Jacklethekitsune, GalexiatheChao, ultimateCCC, poka, zeldaskeeper, Mana the Cat Magician, Novus Umbra, The Writer's Freedom Project, IHeartSonAmy, 01sonamy01, ItsStephanyx3: Ugh..I know, I feel horrible for Tails, too. I see some of you are tired of reading about his angst, but I'm sorry: You all seemed to like the old one, so I'm keeping the same structure/plot. Besides, I needed to add that one little scene, to not only set up for Sonic and Amy's thoughts and resolve, but also to set up the coming party. There won't be much more angst in this story.

It may seem like I'm just doing 4 completely different plots, but hey, it's boring and too easy to do just one. Besides, you should appreciate how I can tie them all together. The three groups, if you will, are all playing off of each other: Sonic and Amy as well as Tails are the back drop for Knuckles and Rouge, and just add to their struggles. Sonic and Amy are watching Tails be upset and are about to see Knuckles and Rouge get together, but that just strengthens their relationship. And watching his friends pair up just makes Tails more sad. It all flows together.

Now... more humor, fluff, and action on the way! Because I need to get out of my sad mood, dang it!

...xxx...

Chapter 8: Preparations

...xxx...

"Password?" Vector growled at the obstinate computer screen, frustrated that it wasn't letting him access the drive. "Oh, c'mon! Why do you need a freaking password?"

"If they were dumb enough to just leave it on the ground, at least they were smart enough to use a password," Charmy grumbled as he buzzed around the crocodile's head.

"Allow me," Espio said, and tried to reach over Vector's hands to try and hack into the drive, but was interrupted by their doorbell ringing.

"Charmy, can you get that?" Vector asked as Espio unplugged the drive to hide it from their visitor.

The bee got up buzzed over to the door, swinging it open to reveal one giddy pink hedgehog.

"Oh, hi, Amy," Charmy said.

The girl walked in, beaming.

"What can we do for you, miss?" Vector asked, turning from his computer chair to inspect their new customer.

Amy took the designated seat facing the Chaotix and smoothed down the hem of her dress after crossing her furry pink legs. "Well, a few things, but first of all you're all invited to a party I'm throwing at my house tonight."

"Oh boy, a party!" Charmy said excitedly, visions of cake, ice cream, and cookies flying through his head.

Espio frowned a little, reading between the lines. "And what would you want us to do at this party?" he asked, raising his brow.

Amy giggled. "Well, have fun of course. But really, it's for Tails." A light frown overcame her face. "He's been depressed lately, so we're trying to make him feel better."

Vector tilted his head and nodded. "Is that it?"

Amy bit her lip. Should she really be doing this? "I also have a bit of a...job for you all."

Vector snapped to attention and leaned forward. "The Chaotix detective agency is at your service!

Amy kept gnawing at her lip. "Weeell, see, I have this…friend…"

The detectives exchanged suspicious, knowing glances.

Friend.

Right.

"And well… " Amy continued, "She likes this guy. And he's kinda...obstinate. I want them together so bad but I promised that I wouldn't interfere in their relationship. And I was thinking... maybe you guys could do something."

Could she be anymore obviously be talking about herself?

Espio frowned deeper. "Sorry, Amy, but we don't do-"

"Don't worry, Amy!" Vector loudly interrupted his much more sensible colleague. "We'll take care of this!"

"But Vector-" Espio hissed at him.

"Be quiet Espio!" Vector hissed right back, then turned to Amy. "Just make sure your, ahem, friend, is there with the guy and we'll make something happen!"

Amy tilted her head, a little confused. "But wait, you don't know who I'm talking about-"

"Of course I do! We're detectives remember?" Vector gave her a huge, toothy grin, baring his pointy teeth.

"Okay," Amy said, but she had a really bad feeling about this.

What about your promise to Sonic?

She shrugged off the thought by standing up. "Well, I should really start getting everything ready for the party. I have a ton of baking to do although Cream and her mom said they'd help me out."

Vector perked up slightly at the mention of Vanilla, but the others' eyes followed Amy as she headed for the door. A thought came to Amy, and she stopped to turn around and face them once again.

"One more thing," she said, her dark green eyes surveying the three of them.

"What is it?" Vector asked.

"Please don't tell Sonic about this, okay?" Amy pleaded, knowing it'd be bad if the hedgehog found out.

"Oh no," Vector and Charmy chuckled knowingly, smiling and putting their hands up. "We won't."

"Thanks. I'll see you at the party." Amy twirled around and left, hoping what she did was wise.

"I can't believe you, Vector," Espio said to his irascible boss once Amy had slammed the door shut.

"Oh man, was she talking about herself or what?" Vector said, ignoring Espio.

A frustrated sigh escaped Espio's lips. It was pointless to argue with Vector when he made up his mind. The croc just never listened. Well, this job sure would be interesting.

"Of course she was talking about herself," Charmy said. "Even you could figure that out. But how are we going to get her and Sonic together?"

"We won't," Espio said firmly. "Because she couldn't have been talking about herself."

Vector narrowed his chocolate eyes at the chameleon. "Of course she was Espio! Girls do that 'I-have-a-friend' thing all the time so you won't know they're really talking about themselves!"

"But Amy would want us to know who she was talking about. If it was Sonic she'd come right out and say it! When has she ever hidden her feelings for him?" Espio pointed out.

"Alright then Mr. Smarty Pants who was she talking about?" Vector asked.

Espio paused. Well, that was the problem. But considering that the party really was for Tails, maybe Amy was talking about putting him with Cream now? Ugh. It was way too early for someone that hurt by a relationship to get together with someone. Though Espio could understand, could see why Amy would want that for him. But still...the rebound couldn't help Tails right now. What he needed was just time, relaxation, friends, and acceptance of death as a part of life. Not another lover...not this early. Though Cream could probably give him some friendly help...yes, that's what Espio would do at the party. Find someway to get Tails and Cream talking. The rabbit might be the only one who could help him.

"See?" Vector said triumphantly, not waiting for Espio to respond, and ironically mistaking his silence for ignorance. "When will you realize I'm always right?"

"Uh, Vector...I think you're overlooking something," Charmy said meekly, the details of the mission finally getting into his head.

"Oh that's something new." Espio rolled his eyes.

Vector glared at Espio.

Charmy continued anyway. "How are we gonna get Sonic and Amy together?"

"Oh, don't worry about that. I'm just brimming with all sorts of wonderful ideas," Vector laughed. "Sonic will be ready to propose to her this very night!"

Charmy blinked. "Sonic is so gonna kill us…"

"So much for, 'we're gonna listen to Espio this time'..." the chameleon muttered.

...xxx...

Racing throughout Mobius, stirring up fallen leaves and ruffling the carpet of flowers below him, Sonic had just a few things on his mind. And although they were serious, they weren't heavy enough to slow him down any. First of all, his good buddy Tails: would this party cheer him up? And if not...they'd just have to wait until he felt better. Unfortunately.

Then, Knuckles and Rouge. Okay, what in the world happened there? Those two...were about as opposite as they come. And Knuckles? Who would have thought he'd ever, ever fall in love? And with Rouge? The bat girl whom he swore on the Master Emerald that he hated her guts? It was simply illogical.

And then, there was simply Amy. Now that brought a smile to Sonic's face like nothing else except running could. Why, the girl was climbing up his list of favorite things faster and faster now. (She was right below his number one, running itself, and just above chili dogs and adventure). A party was simply a brilliant idea, and a way to get everyone together to straighten some things out. And Amy had thought of it so quickly. She just knew the perfect way to make everyone feel better, didn't she?

Unfortunately, Sonic couldn't let his thoughts linger on her for too long. He had to find the infamous new couple to let them know about the party. Would they even come now? That was the question. And would they be together once he found them? Sonic wasn't quite sure he wanted to walk in on them...Then again, Sonic highly doubted they'd be together when he found them. But then again, what did he know about relationships?

Just that I'm lovin' life cause of Amy right now. And that was good enough for this hedgehog.

After quickly searching the forest where he and Amy had left them and coming up empty, Sonic headed to the one spot you could could count on Knuckles always being: Angel Island. Sure enough, he found Knuckles there, lying in front of his Master Emerald, staring at the sky, obviously thinking.

Alone.

Sonic skidded to a halt at the bottom of the ruins, creating a light squeak as the friction protested against his red sneakers. He called up to the dozing echidna. "Hey Knuckles!"

The startled echidna jumped to his feet and looked down. Oh, just him. "Hey Sonic."

Sonic scaled the stairs in no time to stand next to his friend, sizing him up. As he got closer, though, he noticed something pink smeared around Knuckles' mouth. Sonic stared at it for a second, then he realized the only thing that it could be.

Lipstick.

Whoa.

Oh man... that means him and Rouge have been... kissing. Whoa... Should I tell him that he has lipstick on his mouth? What if he came to the party like that? Oh man…that'd be so hilarious, but... I better.

"Hey, uh, you might wanna, heh, wipe your muzzle off…" Sonic said, firmly pressing his lips together, trying not to laugh.

"Huh?" Knuckles frowned a little, but brought his glove up to his face to wipe it. He moved it in front of his face to examine whatever Sonic could be talking about. His only reaction to seeing the pink lipstick smeared on his hand was to turn redder than his fur.

On man, I am never living this one down...

"So…what were we saying?" Knuckles managed to say, though he was mortified.

Sonic smirked at him and crossed his arms as he veiled his jade eyes. But this was just too good to pass up getting to tease Knuckles. Sonic was in a bit of a sassy mood. "I was just gonna let you know Amy is having a party tonight and yer welcome to come. That is, if you're not already busy…"

Sonic dodged the resulting punch just in time, rapidly hopping to the side to avoid Knuckles' fury manifesting through his fists. Still, he couldn't resist smirking at Knuckles.

"It's not what you think, Sonic," Knuckles growled at him, clenching his fists and narrowing his eyes in anger.

"Okay, man, whatever you say, heh heh heh" Sonic chuckled. "So you coming tonight?"

Knuckles looked away, his enthusiasm sorely lacking. "I guess."

Sonic tilted his head, his cockiness disappearing. "See, it's kinda for Tails. We're trying to cheer him up."

Knuckles looked away. That certainly didn't make him feel any better. Giving his heart to Rouge went against all common sense. He knew he liked her for purely superficial reasons, but once she had been in his arms he couldn't help himself. Her lips were so smooth, her face was so beautiful... all that pressure of resisting her had just exploded into that one time, and he'd just let himself hold her, kiss her... it had been wonderful. Honestly, he had no idea where their relationship stood at this point, but he had a feeling that it wouldn't be the same between them anymore.

But having Sonic find out about his weakness was worse. There wasn't anyone Knuckles respected more, even though Sonic could be very annoying. But they'd fought side by side numerous times. Sonic was like a brother to him. Truly one of his only friends, along with Tails.

"Hey Knux?"

"Yeah what?" Knuckles hated brooding around like this. It didn't suit him. Darn that beautiful, captivating, amazing, gorgeous bat.

"You doing okay?"

Knuckles huffed at this attention. Since when was Sonic all concerned or worried about anything? Amy was seriously rubbing off on him.

"I'm not cut out for this love stuff," he grumbled, not willing to meet the hedgehog's eyes.

Sonic smiled knowingly. "I know whatcha mean. I resisted Amy for so long… but I finally came to question why I was doing it, and... I just decided to give in to her, give her a try. I thought it'd be horrible, but... It hasn't slown me down in the least. Amy has made me really happy, actually. Happier than I've ever been." A grin overcame his face. "You'll see."

Knuckles shook his head, feeling odd and uncomfortable with this conversation. This was seriously not his strong point. "I just feel so… weak around her. And I don't like that."

The hedgehog mused for a second. "Amy's actually ended up making me stronger, Knux."

He snorted in disbelief. "Why's that?"

"Because... now I actually have more of reason to fight. I have something to fight for, even more than I did before, ya know?" Sonic smiled, but shrugged, not willing to dwell on these deep thoughts for too long. "But you gotta decide for yourself. I guess I'll see you tonight then."

Right. Tonight. The party. "Is Rouge gonna be there?"

Sonic couldn't resist another chuckle. "Yep."

Knuckles smiled a little. "Then I might show up."

"Good. It's for Tails, you know."

Then in a gust of wind, Sonic took off to check on Amy, leaving Knuckles to brood some more. Alone.

...xxx...

"This is going to be so fun!" Cream said, her sugary sweet voice matching the frosting she was applying to some sugar cookies.

"Chao Chao," Cheese agreed.

"I know, I can't wait," Amy said excitedly. Everything was pretty much ready for the party. Cream and Vanilla had helped her clean the house and bake a ton of snacks for everybody. They had cake, cookies, pretzels, chips, dip, chili dogs (of course), and drinks galore. It truly was going to be a ton of fun.

"You're going to stay, right Momma?" Cream asked the older rabbit.

"Oh, I'm sure you kids don't want me hanging around," Vanilla said fondly. She really was getting much too old for these parties.

"We really wouldn't mind," Amy reassured her.

"Oh, no no. I won't spoil your fun," Vanilla said, though part of her wanted to stay.

The kitchen timer went off, and Amy squealed in delight while taking out her last batch of cookies. Double chocolate chip mint. Tails' favorite.

"Alright, these look great!" She glanced at the clock and winced. How had time passed so quickly? They only had 20 minutes! She still had to get herself ready. After all, Sonic would be there, and this time, he'd be spending the whole party with her. She had to squeal again, feeling so happy that Sonic was hers now.

"I'm going to change!" Amy announced and started to rush off to her room.

"Why's that, Amy?" Cream asked, confused.

Amy smiled. "Because Sonic asked me to wear that dress for him."

"Awwwwww, how sweet" Cream said, her chocolate eyes growing wide.

Amy giggled. She loved Sonic. And if he liked that dress, she would wear it for him. It really was sweet of him to mention that he loved it, anyway. Amy was about to head off to her room when the doorbell rang.

"Ah! We're not ready!" Amy yelled in a panic.

Cream looked out the window to identify their first guest, but smiled. "It's just Sonic."

Amy winced. "What do you mean it's just Sonic? That's worse! I look awful."

"You look fine, dear," Vanilla reassured the girl.

Amy frowned, fully aware that her quills were probably all tangled and her dress was covered in flour from baking. But still, she wanted to see Sonic. So, brushing off as much of the white powder from her dress as she could, Amy ran to the door and answered it, opening the door to the famous blue hedgehog, and her boyfriend.

"Hey Amy." Sonic grinned at her, melting Amy's heart. He was just so cute... Her heart pounded faster, though, when he leaned forward to gently kiss her on the lips.

"Everything going okay?" Sonic asked casually, his gaze light and loving.

Amy grinned at him like an love crazy idiot. "Yeah. Did you talk to everyone?"

Sonic nodded. "Yep. Knuckles and Rouge are both coming."

"So... how are they?" Amy asked slyly.

"Amy, remember what I told you." Sonic frowned a little.

Amy felt a stab of guilt. "I just wanna know…"

"You'll find out soon enough." He winked at her to let her know it was all good.

Amy nodded. "And Tails?"

Sonic snapped his fingers. "Crap. I forgot about him. I gotta go do that." He scrunched his face up in thought. "Any ideas on what to tell him?"

"Just... don't mention Cosmo unless he does. Let him direct the conversation. Oh," Amy smiled. "And tell him I made double chocolate chip mint cookies. If that doesn't get him to come, nothing will."

Sonic's eyes got wide. "Double chocolate chip mint?"

Amy giggled, loving that look on Sonic's face. "You want one?"

Sonic nodded eagerly. Amy let him into the house and, not wasting any time, he rushed into the kitchen.

"Hey there Mr. Sonic!" Cream said to him cheerfully.

"How's it going, Cream? And hey there, Ms. Vanilla," Sonic greeted the rabbits, but his eyes scanned the cupboard tops for the cookies. He finally spotted the circular shaped, dark brown little pastries. Grinning up a storm, Sonic grabbed a cookie and bit into it. He nearly melted in bliss.

"Mmmmm. That is so good," he gushed, trying not to jump up and down with crazy desire.

Amy smiled, glad she could make Sonic so happy. He finished the cookie with closed eyes, savoring each bite. Once he was finished, he turned to his girl, wrapping her into a gentle hug.

"Thanks Amy. You are by far the best baker on Mobius. You're amazing, ya know that?" he said and kissed her once more, this time letting his lips linger on hers for a while, thanking her deeply. Once he pulled back, he couldn't help but admire her shiny emerald eyes. "I'll be back soon with Tails. Look extra pretty for me, 'kay?" He winked.

"I will."

Amy watched Sonic leave, her heart warm from his displays of affection. She brought her fingers to her lips, where Sonic's had just been, still tasting his lips. How lucky was she to have Sonic the Hedgehog as her boyfriend? Eek, he was just so sweet!

"Amy, you better get ready," Cream reminded her, breaking the girl out of her daze.

After letting out a perfectly contented sigh, the girl nodded and headed into her room. A quick expedition to the back of her closet revealed her special party dress that she'd only worn once. Amy studied the smooth, shiny pink and white fabric, trying to figure out why Sonic had liked it so much. The color on the top half matched her quills perfectly, while the bottom, ruffly part had a more pale pink hue. The trim was white, adding a more simple color to the mix. Amy had always assumed Sonic's favorite color was red, so she wore that as much as she could, but Sonic had loved this dress on her. Maybe she'd ask him at the party why he liked it so much.

Amy peeled off her everyday, normal dress and slipped on the more formal dress in its place, along with its matching long, delicate white gloves that almost reached to her shoulders. Amy then searched for the matching pink heels to wear with it. She really didn't like wearing heels but she couldn't exactly wear her boots with a party dress.

Next Amy took out her headband to redo her somewhat unruly quills. She had to wince, though, as they popped out in all different directions. Amy desperately wished they would grow out but feared her genes just gave her short quills. Plus, female hedgehogs just naturally had shorter quills, as well as none on their back.

Ah well. They'll grow out in time. But until then... I'll wear a headband so I don't look like a freak with my quills sticking out all over the place.

Lastly Amy put on a bit of makeup, just a touch of mascara, eyeliner, and powder, and then exited her room, ready to face the world.

"Wow Amy you look gorgeous," Cream gushed as her best friend entered.

"Chao chao," Cheese agred, the chao fluttering all around the beautiful Amy.

"Thanks Cream," she said, blushing a little, then turned to Vanilla. "Thank you for helping us, Miss Vanilla."

"You're welcome, dear. I hope you all have fun."

"We will."

The hedgehog and the two rabbits then finished up the very last of the preparations, waiting for the first guests to arrive.

...xxx...

This was originally three chapters, but I decided to combine them all into one big, long one just about the preparations for the party.

Part one is Amy with the Chaotix...yes, apparently they somehow didn't hear that Sonic and Amy are together now, and Vector thought she was talking about herself, when really, she was talking about Knuckles and Rouge. That was supposed to be a funny scene, and I think you all can imagine what's going to happen at the party. I love how quirky the Chaotix are...

Part two is Sonic and Knuckles having a man to man talk about love and junk. Honestly, I don't know much about guys and how they think or talk about love, but I figured it'd be something like this. I do feel that they're both slightly OOC, but I don't think I butchered them too badly.

Part three is Amy with Vanilla and Cream, and then Sonic comes along to help. Just a much needed dose of fluff, I know.

Whoosh, a long chapter...AH! This story is actually almost done now. I probably only have 3 more chapters left in me...we'll see. :3