180 Lily (16)

A whole hour passed before Lily woke up. In the meantime, Iris cleaned around the house out of boredom. She couldn't watch anything with the girl sleeping, and she didn't like using earphones. With them, the watching lost a portion of its epicness.

"Iris?" the girl called after waking up, looking around.

"I'm here." She came out of her room and sat down by Lily's side. "Did you sleep well?"

The girl nodded and pushed the blanket away to sit up. "Where's the kitty? Can I play with him again?"

"Maybe next time, the kitty is exhausted now," Iris explained, remembering the claws that almost caught her. Lucifer was clearly not in the mood to play anymore. "Hey, why don't you change now? Let's surprise your brother, what do you say?"

"Surprise brother? We can do that?" Lily's face broke out into a smile.

Iris grinned back at her and went to all the bags she had carried over here. There were a dozen of them, and she had no memory of what was in which one. Lily soon joined her, and so they started taking them apart to find the prettiest dress of them all.

They ended up with a red, princess-like dress. It was made of cotton with a lace covering and reached up to Lily's knees. There was a thin belt around her waist with a rose attached on its left side.

"You look so pretty!" Iris praised, admiring the sight before her.

Lily was a vision. She was still a child, so she looked like the incarnation of cuteness with her blonde hair, green eyes, and a fancy dress. In the future, she was bound to become a beauty every man dreamed about. 'Their family sure has good genes.'

"Really?" the girl asked as she twirled a few times to show off how the skirt fluttered around her.

"Yes!" Iris nodded a few times for emphasis, then thought of something more. "Come, I'll do your hair now!"

This excited the girl, and she came bouncing over. Iris had her sit down on the sofa and went into her room to get a hairbrush and a few rubber bands she had. On the way, she used her phone to look through hairstyles for girls. Her aunt had used quite a number of them, but it had been ages ago. Iris wanted to brush up on the intricacies of them before attempting it.

"Be still now, but tell me if I start pulling your hair, okay?" she cautioned. The girl nodded, then realized that it wasn't the best way to do things and made an agreeing sound.

While combing through the hair, Iris complimented it, making small talk. Lily found it really hard to not keep turning around to see what was happening, but in the end they got into an agreement that she needed to relax and wait. Only then she'd see it.

It took Iris a couple tries, but in the end she managed to finish her task. The end result was pretty good, and she felt quite proud of herself. For someone who hadn't done this in over ten years, it looked great.

She then led Lily into the bathroom where there was a large mirror. After standing up on a chair, the girl started turning right and left to see better. In a moment, she exclaimed, "It's a crown! I have a crown!"

"Yes, you have!" Iris said, watching Lily with amusement. She had braided a half crown about the back of the girl's head, leaving the rest of the hair to fall on her shoulders. "Now you're a real princess!"

Lily turned a few more times before the mirror, then looked back at Iris. "Are you my fairy godmother?" she asked seriously. Before Iris could come up with an appropriate reaction, the girl grinned once more. "I always wanted a fairy godmother! You're amazing! I love you a lot!" She then jumped off the chair and came to hug Iris' waist.

A bit flustered, Iris patted her back. "I love you too…" she murmured, her expression torn between laughing and crying. 'I just brought you shopping and braided your hair, so what fairy godmother are you talking about?'

They returned to the living room, and Iris cleaned up the mess they had made. Clothes and plastic bags were everywhere, and they all needed to be packed up again.

When she was about finished, there were footsteps outside. It was Kyro and Gale, so Iris beckoned for Lily to come over so they could surprise the two men. "When they enter, let's say 'Welcome back' together and smile at them, okay?" she whispered to the girl, who nodded with eagerness.

One, two, three… the door opened and the two of them said in serious voices, "Welcome back." Lily also thought to do a curtsy, and Iris followed from her place behind the girl.

The two men froze, their eyes going wide, and Iris and Lily burst out laughing at their expressions. The girl turned around, her eyes alight with joy, and Iris high-fived her. "You were great."

"You too," Lily said, then turned to run over to her brother. "Look how pretty my fairy godmother made me! She's awesome, isn't she?" She twirled around a few times, showing off her dress and hair.

Iris barely kept herself from laughing. She was so not going to escape that nickname.

The girl then decided to detail their every activity throughout the day, making it seem as if they'd gone on a grand adventure. There were wonderful new lands, evil men to act as villains, friendly furry monsters, and a happy ending with a make over for the main girl.

Gale listened to it all without interruption, agreeing at the right moments and exclaiming when he needed. His taut face relaxed in time, and the fake smile became a real one.

Once the story was over and they ate dinner, Iris said goodbye to Kyro. They hadn't talked throughout the evening, and she couldn't say that she knew what she wanted to speak to him about. There were so many things that she couldn't even choose. It was clear that he felt something for her, but how was she supposed to learn what it was and how deep it ran?

And so she just left with Gale and Lily. They returned back to his apartment and watched cartoons until it was time for the little girl to go rest. She didn't want to be alone, so Iris stayed by her side, holding onto her hand until she fell asleep.