Aloha!

Ah, I can't believe we're reaching the end of this story, let alone this series. Like I mentioned in the last update, this update will mark the end of the technical chapters (the format changes slightly for the ending, but you'll see in the next update - I don't want to ruin the surprise!). Anyway, keep sending your questions for the Q&A by PM or review. Also let me know when you think I should put them up. MistyVoid48 mentioned that I could put some before and after the epilogue, but I'd love to hear your thoughts. There should be two (maybe three) updates after this because the epilogue is a little long, so I'm still working on how I want to present that. But with studying and pretending to have a life, it's probably better to just have two...but I digress.

Anyway, I wanted to give a shout-out to Raquel the writer, Cozy Shadow, Fairlyoddme, xXDarkAngelKittenXx, koalababe, Angelinx, MistyVoid48, LadyMiioh, NotBornHatched, and x K.S.P forever x for reviewing the last couple of chapters. I truly appreciate your support, and I'm glad that you all have been enjoying the story so far.

So yeah, Amy has to make some important decisions in this set. But I'll let you read for yourself.

Enjoy!

Chapter 32

I probably wasn't improving my ethical dilemma by spending the night with Scourge. But his place was closer to work. And I had a lot I suddenly had to do.

"Good morning," he said, before kissing me softly. "To think, a few days from now we won't have to do this in secret." He moved down to my neck. I bit my lip. "Or this."

"You have to get Sage ready for school," I laughed before moving from him. "We don't have time for this."

"Okay, okay." He offered me one final kiss before turning on the light. "I guess you should leave before he sees you."

"That's the plan," I replied, pulling off my pajamas.

"You're only going to delay that plan if you continue to undress in front of me."

I rolled my eyes. "You're acting like I'm not a fat, pregnant woman."

His arms wrapped around my form. "You know, when you said the kids weren't ours, I thought I was relieved, but I'm actually a little bummed." He pressed his hand against my stomach softly. "I've always wanted Sage to have siblings."

"It's never too late." I was smiling, but the idea of being pregnant again bummed me out a little. Being pregnant sucked.

"Besides," he said, pecking the back of my neck. "You've never been more beautiful." My smile grew, but it couldn't overpower my inner confliction.

Then why does it feel like I'm making an ugly mistake?

I obtained her address from my file at work. As much as it killed me to get killed by the wicked bitch of the worst that was Fiona Fox, I knew that I couldn't continue forward without her side of the story.

After all, she left the courtroom in tears.

And although I went months with the same expression she had, I wasn't her. I couldn't take something from someone without knowing if they could cope with losing out. Still, I didn't know why I was surprised when she wasn't at her home.

A rush of annoyance hit me until I remembered her roommate. The bar she owned. I did some smart phone searches, but Portia was as obscure as Fiona's conscience. Against better judgment, I snuck into the mailbox, and checked to see if there was anything remotely helpful in it. And there was.

Electric bill for Moon Light

It was a five-minute drive to the bar. And it actually looked really classy, despite Fiona's demeanor. There was a sun and moon theme going on, and the space was dim yet buzzing with people even though it was only afternoon. Then I remembered it was also a restaurant. I took a seat at the bar.

"Something to drink?" A pleasant looking young hare asked me. I shook my head.

"I'm actually looking for Portia. I'm an old friend." He nodded.

"She's in the back. I can take you to her real quick."

"Thank you."

He led me through a beaded doorway, and then I was in a space that was a fuse between a storage room and an office. I saw Portia before she saw me.

"Portia Panda?" I said, as she turned to me. "I'm Amy—"

"Let me guess," she began, folding her arms, narrowing her brown eyes at me. "You're Scourge's lawyer?"

"I am," I replied. "Fiona had a temporary restraining order on me. It expired with the start of the hearing, but I wanted to come to you first."

She raised a brow. "And why is that?"

"I wanted to know why she left the courtroom in tears." Portia's eyes widened.

"She didn't tell me that happened." She bit her finger. "Shit."

"I know I won't be able to coerce you into telling me why Fiona wants custody, but something isn't sitting well with me."

"You and me both." She refolded her arms. "Fiona's a good mom. And I know Scourge might look better in comparison, but that's no reason for her to lose Sage. Not after all the sacrifices she's made too."

"She'd still get to see her son," I pushed. "It's understandable that she might have lost interest in raising him considering the circumstances, but that's unfair to Sage."

The woman only pursed her lips, looking past me. "Well, I guess you should take that up with Fiona."

"What is she doing here?"

Great.

I spun around; saw Fiona for the second time in four years. It was still an unwelcomed shock. I sucked in a breath, contemplating my next move. Find the words to set her off.

"I wanted to check in on you." I rubbed my stomach and her left eye twitched. "Especially now that we're going to be a family."

Portia shook her head before heading toward the bar area. Shit. I just lost the only witness to my murder.

"You act like what happened between me and Scourge is so horrible, and then you go around and do this?" There was fire in her eyes of ice, and venom in her voice. "There's a special place in hell for you."

"Then I guess we'll be roomies." I was smirking. "Cut the small talk. I know what you did to Sage—you almost killed him. So don't act all high and mighty."

Her eyes widened. "How the hell do you know?"

"Easy," I replied, "I'm smarter than you. And even after all of that you're still trying to take Sage away? What kind of a monster are you?"

"I-It was an accident…" her voice was quivering; her head was casted downward in shame. "…I forgot I had him that day and I came back to him as fast as I could." I shook my head. I had to remember she wasn't capable of showing genuine emotion. This was an act. Just like in the courtroom. But why was my heart telling me otherwise? Stupid hormones.

"And I'm his mother…" Tears were lining her cheeks, yet she refused to wipe them. "…How would actually abandoning him make things better?"

"Do you even want to raise him?" I then asked, putting away my bitchy façade. Okay, so she was genuinely upset. Maybe motherhood was the antidote to basic humility.

"Of course I do," she spat, sniffing. "But it hasn't been easy."

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. "I trust that even you know that raising a kid isn't easy. Did you honestly have Sage just to trap Scourge? Because that's low, even for you."

"I don't see you doing anything different." It was funny, how quick her bite was back. "And I didn't do that, you bitch." The intensity in her eyes was back. "I love Sage and I'm thankful for him everyday."

"Okay."

She gripped me by my collar. Not hard enough to choke the life out of me, but hard enough to make a point. "If you don't shut it with your witty remarks, I'm going to hurt you. I don't care if you're pregnant or not."

"Good to know you're a model mother figure." I pushed her back. "Look, I'm sorry that you're in this situation. I'm not saying this out of pity or anything, but I'm sorry. I just wanted to know why you were so devastated at the courtroom. So if you want to act smug and call me a bitch again, it'll make it that much easier for me to win my case and start a life with Scourge."

She still looked angry, but it was like part of her anger was being redirected away from me. I didn't know if I could call it progress. I sighed; realizing what I was about to say could ruin everything forever.

"Are you in love with Scourge?"

I expected her eyes to widen, but they narrowed, and focused on something in the distance. "I don't know what I have for him."

The passiveness of her response struck the wrong chord inside me. She ruined everything…and she couldn't even see the damage she had caused? She took Scourge…and she didn't know what she had for him? My brain was too frustrated to comprehend this madness, which was probably why my fist found her face. She glared at me with a mixture of disgust and awe that was as toxic as the air surrounding us, but it didn't faze me. I clenched my fists even harder.

"THEN WHY DID YOU TAKE HIM AWAY FROM ME?!"

I was heaving, my throat was burning and my eyes were threatening to spill tears, but I knew I couldn't let them fall—I couldn't let her take advantage of my sudden vulnerabilities.

I shook my head. "I know having a child is hard, but you broke every code of basic decency when you abused me and took him away from me." I spat. "I mean, why didn't either of you just tell me? I would have backed off—I would have even helped you. Instead you made the situation toxic, and even now that he is here…I don't know if we even have a chance!"

My eyes widened in unison with Fiona's. It finally hit me—why all of this felt wrong.

"What are you talking about?" she said, gritting her teeth. "He's marrying you, isn't he? He never offered to marry me. And you're pregnant with his child."

I shook my head again. "I know that what we have now doesn't feel completely real. And I don't know if I can truly love him after what he did." I exhaled, forcing my tears down. "Especially when he's still protecting you."

She looked taken back when I told her that Scourge was aware of the car incident with Sage. That despite her keeping it under-raps to him, he had found out and refused to let anyone who could play a role in the hearing know about the occurrence. Including me.

"I didn't know he still cared about me," she sighed. "I honestly think that's why I'm afraid of getting too close to Sage sometimes—because I almost lost him that day." She clenched her fists. "All because I mixed up the day I had him…that's why I hate this back-and-forth custody."

"Even you know that's a horrible excuse."

"What are you going to do then?" It took a second to realize she wasn't provoking me, but rather she was literally asking what I was going to do now. Like a real champ, I hadn't thought this far. I thought there was a real possibility that she might kill me, and I would no longer have to worry about Scourge or the case.

"I'm Scourge's attorney, but due to the nature of this case, I have to consider Sage's best interests as well. As for my 'pregnancy' with Scourge…" I secured my bag over my shoulder, sensing this confrontation grow stale. I was also sensing Blaze hating me more for preparing to spill her secret to yet another soul. "…I'm actually just a surrogate for one of my friends. You can't tell anyone, though."

Fiona looked slightly offended, but completely relieved. "Why the hell would I?"

"Because I'm the gossip of the town." I was joking, but for some reason my business had a way of getting around. Either I really was lousy at keeping secrets, or my friends were unusually nosey. I'd put my money on the latter.

"If it counts—and it probably doesn't count for shit now—I'm sorry." For once there was something that could have been mistaken for compassion in Fiona's eyes. "I really am."

"Good to see you two didn't kill each other," a voice I could only place as Portia's said behind us, before entering the space. She handed drinks. When I wrinkled my nose at the lemonade, Portia laughed. "Now that I think about it, I probably should have stayed back for Pinkie's sake," she said, clicking open a bottle of beer. "She is pregnant, and I've seen you take down a professional wrestler before."

Fiona scoffed, and I settled with this new feeling of non-hate with and old nemesis.

"That's because he wouldn't give Sage an autograph."

Ms. Ferret would kill me if I lost this case. Especially since I had practically won it.

But I was at the mercy of my hormone-happy intuition and my new revelation about Fiona. Now that I knew that she really wasn't a demon, with decent reasons for her aggression, it suddenly felt like I was the monster.

Still, my boss told me to talk to her if I somehow became jaded, but this wasn't some mental block due to my pregnancy. I was at a threshold—I had to jump or step back. And I knew both options were potentially destructive. I also knew that I couldn't confide in Phil without spilling more of Blaze's secrets. And Clarissa would just be a know-it-all and probably respond with a weak, "Do what feels right." Hardcore lawyer with the heart of a hippy.

I thought of Scourge. He knew about the incident, yet he was keeping it from me. I mean, I knew that despite everything Fiona was the mother of his child, but something about it didn't sit right with me. I wanted to talk to him, but wouldn't he just deny it? If not, swear me to secrecy?

That left me with Shadow. I rubbed my temple as I drove. In the past, I could always count on him, whether I was aware of it or not. But now…would he even answer his door if I knocked on it? Would he even be there? After all, he was now Mina's muse, so what right did I have to impose on them?

Against better judgment, I went to his house anyway. And apparently, I wasn't the only one with the bright idea.

I saw the blinking cameras before the cars. Paparazzi?

"Mina! Tell us about your engagement!"

"When's the wedding?"

"How good is Shadow in bed? Is he kinky?"

I parked my car at the side of the road and rushed up to the madness. I didn't know what was wrong with me—I didn't care as much as I cared. The flashing lights blocked out the evening sky, but I snuck past it, heading to his backyard. Through the blinds of one of the windows, I could see them. Shadow and Mina. They were dressed up and discussing something sort of aggressively, and Shadow didn't look particularly happy, but what was new? My hand drew up to knock against the glass when a hand latched over mine. Another cupped over my mouth before I could scream.

"Sorry, girlie," the bear security guard said. "But no one get's in. We already had one breach." He nudged in the direction of the paparazzi. I shook my head, wiggling free.

"Please just let them know I'm out here!" I almost spat. "I needed to talk to Shadow briefly. I'm Amy Rose."

The bear sighed. "I know who you are, but I'm sorry. I'll be sure to relay the message when they're free. Tonight's really important."

It was my turn to sigh. "No. It's fine. Thanks for not killing me on the spot, I guess."

The man laughed. "Keep your chin up, I'm sure whatever you're going through can't be that bad."

He had absolutely no idea.

I smiled with a small nod. "Good night."

"Night."

But I guess in some way he was right. The decisions before me weren't that difficult when I separated my emotions and my involvement from them. Still, as I walked back to my vehicle and saw the celebrity couple emerge from the house, conflicted was an understatement to how I felt.

They looked happy.

And somehow that made me feel—

"Amy Rose?" I froze. Shit. I felt a million lights that shone with the intensity of the sun bask my form. I waved cautiously, and then the questions erupted.

"What do you have to say about the lovely couple?"

"Do you ever get mani-pedis with Mina?"

"Have you found your soulmate?"

I smiled, even though my heart was both swelling and dying at the same time. I laughed, even though I was quickly realizing that nothing in my life was a laughing matter.

I caught a glimpse of Shadow looking in my direction before entering a car. His expression softened if only for a second, and his lips parted as if to say something before some stupid cameraman blocked him from me. In a moment, the car sped off.

And that was it.

I had to make this decision by myself.

What will Amy do? Is there even a decision to make?

P.S. I just added the part where Amy goes to Shadow's house. So my apologies if it felt a little tacked on. Unfortunately, this chapter (especially the next one) is a little short, so I wanted to add some meat. Nevertheless, please read on!

~KB