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Men. How I loathe them. Despise them. Wish that they'd all up and die! Just when a tiny bit of appreciation for one made its way into my mind, he decides it's a perfect time to spy on me in the shower!

Yeah, things were going just too smoothly for it to be my life. Something just had to go wrong to set the world back in balance and my life back on the road to hell. Oh wait, my life already was hell- just look at my damned boss. And of all things- I had to face that bastard if I wanted to get any semblance of a normal day to day life back.

For once in my life, I thought things were finally going to go right. Somehow things would turn around and I could begin to look up…but no, reality hit and it hit hard. And when reality hits, what's a girl to do except hope that someone can take away the pain?

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Chapter 6: Hold the Phone, Reality Calling

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Rouge fumed, clutching the towel around her as if it was a five mile wall between her and the one her brain had just regaled to "the pervert."

Face still red from embarrassment, she noted that she still had no dry clothing to change into.

"Very funny you bastard. You either hand over my clothing now or I'm never opening this door!"

"To get you your clothing would require opening the door."

The room fell silent as Rouge processed that.

"Then put it outside the door, walk away and close your eyes." She snarled.

Not replying, he walked over and sat the clothing outside the door, then turned and closed his eyes, "There."

Slowly cracking open the door and making sure that he was indeed turned around and had his eyes closed, she quickly stuck her arm out and retrieved her clothing.

"Damned pervert," She muttered as the door closed again.

"I heard that," He replied opening his eyes.

"You were supposed to," Rouge snapped back.

"Irritating bat girl…" Knuckles muttered walking over to his drawer and pulling out his own things for the day.

"What did you say?" She said with a glare, opening the door.

"With that tone. One would think you are mad at me."

"Of course I'm mad! You just saw me naked you bastard! Wouldn't it bother you if someone walked in on you?"

"Not really," He said with a shrug as he bent to pick up the waylaid bottle of shampoo that had been receiving so much abuse as of late.

"Liar…" She said glaring as she stalked past him and sulkily sat on the bed.

Leveling her with a glare of his own, Knuckles slowly unbuttoned his pajama shirt.

"He wouldn't dare…" Rouge thought to herself.

He pulled it off and folded it and handed it over to Rouge, then proceeded to pull off his pants and his boxers, hand them over to her and walk into the bathroom.

"I'm taking a shower." He said, picking up his clothing and the shampoo and shutting the bathroom door behind him.

Rouge blinked, haven gotten quite the view of the red-furred echidna, and finally muttered, "Well that damn bastard…"

Shaking her head of it, she wished it and the blush she knew tainted her face away.

Trying to distract herself, she noted the items now in her lap.

"Silk pajamas, silk boxers- silk silk silk…"

"Is everything he owns silk?" She pondered aloud.

Having heard it, he retorted, "The towels aren't!"

"Oh- so what are they? Some silk-cotton blend?" She remarked with a smirk.

"Two can play his stupid riddling game…"

"I wouldn't know for certain. The last dry one in the house is on your head!"

"Well excuse my hair for being wet!"

"Dryer. Downstairs!"

She paused, "Excuse me?"

"Unless you want me to drip dry in the open air. I suppose you'll have to retrieve a towel for me!"

Standing with a huff, she sat down his pajamas and stormed towards the door, "Well fine then."

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Returning upstairs after retrieving the towels, Rouge walked over and pounded on the bathroom door.

On not getting an answer, she frowned, "I'm knocking you bastard!"

"I never said you had to!"

"Oh shut up," She fumed, "Are you still in the shower or not?"

"The water is still running isn't it!" He shouted matter-of-factly.

"That doesn't mean anything," Rouge retorted, realizing that her predicament earlier had been due to that.

"Only if you're you!" Knuckles replied, a light air of amusement to it.

"Shove it!"

She opened the door and stuffed the towels in.

"There's your damned towels. I hope you're happy."

"Ecstatic!" He replied, his voice as hotheaded as ever.

A few moments later he emerged, clad in his business suit and adjusting his tie.

"I'm going to work. I'll drive you," He said, picking up his paperwork.

Rouge stood from where she sat on the bed and followed him downstairs in silence.

Pausing at the base of the stairs, he leveled her with a gaze.

Rouge blinked, not sure what to read of what little emotions the man showed….the only thing she could figure out was that he seemed perplexed as what to say.

"I want to clear up one issue."

"Yes?"

"I am not a 'perverted bastard.' And," He began cutting her off, "if I was, don't you think I would have taken advantage of the situations that were put forth?"

Realizing he was right and hating herself for admitting that, she looked away and grumbled, "Fine."

That resolved, he opened the front door and ushered her out.

"It's going to be extremely quiet without her in the house." He paused, "I like extreme quiet."

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Once seated in the car, he pulled out of the garage and driveway.

"Where am I to take you?" He said, looking over to her.

"Huh?"

"Your house? Work?"

Rouge frowned, then realized that work would be the best bet, "Work, I suppose."

He paused, then remarked, "I won't be calling again."

"Very funny," She glared, "And for your information, I'm only going because that way I can get in contact with Topaz."

"And your boss?"

"Is still on the 'to-kill' list," She shot back.

The car went silent until he merged onto the main street.

"Directions?"

"What?"

"To your business establishment. If you could call it that."

She glared, then begrudgingly replied, "Turn right up there then straight 'til you see mushroom Hill Boulevard. Its building sixty-seven."

Nodding, Knuckles mentally made note of the places to turn.

The rest of the drive occurred in silence, until his cell phone rang.

"Yes?"

"Hey Knux, so what's this I hear about a woman spending the night at your house?"

His eyes narrowed as he turned the corner, "Julie-Su. I'm assuming Vector spoke with you."

"Called me up especially to ask if I'd seen anything different in your writing since you met this gal. So I told him about my lovely encounter with you two at the café."

"Delightful." He muttered in sarcasm.

"I have to agree with him though, Knuckles. The fact you took her in last night shows that you're opening up. This could not only improve your writings, but your social life."

Watching the streets as they passed, he didn't even choose to remark on that comment.

"Knux, you should turn this whole encounter into a story. Think of it- A closed-hearted business man's heart melted by a lone girl who comes to him by matter of circumstance."

"I could go to the bookstore and buy about fifty books with that very scenario," He retorted.

"Well I'd best get going. See you later today," She paused, "Oh and bring me something."

"Why?"

"Because I'm helping improve your lack of love life."

"Right," He said clicking the 'end' button and pocketing the phone.

Looking about at the buildings he pulled over in front of one, "There."

Rouge looked up to the building then back to him, inwardly she was fighting with herself over what to say to him.

"Say 'Thank you.' Say 'It was a great help.' Say 'I'm sorry for the trouble I caused.' Say something!"

"I…" She paused, then muttered, "Okay. So you aren't some perverted bastard."

Knuckles regarded her statement, then replied, "And you have a deadly aim with a shampoo bottle."

Glaring, she was about to retort when he continued.

"I accept your apologies. Thank yous. And whatever other nonsense you wanted to spout to me."

Standing she walked over to the sidewalk, and without a word watched as he pulled away.

"Goodbye…" She whispered more to herself than anyone.

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Entering the building, she spotted a familiar blonde-haired girl at the end of the hallway.

"Topaz!" She called out making her way towards her friend.

"Rouge!" The girl paused, "Hey weren't you wearing that yesterday?"

"It's a very long story," She sighed thinking back on it all.

"Okay, but you're telling me when the lines aren't busy."

"Well actually…if you could Topaz, I have a favor to ask."

"What's that?"

"I want to get out of my house for good, so I thought- Eggman goes to pick up Bokum from school about 3:30 I could sneak in and out then."

"You want me to cover for you here?"

"If you could."

"Sure thing, it's only thirty minutes. No one should notice."

"And um…Topaz?"

The girl looked up from the strings in her hands, "Yeah?"

"I know I can't stay with you due to your bitchy landlady, but I might want to give you some of my stuff to store, so…can you meet me someplace?"

"Oh my, well I have to be at the beauty school for night class at six."

"What about as soon as you get off work here, you meet me…at say, the café on Third Street," She suggested, not realizing the location she subconsciously picked.

"Works for me. Now, what happened last night?"

The hours passed as Rouge proceeded to tell her friend about the various events of the preceding day. As 3:30 neared, Topaz wished her friend the best of the luck as she ventured home to gather her things.

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Opening the door to her home slowly, Rouge snatched up her purse of the side table then began to head upstairs for her room.

Heart racing, her thoughts were a blur.

"Just gotta grab what I can and get out."

Digging around in her closet, she began to throw what she could onto her bed, not noticing the looming figure in the doorway until it was too late.

"Welcome home- Rouge," He intoned; his voice ominous and mocking.

She froze; eyes wide.

"No! He shouldn't be home. Not now!"

"Thought you could sneak in while I was out, eh? Too bad, Rouge. I'm smarter than that."

Closing her eyes and wishing it was all a nightmare, she heard his footsteps drawing near and she tensed even more.

"Then again, if my darling employee has found herself a man, perhaps I should give her the proper send off."

Turning towards her impending fate, Rouge was only able to gasp in horror as the champagne bottle her boss held shattered against her side.

Doubling over in pain, she fell to her knees.

"Damn…"

"Oh is that what you and that man were doing last night?" Eggman's deep voice questioned as he reached down and yanked her up to her feet, "Tell me Rouge. What were you doing?"

She coughed; her breathing harsh. Then mustering what strength she had left, she pulled back her right arm and punched him as hard as her injuries would allow in the stomach.

Using his moment of pain and surprise as her remaining chance, she grabbed up a handful of clothing from the bed and her purse and bolted for the door.

"You bitch!" He fumed, storming after her.

Rounding the corner, she raced down the stairs and flung open the front door.

"Just keep running. Don't look back…"

Furious, Eggman snatched a book off the nearby shelf and hurled it towards her.

It hit her back and she tumbled forward on the front steps as he drew closer behind her.

"Shit…I can't let him get hold of me again. I can't…"

Struggling to pull herself up, she saw him behind her and knowing she had to deter him, gave a kick to his leg before making it to her feet and running off down the street.

And she kept running until she was completely certain she wasn't being followed.

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Her side aching, her back throbbing and certain she still had glass shards in her skin, she found herself wandering towards the café.

Out front, the young waiter was cleaning off tables when he saw her form walking towards the eatery.

"Oh goodness! Miss!" He dropped the tray he was holding, letting it clatter to the ground as he ran over to help Rouge. "There's a bathroom in back… I'll get you a first aid kit," Tails said bracing her.

"Thanks kid."

Having used the entire gauze roll to bandage up her side, and a few bandages on her leg and arm, Rouge changed out of her now ruined dress into one of the few she managed to grab up.

"Only two dresses and a few bras and pairs of underwear…that's all I've got now…"

Gathering her few remaining items she made her way back out.

Seeing her finally emerging, Tails pulled a chair out for her and helped her sit down.

"Are you okay, Miss? What happened?"

"It's a long story kid…"

"Here," He said offering her an ice pack, "You…um…have a bit of a bruise on your forehead."

Rouge arched an eyebrow up, and winced feeling just the bruise he spoke of. Taking the ice pack from him, she pressed it to the injury.

"Thanks. Can I get something to drink?"

"Sure. What do you want?"

"Since I don't have much cash, I suppose water will do."

"Tails. A cappuccino for her," A familiar voice intoned.

Rouge blinked and slowly turned towards the figure behind her, her hand loosing its grip on the ice pack as she confirmed her suspicions as to whom it was.

"Knuckles…."

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Preview for next Chapter :

Rouge got a dose of reality in the most painful of forms, but when the café's usual customer shows back up, perhaps she'll finally have someone to turn to.