"Dear Journal:" wrote Shadow. "Last night, I had a dream about Maria. Unlike most dreams I have about her, I didn't wake up feeling like I wanted to die. Maybe this means I've gotten over the pain. Even so, I doubt I'll ever completely forget about the day she was killed, and I ESPECIALLY won't forget the promise I made to her. However, considering what's been going on in Emerald City, I find it somewhat difficult to…"

"Shaddy, breakfast is ready!" said Rouge.

Shadow put down his journal and headed for the kitchen/dining room, where he had breakfast and read the day's edition of The Emerald City Herald:

UNREST CONTINUES IN EMERALD CITY

"Since the news broke about the death of Ferdinand Rozmiarek, Emerald City has begun to look more like the set of a B movie rather than one of the most desirable places in the world for living: cars burning, shop windows being broken and tear gas being fired into unruly crowds have become common sights. Not even the administrative leave of Joseph Courtney – who has been identified as the officer who shot Rozmiarek – has been enough to placate those who call for increased police oversight.

'We sympathize with our citizens' concerns and have been proactive in implementing procedures to ensure that officers only use or display force when absolutely necessary,' said Chief Amanda Raine of the Emerald City Police Department. 'However, we cannot stand idly by as people cause anarchy in an attempt to make their concerns known. Our Department's motto is 'to protect and to care', and if we must arrest some people to protect others, we'll do it because we care about citizen safety.'

In spite of Raine's attempts to assuage citizens' fears, members of Human Lives Matter have taken to social media to raise awareness of issues surrounding police brutality. Mayor Ashley Lestrange and King and Queen Acorn have all expressed concerns that such engagements could encourage overseas travellers to the city to foment further unrest, with the former even promising 'unequivocal punishment for those who dare to soil our proud city in the name of justice.'"

Shadow put the paper down and continued eating without a word.

"Shaddy?"

"Yes, Rouge?"

"Are you OK?"

"I'm fine."

However, Rouge knew that Shadow was upset by what he read in the paper, so she got off of her chair and walked over to him. He noticed that she was expecting something from him, so he hopped out of his chair, too. Then, she hugged him.

"It's OK not to be OK," said Rouge. "If something's bothering you, I'm here to help."

"Thanks," said Shadow. "I just want people to be happy. That's not too much to ask for, is it?"

"No, it's not! It's a very sweet thing to want!"

"I should hope so, because it seems like I've been so close to happiness myself and now it's being taken away from me."

"Don't worry, honey! I'll make sure nobody will take away your happiness anymore!"

"You promise?"

"I promise!"

Shadow squeezed Rouge a little more tightly. It meant so much to him that, having given others a chance to be happy, he now had somebody else giving him a chance to be happy. Even if Emerald City was still in turmoil, at least his heart could rest a little more easily. Then, they backed away, although Rouge kept her hands on Shadow's shoulders.

"If you ever need me for anything – anything at all – just give me a call and I'll do what I can!" said Rouge. "You have that transponder, too. I might not always get back right away – especially if I'm on a mission – but I'll do my best, OK?"

Shadow nodded. "I believe you."

"Awesome! Now, let's finish breakfast and clean up, shall we?"

Once Rouge had left for work, Shadow got back to his journal and continued:

"…I find it somewhat difficult to keep that promise. Even so, with a woman like Rouge on my side, I think I might just be all right.

Speaking of Rouge, she's a very interesting character. Why she cares about somebody like me is still rather hard for me to understand. She says she cares about my feelings, and I won't doubt that, but the amount of time she spends with her hugs, the way she tickles me…it makes me wonder if she sees me as a friend or if she wants to get to know my body, and it's very hard for me to tell. Regardless, whatever happens, I'm willing to let it happen. Maybe we could make a beautiful couple, but considering she's not immortal like I am, maybe not. Rouge, if you're reading this, you can have my body if you want it that bad."

Shadow put his journal and the BiC pen he was writing with in the drawer of his nightstand. Then, he went up to the grassy patch in the rock garden again and began meditating. Once again, he was having no trouble finding his happy place, but when he looked into the river, his reflection seemed to stare back at him, and all of a sudden, it jumped out at him…

"Are we having an irenic sojourn, my dear Shadow?" said Mephiles.

Shadow snapped out of it before Mephiles could do anything else. He got to his feet and shook his head.

(OK, why did that happen? Mephiles couldn't have returned…could he?)

Shadow left the grassy patch and headed elsewhere in the spa, more specifically to a hot tub. He took his gloves, shoes and socks off and stepped in. It wasn't often that he used the hot tub, but he felt somewhat filthy after the encounter with Mephiles, and he figured this would cleanse his mind. While he didn't experience any immediate relief upon stepping in, he found the heat to be at a manageable level. As he soaked himself, he found his troubles melting away and wondered why he didn't do this more often. He wished that he could share this with Rouge, too. Once he'd had his fill, he exited the hot tub, dried off using a nearby towel and put his clothes back on.

Next, Shadow went to the mansion's basement, but rather than going to the sports arena, he went instead to the game room. Decorated with plain gray carpeting, a plain steel ceiling with industrial-grade high bay lights and a light blue wall with multicolored stripes, it was called "the game room" because it had a bunch of video games, including Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator cabinets, various kiosks with home video game consoles hooked up to period-correct TV sets and a lounge area with portable consoles. However, he was more interested in a corner where there were various custom-built PCs linked together for network play. After logging on to one of the machines, he opened up the original Driver, which didn't require a disc to play. When he got bored with slinging 70s muscle cars around the four cities in each game, he quit the game and spent some time playing NetHack.

Having hacked and slashed enough enemies for now, Shadow logged off, went up to the dining room and had two slices of leftover pizza, a leftover chili dog, another box of Swiss rolls and a bottle of Pure Leaf extra-sweet iced tea for lunch. After lunch, he retired to his bedroom, turned on his computer, opened up Allrecipes and looked for a good supper recipe to surprise Rouge with. After a bit of searching, he decided on a sweet and sour pork recipe. Once he printed the recipe out, he checked the kitchen to make sure that all the necessary ingredients were present. Pretty much the only things lacking were the pork itself and apple cider vinegar. Before leaving, Shadow went to find Omega.

"Omega, I'm going to get some groceries. You keep this place safe from intruders while I'm gone, understand?"

"DIRECTIVE UNDERSTOOD. PRIORITY DEFENSE: ROUGE'S MANSION."

Hesitant to go into Emerald City, Shadow instead went south to Quartz Village, which was closer anyways. He went to DGA, the local grocery store. After picking out some pork shoulder and apple cider vinegar, he brought it up to one of the checkout lanes, which was manned by a red wolf with white stripes.

"Hi, how are you?" said the cashier.

"I'm doing all right. And you?"

"Fine, thank you! Would you like to purchase a reusable bag for one Mobium?"

"Thanks, but I already have one."

Shadow handed the cashier a lime green cloth bag with a recycling symbol on it. She rang up his items and put them in the bag.

"Will there be anything else?" asked the cashier.

"That'll be all."

Shadow whipped out his wallet – a black leather number with the Black Arms emblem on it – and handed the necessary cash to the cashier, who gave him exact change and a receipt.

"Thank you!" said the cashier. "Have a nice day!"

"Yes, always."

Meanwhile, back at the proverbial ranch, Shadow proceeded to cut the pork shoulder into cubes. After doing so, he mixed together some salt, sugar, soy sauce, egg white and green onions, which he put the pork in. He then put a piece of plastic wrap over the bowl with the mixture and put it in the fridge. Next, he went to his room and pulled out another one of Sonic's tapes, "80S HAIR METAL VOLUME 1". This one included such classics as "Cum On Feel the Noize" by Quiet Riot, "Round and Round" by Ratt and "Foolin'" by Def Leppard.

By the time he'd finished rocking out, Shadow returned to the kitchen/dining room, poured some canola oil in a frying pan, pulled the pork out of the fridge and coated it with cornstarch. Once the oil had been heated to a sufficient temperature, he put the pork in and fried it until it was consistently browned, after which he put it on paper towels to drain out. Next, he broke out a wok, heated a little bit of oil in it and cooked some celery, green bell pepper and sweet onions, seasoning the veggies with salt and sugar before removing them from the heat. He was mixing together some water, salt, sugar, apple cider vinegar, ketchup and soy sauce in a large saucepan when he felt somebody wrap their arms around him from behind.

"Huh!?"

"You never told me you were cooking tonight!" said Rouge.

"Oh…of course not; I wanted to surprise you."

"Awww…you're so sweet! What's for supper?"

"You'll see."

Rouge took in a big sniff of what Shadow was making and let out a happy sigh before letting go of him and letting him continue his cooking. After bringing the vinegar mixture to a boil, he dumped the pork mixture, celery mixture and a can of pineapple chunks with juice into the saucepan. Once this was mixed and boiled, he stirred in some more water and cornstarch to thicken it. Eventually…

"All right, Rouge, it's ready."

"Awesome!"

And so, Shadow served up their food. After another prayer from him, they dug in and ate. Rouge let out a happy "mmmm" when she chewed her first piece.

"This is REALLY good!" said Rouge. "What is it?"

"It's sweet and sour pork. I got the recipe off the Internet."

"Oh, that's really nice of you! What made you want to surprise me with this?"

"To be honest, I'm not totally sure. I think I just felt that this would be a good thing to do for both of us."

Rouge smiled. "You know, you've come such a long way since we first met!"

Shadow raised his eyebrows. "Oh?"

"It's true! You used to be such a hardass, but ever since we came back from Soleanna, it's almost like you've been becoming a different person!"

Shadow lowered his eyebrows. "Nonsense. I'm mostly the same Shadow the Hedgehog; it's just that your influence has encouraged me to open up about my feelings more."

"What can I say? A woman can bring out the best in most any man!"

"I won't doubt that."

"You're too kind, you know that?"

"Rouge…"

Before Shadow could say anything further, Rouge got out of her seat and walked over to him. Not wanting to disappoint her, he stood up and let her hug him.

"Um…Rouge…"

"Yes?"

"Do you…like me?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's just…you're so touchy-feely with me that I have to wonder how you really feel about me."

Rouge said nothing at first. Then, she gave an enthusiastic "ah!"

"I get it! You're asking if I want to sleep with you!"

"I wouldn't have put it that indecently, but you could say that."

Rouge backed away so she could look Shadow in the eyes, but kept her hands on his shoulders.

"Honey, if I wanted to jump your bones, I would've done it by now! Even so, I do like touching you!"

"Oh…OK."

Rouge giggled before scratching Shadow in front of one of his ears, causing him to purr. He stood motionless as she did this, although he had to admit, it did feel good. She didn't do it for very long, but it was enough.

After supper, Shadow and Rouge went to the living room, where Omega awaited them.

"I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO SAY, ROUGE," said Omega. "SHADOW HAS ONCE AGAIN PROVEN HIMSELF TO BE WELL-BEHAVED."

"Omega, Shadow didn't program you with a snarkiness chip, did he?"

"NEGATIVE. HE REALIZES THAT SUCH EFFORTS ARE FUTILE."

"I'm pretending I didn't hear that," said Shadow.

After Shadow and Rouge sat down on the couch, she turned on the TV and flipped it to Channel 7, just in time for the evening news, much to his chagrin.

"Good evening, Mobius," said Reg. "In tonight's top news story, Julius Ryan – better known to residents of Emerald City as "The Dancing Cop" – was fired by the city for attending a pro-police rally at City Hall earlier today. Ryan claims that he did it as a response to a Dunkin' Donuts employee who wrote #HumanLivesMatter on his cup when he ordered a coffee."

The screen switched to Julius Ryan – the purple lion that Team Dark had witnessed at Griffith and Delaney.

"I believe in justice as much as the next guy," said Ryan, "and I spent thirty years of my life protecting and caring for the citizens no matter who or what they were. To be lumped in with a guy who fired a weapon at a potentially unarmed man during a traffic stop is just something I can't abide by."

This time, Shadow reluctantly let the news proceed, as much as he hated to let them go on.

Once again, Shadow spent some time writing in his journal before bed.

"Dear Journal: Something unfortunate happened while I was meditating. Don't ask me how or why it happened, but Mephiles intruded on the vision I'd brought up. I don't know if this means if he's back, but I don't like it. Speaking of liking stuff, Rouge really liked this sweet and sour pork I made for supper. I also asked her if she liked me romantically (I didn't use that last word), and she doesn't seem to see me that way, which is all right with me, although the idea of sex sounds really fun.

While we're talking about sex, I went to the grocery store in Quartz Village today, and there was this red wolf who was ringing my items up. For some reason, I wanted to pin her to the wall and make love to her. I've never thought of myself as a particularly sexual being, but I have to wonder about thoughts like that. Actually, if you want the truth, I wouldn't mind making love to a human, either. They're just as attractive as animals like me, and I don't see why people should be repulsed by the idea.

Speaking of things to be repulsed by, I was repulsed by tonight's top news story: that dancing cop I liked was fired by Emerald City merely for attending a pro-police rally. I'm in favor of justice too, but when citizens paint all public safety officials with the same brush because of the actions of a few bad apples, it disgusts me. Why can't those mortals have respect for each other? Is that too much to ask for? Hopefully not, or we're all doomed."

Shadow put his journal and pen away before going to bed. He didn't dream about anything in particular tonight, just random vague images that were on his mind at the time.

A/N: I apologize to anyone who was expecting this to be a Shadouge story and was disappointed when that got disproven. I promise I'll make that one up to you Shadouge fans.

Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.