Coming to a Head
Chapter 1
Jeremy was feeling pretty good. This was unusual for him, considering the love of his life, Aelita Hopper, had married one of his best friends, he had two prosthetics, he hadn't married anyone at all even though he was twenty-five, and he had to spend his life with computers even though a malevolent supercomputer had nearly wrecked his childhood. But today he felt all right. His latest girlfriend, Maya, was coming over to his small apartment in the middle of France. Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, and Milly hadn't really settled down. They had each had an apartment in the next town over, and one in Portugal near Milo, because of the drastic political changes that had happened recently.
Ever since Milo and Aelita had politically revolutionized Portugal, they had focused on world unity. They had achieved a special union between France and Portugal, with the two functioning as the same country. People mostly called it France-Portugal, though a few witty clans called it Pants, derived from Pance, derived from Portugal France. Most people now had homes in France and Portugal, though the two were only separated by geography. Jeremy was diehard about not getting a Portuguese apartment. Part of it was that it was painful to see Milo and Aelita. The rest was just patriotism. Maya walked in the door. Jeremy wasn't aware that his life was about to collapse.
"Jeremy," she said, leaning against the door. "I'm pregnant." Jeremy gaped, not even realizing the full implications of what that meant for him.
Milo had just finished a meeting and was exhausted. He had a serious problem. Spain was considering attacking France-Portugal. Aelita was just as exhausted, he knew, and was waiting in the house for him. He had wanted a house, not a mansion, and it was a small house, two bedroom, but with three floors and a decent amount of space. He walked up the stairs and into their bedroom. Aelita was crying.
"What happened?" Milo was always alert to bad news, because he was still worried about the message Xana and Frazier Pohonp had passed on years ago. 'Hector of Carthage.'
"It's wonderful," she said. "It's the best news I've ever heard."
"What?" asked Milo, curious now.
"I just got back from the doctor," she said. Milo was starting to catch on now.
"You don't mean… Do you?"
"I do. We're going to have children," she sobbed. "Twins. A boy and a girl." Milo held her, and he cried with joy as well, unaware that Jeremy was weeping with misery at the same message from someone else.
"Twins," he said to himself as much as anyone else. "We're going to have twins!"
Yumi was busy in the kitchen. Ulrich, Odd, King, and William had raked in money at the show that night and they had all come back hungry. She whistled as she worked. She was happy enough to cook, because the time Ulrich had thought she was overworked and tried to cook something for her, she had literally lost her lunch. After that they had an unspoken agreement that everyone was happier if Yumi cooked. Milly was helping her, of course. After the incident with Ulrich, she had never even let Odd try to cook. Ulrich was scanning their mail, and the others were discussing song lyrics. Suddenly Ulrich jumped up and stood in the middle of the eat-in kitchen.
"Milo and Aelita are going to have kids!" he exclaimed, and everyone was stunned for a second. Then they started cheering. "They say they've had the tests, and it's a boy and a girl! Twins!"
"That calls for Champaign," said Odd. "Do you have any?"
"It's in your cup, in case you hadn't noticed," said Yumi with a smile. "So Milo and Aelita are having kids? That's great!"
"We need to get down there and congratulate them in person," said Ulrich, quickly looking to Yumi for agreement. They never did anything without agreeing.
"Yes, we do," said Yumi, wholeheartedly giving her consent. They were already in the Portugal apartment, so it wouldn't be too hard. "Tell them if they want we can come by tomorrow."
"Oh, I'm so happy for them," said Milly with a sigh. "It's great."
"Yeah," said Ulrich with a strange look at Yumi. "Hey, can we talk for am minute?"
"Sure," she replied, and they went into the bedroom, much to the amusement of Odd.
"Yumi?" he asked, looking right into her eyes. "Do we want a kid yet?" She wasn't kidding herself. It was a question they really did have to address.
"I don't know," she said after a minute. "Let's see how Aelita and Milo feel about it before we decide anything. I do know that I would like to. But I don't know if it's the right time, with us being on the move so often."
"We'll wait until we can decide," he said. "Until then, we have to celebrate! Aelita and Milo have earned it."
XaniteData Entry
Hector of Carthage will be active soon. I have to warn them. The software is almost ready to let me get free of Xana, and I have to tell them that too. Things are getting bad virtual-side. They've had freedom for eleven years. I hope the Lyoko Warriors are ready to save the world again.
