Rouge The Bat: Happily Married

Rouge the Bat and Thomas Adriani have been married for eighteen years
and nine month as of this chapter.

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Teal grabbed her purse. "Bye, daddy!" she yelled. "You have fun, Teal.
Don't be gone TOO late, okay?" Tom shouted back. She answered, "I won't!"
as she opened the door and headed for the city. Rouge entered the living
room. "Teal leave?" He replied, "yes. She's going to the movies. Just
you and me tonight." Rouge sat beside him, head slowly burying into his
chest. Closing her eyes, she let out a tiny, almost inaudible moan.
"Birthday boy..."

"Not for three days," he scolded, "I still have my thirties to look
forward to until then." "Can't I get an early start?" she begged.
"That depends," he said, "can I start ragging on you for turning 40 right
now?" "Fat chance," Rouge bit back. "I still have a couple years."

The doorbell began to fire repeatedly. "Who in the HELL could that
be at this hour?" she complained, springing up. "Can't be Teal, she has
a key," Tom pondered, following. Approaching the door, Tom paused,
sniffing the air. "... is that cigarette?" Throwing the door open, Rouge
drew back in fear. "Hello!" was the cry of a shrill, old woman.

"...mother?" The haggard old bat stood in the doorway, wrapped in a cheap
red coat. "Darling baby girl! Never once called your poor, old mother,
did you? A wedding, money and you didn't think about me even ONE TIME!"
The bat swaggered into the house. "WHOA! You must be the husband!
Please, call me Marron!" Patting Tom on the butt, she commented, "or
call me anytime, okay?"

"MOTHER! How dare you?" Rouge was fuming. "Oh cool off," Marron demanded.
"Can't even say 'hi' to the woman who raised you? Figures..." Tom
leaned in close to his wife. "Can I smack her, please?" "No," Rouge
replied, "because I am going to hit her!"

As they couple talked, Marron spotted jars of fruit on a nearby table.
She picked one up. "Adriani Rouge Fruit Company... little brat has her
name on this? Means it's mine!" she mouthed, pocketing a jar.

Rouge turned to her mother, handing over a small wad of money. "You don't
need to be here, take it and go!" "What? Can't I get caught up with my
little girl?" Marron scolded, eyeing Thomas once again. Rouge replied,
"you were never in my life. Now get out!" "You can't talk that way
to me, you little bi-" Marron's insults were cut silent with a hard
shove, the old bat landing on her butt on the steps outside.

"Get off our property and DON'T COME BACK!" Rouge screamed with an anger
that made Tom's skin crawl. Without a word, Marron flipped them off and
left.


Rouge fumed. It had been an hour and she was still angry at her mother.
Tom left her alone. The doorbell again rang. "I swear if that's her I
will...." Running for the front door, she opened to find a police officer.
"Yes?" "Mrs. Adriani? Can you identify this?" The cop held out a jar of
fruit with their label on it. "Yes, it's one of the brand we produce..."
Looking at the stack nearby, she noticed one missing. "... my mother
must have taken it. I don't want to press charges, just-"

"I'm afraid you don't understand... the woman we found carrying this
is..." Tom joined them. "What's going on here?" he demanded. "That old
bat isn't pressing charges for being shoved, is she, because if she is
I'll-"

The cop hesitated. "I'm afraid the woman we found this on is... we were
called into the liquor store on Tenth Avenue. Paramedics were too late,
she just dropped in the store. She died before we even got there. I'm
sorry." Dropping to the floor, Rouge's eyes watered. She was shaking
horribly. "Mommy..." "I'll leave you two alone..." the cop said, leaving.

Picking his wife up from the floor, Tom carried her to the bedroom.
She clutched her hands around him like steel, bawling horribly, makeup
running onto his shirt mixed with tears. The bat couldn't even speak.


Two days had passed. Rouge stood with Thomas by the lone grave marker.
Shadow was nearby. "Did you tell your daughter?" "No," Rouge said, "Teal
doesn't need to know. She never knew her grandmother anyway. Never knew
how horrible she was..." "But you still did this for her?" Shadow asked.
Rouge's head bent down. "You wouldn't understand. She was horrible, but
she was still my mother."

Walking away, Shadow responded, "you're right. I wouldn't understand..."
"We're still having Tom's birthday party tomorrow. I need to put this
behind me and function normally. Please... please be there." He walked
off. "You sure you want to do this tomorrow?" Tom asked. She responded,
"I have to. That woman didn't care about me. I-" She let tears roll down.
"I did what I felt necessary but we had no love between us. I'm not
going to let her death consume me."

Tom's birthday party was busy. The main hall of the manor was packed with
employees of both the fruit company and the casino, along with old
friends. Amy watched her two sons gather food from the buffet table.
The Chaotix mingled with people they hadn't seen in years while Knuckles
kept his family together in the crowd.

Rouge drowned out the crowd, putting on a happy face to hide behind.
Knuckles was talking to her but she wasn't listening. Until something
sent a spark of anger to her brain, something he had said. She wasn't
listening too carefully but it had angered her. Turning, her face
twisted into evil. "GET OUT!" she screamed, surprising everyone nearby.
"I SAID GET OUT! All of you! Get out of here!" Eyes turned, the entire
party stunned. "What'd I say?" Knuckles begged. She gritted her teeth,
fists squeezed tight. "Musta been something BAD to piss her off,
moron!" Karen scolded, dragging him away. Knuckles replied, "whatever.
I'm glad I never ended up with her!"

Shadow forced Sonic and Amy to leave. He only chose to comply with her
orders. Shadow knew why, of course, but no one else did. "Way to stick up
for her, Shadow!" Sonic yelled. "Rouge's loyal little yes-man!" Amy
barked, both giving Shadow angry looks.

In minutes the house was empty. Teal looked at her mother. "Mom? What
just happened?" Rouge didn't say a word as she grabbed their hands,
leading them to the couch to sit with her. Tom on one side, Teal on
the other. Her arms wrapped around both of them. "I just want to be
with my family."