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Disclaimer - I do NOT own Sonic the Hedgehog or any of its characters!

7 – It Was Obvious

As soon as the door to the office opened, Amy felt three pairs of eyes lock onto her and Espio.

"You're back!" Vector boomed from the desk.

Charmy cheered and buzzed into the air.

"Yes," said Espio. "And so are you."

Vector slumped into his chair and groaned. "Yeh, finally."

"What do you mean finally?"

"Don't ask."

"He means," said Knuckles as he idly flicked through the television channels, "that the van lost a wheel, and it took us ages to find someone to tow us home for a decent price."
Espio closed the door with a sigh and closed his eyes. "You were being tight fisted again, Vector?"

The crocodile grumbled. "Do you wanna make rent this month, or not?"

"So what did you find out?"

Espio joined Vector at the desk as the crocodile pulled out two clear bags.

"This," he said. "Lonely primrose and bright scarlet."

"Flowers?" Amy trotted over to the desk and peered down at the two flowers. One yellow, the other red. "What do flowers have to do with anything?"

"Probably nothing," said Vector. "But it doesn't hurt to get it checked out."

"Both are poisonous," explained Charmy. "And they were growing near the warehouse where the lorry we followed parked up."

"Huh." Amy scratched her head. "Couldn't that just be a coincidence?"

"Most likely." Vector popped the samples back in his bag. "I'm gonna get these sent off tomorrow, see what they can find out."

Espio folded his arms and leant against the wall. "Hopefully it's not a dead end."

"Yeh. Those lab tests ain't cheap."

Espio nodded, but said nothing.

Amy watched him for a moment, standing with his eyes closed against the wall.

'Besides, these two were probably enjoying a romantic walk until you butted in.'

Sasha's comment rang through her mind, and she felt her face flush slightly. She diverted her gaze from him and caught Knuckles' eye before she turned her attention on the peeling door.

"I..." Her voice cracked and she paused to clear her throat. "I think I'll head back home now."

"Nope!" Vector placed his pen noisily on the table and inclined his head on one side.

"Nope?" Amy repeated.

"Nope! You're still, although not incredibly likely, going through the end of a withdrawal phase. As such, we want to keep you here to make sure you're safe."

Amy grit her teeth together and looked away from him. She was beginning to feel like a test subject. Trapped in a cage she was really wanting to get out of.

She wanted her own home, her own bed, her own blanket. Familiar smells and surroundings.

A nice catch-up with Cream, maybe a hot cocoa, a girly laugh.

To find out why on earth that leopard girl's words wouldn't get out of her head.

Stockholm Syndrome? No... it was too early for that.

"I think she's okay to go back, Vector," said Knuckles. "Besides, haven't you bugged her place?"

Vector raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"Then let the girl leave."

Vector picked up his pen and returned to his notes. "Too risky."
Amy let out a flustered sigh and flopped down on the sofa between Knuckles and Charmy.

"It's fine," she said. "I'll stay." She fired Vector a pointed glare. "But I'm leaving tomorrow!"

"Fine by me," grumbled the crocodile.

She looked over at Espio to find him watching her. He gave her a sympathetic smile which caused something to stir in her stomach. She looked away sharply, feeling her face heat up again, and caught Knuckles' eye once more.

"What?" she choked.

He cleared his throat and handed her the remote. "Want to choose a channel?"

...

Sleep had been somewhat broken as Amy tossed and turned in a vain attempt to get comfy. She had no idea how the lumpy mattress hadn't woken her up the night before. When light finally leaked in through the window, she lay staring at it until the faint sound of movement told her the Chaotix had woken up.

She dragged herself off the bed and marched, still fully clothed, to the bedroom door. Vector and Espio were sat amongst a nest of blankets on the worn leather sofa, while the faint sound of sizzling came from the kitchen.

The two detectives looked up at her but instead of words, a loud 'argh!' came from the crocodile's mouth.

"Erm..." His eyes darted left and right as he tried to string a sentence together. "You, erm..." He grinned. "The tired look suits you!"
Amy pursed her lips together and her shoulders tensed, her hammer appearing in her right hand. She watched the two reptiles as Vector waved his hands muttering out a garbled apology and Espio, who'd been nibbling on a biscuit, let it fall onto his lap.

"Can I please go home?!" she roared.

Vector looked like he was about to climb over Espio to hide, but the chameleon had slowly started to turn invisible making such an endeavour pointless.

Knuckles' face appeared in the kitchenette doorway and he looked from the pink hedgehog to the two detectives and back.

"I think she's fine," he said, giving the two men another glance. "Let the girl leave." He looked back up at Amy. "Do you want pancakes?"

Amy felt herself bristle, but suddenly hunger washed over her and a small smile spread across her face.

"Actually, pancakes would be nice, thanks."

"Did someone say pancakes?!" A streak of black and yellow shot past her face and Charmy landed heavily on the sofa. "Pancakes! Pancakes! Pancakes!"
"Charmy wants pancakes," Vector called to the kitchen.

"I heard," said Knuckles.

Vector and Espio watched Amy for a moment then scooted apart to allow her to sit down. She squeezed herself between them and stared blankly at the TV screen... which was off. She felt incredibly awkward, and her left arm felt oddly warm as Espio brushed against her to reach for another biscuit.

There it was again. That weird feeling she'd had the day before, stirred up again making her wonder if she was hungry after all.

Time seemed to drag as they sat in silence – minus Charmy who was singing a song about pancakes. A sweet smell flooded the little room, and Knuckles strolled in, depositing a plate in her lap and handing the other one to the little bee.

The smell alone whipped up her appetite again. She was glad to have it back. After the ordeal with that strange chocolate, she was worried she'd never want anything sweet again. The syrupy pancakes were certainly welcome.

It wasn't long until they'd all finished their breakfast (although it felt like it would never end as she sat awkwardly besides Espio while the detectives nattered and bickered amongst themselves) and Amy finally stood up.

"Okay. Thank you for breakfast, but I think I'm going to leave now."
"All right," said Vector. He stood up and dusted himself down. "I'm sorry to have kept ya so long, Amy, but it's been necessary. You know?"

She gave a small nod. "I understand. I'll see you tomorrow."

She made her way to the door, and no sooner was she outside in the hallway, she leant back against it with a sigh.

Finally. She was out. Now she could go home and catch up on her missed sleep, have a shower, sort out her head.

The door opened and she stumbled backwards into the office with a yell. Two hands caught her and steadied her back on her feet.

"Careful, Amy!"

The voice already caused her face to flush, although she could rest assured her general embarrassment covered that up. She leapt away from Espio and straightened out her dress.

"I... I'm sorry, I was just-"

He cut off her garbled chain of words with a wave. "I was actually trying to catch up with you." He gave a small smile. "But I didn't expect to be physically catching you."

She blushed again and looked away from him. "Like I said, I was just-"

'Just what?' She frowned at herself. She'd not even thought of an excuse.

"Leaning," she quickly finished.

She mentally face-palmed. 'Good one, Amy.'

Espio closed the door, blocking out the confused and amused faces that peered out at them.

"I was going to offer to walk you home," he explained.

"Why?!"

He raised an eyebrow. "Well, after walking into those girls in the park yesterday, the evidence is you can walk into them anywhere."

"Of course you can," she said. "They live here."
They live here... they live here and they're likely adding some addictive substance into their sweets. Knowingly selling it. Knowing full well her 'food poisoning' likely wasn't food poisoning since they'd seen her buy two bars of their chocolate before Vector called in sick on her behalf.

They likely knew that she knew what they were up to.

She cleared her throat and turned to stare down the stairs at the worn front door. Any one could walk her home. Any one could have stayed with her when she was recovering. Why him? Her face warmed up again and she tried desperately to not look at him straight on, keeping her eyes firmly on the exit.

"Thank you," she said. "We... we should go."

And now she was nervous again. Wonderful.

She plodded down the stairs, Espio following lightly after her. The gentle wind that greeted her when they got outside was a welcome breath of fresh air. She became aware of how stifling it had been in there.

"You should really open windows more often," she said.

"I would. But a bird flew in once and stole Vector's sandwich. He wasn't happy about it."

For some reason, Amy could picture that as clear as day.

She nodded her understanding and turned towards the junction that led off the little street onto the main road. He kept pace next to her, and they walked in silence. An awkward silence as Amy's head span with unvoiced questions, most of them aimed at her.

She shook her head sharply to clear them away. She needed to start a conversation, one that would shut those questions up, at least until she got home and could sort them out.

'The case,' she told herself. 'Talk about that.'

"I have to say," she began, "this is probably the strangest event I've been involved in, and that says a lot."

He glanced at her and crossed his hands behind his head.

"Do these things come up quite often?" she asked. "The investigations, I mean?"

He shrugged. "This is a strange one for us too. We normally deal with missing people, or requests from women who want us to follow their husbands because they think they might be being unfaithful. So... I have to say no."

The whistle from the crossing rang out and they trotted across the road before it changed again. After the sharp noise stopped, the waiting cars roared by, almost drowning out her voice as she strained to be heard over them.

"What's going to happen when it's over?" she asked.

"Well, you'll be paid, obviously."

"I don't mean that. I mean to them. The shop."
He shrugged again. "If they're guilty, they'll be locked up, and the shop closed for further inspection before it's sold on."
Amy looked away from him and hugged herself. She hadn't been working in that shop long, but the two leopards seemed so innocent. Clara, with her blue sparkling eyes, always seemed so cheerful, whereas Sasha seemed more down to earth. It was hard to believe those two girls would be involved in something so nefarious.

She turned off the main road onto a smaller, quieter street. Her flat was a short walk away from them now, but something caused her to falter and drew Espio's eye back to her. Standing a few feet away from them were Sonic and Sally, leaving the little bistro across from her home. A strange, loneliness washed over her that caused her pace to falter, but it was immediately extinguished as Espio placed a hand on her shoulder and steered her across the street towards her flat.

She glanced back over her shoulder at the blue hedgehog as he vanished around the corner, Sally's giggles ringing in the air and fading away as they moved out of sight.

"Are you all right?" Espio asked.

She looked up at him briefly and shook her head with a sigh. "I'm fine."

"Come on, Amy. I know fine when I see it, and you're not fine."
"I am." She opened her gate and marched towards the door, fumbling in her bag for her card key. "Believe me, it's been more than a year. I'm over it."

"Your expression says otherwise." He paused behind her and she caught his reflection in the glass. He crossed his arms and leant against the fence. "We all know you've been in love with the guy since you were what... twelve?"

"Thirteen. And I'm over it." She raised her card key to the panel and stopped, lowering her hand again with a sigh. The light turned green, making a shrill beep, but all she did was stare at the door. Over it... "It's not like I have much choice."
She spotted his reflection raising an eyebrow, not making any effort to move away. She placed a hand on the glass and sighed.

"I mean, would I rather he'd returned my feelings? Sure." She shrugged. "But he didn't. Thinking back, he probably thought I was nothing more than an annoying fangirl. They were both probably too scared to tell me they'd got together. They've been together over a year, I know it's serious. It's pretty obvious to anyone. They're even engaged!"

"What?" Espio leapt back from the fence, not taking his eyes off her.

"Yeh. It's been a week now."

"I didn't even know..."
"Huh." She chuckled drily and flicked her card key against her fingers. "If it weren't for the fact that Tails told Cream, neither would I."

Espio clenched his fists and glanced away from her. "So yet again they didn't tell you."

"Exactly. It's hard to show you're happy for someone when you're feeling bitter that they don't trust you enough to share something so important to them with you."

"Have you said anything to them?"

She brushed her quills from her eye and looked back over her shoulder at him. "I made them a congratulations card." When he didn't respond, she went on. "They appreciated it, and Sally apologised for not telling me about it sooner. The thing is, I know there's someone else out there for me. I can't keep chasing the same guy forever." She shrugged and gave a small laugh. "I can't keep up with him anyway."

Espio gave her a small smile and leant back on the fence. That odd, fluttery feeling stirred up in her stomach again and she tore her eyes off him to the panel on the wall. She flicked her card at it once more and tugged the door open as it beeped.

"Good night, Amy."

She glanced back and returned his smile before she slipped inside, letting the door click shut behind her.

"Ack!"
Her heart felt like it was trying to bash its way through her rib cage to run off down the hall and set up home in the skirting board. What on earth had brought all that on? Not once had she considered there was someone else out there for her.

Last week, she'd been sat with Cream sticking ribbon onto a piece of card. She'd written out a cheerful congratulations letter without so much as shedding a tear.

Yes. She could say with all certainty she was over it. Shortly after Sonic and Sally had got together, it was like someone had flicked an off-switch. She'd had absolutely no interest in anyone. She'd gone about her life without even thinking about it. Sure, there were times when the blue hedgehog might make her blush, but that was just her. After the pain she'd gone through when she'd spotted them at her party, she wasn't interested any more.

So why confess to someone that she knew there was someone else out there for her? Especially someone who caused a strange stirring feeling in her stomach?

That feeling certainly wasn't alien to her. She knew what it was.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and raced up the stairs to her flat. Just has the dialling tone reached her ears, followed by a familiar high voice, a heavy realisation fell over her.

Bugs.

Everywhere.

"Hang on, Cream, I..."

She shed her coat and rushed into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.

"Amy?" came Cream's voice. "Are you all right? I've been so worried about you! What happened?!"

"I'm fine! I'm fine, I'll explain everything later."

"You sound echoey. Where are you?"

"Oh, I've just locked myself in the bathroom."

"Huh?" She could picture the yellow rabbit blinking her huge eyes in confusion. "Whatever for?"

"Because I don't want them overhearing me." Amy perched herself on the edge of the bath and tried to catch her breath. "I... I think I have a problem."

"Oh, that doesn't sound good! Is it to do with the shop?"
"No..." She paused to clear her throat, staring blankly at the white bathroom door. The words were there, on the tip of her tongue, forcing their way out before her mind could fully process the situation. "I think I might be developing feelings for someone."

There it was.

Her heart began racing again as it fully sank in. Cream's hysterical cry of 'whaaaaaat?!' seemed to echo from the floor above her.

"Amy," she said quickly, "I'm coming down. Wait right there!"

"Oh, I'm going nowhere..." Amy swallowed drily. Feelings... she'd known it. It was too familiar a feeling. The signs had all been there, and not just on her part. That camera footage of Espio followed by Knuckles' panicked words as he'd tried to turn the camera off, wanting to look after her, to walk her home. "The problem is, Cream, I think it might be mutual."

...

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