Yay, new chapter! But first, reviews…

lovekyman: You'll have to wait and see ;) and yes, I hope she does too! Thank you! I'll glad you're enjoying it!

Sonic The Dovahkiin: I'm glad that's cleared up and I didn't take it too hard :)! I took it as constructive and it definitely helped me so thank you again! Hope you continue to enjoy the story!

lena82294: You'll have to stay tuned! Thank you for the love, glad you're enjoying it!

D&S Chapter 8: Impatience & Stations

Sonic had always been an impatient hedgehog. Even if he'd never been blessed with super speed, he was sure he would've still had his on-the-go attitude. He liked things to be fast-paced, most things anyway. It worked well since friendships and adventures were never too far away and had the tendency to change at the drop of a dime. That didn't realy bother him, as the void they left was usually filled within a day or two. The police job helped keep things that way even when he started to settle down. He would never stop chasing the next chance at exhilaration, but he found himself thinking about having a family or at least a significant other more than before. But even then, he was sure his impatient attitude would find its way into every aspect of his life.

So when Estro gave him the news that he'd be stuck on office duty for a month, he was surprised his impatience hadn't caused him to hightail it out of there.

He'd only just got in the Commissioner's office when he was given the news. The man hadn't even offered him a seat or a glass of water.

"W-what?!" He had asked incredulously.

"Crime has been low in the city and there is a bigger need for criminal file organization and city cleanup workers." Commissioner Estro explained, resting his chin on his closed fists.

"I actually thought you'd be more interested in working with Blaze on this, you two seem close…" Estro continued. Sonic raised an eyebrow.

"What are you getting at?" The hedgehog replied, crossing his arms. Estro smiled at him and gestured towards the two chairs in front of his desk. Sonic remained standing.

"Nothing at all, you just seem to be friends with her. I thought it would be a good assignment for you." He said softly. Sonic tried to keep a pokerface, but his newly discovered patience was running out.

"I understand that, but I've always worked in the field. I've excelled at that. I had a perfect performance report last year. No need to fix something that isn't broken." Sonic replied through clenched teeth.

Estro chuckled and shook his head.

"Don't think of it like that, Sonic. Think of it as more of a temporary adjustment. I have always commended you for your talents in the field, but there isn't a demand for that right now."

Sonic opened his mouth to retort when Estro leaned in and smiled.

"Plus, we wouldn't want you sitting at home letting those thoughts of yours fester too long, would we?." He said quietly. The hedgehog's eyes widened in response.

He was about to ask Estro what he meant by that but the Commissioner waved him off before he had a chance to reply.

"You're new assignment starts tomorrow, Blaze will show you the ropes." Estro explained, pressing a button on his chair arm that opened the door Sonic had walked in.

Sonic stifled a growled as he turned on his heel and walked out. This had been exactly why he'd had trepidations about working for the force. He hated someone thinking they had control over him.

The secretary greeted him when he walked out but he struggled to give her a fake smile. Looking out the large window beside her desk reminded him of the black line he'd seen racing through the streets.

"I hope you're okay." He muttered, his teeth still clenched from his conversation with Estro.

But as he walked down the blank hallway to the elevator, his mood began to change. No one had ever succeeded in controlling Sonic the Hedgehog before, and he didn't plan on letting anyone start now. He was going to help Shadow regardless of what the force said.

"I know you're gonna be okay," He growled, closing his fists as he entered the elevator. "Because I'm going to make sure of it."

Staring at his face in the mirrored walls, he gave his signature grin and winked at his reflection.

"Let's see them try to stop me."

Little did he know, someone was watching him as he spoke.

"I knew you would say that." They said with a smirk.

"But of course I planned for that…"

/

Tails sighed as he continued to tinker with the television he'd bought Sonic a few years ago for his birthday. While watching one of his favourite afternoon cartoons, the box had shut down and refused to restart.

At first it seemed like a minor malfunction, something newer models were prone to after a few years. But a weird red line had flashed over the screen a few times as Tails had tried to fix it. And that wasn't something the manual had mentioned.

Tails had raced over to his supply garage and grabbed his frequency detector, a gadget he'd invented that picked up on strange and irregular frequencies in electronics. He'd created it when Sonic's long time rival, Eggman, had hacked their radio in order to stalk their movements. While he hadn't used it in some time, he was sure it would help him figure out what had happened to the television.

He had waited a bit before trying it out, deciding to give the television company one more call before taking matters into his own hands.

"Um...hello?" He said slowly after being on hold for ten minutes.

"This is Kiro Electronics, how can we make your day better?" Tails rolled his eyes.

You can start by not selling televisions designed to malfunction after a couple of years.

"Well my television stopped working and I was hoping…"

"Have you tried turning it on and off?"

"..."

Very few times had Tails felt like cursing in anger. He'd seen Sonic do it a handful of times before apologizing, but he'd never felt inclined to do it himself. It had been hard to just hang up instead of giving the Kiro employee a piece of his mind. And it took a few deep breathes and some calming camomile tea before he was able to fully refocus his efforts on the television.

Leaving his cup on a coaster on the coffee table, the fox picked up his invention and pointed it at the television. He stared down at the large red button that said GO! on it, an accent Sonic had pushed for, obviously. Above the button was a display screen with a dial that went back and forth like a metronome. If there were any impairing frequencies affecting the television, the dial would swing to the right.

Taking a deep breathe, Tails' thumb pushed down on the red button and watched the gadget come to life.

The dial flickered at first and remained in the middle which was "normal" for most electronic devices. Tails had been ready to give up had the dial not suddenly shot to the right and began beeping. Looking down at the flashing screen, his eyes widened.

The dial was all the way to the right and seemed to be trying to push through the barrier he had set for "MAX" on the display.

"What the…" Tails thought aloud. Even when the machine had detected Eggman's frequencies, they had never exceeded the "MAX" level limit. Tails flipped the gadget in his hand, searching for the volume setting he was sure he had added when there was a hard knock at the door.

Jumping a foot and dropping the frequency detector, Tails turned towards the door. His heart was beating fast and it didn't help that Sonic was downtown and wouldn't be back for a while. Taking a deep breathe, he realized he would have to handle the situation himself. He wasn't a kid anymore and he tried to tell himself that he'd be able to defend himself if he needed to.

"One sec, I just have to…" He turned back to the detector and almost jumped again.

The detector had landed face-up but was pointing towards the radio, its dial still at "MAX". Tails' eyes widened. That meant that multiple objects in the house were being tampered with to an astounding degree. That meant someone or something could have been listening to their conversations for a while.

"T-tails, are you in there?" He heard a weak voice yell out after another knock. With his mind still reeling from the detector's readings, Tails walked over the door and opened it. In front of him stood none other than Shadow, hunched over and breathing heavily. Tails gasped and quickly moved to grab the hedgehog, who looked like he was about to faint.

"Shadow! Where have you been?" He asked as he helped the hedgehog into the kitchen.

"I'm sorry for being such a burden." The hedgehog muttered as he allowed Tails to help him into a seat.

"Not at all, Sonic should be here soon." Tails replied, rushing over to the kitchen to grab Shadow a glass of water.

"I won't be here long, I just wanted to fill him in on one of his cop friends who should really be written up." Shadow spat out.

Tails handed him the water and raised an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about?" He asked slowly. Shadow shook his head.

"The world is an ugly place, kid." Was all he said before turning away from Tails and staring out the kitchen window.

The detector continued beeping in the background.

/

Not only was the hooded figure following her, but they seemed to know where she was going too.

Blaze growled as she crossed a busy street in an attempt to hide amongst the crowd only to see her stalker in hot pursuit. They weren't giving up and she was running out of time. He car was parked across the street from police HQ but she had tried multiple times to change her path in order to confuse her follower. She was almost to the building now and wasn't sure she'd be able to keep a good distance from the figure.

She had just crossed the last intersection before the police HQ when her phone began to buzz. A number came up as "UNKNOWN" but she picked it up anyway.

"Hello?" She was practically out of breathe, but keeping away from a stalker while trying to speed walk and appear normal to the other pedestrians was proving to be quite an exercise.

"Hey," Her breath hitched when she realized the voice was being distorted by a machine. "I know you're being followed but I know how you can get away."

Blaze's heart skipped a beat. So two people were watching her? When she had considered doing field work, this was definitely not what she'd expected to be involved in. She tried to keep her cool as she continued speed walking down the street.

"W-what? How can I trust you?" She hissed, slowing her walk to catch her breath.

"You don't have to, but I can tell you that person is going to follow you to your car." The caller explained. Blaze watched from the corner of her eye as the figure continued to follow her through the crowd.

"What should I do then? And that's if I were to trust you and your altered voice." She replied quietly. The anxiety and fear was starting to drive her crazy and having to take advice from a stranger over the phone wasn't helping. But her situation was getting worse as she came closer to HQ and she was going to need any help she could get.

She heard the voice chuckle.

"I would rather you hear my real voice, trust me. Just know that I am on your side. I want to get you out of there and if I knew you'd trust me, I'd tell you to go to Central Station."

Blaze almost came to a complete stop when she heard that. But of course she couldn't.

"W-what? Why there?" She turned her head in the direction of Central Station before looking towards HQ.

"They won't understand why you're going there and they'll be too suspicious looking to fit in with everyone else." The caller explained.

Blaze was silent for a second as she considered her options and the validity of her caller's claim. On one hand, if she made it back in time, she could request backup at HQ. But that could make matters ten times worse if the stalker was hoping she would do that. Central Station was busy but had ample security. If her stalker were to catch her, at least she could scream for help. She was less likely to get help in a quiet parking lot.

"You'll have to turn now though." The caller said, pulling her from her thoughts.

"F-fine!" Blaze whispered, turning at the next street to head towards the station. To her surprise, the stalker seemed to freeze and then slow down. By the time she got to the station, they were no where in sight.

"I can't believe that worked…" She muttered. The caller, who had been silent as she'd changed routes, began speaking again.

"You're not out of the woods yet. I'd hang in the station a couple of minutes before heading back. Be careful, alright?" They explained. Blaze stared at her phone like it had grown legs.

"Um, thank you. Whoever you are." She said softly, feeling stupid as she finished.

"No problem. You'll meet me soon, I'm sure." The caller replied with a chuckle before the line went dead.

Blaze stood still for a second before putting her phone away and heading into the station. She couldn't believe she'd just trusted a complete stranger with her safety. But at least she was safe now, relatively at least.

Shaking her head as she took a seat in the station's food court, she pulled out her phone and called the front desk at police HQ. She had no plans to return to work that afternoon. On the contrary, she was more worried about going back to work.

She was going to investigate what was going on around her.

She was going to conduct her own field work.

...and she was going to need Sonic's help.

/

A/N: As promised, I tried to add more dialogue in this chapter. Next chapter will probably have a lot more because there's been a lot of action in the last few chapters. There will hopefully be some shipping progression as well ^.^ so look out for that! I really hope you guys are liking the different storylines! Blaze's "encounter" was supposed to be a little different but I found my alternate version a bit confusing so I stuck with this one. Also, I know little to nothing about frequencies but again wanted it to be simple enough to understand yet complex enough that Tails needed to pull out the big guns. In the greater scheme of things, I hope it makes sense. Anyways, enjoy and please r&r!

-GeminiMercedes-