She had spent the entire weekend wondering how she was going to go about starting her new life. Romani had very clearly emphasized that she should think for herself, and that much was easy enough. Amy had always been thinking for herself. She had plenty of not-Sonic-related interests, like working out, and playing with Cream and Big, and sometimes, hitting the mall and doing some window-shopping never hurt either. The problem was, those were only things that interested her after she'd been shunted by Sonic that day, otherwise, she wasn't normally able to get him out of mind. It was just as the psychologist had said.

"Why not just try to have fun at least?" Cream had suggested to her after they shared a lengthy discussion surrounding her 'problem'. But that was easier said than done, she realized. Even as she paced slowly across the grassy fields of the Windy Valley, and even as the titular gusts breezed past her quills pleasantly and cooled her with their gentle scent of a wonderful, startlingly tepid summer day, she couldn't bring herself to enjoy it. Not completely. No matter how much she tried to convince herself to simply take in the beautiful scenery and take her mind off of Sonic, the blue hero refused to stop dashing through her thoughts and carrying with him, miraculously enough, her heavy heart. It was no use.

She took a deep breath, and exhaled it with defeat. If she had to spend four days out of her week this way, suffering without the love of her life even being allowed to involve himself in it, then she wasn't sure if she could handle it. She wanted, very, very badly, to simply scour the countryside for the wonderful speeding hedgehog and make him hers for the rest of their joined days on the planet—

"Ready?"

Amy froze suddenly. That voice… it was familiar. Male, definitely, but younger, as though nature had decided Cream needed a vocal counterpart. She could have sworn that…

"Go Sonic!" The voice exclaimed from a distance. The sound carried far with the wind, she could tell, but it was clear to her now. That voice was Tails', she was positive! And that name! There could only be one name that sounded that sweet and glorious to her ears! That was the name of her future husband-to-be! Amy became so overcome with giddiness that she twisted around, listened once more for the oddly feminine, "You're doing great Sonic!", and dashed off. Her feet practically hurdled themselves over a small hill, and as she reached its top, the vantage point made everything clear to her.

The two were settled on a long, empty strip of the valley, nestled between two ranges of hills that stretched on beyond where she could see. In the bright daylight, the strip had a dark, worn gray-brown colour in contrast to the bright greens of the grass and the jubilant baby blue of the sky. Even with these contrasting colours, however, Amy could spot the two easily. A smaller figure, marigold fur that she would never embarrass the poor fox by pointing out to him, and two idling tails swaying as he entered information into a device, and there. Standing tall, handsome, magnificent in the radiance of his own center-of-the-universe kind of way, stood the cobalt hedgehog himself, long spines shaking in the air as he stretched himself, waiting for his friend to prompt him. She'd become so accustomed to his figure that even from afar, she could see, feel, his emerald pupils locked hard and coolly in his perfect eyes, his resting demeanor, as though nothing in the world could mean more to him than the next step. The utter and sheer brilliance that surrounded him, he was perfect, he was everything! She had to get closer! She had to talk to him and to see him and to be near him-!

"SOOONIIIIIC!" She let free her rousing emotions, springing from the top of her hill with all of her force and flying through the air, landing on the steep incline between them and sprinting her way towards the duo. She ran so quickly, and in such a blind dash, that her vision tunneled, until all she could see was the vague shape of his royally blue figure ahead of her. Her target was locked. She had the element of surprise. No matter how fast her lovely love was, she had already accounted his shock rebound and his ability to run in the opposite direction. She would have him before he could manage a successful run, and then she could wrap herself around him and immerse herself in the amazing-

'Stop.'

Amy suddenly buried her feet into the ground as best as she could to kill her inertia. The soles of her boots kicked up quite a bit of topsoil before the rest of her body slowed just enough, but true to their trusty capabilities, she halted. Everything about her felt halted. Her heart rate skidded to a slow pulse as her trembling urges quietly silenced. Even her vision slowly came down from its sudden Sonic-high, until, in her calmer state, she was able to gather a clearer, less desperately vying image.

Sonic seemed terrified by her sudden appearance and was frozen in place by fear, both of his hands jetted up to protect himself from what he thought was the inevitable and bearing his teeth. He was bracing himself, she realized. By his side, the small fox didn't seem much better, hiding behind his small machine tablet as both of his tails stood on end.

Amy glanced down at herself, facing her palms so that she could see them herself. They were frightened by her. Amy's appearance itself, though no doubt coupled by her sudden intrusion, was enough to scare the two bravest heroes on the planet into momentary shock. Especially Sonic. Even as he recovered from the brief spell, his foot took a half step back as he cautiously analyzed her still form. She was a threat to him. She had never seen the hedgehog fear anything short of physically manifested gods as much as he'd flinched when she appeared.

That settled it. Her moment of clarity made it clear to her, more than even her emotionally strenuous meeting the day prior. She was scaring Sonic, when she herself had sworn that she would never let anything harm him. Even if he didn't seriously believe that she could hurt him, that wasn't important. Her improvement was. She had to change things, right then and there. She had to take that first step, to show to him that she wasn't a psychopath that desperately clung to his fibers as though he were a life support system.

….But how was she supposed to do it again? Even with her resolve, the urge to involve herself with his aura became more and more tempting. His full, luscious quills… that dreamy, handsome expression… She shook herself rid of these thoughts. That was her chest. The warmth in her chest that only Sonic could fill. It was one of those feelings that she had to control, no matter what her chest wanted her to do. What was she supposed to do? She had to think back, and think hard, to overcome the clouds that rose over her head. When she wanted to hug him, she was supposed to… talk. Just, talk. Sonic was a friend. Sonic is a friend. Just treat him… like Cream.

"Hiya Cream! How's Cheese doing!?" She blurted out under pressure. Her cheeks lit aflame and her hands flew to her lips. Treat him like Cream! Like Cream! She didn't want to look, but she could feel Sonic's confused expression watch her as though she were a ticking time bomb, ready to explode.

"I-I mean, hi! Sonic." She defused quickly, ushering in the most forced smile she'd ever given and changing her itchy fingers into a couple of waves. Her face hurt from trying to hide her embarrassment, but, very subtly, she noticed the hero's posture shifted. His confused expression continued, but his feet slid into a more firm stance. Amy's eyes lit up. Progress. "H-how's it… going?"

"Amy…" He mumbled wearily. His arms crossed over his chest defensively. "Everything's… fine."

The silence between the three of them felt awkward to her, but she admitted that his presence itself was already an improvement. It was working. Her mind raced to keep it alive and well.

"S-so what are you two doing out here?" She asked, trying hard to keep her smile up. It, very gradually, became easier to do, though she couldn't help but feel like her brow was scrunched in concentration. She didn't dare break face to check.

"Uh…" Sonic glanced away and at Tails, whom looked back up to his friend and shrugged. Lowering his eyelids, he seemed to put on a more casual air as his hands rested upon his hips. "Tails was timing me as I ran across this valley."

Amy's heart flipped. "Really!?" She cried excitedly, hopping up on one foot. Her exclamation made the two friends flinch heavily, and this reaction made Amy catch herself. 'He's just a person. Just a person.' She reminded herself repeatedly. Lowering her arms and letting herself slow down internally once again, she settled on a much softer smile and attempted to change her tone to that of what she'd seen Madam Vanilla use whenever she complimented Cream.

"That's… That sounds like fun." She nodded her head a little forcefully, but from what she could tell, it sold to them. She tilted her head towards Tails, figuring him to be the time keeper, and upheld her passive smile. "A-and, how fast has- I mean, wh-wha-what's his record?"

"Oh, um…" Tails' flustered upon being addressed amidst the unusual tension, but he glanced down at his tablet anyways and seemed to be flipping through the virtual pages. "The valley here is only four kilometers and sixteen meters long, so Sonic's best run was… six seconds and fourteen milliseconds."

"W-wow!" Amy exclaimed. She fought off the urge much more easily that time. It wasn't so hard, once she got the hang of it. It was like suppressing a hiccup when in the midst of a restaurant. Still, her fingers began to tingle again, impatient with her not-grappling-blue approach to dealing with Sonic, so she redirected the hasty digits into a pair of thumbs that she raised towards the speedy hedgehog. "That's… great Sonic! Really… neat!"

Neat. Neat.

"Well, thanks." Sonic accepted. "I could probably do better if there weren't so many hills though."

"You should have seen him over at Emerald Hills." Tails reminisced with a short chuckle. "He ran the whole zone in under a minute!"

"Fifty-five seconds is hardly 'under a minute' Tails." The hedgehog countered, sticking his tongue out at the younger friend. The fox stuck his tongue back out at the hedgehog harder, puffing his cheeks out, and this earned a mock-insulted expression from the older friend, whom poked his thumbs into his ears and blew a raspberry right into the fox's face.

Amy wanted to genuinely enjoy the heartwarming moment shared between the two, whom may as well have been brothers for how dorkish their appearance was to her. But because of how much she enjoyed their playful display, she began to feel a warm bubbling in her tummy.

Sonic was such a good role model, and an even better brother. She saw how close Tails and he were, and how easily they played with each other, and it stirred something within her. Sonic was spectacular, and awe-inspiring. He made the people around him better, not just feel better, but actually better, just by being around them. He was so perfect that Amy just… wanted him…

She shook her head. That, too, was bad. No matter how much she may have wanted him, and no matter how perfect he was, Romani was right. Sonic was not hers. Despite how much she may have wanted to cling to him, and how much she really wanted to ask him how long he was planning before he'd show her a ring, she knew… she knew deep down that that wasn't right. Sonic was… like a fragile plant, she figured, with the most gorgeous bloom she'd ever seen. But she knew that if she tried to pull the plant out, the more she pulled at it, the less likely it was to stay gorgeous. She had to let it spread, on its own, and if it happened to flower where she wanted it, then that would be that.

She forced herself to release another breath. She still felt the bubbles rage within her, but she no longer felt controlled by them. She held the reigns, and she was darned if she would let herself lose track of them, after coming this far.

"So what are you doing out this far?" Tails asked.

"Huh!?" Amy felt her own insulated world pop as she was brought back to the material plane. Tails was looking up to her, if not eagerly, then at least with less fear and exasperation than she'd ever seen before. Even Sonic seemed more at ease. He, along with Tails, watched her as she watched them watch her curiously.

"Oh." She blinked again, remembering her social skills clumsily. "I was just… wandering about." She answered truthfully. She decided that, as long as she didn't word it the way it was obviously intended, she could tell them the whole truth without looking depraved in every way, like she was almost sure she was. "I was bored today, so I thought I would just take a walk and see what was going on."

"And you just happened to bump into us, huh?" Sonic smirked, his cocky teeth showing beneath his muzzle as he rubbed his nose with his forefinger.

"Hey! That's what happened!" Amy felt herself pout. "I actually wasn't following you today!"

She hadn't meant to let that slip, and when she did, she felt her entire face go red. She felt the world and the universe and the sky and the air fall apart all around her, like shattering glass or an unglued puzzle, tinkering into shards and scattering at her feet.

'That's the end.' She thought to herself manically. ' I messed up. I failed. I let Sonic know and now he knows and he knows and he… knows! He knows I'm trying to be cool and he knows I saw a psychologist and he knows I'm crazy and he'll run away and I've ruined everything!'

"Really?" She wanted to cry. Her cheeks and ears and eyes all felt hot and sweltered up very quickly, and the pressure behind her eyes began to build up again. She had been doing so well, and Sonic hadn't hated her and they were talking and he wasn't running—

"That's a surprise. I didn't think you took vacations Amy." He teased, letting his grin grow wider. "Well hey. As long as you're not following me, you can stick around and watch while I go for five seconds this time."

"Wh-what?" All at once, Amy's entire world view went into whiplash. She felt like, if her life were a car that had been travelling at hundreds of miles per hour, then her emotions were the cheap knick-knacks that people put on their dashboards as the vehicle came to a complete and utter stop, flinging all across the front and smashing against the fiberglass windshield. "W-watch?"

"Try to stand at an approximately forty-five degree angle from him." Tails suggested helpfully. "His sonic boom tends to demolish everything standing behind him, as we found out the hard way with all my equipment last time."

"Heh, should'a known. It's in the name, buddy!" The hedgehog retorted, giving him a thumbs up and winking.

Tails shook his head, though he smiled underneath it all, and then beckoned Amy to stand next to him. "Over here is safe Amy."

"You're letting me… watch?" She sputtered. Her brain was flat-lining on her and it was all she could do to keep her jaw from falling off.

"Try not to blink."

And all of a sudden, Amy knew the true face of Paradise, and Heaven, and Valhalla and all of the divine perfections in the world as though they'd all become jealous of what happened and rained down upon her at once.

Sonic smiled.

At her.

Not to anyone else. Not to any event. Nobody had told any jokes, nor had he just performed some heroic feat, nor had she been saved. Eggman was not swearing vengeance on them, the world had not just been re-pieced together, nothing. They were in casual conversation. She was speaking to him. With him. And he smiled at her. Genuinely.

She was speechless. She was thoughtless. It took several moments for her legs to unconsciously drag her next to the young fox, and she was hardly paying attention as he counted down the hedgehog's timer. Nothing could stimulate her, no event nor happenstance was strong enough to bring her down from where she'd flown. She was happy with where she was, and she didn't want to come down, no matter what—

"High five Amy!"

She blinked. What. High five, what? Sonic stood just in front of her, his hand raised in the air, and there was another immaculate smile plastered across his face. But the expression was curious. What was he doing? He said 'high five', and she knew what a high five was, but the two concepts seemed mutually exclusive, Sonic and actually wanting physical interaction with her. She couldn't have been in reality, or otherwise she was misunderstanding something.

"Why?" She asked blankly.

"You didn't see me? I just went five and fifteen milliseconds!" He exclaimed proudly. "Not that I don't blame you. Told you not to blink."

She still didn't understand. Her eyes turned to Tails, looking for some kind of resolution. The fox didn't seem to comprehend what it was she was silently asking of him, but after a moment, his mind registered the shock, and so he mimicked the motion of his hands clapping together, all the while looking up at Sonic as well. And so she looked back up to him. And she looked at his upheld hand.

And then she looked down at hers. And then she gingerly touched her palm against his.

"Alright!" He cheered, hopping back and spinning in a small circle before jumping back to his feet. "Your five needs some work, but it's fine! Tails!"

"Yeah Sonic?"

"Rev up the Tornado II. These two fast bad boys—" He began, tapping each foot against the ground demonstratively. "—Want to rip up Radical Highway next! I'm gonna beat Shadow's record next!"

"Whatever you say, Sonic." His younger brother-surrogate laughed. "Well, let's get going then. See you later Amy!"

"Later Ames!" Sonic waved quickly as he followed the two-tailed fox.

"B-bye…" She mumbled, waving her hand weakly as they packed away their few belongings into the Tornado II, which parked itself not too far away.

No. She wanted to say bye. This was her first chance and she wanted to say bye! With her determination flaring up within her, she began jogging after them, as the plane began to roll off.

"Hey! Bye guys!" She shouted over the roar of the Tornado II beginning to heat up. She hopped and waved her hands over her head energetically, catching the blue hero's attention. "Hey! If you beat it, tell Shadow that I'm gonna beat it next, okay!?"

"You got it!" Sonic shouted back, cupping his mouth to be heard over the roar. The bi-plane began to shudder, and as it drove to catch flight underneath it's wings, the hedgehog winked at Amy and gave her a big thumbs up, before the two of them lifted up and out of sight, far into the steadily tinting-navy sky.

And she could swear, she felt herself flying up with them, soaring past the clouds and through the atmosphere. It'd been awkward, silent, casual, and weirder than all else, but for the life of her, she couldn't have imagined it going any better.

She was sure, positive, that Sonic had just officially treated her like a friend. They had just talked, and she hadn't once mentioned marriage, and for the last few seconds, she hadn't even thought of jumping against him and carrying his children. It was a slow start. A very slow start, she realized. But… it was a start. She'd taken the right steps in the right directions. And for the first time in a long time, Sonic wasn't afraid of her.

And she wasn't afraid of herself.