Rouge The Bat: Happily Married

Rouge the Bat and Thomas Adriani have been married for one year
and eight months as of this chapter.

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Rouge leaned back against the home gym, proud to show off the workout
room of the mansion. The bat was sweaty, her workout clothes drenched,
towel around her neck as Karen, the echidna girl, looked in awe.
The home gym was the centerpiece, but the room was filled with
everything- weights, treadmills, stationary bikes, enough for two
people to work out. "The grounds aren't suitable for jogging, and
who wants to travel all the way into the city when you can have it
right here?"

The echidna looked at the punching bag. "Nice, like the one I practice
on for my boxing matches!"

Rouge took pride in this room, every piece selected from only the
top quality brands. "I don't get to do the secret agent or thief
stuff anymore," she said, "but I don't want to sit around and get
fat and lazy! And..." She paused. Karen didn't need to know every
dirty secret. ".... well, let's just say Tom likes muscle girls."

"Your husband has good taste," Karen complimented, "shame Knuckles
seems a bit too thick."

"Not going too well for you two?" Rouge asked, only slightly
interested.

"Umm, well.... okay, Knuckles grew up on his own, you know! So...
well, women are still a bit strange to him. And he's got that
cultural pride thing going. It distances him a bit from the rest of
us, you know." Lifting one of the lighter weights, she felt it,
became pleased, and set it back down. "Pachacamac almost wiped his
people out completely, not that the old tribe isn't to blame.
Knuckles seems a bit too proud of his roots."

Rouge toweled off. "Probably why he ignored me so much. He's too
fixated on his kind."

"Even when he thought he was the only one?" Karen huffed,
continuing, "he's a nice guy, strong, but he- yeah, he's a bit too
proud of what he came from. Don't blame yourself, Rouge, it's not
your fault you weren't born an echidna, you know!"

"I wasn't ever THAT hung up on him, honey... besides..." Rouge
thought back to both Knuckles and Shadow. "...having a crush on
a guy who isn't interested just causes disappointment. Anyway,
I'm happy now. It's all I care about."

"Good for you," Karen commented, "there's always more than one
choice. Me, if Knuckles doesn't work- and I WILL try- there's always
more than one option open for me on the island... so, your husband
work out with you?"

"He does," the bat responded, "but he hurt himself
yesterday. Nothing bad, just..."

"I saw," Karen said, "his arm, he held it to the side!"

Rouge explained, "pulled a muscle in his shoulder. Nothing bad. He's
not used to the heavy stuff like I am..." Under her breath, she
added, "at least outside of bed."

Outside in the fruit fields, Thomas Adriani spoke with the echidna
business representative Mayor Periwinkle had sent. "Sounds
equitable for both of us. You can't grow oranges or lemons in your
climate, both of which WE have in abundance," the orange echidna
outlined, "and you grow fruits that we can't support. It's an even
trade by the pound. You ship us fruits for our island's consumption
and you gain excess oranges and lemons to sell."

"That sounds suitable," Tom replied, "I'll have the legal documents
drawn up this week in the office and have them delivered to your mayor
when they're ready."

"I will deliver the news, then. We'll all be pleased, of course. Our
island once had a small grove where we grew apple trees, until a
rock slide buried it. This gives us a chance to regain something."
The echidna male tucked his left hand out, only to pause. "I
apologize. I did not realize your arm was injured."

"It's nothing. Just a minor workout thing." Taking the echidna's right
hand, he shook it to solidify the deal.

Back inside, Tom found Rouge in the small gym. "How'd it go?" she
asked, wiping her fur off in a fresh towel.

"Good. We get oranges and lemons, they get fruits they can't grow."
He didn't ask about Karen's visit, but he'd only met the echidna
girl in passing and didn't know a thing about her.

"Shoulder?" Rouge waited for an answer. "Tom? Your shoulder?"

"It's okay," he responded. "I took something for it."

Tossing the dirty towel away, Rouge kicked her workout shoes off.
"Bath time. YOU are coming with me! The hot water will help with
that shoulder!"

"Okay... but it still hurts and-" She waved a finger to silence him.

"I know. I'm hot and tired, too. I just want to relax with the man I
married. So... we'll get romantic later tonight. For now, I need to
clean up."

"Almost forgot," Tom said, "they're gonna have the plumbing to the
pool hooked up Friday." Three days. The bat peeked out the window at
the heavy plastic shell that sat over the swimming pool. She couldn't
wait to try it out. She already had her bikini ready, as well as a
few dirty ideas.

Hoisting his wife, Tom carried her out of the gym room. She rubbed
a good deal of sweat off onto his nice clothes, but he didn't
care. Shortly down the hallway, he winced, setting her down. "Dumb
idea, Tom?" she asked.

"VERY dumb," he said, rubbing his shoulder.

"Heh... my fault. I should have stopped you!" she said, feeling a bit
guilty.

"Bad habit I have of just picking you up like that!"

"No, Tom," Rouge said sheepishly, "if you have ANY bad habits, I
probably gave them to you! Now, come with me. I'll give you a nice
soothing shoulder massage once we're in the water."

Tom asked, "you know how to give therapeutic massages?"

She paused in mid-step. "Huh... I- that is..." Grinning like an
innocent child, she stated, "We'll find out!"