A/N: Thanks for all the feedback and support so far! From all the Sonadow fans and Sonamy fans and regular fans alike. You're the best.

Sonic's POV

You don't just get over someone over night.

I was never able to get over my feelings for Shadow, even when I got into a relationship with Amy. After our picnic date we carried on going out together and it just sort of hit off from there. We saw and spoke to each other often, becoming closer and closer, until we were practically inseparable. Time swept gently forward, summer became autumn and then autumn was swiftly followed by winter.

I remember one snowy day in late November, Amy and I were wrapped up warm and walking hand in hand through the park. The two of us stopped by a bench and sat down. I told her how happy she made me and how I wished we could always be together. And so, that was the day that I asked her to move in with me.

Amy was overjoyed and immediately said yes. Once she moved in, I realised how deeply rooted in my life she had become and I couldn't even imagine what it would be like living without her. I still heard nothing from Shadow, but his promise was a distant memory to me. I may have still loved him, and he was still a lingering thought in my mind, but I had Amy in my life and that was enough to keep me going.

He was brought up in conversation every so often, Amy would ask if I had talked to him and I would say no as that was the honest truth. That's all she would ever ask about Shadow, thankfully. I never spoke about what Shadow meant to me around Amy. I never told her the real reason behind why I had asked her out in the first place. I thought it would be better if it remained a secret and I intended on keeping it that way.

The year started anew and winter turned to spring as the snow melted away. Summer arrived once again with the hot weather in toe. Amy and I celebrated our one year anniversary and welcomed the idea of more long and happy years to come. The future was looking bright.

But then one day everything changed and my life went spiralling out of control all over again.

It was nearing autumn, and Tails had invited us to a party he was organising. It was a huge get together, bringing all our friends into one room for a big reunion. I hadn't seen the majority of my friends in what felt like forever, the only people I had seen on a regular basis were Tails, Knuckles and Amy, obviously.

Amy wanted me to dress up smart, so she dug through my wardrobe, only to find that the majority of clothes in there were too casual or far too small. Eventually we found some black jeans and a white shirt, which she said would have to do. I for one hated wearing pants and having the shirt buttoned up right to the collar was pretty uncomfortable. But I tolerated it, since it seemed to make Amy happy. I just hoped she didn't want to make me wear clothes on a regular basis.

On a late Sunday afternoon, we arrived at Tails' house where we were greeted by the two-tailed fox himself "Hi Sonic, hi Amy, it's great to see you here." He said, embracing me in a quick hug.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Well, you better come in then" he responded with a smile, welcoming us into his house "You look really nice, Amy." He complimented her.

Amy was wearing a silky, blue dress that matched my fur and had her pink hair tied up into a bunch on the top of her head. "Aw, thank you, Tails." She replied gratefully.

Everyone was at the party, even Mighty, Ray, Fang, Bean, Bark and a couple of others I hadn't seen in what really was forever. It was good seeing so many of my friends again, watching old friends chatting with new ones. It was like one big family reunion.

Everyone except... Shadow. I shook my head and pushed him to the back of my mind. I couldn't think about him, I was there to enjoy myself, I couldn't allow thoughts of him to put me down.

"You can help yourself to some punch if you like." Tails told me, directing me over to the snack table which had a big bowel full of dark purple liquid. I nodded in gratitude and began to pour myself a glass, when Amy placed her hand on my shoulder in order to catch my attention.

"I'm going to go catch up with Rouge and Blaze, but I'll come find you once I'm done."

"Sure thing. Once I've had some of this punch and a couple of snacks I'll be doing the rounds so we might end up bumping into each other." I replied.

Amy hummed in response. "Well, I'll see you later then. Enjoy your punch." And with that, she left, disappearing into the crowd.

I leaned back against the table and began to drink the punch. Knuckles came up to me and picked up some snacks "Hey Sonic." He greeted. "I see you managed to get away from the mrs."

I couldn't help but smirk at that "Very funny, Knux. I see you managed to get away from yours too." Knuckles always used to tease me about Amy, even before we started dating. I used to get really defensive about it, but I was passed that. It's funny how things can change.

"Hah. No way, she's the one who ditched me as soon as we got here, but I'm not complaining."

"Knuckles!" A loud voice boomed. The two of us looked over to see Vector fast approaching.

"Oh no." Knuckles murmured.

Vector wrapped his arm around Knuckles and pulled him in close. At first, I thought he was giving him a hug, but once he started rubbing his head with his fist I realised he was giving him a noogie. Knuckles didn't seem to like it that much, judging by the frustrated expression he had on his face. "It's good to see you old pal!" Vector exclaimed. "How you been?"

Knuckles ignored his question and pulled away "Get off me you oversized lizard." He growled. He stumbled back and ended up crashing into me, which led to my glass of punch being spilt all over my shirt.

Knuckles whirled around and glanced at me and then at the purple liquid that was now dripping from my clothes. "Oh gosh, I'm really sorry, Sonic." He apologised.

Vector frowned and scratched the back of his head awkwardly "Yeah, I'm sorry too." He added, although he avoided making eye contact.

I sighed and put my glass down on the table "It's fine, don't worry about it." I told them. "I'm going to go and get cleaned up." I stated, gesturing over to Tails' kitchen with my thumb.

"Okay." Knuckles replied with a brief nod. As I walked away, I heard him turn to Vector and say "That was your fault!"

"No it wasn't!" Vector argued back.

I rolled my eyes as I got further away. I wasn't angry at Knuckles or Vector, these things tended to happen, although Amy would have freaked if she had been there. If anything, I ought to have thanked them. I had wanted to take that shirt off ever since I put it on.

Their argument became distant once I reached the kitchen and entered the room, flicking on the light switch as I did so. I closed the door behind me, shutting out the sound of the party. It was calm and quiet in there, which was a nice change of pace from the lively atmosphere on the other side of the door.

I began to unbutton my shirt as I approached the sink. I then removed the item of clothing and turned on the cold tap, allowing the water to run for a few seconds before I put the shirt under it and attempted to remove the stain. Luckily enough, the punch washed out rather easily, so I stopped scrubbing and left it for a bit to make sure it completely wash out.

I stared out of the open kitchen window at the starry night sky and I felt the cold, early autumn wind blowing through the gap. I let out a sigh of relief, thankful that I was finally rid of that shirt. It was like my body could finally breathe again and take in the fresh air. I heard the sound of muffled voices coming from the other room as the party was in full swing. I wondered how Amy was doing, hopefully she was having a better time than I was at that point.

As my mind wandered and I became more unfocused, I began to notice another presence. I wasn't completely alone in that room.

"I never thought I'd see the day." A familiar voice spoke up, shattering the once quiet atmosphere and startling me a little. I spun around, stunned into silence by what I saw.

Shadow - the black and red hedgehog who had been missing from my life for over a year - was standing on the other side of the room, leaning against the fridge with his arms folded and a small smirk on his face. "You're wearing pants."

My mouth fell open momentarily but I quickly shut it. "Shadow?!" I exclaimed. A huge smile emerged on my face as I crossed the room to join him. I felt a rush of happiness flow through me. I wasn't angry, I wasn't upset. I was overwhelmed with joy. He was here. He was back. That's all that mattered. "It's so good to see you."

His smirk turned into a sincere smile "It's good to see you too."

"How long have you been back?" I asked.

"Only a couple of days." He told me. He then stared at me for moment, taking in all the details of my face and my body as if he was looking at me for the first time. "You've gotten taller." He commented.

I hadn't noticed our height difference until he pointed it out. I was, in fact, taller than him, but only by a few inches. "I guess being immortal isn't all it's cracked up to be, huh, shorty?" I teased.

Shadow frowned "I had almost forgotten how annoying you can be. Can't say I missed that." He grumbled.

"But you admit that you missed the rest of me?" I pried.

"Don't push it." He responded, but he couldn't quite keep a straight face, I could even see the corner of his mouth twitching.

"So how have you-" I began, only to be interrupted when the kitchen door burst open and Amy rushed in.

"Oh Sonic, your shirt!" She cried, completely oblivious to Shadow's presence. "Where is it? It's not stained, is it?"

"Calm down, Ames, I handled it. I put it under the tap. It's fine. I just might have to put it in the washer when we get home." I explained.

"Oh good." She responded, giving me a small peck on the cheek. And Shadow saw it. I was looking right at him when Amy kissed me. His smile fell and I saw the look of shock in his usually calm eyes. I would've wanted to tell him about me and Amy on my own terms, not like that. That was possibly the worse way he could've found out.

Only after Amy had kissed me did she realise that Shadow was in the room with us. "Oh hi Shadow, I didn't know you were back, it's really good to see you. How have you been?" She asked. She sounded equally as pleased to see him as I was, although our motivates were different. She was seeing a long lost friend while I was seeing a long lost lover.

Shadow smiled at her, and I was unsure if it was genuine or not. "I've been good, thank you." He replied. He then looked at the two of us for a few seconds. "And I see you've finally caught Sonic. How did you manage that?" He questioned.

Amy giggled "I didn't, Sonic was the one that asked me out."

Shadow looked directly at me, his face masked with not even a hint of emotion he was feeling at that moment "I see. It would seem that after all those years of chasing him he must have finally given in."

"It was about time that he did." Amy responded, laughing lightly with a beaming smile on her face. They were talking like I wasn't even there. At least, Amy was, while Shadow's eyes hadn't left me.

Shadow turned away from my gaze and focused on Amy "Well, I better go, I have some catching up to do, but it was nice seeing you both." He told us, before turning towards the kitchen door. He gripped the handle and paused before leaving "And good luck to you. I hope you're very happy together." And with those final words, he departed.

"Shadow wait!" I called after him, but he had already gone.

I hurried over to the kitchen door, planning on following him. "Sonic, where are you going?" Amy asked me.

"I'll be back in a sec, Ames." I told her. I didn't have time to explain myself, I needed to catch up to him.

Once I arrived back in the party room, I found that Shadow was no where to be seen. I hurried over to the snack table where Knuckles and Vector still were. They were no longer fighting, instead they were hanging out together and acting like best buds. I decided not to question the sudden u-turn in attitude.

Knuckles spotted me as I came over "Hey Sonic. Sorry again, y'know, about earlier." He apologised.

"It's okay. It was an accident." I responded. The spillage on my shirt was the last thing that was on my mind. "Have you seen Shadow around here?" I then asked.

"Shadow? I thought he was still working abroad?" Knuckles questioned. He too was clueless to that fact that Shadow was back.

I sighed "So did I." I muttered, moving passed him and Vector. He clearly wasn't there. My first thought was to check outside. Maybe he had left. There was only one way to find out.

The stench of smoke hit my nose as soon as I stepped outside, but I wasn't sure where it was coming from. I knew there couldn't be a fire, but I couldn't figure out what it could be. I was too busy wondering where Shadow had gone to worry about it though.

I walked down to the stone steps that led up to Tails' house, but Shadow was no where in sight. "You know, Sonic, if you're going to wear pants then you normally should wear something on top to go with it." A voice commented.

I turned round to see Rouge leaning against the outside wall of Tails' house, a cigarette in between her index and middle finger. The source of the smoke. She put the cigarette to her lips and inhaled, the tip glowing orange in the darkness as she did so. She removed the joint from her mouth and lowered her hand, flicking some ash onto the ground whilst exhaling deeply, with a grey cloud of smoke passing from her lips and drifting up to the sky. The smoke rising from the cigarette surrounded Rouge's head like a grey musty halo.

I'm not sure how she did it, but Rouge managed to make smoking look elegant.

"Hey Rouge." I greeted, smirking at her as well as her comment.

Rouge smiled back at me. "Hey Big Blue."

Me and Rouge had sort of a fling in the past, before she started dating Knuckles and before I developed any feelings towards Shadow. There were no romantic feelings between us, it was just... A few nights of passion. That's when she gave me my nickname, and it just stuck, even when we decided to stay friends. Though I won't tell you what she meant by big... And blue.

"Knuckles causing you any trouble?" She asked.

"Not much... Apart from spilling punch all over my shirt." I replied.

She chuckled "He's such an idiot," Her laughter quickly died, but a faint smile remained her face. "I've always loved that about him."

"Don't suppose you've seen Shadow around, have you?" I asked, shifting the topic and getting back to the more urgent matter. Chit chat would have to wait for another day.

"Yeah. He went for a walk in that direction." She told me, gesturing with her free hand at the path that led into the woods. "I think he just needed some space."

I glanced at the woods and then back at Rouge "How come?"

"It's hard for him, being away for so long on his own and then coming back to be surrounded by all of his friends all at once. You know how he is normally, so it must be really overwhelming."

"Did you know he was back?" I asked.

"Sonic, I work with him. Of course I did." She responded. "GUN told me in advance that he was coming back and would be attending missions with me again. It was such a great coincidence that he was coming back when this party was on. So I called him before he was due to arrive and we arranged for him to not speak to anyone so that he could surprise everyone today. I snuck him in the back and he hid in the kitchen... Where you must have found him, right?"

I nodded in response.

"He just needs a little bit of time to adjust that's all. He'll be back to his old self in no time."

I looked at the woods once again and then back at Rouge "I'm going to go talk to him." I declared, walking over to the steps.

"Okay." Rouge replied.

I glanced back at her "You're not going to stop me?" I questioned.

She shook her head "No. I think talking to you will do him the world of good. After you two put your rivalry aside you seemed really close." She told me. "Go easy on him, won't you?"

I nodded firmly "I will."

She tossed her cigarette to the ground and grinned out the embers with the heel of her boot "Good luck." She said. She opened the front door, and paused in the doorway for a moment and looked at me. The two of us shared eye contact before she walked inside and shut the door behind her.

I hurried down the steps and rushed over to the woods. I then slowed my pace as I went down the woodland path so that I wouldn't end up running passed him. I admired the bright, yellow glowing fireflies that floated amongst the trees and the bushes as I walked. Eventually, the dense trees seemed to thin and I reached a clearing.

Shadow was sitting on a rock beside a small pond, running his fingers along the surface of the water and causing ripples to stretch across the pool. Fireflies danced around him as he sat there, his gaze fixated on the water, although he looked to be lost in thought.

I slowly approached him, with the grass crunching under my feet, but he didn't notice my presence. I stood there for a moment, admiring him. Words cannot convey how happy I was to see him back, no matter if I was dating Amy or not. After a few seconds of standing in silence, I cleared my throat and spoke up "Hi Shadow."

Shadow wasn't startled, he didn't even flinch. He shifted his gaze off the water and looked at me. "Oh hello, Sonic." He responded.

"Why did you run off like that? We weren't done talking." I asked.

He looked back at the pond "We weren't? I'm sorry, I didn't realise. I thought you would have wanted to talk to Amy."

The ripples on the pond began to disperse. I drew closer, and saw mine as well as Shadow's reflection in the water, along with the large, silver moon. Shadow had a large frown on his face, which wasn't exactly on unusual for him, but it was a lot different from his normal resting face. He looked unhappy.

I sat down on the grass beside the rock he was sitting on. "Shadow, I can talk to Amy any time I want, but I haven't seen you in over a year. I don't think Amy will mind if we do a little catching up."

Shadow lifted his head and gazed off into the distance. "A year? Has it really been that long?" He questioned.

"A year and about five months." I replied.

"I didn't even realise. Then again, I don't notice the passage of time all that well." He explained. There was a pause, and then Shadow looked at me again, but his gaze lingered this time. "So, where were we exactly?" He asked, referring to our earlier conversation.

"Well, I was going to ask you how you've been. What you been up to all this time?" I responded.

"I've been good. As for what I've been doing... I've been working on quite a few missions. I'd go into more detail, but I'm afraid it's classified."

"That's fine. I don't want you to get in trouble with GUN." I stated.

"What about you?" He asked.

"I've been good too. Really good, actually." I told him.

"Because of Amy?" He asked. He didn't allow me to answer. "How long have you been dating her?"

"Well, we started going out together a few months after you left and have been ever since." I explained.

"Congratulations, by the way. Here I thought you weren't interested in her but then you go and surprise me." He said. He was smiling at me. He seemed so genuine, so pleased for me. I couldn't tell if he was being truthful or if he was hiding his true feelings. I couldn't read him at all.

"Thank you, Shadow." I replied gratefully.

He went quiet again, and looked at the pond. "Does she make you happy?" He asked. His tone had shifted. He sounded concerned. Or maybe he wanted to know that I was happier with her than I would've been with him. Or maybe I was just looking at it too hard and trying to find some sort of feelings he had towards me that might not have been there. Perhaps he was just being a friend and looking out for me.

I picked my words carefully. I decided to be truthful. "Yes. Very."

That doesn't mean I wouldn't have been just as happy with him.

"I'm glad."

We both fell silent. Shadow was avoiding my gaze, while I was looking at him, trying my best to find some sort of hint that would tell me how he truly felt. "Listen, Sonic, I'm sorry for not talking to you while I was away. I know I promised I would, but work got in the way. I barely had any time to myself let alone anyone else. I know it must have been hard, feeling like you were being ignored. I should have made time for you." He said guiltily. He looked at me again, and his eyes remained on me. "But I'm here now if you ever want to talk. Just say the word, and I'll be there, whenever you need me."

I smiled at him "And I'm here if you ever want to talk too. You don't have to feel bad about not speaking to me, I get why you couldn't. You don't have to be sorry."

My ears pricked up to the sound of music in the distance. Tails must have put some on back at the house. "Say," I began, whilst standing up "Why don't you come back to the party? You still need to make your surprise entrance."

"I don't know. So much has changed and I haven't spoken to any of them in so long, and I left without saying goodbye. I don't think I could face them, what if they hate me?"

"They won't hate you. What happened is in the past now, and I know that they'll be more than happy to see you. Just give it a chance." I encouraged him. I then offered him my hand "Come on, I'll be right there with you."

Shadow sighed "Alright, you've twisted my arm." He ignored my hand and stood up on his own. I wasn't bothered about him not taking it, he could get up himself after all. It just... It made me feel like we were still distant, even though we were no longer separated. There was this underlying feeling... A worry... A fear... That I might have been losing him.

The two of us walked side by side along the woodland path. I put my arm around his shoulders in a friendly manner. He didn't mind, he didn't even shrug me off.

"Sonic, I know we were joking around earlier but... Well, I just wanted you to know... I missed you." He told me.

"I missed you too"

I wish things could've turned out differently between us. I should have told him how I felt about him when I had the chance. I had messed up. And it wasn't going to get any better.