Now- as always, please read, review and enjoy
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So there I was, thrown haphazardly from my life of torment into the not-so-willing arms of one Knuckles the Echidna. Deep down, I don't think either of us were that pleased with the current arrangement- but he had his friend/boss to please and I had my boss to avoid, so we were just stuck. Stuck with each other whether we liked it or not.
The strange thing was, despite his outward air of trying to hide from any other breathing creature, he was actually reacting quite well to having me in house. Then again, the fact I had a side full of glass might have been a sympathy factor, but it seemed to be something else.
But what really threw me was not his actions, but what happened the next morning. Damned guy got me worked up over nothing… but I did find out something else interesting. That he wasn't just following boss's/friend's orders completely after all…
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Chapter 9: Ring Ring Again
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The bedroom door swung open slightly as a lone figure stepped in.
"I see we had an enjoyable night's sleep," The voice said, a light air of amusement to it.
Knuckles slowly opened his eyes, bringing the figure of his friend standing at the bedside into focus.
He glared, then on noting the clock reading four a.m. he intensified the glare.
"Unless you'd care to explain this visual to me in clearer terms," The elder crocodile continued.
Frowning, Knuckles took in his situation. During the night, he'd moved to where he was laying flat on his back, and Rouge- most likely due to her injury he concluded, had rolled over to rest her head on his chest.
"Things aren't always as they seem," He muttered.
"Then what are they?" His friend countered.
"She was injured!" Knuckles shouted, figuring that would explain everything.
Smirking slightly, Vector realized it would be best not to push the issue any further.
"I need to speak with you about something important."
Raising an eyebrow, Knuckles awaited what was to be said.
"Perhaps we'd best step out in the hallway. I wouldn't want her disturbed. What with her injury and all."
Glaring on noting the mockery of his reasoning, the red-furred echidna slowly laid Rouge's head on the pillow and made his way over to where his friend stood.
Stepping out into the hallway, Knuckles closed the door partially behind him.
"I suppose you have a valid reason for waking me this early."
Reaching into the front pocket of his suit, Vector pulled out three small objects and handed them to Knuckles.
"Your Mother instructed me to give these to you when I felt you were ready for them."
Opening his hand slowly, his eyebrows furrowed on seeing what it was.
"This is."
"The rings from your Mother and Father."
Face returning to a thoughtful frown, Knuckles regarded them.
"I know you don't remember your Mother that well. But, she always wished that you would find someone that could tolerate you. Even as a young boy you were never very sociable."
Using his thumb, Knuckles nudged the rings in his palm. There were three- his Mother's two, and his Father's.
"Knuckles. You have made it quite clear that you are content alone. But for your Mother's sake, at least give this woman a chance."
"I see I don't have a say in the matter!" Knuckles retorted.
"No. I'm not forcing you into anything. She's hired as your secretary, but that's all I'm requiring. Her residency here and any further involvement with you is your choice, man."
Thinking over the conversation and the previous day's events, Knuckles frowned. "Her only other plausible residency is with her boss," His frown deepened on recalling the pieces of glass he'd removed from her side, "It is not my fault that she has involved me in her life."
Knowing his friend was awaiting an answer, he gave one, "She has no money."
"So you're going to let her stay?"
"Only a heartless guy would send her back home," His thoughts remarked. Then on thinking that over, he noted, "Plus I don't want to bother with removing glass from her side again."
"I suppose you'll be wanting to go somewhere with us today then," Knuckles replied, turning a bit towards his door.
Smiling on realizing that his friend had indeed said 'yes' to letting Rouge stay, the elder crocodile replied, "I'll return with Vanilla and the others in a couple of hours. We need to get your secretary proper attire for her work."
"Understood," Knuckles muttered, going back in his room, and shutting the door behind him.
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Rouge quickly shut her eyes and feigned sleeping as fast as she could on seeing Knuckles coming back into the room.
Still regarding the rings in his hand, he sat on the edge of the bed, not noticing that Rouge had overheard more than he would have wished her to.
"Why? Why is he being open to me? Letting me of all people into his usually secluded life?" Rouge's mind questioned, then she added, "And why the hell is he still being so damned cryptic about everything? What the hell is going through that head of his anyway?"
"Rouge," He said simply to himself.
Hearing her name, she froze. Heart hitching a few beats, her mind raced, "Okay, now he's thinking about me…But what about me? He's…he's still looking at those rings, right?"
"Rouge," Knuckles said again, voice still in its grumpy emotionless state as he turned to look at her from the corner of his eye.
On hearing the shift on the bed, the white-furred bat girl's mind was a whirlwind of thoughts, "This can't be happening. There is no way in hell that that man would just start liking me out of the blue. Hell, he saw me butt-ass naked and it didn't even faze him one bit, so there's definitely no attraction here whatsoever. But then…why does he keep saying my name and why…"
Her thoughts stopped completely as she felt the warm feeling of his hand resting on her arm.
Rolling her gently onto her back, he moved his hand to her shoulder, his thumb grazing the side of her neck as he settled his weight beside her on the bed.
"Okay personally- fairytales can you-know-what off, but if he tries to kiss me to wake me up…I swear to the gods, I will punch him," Rouge's mind insisted.
"Rouge," He shook her gently this time.
She waited, the room falling silent.
"Rouge," Knuckles said yet again, then continued, "Wake up."
Eyes shooting open and leveling him with a glare, she yelled at him, "What the hell do you think you're doing! Trying to get the best of me while I'm sleeping, eh? Get away from me!"
Fuming, she pushed him- though not quite as hard as she had intended to.
"Damn bastard! All that 'Rouge' shit and all he was trying to do was wake me up. Damn it all!"
Glaring at a spot on the wall, she came to realize something, "And goddamnit if I'm not upset that he didn't kiss me. Shit. What has he done to my brain! He's got me acting like some Barbie doll ready to pounce on Ken. Damn him to hell."
"Is there a problem?" Knuckles asked on seeing her sitting there and still not moving.
"I was woken up at," She checked the clock, "At the butt-crack of dawn why?"
"I wanted to give you something!" He shouted.
"Give me…" Her thoughts halted on remembering that he still had the rings in his hand, "That's it. I'm having a messed up nightmare. Someone please wake me up before I start enjoying this see-saw torment for my heart rate…"
"Okay, and what the hell do you want to give me at four in the morning?"
Knuckles paused, and she continued to glare.
"Well what is it?"
"Here!" He shouted handing it over.
She slowly opened her hand, and stared in shock at the two small objects there.
"What is this?"
Sighing slightly, Knuckles replied, "Your pain medication should have worn off by now. Excuse me for thinking you'd want more!"
Rouge glared at the two small white pills in her hand, then to the red-furred echidna nearby.
"Well I need water to take it with."
Heading for the bathroom, he stopped a moment to sit the three rings on the top of the dresser.
Rubbing at her temples, Rouge took a deep breath and exhaled, "When am I going to learn I shouldn't expect shit out of him…"
Looking up at the sound of him returning, she reached out and took the glass from him. Quickly taking the two pills, she sat the glass on the nightstand.
"There. I took them, are you happy now?"
"We can sleep for a few more hours. Then we have things to do."
Rolling her eyes, she laid back on the pillows, "Fine. Whatever. Just…shit." She exclaimed on hitting her injured side. "The bastard was right. Damn medicine has worn off…"
Lying down beside her, Knuckles frowned on hearing her curse at her side. Moving over to where he was near the pillow they had been sharing, he placed a hand on her shoulder.
Before she could protest, he'd pulled her head down to rest on his chest again.
"This is rather irritating- but I suppose your drool is better than you cursing every five seconds until the medicine begins to work!"
Rouge frowned, and shot a glare up at him, "I don't drool, thank you very much."
He moved the other pillow up behind her back.
"Irritating woman. She's going to be a royal pain to take care of until that injury heals."
"Sleep. We have a long day ahead of us."
"I'll sleep when I feel like it, so there." She protested, yet with a yawn she began to let her exhaustion from the night before take her over again.
Still being tired himself, Knuckles loosely kept his hand on the pillow behind her to keep it from slipping as he too closed his eyes and fell back asleep.
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A few hours later, Knuckles stirred on hearing his alarm going off. Glaring at it since he couldn't reach it, he turned on seeing the door open and his friend step in.
"I see you're back."
"I see you're awake," He stated simply, "If anything she encourages you to sleep in more."
Frowning, Knuckles began to nudge Rouge awake.
"What?" She asked calm as ever.
"I believe I told you we had things to do today."
"I'm certain we can conserve time if you both just opt to join each other in the shower," Vector remarked casually.
"Excuse me?" Rouge fumed, sitting upright.
"Dear, don't torment them," A soft female's voice spoke up from the doorway.
"Vanilla," He regarded her simply.
Walking over to where Rouge laid, the brown/blonde-furred bunny woman extended a hand, "I'm Vector's girlfriend. A pleasure to meet you, Miss Rouge is it?"
Nodding in reply, the white-furred bat girl loosely shook her hand.
"Come on, I'll help you get changed in the bathroom. I brought an old outfit of mine for you to borrow for today."
Shakily standing, Rouge allowed Vanilla to help her up.
"Honestly dear, if Knuckles was to join her in the shower that wouldn't save us any time at all," She remarked passing by her husband, "That friend of yours might finally register his hormones and they'd be in there all day."
Blinking, the young bat girl looked to Vanilla, "Damn. Is everyone in his family this desperate to get him laid?...Hey! Wait a minute, and since when did I become the choice female here!"
Sensing Rouge tense, Vanilla placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, "Don't pay any mind, I'm just teasing."
She walked with her into the bathroom and closed the door behind them.
"Though, I can't say it wouldn't please me to see him settled down with someone. He's awfully lonely whether he'll admit it or not. And I thought our friend Sonic had girl problems…"
Smiling at the bunny woman's heartfelt words, Rouge nodded, "He is kinda lonely, isn't he?"
"Well perhaps we can fix that, right?" Vanilla said with a smile.
Rouge looked to the door, then back to the other woman, "I suppose…well…who knows."
"I think you know better than you're willing to admit," Vanilla thought to herself on seeing the expression on the other woman's face, "But I'm sure you two will figure it out in time."
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Preview for next Chapter
A trip to get Rouge some clothing seems simple enough. But with the all Knuckles' friends coming along, both Rouge and Knuckles are going to find themselves being pushed together more than they'd like.
