Time Heals All Things

Chapter Thirty Six: What the Future Holds...

...A few months later...

"Shad, are you still at G.U.N?" Sonic pressed the white gloved index finger of his free hand into his ear canal trying to block out the sound of everyone else around him as he tried to find a quiet spot to talk with his boyfriend. "H-hold on, I can't hear you.." The blue hedgehog frowned briefly at Vector who was talking loudly nearby and found himself getting a sympathetic look from Espio who then gestured towards the kitchen. Nodding gratefully, Sonic weaved his way into the kitchen and shut the door behind him blotting out most of the noise.

  "I confess, I do not anticipate much once I arrive on Angel Island." Shadow's voice murmured grimly out of Rouge's cordless yellow handset. The black hedgehog loathed large gatherings and Knuckles' birthday party was no acceptation.

"Aw, come on Shad. You've been gone a week, that's seven long days.. You get to see me, right?" The forty year used an upward inflection as he held the landline handset to one ear and grinned hopefully down the phone.

"You being there is the only reason I have to go out there." There was a distinct hint of repressed frustration in Shadow's voice that came with a heavy sigh, sounding as if going out to Angel Island was some massive chore he would like to avoid.

"Haven't you missed me at all babe?" Sonic purred in a low enticing tone as he leant back against the messy counter, all the dirty dishes had been abandoned in favour of the party going on in the massive front room. The blue hedgehog made a mental note to keep Shadow away from the kitchen at all costs once he arrived knowing his boyfriend's compulsive and neurotic obsession with cleanliness would make him want to clean it.

"Hedgehog! Do not call me that when in the company of others!" Came the instantaneously irate response to his words which made Sonic laugh softly with affection.

"No-one's here Shad, relax.." He drawled back carelessly as his green eyes fixed on the door for any signs of someone coming into the room. "You have thought about me, haven't you? I've missed you.." He had been about to utter that it had been lonely in the home without him but then thought better, he didn't want to come off as needy or desperate and he had spent a lot of time with Tails and his brother Scourge so it wasn't like he had been alone.

  There was a long silent pause.

"Yes, dare I say you have crossed my mind a few times." His words made Sonic's smile widen at the soft tender tones in Shadow's voice that subtly hinted that he had indeed missed his blue furred cohort.

"I knew it you old softie.." Sonic said tenderly with a warm chuckle.

"Sonic I must go, I have a lot of paperwork to finish off and I need to drop in to Ocean Meadows before I fly over there. So I will be a while yet." His words made the blue hedgehog's brow furrow in confusion.

"Ocean Meadows?" He queried which caused another soft exhale to sound on the other end of the line.

"That is the name of the medical facility where Ivo is being detained. I have a progress review with the doctor's psychiatrist, it will be tediously dull but this is precisely why I do not have time for chit-chat. Go and enjoy yourself, the sooner I complete these tasks the sooner I will come for you."

"Ok, ok.. I'll let you go, just try not to be too long." Sonic's green eyes surveyed the only door into the kitchen before turning away and cradling the handset close. "I love you Shadow.." He murmured in a soft intimate voice complete with sentimental expression. Like his black furred boyfriend the blue quilled hedgehog only ever uttered these words and let himself be this tender in times when the pair were completely alone. He didn't care what others thought of the two of them as a couple but he liked having a completely private relationship, it made what they had seem all the more special and real to him.