Knock, knock.

"Just a minute!" Rouge called, taking one final glance at her reflection in the mirror, and then walked over to turn off her CD player which was playing her theme song from Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, before finally opening the front door to her apartment.

"Oh, hi Sonic. Hi, Tails. Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Well….sort of…" Tails glanced at Sonic and then looked back at Rouge.

"Okay, well, come on in. Make yourselves comfortable. I'll be back in a minute," Rouge announced, ushering the fox and hedgehog inside before closing the door.

Sonic and Tails both sat down on the black sofa in the living room, and waited for the ivory bat to return.

"Okay, so what's the problem, boys?" she asked as she sat down on a black love seat across from them, after having set down a silver tray with three cans of soda on it.

"Well…" Tails and Sonic took a glance at each other before the fox continued, "You see, Sonic here…"

"Yes?" Rouge urged them to continue, raising an eyebrow. She then reached out, grabbed a can, opened it, and began drinking it.

"You see, Sonic…loves Amy," Tails finally replied.

Rouge's eyes immediately went wide as she accidentally spit out some of her soda. "WHAT!" she exclaimed, then immediately began laughing.

"Yeah…that was my reaction, too," Tails quietly murmured, allowing the bat to settle down.

"You've got to be kidding me…" upon seeing Sonic and Tails' non-changing expression, she added, "Unless you're telling the truth."

"We are," Sonic replied.

"Oh…." Rouge put her can of pop down.

Silence settled over the group.

"I can see your problem," Rouge said, disrupting the quietness.

"Yeah, so, that's why we came to you. If Sonic doesn't tell Amy he loves her, then he'll be laughed at and his reputation would be ruined," Tails informed.

Rouge nodded. "So you came to me to devise a way so then Sonic will be able to locate Amy and be able to tell her he loves her."

Tails nodded. "Basically."

Rouge smiled. "I think I may be able to help you."

Sonic's face lighted up. "You wi—"

"But!" the bat interrupted. "Only if I get something in return."

Tails and Sonic looked at each other. Sonic then reached and pulled out from behind him a blue chaos emerald.

"We'll give you this if you help us," he offered.

Rouge's eyes sparkled as she replied, "Deal."

………

"It can't be that bad Amy," Cream said, as she sat beside her friend on a park bench.

"It is! Every time he sees me, he runs away! I bet he doesn't even care that he hurts my feelings!" Amy whined; her arms crossed over her chest.

"You don't tell him that it hurts your feelings," Cream replied.

The pink hedgehog thought a moment. "I guess you're right," she said, uncrossing her arms. "I haven't told him. Maybe I should."

Cream smiled.

"Do you want to help me find him?" Amy asked as she hopped off the park bench.

The tan rabbit could only reply, "I'd be delighted to!"