Shadow took my hand in his as we walked down the hall. I gave one final, longing glance behind us as the bedroom door began to leave my range of vision. We both sighed as Shadow opened the door for me. I stepped in, and he followed. Luckily, no one seemed to notice our absence - except the scientist from before. "Where'd you guys go?" She asked frantically, "I was looking all over for you! And at Shadow's own party, too!"

"Sorry, I needed to change into something more formal." I explained.

"I went to see what was taking her so long." Shadow admitted, stepping out from behind me.

"I need to talk to you two." She said in a fast, agitated tone of voice. We reluctantly followed her into a far corner of the decorated lobby. "Look," She began, "I know something's up with you two." I hoped she couldn't see my eyes widen. "And it's great if you guys have become acquaintances. Friends, even."

"So?" Shadow asked, the boredom in his voice obvious.

"But, you're not just friends."

Shadow and I exchanged horror-filled glances, then looked back to her. "How do you know?" I whispered, hoping she would carry out the conversation a little more quietly.

"Call me a snoop, but I've taken it up as my duty to monitor Shadow."

"Monitor me?" His voice contained a suspicious edge.

"For how long?" I added.

"For a... while now." We didn't retort, just waited for her to continue. "I remember when Shadow was created." She turned to him. "I helped with the development stages while you were in that stasis tube." She turned to me. "I also remember the first day you were told about the project. I remember Professor Robotnik trying to get you to see him. I remember his final days of stasis, and how you still refused to care. I remember you putting your hand on that doorknob, the one to the laboratory, and deciding to walk in the other direction instead. You just couldn't bring yourself to enter that room. I'll never know why, but you couldn't. I remember seeing you through a window in the laboratory on Shadow's last day in stasis. You walked up to the glass and stared in for a few seconds, not appearing to take any notice of Shadow. Then you ran in the other direction. Do you remember that?"

"I nodded slowly."

"Well," She continued, "when I looked back at Shadow, his eyes were open. As soon as I realized that meant he was breathing - and suffocating, I reached for the lever that released him. Little did I know, I didn't need to." I looked over at Shadow as this scientist told her story, and Shadow's eyes were closed. He had his head in his hands. Suddenly, he spoke.

"I'll tell the rest of the story, Della." I was taken aback with shock, and our storyteller clearly was too.

"Y-you remember that?"

"Well, it's coming back to me." He turned to me. "By natural instinct, I broke out of that glass chamber. It was filled with disgusting green liquid that was thick and heavy, pulling down on me. I shattered the glass with one hand and jumped out, feeling air for the first time. My first moment was a great one, feeling like I had escaped some sort of sleep paralysis. Anyway, I ran toward the direction that I saw you in, but I hit the glass of course."

"He broke it, though." Della added, "I saw bloody gashes in his skin disappear before my very eyes, and I knew we had successfully created immortality. He had an amazing red aura surrounding him, like a visible rage. The professor had told me about his studies of Chaos Energy, and how he had designed Shadow to have an infinite flow of it. Luckily, I had already designed his inhibitor rings."

"Well, I didn't put them on without a fight, I'll admit that." Shadow laughed, "They needed fifteen scientists to wrestle me to the ground and tranquillize me. When I woke up, I was wearing shoes, gloves, and inhibitor rings. The shoes, by the way, took SO long to get used to." They both laughed, clearly sharing an inside joke.

"Those rocket soles aren't easy to maneuver in..." Della muttered, "Anyway, it appears I've gotten side-tracked. My point was originally that I knew there was something up with you and Shadow from the start. And then he began to follow you around wherever you went, so it was a situation that was becoming snoop-worthy. And suddenly, I also don't know your reasons for this, but you just demanded an explanation for his actions. A few days passed, and here we are now."

"So..." I trailed off, not sure how to say it.

"Why do you think we're a couple?" Shadow asked, finishing my sentence for me.

"Because I was spying on you, remember? And I'm pretty good at it. I saw you two kissing at the model shrine."

Shadow and I tried to shrug off our tomato-red faces. Shadow finally said, "Yeah, so we are. You caught us, okay?" He took my hand in his, as he'd done before.

"That could be... dangerous." She said.

"Why?" We both asked.

"Because, Maria," She turned to me, "I'm going to be straight with you. This is a government project that you're in a relationship with. If they decided to, oh, I don't know, discard him for some reason, this is going to end in heartbreak. And Shadow," She turned to him, "Maria is really sick. Did she tell you that?"

Shadow's face turned to pure shock. The purest look of shock I had ever seen on him. A look so confused, so scared-looking, so startled, that I wasn't sure what to make of it. He turned to me slowly. "What?" He asked softly, the smallest sounding word I had ever heard him utter.

"That's right." Della said sternly, "Tell him, Maria. Tell him all about Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome."

"What?" He repeated, his voice cracking and his eyes turning solemn. He grabbed my right hand in both of his.

"... Remember the first day I met you, and I was telling you that I don't have any potential on Earth?"

"Yes."

"I... would die painfully from a disease if I were to walk the Earth. My immune system doesn't work like it should.

"Pfft. More like doesn't work at all." Della commented.

"Hey, shut up!" Shadow yelled at the top of his lungs. The whole crowd turned to look at us and he dropped my hand. Slowly, the noise that had dissipated began to rise in volume again, and faces turned back away from us. That was close.

"I didn't mean to ruin you two's night," Della apologized, "but you are both in so much danger that I promise your relationship will end in heartbreak."

"That's not true!" Shadow backfired, "I'll be a cooperative project, and Maria won't go to Earth! Problem solved!"

"Oh, yeah, because Maria's going to live a full life anyway..." She said sarcastically, walking away, "Don't say I didn't warn you!"

"You can have your idiotic tuxedo back!" Shadow yelled, ripping the bowtie off his neck and throwing it at her.

"Keep it! It's yours!" She yelled in reply before disappearing into the crowd. I walked up to the bowtie and snatched it from the linoleum floor.

As I approached Shadow, he asked, "Why the hell didn't you tell me?"

As I tied the bowtie back around his neck, I said, "Honestly, it didn't come to mind. After all the enchanting moments I've had with you, I forgot about my real life. My horrible life."

"I believe you." He sighed, "I did too."

I kissed him lightly, "let's just party. C'mon."

"Okay. Fine. But I can't dance."

"And you think I can?"

"Good point." We ran to the dance floor and I jumped up and down to the beat of the music. Shadow just stared, amused.

"Okay, so I really can't dance." I admitted as the song ended. Shadow just continued to smirk at me. Suddenly, my favorite song came on. It was a ballad. Shadow eyed me suspiciously when everyone began to pair up.

"I'm not going to dance with you." He said simply, taking a step back. To both our dismay, he bumped into my grandfather.

"You two aren't dancing!" He said, "Come on! Have fun!"

"I don't have a partner." I whined.

"Hm... Just pair up with Shadow! You don't mind, right?" He asked my friend.

"Uh, no, I don't mind." Shadow gave in, not wanting to defy his creator. He rolled his eyes as we took each other's hands.

"That's not how you slow dance!" A woman commented, "Shadow, you put your right hand on Maria's waist, and Maria, you put your left hand on Shadow's shoulder. There, perfect!" When the woman left, we were properly dancing.

"This is... fun."

"I know you're lying." I commented, watching Shadow's disgusted expression. "Why don't you like dancing? Don't you like music?"

Shadow shrugged, answering only with, "I'm not interested."

We stood like that awkwardly as people around us shifted, twirled and dipped. When the music slowed to a stop, Shadow over-eagerly dragged me off the dance floor. We sat down at a table and I crossed my legs, sitting up straightly and properly. Shadow slumped over his lap with an arched back, his chin pressing into his palm. "It wasn't that bad, you baby!" I teased, "It was just a dumb dance!"

"It was embarrassing."

"You're such a buzz kill."

"Oh yeah? Fine, if you want to think that, I'll just have to prove you wrong." He announced, sitting up and meeting my eyes. Another ballad began to play. "Later." He added, getting up from the table and walking away.

"Where do you think you're going?" I asked, running up and walking next to him.

"To the snack table." When we arrived, he poured two glasses of fruit punch and handed one to me. He then grabbed a chocolate chip cookie in his free hand and took a bite of it.

"You're such a peppy birthday boy, aren't you?" I continued to tease him, and he teased back.

"Look, this would be a lot easier if you weren't trying to get me to dance like an idiot." Maybe a little too harshly, though.

I sighed. "Whatever, Shadow."

"Maria, don't get me wrong. I'm having fun." As monotonous as his voice was, I believed him. He was my crazy little Shadow, after all.

"You know, the name 'Shadow' suits you so well." I commented. He cocked his head to the side.

"Why?"

"Because your whole life, all you've done is follow me around, just like a shadow."

He gave a slight nod and leaned back against the table. "What can I say? Maybe we're connected. Better yet though, maybe you're just special."

I chuckled sarcastically. "Yeah, right..."

He quickly looked around to see if anyone was peering in our direction. It was just Della. She was giving us a quizzical look. Not caring, Shadow hugged my waist. Feeling like a mother with her child, I bent down to match his height. He stroked the back of my hair and kissed my cheek. I looked behind us and saw that Della was now glaring, but I didn't care. I was getting lost in the moment. In a soft whisper, Shadow said, "Well, you're special to me."

A/N: Hello, fans of Shadow and Maria! I'm just going to say something really fast: I'm not sure if I like the name of this fanfic. If you plan to leave a comment (and please do), just quickly state whether or not you think it could use a name change. I would love suggestions for a new one, and if I get a few great ideas that I can't decide on, I'll put them in a poll for you guys to vote on! Thanks for reading!

-TheVideoGamer