Chapter 4

New Life, New Couple

Tails' eyes fluttered open, feeling genuinely well rested for the first time in years. He noticed that the sun was just barely shining through his curtains.

"I really need to start opening them up more again. Especially now that Cosmo is back" Tails smiled upon thinking that last part, his eyes threatening to water at that reality of it. It was a dream come true, a miracle.

But what if it wasn't real?

Tails' eyes dilated, what if it had all been a dream? Or a hallucination? It certainly wouldn't be the first time he'd had lifelike dreams, and at time he had hallucinated her presence.

"No, no it couldn't have been, she was there! I saw her! I felt her! I spoke to her!"

But he had thought so then too.

Just as he was about to sit up and leave the room to look for her he suddenly noticed an arm was wrapped around him, looking down he internally sighed with relief.

Snuggled against him, with her arm over his chest was his beloved Cosmo. Blushing slightly Tails relaxed and smiled, admiring the peacefully slumbering beauty next to him. "that's right" he thought "I never thought to set up a guest bedroom just in case" Naturally Cosmo had been her usual modest self and had insisted anywhere was good enough but Tails had insisted she take his bed and after a brief debate they had decided to simply share it. Despite the level of close contact involved both had been extremely comfortable. Even now Tails only blushed slightly, simply too overjoyed to have her back to be embarrassed.

"She's back, it's still hard to believe. But here she is…so beautiful" as Tails admired her his thoughts turned to plans for their relationship, plans he'd thought he'd never get to use.

"I always wanted to show her around Mobius, I'm sure she'd love the mystic forest nearby, and we can go to never lake and I can show her more of green hill zone and even twinkle park and-"

Tails suddenly realized he was getting too far ahead of himself.

"Okay, slow down Miles, one step at a time. For now let's see what time it is"

Glancing over to his alarm clock (which hadn't actually had it's alarm used in years) he saw it was 10:00 in the morning. Deciding it was about time to get up he gently turned slightly and spoke softly.

"Cosmo, it's time to get up angel" Tails suddenly blushed furiously, hoping she hadn't hear the term of endearment.

The seedrian girl started to stir as her eyes fluttered open, once her eyes adjusted she tilted her head to look at the Tails, the fox still blushing heavily.

"Good morning Tails" Cosmo said with a smile, either not noticing or not acknowledging his blush.

Recomposing himself Tails smiled back. "Good morning Cosmo"

The two sat up and began stretching, after which Cosmo turned to Tails with a slightly perplexed look.

"Tails, what time is it?"

"hm? Oh it's ten in the morning, why?"

"well it's still so dark, shouldn't the sun be brighter by now?"

Tails chuckled slightly.

"Actually it is, it's just that my bedroom curtains are closed, so it's only this dark here."

Nodding Cosmo asked "Do you usually sleep longer?"

"No, I usually wake up at nine, but I guess I just slept too well, actually I don't normally have the curtains closed entirely I just didn't-" Tails caught himself, he really didn't want to go there.

Tilting her head slightly Cosmo asked in a concerned voice. "Didn't what? Is everything okay?"

"y-yeah, I just..um..I kind of slept longer for a while..but I've since gotten my sleep pattern back to normal." He hated lying to her, but he just wasn't ready to discuss that with her yet.

Cosmo could tell he was bending the truth, but decided it best not to say anything.

"There's something bothering him, I know it, but if he wants me to know he'll tell me. It probably has to do with the time I was gone"

Smiling at him she instead said "I'm really excited to see more of Mobius, after all I only got to see a little bit before we left to fight the metarex"

"and I can't wait to show you, I think you'll love it here" Tails replied, the enthusiasm in his voice clear as day.

"I know I will, because you'll be there" Cosmo said affectionately.

"Always, now, how about breakfast?"

"That sounds wonderful"

Together the new couple headed downstairs towards the kitchen, thought they were silent they both had the same train of thought in their minds. That of a bright future together and the joy at the second chance they'd been given, the start of their new lives together.

Later

After breakfast, Tails and Cosmo went outside so Cosmo could bask in the sunlight and so Tails could show her the mystic forest.

"It's so beautiful here, the sun is so warm and bright" Cosmo said as they walked down the path.

"yeah, my house is on a hill so it gets plenty of sunlight, I often go for walks through the forest since its so close"

"from what you've told me it sounds wonderful"

"it really is, you'll see, we're almost there"

As the two reached the end of the branched path, (one way going in the direction of green hill the other towards the forest) Cosmo gasped in amazement as they entered the forest.

"Everything is so lush and full here! Some of these trees seem to be over a hundred years old"

Tails smiled as he watched his love's eyes light up, as well as admiring her connection to the plant life.

"Yeah, even after every threat we've faced, this forest has remained untouched"

Then the two came upon a small clearing, with the sun shining down through the opening and a small pond in the center.

"oh my goodness! Its beautiful! Did you know about this place Tails?"

"Heh, yeah to be honest this is the spot I wanted to show you the most. It's a place I often come to think, and no one else knows about it."

Cosmo turned towards him smiling.

"I love it, Tails. Thank you for showing me"

"I'm happy you like it, I thought it could be our secret place, just the two of us"

Cosmo wrapped him in a hug and whispered.

"I'd like that, you're so sweet Tails"

Tails chuckled slightly as he hugged back. "I'm always so happy with you Cosmo, you make me the happiest I've ever been. I hope I can make you feel as happy as you make feel"

Looking Tails in the eyes, Cosmo replied "you already do"

The two then noticed the other leaning in more, knowing what was happening but not even remotely opposed to it, the fox and the seedrian closed the distance and shared a loving kiss, enjoying the blissful closeness.

After parting, they simply stood there, gazing lovingly at each other. Both enamored by the other so no words were needed. Finally the silence was broken when Cosmo asked. "So Tails, when do you think we should tell the others I'm back?"

"Actually I was hoping we could wait until tomorrow to do that, I would like it if it could just be us today" Tails said blushing, his usual shy self resurfacing.

Cosmo's shy demeanor returned as well with her blushing but still smiling.

"That's okay, I'd like that, I did want to spend more time alone with too"

Tails smiled at this, his thoughts reflecting another reason for his smile as well.

"She's so cute when she's shy"

Tails then realized how his own shy nature had disappeared for a while, the normally shy and nervous fox had been significantly more bold and romantic, something he wouldn't have even thought himself capable of a few years ago.

"It's all thanks to her, she's given me confidence in myself, given me the strength."

Tails almost winced as he realized she had said something similar just before passing on. But managed to avoid that train of thought.

"No, I'm not going down that path again, Cosmo's back now that doesn't matter anymore"

Prying himself from his thoughts Tails smiled back at Cosmo and said "There's actually another lake I'd to show you, it's a ways from here but it's definitively worth it"

"Is it that one called Never lake?"

Tails was surprised "Yes, how did you know?"

"Well Amy told me about it back on the Blue Typhoon, she told me it was the first time she was rescued by Sonic"

"Yeah that's right, though I'm sure she exaggerated some of the details"

"Did Dr. Eggman really build a robot Sonic? It sounds scary"

Tails shivered slightly at the unpleasant memories of Metal Sonic, the killer robot had almost ended their lives numerous times actually having come closer than Eggman himself.

"Yeah he did, and I'm glad he stopped using Metal Sonic, it was more of a threat than he was"

"That's horrible! I'm happy he stopped using it too! I never imagined he'd something that bad" Cosmo replied astounded the man who helped fight the metarex could build something so evil.

"Well, the only reason he stopped was because after fighting us so many times, Metal Sonic rebelled against him and tried to take over the world himself. I hate to say it but we really could have used his help against the metarex, he became so powerful it was hard for me, Sonic and Knuckles to beat him even with the emeralds!"

"Even still, I don't think I'd want him around, it sounds like he was really dangerous!"

Sighing, Tails replied "He was, he almost killed us several times…"

Tails knew then that wasn't the best way to put it as a look of shock and concern became evident on Cosmo's face. Acting quickly to reassure her, he added "But he's gone now, we beat his monster form and Eggman deactivated him! Even Eggman won't use a robot that will rebel against him, not after that."

Tails almost chuckled at the irony of that statement, considering all the times the doctor had used minions who ended up doing just that. He also tried to ignore the strange similarities between Metal Sonic's Metal Overlord form and Dark Oak's Final Mova form, down to them both being dragon-like and almost being to powerful for the emeralds to beat.

"Nope, Ignoring that"

Tails was relieved then when he saw Cosmo's smile return.

"Well I'm glad. Oh! What about those stones Amy mentioned, Time Stones I think? Were they real?"

"oh yes, they were real, in fact that's the whole reason Eggman trapped the little planet and had Metal Sonic kidnap Amy in the first place, so he could steal them"

"He trapped an entire planet? How could he do that?"

"Well its actually only the size of the moon, see it exist outside of time and that's why the time stones are there, as anyone who has them can control time itself and-"

"um..Tails?"

"huh what's-oh sorry I guess I got carried away with the technical stuff huh?"

Tails blushed realizing he'd confused her. "I've really got to stop doing that"

"It's okay, I like seeing how enthusiastic you get, even if I don't understand all of it, so where is the little planet now? Is it still over never lake?"

"No it only appears on Mobius for a month once a year, we really don't know where it goes when it disappears"

"oh, I see"

"So, shall we head home? There's still a few things I wanted to show you there"

"Sure, I didn't get to see your home last time, i just hope I'm not a burden"

"Cosmo, you could never be a burden to me, you're welcome to stay with me, I'm always happy to have you around"

"Thank you Tails, you're so kind"

As the two walked back towards their shared home, Tails had an idea.

"So Cosmo, I was thinking, since your tree disappeared when you came back, there's a wide open space in the backyard, would you like to have a garden there?"

Immediately Cosmo's eyes lit up, her love for gardening making her excited at the idea. "Oh yes! I'd love that! You're certain it's no problem?"

"Heh heh, no it's no problem, I never really do anything with the yard anyway and I know how much you love gardening, I'm all too happy for you to have one there"

"If you're sure then I'd love to, thank you"

Tails smiled at her modesty, it was one of the many things he adored about her.

Upon returning home, Tails suddenly remembered something he'd forgotten about, something he'd kept ever since their trip into space.

"oh, Cosmo I almost forgot, there's something I've kept since you…uh..left and, well now that you're back I think it's time to return it."

"what is it?"

Tails smiled and said "wait here"

As Tails left the living room and went upstairs Cosmo took this time to look around Tails' home, the walls adorned with photos of him and his friends, the various places they'd been and some of the people they'd met.

Looking around more she noticed some photos had him in his various planes as well as photos taken during his time in Chris' world. Finally she saw that right next to on of the center most chairs on top of a side table was the photo taken during the party she'd planned on the Blue Typhoon.

"I remember how much fun we had setting that up, I can't believe I didn't tell him how I felt then" Cosmo thought to herself as a warm smile spread across her face at the pleasant memory. If Tails had known what she'd been thinking he'd have recognized to irony in this, given how he himself had wanted to confess his feelings then too and had come to regret not doing so.

Cosmo looked beside the framed picture and saw that their was one slightly in front of it, a photo of just herself and Tails that had been taking by Amy the same day. Cosmo giggled at the sight of herself and Tails in it, both smiling and cheerful but anyone could see the blushes on their faces.

"I'm so happy to have a second chance with him, he waited years for me, and while I couldn't really tell how much time had passed I know he was hurting, I hope I can help him feel better"

Just then Tails descended the stairs, breaking her train of thought. With one hand behind his back and a large grin on his face he approached her.

"I've held onto this ever since…you know, and I always hoped I'd have the chance to return it, to be with you again"

Cosmo noticed the slight hesitation but ignored it and listened intently.

"And now that you're back..it's like a dream come true, I'd hoped and prayed every day that you'd return and-well…here" Tails held out his hand, stopping his words as his eyes started to tear up, trying not to become too emotional.

Looking in Tails' outstretched hand Cosmo saw a blue flower brooch, recognizing it as the same one he'd polished and given to her at the party. Smiling, Cosmo accepted it from him, looking up at him with her own eyes starting to tear up she said "You held onto it all this time? You're wonderful Tails! Thank you so much!"

As the two embraced Tails spoke softly "Of course, that day at the party was one of the best moments of my life, I only wish I'd had the courage to tell you how I felt then"

"I was thinking the same thing, I wanted to tell you how I felt then too"

Tails laughed slightly, oh the irony.

"Well I almost did, but I got too nervous and stopped myself, I wish I hadn't"

"I don't remember you saying anything like that? When did you almost say it?"

"Just after I gave you that, I was saying how beautiful you are and I guess I realized what I was saying and got embarrassed" Tails said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Oh…OH! I thought you said the stars were beautiful! I feel so silly. I must not have been paying attention" Cosmo said blushing furiously.

"Don't worry, I should've had the courage to clarify, I'm just glad you're here and I can tell you how I feel without hesitation. I love you Cosmo, I'm so happy you're back" Tails said with an adorable smile.

Smiling back with tears of joy, Cosmo held Tails close and replied softly.

"I love you too Tails, and I'm happy to be back and I'm not leaving again"

The new couple smiling lovingly at each other as they held each other close before kissing once more. For both of them, everything was perfect, they'd been given a new life together and neither could put into words how happy they were.

Parting, they gazed at each other and thought no words were spoken they both had the same thought directed at the other.

I love you.

Authors notes: well, sorry for the wait for this chapter, I had a severe case of writers block and just couldn't seem to figure out how to do this one. That being said I hope I didn't make them to OOC. Also yes, the events of Sonic CD and Sonic Heroes happened in this stories continuity with some slight differences. For Instance, Tails was there for CD and when fighting Metal Overlord Sonic, Tails and Knuckles were ALL in their super forms. (never liked how only Sonic went super in the actual game) So anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter and next time everyone else learns of Cosmo's return. See you next time!