Chapter 9: Prepping A Party

Paris, France

Ulrich Stern

2015

The alarm clock rang, its constant beeping echoing inside the bedroom. Light peered through the blinds, beaming onto Ulrich and Yumi in bed. Ulrich looked at the clock, checking the time. It was about forty five minutes after nine in the morning. He smashed the snooze button and slowly sat himself up on the side of the queen sized bed. Yumi, wrapped in her half of the blanket, slowly awoke from sleep. She saw Ulrich getting out of bed.

"Honey, what time is it?" she asked as she was still half asleep.

"It's almost ten in the morning." Ulrich replied, heading into their bathroom. He left the door wide open and opened the medicine cabinet, taking out his shaving razor and shaving cream. He turned on the faucet and wet his shaver and washed his face with the warm water.

"Why did you set it at almost ten?" Ulrich started to shave.

"It's a surprise, honey." Ulrich answered. "I surprise for you, the kids, and my friend. That's all I can say." He continued to slowly, gently shave. Yumi slowly got up from bed. She stretched as her husband finished shaving. Ulrich washed his face and went back into the bedroom, seeing his wife looking for something to wear.

"I'm going with." she said as she picked out two shirts. "This one or this one?" He looked at the two options. One was the classic Yumi turtle neck, short on the torso. The other was a beautiful black and pink tank top with cherry blossom designs, front and back. Ulrich looked back and forth.

"Well, depends." Ulrich finally told her.

"Depends on what?" she asked her husband. Ulrich picked her up off her feet and kissed her on the lips.

"Depends on which on looks sexier on you." he joked, Yumi laughing. After some private time together in the room, Ulrich and Yumi got dressed. They got inside the car parked in the driveway. While in the car, Ulrich called Calvin.

"Hey, Cal?" Calvin answered his phone.

"Hey, Ulrich, what's up?" Calvin replied.

"You remember what we're doing today, right?" Ulrich asked his friend.

"Uh… no." Cal answered. It took him a few seconds to remember what they were supposed to do today. "Oh, crap!" Ulrich and Yumi smiled as they heard the ruckus he's causing through the phone. In the background, they heard his girlfriend.

"Cal Cal, what's going on?" Jeannette asked her boyfriend. Both Ulrich and Yumi laughed and laughed at the nickname Jeannette gave Calvin.

"Cal Cal?" Yumi asked, still laughing. Ulrich shrugged his shoulders. Calvin, in the background, scrambled for the phone.

"Okay, I'll… I'll be at the park in a minute." Calvin informed Ulrich and Yumi. The two heard the shattering of glass in the background. "God dammit! I'll actually be there in five. Stupid wine glasses." Calvin hung up.

"So, what's the game plan?" Yumi asked her husband.

"To the kids, we keep it a secret." Ulrich replied. "They're gonna be surprised."

"Okay, I'll get them ready while you set things up." Yumi agreed.

"Love you." Ulrich told Yumi as he quickly kissed his wife.

"Love you, too." She quickly left the Mercedes and went back into the home to get the kids dressed and ready. Ulrich buckled his seatbelt and drove out of the neighborhood to meet the rest of the group at the park.

The park itself beautiful. The grass was soft enough to lie on, the trees were as greener as ever, and the sky above was clear and blue, like the ocean. The light wind made the trees slowly sway as the birds overhead flew in the sky. Ulrich left his silver Mercedes and saw the rest of his friends in the field. He squinted, since it was so bright outside.

In the field, he saw Jeremy and Aelita with their daughter, Janet, and their son, Henry. They had brought a cooler and a picnic basket. Odd was their as well, with his girlfriend, Alice Rutherford. They had been going out for months and never went further than dating and being boyfriend and girlfriend. William was there as well, with his wife, Hillary. They have no kids. Not yet.

As Ulrich was about to head towards his friend, he saw Calvin's car pulling into the parking lot of the park. Calvin had the same car as Ulrich, except in a dark shade of blue. He left the car with Jeannette.

"Hey, Ulrich!" he said, locking the car. "Where's the wife and kids?"

"Getting ready." Ulrich answered.

"Sweet!" Calvin replied. "Jeannette, you remember Ulrich." The two shook hands.

"Nice to meet you." she greeted.

"Nice to meet you, too." Ulrich replied.

"Now, let's go set the cooler down over there." Calvin said as he took out the cooler from the trunk. As he carried it, he stopped next to Ulrich to whisper something to him.

"Just to let you know, I snagged us a couple beers." He winked as he walked onto the soft grass with his black flip flops. Ulrich shook his head as he watched Calvin and Jeannette meet up with the others, shaking hands, laughing, giggling, the works. His cell phone rang.

"The kids ready?" he asked his wife.

"They're ready now." she replied.

"Okay, I'm coming back to the house to pick you up." he told her. "Is the stuff ready?"

"Everything's ready, honey."

"Okay, coming." Ulrich said, hanging up the phone and getting back into his car. He drove out of the parking lot and headed back home, where his family was waiting in front of the front door. He saw Yumi II, Michael, and Kelly, waiting gleefully for their father to park and drive them somewhere secret. Well, to the kids anyway. The ran into the car with large smiles on their faces. Yumi entered in the passenger seat and looked back at the kids as they buckled themselves in for the drive.

"Alright, you guys ready?" Ulrich asked his beloved family.

"Yes, daddy!" the three kids said with excitement.

"Alright, here we go!" Ulrich told them, driving out of the driveway of the car. As they drove out of the neighborhood, they laughed, giggled and sang before arriving at the park. When they arrived, the kids jumped out of the car, waving at Ulrich and Yumi's friends in the distance in the park.

"Yumi, go ahead and take them to the guys over there." Ulrich told her, pointing towards their friends, waving.

"Alrighty." she replied. She got out the car and gathered the kids.

"Okay, you guys, let's go!" she told them.

"Yes, mommy!" the kids replied. Ulrich got out of the car and went to the trunk, taking out the picnic basket and blanket for them to sit on. He closed the trunk and locked the car, then checking his phone for messages. He set the phone to vibrate and took the basket and blanket to the group, already having fun. When Ulrich met up with them, they chatted, drank, ate, sang, and joked as the kids enjoyed themselves. They were playing soccer as the adults continued to share their stories. They even brought up memories from the past, Lyoko, XANA, and all. The group shared the fun times, joked about it, and remembered the jokes all pointed towards Odd. For them, it was the time of their lives.