As always- please read, review and enjoy

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They say you can tell a lot about a person by who they consider their friends. Normally such a saying didn't matter one damn bit to me- but given the situation I was placed in, I must say- I protest.

True, I had only been around Mr. Personality himself for a few days, but that was enough for me to know that the two people on his doorstep were nothing like him. Hell, they were downright opposites. How in the hell people like that are supposed to help me understand someone as stubbornly stoic as Knuckles, I have no idea.

But, despite the oddity of it- these two called themselves his friends. And despite his outward appearance of not caring, he did allow them in. Which made me think that saying was a little wrong- it's not what the friends of a person tells you about them- it's the sides of the person you're allowed to see when they're around their friends.

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Chapter 13: Call Interrupted

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Beginning to realize this day was marked for disaster, Knuckles was just about to slam the door in their faces when the taller of the two stepped forward.

"I didn't know you had it in you, Knuckles."

Rouge froze on hearing the other voices, "Knuckles if you brought some of your stupid friends over to gawk at me, I'm going to come down there and kill you right now!"

"The towels are in the dryer!"

"But you just washed them the other day!" She retorted, moving up a few more steps as to be out of the viewing range of the strangers at the door.

"This household is only equipped to maintain one adult. Not two!"

"Oh shove it! I suppose I'll just have to let my hair drip dry…"

Eyes narrowing, he turned towards the stairs just about to forget about his visitors.

"If we're interrupting something, we can always just wait downstairs while you finish up," The black and yellow bee kid spoke again.

"Are you trying to get him to fire us?" The taller protested in a harsh whisper, "If he wants to be alone, we should respect that. Not everyone is like you and happy-go-lucky."

"What…why not?"

"Charmy…"The purple-chameleon warned, "No one besides you is generally that nicely comfortable."

"Espio. Charmy. You may wait in the kitchen while I attend to the issue here!" Knuckles stated loudly.

"You're…actually letting us stay without trying to slam the door in our face?" Charmy questioned.

"The supply of food here is low," He explained, beginning to head towards the dryer to retrieve a towel.

Rouge blinked, watching the exchange between the three men.

"Who are those two anyway? Employees? If so, you think they'd know better than to invite themselves over…"

With a shrug Knuckles disappeared into the hallway and the two strangers headed for the kitchen.

"We getting pizza or Chinese this week?" The chameleon questioned.

"Dunno. Knuckles actually has a visitor aside from us. Otherwise he wouldn't care."

"True. You really think she's his new secretary, Charmy?"

"It is strange that's she's here. He usually hates all his secretaries."

"Or they hate him. There was that one that said his lack of emotion was causing her mental problems, remember?"

"Oh yeah, her. I liked her."

"Charmy. You've always liked all of them."

The bee shrugged, "I prefer to reserve my taste to niceness."

Espio rolled his eyes, "You never change."

Smirking, he replied, "And we're friends just the same…right?"

"Not here," He said firmly.

"You're no fun," Charmy pouted.

"I don't want to get fired. We're lucky that he's taken this kindly to our weekly visits as it is."

"Weekly visits?" Rouge questioned inwardly, listening into the conversation, "So Mr. Hot Head does have some friends whether he'll admit it or not…"

But before the two could converse further, the phone began to ring.

"Should we…"

"Just let the answering machine get it," Charmy shrugged, "He probably doesn't want people to know he has visitors."

"Do you…try and hide that from the world, Knuckles?" Rouge pondered, "You don't want them to know you care…do you?"

Answering machine in the main hallway finally picking up, the white-haired bat girl heard the familiar voice of Knuckles' boss/friend coming over the line.

"Knuckles. It's not like you to not attend to the phone. Am I hoping too much in thinking that kiss earlier with the young lady wasn't as little as you made it? I expect a call when you are less occupied."

"Ugh. There goes his friends with the matchmaking crap again…" She sighed, "Must have something to do with them owning so much of the town. That or they're just worried about him in their own strange way…" Thinking over that last part again, Rouge hugged the towel about her closer, "I suppose that's what friends do. They worry about each other and want to see their children happily married with a family of their own. That's normal life. I'm the one with the friend issues here. Not him."

Returning with the small pile of dried towels, Knuckles' eyes narrowed as he realized who was in the household that overheard the message he missed.

Namely- two impish men who were currently sitting at his kitchen table grinning with mischief and obviously up to something.

"Now this will have to be addressed with them before the next business day," Knuckles thought to himself, "It's troublesome enough as it is. I don't need added complications to the matter."

Climbing up the stairs, he paused on seeing Rouge leaning against the wall.

"Rather impractical to stand out here!"

"After the fit you threw last time about dripping water on your floor, I figured I'd show you how minor it is," She retorted with a smirk, setting her aloof attitude back in place to hide her current pondering on the issue.

Handing over the towel, he stood there as she turned to go back and dry off properly.

That's when, he began to follow her.

"What do you think you're doing? I thought you got over that pervert phase, or are you just trying to show off for your friends?" Rouge retorted.

"Employees!" He corrected, then explained himself "And I believe you are still unable to bandage your injury alone!"

"Don't remind me," She glared.

"Also. I think it best we discuss some of the occurrences of this morning's outing!"

Rouge froze where she stood, "He means…"

"Given the injury at hand. It should be proper to inform me as to what we are dealing with."

"You mean my boss?"

"He seemed to be looking for you," Knuckles stated, going over and sitting on the bed.

Storming into the bathroom, she slammed the door.

"I don't want to talk about it, all right? He's not exactly my favorite subject."

"She's avoiding something," He remarked to himself, "Is she afraid if I know more that he'll seek me out as well?"

"Hey- where's the damned gauze at?"

Standing without a word, Knuckles walked over and grabbed the doorknob.

On hearing it turn, Rouge pressed herself against it.

"I asked for you to tell me, not show me."

"The shelf it is placed on would prove awkward for your stature!" He replied, beginning to use his shoulder to push at the door from his side.

"Just tell me where it's at!"

He increased his pressure on the door and Rouge's side began to feel sharp pains at the force. Despite her protests against it, she turned and pulled the door open.

But her sudden movement left Knuckles a victim of gravity and friction as the door was yanked open from the other side. Falling forward, he found himself with a face full of one of Rouge's more noticeable pieces of anatomy as they tumbled onto the ground.

Wincing as they both hit the floor, it took only a few seconds before Rouge registered where a certain red-furred echidna's face was.

"You!" Her voice rang out as she pushed him off her.

He narrowed his eyes, as he sat up, "If you were going to open the door, you should have done so in the first place!"

"… Off, you."

Eyes narrowing further, he began to reach out a hand in her direction.

She slapped it away.

"Just leave me the hell alone!"

Turning he stood and reached into one of the highest shelves of the cabinet and pulled down a roll of gauze.

Without a word more, he knelt beside her, a hand placed on her shoulder.

"I thought I said to…"

She was cut off as he spoke, "Moving hastily only causes more trouble in healing such injuries!"

Pausing, the anger left her face as she realized what he meant- her side was bleeding again, some of the cuts having been pulled open during the fall.

"Man…" She muttered.

"If you hate that man so much then why is he still controlling your actions?"

"What?"

"I told you. I'm not him," Knuckles said firmly, realizing the panic in her voice earlier was not so much directed at him as it was the mental impact of her boss on her.

Averting her gaze, Rouge pulled the towel closer around herself.

"This should be attended to," He said, gripping her arm.

"I know, okay!" She snapped back, her eyes full of the pain she was trying to hide.

"He's controlling her. Even now…Then, I suppose this reaction is only to be expected," He thought to himself, then moving closer to her, he reached up and grabbed the washcloth from the sink's ledge.

Saying not a word more, he gently began to wash away the blood that was seeping out from the wound on her side.

"Knuckles?"

He paused at his name, and looked up at her.

"What if… the scars won't heal?" She questioned, her mind thinking back on their earlier conversation.

"Then you are a weaker bat girl than I thought," He said simply and quietly returned to attending to the physical wounds.

As he stopped to put the washcloth back up in the sink, he felt a feather-light touch on his shoulder.

Realizing it was Rouge's other hand, he raised an eyebrow.

"Will you…" She swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry, "Will you help me fight him?"

The room fell silent, until finally Knuckles replied.

"Dealing with cowards is not something I enjoy doing."

Despite his words though, his lingering hand as he slowly removed her hand from his shoulder was enough for Rouge to understand.

"It'll be all right now. Eggman won't find me, and if he does… if he does- I…I have Knuckles on my side."

Standing, he stooped to pick her up.

"What are you doing now?" She protested, thrown by the sudden movement.

"It will be easier to attend to that with you on the bed."

Opening her mouth to retort, Rouge fell silent as Knuckles stepped out of the bathroom with her.

There in the bedroom's doorway were the two visitors- both smirking widely.

"What's wrong Knuckles? Not the type to have sex on the bathroom floor?" Charmy asked, his smirk barely containing his amusement.

Looking to Rouge's disheveled state with only a towel covering her, and realizing the last few lines could easily be mistaken, Knuckles leveled a glare on the two.

"Charmy!" He warned.

"Okay okay, let me guess- you have an explanation- right?"

"Attend to the food. It shall be explained in due time!" He stated firmly, leaving no room for protest or question.

"So- pizza or Chinese?" Espio cautiously asked.

Figuring he'd need some time to convince them of their mistake, Knuckles simply replied, "Both."

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Preview for next Chapter:

In order to keep the peace, Knuckles has to sit down and give a proper explanation to his employees in regards to Rouge. But sometimes you can read into words more than the speaker would want you to.