Shadow of a Doubt

Introductions and Arrangements

(Maria)

"Do you think she'll wake up soon?"

"Shhh, Sonic! She needs her rest." A young sounding voice whispered.

Maria sluggishly opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. She seemed to be in a lab or hospital of some kind. As she tried to sit up and see it better, a sharp but minor pain shot through her arm. A low grunt left her lips but she kept trying.

"Lay back down, hun. You're safe here."

Her eyes flashed to the speaker, a blue hedgehog leaning against the wall, emerald eyes watching. He smiled at her.

"Please lay back down, Miss! You lost a lot of blood!" begged a small fox sitting in a chair next to Maria.

"I guess... Where am I?" Maria asked slowly leaning back onto the pillows.

"My basement! I use it as a lab for my studies and, on occasion, as an infirmary." The fox answered gesturing around the vast space. "Oh! Where are my manners? My name is Miles Prower, but you can call me Tails," he signalled to the hedgehog as he finished.

"And I'm Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog. And you are...?"

"Maria or at least I think that's my name. I can't remember anything else." She said looking up at the ceiling.

The two boys glanced at each other before Tails broke the silence.

"What do you mean? You don't remember anything?"

"Only my name. I can't remember where I'm from, any family, friends, nothing." She sighed as she wracked her brain for information. "Um, how did I get here anyway?" She said looking over at the silent guys.

After some explaining on Sonic's part, Maria was deep in thought while the boys whispered in the corner. Many questions whizzed through her head. How did I get hurt? Who am I? Do I have friends or family looking for me? She was pulled from these thoughts as Tails cleared his throat.

"We've been talking, and since you don't have anywhere to go, we were wondering if you wanted to stay with us. Sonic's girlfriend owns a large house and is always welcome to company..." Tails explained as he looked to Sonic for approval.

"Yeah! She'd love it if you'd stay with her! It's a huge house, but only Blaze and Amy live there and they love company! So, what do you say?"

"Uh, sure! At least until I get my memory back." Maria agreed, fingering the bandage on her arm.

"Tails? Do you know where Sonic is?" A voice yelled from upstairs, startling the three of them.

"Down here, Silver!" Sonic yelled back.

As the three looked to the stairs a white hedgehog appeared, with unique spines that fanned out from his forehead. He wore a relieved look as he crossed the room to stand in front of his blue look-a-like.

"We've been looking all over for you! The movie starts in half an hour!" Silver informed Sonic, not noticing Tails and Maria silently watching.

"Sorry Silver, I didn't realize what time it was." The blue one apologized as Silver pulled out a cell phone.

He dialled quickly and silently. Holding the phone to his ear he finally noticed Maria sitting up in the bed with Tails sitting close by.

"Hey Shadow, I found him." He listened for a moment then replied. "Yeah he is a jerk." He agreed, glancing pointedly at Sonic, who stuck his tongue out.

"We're at Tails' house, so come over and we'll leave." He hung up, and then addressed Sonic.

"You are so lucky we didn't miss the movie, 'cause Shadow would beat you senseless if we did." He added with a smirk.

"Shut up." Sonic murmured.

"Hurry up! We're gunna be late!" A voice complained from upstairs. It was deeper than the other two hedgehogs, so Maria guessed he must be Shadow.

"Shadow, why don't you come down here? I want you guys to meet someone!" Sonic yelled back up to him.

"Fine." He grumbled walking downstairs. A black hedgehog with ruby red streaks appeared. What caught Maria's attention the most about this new hedgehog was his beautiful scarlet eyes. But when she made eye contact with him, a splitting headache erupted behind her eyes.

She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the headboard. Taking a deep breath, she prayed no one noticed her discomfort. Of course, Tails was a little too observant.

"You Ok?" He asked her, drawing the others attention. "You look a little pale."

"I'm fine. Just a little headache." She replied, playing it down as much as possible. When she opened her eyes, she found Shadow and Silver looking at Sonic quizzically.

"Silver, Shadow, this is Maria. Maria, these are my brothers Shadow and Silver. I found Maria on my morning run injured and unconscious..." As Sonic continued to retell the tale, Maria went back to her thoughts.

What's with this crazy headache? All I did was make eye contact with the black one named Shadow. Maybe it's just the loss of blood. Yeah that's it!

"Well it was nice to meet you Maria, but we really have to go. I'm sure we'll see you again sometime!" Silver said heading for the stairs.

"See you later, Maria." Sonic agreed following Silver. "Tails, don't forget to call Amy."

"Sure, Sonic." Tails answered.

Once the three hedgehogs had left, Tails moved to the desk on the other side of the bed. He picked up the phone, dialled, and then held it to his ear.

"Hey, Amy!" Tails greeted the person on the phone. "No, everything's fine." He paused, listening. "I was just wondering if a friend of mine could live with you for a while... hmm... Ok, I'll bring her over. Thanks!" He hung up and turned to Maria.

"So, I'm guessing Amy is Sonic's girlfriend?" Maria asked, sitting up. She threw off the sheets and swung her legs over the side of the bed, eyeing the ground.

"Yep!" Tails answered, walking over to help her. "You feeling better?" he asked, helping her get to her feet.

"Yeah, the headache's gone away and I'm really excited to meet Amy!"

"That's great!" Tails exclaimed, leading her up and out of his house.

~!~

Tails went up to the door and rang the bell, leaving Maria to gaze at the pretty, pink house, with its white trim. There were muffled footsteps, then the door opened to a light pink hedgehog in a red dress.

"Hello, Tails! How are you?" The pink one asked the fox, not noticing the yellow hedgehog behind him.

"I'm fine Amy, thanks for asking!" Tails replied.

"So you said a friend of yours needed a place to stay?"

"Um, yeah! Amy, this is Maria." He said turning to the hedgehog behind him. "Maria, this is Amy Rose."

"Oh! It's lovely to meet you, Maria!" Amy said smiling widely.

"It's nice to meet you too, Amy." Maria greeted shyly, smiling back.

"Well, come on in!" She invited, leading the two of them into the living room. "Please make yourselves at home."

The three of them sat down and Tails retold what had happened earlier that morning. As Tails talked, Maria sat quietly listening and watching for Amy's reaction. Amy kept a calm face throughout the story. Once Tails was done talking, Amy rose out of her chair and joined Maria on the couch.

"I think you'll love living with us! So, Tails, you can go home and we'll go find Maria a room!" She said taking Maria's hand and leading her toward the stairs.

"Ok, see ya girls." Tails waved opening the door.

"Bye, Tails." Maria said as she was pulled up the stairs.