Ugh. This chapter was a bit of a writing pain. I think I'll take a break from this particular fic for a while and get back to that other fanfic I had left in the dust for quite a while. Don't worry, however - I will still continue to work on this fanfic as well.

It was a sunny summer day. Tails and Cosmo had decided to go out to the Emerald Coast beach, as they still wanted to enjoy the main attraction of summer, and because Cosmo never really been out on a beach before. After packing all necessary things up, the couple headed out into the city and to the beach entrance. Of course, it turned out that they weren't the only ones wanting to enjoy the summer sun – their friends had headed out to the beach as well.
Sonic was running laps around the beach, trying to set a new speed record. Amy, who wore a red two-piece swimsuit, was just quietly sitting on a beach towel and watching the blue hedgehog run by. Shade, wearing an entirely black two-piece, was just quietly relaxing on a beach deck chair, not paying attention to the noise that Sonic was causing, and finally, Cream and Vanilla were sitting a bit off to the side under a beach umbrella, discussing something. Just as Tails and Cosmo entered the beach, Sonic barely ran by the two before stopping, turning around and greeting the couple: "Look who showed up! Long time no see, you two! How's it going?"
"Hi, Sonic. Cosmo and I decided to go to the beach today. You know, while the beach season still lasts." – Tails remarked as he and Cosmo looked around for a spot where to leave all the beach stuff they brought along.
"You certainly chose a great day to do so – the weather is perfectly sunny and, even though I didn't really check it, I'm sure the water is of the right temperature for swimming. Well, got to keep going now!" – And with that said, Sonic continued to run.
"So, Tails, would you explain why did we take so many things?" – Cosmo said as Sonic ran off, setting the rather sizeable beach bag down onto the sand.
"While the stuff here is not completely necessary, it's still great to have if you want to have a good time on the beach." – Tails looked through the beach bag, taking random things out of it as he kept talking. – "Lying on the sand is nothing too bad, but it tends to get stuck on you, so instead, one has to place a beach towel to sit or lie on." – The kitsune threw an orange beach towel off to the side. Later he took out the swimsuit that Cosmo bought a few days ago and said, handing it to her: "Okay, you go to that changing cabin not too far away and put this on. I'll take care of the rest."
The plantgirl nodded and ran off while Tails continued to take the rest of all the things out. Two thermoses with cold orange juice, blue swimming trunks, sunblock…
"Hey there, Tails!" – A familiar high-pitched voice sounded from behind Tails. The kitsune turned around and noticed that Cream and Vanilla had just walked over to him.
"So, all alone on the beach today?" – Cream asked, looking rather curious.
"Cream, please, don't be so intrusive on him!" – Vanilla said, pulling on to her daughter's hand. The younger rabbit sighed and pouted, while her mother said: "So, I heard about your friend having had returned a few weeks ago. Did she come along with you as well?"
Just as Vanilla asked that question, Cosmo had exited the changing cabin, now wearing her green two-piece swimsuit. After giving the plantgirl a good look, Tails had noted that she really does look rather lovely in that swimsuit – it certainly accentuated her developing curves quite well. When Tails' stare trailed off a little lower, down to the plantgirl's feet, he had noticed that her feet were nothing like that of mobians – Cosmo's feet were those rather strange two-toed feet. Despite that, however, Tails still found the seedrian girl's feet rather…Cute? He never really had a thing for feet, but…
"Earth to Tails. Earth to Tails. You've gotta spacing out, introduce your girlfriend to Vanilla, then run off to put those darn swimming trunks on." – The kitsune snapped himself out of the rather intrusive thoughts and said: "Yes. That's her. Her name is Cosmo."
The plantgirl shyly waved her right hand to Vanilla while Tails ran off to change.
"Well hello there, young lady! I take it you're not from around here, are you, Cosmo?" – The elder rabbit asked.
"Well, yes. I used to live on a space colony most of my life. Together with possibly the last survivors of my kind. And unfortunately…I was the only one who survived out of all of them. It's a long and painful story." – Cosmo wasn't really happy mentioning some painful details of her past.
"Alright, alright. I understand if you don't want to talk about it. According to what Cream told me, you have been to Mobius before. Is that correct?" – Vanilla asked.
"Yes. About four years ago or so. You probably remember the crisis that happened back then." – The seedrian replied, bowing her head down.
"We prefer not to mention it. So, why exactly you returned to Mobius and didn't prefer to stay on any other planets? I'm sure that in a galaxy as big as ours, there are plenty more planets to go by which are just as beautiful as Mobius." – The elder mobian just continued on with her questions.
"It's…Quite a long story, really."
And Cosmo told Vanilla everything. About the battles that she and the others had gone through, about the relationship that developed between her and Tails, about how they were seemingly separated once and for all, and how she was able to return. Cream knew the whole story already, so she was just busy minding her own business, though she did look rather uneasy for some reason.
"I understand if my story sounds rather unbelievable, but…" – The plantgirl didn't get to finish her sentence, as Vanilla remarked: "Darling, I've heard and seen much stranger things throughout my life, so your story is fairly plausible. So, the main reason you returned was…?"
Tails had already returned from the changing cabins, so Cosmo leaned on his shoulder and remarked: "Some relationships can endure even the most extreme circumstances." – As Cream looked at the two, she uttered a frustrated "Hmph!" and turned to face away from the couple.
Tails just shyly scratched the back of his head before saying: "I know, it seems weird that I'm in love with an alien, but-"
"No, no, no, dear, I didn't want to say any of that! In fact, I find the fact that you two love each other so much despite being so different and despite having been separated for four entire years rather…Interesting." – As Vanilla said that, Cream groaned in frustration.
"You done now, mom? I certainly hope you do - I'm feeling sick of seeing these two together already, so I'll be off somewhere further away!" – And with that, the younger rabbit ran off, looking rather frustrated. Vanilla looked in the direction where her daughter ran off to and said: "Now that was rather strange of her. She is kind of not herself today, to be honest…" – Vanilla just sighed and changed the topic: "Well, I do hope that you and Tails will have quite a bit of fun on the beach. In the meantime, I've got to find out what's the matter with Cream." – And with that, Vanilla ran off looking for her daughter as Tails and Cosmo stayed behind, rather confused.
"Whoa. What's up with Cream today?" – Tails asked.
"I kind of get the feeling that it may have been our fault. We've gotten a bit too affectionate in front of her, don't you think?" – Cosmo replied, looking down in dismay.
"I doubt that it would have caused such an adverse reaction from her." – Tails remarked, then in a few moments of silence, he realized something: "Although there may be a reason for that. You see, before your return, Cream and I were getting on more…Friendly terms with each other. Now don't get me wrong, I told you that I didn't actually find 'anyone else' during that time. In fact, I hardly even felt anything towards her. I kept telling myself "She will never replace Cosmo." And she was probably rather frustrated with the fact that our relationships stayed mostly static, and…I guess she tried to contain her frustration when you returned to the best of her abilities, but when you and I just went ahead and gotten a bit too up close and personal, that was probably the snapping point for her." – Tails sighed in dismay as he finished his explanation. – "I…I think I should go and apologize to her." – With that, Tails ran off, leaving Cosmo standing there with her thoughts.
"So he really is that devoted to me, is he?" – The plantgirl thought, sitting down on the warm sand. – "Even when he had a chance to start a new relationship with someone else… He declined it in favor of the small hope that I would return someday. If that isn't devotion, I don't know what is. But that's…Quite self-destructive of him. Oh, I wish I could have warned him back then that I would return. Maybe then his life wouldn't have been such a mess during the time when I was absent from the mortal world…"

"Alright, sweetie. Just tell me – what was that all about?"
Vanilla and Cream were currently discussing the latter's sudden outburst, standing further away from the other people visiting the beach.
"Cream, answer the question. What happened? What was that outburst all about?" – Vanilla asked in a rather stern voice.
"Mom, I can handle this on my own, just leave this matter to me, Tails, and Cosmo." – Cream replied in a noticeably frustrated voice.
"I can definitely see that it's not the case." – Vanilla's voice softened slightly. – "There is nothing embarrassing about asking me for help in such situations. You're not even in your early teens yet."
"Mom, my age has nothing to do with this matter, alright? Just leave me to handle my own problems myself." – The younger rabbit replied in the same exasperated voice.
"At least tell me what the problem is. What makes you think I can't give you any relationship advice?"
Cream paused for a moment. Vanilla sighed and continued: "Seems like I was able to guess the nature of the problem."
The younger rabbit replied: "Alright. I…I was feeling kind of jealous about Tails. When I saw him and Cosmo getting all up close and personal with each other…"
Vanilla didn't let her daughter finish the sentence and asked: "But you didn't seem to be feeling anything for Tails before now. What changed?"
"That's the keyword, mom – before. I know, I'm too young to be in love with anyone, but…I kind of began feeling that way towards Tails fairly recently. Ever since we kind of began getting on more friendly terms three years after Cosmo's…Supposed death." – Cream paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. – "Or, to make it clearer – a year or so ago."

(Flashback, 1 year ago.)
Tails was quietly sitting in his modest workshop, fiddling with some small mechanism when he heard a series of rapid knocks on the door leading outside the conjoined building that was the kitsune's workshop and his house built next to each other.
"Sure, sure, you can come in, work hasn't been going too well anyway, dang it to Chaos…" – Tails said in a rather frustrated voice, to which an all-too-familiar little rabbit entered his workshop.
"Hi Tails. I thought I might as well check on you or something. Ever since we had travelled to that weird dimension, you have been acting…Grim." – Cream's voice was a little quieter on the last part of the sentence. The dimension that the little girl was referring to was none other than The Twilight Cage – after leaving that place, Tails was somehow left even worse off than before in terms of mental health. Even though Cream herself still had nightmares about the place, it didn't affect her as much as it did Tails. What exactly made the young fox's state even worse off than before – no one really knew. The kitsune sighed and replied: "It's hard to act cheerful three years after-"
"The death of your loved one, yes, you said that quite a few times already." – Cream replied, interrupting the kitsune's speech. At first the young fox wanted to tell Cream not to interrupt him, but just sighed and instead said: "Sorry that I've been being a bit of a broken record recently. In fact, I even feel like one. You know, how a record that previously played a nice, cheerful melody gets broken or scratched and begins playing a complete cacophony that is a shadow of its former song?"
Cream didn't even know what to say, looking down and trying to avoid eye contact with Tails. After a brief awkward silence, the kitsune said: "Look, I know what you're going to say. That I have to move on from what had happened, that I must forget about it and put it behind me as nothing more than just a part of my past that is better off forgotten…But I just cannot."
"I…Wasn't going to say any of that." – Cream replied in a shy, suppressed voice. Then, after a brief pause, she spoke up a bit louder: "But now that you mentioned it, I think what your friends said may be right – there's no point crying over what has already been gone and done, don't you think?"
Tails sighed and put his instruments down and slowly turned to face Cream. After he saw that the young girl was looking him in the eyes, he replied: "Cream. Answer me a simple question, with a simple one-word answer – just a "yes" or a "no". You think I haven't been trying to forget about the incident? You think I haven't tried to just move on with my life as usual? You think I really am such a masochist?"
The young rabbit was outright dumbfounded by Tails' words. Partially because she had a hard time understanding a few particular terms, partially because she didn't really know what to say.
"I…Don't even know." – The little girl replied, sighing. Tails shook his head in dismay and spoke up: "When Cosmo had disappeared, I felt…I felt like the world just lost any and all color. Metaphorically speaking, of course, but still… I felt like all the good things in life were just dull and meaningless, and all the bad things became even worse. I felt like I could not love anyone anymore, like I would not be capable of ever smiling sincerely." – The kitsune chuckled nervously. – "Of course you wouldn't understand. Not at your age, that is for sure."
"I…I'll just take my leave now, I guess." – Cream said, going to exit the workshop. Just moments before the young rabbit reached the door, she turned around and asked: "Wait, why are you confessing that to me of all people? Wouldn't others be able to understand it better?"
"To be completely honest? I have no idea." – Tails replied. – "Maybe I just felt like talking to someone who is a bit closer to my age. Maybe because you're actually a good listener. Either way, discussing this subject with you feels a lot better than discussing it with, say, Sonic or Knuckles. So, if anything…You're always welcome to visit me every now and then."
Cream smiled and replied: "Thank you, Tails." – And with that said, the rabbit left Tails' humble workshop as the young kitsune sighed and went back to fiddling with the small device he was working on.
(End of flashback)

"Eventually, as I continued visiting Tails, I kind of…Began to "like-like" him. I don't know if he felt the same towards me before Cosmo's return, but…It was unknown to both of us whether Cosmo would even return or not. I had assumed that Tails might want to move on from the whole incident that separated him and Cosmo, and I thought I would be the one to help him with that. " – Cream said as she finished telling her story.
"Well, darling, I'm not going to sugarcoat it for you – he doesn't feel the same way as you do towards him. But that's not to say you two can't still be friends, right?" – Vanilla asked.
"Mom, I feel like such a failure." – Cream remarked, avoiding the older rabbit's question. Vanilla asked back confusedly: "Why?"
"I thought I would be that 'shoulder to lean on' for Tails during the time of Cosmo's absence. But now I realize that it was so silly of me to think that I would ever replace her." – The little girl sighed as she finished speaking. After a brief pause, she added: "I'm sure he doesn't even want to be around me anymore now that Cosmo has returned."
"Now, Cream, you know that's not true. He still wants you to be around – just as a friend. True, the person towards who you might have felt actual love may not accept your feelings, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the end of the world. If you do love a person, let them go. If they don't come back, then maybe they really didn't feel the same towards you."
"I get it now. I'm terribly sorry about that outburst I threw when I saw them together. I…I was having some difficulties containing my emotions there. " – Cream said, looking down in shame. Vanilla knelt down to the younger rabbit and replied: "I do appreciate that you understood your error, but it's not me you should be apologizing to. Tails might be around here any moment now – go talk to him and discuss this further." – Vanilla suggested, to which Cream nodded quietly and looked around to see if Tails was anywhere nearby. Luckily, the kitsune was already heading towards the two rabbits. Cream ran over to Tails and…Well, it went to that usual "two people want to apologize at once" situation, with them both starting the conversation with "Tails/Cream, I'm sorry about what happened, I-"
"Wait, I'll just say it first." – Cream said, interrupting Tails. She took a deep breath and replied: "Look, I'm sorry for getting a bit ill-tempered with you two around. I kind of…Let my feelings get the best of me."
"No, you're not the one who should be apologizing. I really shouldn't have gone full-on lovey-dovey with Cosmo. I…I am an idiot." – Tails remarked, looking to the side.
"Heh. Guess we both screwed up here, didn't we? So, peace?" – Cream asked, pointing her open hand forward. Tails smiled and shook the little girl's hand slightly, saying: "Peace."
With that, the two went in different directions – Tails went back to where Cosmo was waiting, and Cream went back to her mother.
"So?" – Cosmo asked, looking a bit nervous.
"We had the conflict resolved." – Tails replied. – "I guess Cream and I will still be on friendly terms from now on – it's just that we won't be as close as before. So I suppose, now that we have a crystal clear conscience, it's only fair that we get to have some fun on the beach."
The plantgirl smiled in response and replied: "Well, I actually wanted to learn to swim properly. Care to teach me to swim?"
"I'd be more than happy to."
And with that, the couple ran off into the water. Cosmo was at first hesitant in taking the first few steps into the water, but soon gotten used to it. Tails smiled and followed her in.
"The trick is to move the right way. Move too quickly – you'll likely overexert yourself and get tired. Move too slowly – you'll hardly even move from where you're floating. Let me show you how it's done." – Tails demonstrated how to do it, and then continued, swimming in place: "Now you go for it."
The plantgirl nodded and tried to take a step forward…Only to sink in completely before she could even react. Tails barely managed to pull her out of the water and remarked: "I guess that spot was deeper than expected. Even in the water, one's still got to watch their step. "
Just now, the kitsune noticed the way he was holding his girlfriend – right by her waist, to be specific. "Wow, her skin really is a smooth as I thought it would be." – Tails thought, and even ran his right hand across Cosmo's waist for a tiny bit. The seedrian blushed and asked: "Um…Is this part of the swimming training?" which resulted in Tails snapping out of it and saying: "Oh…I just got a little carried away. Anyway, did you get what to do now? Try swimming for a bit."
Cosmo nodded again and swam back and forth for a bit while Tails had a brief moment alone with his thoughts.
"Steady on, Miles. You wouldn't want to make such advances on her so quickly, would you? You would probably end up…Alienating her, for a lack of better word." – As Tails finished that thought, Cosmo swam back next to him and asked: "So, was that good enough?"
"Just fine. Let's continue practicing for now."

The swimming practice went on for quite a while – Cosmo turned out to be a fairly quick learner, and soon was swimming almost as good as Tails was. After the two had gotten out of water, noticeably exhausted, and sat down on the beach towel they had placed down, they took some time to catch their breath before Tails asked: "You know, for a plant creature, you are pretty good at swimming. Were you learning it before?"
"Not really. I guess you're just a good teacher. It does take quite a bit of time to get the movements right, and even now I'm not sure if I was swimming the right way." – The seedrian replied, her hair still dripping with sea water – she flipped over by accident quite a few times.
"I suppose we should just call it a day and head home. I'm sure you're just as exhausted as I am." – Tails remarked, placing his hand on his girlfriend's shoulder. The seedrian smiled and leaned forward towards Tails, rubbing her cheek against his, and soon enough, the two went to get their clothes back on.
After all the preparations for going back home, the two said their goodbyes to the others who decided to stick around on the beach for a bit and left for the train station. Soon enough, as the two boarded a train back to Mystic Ruins, Cosmo decided to take a quick nap until they've arrived back, and ended up lying down on the bench, placing her head on Tails' lap sideways. The kitsune was visibly dozing off at the moment, so he didn't really notice Cosmo leaning in. When he did feel her head pressing against his lap, he was slightly shocked at first, but then just smiled and started to caress the plantgirl's leafy hair, trying to avoid the partially-opened rosebuds on the sides of her head, as he thought they may be sensitive. Not that he was missing out much – the seedrian's hair felt surprisingly silky and soft. A random wolf-mobian passed by the two, and gave them a rather accusative look, to which Tails retorted angrily: "Hey, the girl's had a pretty busy day and wanted to take a nap."
"I'm not saying anything, continue with whatever you were doing…" – The mobian remarked as he walked away, then, when he presumed that he was far enough to be out of their hearing range, continued: "You filthy xenophile…"
Tails pretended not to hear that, while Cosmo, being already half-asleep, didn't pay all that much attention to it, as the couple's ride back home continued.