I'd like to thank TheDivines for being a GREAT support of this story! (They like me! They really, really like me!) And yes I'm saying Christmas here, (even though it's June), I'm not ashamed of saying it!

December 22nd

Today was the last day until Christmas holidays started. Everyone was excited that they would get a break from the BS of highschool, not to mention present giving-and-receiving. And the Freedom Fighters were doing a Secret Santa on Christmas Eve. They planned this one month in advance by pulling a random name out of a hat (not telling anyone of course), and getting that person something that wasn't over $50. The Secret Santa list went like this:

Sonic gifts Blaze

Blaze gifts Knuckles

Knuckles gifts Shadow

Shadow gifts Tail

Tails gifts Rouge

Rouge gifts Amy

Amy gifts Silver

Silver gifts Starr

Starr gifts Sonic

It was cold that year and everyone was bundled up, even in their homes. Walking home was sometimes tremendous, especially when it either snowed hard or the plow hadn't come by or all of the above. Sonic was running home, as usual, trying not to slip on the icy sidewalks. While running, he felt a warm sensation enter his body and he felt himself running faster than ever before in his life. Living on the outskirts of the city it took him about five minutes to get home, but after the warmness he felt it took half that time. He got home and kicked his slushy shoes off and found the closest vent to him to warm his feet up. Sitting in front of the heat vent, he wondered what that sensation was and how it was related to his faster running. Could it be like what Tails felt? He though. When he warmed up, he wrapped up his present for the Secret Santa party.

December 24th, Christmas Eve

Everyone planned to hold the party at Sonic's house because it was the biggest and they could make as much noise as they wanted without disturbing neighbours. They had a Christmas turkey dinner, which everyone enjoyed, especially Sonic. Starr wondered how he could eat so much and look so fit. Then it was time for the Secret Santa exchange. Everyone sat in a circle on the floor, each holding a present for someone. Sonic went first, since it was his house. He gave his present to Blaze. She opened the box and laughed. She pulled out a faux-leather race car driver jacket with flames on the sleeves; everyone laughed with her.

Blaze went next; she gave her present to Knuckles. He opened the box and pulled out a treasure hunter hat. Knuckles gave Shadow his gift; it was a pair of sunglasses. Shadow gave a WTF look and Knuckles replied, "they complete your ensemble." Everyone laughed. Shadow went next as he passed Tails his gift. Tails opened the box and pulled out a pair of glasses with mini scopes on it. He put them on, he giggled and gave a wide open smile. Everyone giggled too; he thanked Shadow and put the glasses back in the box. Tails brought out his gift and gave it to Rouge; it was a smaller box than the others. She opened the box and pulled out a tube of lipstick; she read the bottom: "Hotter Than Pink".

"Tails I'm flattered," she said joking. "But it's over between us." Everyone laughed, even Knuckles, which made Tails turn slightly red. "I love the colour hon. Thanks!"

Rouge pulled out her gift and gave it to Amy. Amy opened the box and it was as makeup kit, and an extensive one at that.

"Wow," Amy said staring at the huge box. "This is almost as big as my head!"

"Now you can look almost as good as I do!" Rouge smiled in a joking way.

"I don't hint anyone can look like you Rouge," Amy said making a comeback. Everyone went "ooohh..." Rouge smiled sweetly, with the back of her mind thinking of ways to get back at Amy in a fun way.

Amy gave her gift to Silver. Silver hurried his way through the wrapping paper; if anyone was excited about Christmas, it was Silver the Hedgehog. He opened the box and pulled out a belt that was designed like his gloves. As soon as he touched it, it started to glow.

"Now you can fly around while using your telekinesis," Amy said.

"Thanks Amy," Silver said sincerely. He put the belt back in the box as he used his powers to pass Starr's gift to her; she giggled as it floated over her head. Silver gently placed it in her lap; she opened the box to find a pair of earrings that had blue gemstones in them.

"Oh Silver," she exclaimed. "They're beautiful!" She put them in her ears and they glittered and glowed in the light. Everyone was saying how pretty they looked on her. Starr blew Silver a thank you kiss and he pretended to catch it and place it on his heart like a hopeless romantic.

Finally it was Starr's turn to give her gift to Sonic, who waited patiently for his turn. He opened it box to find a pair of shoes with special tread on them. "Now you don't have to worry about slipping on icy roads," she explained.

"Stylish," he said. "Thanks!"

That was it for the gift exchange as everyone was trying on their gifts. Everyone had brought over an overnight bag so they could all open their presents that Santa was bringing them (see bottom for explanation*). They set up their sleeping bags, boys in one room and girls in another.

Christmas Day, 2:09am

Shadow was sleeping soundly, dreaming about what could be under the tree; he hadn't felt so good about Christmas before. During his sleep he felt the urge to wake up; he was confused as to why he woke up when he heard a squeaky window open. He turned to Sonic who said in his sleep, "old... house... squeaky... every... thang... zzz... zzz"

Shadow shook his head at Sonic's sleep talking as he quietly got up and walked over to the noise to investigate. Santa usually comes through the chimney, he thought to himself in his head. He found what made the noise: Starr was looking through the opened window, staring into the black and blue night.

"Hey," he whispered. "You should be in bed." She was startled for a second, but she turned around to see Shadow; his red stripes gave it away through the shadows.

"I can't sleep," she whispered back. They whispered for this conversation.

"Nightmares?"

"No it's just that... I remember Christmas with my folks and..." She was trying not to cry. "They're not here with me."

"Hey, hey it's gonna be okay," he said wrapping himself around her, everywhere that wasn't covered by PJs was ice cold. "You're freezing."

"I like the cold. Clears my mind. Do you ever miss her?" Shadow knew she was talking about Maria, for they had talked about her when Shadow had that day with Starr.

"Only when I think about her. But I moved on by saving the planet. I moved on for her because she wanted me to move on."

"But it's been 50 years for you."

"Sometimes it feels like yesterday that I lost her."

There was a pause as a cool breeze entered the room, the wind went through Starr's long quills.

"Do you know what my parents gave me every year? Their love. They gave me the one thing that I could guarantee from them. I promised them that I would be a good daughter and a good princess but I'm still a kid. How do I keep a nearly impossible promise to two dead people?"

"You do your best and that will be enough. Now we'd better get back to sleep or we'll be tried for tomorrow."

Starr closed the window, trying to make sure that it didn't wake anyone up. They went back to their sleeping bags and both fell fast asleep.

Christmas Day, Noon

Starr stirred in her sleeping bag as she slightly opened her eyes to see that it was morning. With the sun shining through the window so brightly, she pulled the sheet over her head to block the light going into her sleepy eyes. Once she got her day-eyes, she sat up and stretched her arms over her head. She looked around and saw that no one was there, then she heard talking downstairs. She got up from the floor, went to the bathroom to do her business, brushed her teeth and went downstairs to meet the others. She saw everyone at the kitchen table drinking cocoa or coffee.

"Look who finally decided to get up," Rouge said sipping her coffee. "Late night?"

"Off and on sleeping," Starr replied. "Usually how I am at Christmas time."

"Me too," Silver said as he turned his head to try and look in the living room where the tree was; he couldn't see anything in there because of the wall. Starr, by now, had sat down beside Shadow with a cup of cocoa.

"Don't worry Silver," Tails said. "They're not going to run away."

"Are we gonna go in there to make sure that they don't? You never know about magic..."

"Yeah I'm getting excited too," Starr said.

Everyone agreed and decided to go into the living room to start the gift-opening. They went in and saw present after present under the tree. Almost a hundred it seemed like as they all sat on the floor and Sonic, being the house-owner, got a present for everyone and they opened them one at a time. Gift after gift of fun and laughter filled the blue hedgehog's house; gifts from new shoes to clothes to handy tools. Sonic got a new Extreme Gear which he said, "now I can show Jet who's the fastest one. He won't stand a chance!"

Along with 'everyday' gifts, everyone got a special gift from the jolly man himself: a work belt for Tails, a steel boxing bag for Knuckles, boot cleaner for Silver, a dress for Rouge, new shoes for Amy and a perfume set for Blaze. The others didn't say anything but they noticed that neither Starr or Shadow got any special, eye-popping gifts. After the gift opening, they went back to the kitchen to have breakfast. Nothing fancy, just cereal they had.

"It's great that we can have Christmas together," Tails said. "What was your Christmases like Starr?"

"Well," she said swallowing her scoop of corn flakes. "We had big balls and a huge tree and grand feasts. But always on the day, my parents would have time for the three of us, no one else. This is what it was like: us all being together. So I guess it's like another year with them. Merry Christmas everyone!"

Everyone replied "Merry Christmas" and went back to their breakfast which didn't take long to finish.

"Hey I have an idea," Sonic said. "How 'bout we make this like one of your Christmases Starr?"

"How?"

"We can start by dancing. That's the ball part. Now come one everyone! Lets get this party started!"

Sonic went into his living room and everyone followed. When they got there, the living room floor was cleared off, since it was full of presents and wrapping paper, and Sonic was at the stereo putting on some lively Christmas music. He pressed play and started hopping around.

"Come on," he said grabbing Amy and swinging her around. "Dance time!"

Everyone got into the swing of the music and started dancing with one another; changing partners and dancing as group. Everyone was enjoying themselves especially Starr, she was taken from her home and she was having the time of her life. Sonic could see that, her dancing with the others, as he danced with Amy.

"You're a great guy Sonic," Amy whispered in his ear.

"Aw-shucks," he said waving his hand at her. He spun her around, which made her laugh with joy. Eventually it was time for dinner. There were leftovers from the night before as the food was laid out on the table like a feast. Each person took their place at the table and they all gave thanks. They pretended that it was a festive meal like the one that Starr use to have; Sonic saw the look on her face and it was lightened up brighter than the dancing. After dinner, they decided to go home before it got too dark to see outside. They gathered their gifts in their own cars and said their so longs to each other.

Shadow drove Starr home and helped her carry her stuff in her townhouse.

"Shadow," Starr asked. "Do you want to stay the night? It's late and cold and you're probably tired so... But if you don't want to, you don't have to. I just thought you could warm up here."

"I guess one night wouldn't hurt," Shadow replied. "Actually I wanted to give you your present when we were alone."

"Shadow I told you that I was waiting till I was married," she said jokingly.

"Ha ha. It's not that," he pulled it out of his coat pocket.

"Wait, wait, I actually have something for you too," she ran out of the room to get her gift for Shadow. She came back with her arms behind her back. "Okay I think I'm ready now."

They put their gifts in front of each other at the same time and took the other from each other. Starr insisted that Shadow opened his first; he ripped the paper off the little box and pulled out his gift. It was a flat, gold ring with a red ruby in it; Shadow stared at it shocked.

"The woman said that you had to be one heck of a guy to get something like that," she spoke nervously hoping Shadow liked it. "She said that was a popular ring."

Shadow took it out of the box and slipped it on his right middle finger. He held out his hand to get a better look at it and finally said, "it's beautiful Starr, it really is."

"Thanks Shadow," she replied. Shadow lifted his head to her and she opened up her gift. It was a gold necklace with a heart locket with sapphires. She gasped at how big it was, she found the karats on it; it said 18K.

"Shadow," she gasped. She couldn't say anything for she was confounded. Shadow took the necklace from her and went behind her. He wrapped the necklace around her neck and joined the clasp in the back. He went back around to her front to see how it looked on her. Like he thought, it was beautiful on her; it hung comfortably on her chest, the gems glittered and glowed in the light, matching her eyes. Shadow was staring into Starr's more than the necklace as a mistletoe magically appeared over the heads. They looked up and saw the plant, they looked back at each other and shared a Christmas kiss.

Now I know that Santa Clause doesn't exist for real life (for those people who do believe...) "Well we all have to grow up sometimes. Better if you learned about it now than if you learned about it on the street." -Colin Mocherie

Here, Santa does exist, for real, but he is not a character in the story, just a metaphor used for the imagination (if that makes any sense). I'm also thinking of putting in some cameos of characters... Hope it's good; don't forget to review... please!