In an interesting turn of events, one that Lily wasn't sure how it came to fruition, one Cream the Rabbit had made her way into Lily's school. Needless to say, the young bunny was instantly the most popular student in the year she'd been placed, possibly even the whole school; such was the reputation of helping to save the world.

Being very similar in their behaviour and mannerisms, it was only a matter of time before the two girls found themselves together in various classes, as well as during recesses when the "paparazzi" wasn't around.

To her immense surprise, Lily scored a visit to the house of her new friend after about a week. She was ecstatic, and she told all of her big friends about it as soon as she could.

"That's awesome, Lily! I'm so happy for you. I just know you'll have so much fun!" Topaz had said among other things, giving the kitten a giant hug as she spoke.

Her two big guy friends were more subdued in their reactions, but even they couldn't hide their surprise at her revelation.

"That Cream the Rabbit? That's fantastic for ya," Nickel had stated.

"I hope it goes well and you have a lot of fun with her," Zero had wished.

"Thank you, mister Nickel and mister Zero!" Lily had replied, a bright smile sprouting on her face.

She suddenly became curious as to whether or not Nickel had met Cream before, and so she asked him.

"No, actually. I know of her, but never met her."

"You should come with me! Please?" she pleaded, making her best cute face.

He relented. "Yeah. Go on, then. I'll come with you."

"Yay!" She jumped a little for joy and ran forward to hug him, a gesture he returned as he always did. "Thank you, mister Nickel!"

"You're welcome, Lily."

.

The date of the visit arrived, and Lily was positively buzzing with excitement. She hadn't felt this much excitement since school restarted.

Nickel, as he tended to be, was her antithesis in the moment: looking very composed as they neared the rabbit's residence.

A knock on the door signaled their arrival, and they were promptly greeted by a robot who spoke to them in a metallic voice: "Hello. State your intentions for visiting this residence."

Lily piped up. "Hi! I'm here because Cream invited me!"

The robot seemed to pause for a few seconds, before talking again. "Understood. Lily the Cat. Cream is waiting for you inside."

The xanthic kitten was about to run in, but she remembered her friend beside her. "Can he come in too?"

"Must be identified," replied the electronic voice. "State your intentions."

"I'm with her. She brought me with her to meet Cream," Nickel replied.

The robot did not seem convinced. "I will perform a scan to ensure that you are not a threat to Cream." Lily was worried about what that would entail, but Nickel unblinkingly faced the robot's analysis.

Very soon the robotic voice sounded again. "Error. Unidentified power source found. Does not match any downloaded power database. Display your power."

Nickel hesitated, before sparking his hand and holding it up. A short while passed, during which Lily guessed the robot was assessing the electric power Nickel had. Very soon it came back with a response. "Power does not match any database even after intensive scanning. I cannot permit you to go in."

Lily was about to protest, but Nickel beat her to the speaking. "Out of interest, what are the powers in your database?"

"Chaos. Sol. Phantom. Hyper-go-on."

Nickel blinked in surprise, furrowing his eyebrows. "You mean this isn't Chaos energy?"

"Correct." Nickel seemed lost for words. The robot continued: "You do not know what type of power it is?"

"Well, I thought I did." Her big red friend cast his gaze to the ground to his right. Under his breath she heard him ask, "Well, what could it be, then?"

Lily didn't have an answer, and the robot seemed uninterested in helping to find out. "Apologies. Without power identification I cannot allow you to enter this residence."

Fortunately, the young bunny they'd come to see appeared to save the day. "Gemerl! Why hasn't Lily come in yet?"

"I'm sorry, Cream," the robot, evidently named Gemerl, said. "But Lily has brought whom she calls a friend, and this friend possesses a potentially dangerous power. I could not let him in so as to assure your safety."

Cream took a long look at Nickel, no doubt wondering who he was and what power he had. Alongside her, Lily noticed, was a chao with a little bowtie who was eyeing Nickel similarly.

"What's his name?" Cream asked eventually.

Lily obliged. "This is mister Nickel! He's super nice, you don't need to be scared of him!"

Cream's stare narrowed, and Lily worried that she wouldn't be believed; but suddenly, a big smile appeared on the bunny's face. "Oh, I remember now! You're the electric cat that works with the Restoration! Miss Amy told me about you before, I just didn't recognise you. Come on in!"

Lily smiled in relief - a glance to Nickel showed that he was relieved as well, though a little apprehensive. "I hope Amy didn't say anything too... incriminating, shall we say," he mumbled, trying not to be heard but Lily's ears were well-trained to hear him at this point.

The two felines entered the house, Lily nearly forgetting to clean her little shoes, and they found themselves looking at a very homely place. It felt warmer than the outside, but Lily didn't know if that was her imagination.

A tall, motherly rabbit entered the scene to greet them as Lily looked around. "Welcome," she said most amiably. "You must be Lily."

"Yes, ma'am!" Lily answered brightly. "And this is my friend, mister Nickel." She gestured to her big friend.

"Please, dear, just call me miss Vanilla." She turned to the red-furred youth. "It's a pleasure as well to meet you at last, Nickel." She and Nickel shook hands, both of hers being used in the gesture. "Amy has mentioned you in passing during a few of her previous visits, and it's nice to see you here."

Nickel leisurely folded his arms. "Thank you. Nice to meet you too."

"Ooh, a deceptively deep voice," the older rabbit observed, and she chuckled a little bit. "How old are you?"

"I'm fourteen. And Lily is six, as you probably know."

As Nickel spoke, there was again a knock on the door. Very soon, the person responsible for the knock was revealed: a pink hedgehog stood in the doorway.

"Hi, miss Van - oh, hey there, Nickel and Lily," Amy spoke. Lily greeted her happily while her friend gave a wave.

"Oh, I'd nearly forgotten," Vanilla mused. "I was to go out today, and I'd asked Amy to babysit for me." She turned to Lily. "You wouldn't mind if she stayed, would you?"

"No, ma - miss Vanilla," Lily replied, having to correct herself but still smiling. She liked it here already. She felt a tempting bit of curiosity regarding where Vanilla was going, but she held her tongue.

"Very well, then. I had better be off now." The older rabbit retreated to a different room.

"Wait for me, Momma! I want to help!" Cream called after her mother, hurrying in the same direction.

Meanwhile, Lily decided to listen in on Nickel and Amy's conversation.

"So how come you're here?" Amy was asking.

"Cream invited Lily over for today, and Lily brought me along with her," was Nickel's answer. Amy didn't reply, and Nickel took the opportunity to ask something himself, something that satisfied Lily's curiosity. "Where's she going, that she asked you to babysit?"

"Oh, she's going on a date with Vector," the fuchsia hedgehog said coyly. Lily wasn't sure she remembered who this Vector was, but judging by Nickel's reaction - a mirthful smile appearing on his face - he knew, and he probably also knew something else about the situation that she didn't.

"Ah, of course," he mused. "How shallow of me to think anything else."

Amy had a giggle, and Lily wished she was in the know so that she might laugh along. She would ask Nickel when they got home.

Presently, the rabbit family returned, the elder holding a basket of some sort by the handle. Vanilla spoke again, addressing Amy and Nickel: "I'll be going, now. I should be back by seven or eight, nine at the latest; if I'm running a little late please be sure that Cream goes to bed on time."

"Yes, miss Vanilla," Amy answered.

Vanilla was about to leave with that, but she stopped before she was fully away. "Oh - by the way, Nickel, if I am to be late, Lily may spend the night with a sleepover. Is that okay?"

"Yes, please," Nickel responded. Lily didn't know any time where Nickel sounded so polite, as if he was talking to his own mother.

With one final goodbye, Vanilla stepped out of the house and strolled down the lane. In the meantime, Amy turned to the two little girls. "What do you want to do, you two?"

"Tea party!" Lily quickly declared, seeing a perfect opportunity to get that long-awaited tea party with her big red friend. She couldn't wait - hopefully everyone agreed. "Please?"

"That's a great idea!" Amy agreed. "I'll go get the set."

Lily clapped excitedly as Any hurried off, looking up at Nickel with eyes just as elated. He looked back at her with a grin of his own. "Yeah, I know you've been waitin' for this for a long ol' time," he remarked.

She giggled, before replying, "Mister Nickel, you need to do the fancy voice."

He obliged immediately, switching to his elegant British accent. "Oh, yes, of course. How could I have forgotten? This is a very sophisticated tea party, is it not?"

Lily giggled again, and Cream joined in as well. Lily loved when Nickel did that voice - it was really funny.

He continued: "Come now, ladies. We must sit at the table, for we ought to be punctual for such a tea party as this."

The little girls followed him to the dining table, and they chose to sit next to each other on one side of the table. Nickel himself took the seat opposite Lily, as sitting next to her would put him at the head of the table.

Amy appeared not long after, tea tray in hand. "Why is Nickel talking like Sherlock Holmes?"

"Well, as these two young ladies had said to me, this is a particularly sophisticated tea party. It is only fitting that I speak like this," Nickel answered her. "Surely there is not a problem with this choice?"

While Amy looked at him like he had changed colour, Lily couldn't keep the grin from her face. This was already the greatest day of her life with her red friend.

Disappointingly, the look on Amy's face made Nickel change his mind a little. "Alright, fine. I won't do it all the time," he said in his regular voice, before switching back. "But for entertainment purposes I shall turn it on and off as the situation requires."

The pinkette found humour in something he said, and she allowed his silliness. "Let's pour the tea!" she declared.

.

"So, how is it at your new school, Cream?" Amy asked, after a bout of conversation focusing on other topics. "Is it going well?"

"Yeah!" Cream replied. "I like it there. Lily's helping me get used to it, too."

"Nothing's too hard for you right now, I hope?" Amy continued.

"Nope!" Lily answered for the bunny. "Cream is super smart."

"Well, Lily's really smart too," Cream said modestly. "And I had a little help from Tails before I got there. He helped me learn everything I needed to."

"He didn't overwhelm you with that technobabble of his?" Nickel asked, sounding surprised.

Cream jumped to the defence of the young fox. "Mister Nickel, don't be mean. Tails is just really smart, it doesn't matter if he wants to use big words. Plus, it was sweet of him to help, when he's so busy all the time."

"That's fair," Nickel conceded, taking a sip of the tea.

Cream's word choice gave Lily pause, and she stared at her newest friend a little sideways before shifting her gaze back to her older friends; Amy was looking at Nickel with a strange expression, and Nickel was pointedly avoiding meeting her eyes as he took another sip.

Before she could say anything, though, Nickel spoke again. "So how long have you known Tails, Cream?"

"I've known him for a long time," Cream replied. "He and mister Sonic and mister Knuckles helped rescue Momma from Doctor Eggman."

"What was he like?" Lily asked.

"He was the same as he is now. Super smart, really sweet and kind, a little bit shy but also brave..."

The list went on surprisingly long. Lily had a feeling that there was something underneath these words; nobody talked about their friends with that much flattery. Lily herself didn't even talk like that about Nickel.

"Sounds like you quite like him," Nickel commented when she was through. Cream hummed an affirmative.

Lily remained curious about her rabbit friend's relationship with her fox friend, but decided she would ask Cream later, when they were by themselves. Maybe at school sometime.

.

That afternoon, the two young girls were playing outside under the watchful eye of the robot Gemerl while the older pair busied themselves inside the homely house. Chance passersby appeared every so often, most of whom Cream greeted politely; Lily guessed that they had come through the area before, with enough regularity for Cream to recognise them.

Even Blaze showed up late into the day. Lily was surprised to see the princess visit, but seeing Cream hurry over to greet her and give her a hug spoke volumes about their relationship.

Lily followed Cream to say hello. She remembered that Blaze didn't like titles when she was away from the castle. "Hello, miss Blaze," she said politely.

"Hello, Lily. It's lovely to see you again, though I am surprised to see you here."

"I didn't know you knew each other," Cream remarked.

Blaze let a small laugh escape her. "It certainly is a small set of worlds. Nevertheless, I'm glad to see that you two have become acquainted as well. What have you been up to?"

Cream and Lily began to delve into the things that they had been doing since they had last seen Blaze, but they were interrupted halfway through.

"Hi, Blaze!" called someone from some distance away. They looked toward the voice, seeing a rapidly approaching pinkette hedgehog. "Great to see you again!"

"Hello, Amy," Blaze returned.

"Are you looking for your boyfriend?" Amy queried coquettishly.

Blaze seemingly completely ignored the ribbing. "No, only Cream and miss Vanilla. Are you sitting for her?"

Amy nodded and hummed affirmatively. "Nickel's here too, you know. He's helping out."

"Delightful. Tell him I said hello."

"Aw, but miss Blaze," Lily started, "I'm sure he'd like it if he got to talk to you."

Blaze shook her head no. "I simply have no time, I have to return to the palace soon as it's getting late. Perhaps another time."

Her reasons were valid, but Lily couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. "Okay."

They only had time for a few more words to be exchanged before the royal feline did indeed have to leave. She bid them adieu, giving another hug to Cream and a surprise one to Lily, before she was gone.

"I think it's time we head inside," Amy suggested. "Blaze was right - it's getting late."

The younger girls acceded.

"Miss Amy, does miss Blaze really have a boyfriend?" Lily asked once they were back in the living room.

"No, I was just joking," Amy said with a smile. "Although I have a feeling I know who she likes."

Almost as if on cue, Nickel appeared from somewhere. "Oh, you're back. Did you two have fun out there?"

"Yep! Plus, we saw Miss Blaze," Lily replied. "She said to tell you hello."

"Hello," he echoed as if Blaze would somehow hear him. Nickel was weird like that, but Lily was used to it. "Surprised she came here."

"It's because we know her," Cream explained. "Momma and I met her a long time ago, and she just came to say hi."

"Ah, okay. Yeah, that makes sense."

A sudden yawn overtook Lily, and she felt a wave of tiredness wash over her unexpectedly. Cream soon followed, the yawn proving to be contagious; then again, Cream was the one she had been playing with outside, so maybe she was just tired too.

"Looks like some people are getting a little sleepy," Amy teased. "All that running around outside must have tuckered you out, huh?"

"A little bit," Cream admitted. Lily agreed with a nod.

"Well, don't fall asleep just yet. We haven't had dinner," Amy told them. "And then, after that, Nickel will read you a story."

"I will, will I?" Nickel queried jokingly.

"Yes, you will," Amy practically commanded.

If ever Lily had wished for dinnertime to arrive quickly, it was at this moment. The promise of a bedtime story was highly appealing, made all the better by having her big red friend do the narration.

Thankfully, time seemed to be on her side, and the time to eat came very fast. She would have scarfed down the meal immediately - it was delicious, Amy was a great cook - had she not been in her friend's home. Besides, she wanted to share the story with Cream, and if she rushed but the rabbit didn't then her efforts would be for nought.

That didn't stop her from hurrying the process up as much as she could, however.

Once they were all finished, she grabbed Nickel's hand and pulled him over to the sofa in the living room, practically sitting him down there before climbing onto his lap. Amy and Cream followed behind at decidedly less celeritous paces, the former giggling a little at Lily's actions.

"What do you want to read, Cream?" Amy asked.

Cream took little time to decide. She ran to a nearby stack of books and pulled one out. "This one!" she exclaimed, showing it to Amy.

"Ooh, good choice," Amy replied. "What do you think, Lily?"

Lily wondered what the tale would entail, seeing the depiction of a rabbit-like faerie and a daemon coyote on the cover, but it was Cream's house and her choice mattered most. "Okay!"

Cream beamed at her corroboration, and she bounded over to hand the book to Nickel. Amy came over as well, sitting next to the red cat and allowing Cream to sit on her lap just as Lily was on Nickel's.

"Are we ready?" Nickel asked once everyone had settled in.

"Yep!" Lily quickly responded.

"Yes, please," Cream said.

"Alright." Nickel cleared his throat and opened the cover.

Lily tried hard to make it to the end, she really did, but as ever the deep voice of her caretaker-friend gradually lulled her toward sleep. At least she wasn't alone: at a certain point, she saw Cream nodding off as well.

Nevertheless, she didn't hear the end of the story, being left to wonder what had happened to the fae protagonist after her capture.

She woke up to a conversation between Amy and miss Vanilla, the latter thanking the former for watching Cream for her - alongside Nickel, of course.

"She must have had a lot of fun today," the elder rabbit commented with an audible smile, presumably talking about her daughter. "She isn't normally asleep this early."

"Well, some of that has to go to Nickel," Amy stated. "She fell asleep to him reading a story; I almost fell asleep too, it was that good."

Lily could practically feel Nickel fall silent, obviously embarrassed at how brazenly Amy had phrased her compliment.

Miss Vanilla laughed softly. "Thank you so much again," she repeated. "Go on now, I'll see to Cream from here. Have a good evening."

Lily hardly registered the trip home in Nickel's arms owing to her sleepiness, but she was awake enough to feel her bed when she was placed gently upon it, as well as the removal of her shoes and the large but soft hand that caressed her hair afterwards.

The deep voice she'd fallen asleep to spoke quietly into her ear. "Sweet dreams, Lily."

The door to her room opened and shut, and then all was silent.

The kitten opened an eye, located the little red cat plush she had, and proceeded to bring it to her chest and hug it as hard as she could. It wasn't quite him, but it would have to do.

She was back to dreamland in no time, the stuffed toy still in her arms. What a great day it was.