Omg! I updated! Can you believe it?! XD Now on with the story!

Shadow raced through the forest, he dashed past over turned trees and large pieces of rock. His white, red and black rocket shoes scorched the green ground with every stride. However, his mind was completely blank. He was pregnant. The father didn't even know he had sex with him in the first place. He deserved this punishment; he should never have taken advantage of Sonic, no matter how much the other had wanted it.

He slowed down and walked to a halt in front of a cliff. Shadow had no idea that there was even a cliff here; he would have died seconds ago because he wasn't even paying attention to where he was going. Tears sprang back to his eyes and Shadow shook his head back and forth to get rid of them. Damn hormones.

What would he do now? Hide out his pregnancy on the Space Colony ARC? Abortion? No, never. He would never kill something that wasn't even born yet. It wasn't the baby's fault that he had been so stupid as to get himself pregnant. This baby was half his and… half Sonic's. He couldn't kill it. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't kill something that was living inside him. Feeding off him. Needing him to live.

How did he get pregnant in the first place? Yes, he knew that it happened through sex, but how did he get pregnant. Emphasis on the he part. Shadow was a guy he shouldn't have gotten pregnant in the first place. However, Shadow had a very big feeling that it had something to do with the Professor. Only he would have been crazy enough to put a female organ inside a male.

However, it didn't really matter on how it happened; all that mattered was that it did. He had to figure out a strategy. What to do now since he was pregnant. A sudden thought flashed into his mind. There was only one person that he even remotely trusted with his life. It was time to take a visit to Rouge the Bat. After all, she was the one who had stolen all the information on him from the ARC. Next stop, Club Rouge.

*Ombra d'amore*

Shadow slowed down at the edge of the city. He could've run through the crowded city at top speeds if he wanted to, but it might not have been a good idea. Station Square was one of the busiest and most surprising cities in the world. After all, it was the place where Sonic and his friends had transported to long ago, the place where Eggman always attacked and the home of said Mobians including himself. Running at top speeds in this place took a hundred and twenty percent of his attention. Not to mention he didn't want to risk getting hurt and, in turn, hurting or even killing his unborn child.

So, his decision would be taking the slow and safe route through the city. Rouge's club was in the middle of the city and Shadow had a long way to go before getting there. Along the way, the citizens of Station Square gave him strange looks, whether it be from him walking or his old path for revenge, he didn't care. His stomach growled and Shadow growled along with it. This kid was going to make him fat with the constant need for nutrients. Shadow himself didn't need to eat since he could live off the chaos energy around him, but he highly doubted that the kid inside him could live like that.

Shadow shook his head, he had to get to Rouge's before she opened the club or he would never get a chance to speak with her. He quickened his pace and soon arrived at Rouge's club an hour before night fell. Shadow raised his hand to knock on her door and lowered it back down again. What the hell was he supposed to say to her once she opened the door? Hey, Rouge, I'm pregnant with Sonic's baby for whatever reason. Oh and he was drunk when we did it, so he doesn't know. I would also very much appreciate that you wouldn't tell him either, thanks a lot. Oh and one more thing, mind telling me what to do and not to do during pregnancy because I never thought I would become a mother… Yeah, not going to happen.

As if she had some kind of sixth sense, Rouge the Bat opened the door and leaned against the frame. She smirked at him and let him through the doorway into her house. Shadow stepped inside and heard the click of the door closing behind him. Rouge came up from behind him and hugged Shadow from the back.

"What did Blue Boy do now?" Rouge whispered into his ear. Shadow huffed and shrugged the female bat off him.

"How do you know it's even about him?"

Rouge giggled and circled around to look him in the eye. She smirked again and a dangerous glint formed in her aqua orbs. "Because you only seek me out when it has something to do with Blue Boy."

Shadow turned away to hide the red blush creeping across his muzzle. He knew it was a bad idea to tell her about his affections for Sonic, but Rouge could smell any juicy secrets from ten miles away. There was no way he could have hidden something like this from her. Rouge wasn't known as the world's greatest spy for nothing.

Shadow sighed; he might as well just tell her already. The ebony hedgehog folded his arms across his chest and moved around Rouge to sit on her couch. She shrugged and sat down beside him.

Rouge narrowed her eyes and her small smirk faded from her muzzle. Yes, Shadow did come to her every time a problem with Sonic was brought up. However, Rouge had never seen him so tense before. Of course Shadow wasn't outwardly showing it, but he was very worried about something. His shoulders were tense; he looked about ready to jump out of his seat at any moment and a strange emotion she had never seen before was prominent in his ruby eyes. However, the biggest thing that was worrying her was the fact that Shadow was sitting down. He almost never sat down; he would either stand or lean against the nearest wall. Something was very wrong with her old partner and Rouge knew she had to get to the bottom of it.

Shadow inwardly groaned when he noticed that Rouge was now examining him like a pig at a county fair. Why did she always look at him like that whenever he asked her for advice on Sonic? Well, this wasn't exactly about Sonic. Yes, he was a part of it, but Sonic would, hopefully, never know about this little… 'accident'.

"Come on, Hun! Just tell me what happened!" Shadow blinked, he must have been too into his thoughts to notice that he was staring into space. Damn it, what was wrong with him today? I had to be the pregnancy getting to him; he couldn't be feeling bad about not telling Sonic. After all, what could Sonic do? It's not like Sonic and him could frolic in a field of daisies and live happily ever after. Shadow cringed, now that was a scary thought. Sonic was supposed to be the next king… at least, as far as he knew. Shadow didn't know if Sonic really kept his promise of telling his mother about not wanting to be the next king or if it was just a drunken spur.

However, that didn't matter right now; he had to tell Rouge why he was here in the first place. Shadow took a deep breath and started from the very beginning. When he said beginning, Shadow meant beginning. Where it all started; the party in the club that Sonic had stalked him home. The fight outside his apartment and the next morning where he found out that Sonic had camped outside. When Sonic said he wanted to spend the day with him and the drawings he had found behind his bookcase. The beautiful sakura tree filled field and the time at the bar. Walking Sonic home and what happened that night in his bedroom. How Sonic didn't remember what happened the morning after and the events on the ARC. How he meet Sonia and Manic at his favorite dinner and the scene at the castle. Running after Sonic and the news that Tails had given him.

In the end, Rouge looked beyond stunned. Her best friend was pregnant with the world's biggest hero's child. That same hero didn't know he even had sex with Shadow to begin with and her male friend was pregnant for god's sake! Rouge shook her head and composed herself. "Tails might have been wrong, Shadow. Come with me, we'll do this the traditional way."

Rouge grabbed him by the arm and dragged him across her house. Shadow blinked, "Traditional way?"

She ignored him and pushed him into her bathroom. It was painted a light violet that made the black metal linings pop in the room. "Yes, the traditional way." She reached inside her overhead cabinet and pulled out a small box. She unsealed the top and took out a small white object. "A pregnancy test of course."

Shadow reached out and took the test. "Why exactly do you have a pregnancy test in your bathroom?"

Rouge blushed, "You know… just in case…" She flew out of the bathroom and was just about to close the door when she stuck her head back in. "Oh, and make sure you read the directions on the back of the box before you do it."

Without another word, Shadow closed the door on her and leaned against it. He might as well get this over with. Shadow picked up the ripped open box on the bathroom counter and examined the directions on the back. Unseal the plastic covering on the test and… Wait… I'm supposed to pee on this?

*Ombra d'amore*

"Come on, Shadow! How long does it take to do one pregnancy test?!" Rouge pounded on the bathroom door and, after some choice cuss words, left the bathroom entrance. In truth, Shadow hadn't done a pregnancy test. No, he had done all of them in the box. After the first one had read positive it was like a dam had exploded. It seemed that the news that Tails had given him hadn't really stuck in his head. He knew that it he was pregnant, but his brain just couldn't compute it. He had to do all of them; it was like a sudden urge that he just couldn't ignore or shake off.

In the end, all of them were the same. Positive. He was pregnant. No doubt about it. Now he had to figure out what to do. He had talk to Rouge… no matter how much he would rather just curl up and wake up in his bed as if none of this happened. However, it did. He couldn't just mope about it; he had to do something or it would never be resolved.

Shadow got up from his spot on the bathroom floor and strode over to the door. He clicked the lock open and fell back down onto the ground. Rouge heard the door click and made her way back to the bathroom. She cautiously pushed the door open and kneeled on the ground next the male hedgehog on the floor. "You okay, Handsome?"

"Tails was right, Rouge. I am pregnant." He paused as if to compose himself and continued on. "What should I do?"

Rouge, for once, was speechless. None of her witty comments would come to her. She couldn't, not when she was seeing one of the most powerful people she knew frightened out of his wits on her bathroom floor. This wasn't the Shadow she knew. This was someone else that had probably only came out once in his entire life. When he had been helpless to save his best friend on the ARC; when he had seen her murdered in cold blood.

Rouge put her arm around his shoulders. "I think you need to rest."

Shadow shook his head and Rouge had to lean back to evade the deadly quills rocking back and forth in front of her face. "I can't rest right now. I need to figure out what to do. I need to figure out how to handle this pregnancy and how to care for a child and-"

Rouge had had enough of this. She needed her Shadow to come back right now. That was what she needed; she needed someone who could function properly to figure this out, not some mumbling, frightened… baby! Rouge raised her hand and slapped it across the rambling hedgehog's face. Shadow immediately stopped his rant and turned to look at her. The slap seemed to have the desired effect when his shoulders relaxed and his breathing went back to normal.

"There we go. Are you back to normal yet?" Shadow slowly nodded his head and gave the bat his full attention. "Now, here's my advice. Get some rest, you've had a long day and should get some good shuteye in. After your nap we'll figure out what to do next, okay?"

"Okay." Rouge got up and held out her hand for Shadow to take. He flicked the outreached hand away from his face and got up as well. Rouge smiled, now there was the Shadow she knew. They left the bathroom and Shadow turned to the left towards the guest bedroom. He opened the door to the bedroom and strode inside.

He flopped down on the made bed, careful not to land on his stomach, and sighed. He kicked off his shoes and they landed on the floor at the edge of the bed. Shadow looked at the slightly cracked ceiling and knew that sleeping away his worries wouldn't come easy. His mind was in too much of a whirlwind to sleep. Everything was happening way too fast for his liking. Shadow hated to admit it, but he felt completely helpless. He didn't know anything about pregnancy. He didn't know anything about how to take care of a child either. Shadow was beyond helpless in this situation.

Back on the ACK, the scientists and the Professor had taught him everything he would ever need to know to take care of himself, other people and just the general teachings of how to live. Everything he had learned, he had learned on the floating space colony over planet Earth. However, now it seemed he hadn't learned everything that he would need to know.

Shadow sighed again and ran a hand through his head quills. There was only one other time in his life where he had felt this helpless. The time on the ARC where he had seen Maria die right in front of him and that he couldn't, in any way, help her. She had died while a monster like him had lived on. He still remembered everything as if it had happened moments ago. He hadn't always remembered what had happened because of the amnesia that had raged his mind several times, but now he did. The slow dripping of red blood out of her wound, the cry of pain that left her angel-like lips after being shot and how she fell to the ground after hitting the countdown release button located on the panel of the escape pod.

She had died while a monster like him had lived. Life was more than cruel, it was another Hell. Now the child he was carrying was to be a bastard and the son or daughter of a monster. With his life, it seemed when one agony was finished punishing him, another would come along to play its game as well.

His stomach rumbled and Shadow vaguely remembered the hunger he had felt on the way over. It seemed that the events that had happened at Rouge's had momentarily distracted him from the hunger pains in his stomach. Shadow slid back off the bed and reopened the door. He walked down the hallway leading to the kitchen and glanced inside.

The kitchen was dark since the sun had set a while ago and it seemed that Rouge had gone to bed as well since there was no sign of her anywhere. Shadow opened the large, white fridge to the right and looked inside. He wasn't surprised to find that the contents of the fridge were mostly fruit considering that Rouge was a kind of fruit bat. Shadow grabbed the bag of red grapes and closed the door. He went back to his room and laid down in the same spot he was before.

Shadow soon gathered a rhythm between his hand, bag and mouth. He mind started to wonder yet again and focused more on what Sonic was doing. Most of his thoughts before this whole incident were about his rival and it seemed that nothing had changed. Sonic still occupied his thoughts every waking moment and even during the night… but he wouldn't get into that. Shadow was so into his thoughts that he didn't even noticed that he had drifted off to sleep.

*Ombra d'amore*

The next morning Shadow had woken up feeling… off. He knew the reason for it, but he couldn't help but feel that the pregnancy was taking more of a toil on him then he previously thought it would. Usually he would be restless to get out of bed and start the day. Now all he wanted to do was curl back up in his warm blankets surrounding him and fall back asleep.

However, when the fresh smell of just brewed coffee reached his nose, Shadow couldn't help the urge to silence his addiction to the caffeinated drink coming from the kitchen. He reluctantly got out of his warm blankets and slid off the bed. Still groggy from sleep- another thing to add to the list of new things about the pregnancy- he silently padded down the hallway. Shadow walked into the kitchen, ignoring Rouge sitting at the table, and grabbed a coffee cup located in a cabinet above the sink.

Shadow was just about to pour a good amount of the bitter liquid when Rouge's hand stopped his own clutching the coffee pot. He turned to look at her in confusion and the female bat just gave him a slight sad and careful smile. "You can't have any caffeine."

He growled slightly and clutched the pot handle even harder, but eventually placed it back down on the counter. Great, Shadow growled to himself, just what I need during this, no caffeine. He felt Rouge move to another counter and pick up a bag.

"Before you got up, I went out and picked up some breakfast. I have donuts and bagels in here. What do you want?" Rouge asked and held out the bag for him to take.

Shadow took the bag and reached inside. "Bagel," he took one of them out and placed it on a clean plate that Rouge must have put on the table before for him. Shadow handed the bag back to her and grabbed the cream cheese next. "Next time," Rouge looked back at him, "don't try to cheer me up by getting comfort food for breakfast."

Rouge sighed, but it was only halfhearted considering the smile that crept across her face after. Shadow grabbed the knife that was resting on top of the cream cheese and slowly lathered the milky white substance on both slices. He normally didn't eat breakfast, but he wasn't in a normal situation any more.

Both of them ate in complete silence, but it was a comfortable one. Sometime later, and after many trips to the bathroom since Shadow definitely had morning sickness, a knock came to the door. Rouge got up from her position on the couch and went to answer the door. Shadow and Rouge had been planning together on what he was to do for the next nine months and had ended up sitting on the couch together in the living room.

Shadow before couldn't even comprehend how different his life was about to change. There were so many things that he had to do to keep himself and the baby healthy. Not to mention the part where he was supposed to give birth. Rouge suggested a C-section, but Shadow wasn't at all looking forward to a stranger cutting him open like a melon, even if he was a professional.

The front door clicked open and none other than Rouge's echidna boyfriend, Knuckles, stood at the doorway. He greeted his girlfriend and walked inside. Everything seemed fine until Knuckles' purple eyes landed on the ebony hedgehog sitting on the couch. "What are you doing here?"

"Visiting Rouge," Knuckles may have been Rouge's boyfriend, but that didn't mean he had to like the echidna. Knuckles and him had never really gotten along very well. They had never really seen eye to eye and, since they weren't alike in any way, they never would.

Knuckles growled and turned to Rouge. "Why is he here?! This sure doesn't look like just a visit! What have you two been doing?! Are you cheating on me?!" Shadow blinked, why the hell would Knuckles think that?! He knew the other was thick headed at times, but he couldn't honestly think that Rouge and him were… well, doing that that together! Could he?

Rouge looked taken back by the sudden accusation, but quickly recovered. "How can you think that?!"

"Well, it's obvious that you've gotten around. Not to mention that this guy," he gestured his large, glove-mitt hand at Shadow, "has always been around you. I wouldn't be surprised if you two have done it together!"

For the first time that Shadow had met her, he had never seen Rouge cry, but right now, with Knuckles yelling and accusing her for cheating, tears were about to fall down her face. After another minute of yelling, Shadow had had enough of Knuckles' accusations.

Shadow jumped out of his seat and punched the red echidna to the ground. Knuckles was about to get up, but Shadow pressed his foot down on his chest, preventing him from getting up. "Now listen here, echidna. Rouge has never betrayed you and you're being so extremely stupid right now saying that she has!" Shadow didn't know if it was the hormones talking or not, but, currently, he didn't at all care. He couldn't stop.

"How can I trust what you're saying, hedgehog?! Give me proof that you've never touched her!" Knuckles wasn't about to give up. No, he had always secretly been scared that Rouge would leave him for someone better. I mean, look at him, he was a complete mess! He didn't deserve someone like Rouge. Not to mention that Shadow looked a hundred times better than him and had known Rouge longer and knew her better than he ever would.

Shadow narrowed his ruby eyes; Knuckles was even denser then he thought he was. "Because I'm gay, echidna," as soon as he had said it, he immediately regretted it. Shadow's eyes widened; had he really just said that? He must have considering that Knuckles and Rouge were both looking at him as if he was crazy.

"You're… you're gay, Shadow?" You might have thought that this had come from Knuckles underneath Shadow's foot, but no. It was from a newcomer at the left open doorway. It was from Sonic the Hedgehog.

Sonic always seems to come at the wrong times, huh? (Or is it the right times? XD) Yeah, this chapter is boring but it had to be done. The real stuff happens next chapter! Stay tuned! (Oh, god. I sound like an annoying TV announcer.)

As you have probably noticed, I did not update on Tuesday. This is because I can't do it any longer; I have too much on my plate and can't work on my stories. So, now they will be updated when they are updated.

READ AND REVIEW PLEASE!