Shadow hardly ever yawned, but he was now in the kitchen. He kept on waking up through the night at various noises which he had not liked the sound of. Rouge and Honey on the other hand, had slept soundly. Shadow had ended up staying up until five thirty before falling asleep finally. They had all woken up at ten after eight. Rouge stretched and popped some toast into the toaster. Honey walked into the kitchen and paused for a moment, then got herself a glass of water.

They stood there in silence for awhile, Shadow staring out the kitchen window at the street, until Honey asked a question. "Shadow, have you ever been in love before?" Shadow's head whipped around, he stared at her.

"In love?"

"Yes Guard boy, in love. Or is the word foreign to you?" She said, annoyed. Shadow could tell she was annoyed from three things. First, her use of the nickname 'guard boy', second, the expression on her face, and last, the tone of her voice. So Shadow thought about her question.

"No, I don't believe I have ever been in love." He said finally. Honey looked up from her glass of water. Shadow noticed, with some surprise, that she had contact lenses on. "Why are you wearing contact lenses?" He asked. She jumped.

"I didn't think it was so noticeable..." She said, laughing nervously. Shadow just raised an eyebrow. "If you must know, I've been ridiculed for my eye colour so I got contact lenses to change it." Shadow remained silent, and Honey brought the conversation back to where it had originally been. "So... what do you think being in love is like?" She asked.

"Very complicated. What is your real eye colour?" Honey's jaw dropped. He wanted to see her real eye colour? He was nuts! She'd told him everyone else hated it and he still wanted to see!

"Good morning!" Said Rouge, walking into the kitchen. Shadow immediately started looking out the window again, and Honey finished her glass of water and put it in the sink. Rouge started grinning. "I'm sorry, was I interrupting something?"

"No." They both said in unison.

"Riiiiight... well whatever, Honey darling we've got places to be! Let's get our show on the road." Then Rouge turned to Shadow. "If you follow us, that'll mean you probably like her." Said Rouge. Shadow growled.

"If I follow you, it will only be to make sure she's safe."

"'Cause you loooooove her!" Rouge started singing some song regarding love and Shadow stalked out of the kitchen. Rouge winked at Honey.

"You really know how to push his buttons!" Said the yellow cat, surprised.

"I sure do darlin', now let's get on that outing of ours before he figures out that we're only joking."

***

Sure, Shadow was only protecting her for the mission, but it was weird, he felt a strange sort of possessiveness too. Why? He had no idea. And then another muddled feeling. He decided he would do a brief bit of training with Omega, then go find them and follow them. The robot was busy shooting targets. "Omega." The head swiveled.

"Life form: Shadow detected." Shadow smirked.

"Nice to see you too." Without saying anything more, they started sparring. After awhile though, Omega spoke up.

"You are troubled." Shadow grunted. Omega blocked a spindash and shot at Shadow. "Is your latest mission successful so far?" He asked, Shadow grunted again. Omega took this one as a yes. "Then why are you troubled?" Shadow stopped attacking and sighed, sitting down.

"Omega, I'm having weird feelings about the girl I'm supposed to be guarding."

"Protectiveness? Or possessiveness?"

"Both. But I don't know about the others." Omega ran a quiet scan as they sat there in silence.

"You are in love with your charge." Shadow's eyebrows shot up and his cheeks went pink. "I am detecting a sudden increase in body heat in the areas commonly referred to as "cheeks". Are you alright Shadow?"

"Omega?"

"Yes?"

"Would you please not tell anyone about this conversation?"

"Of course not." Thank goodness for that. When Omega promised not to do something, he wouldn't do it. Shadow stood up.

"Thanks Omega."

"Shadow?" The black hedgehog had reached the door, but he paused and turned.

"What is it?"

"You know that if you are romantically attached to your charge, there will be complications." Shadow nodded. "Then be careful."

"You're being unusually protective of my well being."

"Please." Shadow nodded, it was rare to hear Omega say please.

"I'll be careful."

"Good luck Shadow. I shall resume training." And when the door closed, Omega was doing just that. But once Shadow was gone (Omega detected Shadow using chaos control) he stopped. "I must find Gamma." And then he went to find the older E-100 robot.

***

"Don't look now but I think a certain hedgehog is following us." Said Rouge, smiling at Honey.

"You think he thought you were serious?"

"Undoubtedly." Rouge was smiling cheerfully. "If he actually comes up to us and shows that he was following us, he can carry our shopping bags for us!" Honey laughed.

"Oh Rouge... do you always make the guys carry the shopping bags when they're around?"

"Of course! Being in the woods and having hardly any contact with anyone hasn't exactly shown you much of me or the other girls has it?" Honey shook her head. "I thought not. Oooh look! That pair of shoes would look totally cute on you!"

"I'd look like an idiot with them Rouge." Said Honey, after inspecting the black high heels that had bows on them.

"Oh come on, please?"

"No." Laughed Honey.

"Agent Rouge!" They turned and saw a couple of GUN soldiers in "civilian clothes". Of course, the thing that gave them away was the gloves. The Commander insisted that they almost always wear the gloves.

"Hello boys. What do you need?"

"Have you seen a yellow hedgehog with red eyes?"

"What, Super Sonic?"

"No no no, this one is a darker yellow. He's supposedly been robbing jewelry stores around here." Rouge looked offended.

"Robbing jewelry stores? How dare he! There's only one person who can do that, and that person is me." She rose into the air and looked around. "Follow me boys, I've spotted him." And she darted off with the soldiers, telling Honey to wait for her.

"Having fun with Rouge?" Whispered a voice in Honey's ear. The cat jumped.

"Guard boy!"

"Who else?" Shadow smirked.

"So... you followed us did you?"

"Yes." Said Shadow, shrugging.

"You like me then?" She asked. Shadow nodded, and Honey's jaw dropped. "Are you serious? You aren't joking?" Shadow nodded again. Honey's eyes narrowed. "Look Guard boy, I've had my heart broken before, I don't need a repeat."

"I'm being honest with you Honey. And what do you mean....?" Honey gave him a quick kiss on the lips. Shadow blinked, surprised.

"I like you too Guard boy." As if by magic, the Commander appeared.

"Your mission is a success Shadow!"

"What do you mean?" Asked the black hedgehog.

"You have finally fallen in love with someone! Haw haw haw!" Shadow ignored the Commander's stupid way of laughing.

"So that's why you sent me on all those missions to guard girls." He said, his face completely devoid of emotion.

"Of course! Every soldier needs a little romance don't they?"

"I thought you didn't have any."

"Well of courses not, I'm the Commander! I'm not supposed to."

"Wrong, but whatever."

"I shall see you later Agent Shadow. Your new mission is stick by your girl." Shadow rolled his eyes while Honey giggled uncertainly. Rouge suddenly appeared in front of them.

"Well well well well..... what pair of little lovebirds do we have here?" She asked, smirking at them.

"Oh shut up Rouge." Said Shadow. Honey kissed his cheek.

"Don't be so tense Guard boy. She did help our relationship out in a way."

"Yup, and I also convinced the Commander that every GUN soldier needs a bit of romance." Rouge winked at them. "Why don't we go get something to eat? You two can go on your first date later." Honey went bright red, Shadow chuckled.

"You don't need to be embarrassed Honey."

"I know, but does Rouge have to say it so loud?"

"No, but that's Rouge for you."

Ha ha, this isn't the original way I wrote chapter three, but it works! ^_^ At least, I hope it does. Shadow might have been a bit too OCish, but I didn't intend to make him that way. Anyway, hope you liked it, I'll update as soon as the muse whacks me around the head with a piece of beef jerky. Don't ask why it uses beef jerky, I honestly can't tell you the answer.

Disclaimer: All characters belong to SEGA..... Blast it. If they belonged to Crazy, this pairing might actually be a real one. Wouldn't it be interesting if there was a game where you had to rescue Honey a couple of times from Eggman, or got to play Honey? I personally wish they hadn't scrapped her, she looked interesting!

R&R, I'll end this chapter to save you from Disclaimer's ranting. *whispers* I think Disclaimer has a cruuuuuuuush on Honey!