It's been some six months now since the gang's encounter with Fiona, and lucky for them they haven't heard from anyone on Anti-Mobius. Cosmo has fully healed and Amy's stab wound is now merely a scar, aside from the fact she was forced to be told about how the stabbing affected her. A few days after the incident, when Amy was able to get up and walk around, Blaze and Rouge got her alone and told her what the Doctor told Blaze.

The fuchsia hedgehog didn't believe them at first, she was sure they were playing a cruel joke on her. Eventually she accepted the fact it was all true before she retired to her room and blocked out the rest of the world. The two friends told the rest of the gang, letting them know not to disturb her. To no surprise, Sonic would sneak out and see her in the attempt to at least bring her out of her room.

The whole gang knows about their relationship now, but it was only Tails for quite some time, due to fear of any enemies finding out and using the information against the team. After some time it seemed pointless to keep it a secret, they'd find out sooner or later, and regardless of their relationship, Amy was always the target and suspected weakness of Sonic, besides water.

Apart from battling Eggman and his armies and saving the planet, life on Mobius has been running as normal. Some days take a turn, however, like today… every now and then, Amy remembers what Fiona did to her… what she took away from her. On these particular days, the gang were lucky if she left her room, but she wouldn't dare leave the house.

'I can't do the one thing that a woman is supposed to do…' Amy mumbled, curled up in the corner of her living room couch.

'That's not true, Amy.' Sonic insisted gently.

'It is true! In a matter of seconds I went from being a normal nineteen year old girl to a woman who will never be able to…' Amy trailed of before her eyes welled up.

'I really don't believe that reproducing is the only thing a woman is put here to do.' Sonic smiled slightly before curling her up in his arms.

'What makes you say that?'

'Well, I know a certain female hedgehog in particular that was obviously sent down from God to make me chilli dogs?' Sonic winked.

'You're such a loser.'

'You love it.'

Amy giggled before turning her head up to face him and pecking him on the lips softly, only for him to chuckle and pull her back in for more. He flipped her body underneath him in one swiftly movement before kissing her softly and passionately right there in the middle of her living room. When he pulled away, he looked down into her dazzling, jade orbs and brushed away a stray quill, so happy to see her finally smiling back up at him.

'I love you, Amy.' Sonic said a little nervously.

'Really?' Amy answered, startled by the first time her blue hero had said this aloud.

'Really, really.'

'I love you too.'

Later that evening after Amy's spirits had been lifted, Sonic decided to take her back to his and Tails' home and invite all of their friends around for dinner. Shadow and Rouge had been away for a few days on a job, Silver and Blaze had just returned from their world after almost two weeks and Sonia had just gotten home from visiting 'Bartlebutt' again, so the cobalt hero thought it would be good for his girlfriend to see everyone together again.

'So, who did you plan to have cook this meal?' Tails arched an eyebrow with a smile.

'Me? I'll cook for Amy and my friends.' Sonic smiled proudly.

'Babe, you know I love you but… no.' Amy smiled, much to Tails amusement.

'Agreed.'

'Fine then, but you're not cooking. You're resting.' Sonic insisted before he scooped Amy up and sat her down on the living room couch.

'Don't worry, I'm sure Cosmo and Cream will give me a hand doing it when they arrive.' Tails shook his head.

'What are we doing?' Cream asked as her and Cosmo walked into the living room.

'Cream! Cosmo! I-uh, didn't hear you guys come in?' Tails blushed.

'Don't stress, Tails, we'll help you cook. It's certainly safer than giving Sonic access to the kitchen.' Cosmo giggled.

'I resent that!' Sonic protested.

.

'So how was your trip away for work, Rouge?' Tikal asked as she sipped on her drink.

'Well, put it this way… I'm in the most beautiful, romantic, exciting place in Mobius, Chaos Coast, to go undercover and of all people I get stuck with grumble bum over here!' The ivory bat gestured to her ebony partner.

'You were taking your role way too seriously?' Shadow shrugged.

'For Chaos' sake, Shadow, we were supposed to look like a couple on our honeymoon?! Holding hands is not taking it too far! You looked like you were in pain!'

'I was…' He mumbled.

'What now?!'

'Nothing!'

'How are things in your world, Blaze?' Amy asked, changing the topic quickly.

'Eh, same old same old, I suppose. Silver spent most of his time getting into trouble with friends while I went and checked up on the Sol Emeralds, but other than that there wasn't much else happening. How have you been feeling?' Blaze asked cautiously.

'I have my days, but I've been doing better. I actually think the scar is starting to heal!'

'That's fantastic, Amy! You must be really pleased.' Sonia smiled.

'You have no idea, it's painful a lot less often too.'

'What are we talking about, girls?' Cream asked politely as she sat down and joined the conversation.

'Just catching up. How is dinner coming along?' Sonia asked with a smile.

'It's nearly ready, Tails and Cosmo insisted they had it under control so I figured I'd leave them be.'

'Oh, they're so sweet!'

'I know! I'm so happy for them! How was your trip to see Sir Bartleby, Miss Sonia?'

'It was lovely, Cream. Much better this time round with a certain someone to mess it up!' Sonia exclaimed for the boys to hear.

'Uh, excuse me? I messed up nothing, he's just a pompous son-of-a-'

'You're walking a minefield, bro.' Sonic cut off his older brother.

'Dangerous territory, Manic. Very, very dangerous…' Silver chuckled.

'It's only a matter of time before your snide comments about that tool get you snapped in half.' Knuckles snickered.

'You're not wrong, but I just hope that one day she hears you calling him a 'tool' and you get your-'

'Dinner's ready! Come and get it!' Cosmo exclaimed, cutting Manic off.

.

'Alright, video games or movies?' Sonia asked as she and Amy cleared away everyone's plates.

'Video games!' The boys called out.

'No way! Movies?!' The girls snapped back.

'You didn't think that all the through, eh?' Amy smirked.

'No, no not really.' Sonia sighed.

After the gang compromised on video games, as long as next time they got a girly, chick flick fest, Knuckles and Silver then got into an argument over what was the best video game. The others watched on in amusement while Tails rolled his eyes and shook his head before setting up the TV and PlayStation. While he waited for them to decide, he flicked the channels through to the popular news station and caught up on what was happing around the planet in peace.

'-and in breaking news tonight, we've just received confirmation that the infamous Doctor Eggman has died after a fatal explosion in his base.'

'WHAT?!' Tails exclaimed at the TV.

'What's wrong, Tails?' Cream asked as Cosmo watched on concerned.

'Listen to this!' Tails exclaimed as he turned up the TV.

'G.U.N has confirmed that at approximately 11:54am today, an explosion went off inside the Doctor's tropical base. This was most likely caused by incorrect mixture of chemicals in what is believed to have been his next creation. The remains of his robots were also discovered at the scene, however, his third sidekick by the name of Bokkun has not been found.'

'You've got to be fucking kidding me? The one day we're not working?' Shadow mumbled.

'Shadow!' Rouge snapped.

'I call bullshit. We would've known about this for sure, right?' Sonic thought aloud.

'Right? He's gotta be hiding or something? Something's definitely wrong.' Manic agreed.

'I would agree with you, but seeing this on the news and hearing them say 'remains discovered at the scene'. That kind of changes things, don't you think?' Blaze arched an eyebrow.

'I say we scope this out tomorrow, only way to know for sure.' Amy smiled.

'Surely the place will still be surrounded with G.U.N agents and all kinds of other authorities?' Tikal stated.

'I don't doubt they'll let us in, or at least tell us what the news won't.' Knuckles shrugged as Silver nodded to agree.

'Then it's settled, we head out in the morning and see what's going on. If this isn't the truth, who knows what he's really up to.' Sonia stated firmly.

'Amy's not going.' Sonic said confidently.

'Uh, excuse me?' Amy raised her eyebrows.

'Oh, Chaos' sake, Big Blue.' Rouge face palmed.

'If he really is there then he is going to go straight for her, and I'm not risking that, especially while she's injured.'

'Sonic, it's been six months since-'

'No, Amy! I'm not going to let you get hurt again!' Sonic cut his girlfriend off.

'Ok, for starters, just because you're her boyfriend doesn't mean you can tell her what she can and can't do.' Rouge stepped in. 'Also, when you guys began dating, you knew exactly what you were in for. You knew perfectly well this was all a possibility, now you have to accept it. Lastly, Amy is the only one who knows how her wound is and as stubborn as she is-'

'HEY!'

'LET ME FINISH! As stubborn as she is, she knows what's best for her. She's a fighter and you know that as well as all of us do. Besides, even if you did 'command' her to stay, she'd sneak her way there anyway.' Rouge smirked.

'Agreed!' Silver laughed, causing the others to try and hide their giggles.

Sonic just stood in silence before taking a seat on the couch, Amy following behind him. He let everything the ivory bat said seep deep into his brain before turning to face the fuchsia hedgehog sitting next to him who was rubbing his back for comfort. She gave him a reassuring smile, trying to lift his spirits, but he was either to scared or too shocked to do so.

'Are you sure you're ok?' Sonic asked.

'You know to be a very brave woman, Sonic the Hedgehog.' Amy winked.

'And if not that, then a very stupid one.' Knuckles mumbled, earning him a few evil glares.

The next morning, the gang were quick to return to Sonic and Tails' home and down to the garage where they fired up the X-Tornado and headed out to Eggman's base. Or at least, the remains of his base… when they arrived, it was merely debris, smoke and just a huge pile of junk. Tikal had been right, there were still many members of different kinds of authority there, scoping out the scene and checking for anything else suspicious. Everyone knew what Eggman was like, dead or alive.

'Officer?' Sonic tapped a police guard on the shoulder.

'Sonic! How are you? I'm guessing you saw the news last night?' The man replied, a tall dog suited up in his officer gear.

'We did, sir.'

'We came to check it out to see if it was even true?' Knuckles arched an eyebrow.

'It's true, my boy. I understand your scepticism, though. Eggman was always a tricky one, eh?'

'Has Bokkun been found yet, Mr. Police Officer?' Cream asked politely.

'He hasn't, little lady. We understand he was only young, and we did find his shoulder bag, so our guess it was all so overwhelming that he fled the scene.'

'That sounds about right.' Manic mumbled before Silver snickered.

'Manic!' Sonia slapped him.

'Silver!' Blaze snapped.

'Sir, would you mind if Shadow and I checked out the scene? We're G.U.N agents, off duty today.' Rouge smiled flirtatiously before revealing her ID.

'Oh, uh… absolutely, ma'am.' The officer smiled awkwardly.

The ivory bat thanked him with a playful smile, much to Knuckles' annoyance and alarm, before Shadow followed behind rolling his eyes, slightly embarrassed of his partner. While they walked off to find a few other agents, Sonic and Amy got to talking to the Police Officer and the others roamed the outskirts of the scene, hoping Rouge and Shadow would come back with some answers.

'What do you make of it?' Rouge asked the ebony and crimson hedgehog.

'To be honest, it all seems legit. If there was any sub-plan, it got blown to bits in the original plan.' Shadow answered as he examined the elaborate surroundings.

'Well, if that doesn't confirm it… then that surely does.' Rouge stammered a little as she looked ahead of her.

Shadow followed her gaze to see a few of their friends from the agency surrounding a body bag. It wasn't empty, either. The duo walked over and inspected it to find a very battered, bruised, injured and, to say the least… dismembered, Doctor Eggman. Rouge was a strong person by nature, but even this shook her a little. The three agents that were examining the body looked up to find Rouge and Shadow standing by them before standing up to greet them.

'Awful, isn't it? Even for him.' A dark, female hedgehog, Rihanna said to Rouge.

'How the hell did he manage this?' Rouge thought aloud as she examined the body.

'Even we can't figure it out. Whatever he was working on, had he succeeded, he would've dominated Mobius and more.' A tall, handsome male fox, Adam stated.

'Jesus. Is insensitive to be a little grateful?' Shadow questioned.

'The fact you questioned being sensitive at all is personal growth for you, Shadow.' Another agent, David, a masculine echidna smirked.

'Shut up.' Shadow rolled his eyes.

'So, now what?' Rouge arched an eyebrow.

'Chief has been asked to broadcast a speech live to Mobius within the next few days to memorialise him. Other than that, I suppose they bury him, dispose of his robots, clean up the remains of his base and then go after the little brat that ran away.' Adam shrugged.

'I know he was our enemy and everything, but I can't help feel weird. Especially seeing him lying here… in front of us.' Rouge admitted.

'I'm glad it's not just me.' Rihanna smiled at her friend.

'Can you two at least pretend like you went through training?' Shadow rolled his eyes.

'Come on, Shadow. Leave them alone.' David nudged him.

A week later, the news channels and city buzz over the death of Eggman has passed. Sonic and the gang were invited to his memorial service in the city, and Sonic was even asked to give a small speech after the Mayor and Chief of G.U.N. There was no denying the irony of how his entire life people feared him and prayed someone would put an end to his madness, but when the day came, everyone mourned like he was their father. It was almost insensitive.

Knowing 'Egghead' wasn't going to pop out of the blue anymore was almost saddening for the gang, but they knew they had to move on and try to remember the fond memories, as scarce as they may be. On the bright side, today was Cosmo's 18th birthday, and the gang had an exciting day planned out for the young Seedrian girl. She hated people going to so much trouble, which is exactly why they went all out for her special day.

'How many times do I have to insist this isn't necessary before you take me home and allow yourselves to relax?' Cosmo blushed as she took a seat on the train.

'Would you just be quiet and enjoy yourself?' Sonia snapped through a laugh.

'We've got it all planned out, Cosmo, so sit back and enjoy yourself.' Blaze smiled.

Cosmo simply shook her head through a laugh as the group of girls got comfortable on the train and headed for the heart of the city. They had plenty planned for the birthday girl today, all of which the places were aware of and were willing to give the group freebies, thanks to a certain ivory bat. Cosmo was under the impression they were just going out for the day, but little did she know there was a surprise being set up back in Knothole…

.

'It's going to be a freaking miracle if we get this all set up by the time they get back.' Manic sighed as he read the list Amy left for them.

'Well, when they get back Cosmo is going to know we set it all up. Surely to Chaos she'll understand why it looks like hell.' Knuckles smirked as he brought in the last box of decorations.

'It's not going to look like hell, we're going to make it look perfect for her.' Tails stated confidently.

'What makes you say that?' Shadow arched an eyebrow with a coy smile.

'One, she deserves it and two, if we don't we will never hear the end of it.'

'Three, Tails is in love with Cosmo.' Silver chuckled.

'Oh, I am not!' Tails blushed.

'I wouldn't go as far as to tease him with the L-word, but if he doesn't tell her tonight then be damned if he ever does.' Sonic smirked.

'You're one to talk?!'

'I still ended up telling Amy! Now quit your bitching and help us clean up this garage of yours.' Sonic laughed before ruffling his younger brother's hair.

The boys of the Sonic team certainly had their work cut out for them. Not only did they have to decorate the entire garage before Cosmo and the girls returned, but before that they had to clean out the pigsty that was Tails' workspace. To begin with, Tails took out the Tornado and put a cover over his hope, pride and joy, with a little help from Sonic. After that they were vacuuming, sweeping, dusting and re-arranging the entire garage, after which they swore never to speak a word of it again.

'No offense, Tails, but after cleaning this garage I've seen a whole new side of you. You're a pig!' Knuckles gaged as he threw an old apple core in the bin.

'I'm not all the time! Just when I'm working…' Tails shrugged.

'Alright, now that all of that's done, we need to start decorating. Amy and Sonia picked out all the decorations so it shouldn't be too hard, you brought them all in, Knuckles?' Silver asked.

'They're all here, Rouge told me they left a list in the box of how they wanted it done. My guess they just underestimate us and think we don't know the helium is for the balloons and that the streamers get hung around the room. Shouldn't be hard.'

'Chaos, I hope not.' Shadow huffed.

The boys all made their way over to the pile of large boxes and surrounded them, curious to know what contents they held. They began tearing at the sticky tape and pulling apart the box to find the decorations certainly what they were expecting. They all slowly pulled out a few pieces each and examined them slowly in a suspended silence.

'Shit.' Manic swore.

'They're kidding aren't they?' Silver arched an eyebrow.

'I want to surprise and make Cosmo really happy as much as everyone else but… they've clearly overestimated us.' Sonic sighed.

'My money is on Cream. She's the only one who has faith on us, it was probably her idea.' Knuckles groaned.

'You're probably right. I guess she wanted the theme to be like Cosmo's home planet or something?' Tails said.

'I guess we better get started. We're going to be here a while.' Shadow moaned before pulling out the list of instructions…

.

'First item on the agenda, lunch date at Chaos Café.' Rouge announced proudly as they strolled down the city streets.

'Sounds great! I love it there!' Amy smiled.

The others nodded to agree before pushing Cosmo in ahead of them, only for her to be greeted by two waitresses with a birthday cake who started singing happy birthday. The young Seedrian was startled by their gesture before she giggled and turned to face her friends who guided her to a reserved booth for a special birthday lunch. Cosmo was overwhelmed by the entire café singing happy birthday to her, she couldn't believe her friends had planned all of this just for her.

After a delicious lunch, birthday cake and a few drinks, the girls headed out for a few more exciting items on the agenda. To no surprise, Rouge had flirted her way through everything in order to get them free passes, free items and everything and anything for free for Cosmo's special day. They had the best seats in the house for the new Hunger Games movie, they were the first on the rink for ice skating and their arms were so full of shopping bags it wasn't funny.

'So, Cosmo, what are you hoping for from Tails for your birthday?' Rouge winked as they all took a seat outside a mall café.

'W-What? I don't expect him to get me anything?'

'Except a date maybe?' Tikal snickered making Cream giggle.

'You're all ones to talk?' Cosmo arched an eyebrow.

'Here we go.' Amy smiled as she rolled her eyes.

'Rouge, you can't tell me that one of your life goals is to make Knuckles so jealous he'll cave and ask you out.'

'Well, uh-' Rouge stammered, caught off guard.

'And Blaze, you and Silver are basically already dating.'

'We are not!' Blaze protested.

'Shadow's too proud to tell Tikal how he feels and Tikal is too nervous to tell Shadow how she feels, which I certainly can't blame her.'

'Well…' Tikal trailed off.

'As for you and Tails?' Cream arched an eyebrow.

'We're waiting for the right time, I suppose.' Cosmo shrugged.

'Oh, for Chaos' sake.' Rouge face palmed.

'The only ones we have nothing on are Amy, Sonia and Cream.'

'That's only because my little brother grew a set and asked Pinky here out.' Sonia winked in Amy's direction.

'Give it some time and we'll be prying on Cream!' Blaze exclaimed.

'Oh dear…' Cream stammered.

'Alright, ladies, let's agree that we all know who likes who and it's time to stop hiding it because we all know each other too well. Now, it's time to get to the station before we miss the train!' Sonia exclaimed.

'Shit! They're coming back!' Sonic exclaimed having read a text from Amy.

'Don't sweat it, bro, how much you want a bet they're still at the mall?' Manic rolled his eyes as he blew up a balloon.

'No! They just got off the train!'

'Uh-oh.' Knuckles and Silver stammered in sync.
'Oh, we're screwed.' Shadow sighed.

'We wouldn't be if Knuckles, Silver and Manic hadn't sucked in most of the helium!' Tails snapped.

'What? Sonic was back with more in like two seconds?' Knuckles shrugged.

'Alright, just chill out, what else do we need to do?' Shadow huffed.

'Well, we've done the big stuff but we still need to finish the balloons and streamers before we bring down the food and all that crap.' Manic said as he examined the list.

'Easy?' Silver shrugged.

'Without eating the food or sucking in more helium!' Sonic exclaimed.

'Oh…'

Not much more was said before Tails and Shadow went upstairs to prepare the food, considering they were the only ones that could be trusted, while Manic, Silver, Knuckles and Sonic remained in the garage finishing off the decorations. In all honesty, they had actually done a pretty good job, the garage looked amazing. Not only was it clean but it could be genuinely be mistaken for a forest, Cosmo was going to be ecstatic when she saw the place.

Mere seconds after the boys had completely finished their work and collapsed on the couch or floor, they heard footsteps and giggles coming from outside the garage door. They moaned and sighed in disappointment at not getting a break before shooting to their feet and hiding before the garage door opened to reveal Cosmo and the other girls.

'Why is it so dark in here? It's never empty in-'

'SURPRISE!' The boys exclaimed with tired smiles.

'Oh… my… you guys did all of this?' Cosmo stammered as she examined the room.

'They sure did, while we were out today.' Amy smiled before throwing a wink at her blue hero.

'A wonderful job they did, at that.' Tikal smiled before glancing at a certain ebony hedgehog.

'It's… it's… it's amazing! I love it! Oh my, goodness! Thank you all so much!' Cosmo cried before the girls brought her in for a group hug.

After they let her go, Manic cranked up the music before Silver brought her over towards the gift table where she was presented with many beautiful gifts that she valued with everything. She opened them and thanked everyone individually multiple times for their gifts, the party and the entire day. She couldn't remember the last time she had been this happy, she had the best friends in the entire world.

After a few hours, the music was blaring, the food was amazing and everyone was having an amazing time. Sonic and Amy were dancing together, planting kisses on each other every now and then when they though no one was watching, a few of the others were dancing together while the others were talking and DJ-ing. Cosmo caught a glimpse of Tails by himself, appearing to be sweating bullets while he fumbled his fingers around a small box.

'Hi there.' Cosmo smiled before taking a seat next to the two-tailed kitsune.

'Oh, uh… Hi there, Cosmo. How's your birthday been so far?' Tails smiled nervously.

'Perfect… what are you doing over here by yourself?'

'Well, uh… I just had to get this.' Tails stammered as he held up the box.

'What is it?' Cosmo arched an eyebrow.

'Your 18th birthday present.'

'You already gave me a present?'

'This is the proper one. Open it.' Tails smiled as he gave her the box.

'Oh my, Chaos…' Cosmo stammered after a minute of silence, beginning to choke up.

When she opened the box, she found a pendant. Not just any pendant, the gem on the end was the remains of her amulet she was forced to remove in the battle with the Metarex three years ago. It had been damaged but Tails had fixed it up and shaped it into a heart, polished it and shined it. Cosmo covered her mouth and began to cry before she looked over at him and asked how he got it. He simply answered he found it and saved it for 'a special occasion'.

'I can't thank you enough, Tails.' Cosmo exclaimed before pulling him into a warm embrace.

'It's nothing.' Tails blushed.

'Look!' Amy whispered to Sonic and pointed in the duos direction.

'You're amazing, Tails.' Cosmo smiled.

'Oh, uh… no. I, uh-

The kitsune was quickly cut off by a warm sensation hitting the corner of his lips. Cosmo had original meant to go for his cheek, but changed her mind half way through to the lips and kind of ended up somewhere in between, nonetheless it was romantic and special. They were both blushing harder than they ever had before, and had the lights been on they both would've been five shades darker than Knuckles.

'Remember when that was us?' Sonic winked.

'When I was on my death bed? How could I forget?' Amy smirked.

'Yeah, I wish I had picked a better time now that I think about it.'

'It doesn't matter… just imagine what the future holds…'