*Sonic's POV *
"Anything?" I asked Tails as I took off the tie and the mask once everyone had left. He had decided to meet with us at the castle after we made sure there was no one around.

"Nothing. I haven't found anything yet." Tails sighed in defeat. "There is absolutely no trace in whoever may have paid them."

"Keep looking." I said to him as I leaned over the table everyone was around. "Ma, make sure there's guards patrolling the area day and night. We can not let anyone come in without us knowing. Until we figure out who paid G.U.N. everyone is a threat."

"Already aware of that, Sonny Boy." Chuck said as he crossed his arms. "We have double the guards now on shift to make sure no one comes in."

"What's the plan now? Why did we have to give permission to Shadow to come over again?" Manic asked as he sat beside Scourge and held his hand. "Wouldn't it be easier to just lock him up and call up G.U.N. saying we know their plans?"

"It's not so easy, Manic. If we do so, the person who paid them will just find someone else to do the job for them." Sonia spoke now. "It's good that Sonic is on the inside."

"We have more intel that way." Tails added. "I will continue my research and try to find who it is. The second I know ANYTHING, I will contact you."

"Thanks, bud." I gave him a thumbs up. "Well. I am tired and I am supposed to meet with Shadow in the morning so I am leaving now. Goodnight, everyone." I dashed to my room and took off the suit then dashed home.

To my surprise, Shadow was waiting outside my house. "Took you long enough."

"Shadz? What's up, man? Yah missed me already?" I playfully winked at him, earning a glare and then a roll of his eyes.

"We are going again tomorrow." My ears perked up at that. "There was something wrong with the prince tonight. If we could get him while he's this distracted, he may not be aware it was us."

"Do you really think that's a good idea? I mean, my -" I quickly stopped myself, I almost gave myself away. I almost said the queen was my mother. "I mean." I nervously laughed. "W-Won't the queen know it was us if we are the only ones other than their employees at the c-castle?" I stuttered more than I expected since Shadow was scanning me up and down when I first stopped talking.

"Whats gotten into you, Hedgehog?" Shadow raised a brow and crossed his arms.

"I'm just a bit nervous." I shrugged, trying to come up with anything that will get me out of this situation.

"Nervous?" Shadow asked, confused, inquiring for more.

"You're still wearing your suit. You look really good in it." I quickly said the first thing on my mind, I wanted to slam my head against a wall, realizing I was slowly confessing my feelings.

I had been around Shadow more often these past few months. Rouge was dragging him to come to parties, and he would show up to battle Eggman more often now, so we were around each other a lot. It gave me time to be alone with him every once in a while and realize I really enjoyed spending time with him. Even if his answers were always short, he always paid attention to what I said. And I had to admit that Shadow had always caught my attention, I mean, just look at the guy.

Usually, I wasn't afraid of sharing how I felt to someone. But this time, we were talking about Shadow. He's never been in a relationship before, and he may not even be into guys, so I stayed quiet. I guess today is the day we find out how he feels about it because I can't seem to stop talking nor come up with anything else that may explain why I have been stuttering so much.

"I didn't have time to change out of it." Shadow kept his composure, I guess he wasn't aware of what I was saying. I should have left it at that, but somehow, I couldn't keep my mouth shut.

"You want my help?" I nudged his side, making his ear twitch and take one step back.

"Get the hell away from me." Shadow glared at me. "What are you even saying?"

"Isn't it obvious by now that I like you, Shadz?" I placed my hands behind my head as I watched his reaction. His normal blank expression changed to a shocked look for a brief second before he shook it off.

"Im here to talk to you about the mission, focus." He walked to the door, grabbing the door handle. "I am going to be here first thing in the morning so we can go to the castle and get this over with." He opened the door and walked away.

So much for confessing how I felt. I wonder if he even processed it the way I meant it or if he thought about it in a different way.

Chaos, did I just offer to help him take off his suit? He's going to think I'm some type of pervert.

*Shadow's POV*
"Are you okay Hun?" Rouge snapped her fingers in front of my face as I walked inside my home, and she saw I was blanking out.

"What are you still doing here?" I held the door open expecting for her to leave, but she always did the opposite.  She walked to my couch and sat down.

"I was waiting for you. You said you wouldn't take long but you took almost an hour." She said as I closed the door, knowing she wasn't leaving. I couldn't stop thinking about what Sonic had said at his house earlier.

"Rouge." I said as I walked to the kitchen to get some water.

"Yes, Hun?" Rouge said while looking at my direction. I looked at my water bottle, removing the cap, then looking at it as I went over what Sonic and I talked about.

I placed the bottle down and then started taking off the tie until it hit me. My ears perked up, and I quickly faced away from Rouge as I placed the tie on my shoulder now.

"When someone says they like you, what does that mean?" I said as I cleared my throat. Somehow, saying those words out loud made me snap out of it and realize what was going on. "Actually. Forget it. I am tired. We can talk another time." I went up to my room letting Rouge stay the night if she wanted to.