Tying the Knot

The Sequel to "Passion"

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Chapter 1: Up To Speed

"Can I help you, sir?"

Not used to being referred to so formally, the blue hedgehog ignored the voice and merely did another scan of the diamond studded rings sitting in front of him behind a glass case, their sparkles and shimmers overwhelming his jade eyes. It was fair to say that Sonic felt very much out of place here; this wasn't a store that he frequented very often. Well, that wasn't exactly true... his feet had brought him to this one shop quite a bit, albeit only recently.

"Sir?"

Finally, his eyes snapped upwards, almost blinded by the bright lights in the jewelry store designed to make the diamonds sparkle even more. Feeling a bit dizzy, Sonic mumbled, "Huh?"

"Can I help you find something?" the otter clerk asked him, her purplish eyes wide.

"Uh..." Sonic clenched and unclenched his fists, doing another visual survey of the rings, his stomach flip flopping at the thought... "I'm good..." he breathed and took off out of the store without a second glance.

And that made it the third time this week that Sonic's feet had brought him to this particular jewelry store and he'd looked at the engagement rings. It didn't help that it was located so close to Amy's house, in a strip mall next to the neighborhood grocery store. And every time he'd stop there, he told himself, 'today you're going to suck it up and buy the ring.' But still... he'd just look at the diamond rings, think, consider... and then chicken out.

Man, if it was this much trouble just to buy the ring... then Sonic didn't want to think about actually asking Amy to marry him.

It was almost a joke. Him, Sonic the Hedgehog, the embodiment of the free wind itself, married. Tied down. Who'da thunk? Why, even a year ago, as a carefree eighteen year old, the last thing on Sonic's mind was getting hitched. But... a year ago, Sonic had done something that would consequently change his views on practically everything to do with love and romance. He'd make a mistake.

At least, that was how most people would classify it as.

On the one night he'd finally given in to go on a date with Amy... well, to be honest, he'd been a horny, impatient teenage guy who'd spent the first eighteen years of his life resisting his sex drive. Mix that with his speed and his impatience and... yeah.

Part of him still regretted what he'd done. After all, he'd taken advantage of Amy's devotion and practically raped the girl, as she had said she wasn't ready to go all the way at the time. He'd broken her heart, taken her innocence, and made her cry when he'd left her, horrified at what he'd done. He'd practically ruined her life and made her grow up very quickly, as his deed had, of course, gotten her pregnant and thus a mother at the age of fifteen.

... and everyone still wondered why he was afraid to ask this girl to marry him?

But... that was all in the past. Now Sonic was nineteen, and had grown up rather quickly. Amy had forgiven him and still loved him. And now.. they were the parents of two very adorable baby hedgehogs.

Chase and Sierra.

They were Sonic's pride and joy. He loved both of them, as well as Amy herself, more than he'd ever loved anything before. And even though he had no plans to ever leave his family, Sonic still wanted to reassure Amy of this and give his kids a true home.

Which brought him back to the engagement ring and plans of getting married.

Leaving the jewelry store after yet another failed attempt and cursing himself, Sonic decided he'd better head to the grocery store so it looked like he'd done something useful today.

Yep, just pick up a few groceries and I'll go and see Amy and the twins, Sonic thought to himself as he sped through the supermarket, picking up the staples like OJ and milk and chili dog buns. The twins were only a few weeks old (already, really?) and so they wouldn't be eating baby food for awhile, Amy had told him. Some knowledge she'd either gotten from Vanilla or one of the dozen baby books she'd bought.

Sonic tapped his feet impatiently as he waited in line, wondering if he still had enough money since his last paycheck from the government. His wallet had been getting thinner recently, since he'd had to pay the hospital an ungodly amount not to mention the loads of stuff the twins needed. Before he'd lived pretty frugally off of his hero money, being naturally non-materialistic and using the leftovers to support Tails and his machine fetish. But baby hedgehogs had a lot of needs; Sonic was finding that one out if nothing else.

Man, times have changed, he thought as he handed the clerk a couple twenty dollar bills and ran the rest of the way home. A year ago I'd just be running around without a care in the world... but now I got roots and a family and responsibilities and stuff... I guess it happens to all of us. I shoulda figured it would happen to me fast just like everything else.

But despite how demanding and time consuming Chase and Sierra were, Sonic found that he loved both of them to pieces. He didn't know why and he couldn't put it into words, but he did. They were incredibly needy, helpless, and rather annoying sometimes... but they were his. And that was enough for him.

Sonic pulled the house key out of his glove and opened the door to Amy and his house, carrying in the groceries.

"Amy, I'm home," Sonic called out, wiping his shoes on the welcome mat. He zipped out of the entrance foyer and into the kitchen to put away the small collection of groceries he'd gathered. He threw the newspaper onto the counter so he could look through the classified ads later and then headed into the living room.

A nearly silent TV flashed in front of a sixteen-year-old pink hedgehog who was lounging on the couch, a baby hedgehog in each arm.

"Hi Sonic," Amy said just above a whisper. "They just ate, so they're sleeping."

Sonic nodded and smiled down at his cute kids. "Want me to hold one?" he offered, and Amy nodded slightly.

The male hedgehog approached Amy to take his son, Chase, off of her hands, cradling the light blue hedgehog in his gentle yet protective grip. The little boy gave a whine in protest of being taken from his mother.

"Easy little guy," Sonic soothed as he sat down near Amy. "Daddy's gotcha."

But Chase didn't want to calm down, and instead his eyes scrunched up and he let out an ear-splitting wail that echoed throughout the house. Sonic winced and wanted to rub his ringing ears, but instead ran his hand up and down Chase's back. "Sh... man, don't cry... it's alright buddy..." he tried to soothe his son, but he didn't seem to want to listen.

Sonic desperately looked to Amy for help, mouthing, "what do I do?" but she shook her head. Amy had just fed Chase, so he wasn't hungry, and he'd been about to go to sleep. Oh, maybe she shouldn't have let Sonic hold him? Amy knew Sonic was just trying to help, but... she felt Sierra start wiggling in her arms, and she cursed in her head, bracing for the inevitable... but no, Sierra was wiggling just to move and thankfully wasn't adding her own cries to the fray. Usually, the twins didn't cry at the same time, for whatever reason.

Slowly, way too slowly for someone like Sonic, Chase's cries faded to just a whimper as he felt the heartbeat and love of his father holding him. Sonic let out a rather impatient sigh, glad he'd managed to calm down the little guy.

Once Chase had finally settled down, Sonic met eyes with Amy, as a smile lit up her face. Ah, Amy. How could Sonic ever forget her? She'd matured so much since she'd become a mother, and it was hard to see the little twelve year old that used to follow him everywhere and bop him on the head with that hammer underneath what she was now. She had always been pretty, of course; with her emerald eyes and pink quills that now reached her elbows, though she usually kept them pulled back. Somewhere along the line, between messing around with her and rushing the girl to the hospital for delivery... Sonic had fallen for the girl. How could he not? Amy was an amazing girl, and she'd impressed him immensely with how she'd taken this whole thing. Sonic loved Amy, and could not ask for a better mother for his kids, or another woman to spent the rest of his life with.

It was the asking that was the problem.

"Did you get some groceries?" Amy asked, one hand running through Sierra's stubby quills and lavender fur.

"Yeah, just a few things," Sonic said nonchalantly and sighed. He considered telling her about the money issue, but figured she had other things to worry about. "So how was your morning?"

"Fine as usual. All they really want to do is eat and sleep right now," Amy admitted, looking down at her daughter. "Not that I'm complaining. I love taking care of them."

And it was true. For the most part, Amy was happy. She had her own children to love and watch grow up and she had her Sonic. What else could she need?

But still... part of her was a tad distrusting of Sonic. Yes, she loved him as she always had... but sometimes she wished he was around more. To his credit he did come over every day and had taken responsibility, but usually he took large portions of the day to go off on a run or be somewhere else. Of course, Sonic had never been one to elaborate on his activities. It wasn't that Amy assumed he was cheating on her or anything... she just wished he would step up a little more.

Not to mention their long-term future together was still up in the air. Of course, Amy had never stopped dreaming that Sonic wold propose to her one day, and then they would be a true family. And she'd hinted at it to Sonic himself to no end. But would he ever step up and do that? With Sonic, you just never knew.

Well, she'd just have to wait and see. In the meantime, she had two adorable twins, Chase and Sierra, to take care of. And that left little time to worry about much else. While they could be a handful, Amy wouldn't trade her children for the world.

"Me, too, Ames," Sonic said and smiled down at his son, almost a mirror image of himself. Chase's blue fur was just a few shades lighter than Sonic's own, though he'd inherited Amy's darker eyes. "I never knew I could be this happy with kids. They really are awesome, aren't they?"

Amy laughed a little, only to have Sierra reveal her jade colored eyes in wonder of why her mom was shaking. "They're the best, Sonic. I love them both."

Not feeling chatty, Sonic merely nodded and turned back to the TV and the random show that Amy happened to have on. Some soap opera or something. He reached for the remote to change it to a different movie and watched for a few minutes, letting Chase rest on his shoulder, when Amy suddenly interrupted him,

"You look worried, Sonic..." she said gently. "What is it?"

"What, me worried?" he tried to joke. "I let you handle all the worryin' for the both of us."

Amy smiled and pulled her daughter closer to her body. "If you say so."

About an hour passed with just the TV going, the babies snoozing, and the parents resting as well. These times of repose didn't come often, but Sonic and Amy enjoyed them while they could. Because after all, as everyone had told the new parents, kids grew up fast, and they had to enjoy every moment as it happened.

For they didn't know when things would go horribly wrong.

...A/N...

What can I say? I write what I'm inspired to do. And this story has been a long time coming.

Yes, this is the sequel to my old story "Passion" which still holds a place in my heart as my second or third favorite. But before you press the back button, you don't necessarily have to have read it to understand the sequel, as this chapter essentially gives away what happens, but you're free to (re)read it if you'd like. I recently did some editing on some of the parts I rushed, so it's a little more polished now anyway.

I have to thank Samantha27, as "Passion" was her idea in the first place, and she's given me ideas for this story, as well as GodsSonicGirl for the help she's given me. Thanks you two! ^^

Everyone is four years older than their canon ages in this story... and I know you all can add, so no need for an age list. Four years, remember that.

Also... this story is very firmly rated T. The rating is not going down, if anything it'd go up but that's NOT going to happen, so don't worry. That being said, this is going to be the most mature story I've written yet, so don't be surprised... but don't be scared either.

It will also contain some other couples: Taiream and maybe one other one, we'll see...

I'll try not to keep drowning you in my long author notes every chapter... but this is a somewhat slow intro, and it'll get more exciting later, I promise you that. (Man have I got a story for you guys!)