Sonic Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Babbysitter Affair ❯ Preperation ( Chapter 10 )

The Babysitter Affair Chapter 10

 

 

Over at Rouge's, her mind gave her no peace or silence as she zipped between dresser drawer after dresser drawer to her suitcase on the bed.

 

'What am I doing...?' the frantic bat feverishly thought to herself while packing ' How can I just be ready to leave like this...?'

Her heart beat in a steady and quick rhythm in her chest as she continued gathering her belongings as well as her thoughts.

 

Everything had seem to happen so quickly.

First finding that band in Knuckles' dreads, him losing yet another job in the same year; meeting up with Shadow after years of no contact whatsoever, him fixing breakfast and now him wanting to send her on vacation??!

 

' I can't believe this...' she thought, grabbing a few more articles of clothing from her top dresser drawer. 'We haven't even had more than a whole day to talk about anything or to catch up! And now, here I am, preparing to leave on a vacation?? A well-NEEDED vacation? ...Knuckles would never suggest something like that...'

 

Knuckles...

 

Although she had to admit, finding that lacy pink band in her husband's hair wasn't the very beginning of their turmoil.

 

It actually started on her wedding day.

 

--

 

Both her and Knuckles stood at the alter.

The priest was taking his dear old time with proclaiming the traditional passages.

There she was, in her beautiful and meticulously decorated wedding dress. An aromatic and opulent bouquet of red and pink roses rested in her arms.

Her husband-to-be stood closely next to her with his eyes on the priest.

It was obvious that he was eager for the reading to be over so that he could recite his “i do”s and be wed.

But her on the other hand, was impatiently and mentally screaming for something to intervene with the ceremony.

 

Having cold feet wasn't uncommon while on the alter, but her issue was more than just that.

Standing up there in front of everyone and under God, her mind raced at an insane speed.

 

Thoughts of not doing something she truly wanted to, moving to fast with her life and lying to herself wrought her mind and made her shiver.

 

It wasn't that she didn't have any feeling for Knuckles but...

 

Risking a slick look behind her in the audience, she silently searched for him...but as she had already expected, she did not see him.

 

Some best friend he was walking out on her wedding day without even saying hello...

...Then again, It wasn't like she could blame him.

Returning her attention back to the overused words of nuptial tradition, her awkwardness was caught by Knuckles.

 

His cool eyes gazed over her and she hoped he only thought she was nervous.

And to her relief he did. He warmly reached up to brush his mitt across her arm to reassure her and smiled.

 

Without thinking, she smiled back.

 

Becoming lost within those eyes, she had begun to feel guilty for all the uncertainties she had with this marriage.

 

In the back of her mind, she asked herself. 'Why are you marrying this guy...?'

 

--

 

“....”

 

And even to this day, she still never gave herself an honest answer to believe although she knew all too well why...

 

Her mind had been so occupied with her lingering thoughts, she hadn't noticed that she had already fastened her suitcase, but was stacking more clothes on top of it.

 

“..Oh...oh no!” she whispered sharply as she batted away the extra clothing and opened the suitcase.

 

Her eyes traveled over her encased belongings and she mentally made a checklist of what she needed.

 

So far, she had it all, she was just missing a few bathroom items.

Turning on her heels, she made a bee-line for the bathroom, when she stopped herself. Heading a little more down the hallway, she peeked around the corner of the Dining Room to see if Shadow had gone back in there and low and behold, he had.

 

He sat at the table with his hands folded together and a distant look on his face.

Obviously, he appeared to be deep in thought.

 

Rouge wondered if she should even mention to him she would be leaving soon or not but decided not to bother him.

 

Just as silently as she had approached, she retreated back towards the bathroom.

She didn't bother asking where the boys were. She could hear their playful voices drifting through the floor from their rooms downstairs.

And that thought alone was more than enough to comfort her.

 

Once Shadow heard the door to the bathroom close, his ear twitched and he steadily came out of his mental trance.

 

He knew she was watching him, but he wanted to see what she would do.

A bit bothered that she didn't say anything to him, Shadow pushed himself up from the table and walked towards the nearby windows in the room.

 

--

 

“Do you see him yet?”

 

“For the 17th time, Amy, NO I don't see him!”

Amy sighed at Knuckles' overly direct answer. “I was just asking!”

“Yes, you were just asking but we're walking in the same direction! If I saw him, SO WOULD YOU!”

“Hey you don't have to yell!” she retaliated and curled one of her hands into a claw and waved it at him. “...Or else you want me to reopen those wounds...”

 

Knuckles' body shuddered and he grimaced at the thought. “Cut it out!”

 

Amy laughed triumphantly and Knuckles couldn't help but laugh a little too.

 

“So...do you seem him yet?”

“..........”

“Whoops...that time it just slipped out!”

“...At this point in time, I don't care if it did!”

 

Amy sighed. They had been walking around the neighborhood and town for nearly 20 minutes and still no sign or hint of Sonic.

“...Maybe we should have taken the car...” she rhetorically commented.

The idea hit Knuckles that they actually should have, but they were in such a rush it slipped both their minds. That and Amy just KNEW that SHE would find Sonic.

Yeah, that sure did a lot of good...

 

“What are you thinking about now...?” she asked in annoyance. That had to have been the 3rd time that day Knuckles had gone off in thought without saying a word!

This was becoming a little creepy!

“Huh?” the distant echidna winced at her voice. Then he shrugged it off. “Oh, you were just complaining again...”

Amy half-frowned and paused to take a rest. “This is getting us nowhere!”

“Well, we COULD have taken the car, but who was it that said they would DEFINETLY find that idiot?? It damn sure wasn't me!”

 

Caught guilty, Amy laughed it off. Running a hand through her bouncy bangs, she absentmindedly peered up into the sky.

 

Knuckles said nothing as his violet eyes delicately beheld her.

So she was 16 now huh? To him she still looked much younger than that, but she certainly didn't act that way anymore.

And for that, he was glad. But in the back of his mind he wondered, just where would that lead to?

 

He sighed. If only they had met under different circumstances then...

...Then what?

 

Reluctantly, he shook the thoughts from his mind.

 

Returning his attention fully to her, he frowned to find her staring at him impatiently with her hands on her hips.

 

Her stern eyes thoroughly searched his.

“...Welcome back...” she stated plainly.

“Er...sorry Amy...”

“...Forget it. Anyway, I have an idea. You're not out of shape right?”

Knuckles was taken aback by this and was almost amused. Almost.

“What?! Girl, have you looked at this body??” he exclaimed, spreading out his arms for her to see every peck and muscle through the fabric of his clothing.

 

And what she saw was nice but it didn't answer her question.

Knuckles knew this and continued on. “NO, I'm not out of shape. Just what are you implying...?”

She grinned. “Let me get on top of you for a second.”

Knuckles nearly jumped out of his skin. Had he heard her right?

“WHAT?” he laughed “Well, uh I can appreciate your eagerness but uh when any woman gets on top of me, it'd take a lot more than just a few seconds. Give me a little more credit than that!”

“Eww! That's not what I meant!! Knuckles!”

“HAHAHA! I'm just kidding. So you want me to take you for a ride then...”

Her eyes lit up. “Yeah!”

But his laughter only heightened.

“Knuckles! Get a grip! I'm not coming on to you alright?! Just—let me get on your back so you can glide around town to search for Sonic!”

“Now why couldn't you just say so, huh?? Could there be...a hidden yearning in there somewhere, Amy??”

“No!”

“...You're not sure are you...?”

Becoming irritated, Amy clenched a fist and when Knuckles saw she meant business, he stopped and tried to calm her down.

“Hey hey! I was only messing with you alright?”

Taking deep, slow breaths, Amy nodded. “Yeah alright”

Seeing that she was calming down, Knuckles turned to let her climb on his back.

 

Several minutes later, they were soaring through the air. It didn't take them very long to locate the downtrodden hedgehog. He sat idly in a swing, lazily kicking his legs back and forth.

“There he is!” Amy exclaimed and before she could tell Knuckles to land, he u-turned away from Sonic's location first, then landed.

Confused, Amy opened her mouth to protest, but Knuckles covered it and shook his head.

“...Hey... it's not me he's looking for.”

Amy just stared at him with wide eyes. She knew he was right. “Yeah....” Then her features suddenly perked up. “Alright, so me and Sonic will both see you later?”

Admiring her cuteness, Knuckles smiled and nodded. “Yeah, you will. Just don't keep that idiot waiting!”

Smiling broadly, Amy gave Knuckles a quick hug then scampered off to meet with her crush.

 

Satisfied with his good deed for the day, Knuckles watched her leave. And for a moment, it felt as though a small part of him had left along with her.

That girl...

Shaking the thoughts from his mind, he prepared to head back to Sonic's place and fished his phone from his pocket to check the time.

 

5:57 pm

 

It was getting late already.

He missed seeing his boys.

“They're probably playing around this time of day” he uttered to himself. In the back of his mind, he wondered how Rouge was doing and as he did, he was sharply reminded of their previous disagreement.

Sighing, he gathered his thoughts for a moment and flipped open his phone.

 

--

 

As the time went by, Rouge was still gathering items in the bathroom, along with spending most of the time thinking while Shadow continued his gazed out the window.

 

He had already ceased his rambling deliberations.

But he'd wasted enough time. Silently, he began to leave the Dining Room to head downstairs when the phone rang.

 

Not sure if he should answer it or not, he cautiously just let it ring. He glanced towards the bathroom door. Rouge didn't seem to care if it were urgent or not, so why should he?

 

Quietly, he counted the rings and listened as the answering machine picked up.

 

“...Hello? ...Rouge? Boys?”

 

Shadow instantly froze. Only his eyes darted to the machine as Knuckles' deep voice wavered over its speakers.

Hearing that echidna's voice again made Shadow's muscles tighten in anger. If not for it being Rouge's place, he would have smashed that phone.

Reluctantly, he continued to listen to the message.

 

“ ...Heheh, no answer, like I thought. Anyway, I was just calling to check up on you guys and....to say that ...I'm sorry about earlier, Rouge. I'm sorry my actions led you to think I was cheating on you and...I'm going to do my best to make it up to you... ... I love you, Rouge. Tell the boys I love them too. I'll call again later. Bye...”

-click-

“You have one new mess---”

-beep!-

“... Message deleted. No new messages---”

 

Shadow said nothing as he stood over the machine with his finger still on the delete button.

His body acted on impulse and he had immediately discarded of the message before Rouge found out anything about it.

The last thing she needed to hear was that echidna's voice. Although, Knuckles WAS apologizing for his actions and his and Rouge's argument, deep down Shadow could tell she wanted nothing to do with Knuckles at the moment.

 

Or was that just his anger and jealousy talking?

 

Thinking she heard the answering machine, the bathroom door swung open and Rouge briskly emerged.

Shadow's body suddenly locked up as he stared at her with casual eyes.

She didn't suspect a thing.

 

Glancing over at the phone, she realized someone had called but couldn't see the number from where she was.

 

Looking to Shadow, she smiled lightly. “Who was it??” she asked honestly.

Instead of lying to her, Shadow returned her smile with a small one of his own.

“A pest...”

 

With a disgusted groan, she rolled her eyes and placed her fingertips to her temples.

“God, I hate those bill collectors. I already told them I'd give them their money but they still insist on bothering me!”

 

Shadow silently nodded. Not a hint of guilt showed across his features, although inside, he was sweating buckets.

He was also doing this to protect her—despite the fact he was starting to seem like the bad guy.

 

What was he thinking interfering with his best friend's marriage like that? Yes, she needed help but that was it. Help, not a guardian.

 

...He wondered about that.

In fact, after he knew she would be alright, he would drop out of her life again.

That seemed like the best thing to do, right?

 

With a satisfied grin, Rouge winked to him. “Thanks Shadow. Oh! I'm almost done packing. I'm going to go say goodbye to the boys and then I'll be off.”

 

“Alright.”

 

“Mmhmm. And just in case something happens, I think it would be a good idea for us to exchange phone numbers. That way, if you see or hear from that husband of mine, you can give me a heads up.”

 

His body shuddered at the thought.

 

“...Imagine that...”

 

“Yeah...and besides...” she trailed off, her voice lowering, “I'd like for us to keep in touch, you know. 4 years apart from talking with someone you were so close to wasn't much fun.” she frowned.

So she really did miss him. More than Shadow thought she did.

He found this to be quite interesting and it showed on his face.

 

“... I'd like that... ...”he agreed in a calm and placid tone.

 

“Great! Just give me a few minutes, alright?”

 

Shadow nodded and with a bright beaming smile, Rouge turned away from him and began to head down the steps.

 

As he watched her go, his eyes slightly narrowed.

 

Irony was a real pain.