Props: Thank you to the one known as "random gal" and Oceanic Coral for their OCs and opinions. You guys are not only awesome fans… but I believe you are amazing friends as well.

As Rachel had walked toward the door to the studio that particular evening, she noticed that the parking lot had an unusual presence to it. Maybe that was the car parked there that had the WIN57 logo on it. That celebrity gossip show she always skipped over when finding the lunchtime show on weekends…

As she walked in, though, she noticed that Elektor's expression had an unusual presence on it. Maybe that was the smile on his face. That, she had no clue what to make of.

"Hey, Elektor," she said to him. "I wanna tell you something."

"Shoot!" Elektor replied. With unimaginable cheer. Was the upcoming Thanksgiving really that invigorating?

"So a few weeks back, I saw an episode of that Steve Harvey show," Rachel explained. "They had this segment where they took a woman's date requirements and matched her up with a date. The list was insane, but with a few compromises, they managed it. I dunno why… and I don't think the idea would go well more than once, if at all… but I couldn't help but think of our show."

"Wait…" Elektor interrupted. "…You're not seriously thinking of pairing fans up with the-"

"It's an interesting idea… but it should stay that way," said Rachel. "I think, anyway."

"There's a journalist that tried to get into the studio earlier, hence the car outside," Elektor sighed. "I hope security gets done with the punk soon…"

"Wait, we've got paparazzi?!" Rachel reacted. "Have we finally gotten that famous?!"

"I don't think it's us this time," said Elektor. "It's probably because-"

For some odd reason, he stopped short. The entire studio got tense.

"…I-I dunno," he shrugged.

"…Gotcha, buddy," Rachel replied. She then walked to the stage, skeptical. Really skeptical.

Meanwhile, Elektor breathed a sigh of relief as he walked to his lair.

Just an hour or so later, the cameras onstage flipped on, as did the bright personality standing in front of them.

"Hello, all, and welcome to this week's episode of Thoughts of the Unknown!" she smiled. "This week, we're discussing a shipping that I suppose came to fruition at one point… for a meaningless time. The player and the played are what we are discussing this week. Scourgamy, everyone. I mean… specific set of circumstances for this to be possible is my argument yet again. What if, one day, his heart grew a little warmer, and she had nowhere else to go? I'm not really sure of what happened the first time, but I suppose it ended the exact way everyone expected it to. As a joke. Today, we've got the usual two veterans to talk about this shipping. Everyone, please welcome back… Levi and Mercury!"

The audience exploded into applause, even more than last week, as the two regulars made their way to their seats.

"Welcome back, you guys!" said Rachel, taking her own seat. "…Is it snowing out there yet? The forecast said the first snow would happen tonight. And we'd get the most of it."

"I… wouldn't really call it snow," Mercury replied.

"There is a slight mist of sleet out there," Levi explained. "The snow is soon to follow."

"Neato," Rachel sighed. "Now, then… Let's go to you first, Levi. Scourge and Amy. Sweet or rotten?"

"I believe… it won't work," Levi explained. "That's been a common theme lately, but only because it's true. Scourge is not a nice guy. That's obvious. During the process of trying to sabotage the blue blur's social life and image… it would seem as if he hung out with many girls at once, Amy being in that bunch. I don't think she appreciated being used like that, or would appreciate it in the future. The only other time he somewhat interacted with her was when an all-hedgehog fight broke out. I don't think he's shown any genuine interest in her, anyway. Frankly, Amy, and absolutely anyone else, deserves much better than him."

"Mhm," Rachel nodded. "Mercury? How about you?"

"Actually… it could kinda work," said Mercury. "I mean, with Amy's crush on Sonic, wouldn't it be… kinda the same thing with Scourge? Since he's technically Sonic's evil version. Amy would just have to cope with his attitude… But then again, I think Amy's more into the hero-type than the bad type. It works, but… doesn't. It kinda works. It would all depend on how committed they are to their relationship, but you know Scourge. Commitment? What is that, Spanish?"

"Uh huh," said Rachel. "So we've actually got differing opinions this time. Is it a 'wait and see' type thing, do you think?"

"I think so," Mercury nodded.

"And so do I," said Rachel, standing up. "Well, that's it for this week's episode! Tune in next week when we address another unlikely! Well… in my opinion, anyway. The shipping of Knuckles and Shadow exists, and we will be addressing it! See you all then!"

The cameras flipped off, and Rachel headed backstage. Almost immediately, her eyes darted around the dark room for the show's head producer. Oddly, it was habit. An odd habit. Especially after the last week.

This time, however… she did not find him. She did find… first, anyway… a stage crew guy. Elektor had mentioned something about an intern, and this looked to be the guy. He was a grey wolf who still looked to be finding his way around the studio.

"Hey there!" she greeted him. "How are you getting along?"

"This is an amazing opportunity," the wolf smiled. "Only the second day… and I'm already meeting the hostess of the entire gig, too!"

"Hey, I don't bite," Rachel giggled. "…Until later. I never got your name, though."

"…Oh, me?" the wolf stuttered. "I-I'm Luke the Wolf!"

"You'll do great here, Luke," Rachel smiled. "…Say, have you seen Elektor around here anywhere?"

"He actually left right before the show ended," Luke explained. "I had to rush into his office and shut off our connection to the channel so that people won't just be looking upon a gray circle. Not sure."

Then, suddenly, out of nowhere… another voice spoke.

"He seemed to be in a hurry," the oh-so-familiar voice explained. "Maybe there was a family emergency?"

The thought of "Poor Elektor…" could only knock on the window of Rachel's mind. Oh, she recognized that voice. And oh, how she had longed to hear it.

And oh, how red her face became.

"…I-I'll see you around, Luke," Rachel murmured, watching as Luke skipped off with joy.

She took a few hesitant steps toward the corner of the room that the voice had come from. Over there was a curtain, where spare chairs and the like waited. She was just waiting to go over there, with her hopes so vulnerably high, only to discover that Elektor was holding false bait out in front of her ears.

Therefore, her heart stopped for a split second when the voice's true beholder walked out from behind the curtain. The cyan parts of his attire gave a faint glow as the result of the shadiness in the room. He had a sly smile on his face.

As was promised so long ago… Silver had dropped by for a visit.

Rachel was absolutely lost for words.

"…H-Hi!" she reacted, wondering if her growing excitement made her look absolutely stupid.

"Hi there!" Silver laughed in response.

They walked toward each other then. Rachel stopped, expecting that to be the end of the greeting.

However, she was quickly swept into clouds when she realized that he actually wanted a hug. And so, they hugged.

"How have you been?" asked Silver.

"I've been alright," Rachel replied.

"That's great!" said Silver, looking absolutely joyed by that response. "I've been alright, too. I'm real sorry it took me so long to come visit you."

"No, no, don't be sorry," said Rachel. "You're probably real busy!"

A standard greeting transitioned into a happy conversation. They sat down on the couches and spent nearly half an hour catching up. The entire time, Rachel hoped and hoped that it would never have to end.

"Are you one of those people that gets mad whenever someone gets excited for Christmas before Thanksgiving is over?" Rachel asked at one point.

"I wouldn't say mad," Silver replied. "I mean… there's Christmas commercials. There's not really anything you can do about that. I say… just say both! 'Happy Thanksgiving!' and 'Merry Christmas!'"

Eventually, though, there did come a time when Silver had to return home. He stood from his seat.

"I have to go now," he sighed. "I wish I didn't, though."

He looked genuinely sad for a second…

"…H-Hey," he continued. "Next time I can visit… Do you think you might want to grab some dinner with me?"

And there went Rachel's heart, stopping in its tracks again.

"I… I'd love to!" she smiled. "But wouldn't the media-"

"Ah, I'm used to it," Silver explained. "This kinda thing is what shippings are made out of. You deal with those every week."

"True," Rachel nodded.

"Besides, we'll probably have three journalists on our case at the most," said Silver. "The rest of them will be on Sonic's case. I guess people think he doesn't really care that he's losing fans."

"Oh, really?" Rachel asked, stifling a laugh.

"Poor guy can't take one step without having a microphone shoved in his face…" Silver chuckled. "So… that's a date, then?"

If only Rachel was stable enough to notice the hint of pink on his face.

"It's… It's a date, then!" she nodded.

"I'll see you then!" said Silver, heading toward the door.

"See ya!" Rachel waved.

Once the door opened and closed again, she kicked back against the arm of the couch she was on. She was positive that her arms were too jelly-like to lift something as simple as the phone. Dreams played out on the ceiling, each and every one too surreal to even believe in.

She was trying to find Elektor so that something like this could be set up for Mercury. It was going to be a constant plan in action, no matter what anyone said.

She didn't think she'd be taking the role of the surprised tonight.

*Outside*

So it had begun to snow for the first time this season. It was pretty, as Silver had come to notice of it every year.

Do double smiles exist, like double chins do? Only that would have done enough justice. Let the media folks report what they want of this!

Author's note: Sorry if this became too much about my OC. I can understand how people can get tired of all of the cheesy romance stuff. Overall, though… cheesy romance is what we do here!

Author's note #2: Next week is Black Friday. This is your last chance to throw turkeys at those Santas. Starting next week, it'll be officially unethical.