Sorry for such a long break between updates, I've been having trouble trying to come up with positive things to write about given the current world we live in. I'm sorry its so short, I just wrote and wrote until I had at least five pages down. I'm not the most satisfied with this chapter. I might come back and rewrite it all when it's done. If it ever gets done.

If you have anything kind to say, don't wait until it's too late to say it. Remember to be kind.~Cosmo

Not planning on staying that long, he would've normally packed the second helmet he kept in his apartment. Shadow without warning plopped the dense cap over Tails' head.

The soft inside had no grip on Tails' fur and ended up slipping over his eyes.

"How do I look?" Tails asked facetiously.

Shadow knocked on the top of the helmet," safe."

Throwing his leg over the other side of the bike he directed," Now I want you to hold onto me, okay Tails? I don't want you to go flying off the back."

"I'm not a little kid!" Tails crossed his arms, the helmet falling over his eyes again.

MIT intellect, but the kit still couldn't figure out his way around a helmet strap. Shadow rolled his eyes," Of course not."

He said while tightening the strap under Tails' chin— making sure the kit could see properly.

Tails begrudgingly got on the back of the bike holding onto Shadow's waist. Then Tails remembered, "How are you gonna protect your head Shadow?"

"Easy," He smirked twisting the Dark Rider's throttle causing the engine to rev below the duo," I just won't crash,"

Tails felt his nose crinkle," This thing sure is loud!"

"Isn't your plane loud?"

"It's different!" Tails admitted, embarrassed by his comment.

In an instant Shadow took off down the road, causing Tails to cling to his torso tighter. The ride overall was smooth, the road had been repaved due to a battle hosted in the neighborhood not very long ago. Leaves seemed to cascade around them. It was awash in a gradient of the warm browns and oranges that made up the decaying trees.

Shadow loved the fall on earth much more than he could have ever imagined. The cold artificial air of the ARK seemed to be in the rearview.

He choked the throttle once more— receiving an equal burst in speed. Tails could never damage his pride so much as to admit it being scared though his body betrayed him by sweating bullets and his tails nervously fluttering away.

Picking a parking spot close toward the front, Shadow eventually coasted to a stop before throwing down his kickstand.

"So how did you like it?" Shadow posed to Tails, still feeling the little guy hanging on for dear life.

Tails pried his arms off of Shadow," No offense to your driving but I'll stick to flying."

A chuckle escaped him as the pair entered the store, the automatic doors sliding away. Tails yanked a sanitary wipe from the dispenser and hovered his hand over the selection of baskets.

"This isn't the lotto numbers kid."

Sticking out his tongue, Tails gestured for Shadow to move along," I have a system!"

It was as if Shadow walked in on the kit playing a pretend game— he seemed really embarrassed over anything. Shadow would say it's neurotic if Tails weren't ten.

After making his selection of plastic basket, he began to lead the way into the store. Deja Vu was fickle, especially for Shadow, but he still felt amused but the concept even in the little things. Such a grocery store chain having almost an eerily similar floor plan from store to store, but with the condition that only certain aisles were in an alien place.

The little things, Shadow couldn't help but find funny.

The crowd for the store was decent, especially for a Friday morning. Mostly housewives, Mobian and Human alike, attempting to prepare for the next week of school, a whole week's worth of meals. Perhaps the earlier they could get there the more likely the crowd would've cleared. Great minds and all that.

Glancing over his shoulder Tails asked aloud," do you need anything?"

Shadow found himself staring at a Human woman stopped in the middle of everyone's way. Directly in front of the checkout area, she had been called from her shopping to soothe her crying child. The open hysterical sobs fought the store's radio. Echoing sharply off of the linoleum floor. Every patron seemed to go quiet around the scene. She was bouncing the toddler in her arms— the child on the other hand unresponsive, completely besides themself. The child attempted to detach to their best ability leaning their large head backward— wriggling out of the mother's grip.

Though the woman appeared to be used to this routine as she had a steadfast grip on the child's upper back. The mother didn't even seem to care about the outburst, she was intently focused on calmly cooing and softly chanting to subdue the child.

How do they do it? Shadow wondered. He had no natural instincts when it came to kids. When he heard that baby crying all he could think was 'oh god, someone brought a baby.'

"Ooo discount on dish soap! Score!"

Tails' little voice reminded Shadow that he only had to look after one kid for the day. The fox didn't even seem phased by the baby, despite his big satellite dish ears. Didn't even so much as twitch. Tails reached up, "I forgot this store wasn't particularly mobian friendly."

Shadow being the taller attempted to grab the bottle while straining, "It could just be- you are a child and store shelves typically don't cater to that demographic."

"Shadow how tall are you?"

"... don't worry about it." Shadow hopped one time for good measure, before resigning, "I'm sure we can find someone to reach it for you."

He didn't want to embarrass himself any further, Shadow raised his hand trying to locate an apron-clad checker,"Uh-"

Tails shrugged, "it's not that important, we can just round back."

Suddenly, a large bottle of soap dropped into Shadow's hands.

"No need to fear, team Chaotix is here."

"Vector!"

"Charmy!"

"Espio!"

"... and-" Silver let go of the bottle from his psychokinesis, "Silver…?"

Vector clapped Silver on the shoulder, "See? Your timing is getting better!"

Shadow didn't vocalize it but- his initial thought was 'I've solved the mystery of the missing clowns.'

"Charmy?!" Tails greeted

"Tails!" Charmy nearly tackled his friend to the ground.

Shadow crossed his arms, He reminded, "Please remember you are in a public place."

Tails chuckled," Sorry Shadow." That only lasted a few minutes before Charmy and Tails began chatting loudly and pulling silly faces at each other.

Silver stared at Shadow quizzically, "I didn't know you were into the babysitting game."

"Oh- er- I'm not, we're uh running errands," Shadow scratched his cheek, "I didn't know you were in the private detective game?"

"Me? Nah, no way, these guys were nice enough to let me stay with them for a bit after the…" Silver trailed off, "Y'know? The war."

Shadow gave a nod to his junior, "It seems like the world can hardly save itself without the trio around."

"Ah, I wouldn't say that," Silver humbled himself, "It seems like you and Sonic have it pretty well secured around here."

Shadow found himself bristling. He wasn't sure if Sonic had told anyone else about them. He was perfectly fine being discrete, Sonic on the other hand seemed to be flexible. Sometimes Sonic is fine with people knowing, sometimes not. Shadow was very decisive, rolling with the punches, socially, wasn't his strong suit.

The psychic pressed his hands together, "It's… it's kind of sad that the only time I get to see you all is when things are crazy."

"Are you sure you couldn't just stay here? After all, Blaze is here too," Shadow pointed out.

Silver said all he needed to in a look. Silver twitched. His face fell. As if with a simple eye movement Silver unleashed months of sleepless nights, waves of tears, deliberation, bargaining, begging, pleading. He gave an awkward smile, before looking down at the floor helplessly as if it would absorb him.

"She's not the same…" Silver elaborated through a half-hearted glove adjustment, "Different dimensions. She doesn't even remember me."

Before Shadow could stumble through an apology the same way he stumbled into Silver's emotional wounds, Vector pointed a finger at Shadow, "Say did you pass on my resume to GUN? After all, flatfoot, you owe me and my boys here."

"Vector…" Shadow warned.

Espio scrolled through a phone," It looks like he has passed on both of our resumes."

The hedgehog snatched back his device which Espio pickpocketed, "Yes I did, not because I think you have any actual talent for my line of work, but because I'm nice."

This got a laugh from the collective of Team Chaotix. Vector snorted, "Nice? Really? Is that what you think?"

Espio quietly chittered, "You aren't nice. Knuckles is nice. You are tolerable on a good day."

"Shadow is super nice!" Tails attested, "He's helping Sonic take care of a Chao egg."

The grownups all hushed. Shadow felt his expression tighten.

Silver queried again," So you're sure you're not a babysitter?"

"I'm- it's… it's complicated," Shadow finally admitted.

Silver, Vector, and Espio all grimaced. There was complicated how the rest of the world knew it, then there was Shadow complicated.

"Actually," Shadow held his chin, "This could be beneficial. See Sonic and I found this Chao egg while we were… uh- ha… we were on a walk."

"A walk?" Espio pointedly asked.

Deflecting, Shadow continued his story, "We were on a walk and we found an orphaned Chao egg."

"Why were you and Sonic on a walk?" Vector put his hands on his hips.

Tails interjected annoyed that Shadow had been ignoring the question, "Sonic and Shadow are boyfriends now."

Shadow's lips pursed, he felt as though his eye went bloodshot. He couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't blinking.

Silver patted Shadow on the back," Good for you, man. That's so good! I'm so happy for you-

"Wow…" Espio glued his eyes to a phone that suddenly appeared in his hand, "I guess that explains why 'My Star' has the same phone number as Sonic."

Shadow yanked back his phone, "Stop doing that!"

Charmy fluttered towards him excitedly chirping, "Can I be the ring bearer at the wedding?"

All the voices echoing and reflecting off of each other. Way too many questions, congratulations, the fluorescent lights and noise- and that baby was still crying! It hadn't stopped since they walked in and Shadow was pretty sure he was the reason why.

He balled his fists next to his head

"Boys!" Shadow roared.

The grocery store seemed to finally silence itself. Bystanders looking at him. Staring at him. Was he sweating?

Shadow collected himself, "Is Team Chaotix up for a real case?"