This chapter is dedicated to TheDivines who personally asked me to write this. I am a writer of my word and shall give my gift to you! This is Starr and Shadow's Valentine's Day together. Note: I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog and Characters, SEGA does. I only own Starr the Hedgehog and people will have to ask me to use her. Plus I do not own any songs that are listed in this chapter or story.

February 14th, Valentine's Day

The school day seemed like another day: classes all day, jerks in the hallway and lovers in the bathroom. Starr went around her day like it was normal, but the back of her mind was thinking of Shadow. She loved him with all her heart but she had never actually heard him say it. She knew he was a guy who had trouble letting people in, especially after what he told her about the ARK. She respected that boundary about him because deep down she knew he loved her.

After school came and Starr was at her locker like clockwork, grabbing her books and bags. Closing her locker door, she felt a presence behind her, then she felt her eyes being covered.

"Tonight we're going to dance the night away and have wild, passionate love-making till dawn," the voice whispered in her ear. She could tell that it was a male voice.

"Oh that sounds wonderful, that sounds so romantic," she replied in awe, then she paused to think. "Who is this?"(she was serious).

"It had better be me," the figure took their hands off Starr's eyes and turned her around; it was Shadow. "Happy Valentine's Day."

They gave each other a soft kiss on the lips. Starr grabbed her bag on the floor that she had dropped when Shadow snuck up on her. They walked down the hallway, hand and hand, to his house. Starr was confused because she had never gone that way before, but she trusted her love.

"Shadow what are we doing?" Starr asked.

"Celebrating Valentine's Day," he replied. "You're going to have a warm bath while I make dinner."

Starr was bright eyes and said, "I didn't know you could cook."

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me my dear," Shadow said seductively.

"You big tease!"

The two black hedgehogs get to Shadow's apartment building. They use the elevator to get to Floor 8: the top floor. Shadow explained that when you live on the top, you don't hear anyone above you. When they got into the front door of the flat, Starr expected what she thought. Not very lively, but it was clean and roomy. The furniture was new, leather Starr noted to herself, and the floors were new hardwood. Every large appliance was fairly new and the entire place smelled of Shadow's inexpensive cologne: Stetson. He knew she liked that on him, it fit his skin so nicely, so he 'might' have sprayed some more before he left for school.

"I want to say something," Starr said out loud, after expecting the place. "But I'm not going to say it until later tonight."

"Is that so?" She nodded. "Well in the meantime, I think it's time for your bath." Shadow picked Starr up bridal style and carried her to the bathroom. They got in there and the tub was already full and hot. Starr looked at Shadow in confusion as to how it could've stayed full and hot all day because he was in school all day.

"How did you..." She started to ask but stopped herself. "Never mind. Go, shoo. Have fun in your kitchen."

"Alright, alright. Towels are over there and another thing... I'm no house fly." He wrapped his arms around to the small of her back and pulled her in tight.

"You can remind me tonight," she teased as she kissed him so long. Shadow left the bathroom so Starr could have some privacy. She looked at the tub and it was full of bubbles. She started to undress herself, unzipping her dress from the back, to reveal a strapless, red bra and white and red lacy panties. She removed her gloves and shoes; she examined the blue stripes on her arms and legs. She finally took off her lingerie and put them on the floor, she held her breasts in an insecure way. She was ready to go in when she looked on the counter and saw a CD player that had a note that said: "PLAY ME." She pressed play and Lionel Richie's 'Hello' came on. She smiled at the gesture, then she noticed a wrapped gift that said "OPEN AFTER BATH." next to the CD player; she finally got into the tub.

The bubbles covered her feet first then the hot water did. She gasped at first but then her body adjusted to the heat and she submerged herself in there, leaving her head and hands dry. The bubbles grouped largely together, almost blocking her view on anything she tried to see but she didn't care. The bathroom smelled of lavender and chocolate candles, for that was burning on the counter (chocolate is Starr's favourite flavour). The song changed from 'Hello' to Roberta Flask's 'First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' but instead of her singing it, it was her favourite male singer singing it: David Cook. She shrieked for a quick, quiet second, appreciating that Shadow knew her favourite singer of all time. Enjoying herself, she heard vibrating and looked around eventually looking in the ground to see that it was her phone. She carefully reached for it and saw who was calling her: Blaze. She smiled and answered the call.

MEANWHILE...

Shadow closed the door to let his girl have some privacy. He went into the kitchen to start dinner; he had it all planned out: salmon with string beans and a baked potato. He put the foiled potatoes in the oven and set the temperature and time. He put the beans in a pot filled with water and put them on the stove. He was turning them on when he heard a joyful shriek in the bathroom, he smiled to himself knowing what Starr was shrieking about. He was about to put the fish in the frying pan when his landline started to ring. He checked the caller ID and saw that it was Sonic; he answered.

"Hello," Shadow said in the phone.

"Shadow," Sonic said. "How's it going?"

"Pretty good. I've got her shrieking with joy already. Thanks again for setting up the bathroom for me, she was really shocked when she saw it already set."

"No problem, just know that you owe me one."

"Got it. So how's it going with you?"

"Amy and I just got to the movie theatre. She's picking out a movie for us."

"Good luck with that."

"I know. I gotta go, she's coming back. See you tomorrow."

"Bye," Shadow hung up the phone and continued with making dinner.

After Starr hung up her and tossed it on the floor, she dunked her head and arms in the water completely. She came back up for air, she ran her fingers through her wet quills. The room was completely foggy from the hot water, and the mirror was a complete blur. Starr looked at her body through the soapy water, she could feel herself wrinkling up. She hugged herself making the water slash a bit, she imagined what it was like to have someone close to her. She closed her eyes and pictured Shadow touching the curves of her body, feeling her secret spots that made her flinch. What seemed like mere minutes was almost an hour in the tub when Shadow knocked on the door. She gasped and shook herself back into reality as she answered him. He had knocked to say that dinner was just about ready so she could come out. She unplugged the plug and the water went down the drain slowly but surely.

She squeezed her quills to get the excess water out of them as she hopped out of the tub and grabbed the towels on the counter. The CD player was done playing so she shut it off. She put one towel around her head and wrapped the other around her body. She picked up the gift beside the CD player and unwrapped it, she pulled out a red, knee-length dress with lace shoulders and a big bow in the lower back area. It had a sweetheart neckline with white fluff on the collar. She stared at the gift in awe as she finished drying herself off and slipped the dress on, it fit perfectly on her as she swirled around to take a better look in the mirror, but she had to rub the fog off of it first. She took the towel out of her hair and used it to finish drying, by now she was completely dry. She looked in the drawers for a comb, she succeeded in finding one and combed her quills straight again.

After finishing prepping for dinner, she stepped out of the bathroom and found the table all set. She inhaled sweetly at the candlelight and wine glasses, despite not using real wine since they were underage. The food was on the table; she saw salmon, beans and baked potato. She left a presence behind her, she turned around to see Shadow, her love, in a tuxedo, bowing and asking for her hand. She giggled and took his hand as he walked her to her seat. He pulled her seat out for her, she sat down in it and he pushed it back in. He went to his seat as he poured their beverages for them. He raised his cup for a toast to them.

They ate dinner, Starr complemented on his cooking. After dinner Shadow took the dishes and brought them into the kitchen. He came back and asked for Starr's hand again, she took it and they walked into the living room where a ballad was playing. They started to dance in a waltz, keeping time with each other; she followed his lead, one foot after another and his hand on her waist.

"T-that dress is lovely on you," Shadow said to her when he held her close to his chest.

"Thank you Shadow. And thank you for a wonderful night." They moved into each other's bodies, slow dancing together.

"You were going to say something earlier but you said you were going to say it later. It's later now."

"Shadow," she looked into his eyes and placed her hand on his cheek. "You're so romantic and good to me."

They started to kiss each other, their mouths so warm and sweet (and a bit fishy). Then they started to French kiss, their tongues fight for dominance. They ended up swirling around until they hit a wall with Starr pinned down by Shadow. Continuing, Shadow moved from Starr's lips to her jawline then her neck; he was holding onto Starr's waist. Sucking slowly and softly on her neck, Starr moaned passionately as she grabbed Shadow's shoulders. He started moving down more, down to her chest. Feeling where he was kissing her, Starr stopped responding to Shadow advances, completing freezing up. Shadow stopped kissing and opened his eyes to see where he was: her chest. He remembered the promise Starr gave to her parents and backed his head away from her. He looked into Starr's eyes with such sorrow in his, he was about to become a sex maniac on her.

"I'm so sorry Starr," Shadow apologized. "I don't know what came over me." He turned his face away from her ashamed of himself.

"Oh Shadow it's not just you," she turned Shadow's face to hers. "I've been thinking about it too. Every time you touch me I want you to go farther, but I made a promise to my parents."

Starr leaped at Shadow and wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug. He wrapped his arms around her and they held each other close. While hugging, Starr looks at the clock hanging on the wall; it read 11:30pm.

"What's the date?" She asked scared.

"The fourteenth, silly."

"Tomorrow's the fifteenth. My meds!" She started to get a panic look on her face.

"Calm down," Shadow grabbed her face to make it face his. "I have everything here. I planned everything for tonight. You're going to be okay."

Starr closed her eyes and exhaled a sigh of relief as a single tear ran down her cheek. She mouthed 'thank you' to Shadow as they prepared for the hour. Shadow took her to his bedroom and told her that she would sleep there and he would sleep on the couch.

"Oh Shadow I can't. You're being too kind to me."

"I'm being a good partner to you. That's the only thing. I'm doing this because I care about you and I don't want to see you hurt."

Starr hugged her hero again and she was tucked into bed. She thought to herself and laughed to herself.

"What's that for?" Shadow asked as he sat on the side of the bed.

"I was just thinking, this is suppose to be a romantic day and giving someone a shot doesn't seem so romantic."

"We're together aren't we?"

"Always."

Shadow petted her quills to calm her nerves for he knew she was always nervous at this time of the month. He kissed her forehead good night and she whispered 'happy Valentine's Day Shadow' and he whispered 'you too darling'.

I hope it was a good chapter. Another heat wave is going to hit us this weekend and I guess my brain's going up with the heat... Hahahaha. Please everyone that has read my story, keep reading. New chapters coming up.