#9 Never Ending

Odd's parents offered to formally adopt Aelita, but until she could find her mom she still held out hope that she'd get some of her blood family back. In the meantime, breaks and holidays were still spent with the Della Robbia clan by majority. She'd spent Christmas with Jeremie, and a few weeks here in there with the others. But when everyone else at Kadic went "home" Aelita went to New Zealand.

One snowy day when it was too cold to venture outside, and they were still slightly frostbitten from the day before, Odd decides to put on Disney movies. He queues up the whole princess line, and Aelita gets comfortable in an overstuffed chair.

She watches intently, and after every movie she's even more starry-eyed and asks, "Can we watch another one?" until it's almost one in the morning.

"I guess I don't have to ask if you liked them," Odd teased as he took the popcorn bowl from her lap. Aelita smiled a sleepy smile.

"Can we watch the rest of them tomorrow?" she asked.

"It's already tomorrow." Odd threw a heavier blanket over the girl, figuring the long walk up the stairs to his room was out of the question anyways.

"You know what I mean! I want to see the one with the girl locked in the tower."

"That one is like second to last," he told her. She stretched out in the chair, eyes drooping until they eventually closed.

"I like them all," she babbled. "You know there's going to be a happy ending. No matter what. Even when you think everyone is dead, or alone and abandoned, or everything falls apart. Everyone get's happily ever after."

"That's right," Odd assured her. He picked up the few things scattered around the coffee table. Empty water bottles and napkins, piling everything up.

"And never ending love," the girl said around a yawn. Odd grinned at her.

"You got it princess."

"So I want to see someone else locked in a tower get to a happy ending, too. With never ending love."

The blonde looked back over at the girl. She yawned, burying herself in the blankets. "Princesses always get rescued from the tower," he promised. And she was asleep.