A/N Hello again. Hope you're all enjoying your lives. I've honestly been exhausted from work. Had my times slightly changed, and due to some automated systems coming in people are getting moved around and I might just lose a ton of hours, that's good and bad. Less money but more relaxation time.

Ps, I'm Canadian not British

Anyway enjoy.

After their talk Silver and Blaze decided to make something for everyone. Since it wasn't too past lunch time they saw no harm in calling it that. Though the old kitchen had been ruined with age and damage.

"Maybe Tails picked up some supplies that could help us getting everything running again. I think their was plenty of natural gas to fuel the oven" Blaze thought aloud.

"Better hope so, I'm starving" Silver smiled "Let's go talk to him, see if he's willing to use his parts for it?"

The purple cat gave him and nod and they walked over to his workshop.

It felt a little selfish to be using the supplies for luxuries but it felt like they were gonna be here awhile rebuilding back their strength, one days supplies wouldn't hold them back too much considering they were in a city of near infinite scrap.

The hedgehog knocked and within a minute Tails appeared at the door. He was out of his armor wearing a dirty white shirt and pants they'd become accustom to seeing him wear.

"Hey what'cha need?" Tails asked opening the door further and leaning against the frame. Behind him Silver could Fiona still messing around with the stuff he'd collected on his work bench.

"Well Blaze and I were thinking about getting the kitchen back together, but then realized everything had degraded and had been broken. So we were hoping you'd be able to spare some time and parts to fix the kitchen up" He looked nervous while he asked.

Tails listened and took a moment to think about it running his options through his head. He had plenty of scrap, and even if he needed more there were tons of parts around the city.

"Well laying low for now might be useful. If we look like we've stood down and went into hiding Eggman might somewhat forget about us. Besides I doubt I'll be making a full arsenal anytime soon… so sure I guess I could do that. Maybe fix this whole place up along the way" The idea of fixing the whole building up and making it a home against made the fox smile.

"Alright awesome" Silver smiled and his stomach growled.

Tails just chuckled "I guess you need me to do it now?"

"Well didn't want to be rude"

"No worries, here tell ya what, unhook everything from the kitchen and uses your powers to bring them back here" the door was extra large to allow larger stuff to get inside.

"Got it, but what about the gas and electricity?" The hedgehog asked.

"I can work on that too, I'll use some extension cords going from the generator to the kitchen, as for the gas all I got to do is make sure all the pipes are still intact then turn on the gas reserves in the basement" Tails explained.

"Alright, great. Guess we'll wait a bit" Silver shrugged; guess there wouldn't be a real lunch today.

"Don't worry, as long as no complications happen, I'll get it all done for a late dinner" Tails reassured for the sad looking hedgehog.

It brightened him up and looked to Blaze "Guess we'll have to kill some time after I move everything over here" Silver shrugged.

The cat nodded back and headed back to the kitchen.

While they did that Tails explained what was going on to Fiona. She didn't seem to mind. She liked the idea of getting the place back together. Besides that it was nice to have a reason to be alone with him and do something he enjoyed with him.

Silver had already brought over most of the kitchen to the shop before Tails got to work. Everything was old and either rusting or slowly degrading. Although that didn't really stop the fox. His expert mechanical skills allowed him to slowly fix the problems with the equipment.

It was still relatively hard work and pushed his creativity quite a bit. He'd have to bypass certain things or even rewire stuff and used the unused wires to extend the length of any others that were too short.

As for parts, he was pretty ok with that. Only once or twice did he not have what he needed. Those were now on his shopping list.

Fiona helped out with handing over tools he asked for but eventually helped him out. She wanted to learn what she could. He quickly took notice and began explaining what he was doing, so she could understand.

He was ahead of his mental timer so instead of doing all the work he'd ask her to do some of the simpler stuff. He'd direct her explaining what she'd have to do. In the past she had always been resourceful and adaptable in the past so she actually picked up most of it very quickly.

"Hey you ain't half bad" Tails smiled to her.

"Thanks, I guess a bit of you rubbed off on me" she chuckled.

"Well you're helping me save a lot of time. So I wouldn't mind you helping me with other projects, assuming I think you can handle it" He said making sure she'd know he'd keep her off jobs he knew was too advanced.

"I bet having a sexy assistant is one of your fantasies right?" Fiona teased the male.

Tails sheepishly smiled and blushed "… Maybe…. But you don't got the lab coat or glasses unfortunately" he chuckled nervously.

"Eh maybe I'll find something later" she gave him a sly smile looking back at him. His face told her that he'd like that a lot.

Tails tried to not look like he was fantasizing, it wasn't working. He got back to work and soon relaxed again. Another hour and it looked like they were done.

"Alright, guess we should go find Silver so he can get the stuff back to the kitchen" Tails wiped his hands with a rag then tossed it onto the work bench.

With that Fiona gave a nod also cleaning her hands then headed out to find the young hedgehog "I'll get him"

With that she was off and jogging down the hallway looking around for the male. She'd occasionally call his name. She remembered to keep her voice down, Shadow didn't like people being too loud. Afraid that the sound would escape to the dead city and alert the eggbots to their position.

Luckily she found him quickly. He was sitting against a wall just talking to Blaze.

"Hey you two. Tails and I finished everything so start moving it all back. Be careful though some of that stuff is barely holding together" the fox explained.

Silver just nodded getting to his feet "Got it, I'll have everything back in a few minutes"

Fiona left to go tell Tails "Alright so he is going to go get it done. Don't we need to get the gas running?"

"Yes, you remembered that. That's pretty easy. There's a hose near the emergency tank, I just need to attach it the main line and we'll have gas for a good while" he was already heading for the basement.

Fiona followed having nothing else better to do. As they left Silver was already lifting stuff to take it back to the kitchen.

He realized she was following and stopped "You don't really need to follow me down here just to connect a hose"

She crossed her arms "Ya but I want to, besides you want me to go away. I thought you like having gorgeous little me around" she teased.

He stared at her for a moment and conceded "Ya you're right, come on" he chuckled. The fox continued down the stairs and made his way deep into the basement. It was kinda dark besides some dim lights spread out along the ceiling. There was tons of old boxes filled with junk. Tails had it on his to-do list to go through it all. Unfortunately despite wanting to look through the stuff he could also see most boxes were empty or purposely damaged and the contents destroyed.

He continued on hearing the footsteps of Fiona still behind him until they reached a large tank. He smiled finding the tanks gauge was still filled. It seemed Eggman hadn't messed with it like everything else. Quite lucky.

He looked around behind the tank and pulled out a tied up hose.

"I was the one who originally proposed this idea back when I was around. If the gas ever went out we'd have a tank ready to use. Although when I proposed the idea it was more for convenience than for a disaster situation. After it got approved I realized it could be used for more dire situations so I made a bigger tank that could last a long time" that explained why the tank was huge.

"I'm sure it was one of those plans that you didn't want to see used" she asked.

He simply nodded as he attached one side of the hose to the tank and slowly walked across the room with the other end of the hose until he reached pipe coming from the ceiling. It stopped just above the floor and curved away from the wall.

The fox attached the other end of the hose to the pipe and nodded with a smile "There, done" He looked to Fiona "Looks like we'll have actually coked meals for awhile"

She chuckled back "You seem so confident that our patch jobs will definitely work, and that no damage came to the pipes"

Tails fired back "Oh have you lost faith in me already?"

"Yes just a little" she smirked.

"That hurts" he pretended to be hurt clutching his chest but headed back for the stairs. Fiona followed right behind and soon the duo were back in the kitchen.

Silver was just finishing up moving everything in there. Tails then reconnected everything to the walls "Alright everyone, prepare to see magic" apparently he was really confident he had fixed everything.

So Blaze turned the gas on the oven. It seemed they had some good luck as the sound of gas started up so Blaze quickly ignited it before it spread too far into the air.

Fiona sighed and said "Don't get a big head Tails"

"Then where is my big brain gonna go?" he smirked. The comment earned him a slight smack on the back of the head "Ok I'll stop now" he chuckled revealing he was just joking.

Silver then said "Well I guess Blaze and I can get to work then. Good job you two" Blaze agreed with the male and congratulated them as well. Both walked off to go get something to make.

"Well that was a much less depressing way to spend the afternoon" Fiona smiled. She was glad they didn't spend the whole day worrying about what was going on outside and working on stuff to further their progress on saving the people of Mobius. That sounded incredibly selfish, but they'd go stir crazy with nothing to do and warm meals helped the moral.

"As much as I'd want to be working towards our big goal I can't help but agree with you on that" he smiled warmly watching her "It was also nice being able to just hang out and teach you some of my work"

She smiled back and shrugged "Well, I mean besides the dirt and sut on my hands and fur I enjoyed it more than I expected"

"Had I know you were that quick of a learner I'd have tried to include you in my projects more often"

She chuckled wanting to make a bad joke about her hand work but decided against it "I think back then I'd have declined anyway, but I guess it's a good idea to learn and contribute in more ways now a days"

"Fiona you are a valuable part of thos team you know" he frowned thinking she was selling herself short again.

She smiled warmly, god he was so caring "No, that's not what I meant. I mean it's better we all learn things to give us some options our work isn't restricted incase we suddenly have to crunch for time"

"Oh I see" he nodded "I can agree with that. Just make your you don't lose a hand. You probably noticed a long time ago when we met again after I finally let you in the base my hands were healing from cuts and burns"

She frowned but nodded remembering that "I'll make sure to do that"

"Good" he nodded sternly then paused "So how should we wait for dinner to be made?"

"Well we were organizing the scrap you brought back when Silver stopped by, that could kill some time?"

"That's a good idea" Tails said already making his way back. As the two left Silver and Blaze re-appeared and were carrying cooking supplies.

"Good news, we're making spaghetti and meatballs" Silver explaimed.

Blaze spoke afterwards "I have never tried this spaghetti and meatballs, but Silver says they are a classic combination"

Fiona nodded "Well he ain't lying, and to be honest that sounds great"

Fiona was about to keep going but Tails seemed to have something on his mind "Tails, how did you learn to cook?"

Silver shrugged but explained "I helped out around the orphanage, including with cooking. Honestly it became obvious the older I got I wasn't gonna be taken by anyone anyway" he explained, it was kinda obvious but older kids had low adoption rates "So I knew I'd have to learn to take care of myself"

Everyone frowned, but he didn't seem too depressed. He'd clearly gotten over most of his past.

"Anyway, we got to get working or people will be asleep by the time we're finished" Silver said continuing on with his cheerful attitude.

"Alright, we won't bother ya. Just let us know if there's a problem with anything, we'll try to fix it if we can" Tails explained then began walking away.

Both the cat and hedgehog nodded and quickly got to work.

"This is gonna be good, I promise" Silver said putting stuff down on the counter.

Blaze smiled remembering when they were down there. Silver was looking over what they had and kept mumbling ideas to himself. When he mumbled out spaghetti and meatballs she had asked to explain that one. After that he realized she'd never had them and got excited and decided right there that would be dinner.

"I am confident you made the right choice, and I'm sure everyone will enjoy it as well.

"Thanks, ok so we need to boil some water for the pasta. You go and do that, I'll get the meatballs ready.

With that the hedgehog got to work preparing the food while Blaze got the water ready to boil. Surprisingly she didn't do much cooking, but she didn't let Silver know that. This was easy stuff though. She filled the pan, light the gas and started to boil it. Silver then instructed her to just poor the noodles in and let them loosen up.

In no time both the pasta and meatballs were cooking.

"You are very comfortable in the kitchen" Blaze said, it came out as semi awkward compliment.

"Ya, thanks" he blushed a little getting a compliment from her always made him feel better than anyone else "Like I said I just grew up into it"

She smiled again, a little amused by his excitement "I wonder if you'd be a professional cook had things not gone so bad"

He shrugged back "I thought about it, but I'd need a lot of money to even consider learning from a school" he frowned knowing that where he grew up heavily handicapped him.

"You are resourceful, I am sure you'd have found a way"

"I'm only resourceful because Shadow taught me how to better focus and think about what I'm doing. I was far more scattered brained back then"

His humbleness made her smile "Well I bet he gave gave you a lot of confidence as well?"

"Sort of. I was outgoing when it came to just talking to people. I liked helping the other kids and caretakers when I could. I can tell you that me even thinking of telling you how I felt about you was one of the hardest things I've ever done" He blushed explaining that and his eyes shifted away from her to avoid her gaze.

Blaze was a surprised by this, how could he have been scared? He knew what was going on, she didn't. She had no idea she had feelings for him too, she ran away when she close to revealing them. Why was he scared?

"What made you so afraid to tell me?" her curious eyes watched as he slowly looked back. He looked a little puzzled actually, wasn't it obvious.

"Well I mean… everyone always told me that telling someone your feelings for them is hard. Not because it's hard to say, but because you are afraid of them not accepting them. Then to add to that they reject you then avoid you because they are now afraid of the awkwardness. It just usually goes badly when you tell someone that and they don't feel the same" he frowned looking down now.

She was about to reply but then he continued "And then I realized, I'm just some guy… and you're the guardian of the Sol emeralds and royalty. What would someone like you want with me?" he felt so pathetic talking about this.

Blaze now felt the need to apologize, like she had done something wrong, but she didn't do anything wrong. "Silver I'm sorry if my titles and status intimidated you"

"It's not your fault" he quickly shot back "Nowhere close to being your fault. I mean how can you choose or not choose to be those things? I just needed to get over my fear that's all…. And hope you felt the same…. It'd be kinda awkward if I said that and then you said no and we'd have to continue fighting together…. And living together"

She understood what he was saying and was glad he said she wasn't at fault. It lifted some weight off her mind.

She then said softly "I should be thanking you. Having someone… in this terrible time… it's comforting"

"Blaze, no thanks are needed because my thanks cancels yours out" he chuckled trying to make her smile a little "I need to thank you for even giving me a chance and well…. Being amazing I guess" chaos that sounded super sappy.

It was now Blazes turn to blush and avert eye contact for a moment, people rarely said such nice things to her. It made her feel a warmth that wasn't the fire that blazed inside her. A fire that was far more comforting and welcoming. It forced her to smile.

"Silver, you flatter me" she managed to say.

"It's not really flattery if it's true" he said seeing he was on a roll.

Blaze's blush intensified "I… well… I don't…. Thank you…. you are…. Amazing as well" her brain was everywhere now and the only word she could use to describe him was the word he used.

She looked adorable, her normal calm visage had been broken and Silver loved it. Sadly he had to turn back to the food and work on it.

It was almost a relief for Blaze, she could compose herself and get her bearings back. Silver was far too good to her.

Silver worked and was nearly done after a short amount of time, and asked her to go find everyone.

She nodded and walked off to inform the others. She knew where to find Tails and Fiona. Nicole was in the systems like she normally was when she had nothing else to do. Apparently she was working strengthening the security, recovering and rebuilding files that had been damaged and keeping general surveillance. She may not have been able to eat but leaving her out felt rude. Blaze found Shadow after some searching around. Scourge was the hardest to find. He wasn't even in the building when she started her search. He never told anyone he was leaving, but Blaze found him when she went back to the kitchen. He'd just come back and smelt food beating her back.

The cat wasn't going to question it since she felt really hungry now. She got her serving from Silver and said "It looks very good Silver. I am sure it will taste just as good"

"Thanks" he nodded.

So the group all sat down. It almost felt like a family dinner.

Fiona, Tails, Silver and Shadow all ate normally. Since Blaze had never tried this she not only had to figure out how to spin the spaghetti. It wasn't that hard and soon she actually took a bite.

After swallowing she nodded with a smile "It seems you were right, this is good"

Silver looked happy to hear her say that then looked to Scourge. He was eating properly, if a little fast. He was also curious why he and Nicole weren't speaking like they normally did, or more specifically Nicole spoke and Scourge atleast pretended to listen. He wondered what was going on.

"As always, your cooking is above par" Shadow commented.

Silver was taken from his thoughts and looked to his mentor "Thanks" he hadn't cooked much since he met Shadow, he was usually preoccupied with learning to be a hero. Although he did occasionally make something from time to time. People they used to live with and protect always enjoyed it when he managed to make their meager supplies into something good.

Silver continued to think about Nicole, she seemed…. Off.

Sadly he didn't know how to ask about it and simply let the dinner continue without any drama.

Instead his wandering eye observed everyone else. He noticed Tails and Fiona were talking, not that it was strange. The two had come a long way since the day he met the two. Tails could barely hold himself back from strangling her, and she was just partnering up with him to have a shot at revenge. Now they talked to each other like long time friends. With them not feuding anymore things went very smoothly.

He looked briefly to Blaze and Shadow and noticed a distinct amount of proper form from them both. They both sat up straight, had an air of dignity and proper form. He wasn't surprised to see Blaze like that but Shadow caught him off guard. Where'd he get those table manners?

That was strange, but once again Silver didn't voice a question. Be kinda rude and weird to ask why Shadow ate differently.

Either way he watched as dinner finished up and he got another round of compliments, except from Scourge, but he expected that.

Silver and Blaze cleaned up while everyone decided to sleep, since it was late. Nicole told Tails, like every night, that she'd be watching the cameras and making sure nobody snuck in during the night.

Silver and Blaze finished cleaning after everyone left. The two were quiet, but not an awkward silence.

Silver eventually spoke "Well it was nice to actually use today as more of a leisure day. I'm not sure about everyone else but today less doom and gloom than normal"

Blaze nodded agreeing with him "Yes, I found myself smiling a little more today"

Silver smiled hearing that, she did seem to be more composed than normal. Though he wouldn't argue with seeing her smile, he liked her smile.

"Ya I noticed" he replied chuckling.

"Why are you chuckling?" she asked him suddenly losing confidence and thinking her smile was funny or ugly. Why did she care suddenly?

"Oh no, it's just I like it when you smile" he paused blushing "You got a pretty smile"

She was relieved to hear that, even if it made her blush "Oh… well thank you, maybe I'll try a little harder to do that in the future"

"Sure" he nodded then yawned "But first I think it's time we headed to sleep"

"Oh yes, I suppose sleep would be a good idea" she nodded realizing she was tired as well.

The two walked back to their bedrooms. Though Silver stopped at Blazes door.

"Well uhh… sleep tight, I'm sure we'll be busier" they did have a tyrant to defeat after all.

"I will try"

He nodded and turned to head for his own room but Blaze stopped him.

"What's up?" he asked partially turning back to her feeling her grab his wrist.

She looked away then back at him, then said "I just wanted to give you something… before you went to sleep?"

"Oh? Really, what is it?" he fully turned back curious what this gift might be.

Her blush came back as she nervously got ready to do what she wanted to do. Why was it so hard?

She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek, her blush got hotter but she forcibly kept her composure and said "Good night" before reaching for the door heading inside. Only after she went through the door and closed it did she release the breath she'd been holding.

On the other side Silver stood completely surprised. His frozen state quickly vanished as he smiled Oh he'd sleep good tonight.

OK, that's the end of chapter 36. This was super hard to write for some reason, that is why it took so long. I think I'm losing my inspiration and I'm somewhat stalled on ideas to get me to where I wanna be next. Once again I apologize for the long gap, I had a week of stress cause of work. I honestly thought I might lose my job because someone else messed up. Not to mention I just started gaming really hard lately, so I apologize.

Anyway despite all that I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'll do my best to get the next one out.

Live long and prosper

Admiralkirk