List: Lupus Silvae, Zeldaskeeper, Silverdawn2010, IHeartSonAmy, Koollolly, Rugtugba, and Shizuku Tsukishima749!

Aww yeah! I have a grand feelin' 'bout this story! Whoo! Thanks so much for the reviews, everyone. They all mean a lot to me. Oh, and by the way, I am still working on Forever Love; just kinda at a road block (and for the last chapter too! ahg!) Anyway, let's get on with the story. Onwards, march!

Chapter three

Lift Up

He was exhausted.

Which was really saying something. Because Sonic was never tired. Unless of course he and Amy couldn't get any sleep because of the screaming kids late at night. Or unless he'd just caught some criminal for the slow police. Or, very rarely, if he'd just had a long day at work.

Today's tiredness seemed to have come from none other than work. Having been a boring day with few costumers for Tails' repair shop, the blue hedgehog had stayed inside, away from the rolling hills and wind practically all day. And nothing makes a person more tired then when you do absolutely nothing for twenty-four hours.

Usually a good long run would clear the hedgehog's mind enough by the time he got home. But for some reason, it didn't seem to be working today, and this only made matters worse for the depressed hedgehog. Hadn't he wanted to run all day today? Hadn't that been the cause of his depression: seeing the butterflies flutter around the fields without him messing up their flight?

But for some reason there seemed to be something deeper to his sadness, and when he opened the door to his home, the children's loud welcome hardly raised his spirits.

"Wanna run, Daddy?" Dash asked, like he did almost every day after work. He wasn't expecting his father to flat out shake his head. This wasn't like his usual crazy, loud, fun, father. Puzzled, the young boy sighed sadly and walked off, hoping for his father to change his mind soon as he headed off to play with Flash.

"Dad, guess what I did today?" Violet asked happily as she jumped up and down around the blue hedgehog. Sonic hardly heard her answer as he shrugged off his shoes and yawned, despite himself.

"Hey, Dad?" This time it was Kyler's voice, and Sonic felt like groaning, but he bit his tongue. "Could ya help me with my math homework?"

"In a minute sweetie," was all the hedgehog could say before he crashed onto the nearby couch, vaguely aware of Dash and Flash playing with blocks on the floor as they watched some PBS show.

Suddenly warm arms were around the hedgehog from behind, and he sighed, quickly realizing whose arms were around him.

"Long day, hon?"

"Gotta hate 'em," he replied wearily, rubbing his forehead. "I hate this. I wanna be able to be with the kids, interact with 'em…ya know, the usual. But I just can't-"

"I love you, you know," she interrupted, kissing his head lightly before focusing her gaze on the TV program. "Everything's under control here. Kyler understands-her being such a smarty- so I'll be helping her with her math tonight. Violet's too young to notice your lack of enthusiasm, so you're off the hook for now. And Dash's not supposed to run today anyway."

"Why not?" Sonic asked, and he turned to Amy with a puzzled look.

"Well, he did run in the house today and knock over a lamp. Ended up cracking it. He wasn't supposed to ask for your mercy." The blue hedgehog smiled in spite of himself.

"You're a good mom, you know that?" Sonic questioned, closing his eyes as she scratched behind his ears lovingly.

"Yes," she replied, not sounding at all surprised, making Sonic smirk slightly.

"And you're a good wife too." There was a short pause, in which all the two could hear was the talking dragon on the TV and Flash clapping happily to himself.

"Yes," Amy replied, sounding pleased with herself. "Thanks."

"No. Thank you," he replied.