This chapter will be in third-person.

"Do you know what Aladdin wished for, when the genie offered to grant him three wishes?" asked Jules, moving a checker piece.

Aleena had finished her game with Manic and now it was Jules' turn to take him on.

Manic sipped the cocoa Sonic got him earlier as he pondered the riddle, but before he could answer, Sonia blurted out, "More wishes!"

The green hedgehog glanced at Sonic to see what his take on this was, but the eye-rolling smirk on his blue twin's face told him he'd heard it all before.

"Yes, but the genie told him that the law only allowed him to grant three wishes," continued Jules, "What did Aladdin do then?"

A spark of inspiration flickered on in Manic's head, and instantly escaped through his mouth.

"He wished for more genies!" he shot back, nearly laughing at the idea.

"Good guess!" chuckled Jules.

Manic couldn't help feeling proud of himself.

"Tell the one about the frog's car," suggested Sonic.

"That one?" asked Sonia, the disappointment in her voice obvious.

Sonic just held up a hand to indicate silence. Sonia wasn't quite sure what he meant by that, but waited patiently while Aleena asked, "What happened to the frog's car after it broke down?"

Manic noticed the same eye-rolling look on Sonia's face, indicating an obvious answer, so he thought about it for a second, before giving the first response that came to mind: "It got toad away?"

"You remember!" laughed Aleena, nearly squealing.

Sonia's eyes went wide as she finally understood the reason for the old jokes.

Manic thought back on the genie joke, and a few others Jules and Aleena had dug up, and realized he hadn't guessed them, he'd remembered them- like with the distorted dream about sledding. By now, he'd begun to accept the reality that he really was Maurice "Manic" Hedgethorn, but that didn't make small clues like the jokes any less surprising.

At this point, he wasn't debating his identity, only waiting to see what other fragment of his past life turned up next.

"M-Maurice? Is…is that you?"

It took Manic a moment to register that he was being called by his real name, something he wasn't used to, and though the voice sounded familiar, he was disappointed to discover that he did not recognize its owner, a creme colored female rabbit with fiery orange hair, contrasted by a violet dress and high heel shoes that were a slightly darker shade.

"Hubba! Hubba!" Sonic muttered under his breath.

"It is you!" she almost squealed, in a similar manner to Aleena, as she pulled the emerald hedgie into a hug that made him fear he was about to die of asphyxiation.

"I heard you'd been found, but it's still good to see you again!" laughed rabbit lady.

A muffled whine was all Manic could muster.

"Hi, Mrs Rabbitt!" chirped Sonia.

"Hello, Sonia!" replied Vanilla, realeasing Manic and giving his sister a much lighter embrace.

"What about mine?" whined Sonic, giving her puppy eyes.

Aleena laughed.

"Oh, alright," chirped Vanilla, hugging Sonic, who let his head rest on her chest.

He purred mischievously.

Manic was about to let loose a big, "Who ARE you?" when he remembered that only Sonic knew his secret, and not being ready to tell anyone else, he decided to keep the act going a bit longer, and simply said, "Um, h-hi."

Sonic immediately recognized the problem, remembering what his twin told him in the bathroom about his memory issues, and told Vanilla, "Manic's still getting used to everything. He doesn't like people grabbing him so suddenly."

Vanilla appeared to switch personalities on the spot, instantly changing from loud and clingy to quiet and cautious.

"Oh my…I…I'm so sorry," she apologized, remembering the reason Manic was here, as well as the effect it must have had on him.

Cupping her hands in front of herself, humbly, she more calmly said, "I just got so excited at finally being able to see you again. Hope I didn't scare you too much."

Manic relaxed himself a bit, her more controlled manner putting him at ease.

"It's…good to see you again," he half lied, not really remembering her at all, but knowing he'd met her before, since it was, at this point, undeniable.

Before he could explain his side to her, he noticed a much smaller copy of Vanilla hidden among a pile of stuffed animals behind her, watching them.

Following Manic's gaze, Sonia also noticed the mini-Vanilla and blurted out, "There you are!"

The bunny popped out of her makeshift cubby hole and said in an equally loud voice, "Aw, you got me!"

Sonia darted forward and scooped her friend up in a big hug, making it obvious the two shared a history of sorts. Then she turned to Manic and introduced the two.

"This is my best friend, Cream!" she cooed, as if showing off a stuffed toy, which Cream did, in fact, resemble, which was probably why Jules and Aleena could be heard snickering.

"Do you remember me telling you about Manic?" she asked the bunny in her arms.

"Is that him?" Cream asked, pointing to the green hedgie.

"It sure is!" squealed Sonia, "He's finally back."

Sonia released Cream, expecting her to give Manic the same hug she'd given her, but the young rabbit seemed reluctant to leave the only person she wasn't shy around. Not waiting for things to get awkward, Manic stepped forward and carefully knelt down in front of her and said, "You probably don't remember me…"

How could she? He'd been taken 5 years ago, and she was 6, which meant she was only 1, at most, when they last met.

"…but I do remember you."

Okay, that was a lie, but he knew they'd met, so it counted.

"You do?" squeaked the living teddy bear of a child.

Couldn't hurt to guess.

"Yes, you were a happy little fuzz ball, back then...," continued Manic, trying to think up more "memories", "…and you touched my face a lot when we visited."

Cream's right hand suddenly reached up and claimed his cheek.

"I think I remember!" she said, just as suddenly, a feeling of deja vu accompanying the soft warmth of the hedgehog's face.

He'd guessed right- again! His subconscious recalled enough of his past for him to connect the dots where he needed to, such as adopting the identity he was supposed to have forgotten, back at Robotnik's place, but consciously remembering his past was another matter, as something seemed to prevent him from doing so. Almost like he was deliberately trying to forget it. And with everything he could remember about his captivity, who could blame him? At least with Cream, he'd have an easier time taking his mind off of all that.

Manic spent the next half hour or so talking and catching up with Vanilla, and playing with Cream, who sat in his lap when she wasn't leaning against him. He listened carefully for details on his past, but most of what she gave him was typical toddler fluff; specific instances of funny little things she remembered him doing and saying, which was further exacerbated by Aleena's motherly nostalgia. It wasn't terribly exciting, but the green hedgie felt content to be surrounded by people who truly cared for him, and were, in fact, his real family. It really didn't get any better than this.

Until it did.

"If it isn't one of my favorite patients," said a voice Manic could swear he'd heard before.

"And my favorite nephew," said another voice that also held familiarity.

"Uncle Chuck!" whooped Sonia, excitedly, hopping off her chair and glomping what looked like a slightly older version of Jules.

"Well, one of my favorite nephews," continued Chuck, hugging Sonia.

"Upchuck!" whooped Jules, using a nickname he'd given his brother when they were teens.

"Some things remain the same," sighed Chuck, "and I'm hoping Manic is one of them."

The cop hog hugged the wheelchair bound hedgie like his life depended on it. Manic returned the embrace as best he could, and while he didn't fully remember Uncle Chuck, he was pleased with the first impression he was getting.

Jules hopped onto his feet and exchanged secret handshakes with a yellow duck wearing nothing too noticeable, save for an eyepatch, which sparked Manic's interest, as well as enough recognition to know that this man was some kind of doctor, one he'd met before. That eyepatch was hard to forget, after all.

"Good to have you along for the reunion, Quack," said Jules.

"Good to have Manic along, too," corrected Dr. Quack, also using Maurice's nickname.

"I thought you had today off," noted Jules.

"I did," replied Quack, smiling brightly, "But once I heard green bean had been found, I had to come see for myself."

Turning his attention toward green bean, Dr. Quack handed him a cupped beverage he'd been carrying and told him, "It's now okay for you to have soup, but the other doctors thought I should be the one to deliver it."

"Thanks," said Manic, not wasting any time in tipping the cup toward his mouth and letting it all slide in.

The world around him faded into irrelevance as he was caught up in the burst of meaty bits and the flavors accompanying them. Upon swallowing it, he felt the chill of the cold hospital air leave him, replaced by warm contentment that seemed to reassure him everything would be fine.

Closing his eyes, he purred, "I don't even care what happens for the rest of the day," making the adults laugh.

Even Quack couldn't help chuckling with satisfaction at having done his job right after 5 years of waiting for the return of his old friend's eldest son.

Cream's doctor finally arrived and whisked the two rabbits away to the examining room, taking them off the Hedgethorns' hands, but that didn't stop the flow of sentimental fluff. This time, however, Manic was able make two useful discoveries: Dr Horatio "Quack" Quentin had been the family doctor ever since moving to America with his parents, and his Uncle was a cop. Even had his badge and firearm with him, as he'd been on duty, but, like Quack, made time to come see Manic after hearing he was awake. Though he initially felt intimidated by his uncle's line of work, he remembered that he had nothing to fear from his family, and decided he was actually safer with his cop uncle than he was hiding from him.

Sonic waited to see if Manic recognized Uncle Chuck, but so far, he seemed more familiar with Dr. Quack. Knowing the conversations he used to have with their uncle, it would definitely be unusual if he didn't at least bring them up once, even after all he'd been through, so he changed the screensaver, typed a message into his phone, and showed it to Manic, telling him, "Check out the new screensaver I made."

Manic looked at Sonic's phone and saw his younger self standing next to his cop Uncle, wearing his hat and saluting while Chuck laughed. Sonic then moved the screensaver with his thumb to reveal text that read, 'You wanted to be like Chuck when you were younger.'

"And what screensaver is that?" asked Chuck.

Sonic switched off his phone, then turned it back on so his uncle could see the image, and prayed Manic had taken the hint to feign memory when Chuck began to reminisce.

"You always wanted to hold my badge and wear my hat when I visited," chuckled Chuck.

If the hint wasn't enough, that certainly was.

"Yeah…I remember," replied Manic, somewhat sheepishly.

"That's my nephew," praised Chuck, placing his hand on Manic's shoulder, "tough as nails. Ain't no one that can keep you down."

All that just for allegedly remembering a minor detail. His Uncle was starting to seem a bit patronizing, given how insignificant something like that would have been. And yet, a set of numbers kept appearing in his head since the subject was first brought up: 1694. Manic had no clue what they meant, but he was pretty sure they correlated to his uncle in some way.

'1694'

The numbers seemed to repeat themselves, like he was supposed to say them now...or had done so before.

"One six nine four," he whispered, gently.

"What was that?" asked Chuck.

Manic hoped he hadn't said something wrong, but again, with the discovery that he really had nothing to hide, he might as well just be open about what was on his mind.

"One six nine four," he repeated, saying it loud enough for Chuck to hear him.

"Well ain't that something," mused Chuck, "you remembered my badge number, too."

That was no minor detail. Yet another clue and reminder that this was his real family. Manic couldn't help smiling.

Sonic exhaled with relief, but also wondered just how much Manic really remembered, and made a mental note to ask him about it later.

The rest of the reunion went along smoothly, the collective mood having improved with Manic now visibly cheerful, but eventually, Chuck's shift resumed and he had to leave. After exchanging hugs, Chuck and Quack got ready to head out again while the family took Manic back to his room.

"So even Quack made it!" gushed Aleena with childlike excitement.

"The whole gang is back together. It's almost like reliving the past!" giggled Sonia.

"Exactly!" laughed the older woman.

Manic watched with amusement as the two interacted like they shared one mind- and the same age.

"Sure wouldn't mind having everyone else here, though," mused the lavender lady.

"Maybe we could invite them over like that one halloween when they visited," suggested Sonia.

"Yeah, maybe…" replied Aleena flatly, her enthusiasm taking a sudden dip.

Manic wondered what had gotten his mom so down, but knew better than to ask about something he might be expected to remember, and decided to ask Sonic when he had the chance.

Things only got more confusing when they returned to their room to find the door partially opened. They felt worried until they saw the white of a doctor's coat inside. This one was a human with salt and pepper colored hair accompanying the whiskers on his face. But the unusual part was that he was wearing shades. As they entered, the new doctor turned around and smiled warmly.

"So how's the recovery going, Maurice?" he asked, almost enthusiastically.

"Better, now that I've had soup and seen everyone again," Manic replied, dropping his now empty cup in a trash can.

"Good to hear," said the new doc, pulling a clipboard and pen off the desk, "just need to ask a few questions."

"I got nothing to hide," Manic chuckled.

"Heh, we'll see," replied the doc, making Manic wonder what he meant by that.

"He sounds like he doesn't believe me," the green hedgehog thought.

As everyone got comfortable in the room, the still unnamed doctor asked, "Have you had any problems since waking up?"

Manic thought about it and said, "Not really."

"You're sure?" asked the doctor.

Manic replied in the affirmative.

"No pains of any kind?"

Head shake.

"No internal issues?"

"I don't think so."

"No memory loss?"

Manic wasn't ready for that. Why would he ask about memory loss when he'd been slashed in the chest? As much as he tried, he couldn't come up with anything, except a confused look that the doctor took note of.

"…no?"

"You're sure?" he asked, apparently not believing Manic.

"Doc, what does that have to do with his injuries?" asked Jules.

"Well he was unconscious for some time, the doc replied casually, "memory loss can happen in certain cases like that."

Jules shrugged and let him continue.

Manic said "no" again, and relaxed a bit since his explanation sounded legit…but why was he covering his eyes with sunglasses?

"Okay, and now I just need to examine the injury one more time, make sure all that moving around didn't mess it up," said shades doctor, setting the clipboard down.

As he closed the distance between Manic and himself, the green hedgehog felt alarms go off inside himself. He didn't recognize this man, but there was something about him that wasn't right. The doctor reached for his gown, and he instinctively moved back out of range.

"It's okay, I'm just checking to see if you're okay," the doc assured.

"I think I'd better do it," insisted Aleena, getting out of her chair and putting herself between him and her son.

She undid Manic's gown just enough to reveal Manic's chest, expecting to see a semi-fresh wound held together by stitches, but to her utter amazement, it was almost completely healed, nearly invisible beneath the fur, and the stitches would soon begin to dissolve. However, the doctor, upon being told of this phenomenon, merely said, "Oooookay" as he jotted notes onto his clipboard sheet. Then he pulled out his vibrating cell phone and read a text message on it, and told the family, "Well, it looks like Manic should be out before long. Thank you for your cooperation, and I should be back shortly," and he left the room.

Turning to his parents, Manic asked, "Was there anything unusual about that guy?"

Aleena seemed a bit agitated, and said, "I didn't like the way he approached you, or how he tried to grab you."

"And what doctor leaves after looking at his cellphone?" agreed Jules.

"Are doctors supposed to wear sunglasses at work?" asked Sonia.

"Not real doctors," sonic interjected.

"What do you mean?" asked Jules.

"That "doctor" was the same man I saw spying on Manic in the lobby, earlier," replied Sonic, "and he wasn't wearing no doctor's clothes at the time."

Manic felt his blood run cold at the possibility that he was being stalked by someone.

"Are you sure?" asked Aleena.

"That's probably why he covered his eyes with those shades, but the rest of his features were identical," said Sonic, "right down to his salt and pepper colored hair."

"Why didn't you say so?" demanded Sonia.

"I wanted to, but something about that guy made confronting him in a small, enclosed room seem like a bad idea," replied Sonic.

Manic, at least, understood his twin's fear of the man, as he could relate. Something about him was definitely creepy, and that was while he was being nice. He didn't want to think about what would have happened if he'd been alone with the man.

"I better find out what's going on," said Jules, getting up and heading for the door.

"What are you doing?" asked Aleena, nervously.

"I'm gonna ask Quack about that man, see if he's a real doctor. Don't remember seeing him here before, and he doesn't sound like an ordinary doctor," Jules replied.

"I'll go with," offered Sonic, also getting up.

"You'd better stay here with everyone else," objected the older blue hedgehog, "gotta have at least one able bodied man guarding the family."

Sonia would have protested, but with what was going on, she was inclined to agree.

Jules closed the door and dialed up his friend Quack on his cell.

"Hey man, what's up?" asked the duck doc on the other end.

"You still in the area?" Jules asked him.

"As a matter of fact I was just heading to my car," replied Quack, "Is everything alright?"

"I'm not sure. We were paid a visit by a doctor that I'm not sure was even a real doctor," said Jules, hoping he wasn't being paranoid, and at the same time, hoping he was.

"Wait, what do you mean?"

Jules was pretty sure he could hear his friend stop walking.

"My son, Sonic, said that he saw that same man staring at Manic in the lobby, shortly before you arrived, said that he wasn't wearing any doctor's attire, and when he was, he didn't really seem like a doctor. Kept asking about memory problems, and wore shades for some reason."

"As in sunglasses?" asked Quack.

"Yeah, sunglasses," confirmed the duck's prickly blue friend.

"That all does sound a bit unusual. I better see what's going on," Quack said, hanging up the phone and heading back into the lobby where Jules was already waiting.

The duck asked for records on any new doctors or staff, but none fit the description of the one that had visited Manic.

"Yep, I think we have an impostor," said Quack, glaring at the record screen.

"Better call the police," suggested the hedgehog.

"Might wanna get Chuck back here, to make it easier on Maurice," suggested Quack.

"You might be right," agreed Jules, selecting his brother's number and hoping he wasn't caught up in another case.

He began to worry a bit when the first two rings went unanswered, but exhaled when he finally got a response.

"Upchuck, I think we might have a stalker," he said, not waiting for Chuck to finish asking what was up.

A moment passed before Chuck found his words and asked, "What are you talking about?"

Jules told Chuck what he told Dr. Quack, and then told him what Quack had found out.

"I think you'd better move Manic somewhere else," suggested Chuck.

"You sure about that?" asked Jules, skeptically, "cuz that would mean even less people around to watch for potential threats."

"The ones we did have weren't enough to keep the guy out," interjected Quack, "and if we're going to put Manic under lockdown, doing it at his home would be less of an impediment to his recovery."

Jules thought about it for a moment. While he wanted to keep his son safe, he also wanted to get him back home as soon as possible, and keeping him here in the hospital to hide him from someone that was unlikely to show up there again wasn't likely to help him get back on his feet.

"Would we get any kind of protection?" Jules asked Chuck over the phone.

(…)

Sometime later, Jules and Quack reentered Manic's room to find Manic playing with his brother and sister, while Aleena watched the door, her firearm resting on her lap under one hand.

"Is everything alright?" she asked.

"Looks like Sonic was right, that man you saw wasn't from this place," explained Quack, holding up the files he'd checked.

"So what do we do?" squeaked Sonia, her eyes nearly popping out of her head.

"I discussed it with your uncle over the phone, and we both agreed it would be best to bring Manic home," replied Jules.

"But who will keep that creep away from our house?" asked Aleena, cautiously.

"Chuck was able to work things out with the chief and can stay with us for now while a few other officers patrol the area. Looks like the guys at the station had big hearts and few enough distractions to keep them away," gushed Jules.

"So I'm going home, then?" asked Manic.

"Looks that way," replied Quack.

It was all so much to take in, everything that had happened that day; his true identity, the reunion, and now he would finally be able to see what had been taken from him.

"I'm actually going home!" he whispered.

He didn't know how to feel about the mysterious man who'd been stalking him, but at least he could finally regain what he'd lost so long ago.

Manic's finally going home, but who is the stalker? What's his connection to Robotnik? Is there more going on than anyone realizes? Review and find out.