A/N

Firstly I would like to thank my Beta, Nothin'Fancy who helped me so much with the editing of this story! If you want more really good ShadAmy stories, definitely check out hers!

This story is placed in the Sonic Boom Universe with some extra locations from the Sonic Universe. It takes place after Shadow's first appearance in the show in Season 1, Episode 52. Italics will be used for flashbacks and the character's personal thoughts. Bold + Italics, for the character's personal thoughts within a flashback.

These are the character's ages:

Amy:18

Shadow: body wise, 23, in reality, around 57

Sonic: 20

Tails: 16

Knuckles: 24

The story is M-rated for minor adult language and sexual themes further on in the chapters. I do not own the show Sonic Boom, nor any of the characters.

Cover Image belongs to the lovely aymiaymi.

If you enjoy the story, don't be shy to leave a review! I'll be updating it weekly!

Episode 1: Shoddy Craftsmanship

Shadow landed swiftly on his newly designed hover shoes onto the very badly put together shelves, crushing them beneath him. He grunted after the blow he received from his blue rival.

"Hey! We worked all day on that!" The navy hedgehog complained putting both gloved hands on his hips while giving the onyx hedgehog a dirty look.

"You're shoddy craftsmanship brings shame to all hedgehog kind!"

The ebony hedgehog grunted in a low voice with a hint of rasp into it, but his "threat" was quickly received a quiet snicker, which quickly escalated into full blown laughter from the hedgehog before him and soon the rest of the mobians behind the blue blur joined in.

They couldn't help it, the way the powerful hedgehog said the line just made it all too ridiculous for the team to hold it in.

Amy was leaning on her hammer giggling with a gloved hand placed on her muzzle, while her younger two tailed friend was leaning onto his red echidna buddy for support, both clutching their stomachs in fits of laughter.

"Who the hell writes this shit?!" Shadow growled in frustration making most of the snickering stop. His ruby eyes were on fire, and his quills were bristling in fury and he looked ready to kill. But this didn't frighten a certain blue blur.

"Oh c'mon, Shads, it's pretty funny!" Sonic chuckled wiping a tear out of his eye.

"It's absolutely ridiculous!" He grunted crossing his arms and closing his eyes stubbornly.

Shadow had enough of this. All of this was so foolish. The way this 'comedic' show represented him was downright mocking. He regretted ever giving into the recruiting team for the show, having seen their previous episodes, he should've known something this disrespectful was going to happen.

"It's okay, Shadow," a gentle female voice reached towards him as the pink hedgehog walked next to him "it's not the best script but it's a comedy, it's supposed to be funny and ridiculous" she put a small gloved hand covered in bandages on his shoulder. The gesture made his fur stand up ever so slightly as he opened one eye to glance at the pink hedgehog next to him.

Normally, Shadow's reaction would have been more primal and he would've quickly tensed up and pushed the girl's hand away. However he'd grown a little closer to Amy Rose over the past 2 years, as their free time had greatly increased after the disappearance of a certain pot bellied scientist.

"Rose,"

The pink female blinked at him with a curious look, her hand still gently resting on his shoulder.

"Yes, Shadow?"

"This," he started, shrugging her hand from his shoulder and swiping an angry hand around the studio set around them, "is bullshit."

His voice was calm and monotone, but his body language and expression said otherwise. His quills had bristled again and he stared at her with angry, and narrowed eyes. She placed her hand on his shoulder and with a concerned look, she tried again,

"But, Shad -"

"They've completely, utterly demolished, and spat on the Ultimate Life Form!" He gritted his teeth, sharp canines showing and his eyes became a deeper shade of crimson. At that point Amy let her hand slide off his shoulder gazing at the taller hedgehog in a mixture of confusion and light annoyance.

"Here we go again..." the blue blur rolled his eyes speaking in a low voice while putting his hands behind his quills nonchalantly as he turned and walked towards the table ladened with snacks for the TV Crew, his emerald eyes stuck on the pile of chili dogs there by his request.

"What kind of a low life would think to write up such a demeaning tasteless joke for the most powerful character to say?!" Shadow at this point had started pacing back and forth in frustration, throwing his hands around. Tails and Knuckles had glanced at each other nervously and started to slowly back away from the enraged ebony hedgehog. Amy, on the other hand, was standing near him, her arms held outwards toward him, and her voice continued to reason with him in gentle tones.

"Shadow, it's just comedy, we've had worse jokes than this before"

Shadow suddenly stopped pacing and turned to the pink female with his eyes narrowed and locked onto her emerald ones. His anger was burning her, but she held her ground with the knowledge that he wasn't angry with her, but rather the writers of the show. In fact she wondered why no one from the crew was intervening, but she supposed the ex-antihero was too intimidating.

"These clowns," He growled, his hand whipping behind him to point at Sonic and crew, but his eyes remained locked on her, "might be used to the stupid shallow jokes, but I'm not kissing anyone's ass to be here, in fact I was practically begged to show up here!"

His stature shifted to an arrogantly stance, he crossed both arms under his furry patch of chest hair making a 'hmpt' grunt. They could hear a protesting 'hey!' from the background from what sounded like it was Tails' voice but once Shadow half-lid opened his eyes and turned his gaze to the slim pink hedgehog before him, a bead of sweat trickled down his forehead, at her expression. He suddenly felt a small prick of regret began to form in his stomach as he could practically see the flames of rage flowing around her body. Normally, Shadow was not the one to get rattled, but in the past he had a couple of face to face meetings with a large piko piko hammer, she was notorious for pulling it out very quickly when she got angry. He always tried his best to avoid being on the wrong end of the hammer, however it looked like he was on the fast track to the smashing station.

"These clowns...?! So I'm a clown to you, now am I?!"

The pink girl was staring into his deep red pools with fury so powerful it immediately doused the fire in his chest. Her eyes, which had just a few minutes ago been full of gentle concern, were now brimming with unrelenting anger. I fucked up...

"No! I...I didn't say that you're a clown, Rose!"

His eyes were slightly wide and his hands quickly uncrossed. His right hand quickly reached and grasped her left one. Damn it... She's doing it again... She's turning my words against me.

He was used to this tactic of hers, this wasn't the first time they'd gotten into an argument. In fact, it was almost humorous that he now knew all her little flaws. All the little things she did out of habit, and he felt a sudden panicked feeling at the realization. Had he really gotten that close to her? Close enough that he could read her, and predict her behavior? He didn't even have that type of closeness with Rouge. How had it gotten to this point? The only answer he could come up with was the months following the last battle with the real Dr. Eggman. Sonic and his friends had been injured extensively, and was placed in Team Dark's headquarters while they recovered. All because Rouge had volunteered her services to nurse them to health… which meant he'd had to as well…

In fact, he could think of the first time he had been forced to 'nurse,' the group, and how a certain fisty pink hedgehog had reacted.

"Rose?"

He'd entered the room as quietly as possible as to not wake her, and yet he could tell that she wasn't sleeping deeply. Her left eye was opening groggily at the small swishes of noise his feet made on the carpet, and her right was shut from swelling and a nasty purple bruise. He held back a flinch in sympathy, it still shocked him to see the state she was in. He swallowed, and slowly approached her bed, softly speaking in a husky voice,

"I need to change your bandages."

Suddenly her good eye opened widely and a small blush formed on her muzzle. The jade iris snapped in his direction, and her muzzle opened, while she flinched in pain,

"Wha - Why… where's Rouge?!"

Shadow felt hesitant with the situation. He could definitely understand where the girl was coming from. Only Rouge had been changing her bandages and taking care of her wounds after the doctor patched her up. And even the doctor had been a warm hearted female bandicoot. So, she must've been feeling embarrassed, considering the worst injury was on her torso… under her shirt. Shit, the thought brought a little heat to his cheeks, and he set his mouth into a stern line to try and hid his own nervousness.

"She's out on a job, and she's the one that asked me to help you."

He lifted the right corner of his mouth at a weak attempt of a reassuring smile, but it felt unnatural and he quickly abandoned it for a light eye roll. He took the final couple steps to the side of the bed and sat down. He carefully placed the metal plate full of bandages and medicine on his lap.

"Can't you call the doctor?" The girl frowned trying to hide her flustered muzzle with the sheets.

"Why would I bother the doctor for a mere bandage change, when I can do it myself?" Shadow lifted an eyebrow at her and cocked his head to the side frowning.

"Well...I can wait for Rouge to come back then."

She averted her gaze stubbornly to the side. He realized that he was making her uncomfortable and he couldn't help but feel a small spike amusement at her resistance. Why was she acting this way? Sure, Amy was typically stubborn but she was always the one to worry about someone's health. Yet when it came to her own, she was neglecting it?

"She won't be back any time soon." He stated firmly, watching as her one eye peeked out from the rim of the sheet.

"That's okay, I prefer waiting for her."

"Rose…" Damn, he was getting frustrated with her. He put a hand on his forehead, rubbing it in way to try to keep his composure. "Rouge isn't going to come back for a week. So If you don't want an infection that could lead to necrosis, I suggest you start taking your shirt off."

Oh that didn't sound quite right… somehow he had a sickening feeling that he had said something very wrong.

Well the slap that followed after, confirmed his suspicions.

"SHADOW YOU PERVERT!"

Shadow didn't know whether his cheek or his ears hurt more. Her shrieking voice was bouncing around in his head, and he swore she had just given him a migraine. He put a hand on his cheek rubbing it lightly with a groan. His frustration had reached its boiling point, and he stood while bandages and medicines showered to the floor.

"You know damn well what I meant to sa - Amy no! Put down the hammer!" His eyes widened as the pink hedgehog poofed out her huge piko piko hammer. "You're going to hurt yourself!" he growled as the female swung across with her hammer. Shadow was lucky her reflexes were slower than usual, otherwise he probably wouldn't have the time to duck and avoid the injured hedgehog's attacks.

"You implied it, you pervert!" Amy growled in frustration when she couldn't nail him, and in pain from the movement.

"Rose, that's enough!" At her next swing, Shadow dodged the piko piko hammer with his gloved hand and yanked it from her grasp, ever so lightly, trying not to injure her even more. The girl yelped in pain and grabbed her side, where her wound was.

Shadow grunted furrowing his eyebrows and put her hammer away from her reach. At this the pink hedgehog quickly pulled the covers over herself. Her bullheadedness was getting on his nerves.

No more mister nice hedgehog.

The ebony male pulled the covers away and grabbed both of her wrists lifting them above her head, pinning them against the pillow. At that Amy gasped and her blush grew darker.

"Shad-OW!"

Her emerald eyes went wide in surprise and pain as he unfolded her body and sat on her legs so she wouldn't move around. He grunted a light "Excuse me," under his breath and proceeded to lift her shirt up in order to expose her bloodied bandages. Another gasp escaped her lips and her whole face went red. He could see her ramping herself up to protest and lapse into full rage mode again, but Shadow cut her off.

"The more you struggle, the more time your wound will take to heal. Now stop squirming around and let me change your bandages." He stared at her eyes, his voice and gaze stern as ever. Amy gulped and couldn't help not to stare back. She glared at first, but finally he felt her body beneath him relax and a small sigh escaped her chapped lips. At least she's smart enough to realize her behavior is getting her nowhere.

"Fine…" Amy looked down and lowered her ears.

Shadow stared at her for a moment and then released his grip on her wrists and gently sat down next to her to start treating her wound.

"HELLO?! Mobius to Shadow?!" That shrill tone brought him back from his ponderings, and his attention was once again dragged to the here and now. Amy no longer had visible signs of her wounds, and she had all her energy back. And with it came the attitude, and the strength to back it up. When he said nothing, she stomped her foot and went on tiptoes to get right in his face, her right hand poking painfully into the fluffy fur on his chest.

"You implied it!" This time it was her turn to narrow her emerald eyes dangerously.

Shadow growled softly under his breath and without thinking, grabbed the accusing hand, and pulled her to his body. Their torsos were touching now, and their combined anger was spilling forth like demented spirits. Everyone who was watching the scene, immediately did the best they could to melt into the scenery, unwilling to get in the middle of their spat. All except a blue hedgehog, who had paused in his chili dog consumption to turn a narrowed glare in their direction. The closeness of the two was getting a little 'too close' for his comfort.

"You know damn well I didn't imply it, now stop doing this," he growled lowly into her sensitive ear which earned him a soft shiver from the pink female.

Amy almost lost her composure then and there. It was infuriating, this knuckleheaded hedgehog that held her was causing her to feel conflicting emotions. On one hand, she knew she was being slightly ridiculous with her anger, but on the other she couldn't help but feel drawn into his web of emotion. She didn't know why, but seeing him upset, had put her on edge, and then when he had insulted them and their work? Well she had just given into the intoxicating feeling that was swirling around him. And now he was holding her close to his firm body, causing the feminine instincts within her to spark with electricity against her will.

No. She wasn't like the other females she'd seen melting in the background whenever this ebony hedgehog glanced with a glare in their direction. Amy Rose wasn't one to fall so easily for the smooth tactics (whether intentional or not) that the dark, brooding male emanated. She squared up, pushing herself closer to him, a menacing growl rumbling from her throat.

This caused Sonic to lift a brow at both hedgehogs. If he wasn't feeling uncomfortable before, their closeness now made him feel utterly uneasy. He knew that Shadow and Amy had gotten closer during the years, hell he'd even seen them hang out a couple of times, just the two of them, but every time he'd witnessed it, he felt the same way as now. He felt nasty knots form in his stomach and an unpleasant pressure in his chest. It was a weird feeling that he tried to bury anytime it surfaced.

"What the hell are those two talking about?" The blue hedgehog mumbled to himself there was a hint of worry and irritation in his voice but he went unnoticed.

"Will you stop whining now?"

She whispered, her breath hot on his face, keeping her gaze as firm as she could onto his. He could feel himself starting to give in - but he wouldn't go down without a fight. His lips peeled back on clenched fangs, but before Shadow could protest, their 'private' chit chat was quickly interrupted by a raspy, bored sounding male voice.

"As much as I ship you two, we have a scene to finish, and the sooner we do, the sooner we all go home."

Eggman, or rather, Ivo, Eggman's body double spoke up putting a single index finger in the air in a tsking manner. His words earned him a sharp glare from the blue hero to which the doctor returned with a confused look.

Shadow averted his gaze onto the slimmer doctor and grunted again letting Amy's hand go. Meanwhile the female rubbed her forearm looking to the other side, trying to cover up the light pink blush that formed from all that contact.

"Hmpt, fine. But I am doing only one take and no more for the whole scene. If anything else happens, I'm out." The hedgehog crossed his gloved hands again and closed his eyes in annoyance.

"Alright! Let's wrap it up! Great job everyone!" The male squirrel spoke through his megafone as all of the cast started gathering the equipment.

"Man, today was exhausting." The red echidna cracked his neck and stretched his body.

"What's wrong Knuckles, getting out of shape?" Sonic grinned teasingly nudging his buff friend with an elbow on his side.

"I certainly am not, but, changing the subject, I couldn't help but notice how you stared at Amy and Shadow while they were flirting back there." Knuckles smirked rubbing his side as he was rewarded with an eye roll from his friend.

"They weren't flirting, they were arguing. And I did not stare, I was just bored and was watching the show." The blue blur narrowed his eyes into a glare. At this point Knuckles smirked and decided to take the chance to tease his stubborn friend.

"Oh c'mon Sonic," his voice took on an almost sing song note, and his muzzle split into a wicked smirk, "everyone knows that Shadow and Amy have a 'thing.'"

Sonic's quills bristled up from the thought and he rolled his eyes in irritation.

"No, they don't, the only one that Amy has a 'thing' for is me." He smirked confidently closing his eyes, using both thumbs to point at his chest, the indisputable fact reassuring himself.

"Oh?" A voice swooned, "I could've sworn that Shadow was sweeping Amy off her feet with those charming, dark, mysterious eyes of his."

Both Sonic and Knuckles gave Eggman a weird look as he joined in their conversation uninvited.

"Hey, didn't you ship me and Amy, Egghead?" The navy hedgehog pushed the older man out of his personal space giving him a dirty look.

"Ha! That's the Eggman in the script. I, personally, think differently. You and her are the good guys; 'good girl' and her personal hero is so old-school, so cliche. Shadow on the other hand, he's edgy, dark, mysterious, not to mention sooo handsome. He's the bad boy with a good heart and she's the good girl who steers him in the right direction. Opposites attract Sonic, their ship is way cooler than yours."

Sonic stared at the doctor with a mixture of confusion and irritation. Could Amy really fall for a bad boy over the hero who saved her life countless times and who she loved for so many years? Nah. Never gonna happen. The hedgehog shook his head.

"Hey, Shadow… um, you did great out there." Her voice came a few feet from where the three of them were standing, and they turned to observe the two hedgehogs standing awkwardly next to each other.

"Thank you, Rose." The ebony hedgehog said, looking at her with anxious eyes, "Hey about earlier -"

Amy, who had taken to unbinding the sports tape wrapped tightly around her arms to avoid looking at him, quickly looked up and waved her arms. Her face was flushed, and her head was shaking,

"No, no! I'm sorry… I overreacted… besides, this show can definitely get under your skin, especially if you're not used to it."

Shadow chuckled awkwardly, and he stepped closer to her as some crew tried to pass behind him with large props. Amy blushed slightly but didn't step away.

"Hey, um, wanna grab lunch with us? Me, Sonic, Knuckles and Tails are heading over to Cream's bakery."

"I'll pass, I have some work to do." He shook his head but couldn't help but notice the slight disappointment in her emerald eyes. Seeing this made him feel tense, he didn't like disappointing her. Reluctantly, he sighed and muttered, "But I'm free tonight after 10."

This made Amy's smile return quickly, even brighter than before. It was almost unnoticeable, but Sonic could see just the lightest of pink appear in the corner of Shadow's cheek under his fur. He didn't change his expression though, so no one else seemed to notice.

"10:30pm, at the lake side?"

"It's a date." Shadow smirked at her which made her giggle. She nodded to him and with a wave she joined her friends.

Shadow had gotten used to these "dates". He would hang out with Amy, take long relaxing strolls with her, especially during night time because of their busy schedules, with Amy working on the show and him doing some jobs for G.U.N. They weren't really dates, most of the time they just hung out and talked, but Amy started calling them that from the start as a way to tease him. And from then on, the word just stuck around. Deep inside of him, he enjoyed calling their hangouts dates, it made the faker cringe. He smirked smugly at the thought.

As he watched her join her friends, and Sonic wrap an arm protectively around her shoulder when they started walking away, he couldn't help but feel a little irritated, as the 'hero' shot the ebony hedgehog a glare. The way that blue ass walked around like he owned the world made his skin crawl. Sonic was credited with the defeat of Eggman, he was paraded around like a god, when in reality, he hadn't been able to finish the job. In fact, it had been Shadow who had 'saved' the day, had come in and rescued the blue blur and his pathetic team.

Their last battle had been on one of the doctor's spaceships, where he and Sonic both fought against him, had almost ended tragically for them. This time Robotnik had gone too far. It was one thing to kidnap Sonic's friends, but on that ship, he'd actually endangered their lives. He'd been very close to killing Sonic, but this wasn't the odd part, it was normal for the man to attack the hero with bloodlust. What had been so different this time, was that he had severely injured the rest of Sonic's crew, leaving them laying in puddles of their own blood.

Shadow had joined the fight just in time, and managed to teleport the fatally injured Tails, Amy and Knuckles to Team Dark's headquarters where Rouge and Omega provided them with the first aid they'd needed. Yes, he could've teleported them to a hospital but that would take too much time and explanation. He had to act quick, and quite frankly, he trusted his teammates more than the doctors. Rouge had good medical experience when it came to patch someone up during a fight, and would be able to care for them until a medical professional came in and did the heavy duty.

It took a lot of power to transport each of them one by one, as quickly as he could, but he was lucky he had a couple of emeralds within his grasp. After that, both hedgehogs teamed up once again against Eggman, and ultimately the blow that they delivered to his machine made it malfunction and explode leaving no trace of the doctor.

Shadow had to admit it, he hadn't been there to help the faker and his team. His only interest had been to obtain the two remaining emeralds within his rival's grasp. And yet when the time came, he found it extremely difficult to turn his back on the injured fighters. The sight before him triggered something within. Especially when his eyes landed on the pink hedgehog laying in a crimson puddle on the ground, clenching her stomach, face seized in agony and pain. The sight had brought forth images of a blonde human girl, a blossom of red bursting from the holes in her chest. Her blue eyes full of salty water… his friend, his family, murdered before his very eyes.

He found his body acting before his mind. Without thinking, he appeared next to the girl and gently scooped her up from the bloody floor. The movement caused the pink hedgehog to shriek in pain and twist her body into a fetal position in his hands. Shadow knew he had to act quickly while the evil doctor was preoccupied with his blue rival. In mere seconds he disappeared and reappeared in flashes of a yellow-white hue of light.

For a split second, Sonic gazed at his friend's direction noticing how they disappeared one by one. His eyes went wide but his attention was quickly redirected to his enemy once he received a heavy blow from a metal clawed arm. His body flew back towards the wall behind him. The hedgehog shut his jade eyes tightly expecting the blow of the wall to his spine to come until he felt something grasping his hand in mid flight, yanking him forward.

Once the blue blur opened his eyes, he had blinked a couple of times in confusion and looked to his side.

"Shadow…?"

"Hmpt, don't slack off, Faker."

Sonic ignored the jab, instead his peridot eyes glanced around frantically,

"My...my friends."

Realisation finally hit Sonic. He looked down to see Shadow gripping a red emerald in his hand, and Shadow had seen a ripple of relief flow through his quills. He remembered thinking that the so-called 'hero' had looked so weak and pathetic. He released Sonic's arm roughly, and turned to the doctor, his muzzle twisted in a growl.

"They're safe...Now let's finish this."

Shadow found himself wondering what would've happened if he hadn't been there to interfere. Maybe Sonic would've survived and possibly beat Eggman, but what about the others? He knew how badly injured Amy was. He really didn't bother to check on Tails or Knuckles, but he knew that their wounds weren't as serious by the fact that they both healed faster than Amy. So there was a possibility that they could've survived. A slim one. But Amy? She would've died. And that Faker couldn't do anything to protect her.

Shadow clenched his jaw and his fists at the thought as he was gliding through the streets of the city near the island where they shot the Sonic Boom episodes.

He's not strong enough to protect her. He doesn't deserve her.

With that thought the dark hedgehog gilded with his hover skates towards G.U.N.'s main headquarters.