Déjà Brew

The next morning Amy strode down the waterfront running through the City Center, wind tussling her quills that had escaped her knit cap. Warmer weather forecasted for the weekend was beginning to arrive, briefly chasing away the otherwise brisk chill of autumn.

A small city of white canvas tents, all roped closed ahead of the opening of festivities that Friday, lined the pathway ahead. The Harvest Festival was a holdover from an earlier age, a final celebration before the cold weather sent many people into deep burrows for the winter – emerging only on the Winter Solstice to placate the gods – until spring defrosted the land. Central heating eliminated the need for subterranean living or hibernation, but the big party remained. Might as well keep the fun parts of tradition, right?

The several blocks walk from the Metro station to the rendezvous location found Amy’s mind wandering. She’d woken that morning to a slew of nasty messages posted publicly on many of her Promtagram posts. Rouge had warned her something like this might happen, but the speed by which the abuse appeared was unsettling. She’d spent a good portion of her bus ride into the City deleting comments and blocking accounts.

If that wasn’t enough, Orion had sent her several walls of text overnight in an attempt to sway her to his point of view. Just witnessing the length of his messages sapped her will to read them, especially since he’d seemed to have slipped into an academic tone with his diction, vocabulary, and comma usage growing more complex and prosaic. Amy closed the messages, tossing processing them far down on her to-do list. She had enough trouble in her real life to worry about her online one right now.

The OO boards were still a battlefield. The dividing line seemed to be how poorly one’s experience with Alphas or the public services were. Young Omegas that felt isolated at school and living in fear of sexual violence from random Alphas were drawn to the idea of a safe space, while many older Omegas who had learned to live in the current system disliked the idea of change of any kind. Then there were a few who decried that the consolidation of Omega populations was the first step of the eventual genocide in Soleanna nearly a century prior, a topic which tended to kill any thread in which it appeared. No one liked to be told it could happen here.

Amy approached her destination. The flagship location for Kraken Koffee, an opulent alter to the caffeine gods, occupied a three-story corner of a steel and glass high-rise facing the river. Primer real estate hardly existed in the City. Now that Amy knew Shadow was involved with KK, the signs were obvious. The black and red of the imposing Kraken mascot were Shadow’s coloration. She’d have to ask him sometime what mythical sea creatures had to do with coffee. That would be a good ice-breaker for their date that weekend.

Inside, the coffee shop was bustling with well-dressed men and women on their breaks from whatever fancy office jobs they worked in the surrounding skyscrapers, lounging on modern-looking furniture in shades of grey and burgundy. Amy felt a little awkward in her casual coat and simple hat. She looked around, but no one seemed to be overtly looking for her. Vector’s message had been frustratingly vague, telling her the location and time only. How was she supposed to find whoever she was to meet in this busy place?

Puffing out her cheeks, she got in line to order. After her long public transit trip, a cup of something warm and sweet would hit the spot. She was here and she’d take a selfie of herself to prove it. If the client couldn’t be bothered to show up or find her, then that wasn’t any skin off her nose.

As she ordered a lavender latte, Liam sprang to the forefront of her thoughts. Her gaze softened. She’d learned a lot about him since the last time they hung out. There was part of her that wanted to abandon him, that was afraid of him and what the jackal could be capable of. But a bigger, softer part couldn’t bring herself to desert him. Liam had been left to rot by society and the least she could do was hear his side of events.

“Oh, Miss Rose!” The cashier exclaimed after Amy swiped her rewards card, causing her to flinch. “Your order is on the house!” The red-aproned gecko announced cheerily. Frazzled by the sudden unexpected development, Amy thanked her quietly and shuffled away to wait for her order to be made.

Not two minutes later, a caracal in a button-up with a name tag labeling her a Ship Captain (they were really leaning into the theming) approached her. “Miss Rose!” Amy blushed at the honorific. She didn’t like this.

“Y-yes?” Amy’s grip on her purse strap tightened.

“This way, please.” The woman beamed and swept out her hand, directing Amy to the stairs to the upper levels.

“B-but my drink-“

The perfect service smile did not falter. “I will personally bring it to you once it is ready.”

“O-okay.” Amy did not like this. Meekly, she followed the corporately chipper woman up the stairs. At the top, they took a sharp turn. The lady pulled aside a set of stanchions preventing ascension to the third floor and gestured for Amy to go up. Swallowing, she did.

Surmounting the stairs, Amy found the entire area deserted. The liminal space sent her heart racing, the emptiness screaming trap! to her hindbrain. She about faced and saw the caracal replacing the stanchions below her.

“Miss Amy Rose?” A man’s voice addressed her and she jumped. Twisting and turning, Amy’s foot slipped off the top step and her body suddenly flooded with adrenaline as she lost her balance. A strong hand gripped her upper arm and pulled her away from the yawning maw of the stairwell.

Amy’s skin screamed at the contact and her quills flared under her cap as she regained her footing. Ripping herself from the burning hold, she turned on her captor/savior and froze.

Before her stood Shadow. Dark quills, red markings, sharp suit, tall hedgehog. Her mind, hopped up on adrenaline, seemed to sing, but her instincts hissed and snarled at a wrongness she couldn’t put into words yet. Her eyes darted across his form and the details emerged to support the conclusion her gut already knew full well.

This man was not Shadow.

His quills upturned softer, build slimmer, fur a shade lighter. Crimson marked his face, but differently. His scent filled the air, irrefutably Alpha and sparking Amy’s instincts, but it lacked the wild ferocity of Shadow’s, instead harboring a steady solidity, an establishment of dominance that entertained neither challenge nor need to assert itself. And his eyes, similarly intense and sharp, but very much an almost luminescent yellow.

“Forgive me.” The man spoke with the same accent as Shadow, but his voice was higher pitched than Shadow’s deep baritone, though still wholly masculine. “I did not mean to startle you.”

She stumbled away from the stranger. “Who are you?!” Amy demanded, her voice tight. She caught a whiff of her own distressed scent expressing from her open necked sweater. Her excessive regimen of deodorizers seemed to be losing effectiveness under the onslaught of her recent stress.

The man straightened and then bent slightly at the waist, bowing in a way that made her Omega instincts shudder with pleasure. The deference was flattering. “I am Eclipse Kintobor. I believe you have had the pleasure of meeting my brother, Shadow.” Straightening, he extended his hand to her. “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Amy took another step back, leaving Eclipse’s hand hanging in the air, the tumult of her thoughts threatening to overwhelm her. Why would Shadow put her through all this cloak and dagger just to meet his brother? Surely, he couldn’t be that cruel or out of touch? Her eyes darted around quickly, trying to spot any more surprise guests. Would Shadow really want Amy to meet his family by herself? He had to know this would frighten her-

Unless he didn’t know.

“He doesn’t know you’re meeting me, does he?” A pitiful shame and fear coiled deep in her gut. What would Shadow do when he learned she’d been alone with another Alpha without him? Stop it! They were hardly together! Amy was her own person who could make her own decisions!

Instead of answering her question, Eclipse’s extended hand swept to the side, gesturing towards a comfortable pair of modern-styled club chairs facing each other across a low table set with an elegant arrange basket of the same croissants (shit, he had her) Shadow had fed her just the previous morning. “Would you please be so kind as to join me?”

Amy glanced between the chairs, Eclipse, and the stairs. She balled her fists, leveraging her fearfulness against her impulse to submit. “Answer me!” She demanded.

Eclipse was unphased by her vehemence and his yellow eyes considered her closely. “You have surmised correctly.” He spoke with such clarity and control that Amy felt embarrassed for her tone, like she was some uncouth child. “Shadow is unaware of my efforts to arrange a meeting to speak with you. I wholeheartedly ask for your forgiveness for what must seem like an ambush. Though it sounds a poor excuse, my ulterior motive was to judge your reaction to such events.”

Amy’s ears pinned back under her cap and her quills continued to stretch the knit threads. Judge her reaction? What was she, some sort of trained animal he was sizing up? A purchase he was evaluating? Indignity flared in her and she almost stormed down the stairs.

Noticing Amy’s obvious affront, Eclipse pressed on. “You are, of course, under no obligation to accept my company and I have no reservations regarding how quickly you will inform my brother of this interaction.” He placed a hand flat against his chest. “I will accept full responsibility for any and all discomfort you may experience. I will weather Shadow’s wrath in penance.”

Shadow’s wrath. His anger. His rage. The darkness inside him he fights…It gave Amy pause. She had seen how gentle he could be, how caring and attentive he was to her in her most distressed moments. But she had seen blazing hatred in his eyes as he glared down the stairwell at Barry and the bruises he’d left on Sonic’s face. And how the spitting rancor had been followed by a desperate remorse…

Perhaps Eclipse was presenting Amy with an opportunity. He wanted to learn about her, likely inspired by some form of brotherly affection, and she could leverage that to learn more about Shadow.

Or she could run away.

“That being said,” Eclipse continued. “I do hope you will agree to speak with me.”

Just as Amy was begrudgingly about to accept, the sound of the stanchions scraping against the ground sounded up the stairwell. Amy flinched as her attention was drawn to the caracal woman ascending the stairs with a tray. If the woman found it strange that both of them were haunting the landing, she did not let it show on her face.

Eclipse gestured at the chairs once more and Amy allowed herself to be directed to sit. Her posture remained ramrod straight, as if prepared to bolt at the slightest provocation. Eclipse seated himself opposite her, leaning back into the neatly stuffed burgundy upholstery and crossing one of his legs over the other, revealing socks of a color with his tie. Comfortable and commanding all at once.

The store manager placed Amy’s drink before her, contained in an elegant ceramic coffee mug rather than the black and red disposable cup with which she was familiar, and delicately positioned the handle to point at a sharp right angle to Amy, giving her a clear view of the Kraken Koffee logo embossed on the porcelain.

The woman placed a similar mug of black coffee in front of Eclipse along with a covered ramekin paired with a white bell creamer pitcher. He thanked her politely. “Please don’t hesitate to ask if there is anything else I or our staff can do for you!” She declared before nodding and leaving.

Eclipse leaned forward and doped his coffee with cream and fine white sugar. “If you would permit me a favor, please inform Shadow I take his coffee scandalously adulterated when you tell him of this meeting. I would like to take all my beatings in sequence to save time.” He delivered the line deadpan.

Despite herself, the corner of Amy’s muzzle curled, and she released a small huff. The beginnings of a self-satisfied smirk ghosted Eclipse’s lips and Amy found her face heating. The similarities between the brothers’ mannerisms and appearance were uncanny.

Amy stared at her latte. A ten tentacled kraken was expertly constructed in foam along the surface of the drink, lines edged in either cinnamon or cocoa powder. She didn’t know whether to be flattered or repulsed. Wealth really entitled one to the best of everything, including the time, attention, and talent of other people. And Shadow wanted to share this privilege with her. She should be more grateful. How could she even conceive of declining his offers?

Her eyes slid to the tray of delectably arranged croissants and her stomach grumbled. She reached forward and took one. “I’ll tell him it wasn’t all bad. I got to have another one of these.” She lifted the pastry as an example and then took a bite. Holy shit, those croissants were just ridiculously amazing! She managed to resist the urge to either moan or stuff the remainder directly into her gullet.

“Ah,” His muzzle bent into a small smirk, “so you are responsible for his unexpectedly glowing review.” Amy frowned, unable to question verbally due to how full of pastry her mouth was. “To put it diplomatically, my brother possesses an extremely discerning pallet when it comes to certain products.” He grinned, lifting his cup to his lips. “To put it plainly, he’s a damn snob when it comes to things like coffee beans or puff pastry.”

Choking on flaky layers, Amy covered her mouth to prevent putting masticated baked goods on display as she laughed. “He did mention,” She spoke once she finished giggling, “something about City water being bad or something.”

Eclipse raised a gloved hand to block his mouth from view as he laughed. With a strange sensation in her chest, Amy recognized the polite gesture. A mated Alpha’s fangs were exclusively for their Omegas, and thusly it was a show of respect to their Mates to hide them from view of other Omegas. That explained Eclipse’s strong, yet stable scent. He had claimed an Omega and had no instinctual designs on Amy. The realization felt like a warm blanket on Amy’s exposed shoulders, and she found herself relaxing back into her stupidly comfortable seat.

“Bien sûr, cet imbécile prétendrait préférer une patrie qu'il prétend détester.” Eclipse mumbled to himself. When Amy’s brow creased, he cleared his throat and said, “Excuse me. Though I would love to continue to build rapport, I’m afraid my schedule demands a level of urgency. May I suggest a structure to our conversation? Let us exchange questions with the commitment to answer truthfully.”

Truthfully. The word alone made her jaw clench slightly. Rouge had said that Shadow’s brother was the only member of his family safe to meet and Amy was feeling comfortable, though Eclipse had a metered sharpness to him similar to Shadow’s. Like a knife’s, but was the blade pointed away or towards her?

This could be an exercise, she concluded, much like her experiments with physical closeness to Sonic. Amy could practice truthfulness with a new acquaintance with whom she did not need to tread lightly around preexisting lies.

“Okay.”

“Would you like to go first?” He lifted his hand, motioning for her to go ahead.

Croissant half-way to her open mouth, Amy froze. “S-sure…” Put on the spot, her mind blanked. What did she want to know about Shadow? Everything. Amy wanted to know everything about Shadow, but how could she put that in words? She had a million questions about Shadow but none of them seemed to be making themselves known at the moment.

Should she even ask about Shadow? Gaining information like this felt a tad disloyal, like she was sneaking around behind his back. She hadn’t asked for this opportunity…and could she really trust Eclipse’s answers? Amy would have the chance to ask Shadow himself that weekend on their date…but until then?

What could she ask? What should she ask? What did he like to do for fun? Why didn’t he have an Omega already? What would he like for a Solstice gift? Was there anything between him and Rouge? How old was he? Amy flushed in frustration, stuffing the rest of the pastry into her mouth to both quell her anxiety and to buy herself time. She hardly knew anything about Shadow at all. Little more than he had particular opinions on coffee and that he couldn’t-

“Do you know how to make pancakes?” Holy crap did she instantly regret asking such a stupid question.

Eclipse’s eyes widened slightly, the strange question clearly catching him unawares, before they narrowed in particularly close scrutiny. Amy held firm, fighting the urge to backpedal and instead washing the croissant down with a swig of her coffee. Then she took a Danish with a ruby red filling (Strawberry? Raspberry?).

The dark-colored hedgehog did not answer immediately, perhaps contemplating if the off-the-wall question had some deeper meaning. An innuendo or in-joke, perhaps? Finally, he replied with a slow and clear cadence, as if some grave threat loomed over them should he answer incorrectly. “I have not yet made pancakes, but, should the need arise, I would like to think that I could rise to the challenge.”

Amy wanted to make fun of the smartly dressed man. Instead, she just let herself be heartened that if Eclipse took that question seriously, he was likely to answer others with equal honesty.

Eclipse’s eyes shifted away as he thought. His brow pinched and he made eye contact with Amy. Her scalp prickled under the intensity, but she did not blanche. “Is…Shadow incapable of making pancakes?” He asked cautiously.

“Uh…” Amy’s ears pinned, her heartrate quickening for fear of embarrassing her Alpha Shadow. “Is that your question?” She channeled Sonic as she dodged the question.

He smirked. “Is that yours?”

“Either way it’s my turn again.” Amy’s heart was pounding with exhilaration. She wasn’t entirely certain where her wit or speed of thought was coming from, but she didn’t want to risk losing either by questioning it.

Reflexively, his hand rose to cover his smile. “You did not answer my question, but I will allow it.” Well, at least Amy could say she hadn’t outted Shadow’s culinary abilities explicitly.

Okay, time to not make a fool of herself again. “Shadow hadn’t mentioned you, but he said he…had a sister.” Eclipse’s face hardened in an instant. “So…do you have other siblings?”

Eclipse shifted forward in his seat, straightening his back. “Shadow is my elder by two years and we share a mother, our father’s Beta. Yes,” He swallowed thickly, a strange show of weakness in his otherwise calm and collected demeanor, “we did have a sister who was by our father’s Omega.” He threaded his fingers together and clenched his hands. “Her name was Maria. She would be of an age with Shadow were she still with us.”

Maria. The name caught on a memory. Something Rouge had said…Right! Amy’s eyes grew wide. At the benefit at Shadow’s home, all extra donations were to benefit the Maria Kintobor Memorial Foundation. Shadow had started a charity in his sister’s honor. A warm fondness radiated from Amy’s chest. How bittersweet.

“I’m sorry.” Amy offered perfunctorily.

“It has been twelve years since Maria’s passing.” Eclipse sighed. “I am genuinely surprised Shadow spoke to you about her. Maria is a subject to which he remains especially sensitive.” He grimaced and said quietly, “Surtout compte tenu des événements récents.”

Amy frowned, not appreciating being unable to understand the whole conversation. “I’m sorry?”

Eclipse blinked. “Please excuse me. I keep forgetting myself.” He took a sip of his coffee. “Though Shadow and I may disagree and occasionally…scuffle, we remain on good terms. It is a very common fraternal relationship. He resents my stubborn determination to maintain a positive relationship with our parents, and I resent his general childishness.”

“Childishness?” Amy couldn’t help the spear of indignation that lanced through her. How dare he insult Shadow like that!

Eclipse covered his wide, wolfish smirk. “Yes, when you recount this conversation, please use that term exactly. It shall add a layer to his embarrassment once Shadow calms down.”

Amy’s brow pinched. “And…that is something you would like?”

Eclipse gave her a closed lipped smirk and took a slow sip of his beverage. “I am not a saint. I find a certain amount of antagonism enjoyable.” Amy frowned, but didn’t have a reply. He continued, “It has become my turn.” His eyes grew sharp and Amy felt herself stiffen under the scrutiny. “What do you know of the Robotnik Family?”

That they’d paid for Liam’s release. That they came from Petrovia. That they had more money than she could comprehend. All facts she’d learned from Vector, but only because of their involvement with Liam, which instilled any answer she could give with danger.

Wait. She had heard the name before Vector brought them up, back in the warehouse with Liam…and before that on the news! Thank god for publicly available information.

“Uh, I think they’re a rich family that owns a lot of companies.” Eclipse studied her face but remained silent. Amy blinked rapidly, becoming strangely unsure if she was lying or not. “They recently bought Starline Pharma who took the NHS Omega suppressant contract from KLS.”

Eclipse hummed. “Yes, in a very intentional slight to Shadow personally.”

“What?”

“To win the contract,” Eclipse’s voice took on the rough tone of restrained anger, “Starline undercut KLS on cost and Shadow already sold suppressants at barely any margin. Starline is intentionally burning money on every box sold and they most certainly are being funded in their endeavor by ROCC.”

Amy thought about all those pallets full of suppressants in Liam’s warehouse. “W-why would they do that?”

“Tsk, tsk.” Eclipse wagged a finger at her. “It is my turn once more.”

Amy’s face scrunched in frustration. She snatched up a chocolate drizzled croissant and stuffed a quarter of it into her mouth. In protest? Sure, why not.

If Eclipse found her display of gluttony distasteful, he did not show it. “Did you know that Gerald Robotnik, the current patriarch, is my second cousin once removed?”

While Amy didn’t know what that meant exactly, she could conclude that the relationship between the two families was close. Which meant that both sides of Liam’s situation were related! Amy leaned back, her eyes unfocusing as her brain worked rapidly. What did that mean? Liam was just a pawn in some larger conflict that didn’t really have anything to do with him. How cruel! She felt her chest burn in indignation for him.

Amy opened her mouth to ask her next question, determined to ascertain Liam’s place in this whole mess, but she froze in the glare of Eclipse’s fierce stare. He lounged back, head tilted and balancing on his fingertips, elbow braced against the arm rest. “What has you so bothered?”

“It’s my turn to ask a question!” Amy snapped, flustered.

Yellow eyes softened. “So, it is.”

Amy looked down, trying to buy herself time to gather her thoughts. She lifted her latte and took a long sip. She had almost exposed herself. Vector had told her not to bring up Liam unless the client mentioned him. But how could she not now?

Think, think. Liam had been a mercenary. He’d been sent away for trying to take a life, but the Robotniks had gotten him out early. The Kintobors had wanted to know Liam’s every move…so the person he’d tried to kill had to be one of them, right?

What were the odds that Amy met Shadow and Liam independently? What would Shadow do when he discovered she knew Liam? Amy felt herself start to shake. She was afraid. Was she afraid of Liam? Afraid for Liam?

Afraid of Shadow?

“Miss Rose, are you well?”

Amy’s eyes snapped up. “Is Shadow dangerous?” Her anxieties and fears slipped out into the real world like a curse.

Eclipse looked away, the skin below his eyes tightening. “Voilà les bonnes questions.”

She sat perfectly still waiting for his answer, not even drawing a breath. Her pulse thundered in her ears. The tips of her fingers felt cold and numb.

The crimson and grey hedgehog took a deep breath. “To some people,” He said slowly, “Shadow is extremely dangerous.” Amy drew in a sharp breath, welcoming dizziness into her head. “But,” Eclipse leaned forward, his brow furrowing, “mon cher, you are not one of those people.”

Amy leaned away from him. She’d known. She’d seen. It had been an even stupider question than the pancake one. Of course, Shadow was dangerous. It was no consolation that he wasn’t dangerous to her. Maybe in the throughs of her heat or when she was drunk on his scent, but now, clear-headed, no, Shadow’s capacity for violence was not attractive.

At least that’s what she told herself.

“I would like to continue,” Eclipse stated, seemingly unwilling to lose his turn again, “If you remain amenable.”

Amy nodded, her throat still too tight for words.

“What do you know of the Kintobor Family?” He asked, almost apologetically.

She took a sip of her drink. The lavender reminded her of Shadow and helped settle her thoughts. “Not much, really.” Amy admitted. “Shadow is the CEO for KLS. He and Rouge Baton are good friends and he’s funding her campaign. I haven’t found much online outside of official corporate press releases and gossip magazines, but I haven’t really looked too hard yet.” She snorted lightly. “I’ve been a little preoccupied recently.”

Eclipse hummed. “We value our privacy, so there is, therefore, not much to be found. We are a rather small family. My pack specifically makes up the majority in number but not influence. What we lack in fecundity, we make up for in complexity. For example, I had mentioned that Gerald Robotnik is my distant cousin.” He sighed, threading his fingers together again. “Unfortunately, he is also my late sister’s father-in-law.”

Shadow’s sister, the Omega-!

Amy gasped. “That means-!”

“Yes. She passed as Maria Robotnik.” He looked at his clasped hands, thumb running along the seam of his fine cotton gloves. “She was only twenty. We lo- we loved her-“ Eclipse cleared his throat and straightened. “If you’ll permit me, I would like to change the subject.”

“Sure.” Amy agreed softly. Maria Robotnik…Another tragic story of an Omega dying in their youth, but Amy couldn’t help feel there was much and more she didn’t know. She was starting the story by opening the book to the middle and she clearly didn’t have all the context yet.

They sat in silence for a while. Amy patiently waited for Eclipse to begin talking again, but when he didn’t, she took her turn. “Should you be telling me any of this?”

Eclipse’s clouded eyes refocused. “I mean for it to be a kindness. If you continue to be with Shadow, sooner or later, you will be pulled into our family’s affairs. Shadow’s will and power are, without question, formidable, but if he is an island, our father is the ocean itself. Unyielding, relentless, and hiding great terrors in the fathomless abyss of his soul.”

Amy frowned. How could anyone speak of their own father like that?

“The earlier you understand the labyrinth of thorns you are entering, the better. In his eagerness to involve himself with you, Shadow may try to obfuscate exactly to what you may be committing yourself. I can confidently state that there is no malice to his actions. Nay, in fact, in his mind, no doubt, he is performing the service of an ardent knight protecting his lovely lady. So, it falls to me, my brother’s keeper, to make these dangers clear. No matter if you believe me or not, I would be remiss to not make an effort to warn you.”

Again, Amy was reminded of Rouge. Her strange quick torrent of advice. The pros and cons of Shadow himself. The dire warning about Shadow’s father. The desire for Amy to know what she was getting herself into. Supporting – enabling, even – her decision to say no, while the wish for her to say yes lurked underneath, like a bated breath, like a metered expectation.

Amy chose to be heartened that Shadow commanded such affection from Rouge and Eclipse, forces of nature in their own rights, that they would go to such lengths to try to guide Amy…though the manner in which they showed such affection certainly left a little to be desired. Really, was it so hard to just give Amy a phone call? Cordoning off an entire floor to play twenty questions seemed a little extra.

They sat in silence for a few minutes as Amy thought, her eyes unfocused. Finally, she returned to the current moment. “Your turn.” She prompted.

“Do you love him?”

The answer sprung immediately into her throat and was dashing across her tongue before Amy snapped her teeth closed around it and smothered it against the roof of her mouth. The frantic, desperate Yes! perished in silence.

Because it’s not true. It can’t be true. Does she lust after Shadow? Yes. Does she want to learn to love him? Yes. Does her body crave his touch and his smell and his voice? Oh, yes, very much so. But that’s not love, it can’t be. It’s not love.

Amy was not naïve enough to think that love at first sight was a good idea. Maybe it’s a thing, but it’s careless and irrational. She can’t be in love with Shadow, she simply can’t be. Yes, okay, she wanted children with him and a warm home and every inch of that Ten of Cups card…but that was love in the future…not now…right?

But what if she is? For every caution she’s heard, for every red flag seemingly raised, an urge to forgive him, to accept his every flaw flooded her. Shadow wasn’t perfect, but neither was she. Amy wanted them to be imperfect together. To get married. To raise a family.

No, Amy couldn’t admit to herself or anyone that she loved Shadow with all her heart, but, by the same token, she couldn’t deny it either.

“I- I don’t know…” The answer terrified her, but Eclipse seemed unphased. In fact, his face seemed to have softened slightly into a strange expression that reminded Amy of one Rouge had given her the previous day. A look that made Amy feel exposed…but not revulsed by the exposure. Frankly, it felt weird and Amy wasn’t sure how to respond.

“Very much understandable.” Eclipse pulled back the cuff of his glove to reveal a watch. “I’m afraid I must leave you.” He said as his yellow eyes examined the face. His gaze shifted back to her and he opened his suit coat, reaching inside and retrieving a business card. “May I give you my contact information?” He asked, offering it to her.

Amy took the card. In contrast to his brother’s, Eclipse’s card was honey-toned with several phone numbers embossed in a golden yellow on it. Again Amy wished she had better looking business cards, but the fleeting thought was tossed out the window to make room for more important things.

“Should, in the future, you find yourself needing anything at all, please do not hesitate to make a request of me. I am confident that we may see each other again in the near future.” Eclipse stood and adjusted his suit jacket. “It has been a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Amy Rose.” He dipped his head. “Do not feel yourself rushed. This space is at your disposal for as long as you need. Good day.” He strode away from her and descended the stairs.

Alone, Amy stared down at her half-drunk latte and the still mostly full tray of pastries. Shadow hadn’t sent any details for their date yet…Should she back out? Claim her desires were little more than the instinct-poisoned whims of a fool? Step away before things became any more solid between them? Run and pretend none of this ever happened?

Wouldn’t that be the safer option?

To run?

It would be hypocritical, that’s for sure, after she’d gotten so upset with Sonic for suggesting he might break up with Silver for her sake. And Sonic at least had some sort of chivalrous reasoning. Amy would be withdrawing from Shadow purely selfishly.

Before she made her decision, Amy had one more person to talk to.