"I feel kinda bad, not paying anything. Can't we each pay half?"

Shadow shook her head as they entered the bank, Sonic fidgeting about the debt to the hospital and Shadow claiming full responsibility.

"Sonic, I won't… Pay any less than half," sighed Shadow, finally giving in.

"Okay, we compromised. That's cool." Sonic grinned, his sense of responsibility satiated.

Sonic went up to the teller and struck up a conversation while Shadow examined the fake potted plant and collected her thoughts. What would they do at the mall? Shadow had never had time to go there; she just went to the secondhand stores around town for whatever she needed. Red Plaza was a little too fancy-shmancy for her, both in name and taste. Sonic, being a hero, probably had more class than she did; even if he was a little crazy sometimes, he could afford to be. Well, she could afford to be, too, actually, but it just wasn't her.

Sonic returned, gently tapping her shoulder for her attention. Shadow almost didn't notice.

"Oh. You don't have to worry about that anymore."

"You healed up?"

Shadow nodded and they left the bank. It was actually right next to the police station, smart planning on the founders' part.

"So, what was so interesting about that plant?" asked Sonic, following Shadow down the steps of the bank.

"The plant..? In the bank? Nothing. Well, it's fake, but aside from that, nothing."

"Why were you staring at it so long, then?" questioned Sonic, eyebrows lowered, smirking a bit.

"Why were you hanging out in the kitchen so long this morning?" retorted Shadow, ignoring Sonic's playfulness.

"Um. Well, I… was thinking; hard as it is to believe," said Sonic, nervously.

Shadow shrugged. "Same thing I was doing."

"Oh. Okay."

They entered the cold police station and got in line for the front desk; getting stopped by the last person Shadow wanted to see.

"Hello, Sonic. Shadow. What brings you downtown?" Amy Rose sounded as disinterested as possible, anger lacing her words. Sonic shivered.

"We're here on business, Rose," asserted Shadow, clearly making eye contact with Amy; daring her to move.

Sonic broke it up. "Hey, we've all got better things to do than fight, today, right?"

Amy turned on her heel, her nose in the air; the officer escort she was handcuffed to rolled his eyes and walked to the door, dragging her along. She wasn't quite out of hot water, yet.

As for Sonic and Shadow, they reached the front desk and paid their debts, signed a few more papers, and they were free.

"Funny seeing Amy there, huh?" asked Sonic as they left the building, banishing the awkward silence between himself and Shadow.

"I'm not really surprised. No offense."

"None taken," said Sonic, glancing around for a cab of some sort (Redwood Park had a taxi service, but not much of one) before turning back to Shadow. "Wanna dash on over to the mall? It's not that far up the street."

Was he serious? Shadow glanced around, almost expecting Sonic to be talking to someone else.

Sonic tensed up, his face red, probably from remembering why exactly Shadow couldn't "dash on over" anywhere by his meaning of the word.

"Um, I understand if you wanna… I mean, those aren't exactly running shoes, so… Um. Walking's alright with me…"

Shadow sighed. "If you wanna run, go ahead. I'm not stopping you. …I'll meet you there."

And Shadow started walking.

'Anyone ever tell you you're retarded? Because you pretty much are; seriously.'

Sonic ignored the little monster, brushing him off and jogging ahead to catch up to Shadow.

"Shadow! I'm sorry, okay? I just- I forgot, okay?"

Shadow glanced up at Sonic, appearing very confused and very unhappy.

"You don't just forget that kind of stuff, Sonic! Did I jar your brain that much?"

"No-!"

Their voices rose, Sonic secretly thankful that rush hour had just begun and their fight was being drowned out by car horns and crowd voices.

"Did you get dropped on your head as a kid? Do you just have issues-?"

"No, no! I just don't handle change very well, okay?"

They fell silent. Car engines reigned alongside the chatter of the surrounding citizens, commuters, and tourists.

"We're making progress," spoke Shadow, after a moment of cooling down. "Why don't you take change well, Sonic?"

Sonic's mouth opened and shut a few times before he actually spoke.

"Because nothing ever changes."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean- … I fight Eggman. I always do. It's always him. Tails and Knuckles always help me. I always come out on top. It never changes! Then I move here. Sleepy little town. Once you get to know everyone, nothing ever changes. And… And you…"

"I changed," finished Shadow.

Sonic's ears folded back, slowly. "I… When I think of you, I still see Mister 'Ultimate Lifeform'; Mister 'Can't Touch This'. I just- …I shouldn't… hold you to those expectations because you're… you're different now. And I don't mean in a bad way, I just-!"

Shadow touched his shoulder. "I understand, Sonic. It was just a little slip. I shouldn't have walked away from you like that. And I shouldn't have flipped out on you after that."

Sonic turned away from her contact. "Let's just get to the mall, okay?"

"Okay," sighed Shadow, barely loud enough for Sonic to hear.

Sonic hadn't intended to go that far, but he had been pushed…

He hadn't been challenged like that before. Usually his fights were physical. Blows would be exchanged. Somebody would come out with something broken or bruised. Right now, though, all that was bruised was Sonic's pride. Sonic didn't analyze his problems; he didn't have any!

But… Shadow had made him show one. Shadow had made him look at it. Made him think about it.

Sonic had been doing a lot of thinking, lately.

Why was Shadow trying to understand Sonic, again? She was embarrassed; she had started a fight in public with and played psychiatrist to the guy who regularly beat the crap out of evil geniuses and their robot armies and both won the argument and got him to actually figure something out about his problem.

Maybe she really was at full power here.