No copyright infringement intended.

On the 23rd floor of one of Station Square's tallest skyscrapers, Shadow sat behind a desk. His tie was loose and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He was in week four of his eight week internship in a law office. Despite going to school to study it, Shadow had no real interest. He worked hard long hours, was constantly exhausted, and was even more so bored to death.

"Hey, Blackie!" One of the senior paralegals called. Shadow quickly spun his chair around and looked at the annoying man known as Stan. Stan was blonde, 5'3, always smelled of too much cologne and never called Shadow by his name, but by the nickname, Blackie. He had earned this name because of his dark hair. It would seem however, no one ever acknowledged the many highlights of red. Not that it mattered. Shadow rather go undetected, and without nicknames. "Blackie!" The man called again.

Shadow stared at the man before him, and greeted him accordingly through gritted teeth. "Hey Stan. What's up?"

"I need you to set up this affidavit for me." The man said. He sat on the edge of Shadow's desk and waved a USB before the younger man's face. He then tossed it to Shadow who caught it with ease.

"Set it up. As in –"

"Do it. You got it. That's what I like about you Blackie. Always so smart…"

"Stan I can't. I'm already working on this spreadsheet for Mavis –"

"Mavis won't mind. Besides, that affidavit needs to be out by tomorrow. Thanks for all your help Blackie." Stan got up and walked off. Shadow sat there squeezing the USB in his hand. It would take a lot of patience to deal with that man, and patience was what he was running out of.

Sonic sat in the locker room of the "Emerald Coast Master Gym". He had recently gotten a full time job there with the help of Knuckles, who taught a martial arts class to gym members. Though he was grateful to the red dreadlocked man, he hated his job, and found himself annoyed with all the yuppies and the meatheads that were members there.

Knuckles entered the locker room and sat next to his friend on the narrow bench. His violet eyes glared at Sonic who simply sighed. "You were wrong just now."

"That woman was rude first."

"But the customer is always right."

Knuckles put a hand on Sonic's shoulder and the blue haired male sighed deeply, lowering his head into his hands. "She was right." Knuckles looked at his friend. He crossed his arms and furrowed his brow with discontent.

"What's wrong? You're not usually like this."

"It's a bit hard to explain." Sonic answered. He got up from the bench and headed to his locker. He pulled off the shirt of his work attire, and quickly threw a casual shirt on.

"You can tell me. I'm always up to help, you know that."

"It's nothing you can help with." He pulled off his pants and put on his jeans.

"You don't know that." Knuckles told him. He got up from his seat and walked towards Sonic. He leaned against the adjacent locker. "What's wrong?"

"I don't even know!" Sonic yelled. Knuckles looked at his friend's red face. His eyes stared long and hard, annoyed with himself for being fairly insensitive. Maybe it was something Sonic just couldn't talk about. Not because he didn't want to, but because no words could sum up correctly what was going through his mind. "I'm sorry." Sonic said.

"I should apologize too." Knuckles told him. "I asked Rob if he could just let the whole thing slide. Give you time to cool off. So you have tomorrow off, but with no pay."

"Fine." Sonic closed his locker. He walked out the locker room and Knuckles followed.

"Rouge is having a party tonight. She's celebrating her latest promotion with a bunch of coworkers and stuff. I wasn't going to go, but we can go together. Bring Tails with you. It'll be a good time. We can have a few drinks. Hang out a little."

"I'll call you." Sonic said and exited the building. Knuckles stood there watching as the younger man walked off. He hoped that he would take him up on his offer.

Blaze carefully stepped out of bed. Silver was still sleeping and she did not want to wake him. He was taking an afternoon nap.

They had gone out that day, dressed incognito. Wearing large sunglasses and hats they strolled around Station Square. They shopped a little, had brunch at a local restaurant, and made their way back to the hotel room. Silver wanted to take a nap, but couldn't fall asleep. Before long Blaze found herself lying next to him. She played with his white hair and hummed. His golden eyes were soon hidden behind heavy lids and he was asleep.

She sat in her own bed and stared at him intensely. His features and his habits. He slept with his hand to the side of his face. His lips were slightly parted and his chest rose and fell as he breathed. The mauve haired woman could not understand what about him made her stare so long. She lay on her pillow and watched him. Her own lids fell over her eyes. She was sleepy. It was fine that they took their naps for they had a gala to attend that evening.

Swirling a glass of wine, Rouge sat cross legged in the living room as many people hurried through the large rooms of her luxury apartment. It was well furnished and designed. Paintings hung on each wall, and contemporary décor throughout, one could see she spared no expense when it came to interior design.

The money was a lovely gift from her dead grandmother.

"Don't put that there." Rouge said to one of the delivery boys. The teen turned around and was thinking of a mouthful to say, but then he caught a look at his employer. Rouge sat in her chaise, silky legs crossed, and clothes close fitting. She blinked her long and dark lashes at the boy who found himself frozen by her look. She held her glass of cabernet and continued to swirl it round.

"Can you not hypnotize the kid?" Shadow said plainly as he walked in the room. He threw himself on the chaise and quickly removed his already loosened tie. The teen ran off and Rouge looked at her friend with a smile.

"I'm like a piece of fine jewelry – dazzling." Rogue said with a smile.

"Really now?"

"You're so mean Shadow." She kicked his foot innocently then placed her feet in his lap. He looked at her from the corner of his eye and she was smiling all the more. She sipped the wine. Shadow watched as she swallowed. "How was your day?"

"I might quit working at that firm." Shadow's eyes trailed up Rouge's legs and thighs and the woman removed her feet from in between his legs. "Thanks."

"It's no fun when you're okay with it." Rouge got up and walked towards the windows. She stared at the drapes and began to yank on it. "And my party tonight will not be fun if someone doesn't change these God damned drapes!" The staff began running around quickly and Shadow shook his head. He got off the chaise and headed towards the door. "Where are you going?"

"Home. I'm not too happy right now."

"Come to my party tonight. It'll be a blast. I promise."

"No –"

"Come. Get a few drinks. Get buzzed. Besides. Amy will be there." Rouge crossed her arms and Shadow turned around slowly. He stared at her. Why bring Amy up?

"What does that have to do with anything?" He asked. His words came out fairly weak. He looked away when he saw her devious smile.

"I figured – well that you had some interest in her. I mean you called me many times while I was away. You asked about her often…"

"I just – I mean you and I are friends, and seeing that I know her, and you were working with her, I just figured it was, uh…polite. To…ask about her. Yeah." Shadow rubbed the back of his head as Rouge made her way over to him. She touched his cheeks and brought his eyes to hers.

"Come."

"I'll see you later Rouge." Shadow quickly stepped away from the woman and headed out the apartment. Rouge placed her hands on her hips and watched as he walked out, knowing that he'd see her sooner than he truly intended.

Amy brushed her hair carefully while she sat in the mirror of Rouge's boudoir. She was terribly excited about the night as it would be a chance to network with the right kind of people. She would meet owners of record labels, and then some. Rouge's ability to set up such things was impeccable. Despite the excitement raging inside of her, she was having a hard time showing it.

She wondered about Sonic.

How could she even think about him at such an important time? A time when she was doing something he told her she could not? Is that why she thought of him? Because she was a success, and finally getting somewhere? She remembered him because she was finally proving him wrong. Or was it something else?

Rouge entered the room and Amy saw her in the mirror. "Ready?" The older woman asked. Amy turned around and got up from her seat. She pulled off the robe and tossed it to the chair. She wore a black halter dress that cut right above the knee.

"Yeah." She answered. Rouge walked over to the 'pink pop princess'. She took a couple of hair pains from her own hair and skillfully pinned Amy's hair into a messy up-do, leaving few strands loose.

"Now you're ready. It's always good to show the nape of your neck. It's sexy." Rouge told the younger woman. Amy nodded and felt Rouge grab her hand. She almost fell in her pumps as Rouge dragged her across and out the room.

Music played as drinks poured, and high fashion trotted through Rouge's apartment. Tails looked at his drink and smelled it. The boy shook his head and handed his beverage to Sonic. It had more alcohol than he liked. Both males were dressed well in button down shirts and jeans. Tails kept it cute by wearing a bow tie, and Sonic kept it causal by rolling up the sleeves of his blazer.

"Haven't been here since Rouge's birthday that year. The time with that Amy Shadow thing. You remember?"

"I remember Tails." Sonic said sharply to the oblivious younger male.

"Yeah. I wonder where Knuckles went to. He just ditched us here and it's not like we know anyone."

"We should just leave."

"I wonder what's going on really. These guys don't just look like anybody…" Tails shoved his hands in his pockets and sent his blue eyes around the room. He stopped when seeing Silver by the bar. He pointed excitedly. "Hey, there's Silver! I'm gonna go say hi." Tails walked off quickly and Sonic's mouth twisted into a frown. Some great friends he had.

Knuckles walked over and leaned on the wall next to Sonic. He sighed. "I can't find Rouge among all these uppity people."

"Well they are her kind of people." Sonic muttered.

Knuckles looked at his miserable companion. Fixing his loose tie and pulling his dreads into a ponytail he sighed another time. "That they are. Where's Tails. Let's just go – Sonic?" Sonic handed Knuckles Tails' drink.

The blue haired male stared across the room. In a short black dress shaking hands with various people, was Amy. His green eyes widened. It was her. It was. More beautiful in person, than on television. More stunning and vivid than in his memories. Even at that distance, she was still so beautiful. "Amy." He whispered.

Silver couldn't believe he was laughing with Tails. He had unbuttoned his blazer feeling hot from laughing so hard. Miles was best friends with Sonic, and he and that guy did not necessarily get along. However, he was laughing. Genuinely laughing. Tails brought up old times, and recalled watching the band practice in Vanilla's garage. "Oh, you remember all those things, Tails? I can't believe it."

"Yeah, it's like it was yesterday, and oh! Now you guys are like, famous."

"Not yet, but this party just may get us there."

"Where's Blaze?"

"Taking to a few people." Silver pointed her out amongst a crowd of people.

"Oh, well, why aren't you?" Tails asked.

"Oh! No. It's just...I'm not really good at this kind of thing." Silver ran his fingers through his hair nervously.

"Right. Okay. That makes sense." Tails nodded. He asked the bartender for a refill on his drink. Silver lowered his head. He wasn't good with the talking parts at all.

Knuckles stood alone by the wall. He felt hands slide across his arm and he turned to see Rouge. She wore a canary yellow dress and gold bangles on her arm. She held his hand and intertwined her fingers with his. "I missed you." She said simply. "I thought you weren't coming."

"I wasn't going to. But I missed you too." He pressed her against the wall and she wrapped her arms around his neck. "I missed you a lot." He whispered.

"Please, don't make a scene. I have my boss here, and –"His lips crushed hers and the two were immediately in a kissing frenzy. Rouge mentally thanked God that the room was dim and she hoped that no one would notice her.

Shadow entered the apartment dressed nicely in a button down shirt, bowtie and vest. His jeans were dark and he tried to keep his look dressy with a pair of good black shoes. Despite his recent arrival and trying to look 'oh so very handsome' a slightly intoxicated girl spilled her drink on him. He scowled and the girl quickly walked off, not even apologizing. He took his time and made his way to Rouge's room. The night had just begun and he wanted to smoke a whole box of cigarettes.

Amy sat down and bent over to rub her ankles. The shoes she wore made her outfit look great, but caused her great pain. She sighed and looked across her floor seeing shoes, and legs standing in front of her. She rose up slowly and saw the green eyes staring at her. Eyes that were all too familiar looking at her.

"Hey you." He said. Sonic tried to breathe steadily. Amy got up from the chair slowly and looked at a face she had not seen in a while. She swallowed hard.

"Hey you." She responded. "Long time no see."

"Yeah. Yeah." He nodded. The two stared at another, no words coming to mind. Amy looked down to the ground at her hurting feet.

A/n: Please do note that chapters marked OLD are from 2007 and years prior. Each will be eventually replaced one at a time. Thank you.