She had rushed to the door as soon as she heard someone knock. She never would have imagined who was standing at her door. Well...ok, maybe she would but...

"Sonic!"

Her hands came up to her mouth to cover a loud gasp of shock. Yes, it was indeed Sonic. He was just not quite as she pictured him.

"Hey Ames..."

His voice cracked as if it had been over used, and he looked up at her with a sheepish smile, biting his lip.

It wasn't the fact that it was Sonic standing at the door that shocked her; it was the condition he was in.

Both ears were folded back as droplets of water dripped off them slowly. He was completely soaked and shivering, his arms wrapped around his body to do more than just warm up, by Amy's guess, the droplets that ran off his fur came off in shades of pink and red. He had a long gash going across his cheek from under his eye to his jaw bone, his back was covered in long red lines, most of the cuts and gashes were on his shoulders. He was gripping one of his sides to slow the flow of red from running down his leg, it was a jagged gash and the flesh around it was swollen and bruised, small shards were sprinkled in the wound. The smallest of the wounds were on his legs and hands which were covered in numerous scrapes, his arms were suffering the worst of them, some of the scrams looked like he had slid along pavement for a good mile or more. Amy was surprised he could stand at all.

Amy lead the older hedgehog in to her house and snatched a towel from her bathroom.

"Here, dry yourself off with this I'll be back in a moment." She handed him the towel and sat him down on her living room couch.

As Amy disappeared around the corner going upstairs, Sonic was left to tend to himself.

He ran the cloth soft over his drenched fur, indulging in the simplicity of warmth through friction. His ears twitched as he could hear Amy searching through her house for a first aid kit. Didn't she usually keep it in her bathroom? She must have moved it when it wasn't being used. He finished drying his arms and began gently dabbing his chest, wary of disturbing open wounds. His motions became detached from thought as he let his mind wander.

Had he really been ignoring Amy so much that she didn't expect him to come over for help? When was the last time he had seen her? He sifted through his mental calendar trying to find the forgotten date, he gave up after a time. His head unconsciously dipped down, man he had been a jerk recently. The only dates he could remember going to her house was when he was hurt or forced to. To put it bluntly, he had been using her. She had been nothing but a tool to heal his wounds. His head dipped deeper in shame. How cruel of him. His hands now directed the cloth to his quills and head, his eyes looked almost glassy, deep in thought.

Amy was standing beside him, but he seemed to take no notice. She worried over the dull emotion that was on his face. He looked troubled. She set the First aid kit on the low coffee table in the small, pale blue living room. Snapping it open she selected an iodine solution and a clean cloth to clean the blue hedgehogs' injuries.

Tapping the other on the shoulder she instructed him to turn to face one arm of the couch so she could tend to the cuts on his back. He easily complied, though, taking his shoes off first.

Pouring some of the liquid on to the cloth and placing the bottle back on the table on her right she pressed the cloth to Sonics' torn back.

The blue hedgehogs' back arched instantly and tensed at the touch of the cloth, he hissed softly through his teeth. His brows were furrowed in pain and teeth clenched tightly, it hurt. His fingers were digging in to the bloodstained towel in his hands. He did all he could to keep sounds of pain from reaching Amy's ears.

Amy winced herself as she heard the hiss of pain. She hated it when he came to her like this, yet in a way she was happy he trusted her to do at least something right. Usually he would try and prevent her from doing anything at all and when she told him she could fight he would suddenly change personalities then run off. She frowned as she swiped the cloth over another large gash, she was good at predicting what weapon had caused what wounds but the ones that were currently running in criss-crossed horizontal lines were puzzling her. They were thick and shallow, unless they over lapped, and they actually wrapped around the body as if what had caused it was flexible. Some of the lines were simply long red and purple streaks of bruised skin. And just how did it manage to get through the thick forest of quills? She was lucky to be a hedgehog herself an knew how to get through quills with her hands, how else would she be able to tame her own set and get them back in a head band?

Dropping the now soiled cloth on the table she picked up a new one this time she poured hydrogen peroxide on it, then some on the jagged cut on Sonics side. She pressed the cloth to the wound and let it soak up a large amount of the substance then she picked up some tweezers to remove the glass shards. She noticed the males hands tighten on the cloth he held as she pulled the transparent pieces from his side.

She knew Sonic was strong, but she also knew he was no Shadow, he could only take so much damage before his life would be forfeit. Sometimes she found herself wondering who of the two were stronger, not physically but, emotionally.

Picking up yet another cloth she poured more iodine on it and pressed in against the jagged wound again.

There was no doubt that this was the worst of the injuries as a very audible gasp and small cry came from the wounded hero.

Sonic felt as if his whole side was on fire again, he couldn't help it when he had let his voice escape. It was like being there again but... he couldn't find a word to describe it. It was worse because it had already endured a lot of damage yet better because it was Amy helping him. It didn't make sense.

Amy finished with his side and swiped the cloth down his arms several times, these simply stung as he made no reaction.

She passed him the cloth and he finished disinfecting the last few wounds on his face, chest and arms as she pulled out bandages and put away the medical tools. She would have to call Tails later, some of the cuts required stitches which she had neither tools nor skills to do.

Wrapping the blue and peach fur with the white strips she softly hummed to herself and then finished with a snip of scissors.

"Let me get you something to drink." She offered and before waiting for a reply she headed off to the kitchen.

He found it odd but, there was a feeling of...panic, was it? Or fear...loneliness? Ah... that's what it was. He was afraid of being left alone, the safety of having someone near him, he wanted it... no. He needed it. He couldn't stand being by himself right now, maybe even for awhile. It felt almost dangerous to be alone.

Sonic calmed himself by looking out the window to his right, careful not to twist his body to avoid causing more damage. Branches of a small tree tapped at the window, it was dark now and the moon was a silver crescent in the sky. He sighed, he should repay Amy somehow, and she wasn't that hyper now any more. He sighed and rest his head against the arm of the chair, his eyes drooped a bit looking out in to the night.

Amy came back in to the room, the normally energetic Sonic was resting. She walked over to him and held the glass of water in front of him, he accepted it and took slow sips. Amy joined him on the side of the couch and joined him in the entertainment of looking out the window.

"Amy?"

She turned to him eyes inquiring, 'Hm?'.

She found her lips pressed against the others and one of his hands behind her head, then he pulled away and looked back out the window. He brushed his tongue over his lips. 'Love you...'

"Thank you."

You were so close Sonic! Ah... A SonicXAmy story. Normally I don't really care for this couple. It turned out better than I thought it would. Let me know what you think as always, any Ideas you want me to do? Challenges? Specific characters? Genres? Let me know.