Thanks again, and as always, please read and review
----------------------------------------------------------
Orders. It seemed like my life was always centered on following my boss's orders. But now, I was away from that asshole and I wasn't the one listening to 'anyone' anymore. No. Knuckles was the one doing as his friend had requested; which much to my surprise, ended up involving me.
But hey- I was getting a place to stay and a new job- true, it was at a cost. The cost of being stuck with Knuckles. Now at first, this irritated me. Heck- it downright pissed me off that his friend thought that I was just there to magically make Knuckles' novel into a best seller. Then again, that was my only choice. That or go home to Eggman and the pain that would go with that. I was safe and that was all that mattered.
Sometimes things happen though, that make you rethink things. Or, make you see them in a different light than before. And when it finally sunk in that I was stuck with him for good, I began to see that perhaps I wasn't the only one that was all alone in the world.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 8: Establishing a Connection
-----------------------------------------------------
Rouge paused the second the words left her mouth, and she jerked her gaze off of him.
"Why the hell am I being nice to him? He's only doing this because his friend's making him..."
She froze on feeling his hand on her face, gently tilting her back to look at him.
Knuckles eyes narrowed on the small cut on her cheek.
"Do you want a bandage?"
Pushing him away from her, she glared, "What are you doing!"
Her deep aqua eyes flickered, and he caught the edge of panic in them.
"Stubborn woman. Can't see the difference between someone who is concerned and someone who isn't!" Knuckles halted his thoughts, realizing he inadvertently implied he was concerned, then quickly amended it, "Then again- I am only dealing with this because Vector wants it."
"I don't suppose you find it attractive to have a cut on your face like that!" He spoke up, a backward answer to her question.
Slowly raising a hand to where his had been moments before, she ran her finger over the fine cut. Wincing, she examined the fine line of blood that was now staining her fingertips.
"Oh…"
Knuckles' mind reflected on all the romantic nonsense Julie-Su had told him in an attempt to, as he put it, 'turn his novel into a piece of dime-store trash.'
"It's simple Knuckles- with the heroine injured, the strong hero will take her in his arms and kiss away all her pain. It's got best-seller written all over it!"
"Here," He muttered handing her the wash cloth and standing from where he sat on the bed.
"Or you could just be a cold-hearted, romance hating, stubborn man like you always are," The voice of Knuckles' editor echoed in his mind. His steps slowed as he neared the bathroom, then he smirked lightly to himself, "Change is not something I find myself growing fond of."
Rouge watched as he retreated while bringing the bloodstained cloth to her cheek. She paused then, and withdrew the washcloth.
"It's not cold anymore…"
Looking back up to the figure emerging from the bathroom, she couldn't even place what that thought pertained to- the washcloth clutched in her battered hand or if perhaps, it was something else.
Stepping forward, Knuckles leveled her with a stern gaze; then before she could ask what the hell it was for, he reached out and cupped her chin in his hand.
Running a fresh cloth over the cut, Rouge could feel the coolness as the drops of excess water trailed down her neck.
But this time, it wasn't as cold as before.
Satisfied that the cut was properly cleaned, Knuckles picked up the small bandage and pressed it down over the wound.
"Perhaps if you put your mind to it- you can be sure that it's healed before you are seen with it."
Rouge glared, "Well pardon my appearance for not being worthy of being seen with you."
"It's not necessary to contort my words!" He retorted standing, "And given the fit you threw earlier I find it strange that you have yet to put your heart thing you always wear back on!"
Realizing that he was referring to the fact she had yet to pull the shirt back on, she quickly remedied that. About to stand and follow after him, he took a step back towards her.
"Since my meal at the café was interrupted- I suppose we are eating here."
"Oh, so you're cooking?" Rouge questioned, her eyes narrowed.
"I'm completely out of poisons and immobilizing drugs. Sorry to disappoint you," He remarked, a tiny edge of his sarcasm slipping into his voice.
"Bite me. I am not in the mood for you!" She snapped back.
"If it's not too complicated for you to handle. Stay here. Rest. And remain silent."
"Is that an order?" Rouge growled, about to hit him if he dared say it was.
"Advice," He stated simply, turning to leave.
----------------------------------------------------------
After watching him leave the room, presumably to fix whatever it was that was going to be called 'dinner,' Rouge just sat and slowly absorbed the rush of events her life had become.
"If it didn't hurt so much, I'd swear that I would wake up from this whole nightmare."
She paused, her eyes falling on what she took to be a family portrait sitting on the nearby dresser.
Shakily standing, she walked over and delicately lifted up the picture.
Within the confines of the photograph, Rouge's eyes caught one thing first. Knuckles standing off to the side. Alone.
He looked fairly young in the picture, his father standing aside him with a furred echidna who held a young baby in her arms.
"Never fit in around your house, either? Well…at least your father cared about you," She thought bitterly.
Unbeknownst to her, Knuckles had returned with her clean clothing and was standing in the doorway, eyebrows furrowed together in thought as he watched her.
"You're just a loner in your home too, aren't you Knuckles?" Rouge remarked to the photograph, not realizing that the flesh-and-blood variant had overheard.
A brief flicker of surprise rippled across his features, as her comment drove down into the depths of his mind.
"Alone?" He posed it, as a question to himself, but whether he was regarding himself or the white-furred bat girl before him was uncertain.
Rouge sat the frame back on the dresser top and turned, her eyes catching sight of Knuckles looking at her, his face the usual anger with an edge of something else to it that she was beginning to grow accustomed to.
"I see you are still able to stand," He said, his voice grumpy as always.
"Knuckles…" Rouge bit her lip, not sure how much he'd heard.
"You allergic to anything?"
"What?" She blinked, thrown by the odd question as he unceremoniously handed over her clothing.
"Food," He said simply.
Knowing what he was going for, but still up for a bit of a fight, Rouge narrowed her eyes, "I thought you said you were out of poisons and drugs."
"Well perhaps I found some," He countered.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not allergic to anything or lactose intolerant so no killing me with milk, okay?"
A light air of amusement graced his features as he turned without a word and headed back downstairs for the kitchen.
-----------------------------------------
Rouge looked down at her jump suit as she put it on in the bathroom.
"I can't believe that guy does his own laundry," She paused, her mind thinking back on the picture, "Then again, if he's so stubbornly determined to remain by himself it's no wonder that he has to take care of things like laundry and cooking on his own. It seems like he's trying his hardest to avoid the entire human and animal race…" Thinking back on her recent encounters with her boss and the other 'scum of the earth,' she laughed, "I wouldn't mind joining him in that."
Her mind screeched to a halt at that inadvertent implication, then shaking her head of it, she walked back into the bedroom.
"No. I don't need a man in my life. I just got away from Eggman. I'm only here because I'm getting a job out of it and a place to stay where that bossr of mine can't find me. And I definitely do not need to get involved with someone. I can handle myself perfectly fine."
Spotting her pile of meager belongings sitting in the chair, she walked over and fished out the napkin with Topaz's numbers written on it.
"Well I'm sure he can spare the phone line for just a bit," She remarked to herself lifting up the receiver and dialing up the beauty school.
Once they tracked down Topaz, she immediately berated her friend with questions.
"Rouge? Are you okay? Did they get you to a hospital in time?"
"No. Knuckles took care of it."
Topaz paused, impish smirk lighting on her face, "Oh he did, did he? Oh my…now Rouge- unless I was mistaken some of those wounds were along your side, which meant he would have to…"
Rouge forced down her rising blush, and yelled back, "Hey!"
"So, you took off your shirt for him?"
"Topaz. I'd rather not go into this," She stated firmly.
"Okay, but you'd better tell me any details later. So how are you feeling?"
"Fine. It still hurts a bit to breathe and there's a dull throbbing, but I'll live."
"So, are you going to sleep with him again tonight?"
Sighing, and knowing she shouldn't have expected any better from Topaz, Rouge retorted, "Don't say it like that. I told you before that it was nothing like that."
"But, the key is do you wish it was?" Topaz questioned, pulling a string from her pocket and beginning to toy with it as usual.
"Right now I just wish every man on earth would stay the hell away from me, to be honest."
Nodding, her spunky friend replied, "That's understandable given all that's happened to you. But you've got to at least give this man some credit if he hasn't jumped you yet. I mean, any normal man would have snapped after all you two have been through."
"He's just lonely," Rouge replied, then paused- wondering why she had chosen to bring that up.
"Well then, you can keep him company…."
Rouge began to speak, but Topaz continued.
"And that doesn't always mean sex Rouge. Some people can remain maturer than those idiots that called into our line and…oh my, I'm late. Sorry Rouge, got to get back to work before this perm goes to hell."
"All right, bye Topaz."
"Bye Rouge- remember, give him a chance."
Sitting the receiver down, she frowned as her stomach announced its displeasure at having been ignored until now.
"I see at least your stomach has common sense," Knuckles remarked.
"Hey, I never said I wasn't hungry!" She spat back seeing him in the doorway.
He turned back towards the door, "Are stairs too much for you to deal with?"
"No," Rouge said, determination in her tone.
She stood and walked over past him and out the door, headed down the stairs.
About half way down, her footing became a bit shaky as pain shot through her side, but an unexpected hand braced her shoulder.
"I am not carrying you down the rest of the way. Understood?"
Rouge leveled him with glare, "I'm fine."
Once downstairs, they quickly settled down for the meal he'd prepared.
----------------------------------------------------
Dinner passed by quietly. Knuckles not speaking as usual, and Rouge, despite her saying she was perfectly fine, was starving and couldn't help but enjoy the food that had been placed before her.
With her hunger taken care of, Rouge made her way back upstairs and took the time to lie down.
Knuckles was gone from the room, and she figured he was working on his novel or something business related. Closing her eyes, she laid on her back and willed the pain away long enough that she could rest.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Hours had past, yet she was still not finding it easy to get comfortable. Finally giving up, she got up and changed into the loaned pajamas, hoping she might be able to fall asleep out of sheer exhaustion.
Hearing the door opening, she noticed Knuckles come in and retreat to the bathroom- emerging a few moments later in his own pajamas.
Rouge sighed, begrudgingly moving to her edge of the bed as he came over and laid down.
It had been at least thirty more minutes, she was certain, yet even with the pain medication and the bandages, it was still hard to get comfortable. Wincing as she rolled yet again, she tried to find a way to lie without her side throbbing so badly.
That's when she heard a very quiet "here" and felt a pillow being held out to her.
"Knuckles?"
He said nothing, but let his pillow go in her hands.
"Are you capable of getting that arranged yourself?" He questioned after a moment of silence.
"Yes." She bit back.
Turning back, she placed the pillow along her side, and let a smile ease onto her face at the difference it made.
"That's much better…goddamn Eggman going and doing this to me…ugh I hate him for this…" Her inner tirade halted as she processed something. It was Knuckles' only other pillow which meant… "He gave up his pillow…for me?"
"Um…Knuckles?"
"Yes?" He questioned; voice at its usual tone.
"If I take this then you don't have a place for your head to rest, right?"
"I didn't figure you wished for me to use your chest like you had mine," Came the flat retort.
Rouge resisted the urge to say something spiteful and instead scooted closer to the edge.
Mimicking his angry-tone, she spoke up, "Here. I don't want you complaining about a headache in the morning."
Quirking an eyebrow not only at the mockery but at the offer, Knuckles frowned.
Without a word more from either of them, he moved over slightly towards her and accepted the offered use of the other half of the pillow that Rouge's head laid on.
"Well then, you can keep him company," Topaz's words rang inside her mind as the warm presence next to her settled down.
"You're just a loner in your home too, aren't you Knuckles?" She thought once again, then with a smirk added, "But it looks like you're stuck with me. Whether you or I like it or not."
----------------------------------------------------
Preview for next Chapter:
An encounter once again with Knuckles' friend leaves Rouge with some questions and not many answers; but with all of his friends now wanting to try and get in on the matchmaking mayhem, things are going to get interesting- very interesting.
