As Shadow closed Rouge's door, he leaned to the wall. "Just what was it all about?" He questioned himself. Sonic's words where playing in his head: "She missed you; Rouge missed you." He then shook these thoughts away. "I think... Hmph, it's nothing serious to worry about." Shadow almost whispered. He then headed downstairs when suddenly..."So, enjoying your party, Shadow?" The voice was heard. The Ultimate Lifeform looked at the owner of the voice. He greeted his teeth. "What do you want here, Knuckles?" He asked harshly. The guardian of M.E looked at Shadow and at the door, that was behind him. He read the name of the room outloud. It said: "Rouge's room~". Knuckles clenched his fists. "What did you forget there?" The red echidna asked. "None of your business." Shadow replied lowly, as he pushed Knuckles out of the way. Knuckles then shot a confused-angered look at Shadow.
As Shadow went to the living room, he saw that everybody was busy with cleaning and mopping the floor. Cream was doing the dishes, Amy was chasing Sonic, and Tails was mopping the floor. The black and crimson hedgehog opened the fridge and took a bottle of water. With 4 gulps he emptied it. The whistle from behind made him turn around. "Nice one, Shad!" Shadow didn't say anything and sat on the couch. "Mister Shadow, where is Amy?" The cream rabbit asked politely. "She is sleeping." Shadow replied calmly, looking at the rabbit. Cream nodded. "Too bad you skipped the party, Shadow. Where were you?" The pink hedgehog asked, sitting next to Sonic. "That's not important." Shadow looked away, crossing his arms. Sonic smirked slyly and the whispered something in Amy's ear. "Oh, really?!" She asked him, surprised. Sonic nodded. "Wow." Amy said, as she now had the same smile that Sonic had. They both were looking at Shadow. The ebony hedgehog himself, just hmphed in reply, closing his eyes. "And Knuckles?" Sonic asked. "What Knuckles?" Shadow opened one eye. "Did you kill him or something? Cause I didn't see him coming downstairs." The blue hedgehog asked, his arms behind his head. "If only ." Shadow smirked. "But no, I didn't. He was upstairs. Whatever, I don't care." Shadow replied, trying to hold his anger. "Why does his bother me so much?" Shadow thought, clenching his fists. "And we've finished!" Tails exclaimed, looking around the living room. Everything was perfectly clean. "Hey good job, pal!" Sonic said, as he patted Tails' head, which caused the yellow kitsune to smile. "Tails is right! The room looks prefect!" Cream agreed. "Chao Chao!" Her chao Cheese said, as he high-fived the rabbit. Shadow sat on the couch, his legs and arms crossed, as he watched TV. He was very bored and not to mention, very tired. He slowly drifted to sleep.
The ivory bat, Rouge, woke up. She yawned, as she stretched her arms. Rouge looked around. "Knuckles?!" She asked, surprised at the sudden appearance of Knuckles. He was sitting on the chair next to her bed. "What are you doing here? Missed me that much?~" She asked. "What were you doing?" The red echidna asked, trying to sound calm. "What do you mean? I was sleeping, silly~" Rouge sat on the bed. But Knuckles wasn't satisfied by her answer, he shook his head. "No, what was Shadow doing here?" Knuckles asked, his eyes almost eating Rouge's soul. The bat just sat on her bed,motionless. Rouge remembered what happened. She walked into Shadow's room, wondering why was he sitting in his room all alone and then...She opened her eyes widely after remembering the whole story. Rouge fell asleep on Shadow's shoulder. But how did she end up in her room, on her bed? "Well?" Knuckles asked, losing his temper. But Rouge was better than him. "Why are you asking?~" She asked, trying to hide her blush, that appeared because of her memories. "I just don't trust him." Knuckles replied, crossing his arms. "Don't be a baby, Knucklehead~" Rouge rolled her eyes. She then stood up and went downstairs, leaving poor Knuckles alone.
Rouge was slowly passing the stairs. She looked around. Her house was crystal clean. "Wow!" She whispered, surprised. She then saw a note. Sonic left it and said, that they cleaned the place and went home. Rouge smiled, She then began looking for the Ultimate Lifeform. He was sitting on couch, watching TV. His eyes were sleepy, but he was trying hard to keep then open. She smiled at him. "Hey Shadow~" Shadow looked at her, then back to the TV. Rouge's smile faded away. "I-I am sorry...I guess I pissed you off. But I didn't mean to." Rouge said, her ears a little flattened. She was also blushing a bit. Shadow looked at her as he blushed himself. He met her eyes. Shadow then nodded. "It's okay."He replied calmly. It seemed he was too tired to argue. Rouge sat next to him, watching TV as well. Shadow was wondering, if Rouge really missed him, like Sonic said. He was about to ask, but then decided to drop it. That would be weird for him to ask such things. "Shadow?" He heard Rouge calling him. "What?" He asked. "I wanted to give it to you earlier, but I was forgetting." Rouge said, as she took a bracelet from her wrist. Shadow's eyes widened, as he looked at his own wrist. The hedgehog soon looked at Rouge again. His heart was beating faster than usual. Why is that? He didn't know. "So, I am returning it to you, Shadow." Rouge gently put Shadow's bracelet in his hand, closing it. Shadow could feel the warmth of her hand, even through gloves. And he blushed again. "T-Thank you." He put the bracelet back on. Did he stammer? "Y-Your welcome." She stammered as well. They sat there, enjoying each other's company.