"I can't believe you're doing this." The young fox sighed, continuing his tinkering, not looking at the fidgeting hedgehog beside him. Sonic's anxiety could be contagious sometimes.

"I know. I mean, what am I doing? Who does this sort of thing anymore?"

Tails finally paused from the work he was hunched over, flipping his goggles up onto his forehead. He had stopped working just so he could give Sonic that practically trademark derisive glance.

"Are you serious? That's not what I meant."

"Whut then?"

The fox sputtered out a guffaw at the blatant confusion on the blue hedgehog's face.

"Wow, Sonic. So you've known Amy for what . . . 12 years? And you've never bothered to meet her family?"

Sonic placed his fists on his hips and scowled defiantly.

"Well if ya hadn't noticed the obvious, I kinda don't do well in sit-down social settings." Tails shook his head and turned back to his work.

"Whatever. I've met 'em."

"WHAT?" Sonic dropped his stance, and Tails held in a laugh at the genuine look of mortification on Sonic's face that he had glimpsed in his peripherals. "When was this?!"

"Um . . . a couple times a year? Every year?"

"How has this never come up in a discussion?" Sonic had his face in one hand, distinctly stirred up now.

"I met them, Cream met them, I mean Team Chaotix even met them -"

"CHAOTIX met them?!-"

"Rouge, I'm pretty sure even Knuckles met them once or twice-"

"Oh my God." Sonic's complexion was now pale. "Oh my God. Ok, ok, point taken, but seriously . . . you gotta help me. What are they like?"

"What? Oh, no, no, no, no." Tails laughed, putting a hand up at Sonic's face. "That isn't gonna happen."

Sonic smacked the hand down comically.

"Dude! Throw me a bone here!"

"No! You had this long to meet them- " Sonic buckled his knees to Tails' amusement, crawling forth in show.

"My brilliant sidekick-"

"I'm 'the brains' to you, thank you very much."

"Please? C'mon! At least tell me their names – what do they do for a living?"

"Go find out for yourself!" Tails barked, unable to keep a laugh out of his voice.

"Fine!" Sonic got up from grovelling, irritably tossing a hand out. "Throw me to the wolves, you smug twin-tailed turd." Tails snickered noisily, dropping the wrench he'd been holding in his laughter.

"Yeah have fun with Mr. and Mrs. Rose . . . give 'em my regards."

"And you've become such a brat as a teenager. Y'know that?"

"At least I'm only now becoming a brat! That's practically your profession!"

They pair stood out as pink and blue highlighters in the landscape of the forest, two striking dots of color in a mass of green and brown. Amy, for once, was in front of Sonic on the trail, boosting her knapsack up onto her shoulder. She caught the expression on Sonic's face, purely grim, and burst out laughing.

"Sonic, don't be so nervous!"

"I'm not nervous." He glared, coming out of his reverie.

"Your voice is shaking."

"I'm not nervous!"

Amy grinned, looking at her feet before she glanced back at him.

"What." He demanded, starting to grin himself. "What're you smirkin' at."

"I've never seen you like this before." She giggled, and he rolled his eyes with a groan, looking to the sky.

"As if this wasn't difficult enough-"

"It's precious!" The words came out in a high squeak, and Sonic put both hands up to his face in exasperation. "Of all the crazy things I've seen you do without batting an eye, I never thought I'd see you nervous about meeting my parents!"

"Well, whadda ya want from me. I don't do well with families. In houses."

"I suppose you don't do well with walls, either?"

"I don't have a good track record with 'em, nope." He dropped his hands to his sides, exhaling loudly and shaking his head. "I can't believe I let ya talk me into this. I can't believe I-"

"Well, that's how it is, Sonic. If you want to officially start dating, you're gonna have to meet daddy."

"Hoo boy." Sonic closed his eyes, shaking his arms off anxiously at his sides.

"Well you know, I don't see why you get to be the nervous one." She gave him a hard look, and his eyes popped back open in surprise as she began to storm ahead.

"Excuse me? Are ya kiddin' me? You know these people!"

"Yeah, I do. And you haven't had to make up excuses to them for the past twelve years as to why the person that matters most to me just so happened to never show his face to meet them. If you weren't famous, I bet they'd doubt you even existed." She heard Sonic's footsteps falter behind her, and she turned to find him standing still, looking lost. For once in his life, he looked genuinely guilty about something.

"That's what I'm afraid of. D'ya think they think I'm a jerk?"

"Uh, yeah, Sonic. It's been over a decade – if you're not aware already, you've kinda been a jerk." She quickly put a hand to her mouth at his appalled expression. "Or, you know, at least you were. In fact my dad isn't even entirely convinced I actually know you."

"AMY!" Sonic barked, eyes huge, sweat pouring. "Oh my- God! Ya couldn't give me a heads up about any of this?!"

"You lead me on for over ten years and you think my parents would be OK with that?!"

"No, of course not! I just never thought about it like that – and besides, for almost ten of those years, we were kids. Did you forget that part?"

"My dad sure didn't. So he found it suspicious I was always chasing down some guy he never so much as saw outside a TV set."

"As usual, I didn't really think anything through. At all. Oh, my God." Sonic started wiping his hands over his face, huffing out exasperated breaths. "That really actually could not look worse. I have been a jerk, and even Vector has met your parents before me. Do they think you've been staying with me?! Oh, my God . . ."

Amy couldn't help herself. She toppled over, pealing loudly with laughter as Sonic watched on, bewildered and furious.

"What in bloody blue Mobius are you laughin' at, 'cuz I'm slightly havin' a panic attack here and for the life of me, cannot see the humour in this moment." But despite his anxiousness, a chuckle broke his lips as he watched her desperately trying to regain control of herself and failing, wiping at her eyes.

"I have watched you fight to the death with a maniacal, fat psychopath and countless evil monsters and now you're terrified of meeting my parents . . ." she choked through the waves of laughter, still patting at her eyes. "It's so funny, I wish they could see you now . . ."

"Well I don't." He stooped to help her up, still grinning at her outburst. "I'm a freakin' mess."

"You say that as if I didn't know that already."

"Oh you did?"

"And despite that, I'm going to date you. What does that say about me?"

Sonic smirked proudly, stretching his arms up before folding them behind his head.

"That you've got good taste."

She smacked at him in joking reprimand.

"Well, here we are." Amy brushed her bangs back from her face, approaching an imposing set of gates. "Home sweet home." She tossed off the backpack and approached a hard wired intercom system built into the left side of the gate. She jabbed a button on it and leaned in.

"Mama? You there? We're here!"

"Sweetheart! You're early! Oh, I'm so excited I can't even - "

"Mom." Amy laughed. "Can we come in first?"

"Oh yes, yes darling! The code has changed since you left. Let me key it in for you . . ."

As they stepped back to watch the gates slide open, Sonic was taken aback by the prestige of it. Iron-wrought, black imposing gates with the elegant, curving designs of art nouveau throughout, bordered on either side by brick pillars. At the very top of the gate, he noticed a very distinct crest that bore these words:

Wigilate in aeternum, ut viri fortissimi.

"'Watch forever, as mighty men of valor'. Holy shit, it's the crest of the Mobian Rebel Liberation Forces!" Sonic breathed, and Amy turned to him in surprise as he appeared to be supporting himself with the bars.

"Um, Sonic?-"

"Amy, it's becoming quite clear to me now that there is a lot you should have told me about your parents. Like you are filthy stinking rich. Like your family has an extremely strong tie to the MRLF - "

It was around that time that they broke through the trees that bordered the drive curving and winding its way up a hill; a sprawling front lawn of various trees, flora and statues presented itself before them. In the distance, a palatial, gothic Victorian-style mansion loomed. It looked like a home fit for a king; a beautiful feat of architecture rich with decorative patterns, finials, scalloping, elegant archways and lancet windows.

Sonic thought he was going to lose his cool and stroke out again. Because the place. Was. Giant. As a matter of fact, he was starting to get flashbacks from when he was a little kid – because he was almost certain he had seen this mansion on TV.

"Amy, I thought you were an only child?"

"I am."

"And there are how many rooms in this place?"

"You mean all the rooms, or bedrooms? There's 47 bedrooms, if you count the servants' quarters."

"I'm going to be sick . . ." Sonic mumbled helplessly. Amy began waving, and he looked up to see a vibrant red dot waving from the main archway of the entrance. It raced down a set of stairs toward them, and Sonic could quickly see the family resemblance – the same bright, mischievous eyes and bright smile.

"My baby, it's been too long!" The red female hedgehog squealed in the same high-pitched manner that Amy was so prone to using as she snatched Amy up into a gigantic hug. "Mom, please-" Amy begged. She released Amy and turned to Sonic, her gaze warm and her smile genuine.

"So this is the legendary Sonic. Hero of Mobius." She took one of Sonic's hands in hers. "I've waited so long to finally meet you - I can't believe you're here! I'm Autumn, I'm Amy's mom." She tittered, yanking him in for a death hug.

Yup. Definitely Amy's mom.

"Look at you, you're so handsome!" She gushed, and then gave her daughter an abrupt elbow. "My word Amy, what a looker he is! No wonder you've been chasing this one around!"

"Oh my God, mom, stop . . ." Amy put a hand to her face, and Sonic couldn't help but feel amused because how often did he get to see Amy embarrassed? He swallowed down a chuckle with great difficulty.

"You're right, you're right, you two must be exhausted! Let me get Dante to bring your bags up to your rooms and we'll go meet your father in the library." A black hedgehog with a white chest sauntered up to them, bowing and offering up a clipped greeting. Sonic laughed at the formality of it all.

"Buddy, you don't have to bow to me. I mean, I'm practically homeless." The only response Sonic got from the hedgehog was a mildly horrified look, then a glance of snooty disdain.

"I shall take your bags, sir." He said pointedly, holding an arm out. It was so strange to Sonic, the concept of having someone handy to take care of his belongings. The black hedgehog was wearing an elegant long-tail coat and bowtie, and he moved hastily to gather up their bags and take them up the stairs. "Supper is going to be ready soon!" Amy's mother declared cheerily, leading them up the stairs behind Dante.

"Shouldn't we help him?" Sonic whispered to Amy, pointing to Dante. Amy just looked at him and tried hard not to bust out laughing.

"He'd be so offended if we tried." She whispered back. She then turned her attention back to her mother walking up the stairs ahead of her. "Um, mom, did I hear you right? Dad is here? Already?" Amy seemed to grow white, stopping short on the curving staircase. "I thought he wouldn't be here until tomorrow, I thought he had meetings until-"

"Nonsense!" Her mother gasped, waving a hand of dismissal behind her. "You think your father would miss this? You know there is no work in the world that's going to keep him from seeing his little girl, never mind meeting Sonic for the first time!"

"I was afraid you were going to say that . . ." Amy sighed, starting to look nervous.

"Now, don't be that way." Her mother scolded. "Your father has been waiting a long time for this!"

"I know, but I was hoping I might get a chance to give Sonic the low-down on dad before he was thrown into this-"

"You mean to tell me you haven't told Sonic who your father is?!" Autumn spun around at the top of the staircase, looking at her daughter in mortification. "Amy!" She hissed, eyes darting between the west wing of the hallway and the pair now arriving at the top of the stairs. "My God, the poor boy . . ." Autumn muttered to herself more than anyone, sweeping her hair away from her forehead fretfully.

"Um, is there a bathroom nearby? I might need to throw up." Sonic whispered, feeling a wave of nervous nausea breaking over him.

"Well that's it, then. Let's go meet him, he knows you're here. He's been waiting . . ." Autumn led them down the luxurious hall that bore detailed oil paintings of relatives past; along the hall were art nouveau candelabras, dark oak panelling, a high ceiling with antique moldings, luxurious dark red wine-coloured carpets along the floor with intricate weavings embroidered into their centre. Sonic had faced so many fearful, life-threatening situations in his life. How was it that this was perhaps one of the most terrifying moments of all for him? As Autumn reached out and pushed open the heavy, well-varnished oak doors to the library, Sonic felt his stomach drop like a mound of marble.

The library bore long stacked shelves of fine leather-bound books that reached up toward the finely wooden-panelled ceiling; it arched upward and curved into a dome shape that was lavishly decorated with custom carved moldings. Sandwiched between the bookshelves was a large, peak-mouthed fireplace with hand-carved pillars and embellishments. Surrounding it were several armchairs, chesterfields, a chaise lounge and a variety of lamps. Above the mantle of the fireplace hung a beautiful painting of six young, grinning Mobians donned in uniform, arms tossed about one another in comradery. Flying behind them was the MRLF flag. The fire was in, and the flames danced and accented the bright brass buttons and medals decorating the still hedgehog standing back on to the door.

Sonic recognized the hedgehog standing before the fire instantly, even from behind.
He had seen his silhouette on so many newsstands, on the television, in history books.
General Eli Rose.
He thought he was going to choke, then and there.
He had never known anxiety like this – not even in battle. His insides were fluttering like pitiful undergarments in a thunderous windstorm.

The man was austere, still.

"Papa?" Amy said gently, and the white hedgehog turned crisply with hands still folded behind his back.
The stern face bore a single golden eye, alert and bright like that of a bird of prey. A black patch was tied about his other, concealing where his other eye should be. He dropped his fierce disposition and held his arms out, and the movement sent dazzling refractions of light dancing off his medals along the dark wooden walls.

"C'mere, sweetheart." He gathered her up, squeezing her firmly in his strong arms. His face had softened considerably, but his eye opened and regained its previous sternness as a throat cleared somewhere behind Amy. Sonic hadn't meant to draw attention – his throat was just so dry. My God, nervousness was too cheap a word for what he was experiencing. When that solidary golden eye rested upon him, he resisted the urge to buckle under the weight and intensity of it.

"So." The white hedgehog said pointedly, his expression considerably less gentle than it had been mere moments ago. With Amy now released, she stood back beside Sonic, eyes darting between the two male hedgehogs warily. "At long last, this is Sonic." The general walked forward, hands behind his back again, scrutinizing Sonic with his good eye as his came to attention before the nervous young hedgehog. "Well, you exist. That's nice to know for sure. Why have you decided to come here now, after all this time?"

"Dad!" Amy scolded, and Autumn's expression had grown anxious. Sonic cleared his throat again, parched and slightly terrified. This was already a nightmare. The tension in the air seemed palpable.

"Um, sir, it's uh, nice to meet you." Sonic extended his hand. The general looked down upon it, almost disapproving at first, but reluctantly took it. Sonic couldn't help but notice how unbelievably strong the guy was, just from a handshake. "I'm here today to tell you that I'm officially dating your daughter."

I'm excited to be writing again! I have always wanted to do this idea. :)
For a look at my character designs for Amy's parents, the house that inspired me as a prototype for the mansion, and my design for the MRLF crest, visit my DeviantArt page: shazam26

I have a folder dedicated to this story.

See you guys soon!