The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

"Tower, Cessna Niner Three Niner Golf Foxtrot turning from base to final, over."

"Roger Niner Golf Foxtrot, the pattern is clear. Taxi to One Able after landing, over."

"Wilco Tower, Niner Golf Foxtrot clear."

Her hands were slick with sweat as she grasped the airplane's yoke, coordinating the three axes of the plane to complete her turn for the final approach to the runway. After completing the turn, she quickly brushed a wisp of pink hair out of her eyes. The easy part was over, now all she had to do was set the plane on the ground without crashing.

Aelita Hopper went over the landing checklist in her mind again, making sure she had done everything that her instructor had taught her. She couldn't find a fault, so she continued on in.

The road to the cockpit of the Cessna 175 she was piloting was about as strange as any a person ever had to walk. It started years ago with a computer, and wound its way through things Issac Asimov and Tom Clancy could barely imagine.

She pushed in on the throttle, slowing the plane down. She adjusted the nose of the plane up, maintaining lift as she slowed. She adjusted her flaps to help her descent, always running her landing checklist through her mind.

If ever there was a weird way of coming into aviation, it was Aelita's. In her senior year of college, she and some of her friends found themselves in a military transport, flying off to some god forsaken place, hunting down terrorists, of all things. During the flight, the flight crew showed the girl the controls of the plane, explained how they worked, and even let her 'fly' for a bit during the return. After that day, Aelita was hooked.

She was now over the runway, about fifty feet off the ground, she powered down more, keeping the nose level until just before touchdown when she brought the nose up. There was a thump! and the screech of the wheels turning on the ground again, she brought the nose of the plane down and applied the brakes. The small aircraft came to a stop about two thirds of the way down the strip.

Aelita let out a profound sigh of relief. Any landing you walk away from is a good one, or so they tell me, she thought to herself. She applied a little power to the engine and made for taxiway 1A. From there, she taxied to the hanger where her instructor was waiting, along with other people.

She brought the plane to a stop, killed the engine, and completed her shutdown checklist. She then got out of the airplane and did a quick inspection of the craft. As she did, her instructor walked up to her.

"Ms. Hopper, give me your logbook and your cert," he said sternly. Aelita was surprised at his tone. She had thought she did everything correctly, was there something he saw that she didn't?

She handed the man her student flight certificate and flight log, her Holy Writ through the whole flight training experience, and waited for what would come next.

He took the book, examined it for a moment, then made a notation. He then made a similar notation on her flight certificate. He then handed them back to her and smiled. "Congratulations, Aelita, you just soloed."

With that, all of the people who had been watching whooped and shouted their congratulations. Her instructor turned her around, then pulled the tail of her shirt out of her pants. Then next thing she knew, she heard a rrrippp! as he tore her shirt from the tail about half way up her back.

She walked back to the group of students who had observed the rite of passage, and received their congratulations and claps on the back.

Then she saw the rest of the surprise.

Her aunt and uncle, Marie and Desmond Hopper, stood there smiling. And with them stood one other, Jeremie Belpois. His blond hair and glasses caught her eye immediately, and she ran over to him and jumped in his arms.

"Did you see! I soloed!" she told him.

He hugged and kissed her as he replied, "yes, I did. It was the most frightening and wonderful thing I've ever seen. I'm proud of you, Aelita."

She broke from his embrace and was immediately hugged by her aunt, then her uncle. Jeremie stood by and let her relatives congratulate her.

"Well, Belpois, when are we going to get you up there alone," the instructor asked as he walked up.

"That's up to you, isn't it?" he replied, "not today, that's for sure. I've got something else I've got to take care of first."

Jeremie then turned back to Aelita. He took her and turned her around. The first thing he did was give her another shirt to wear, since another tradition of the flight school was to hang the torn shirt of those who soloed on the wall at the school. She smiled as he did, realizing that she was probably the only one who was surprised by her solo flight assignment today. Then Jeremie's face changed. He got a worried look, like he wasn't sure of what her reaction would be to something.

"Ah, Aelita?", he started "I've got something I have to ask you. I know this is a bad time, but with what's been going on the past few weeks, I couldn't think of a better time to do this."

He lowered his head a moment, like he was afraid or ashamed of what he had to say next. His hands fumbled in his pockets, a nervous habit Aelita had seen in others, but never in Jeremie. Finally he raised his head back up, and there was a huge smile on his face. He pulled his hands out of his pockets, and one of them contained something, a small velvet covered box.

"Aelita, would you marry me?"

And Aelita thought today couldn't get any better.

"Of course I will, silly! It's about damn time you asked!"