"I thought he was dead when I caught him..."

"Good job you're that fast."

"Ohmygod!! Ohmygod!!"

"Calm down, it wasn' yaw'l fault-"

"(It certenley looks zat way...)"

"ANTOINE!!!"

"Sorry (!)"

Noises. Confusion. His face wet. Tails opened his eyes.

He found himself lying on the floor. How did he get there?

He saw everyone standing over him, looking concerned. He then saw Alana, leaning over him on her knees, with tears stains down her face.

"W-what happened?" he asked.

"T-tails, I-I..." she started, but, as tears seeped down her face again, she pulled him up and hugged him, breaking down in fits of tears, burying her face in his shoulder.

He sat, awkward for a second, but, by the looks on the other's faces, he realised what happened, got hold of her shoulders, trying to look here in the eyes, and whispered to her:

"(It's alright...it's alright...)"

He looked at the others and smiled to let them know they were all right. He then kneeled up, put one arm around her shoulders, one arm under her legs and lifted her up without the slightest resistance. The others moved aside as Tails walked to his house, carrying her, careful not to let her tail drag on the floor.

She put her arms loosely around his neck and looked up at him. He glanced down and saw her smiling at him. She hadn't brushed her hair, her eyes were filled with tears, and her fur was stained with dirt, but boy, she was gorgeous. He smiled back at her, and said:

"I guess you're staying at my place."

She choked out a watery laugh, closed her eyes, and put her head against his chest.
He couldn't sleep. How could he, when, sleeping feet away, was the girl of his dreams. He looked over at her. Her head was tilted back slightly, and she was sleeping soundly, covers to her chin. Her tail hung out of the bed, twitching now and again. Here clothes were hung on the chair at the end of the bed.

He leant up, pushed the covers aside and walked over to her. She didn't move. Then he did it without thinking. He kissed her on the cheek. He stood for a minute, thinking about what he had just done, then walked back to his bunk, checked his clock (1:25 a.m.), got into bed and closed his eyes...