Amy had no idea what to do about this problem other than wait here. But what was she supposed to do if this continued all night? Where was she supposed to sleep? And what if she was stuck at Shadow's place for days? It seemed like that might be the case with how hard it was snowing.

He seemed to be wondering the same thing because he turned around to look at her, shrugging in an oh well, sort of way. "Looks like you'll have to stay here for the night," he said, and was it her imagination or was he blushing? "It... gives us some time to talk more though. Sort things out. With us."

Amy almost wanted to laugh at how awkward and stilted he sounded, but she wasn't exactly relaxed about it either. What was going on? They knew they liked each other now, but what were they going to do about it? Ignore it, pretending it never happened? Become a couple? The latter sounded more appealing, but scarier at the same time. What if it just fell apart? Wouldn't that just leave her right where she started?

But Amy nodded and managed an awkward smile. "Yeah, that's ummm... probably a good idea," she said.

Shadow looked out at the blizzard again and frowned. "I'm going to go get a lantern," he said. "The power might--"

Right as he said that, everything went dark, and Amy yelped in surprise.

"--go out..."

Amy couldn't see anything, all the lights inside the house were gone. So were the lights outside, lining the eaves, and the street lamps nearby had gone out too. The only thing she could see was the faint silver glow of the piling snow, which illuminated the corner of the room near the window just slightly.

As her eyes adjusted a little, she could make out Shadow's silhouette in front of her. "Stay here," he told her. "I'll be back in a few minutes. The lanterns are in the basement."

She heard his feet pad across the carpet of the room, and a smack as he walked into a door, swearing as he descended the creaky staircase.

Amy fumbled around for a moment, trying to find somewhere to sit down, and finally eased herself onto the couch, her ears perked as she waited for Shadow to come back. A little bit later, she saw an electric blue glow illuminate the staircase as Shadow came back up, shutting the door behind him and making his way back over to her with two lanterns, one of them still dark.

"It's gonna get cold, so I'm going to see if I can find some extra blankets," he said. He handed her the dark lantern, turning the dial on its base and revealing a strong glow just like the one he was holding.

Amy nodded and he headed down a hallway she hadn't been down yet, the light of his lantern disappearing around the corner. Her heart thumped in her chest, her nerves intensifying as the reality hit her that she was probably going to be stuck there all night. She would be stuck at her crush's place the entire night.

That was weird to admit to herself. Calling Shadow her crush. She had never thought she would call anyone but Sonic that, and even then, she hadn't really called him that since they were kids. It wasn't really a crush anymore, especially as she'd gotten into her teen years, but she was realizing that it likely hadn't been love either.

It had been something different, almost an obsession. It was very different from what she felt for Shadow now. When Amy thought of Shadow, of course there were butterflies and a skipping heartbeat and a rush of endorphins, but it was strangely quieter. Her thoughts didn't scream about him. They spoke normally, even softly. She felt mostly normal around him. She could say hello to him without wanting to squeeze him in a tight hug. Well, no more than usual. Shadow wasn't much of a hugger most of the time, so she refrained. Then again, Sonic hadn't been much of one either.

Then again, she thought as his lantern glow came back around the corner and Shadow emerged from the hallway with a couple of blankets draped over his left arm. Maybe it's different with me? If he actually likes me, and he's already hugged me like twice, then...

"Here," Shadow said, handing her one of the blankets. "It's a little dusty--I don't use these very often--but it should keep you warm."

It was a thick quilt, the patchwork various shades of blue, white, and black, and Amy wondered where he had gotten it. She took it gratefully and wrapped it around her shoulders. "Thank you," she said with a smile.

Shadow sat down next to her on the couch, setting his lantern down in front of his feet. "Quite the evening, isn't it," he said, his lips curving up in a little smile. Amy nodded and chuckled nervously. "First," Shadow continued, "we have a mild argument, resulting in an impromptu declaration of feelings, a nice dinner afterwards, and now this..."

"Either Mother Nature hates us or she ships us," Amy joked, and Shadow laughed, a full laugh, not the little chuckle she had coaxed out of him yesterday. The sound intensified the butterflies in her stomach, and her cheeks flushed with pride as she joined in on the laughter.

"Well," Shadow said after he'd regained his composure, "I would like to discuss... I guess... where we are right now? I know you aren't ready for a committed relationship at the moment, and I'm more than okay with that, but what...?"

"What are we?" Amy finished for him, and Shadow huffed a little laugh and nodded. "Well... I don't really know," she said. "I mean... I would love to see where this goes, but... my mind is still kind of all over the place. I know that at the very least I still want to be friends with you, and I guess... I mean, I wouldn't mind physical affection, but at the same time, I want to get to know you better, and I..."

"I think I understand," said Shadow. "You want to be sure that I won't run away like Sonic did before you commit to anything."

Amy bit her lip and nodded. "Yeah," she said quietly. "I guess... that's a whole other level of hurt that I didn't really know about..."

Shadow leaned towards her, gently putting his hand over hers. "Well, whatever you decide," he said, his voice as gentle as his touch, "I'm okay with it."

A smile spread across Amy's face, and she leaned forward, resting her forehead on Shadow's shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her torso, pulling her into a warm embrace. "Thank you, Shadow," Amy whispered.

Hey, y'all! Been a bit, I know. I got stuck for a bit. But I swear, I do want to finish this fic! It drives me crazy when fics aren't finished. But the problem is, I have no idea really how I want this to go, so bear with me and be patient because between the cluelessness and this semester's chemistry class, it might take a while. But rest assured for those enjoying it, I'm definitely not abandoning this! I kinda need it actually, it's been helping me cope with my own negative experiences I haven't been able to deal with properly for like 3 years now. So this is as much for myself as it is for you guys, lol.

Take care! (Hopefully) see you soon! And thanks to everyone who's been following and favoriting! It makes me really happy to see people enjoying this enough to want to keep reading! 3