=Chapter 2=

Silver's Volvo came cruising in through the mansion gates and parked next to Knuckles Hummer. Amy slid out from the back seat and was quickly joined by Blaze and Rouge.

"Now no more of that, Amy." Rouge told the sakura hedgehog. "You hear me?"

"Yes, Rouge." Amy droned.

She already heard the speech at least 500 times.

"You wanna eat something, Amy?" Blaze asked. "It's near dinnertime."

"No thanks." Amy muttered. "I'm not hungry."

She went inside the mansion and quickly headed to an elevator before Rouge was able to bother her about some task the ivory bat wanted to have her do for the wedding. The elevator went all the way to the 4th floor. Amy went by the Rec Room and saw Big and Cream playing Ping-Pong through the door window. She turned a few corners and got to her dorm. Amy fumbled through her sweat pant pockets to find her keycard. The cherry-pink female flopped onto her bed, letting out moans of exhaustion and exasperation. Then she promptly got up, realizing that people were going to be coming by and raiding her doorstep any second. So Amy decided to go somewhere where no one would think to look for her. She left her dorm and headed for the elevator again. This time she nearly ran into Cream.

"Oh hi, Amy." the young rabbit said. "You wanna play some Ping-Pong?"

"No thanks, Cream." Amy replied. "Maybe later, okay?"

"Okay."

Cream looked after Amy with a look of sympathy.

'She must be still upset.' she mused.

XXXXXXX

Later that night, everyone had gone indoors for the night. Some had gone to bed while others were still up and about. Shadow had just finished a report in the computer lab and was shutting the room down for the day. Now he had one thing left on his mind that practically tormented him throughout the entire evening. The midnight hedgehog went up to the 4th floor and went straight to his bride-to-be's down. He pressed a button on the keypad next the door. The button activated a small chime, like a doorbell, from inside the dorm. Shadow waited a minute for an answer. When there was none, the crimson-splashed male narrowed his blood-red orbs and went further down the hall to a security checkpoint room. He looked at the various TV screens showing footage from surveillance cameras. One TV flickered with images of the library. The screen flickered to an area of the library showing the sakura hedgehog sitting in a crouched position on a window sill. Shadow's eyes softened and he left the room and headed to the library. The halls surrounding the library were dead quiet. Shadow could see why Amy decided to come here. It was the right place and right time to let off some steam. There were only a few lights on inside, making the entire room very dim. After going through the horror, historical, and fiction sections, he finally found her. Silently fuming to herself. It looked as if she was slowly curling herself into a ball.

"I know you've been melancholy." Shadow softly spoke out, getting Amy's attention. "I won't pretend to know why."

The midnight clad hedgehog walked over to her and sat down on the opposite side of the window sill. Amy was still sitting in a crouched position with her hands in her lap. She seemed to be squeezing herself further into a ball when Shadow took a seat opposite from her. The crimson-splashed male reached out and took her hands into his own and gently squeezed them.

"Talk to me." Shadow said in a softer tone. "What's bothering you?"

Tears started welling up in Amy's jade orbs and soon they were trickling down her face.

"I'm...I'm just scared, okay?" she cried.

"Why are you scared?" Shadow asked in an even softer tone.

"I mean, I don't know if you're just doing this because the guys are ragging on you all the time, and...and I don't wanna go through what I did with Sonic and Sally again..you know?"

Amy was close to sobbing at this point. And Shadow couldn't really blame her for feeling that way.

"Come here." he whispered. The ebony hedgehog pulled a startled Amy into his arms and cradled her like an infant. "Don't be afraid, Rose. My intentions are quite honorable."

Shadow then started affectionately nuzzling and nipping at the sakura hedgehog's neck. Amy tensed up at first, but then relaxed in the crimson-splashed male's arms. She emitted a moan when she felt his tongue run across the bite mark he made from before. Her ears folded back when she heard him deeply purring. She almost started purring herself. Shadow came out of her neck and pulled her into a lip lock. Amy let out another moan and wrapped her arms around the ebony hedgehog's spiny back. When they broke apart, Shadow pulled her into another hug and placed his muzzle back in her neck. Amy let out a deep sigh as she caught her breath. Her cheeks were blushing a light scarlet.

"...I love you." the cherry-pink female whimpered.

"I love you as well." Shadow softly replied. "And don't you ever forget that."

A smile appeared on Amy's muzzle before she buried her face into Shadow's snow-splashed chest. A few minutes later, he lifted her onto her feet and took her arm.

"Come. It's past your bed time." Shadow said.

"Oh, you're all about that stupid curfew thing too?" Amy whined.

"Better to get to bed now than later. You never know Rouge plans on waking you up early tomorrow."

"Good point."

Shadow made a smirk and put his arm around her shoulder, pulling Amy closer to him. He walked her all the way to her dorm.

"Goodnight, Rose." Shadow said. "Pleasant dreams."

"Goodnight, Shadow." Amy replied.

Shadow gave her one more kiss before she went into the dorm.

XXXXXXX

"Amy! Amy, wake up hon."

The sakura hedgehog moaned as she cracked her eyes open. Rouge was outside her door. Amy lifted herself up and glanced at her clock. It was around 5 o'clock in the morning. Fuming, Amy got out of her bed, nearly tripping over her sheets, and went over to answer the door.

"Wake up, sunshine." Rouge cheerfully said. "It's a brand new day!"

"Crap Rouge it's 5:30 in the morning." Amy complained. "Whaddya need?"

"You need to pick out your bouquet we were supposed to do that yesterday."

"Oh yeah. But do we have to do that right this minute?"

"You want the flowers to be delivered on time, don't cha?"

Amy heaved a heavy sigh.

"Okay." she groaned. "Lemme take a quick shower."

"No time for that." Rouge insisted. "Just throw on some clothes and come right out."

"Oh come on!"

"Now, Amy!"

"Alright fine, sheesh!"

Rouge waited two minutes out in the hall while Amy got dressed. She came out with a red tee and grey sweat pants.

"Better take a jacket too." the ivory bat told her.

"Can we at least stop for coffee?" Amy asked.

"We'll see."