All Characters belong to Sega/Archie except my OCs.

Chapter 19

They say that time always heals even the deepest of wounds. I think that I can say that I am the complete contradiction of that statement. It's been four years since everything happened with Castillo and my lost love but yet I was still feeling the pain of it every single day. Scourge tried to reassure me that things would get better but I started ignoring him after the first year and I still didn't feel any better. I found myself to be very angry and regretful of my decisions in my past. A part of me felt like I should have risked it all to be with her but another part of me felt as if I should have left everything behind and be with her. I guess as long as I would've ended up with her, things would have been fine by me.

So much has changed since then though. Although I continued working for the government for the past four years, I had just quit to settle down with my life. Or more to get Scourge to settle down. He worked with me for the past four years as well but I could see that he wanted more out of life than always just killing people. So, I decided to take both of us out of the program and move down to Pennsylvania in a nice, suburban town. Scourge always complained that it was boring here but I could tell that he did enjoy the serene atmosphere whether he wanted to admit it or not.

My little brother has changed drastically since the day Castillo died though. As we worked together, he started to become more and more humane. At first, he liked to torture our victims and give them slow deaths. But then, as we got closer, he started to be more heartless with the killings and just give them an automatic death. His personality has changed out of the wickedness as well. He's actually really nice, smart, and a smart ass. But then again, he was my little brother so of course he thought it would be fun to annoy me with all of his smart remarks. Those only earned him a good punch in the face though. Yea, we do fist fight often as most brothers do but we never hold any of our fights against each other. It's just what brothers do after all. Scourge was also a ladies' man. Every time I turned around, he was dating some new girl. I guess I couldn't exactly blame him though. I used to be that same guy. With our old job, you couldn't exactly have a long-term committed relationship. Scourge made it work though. When we moved down to the town we live in now, Scourge actually made more of an effort with the girls and is actually now in an exclusive relationship. I was happy for him and I did like the girl so I just let them be.

I, on the other hand, didn't exactly change in the best way. Instead of trying to be more open to my new emotions, I shut them out. Hell, I shut everyone else out too while I was at it. Everyone except Scourge that is. Anyway, I kind of became locked in my own head. I didn't like talking much to other people or going out and doing things. I mostly just stayed in the house and did busy work. Sure it wasn't the best way to handle everything I was feeling but it was working just fine for me. Scourge usually complained that I had also become a bit mean but I ignored him. He could call me mean all he wanted, I honestly didn't care. All I cared about was the girl I had left behind. No matter how hard I tried to be around other girls and get her out of my head, it would never work. I guess I was more in love with her than I thought. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not but I had to deal with it.

Today was Sunday which meant that Scourge was off with his girlfriend and I was left wandering around town. Usually, I went to the local diner and had some coffee or something for lunch. So, that's exactly where I found myself on this sunny summer day. I was dressed in a simple tee shirt with a pair of jeans and sneakers. My curls were grown out a bit at the moment and I had grown out my mustache so I wasn't sure if I was pulling off whatever scruffy look that most girls like. I didn't change much in appearance anyway. I was still muscular, tall, and handsome. Girls still attempted to get in my pants as well. This time, I just didn't let them touch me.

"Hello, Sonic, what can I get you," my usual waitress, Blaze, said to me. She was actually a girl that I managed to maintain a just friends relationship with. Scourge tries to say that it's only because she wasn't into guys but I beg to differ. She was just a cool girl who actually wasn't a slut. She was still pretty though with her long purple hair, bright orange eyes, and porcelain skin. She was tall as well with little curves but it still fit her figure nicely.

"Just coffee for the moment, thank you." She nodded before going back to grab a mug. It wasn't long before she returned, a steaming hot mug in her hand. "Thanks."

"No problem. I will be back when you're ready to actually eat something." I rolled my eyes at her in which she only smiled and walked away. She and Scourge had been complaining to me that I haven't been eating as much as I should be. I didn't really understand that concept though. I mean, I ate three times a day. What more did they want from me?

I looked to the door when I heard the light chime of the bell that signaled that a new customer had come inside. In walked a beautiful young woman with long curls of pink hair that fell down her back like a waterfall, almond shaped eyes that held deep jade irises, sweet face, short curvy figure and caramel colored skin. She was wearing a simple outfit that consisted of a red halter sundress and wedges. She looked around the diner curiously before her eyes landed on me. Now I knew that my facial expression had to be one of surprise and shock but I was even more surprised when a bright smile came across her face. Damn she was beautiful.

Slowly, she walked towards my table, blush crossing her cheeks. "Hi, um, do I know you," she asked, her smile widening at me.

"Yea," I breathed out. "Yea I think you do."

"Do you mind if I sit with you?"

"Oh yea. Of course. Go ahead." She nodded before sitting across from me in the booth. Her brown eyes softened at the sight of my gaze on her. She just looked so beautiful and so unreal. I had to be dreaming. She couldn't really be in front of me, could she?

"Are you okay," she asked. I nodded, blinking a couple times.

"Yea, yea. Sorry, it's just…I haven't seen you in so long. It's strange seeing you here now."

"I agree on the strange part."

"It's a good strange though. I mean, you look good. You look great actually." She blushed.

"Thank you. You look good too, Sonic." My heart fluttered at the sound of my name rolling off of her tongue. It just sounded so right with her soft voice. I just wanted her to say my name again and again, just so that I could feel that fluttering again. Or maybe it wasn't a fluttering at all. Maybe it was piece of my heart getting put back into its place. "So, how have you been?"

"I've could be better honestly. How about you? How have you been doing?"

"I could be better," she said with a smile. She put her hands out on the table, her fingers curled together. I noticed immediately that she still had the ring I had given to her on as well as another diamond ring on her left hand. I felt something bitter burn in me at the sight of the ring. I know that I had told her to move on with her life and find someone else but I never thought that I would see her again. I hadn't thought that I would have to actually witness it.

"You're engaged," I said, nodding to the ring on her finger. "That's good."

"Oh," she said, looking down at the ring. "I'm actually not engaged…anymore."

"Anymore?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "What happened?"

"Okay, do you want the short version or the long version?"

"Long version. I've got time." She smiled, looking down.

"Well, after I went back to Maryland, I met this guy at school. He was totally different from you though. He was a complete nerd, literally. He had the glasses, the lanky figure and the brains and everything. But yet, he somehow managed to sweep me off my feet. So, we dated for the rest of college and a long while after we got out before he proposed to me. I said yes and we started planning the wedding. He wanted something small and intimate which I was perfectly fine with so we got all that together. But not even a month before the wedding, he told me that he was gay."

"Ouch," I said, not able to help myself. She nodded.

"He told me that he thought he was straight when we were dating but one night with a hot stripper and everything comes to light. I mean, he was a really nice guy and we're still friends and everything. It wasn't like he didn't love me because he did but just not in the way I wanted him to. He told me to keep the ring – he had no use for it anyway. So, I just wear it for fashion."

"Oh…wow. I'm sorry, Ames." She shook her head.

"Hey, I'm not stressing about it. Besides, I kind of felt bad when I was dating him."

"Why is that?" She looked up at me, an unreadable expression on her face. Slowly, she reached out to grab my hand. My skin tingled under her soft touch and I felt myself wanting to feel her soft hands all over my body again – just like before.

"Because I didn't love him the way I love you. With you, I always felt alive and free but with him I just felt as if I was trying too hard to be happy. Sure, he was a good friend and boyfriend and everything but he could never compare to you. Not in the way he kissed me or touched me or even the way he looked at me. In the back of my mind, you would still pop up. I guess that's why I really didn't care when he came out the closet. I knew our marriage wouldn't have worked anyway because I was still in love with you." She shook her head, taking her hand off of mine. "Enough about me. Tell me about what's been going on in your life."

"Well, I just continued working for the government for the past few years but I just quit a couple months ago. Currently, I'm working as a detective for the local police station here. It's interesting since I do get to go to other counties and solve mysteries and such." Amy smiled.

"Sounds like a fun job. Are there any girls in your life?"

"Nah. I haven't really been dating since…you know."

"Hey, that's kind of not fair. You tell me to go move on and be happy yet you don't do the same." I chuckled lightly.

"I think I underestimated how hard it really is."

"Yea, more like downgraded it. You made it sound so easy."

"I'm sorry for that. I should've known that was too much to ask of you."

"It's alright. You didn't know that we would actually end up reuniting here in this diner. Kind of random, isn't it?" I chuckled again, shaking my head at her.

"Yes, actually. Very." She smiled, perking up a little bit more. "So, I told you about what's been going on in my life. What's going on in yours? Well, beside the whole gay fiancé thing."

"Well, I got that teaching career I wanted. I wish I could say that it's better than I wanted it to be but I guess I just never expected those kids to be so bad."

"And the fact that you're shorter than all of them so of course they won't listen to you," I teased.

"Hey," she said, leaning over the table to hit my shoulder. "I thought we were actually getting somewhere until you had to go and insult my height like that." I shrugged.

"Sorry but I couldn't help it. Besides, you wouldn't love me if I didn't mess with you about your height like I used to do…" She nodded, looking down to her hands that were now folded in her lap. "You know, I'm surprised at your behavior." She looked back up to me, her eyebrows crinkling in confusion.

"What do you mean? Were you expecting me to act a certain way or something?"

"Honestly, I…I wasn't sure what to expect. Maybe because I hadn't been expecting to ever see you again."

"Well, how do you feel about seeing me now after all of these years."

"I feel better that's for sure. I never stopped worrying about you after you were gone. Um, I'm really happy that we did cross paths." This time I reached my hand out on the table and held it out to her. She blushed lightly but put her small hand in mine. I gave her hand a squeeze before speaking again. "Are you doing anything today?" She shook her head. "You wanna go back to my place and talk more privately about…everything."

"Sure." I smiled at her before starting to get up. Blaze saw me leave so she just waved a goodbye to me as I did to her. Amy saw the exchange but said nothing of it. Probably because I had just told her that my dating life had been nonexistent. At least now maybe it wouldn't be. If she would want to get back with me then that would be great. Then maybe I could go back to feeling whole again. Amy looked up at me when she noticed I was staring at her and raised an eyebrow. I only grabbed her hand and laced my fingers with hers before bringing her fingers to my lips. More blush crossed her cheeks as I kissed her soft skin. The walk home was comfortingly silent as the warm summer sun beat down on us. As we walked, we also watched the active community around us. Kids were outside on their bikes or in their pools, neighbors were outside barbequing or hanging out with friends, and cars rode by contently. I had to say that this neighborhood was very quiet and peaceful. It reminded me of the house that Amy's family had moved to – the place where she had most likely lived for the past few years. The thought of it made my heart sting for a moment before I realized that the very girl I had been missing was standing right next to me.

When we finally reached my house, I was surprised to find Scourge sitting on the couch drinking a beer. Some sports show was on the television and he was watching it intently. Or at least he was before he heard our footsteps. His ice blue colored eyes went to us and they widened at the sight of the girl I was with. "Amy," he exclaimed in shock. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Hi to you too," she said, smiling widely at him. She began to walk towards him. To more of my surprise, Scourge jumped over the couch and gave her a long, tight hug.

"Hey chica," he said as he rocked her lightly. "You look great," he told her as he slowly let her go.

"Thanks. You do too."

"So, how have you been?"

"I'm good. How are you?"

"I've been great. Turns out my big brother isn't so bad after all." Amy giggled. I cleared my throat loudly, making the two of them look to me. "Oh, I'm not supposed to be home. My bad." I narrowed my eyes at Scourge who smiled and looked to Amy. "You know that he hasn't even looked at a girl since you guys broke up. You really got him whipped." Amy blushed brightly as she turned her eyes to me. I couldn't pay much attention to her since I was too busy glaring at my little brother and wondering if I needed to punch him in the throat.

"Come on, Ames. My room is upstairs," I told her, nodding towards the stairway. She nodded before looking to Scourge.

"It was nice to see you again."

"Yea, you too." She sent him a smile before walking towards the stairs. With her back to us, I quickly popped Scourge in the head and walked away before he could try to hit me back. Then Amy would just have a fight on her hands and I highly doubted she wanted that.

She looked around curiously when we entered my room. Although it was bland like most other boys' rooms, I did have a lot of pictures. Most of them were old though. I liked to look at the pictures from my childhood and think about how things could have been different if I could have had Scourge in my life. If I had lived up to the big brother status that had been set for me. I also liked to remember the care and love that Dexter had gave me during that time in my life. Although he was gone, I would never forget how much he loved me and how much I appreciated everything he had done for me. Some of my other pictures were ones of Amy and I. There weren't much of them since Amy didn't like to take pictures but there were enough of them. Usually I would look at them when I was having a bad day or if her absence was becoming too much for me. One look at her bright smile and it would turn my whole day around.

"Scourge seems to be in a better place," Amy said as she took a seat on my bed. I nodded as I took a seat next to her.

"Yea, he's changed a lot since Castillo's death."

"So, I think there's a question that we've both been ignoring since I sat down with you back at the diner." I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Which is…?"

"What are we going to do now? About our relationship. I mean, if there still is one at that."

"Well, that depends. How long are you going to be here for?"

"A while, I hope. I moved in to a small house a couple blocks away from here and caught a job up at one of the high schools. I'm kind of set for a couple years. How long are you here for?"

"I'm not sure. I'm with the county police department here so I don't think I'm going anywhere for a little while."

"Seems like we're both going to be in the same place for a while." I nodded.

"So then that leaves us with the question you just asked me: What are we going to do now?" She shrugged.

"We could start over. You know, try everything over again – just without the crazy exes and gangs and such. We can try having a normal friendship that eventually turns to romance…if that's what you want."

"So start on a clean slate you mean?" She nodded, getting up.

"Yup. So, let's reintroduce ourselves." I raised an eyebrow but got up to comply with her little plan. "Hi, I'm Amy. What's your name?"

"Sonic. It's nice to meet you Amy." I held my hand out.

"It's nice to meet you too," she said as she went to shake my hand. We both stared at each other as we shook hands. I know that in my head, I was cursing the fact that I would have to build my way back up again to have her as mine. All I wanted in that moment was for her to already be mine. Hell, all I've ever wanted these past few years was her and now that I'd gotten her back I knew that I couldn't let her slip away.

With that last thought, I relied on my impulses and pulled her against me. She looked up at me in surprise before I pressed my lips against hers. Immediately, every emotion that I had been harboring inside of me exploded. All of my lust, happiness, love, and desire spun around in my head. The fiery passion that had lost its flame after I lost Amy suddenly came rushing back through my body with even more heat than it did before. I was burning up quickly and Amy's lips were the only thing pulling me through. They just moved so sweetly and perfectly with mine. Plus she just tasted so good and her lips were so soft. I couldn't help but to kiss her more passionately, adding my tongue into our mix of kisses. Amy moaned into my mouth at the slippery contact that our tongues made. The small noise prompted me to pick her up and roughly lay her down on the bed. Her hands that had tangled themselves in my hair tightened around the strands as she pulled softly. I couldn't help but to groan into her mouth. She then moved her hands down across the neck, down my torso and up beneath my shirt. The path left a trail of fire after her fingertips. It didn't help when she rolled us over so that she was on top of me. That only gave my hands the chance to roam her body freely, caressing and squeezing wherever I wanted. Our making out let us farther than we both had expected it to but a couple hours later we weren't really complaining. In fact, I was still kissing her but more slowly now.

"I love you," I murmured against her lips. She smiled, lightly pulling away from me. Her eyes sparkled as the setting sun reflected against them.

"I love you too, Sonic. I love you so much." She kissed me softly once more before pulling away to pull the covers more securely over her exposed body. I pulled her closer to me as I pressed my lips to her forehead. "Promise me that you'll never leave me again."

"I promise." She looked up at me.

"I mean it, Sonic. I don't want to be alone again." I put my hand to her cheek, caressing it softly.

"You won't be." I kissed her softly. "On one condition."

"Which is…?"

"Marry me," I told her, making her eyes widen. "It doesn't have to be right away or anything. You don't have to tell anyone now but I want you to marry me."

"Sonic, we haven't-"

"I don't care. Whatever it is you're going to say: I don't care. Whether it's about how long we've known each other or how much bad could come out of this. I never cared about that with you and I never will. I am in love with you, Amy Rose. I will always be in love with you. You are all that matters to me. You're all that has ever mattered to me. From the moment I saw you in Castillo's office, you mattered to me. You gave me my emotions back, Ames, and that is one thing that no one else could have given me. I know that I hurt you when I walked out of your life but I promise now that I'm not going anywhere. Even if you want me to leave, I will never do that. I'm not going to leave you alone because I know that you are the only girl in my life who is going to make me feel this way and I know that no matter what: you're going to love me…just like you have for the past four years. Marry me, Amy. Marry me and I will never leave your side. I'll give you your big wedding, I'll father your children, and I will be the best husband I can be. All you have to do is say yes." Amy smiled at me as a tear rolled out of her eye.

"I love you," she murmured. "But I can't marry you, Sonic."

"Why not?"

"Because an engagement ring is already on my finger and I'm pretty sure your mother would have wanted it be an engagement ring rather than just a promise ring, don't you think?" I smiled.

"So, what are you trying to tell me?"

"I'm telling you that I said yes to marrying you a long time ago." I shook my head.

"God, I love you." She giggled as I pressed my lips against hers once more and again flung us both into a rage of fiery passion.

I remember the days more clearly after that now. I remembered our lavish Disney World wedding with Amy's beautiful gown and her beautiful glowing face. I remembered the day Amy told me she was pregnant – and I remembered being more excited than she was about that fact. I remembered vividly the day our first son was born but not because of the fact that I had to watch her give birth which was a bit unsettling for me despite my bloody background. I also remembered our other two children's births after that. I remembered all of their first steps, their first words, their first smiles. I remembered loving them more than anything in the world- well except their mother but the point is still given. I guess I could say that I remembered my life because of the happiness that it was filled with. The happiness that only came because of a small girl with a huge smile and a warm heart.

Sometimes I think back to what my life would have been like if I never met Amy and I always wind up with that it would be filled with emptiness. I wouldn't be able to be happy or experience how it feels to love someone – or even be loved in a romantic aspect. Instead I would have gone on thinking that emotions were a stupid waste of space in our bodies. Boy, was I so wrong back then. Since I've been with Amy, I have realized that emotions are the one thing that do matter in our lives. If it weren't for those emotions then who would we be? I know that I was a cold-hearted robot with almost no real purpose in living. Imagine if we all were like that just because we took advantage of the person that our emotions make us up to be. I've learned that emotions make us who we are. Sure, they may weaken us at times when we are sad or angry but for the most part they lift us up with joy and love. A long time ago, I said that emotions were overrated. Well, I was wrong.

Emotions are very underrated.

And there's that. Although I would love to write an epilogue for this story, I feel as though everything is tied up in this chapter. But I will still consider writing a epilogue just to ease everyone's minds. Thank you all so much for reading this story. This story has meant a lot to me not only because I put a lot of effort into it but because I feel as if it's more about finding yourself than it is just a love story, if you all know what I mean. Anyway, enough of my babbling. Once again thank you all for reading and supporting this story! Love you all!