“Do what?” Marklin asked.

“Amy wants to butt her head into your personal problems and have a group therapy session with you and Jasper.” Shadow rolled his eyes.

“I just want to help, Shadow!” Amy crossed her arms and huffed.

“Whatever, just eat.” Marklin sneered.

So, they all ate, enjoying the food. Amy voiced all of the mobians thoughts, “Wow! This is so much better than Meh Burger!”

“Dirt tastes better than Meh Burger.” Shadow said.

“I didn’t have to even try that hard.” Marklin sighed.

“It’s been awhile since we’ve had actual good food.” Sonic said before sighing, “Oh, how much I miss the chili dogs from Station Square.”

“Well why aren't you still there if you miss it?” Jasper asked.

“Because the place is destroyed.” Shadow deadpanned.

“Yeah, nobody really wanted to clean up the mess left after Egghead, so everyone just moved to other parts of the world, where things aren’t so destroyed.” Sonic explained. “We followed Eggman to this place and have been living here ever since.”

“Alright then.” Jasper shrugged.

“To think that they cleaned up after the flood of Chaos and the world breaking apart, but some damage from Eggman taking over is too much.” Amy rolled her eyes.

“I don’t remember either of those instances.” Shadow blinked.

“Because you weren’t in those games, sweetie.” Sonic said, lightly petting his boyfriend.

“Alrighty then.” Marklin sighed.

“Anyways, I think that the best way to help is to have a working couple with us during this session.” Amy smiled. “Which works out great since Sonic and Shadow are here with us now.”

Shadow glared. “Do you really think that would help?”

“You could always watch the kids, Shadow.” Amy said, putting her hands on her hips.

Shadow crossed his arms and grumbled out a, “Fine….”

“So is everything sorted out then?” Marklin asked.

“We still need someone to watch the kids….” She replied. “Maybe I can called Knuckles-”

“That won’t be necessary.” Sonic cut off, pulling out his communicator. There was a sudden knock on the door. Amy looked confused as she opened the door.

“Sonny boy! What do you need! I came as fast as I could!” the older mustached hedgehog cried out, he wobbled over slowly and hugged Sonic.

Sonic tensed a bit, blushing in embarrassment, but he hugged the older hedgehog hugged back. “Heh, hey Uncle Chuck.”

“Hows my boy, still jellying and jamming against that mean old Robotnik.” Uncle Chuck chuckled.

“It’s juice and jam- eh, nevermind.” Sonic chuckled. “How have ya been, Uncle Chuck.”

“Great, sonny boy, now what did ya need from me?” Uncle Chuck piped.

“Well, there’s some kids here that need to be watched while we take care of some things….” Sonic glanced to Amy.

“Of course! Where are the little scamps? Hopefully they aren't like you in your revving days, eh sonny boy!” Uncle Chuck said with a gentle laugh.

“I’m now very interested in these revving days.” Sonic blushed as Shadow said that.

“Nope! Boyfriends are not allowed to know these things!” He quickly said.

“Boy friend?” Uncle Chuck winked at sonic and elbowed him in the ribs playfully. “Who’s kids are these then?”

Sonic covered his face in embarrassment as Shadow answered with a simple, “They’re our friends’. I’m Shadow, Sonic’s boyfriend, by the way.”

“Well hello there, cloudy boy.” Uncle Chuck chuckled and held a hand to Shadow warmly, smiling happily.

Shadow decided not to comment on the name, and took the other’s hand. “It is nice to finally meet someone from Sonic’s family line.”

“He he he, just wait!” Uncle Chuck exclaimed, he giggled through his teeth as he still beamed at the dark hedgehog.

Sonic dramatically fell onto Marklin’s lap. “Kill me now before anything more embarrassing happens.”

“Well you did almost kill me last story.” Marklin sighed, he pushed the hedgehog off of him.

Sonic fell to the ground, not reacting to that. Instead he looked to Shadow. “He’s catching on.”

Shadow rolled his eyes, “You’re so dramatic.”

“Always was.” Uncle Chuck laughed, he helped his nephew up. “Now where are the little scallywags.”

Sonic simply gestured to where the kids were playing with their food with the oldest crying.

“Oh my….” Uncle Chuck said, Marklin smirked.

“They get calm after dinner, don’t worry yourself sir.” Marklin sighed sweetly.

Sonic chuckled nervously. “They aren’t too bad of kids from what I’ve seen so far.”

“They can’t be worse that you and- you.” Uncle Chuck sighed, he smiled even wider somehow. “Alright! You Kiddies come on with me now! We are gonna have some fun while the grown ups do what they need!” Of the four youths the youngest of Basil ran right up and smiled at Uncle Chuck.

“Hello, Sir, my name's Basil, what's yours!” Basil peeped, Fred scoffed.

“My name is Charles little one, but you can call me Uncle Chuck, now, who are your siblings?” Uncle Chuck said as he picked up the toddler.

“Eden is the old one, and Scout is my favorite sister, and Fred is the meanie pants.” Basil spit out as fast as he could. Marklin patted his son's head.

“Will you be on your best behavior?” Marklin asked.

“Yes Mommy!” Basil piped, Uncle Chuck laughed.

“A good little man then, now, let's go, and leave the adults to what they need to do.” Uncle Chuck started to walk out of the house, the rest of the children followed swiftly.

“They’re in good hands.” Sonic smiled when they left.

“I can tell.” Jasper sighed.

“Now, let’s get started!” Amy smiled, having Marklin and Jasper sitting next to each other and Shadow and Sonic on the other end of the couch. She sat in between them. “Let’s start with the simple stuff. Now, I want you all to phrase your sentences into ‘When you do this, it makes me feel this.’ Shadow, you go first.”

Shadow simply rolled his eyes and laid back in the couch. “Uh, I don’t know…. Sonic, when you fight for me as if I’m a damsel in distress, it makes me feel like slapping you because I’m not a fucking helpless princess, and this isn’t a fucking Mario game.”

“Well you’re permanently in my castle for one thing, wink wonk.” Sonic winked at the other, causing the dark hedgehog to blush.

He looked to Amy, “Can I leave now?”

“No, this is very important to develop your relationship!” Amy crossed her arms. “Jasper, you go next.”

“When you start to get nonverbal with me, it makes me frustrated that you can’t just talk like a normal human being.” Jasper said sharply.

The entire room felt that blow.

“Excuse me I’m-”

“Marklin! Use the phrasing!” Amy commanded.

“When you treat me like I'm a sub human, it makes me want to kill you in your sleep.” Marklin growled out bitterly.

“Jeez.” Sonic commented. “You two really do need help.”

Marklin and Jasper both fumed. Amy stood and laid a hand on their shoulders gently. “We have to be understanding to each other's feelings for this to work. You two do want this to work, right?”

Marklin pulled his shoulder out of Amy’s hold. “Yeah.” He sighed bitterly. Jasper nodded curtly.

“Good.” Amy nodded and sat back down. “Sonic, Shadow, why don't you two show how you work out your problems.”

Shadow promptly hit Sonic in the back of the head.

“Ow! Hey! What was that for!?” Sonic winced.

“Demonstrating to her how I deal with your stupidity.” Shadow huffed, crossing his arms.

“You two aren't helping!” Amy clenched her fists in aggravation.

“Why are they even here again?” Jasper asked pointedly.

Shadow simply shrugged as Amy groaned, “They were suppose to show you how proper communication with your loved one is like, but I see they need help too.”

“Our relationship is perfectly fine.” Shadow crossed his arms and glared at Amy.

“Obviously.” Marklin sneered.

“We're doing more harm than good here.” Sonic sighed. “Shadow and I work perfectly fine the way we are. Sure we have some ups and downs, but we still love each other greatly. Right Shads?”

Shadow nodded in agreement. “Yes, he's right.”

“Just wait.” Jasper seethed bitterly.

“I'm tired of how you keep acting.” Shadow growled out. “If you two really love each other, then you'd be able to talk and understand one another. To think that I use to be jealous of how great your relationship was….”

“Yeah before this dumb ass went off and-”

“I NEVER-”

And the fighting began. Amy felt her lady like tendencies disappear, clenching her fists and shouting “YOU TWO ARE UNBELIEVABLE! CAN'T YOU JUST SIT DOWN AND CALMLY TALK TO EACH OTHER LIKE REAL PEOPLE!?”

The two fell quiet, and both sat down on the couch in a mist of silence and emotion. Amy took deep breaths, calming herself down. Sonic and Shadow didn't look shocked at the female hedgehog’s shout, calmly yet awkwardly waiting for something to happen.

“When you make me feel like you aren't telling me the truth, it makes me feel like I’m losing part of you and your interest.” Jasper sighed.

“When you you accuse me of lying and cheating, it makes me feel like I can’t trust you, and you just don’t want me around.” Marklin sighed back.

Amy, fully calmed down, smiled, glad that they were finally making progress. She decided to stay silent and see if they work this out anymore.

“When you get loud, and angry, and emotional, it makes me, feel, like, however I feel and it’s not good, and I just start to fight or flight.” Marklin mumbled.

“When you start to get fighty, and silent, and defensive, and scared, it makes me feel awful for making you that way, and I just get angrier and more emotional.” Jasper sighed.

Amy was very proud of their sentence phrasing.

“I’m sorry that I keep nailing you on something I can’t even prove.” Jasper said, his eyes starting to tear up.

“I’m sorry I even did anything to make you belive that I-” Marklin was cut off by Jaspers crying turning to laughing, Marklin rubbed his back softy.

“I’m, hic, so, hic, sorry!” Jasper started to hiccup in his laughing, as it became more labored, he suddenly stopped laughing and just sat, eyes misted, and trying to stop his hiccups.

“Oh, I'm so glad things are working out.” Amy smiled, wiping a tear from her eye.

“We are so dumb, the children, your family-” Marklin pulled Jasper into a soft hold, cutting him off.

“Stress does things to people.” Marklin cooed gently, Jasper wrapped his arms around Marklin and the two held each other gently as their emotions calmed down.

“You ok?” Jasper asked, Marklin nodded, and the two loosened on each other, enough to give each other a small sweet kiss.

Amy awed happily. Sonic and Shadow were just glad that nobody was yelling.

Marklin and Jasper just sat, and simply enjoyed each other for the first time in a long time. They sat in a peaceful silence for a bit before Sonic spoke up. “So, now that everything is good, we should probably get the kids back from Uncle Chuck….”

“Actually, I was hoping to work a bit more with you two.” Amy said to the two hedgehogs.

“I told you that we don't need it.” Shadow growled out, annoyed.

“Look where we ended up.” Jasper spit.

Shadow rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. Sonic just smiled kindly. “Okay, Ames. If it’ll make you happy.”

“It would.” Amy nodded. “All I want to do is help.”

“Alright then.” Sonic smiled nervously, looking to Shadow. “When you say that you don’t like my new look, it makes me feel sad because I try really hard to look good for you. Plus, I’m growing up; I can’t always look like I did before.”

Shadow was silent, staring at Sonic with something akin to sadness in his eyes. Finally, he spoke with a slightly shaky voice. “Don’t talk about growing up, Faker….”

Sonic tilted his head, confused. “Huh?”

“I don’t need to be reminded of how you’ll grow up and eventually die while I’m stuck at this age forever.” Shadow looked away, fighting back tears.

“Shads, I didn’t reali-”

“Of course you didn’t.” Shadow huffed. “You’re stuck in the present, not even thinking about the future or reminding yourself of the past. Soon enough, all of you will leave me alone to wander this world, heartbroken.”

Shadow was starting to curl up, not really wanting to let all of his feelings out, but now that it’s out, he can’t stop the tears from rising up. Sonic bit his lip, trying to find the right words to say. Finally, he sighed and brought the other into a tight hug. Shadow sat still, sniffling and fighting the tears. “Shadow…. Yes, eventually that will happen. Everything has to come to an end at some point, but that doesn’t mean we should be afraid of it. We should live our lives to the fullest in the time we have, ya know? I don't want you to be afraid, Shadow. I want you to feel happy of the times we'll spend for the rest of my life.”

Shadow finally hugged him back tightly, letting the tears finally go. “How can you be so damn cheesy?”

“It's a gift.” Sonic chuckled.

“Of course it is….” Marklin sighed.

“Aw!” Amy squealed.

Sonic smiled as he let Shadow out of the hug. “Can I get a kiss from my Shadzy?”

“I told you not to call me that.” Shadow said, annoyed. He then sighed and kissed the other's cheek. “Don't ever change.”

“Have fun living up to that one.” Marklin commented.

Shadow simply rolled his eyes. “Alright, can this be over now?”

“How about some couple building exercises!?” Amy suggested excitedly. “I have couples games!”