A/N:Twenty-three :)! You're gonna have to forget my twenty-five chapter estimate 0.o. Know what, guys? Never, ever listen to me when I give an estimate :P. There's a life lesson for you. Maan it's cold here :o! We're in the -40's and -50's. Eww! But, of course, my school is one of the only two in the city that stayed open :\. Yuck! I have to walk a km to and from school every day too. That's it, I'm moving to Jamaica!

--LA

Lookie here! It's another disclaimer! Same as usual… I don't own anyone except forr… (SNORE)!

The silence of the late afternoon was broken by a large smash that would have awoken a sleeping bear. The source of the noise became instantly apparent. Flying out of a window on the second floor of one of the only apartment buildings in town, was a vase which homed a partly wilted white flower. The delicate bloom shot out of the vase and landed on the grassy ground below. The jug promptly smashed into a tall tree close to the window, where it shattered instantly and made a second loud noise.

Inside of the chaotic apartment stood three adult figures. The one standing by the doorway looked positively irate. And she had a hole in her window to show for it. The other two had struggled to get off of each other before the bat threw another dangerous object.

"Rouge!" Knuckles said in a tone of dilated delight that did nothing to help the situation. "You're back!"

"No shit." She said flatly. She advanced on him dangerously. "Oh, Knuckles," She said in a voice of sudden venomous softness, shaking her head, "Knuckles, Knuckles, Knuckles."

The echidna looked terrified. "I-"

"No." Rouge interrupted, shooting him a threatening glare, "I can't believe you."

The squirrel, who had been silenced by fear, opened her mouth. "It was not his fault." She squeaked. Rouge turned her head slowly. For a moment the two women met each other's eyes. But just when it seemed as though Rouge had calmed down, she delivered a blind kick.

If Gabrielle's ankle had been unharmed by the fall she had glorified, than this kick certainly did it. The squirrel yelped and flung her hands over head, trying to shield her face from the shrapnel of boot heels.

But the bat stopped suddenly. Her eyes were no longer on her victim, but on a crinkled newspaper placed on the coffee table. The headline on the front page made her blood run cold.

"Rouge?" Knuckles said cautiously, as the bat collapsed onto the carpet and snatched up the paper. After a tense moment, she began to slowly crumple the paper into a ball, staring blankly into space.

"Rouge, are you alright?" The echidna repeated, kneeling beside her. She didn't respond, only continued to squish the paper into a sphere.

"Of all the things you could have done." She breathed, her eyes still glazed over. Knuckles felt his temper flare up.

"It wasn't my fault!" He said in irritation, "You're the one who left for a month!"

"Knuckles." Rouge said with quiet sharpness, turning to face him.

"I'm tired of you and your big, mysterious job." He interjected heatedly. He got to his feet again, getting angrier and angrier the more he thought about what a victim he really was. She had absolutely no right to complain. "And another thing!"

The furious echidna continued to vent for a few moments before Rouge got to her feet fluidly. He was interrupted by something smacking him in the side of his head. It was the balled up paper. He unfurled it and read the caption on the front page: 'Female burglar caught at Mumbai Museum with massive jewel heist planned!'

"I'm going to see Sonic and Amy." She said quietly, walking to the door. "Me and your baby."

She left before her goodbye sunk into Knuckles head, which, as if it wasn't thick enough, was currently frosted with anger.

"My what?" he repeated in irritation, crossing his arms moodily. Gabrielle silently slunk out the door without a word, limping slightly and leaving him alone once again.

"What the hell was she-" he muttered, stopping suddenly as his mind finally decoded her not-so-secret message. His eyes widened.

Tails brushed little curls of silver from his aching hands. For the first time in a while, he had had a few hours of quiet, which he had taken full advantage of. The children were all in bed, and Gabrielle had still not arrived back. Tails might have been slightly worried about her were it not for the fact that he was extremely into his project.

The time machine was making great progress. A few more weeks and it would be finished. The fox regarded his handiwork proudly as he heard the door to the workshop open.

"Hey, Gabrielle." He said cheerfully. "How was-"

"You never told me about that Rouge!" She said, looking terrified. Tails furrowed his brow. He was sure that he had mentioned her. However, despite his age, he knew enough about women to not disagree when she was in such a state.

"Sorry." He said simply. "What happened?"

Gabrielle raised her eyebrows looking afraid, "She smashed a window over his head and nearly broke my leg!"

Tails peeked at her shin. It was bruised and slightly swollen, but she had obviously felt fine enough to walk all the way back to his house. He suspected that she had dramatized the story slightly. Actually, he had never seen cool, sly, unshakeable Rouge as the jealous type. But who knew.

"Can I get you some coffee or something?" He asked, trying to be as hospitable as possible.

"You are so sweet." The squirrel said, pulling him into a sudden hug which caught him off-guard. "But no thank you. I think I am going to go straight to bed."

"That's fine," Tails said with a smile, secretly happy that he wasn't going to have to play the host, "I bet it's been a really long day."

"You have no idea." She answered. "Sweet dreams."

She flounced out of the room, her limp almost disappearing. Tails sighed and sat down on one of the chairs, rubbing his eyes. He decided that it was about time he turned in as well.

Just as he was about to get up, the door opened again.

"Tails?"

Tails was relieved to hear that it was Sonic, rather than another troop of freeloading tenants.

"Hey, Sonic." The fox said wearily, "what's up?"

"Hey, buddy." Sonic said with a wink, marching over. "How was your day?"

Tails narrowed his eyes in exhaustion, "Don't ask."

Sonic laughed and ruffled his friend's bangs. "You think you had it bad? I spent today watching Rouge and Amy pout."

"Oh?" Tails asked in mild surprise, "What was wrong with Rouge?"

Sonic shrugged. "I dunno. She was too busy bawling to spit anything out."

Tails pursed his lip, feeling rather guilty. He was smart enough to figure out the neat little triangle which was developing. He only hoped that no one got hurt too much.

"You alright?" Sonic asked with a raised eyebrow, waving a hand before Tails' face.

"Yeah, fine." The fox answered with a yawn, "just tired."

Sonic shot him a rather wicked smile. Oh no…

"You too tired to play Ranger Fox?"

"Yes." Tails said weakly, knowing that there was no hope in deterring Sonic.

"Don't be silly!" the hedgehog laughed playfully, snatching his friend up into his arms with ease.

"Sonic!" Tails yelped, squirming to escape from his grasp, "Stop!"

Sonic chuckled and threw Tails into the air like a baby. The fox caught himself midair, hovering with his tails.

"Sonic!" He cried as the hedgehog lunged into the air.

"Aww," whined Sonic teasingly, "C'mon! Ranger Fox! Just like old times!"

"No Ranger Fox!" Tails groaned, tugging away as Sonic grabbed one of his spinning propellers.

"C'mon…" Sonic repeated, pulling his friend out of the air and tickled him.

"Sonic!" Gasped Tails, his arms flailing around at his sides as Sonic pinned him to the ground. Tails saw a figure, blurred by the tears of laughter in his eyes, entering the doorway from the kitchen.

"Could you please be a bit quieter?"

It was Hina. Sonic ceased immediately. His jaw dropped. Tails managed to wriggle out of his grasp and turned to see why he was so amazed.

She had changed.

A/N:Sorry about the ending D: Short too -.-' Blegh! I wanna play Ranger Fox :D!!! Dude!

It's unfortunate, because I had some amazing dialog going on in my head between Rouge and Knux. Naturally, though, I forgot it by the time I had to write it. Yeesh. Holy shit, guys :! Know what I just realized?! What the hell did I do with Cheese :o!? I have so many gaping plot holes that no one seems to notice T.T!

I'm listening to my current favourite song… "The Salmon Dance" by The Chemical Brother. Holy cowness… download it XD! I listen to the stupidest music -.-'!

"Let me introduce to you a brand new dance… I know you gonna love it if you give it one chance… It's not complicated, it's not too hard, you don't even have to be a hip-hop star! See anyone can do it all you need is style, listen up (something) I'm 'unna show you how…" XD!

--LA

P.S: Reviewsss :)?!