Disclaimer: I do not own any Sega Characters. Also note, this is not a new chapter but a better spacing of chapters.

Snow Lift Proposal

Chapter VIII

Christmas Night

Amy Rose looked out of her window and allowed a wide smile to take her features. She had just gotten the opportunity to rest from her adventures of what should have been a few hours of shopping but turned into something more. Her gaze slowly strayed down to her mug full of hot chocolate and she took a deep breath of the steam, warming up her being with a sip. As she sat on her couch, she drew the warm comforter snugly to her body with her left hand and noticed the reason she was especially joyful this year. The bracelet Sonic had given her was wrapped gracefully around her wrist. It caused her mind to wind back, reflecting upon the events that had taken place only a few days ago and leading to her happiness now. But at that same point in time, another was interested in doing something he had never done.

There had always been flaws to his character and he suspected he would struggle with them for the rest of his life, but tonight, Sonic wanted to confront one of those flaws head on and put it to rest once and for all. His greatest fear as well as his oddest. For someone who constantly put his life on the line for others and relied on close friends to do the same, it would appear this concern of his didn't make any sense. But now he understood.

Sonic the Hedgehog was running that Christmas night not to stand and fight as he had done so many times before, but to give in and fall. Not to be proud and strong, but humble and weak, honest and vulnerable. He didn't know what would happen, but he was determined to find out this time. What did it mean to love and be loved?

As snowflakes drifted down outside of Amy's apartment and snow flurries rushed up from behind Sonic's feet, the cold crystals mixed together in a wintry dance in the air. Amy heard the knock at her door with wonder and Sonic heard his heart pounding with anticipation.

She set down her mug and brought the robe she had on tighter around her.

He shifted his weight from foot to foot and tried to breathe calmly.

As Amy took hold of the doorknob, expectation took her heart. She knew who it was.

His heart was racing with anxiety over this choice; his mind consumed with a battle between the belief and the doubt of whether this was right. His soul was faint.

But when the door opened and Amy beamed with enchantment at his coming, he knew. His heart melted in the reassurance of this decision and his mind rested in the hope his soul had finally found a mate. However, this did not change the fact he still had no idea what he was doing here.

"Sonic? What are you doing here?" Amy asked with a bemused smile. He nervously scratched behind his head not really sure how he was going to do what he was planning to do. Hollywood always made this look easy, but for him, it wasn't. Nevertheless, he was Sonic the Hedgehog; improvising was his style and this was worth pursuing.

"Well, Amy, I was actually wondering if you'd like to take a walk with me, but seeing as you're ready for bed and all I guess it can wait . . ."

Without warning, Amy pulled him in through the door and practically threw him on the couch.

"I can get dressed in a sec. Just wait here, okay?" she stated as she took off to her bedroom. Sonic rolled his eyes. It wasn't like she was really giving him a choice.

"Okay," he chuckled. With a glance over at her Christmas tree, Sonic's grin widened. He could see the wrapping paper from the presents given to her that afternoon still poking out of the garbage bag next to it. That was better.

His hand went up to the scarf she had made him as he thought about how attentive she was to others. He couldn't imagine life without her . . . he couldn't live life without her. That was it, wasn't it? Over the past few years, it took being trapped in an elevator of all things to show him what he never saw before. Tails had stressed the point out in the lobby after they had gotten the cake out of his fur.

'You spent two days with her trapped in an elevator and you still want to spend more time with her?'

The answer had been yes, he wanted to be here, with Amy.

"I'm ready!" she exclaimed, startling Sonic out of his thoughts. The pink hedgehog had decided to wear her baby blue sweater with a pair of darker blue jeans. The color was a nice compliment to her rosy demeanor and the gold, garnet jewelry she had on offset her green eyes perfectly. In other words, it certainly grabbed the male hedgehog's attention. "Where are we walking?"

"Ah, that's a surprise," he said as he stood up to come beside her. She pouted a bit but noticed he was wearing her scarf and smiled.

"You wore it. Does it fit nice?"

He looked down at it.

"Amy, it's a scarf. Of course, it fits."

Amy frowned.

"I know that, Sonic. I mean is it alright. Not scratchy?"

"I know, sorry. Yeah, it's great, especially in this weather."

Amy nodded in agreement as she thought to grab her own scarf from off the coat hook next to the door.

"So, it's a surprise, huh? It wouldn't be anything like what you did for me this afternoon would it?" she asked with a coy smile.

"How did you know it wasn't Cream or some other admirer of yours?" Sonic said innocently.

"Well, first off, you know you're the only one for me and, second, you weren't at the party because you must have been tired after setting it up. Plus, the sticker on the cake box had it in order of Sonic Hedgehog," she smirked.

"Do you know how many Sonic Hedgehogs are in this city? I heard it was a popular name in the 90's," he explained in mock seriousness.

"Now, that was bad," she groaned as he shrugged, "Anyway, are we going or not?"

Sonic nodded with a smile and before she could even blink he had run throughout the entire home shutting off lights and blowing out candles. As he returned to the door, he extended his hand out and presented a gentleman's bow.

"Ladies, first," he directed politely, causing Amy to blush a little at his charm. She went out, Sonic following behind as he closed the door. Then a thought accrued to them.

"Let me get my keys, lock the door and then we can go," Amy stated as she stepped past him and reopened the door.

"Oh, yeah, might be a good idea, huh?" Sonic smiled sheepishly. After she returned with a key to lock the front door, Amy did so and turned back to face her love.

"Okay," she said, assuring him everything was in order now.

"Well, if you're ready, hop aboard. It's a long trip," he grinned as he outstretched his arms.

"I was born ready," she proclaimed as she leaped up into his strong grip, "So, go ahead and surprise me."

It didn't take long for Sonic to reach the destination, much to Amy's disappointment. She loved being carried by him. Rocked by the rhythm of his running and enjoying the wind through her quills, but like most good things it came to an end as he set her down in front of what looked like a wooden shack. She brushed off some of the snowflakes on her sweater and glanced up at the strange building. In a way, it was familiar, as if she had seen it before or seen something like it before. Then she noticed she felt off balance somehow like she was uphill or something. It was dark with the exception of a few outside lights on the small building.

"Sonic, where are we?" she questioned turning around only to find Sonic was already at the corner of the building waving for her to follow. Now, she could tell they were indeed up a hill of some kind as the ground around her was sloping up.

"Come on, Ames. Over here," he said with enthusiasm. Amy sighed in confusion. Had she known they were going to be going on a hike instead of a walk she would have worn a warmer jacket and thicker boots. But she was out here now and, in spite of the cold, she smiled and ran after him. As she heard her feet crunching through the snow and heard Sonic's calls of encouragement to follow, she slowly realized why this building looked so familiar. They were uphill alright, the peak of a mountain to be exact and ahead of her were two, parallel rows of long poles going up the incline. The posts were lined with cables and pulleys at their tops and on those cables hung benches connected by a hook. It was a ski lift.

"Wha-?" she breathed as she picked up her pace to catch up with Sonic. He couldn't help but smile at the expression on her face when she reached him at the front of the platform. There was a seat with a bright red quilt thrown over it and two thermoses set down on either side with a jacket tucked under each. Not only that, but one side had a dozen roses resting on it with a small wrapped gift box tucked within them. If they weren't way up in the mountains Amy's scream of delight would have woken anyone up within a fifty-mile radius. She tackled him sending them back into the snow.

"Geez. Amy, you could have been a linebacker," Sonic wheezed as he caught his breath. He was just happy to see she liked it.

"Oh, Sonic, this is the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me . . . oh, Sonic, thank you, thank you," she rattled off with exuberance. She leapt up and practically heaved him up to his feet as she ran him over to the roses.

"Look at them. There so nice," she cooed as she showed them to him as if he had never seen them before. He just smiled at her joy over the whole arrangement. It had taken a while to find those roses and even longer to convince certain someones to come out Christmas day and operate the chairlift, but seeing her laugh and smile . . . it was well worth the effort.

"Sonic, it's hot chocolate and you got me another gift," she giggled as she took the thermos and gift box.

"Yes, but that's not all," he proclaimed as if he were a salesman, "You also win a trip to the top of this beautiful mountain with a scene only a few have seen before. And if that wasn't enough you get to do this with one, Sonic the Hedgehog, and maestro if you please . . ."

A romantic version of 'Let it Snow' began to play over the loudspeakers of the ski lift as he smiled and winked at Amy. She smiled back as they sat together on the bench, putting the jackets on and snuggling down for the ride to the top as the music played.

Tails smiled as he watched the pair from the warmth of the chairlift station. Knuckles, on the other hand, snorted as he looked at the two hedgehogs ascending the mountain. The fox rolled his eyes but decided to say something for the sake of humoring the echidna.

"What is it, Knuckles?" he asked as he turned to look at the guardian. The other just folded his arms.

"I should have said no. I have better things to do than this, that's all," he stated coldly.

"Well, you wanted bragging rights, so your gonna have to work for it," Tails shot back.

"Watch it, Tails, before I turn you into a fur coat," he grunted remembering full well he had agreed to do this in order for some fun teasing and bragging material on the hedgehog. He knew this day was coming even though Sonic had adamantly fought him over it ever being a possibility. Now, he was not only going to be one of the first who would know about this, but he would also be the first to rub it in the blue hero's face.

"Yeah, well, just go check on the gears, okay," Tails said, trying to use his sweetest voice. It was Knuckles' turn to roll his eyes as he shuffled away to do as he was asked. Tails turned to look back out the window and watched as the couple made their way slowly to the top where Sonic had instructed him to stop the lift.

"Good luck, Sonic."

Amy leaned into Sonic's shoulder, enjoying the scenery around her and wondering, once again, if she were dreaming. It was hard to believe just three days ago she was debating on whether to ask Sonic to come with her on a last minute shopping spree or not. Now, as she could feel the weight of his arm around her shoulders, she was so happy she did. The same blue hedgehog that she was doubting loved her or not had set up, by far, the single most romantic thing he had ever done, period, let alone for her. He had gotten her flowers before and given her a quick kiss on the forehead and she cherished those acts of love, but this . . . this was above and beyond what she had even fantasized about. He went on a date with her, threw a party for her, and now this. She had known he was precious and, in her heart, she had always held out that he would show the love he had for her but now, it was almost overwhelming.

"I can't believe . . . we're doing this," she said quietly as her eyes took in the freshly laid snow on the tops of trees and boulders. Sonic glanced down at her and smiled at the sparkle in her eyes. The emotion of care and devotion he had towards her was so overpowering he had to look away in order to keep his composure. In one sense, he was so happy for this moment he wondered why he had taken so long to do this, but another part of him was scared to death of what all this meant in the long run. Was he really in love or was he just being nice or something? Was he right for her anyway? He didn't want to hurt Amy. He knew he was a traveler by nature. What if what he was doing was a mistake? This might be going too far and maybe he should think about it some more. Why couldn't he be lighthearted about this matter like he was with everything else in his life?

'This is a bad time to be having second thoughts,' he imagined.

He closed his eyes for a moment and with that came the remembrance of why he was doing all this in the first place. He cared about her, a lot. Tails had told him the reason he couldn't be at ease with any decision concerning Amy was that he really cared for her that much.

'You'll always worry about the things that are really important to you,' he said. And it was true. As far as time went, Knuckles had basically told him he was past due.

'You either love her or you don't, but quit wasting both your times messing around.'

Blunt just as much as it was true. Now was the appropriate time if any. Amy was a strong person with a healthy outlook on life. It's one of the reasons he likes her. She could handle her own and actually enjoyed traveling her self, so, even if there was trouble in the future ahead, she could do more than enough to get through it. Besides, he would never intentionally harm her, so hurt feelings were not reason enough to call this off. That left him with his last doubt, was it love?

He opened his eyes and rededicated his gaze to her. He remembered times when she was in danger. Yes, he was a hero and he would give his life for anyone that needed him, but when he thought of her in danger it sent chills up his spine. Could he live without her? That question settled the dilemma. Yes, he was sure he could move on, but he didn't want to. Amy Rose was special to him and he would live and die to protect that. She glanced up at him and they both smiled as they reached the top. Then the chairlift suddenly stopped and Amy nearly freaked out.

"Why'd we stop? Are we stuck again?!" she stressed, sitting up and frowning at Sonic who was chuckling at this point, "What's so funny, Sonic?! I don't want to do this again."

"Don't worry. Look out there," Sonic directed as he pointed ahead. She turned to see a beautiful panoramic view of city streets and buildings lit up with lamps and decorations; all lightly covered in snow. The lights from the town reflected in her eyes as her mouth hung open in awe. She couldn't believe how pretty it was.

"Did you set this up like this?" she asked still looking down at the view.

"Yup."

They stayed like this for a moment until she finally turned to give him a hug.

"Sonic, this is the best Christmas I've ever had," she whispered.

"It's not over yet," he said as he held up the gift box she had yet to open. Amy took it, not knowing what to expect. It would appear the blue blur was full of surprises today. She made short work of the wrapping paper and bow in her excitement and then lifted the white cardboard lid off the small box. Inside was a note folded in half. Amy looked up at him puzzled, but he instructed her to take it out.

"Go ahead, read it."

Amy opened the letter and found it to be in his handwriting. She began to read out loud.

"Amy, I remember when we first met on Little Planet to this moment we are sharing now and every step in between. You used to follow after me as my number one fan, then you began chasing me down as your self-proclaimed boyfriend."

She blushed a bit, remembering her antics back then, and looked up at him with a bit of a frown.

"Keep reading, it gets better," he said with a sweatdrop, he had written this a while ago and forgot that was in there. It was amazing how something he wrote for her a year ago was being read now.

"But soon you started to change and become who you are now; your sweet self. You have confidence in what you choose to do. Your heart is big enough to help in any situation yet strong enough to stand up for what you believe in and stand against what you don't. Amy, your love is real, patient and kind; it's precious to me."

She looked up again to see it was he who was blushing now. Her smile deepened as tears were beginning to form in the corners of her eyes. This was precious to her.

"I only hope that you can see some changes in me, changes you have helped me with. I have done things with you that I have never done before and I feel closer to you than anyone. I want to know more and do more. I want to be the man deserving of your love. So, now, I am coming to you, asking if you will run beside me . . . Amy, I humbly ask . . ."

"Will you marry me?" Sonic finished, with as much voice as he could muster through the nerves. Amy's tearful eyes raised from the paper to meet with a single white rose with something tucked gently in its petals. An engagement ring. At first, she was speechless, only able to make small gasping noises in her shock. As the reality of what was happening finally began to take hold, she gazed into Sonic's nervous eyes with the biggest smile he had ever seen. He was also pretty sure Amy had given the loudest response he'd ever heard to a question; enough to wake up half the city.

"Sonic! Yes, yes I will!" she shouted before squealing in delight at the ring, the rose, the view and him. Then she sprang forward and locked him in a vice-like hug. He took it with a feeling of joy and relief at her answer. He smiled too, enjoying the warmth of her embrace and the new feeling of adventure. This was a new beginning for them; a new life together.

Back in the ski lift station, Tails watched the romantic moment unfold with a grin. It was interrupted, however, when he heard a few mutters come from behind him as Knuckles ran back in quickly. Somehow, the fox knew this wasn't good news and wished he had reconsidered sending the echidna down to check on the controls.

"What's wrong, Knuckles?"

"I uh . . . well, let's just say that apple cider and mechanics don't mix quite right."

"Oh, Knuckles," Tails whined as he turned to face the panel, pushing buttons and throwing levers. Nothing responded except for the loudspeaker.

As Amy and Sonic pulled away from each other slightly, gazing into the other's eyes and slowly leaning their muzzles forward, the crackling of the intercom cut in.

"Um, Sonic. Amy. I'm sorry, but . . . I think you're stuck."

Fin

In Memory of Amy Davis