In front of Amy's door, Sonic took a deep steadying breath. He felt almost dizzy with the stress and his heart beating somewhere in his throat shook his entire body with each violent pound. With a shaking hand, he reached out and rapped at Amy's door. He heard a startled squeal from behind the door, and his face flushed. He wished Amy wasn't so excited about this…it was going to be hard enough without her thinking Sonic was ready to get married. "One minute!" Amy called in sing-song.

Sonic's stomach dropped out. He feared what might be happening on the other side of the door. That girl could be dressing for a debutante ball for all he knew. When this was over, Knuckles would wish he had never dared to bet.

The door flew open to reveal Amy with a glittering smile on her face. Sonic braced himself for the hug she was no doubt going to suffocate him in, but to his surprise, she just stood there smiling. Sonic took in her appearance. It wasn't like she had changed much, just a different ribbon among her spines, but she seemed like a different girl. It wasn't overeager obsession on her face but genuine happiness. Sonic's eyes widened. How was he supposed to respond to that? Now he felt horrible; this wasn't a legitimate date and Sonic didn't want to be but never had Amy looked so happy. "Hi!" she said cheerfully.

"Hi," Sonic said, thrown off his game.

An awkward silence passed and both of them stood there without a word to say. Finally, Sonic cleared his throat and said nervously, "You look nice."

"Thanks," she replied, closing the door behind her. She reached out and took his hand. "So where are going?"

Sonic gritted his teeth. "Uh…it's a surprise."

"Okay," Amy said, staring up at Sonic's face with admiring eyes.

Sonic quickly looked away, feeling sick. "C'mon," he mumbled.

As they walked down the stairs, Amy threaded her fingers in with Sonic's silently. Sonic's face burned, he prayed Amy's eyes weren't on him. They stepped outside, and Amy gasped happily. She stared up at the orange sky in wonder. "It's so beautiful!" she praised.

"Yeah," Sonic agreed but realized he had nothing more to say. He glanced up the street to see Knuckles standing at the corner of an alley roaring with silent laughter. Sonic shot a venomous glare his way and blushed only more violently. "Let's go for a walk," Sonic said lamely, pulling Amy along with him on the sidewalk.

Amy glanced up at his face with a smile. "This is the perfect night for a walk, don't you think?"

"Sure," he said, wishing said perfect night could move at sonic speed and be over already.

"I always hoped that our first date would happen on a beautiful night," Amy continued, needing no more of a reply for permission to continue. "I know how much you like being outside so I always thought a night like this would make you happy."

"I guess it does," Sonic said, caught off guard from Amy's thoughtfulness. Obsession, sure, but kindness? This was a side of Amy he never expected to see. "Sunset's a cool time for a run," Sonic tried.

"Why's that?"

Sonic grinned. "The sun hits everything which casts the coolest shadows and the entire world feels like it's starting to relax. The air is cool and it feels amazing when you're on a run."

"That sounds wonderful!" Amy sighed. "Is that your favorite time to run?"

Sonic shrugged. "I don't know. Nights are pretty cool, at least when the moon's really bright. But if it's dark, it's more dodging trees than anything."

"But doesn't that scare you? If you run into a tree when you're moving really fast, you could get hurt, couldn't you?"

"I guess so," Sonic said. "But it's not like it scares me. It's more fun with the trees because you can only get past them if you're as fast as me."

Sonic found himself smiling. At least he knew all about running. It was definitely an improvement over talking about children that Amy seemed to believe they were going to have in the near future.

"Maybe you could take me running," Amy said meekly. "I mean, not for our lives; we've done that before. But maybe you could show me what it's like to run for fun sometime."

Sonic looked down at Amy. "Really?"

She nodded. "You say it's a lot of fun so why shouldn't I try it?"

Sonic grinned. Maybe they had more in common than he thought. "Then maybe we could talk about some names I've been thinking about for our kids," Amy continued eagerly.

Sonic sighed. Then again, maybe not.

xXx

As Amy walked hand in hand with Sonic through the public park, she could not stop glancing up at Sonic's face. He seemed so nervous, like he wasn't really sure what he should be doing on a date. So she tried to stay relatively gentle, sticking mostly to topics that Sonic might understand. Now that she knew he liked her, it was just a matter of showing him they had something in common.

Sonic did not look down at his date, and Amy chewed on her lip, wondering why. She wished she could tell him not to be nervous, but that would only make him insecure. So she just kept talking. About running, her favorite adventures, the best types of weather, and yes, for a short while the names of their future children. But only because she wanted to make sure he got a say when it came down to it.

Several times, Amy caught Sonic glancing back over his shoulder and scowling. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

He looked back at her with wide eyes. "What? Why would something be wrong?" He glanced away. Amy followed his gaze and noticed a food cart not far off. "Why don't we get something to eat?" he said quickly.

"Oh…okay," Amy said. A food cart wasn't exactly her idea of romantic, but at least it might make Sonic a little more comfortable.

She watched Sonic's face brighten as he realized the food cart sold chilidogs, proceeding to buy six of the things. Her heart fell. As sad as it was, Sonic looked far more excited about the abundance of food than his first date with Amy. Maybe she was just being silly; it was food and Sonic was, after all, a guy. So she accepted the chilidog Sonic bought for her and sat down on a bench with him to eat it.

Sonic finished the first chilidog in less than a minute and sighed happily. "And here I was thinking that I'd regret this. Knuckles will be disappointed."

A sharp pain stabbed through Amy's heart. She glared at Sonic. "What do you mean? Why would you regret this and why would Knuckles care?"

Sonic opened his mouth to answer but no words came out. He closed it again, and then tried the words once more. Yet again, he failed and closed his mouth. He looked as shocked as a deer in headlights, his eyes nearly as large as the headlights. He tried again and finally words came out. "I…I don't know. I was just…you know…worried that the date wouldn't end well. And Knuckles, he didn't believe it would go well. You know how critical he can be."

Amy stared at Sonic for a long time. She knew something was off, but she had no real reason to accuse Sonic of doing something wrong. Eventually, she sighed and turned away. For now, she would have to believe him. "That's too bad," she said softly. "I hope that the date is fun for you too."

"Yeah, it is," Sonic said quickly, practically shoving the next chilidog down his throat to avoid having to say anything.

Amy looked at him again, watching his face carefully. Was Sonic lying? Never before had Sonic agreed to go on a date with her. He usually just rolled his eyes and, before Amy could say anything else, ran off. So why would he say yes now? She narrowed her eyes and glanced back over her shoulder.

And then she saw it.

Knuckles sat up in a tree not far off, laughing like he was having the time of his life. Amy's face flushed with anger. She turned on Sonic, and her movement was so quick that it caught Sonic's attention. As soon as he saw the anger on her face, his eyes widened in what Amy could only assume was fear. Good, he should be scared. "Why is Knuckles watching us and laughing?" she snapped.

Sonic glanced back over his shoulder, but only for an instant before his eyes were back on Amy's face. "I…dunno," he said, hesitating.

Amy jumped to her feet. "You do know, don't you? Don't you dare lie to me, Sonic the Hedgehog!" She leaned in close so that she was only inches from Sonic's face. "Why did you agree to go on a date with me?"

Sonic opened and closed his mouth, desperately searching for an answer. "Well?" Amy asked loudly.

Suddenly, Amy heard terrified screams behind her and the crashing of buildings. Amy did not so much as turn around; she had eyes only for Sonic. Sonic, on the other hand, immediately jumped to his feet. His eyes flickered between Amy and the city behind her.

And then he ran past her.

She gritted her teeth and spun around. "SONIC!" she shrieked after him.

And beneath the beautiful green trees shadowed as the fading sunlight struck their trunks, Sonic stopped. He actually stopped. He turned back to Amy, his entire face covered in an eerie shadow. "I lost a bet, okay?" he shouted.

Sonic didn't wait to see Amy's face, but spun immediately and ran toward the city where the screams only continued to increase in volume. Amy stood rooted to the spot, staring at the shadow where Sonic stood only moments ago. It felt like her body weighed a thousand pounds, but it was the sort of heaviness that would not let her drop to her knees. She couldn't feel her knees anymore. Instead, she stood completely frozen and numb to the world. Her heart hurt too much to truly comprehend the pain.

A bet. He only went out with her because he lost a bet. Embarrassment wasn't the word for this. She didn't care so much about the embarrassment. It was the heartbreak.

Her senses numbed so dramatically that she didn't hear the heavy footsteps of the massive robot coming up behind her. Steel arms wrapped around her body, lifting her off the ground, and she gasped in shock, words failing her at the moment. She twisted her body in its arms and screamed loudly. The robot only grasped her tighter, cutting off her voice. She cringed in pain, her eyes filling with tears at the onslaught of emotions she was unprepared to handle. She heard the buzz of an engine and coughed as smoke filled her lungs. Next thing she knew, she rose high above the ground.

"AMY!"

Amy opened her eyes to look down at the ground and saw Sonic speeding toward them. She recognized that expression, his dangerous eyes, his gritted teeth. His muscles tensed throughout his body, and he looked ready to kill. Sonic leapt into the air. He thrust his hands up high above his head, but even then he couldn't gather enough height to brush the bottom of Amy's shoe.

Amy watched as Sonic fell back to the ground, his face full of horror and fury. But instead of his face making her feel like she actually mattered to him, that he really worried about her, like it usually did, her heart only weighed down more in her chest. All fight left her body and she waited limply in the robots arms as it carried her to its leader.

And it was only a matter of time before things went horribly wrong! I hope you enjoyed the latest installment. This chapter was definitely difficult to write, but I'm happy with the result. Please review! I'll update again soon. Until next time!