Twenty five weeks, late March

Happy Together

POV Odd

Claire and Azra's relentless questioning was really getting out of hand. I needed Sissi to come out here and give me a little help! Fortunately, her door opened right then, and I breathed a sigh of relief. "Hi Claire, Azra, what's up?"

"Odd's going around saying that you're his girlfriend!" Azra responded accusingly. I looked back at Sissi sheepishly while rubbing the back of my neck.

Sissi walked up behind me and draped her arms around my shoulders, hugging me nonchalantly from behind. "Yeah, that's right." Both girls' jaws dropped. I felt myself beaming and I crossed my arms over hers, taking her hands in mine in the process. I leaned my head back into her, breathing in the sweet scent of vanilla I've come to associate with her. "Oh yeah, and please try to keep it down, Yumi's taking a nap. We had some early morning girl-talk." I barely stifled a chuckle at the shocked looks on their faces.

Azra recovered first. "Ok... joke's over, what's really going on?"

I answered this one. "No joke, no tricks. We're really dating. We've been spending a lot of time together these last few months and found that we really like each other... and yeah, Yumi really is in there."

Sissi continued. "Well, we only started dating yesterday, but this is something we both want." She gave me a little squeeze.

Claire rubbed her temples for a minute, then stopped and looked at us. "Just be careful Sissi. That sneaky rat two-timed me with Magali!"

"I know, and I appreciate your concern. This is going to sound cliché, but he's different now and I'm not worried. I know he apologized to you for it months ago, and I also know he really meant it." Sissi's head jerked upright. "Wait, were you one of the girls who slapped him!?" I completely deserved Claire's skepticism and worse, but I was not the same person now and having Sissi stick up for the person I'd become felt really good. There was no way I could possibly do something like that to her. To be honest, if things didn't work out between us, I didn't think I'd be able to do that to anyone else again either!

Claire's jaw dropped again. "How did you know that!?"

"Like he said, we'd been spending a lot of time together, and we talk about everything. We've been best friends for months." Sissi explained before kissing my temple. I felt my cheeks flush.

Azra shook her head, mouth slightly agape. "This is just too weird, I'm outta here!"

"Me too." followed up Claire, and they turned and left, both still shaking their heads.

After they were out of sight, Sissi pulled her arms away and we both doubled over laughing! "Ok, that was fun!" Sissi exclaimed.

"Yeah it was!" I said in return before putting my hand on the back of her neck and gently pulling her in for a brief kiss. I was so very happy that I could finally express my affection to her, and that wasn't going to get old anytime soon. Just as amazing was not having to dance around the topics that had been off limits for so long! Sissi looked about as happy about everything as I felt. "Let's go get some breakfast!" I took her hand in mine and we headed to the cafeteria.

Being this early on Sunday morning, there weren't very many people up yet. Even so, we got some pretty strange looks from the few people who saw us. Notable exceptions were Aelita, Jeremy, and Ulrich who were already here. Aelita and Jeremy just grinned widely when they saw our hands clasped, and Ulrich wore a good-natured smirk. I knew we were in for some more pestering, but that was ok. We went to go pick up our breakfasts and went to sit down.

Aelita smiled widely at us. "Well you're clearly feeling better!"

Sissi smiled back, "Yeah, I am."

Ulrich chuckled, looking at her. "You too, huh? Odd was a wreck this morning. He was worried sick about how you were handling everything!"

I smiled at Sissi. "I guess we were both a little nervous."

She just looked at Ulrich funny. "Yeah..." she said slowly. He started to notice too.

"Uhh, Sissi?" She startled as Ulrich said her name.

"Oh, sorry! I just didn't know if you would ever wear that, but I'm happy that you are." She pointed at the brown wristband she got him for Christmas. She showed them to me when she got them, and I thought they were a great idea.

He shrugged then smiled. "It's a nice gift that you clearly put a lot of thought into. It'd be a waste to just leave it in the box." Sissi looked delighted.

We all made small talk for the rest of breakfast, and soon we were clearing off our trays. "Hey Odd, can we go for a walk in the woods? It's a really nice morning and I'd like to enjoy it."

"I assume you'd like it to be just you two?" Jeremy asked.

I liked that idea. "That sounds good to me!" Meanwhile, Ulrich smirked again and Sissi noticed.

"What? Can't I want to take a nice romantic stroll through the park with my boyfriend?" She smiled even wider after saying 'boyfriend.' It was adorable. "Besides, we've never spent any time together anywhere but my room. It kinda feels like a dirty little secret and I just want to let it out!" We all laughed.

After breakfast, we split off from the group, hand in hand again, and we were about to head to the vending machines to grab something to drink, but Sissi tightened her grip on my hand and pulled me around the corner of a building. "What's wrong?" I asked.

"It's Hervé and Nicolas, they're at the vending machines."

"Umm, and...?"

"I haven't talked to them in a long time because I felt bad about how I used to treat them. Nicolas would be ok, but I think Hervé would freak out seeing us like this. He'll find out eventually, but I'm in a good mood and dealing with that now would probably ruin it."

Oh, I guess Hervé probably still had that crush on her. I didn't think of that. "How about I go get us a couple of sodas and bring them back. Then we'll head to the woods."

"Ok, sounds good!"

I walked over as nonchalantly as I could past the two boys. I hadn't really had hardly any interaction with them since Sissi started to eat with us.

"Hey, Della Robbia! I bet you think you're hot stuff since Sissi's been eating with you guys!" Hervé taunted.

I've felt a wide range of things because of Sissi eating with us, but never 'hot stuff!' "You know that I'm hot stuff no matter who I eat with!" A little bragging to sell the charade might be helpful. I walked to the vending machine and picked up two sodas as intended.

Hervé didn't seem to want to let up though. "So, who's the other one for! Another 2-day girlfriend!"

I chuckled. "Technically, this is day two, but this time she's the one for sure!" I started walking away.

"Yeah, well who is it this time!? I didn't think there was anyone left that wouldn't just slap you and walk away!" I bit my tongue and just kept walking. I was very thankful when they didn't follow, but when I turned the corner, I didn't expect to see William there talking with Sissi!

"William, I already know about Lyoko and XANA. They told me about it two days ago." What!? Now I was confused, and Williams eyes bugged out. Noticing I had walked up, they both turned and looked at me. Sissi smiled, but William turned away quickly and became really interested in the wall. "Hey sweetie!" I smiled back at Sissi.

"I've gotta go." William started walking away.

"Hey William!" I called after him. "We don't blame you, we all made mistakes. You were brand new and in over your head. It wasn't your fault."

He stopped and turned his head far enough that I could see a full profile. He was smiling slightly. "Thanks, Odd. I know that, but that's not why I've got to run. Good luck you two, later!"

As he left, I handed Sissi her soda and we started walking to the woods. "What was that all about?"

"He saw us holding hands this morning and asked if we were going out now, and I told him that we were."

"Ok, but what was that about Lyoko?"

She let out a nervous chuckle. "He was telling me to be careful because you guys had a weird history, so I told him I already knew about it. Was that ok?"

I snorted, then we started walking. "Yeah, that's fine. You can talk about it with any of us, and that includes William. He looked pretty shocked that we told you though. I feel bad for the guy. A couple weeks after we shut down the super computer, he told Ulrich that he needed some distance. None of us have really talked to him much since."

"That is too bad."

When we got to the woods, I took her hand again. We walked around for quite a while enjoying the stillness, and each other's company. Eventually she stopped at a large tree, tilted her head to the side, and stared at it. After a minute, she walked over and leaned back against it for a moment and waved me over. "Come here for a minute." I was a little confused, but I figured I'd play along. As I walked over, she put her hands on my shoulders and pulled me in and placed her lips on mine in the most gentle way imaginable. The fireworks in my head were already indescribable, but when I felt her soft fingers gently caress my cheek, I felt my mind blank completely.

"Wow." Was all I could whisper when we broke the kiss. I opened my eyes and saw her staring into them. She looked so very happy, but it looked like it was about something in particular. "Not that I'm complaining... at all, but what was that all about?"

She kept looking into my eyes. "I just wanted to make you happy, right here."

"You already make me happy." Her dark eyes sparkled in the morning light.

We left the tree and continued wandering around the woods hand in hand, occasionally stealing glances at each other and smiling. I knew the novelty would eventually wear off, but that wasn't going to stop me from enjoying the moment!

After our fourth time around the woods, it was time to head to lunch. We stopped at the edge of the woods and could see that it was much more crowded than it was this morning, and I started to dread how many stares we were going to get. I glanced over at Sissi and it looked like she was having the same thoughts. "Odd?"

"Yeah, Sissi."

"That's a lot of people..."

"Yep." I responded flatly. "And that's going to be a lot of staring..."

"Uh huh, and a lot of people that are probably going to ask a lot of questions..." she replied, clearly nervous at the prospect.

"I don't want to answer a lot of questions right now..."

"Me neither... ... ... but I don't want to stop holding your hand either."

"Me neither... it's quite the pickle."

She sighed. "Oh well." Reluctantly we unclasped our hands, neither one of us quite ready for that kind of publicity right now. Before we stepped into the clear, she took my face in both hands and kissed my forehead. "Now we can go."

The trip to the cafeteria was pretty uneventful. A few of the people that saw us this morning started pointing and whispering to whomever was there, but that was about it. When we arrived, the others were already there and eating. Yumi must have gotten enough sleep because she was there too. We picked up our food and sat down.

"It's not like you to be late for lunch good buddy, a little lovestruck?" Teased Ulrich.

"What can I say, it was a lovely stroll!" No amount of Ulrich's teasing was going to get me down today! Sissi didn't seem to mind either.

Jeremy cleared his throat with an uncharacteristically mischievous grin. "So... how much strolling did you actually get done!"

Knowing what he was insinuating, I feigned indignation. "If you must know, quite a bit, but a gentleman doesn't not kiss and tell!"

"We're dating, so we kissed. This shouldn't be shocking to any of you! Though most of the time really was spent walking." Sissi's response was completely deadpan, but she was smirking at me a little as if egging me on to continue. I thought I'd oblige!

"Ladies, it seems, are not bound by the same restrictions!" I smirked right back.

Sissi looked straight at Jeremy and Aelita, who were sitting next to each other. "You two should try it sometime, I think you'd like it!" They glanced at each other briefly, both turning about as red as a tomato.

I whispered to Sissi, "Aelita did kiss Jeremy once, but that was before she got her memories back. She became a lot more shy after that."

She jerked her head back to look at me, eyes wide. "Ok, you've got to tell me all about that later!" Not knowing exactly what I had said, only that it referred to them, the two geniuses glowed even redder.

I put my hand on hers. "Sissi, eventually I'm going to tell you everything. There's just a lot to tell."

"You mean brag about everything, right?" Joked Yumi, and everyone laughed, even Sissi!

"Some people just don't appreciate heroics." I said in self defense. There was much groaning and eye rolling at the table. The rest of lunch, along with the rest of the day went by uneventfully, but enjoyably. After lunch we all headed to the rec center. Now that it was the six of us, there weren't any more stares, which was welcome. Sissi and I ended up having a really good time discovering that we were equally terrible at ping pong, and eventually just ended up on the couch watching some mindless drivel on the tv while the others mostly played foosball. I was glad that they were willing to let us have this time mostly to ourselves.

Eventually it was time for dinner, which was also delicious! It was meatballs and gravy night! I loved Sissi, but I didn't think I'd ever understand how she can just eat a rabbit food salad for dinner every night! We all took turns telling Lyoko stories to Sissi; most of them involving her in some way. I think everyone appreciated being able to talk to someone that didn't already know every story, and I know she appreciated how much everyone was trying to make her feel included. Afterwards we went our separate ways. Ulrich and Yumi left and he was going to walk her home. The Einsteins went off to go do something techy that I didn't understand, and they kept stealing glances at each other the whole way out. Those two just needed to confess how they felt about each other already, it was getting tedious! Sissi and me agreed to split up to take our showers before meeting back up in her room.

After showering and getting into some clean day clothes (that I would probably wear tomorrow), I headed up to Sissi's room. There were a couple of other girls in the hall when I knocked on her door, and I got a couple more strange looks. After the encounter with Claire and Azra this morning, I didn't feel the need to be as discreet about coming here as I used to be, so I ignored them. Sissi opened the door, dressed in her dark pink PJ's, and we wrapped our arms around each other tightly. After we let go, I couldn't help glancing at the other girls in the hallway and chuckled at their wide eyes. Sissi heard me and glanced in their direction as well, giggling for the same reason before we walked inside her room.

When we got inside, she turned around and we just looked at each other for a minute. I marveled at how familiar this scene was, whilst feeling very different than it ever was before. Having just gotten back from the showers, she wasn't wearing any makeup, and her hair was a tangled wet mop. From her smile and the way her eyes were shining, I thought she had never looked more beautiful. I could feel a smile spilling forth on my face.

I had an idea. I reached up and stroked her face once before standing on my toes to give her a brief kiss. "How about you sit down for a second?" I guided her to the vanity stool where she sat and then I had her turn away from me. I grabbed her desk chair and sat down before taking a breath and hoping that I would be just as good at this as she was. I winked at her in the mirror and put my hands on her shoulders. She let out a small gasp as I pushed my thumbs into her shoulders and started rolling them up and down her back while she cooed and purred. While it sounded like I was doing a good job, I was surprised at how tiring it was and had to stop after about ten minutes.

She leaned back into me while I snaked my arms around her middle and hugged her close. "That was incredible," She murmured contently and I kissed her cheek. We just sat there for a few minutes enjoying the closeness of each other before she spoke again. "Odd, can we talk about something?"

"Of course, you know we can talk about anything." It was such a relief to be able to say that and have it be the truth!

"Well... I think I'm going to really like being your girlfriend, and this..." She wrapped her arms around her middle over mine and leaned back further into me. "... is amazing, but I don't want to lose what we had."

I was a little confused. "What do you mean?"

"You're my best friend, Odd. You're also the first real friend I've ever had. I love you both as my best friend, and as my boyfriend. I just don't want the talking, and joking, and all other the best friend stuff to get swallowed up by the boyfriend stuff."

I pulled my arms away and put my hands on her shoulders in a more 'friends' sort of way while gently smiling at her in the mirror. "I don't want that to go away either, because you're my best friend too." Then I leaned over her shoulder and kissed the side of her forehead. The corners of her lips turned up as she looked at me in the cutest way, then she glanced over on her vanity. Her expression went from sweet to thoughtful as she spied her hairbrush before she picked it up and handed it to me as I stood up. I grinned widely at her and started running it through her beautiful hair. We talked and joked for the rest of the evening while I brushed her hair. Once in a while I would kiss the top of her head, and she would smile or giggle.

Unfortunately, it came time for me to go. I put her brush down then she stood up and we hugged each other tightly. "I had a great time today, Odd."

I smiled into her neck, where my face was buried. "Me too."

We parted the embrace, kissed each other goodnight, and I left for my own room.

"Hey there, good buddy! Looks like someone's in a good mood." Ulrich greeted me when I walked in.

"Hi, Ulrich." I couldn't help the grin that was plastered on my face.

"Have a good time with your girlfriend?" Here came the pestering.

"Yep, I did."

"Glad to hear it. One thing keeps bothering me though." I cocked an eyebrow at him. "Until two days ago, you said that nothing was ever going to happen between the two of you. Obviously, you were lying, why?"

This was a question of thought about quite a bit. "Because she didn't need any of you guys bothering her about it while she was trying to get her feelings about you sorted out. I figured if I denied it then I would probably take the brunt of it for denying something that was probably obvious to you guys leaving her in the clear to figure things out."

Ulrich's jaw dropped. "Since when did you become so insightful!?"

I smirked as I started changing. "I've always been insightful!" He looked at me skeptically. "It's just that now I care enough to pay attention to the insight!" I finished changing and crawled into bed. "Goodnight Ulrich!"

"Night, Odd."

That night I went to sleep happier than I could ever remember being, and I looked forward to spending a lot more time with Sissi in places other than her room!

Beep beep beep beep

Morning came way too soon, and with it came the alarm clock. I groaned loudly as Ulrich turned it off. "Hey good buddy." I sleepily called over to him. I had to make sure of something.

"Yeah, Odd?"

"What happened yesterday...?"

He cocked an eyebrow at me. "What, you don't remember?"

"For a moment, just pretend I don't."

"You spent the whole day with Sissi, and you liked it!" He replied with a laugh.

An enormous grin split my face. "You bet I did. Thanks, good buddy, I just wanted to make sure I didn't dream it all up!" It wouldn't have been the first time I dreamt all that! I was wide awake now and leapt out of bed to get dressed. I also messaged Sissi.

Walk to breakfast with me?

Of course! Was her reply.

Meet at your room?

Nah, I'm coming to yours for a change! ;)

With that I warned Ulrich about her imminent arrival and he managed to finish getting dressed just before we heard a knock at the door. I opened the door and Sissi immediately stepped in and pulled me into a rather lengthy kiss.

"Hey, I'm still here you know..." complained Ulrich.

We broke the kiss, both grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "Fine, fine. We're going!" Sissi replied.

On our way downstairs, both our phones beeped at the same time. We got identical texts, mine from Jeremy, and hers from Aelita.

Your guys' picture has been published in the Kadic news, and the whole school is buzzing. You might want to stick together.

We planned on sticking together anyway, but the warning was appreciated. Just before we walked out, we could see that there were a lot of students through the windows. Many of them had newspapers.

"That's a lot of people again..." I remarked.

"Yep. A lot of people who thought we hated each other this morning."

"Uh huh. Ready to set the record straight?"

She glanced my direction. "Not yet." I looked back at her; an eyebrow raised in curiosity. She took my face in her hands and gave me a quick, but good, kiss. "Now I'm ready!" She exclaimed and we walked out the double doors hand in hand.

Fin

A/N: First: I'd like to apologize for the late update. This chapter was a beast to write for some reason, and not just because it's the last official chapter of this story.

Second: I'd like to thank everyone that made it this far and especially my reviewers. They are always appreciated. plus, as of the last chapter, this story has officially made 1000 views, so thanks again!

Third: This is the end of this particular story, but I am not done with this timeline, not by a long shot! I'm looking forward to starting my new project, but I've got a couple of small things I want to do first.

Last: I figured after this journey, I wanted to make this last chapter nice and fluffy, I hope you like it!

See you on the next one!