I do not own any characters in this story---they all belong to sega.

Her sweet voice danced around his ears, her soft touch sent tingles down his spine. He looked down at the hand that had just left his shoulder, and then into her jade eyes, sparkling like the winter snow. "Amy?" He was surprised, not quite sure how long she had been following him for. She was always following him though, ever since they were kids.

"Hey, Sonic," she greeted happily, sending him a friendly smile. "What's up?" He noted she seemed quite pleased with herself for catching up with him.

"Just killing some time before the Christmas party tonight. Yourself?" He pulled uncomfortably at the cobalt scarf tied around his neck. He felt disturbingly warm, despite the frosty wind that battered against his skin.

"Doing some last minute shopping for gifts," she replied, glancing down quickly at the numerous shopping bags in her hands. "You were a hard one to pick this year, but I think you'll love it!"

He shrugged slightly, looking towards the street which he so desperately wanted to run to. "Anything's good. It's the thought that counts, right?" What had he gotten her again? He doubted she wouldn't like it--she liked anything that had to do with him.

Amy nodded in agreement, still smiling. How could anyone smile so much anyway? How could she keep on smiling knowing he could never give her what she wanted most? One thing was for certain, he would never understand girls.

"Did you finish your shopping?" she asked, full attention on him, like always.

His emerald eyes flickered back to her and he saw his chance at freedom. "Actually," he cleared his throat, confident, "I haven't." Sure, it was a little white lie…but those were the harmless kind, weren't they? He had told her countless little white lies. She had always gotten over them, always come back for more. It was as if she craved anything he would give her, even if they were just lies.

"You haven't?" her voice was filled with shock. "But we're giving each other our gifts tonight! How will you get done in only three hours and have time to help Tails set up?"

He chuckled to himself, flashing her his trademark grin. "I'm the fastest thing alive, Amy," he stated matter-of-factly. "Therefore, it's impossible for me not to get done in time. In fact, I bet you I can finish with time to spare and get myself a nice warm chilly dog."

"Well," she said slowly, as though she already knew what he was going to say in reply, "why don't we finish together? I still need to get something for Knuckles… Sonic, wait!"

He had already taken off, leaving her in the distance. He could hear her beginning to shout his name faintly, but it didn't matter; he was already on his way to freedom.

His heart hammered in his chest. It was hard to tell whether it was because of running or because of…

It had to be the exhilaration. It was always the exhilaration of running; to feel the wind tickle his skin, not having to think about anything or anyone…

No, he wouldn't think of anyone, not even a particular someone that had seemed to taken over his thoughts as of late. He was angry, aggravated at himself for not being able to solve this problem. Tails would know what to do (when he got older); the kid was smart. But Sonic? Sure he was a world famous hero, but when it came to this department, he was clueless.

Sonic kept on running until he came upon a large, bare oak tree on a hill, overlooking the city. He collapsed under it, leaning his head against the rough bark. He closed his eyes, a sigh escaping his lips, drowned in the icy wind. His mind, like his heart, was racing. Lately, even he, the fastest thing alive, couldn't keep up with it.

This was the one subject he couldn't talk about with his little buddy, Tails. Even though he was nearing his teenage years and he was probably the smartest person alive, he just wouldn't understand what Sonic was going through.. He couldn't talk it over with anyone for that matter. All he could do was be left alone with his musings, wondering what could have been if only things had been a little different.

He had let his mind wonder to what could be instead of could have been a few times; but knew immediately it would never work. Even if egghead was out of the picture, there would be countless other baddies who would just love to take advantage of one of his few weaknesses. He wouldn't let that happen, her life was much too important to him.

He had once made a promise to himself, to her. He had promised that he would never, ever let anything bad happen to her or let anything he had done put her in harms way. He had this sickening feeling that if he tried to do anything to further their relationship, it would mean the end of her. He had tried numerous times to push her away, to push himself away, but all was futile. She kept coming back for more and in turn, he couldn't help but come back either. He had led her on, whether he had meant to or not, then pushed her away, and apologized after that; an endless cycle of their thorny relationship.

Sonic had never told anyone this, but every time he pushed her away, every time he secretly saw her crying because of him, it broke his heart. It wasn't like he wanted to hurt her…it was just the only way things could be. He wished she could just fall out of love with him, it would certainly make things a lot easier.

How things would have been so much simpler if Metal Sonic hadn't captured her because she was his fan. If only he hadn't known her…

Some things were just meant to be, and it was time he had gotten to face those facts.

Sonic opened his eyes, watching as a small white snowflake drifted upon his nose. He looked up to the darkened, cloudy sky, little flurries of snow gently falling down to earth. Standing up, stretching his arms up to the sky, he gathered it was about time he headed over to Tails' place to help set up for the party.

He took off running, hoping to leave his racing mind behind so he could concentrate and focus on more important things; surviving the party.

"Hey, Tails!" Sonic opened the door and walked inside. He was instantly greeted by a rush of warm air and the aroma of sweets from the kitchen. He shook the snow off of his quills and closed the door behind him.

The room glowed with the bright white and rainbow lights that were strung around the Christmas tree in the corner of the living room, next to the fireplace. Simple, yet beautiful decorations hung from the limbs of the pine tree. There were numerous decorated orbs of different colors that seemed to sparkle from the lights, not to mention little figures like angels and nutcrackers. Sonic could pick out numerous orbs that had been decorated by him and all of his friends one Christmas year, each one with their names on it. Silver tinsel hung from the pine, shimmering like rain in the moonlight. At the top of the tree was a pure white star, like the ones that seemed to shine from the heavens above.

"Over here!" Tails' voice came from behind the huge Christmas tree he was putting the finishing touches on. "Cream and Vanilla are in the kitchen cooking dinner and dessert. Can you help with something?"

"Yeah, sure. What do you want me to do?" Sonic asked, walking up to the tree. Tails' head peered around, his blue eyes swimming with thought.

"Over there is a box," he instructed, pointing to a cardboard box next to the fireplace, labeled: Stockings and other such decorations. "You can decorate the mantle with the stockings and other little figurines. After that, you can go see if Vanilla and Cream need help finishing up dinner and dessert."

"Yes, sir!" Sonic gave a salute, to which Tails rolled his eyes, and got to work. He hung numerous stockings upon the brick mantle. Each stocking was a certain color, pertaining to one of his friends, and each was decorated accordingly. Upon the white part at the top, was their name, decorated in a fancy script. He recognized it immediately as Amy's neat handwriting. He cast the thought of Amy aside, but as fate would have it, the next stocking to hang was hers.

His heart gave an unexpected lurch in his chest, despite his desperate attempts to stay calm. He cast a glance at Tails, hoping he couldn't hear it's loud hammering. Satisfied that he couldn't hear a thing, Sonic looked back at the stocking in fascination. Maybe he could sneak a small note or gift in it from him? No one would ever know it was from him, right?

"Is it dirty or something?" Sonic jumped and dropped the rosy pink stocking. He whirled around, staring at Tails like a dear in headlights. "Well," Tails noted with a hint of amusement, "it is now."

Sonic felt his cheeks warm with embarrassment as he slowly bent down and picked up the stocking. He could feel Tails' stare burning into the back of his head. He tried to dismiss it, hoping that if he ignored him, he too would be ignored.

"Sonic?"

Obviously not.

"Yeah?" He carefully hung the stocking on the mantle, right next to his, before looking back at his little buddy. Soon he wouldn't be able to call his little buddy his little buddy anymore. Tails was in the middle of a growth-spurt, and he was almost as tall as Sonic. Everyone was growing up now in their own ways.

"What's on your mind?" Tails asked, slowly picking up his own stocking from the pile, hanging it up next to Amy's. "You've seemed distracted lately."

Sonic mentally cursed, wondering how Tails could have seen through him so quickly. Usually he was better at hiding when he was thinking about something, or someone, like Amy. Was it that noticeable?

"Are you thinking about Amy?"

Surely it couldn't have been that noticeable.

"What makes you say that?" Heat crept slowly up his neck, nestling in his cheeks. His heart began to hammer once more in his chest, his mind racing for any excuse to get out of this conversation. It was way to soon to have it! He didn't even know what he was supposed to talk to Amy about on this subject, let alone Tails!

"Cream and I have just…noticed something different in the way you treat her lately," Tails responded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Plus, you're blushing." Sonic could hear the triumphant smirk in his voice. Damn.

"Am not!" He turned away to hide the evidence, grabbing another stocking hastily. "It's the fire…it's, uh, making me warm."

"It's not even on yet!" Tails exclaimed, his voice going an octave higher in disbelief. "Come on, Sonic. Why don't you want to talk about this? It's just me and you. I thought we were best friends."

Now he was laying on the guilt trip, and the stupid thing was, it was working. Sonic slowly hung the last stocking upon the mantle, and gave a hearty sigh. "Tails, you are my best friend. It's just…complicated. You wouldn't understand."

"And why wouldn't I?" he demanded, frustration and anger coursing through his voice. "Is it because I'm just a kid?"

Sonic had begun to realize that he had maybe gone a bit too far in his attempts to disengage the conversation. Tails, of course, would be a bit touchy on the topic of his age. Most pre-teens/teenagers were. Heck, when Amy was younger and chasing after him, he used to say she was too young all the time in his attempts to get rid of her (he didn't like her that way at that time period). He had learned quickly that it wasn't such a good idea. He swore sometimes he could still feel the lumps on his head from her hammer.

"I never said you were a kid," he said softly, finally daring to meet Tails' flaming blue orbs. "I just don't think you would understand what I'm going through."

"You think I don't understand anything, Sonic, but I understand plenty. I'm not your little buddy anymore." Ouch.

He gaped at Tails for a moment, shocked. After a moments pause, Sonic began to chuckle.

"What?" Tails asked cautiously, raising an eyebrow. "What's so funny?"

"You may be growing up, but you'll never stop being my little buddy. Don't you know that?"

Tails went to open his mouth to speak when Cream walked through the door, wearing a cute green dress with white lacing decorating the collar, the ends of the sleeves, and the bottom of the dress in an intricate design, much like that of snowflakes. "Is everything alright?" she asked in her soft voice, her chestnut eyes swimming with worry. "We heard yelling…" Her glance flickered over to Tails specifically.

Sonic looked at Tails, expecting him to say something to ensure everything was fine, but instead found him looking away, ashamed and embarrassed. "We're fine, Cream," Sonic replied, smiling warmly. "We just had a little disagreement about decorations on the tree. Perhaps we can get your opinion?"

Cream blinked and nodded, walking over gracefully, standing next to Tails. "It looks great, Tails," she said shyly. "I really like the tree this year…. I better get back to the kitchen though, my mother still needs help cooking. See you inside soon?" She touched his arm gently, sending an encouraging smile his way.

Sonic noticed that instead of speaking to the both of them, Cream only spoke to Tails, and in turn, he continued to stare at the ground. Perhaps, he realized as Cream skipped back into the kitchen, he and Tails were both in the same boat after all.

"I was wrong," Sonic murmured gingerly, once he was completely sure Cream was out of earshot. "you do understand." Tails looked up, alarmed. "How long as this been going on for?" he asked curiously.

"You mean…Cream and I?" his voice was lowered in a whisper, in case their voices carried into the kitchen again. His eyes darted towards the door, as if afraid someone was going to come inside or eavesdrop on their conversation.

Sonic nodded in reply, grinning a little.

Tails sighed a little, running a hand through his bangs. "Well…I dunno. A while? It's hard to tell. I just…wait." He eyed Sonic warily. Sonic could just imagine the gears of his mind turning, trying to work something out. The only thing was, he didn't want him to work this one out.

"What?" he asked innocently, playing with the gloves on his hands. "We can't talk about this? I thought you wanted to?"

"No, I wanted to talk to you about Amy and you, not Cream and I," Tails insisted, rolling his eyes at Sonic's meager attempt to change the topic. "I'm not stupid you know."

"Do we have to now?" he asked, desperate to evade this subject as long as possible. "Like, can't we talk after the party?"

"No way! Sonic, you have to talk to her about this soon. You can't just keep avoiding her and hoping this will all just work out." His expression softened. "Take her for a walk or something and talk. Work things out."

"There's nothing to work out, Tails," Sonic insisted stubbornly, crossing his arms. "We can't ever be together and that's the end of it."

"Ever?"

"Ever."

"And why not?" Tails asked, just as stubborn as him. "Just because of Eggman? Just because you're a world renowned hero? Or is it just because you don't have the guts and you're afraid?"

"I do too have the guts! And I'm not afraid!" he insisted, shooting his friend a small glare. "And I will talk to her tonight about this." Talking wasn't bad, was it? This whole problem he was having when he was around her would be solved tonight. Hopefully, just hopefully, things would work out for the better. Though whether that meant them as friends or more, he didn't know.

"Good," Tails said smugly, obviously having won the argument. "Now…have you gotten her anything?"

"For what?" Sonic asked automatically.

The twined tailed fox sent him a bewildered look. "What do you mean, 'for what'? For Christmas of course! You did get her something, right?"

"Yeah, yeah," Sonic dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "Relax, I have something…I think. If not, then…I'll think of something. Now, lets go help Cream," Sonic grinned, winking.

"Why did I ever have to tell you?" Tails groaned as Sonic pushed him into the kitchen, against his will.

Sonic would put the thought of talking to Amy out of his head until he had to think about it. She would be here in around a half hour, and he had no idea how to prepare for this, if there was even a way to prepare for it.

This was originally a oneshot, but it was turning out to be WAY too long to be just a oneshot. So I tried to cut it up as evenly as I could. The second part should be up soon :) Thanks for reading, and please review! Even if it's just constructive critiscm, cause I want to know how I can improve my writing. Thanks again! :)