CHAPTER 13

SWEET HAVEN

Much later that afternoon after the mission, everyone was back at the facility trying to rest and recuperate from the excitement from earlier.

Shadow was in his office sitting at his desk. He was bandaging his arm from the gunshot wound from the mission. He looked away from his halfway bandaged arm and looked up at a picture that was hung on his wall. He stared at the photo that showed him standing next to the Chaotix team. He couldn't help but to form a small smile as he looked at the photo. "No matter how hard I try. I just can't break old habits. I'm always getting shot some kind of way…" He suddenly heard a light knock on his door. He turned and saw a red echidna woman coming into the office.

"Knock knock! You think I can come in?"

He shrugged his shoulders slightly, "Why not? You already made your way in didn't you?"

When she came in, she closed the door behind her gently and turned to the hedgehog. "I just came to see how you're doing."

He continued to wrap his arm in gauze, "I'm just peachy", he spoke in a sarcastic voice.

She arched an eyebrow when she saw that he was struggling a bit with bandaging his arm. She made a small giggle and approached him. "Here. Let me help you."

He had stopped what he was doing when he saw her take the roll of gauze from his hand and sit in front of him on his desk. He watched her beginning to help him bandage his arm. "…Thank you…"

"Does it hurt?"

He shook his head slightly. "I've had worse than this. This right here ain't shit."

She giggled softly from his comment, "Oh? Acting cocky I see." A sly smile formed on her lips while she continued to bandage his arm. "…Let's make this fun."

The hedgehog arched an eyebrow towards her in curiosity.

"I know plenty enough about you but you don't know much about me. So, let's play a game. Twenty questions?"

He paused for a moment. This was all too weird to him. What was she up to? Was she trying to dig some information about him to ruin him or even perhaps the Chaotix? He became cautious but tried not to make it seem too obvious. "…Fine. You start."

"Okay. Let's start something simple…Oh! Where did you grow up?"

"…East district of Tech City", he answered simply.

"Oh? So you've been living in Tech City all your life? Interesting…"

"What about you?"

"…Well to be technical, I was raised on Angel Island but I moved to Tech City much later."

He made a small smirk, "So I thought right…"

She paused from the bandaging and gave the hedgehog a puzzled look. "Huh?"

"You did come from Angel Island."

"Oh?" She began to stoked her fingers through her red dreadlocks. "Is it because I'm an echidna?"

"Well", he began, "There really aren't many echidnas roaming around in Tech City. It's just pretty rare."

"Well to be honest, there really isn't much for me over there. That's why I came here. More opportunities and open doors. Like becoming a G.U.N. lieutenant", she spoke with a smile. She continued to finish bandaging his arm, "So how old are you?"

He paused and looked up at her with a smirk. "How old do you think I am?"

She studied his appearance and paused as she thought about how old he really looked to her. "Hmm…twenty-four?"

"Heh, you're close."

"…Twenty-five?"

"Bingo."

"Oooh I'm good!" She snickered.

"…What about you?"

"How old do I look?" When she looked up at him, she saw him studying her appearance so he could guess her age.

"…Twenty-three?"

"Nope! I'm twenty-one!"

He arched an eyebrow at her. "…You're a fucking liar." He heard a soft giggle coming from her.

"Fine…you got me. I'm twenty-eight."

He placed a finger to his chin. To him, she didn't look her age at all. "You look very young for your age."

A light blush formed on her face. "Thanks. I get that quite a lot." When she was done bandaging his arm, she looked up at him with a warm smile. "So", she began. "Did you want to talk about what was bothering you earlier?"

He paused and hesitated once again as he debated if he wanted to tell her. Even though it was kind of relating to her being partially the problem. He figured since they were being somewhat open to each other at the moment, he figured it would be okay to say enough to let her in on his situation with Rouge. "…Well", he began, "It's just…Rouge…"

She paused at the name and tried to remember who he was speaking of. "Oh! Your girlfriend?"

He made a nod, "Yeah."

"What's wrong? You guys doing okay?"

He shook his head slightly, "…Not exactly."

She gave him a sympathetic look and listened to him starting to explain his situation.

"We got into a heated argument yesterday and to make things short, it turns out she doesn't trust me around other girls…not one bit."

She had to admit to herself that she wanted to smirk. The night she had met Rouge, she knew that she had gotten extremely jealous when she started talking to Shadow. To see his girlfriend jealous of her, made her feel good. "…I see…"

"It just…makes me so fucking mad! I'm trying to be a good boyfriend and she's putting me in the same category as every other typical guy. She thinks I'll fucking cheat on her and I'm not like that! I'm nothing like that…and it just hurts that she thinks of me like that…"

"You wanna know what I think, Shadow? I think she doesn't see a good guy when she has one. She's taking you for granted and she shouldn't…" She gently placed her hand over his while he had his set on the arm of the desk chair. "You're such a good man, Shadow and it sucks she doesn't appreciate anything you do."

His eyes widened when he saw her getting off of the desk and sat on his lap.

She ran her fingers gently through the bandage that was wrapped around his arm. "I notice all of the hard work you do and you deserve recognition…"

He felt her gently grinding herself over his lower body.

"No man has ever taken a bullet for me before…" She spoke softly.

He had to admit he was struggling trying to fight back his uprising erection. "…Lien-Da..."

"Just think about it, Shadow. If there's no trust within a relationship then why have one in the first place?"

He thought that she had made a fine point. If Rouge didn't trust him then why did the two even bother dating? He snapped out of his thoughts when she had wrapped her arms around his neck.

"You saved my life and I want to give you all of my trust." She leaned closer to him until her lips had met his.

Shadow found himself locked in a passionate kiss with her. As her tongue danced with his, he became aware with what was happening. This was the second time they kissed but this time felt different. This time, he didn't pull away. This time, he returned the kiss. The same question kept coming to his mind as he kissed her. 'What the hell am I doing?' He was still with Rouge so why was he kissing Lien-Da? He knew what they were doing was wrong but something deep down was telling him to don't stop.

She slowly took her lips from his and whispered to him seductively. "Here's another question for you…"

He gave her a confused look as he didn't know they were still both playing their game.

"…How bad do you want me?"

Shadow's heart raced as he stared into her light blue eyes. One part of him knew right then, he was going to make one of the biggest mistakes of his life, but another part of him was too full of anger to think about the consequences. That part of him just wanted to secretly get back at Rouge for her not trusting him.

She let out a small moan when she felt his hands roughly grabbing her butt. She was suddenly pulled into another passionate kiss with him.

He took his lips from hers and stroked his fingers through her red hair. "Lock the door and I'll show you…"

In The Next Chapter...

Shadow: I know I'm making a mistake but...

Lien-Da: You don't deserve to put with that kind of crap from someone who doesn't trust you.

Shadow: I'm just getting sick of it...

Lien-Da: It's just best to forget her

Shadow:...