A/N: So so so sorry! It has been a very crazy last year but now I have time to finish this! Enjoy!
"No matter how many plans you make or how much in control you are, life is always winging it."
-Carroll Bryant
"Hello and welcome to Chaotix!" A cheery bee greeted Sonic and Amy as they came into the restaurant. "Party for two?" he asked.
"Actually, we have a reservation. It's under S. Hedgehog." Sonic said to the bee.
The bee looked down at his sheet of reservations and checked off a name. "Oh absolutely! There you are! Follow me and I'll take you to your table." He turned and grabbed two menus.
"Could we get a booth instead please?" Sonic interjected.
The bee turned back around and smiled at Sonic and Amy. "Of course!" he replied. "Right this way," the bee said as he turned around and started walking with the menus.
Sonic grabbed Amy's hand, sending sparks up her arm again as they followed the host through the aisles of the restaurant.
"Will this booth be fine?" the bee asked as he stopped in front of the table.
Sonic looked at the booth and then the area around them. The booth was near the back of the restaurant and not many people were seated around them. "This is perfect," Sonic answered him with a smile. He wanted answers from Amy and having a semi-secluded dinner table was the start. He let Amy slide into one side of the booth and then he slid into the other side.
"Well here are your menus and your server will be right with you". The bee set a menu in front of Amy and one in front of Sonic before smiling and walking away.
Sonic looked over at Amy and watched as she looked over the menu. Her face was focused and her eyes were darting from one side of the menu to the other.
"You know," she said while still looking down at the menu, "maybe you should take a picture. It'll last longer." She looked up at him and smirked.
Sonic smirked right back at her. He stared straight into her jade eyes and said, "I don't need a picture as long as I've got the origninal". He winked at her. If she wanted to play hard to get he was on board. Sonic kind of liked this new sassy Amy.
Amy's face started to feel hot. Damn him. He was as smooth and as charming as ever. She could feel herself slipping back into the allure of him. No, not again. Not this time. It was her turn to have him chasing after her. "Thank you, but flattery will get you no where." And she looked back down at her menu. She chastised herself behind the safety of the menu. 'You've got to stay in control' she repremanded herself. 'Keep the upper hand.'
A dark green parrot walked up to the table. "Hello and welcome to Chaotix!" she said. "My name is Penny. What can I get for you for drinks?"
"I'll have a water, please," Amy said.
"Another water as well, if you don't mind," Sonic said, his eyes never leaving Amy's face.
"Alright, two waters it is. And do you need more time to look over the menu?" asked Penny.
"We should be ready by the time you come back with our drinks," Sonic told her, still staring at Amy.
"Okay then! I'll be back." Penny smiled at the two of them and walked away.
Why was he continually staring at her? Did she have something on her face? What exactly was Sonic planning anyway? Amy began to feel uneasy. Well of course he was going to want some anwsers. She did disappear for four years and then suddenly come back home. Amy had never been one to hold anything back, from her friends or especially from Sonic. She had done a lot of growing up over these last four years. Amy wasn't sure if Sonic would like this new her. So far though, her fears had been alleviated. Sonic was paying attention to her more so than he ever had. If Amy dare say it, Sonic had sincerely missed her, and if she allowed herself to hope, he really liked her too. 'But let's not get ahead of ourselves,'Amy thought to herself. She wasn't out of the water yet.
Sonic was watching Amy. This might be tougher than he had originally thought. In the past Amy had always volunteered information to him but now she was shutting him down every chance she got. And it was inticing to him, damn her. Sonic was now doing the chasing and it was giving him a thrill. He picked up his menu to look it over. He didn't care about prices - Sonic has enough money to last him a lifetime from being the city's hero. He needed to find a dish that would be easy to eat so he could spend his time questioning Amy. She had changed so much, he wanted to see if the old Amy was still in there somewhere.
"Did you figure out what you want yet?" Amy asked him. He looked up to see her with her arms folded on top of her menu on the table. "I'm going to have the chicken parmesan with pasta."
"I think I'll go for the traditional spagetti with meatballs." He smiled at her.
Yep, Amy confirmed, he was definitely planning something. Sonic seemed a little more in his head than usual. Amy had been preparing herself for whatever type of questions Sonic might throw at her, but now she was getting a little worried. His questions would probably be more in depth than what he would normally ask of her and she wasn't ready to give anything away. Not yet at least.
Penny came back to the table with the waters. "This one is for you," she said setting a glass of ice water in front of Amy. "And this one is for you." She set the other glass in front of Sonice. "Are we ready to order?"
Amy opened her mouth to speak but Sonic spoke first. "Yes, my lovely date," he glanced over at Amy and smiled, "will have the chicken parmesean and I will have the spagetti with meatballs." He finished ordering and turned back to look at Amy. She had a surprised, yet happy expression on her face and it made him grin.
Since when was Sonic such a gentleman that he would order for her? And he had opened the door for her tonight too. Sonic was never this nice to her. At least, he never had been before. And yet, Amy found that it made her happy, him doing these small gestures for her. Amy closed her mouth which had formed an "o" and stared at him. She was still wary though, what exactly was his game?
"Sounds perfect!" Penny said. "I'll get this order to the kitchen so we can get your food out to your as fast as possible." She smiled again and then walked away.
Sonic smirked at Amy. "Why do you look so surprised?"
"I'm just trying to figure out your game, Hedgehog," she retorted. "Since when did you become the perfect gentleman?"
Emerald eyes met jade. "I'm always a gentleman in the presence of a lady."
Amy took a sharp intake of breath. Her face went blank for half a second. And then she burst out laughing.
"What's so funny?" Sonic couldn't help but smile along with her laughter. Wow, he had missed her laugh. His memory hadn't done it justice.
"What is with you?" Amy asked, wiping tears from her eyes. "I mean, I know I was gone for a long time but you were never this nice to me before I left and suddenly you're Mr. Gentleman. What happened while I was gone to turn you into," she gestured at him with her hand, "this?"
Sonic gestured with his hand at Amy. "You did," he said. "Believe it or not."
"Oh please," Amy snorted.
"I'm being completely honest." Sonic looked at Amy, his eyes holding some emotion that Amy couldn't quite place. Was he, was he being serious? Was that the emotion framed in his eyes? Amy was a little stunned. Sonic was never serious unless it dealt with important issues.
Sonic leaned forward against the table and grabbed her hands in his. Amy felt her face grow hot and sparks shoot through her hands and up her arms from the contact with Sonic. She looked up from her hands in his to his face, waiting with quiet anticiaption to what she was about to hear. He was about to open his mouth when the waitress returned. Amy was going to have to wait a little longer.
"Chicken parmesean for the lovely lady." At the sound of Penny's voice Sonic let go of Amy's hands and returned them back to his side of the table. His heart was beating fast. Damn the waitress for interrupting their moment. But, maybe it was a good thing. Penny set Amy's dish down in front of her. Sonic watched as Amy smiled up at her and say thank you. "And spagetti with meatballs for the gentleman." She placed Sonic's dish in front of him.
"Thank you," he said quietly.
"Anything else I can get for you while I'm here?" Penny asked.
Sonic looked at Penny. "No, that will be all for now. Thank you, Penny."
"Enjoy you're dinner!" Penny said before hurrying off.
Amy instantly took a bite out of her food. "Mmmm.." A sound of appreciation left her throat. The food was delicious! And to be truthful, she was happy for the distraction. She could start to feel herself falling for Sonic all over again. All this romantic crap, it was hitting her heart in all the right places. Damn him, she would not give in. Because as soon as she did she knew everything would return to the way it was before she had left. This was just a front and Amy planned to show Sonic that she knew it was.
Sonic took a bite out of his spagetti and while chewing he watched Amy's face. She had opened up a little before the food arrived and now she had hardened up again. Just what was going through that girl's mind? Sonic was intrigued. Why did she insist on resisting him and her attraction to him? He knew it was still there. You don't just stop loving someone the way that Amy loved him. Or, at least that what was Sonic was hoping. "Was it everyting you were expecting?" Sonic asked Amy, taking another bite out of his spagetti.
"It's amazing! It's much better than I had expected, actually," Amy looked at Sonic and giggled.
Sonic returned her giggle with a huge grin. "Good." He paused to chew another bite. "So tell me about school," he asked nonchanlantly, and glanced at Amy. He saw her tense up for a brief moment.
"What do you want to know?" Amy continued to eat. Shit. She was prepared to tell him about school, she just didn't think that it would be this soon. She didn't really want to dive into detail, actually. This was neither the time nor place. She couldn't risk having anyone over hear her. Sonic had already heard a little about school at Cream's coming home party for her. Did he want to hear more of that story? Because she really didn't want to tell him the actual truth, it would be more than Sonic would have thought she could endure.
Sonic was silent for a few moments, watching Amy think. She finally looked up at him. Sonic had a devilish smirk on his face. "Everything."
Double shit. Amy's face now looked pained.
'Got cha,' Sonic thought to himself. He had a gut feeling that it was no normal college that she had been to. He wanted to know where she had been these last four years, bad or good. He wanted to know what had made Amy change so much. He needed to know. And he needed to know that the girl he once knew was still in there somewhere.
"Sonic, I-" Amy started.
"No lies, Amy." Sonic stated, putting down his silverware on a now empty plate. "I want to know everything. You never judged me and I'm not going to judge you. I want to know." He paused and looked at her with longing, then said, "I've missed you."
Amy was taken aback. 'He missed me?' she thought. She felt a warm tingling inside and tried to squash it. Well, he certainly wounldn't be pleased with everything that had happened over those four years. But, he wanted to know. She took her last bite of food and then followed suit by placing her silverware down on her empty plate.
"Alright fine." Amy caved. Sonic wasn't one to hold things back and she definitely wasn't one to keep things hidden.
"What?" Sonic was surprised. "You'll tell me?" A smile crossed his face. He looked happier than a kid in a candy store. He had thought she would put up more of a fight.
"Yeah, I'll tell you." Seeing Sonic happy made Amy happy. Damn it all for catching old feelings again. "But..."
"But what?" Sonic asked suspicious. Here was the catch. So she is putting up a little bit of a fight.
Amy leaned forward toward the center of the table and motioned for Sonic to come closer. He followed her lead and met her halfway acrosse the table.
"I can't tell you here. There's... sensitive information." Amy looked concerned.
Sonic looked at her intently. Sensitive information? This was getting more interesting by the minute. What had she gotten herself into these last four years? Was she in a bad situation? Did she need help? No one better have touched her or so help them, he would track them down and... 'I really need to put my thoughts on hold,' he told himself. She would answer everything, just not here. "Okay," he answered her.
"I see you're all done with dinner!" Penny interrupted the hedgehogs, startling them. "Would we like any dessert today?" Penny smiled.
Sonic never took his eyes off of Amy, even when he pulled back from the center of the table . "No, I think we're good. Do you have the check?"
"I'll go get it for you," Penny said before hurrying off.
Even with Penny gone, Sonic's eyes stayed on Amy. She liked it and yet she didn't. His stare was too intense. Too... resolved? That seemed like the right word. He had something on his mind. Probably a lot of questions and a lot of senarios about what could have happened and what did, Amy guessed. She was about to comment when Penny returned.
"Here you are! And thank you for dining at Chaotix, we enjoyed having you! Please come again!" Penny said before hurrying off for the last time.
Sonic opened the little black book to take a peak at the receipt before taking a handful of rings out of his pocket and leaving them. He looked up at Amy as he got up from the booth and with a gleam in his eye, held out his hand to her.
Amy took it as Sonic helped her out of the booth, grabbing her purse with her other hand. She felt her face flush at holding Sonic's hand once again. It was something she could get used to, but she was trying desperately not to get her hopes up. Sonic led her past the tables, booths, and people, past the bee who said happily, "Thank you and please come again!" as they walked by, and finally outside into the warm, May night air. Sonic paused by the end of the step up to the restaurant and gazed at the full moon rising in the sky.
Amy looked at Sonic, and then at the moon. She looked back at Sonic. She was dying to know his thoughts. But before she could reveal anything herself they needed to go to a private place. "I, um, I'll go get us a taxi," she said. She let go of Sonic's hand and walked a few steps towards the curb.
"Do you trust me?" Sonic said suddenly, eyes still looking up at the evening sky.
"Wh-What?" Amy turned back towards him, watching him now.
"Do you trust me?" Sonic held out his right hand towards her, the one she had just let go of, and looked directly in her eyes.
Without a moments hesitation Amy took Sonic's hand. "Yes." What kind of a question was that?
Sonic got a huge smile on his face and yanked Amy towards him before picking her up bridal style, like he always used to do. "Hold tight," he whispered into her ear.
Amy felt heat spread from her ear down to her heart, which started to pound. She felt giddy and nervous. It had been four years since Sonic had held her like this. She clutched her purse with her left hand and circled Sonic's neck with her right.
And with a blue streak of light they were gone.