The first year.
Kiera was sat in her favourite chair in her reading nook, created by her best (male) friend Silver for her birthday a few years prior, she had a mint flavoured hot chocolate drink in a grey mug with the words 'paws off' painted on the side of it (a lovely gift from Vanilla's daughter Cream) the wolf held a soft spot for the kid. She was rereading a series of books from her favourite author at the time, happily resting and enjoying her time alone after a long mission resulting in a minor injury on herself but she has healed just fine.
As for her best (female) friend, Rouge has noticed the twinges of pain in her arm but more so in her eyes. Not any physical pain but the emotional kind. Kiera knew telling her she's been single six or more years was a bad idea and Rouge has made it her side mission to get her to go on as many blind dates as possible, but as she has overheard her say on numerous occasions 'that wolf is as stubborn as a bull'.
Kiera told her that she would have to blame her father for that for that trait bestowed upon her as well as many others although she is glad for the many things, he has taught her even though he is a royal asshole. Her mother was the opposite, she was sweet, kind and gentle how she ended up with a temperamental borderline sociopathic idiot was beyond her, but she doesn't dwell on that notion anymore. That path of hers faded away long ago which was sad but she believes she is better off because of it.
Kiera's eyes narrowed at the page she was on as she felt a pull of the laces on her boots, she rested the book on her lap and stared at the little hairy dog with Gremlin ears using her laces as a chew toy. She closed her eyes and sighed, wondering why Rouge even got that thing in the first place. It doesn't even listen to her when given commands, it's a pure nuisance and a harbinger of chaos.
"Rouge, please, come retrieve your dog before it frays the laces of my boots, so I have replaced them. Again." Kiera opened her eyes and looked over to the bat painting her toenails.
Rouge looked over at her and groaned, frustrated. She got up from the sofa and shuffled towards Kiera on her heels, being careful of the wet nail polish. "She doesn't listen to me!"
"Then train it."
Rouge picked up the tiny dog away from Kiera's boots, the fluffy thing yapped and suddenly Kiera could feel a headache coming on. "She is not an 'it' and you shouldn't be wearing your boots in the compound. We made that rule when we built it."
"I'll stop wearing them when that – she stops dragging them into her bed to hump and chew." Kiera corrected herself midway while closing her book and setting in on the side table on her left beside her heated mug.
Rouge rolled her eyes and place the dog in her bed, motioning for her to stay there, and returning to her seat on the couch. "Well, if you had a boyfriend and had your own place it wouldn't be a problem."
Her golden eyes narrowed at the bat. "I could say the same about you, considering you actually have a boyfriend."
"He's allergic!"
Of course, he is, Kiera thought as she knew and saw how Knuckles felt about the little troublemaker. "Right." She said.
"You know, for a pack animal you like being on your own." Rouge countered, finishing off the last layer of vibrant red nail polish on her toes.
Kiera grabbed her mug and took a sip of hot chocolate. "Perhaps I do but I am around the others who live here."
"And yet you avoid them like the plague."
"No, I do not." Kiera denied quickly.
"Oh, so you don't eat breakfast at 4 am before anybody is awake, or eat lunch by yourself in your 'study' or eat dinner alone in the garden or even research in the dark corners of the library by your lonesome?" Kiera raised her hand in surrender and to stop her from continuing her list.
"Geez, I see your point."
The white bat smirked at her win but leaned back. "So, why?" Rouge asked waiting for the nail polish to dry.
Kiera cocked an eyebrow. "Why what?"
"Why don't you socialise with them like you do with me and Silver?"
"They remind me of someone, or rather, multiple 'someone's'." She knew exactly what Kiera was talking about, she (besides Silver) knew about what really happened in her family which led her to being here in Mobius.
"Your brothers. You can call or even email them, can't you?"
"I could but it's been so long. I'm unsure if they would want to speak to me after what happened. They could contact me as well, you know."
"A two-way street that you both won't cross." Rouge was insightful at times, Kiera recons she got it from Knuckles' Master Emerald guidebooks probably. They were always so cryptic and had a message within a message.
Kiera sucked in her cheek as she thought on it. "Maybe one day when I'm ready."
"How about starting with a boyfriend?"
She shook her head. "This again? Can't you just leave that be?"
"No! I want you to be happy, you helped me, and Knuckles get together. Silver agrees with me too." Kiera knew she held good intentions, but this was something she didn't want to deal with right now.
"I know and I appreciate that you care about my happiness like that but right now I'm not focussed on that. I'm quite content with my books and the missions right now." She smiled at Rouge.
Rouge looked back at her friend with a softened gaze and unknown to her that this night's interaction would have been the first sign to her, but she wasn't looking for it, but god damn could Kiera divert and hide things without suspicion.
The second year.
Kiera had improved from being a recluse so she sat at the breakfast table, still with a book in her hand, a bowl of cereal in front of her and holding a silver spoon in her other hand as she ate without looking too immersed in her book to care. Silver was sat beside her talking with Tails about expanding the sparing field for the upcoming summer. Shadow was leaning against the kitchen counter waiting for the kettle to boil for his mug of coffee, not paying attention to much of anyone.
Rouge was sat opposite her with a plate of slices of buttered toast and a mug of hot coffee warming up her hands. She stared at her distracted friend as she saw something poking out from the grey crewneck jumper she always wears to bed.
"Kiera?" Rouge asked.
Kiera hummed in response with the spoon in her mouth. "Yes?" She muttered out.
"What is that mark on your neck?" Tails and Silver paused their discussion and stared at Kiera, this also got Shadow's attention although at the time Rouge had thought because nothing else was happening but this.
Kiera looked at Rouge in confusion, she put the spoon back in unfinished bowl of cereal and got her phone out of the pocket of her sweatpants. She switched on the 'selfie' mode on the camera, held it up at head height in front of her and looked for the mark.
"A bruise probably." Kiera brushed off like it was nothing.
Rouge knew that it wasn't a bruise. "That's a hickey, honey. Did our resident wolfy get some last night?" she smirked at her, this wasn't a normal occurrence, she never caught Kiera out. She was far too discreet for that, she slipped up.
Kiera's jaw clenched and she put her phone away. "And?"
"You have to tell me everything."
Tails looked confused. "Why would you talk about…?"
"Us girls chatter about everything, especially boys." Rouge said and Tails' eyes widened, and he got up.
"I got to…I got to call Cream. Talk later, Silver." He rushed out the room.
Shadow turned away, his back facing them as the kettle 'dinged' and finished boiling, he poured it into the flask. "So, was he good?" Rouge asked, taking a sip of her coffee.
Kiera looked down at her cereal. "He was…good. He was fine."
"Oh, hon, was he really that bad?"
Kiera bit her bottom lip. "He got the job done." Shadow took his flask of coffee and left not saying anything to either of them.
"Poor guy." Silver commented.
Rouge smirked and looked at him. "You should hear what Blaze says about you."
She should have been a little more aware at this point, but Kiera wasn't easy to read although she did slip a few times as she was more corrigible in the early mornings with a few of her walls down. Basically, she was just more relaxed.
The third year.
Kiera was happier, she smiled and laughed more. Something had definitely changed but she had reconnected with her brothers. The eldest of her brothers, Lorenzo, wrote and sent her a letter saying he would have contacted her sooner, but he didn't know where she lived until he saw her in the newspaper. It was an accident that she was in it, but she was glad that he found her even through letters. It was the beginning of a slow and long road to being what they were before but so many things have changed. She changed, he changed. They all did.
It was almost a blank slate of being brothers and sisters again. As much as she loved the handwritten letters from her brothers, writing them all back began to hurt her writing hand, so she changed to just emailing them – that was much easier to do. She kept the letters in a shoebox under her bed though.
One weekend in October, Kiera disappeared for a few days but left a note.
Be back soon-ish.
Kiera.
p.s. don't fucking touch my chocolate
The swear word was a bit much but nobody did touch her chocolate.
She came back on the Wednesday and it was back to business as usual, nobody suspected a thing until it was the following week on Thursday. They were all in the lounge area of the compound, Rouge, Silver and Blaze were on the sofa. Tails, Amy, Cream and Sonic were sat on the floor in front of them watching the tv. Shadow was sat in a chair, reading something on his tablet while Kiera was in her reading chair, engrossed in a new book when Rouge's eyes caught something.
She stared at Kiera's hand that was holding the book. There was a silver band on the third finger on her left hand and alongside it was a ring with a ruby surrounded by smaller diamonds. Her eyes nearly bulged out her head.
"YOU'RE MARRIED." Rouge practically yelled, grabbing everyone attention to Kiera.
Kiera looked up from her book and looked at her left hand and smiled, she looked back at Rouge. "I am."
"Married?!" She exclaimed, again.
"What?" Sonic asked astonished.
Silver then asked. "When?"
"Where?" Amy questioned.
"AND TO WHO?" Rouge got up and frantically rushed over to Kiera, looking at her ring and band.
Kiera smirked. "I got married on the 23rd of October in the church of my hometown and-"
"-and to me." Shadow smirked as well from the other side of room, revealing his own wedding band that matched his wife's.
"Oh my god. Did you even go on those blind dates I set up for you?" Rouge asked quickly looking between the two, then connecting the dots from the last three years.
"Not really, no. He got quite jealous when we started dating and I went on one because I couldn't find a reason to get out of it."
"The hickey…the disappointing sex."
Shadow huffed. "Lies."
"I said that in front of you, that's hilarious. He wasn't happy, was he?"
"He wasn't, he took the time to prove it's anything but disappointing." Kiera smirked.
Sonic started to simulate vomiting.
Rouge then remembered something else that she found. "So, you're pregnant?!"
Shadow stared at his wife. "What?"
"I am not pregnant, Shadow!"
"Well somebody is!"
The room fell silent, but their heads turned to one person.
"Oh, fuck." Amy whispered.