I'm finally back. Think this is the longest I haven't updated in a while, and that's saying something.

Truthfully this chapter was supposed to be a lot longer, but if I wanted to update and honestly this was such a difficult chapter to write, simply because nothing really happens. But you'll see what I mean.

Thank you so much for all the reviews, like seriously you guys are what make me continue and get excited about this story, so thank you so much.

So now please, enjoy the chapter :D

Morning had finally come and Sonic was shortly on his way out. With his head down and hands shoved into his pockets, nervously gripping onto the small amount of money he had been given from Nack (which he was sure was his to begin with) Sonic dragged his shoes along the busy city street, a limp visible in his step. Cream was always behind him, skipping along and kicking at the small puddles along the pavement and laughing to herself.

"Are we there yet?" she chimed out happily, asking for the seventh time that morning.

"Nearly" Sonic wasn't too bothered by it. She was complaining, just curious as to what they were doing. After all Nack told them to go to the shops and buy groceries, and yet Sonic here told her they were going someplace else.

Satisfied with the answer Cream went with her little game she created, leaving the hedgehog to be silent with his thoughts. Truthfully he hadn't stopped thinking about his conversation with Amy. The idea of the two seeing each other brought too many feelings that he didn't understand. He was afraid and excited at the same time, both for very different reasons. The weird thing is he found himself realising he kind of missed her, even if she did have a history of spying on him through his window. It felt like she was the only one that never betrayed him, he at least owed her a thank you for that.

That didn't mean he didn't think of cancelling several times however. But they were here now.

Finally stopping and looking up, Sonic was so distracted that he almost didn't feel the young girl bump into the back of his legs with a soft yelp. "What's wrong?" Cream asked after taking a moment to balance herself out.

She looked up to the older boy and found him staring widely at something ahead. So she took a look for herself. A large smile broke out on her face at what she saw.

A small little café on the corner of the street called The Sweet House was the centre of his attention. But on one of the tables, sitting quietly and patiently waiting, was a young, sweet pink hedgehog girl that quietly sipped at a vintage looking coffee cup. Cream was sure that this was who Sonic was staring at; she was the only one sitting outside and waiting.

"She's really pretty. Do you like her?" the young rabbit randomly asked, almost getting excited at the idea of Sonic having a crush on someone. Snapping into reality the older teen already knew he was feeling sweaty, but it was even more so when a deep blush formed onto his face. Only these went for any of the reasons Cream thought they were. He was just really worried about Amy was going to tell him. So he simply answered with "Yeah I guess you could say that" before making his way over to the table with Cream hot on his heels.

"Amy" he gently called out.

Sonic could only wait now as he watched the said girl look up to him, quickly rising to her feet as he approached her.

She never moved from the spot she stood on, shuffling her feet around as she looked hesitant to move closer. Sonic almost felt the same way. He stood only an arm's length away but neither of them made an effort to seal the gap in between, feeling nervous and awkward, but mostly worried the other wouldn't want that. So with a small wave, Sonic pulled off a not so arrogant grin, "H-hey" he surprisingly stuttered, now worrying that this meeting wasn't such a good idea. But the smile seemed to settle Amy as she allowed herself to relax, "It feels like it's been forever… Have you been alright? I've been really worried about you" she said, sitting back down in her chair.

Sonic pulled out the chair opposite her and sat down. Cream, much to Amy's confusion sat down on the chair next to the older boy and stared up at the pink girl with a beaming smile.

"Umm… Sonic?"

"Oh sorry, this is my friend Cream. I'm kind of babysitting her today" For once Sonic wasn't sure if that would be classed as a lie or not, but Cream didn't say anything to correct him so maybe it was somewhat accurate.

"Hello, it's lovely too meet you" the young rabbit chimed, holding out her hand to Amy. The pink twelve year old accepted the polite handshake and returned the friendly gesture, "Likewise. I didn't know Sonic was bringing you along."

While she hadn't meant anything by it, Amy wondered if she had said it in the wrong way when she noticed Sonic stare down shamefully at his folded hands; almost like he had been told off. "Sorry, I didn't really have a choice" he admitted. It almost stunned her to hear him talk that way. She had never seen her Sonic act so mildly in his life. It made her really wonder what he had been through in the past few weeks.

"It's okay, really. I just… well, I wanted to see you, to see if you were okay" Amy explained, struggling to gather her own thoughts as the pressure of the moment slowly consumed her. She had struggled the whole morning with what she would say to him, hoping that she would just know when she saw him, and now he was here she didn't have a clue. The only thing she knew not to do is mention Knuckles is looking for him. Whatever he was really up to had to be something bad, no matter what he said.

"Yeah I'm okay… I guess things have been a little crazy lately but I'm settled, everything is fine" Sonic answered her, leaning back into his chair and trying to look as cool and laid back as possible. It nearly worked as well until Cream piped up and joined in. "Sonic was recently in Hospital. He had to have an operation!"

"What?!" Amy burst out, staring at Sonic with widened eyes.

After a small glare at Cream, the teenage boy laughed forcefully. "She's exaggerating, it wasn't that big a deal. I accidently broke my ankle…"

"And you have a bad heart" she just happened to throw in, making Amy panic some more. "What's wrong with your heart? Is it serious? What happened?"

Sonic held his hands in the air, "Hey relax okay, it's nothing I just… it hasn't been easy" was all he gave her, simply shrugging his shoulders and looking away.

Amy knew talking to him wasn't going to be so easy, so she took a deep breath and made sure she thought carefully before she spoke. "Can I at least ask where you're staying? You found somewhere to go?"

"Um, yeah I guess" he wasn't giving her much to work with, but by the way fidgeted around it made her see he was feeling uncomfortable. Amy looked back at the young rabbit that stared longingly at the cup of coffee on the table, she kept wondering where this girl fitted into the picture.

She wanted to ask and she was about to, but surprisingly Sonic spoke up, even more awkwardly and uncomfortable as he rubbed his face in his hands. "I uh… I-I'm… I'm back at the orphanage."

She took a moment to allow his words to sink in.

Admittedly Sonic only worried by her silence. It took a lot for him to confess that to her but he didn't want to fill her with lies anymore. Amy might be the only person on the planet that he could confess this to and not worry about her going home and telling the whole School… or would she? Did he just make a mistake?

"I'm sorry" the pink hedgehog finally spoke, speaking in a soft whisper.

To say there was a nervous tension between the two was a massive understatement. Cream felt she could only sit and watch quietly like she was at a play.

"Sonic, I didn't realise things had been so bad. If I'd of known I would have been there and…"

"Hey it's okay, it's not like it was your fault after all, it was mine" the once arrogant teen assured her tiredly. Seeing him like this was otherworldly, it was like she made contact with the dead. Amy was totally bewildered by his new behaviour. Not once in record, history or any given second of weakness had Sonic ever admitted something with his fault.

Naturally her worry started to take over, "Well is it okay? I mean, what do you do about School? Are you getting along with people?"

Her last comment almost made him laugh a little, "You sound like a mom. Yeah it's… I haven't enrolled in a School yet, but I'm sure it will be alright. Normal School, normal life" he went on.

But Amy wasn't believing it, "Sonic. You don't have to lie to me."

"What makes you think I'm lying?" he questioned with more amusement then offence. The girl didn't have to say much because her eyes said it all, she looked at him with sympathy, "Because when you lie you act like you're happy. And it's easy to see you're not."

Sonic tried to laugh it off, but he couldn't. His cheeks started to flush and a wave of nausea hit his stomach once again. He inhaled deeply, his hands slowly starting to tremble "Okay, okay… The truth is… I don't get on well there, Cream is my only friend. My caretaker is looking at getting me into this School for troubled youths, and I was supposed to go take a look sometime soon, but because of going to Hospital and everything that's been put on hold. The Social workers only want to put me in there because I 'molested' my teacher and am now a danger to those around me" he explained will quoting what was said.

"What does molested mean?" the high pitched voice once again spoke up, making Sonic realise he forgot she was there, "Oh uh, it mean's giving a hug to someone" was the only thing he could think up, not wanting to ruin the little innocence she had left.

"Oh… I love molesting people! I molest you all the time don't I?"

"Okay stop! Stop saying that word! Just stick with hugging alright!"

Amy started to laugh, feeling that she shouldn't but unable to control herself. Sonic couldn't look at her, his face bright red as he felt completely embarrassed by what just happened. Cream seemed happy that she leant a new word.

"Sorry, she's only six" he tried to laugh along, but sadly wasn't feeling it. Moving on Sonic cleared his throat and tried to forget what just happened, "So yeah, that's basically my side of things. What's happening back at School, and with you?"

Composing herself, she got back to the conversation, "Well a lot happened I guess. The day after you got expelled Mrs. Winters quit her job."

"Seriously?!" the news hadn't been received easily, "She actually quit just as soon as I wasn't there every day?"

"Yeah, it did look a bit weird. Some people say it was because she was traumatized by what happened, and others say that… well."

Sonic felt himself grow impatient as he waited for her to finish.

"They said she was only staying around so that you two could… you know, be together."

"Wait what?" he exclaimed, taken back by the sudden suggestion. Amy felt almost like she had been the one to accuse him as she shifted uncomfortably under his gaze, "It was because of that stupid rumour going around, everyone started coming up with these different stories and ideas and it was just…"

"Whoa whoa back track, what rumour are you talking about?" Sonic interrupted, feeling his temper slowly start to rise. Amy raised her hands in the air to try to calm him down a little, feeling almost afraid to say anything else, "I don't know how it started but someone spread around you two had been sleeping together for a while now and that's why you've been acting a weird. When everyone saw the two of you kissing the new gossip was that you were forcing her."

The expression on his face only proved to Amy that Sonic really could lose it at any moment. "Are you freaking kidding me!" he angrily shouted out while slamming his fist against the table loudly. She was sure he would have said more but a startled gasp from Cream made him stop. And seeing her frightened features quickly calmed him down.

"I'm sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to shout Cream" he said in almost a whisper, rubbing his face in his hands before placing them on the girls arm. Cream only held his hand back and returned him with a smile, an unsure one at that as she was almost too shook up to say anything. She didn't know why he was angry, but she only hoped he would be okay.

He turned back to Amy, "I just can't believe it. All this time my life has been falling apart and everyone thought I was…" Sonic groaned loudly, resting his head on the table as the new information was too overwhelming.

Amy knew there was a lot more involved than just that, but it was better if she left it as it was, for more reasons than one. "Yeah…" she breathed nervously. "Sonic, there's a lot I've been thinking about. At Jet's party when you got angry you said something about 'she was hurting you', what did you mean by that?"

Sonic was silent for a moment. Consciously his eyes drifted off to the small girl beside him who watched and listened to the conversation, hopefully not understanding all of it. But he knew what he would say next was something she was unfortunately familiar with. "Let's go to the park. We can talk there."

Fifteen minutes later they were at the nearest park. Cream had found a few younger kids her age and was playing with them on the climbing frames, laughing and enjoying herself for the first time in months.

Sonic and Amy watched her play, sitting on a nearby bench together and keeping a watchful eye out in case she needed them as they really talked this time.

"It started a few months ago. I don't know what exactly triggered it off but Winters completely lost it with me. She threw me into the wall, shouting, scratching my shoulders and everything. I thought it was maybe a one off thing and I confronted her the next day but… it just got worse from then. Every detention she would drag me around, throw me into the desks… she burnt me with a cigar, hit me with the ruler, tied me up several times…" Sonic rolled up his sleeve and revealed all the bruises and cuts that laced on his skin. He didn't tell her that some of those he gave to himself, but it was just to show that he wasn't lying this time. "When the whole School believed I tried to hang myself, that wasn't true. Mrs. Winters had thrown me into the small storage cupboard behind her desk. What nobody knows is that I am ridiculously afraid of tight spaces… so I passed out. When I woke up the first aiders were there, she was the hero that saved me from myself and now everyone thinks I'm crazy."

Amy stared at him with watery eyes, her hands clasped firmly on her lap yet all she wanted to do was hold onto his, now that she knew the truth. "Why didn't you tell anyone? We would have helped you… you should have called the police."

Sonic guffawed, wasn't the answer obvious? "I couldn't. I know I was a jerk at School, but the thing is my Uncle didn't. Eggman let him think I was a straight A student. So as it went if I told on Mrs. Winters, they'd tell my Uncle all the things I did in School. I didn't want him to find out."

"But surely he would have helped you despite what you did…" as soon as the words left her lips Amy cringed regrettably. Sonic looked at her deadpanned, not needing to say anything for her to know what he was thinking How do you think I got here…

"Sorry, that was stupid. I just didn't think your Uncle would do that."

Sonic simply shrugged. He didn't want to go into that area just yet.

A small silence went by, and the two hedgehogs turned their attention back to the young rabbit that chased around with the other children. She often called out and waved before going back to her knew friends.

"Amy I need help."

The request came about so sudden that Amy wasn't sure if she had heard it or not, or her mind was playing tricks on her. But Sonic looked down, almost like he was too weak to hold his own head up. "Not for me… for Cream. I need to find her mother."

"Oh" was all Amy could come out with, feeling the conversation had gone out of place. "Isn't that your care takers job?" no sooner did she say it before a bitter laugh sounded the air, "Trust me, that's not happening."

Amy couldn't help but feel like she had missed something. She looked back at the young girl on the swig set, now wondering if there was more to the friendship between Cream and Sonic then just older boy looking after young child. "What's going on?" she asked.

Sonic thought about it, not wanting to go into much detail. "Her mother thinks she's dead."

"What?"

"I don't know. I really really don't know Amy. But I need to find her. If she thinks Cream is dead then she's not looking for her, and she can't stay here" he sighed, looking down to his feet as they slowly scraped across the grovel. It was evident that sadness was taking a hold of him, his brow swept up high and a deep frown unsettled upon his face.

Amy felt almost hopeless. She wanted so desperately to say the right thing to him, to really prove it would be okay, but what could she do? Quickly pulling out her phone, she was half tempted to search on her phone… although "Have you tried checking online? Maybe she has a profile or something?"

But Sonic shook his head. "I'm not allowed on the internet. Also Nack took my phone off me. The only reason I got your call is because I checked it when he wasn't looking" he admitted.

"Okay, well give me her name and I'll see if I can look it up for you" Amy offered, already getting her phone ready to search the web. But Sonic held his hand out and placed it over the phone, stopping her before she could even start. He looked at her with so much uneasiness and distress that she wasn't sure what he was feeling at this moment. "The thing is… Amy… It's not that I can't find her. The truth is… I haven't been looking."

The pink girl felt her phone vibrate, but not on its own. Sonic's hand trembled so much as he held it, he was so unstable that his fingers jittered and spasmed uncontrollably. Without thinking she dropped her phone and grabbed his hands, rubbing them firmly hoping it would help to calm him. Even though he told her what had happened she never really thought about how it affected him. For the past few weeks she worried about seeing him again, she never even considered he would be a broken wreck, no matter how much he tried to brush it aside. She needed to help him. "Sonic, why haven't you been looking?" she asked calmly, hoping it would be enough to ease him.

It was not. Sonic closed his eyes, slowly wincing as he bit down on his bottom lip. For the first time he showed Amy the side of him that she had never seen before as his head fell down and landed on her shoulder, a sob ripping throw the air as he hid his face away from the world.

"Sonic!" Amy cried, quickly putting her hands to his back and holding him closely not knowing what else to do.

"I don't want to lose her."