Time Heals All Things

Chapter Twenty-Two: A Different Kind of Rivalry

"You could have just left that on the table, one of the girls would have come and collected it." Amy said with a brief look of confusion as Shadow arrived at the counter with the dirty dishes neatly stacked on it and set it down.

"Yeh, whatever. We need to talk about Sonic." The black and red hedgehog drawled uninterested in discussing Amy's staffing issues as he had not seen a server bother to collect them in the last five minutes.

"What about him?" Amy queried narrowing her jade eyes before folding her arms across her modest bosom while looking distinctly annoyed about the subject of her ex-husband. She flashed a glare towards the forty year old blue hedgehog, suspecting that he had put Shadow up to this. However Sonic was merely relaxing in his side of the booth with his cellphone. Judging by the constant clicking of his fingers and the zoned out expression on his face he was clearly playing a game on some ridiculous mobile app and was not paying them the slightest attention.

"Look, we both know he's an idiot but he has a good heart and he still cares about you." Shadow gave a half eye roll of disbelief and a slightly patronising smirk to the middle-aged pink female hedgehog, "Hmh, he actually wants you two to be friends which is pretty astonishing in itself considering that it was him who wanted a divorce from you. Personally I consider that a long shot but surely just being nice to him is not such a ludicrous thought considering you two circulate in the same circle of associates."

"I am being nice." Amy replied quickly then raised her brows to the dark hedgehog opposite her. "But look at you, defending Sonic. I remember there was a time when you would never do such a thing.." She cooed playfully with a smirk of her own. In his youth Shadow would never have uttered anything with the level of niceness and empathy that just came from his mouth. In fact he would have held a gun to anyone's temple and threatened to pull the trigger if such a suggestion had even been made.

"True but things are different between Sonic and I now.." The dark hedgehog replied looking a little flustered, feeling awkward about speaking about their relationship with Sonic's ex-wife as he was not sure exactly how she felt about it. However Amy only smiled sweetly at the slight tint of pink on Shadow's tanned muzzle and the unsure glint in his red eyes.

"I noticed and I'm happy for you two." Amy smiled gently back at him which made those bright red eyes blink.

"Y-you are?" Shadow uttered in confusion, unaware that Amy had been observing the two of them while they had been eating breakfast. They may have been hiding their true affections from the rest of the cafe but not to the pink female. She knew them both well enough to spot the subtly discreet body language and expressions that hinted something deeper.

"Of course.." The thirty-eight year old female hedgehog tittered, highlighting her slight facial lines before composing herself quickly then gripping Shadow's hand. "You two have always been drawn to each other, you share a special bond. I have to admit, I was always jealous of the fact that you could get Sonic's attention so easily. He always chose to fight you rather than spend time with me." Amy gave a little sigh before smiling at Shadow. "But Sonic was right, he and I were not meant to be together. We never had that same spark that I can see in you two."

"So, this really doesn't bother you?" The black and red hedgehog raised his brows, quietly impressed and felt a rush of affection and admiration for the pink hedgehog for being surprisingly understanding and accepting of their relationship.

"Shadow, Sonic is completely in love with you. It's obvious by the way he looks at you, it's just so beautiful. It's something that I used to want but I'm glad it's you, you deserve it.." Amy said in a warm caring tone full of sincerity. Her jade eyes gleamed with a supporting, almost motherly gaze towards him proving that she genuinely meant her words and was prepared to support them whole-heartedly.