Chapter 2

Sonic sat down on a park bench and sighed. He had a newspaper in one hand and a chili-dog in the other. Sonic had been dashing about the city all morning asking people about Shadow to no avail. It had seemed the black hedgehog had disappeared. Sonic took a bite of his chili-dog and opened the newspaper. He flipped through it and scanned the various articles with vague disinterest. Sonic took a huge bite as he glanced at one article and nearly choked. After catching his breath, Sonic examined the article more carefully. The title was 'BLACK HEDGEHOG ARRESTED FOR ATTEMPING TO STEAL POLICE WEAPONS'. After reading the article Sonic called Tails with his communicator, "You there Tails?"

"Yeah I'm here. Any luck?"

"Yes but um, there's a bit of a snag. I found out that Shadow is in a city a couple hundred miles away from here."

"That's not so bad. You could be there and back by dinner time."

"That's not the snag. The snag is that Shadow went and got himself thrown in jail."

"Aw man! What did he do?"

"According to this newspaper article, he tried to steal guns from the cops."

"Now what are we going to do?"

"Listen Tails don't worry. I'll take care of it. I'll call you back when I have Shadow with me." Sonic hung up and finished his chili-dog. He would need the energy for the run ahead.

Shadow sat alone on the cot of his cell, arms crossed over his chest and a scowl on his face. Stupid humans. They think being in jail is a punishment? HA! This is bliss for me! A nice quiet place away from everything that annoys me and a place for me to think. Punishment indeed! Shadow's ears went up as he heard footsteps coming down the corridor of cells. He turned toward the bars and put on his most defiant face. Sonic stepped in front of his cell. Immediately, Shadow's hard expression crumbled into shock. He quickly put his guard up once more, "What the hell are you doing here…" Shadow paused, then after a second's thought added, "Faker."

At once annoyance and disdain crossed the blue hedgehog's face as he irritably replied, "Well that's a fine hello for somebody who just bailed you out of jail."

Shadow was taken aback, "What? You bailed me out? Why would you do that?"

"Because Tails wants to talk to you about a very special project he's working on."

"Why would I care about that nerd's little projects?"

Anger flashed in Sonic's eyes and he took a step closer to the cell bars, "Why don't you shut your mouth, Fak-" Sonic caught himself and took a deep breath, "Listen Shadow. I didn't come here for you. If you ask me, you should stay here for a while. It serves you right. I came here because of Tails. He really thinks you would be able to help him."

Shadow shuffled his foot as he glanced around his cell, "This place has a phone. Tails doesn't need to send a messenger boy."

A low growl escaped from between Sonic's teeth, "He wanted to explain in person. Now you can either come with me or stay here. Which is it?"

Shadow showed an air of indifference but inside he thought, What is all of this about? I don't understand what Tails would want with me. Well anything is better than this stuffy cell. Shadow went to the bars of the cell, "Fine. I'll come with you."

Sonic gave a sigh of relief, "Good. Now let's get out of here." Sonic tossed Shadow the red Chaos Emerald.

Shadow smirked as he said, "Chaos Control!"

Knuckles awoke from his nap on the living room sofa as he heard the front door knob turning. He gave a disgruntled snort and rolled over in an attempt to get back to sleep. I can never get a decent nap around here between all of the noise Tails makes in the basement and Sonic constantly going in and out of the house! I wonder what Sonic is going to make for dinner? It better not be chili-dogs again. I still have indigestion from the last time! The front door slammed, giving Knuckles a small jolt. He sat up and debated whether it was worth the effort to get up and tell Sonic for the hundredth time not to slam the front door.

As he thought it over, Sonic could be heard, "You can take your shoes off and put them here."

Knuckles rolled his eyes and mumbled, "Great, I'll never be able to nap now that Sonics bought home company."

Sonic's voice rang through the house, "TAILS! I'm back!" Knuckles got off the sofa.

He rounded the corner leading to the front door, "Hey how come I don't get a hell-" Knuckles stopped dead in his tracks. Shadow was taking off his shoes and placing them against the wall. He looked up to see Knuckles staring at him and glared. Knuckles grabbed Sonic by the arm and pulled him into the living room, "What the hell is he doing here?!" he said in a whisper.

Sonic yanked away his arm and whispered back, "He's here because of Tails' thing, remember? I don't like it any more than you do. I just want to get this over with so he leaves."

Knuckles sighed, "Fine. I'll be in my room."

Shadow stepped into the living room as Knuckles left, "So where is Tails? I want to get this over and done with."

"Somebody call me?" Tails peeked out of the basement door. He had his welding goggles and mitts on and his face was slightly smeared with sweat and oil.

"Yeah. Shadows here." said Sonic.

Tails' ears went up as he said, "Oh! Sorry Shadow, I didn't see you! Give me one sec and I'll be right there." Tails disappeared into the basement. He came back less than five minutes later looking less grubby, "Ok let's head into the kitchen."

Shadow sat at the kitchen table in stunned silence. At last he spoke, "So let me get this straight. This machine your making will be able to let me remember my past?" Tails nodded. Shadow rubbed his temples in an unsuccessful attempt to ease the headache that was forming, "This is crazy. I've gone to doctors of all kinds and they all told me that my memory is permanently damaged. What makes you think that this contraption of yours will work?"

Tails replied, "Well to tell you that, I'd have to go into all of the technical stuff and that would take us forever."

Shadow stared at him with a guarded face and untrusting eyes, "So why do you need my help with this… 'miracle machine'?"

Tails scratched the back of his head nervously in a way that Shadow found annoyingly similar to Sonic. "The reason I need your help is because this machine is built to access the deepest parts of your mind and your subconscious. And in order to do that, I need to sync it with you so that it becomes almost like an extension of your mind. It's very complex and difficult to explain but the bottom line is that I would not be able to complete it without your cooperation."

Shadow leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, "Well I'm sorry Tails, I won't be able to help you with this. I've got things to take care of but before I can even get started on that, I have to find a place to live. So thanks but no thanks." Shadow got up from the table and walked toward the living room. Sonic was stretched out on the couch reading the book 1001 Arabian Nights. He looked up briefly as Shadow entered. Shadow stopped and said, "I hope you weren't too attached to the red Chaos Emerald because I'm keeping it."

Sonic continued to read as he said, "Whatever, I don't care. Just don't give it to Eggman." Shadow continued to the front door. Tails ran up behind him as Shadow put on his shoes.

Before the fox could say anything, Shadow cut him off, "Save your breath Tails. I already gave you my answer."

"But Shadow please! Hear me out. I-"

"What part of no do you not understand?!" Tails shrunk back, frightened by Shadow's outburst.

Sonic appeared as Shadow opened the front door, "Are we having a problem back here?"

Shadow stepped out, "No. I was just leaving."

Tails grabbed by the Shadow by the wrist and said, "Wait Shadow, what if you lived here?"

Shadow froze in his tracks with surprise showing clearly on his face. Sonic grabbed Tails by the scruff of his neck and pulled him back. The kitsune protested, "OW! Dang it Sonic stop doing that!"

Sonic leaned in and whispered, "Sorry, but have you lost your mind?!"

"No I haven't! I'm dead serious!" came the defiant reply.

Sonic frowned, "Tails, he can't stay here. He's as shady as they come and besides, where is he going to sleep?"

After a moment of thought, Tails said, "He can sleep in the game room. We can move the video game stuff into the living room." Shadow stood there as the two whispered back and forth.

He thought to himself, What the hell is going on? Why would Tails want me to live with them? Is he really that desperate? Maybe…maybe he really does want to help me get my memory back…

Tails broke away from Sonic and went to Shadow who still had a bewildered look about him, "So, what do you say?" Tails extended his hand. Shadow looked at the hand and at Tails. He also looked over at Sonic who was eyeing him suspiciously. Every instinct Shadow had told him to walk away. But there was a tiny glimmer of hope in him said that perhaps it was time for the lonely drifting from place to place to end. Shadow hesitantly took Tails' hand and shook it.

Maria, I think I'm ready to trust again.

Author's Note: AWWW! I'm going to have so much fun with this story. And in case any of you are wondering, this will not turn into a crack couple story! All though, it is a little OOC I guess. Anyways, please read, review and most importantly, enjoy! I'll have more chapters up soon. Especially since summer vacation is coming up. WHOOO! XD Happy Mother's Day everybody!