New Hedgehog in Town

Christmas Eve (Sonic's POV)

Wow. Christmas Eve came sooner than I expected. Everyone came, even Shadow though he didn't look happy about it. Rouge must have got him to come. I decided to have Anna hide for the beginning. She didn't know over half of them and I wanted to break it to them slowly since they haven't met her. Knuckles was the last one to show up.

"What took you so long Knux? We've been waiting for you."

"I stopped for a shake." Figures.

"Okay everyone. I have someone I'd like you to meet. She's knew in town and is staying with us for a while." I heard Amy pout but I chose to ignore it. I walked over to the bedroom and opened the door to see her standing by it. She was probably listening. "Ready?"

"Ready." We walked into the living room and everyone turned to look at her.

"She's really pretty," said Cream. Cheese agreed with her. I looked down at Anna and saw she was blushing.

"Hi..." she said shyly. Everyone said hi to her at the same. Which is good, We're getting off on a good start. I led her to a chair next to Rouge and Shadow. Hopefully Shadow didn't mess with her.

"What's your name, Sugar?" asked Rouge.

"Anna."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Rouge the Bat. And that's Shadow over there."

"My name is Cream. This is my very special chao friend Cheese. It's nice to meet you." I noticed Knuckles was standing in the corner, not wanting to join in. I shook my head and ran over to him and jabbed him in the gutt.

"Okay. I'm Knuckles."

"It's really nice to meet all of you," said Anna looking at everyone.

"Miss Anna, when did you meet Mr. Sonic." I saw her blush a little at the question. She seemed to blush a lot when I'm around or someone asks her about me.

"A couple weeks ago."

"How did you guys meet?" asked Rouge. This was a question I was hoping to avoid.

"Not the way you'd expect."

"How?"

"Eggman," I said answering for her. I could see sadness seep into Anna's eyes as she bent her head down.

"He thought I was Sonic. When he realized  I wasn't him, he kept me prisoner. But it didn't last long. Sonic saw me on the street where the robots got me. He came with Tails in the Tornado and helped me out of it. But the robots followed me."

"Is that why you're here?" asked Knuckles. Didn't I just say she was staying with us? Well, I guess I didn't explain why.

"Yes," answered Anna. "And I'm very grateful to both Sonic and Tails." Tails walked behind her and patted her shoulder as a 'your welcome.' I gave her the thumbs up, not knowing what to say. She smiled even more at me, and I could see the happiness in her eyes. In fact, they were practically glowing. Then it was time to exchange gifts. We got the presents out from under the tree and handed them out. Anna had a few presents from me, Tails and Amy. We didn't want her to go presentless on Christmas Eve. She seemed surprised she even got any.

"Oh! Sonic, Tails, wait right here!" She ran back into the bedroom, leaving me and Tails completely confused. She came back with a couple models and cards. "These are for you." She handed me a model of the Mystic Ruins and Tails one of the Blue Typhoon. They were hand made and obviously not easy to make. I could see the Master Emerald surrounded by the chaos emeralds on the model. It was amazing. "I wasn't able to put them under the tree so I hid them. I had a lot of free time." I would guess that since Tails and I had to stop Eggman from getting too close to her.

"You made these?" I asked still not believing it. She nodded yes for her answer. "How?"

"I knew the Mystic Ruins well. And I used pictures of the Blue Typhoon to make the model. I hope you don't mind."

"It's amazing, Anna!" shouted Tails.

"Thanks, Tails. I also have these." She handed us both a card with drawings on them. Tails' drawing was of the Tornado and mine was one of me. I whistled in amazement.

"You've got talent, Anna," I said.

"What else am I supposed to do while you guys are out?" She had a point there. Tails and I set the models down on the table and each gave her a hug for a thank you. I had to keep in my mind that there was no such thing as cooties long enough to give her one. Tails did his a bit longer than expected. Which proved my point that he really liked her.

"Anna, come open your presents!" said Rouge, not able to hold it in. I started to chuckle as she sat down and opened Amy's first. Amy had made her a handmade bracelet. It was a perfect fit.

"Amy, it's beautiful. Thanks!"

"No problem, Anna!" She reached for Tails next. I wonder why she saved mine for last? Tails had gotten her a hair clip with a dark blue flower on it. It went well with her fur.

"Wow Tails! I'll put it on right now." She took out her other flower pin and replaced it with Tails' gift. It started sparkling in the light of the room. I looked over at Tails to see him smiling, happy she liked his gift. Then she picked up my present. I may have wrapped it too well cause she had trouble for a little bit but was able to get it open. She pulled out the golden, heart shaped locket that was in the tiny box. "Thanks so much Sonic." She smiled up at me, I couldn't help but smile back. It looked like she wanted to say more but decided not too.

"Why it's lovely, Anna," said Rouge. "Who are you going to put in it?"

"I don't know." She instantly looked at Cream who seemed to be on the erdge of tears. "What's wrong Cream?"

"We didn't bring you a present. If we knew about you we would."

"Cream, your friendship is more than enough of a present to me." I looked at the card and noticed that it was a letter as well. So I started reading the card.

Dear Sonic,

Thank you for helping me out this past week. I hope I'm not causing you any trouble. I couldn't have asked for anyone better than you to help me. You could say I'm not used to having someone be there. I'm glad I do now. I really hope we can find out what Eggman wants and finish all of this. And I don't really want to leave. You and Tails have been good to me and I'm very grateful. I may never be able to pay the dept. I really hope this ends soon so that I can go outside and not have to look behind my back every few seconds. I'm always on the run, but now I have time to relax. Thank you for all that you've given me. -Anna.

She put all of her feelings into this letter. She's scared, and wants this to be over.

"Mr. Shadow," said Cream. "Why haven't you said anything?"

"Cause if he did it'd be insults at Sonic," said Rouge. I looked over to see Shadow glaring at me. In my mind I was thinking bring it on, but it was Christmas Eve. Not the best day to fight. So next time Shadow.

Eventually everyone started to leave. It took forever to get Amy out though. But she finally left, leaving us to put our gifts away and head to bed. At east it seems Anna had a good time. She said Christmas hadn't really been a part of her life. I think we just changed that.