His phone vibrated on the night stand. Instinctively, he picked it up and looked at the notification. It was 6:34 AM, and he had a single notification. A text message from Amy.

"You're lying wide awake in bed right now, aren't you?"

Tails unlocked his phone and typed out a reply. "How'd you know?"

"Call it your best friend's intuition ;P"

The kitsune smiled as he typed out his next response. "You know me so well. Why are you up early?"

"Getting ready for work. Gotta be there to check how well the sale went yesterday, then I got another meeting and then I have to schedule meetings with Knuckles and Sonic."

"Being a C.E.O. is tough, huh?"

"Being a private contractor for fixing up machines probably isn't much better."

"Hey, it's got variety. One day I'm fixing some asshole's vintage plane, the next I'm explaining to someone that it's not a good idea to drill a hole into their fridge, put the drill down, stop, I'm on my way, what is wrong with you"

"XD There's no way that actually happened"

Tails groaned as memories of that phone call flooded his head. "Not everyone is as smart as you and I, Amy."

"Yeah, that's fair. So… are you gonna be ok?"

The kitsune took a deep breath. "I should be, I think."

"I know I'm gonna be busy today, but if you call me I'll do my best to pick up. I know how this stuff can affect you."

He smiled at his phone. "Thank you, but I think I'll be alright. You're the best"

"I'm just doing what a friend should do. Try and get some sleep, ok? Last thing you need is to show up grouchy."

"Yeah, you're right. I'll do my best to get some sleep in. Goodnight"

"Goodnight, Tails, and good luck :)"

Tails set his phone back on his nightstand. With a sigh, he rolled over onto his side and closed his eyes, doing his best to get some much needed shut-eye.

Charmy stared up at the ceiling, lost in thoughts. The story Espio had told him the day prior was flooding back to his mind. Not just the story, but the argument he and Vector had. He shook his head. He wasn't getting any sleep tonight, he could tell. A shuffling sound from the hallway caught his attention. In the hall stood Cream, dressed in her nightgown tired out of her mind.

"You can't sleep either, huh?" the bee said, giving her a smile. She shook her head, a solemn expression on her face. He sat up on the couch and patted the seat next to him. Cream walked over to the couch and took the spot, cuddling up against him. "You nervous?" he asked her as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"Yes," she replied softly.

Charmy nodded. "I get that. You sure you don't want me to come with you?"

"I'm sure. It would really be for the best if I tackled this head on, alone."

"But you're not alone, you know."

Cream looked up at him and smiled. "I know, but still. I think it's better this way."

Charmy kissed her on the forehead. "I understand. Try and get some sleep in ya, alright? Don't wanna be all tired and out of it when talking to Tails later. Might send the wrong message."

"You're right. Although, knowing him, I bet he's having trouble sleeping as well." She giggled lightly to herself.

"Heh, maybe. So, you ready to head off to bed?"

The rabbit turned over a little and pulled his blanket over herself. "I'm already in bed," she whispered.

Charmy blushed profusely. He leaned against the arm of the couch, her warm body resting against his. For now, this moment felt perfect, but part of him was terrified of what her mother would say upon the sight of them sleeping together. He shook his head. It didn't matter right now, he was dead tired. He leaned his head against hers and closed his eyes.

A long, cold shower. A big bowl of cheerios. Three cups of coffee. His roommate nursing a hangover in the living room after getting hammered off three beers the night prior. Heavyweight fighter, lightweight drinker. If it were another day, he would've made that joke, but it was the last day of the longest week of his life.

"Alright, let's get this over with," Tails muttered, turning on the radio as the skyscrapers came into view. The radio crackled to life and he turned on his microphone. "This is Tornado IV to Station Square Air Traffic Control. Requesting permission to fly over Station Square. On route to Blue Ridge Zone, over."

"This is Air Traffic Control to Tornado IV," a voice on the radio said, "permission granted. Good morning, Mr. Prower. I'll get you connected to Eric pronto." The kitsune let out an exhausted groan.

"MY MAN, MILES!" Eric yelled over the radio, causing Tails to flinch. "How are you on this fine, sunny morning?"

"Overwhelmed with dread and anxiety."

"O-oh… I see…" From the sound of his voice, Tails could tell he was thrown off guard. "Something wrong, man? You got jury duty or something?"

Tails sighed. "I wish I had jury duty. I'm on my way to talk to my ex whom I haven't spoken to in five years. I don't know why I'm really, like, telling you this, but honestly I've had the craziest week and this just feels like the cherry on top."

"Ahhhhh I see, I understand. Yeah, it can be pretty awkward talking to your ex's, but… she doesn't like, hate you or anything right?"

"I don't think so, but-"

"Then start there. In my experience, if you go into a situation expecting the worst outcome, that's all you'll get. Who knows, maybe something good will come of this. Heck, I met Jackie through one of my ex's, and we're getting hitched in a few months!"

"I don't know, Eric. It's just that… she broke up with me, and now she wants to talk to me, and I just-"

"Woah, woah, wait. She wants to talk to you? Then that's a good thing! It means she wants to see you, dude. Calm your nerves, man. You'll be alright, you'll see."

A smile crossed Tails' face. "You're right. Thanks, Eric. You're not a bad guy, you know that?"

If Tails could see his face, he imagined the man on the other end of the radio would be blushing. "Awww, thanks Miles! That means a lot coming from you."

"You can call me Tails, you know."

"I-I can? I always figured, like, you know, only your friends and acquaintances could call you that…"

The kitsune chuckled. "Well, if it helps, I met your fiancé like, twice so far, so we're practically acquaintances."

"Ohhh, yeah!" Eric let out a loud, hearty laugh. "She told me about that! Ran into you and Amy Rose at her work and the mall yesterday!"

"Quite literally, on the last one."

Eric's loud, hard laughter came over the radio once again. "Yeah, she told me about that, too! Whatcha think of her? Ain't she wonderful?"

Tails scratched his head nervously. "She's, umm… well, there's never a dull moment when she's around, that's for sure."

"You got that right!" Eric sighed lovingly. "She's a gem… she's like a rose right after a light rain that sparkles in the sun thanks to all the sunshine hitting the water droplets on it… and if she were here right now, she'd say I'm like a jet taking her off into the skies of love…" He let out a long, loving sigh.

"That's good to hear, Eric," Tails said, a hint of sadness in his voice. "Glad you found someone you love."

That hint of sadness didn't go unnoticed by the man on the other side of the radio connection. "Say, uh, Mi- er, Tails," Eric said, a little nervous, "do you got a special someone in your life? If you don't mind me asking, of course. You don't gotta answer if you don't wanna."

Tails hesitated, but decided to be honest. "Well… there is someone I've got feelings for, but…" He hung his solemnly. "I don't think she feels the same way. Even if she did, I don't know if I'll ever be able to tell her how much she means to me."

"How much does she mean to you, Tails?" Eric asked, curious.

The kitsune smiled. "Oh, she's the best. She's always there for me. She's always hearing me out on problems I have, always making me laugh and smile… smile…" He sighed lovingly. "Oh, Eric, every time she smiles at me I melt away like butter. You know what I mean?"

"I know exactly what you mean, Tails. Jackie makes me feel the same way… but ya know, I'm not the one you should be telling this all to. I know it's tough, but I think you'll feel a lot better if you tell her how you feel."

Tails sighed. "Yeah, you're right. I'll get to it one of these days, I promise."

"Better do it sooner rather than later, Miles. Don't miss your chance to take this moment."

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind. Oh, hey, looks like I'm reaching the edges of Blue Ridge Zone. Can you connect me with the main tower so I can sign off?"

"Sure thing! And hey, whenever you're in Station Square, you can talk to me about whatever. I'm here for ya! Even if we haven't met, aside from that one time, but… eh whatever. See ya later, Miles!"

As Eric swapped over to the main control, a thought crossed Tails' mind. "You know, he's not that bad of a guy after all… he keeps saying I met him once, but… when?" He snapped out of his thoughts and signed off to the main control tower as he exited the city.

The blue grass crunched beneath her boots as she walked out of the small, local town. "He said I'd see his plane by a picnic area," Cream muttered. "Am I here too early?" She looked around, confused. Suddenly, what looked like a jet passed over her head and went in for a landing not too far away from her. She watched the plane land and muttered, "Yeah, I guess I am."

She marched through the trees towards where she last saw the plane. Eventually, she reached a clearing where some picnic tables were set up. What looked to her like a jet plane of some kind was parked in a field not too far away. Flying out of the cockpit using his two tails like a propeller was none other than her very own ex. He landed on the ground and walked over to a bench. She followed suit and walked to the same bench.

The two sat on the edge, opposite of each other, neither facing the other. They sat in silence for a few minutes, neither sure of what to say. Ultimately, it was Cream who broke the silence. "So… how have you been?" she asked.

"Honestly?" Tails replied. "This has been one of the craziest weeks of my life. In fact, if someone wrote a story about my life starting from the beginning of the month up until now, this week would probably be like the vast majority of the chapters up to this point. How about you?"

Cream shrugged. "Eh… it's been up and down, I guess. Been better, been worse. What about you?"

Tails blinked. "I… I just told you."

"Oh, right."

The two sat in silence for a little longer. Suddenly, both of them turned to face each other, a look of sorrow on their face. "I'M SO SORRY!" they yelled in unison. The two of them looked at each other in surprise. "Sorry for what?! I'm the one in the wrong!"

"Woah, woah, hold up," Tails said, "what did you even do?"

"What did I do?" Cream asked, "What did you do?"

"I- uh- I don't know but I did something wrong!"

The rabbit crossed her arms. "Seriously?"

"Well, what did you do?"

"I… umm…"

Tails scratched his head. "Hey wait, what are you even apologizing to me? I thought you hated me or something."

Cream looked at him in surprise. "What?! I don't hate you! I thought you hated me for-"

"For breaking up with me? That's dumb, why would I hate you for that?"

"Well- I- if you didn't hate me, why didn't you ever talk to me?!"

"Wh- you told me not to talk to you for a while, I figured you would message me at some point!"

Confusion crossed the young rabbit's face. "I did?"

"Yes! And you said I loved machines more than you!"

"I did?"

"HOW DO YOU NOT REMEMBER THIS?!"

"IT WAS HALF A DECADE AGO!"

The two stared at each other intently, neither looking away from each other's eyes. Tails' eyes narrowed. "Hold on a minute," he said, piecing something together in his head. "Did we not speak to each other for five whole years because of some serious miscommunication?"

Cream thought for a moment. "I… guess? It seems that way."

"You know, come to think of it, when you said I loved my machines more than you, do you think you may have… miscommunicated what you meant by that?"

"Well, it's not out of the realm of possibility…"

"And furthermore, do you think I may have miscommunicated some stuff to you?"

"I don't doubt that."

"So overall, our relationship really ended because we severely lacked the ability to communicate with each other properly, as a good couple should."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense."

The two continued to stare each other down, serious looks and all. Suddenly, Tails burst out into laughter. He threw his head back and grabbed his aching gut. Cream stared at him in confusion. Then, she thought about it for a moment. Soon enough, she was howling with laughter herself. The two sat there across from each other, laughing like fools.

"Sweet Chaos," Tails said in between fits of laughter, "we are so dumb!"

"Hey, maybe I'm an idiot or something," Cream wheezed, "but aren't you a genius? What's your excuse?"

"Hey, tech smarts don't equal social smarts!"

The two of them burst into laughter again, tears of joy spilling from their eyes.

Once they calmed down and wiped away their tears, they looked at each other and smiled. "So, umm…" Tails muttered. "I… uh… the break up hit me pretty hard." He avoided her gaze as he recounted his past, though the smile didn't fade. "I was… well, a wreck. I shut myself in, stopped caring for myself, stopped responding to calls… all that. For a while, I think I blamed you for that, but… I think it's more my fault for not talking to someone about how I felt about you breaking up with me. That lack of communication we had in our relationship lingered into our break up, I guess…" He chuckled to himself softly. "For a while I was scared of you. Scared that you hated me. Scared that… I don't know. It was a pretty irrational fear in hindsight. I just wanna say that, well…" He looked her in the eyes again. "I'm sorry for any pain I might have caused you in the past."

The smile on Cream's face never left, and it didn't leave as she closed her eyes and collected her thoughts. "When I said you cared about machines more than me," she said softly, "I think… I think I was upset that you spent so much time building things and fixing up your planes instead of, say, walking in the park with me or going on dates. Whatever I meant, there were better ways to have phrased it. On the train ride to my new home that day… I felt like a monster. I didn't want to remember what had just happened, and… I guess I blocked it out." She opened her eyes and looked into his. "Miles, I'm really sorry for any and all pain I've caused you."

After a moment of pause, Tails held out his hand. "Let's forgive each other and leave this in the past."

Cream took his hand. "As long as we get to be friends again after this."

The kitsune nodded. "I'm ok with that."

The two shook hands, then stood up and gave each other a hug. They sat at that table for hours, catching each other up on the events of their lives over the past five years. Cream laughed at Tails' emo phase. Tails congratulated Cream on her new relationship.

"So, you're Amy's new best friend huh?" the rabbit elbowed the kitsune playfully. "Who told you you could replace me?"

"I-I don't mean to be a replacement or anything," Tails said defensively. "It's just that, we've gotten so close and we've been there for each other so much and stuff, it's like…"

"Relax, I'm just messing with you. I'm glad Amy found a new bestie after I moved away. We're still friends, it's just hard to stay super close when you live so far away from each other."

"Ah, yeah, that makes sense. Charmy's kinda like your new best friend anyways, right? On top of you dating him, that is."

"Hmm… I guess you're right about that."

Cream thought for a moment, before she gave Tails a smug, all-knowing look. "You've got a thing for your bestie, don't you Miles?"

Tails felt the fur on his back stand on end. "What?" He looked at her nervously. "Heh, uh, what makes you think that?"

"You spoke pretty fondly of her earlier. Almost like you were picturing her face and thinking…" she drew a heart in the air with her fingers.

The kitsune let out a defeated sigh. "Ok, fine. It's true, I've got feelings for Amy. But… she doesn't know that yet, so don't go telling her about it, ok?"

"Your secret's safe with me, Miles," she promised. "But if you want her to know, then you should really tell her how you feel."

"That's the second time I've been told that today," Tails whined. "And like… what, the fifth time this week?" He shook his head. "I just don't know how to do it. I always feel like I gotta wait for the right moment or something… I don't know. How did you do it, huh? How'd you tell me how you felt?"

"Well," Cream said, "I kinda just walked up to you one day and was all like-" she put her hands together and rested her head on them, making a cute face, "-'Oh Tails, I think you're so cute and handsome and nice, won't you please go on a date with me?'" She put her hands back to her side and relaxed her face. "Something like that."

"Well, there's no way I'm going to be able to do something like that," Tails grumbled.

Cream rolled her eyes. "You overthink things way too often. Just tell her when you're ready to. Even if she doesn't feel the same way, I'm sure you'll both still be friends."

The kitsune looked at her with eyes full of hope. "Are you sure about that?"

She placed a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "I'm sure."

Tails smiled. "Thanks Cream, you're the best. Let's not wait five years before talking to each other again."

"I'm not waiting that long to talk to you again, that's for sure."

Tails looked up at the sky. "It's pretty late huh? Maybe we should say goodbye for today."

Cream nodded. "Yeah… it was good catching up with you. Glad there's no hard feelings."

"Same here."

The two hugged each other one last time. As they went their separate ways, Cream turned to Tails. "Hey, Tails?" she called to him.

"What's up?" he called back, poking his head out of the cockpit.

"Since our break-up inspired the Tornado IV, doesn't that mean I'm entitled to a free ride home?"

The kitsune smiled at her. "Nice try!" He ducked back into the cockpit and closed the latch. Soon enough, the plane was taking off and flying out of her view.

Cream shook her head and smiled at the plane in the sky. "Can't say I wouldn't do the same," she sighed. She made the trek back to the town, dialing her boyfriend's number so she could tell him to pick her up at the station back in Green Hill.

From the window of his plane, Tails watched her as he flew away. He pulled out his phone and opened up his text messages with Amy.

"Well, we spoke," he typed, "and it turns out, we were worried for nothing. We're friends again."

He put his phone away and focused on the sky ahead of him. He smiled as he stared ahead, a weight lifted off his shoulders. A slow inhale followed shortly by a slow exhale was enough to put his mind at ease. With how crazy his week had been, it ended on a positive note. There was just one last thing on his mind that bothered him.

"Amy… how do I tell you how I feel?"

Author's Note: Thanks again for the positive reviews. I hope you guys like this one, I know it didn't go how a lot of you may have thought it would, but that's kind of the point. Remember to read & review. Thank you all for supporting this story!