruise on her shoulder and an injured hand and leg. She definitely didn't need to hurt that hand further by using it to slap the person who was occupying the same bed as her when she woke up. And needless to say, he wasn't too happy that she did it either.