Author's note:

This chapter is a separate and finished story.

.w.

Vanilla was restless. Vanilla was shocked. Vanilla was still scared to pieces - even though there were no more reasons to be scared now.

But most of all, Vanilla was grateful.

"Thank you, mister Shadow."

"M-hm."

"No, I mean it. Thank you."

"M-hm."

"Those robots could have done something terrible to my daughter—"

"Kha! Um, I mean, m-hm."

"—but you came and saved her right in the nick of time! Right, Cream?"

"Yes, mommy. Thank you again, mister Shadow," the rabbit girl hugged the hedgehog's forearm. Said mister Shadow twitched visibly.

"Um-hum," he mumbled.

Vanilla nodded contently. There were no reasons to disbelieve what her daughter had told her half an hour ago.

Then she gasped.

"Gosh, where are my manners?! Would you like a cup of tea? Or maybe coffee? Please have a seat, I can imagine how tired you are!"

"Ngh. I mean, no, I don't want to drink. Actually, I was already lea—"

Vanilla wasn't listening. She was in her kitchen already.

Shadow considered leaving right now, while the older rabbit wasn't looking. The grip around his forearm tightened just a bit.

Now, as Vanilla was out of earshot, Shadow finally felt free to steal a sideways glance at Cream.

"…You do realize she's going to find out someday, don't you?" he asked in an undertone.

Cream addressed him a sweet smile. "Not unless you tell her. And you know what? I really doubt you'll tell a living soul about how you got knocked out by some robots and I had to get your quills out of it all."

Shadow hissed under his breath.

He couldn't understand this girl. She was a tomboy at heart. She was noticed hanging around Sonic and his pals several times, fighting against that mad scientist. Apart from that, she would occasionally slip out of her and her mother's house unnoticed and go on a rampage. And might Chaos help those unlucky ones, be they robots or sapients, who happened to stand on her way.

Sometimes Shadow noticed her chao looked differently and supposed it was a new one. He never really wanted to think about what might have possibly happened to her previous pet.

Overall, the girl was a walking nightmare.

And somehow she managed to keep it all secret, hiding her true self behind the mask of sweet childish innocence. Well, most of the time.

He looked at her again and was greeted with two large shiny eyes, blinking naively at him.

Chaos, he already knew he wasn't going to forget the sight of this tiny rabbit smashing robots with her chao anytime soon.

Vanilla returned, carrying a tray that had several cups on it. Cream's grip tightened even more. "Mommy, I think me and mister Shadow should get to know each other better. Would you mind if I invite him for a tea party some day?"

"Of course I wouldn't, my dear… I mean, if he wouldn't mind it himself, that is," the older rabbit added.

Shadow gulped. "Is this," he asked slowly and very quietly, "a kind of party that will have you very, very upset if I don't show up?"

"You bet," Cream winked at him.

Well, did Shadow really have any options…?

Vanilla nodded in response to his mumbling. "Here, have a drink. You'll get better."

Cream was still holding on to his hand, and Shadow thought it was going to be the sourest cup of tea in his entire life.