Ch.35: The 'BEST' Gift Ever

Later that night, Amy was growling and pacing back and forth. Cream was watching TV on the couch, but couldn't concentrate because of her friend's sudden anger. All of the sudden, Amy pounded herself slightly a few times. Even though Cream got a little scared of her, she still wanted to help. So she had to ask.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm going on a date tonight", Amy replied as she continued pacing. "But I don't even know what to wear."

"Um…You got any choices?" Cream asked nicely.

"These", Amy pulled out a couple of dresses. "And these are brand new too."

Cream examined both the dresses held in Amy's hands. On the left was a short blue 'Sean John' satin halter dress with a few glitters on it. The one on the right was a short black London sequined dress with a small belt tied to the side into a bow and had polyester/silk designs on it. Both of them were from Macy's, one of the places where Amy shopped at the mall. At first, Cream looked over to the dress on the left. Then the one on the right. She sighed as she pointed at the black dress, since it looked more gorgeous than the other.

"That one."

"Cool, thanks", Amy rushed into the bathroom to change.

Sometime later, Amy came back out. The dress on her fit perfectly! Luckily, she had some small black heels that matched her dress very well. Her hair was down with a few curls at the bottom, the red lipstick made her lips pretty, and her eyelashes were curved nicely to the side. Cream's jaws dropped in shock and jealousy. She has never seen Amy dress up like that before! It was surprising, considering that she doesn't dress up at a night like this.

"You look great!" Cream commented.

"Thanks", Amy winked.

A sudden knock was heard from the door as Amy and Cream turned to it. The pink hedgehog squealed as she hopped up and down.

"It's him, it's him!" she ran to the door, amazingly that she was in her heels.

Before she could've opened the door, she took a deep breath. Slowly yet excitedly, she opened the door. And there, was her date, Shadow. He looked very handsome as she looked beautiful. He had on a nice looking black suit with a long tie and had a rose in a square pocket. Just after he took one look at her, his eyes widened in shock.

"Whoa", was the only ting that Shadow could say.

"You like?" Amy winked.

"Yeah", Shadow smiled with a huge red blush.

"Later, Cream", Amy waved.

"Have fun", Cream waved back.

Amy closed the door behind her. Shadow pulled the red rose out of his pocket and gave it to her. She smiled and took his hand. They walked down the hallway together.

"So, where are we going?" she asked kindly.

"You'll love it", Shadow smiled. "Besides, I'll drive."

"You have a car?" Amy asked in shock.

Outside, Amy took a good look at Shadow's car. It was a brand new 2007 GT-R sportscar. Damn, that Shadow must've saved a lot of money, because it looked so cool! Although, Amy felt a little jealous because she had a feeling that his car was better looking than her's. Shadow pulled out a small remote and the car doors opened automatically.

"Whoa…" Amy said in awe.

"Hop in", Shadow winked at her.

Meanwhile, Espio, Charmy, and Vector were on their way to the hospital. They just took off from their house, so they had a long way to go. They were about to check on Lucia, Ana, and Mighty just to see how they were doing. As Vector and Charmy sat in the front listening to some loud rap music, Espio sat in the back. He had his ears covered because he didn't want to go deaf. After the song ended, it went onto commercials. Vector turned down the radio as Charmy yawned.

"Enjoying the ride back there?" Vector asked Espio.

"I would if you didn't have that music up so loud", the chameleon replied.

"Hater", Charmy teased.

"Whatever", Espio rolled his eyes.

"Hmm", Vector looked at Espio from his rear window.

The purple chameleon was awfully quiet. Come to think of it, he's been quiet ever since he dropped Amy off home from the hospital. In Espio's mind, he was feeling something. He was thinking about her to himself. At that moment, Vector grinned evilly.

"Whatcha thinking about?"

"Nothing", Espio sighed.

"You know, you've been very quiet lately. Mind telling us what's on your mind?" Vector asked nicely.

"It's nothing", Espio replied the same answer.

"Are you sure?" Charmy looked at him oddly as he widened his light brown eyes.

"Yeah", Espio looked away with a sweatdrop.

"Ok", Vector paid attention to the road. "Whatever you say."

"Yeah", Espio crossed his arms. "I wonder if Amy's ok", he thought worriedly.

Minutes later, Shadow and Amy ended up at 'Italian Paradise'. It was a fancy Italian restaurant that was located near the park. The two hedgehogs walked in and went up to the reservation desk and were luckily first in line. Amy looked around. The restaurant looked almost like a ball room in a huge kingdom. Most of the musicians were violists, who were playing a nice, soft, gentle tone.

"Welcome to Italian Paradise", the butler greeted. "Do you have reservation?"

"Why yes we do", Shadow replied politely. "Just a table for me and the beautiful Detective Rose."

"Detective Rose?!" the butler gasped happily. "Oh, my goodness, it's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Yeah, hi", Amy nodded with a small sweatdrop.

"Ah, I have a table just for the two of you", the butler got out of his seat and led them the way.

"Ok", Amy blinked curiously.

A little while later, the butler took Amy and Shadow to a balcony with plenty of space. A table was set with a couple of bottles of wine in a bowl of ice. Also, a couple of cupcake scent candles stood each side of the large bowl. Both Amy and Shadow took their seats across from each other. They took a look at their menus and examined them carefully.

"What will you have tonight?" the butler asked nicely as he pulled out a notepad.

"Hmm…I'll take the 'Cheese Ravioli', 'Tuscan Garlic Chicken', and a 'Steak Toscono", Shadow listed.

"And you, Ms. Rose?" the butler wrote down Shadow's order.

"I'm gonna take some 'Chianti Braised Short Ribs', 'Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad', and some breadsticks with alfredo dipping sauce", Amy answered.

"Very good", the butler wrote down her order. "We shall have the meals prepared right away", he walked away.

Amy sighed as she looked at the sky. The full moon looked very beautiful along with a few stars shining around it. Also, the slow symphony music did somehow relax her nervousness. It was so cool that Amy and Shadow were able to get a special somewhat V.I.P. seat with some (well, a little) reservation. Shadow pulled out a small gift wrapped in a red colored paper. For some decoration, it had a pink bow tied around it.

"I thought I would give you this", Shadow spoke and Amy turned to him.

"What?"

"This", the black hedgehog handed Amy his gift.

Amy took a good look at it. The size of the gift looked very small. She slowly untied the bow and unwrapped the gift. After she took one good look at it, she gasped.

"OH, MY GOD, THIS IS AWESOME!!" she exclaimed happily as she hopped out of her chair.

"Um, Amy-," Shadow tried to calm her down.

"I mean, I can't believe that you took your time to find Fergie's first album! That's so sweet!" Amy looked at the album cover proudly.

"Am-," Shadow looked around to see if anyone was starring at his loud mouthed date.

"This is the best gift ever, Shadow!" Amy turned to him.

"Yeah, I knew you like it-Hump!" he spoke, but he suddenly had his neck wrapped around tightly by Amy's arms.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you so much, Shadow! Now I love you even more!" Amy smiled with joy and gave him a long loveable kiss on the lips.

As she released him, he panted in exhaustion. Perhaps, that was the wrong thing to do. Possibly, it would've been better if he gave her the gift before or after their date. At least, he was glad to make her smile. Amy sighed peacefully as she sat back down in her seat. A few other couples looked at her oddly with sweatdrops. Man, she was loud! Obviously, her cheerings somehow echoed the whole area.

"Anyway", Shadow popped open a bottle of grape wine. "Let's share a toast", he poured some in his and Amy's glass dinner cups.

"Yes, we shall", Amy sat her new CD down and took her glass.

"To our togetherness", Shadow held his cup up a little.

"For now and forever", Amy appended and they shared their romantic toast.

Both of them drank up their wine slowly. After Shadow got done with his, he got up and walked to Amy. Slowly, he bent down for her lips. He then lift up her chin and began to kiss her passionately. Amy closed her eyes and deepened her's. Shadow closed his eyes too. Love, passion, and friendship-all of those elements were flowing through them. Their night was like a beautiful fairy tale to them…

To Be Continued…