Freesia 24

Surveillance

(Rouge's POV)

"Go to sleep, Rouge."

I glanced up from the screen. "Hm?"

"Go to sleep. I'll take the first hour; you take the second."

We were in Knuckles' room, the computer set up on a desk. It was just Knuckles and I, as everyone had already paired off and were in their own rooms to watch in turns. Though we weren't only watching for Liz; we were also keeping an eye out for the two who worked at the palace. Alley's guard, a cheetah she'd identified as Dart, and the Russian black bear who was head chef (Vlad). After judging Liz so badly, we weren't going to risk these guys being even worse. They'd talked about poisoning us after all.

I frowned at the echidna. I knew he was still upset with me… We had yet to talk… But perhaps it was better to "separate" for a time, and leave the discussion for when we had passed the computer along to Shadow and Alley.

"All right."

(Knuckles' POV)

She slid out of the chair and strolled to the bed. My eyes were drawn immediately, no matter how hard I tried to keep my gaze on the computer screen. The nothing going on in the palace wasn't half as interesting as watching Rouge walk in that teeny-tiny robe. Her legs just went straight up to her ears… They were long, well-toned… I had the sudden desire to feel them wrapped around my waist while I…

My trail of thought was shattered when that teeny-tiny robe slid to the floor, revealing an even tinier negligee. It was red. It was tear as easy as paper in my hands. Those hands trembled, were fisted. I had to turn completely away to keep my eyes on the screen, but saw nothing but what my imagination conjured up as the sounds of her climbing beneath the sheets filled the room.

"Wake me up in an hour, Knucklehead."

"Sure."

Two hours later, I was creeping down the hall to Shadow's room. Tails had set it up so that every two hours, we would have a five minute period in which to transfer the computer to the next person's room. I think what happened is that there was a loop of feed that showed a blank hall, but I don't know. I don't usually pay too much attention when Tails go off explaining computer stuff.

I opened Shadow's door after a quick, quiet knock – all of the doors were unlocked during these five minutes just in case. I saw Alley first, curled up beneath the covers. And Shadow was sitting at the foot, gazing at his hands. "Anything?" he asked quietly.

"Not really. About half an hour ago, Liz's daughter slipped into Quarry's rooms. Her name's Clover, by the way."

"Is she still there?"

"Yeah." I turned the laptop to show him the feed we were able to pick up from Sonic's last visit to the rat's rooms. He'd bugged the entire area, so we had plenty of audio and visuals.

Shadow took it, nodded. "All right. Get back to your room."

"Yup." When I got back, I stayed by the door until the remaining minute was up. Then the door was quickly locked.

"You didn't wake me up." The accusation in the husky voice sent chills through me. I drew in a sharp breath, turned slowly to see the bat sitting up, the blankets pooled about her waist. Her arms were crossed and, hell, she was pouting. I'd never seen her without make-up before…

"I…"

"Why not?" she demanded, lids heavy with sleep. I couldn't keep my eyes from her face. She looked so different, so fragile…

I took a step towards her, hardly aware of it. "'Cause I didn't need to."

(Rouge's POV)

I disguised my yawn as a deep breath, glaring at him. "Still. We finally agree to something and you don't even go along with it."

He was at the edge of the bed now; I had to tilt my head back to look at him. When he crawled onto the bed, moving towards me, I felt my heart fly into my throat. "Knuckles?"

He got closer and closer and it was embarrassingly like a hunter stalking its prey… I had to lay back because he wouldn't stop, so when he finally stopped, he was on his hands and knees, hanging over me. His eyes hadn't left mine, seemed to be searching for something… But what?

"You look… different," he finally murmured.

"I cleaned off my make-up when I woke up."

"Yeah…" He laid his hand on my cheek, slid it down and along the curve of my shoulder. I hadn't seen him remove his glove, saw now that both were gone.

"Knuckles… What are you doing?"

He smiled, lips brushing over mine. "Taking a risk."

Yes, I realize that this chap had almost NOTHING to do with actual surveillance and, yeah, it's painfully short, but the next chapter is called "(adjective) Surveillance", so I needed this one to be called "Surveillance". And if you're wondering what the adjective is…. TOO BAD. MUAHAHAHA.

But, yeah, this chap is definitely self-indulgent XD I needed some Knouge in my life, lulz.

So next chap will be Shadow's POV, Sonic's POV, Shadow's POV, and Amy's POV. It'll be a bit longer, lol.