Now, Glitch pretended to sulk.
Dot found this hysterically funny.
So did Jo Ann. Two of the biggest babies and one was a keytool!
"What's so funny?"
Between laughs, Jo Ann told them what she had been thinking.
Dot hooted with laughter even louder.
Now, both Bob and Glitch pretended to sulk.
Dot couldn't help laughing all the harder.
Finally, Bob and Glitch could not hold back any longer. They both started laughing.
Dot was relieved they were not angry at her.
"What about AndrAIa and Ray's presents?" little Enzo spoke up.
"And Wild Card's..." Dot smiled, finally calming down.
"Yeah...WIld Card's, too," Andri added.
"Who first?" Dot asked.
"Matrix was last, so how about AndrAIa, next?" Jo Ann suggested.
"Okay..." Dot pulled out another parcel.
It was a smaller box. AndrAIa removed the wrapper and opened the littel box. Inside were two abalone shells, with a pearl on each, and a matching bracelet.
"Oh...Dot! Bob! They're beautiful!" AndrAIa cried. She gave each a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"For our mermaid..." Dot smiled.
"Put them on, AndrAIa!" Jo Ann urged.
AndrAIa smiled and put the earrings in and the bracelet on.
"They look beautiful on you, AndrAIa!" Matrix grinned.
"Thanks, Sparky..."
Andri grinned at her older sister.
"When you're older I may let you borrow them!" she smiled.
"Thanks!" Andri smiled.
AndrAIa hugged her.
That's so sweet! Jo Ann thought. I'm glad I asked the game-AndrAIa for a back-up copy of herself.
Dot pulled out another package and handed it to Ray.
Ray opened the parcel and felt the lush material, "An evening gown for me, too?" he joked. And then took a closer look.
"A WEBSUIT?!?" Ray looked at Bob and Dot in pleased surprise.
Bob smiled broadly. "You like?"
"Yes...but where did you find a Websuit?"
"We have our ways..." Dot smiled mysteriously.
"Well, thank ya, mates...a lot!" Ray grinned.
"Try it on, sugah..." Mouse smiled.
Now, Ray got up and went to the bathroom to try on his new suit.
Mouse smiled as he slipped out of the room.
While Ray was tring on his suit, Bob handed his brother his present. When he openned it, Wild Card found a beautiful Bowie knife. It had a gold blade, and an onyx pommel. The handle was ebony wood, with pictures of wolves carved into the beautiful black wood.
"Oh!! Its beautiful -- Jo Ann, look at that!!"
"Ohhh...It is beautiful! Look at that handle!" Jo Ann gasped in pleased surprise.
"Bob; Dot; this is beautiful..."
"It sure is! Where did you find it?" Jo Ann asked.
"A little shop in the SC..."
"Of course, love," Jo Ann smiled at her husband, "the knife is only for show. You should never use it for anything."
Wild Card smiled broadly at her.
Jo Ann brushed a kiss to Wild Card's lips.
Wild Card lifted her gently and sat her on his lap.
"Hmm...Wild Card!" Jo Ann giggled.
"What, hon?"
For an answer, she kissed him again.
Ray returned into the room and Mouse wolf-whistled loudly.
This snapped Jo Ann and Wild Card out of their --preoccupation-- and they turned around in the direction of the bathroom. They stared wide-eyed at Ray.
"Lookin' good, sugah!!"
"Very nice, Ray!" Jo Ann smiled. "Where do you find these things, guys?" she asked Bob and Dot.
"I know where to shop!" Dot giggled.
"I believe it!" the User Guardian laughed.
"It comes from having business contacts in the SC!"
"We should be so lucky!" Wild Card told Jo Ann.
Dot leaned forward and squeezed her brother-in-law's hand.
"Brothers and sisters, all, aren't we?' Jo Ann sighed, remembering her earlier conversation with AndrAIa.
"You bet!!"
"I love you guys," Jo Ann smiled. "A lot."
"And we love you..." Dot smiled.
"You took a potenal enemy, and opened your homes and hearts to her, and made her one of your own. Thanks."
"Least we could do..."
"Suppose I had come to you through a game, instead of my writings? What if I had been playing something, and somehow, I had traveled to Mainframe, that way? What would you have done?"
"Depends who was playing the game..."
"Well, what would you have done...Matrix?"
The renegade looked vaguely embarrassed, but answered truthfully, "You wouldn't have seen the end of the game..."
Jo Ann grimiced, glad that Matrix had spoken the truth.
"Bob?"
"I don't know...I may have reacted like Matrix would..."
"Even if I stepped from the game into Mainframe?"
"ESPECIALLY!" Matrix told her.
"And I appeared to you in my true form?"
Dot frowned, "If you had come during Megaframe, I would killed you myself, cos I thought AndrAIa and Enzo had been deleted..."
"And if I had come after the restart?"
"I honestly don't know...'what ifs' can drive you mad..."
"The important thing is, darlin'," Wild Card said. "Ya came to us in peace. Ya had no intention of harmin' us. That's why we made friends with ya so easily. An' how come we came ta lova ya."
"Exactly!" Bob told her.
"Other cultures would call it 'Fate', or 'Destiny'," Jo Ann smiled at her friends. "Maybe I was 'fated' to come to Mainframe and be part of your world."
"Maybe..." AndrAIa smiled.
"Who knows...?" Bob grinned.
"I belive in destiny..." the game sprite smiled.
{Athena did predict that a User would come and claim her legacy, and that certainly has come true,} Pixal said.
"She's right..." Dot grinned.
"And, by some miricle, that User was me," Jo Ann smiled. "If it hadn't have happened, I may be sitting at the computer, just doing stuff, never knowing about Mainframe or you guys."
"Stop with 'what ifs' already sugah!!"
"I'm just in a 'What If...' mood, I guess," Jo Ann grinned.
Dot smiled, "'What ifs' can break your heart."
"Sometimes, though, you can't help wondering, 'What if this had happened, instead of that?' The future is determined by our present actions. If we had done something different in the past, the present would not be what it is now."
"What is past is prologue..."
"True," Jo Ann smiled.
"I nearly drove myself mad with 'what ifs' during Megaframe..." Dot confessed.
"An' suppose the Cupid Conspiricy had been tryin' ta get Matrix an' AndrAIa together, instead of Bob an' Dot? What would have happened, then?" Wild Card grinned.
"Hey, don't start that again!!" Matrix warned.
"I was just supposin', Matrix!" Wild Card said.
"Right..." the renegade's voice was skepticable.
"Well, what if we had been?" Jo Ann asked. "Would we have been able to?"
"I don't know...We're practically married anyway..."
"There you go, then!" Jo Ann smiled. "Different choices, different outcome! And suppose we were trying for Ray and Mouse. Or Turbo and Monitor? Would it have worked then, too?"
"If you hadn't gone for Dot and Bob, Monitor might have won his heart..." Mouse mused.
"Possibly," Jo Ann said. "But we chose to get Bob and Dot together, instead. Now, Turbo and Monitor are sweet on each other. Two problems licked with one solution."
"Bingo!" Andri giggled.
"We were discussing earlier about how I was so anxious for a family here in Mainframe because I was all but cut off from my family in the User's World," Jo Ann sighed. "And maybe that's why I wanted everyone to get married: So I would have brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, and cousins again."
Wild Card hugged her.
Jo Ann hugged him back, kissing his cheek as she did so.
"We all luv ya, Jo..."
"And I love all of you."
There was a knock on the door.
Bob went to answer it.
"Who's there?' he asked.
"It's us, Interface!!" came a happy voice.
"Monitor!" Bob cried. He openned the door.
Monitor hugged him warmly and Turbo placed a hand on his shoulder.
"What have you guys been up to?" Bob grinned.
Monitor and Turbo shared a smirk, "Not much." Monitor twirled around, showing off her cadet uniform.
"Whoa! Look at you! The uniform looks great on you!" Jo Ann grinned.
"Thanks! I love it in the SC..."
"DIDYAGETAKEYTOOL!" little Enzo cried."MATRIXDID! IT'SCALLED'PACKARD',ANDITGOTREALLYEMBARRASSEDWHENHEFOUNDOUTTHATJOANNWASAUSERANDTHATSHEHADPIXALANDTHATSHEWASATHENA'SHEIRAND..."
"Woah...slow down [little whirlwind]...run that by me again?"
Enzo calmed down. "Did you get a keytool? Matrix did. It's called, 'Packard', and it got really embaressed when he found out that Jo Ann was a User and that she had Pixal and that she was Athena's heir and..."
"I'm going to be getting a keytool soon..." Monitor smiled. "You got one, Matrix? Congratulations..."
"Thanks," Matrix grinned.
[Yeah. Thanks,] Packard piped up.
"Hello there.." Monitor smiled at Packard.
[Hi,] Packard smiled back.
"How is it going?" Monitor and Packard had spoken while in the SC.
[Fine. I hope I can make Matrix proud of me...]
"You will...I'm sure..."
{Of course, he will!} Pixal smiled. {He will do well and make us all proud!}
"Naturally."
[Who are you going to get? Intel? or LAN? Maybe Logo?]
"Intel..." Monitor smiled.
[Great! She's really nice!] Packard smiled.
"Yeah..."
"Welcome to the ranks of the Guardians!" Jo Ann grinned.
"Thanks...its wonderful. If only Status could see it that way..."
"He still anti-Guardian?" Bob asked.
"Yeah...and very anti-Turbo..." Monitor sighed.
"What was his reaction when you told him you were going to be a Guardian?" Jo Ann asked.
"He completely flipped out..."
"What did he say?" Bob asked.
"He umm...said no sister of his would be a Guardian..."
"Oooo...!" Jo Ann reacted to that as if she had been hit.
"It hurt..." Monitor confessed and Turbo held her.
"I don't get him!" Matrix growled. "A Guardian just saved and upgraded his system! And it had been Turbo's idea! I'd be gratefull to the Guardians if they had done that for Mainframe!"
"Yeah...well he's as stubborn as they come."
"What caused him to hate Guardians, anyway?" Jo Ann asked.
"You saw the system..."
"Yes..."
"Like I once did, he blames the Guardians..."
"Because they were the only ones that could have helped, and they didn't?" Jo Ann asked.
"Yes..." Monitor sighed.
"This was when the Guardians were infected by Daemon, wasn't it?"
"Yes. We had bad experiences with them."
"But Daemon has been defeated --by a User Guardian," Matrix said. "Omega was restored and upgraded --by a User Guardian. And the plan to save Omega came from the Prime Guardian. Doesn't all that make up for at least some of the things the Guardians did while they were infected?"
"Status can hold a grude forever..."
"You could tell --even show-- Status all the good things the Guardians are doing, but unless he is willing to forgive and start over with them, you will never get him to believe it," Jo Ann said. "As the User saying goes, 'You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.'"
"Exactly...and he doesn't want anything to do with me anymore..." Turbo tightened his arms around Monitor. Her brother was a sore spot for her.
"I wish there was something I could do," Jo Ann said.
"You've already done so much..."
"An' even a User Guardian can't work miracles all tha time, darlin'," Wild Card said. He leaned forward and nuzzled her neck. Jo Ann giggled as the familuer gesture tickled her.
Monitor and Turbo shared a loving glance.
"We can only do what we can, Jo," Bob said, grasping her hand. "It's up to Status to decide to forgive the Guardians, not us."
"You did so much...its his own arrogant fault."
"Yeah...well, maybe someday..." she sighed.
"I hope so..."
"Here's a little power I haven't used in a long time," Jo Ann suddenly smiled. She snapped her fingers. Out of thin air, came the song, "Blue Moon".
"C'n I have this dance?" Turbo asked Monitor who, blushing, slipped into his arms.
Jo Ann smiled. She watched as Turbo and Monitor danced to the beautiful User song.
"...and then there suddenly appeared before me, the only one my arms would ever hold. I heard someone whisper, 'Please, adore me.', and when I looked, the moon had turned to gold! Blue moon..." the lyrics of the song filled the air.
Dot and Bob, AndrAIa and Matrix, Ray and Mouse -- even Enzo and Andri were dancing...
"Wanna dance, darlin?" Wild Card laughed. He remembered the second that Jo Ann had awoke after absorbing Amazon. They had had a improv party. Jo Ann had supplied the music by snapping her fingers, as she had done just now.
"Why not," Jo Ann giggled. They both got up and started to dance.
"Play something else!" Dot begged when the song ended.
"Okay..." Jo Ann snapped her fingers. This time, "Downtown" played.
Despite her saddness over her brother's pigheadedness, Monitor was truly happy for the first time. She loved to dance, and safe in Turbo's arms she felt at peace.
Jo Ann smiled. She loved to play her favorite User songs for her Mainframe family. They seemed to enjoy these tunes from the other world.
Andri started to hum the tune softly to herself and little Enzo.
Jo Ann grinned. The song was fairly old, popular long before computers ever became commonplace. Now, the song had found a new audience, in a medium the song's writers or performers would never have thought possible.
"Thats a nice song..." Mouse grinned.
"Thanks. I like it, too," Jo Ann grinned back. She thought of one that might please Matrix. And Wild Card, too, for that matter.
AndrAIa and Matrix had been dancing very closely while the song placed, and when it ended seemed reluctant to pull apart.
"I don't know if you can dance to this one. I just thought it was something Matrix and Wild Card might like," Jo Ann smiled. She snapped her fingers, and Marty Robbin's "Big Iron" played. The song was about a Arizona ranger looking for an outlaw named Texas Red. The "Big Iron" of the song was the ranger's gun.
Matrix grinned at the song, "Neat..."
The song ended with the ranger winning a shootout with Texas Red.
"I know several Marty Robbins songs, and a few by Johnny Horton," Jo Ann smiled at the renagde.
"Who?" Matrix blinked.
"Both were Country-Western singers," Jo Ann explained.
"Songs about gunfights are more common with Marty Robbins, then with Johnny Horton."
"Oh...okaaay..." AndrAIa smiled at him and then turned to Jo, "Can you play something slow and sweet again?"
"Okay. How about..."Beauty and the Beast"? Not that any of you guys are beasts, but..." Jo Ann grinned.
"You haven't seen Matrix annoyed, have you?" the game sprite joked.
Jo Ann laughed. She snapped her fingers, begining the song.
The couples all found each others arms and started to dance around the tiny appartment, trying not to tread on the suitcases.
Jo Ann danced in Wild Card's arms, looking into his gentle, brown eyes. All the reasons why she loved him came flooding back to her mind.
AndrAIa carressed her lover's face gently. She had loved him since she had first laid eyes on him...and she knew she always would.
Bob and Dot danced slowly to the music, aware of no one else besides each other for the duriation of the song.
"I love you so much...I'm so glad I married you..." Dot whispered.
"So am I," Bob smiled. "I love you with all my heart."
"Always...'til deletion do us part...' " she whispered back.
"Yes..." Bob kissed her lips, warm and gentle, as was his nature.
Dot could feel herself melting into his arms again. She hadn't wanted the honeymoon to end.
All too soon, the song ended.
Dot kissed Bob once more and then headed to her suitcase, "We have gifts for you two as well," she smiled at Turbo and Monitor.
"Oh?" Monitor said. She looked at Turbo.
"We brought presents back for everyone; we couldn't leave you guys out!" Dot explained.
"Now, what can one get for the Prime Guardian?" Jo Ann whispered to Wild Card.
"I dunno," he shrugged and whispered back.
Dot pulled out a fairly large parcel, and a small one. She handed the small one to Monitor. "Open it!" she urged.
Monitor did so, very carefully. Opening the little box inside, she found a charm bracelet, with 4 charms: A small keytool, a Guardian icon, a "M" and an Omega.
"We knew about you becoming a Guardian.." Dot confessed
"Oh, how beautiful!" Jo Ann cried. "Put it on!"
Monitor opened the clasp and placed it around her wrist, holding her arm out to Turbo. He obliged her and fastened it for her.
"How'd you know that Monitor was going to become a Guardian?" Jo Ann asked.
Dot and Turbo shared a smile, and Dot gave Bob a teasing glare. "Bob just couldn't be in the SC and not visit his friends..."
"Why didn't you say so?!" Jo Ann laughed. "We wouldn't have had to tell you about her becoming a Guardian!"
"We couldn't betray our sources," Dot deadpanned, her tongue firmly in her cheek.
"Hey, as long as you know..." Wild Card grinned.
"Yes?"
"'Yes?' what?"
"'As long as we know..' then what?"
"Did they tell you about their run-in with Mike?"
"No...what happened? They didn't mention the whole romance thing at all!" Bob said.
"Well, Mike became annoying, as usual. Monitor told him that she would only answer five questions, which she did. She only gave him little snippits of info, though. I actually felt sorry for him, and got Monitor to tell him about Omega, if only to keep out of Turbo and Monitor's way. We started getting romantic with our guys, and Mike was actually filming us! You should have seen his reaction when Matrix found him out..." Jo Ann laughed.
Bob and Dot glanced at each other and then burst out laughing.
"That should keep him out of our hair for awhile!" Bob laughed.
"Oh yeah. Way to go Monitor...and Enzo; your temper seems to have work for the greater good..." Dot chortled.
"Personally, I like when he put Gun in Mike's face and told him to shut up when we were on the way to your wedding!" Jo Ann said between giggles.
Matrix grinned, "See, volatile is good..."
"Why don't ya tell 'em 'bout tha kissin' contest, sugah?" Mouse grinned.
Dot's eyes widened, "Do I want to know?"
"Why not?" Jo Ann smiled. "When they were about to leave, Turbo gave Monitor a long kiss. Wild Card desided to time them. When the kiss ended three micros later, Wild Card asked if either of them where scuba divers. Then Wild Card and I desided to try and beat their record. What we didn't know was that Turbo was timing us!"
Dot laughed so hard her sides ached, she could barely speak, she was laughing so hard.
"How long was your kiss?" Bob asked.
"Five micros," Turbo answered. "An' Copeland's got tha stats to prove it!"
Dot just started to laugh again helplessly; she rarely laughed like this.
"Good thing Mike wasn't there!" Bob laughed.
"Oh, yeah..."
"He'd have it on the nine o'clock news!" AndrAIa laughed.
Andri launched into an amazing impression of Mike; obviously havening the same skill of imitation that her older "sister" had.
Jo Ann giggled as she listened to Andri.
AndrAIa smiled proudly at her 'sister'.
"'Course, the nano it came on the air, I would have sicked both Matrix and Wild Card on him!" Jo Ann grinned.
"Oh yeah!!"
Jo Ann laughed, imagining the two sprites chasing Mike around. She hugged Wild Card close.
"Share the joke, sugah?" Mouse asked.
"I was just thinking about Matrix and Wild Card chasing Mike around, both trying to delete him," Jo Ann giggled.
Dot giggled, her sides sore from her laughter fit.
"Mike had better learn to watch what he lets on the air. It just might get him killed!" Jo Ann smiled. She was calming down after her laughing fit.
"No kidding..."
"Hey! What about Turbo's gift?" little Enzo asked.
"Oh yes...the answer to the immortal question, 'What do you get the guy who has everything..." Dot handed him the large parcel.
Grinning, Turbo openned it, as carefully as Monitor had hers.
Inside where a couple of pairs of trousers and some shirts.
"I don't think I've ever seen you out of uniform.." Dot teased her uncle.
"That would look nice. Go put something on, and let's see you, 'Uncle' Turbo!" Jo Ann grinned.
"Go on!" Monitor encouraged. "The red shirt... "
"Oooo...that'll look good..." Jo Ann continued to grin at her new uncle.
"Alright!" Turbo took the box and left the room.
Jo Ann smiled. She wondered if she was ever going to get used to calling her commander, "Uncle". She liked calling him that, though. This was her family, now. An extention to the one in the User's World. She snuggled close to Wild Card, happy with her new life.
Monitor smiled, "I think I have only seen him in clothes other than his uniform once..."
"What was he wearing, then?" Matrix asked.
"A really cute suit..." Monitor smiled.
"'A really cute suit?'" Matrix echoed. "When as he ever worn a suit?"
"It was at a dance...I convinced him to wear civies..."
"Ohhh...I would have loved to have seen him in that suit!" Jo Ann giggled.
Monitor pulled a picture from her bag. it was a JPG of her and Turbo at the dance. He in his suit and she in a gorgeous white dress.
"Whoa! You two look great!" Jo Ann smiled.
"It was a wonderful evening..."
"I'm sure it was..." AndrAIa smiled.
Turbo reentered the room smiling.
Jo Ann caught sight of him and wolf-whistled playfully.
"Oooo...Studly!" she giggled.
"No kidding!" Monitor smiled at him.
"You look wonderful, Guardian Turbo," Andri smiled.
Turbo blushed, unused to getting so many compliments
Monitor smiled. There was a warm and gentle heart beating inside that huge frame that was Prime Guardian Turbo.
"Red is your colour, [darling]..." Monitor used the word for lover or darling in her native tongue as her affectionatte way of addressing Turbo.
"It sure is, Uncle Turbo!" Jo Ann smiled.
"Thank ya..." he smiled bashfully.
There was a knock at the door.
Dot stood up, "I wonder who that is? The gang's all here..." she opened the door
"Hello, Dot!" Hexadecimal smiled. "I heard you and Bob were back, so Scuzzy and I desided to come and say, 'Welcome home'."
"Hex!" Dot hugged the former virus, "Come on in..."
Hex entered, little Scuzzy following right behind her.
"Hexadecimal!!" Bob greeted her smiling.
"Hi, Bob! Did you two have a nice honeymoon?" Hex smiled.
"Oh, yeah..." Dot and Bob shared an intimate smile.
"That's nice."
"Yeah... We have a present for you Hex..." Bob told her.
"Oooo...a present? For me?" Hex clapped her hands like a young girl.
Dot smiled and handed the Virus a package.
Hex openned her package with as much excitement as the children had.
Inside the large box were oil paints, paint brushes, sketch-books, pencils and a palette, along with a painter's smock and beret.
"I thought that you would like to continue your painting --without using the system paint program," Bob smiled.
"You know me so well, Bob," Hex smiled back.
"Yeah...Well, it comes from all the times I've had to fight you. You fight someone, you learn about them," he grinned.
"Touche; Guardian..." she smiled.
Jo Ann hugged Wild Card, smiling at the happy ex-virus.
Dot found this hysterically funny.
So did Jo Ann. Two of the biggest babies and one was a keytool!
"What's so funny?"
Between laughs, Jo Ann told them what she had been thinking.
Dot hooted with laughter even louder.
Now, both Bob and Glitch pretended to sulk.
Dot couldn't help laughing all the harder.
Finally, Bob and Glitch could not hold back any longer. They both started laughing.
Dot was relieved they were not angry at her.
"What about AndrAIa and Ray's presents?" little Enzo spoke up.
"And Wild Card's..." Dot smiled, finally calming down.
"Yeah...WIld Card's, too," Andri added.
"Who first?" Dot asked.
"Matrix was last, so how about AndrAIa, next?" Jo Ann suggested.
"Okay..." Dot pulled out another parcel.
It was a smaller box. AndrAIa removed the wrapper and opened the littel box. Inside were two abalone shells, with a pearl on each, and a matching bracelet.
"Oh...Dot! Bob! They're beautiful!" AndrAIa cried. She gave each a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"For our mermaid..." Dot smiled.
"Put them on, AndrAIa!" Jo Ann urged.
AndrAIa smiled and put the earrings in and the bracelet on.
"They look beautiful on you, AndrAIa!" Matrix grinned.
"Thanks, Sparky..."
Andri grinned at her older sister.
"When you're older I may let you borrow them!" she smiled.
"Thanks!" Andri smiled.
AndrAIa hugged her.
That's so sweet! Jo Ann thought. I'm glad I asked the game-AndrAIa for a back-up copy of herself.
Dot pulled out another package and handed it to Ray.
Ray opened the parcel and felt the lush material, "An evening gown for me, too?" he joked. And then took a closer look.
"A WEBSUIT?!?" Ray looked at Bob and Dot in pleased surprise.
Bob smiled broadly. "You like?"
"Yes...but where did you find a Websuit?"
"We have our ways..." Dot smiled mysteriously.
"Well, thank ya, mates...a lot!" Ray grinned.
"Try it on, sugah..." Mouse smiled.
Now, Ray got up and went to the bathroom to try on his new suit.
Mouse smiled as he slipped out of the room.
While Ray was tring on his suit, Bob handed his brother his present. When he openned it, Wild Card found a beautiful Bowie knife. It had a gold blade, and an onyx pommel. The handle was ebony wood, with pictures of wolves carved into the beautiful black wood.
"Oh!! Its beautiful -- Jo Ann, look at that!!"
"Ohhh...It is beautiful! Look at that handle!" Jo Ann gasped in pleased surprise.
"Bob; Dot; this is beautiful..."
"It sure is! Where did you find it?" Jo Ann asked.
"A little shop in the SC..."
"Of course, love," Jo Ann smiled at her husband, "the knife is only for show. You should never use it for anything."
Wild Card smiled broadly at her.
Jo Ann brushed a kiss to Wild Card's lips.
Wild Card lifted her gently and sat her on his lap.
"Hmm...Wild Card!" Jo Ann giggled.
"What, hon?"
For an answer, she kissed him again.
Ray returned into the room and Mouse wolf-whistled loudly.
This snapped Jo Ann and Wild Card out of their --preoccupation-- and they turned around in the direction of the bathroom. They stared wide-eyed at Ray.
"Lookin' good, sugah!!"
"Very nice, Ray!" Jo Ann smiled. "Where do you find these things, guys?" she asked Bob and Dot.
"I know where to shop!" Dot giggled.
"I believe it!" the User Guardian laughed.
"It comes from having business contacts in the SC!"
"We should be so lucky!" Wild Card told Jo Ann.
Dot leaned forward and squeezed her brother-in-law's hand.
"Brothers and sisters, all, aren't we?' Jo Ann sighed, remembering her earlier conversation with AndrAIa.
"You bet!!"
"I love you guys," Jo Ann smiled. "A lot."
"And we love you..." Dot smiled.
"You took a potenal enemy, and opened your homes and hearts to her, and made her one of your own. Thanks."
"Least we could do..."
"Suppose I had come to you through a game, instead of my writings? What if I had been playing something, and somehow, I had traveled to Mainframe, that way? What would you have done?"
"Depends who was playing the game..."
"Well, what would you have done...Matrix?"
The renegade looked vaguely embarrassed, but answered truthfully, "You wouldn't have seen the end of the game..."
Jo Ann grimiced, glad that Matrix had spoken the truth.
"Bob?"
"I don't know...I may have reacted like Matrix would..."
"Even if I stepped from the game into Mainframe?"
"ESPECIALLY!" Matrix told her.
"And I appeared to you in my true form?"
Dot frowned, "If you had come during Megaframe, I would killed you myself, cos I thought AndrAIa and Enzo had been deleted..."
"And if I had come after the restart?"
"I honestly don't know...'what ifs' can drive you mad..."
"The important thing is, darlin'," Wild Card said. "Ya came to us in peace. Ya had no intention of harmin' us. That's why we made friends with ya so easily. An' how come we came ta lova ya."
"Exactly!" Bob told her.
"Other cultures would call it 'Fate', or 'Destiny'," Jo Ann smiled at her friends. "Maybe I was 'fated' to come to Mainframe and be part of your world."
"Maybe..." AndrAIa smiled.
"Who knows...?" Bob grinned.
"I belive in destiny..." the game sprite smiled.
{Athena did predict that a User would come and claim her legacy, and that certainly has come true,} Pixal said.
"She's right..." Dot grinned.
"And, by some miricle, that User was me," Jo Ann smiled. "If it hadn't have happened, I may be sitting at the computer, just doing stuff, never knowing about Mainframe or you guys."
"Stop with 'what ifs' already sugah!!"
"I'm just in a 'What If...' mood, I guess," Jo Ann grinned.
Dot smiled, "'What ifs' can break your heart."
"Sometimes, though, you can't help wondering, 'What if this had happened, instead of that?' The future is determined by our present actions. If we had done something different in the past, the present would not be what it is now."
"What is past is prologue..."
"True," Jo Ann smiled.
"I nearly drove myself mad with 'what ifs' during Megaframe..." Dot confessed.
"An' suppose the Cupid Conspiricy had been tryin' ta get Matrix an' AndrAIa together, instead of Bob an' Dot? What would have happened, then?" Wild Card grinned.
"Hey, don't start that again!!" Matrix warned.
"I was just supposin', Matrix!" Wild Card said.
"Right..." the renegade's voice was skepticable.
"Well, what if we had been?" Jo Ann asked. "Would we have been able to?"
"I don't know...We're practically married anyway..."
"There you go, then!" Jo Ann smiled. "Different choices, different outcome! And suppose we were trying for Ray and Mouse. Or Turbo and Monitor? Would it have worked then, too?"
"If you hadn't gone for Dot and Bob, Monitor might have won his heart..." Mouse mused.
"Possibly," Jo Ann said. "But we chose to get Bob and Dot together, instead. Now, Turbo and Monitor are sweet on each other. Two problems licked with one solution."
"Bingo!" Andri giggled.
"We were discussing earlier about how I was so anxious for a family here in Mainframe because I was all but cut off from my family in the User's World," Jo Ann sighed. "And maybe that's why I wanted everyone to get married: So I would have brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, and cousins again."
Wild Card hugged her.
Jo Ann hugged him back, kissing his cheek as she did so.
"We all luv ya, Jo..."
"And I love all of you."
There was a knock on the door.
Bob went to answer it.
"Who's there?' he asked.
"It's us, Interface!!" came a happy voice.
"Monitor!" Bob cried. He openned the door.
Monitor hugged him warmly and Turbo placed a hand on his shoulder.
"What have you guys been up to?" Bob grinned.
Monitor and Turbo shared a smirk, "Not much." Monitor twirled around, showing off her cadet uniform.
"Whoa! Look at you! The uniform looks great on you!" Jo Ann grinned.
"Thanks! I love it in the SC..."
"DIDYAGETAKEYTOOL!" little Enzo cried."MATRIXDID! IT'SCALLED'PACKARD',ANDITGOTREALLYEMBARRASSEDWHENHEFOUNDOUTTHATJOANNWASAUSERANDTHATSHEHADPIXALANDTHATSHEWASATHENA'SHEIRAND..."
"Woah...slow down [little whirlwind]...run that by me again?"
Enzo calmed down. "Did you get a keytool? Matrix did. It's called, 'Packard', and it got really embaressed when he found out that Jo Ann was a User and that she had Pixal and that she was Athena's heir and..."
"I'm going to be getting a keytool soon..." Monitor smiled. "You got one, Matrix? Congratulations..."
"Thanks," Matrix grinned.
[Yeah. Thanks,] Packard piped up.
"Hello there.." Monitor smiled at Packard.
[Hi,] Packard smiled back.
"How is it going?" Monitor and Packard had spoken while in the SC.
[Fine. I hope I can make Matrix proud of me...]
"You will...I'm sure..."
{Of course, he will!} Pixal smiled. {He will do well and make us all proud!}
"Naturally."
[Who are you going to get? Intel? or LAN? Maybe Logo?]
"Intel..." Monitor smiled.
[Great! She's really nice!] Packard smiled.
"Yeah..."
"Welcome to the ranks of the Guardians!" Jo Ann grinned.
"Thanks...its wonderful. If only Status could see it that way..."
"He still anti-Guardian?" Bob asked.
"Yeah...and very anti-Turbo..." Monitor sighed.
"What was his reaction when you told him you were going to be a Guardian?" Jo Ann asked.
"He completely flipped out..."
"What did he say?" Bob asked.
"He umm...said no sister of his would be a Guardian..."
"Oooo...!" Jo Ann reacted to that as if she had been hit.
"It hurt..." Monitor confessed and Turbo held her.
"I don't get him!" Matrix growled. "A Guardian just saved and upgraded his system! And it had been Turbo's idea! I'd be gratefull to the Guardians if they had done that for Mainframe!"
"Yeah...well he's as stubborn as they come."
"What caused him to hate Guardians, anyway?" Jo Ann asked.
"You saw the system..."
"Yes..."
"Like I once did, he blames the Guardians..."
"Because they were the only ones that could have helped, and they didn't?" Jo Ann asked.
"Yes..." Monitor sighed.
"This was when the Guardians were infected by Daemon, wasn't it?"
"Yes. We had bad experiences with them."
"But Daemon has been defeated --by a User Guardian," Matrix said. "Omega was restored and upgraded --by a User Guardian. And the plan to save Omega came from the Prime Guardian. Doesn't all that make up for at least some of the things the Guardians did while they were infected?"
"Status can hold a grude forever..."
"You could tell --even show-- Status all the good things the Guardians are doing, but unless he is willing to forgive and start over with them, you will never get him to believe it," Jo Ann said. "As the User saying goes, 'You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.'"
"Exactly...and he doesn't want anything to do with me anymore..." Turbo tightened his arms around Monitor. Her brother was a sore spot for her.
"I wish there was something I could do," Jo Ann said.
"You've already done so much..."
"An' even a User Guardian can't work miracles all tha time, darlin'," Wild Card said. He leaned forward and nuzzled her neck. Jo Ann giggled as the familuer gesture tickled her.
Monitor and Turbo shared a loving glance.
"We can only do what we can, Jo," Bob said, grasping her hand. "It's up to Status to decide to forgive the Guardians, not us."
"You did so much...its his own arrogant fault."
"Yeah...well, maybe someday..." she sighed.
"I hope so..."
"Here's a little power I haven't used in a long time," Jo Ann suddenly smiled. She snapped her fingers. Out of thin air, came the song, "Blue Moon".
"C'n I have this dance?" Turbo asked Monitor who, blushing, slipped into his arms.
Jo Ann smiled. She watched as Turbo and Monitor danced to the beautiful User song.
"...and then there suddenly appeared before me, the only one my arms would ever hold. I heard someone whisper, 'Please, adore me.', and when I looked, the moon had turned to gold! Blue moon..." the lyrics of the song filled the air.
Dot and Bob, AndrAIa and Matrix, Ray and Mouse -- even Enzo and Andri were dancing...
"Wanna dance, darlin?" Wild Card laughed. He remembered the second that Jo Ann had awoke after absorbing Amazon. They had had a improv party. Jo Ann had supplied the music by snapping her fingers, as she had done just now.
"Why not," Jo Ann giggled. They both got up and started to dance.
"Play something else!" Dot begged when the song ended.
"Okay..." Jo Ann snapped her fingers. This time, "Downtown" played.
Despite her saddness over her brother's pigheadedness, Monitor was truly happy for the first time. She loved to dance, and safe in Turbo's arms she felt at peace.
Jo Ann smiled. She loved to play her favorite User songs for her Mainframe family. They seemed to enjoy these tunes from the other world.
Andri started to hum the tune softly to herself and little Enzo.
Jo Ann grinned. The song was fairly old, popular long before computers ever became commonplace. Now, the song had found a new audience, in a medium the song's writers or performers would never have thought possible.
"Thats a nice song..." Mouse grinned.
"Thanks. I like it, too," Jo Ann grinned back. She thought of one that might please Matrix. And Wild Card, too, for that matter.
AndrAIa and Matrix had been dancing very closely while the song placed, and when it ended seemed reluctant to pull apart.
"I don't know if you can dance to this one. I just thought it was something Matrix and Wild Card might like," Jo Ann smiled. She snapped her fingers, and Marty Robbin's "Big Iron" played. The song was about a Arizona ranger looking for an outlaw named Texas Red. The "Big Iron" of the song was the ranger's gun.
Matrix grinned at the song, "Neat..."
The song ended with the ranger winning a shootout with Texas Red.
"I know several Marty Robbins songs, and a few by Johnny Horton," Jo Ann smiled at the renagde.
"Who?" Matrix blinked.
"Both were Country-Western singers," Jo Ann explained.
"Songs about gunfights are more common with Marty Robbins, then with Johnny Horton."
"Oh...okaaay..." AndrAIa smiled at him and then turned to Jo, "Can you play something slow and sweet again?"
"Okay. How about..."Beauty and the Beast"? Not that any of you guys are beasts, but..." Jo Ann grinned.
"You haven't seen Matrix annoyed, have you?" the game sprite joked.
Jo Ann laughed. She snapped her fingers, begining the song.
The couples all found each others arms and started to dance around the tiny appartment, trying not to tread on the suitcases.
Jo Ann danced in Wild Card's arms, looking into his gentle, brown eyes. All the reasons why she loved him came flooding back to her mind.
AndrAIa carressed her lover's face gently. She had loved him since she had first laid eyes on him...and she knew she always would.
Bob and Dot danced slowly to the music, aware of no one else besides each other for the duriation of the song.
"I love you so much...I'm so glad I married you..." Dot whispered.
"So am I," Bob smiled. "I love you with all my heart."
"Always...'til deletion do us part...' " she whispered back.
"Yes..." Bob kissed her lips, warm and gentle, as was his nature.
Dot could feel herself melting into his arms again. She hadn't wanted the honeymoon to end.
All too soon, the song ended.
Dot kissed Bob once more and then headed to her suitcase, "We have gifts for you two as well," she smiled at Turbo and Monitor.
"Oh?" Monitor said. She looked at Turbo.
"We brought presents back for everyone; we couldn't leave you guys out!" Dot explained.
"Now, what can one get for the Prime Guardian?" Jo Ann whispered to Wild Card.
"I dunno," he shrugged and whispered back.
Dot pulled out a fairly large parcel, and a small one. She handed the small one to Monitor. "Open it!" she urged.
Monitor did so, very carefully. Opening the little box inside, she found a charm bracelet, with 4 charms: A small keytool, a Guardian icon, a "M" and an Omega.
"We knew about you becoming a Guardian.." Dot confessed
"Oh, how beautiful!" Jo Ann cried. "Put it on!"
Monitor opened the clasp and placed it around her wrist, holding her arm out to Turbo. He obliged her and fastened it for her.
"How'd you know that Monitor was going to become a Guardian?" Jo Ann asked.
Dot and Turbo shared a smile, and Dot gave Bob a teasing glare. "Bob just couldn't be in the SC and not visit his friends..."
"Why didn't you say so?!" Jo Ann laughed. "We wouldn't have had to tell you about her becoming a Guardian!"
"We couldn't betray our sources," Dot deadpanned, her tongue firmly in her cheek.
"Hey, as long as you know..." Wild Card grinned.
"Yes?"
"'Yes?' what?"
"'As long as we know..' then what?"
"Did they tell you about their run-in with Mike?"
"No...what happened? They didn't mention the whole romance thing at all!" Bob said.
"Well, Mike became annoying, as usual. Monitor told him that she would only answer five questions, which she did. She only gave him little snippits of info, though. I actually felt sorry for him, and got Monitor to tell him about Omega, if only to keep out of Turbo and Monitor's way. We started getting romantic with our guys, and Mike was actually filming us! You should have seen his reaction when Matrix found him out..." Jo Ann laughed.
Bob and Dot glanced at each other and then burst out laughing.
"That should keep him out of our hair for awhile!" Bob laughed.
"Oh yeah. Way to go Monitor...and Enzo; your temper seems to have work for the greater good..." Dot chortled.
"Personally, I like when he put Gun in Mike's face and told him to shut up when we were on the way to your wedding!" Jo Ann said between giggles.
Matrix grinned, "See, volatile is good..."
"Why don't ya tell 'em 'bout tha kissin' contest, sugah?" Mouse grinned.
Dot's eyes widened, "Do I want to know?"
"Why not?" Jo Ann smiled. "When they were about to leave, Turbo gave Monitor a long kiss. Wild Card desided to time them. When the kiss ended three micros later, Wild Card asked if either of them where scuba divers. Then Wild Card and I desided to try and beat their record. What we didn't know was that Turbo was timing us!"
Dot laughed so hard her sides ached, she could barely speak, she was laughing so hard.
"How long was your kiss?" Bob asked.
"Five micros," Turbo answered. "An' Copeland's got tha stats to prove it!"
Dot just started to laugh again helplessly; she rarely laughed like this.
"Good thing Mike wasn't there!" Bob laughed.
"Oh, yeah..."
"He'd have it on the nine o'clock news!" AndrAIa laughed.
Andri launched into an amazing impression of Mike; obviously havening the same skill of imitation that her older "sister" had.
Jo Ann giggled as she listened to Andri.
AndrAIa smiled proudly at her 'sister'.
"'Course, the nano it came on the air, I would have sicked both Matrix and Wild Card on him!" Jo Ann grinned.
"Oh yeah!!"
Jo Ann laughed, imagining the two sprites chasing Mike around. She hugged Wild Card close.
"Share the joke, sugah?" Mouse asked.
"I was just thinking about Matrix and Wild Card chasing Mike around, both trying to delete him," Jo Ann giggled.
Dot giggled, her sides sore from her laughter fit.
"Mike had better learn to watch what he lets on the air. It just might get him killed!" Jo Ann smiled. She was calming down after her laughing fit.
"No kidding..."
"Hey! What about Turbo's gift?" little Enzo asked.
"Oh yes...the answer to the immortal question, 'What do you get the guy who has everything..." Dot handed him the large parcel.
Grinning, Turbo openned it, as carefully as Monitor had hers.
Inside where a couple of pairs of trousers and some shirts.
"I don't think I've ever seen you out of uniform.." Dot teased her uncle.
"That would look nice. Go put something on, and let's see you, 'Uncle' Turbo!" Jo Ann grinned.
"Go on!" Monitor encouraged. "The red shirt... "
"Oooo...that'll look good..." Jo Ann continued to grin at her new uncle.
"Alright!" Turbo took the box and left the room.
Jo Ann smiled. She wondered if she was ever going to get used to calling her commander, "Uncle". She liked calling him that, though. This was her family, now. An extention to the one in the User's World. She snuggled close to Wild Card, happy with her new life.
Monitor smiled, "I think I have only seen him in clothes other than his uniform once..."
"What was he wearing, then?" Matrix asked.
"A really cute suit..." Monitor smiled.
"'A really cute suit?'" Matrix echoed. "When as he ever worn a suit?"
"It was at a dance...I convinced him to wear civies..."
"Ohhh...I would have loved to have seen him in that suit!" Jo Ann giggled.
Monitor pulled a picture from her bag. it was a JPG of her and Turbo at the dance. He in his suit and she in a gorgeous white dress.
"Whoa! You two look great!" Jo Ann smiled.
"It was a wonderful evening..."
"I'm sure it was..." AndrAIa smiled.
Turbo reentered the room smiling.
Jo Ann caught sight of him and wolf-whistled playfully.
"Oooo...Studly!" she giggled.
"No kidding!" Monitor smiled at him.
"You look wonderful, Guardian Turbo," Andri smiled.
Turbo blushed, unused to getting so many compliments
Monitor smiled. There was a warm and gentle heart beating inside that huge frame that was Prime Guardian Turbo.
"Red is your colour, [darling]..." Monitor used the word for lover or darling in her native tongue as her affectionatte way of addressing Turbo.
"It sure is, Uncle Turbo!" Jo Ann smiled.
"Thank ya..." he smiled bashfully.
There was a knock at the door.
Dot stood up, "I wonder who that is? The gang's all here..." she opened the door
"Hello, Dot!" Hexadecimal smiled. "I heard you and Bob were back, so Scuzzy and I desided to come and say, 'Welcome home'."
"Hex!" Dot hugged the former virus, "Come on in..."
Hex entered, little Scuzzy following right behind her.
"Hexadecimal!!" Bob greeted her smiling.
"Hi, Bob! Did you two have a nice honeymoon?" Hex smiled.
"Oh, yeah..." Dot and Bob shared an intimate smile.
"That's nice."
"Yeah... We have a present for you Hex..." Bob told her.
"Oooo...a present? For me?" Hex clapped her hands like a young girl.
Dot smiled and handed the Virus a package.
Hex openned her package with as much excitement as the children had.
Inside the large box were oil paints, paint brushes, sketch-books, pencils and a palette, along with a painter's smock and beret.
"I thought that you would like to continue your painting --without using the system paint program," Bob smiled.
"You know me so well, Bob," Hex smiled back.
"Yeah...Well, it comes from all the times I've had to fight you. You fight someone, you learn about them," he grinned.
"Touche; Guardian..." she smiled.
Jo Ann hugged Wild Card, smiling at the happy ex-virus.