(I do NOT own sonic the hedgehog or any of his friends.)

That night I told Stella goodnight and lay down in bed next to her.

I couldn't sleep.

So many thoughts swimming through my head.

'Isn't it cute how Stella refers to Shadow as her dad?'

'If by cute you mean creepy, yeah.'

'Well if you didn't think of yourself as her mom wouldn't it be cute?'

'Yeah, I guess.'

'Xipho's gonna be the end of your friendship with Shadow.'

'Yeah, I know.'

'He didn't used to get me so angry.'

'He's always treated Shadow like he was an Idiot but not me.'

'It just makes me feel weird.'

'Well, Shadow's only a wall away again.'

I pounded on the wall behind our bed.

Shadow came in.

"What is it?"

He yawned.

"Just making sure it still worked."

I smiled.

"You can't get to sleep either."

He gave me a sad look.

"No."

I shot him one back.

He came and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Did ya see my Xipho pic in my room?"

He asked.

"Yeah, I thought it was hilarious."

I laughed.

"Good. I thought you would."

I got out of bed and put on my slippers.

"Whatcha doin'?"

He asked.

"Come on. Sit on the couch with me the bed's no place to talk."

I sat patting the couch cushion next to mine.

He came over.

"Do you ever wish you could redo something?"

I asked.

"All the time."

He said.

"What would you redo?"

"Well, for starters that beach ball incident the other day."

"How would you redo it?"

I looked him straight in the eye when I said it.

"I'd um…"

He took my hand and moved closer.

It got to the point where he was so close to me I could taste his breathe.

'This is it, you're gonna finally kiss Shadow'

Our lips were about to touch.

"Dad, Maria, Whatcha doin'?"

Stella said rubbing her eyes.

I pushed Shadow away.

"Nothing."

We said in unison.

"I didn't look like nothing."

She giggled.

"Well it was."

I growled.

"I'd better get going before I answer anymore of your questions."

Shadow said getting up.

I laughed.

"See ya."

I called.

He waved as he closed my door,

I went over and lay back down next to Stella.

"You were gonna kiss him."

She taunted.

"Was not, he was gonna kiss me. I didn't mean that!"

I said my face brick red.

Stella giggled.

"I know, I saw the whole thing. I couldn't get to sleep either. That's the second time he's tried to kiss you."

"I know."

I looked away.

"Why don't you just tell him you love him?"

Stella looked at me sincerely.

"Because… I'm not sure he loves me back. I can't just tell him. It's just too weird."

I looked up at my canopy.

"I don't understand how it can be so hard."

Stella said.

"Soon enough, little star, soon enough."

I didn't fall asleep that night.

I simply lied in bed thinking.

(Next Day)

"Hey, Maria."

He didn't sound like he wanted to see me.

"Hey, Shadow."

I tried to match his tone but couldn't do it.

I was too happy to see him.

Sounds scary, doesn't it?

That's good, cuz it is scary.

He looked up at me.

His eyes full of sadness.

"What's wrong?"

I asked putting my hand on his shoulder.

"I don't know. I had a horrible dream last night."

He said.

"What was it about?"

I wanted to know what was keeping Shadow from being happy.

"You."

He said solemnly.

"Oh…"

I took my hand off his shoulder and crossed my arms.

"I can see why your night would be restless."

Now I had no problem matching his tone if not having a worse one.

"That's not what I meant."

He rolled his eyes.

"Well, then. What did you mean?'

I asked.

"You don't want to know."

It was like wasting precious air on him.

"Ugh."

Stella came out of my room still in her pajamas.

She yawned.

I grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her to the kitchen.

"Whoa! Hi dad!"

"Hey."

Shadow didn't even wave.

"What's his problem?"

"Me."

I grunted.

"What do you mean?"

She asked when we got to the kitchen.

"He had a bad dream last night."

"Was it about you?"

"Yes."

"What'd he say when you asked him why it was bad?"

"I don't wanna know."

"Oh. He's pretty secretive isn't he?"

"More than you know."

I made us waffles.

I saw Shadow.

He's bonkers for every kind of sauce and dressing, so his eyes popped when he saw there was only a bit left of the syrup.

I smiled malevolently.

"You wouldn't dare."

He said.

I poured the last bit of it on my waffles.

Then melted the bottle with my pyrotechnical abilities.

"Ugh. I trust you didn't make me waffles either."

He grumbled.

"Nope!"

I said spitting at him.

He made his own.

"That manly enough for ya?"

He said commenting on what I'd said yesterday.

"No. I'm more of a chicken person."

I smiled.

He poured steak sauce on his waffles.

"Ew. Lemme try."

I said.

"Can I have one of yours?"

He asked.

"Knock yourself out, it's "no sugar added" syrup, yuck."

I ate the steak sauced waffled happily.

"Ew. Did you two share?"

Sonic said sitting down next to me at the table.

"Mm Hm."

I nodded my mouth full of steaffle.

(Steak + waffle)

"Does that one have steak sauce on it?'

He said scornfully.

"Yeah, want some?"

"Did it originally come off Shadow's plate?"

He asked.

"Yes."

"No."

Stella took one look at my steaffle and went to go get rid of her "no sugar added" ones.

(I wonder what a steaffle would taste like. Ya know what I'd better not think about it. I've been pretty queasy today without that going through my head.)

(Thanx Breeze, Shanequa, and FMAFreak for your kind reviews. You three are the only ones who are ever gonna read this anyway, but hey, at least you're nice. Again, Thanx, you three drive me to keep writing.)