Chapter 26: Moving In

Shadow, meanwhile, was happily enjoying his time with Amy. They had gone on a few dates, each just as enjoyable as the last. Since she kept going out with him, Shadow assumed she was at least starting to like him. One night, they were having dinner at a restaurant, and Shadow cleared his throat.

"Amy...do you...like me?" He asked.

Amy looked up at him and swallowed the food she had been chewing. "Why else would I keep going on dates with you?"

Shadow smiled and nodded. They continued to eat in silence and walked outside afterwards.

"I had a fun time," Shadow said. He blushed and then kissed her.

Amy leaned into the kiss for a moment before pulling away. "I did too."

The immortal hedgehog smiled, wondering what else to say. It was good that Amy returned his feelings. "Now that we've established we like each other, what next?"

"Can I move in with you?" Amy asked him.

"Sure... Why do you want to?"

"I'd like to get to know you better...and it would be nice to live together if we have feelings for each other."

Shadow smiled and kissed her again. "Sounds reasonable. When do you want to move in?"

Amy thought about it. "I'll move in tomorrow; just let me get my stuff."

Shadow nodded and waved goodbye before walking off. Once he was far away, he turned into a dove and flew back to his house. He changed the moment he landed, hurrying inside.

"Shade! Jet! I've got something I need to tell you!"

"What is it?" Shade asked his father as Shadow ran into the house.

"Amy's going to move in with us tomorrow."

"Really? That's great! You've told us a lot about her."

Shadow smiled. "We need to get a room ready for her."

The two sons nodded and went upstairs. They got Shadow's room ready and came back downstairs.

"We got your room ready," Shade said. "There's plenty of space for her."

"Thanks," he said.

Shade and Jet both smiled. "Do you think she's going to like it here?"

Shadow nodded. "Most likely she will. While she is here, I don't want you to mentioning my deal with Mephiles or how we're immortal. That can wait until...later..."

"All right. What about changing into birds?"

The immortal hedgehog thought about it. "I suppose we can tell her that...would you two want to be birds while she's here?"

"Depends on what's going on, I guess." Jet shrugged. "We can't really get to know her if we aren't here, can we?"

Shadow nodded. "We can be birds while she's her for a while, I guess," he said. "All right, it's settled, then."

The three made sure the rest of the house was ready, going to bed when night came. The next day, the three hedgehogs were having lunch together when the doorbell rang. Shadow stood up and answered it. Amy stood there, smiling.

"Hi," she said, and walked inside, bringing her luggage with her. She looked at round. "This is a nice house."

"Thanks," Shadow said. "I can help you with that."

Amy nodded as Shadow grabbed some of the bags and carried them up to his room. Amy followed him and saw Jet and Shade. She smiled at them.

"You must be Shadow's two sons," she said. "It's nice to meet you."

The two introduced themselves with smiles.

"Father's told us all about you," Jet said.

The female hedgehog nodded. "He's told me about the two of you as well," she said. "How old are the two of you?"

"Thirteen," they said.

Amy smiled and nodded. Shadow came back downstairs and smiled.

"I see you've been visiting with my sons," he told his girlfriend.

"They're wonderful," she said. Shadow smiled and then nodded, but his smile faced as he thought about Wave. "What's wrong?" Amy said. "You look a little sad."

"Oh...I'm just thinking about my former wife, Wave. She died not to long after giving birth to Shade and Jet..."

"Oh. I'm sorry." Amy put a hand on his arm. "It's not really my place to say, but I'm sure she'd be proud of how well you raised them." Shadow hesitated, and then nodded. tears came to his eyes and he went upstairs, closing the door behind him. Amy frowned and looked at Jet. "Was that my fault?"

Jet shook his head. "He always gets upset whenever his wife is mentioned."

Amy hesitated. "I'll try not to then. Is he sure he's ready to try this again?"

The two teenagers looked at each other hesitantly. "If he doesn't try now, he'll never get past his grief," Jet said. "It's a good thing he's trying."

Amy nodded and went upstairs. She knocked on the door but heard crying, and mutterings about someone named Sonic. "I thought her name was Wave," Amy muttered.

She walked inside and looked at Shadow, who saw her.

"What do you want?" He asked.

"I wanted to see how you were doing," she said. "I'm sorry if I upset you."

"It...it's fine..." Shadow said, still sobbing.

Amy walked over and put a hand around his shoulder. She was curious as to who this Sonic person was. "Who's Sonic?"

Shadow hesitated. "He...was a friend of mine."

"Was?"

"He died a long time ago."

The immortal hedgehog knew that wasn't the truth, but he didn't want to tell Amy just yet. he sighed and stood up, then walked out of the room. Amy smiled and followed him downstairs.

"All right, we should do something together," Shadow said. "Anyone have any ideas?"

Jet thought about it and smiled. "We could go for a flight in the park."

Amy looked at him in confusion. "A flight?" Jet chuckled and closed his eyes before transforming into a bird. Shade and Shadow did as well. Amy's eyes widened. "How can you do that?"

Shadow smiled and turned back to normal. "One of our friends, Tails, invented a machine to turn us into birds."

"Do you still have it?"

"We do. Why?"

"I wanted to go with you guys." Amy said. "If you wouldn't mind."

Shadow nodded and brought her downstairs. He saw the machine but frowned; it was broken. Shadow went over to it and looked around it. "How did this break?"

"It's been broken for a long time now," Jet said. "Remember?"

"No, I don't." Shadow looked over at him. He sighed and looked at Amy. "I'm sorry, Amy."

"It's fine," Amy said. "Go by yourselves. I have to get unpacked, anyway."

The three left and Amy started unpacking her things. When the three birds got to the forest, they looked around and chirped, conversing with each other.

We can try and fix the machine, Jet said.

We don't even know how Tails made it, Shade said.

Jet's smile faded instantly.

I'm sure the blueprints are in the house somewhere, Shadow said. We can figure it out.

The birds nodded and flew back to the house. They got there and looked around. Amy saw them and smiled as the three birds ate some food from the bird feeder.

"I'll be waiting in here when you guys are ready to come back in."

The three birds nodded. Amy watched them with interest as they flew around the backyard, landing on the birdhouse and went in. Smiling, she leaned back to enjoy the day with them. That night, the three birds came back into the house, turning back into hedgehogs. Shadow hesitated.

"I haven't been truly honest with you," he said. "Wave was my mate. I had become a bird to explore around when I met her. We...fell in love and had Jet and Shade."

"What kind of bird was she?"

"A swallow. The reason that Shade, Jet and I like to be birds a lot is...well...it reminds us of her, and we really like to b in those forms."

"That's understandable." Amy gave him a smile.

Shadow smiled, and they went upstairs to talk.