Author's Note: This story takes place around four years after the events of "Vows, Confessions and Revelations."

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners, particularly the characters taken from the animated series, Code Lyoko. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

To AlmightyTallestAngie

"Emily! Time for bed!"

"Rats, what a bore!" thirteen year old Emily Moralés muttered under her breath. After taking a deep cleansing breath, she hollered back," Mom! I'm talking with a friend! Can I stay up a few minutes longer?"

"Absolutely not!" retorted her mother, Suzanne, who had tracked the girl down by her voice and now loomed in the doorway of her office. "And how many times have I told you to stay out of my office! You have a perfectly good workstation in your room, young lady, and I expect you to use it!"

"But mooom! Yours is so much better! It's faster without all of that web site monitoring crap that's on it. I mean, it takes, like, forever to load a page!"

"Emily Marie Moralés, I know for a fact that your workstation's response time is as fast, if not faster, than that workstation you are sitting at. I had Mr. Belpois come over after the last time you complained about speed, and he checked everything, including the bypasses you coded around the site blockers."

"But..."

"No buts! I will give you five minutes so you may wrap up your conversation with your friend, then I will return and bodily remove you from that chair! And if I have to do that, no outside access for you for a month! Get me?!"

"Got you, ma'am," the girl said, signaling her defeat.

With that, Emily's mother turned and went back to what she was doing. The girl turned her attention back to the display, and to the person looking back at her from it.

"Sorry you had to hear that, Adam," she said to the person in the display, "mom's awful protective of me. She's afraid some pervert will jump out of the screen and kidnap me."

"And she has a right to be concerned," the boy on the display replied, "there are a lot of bad people out there, just trolling for unsuspecting juveniles, hoping to lure them away from home to abuse them. You should be thankful your parents care enough about you that they go to the trouble they do to keep those kinds of people away from you."

"I know, but still..." the girl replied, then stopped, "hey, you aren't one of those creeps are you?"

"Would you like me to say no?" Adam replied, "and what would you do if I said no? Would you agree to meet me somewhere some day later on? Maybe I am a pervert, just waiting to sink my fangs into your tender flesh, and I'm stringing you on to so you will let your guard down."

Emily was taken aback. Could it be? Then Adam laughed.

"You should see your face! As a matter of fact, look!" Suddenly, another window popped open showing the shocked look on Emily's face. "That was so worth it! Now, I had better be going. You're mother is going to come back in two minutes and forcibly remove you from that chair, and my mother is looking at me with a particularly perturbed look on her face, so I think I am in trouble too. You have a good night, and we will talk again soon."

With that, Adam's image disappeared from the display. Quickly, Emily shut down all of the programs she had up and running, then logged off from her mother's workstation. She quickly got up and exited her mother's office, just in time to meet her just outside the door.

"Cutting it close, as usual," her mother said.

"I'm sorry, but it took a little bit to wrap things up," she replied truthfully.

Suzanne Moralés smiled at her daughter. "Alright dear, the inquisition is over. Go on upstairs and get ready for bed. And don't forget to hug your father goodnight."

"I won't."

Adam closed the interface he had opened and looked up at his mother, looming over him with a mildly somber look on her face.

"Adam, I thought I told you not to engage EmilyMoralés in conversation again. Her mother may have an incomplete knowledge of us, but the girl has none, and it needs to stay that way.'

"I"m sorry, MotherZoe, but what can I do?" he replied, "she can access Lyoko from her mother's workstation, and she is bright enough to call out and find me. Should I ignore her? You taught us that that was a rude thing to do."

"Our biggest concern is secrecy," Zoe told her child, "our benefactors have not sacrificed so much so we can bleat our existence to the entire world. If others found out about us, they would take the computer that keeps this place in existence, tear it apart, and destroy all of us! EmilyMoralés is a nice child, but you must not speak to her anymore, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, MotherZoe, I understand you completely. I will not speak to EmilyMoralés again."