Disclaimer: I don't own Code Lyoko. How sad for me...

With You Now

How many billions of stars were burning above us? As I gazed over the reality of her face every estimate I'd studied seemed strangely unimportant. I swallowed clumsily as my heart leapt into my throat. Her eyes were so focused on the night sky that I almost thought she might just disappear into it right in front of me. But no...she was really here wasn't she...? Finally... And I knew all too well that I couldn't find any words perfect enough to express just what that meant to me... How would I ever?

"Jeremie..." She whispered, causing me to jump slightly. "Y-Yes...?" I asked even as the nervousness was bleeding through my voice. A smile slowly curved to her lips as she hesitantly pulled her eyes from the glowing sky and onto my face. "These come out every day?!" She asked excitedly as she pointed to the stars over head. I fumbled to straighten my glasses as I gave a small grin. "Well every night yes, they're called stars Aelita." She stared at me in almost amazed disbelief before she turned on her heels and slowly spun in a single elated circle.

"Jeremie that's wonderful! And the air...is this what you described as cold?" I nodded as I felt a rush of happiness fill my chest just looking at her. "Yes. But that's not the only sensation on earth, there's heat which is the opposite of cold. Also there's things like taste and touch, and there's infinite variety within each of those. Everything tastes or feels different depending what it's made of." She curiously gazed at her open palm for a few moments before gently running her fingertips over the light fabric of her sleeve, and then over the smoothness of her other hand. "You're right the texture is completely different... But how is that possible?" I smiled slightly. "Well it's rather complicated to explain, but for now you could just say it's one of the things that make earth such a special place to live."

A soft smile rose to Aelita's face as she met my eyes sincerely. "I already knew it was special...but Jeremie I never could have imagined the detail. It's one beautiful work of art, humans must be so happy!" A slight frown drifted to my face as I found it ironic how much sense her innocent words made. "It is beautiful that's for sure...but not everyone appreciates it the way you do Aelita." A puzzled look came to her green eyes as she paused to gather her words. "But why? Don't people like living here?" I pushed my glasses further up the bridge of my nose as I turned to look up into the night sky. "Well yes, I mean of course. But um it's just usually most people take it for granted I think. You know the small things..."

Glancing her out of the corner of my eye I noticed her brows furrow in a mixture of confusion and sadness. "But it's so beautiful... You never took it for granted did you Jeremie?" She asked softly as an edge of hope seemed to be lingering on how I'd answer. I turned to look back at her as I scanned over her face. Biting my lip slightly I raced to find a honest way to answer her. I wanted to tell her I never once took any of the seemingly simple privileges of being human for granted. That I always appreciated the things she had to fight to finally experience. But there was only one truthful way to reply wasn't there? And in reality everyone probably had taken something for granted at least once before.

I averted my eyes to the side for a few moments as I embraced how guilty I felt. "Aelita...I um...well no I didn't always appreciate everything the way I do now..." To my horror I watched as her beautiful face fell slightly in disappointment. I swallowed with a tremble as I raced to try and fix the obvious pain I had caused her. "Well it's just! Um...the uh..." Come on Jeremie, be brave... I repeated in the back of my mind as I fought to muster enough courage to properly explain myself. Closing my eyes and releasing a sigh I opened my mouth and tried to push out the words slowly forming in my head.

"The um...earth is an amazing place to live...but uh...it's..." I tightly clenched my fists as I looked into her eyes. "Everything wonderful about it wouldn't be nearly so enjoyable if...if you didn't have anyone to share it with..." A look of concern crept over her expression. "You never had anyone to share it with before Jeremie...?" I nervously rubbed at the back of my neck as I wondered if I'd already said too much. "Well I've always had my parents...but um...before Lyoko...that is before I met-" Gently cutting me off she placed a hand on my arm, as an understanding smile slowly rose to her face.

"That's easy then Jeremie, we can appreciate earth together." A certain mixture of innocence and beautiful maturity sparkled from behind her eyes, even as I felt heat rush to my face. "After all..." She continued, as a slight breeze ruffled through a few locks of her hair. "I'm with you now."

FIN

Thanks for reading! Feel free to review. :D