Chapter 3 – The Gang Reunited.
A/N: Yay, more reviews. As always, time for a few choice words before the chapter starts:
Sonicron – Glad you enjoyed this and The Best Medicine; hope the schoolwork eases up to let you catch AODAI sometime soon (my personal favourite because it's got Nack in it).
Ri2 – What is it you ask; well I could tell you, but I doubt you'd believe me; this story's going to be a ground shaker.
"Okay you two, time up", Chocky took his eye off the battered work clock and wiped his forehead with a calloused hand, "log yourselves out and get ready to go". Amy and Si shared a high five under the counter as they quickly punched their log out codes into the tills, shutting the systems down as they prepared to leave. The last few tiny tasks were quickly finished off and soon the both teens were stood in front of their employer as he drew a pair of brown paper envelopes from his trouser pockets. He presented them with one each,
"Here's your Christmas pay; thank you both for the help and the excellent jobs you both did. See you both after the New Year; now Merry Christmas and off you go".
"Thanks Mr Cadbury" both chorused, waving as they left the shop – they managed to get as far as the end of the mall isle before starting the celebration; Si reached down and hugged the smaller hedgehog and she pecked him on the cheek as he set her down.
"Thanks a lot for the help Si; I'd never have been able to hack the job if you hadn't helped me out".
"Don't do yourself down Ames", the human chuckled as he pocketed his money and led the way towards the mall exit, "you're smart enough to get on with a job like that no worries".
"Flatterer", the pink hedgehog jogged slightly to keep up, "what are you doing for Christmas?"
"Big family thing; getting together with everyone at my uncle's place – he lives in the country so I got a lift home tonight. What about you?" Almost the same thing I reckon.
"My friend's mum agreed to house all of us for the big day, so we're all taking our prezzies and something to eat over there".
"Who's going?" The human looked mildly curious – he knew Amy had a large number of friends and she'd told him about their adventures together just to relieve the boredom of long, quiet stretched behind the till. Amy mentally recounted the list, ticking off on her fingers to ensure she wouldn't miss anyone.
"It's Vanilla's house, so Cream and her will be there; then there's me, Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Knuckles and Rouge, I don't think you've met that pair yet and", she counted eight fingers and frowned, racking her brain, "hang on, I've missed someone, err, oh Big too, he's the ninth". Si whistled,
"Quite a gathering then – Vanilla's gonna have her hands full with that lot", Si looked forwards as the exit came closer; "fancy a ride home?" Amy looked a little shocked at this,
"Err, no ta; I wouldn't want to…"
"You place is on the way home", the teen smiled dangerously and stretched his arms wide, "you're taking a lift if I have to carry you into the car". Amy smiled back in an equally devil-may-care attitude and rolled her eyes upwards,
"You wouldn't…yipe!" Next thing she knew she was slung over the human's shoulder with her arms pressed firmly into her sides, "you cheat; put me down!"
"You know me Ames; I always make good on me promises".
"Let me down and give me a chance to grab my hammer". She felt a sudden drop in temperature and realised she'd been carried outside,
"No way, I've seen what you can do with that thing; hi mum, this is Amy Rose my co-worker, we're dropping her off on the way home". As he lowered her to the floor she sighed,
"You are still a nightmare".
"The Nightmare before Christmas?"
"The one and only".
"Proud of it". He popped the door open and let her step into the warm interior of the car; despite herself Amy smiled up at him as he clambered in the other side; I'm so lucky to have friends like these.
It was very late that night when Amy was finally able to nod off – she'd been preparing all the food she needed to get ready for tomorrow and carefully moving all the presents she needed to take to Vanillas' into a large bag that could be safely carried in the boot of the Tornado. She was out like a light almost before her head touched the pillow.
"Heeeeeeeeellllllllpppppp, mmmmmeeeeeee". She tried to speak, tried to move her lips but failed as the rose light pulsed from around the final, hairpin corner.
"Allllooonnnnneee, toooooooo, loooooonnnnnggg", she managed to glance upwards, towards the source of the sound, the ever-present bale redness filling her vision, "ssssssseeeeeeaaallllleddd awwwaaaay". Why, what are you – She couldn't speak, couldn't stop as the scene receded, fell away…
"Ahh", I'm in bed; the same dream again! Amy shook her head both in anger and concern – too much more of this and she'd need professional help to cope. Fortunately, this one had come at near enough the right time; her alarm would have gone off in another two minutes. As she slowly came to and remembered the new words she'd heard, Amy began to feel faint senses of danger and apprehension – something needed her help and seemed to be trying to contact her through her dreams and, she remembered the vision she'd had in the Quick Stop storeroom, other means as well. She washed and dressed mechanically as she tried to think of what to do next; she didn't want to tell the others, at least not yet but the longer she left it the more chance there was of these dreams getting worse. Not now, not this close to tomorrow; with a determined exhalation Amy looked squarely at the ingredients she'd laid out in the kitchen the night before and ploughed right into them. The recipe was long and in depth but she followed it to the letter, making no mistake and succeeding in her aim of taking her mind of the nightmares plaguing her.
"What do you reckon?" Sonic took a sip from the serving spoon and sloshed the brew across his taste buds, a thoughtful look on his face.
"A little more pepper, but apart from that it's as good as it's gonna get, at least without some chopped-up chilli-dogs that is". Shadow turned the heat down slightly as Sonic carefully fished the sizzling dogs out of the frying pan and set on them with a sharp knife, cutting them into thin slices prior to addition to Shadow's cowboy casserole.
Tails stepped back from his oven as there was a blast of steam from the moist interior; the smell of his nicely crusted vegetarian pie was heavenly and it looked to be done to perfection. Just the macaroni pudding to cook and then we're done; Tails slid his hands into the oven gloves and lifted the large dish containing his speciality into his oven and set the heat to the right level.
Fairly close by, there was a sudden splash as a large fish jerked hard on a fishing line. With a cry of triumph, the purple fisherMobian reeled in his catch, keeping his eye on the sun as a time piece. As Big stashed his prize in his fishing bag, he quickly headed back to his home as he realised if he wanted to cook this in plenty of time he needed to hurry.
On Angel Island, the preparations had already been complete; the occupants were just planning the best way of getting their haul from the island to Station Square.
"Nearly done mum?"
"Nearly", Vanilla pointed without turning around, "just pass me the basting brush please Cream". A small blue winged blob flew upwards as the younger rabbit reached for the implement; Cheese knocked the brush into his owner's grateful hands with a squeak of joy. As a chao, he and Chocola were both sensitive to emotions and the fact that excitement was all but striking sparks from the walls of the place was sending the two chao into a frenzy of chasing each other and trying to help the proceeding in any way they could.
"Here you go".
"Thank you dearest", Vanilla smiled at her daughter; Cream was still young enough to believe fully in the magic of the festive season and the fact she'd have all her friends around this year only added to the joy, "now why don't you go deal with the terrible two".
"They're not terrible", Cream gently shoved her mother, "they're just excited".
"Just like you; now skedaddle before I summon the dreaded W.U.M".
"Gone". There was a rapid exit as Cream fled out the kitchen door; the washing-up monster was the young rabbit's worst fear and only being in her mum's good books could help against it.
There's no day in the world like Christmas, especially in the morning. It seems like you'll never fall asleep on Christmas Eve but somehow you manage it, but actually waking up and realising it's Christmas just hits like nothing else in the world. Amy sprang out of bed like a panther and immediately ran down a mental checklist of what needed doing; she hissed in triumph as she realised there was nothing more to do save wait for Tails to pick her up, she'd done everything she could last night. Take a quick shower, then just wait…oh I can't wait, it's too exciting – you big kid – it's Christmas, I'm allowed to be.
There was a sudden rap at the door not an hour later; Amy leapt to her feet and ran to her apartment's entrance, unbolting it and the same time as she peered through the vision bubble. Sure enough,
"Hey Tails, Merry Christmas".
"Likewise", the fox smiled as the pink hedgehog raced around, grabbing as much as she could in a single trip, "want a hand?"
"Please", Amy had never been so grateful for an offer; she didn't get out of this flat and with her friends as soon as possible she'd explode, "that bin liner by the door, just carry that; where are Sonic and Shadow?" She's gonna have a giggle when she sees the pair of them; Tails hid a smile as he hefted the black plastic liner, feeling the outline of several large boxes contained within.
"They're in the car; you'll understand when you get there" he answered Amy's questioning look as Tails simply revealed his hidden smile. After a few seconds of locking up, Amy gave a final nod and the pair of Mobians headed down the stairs towards the entrance of the apartment block.
"Hahahaha".
"Tidings of good cheer to you too Amy", Shadow said through gritted teeth – Why did I make so much food, why, answer me why. He and Sonic were in the back seats of the Tornado and both of them had their hands full. Sonic was holding the plate of cowboy casserole he and Shadow had created in one hand and the pair of fruit strudels they'd cooked for dessert in the other, while the former ultimate life-form was similarly holding Tails' culinary creations to prevent contamination of the puddings with any of the main courses. The net result looked completely ridiculous and Amy sniggered a little more as she realised she was just about to add to the effect.
"Don't ask" was all Shadow said as he turned his head to avoid the blush being quite so noticeable; it was bad enough looking like this but he just knew what was coming next.
"Oh well, since you're carrying that lot you'll be able to take mine as well".
"How, we haven't a free hand between us" Sonic protested; the pink hedgehog smiled sweetly as she brought the deep pan dish holding her cooked turkey forwards.
"Well I can see some space – don't worry its cool" she assured her crush as she set the plate down on his lap. Shadow sniggered as Sonic went a bright crimson then gasped as a similar situation occurred with him and Amy's dessert. He managed a weak smile,
"Ice-cream right?"
"How'd you guess?" Tails spluttered with laughter as he pulled away from the curb with his three passengers, heading along the almost deserted streets for the other side of town where Vanilla's house stood proudly in the suburbs.
Amy leant her head against the window of the Tornado's jeep mode, the chilly glass cooling off her warm brow. She watched life race by as the few people on the sidewalk whizzed past, the snow inches thick at the side of the pavement; a young couple with a few kids, a single woman with a pushchair, a large purple cat, a family of Mobian badgers…she caught herself; large purple cat?
"Tails stop the car!" Fortunately the fox obeyed without question, indicating and pulling up to the side of the pavement inch perfectly. As soon as they were still Amy wound down her window and shouted,
"Big".
Soon be there, I know I'm heading the right way so about another three quarters barring…
"Big". The cat looked around at the shout; he recognised the voice straight away but couldn't see her anywhere. Taking a deep breath into his mammoth chest, the cat called back,
"Amy, where are you?"
"Over here", this time Big managed to spot her head peeking out of the window of a car. He hurried to where she was waiting, making sure the bundle in his arm wouldn't drop onto the floor as he increased his pace.
"Hullo Amy, and company" he added when he saw who was also present in this car, "on your way there already?"
"Yep, same as you", the cat's former team mate looked down at the package Big was carrying, "what's that?" His yellow eyes flicked downwards at her gaze and he smiled,
"This is what I made for the meal – hope you like fish". Amy licked her lips; she had eaten some of the cat's seasoned trout before in the summer and the memory of the taste still tingled her taste buds pleasantly.
"How long do you reckon it'll take you to get there?"
"Only about forty-five minutes", the cat replied after a few mental calculations, "I keep a steady pace up it won't take me long at all". Tails leant over from the driver's seat,
"I'd offer you a ride but there's no room I'm afraid, but I know", Tails was hit with a brainstorm, "let us take that fish off you…"
"No", there was vehement opposition from both hedgehogs in the back; things were already bad enough but anything like a fish would just be adding chaos to pandemonium, "we'd love to but there's not a free body slot between us". Big glanced in through the passenger window and chuckled gruffly,
"So I see". Amy reached through the window with both arms extended,
"I'll take it Big; that'll let you get there a bit faster".
"You sure Amy", when she nodded the cat smiled and carefully fed his package through the Tornado window to her, "thanks a lot; I'll see you all there". Tails gunned the engine of his machine and waved as Amy got the fish settled on her lap.
"Okay Big, not long now; see you at Vanillas'". The cat waved as the car took off and then set off at a rough jog towards his destination; this hustling pace was Big's customary movement speed and now his meal was no longer a burden he was able to move up a gear. In his mind, he reduced the time frame from forty-five minutes to thirty.
Cream was waiting by the door, glaring up at the doorbell as if by staring she'd managed to force it to sound a welcoming tone. She'd been stood there for only ten minutes with her two chao circling overhead and was hopping from foot to foot in extreme impatience; it surely wouldn't be long now. She was so ready, so waiting for it that when the doorbell did actually chime it was open before Amy had taken her finger of the buzzer.
"Higuys, MerryChristmascomeinandhavea…"
"Slow down", Tails put his hand on the bouncing rabbit's shoulder and tried to meet her gaze, "take a breath and speak slowly; I know you're excited but just try". The rabbit tried to follow her friend's advice and improved slightly, though the actual spoken words themselves were nearly drowned out in the tide of surging excitement the rabbit felt.
"Sorry, please come in", it was then that she noticed, "where are Sonic and Shads?" Amy and Tails shared a glance before the hedgehog spoke to her adoptive sibling,
"Has Santa been good to you Cream?"
"Umm, yes" the rabbit wasn't entirely sure where this was going but cautiously played along.
"Well, if your mum's got a camera follow us to get a special present".
"Say cheese".
"Chao!" Sonic and Shadow had been discussing what had been taking so long and both looked up at the shout; with a blinding flash both were well and truly caught on camera, complete with suitably arranged plates of grub. It was only when they heard Cream's laughter they realised what had happened.
"Cream, get rid of that picture!" Sonic demanded, seething as he realised he was helpless; if he made to kick out of the car he might drop something which would be detrimental in two respects; he'd upset someone for spilling their lovingly cooked Christmas meal and Tails would probably have him cleaning the upholstery with his tongue. The rabbit smiled and tucked the camera away in a safe pocket in her dress,
"No sorry, mum insisted", she reached into the car and took the cold turkey off Sonic's lap, "let me give you a hand with that".
"Thank you" the blue hedgehog breathed quietly as he quickly shook some feeling into his numb legs again. Luckily for Shadow Tails, Amy and Vanilla all arrived shortly afterwards to ease the food into the kitchen of the rabbit's large house, allowing the pair of hedgehogs to leave the cramped interior of the Tornado and troop inside. Once within the sheltering, warm walls Shadow made a grab at Cream.
"Gimme that picture you toe-rag". The rabbit ducked down, evading the desperate snatch and dived behind her mother; the black hedgehog drew himself short as Vanilla tapped her foot menacingly.
"I hope you're not having any evil designs on my little girl, Shadow?"
"Err, no, no nothing like that at all".
"Good", Vanilla turned and headed back into the kitchen; with the precision timing that all parents seem to possess she just waited until Shadow had geared up for a second spring before adding, "especially as your day out tomorrow is dependent on me staying sweet". Okay, she's got me there; Shadow reluctantly withdrew, settling for a scathing glare as Cream, emboldened by her mother's support, cheekily stuck her tongue out at the simmering Shadow.
"Cream, don't be evil", the duo had an ally as Tails approached the younger rabbit, "don't be mean to those two".
"It was your idea".
"Maybe", that's me a goner then; cheers my dear; Tails could almost feel Sonic and Shadow fix a pair of gazes on him that should have been flaying him to the bone, "but what I meant to say was don't be mean alone; can I have a copy of that picture?"
"Sure", the rabbit beamed back; the pair looks ready to blow; just gotta try and get Amy to laugh, "shall I post them to you when they're developed?"
"Please". Sonic leant down and whispered to his younger brother promisingly,
"Just wait until we're alone boyo". Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on who you were at the time, Vanilla hadn't been idle while her daughter and her friend had been teasing the pair of heroes.
The elder rabbit reappeared in the doorway after she and Amy had quickly set all the food down on her large table; she'd excused herself for a couple of minutes as she had gone into her bedroom, knowing exactly what she was looking for and finding it instantly. She suddenly reappeared in the hallway just as the group of friends were being led into the lounge; she waited until they were all sitting comfortably before bringing the object in her left hand into view.
"Cream, Tails, you shouldn't make fun of people like that, do you know why?"
"Because", Cream knew what her mother was driving at and answered flawlessly, "it's a mean thing to do and people won't like you for it". She glanced around hastily, as did Tails, when the elder replied candidly,
"Partly, but also because you could get caught the same way", she passed the picture over to Amy as she finished, "you have some embarrassing pictures as well…"
"Really?" Shadow's head snapped up as Tails felt his heart freeze; with an aching stab of terror he guessed what that picture was.
"No!" He raced forwards to grab at it but he was never going to beat his older brother in a foot race, especially when the blue hedgehog was itching for revenge as he was now. Amy burst out laughing and before Tails could stop it she'd delivered the dynamite into the wrong pair of hands.
"Oh this is precious", Shadow spluttered at the photo from the previous time last year; the younger pair of Mobians went scarlet as everyone saw the picture of them under the mistletoe. Sonic laughed out loud and rubbed his younger brother's ears as Tails tried unsuccessfully to force an earthquake to swallow him up.
"Romeo, Romeo, where for art thou Romeo – that's classic, I'm framing this", he moved his hands up as though exclaiming a newspaper headline, eyes theatrically wide and star-struck, "Tails shares Christmas kiss with girlfriend".
"We are not going out" the rabbit declared, squirming as she tried to use her oversized ears to hide her cherry-red face.
"Not yet at least", Shadow carefully studied the picture but couldn't quite keep his face straight, "but on the evidence of this it'll only be a few more days". Amy winked at the pair as she smiled whole-heartedly,
"Don't worry; it's just the Christmas spirit; if you can't laugh now when can you laugh?" The logic of this percolated through to the others slowly, though it didn't stop Tails wanting something to fall from the heavens and strike him down.
"I guess", Cream suddenly glanced up as though the ceiling was about to cave in, "just as long as we don't get caught this time". Not a hope of that; Mum that really was rotten; the young rabbit scowled at her parent as she took the photo back to her album and headed out of the room.
A short time later all six were sipping lemonade and helping to lay the table when the doorbell rang again. Sonic, closest to the door, set down the fork he was carrying and shouted,
"I'll get it"; he was at the door before anyone could meaningfully reply and opened the front door, grinning and extending his hand as he saw who it was. A spurred paw gripped and shook as Knuckles hefted a large, bulging bag in his free hand and made to step inside.
"Nice one Knucks; knew you wouldn't keep us waiting". The echidna set his bag down just inside the door and loosened the white scarf from around his neck.
"Yeah, trip in was smooth enough; Rouge is just paying the cab off and bringing the food in". On the mention of the F-word Sonic remembered the guardian's prowess in the foods of his island and put on a pair of puppy eyes,
"What did you bring for me, old buddy old pal old friend; please tell me it was some of that buttersweet soup you can make?" Knuckles looked a little askew as he waved at Shadow and Tails, who had poked their head round the kitchen door.
"No way Sonic; I like a healthy option so I brought enough roasted hickory nuts for everyone". Oh no, not even you could, not at Christmas; Sonic rolled his eyes and groaned,
"Knuckles, it's Christmas day, the most special day of the year and you bring blasted hickory nuts – I aught to…"
"Psyche".
There's something fundamentally wrong here; it hadn't sunk in yet, Sonic had immense trouble coming to terms with the fact that Knuckles had psyched him, and even more amazingly seemed to be smiling at the fact – that means, there's only one explanation!
"Who are you and what did you do with Knuckles?" Sonic grabbed the shoulders of this impostor and shook slightly, desperately trying to discover what had happened to the totally serious, never relaxed Knuckles he remembered.
"Sonic", it was a cultured, feminine voice that answered him; shucking off her coat to expose her more traditional jumpsuit, Rouge concealed her smile with no small amount of difficulty – Knuckles had been wanting to do that for ages, "put my room-mate down". Realisation dawned for the hedgehog as it finally made sense.
"Ah right, makes sense now, sorry", he apologised to the figure he'd been shaking and released his grip; next thing anyone knew he had Rouge by the shoulders,
"Who's that and what did you do to Knuckles?" There was a gruff chuckle from behind him as the echidna shook his head and sighed – some things just never changed.
"Take them off or I'll break them off", Rouge threatened, though she couldn't stop a smile creeping in as Sonic's joke broke through to her; time to put the ball back in his court, "and anyway", she slid up to Knuckles and took his hand in hers, speaking in a sultry voice, "I didn't do anything he didn't enjoy".
"Eeeuuuwww", Sonic made the sign of the cross with two fingers as the others, drawn into the conversation by Sonic's lurid deductions, snorted with repressed laughter. Knuckles turned to his partner, joining in the joke as he spoke dryly,
"Rouge, please, no kiss-and-tell stories in front of the kids – especially as, if I remember rightly, we did a fair bit more than kiss…"
"That goes no further", Vanilla suddenly appeared in the kitchen door, a look of zero tolerance on her normally smiling features as the others pulled faces and grimaced at the echidna's inflection, "not unless you want the mango crumble I made to go down the drain".
"You made a mango crumble?" the echidna felt his jaw drop; that was his all-time, number one favourite food and he made his decision in no time, "right, no more comments". Rouge giggled and pushed him gently,
"Typical male; even if you're not thinking with your stomach you're thinking directly on its behalf". Cream got the wink from her mother and piped up innocently,
"So you don't worry about food Ms Rouge?" The bat smiled at the rabbit,
"Me, no way, and don't call me Ms, it makes me sound middle-aged", she pointed suddenly, "say it I dare you"; Shadow snapped his trap shut as Cream sighed,
"That's a shame; Mum put a lot of effort into her sweetberry and grape soufflé, but I don't suppose it matters now". Rouge let her arm drop and breathed in deeply; she got me that time, I wonder… Leaning down, the bat resigned herself to defeat,
"Okay, you got me, I love sweetberry and grape soufflé", she flicked her large, aqua eyes at Vanilla's retreating back and then leant closer to the daughter, "how much d'you reckon your Mum's worth?"
"Why?"
"Well, I need a new cook, this model's a bit over the hill", Knuckles snorted and plotted revenge as Rouge indicated him, "so how much do you want for Vanilla?"
"Hmm", the younger rabbit joined in on the joke, though she was acutely aware of her mother's keen ears in the next room, "I'll sell for a thousand; I take cash, cheque and ice-cream". There was a shocked exclamation from the kitchen,
"One thousand – right, the Vienetta's going in the oven!"
"No Mummy", Cream dashed in to save her beloved treats, "I didn't mean it; you're priceless, I love you more than anything else, just spare the ice-cream".
"Keep pleading and I'll think about it". Amy sighed and moved forwards to embrace her echidna friend, whispering in his ear as he reciprocated the hold.
"Merry Christmas Knuckles".
"And you Amy".
With the extra pairs of hands the table was laid in no time at all and all that was left to do was wait for the last member of the group to join the proceedings; Tails had calculated that it shouldn't be much longer than ten or so minutes before the cat made his appearance. Vanilla hefted the bundle Big had gifted to Amy and gently unwrapped it, taking a deep, satisfying lungful of the sweet aromatic steam that rose from the beautifully poached fish the cat had prepared as she moved it into a correctly sized dish.
"Umm", Knuckles was close enough to catch a whiff, "smells good".
"Whatever else you can say about him, Big knows how to prepare a decent catch" Amy stated as the odour of the nicely cooked aquatic morsel pervaded through the kitchen. Cream, devouring everything on the table with her eyes, broke off for a minute; she liked Big immensely but somehow the large cat's attitude to life bamboozled her completely.
"I don't understand though; he said he didn't want anyone to buy him any presents", the rabbit tried once more to sort out her friend's thinking but failed after a second, "why not, especially at Christmas?"
"He said he doesn't believe in it", Rouge knelt to be at eye-level with her miniature hostess, "he believes in Christmas but not the present aspect, if you like. He said just being together and seeing his friends is the best present he could get and", she tailed off for a second as, with perfect comic timing, the crisp tune of the doorbell sounded out, "why don't you go and give him it?"
"Yay, everyone's here!" In the space of seconds Sonic's title as fastest thing alive was void; no-one in the kitchen saw Cream leave as she raced to the front door and wrenched it open, Cheese and Chocola tumbling in her slipstream.
"Big!" She leapt up into her team mate and a pair of hands, each as large as her head, caught her gently around the middle as the cat smiled broadly, tenderly holding the young rabbit close and rumbling quietly into her ear as her pet chao gripped onto a whisker each.
"Merry Christmas Cream". Without even looking, Big swung the smallest member of Team Rose up onto his shoulder and walked carefully inside, ducking down to make sure she didn't knock her head on the top of the doorframe. Cream gripped onto one of the cats' ears as she risked a glance downwards; it sure was a long way up from where she was now.
"Chao".
"Yep I know", Cream spoke to the pair of chao nested on top of Big's head, "don't let go, it's a long way down".
Big chortled, a sound probably only audible to blue whales as he slowly moved into the main hall, taking care not to knock anything over with either his large feet or his swinging tail.
"Hullo", he waved as Amy peeped around the door, watching as Big gently lifted Cream back down to the floor; he's such a sweet guy – just as well he's a gentle giant, if he wanted to fight…yeesh; the pink hedgehog was started out of her reverie as Shadow knocked into her slightly as he moved past.
"Hey Big guy, how's things?" Something not right here…
"Pretty good, can't complain, what about you and Sonic; you live with him now right?"
"Sad but true and", the black hedgehog realised what was wrong, "where's that frog of yours gone; you haven't lost him again have you?" Big boomed with deep, heavy laughter as Knuckles' voice was heard from the lounge,
"Shadow you Muppet; frogs hibernate in winter". The black hedgehog blushed as Vanilla, wiping her hands on a dishcloth and smiling, walked in and shook the cat by the paw.
"Good to see you again Big; thanks for all the fish".
"My pleasure, just hope it tastes alright – put up a heck of a struggle when I tried to land him you know?"
"Really?" Vanilla leant into the lounge and called for her daughter, "Cream, get the glasses and the corkscrew".
"Right Mum – everyone in the kitchen". All nine Mobians convened in the spacious kitchen and gratefully accepted a small glass from Cream as Sonic helped Vanilla uncork the wine bottle. Each came forwards to receive a small measure of the light red wine; when each glass was filled, the elder rabbit spoke cheerfully and raised her glass.
"To all present and absent friends – a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year". The sentiment was echoed by eight other voices, each taking a small sip of wine to seal the toast of the season.
A/N: As you've no doubt noticed, the six week promise went up in a puff of smoke – I need to stop the constant revision from eating its way through what's left of my mind. Hopefully the next chapter will come rapidly on the heels of this one.